Chapter 720: The cold weather in Northeast China
In the spring of the second year of Yanxing, when the farming season in Hebei had just ended, Ma Di couldn't wait to station his army in Nanpi. After making logistical preparations for the battle, Ma Di immediately led 20,000 Han troops and began an expedition to Liaodong.
Liaodong is a small enclave that Ji Han has not recovered yet.
Not only is this place far away from the Central Plains and sparsely populated, but the environment is extremely harsh. So in theory, there is no need to take it back, just let the Sima family fend for themselves here.
But it is obvious that Ma Su does not accept the theory. He does not want the Sima family, the great enemy, to live in such a stable life. So he launched a final expedition brazenly and decided to completely wipe out the Sima family in the second year of Yanxing.
This time, Ma Di dispatched 20,000 Han troops, and most of them were veterans of Guanzhong. Among them were three thousand cavalry, generals Ma Dai, Wang Ping, and Xiahou Ba who was eager for revenge.
In addition to this group of accompanying generals, Zhuge Liang also sent Chief Shi Yang Zhun to supervise the army. Before leaving, Zhuge Liang personally dropped all official duties and came to see Ma Su off.
"You Chang, since you have made up your mind, I won't say anything. Don't worry and go and recover Liaodong. I'm still here for a day, so there won't be any problems in the court."
Listening to Zhuge Liang's words, Ma Di always felt strange. Looking at the Prime Minister's eyes as if he was saying farewell, Ma Su felt an indescribable sense of disobedience.
It looked like...it seemed as if the Prime Minister was more convinced that I would die in Liaodong than I was.
However, Ma Su agreed honestly and replied with a smile,
"Prime Minister, I have been fighting in the south and north for twenty years, and my life is still tough. It's just Liaodong, nothing more than that."
Zhuge Liang shook his head slightly, his face still serious, without any smile.
Finally, with the worries of the entire Han Dynasty, Ma Su led his troops on an expedition to Liaodong.
Ma Di first led his troops to Yijing. After resting for two days in Yijing, the Han army began to advance northeastward. And soon, Ma Di understood where Zhuge Liang's worries came from.
Ma Su started his Northern Expedition at the end of Hebei's agricultural season, and it was almost summer. But not long after Ma Di led his troops and left Yi Jing, the temperature began to drop rapidly.
It seems that in just a day or two, the weather has already become cooler. And as the Han army continued to advance, the temperature continued to drop.
And the most important thing is that there is almost no city in the entire Liaozhong corridor from Yijing to the east of Liaodong. The Han army marched for half a month and had to eat and sleep in the open almost every day. This was a huge drain on the morale of the Han army.
Fortunately, Ma Su was prepared for this. Not only did he prepare winter clothes in advance, but the Han troops he led were all veterans of Guanzhong. After a difficult march, the morale of the Han army declined significantly.
"Tsk... I finally understand why Master Sima regards this as his last stronghold. If it were anyone else, he would give up after just a few calculations."
Ma Su was wearing a thick winter coat, feeling the temperature in the Northeast during the Little Ice River Season, and couldn't help but sigh.
With the road conditions and temperature, it can be said to be full of debuffs. However, Liaodong has a small population and is far away from the center. No one is willing to engage in such a loss-making business.
"It's true. It's much colder than Xiliang..." Ma Dai beside him couldn't help but said,
"But it feels like the weather has been getting colder over the years, and it's probably getting harder and harder to live in northern Xinjiang."
As a mixed breed of Han and Qiang, Ma Dai is very sensitive to things like temperature. He knew exactly what falling temperatures meant to the prairie peoples.
"That's right, the big man's life will probably not be easy in the future." Ma Di shook his head gently, knowing this well.
The Little Ice Age is not yet halfway through, and the climate will become colder and colder in the next two hundred years. By then, Ji Hanke will have to face the impact of the nomads from northern Xinjiang who are frantically heading south in order to survive.
Fortunately, looking at it now, Ji Han is much better than the Western Jin Dynasty in history, and there will probably not be any chaos in China. As for how far Ji Han can go, this is not something Ma Di can interfere with.
Take it one step at a time.
"Speaking of which, how far is it from Liaodong?" Ma Di returned to the topic and asked while turning over the map.
"We will reach Changli County in two days, which is... the frontline outpost of the Liaodong rebels."
Ma Dai originally wanted to call Master Sima and others Wei thieves. But suddenly I thought that the Cao Wei clan was dead, so I thought for a while that I could only call him a Liaodong rebel.
"That's not far away. I order the whole army to take a good rest and recuperate for the next two days!"
"At that time, I will personally lead the troops to charge, achieve a quick victory, and then directly attack Pingxiang!"
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Two days later, the Han army successfully arrived at Changli County, the forefront of Liaodong. To Ma Su's surprise, two cities rose up from the ground at empty spots on the map, blocking the Han army.
In these two cities, a large number of soldiers were already in full formation.
This is obviously Master Sima's work.
There were a total of five counties in Liaodong, among which the Sima family placed its governance in Pingxiang, Liaodong County.
This place was originally Gongsun Yuan's territory, but was later recovered by Sima Yi. Unexpectedly, it became the last stronghold to protect the Sima family.
After the fall of Yecheng, Sima Shi fell into coma and the entire Hebei Province collapsed. Under such a disadvantage, Sima Zhao and Yang Hu did not dare to defend Yijing. After gathering the remaining troops, they immediately fled to Liaodong and breathed a sigh of relief when they fled to Pingxiang.
In the end, there were only more than 2,000 troops who followed the Sima family to escape. Including the original garrison in Liaodong, the total number was less than 10,000.
The only good news was that Sima Shi was not dead and woke up again. However, the head of the Sima family, who was in his prime, seemed to have all his hair turned white overnight.
In any case, they were temporarily safe. With the last bit of Sima's family, Sima Shi officially became king in Pingxiang and was called King of Yan, which gave his troops a sense of belonging.
After becoming king, Sima Shi immediately deployed his troops to guard Changli County. There, there were many fortifications that Sima Shi had repaired long ago.
The two cities that Ma Su saw were repaired by Sima Shi a few years ago. These two cities were stuck on the road of the Han army and looked extremely troublesome.
"Envoy, it seems that we have to fight a tough battle here first." The military supervisor Yang Zhun looked a little disappointed and said to Ma Su helplessly.
"But I think you don't need to fight this battle yourself. I am enough." Ma Dai suddenly interrupted and confidently asked Ma Su to fight.
However, Ma Su shook his head slightly and smiled inexplicably.
"No need to go through so much trouble. We can just go around it!"