The Yuexi River in later generations is now called Qiongbu River.

Its downstream section, the Nige River, is more accustomed to being called the Luo River.

The Lizhou army marched along the Luo River, and when they encountered the villages in the valley area, they were persuaded to surrender, and those who did not want to surrender immediately went to attack.

At the same time, Yuwen often sent messengers to the mountains far away from the river valley to deliver messages.

Those mountain tribes and villages are also under the orders of the Qiongbu Sichuan Barbarians in peacetime, and they are obliged to recruit warriors to fight for the Great Ghost Lord of the Hundred Barbarian Capital.

However, they have many obligations and few powers. Even if the battle is won, only a small amount of loot can be shared, and the little soup you drink can barely make up for the battle losses.

Many small tribes could not understand Chinese, and the envoys often sent by Yuwen were mostly barbarians who surrendered along the way.

The envoys only conveyed one message: it is beneficial to go down the mountain to help the Han people fight, even if they don't help the Han soldiers fight, they are not allowed to fight for Tho!

Except for the relatives of Tho Meng, most of the tribes along the way were watching. They were not only afraid of the Great Ghost Master of the Hundred Barbarian Capital, but also afraid of the army sent by the government, especially when they heard that there were 100,000 Han soldiers, which was close to the limit of the mathematical understanding of the Little Ghost Lord.

"Taishou, the village ahead is empty!"

"Probe!"

Zhu Ming and Yuwen often encountered a problem, their speed of advance was indeed fast, so fast that Qiongbu Chuanman did not have time to gather troops.

However, with the exception of the first few villages along the river, all the villages further ahead fled in despair. These barbarians did not fight against the Han Chinese, but fled into the mountains with their families.

It is a waste of time to go into the mountains to pursue.

If you don't go into the mountains to pursue, after the army passes, the barbarians will come out of the mountains again and gradually gather to cut off the back road of the Han army.

Zhu Ming suggested: "Tear down the cage fort in the riverside village, don't care about these empty villages, and accelerate your advance to fight a decisive battle with Tho." Many barbarian tribes are not united, as long as the main force of Tho Meng is defeated, these barbarians in the rear will surrender. ”

"Doesn't care about the grain road?" Yuwen often asked.

"There is no need to transport any more grain," Zhu Ming said, "and I have captured a few villages before and obtained some grain and livestock." Some of these empty grains are too late to take away. Our existing military rations are more than enough for two months. ”

Yuwen often asked: "If Tho Meng drags on and doesn't fight, and cuts off our army's food route, what will happen after two months?" ”

Zhu Ming said: "There is a big ghost lord in front of him named Busu, who is the younger brother of the big ghost lord Tho Meng. The territory under his control, where three rivers meet, and the land along the banks is fertile, and it is the core territory of the two forests. There was a Han man named Qian Huan, whose heart was for the imperial court, and he once secretly told me that there was a large amount of grain and grass in the Soviet Union. ”

"Fight down to grab food supplies?" Yuwen is often a little moved.

Zhu Ming said: "It's best to persuade you to surrender." Busu's strength is second only to Tho Meng, and he controls a large number of surrounding villages, and if he is given enough time to gather troops, he may be able to gather tens of thousands of barbarians. If such a person is given benefits, will he think of self-reliance? ”

Yuwen often pondered: "You can promise to ask the court to canonize him as the Great Ghost Lord of the Hundred Barbarian Capital." ”

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "There are too many barbarians south of the Dadu River, and there are too few big ghost masters. After this battle, three hundred barbarian great ghost masters can be canonized. ”

……

Luo Luolong, where the county seat of Ganluo was located in the later generations.

Bu Su called several of his sons and said to Chen Huan, "Read the letter of the Han official again." ”

Chen Huan did not mechanically retell the content of the letter, but took the initiative to help fill in the details:

"Respected Great Ghost Lord Busu, you are not only the Great Ghost Lord canonized by the imperial court, but also the Huaihua General canonized by the imperial court. More than a hundred years ago, the strength of Qiongbu Chuanban was far inferior to that of Lianglinman. It was by relying on the canonization of the imperial court and through trade with the Han people in Lizhou that he was able to grow rapidly, and drove the two forest barbarians to the south, and also occupied the most fertile land of the two forest barbarians......"

"Now, the great ghost lord of the hundred barbarian capitals, the general of Guide, Tho Meng, does not know how to repay the kindness of the imperial court, but has repeatedly sent people to plunder the Han people, and even intercepted and killed the tributary envoys of various departments. The Great Song Emperor was very angry and had sent an army of 100,000 to conquer, and the 5,000 vanguards were about to arrive. If they can't win, they will send 300,000 troops next year. ”

"The Great Ghost Lord Supplement Su has always respected the imperial court, if you can lead the troops to surrender, the governor of Lizhou will ask the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty to canonize you as the Great Ghost Lord of the Hundred Barbarian Capital and the Great General of Guide. The sons of Busu can also be the master of the big ghosts......"

"If you refuse to surrender, as soon as the Han soldiers arrive, they will definitely set foot on Luo Luolong!"

After Chen Huan said this, he automatically retired, he was not qualified to participate in the tribal leader meeting.

Busu's second son spoke first, and he had four villages in his hands: "I can't believe what Han Guan said, I have been trading in Hanyuan Town in the past few years, and I haven't given enough money for the goods every time." It was said that it would be made up in the second year, but it has been delayed and not given, and the Han officials owe us more and more money. ”

The barbarians here also use Song money, and it is Sichuan iron money.

However, only the big tribes are willing to accept money, and more often they directly barter for goods. Or they sold it in Lizhou for money and bought goods directly in Lizhou and came back.

They did not know how to weave cloth, and wore sheepskin clothes in winter and summer cloth woven by Han Chinese.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Han people generally used ramie to weave summer cloth. However, in the Song Dynasty, rattan bark weaving was still very popular, and many rattan species, including kudzu vine, could weave cloth.

Kudzu Natsubu is cheap and good, and it is very popular among the barbarians.

Busu's eldest son said, "Even if the Han people are not credible, they are coming with a large army, how can we resist them?" If the Han officials are angered, they no longer allow mutual markets, where do we go to buy cloth? And where to buy salt? ”

Yanyuan County and Yanbian County further south are now the territory of Dali State, and they are not under the jurisdiction of the powerful minister Gao.

The salt passage there to the north was stuck, and the Qiongbu Chuanman wanted to buy Dali salt, and the price was far more expensive than Sichuan salt.

Several sons have different opinions, and it is difficult for Busu to make a choice.

The Han soldiers are about to be killed, and if he doesn't surrender, he has to carry the soldiers for Tho Meng first. Even if we can win, we will inevitably lose a lot.

But if he surrendered, in case the Han were defeated, he would definitely be severely punished by Tho.

Just when he was hesitating, a subordinate suddenly came down to report, saying that Tho Meng's eldest son Bili had arrived with troops.

Bu Su hurriedly went to greet him, but found that there were only 1,500 people in the house, and he couldn't help asking, "Are there only so many soldiers?" ”

"This is the vanguard, Abba is still gathering troops, and it will arrive in a few days," he explained. Uncle, you should also gather troops quickly, as long as you hold this place, and when Abba comes with a large army, you will definitely be able to kill the Han soldiers and flee. ”

"I'm already gathering troops, and it's going to take time if the villages in the mountains are too far away." Busu said.

Bili asked, "How far are the Han people?" ”

"It will be there in two or three days." Busu replied.

After the Lizhou army crossed the Dadu River, there were dozens of miles of dangerous valleys, which were the most suitable for the barbarians to set up ambushes.

But Yuwen Chang and Zhu Ming sent troops without warning, but the barbarians couldn't react.

The most dangerous place has long passed, and although the mountains and valleys are deep here, it is still a little bit worse to ambush. Zhu Ming is not a fool, how could he not send a mountain search team to explore the way?

In particular, the territory of Busu has a river valley of more than ten miles, all of which are relatively open and flat. This allowed Busu to harvest a large amount of grain every year, and at the same time, he had no danger to defend, so he could only defend his lair on three sides of the river and one side of the mountain.

Bully came with troops, so that the hesitant Busu planned to hold on for the time being.

The Han soldiers arrived quickly, and after a day and a half, they had arrived in the downstream villages.

"It's empty again." Yuwen often looked at the stockade by the river.

Zhu Ming said: "Abandon the village and flee, take away the population and food, and Busu is unwilling to surrender." ”

Yuwen often said: "We came so quickly, Tho Meng must not have gathered many troops. In Luo Luolong, there should not be many brute soldiers in front. ”

Not much, really, but not much either.

The fertile valley of more than ten miles can feed too many barbarians, and even if the tribes in the mountains are not recruited, Busu can quickly gather five or six thousand young people.

Coupled with the 1,500 elites brought by the birds, Luo Luolong's brute soldiers exceeded 7,000.

However, there are not enough weapons!

In fact, there are abundant iron ore resources here, but many of them are hidden in the mountains and have not been discovered.

Moreover, the mining and smelting technology of Qiongbu Chuanman is also relatively primitive, and there are very few iron tools that can be made every year.

All that is refined is pig iron, which needs to be forged repeatedly to make weapons.

At present, of the more than 7,000 barbarian soldiers, less than 4,000 have iron weapons, and many of them only have iron spear tips on wooden sticks. There are more than 3,000 barbarians left, still using bone spears and stone spears......

There are not many self-made earthen bows and iron arrowheads.

The two of them, Busu and Bili, commanded the people to build fortifications on the riverbank. There were more than 10,000 old and weak women and children, and a low wall was built with stones and mud to prevent the Han soldiers from crossing the river easily.

The last time Zhu Ming came to check the terrain, he chose to cross the river due north.

There was a small river, less than eight meters wide at its widest point and only five or six meters at its narrowest point.

You can also take a detour and stow your way out from the south.

But it's not necessary!

The focus of the barbarians' defense was also this small river, and a long low wall was built on the riverside.

Zhu Ming observed with a telescope for a while, and ordered: "Retreat a mile back and camp against the mountains, cut down more trees to make leveling cannons, and start crossing the river tomorrow to attack!" ”

In the previous attack on the villages along the river, some of the leveling cannons have been destroyed, after all, they are not elaborate things. But only the parts are broken, which can be quickly replaced.

Now there is more to build, it is Zhu Ming who plans to fight a decisive battle here, waiting for Tho Meng to lead the army over.

Immediately, Zhu Ming called Guan Sheng again: "Ling led ten teams to go around the upper reaches of the river, and hid in the mountains after crossing the river." When the battle is fought tomorrow, then descend from the rear of the village. If there are enemies on the mountain, destroy them if they are few and come back if they are large. ”

Zhu Ming is arranging here, and the barbarians are already arguing.

Bili said: "The Han soldiers have just arrived, and they are not familiar with the terrain yet. We can go and attack at night and burn down the camp of the Han soldiers, maybe we can defeat them all. ”

Busu said: "The village is surrounded by rivers on three sides, and there are many cage forts on one side of the mountain. Let's not take risks, just hold on for a few days, and the Great Ghost Lord will come over with reinforcements. ”

"The Han also have reinforcements, I heard that there are 100,000 of them," said Li, "there are not many Han soldiers on the other side, we should seize the opportunity to eat all these Han pioneers!" ”

Busu said: "If you want to go, my soldiers will not move." ”

"I'll go, I'll go!" Bili looked down on this uncle and thought that the uncle would not be able to fight.

Of course, Busu will fight, but his focus is not on whether to win the Han soldiers, but on preserving his own strength as much as possible.

Guan Sheng took more than 100 elites and ambushed from the northwest.

With 800 barbarian soldiers, he crossed the river from the southeast and detoured, intending to go to Zhu Ming's side to rob the camp.

The two will not collide, because the direction of the troops is completely opposite.

(End of chapter)