In 223 A.D., Yonghong, the eldest surname of Yizhou County, took advantage of the defeat of Liu Bei, the emperor of Shu Han, in the battle of Yiling, and when Yong'an died of illness, he killed Taishou Zhengang, kidnapped the new Taishou Zhang Yi to Eastern Wu, and raised troops to call on the four counties of Nanzhong to rebel against Shu Han.

At the same time, Gao Ding, the chief of Yueshan, killed Gong Lu, proclaimed himself king, and Zhu Bao, the Taishou of Qike, responded to Yonghong's rebellion.

Only Yongchang County was not captured by the Yonghong rebels under the tenacious persistence of Gongcao Lu Kai and Fucheng Wang.

Meng Huo was a powerful man in the Nanzhong region at that time, and was deeply convinced by the local aborigines and Han people.

After the rebellion, Yonghong hoped to get the support of the ethnic minorities in Nanzhong, but the chiefs of the various tribes did not obey Yonghong.

Yonghong recruited Meng Huo and asked him to lobby the chiefs of various tribes.

Meng Shu then lied to them and said: "The imperial court wants to levy 300 black dogs, and the chests must be black, and there are also 3,000 broken trees (chopped wood) with three mite brains and three zhang long, can you take them out?"

The black dog and mite brain were originally difficult to find, and their broken wood (斲木) was very hard and curved, and it was impossible to be as high as two zhang long, and the local natives believed in Meng Shu and thought that the Shu Han regime deliberately embarrassed and oppressed them, so they were very dissatisfied and joined the rebels.

Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Shu Han Dynasty, believed that the country had just passed away from a monarch, and it was not appropriate to have more wars.

He decided to first stabilize the people and officials in the country, accumulate food, and stabilize the national strength.

Zhuge Liang sent Deng Zhi, Chen Zhen and Dongwu to reconcile, and sent Gong Lu, the Taishou of Yuewang, to Anshang County on the south-central border to prepare, while Chang Qixing of Shu County traveled directly south to find out the incident.

On the other hand, although Li Yan was sent to write six letters to Yonghong to explain the benefits and disadvantages, Yonghong only replied with one book:

"Gai Wen has no two days, there are no two kings in the earth, today under the Ding, Zhengshuo has three, it is to be far away people are confused, do not know where to go.

(I have heard that there are no two days in the sky, and there are no two kings in the earth, and now there are three people who claim to be Zhengshuo, so the distant people [I Yonghong] feel suspicious and don't know which one to belong to.) )”

Yonghong looked very arrogant in the letter.

In March 225 AD, Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Shu Han Dynasty, decided to personally lead his army to quell the rebellion in Nanzhong.

When Ma Tan saw off Zhuge Liang when he joined the army, he proposed that the strategy of "attacking the heart first, attacking the city first, attacking the city first, and fighting the army first" should be adopted to quell the rebellion, and Zhuge Liang also accepted this suggestion.

Then he divided the army into three routes, he led the main army, as the west road, from Chengdu by water, marched into Yueshan County (now Xichang, Sichuan), to defeat Gaoding.

Donglu also sent Ma Zhong to set out from Yandao (present-day Yibin, Sichuan) to attack Qike County (present-day Fuquan, Guizhou) and attack Zhu Bao.

The middle route was from Pingyi (present-day Bijie, Guizhou) to Jianning (present-day Qujing, Yunnan).

Which generals accompanied the prime minister to the south? How many men did the prime minister lead? There is no record in the history books.

At this time, there was friction between Yonghong and Gaoding, and finally Gao Ding was killed, Meng Shu took the opportunity to incorporate Yonghong's troops, and continued to lead the Nanzhong people to fight against Shu Han.

Li Huijun went deep into Kunming and used tactics to break the rebels in Yizhou County.

Ma Zhongjun successfully defeated Zhu Bao at Jilan and joined Li Huijun.

On the other hand, after Zhuge Liang's army arrived in Nanzhong, he won several battles, and killed Gao Ding first.

Then join up with the other two armies.

The three-way army is connected and ready to meet Meng Huo.

When Zhuge Liang heard that Meng was convinced by the locals, he wanted to force him to submit by capturing him alive, so as to achieve the goal of subduing the hearts of the people in Nanzhong.

In May, Zhuge Liang personally led a large army across Lushui and fought with Meng Huo's army.

The army under Meng Shu was all local armed forces, so how could it compete with the army of Shu, one of the Three Kingdoms?

The two armies faced each other, and as soon as the battle began, Meng's army collapsed and fled.

Meng Shu led part of the remnants of the army, abandoned his armor and hid in the mountains and forests.

Zhuge Liang led the army to go deep into the secret realm of the rainforest to capture Meng Shu, but the mountains and forests were dense, and insects, snakes, beasts and poisonous insects were rampant.

And what gave Zhuge Liang the most headache was that this Meng Shu was actually able to control those poisonous insects and beasts to fight with the Shu Han army in the jungle.

If it was a battle between the two armies, the local miscellaneous armies under Meng Shu were not the opponents of the Shu Han army at all.

However, once you enter the rainforest, the environment is chaotic and complex, hot and humid, dense and difficult to walk, and it is difficult for officers and men in the army to form large-scale combat cooperation.

Meng Shoujun, on the other hand, is familiar with the terrain and features, knows the laws of the jungle, and is like a fish in water in the dense and hot tropical rainforest, roaring back and forth, galloping across the country.

In the form of "guerrilla warfare", he constantly attacked and harassed, and "bleeded" the Shu Han army, but he came and went without a trace, and it was difficult to determine, so that the Shu Han army had nothing to do.

What's even more a headache for the Shu Han army is that the poisonous insects and beasts controlled by Meng Shu and his subordinates are terrifying and abnormal, and everywhere they go, they are deadly attacks.

Meng Huojun's poisonous insect and beast methods were very effective, and by constantly harassing and encroaching on the Arhat army, the Shu Han army was exhausted and physically and mentally emaciated, not only did it have no results, but the casualties skyrocketed.

Zhuge Liang did not catch the rebel leader Meng Shu, but he lost many soldiers, and he wanted to give up, so Mingjin withdrew his troops and returned home.

But when you think about such a hasty withdrawal of troops, there is no effect of any blow, and the rebels will definitely rebel again, and they will not stop repeating the ban.

It is important to know that in the treatment of diseases and poisons, we must pay attention to "treating the symptoms rather than the root cause", and we must solve the fundamental problems in order to be effective.

If we want this Nanyi land to be stable for a long time and avoid future troubles, we must not retreat from this, and we must find a solution.

For now, the solution is to subdue the rebel leader Meng Huo.

Only by subduing him can the people here be brought to their hearts, develop peacefully and achieve long-term peace and stability.

The premise of submission is that he must be defeated and then captured, otherwise he will easily escape, and his resistance will not die, and everything will be impossible to talk about.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang did not hesitate anymore, ordered the scouts to return quickly, and mobilized the "Divine Beast" army under the command of Wei Ting, the deputy general of Wei Yan, the general of Zhengxi, to come to the Nanzhong region to deal with Meng Shu's "poisonous insects and beasts" army.

After Wei Ting received the order, he led the "Divine Beast" army under his command to go straight to the Nanzhong region to join Zhuge Liang's army.

The "Divine Beast" legion under Wei Ting's command is diverse, and the true form of the "Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse" is just two of these troops, and all kinds of troops gather, just like the animal world, and it makes people fearful

and shocked, seeing Zhuge Liang's army stunned, his heart shook.

It is no longer enough to describe the current scene as "animal world", this is simply a "Mutant Creatures Alliance"!

All kinds of improved and cultivated mutant creatures completely subverted the common sense of the Shu Han army, and looking at those mutant creatures that can't even be imagined makes people's scalps tingle.

Known as the "pig and sheep feeder", Wei Ting disdained to pay attention to those lonely and unheard of sergeants who did not know the height of the sky, and led his subordinates to drive the army of "divine beasts" that made people's hearts palpitate and disappeared into the rainforest, and there was no trace of them.

When Zhuge Liang's army stationed in the camp was waiting for this mysterious army, they saw several tall and powerful mutated war beasts rushing out of the trees in the rainforest.

One of them, a monster shaped like an elephant but covered with scales and spikes, was black and shaped like a hill, domineering and powerful.

On the back of this giant elephant-like monster, Wei Ting, the deputy general of Wei Yan, the general of the expedition to the west, sat upright, with a proud demeanor and eyes in all directions, like the god of war descending, looking down on all beings like grass mustard.

And next to the strange elephant war beast that Wei Ting was riding, there was another giant elephant monster that was smaller than the black giant elephant-like monster, but it was blood-red all over, except for the difference in color and body shape, the rest was the same.

On the back of this red giant elephant monster, several mutated strange snakes wrapped around one person like ropes, it was Meng Shu, the indigenous leader who had gathered a crowd to rebel.

Let's say that those mutated strange snakes are colorful, not only brightly colored, but also mutated in shape.

There is a snake body forked into two snake heads, there are three snake heads sharing a body, and even more, there is a snake body forked into more than a dozen neck trunks, and each neck trunk has a snake head on it.

From a distance, it doesn't look like a snake at all, but the feeling of several, more than a dozen snakes, entangled vertically and horizontally, rubbing against each other, spitting crimson letters, making people feel itchy and uncomfortable, and their stomachs twitch.

These "several" snakes were messily wrapped around Meng Shu's body, and the lower half of the snake's body was wrapped around the spikes on the monster's body, firmly binding Meng Shu, staring at him with evil triangular snake eyes.

With such an evil and strange snake entangled, I believe that even if Meng Shu fell asleep on the back of the monster, he would not fall, let alone want to jump away and escape.

On either side of these two mountain-like monstrous giant elephant monsters were several mutated creatures that were shaped like ligae, but much larger than ligres, and were extremely hideous and vicious.

These mutated creatures shaped like lions and tigers are tall and mighty, and occasionally roar, the sound of which shakes the mountains and forests.

Although their basic body shape and appearance are not much different from ordinary lion tigers, the four claws that land on the ground are the same as those of "flowing horses", like the sharp claws of goshawks.

In addition, the most astonishing thing is that they all have a pair of snow-white wings on their backs, like cranes and swans, stretching out, which is pleasing to the eye but surprising.

Moreover, no matter what color these mutated creatures shaped like ligae are, the huge wings on their backs are as white as snow, which makes people get goosebumps all over their bodies.

On top of these mutated creatures shaped like lions and tigers, sat several of Wei Ting's subordinates, as well as several leaders of Meng Huo's subordinates who were also captured.

Behind these huge mutant monsters, there are actually countless mutated creatures gathering, but they are very obediently half-hidden and half-faintly hidden in the jungle behind them, dormant and unmoving.

It can be seen from this that such a "divine beast" army with a strong sense of command and combat effectiveness is really a piece of cake to defeat the herd of beasts in Meng Huo's hands.

Don't look at Zhuge Liang's Shu Han army was disturbed by the beast group attack in Meng Shu's hands, and there was nothing to do, but when he encountered the "Divine Beast" army under Wei Ting, it could really be described as "brine point tofu - one thing to one thing".

Seeing that Wei Ting successfully captured Meng Shu, Zhuge Liang smiled, and the morale of the soldiers of the Shu Han army was high.

Zhuge Liang ordered Wei Ting to "loosen" Meng Huo, Wei Ting whistled, and several mutated monster snakes wrapped around Meng Huo "swished" away from Meng Huo's body, and hibernated on the back of the giant elephant monster motionless.

Meng was freed, Zhuge Liang ignored his previous suspicions, Corporal Lixian personally went out of the camp to greet Meng Huo.

not only shushed the cold and asked for warmth, but also took him to the camp to watch it arm in arm, and asked him what he thought of the Shu army.

Meng replied:

"Those who go to the city do not know the truth and the truth, so they are defeated. Now I am given to watch the camp, if it is only like this, without the help of the Divine Beast Army, it will be easy to win the ear.

(I didn't know the truth of your army before, that's why I was defeated.) Now, thanks to you for giving me to watch your camp, it turns out that this is just the case, and if it were not for the help of the Divine Beast troops commanded by your great general, I believe we would have been able to defeat you. )”

Zhuge Liang's heart was in the north, and he knew that the problem of the southerners' rebellion was serious, so he used Ma Tan's strategy of "attacking the heart first, attacking the city below, fighting the heart first, and fighting the army first", determined to convince Meng Shu.

Hearing Meng Shu's remarks, he knew that the other party was still unconvinced, and he had to be willing to bow down, be in awe from the heart, force and benevolence go hand in hand, and he could only be subdued, so he let him go with a smile.

Then, fight again, win again, capture again, and release again.

After Meng Shu was captured again, he complained that Zhuge Liang's "Divine Beast" army was too powerful, and Meng's army was defeated in the hands of this mysterious army.

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "You also make the beasts attack, if you don't control the beast with the beast, how can it be fair?" If neither of us uses a beast, but only fights against each other in a military formation, will you dare to fight? ”

Meng was speechless.

Zhuge Liang let Meng get again, fought again and captured again.

Such repetition is what history calls "seven captures and seven verticals".

After Zhuge Liang captured Meng seven times and captured seven columns, he still had to continue to let him go.

Meng Huo and other indigenous leaders were finally completely convinced of Zhuge Liang and refused to leave, Meng Huo said:

"Gong, Tianwei also, the southerners are no longer in rebellion.

(You represent the divine power of the heavens, and the people of Nanzhong will not rebel again.) )”

So he led the Shu Han army to Dianchi and swore an oath with Zhuge Liang, and the Shu army successfully pacified Nanzhong.

Meng was later relocated to the Imperial History of Zhongcheng.

After the Shu army returned, because Zhuge Liang had ruled against the two Han Dynasty,

The practice of sending troops to garrison was to adopt the policy of "not leaving troops and not transporting grain", reusing local forces to protect their interests, appointing Ma Zhong, Lu Kai and others to adopt the Huairou policy to govern the south, and employing a large number of local ethnic minority upper-class elements, and there was no large-scale rebellion in Nanzhong after that.

As for the specific process of the seven captures and seven verticals, there is no clear record in the official history, so it is even more impossible to have a fight between the mysterious beast troops hidden behind the historical truth.

Therefore, the "Divine Beast" legion under Wei Ting's command can only be a "shadow" army.

(End of chapter)