At the end of the twentieth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei met Ma Chao in Hanzhong.

For example, Yang Fu said that he was "strong and unrighteous", Jiang Xu's mother said that he "betrayed his father and rebelled against his son, killed the king and thief", and Wang Shang said that he was "brave but not benevolent, and did not think about righteousness".

Even Zhang Lu's staff adviser Yan Pu despised Ma Chao as a person, saying that he "If you don't love your relatives, how can you love people", which shows the difference in his reputation.

However, Liu Bei was not disgusted by Ma Chao's evil deeds of killing his father's family in order to establish himself as king.

He has been in exile for half his life, and he has already become a qualified politician, knowing that there are no eternal friends, only eternal national interests, so unless Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Shen Chen, Zhuge Liang and others are killed by the enemy, they rarely have the intention of acting rashly.

After arriving in Hanzhong, Liu Bei personally met with Ma Chao, praised him for "believing in the northern soil, mighty and proclaiming, and brave as a tiger", and appointed him as the general of Pingxi, and the governor of Linfang.

Where is the frustration?

Jingzhou.

Therefore, this so-called Du Lin Frustration is naturally empty.

Including this General Pingxi is also false.

Because he was not given military power.

Liu Bei was full of praise for Ma Chao's boasting, but in addition to giving him a high position, he didn't give him anything practical.

It's not that Liu Bei is stingy, but he knows that Ma Chao has divided one side in order to establish himself as the king, and he doesn't even want his father's family, which shows his ambition.

He had already planted a heel in Lu Bu back then, Ma Chao's behavior was even worse than Lu Bu, Lu Bu killed his father-in-law at most, Ma Chao harmed his father and brother, and he didn't dare to entrust Ma Chao with a heavy responsibility.

Like in history, Liu Bei only gave Ma Chao a high position and did not dare to reuse it, which is the reason.

Therefore, it can only be given to high positions and not real power.

And the general of Ma Chao's defeated army came to defect, naturally he didn't dare to say anything, and after following Liu Bei in Hanzhong, at the beginning of the twenty-first year of Yu Jian'an, he finally had a new task.

Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei, Wu Lan, Lei Tong and others to be stationed in Hechi County, and ordered Ma Chao Pang De to accompany the army and use Ma Chao's prestige to gain Wudu.

In fact, now Liu Bei has occupied half of Wudu County, because Chencang Road at that time was in Wudu, connecting Chencang in the north and Hechi in the south, that is, Hui County in Longnan City, Gansu Province in later generations.

After that, in the east of the river, you can take the Lianyun Road to enter the Baochuan Road into Hanzhong, or from the south of the Hechi to continue to take the Chencang Road to enter Luoyang, to the front of the Yangping Pass in Hanzhong.

When Liu Bei got Hanzhong, Cao Cao's forces had not yet entered Guanzhong, and Han Sui and Ma Chao did not dare to fight, so he first seized the two strategic roads of Chencang Road and Baochuan Road, which were the best four roads leading from Hanzhong to Guanzhong, and choked the Sanguan and Xieyuguan Passes.

And from Hechi County to the west is the Wudu County of the administrative office, that is, the famous Wujie in history, from the Wujie to the east can go straight to Hechi, control the Chencang Road, and go south to the Kouluo Hanzhong Yangpingguan.

If Liu Bei chooses to send troops from Chencang Road to attack Guanzhong, and Xiahou Yuan, who was in Xiliang at this time, suddenly went south to Wudu, cooperated with the main force of Cao's army on the Chencang front, and killed him halfway from Xiabi to cut off Liu Bei's army's retreat, then Liu Bei would be in danger of being attacked from both sides in Chencang Road.

Although Liu Bei can also retreat from Lianyun Road in the middle of Chencang Road to Baochuan Road, this is undoubtedly strategically passive, and his defense will become guarding Lianyun Road, Baochuan Road and Yangping Pass in the west of Hanzhong, seriously dispersing his forces, and losing the exit of Chencang Road, he will also be in a passive posture of being beaten.

Therefore, when Zhuge Liang went out on the Northern Expedition for the third time in history, in order to change this defensive passivity, he sent troops to occupy this place, which greatly improved the defensive situation in Hanzhong. Not only did he regain control of Chencang Dao, but he could also send troops from Wudu County to counterattack Xiliang and prepare for the Fourth Northern Expedition.

However, Cao Cao also expected this, he knew that Wudu was too far away, and the Wei soldiers had no time to save it, so he had already moved more than 50,000 Qiang Han people from Wudu, leaving only an empty county. So that even if Zhuge Liang occupies this place, he can only change the national defense situation, and cannot replenish the population.

Today it is very different.

Because Cao Cao had not yet been involved in Guanzhong when Liu Bei got Xichuan, he had no way to relocate the population of Wudu and Yinping counties, so now there are 50,000 or 60,000 Qiang people and Di people living in the two counties.

Note that it is a fall, not a household or a mouth.

In the Han Dynasty, a family was often based on households, and a household with about four to five people.

The Qiang, Wuhuan, Xianbei, Barbarian, Yi, Yue and other ethnic minorities adopt tribal units, and unlike the Han households, the population of a drop is often more than five people, and sometimes it can reach more than ten people.

For example, Cao Cao moved to the south of the Xiongnu, with a total of more than 30,000 people and a population of nearly 200,000. More than 10,000 tribes were moved, with a population of 200,000. Later, tens of thousands of households and hundreds of thousands of people were settled in Luoyang, Guanzhong, Hedong and other places.

Although the initiator of the Wuhu Rebellion was the stupid Western Jin royal family, as early as the beginning of the Wei Dynasty, Cao Cao laid the root of the bane and moved the Hu people to the Great Wall, so that later the Hu people rebelled and began to establish power.

However, at this time, because Cao Cao did not move Qiang and Di, the current population of Qiang and Di in Wudu County is 200,000, and the population of the large tribes such as Lei Ding and Dou Mao is tens of thousands, and the soldiers are tens of thousands, and the small ones have Yang Ju, Agui, and Fu Jian with a population of more than 120,000 and thousands of soldiers.

Liu Bei currently only occupies half of Wudu County, Xiahou Yuan occupies Hanyang County and Longxi County, and is currently attacking Han Sui in Jincheng County, and the other half of Wudu County belongs to the borderless land.

So Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei to send troops, and Ma Chao Pang De went to Wudu in person to recruit the Qiang people to enlist in the army.

The name of "Shenwei Tian General" has a very high prestige among the Qiang people and the Di people, for a time the Wudu Qiang people and the Di people have been attached, and the Qiang kings of all sizes from all over the country came to defect, and they got tens of thousands of soldiers and horses overnight, and the momentum was huge.

At this time, it coincided with Cao Cao's return.

At the end of last year, Cao Cao was ready to return to Yecheng to quell the rebellion, but he didn't expect to be lifted by the rebellion in Luoyang and Jizhou, and the siege of Hefei, so he returned to Guanzhong and ordered Zhong Xuan to sit in Chang'an and conquer Xiliang himself.

Liu Bei sent troops from Hanzhong, took Zhang Fei's 10,000 elite cavalry, and ordered Li Hei and Wang Gui, the leaders of the people, to lead 10,000 people, and he brought Ma Chao Pang De to lead 10,000 elites, a total of 30,000 people, and the troops went out of Wudu County, and collected dozens of Qiangdi tribes along the way, with 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers and horses, and nearly 100,000 troops rushed to Xixian.

This West County is located in the northwest of Longnan City, Gansu Province in later generations, and its other name is the famous Lucheng. When Zhuge Liang came out of Qishan, he cut wheat in Shangqi, Sima Yi chased Liang to the outside of Lu City, dug the camp and defended himself, and there was a ridicule of "fearing Shu as fearing a tiger".

Now the situation is basically the same as when Zhuge Liang first went on the Northern Expedition in history.

Guan Yu praised the slope, such as Zhao Yun according to the Kei Valley during the first Northern Expedition, Liu Bei out of Qi Mountain, that is, Zhuge Liang out of Qi Mountain. After getting Xixian, he had to go north to Jieting, seize Longguan Road, and cut off Xiahou Yuan's retreat.

Judging from the map of later generations, there is a shortcut road from Guanzhong to Xiliang, called Chencang Weishui Road or Chencang Narrow Road, and it goes straight upstream from the west of the Wei River, which is Tianshui City, Gansu.

However, the mountains on both sides of this road are high and densely forested, and all the way along the way are the cliffs of Longshan, and the upper reaches of Weishui are turbulent rivers, and the river channel is narrow and difficult to sail, so they can only send small troops, but cannot march on a large scale.

Therefore, since the Qin, Han and Tang dynasties, entering Liangzhou from Guanzhong, the best road side is Longguan, which has a wide road and a flat road. The second is Xiaoguan Road, and the second is Chen Cang Narrow Road.

It's just that although Longguan Road is good, it has to go around a big circle and bypass Longshan to enter Liangzhou.

Therefore, the situation is unfavorable to Cao Cao.

By the time Cao Cao returned to Guanzhong from Luoyang, Liu Bei had already captured Xixian and traveled north to Tianshui, besieging the city that Cao Wei later called "Shangqi".

In the first month of the twentieth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao went out of Longguan Road to rescue Tianshui, and the two sides confronted each other in Duangu.

There were about 100,000 soldiers and horses on both sides.

Guan Yu's 50,000 people restrained Xiahoudun and Yu Ban's 60,000 people in the Bao Chuan Road.

Cao Cao himself brought 50,000 main forces, plus the Southern Xiongnu and a part of the Wuhuan cavalry, as well as tens of thousands of local wealthy families such as Yang Fu and Jiang Yin attached to Liangzhou, totaling about 120,000.

And Liu Beijun is his main force of 30,000, the Qiang people are 50,000 or 60,000, a total of 80,000 or 90,000 people, and Cao's army has more soldiers and horses than Liu Beijun.

However, the two sides only confronted each other for more than ten days, and it ended with Liu Beibing retreating to argue.

There's a lot of logistical pressure.

Liu Bei is not short of food, what he lacks is how to effectively transport grain and grass to the front line.

Over the years, Zhuge Liang Pang ruled Shu, digging canals, building embankments, cultivating diligently, and even promoting cash crops such as mulberry hemp, so that the people of Bashu were rich and the people had enough food and clothing.

In addition, Jingzhou has promoted manure technology and Zhancheng rice, and since then, the rice has double-cropped in a year, and the productivity has been greatly improved.

However, the absence of food in the rear does not mean that there is no shortage at the front.

Whether it is transporting grain from Chengdu, Jiangzhou or Jingzhou to the front line in Hanzhong, it has to pass through Qinling, Wushan and Bashan, and the road is extremely difficult.

Then take the Qishan Road from Hanzhong to the front line of Wudu where Liu Bei is located, and then pass through Longshan, Qishan, and Qinling, which are also large mountain ranges.

It can be said that more than 80 percent of the grain transportation roads from Chengdu in the rear to the front line are all steep mountains and forests.

And the road is also very far away, from Chengdu to Tianshui straight line distance is more than 500 kilometers, and then take the Golden Bull Road north to Qishan Road, more than 7800 kilometers around the winds and turns, converted into nearly 2,000 miles of Hanli.

Historically, Zhuge Liang was under too much logistical pressure, making wood, oxen and horses to transport grain, which shows that the road is difficult.

Therefore, although Liu Bei has been preparing in Hanzhong for many years and hoarding a large amount of grain and grass, now there are suddenly tens of thousands of troops, and the consumption is huge, so that he is forced to withdraw his troops.

As soon as he withdrew, Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief, and also gathered his troops, guarding the area of Tianshui and Jixian, and no longer sent troops to attack Han Sui.

Liu Bei has a lot of logistical pressure, and his logistical pressure is also great.

It's just that Liu Bei's difficulty is that there are too many mountains along the way, and the road is difficult to travel, and his difficulty is that the road is too far away.

Cao Jun transported grain from Yecheng to Chang'an, and then from Chang'an to Tianshui, and had to travel 2,600 Han miles.

Of course.

Even so, it is much better than Liu Bei.

Except for transporting grain from Yecheng through Taihang Mountain, and transporting grain from Guanzhong to Tianshui to pass through Longshan, almost all other places are plain areas with flat roads, and the speed and scale of grain transportation are much stronger than Liu Bei.

It's just that long-distance grain transportation is not a long-term solution after all, so after Liu Bei withdrew his troops, Cao Cao stabilized the basic plate of Tianshui and began to clean the rear.

Xiliang has a total of 12 counties and 98 yi, the Han population is more than 200,000 households, about one million Dingkou, and the population of Qiang and Di is much more than that of the Han people, although the specific number is not known, but at least more than three or four million.

Now Liu Bei occupies Wudu County in Liangzhou, Han Sui occupies Jincheng County, and in addition to Dunhuang County, Jiuquan County, Zhangye County near the Western Regions, and Wuwei County too far north, Cao Cao also slightly Longxi County, Anding County and Beidi County, and began to migrate the population on a large scale.

These places are close to Guanzhong, such as Anding County and Beidi County, which are Guyuan City in the south of Ningxia in later generations, Pingliang City and Qingyang City in Gansu Province, and Binzhou City in Shaanxi Province, which are close to Chang'an.

Today's Guanzhong is vast and sparsely populated, with a million people and no one in ten, the land is uncultivated, and the vast Guanzhong Basin is about to become a northern grassland.

According to Cao Cao's plan, the Han people were moved to Guanzhong for farming, and the Hu people were moved to Guanzhong for grazing, and they were concentrated in Zuo Fengyi in the north and northeast of Chang'an and the two great plains in Hedong, which were used as a source of grain, grass and horses.

The right Fufeng and Jing Zhaoyin in the west and south of Chang'an were used as the front line to resist Liu Bei in Hanzhong and Shenchen in Nanyang.

In this way, there is no need to transport grain and grass from Kanto over long distances.

On the other hand, although Liu Bei's Hanzhong Basin can also grow grain and grass, Hanzhong is so big after all, raising an army of 50,000 is the limit, to feed more than 100,000 people for long-term preparation, he still has to transport grain from Bashu, and the consumption consumes him to death.

At the end of January, Cao Cao ordered Xiahoudun, Xiahouyuan, Yu Ban, Xu Huang, Zhang He, Zhong Xuan, Sima Yi, Liu Ye and others to guard Guanzhong, mainly to defend Liu Bei, and after moving the population, he went back to Guandong.

In February, Cao Cao was accepted by the Duke of Wei, opened the State of Wei, and became a vassal.

Liu Bei sent a letter of condemnation.

Sun Quan sent a letter to celebrate.

Xun Or was very dissatisfied, and wrote a letter to persuade him to boycott, which made Cao Cao furious.

In April of the twenty-first year of Jian'an, Cao Cao, the Duke of Wei, set out from Yecheng again, preparing to go to Guanzhong to confront Liu Bei on the front line.

But this time, he no longer chose to take the Fukou Chengcheng to enter the east of the Guanzhong River through Shangdang County, but took the long road to Luoyang through the Qinling Mountains to Jingzhaoyin.

The last time he took this route back to Kanto, it was because Huainan was in an emergency at that time, and he was afraid that the Yecheng reinforcements would not be able to go to Huainan to support due to the rebellion between the rivers, so he chose to support himself, so that he would go to Huainan faster by going to Luoyang.

But under normal circumstances, it is obviously much faster to go from Yecheng to Guanzhong.

Therefore, Cao Cao's actions naturally had another purpose.

The army traveled from Hanoi County to Luoyang, and Cao Cao sent people to recruit Xun or come to the labor army.

After Xun or arrived, Cao Cao imprisoned him in the army, and then sent him a lunch box.

On April 22, Luoyang was the beginning of summer, and the climate was suitable and the sun was shining.

This ancient capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty has long been dilapidated.

But in the midst of this withering, there are other creatures that have quietly and tenaciously begun to grow.

The ruined city is overgrown with creepers, and after more than 20 years, there are no more people in the city and outside the city.

Outside the city, the trees cover the sky and the sun, and the trees are towering.

In Luoyang City, in Xun He's residence, a Cao Cao's personal guard Tiger Guard Junjie led a team of guards to break in.

Xun Or sat cross-legged in the courtyard, staring blankly at the plants that filled the walls and yard.

There is a towering tree in the courtyard, and it is covered with vines.

But for some reason, the vines that originally clinged to the trees have withered at this time, but the trees are still standing tall, and the canopy is like an umbrella, covering half of the courtyard.

Huweijie strode in, carrying a lunch box in his hand, and said angrily: "Xun or, Duke Wei ordered me to send you a lunch box." ”

Xun Or seemed to have some premonitions, so he turned his head and said to him, "Put it down." ”

Jiecong put the lunch box in front of him.

Xun Or opened it and saw that there was nothing inside, only a small porcelain bottle.

Jie Cong said: "Duke Wei wants me to watch you drink." ”

Xun He smiled bitterly, picked up the porcelain vase, turned his head to look at the big tree, and said to Jie Cong: "Why do you say that the tree and the vine are entangled?" Why did this vine die in the end? ”

Jie Cong said in a rough voice: "I don't know. ”

Xun Or took off the seal on the porcelain bottle, took out the pill, and said softly: "The vine needs a tree to climb and grow in order to absorb the sun." Trees also need vines to wrap around their bodies to repel insects and prevent foreign objects. But one day when the branches of the tree were very thick, and the branches and leaves covered the courtyard, the tree did not need a vine, so it shaded the vine from the sun, and the vine died. ”

"I don't understand."

Jie Cong shook his head, he was a rough man who fought with Duke Wei, and he couldn't understand a word of what the cultural people were saying.

Xun He laughed miserably, put the pill in his mouth and swallowed it, then turned his head and said to Jie Cong: "If you don't understand, you can't understand, you can tell Cao Gong these words, and he will naturally know." ”

"Okay."

Jie never hesitated to agree.

Cao Cao had instructed him when he came that if Xun He had anything to say to him, he should remember to go back and report to him word for word.

Xun Or pointed to a wooden ladder placed in the corner of the yard and said to Najiecong: "There is a ladder over there, can you help me hang it up, and then help me go to the roof?" ”

"What are you doing on the roof?"

Section from asking.

Xun Or raised his head and looked at the dilapidated courtyard walls around him, his old face was full of sadness: "I used to see the prosperity of Luoyang in my early years, but now it is deserted, and I won't have a chance to see it in the future, let's take a look again." ”

Jiecong saw that he had swallowed the pill and that his task was complete, so he asked his soldiers to help carry a ladder and half-supported Xun or went to the roof.

Historically, Cao Pi moved the capital to Luoyang and brought 50,000 households from Hebei to enrich the population of Luoyang.

Just because Luoyang was almost completely deserted at this time, the city was full of less than thousands, the palace collapsed, the houses were destroyed, and the entire city became a ruined wall, and it has long ceased to be the grand occasion of a million people.

Xun Or climbed onto the roof, the medicine had not yet occurred at the beginning, and there was nothing unusual, so he sat quietly on the roof overlooking this ancient city.

In the north, the once huge Luoyang South Palace and the North Palace collapsed due to Dong Zhuo's arson, and the only few remaining palaces were repaired with the help of Liu Biao, the West City and the East City became ruins, and there were only a few villages left outside the Pingcheng Gate in the south, plowing the fields by Luoshui outside the city.

More than 20 years ago, Dong Zhuo held the Son of Heaven hostage, faced the offensive of the Kwantung princes, and fled to Chang'an, not only taking away countless people, but also setting a fire before leaving, burning this prosperous city.

Although the city is still wide, and you can still see the grand scenery of the Royal Forest Garden in the distance, Luoyang is overgrown with thorns and weeds, trees, and green moss occupies the entire city. Looking north, it is dilapidated. Looking south, there is no one in the wilderness.

Xun Or looked around, and from time to time pointed to the ruins of the broken walls in all directions and muttered to himself: "There is the White Horse Temple, there is the Great General's Garden, there is Taixue, there is the Lingtai, there is the Nangong, there is the gold market, there is the ......"

The knots below just watched quietly.

The soldiers sent by Cao Cao surrounded the courtyard and watched like this.

Soon, Xun He's abdomen began to ache, his consciousness gradually became cloudy, and the corners of his mouth overflowed with blood, so he sat on the roof like this, raising his head and looking up at the sky.

The cloudy eyes seemed to be full of nostalgia and reluctance for the once vast imperial capital.

His gaze was finally fixed on the south.

That's the direction of Nanyang.

Shen Chen.

You are right.

Cao Cao is not a Hanchen after all.

He thought to himself.

The blood from the corners of his mouth began to flow more and more, and the blood began to flow from his nose.

As the abdominal colic intensified, under the setting sun, an old man in his fifties lay down quietly, looking at the dusk sky, enjoying the last picture of his life.

The brilliant fiery clouds soaked half of the sky, burning with a glimmer of light, illuminating his child's holes.

Immediately after that, the crows and birds hung back and landed in the woods. With the chirping of birds, the heavens and the earth gradually became dark.

Twilight has arrived.

There is only a little afterglow of the West left in the world.

Xun Or tried to keep his eyes open, staring at the sunset with the corners of his yellow eyes, and stretched out his hand with difficulty to grab it.

But the sun eventually went down.

The last vestiges of the Han Empire were extinguished.

With the heaven and the earth there is no light.

Xun He's outstretched hand hung down weakly, and the vitality in his eyes also dissipated.

He's dead.

Luoyang City under the darkness was so quiet that only the whining sound of the autumn wind remained, as if someone was crying.