Chapter 410: The war is on the rise again, unification is coming [Subscription Request]

Liu Bei went south and returned to the front line, and began to intensify his military operations against the barbarians.

At this time, Meng Huo had gathered many Yi tribes in the south and announced that he had an army of 100,000 and was ready to fight with all his might.

"What's the situation of the tribes entrenched in western Yizhou?"

In the study of Yecheng, the ministers of Cao Wei were preparing to use military force against Yizhou.

"The western part of Yizhou is mountainous, with ethnic groups living in separate settlements. It's difficult for our spies to infiltrate, and we can only gather some peripheral information."

Jia Xu and Guo Jia made suggestions in turn:

"We all believe that if Meng Huo surrenders to Liu Bei, it may bring about corresponding changes."

Meng Huo was the largest barbarian leader in southern Yizhou.

His surrender will serve as a weather vane and will affect more than just the forces under his own command.

At that time, the tribes around Yizhou will unite around Meng Huo and become vassals of Liu Bei. Within Yizhou, they will form a faction.

This solved the problem of the surrounding tribes not trusting Liu Bei.

Because the people who led them out became the local forces headed by Meng Huo.

From this perspective, Meng Huo's surrender will further promote changes in the situation in Yizhou and move it towards the direction that Cao Cao expects.

Use Liu Bei to integrate Yizhou and reduce the instability and resistance after its return.

Cao Cao asked again: "What are the nobles in Jingzhou and Jiangdong who fled to Yizhou doing now?"

"They gathered all their resources to help Liu Bei."

Facing the strong pressure from Cao Wei, Yizhou is currently united from top to bottom, and internal conflicts have not yet emerged.

But as soon as Cao's army arrives and the war begins, at a critical juncture of life and death, the independent clans will immediately become a huge hidden danger.

"It's March and the weather is warm. The time is almost right. Let's move the food and fodder first and head south."

Jia Xu, Guo Jia and others agreed in unison, looking excited.

The battle to reclaim Yizhou and unify the country is here.

……

Yizhou, Ba County.

in the afternoon.

The nobles from Jiangdong who had fled to Yizhou were gathering in a mansion.

Sitting in the main seat were the heads of the Jiangdong gentry, Zhu Li, the head of the Zhu family, and Zhang Huan, the head of the Zhang family.

It is worth mentioning that Kong Rong was sitting below the two men.

He joined in voluntarily.

If Cao Cao really attacks, no one in this room will survive.

In the past few years, Cao Cao has eliminated a large number of gentry. Even if they choose to surrender, there is a high probability that they will be killed by Cao Cao.

This forces them to use all their strength to struggle for survival.

Given their class and position, it was impossible for them to coexist with Cao Wei.

The nutrients, food, and financial resources obtained by eliminating them were one of the sources of support for Cao Wei's military operations over the years.

“We are in Yizhou and have no news.

I just learned that Cao Wei had defeated the Xianbei not long ago. Now that the external enemy has been eliminated, Wei will definitely try to conquer Yizhou next."

Zhu Li's square face was filled with solemnity, and his eyes were bloodshot.

The only benefit that Cao Wei's step-by-step advance brought to these aristocratic families was unprecedented unity.

"Do you have any strategy to deal with the ferocious Cao Wei and protect our families?"

After fleeing to Yizhou for more than a year, Zhang Huan's hair turned completely white:
"You all should know that if Cao Wei occupies Yizhou, our family will be destroyed and our people will perish."

“Liu Yizhou is in the south, and he will probably be able to defeat the southern barbarian tribes soon.

But even if Yizhou gets the Nanman soldiers, it will be difficult to compete with Cao Wei."

"We must each contribute our own strength and fight Cao with all our strength."

All the nobles remained silent.

If we had any means to deal with Cao Wei, we would have used them long ago and would not have ended up in this situation.

The head of the Lu family, Lu Mao, was in his early fifties, had a goatee, and was of average build:

“I heard that the Xianbei troops that marched south a few months ago were the main force of the Central Xianbei, more than 100,000 men, and they were all defeated by Cao Wei.

The bodies of the Xianbei people were burned on the grassland for many days, and the remaining bones could still be piled up like a mountain. "

"Even the Xianbei were defeated by Cao Wei. No matter how hard we try, I'm afraid it will be difficult to deal with Cao Wei.

In my opinion, it is better to surrender, maybe there is still a glimmer of hope."

Zhu Li and Zhang Huan looked at Lu Mao with gloomy eyes:

"Is this the solution you came up with to deal with Cao Wei?"

"Have you forgotten what happened to our Jiangdong Gu and Lu families?
The two heads of their family were captured by the Wei army in Jianye and beheaded on the same day.

You can't see the attitude of that butcher Cao Cao. He doesn't accept our surrender at all and wants us to die.

If you want to surrender, you are going to die!"

Lü Mao said sadly: "What will happen if we don't surrender? If we could resist Cao Wei, we wouldn't have come to this point.

We Jiangdong gathered all our strength and led Zhou Yu as our commander, but we still lost.

The Xianbei had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, but they were defeated. Can you defeat them?"

"I have an idea."

A voice suddenly sounded.

Everyone looked over and saw that it was Kong Rong:

"It is true that the Wei army is strong. Since we cannot defeat them head-on, we can attack them from behind."

Ever since the entire Kong family was exterminated, Kong Rong has been thinking about revenge on Cao Cao all the time.

He expressed his thoughts one by one:

"Cao Cao built granaries all over the country to store grain.

In addition, Cao Wei obtained all the war horse resources in the world and obtained additional resources from the northwest and the Western Regions. But their horse farms were fixed.

There are not many places in our Han land suitable for raising horses.

In Jiyou Prefecture, Guanzhong and Hexi, large horse farms are concentrated in these places. "

"Especially in Hexi Horse Farm, there are many businessmen and travelers coming and going from the east and the west, and there are many people, so there must be loopholes that can be exploited."

Zhu Li and Zhang Huan looked at each other. What Kong Rong said was a solution.

If it is difficult to defeat Cao’s army head-on, then we can attack them from behind and secretly.

If they could really destroy the food supplies, or poison the horses, they could kill a large number of Cao Wei's war horses.

At least it can alleviate some of the hatred in my heart and cause Cao Wei to suffer heavy losses.

Poisoning the horses can also have a great impact on the cavalry of the Wei army. In subsequent battles with foreign tribes, they are likely to suffer defeat. It can also be regarded as using the hands of foreign tribes to avenge the Kong family and the extermination of many aristocratic families.

This was the only strategy Kong Rong could think of that could potentially destroy Cao Wei.

During this period, he tried every possible means to contact various parties through letters, but no one responded to him.

He and the emperor were trapped in Yizhou and unable to get out, so they joined the gathering of the gentry.

I want to use the nobles to do something.

After all, these noble families still have some family background and connections outside.

There are many business travelers coming and going at Hexi Horse Farm, so it is not impossible to get close.

It's better than doing nothing.

Kong Rong told him the direction, and Zhu Li and Zhang Huan gave him a look, meaning that they would discuss it in detail later.

After a while, many nobles dispersed.

And that very night, a bloody incident occurred in the city.

During the gathering of the gentry, Lu Mao, the head of the Lu family who suggested surrender, was found dead in his own study.

The Lu family's wealth and property were subsequently divided up among other noble families.

No one knows exactly who did it.

But some gentry speculated that it was Zhu Li, or Zhang Huan, or it was possible that both of them were involved.

Lu Mao surrendered in public.

His death was a warning to all families. Anyone who dared to propose surrendering to Cao at this time would have to die.

For some people, they must tie other nobles together in order to have a chance to fish in troubled waters and protect themselves.

While many noble families were secretly plotting, Liu Bei was defeating various barbarian tribes south of Yizhou.

The troops of the Nanman King Meng Huo joined forces and fought against the Yizhou army, but were defeated successively by Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and Wei Yan.

end of March.

Meng Huo fled to the mountains, but was once again pursued by the troops led by Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

Meng Huo evacuated in a hurry, but Zhuge Liang predicted the evacuation route.

Wei Yan sent troops to cut off his retreat and captured Meng Huo alive.

Up to this point, Meng Huo had been captured several times since he started fighting with the Yizhou army, and had not won a single battle.

The defeat of the Nanman soldiers was mainly due to equipment problems.

The Shu army had bows and crossbows and complete armor. After all, they were the troops that Liu Bei inherited from Liu Zhang.

The southern barbarian soldiers went into battle almost shirtless, and no matter how brave they were, they would end up in a miserable defeat.

Meng Huo was captured again and had no way to retreat.

Every time he was defeated by Liu Bei or Zhuge Liang, his prestige suffered a severe blow.

After being captured alive by Wei Yan, Meng Huo, even though he was still unwilling to accept it, had no choice but to choose to surrender.

Liu Bei was overjoyed when he learned that Meng Huo had finally surrendered.

This battle further enhanced Wei Yan's status and reputation in addition to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

During the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, Wei Yan was one of the top two or three first-rate generals below the top-notch generals.

His bravery made Liu Bei, who was short of generals, feel more trustful of him.

Liu Bei's attention allowed Wei Yan to enter the core circle of Yizhou.

The surrender of the Southern Barbarian King Meng Huo greatly increased Liu Bei's strength and reputation.

He immediately took the newly surrendered Meng Huo back to Ba County, the core of Yizhou.

Liu Bei took advantage of Meng Huo's appeal among the Nanman and other tribes and issued imperial edicts to inform all tribes.

The edict said that he was willing to coexist peacefully with the tribes surrounding Yizhou, give up land, and jointly manage Yizhou.

Last time, Liu Bei took out the land of Zitong County to attract the surrounding tribes.

Although there were some results, the surrounding tribes lacked trust in him.

Even if some tribes came out and entered Zi Tong to participate in farming, they were cautious and did not come out in full.

But this time with Meng Huo's involvement, the situation changed.

With Meng Huo's status among the southern barbarian tribes, it would be easier to gain the trust of these tribes with his endorsement.

Ten days passed in a flash.

At the beginning of May, Liu Bei, along with Meng Huo, met and discussed with many tribes in Zitong.

Yizhou gave away some land and divided it equally among these tribes.

The nearby tribes have the common responsibility to protect Yizhou.

At this time, Yizhou had the newly joined troops of the Southern Barbarian Meng Huo, as well as many tribal coalitions.

Together with the existing Yizhou army, its power was greatly enhanced.

Liu Bei could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

In mid-May, he was in Ba County and once again invited many Yizhou tribes to gather together to strengthen their ties.

At the same time, the Yizhou army began training day and night.

Liu Bei was well aware that Cao Wei was watching him covetously, so he was eager to increase his strength regardless of the cost.

Cao Cao, who was firmly seated in Yecheng, saw clearly the series of changes in Yizhou.

Some things were secretly pushed forward by him, which enabled Yizhou to smoothly form its current situation.

At the same time, Cao Wei's troops also began to advance southward.

The battle for unification is about to begin.

Cao Cao also prepared to march south from Yecheng.

But before setting off, some changes occurred to the war drum.

In the study, Cao Cao was squinting at the Kui Lei drum.

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(End of this chapter)