Chapter 509: First aid is like putting out a fire

Chapter 509: First aid is like putting out a fire

  Chapter 509 Rescue is like fighting a fire

   "Could it be that if you don't keep your promises, you want to make a comeback once you are free?" Qin Lang asked.

Old Tieqiang said wearily, "That's not true. The Libu was originally a small tribe, but during the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, by chance, they took advantage of the opportunity to occupy the territory of Songzhou. This happened a long time ago. It makes many surrounding tribes jealous, and even the Dangxiang Tuoba Department, which Libu is attached to, is eyeing it with covetous eyes."

   "The other big tribe of Dangxiang Qiang, the fine-sealing department, even tried to fight Songzhou several times, but the Tuoba department pushed them back."

   To put it bluntly, Libu, a small tribe of several thousand people, was able to get Songzhou at the beginning.

  The two major tribes of Dangxiang Qiang, Tuoba and Xifengbu, were of equal strength and refused to let each other take advantage of each other.

  When Libuli was surrendered to the Tang people and the news of the loss of Songzhou was spread, the various tribes of the Qiang people began to move around.

The leader of the Tuoba tribe, Tuoba Chici, is the most powerful of the eight tribes of the Dangxiang Qiang. He has a strong army and is the son-in-law of Tuyuhun Khan Fuyun. When Fuyun challenged the Sui Dynasty and was beaten to death by Yang Guang, He also fled to the Dangxiang Tuoba Department at the foot of Jishi Mountain for refuge. It was also at that time that Murong Fuyun married his daughter to Tuoba Chici.

  Since then, the relationship between the two has gone further and is very stable.

  In the early years, when the Tang Dynasty was just founded, Fu Yun took advantage of the civil strife in the Sui Dynasty, so he took his son-in-law Tuoba Chici and others together to successfully restore the country, and took back all the four Qiemo counties established in the Sui Dynasty.

  At that time, Datang only occupied the part of the Middle East River. In order to unify the Central Plains earlier, it acquiesced in Tuyuhun's restoration of the country.

   After this cooperation, Fu Yun asked Li Yuan to send Prince Murong Shun back to Tuyuhun. In order to get Tuyuhun's support, Li Yuan returned Murong Shun, who had been sent to the Central Plains as a hostage during the Sui Dynasty.

  Afterwards, the two sides opened border markets and tea-horse trade with each other.

   The relationship was once close.

  But ever since Prince Murong Shun returned to Tuyuhun, Fu Yun didn't have any worries. Seeing that Tang was getting stronger and stronger and eliminated many heroes one by one, he couldn't help worrying.

  What if after the Tang dynasty came to rule the world, they would come to exterminate Tuyuhun like Yang Guang?

  After all, Fu Yun suffered this kind of loss once. At the beginning, Yang Guang defeated Tuyuhun once, and established the four counties of Haixi in the old place of Tuyuhun.

  In this context, Fu Yun began to fight against the Tang Dynasty. At first, he asked Datang to marry the princess, and then proposed that Datang reward Tuyuhun with Shanzhou and Kuozhou in the northeast of Qinghai and south of Guwei Nanshan.

   Of course, it was impossible for Datang to agree to this unreasonable request.

   You know, Shanzhou and Kuozhou, this is the most fertile Hehuang Valley, and it is also the most suitable land for farming near Tuyuhun.

   With this piece of Hehuang Valley, the Central Plains Dynasty had food guards on the border. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to give up this place.

  Fu Yun neither asked to marry the princess, nor wanted to go to the Hehuang Valley, so his relationship with the Tang Dynasty broke down. After that, he united with various tribes of the Qiang nationality and invaded the Longyou and Hexi borders year after year. Over the past few years, he has invaded more than 20 times.

  Datang also had a headache about this.

  But at that time, the main enemies of the imperial court were those heroes in the Central Plains and the Turks in the north. That was the worry in their hearts.

Although the imperial court has been tolerant, this has also led to the arrogance of Tuyuhun and the Qiang people, who invaded and plundered again and again. Now every autumn when the horses are fat, Tuyuhun joins the Qiang people to start robbing across the border. They regard this as a It's a way to get rich.

  All the tribes were very excited about the robbing, and when all the tribes were proud, they also began to look down on Datang, thinking that Datang was nothing more than that.

  The Qiang River (Bailong River) in the north of Songzhou separates the two roads of Longyou and Jiannan, and the Minshan Mountain in the west separates the Qiangs such as Dangxiang.

In the past, although the Libuli tribe occupied the Songzhou area, but every time the Qiang invaded after autumn, many Qiang people who invaded Jiannan in the southwest direction also used Songzhou as their bridgehead. This is the forward base, and even used as a loot transfer warehouse after looting.

  Now that Songzhou is suddenly robbed by the Tang people, the Qiang people are naturally unwilling.

  In the past, the Tuoba Department and the Fine Seal Department, which had wanted Songzhou for a long time, felt that the opportunity was once in a lifetime. In the past, Songzhou was in the hands of the Balibu, and everyone was afraid of each other. What the Xifengbu feared was that the Libu was a vassal of the Tuoba tribe, so they had to be wary of the Tuoba tribe.

   And the Tuoba tribe is not easy to directly grab the territory of their own vassal tribes.

   Now it’s all right, this land belongs to the Tang people, so there is no scruple to make a move, whoever grabs it first will own it.

  Who wants you to control the territory if you can't hold it.

It was against this background that when the news spread that Libuli had lost Songzhou and belonged to the Tang people, all the Qiang in the west of Minshan Mountain began to mobilize, especially the Tuobabu and Xifeng tribes. Fast, mobilized the most people.

  Songzhou is located at the northern end of Jiannan, adjacent to Longyou and Qinghai. This is an important transportation and strategic point.

  For the Qiang people who invade almost every year, this is the place they must pass through for robbery and invasion.

   "Uncle Zhang came back from Songzhou, how many days has he been on the road?"

   "I didn't catch the delay, and I only walked for ten days on the road."

In order to save time, he didn't walk the way he came here. Instead, under the leadership of Balibu's guide, he went northeast, crossed the snow-capped mountains, entered Fuzhou, and then went down the Baishui, passing through Wenzhou, and Baishui merged into the Bailong River From here, transfer to a boat and go down the river to Lizhou, then go up the Jialing River, pass through Fengzhou, Xingzhou, pass Sanjin, and enter Guanzhong. After arriving at Chencang, go straight to Chang'an along the Weihe River.

   On this road, we travel day and night, racing against time, and dare not stop at all.

  Ten days, almost without sleep, finally rushed back to Chang'an.

  Qin Lang was shocked after hearing this. Unexpectedly, it only took about ten days, and it was really like flying.

   "How was the situation over there before Uncle Zhang came back?"

   "When I left, I also persuaded Alang that he might as well avoid the Qiang people for a while, but Alang insisted on going his own way, so I had no choice but to rush back to ask for help."

Although Qin Qiong defeated Balibu and even subdued them, even Zhang Tieqiang didn't dare to say whether Bailibuli really belonged to him. .

  Qin Qiong now controls the two cottages of Jiacheng and Jiaochuan. Although they are more dangerous, Qin Qiong only has five hundred soldiers capable of fighting.

  Even if some people will go there later, the journey is inconvenient, and not many people will go there, and those who go again will be slaves and refugees, not soldiers.

   It is indeed very dangerous.

  Even if the entire tribe of the Libu is really loyal and assists in the defense, Qin Qiong is not easy to defend, but the problem is that these newly attached Libu are not credible at all.

   It is necessary to guard against not only the Qiangs, but also the Bali tribe.

   In this battle, Qin Qionghao has no chance of winning.

   Taking out the map, Qin Lang made a simple estimate.

  Even if it is the shortcut of Zhang Tieqiang coming back to ask for help, it is still a long way.

   From Chang'an to Chencang, this section is relatively convenient. But after leaving Sanguan, it is not easy to leave. It is said that the road to Shu is difficult to go to the blue sky. In fact, it refers to the section of the road that passes through Hanzhong and enters Sichuan after leaving the pass and going south.

  If you just report the letter like an old iron gun, then of course there are many shortcuts to copy. After all, even if it is a difficult path and a mountain road, it is not a big problem to walk alone.

   But if it is a march, it must carry luggage, etc., which requires the ability to pass carts and horses.

   It has always been a dangerous road to go out of Sanguan and take the Chencang Road. Exit Sanguan from Chencang to the southwest, follow the valley road in the upper reaches of the Jialing River (Gudaoshui) to Liangquan, Fengzhou, turn southwest along the Gudaoshui River Valley, pass through Liangdang and Hechi to Xingzhou Shunzheng, connect Jushui Road to Hanzhong, and then turn to Jinniu Road into Sichuan.

  Even if you can turn from Lizhou to the northwest and go from the north to Songzhou without passing through Chengdu, it will be at least 1,200 li.

   "Can't you go by water, after leaving Sanguan, go straight to Lizhou along the Jialing River, and then go up the Bailong River to Fuzhou?"

   It was Qin Lang's righteous son Cunxiao who spoke.

"It's certainly possible to look at the map, but in fact, although the Jialing River originates from the Qinling Mountains, it flows from Sanguan to Lizhou and joins the Bailongshui River, and then rushes all the way south until Yuzhou joins the Yangtze River, and finally flows out to the sea. On the upper reaches of the Jiabo River, there are many dangerous shoals and rapids, and even after Xingzhou joins the Xihan River, there are still many rapids and rapids."

   It is precisely because of this that the ancients entered Shu through Hanzhong and had to develop plank roads such as Chencang Road and Jinniu Road. It's not that the ancients didn't know how to use water transportation, it's just that the upper reaches of Jialing are really difficult to navigate.

  The real navigable section of the Jialing River starts from Lizhou (Guangyuan). From the Lizhou section, the Jialing River enters the flat Sichuan Basin. Therefore, the river channel is wide and the water flow is gentle, which is suitable for navigation.

  But in the upper reaches of Lizhou, whether it is the Bailong River or the Jialing River, only part of the river is navigable.

  While marching and fighting, transporting food and grass, it is more stable and safe to take the plank road.

"The beaches on the Jialing River are full of beaches, and the beaches are all ghost gates. If you go around in half a year, nine out of ten boats will be destroyed. Only dare to sail in a certain section of the upper reaches of the gentle river, which makes the value of water transportation in the upper reaches of the Jialing River very low, and it is not suitable for transporting troops and food."

   You can’t go by water, you have to take Chencang Road and Jinniu Road to Lizhou, which will be very time-consuming.

  Emergency is like putting out a fire.

"The current strategy is that it is impossible to transfer troops and transport food and grass from Chang'an." Qin Lang stared at the map, and finally hit the location of Lizhou with his fist, "We can only transfer troops from Lizhou nearby. Help with this."

Qin Lang got up, "I'll go back to Chang'an first, and ask the crown prince for a seal letter of soldiers. When I get a letter of seals for soldiers, Zhang Chao, you immediately go to Lizhou with my handwritten letter to meet Duke Ying, and ask him to mobilize troops and prepare food and grass immediately." .”

   "Uncle Zhang, you've worked hard all this way, now go take a shower and get a good night's sleep, and leave the rest to us."

  (end of this chapter)