Chapter 180: Deng Ai's Story (5k)
Luoyang, Shangshutai.
A scribe from the Ministry of Personnel stood in the meeting hall of the Shangshutai and urged in an impatient tone: "You Pushe, the prime ministers are waiting for your opinion?"
You Zhao, the Minister of Rites, Shang Shu You Pushe, and General Zhendong, picked up his pen, but the tip of his pen was not dipped in ink at all, and there was not a single word on the blank silk.
The writer became a little impatient. The Menxia Province was more important than the Shangshu Tai. If it weren't for the fact that You Shangshu Pushe also served as Sanqi Changshi, this writer from an aristocratic family would have turned around and left.
However, he still suppressed his dissatisfaction and urged in a kind way:
"You Pushe, the chancellors of the Ministry of Personnel are waiting for your opinion?"
You Zhao put down his pen and said, "My opinion? If I ask the court to send troops to Liangzhou, will the court send troops to Liangzhou?"
The official quickly said, "The Queen Mother has issued an order. The treasury is empty, so it is better not to start a war again."
You Zhao snorted coldly and said, "If that's the case, then what else do you want me to write? The Western Regions are important in Dunhuang. If Dunhuang is lost, the Silk Road will be cut off. But didn't the prime ministers already agree not to send troops?"
The author lowered his head.
The message of the governor of Liangzhou asking for help was sent to Luoyang. The two kings of the Menxia Province usually fought fiercely, but they were surprisingly unanimous in their opinions on the war in the northwest - not to help.
The reason that Prince Qinghe gave to the Queen Mother was that Dunhuang was originally a barbarian land, so if it was lost, it would be lost, and the court could also save the money for stationing troops in the northwest.
King Jiangyang's reason was that it was too late to send troops from Luoyang to rescue, and the soldiers who went on the expedition needed rewards, and the national treasury could not afford so much money.
The Menxia Province reached a unified opinion. The so-called consultation with You Zhao, the former governor of Liangzhou, was more like an act of the two Wei princes shirking responsibility. Neither of them wanted to take the responsibility of actively abandoning Dunhuang, and hoped that this opinion would be submitted to the Shangshu Tai.
The Secretariat pushed this task to You Zhao, who was most familiar with the affairs of Liangzhou. He had served as the governor of Liangzhou and was familiar with the affairs of Liangzhou. The transformation of Dunhuang from a military state to a county was completed under You Zhao's leadership.
You Zhao was in Liangzhou for five years. That was during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, the golden age of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The Gaoche and Tuyuhun peoples were very respectful and often paid tribute to Luoyang from Liangzhou. Envoys from various countries in the Western Regions also came to pay tribute. Emperor Xiaowen personally planned the Siyi Hall to entertain these foreign envoys.
But now, only twenty years have passed, the Gaoche people have openly besieged Dunhuang, the Tuyuhun people have invaded Hezhou, and the envoys of the Western Regions countries no longer come to Luoyang, but instead pay tribute to the Hephthalites. You Zhao really wants to know what has happened to the Great Wei?
The official was really anxious. He said in a pleading tone, "You Pushe, please give me some advice and don't embarrass me."
You Zhao then picked up the pen. He remembered that a few days ago, Princess Chenliu's household steward brought gifts to visit him and wanted to ask for an official position for General Huqiang Su Ze.
It had been a long time since the report of the victory of General Su Ze, the Protector of the Qiang, in recapturing Xiping City had been sent to Luoyang, but his reward had not yet come.
The ruling King of Qinghe believed that Xiping City belonged to Liangzhou, and as the General Protector of the Qiang in charge of the affairs of the Qiang people in Hezhou, Su Ze was not within his responsibility to recapture Xiping.
King Qinghe believed that Su Ze had provoked border conflicts for the sake of merit, and that he had recovered Xiping because of his luck. If the court rewarded him, then next time Su Ze would go further and provoke a war with the Tuyuhun people for military merit, dragging the court into the quagmire of the Northwest War.
Therefore, King Qinghe not only opposed rewarding Su Ze, he even wanted the court to send an envoy to Hezhou to reprimand Su Ze.
King Yuanyi of Jiangyang, who was in direct conflict with King Qinghe, also argued that if Su Ze did not receive any reward for his outstanding contributions, all the soldiers in the border towns would become discouraged and unwilling to continue serving the court.
Therefore, Jiangyang King Yuan Yi advocated rewarding Su Ze and proposed to promote Su Ze's military position to General Anxi.
Four Garrisons, Four Expeditions, Four Peaces, and Four Ans were the official titles of generals in the Northern Wei Dynasty. General Anxi was one rank higher than General Huqiang. The land grants and exemptions from military service were increased, but the biggest benefit was that the number of official positions in the court that could be established and recruited was increased to ten.
If Su Ze was promoted to General Anxi, he could grant five more people genuine official positions in the court, which would be very attractive to Su Ze who was in urgent need of recruiting talents.
Su Ze cannot use the remaining titles for his wife and children for the time being, but it is also an honor from the court.
Prince Qinghe opposed it, but the promotion and appointment of officials was the authority of the Minister of Rites Cui Liang, so the matter was shelved.
You Zhao picked up the pen, wrote down his suggestions on the silk, and then handed it to the writer.
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Within the province.
The so-called prime minister sits and discusses the truth, so within the Menxia Province, the prime minister and the rulers all have fixed seats.
However, the prime minister system of the Northern Wei Dynasty was not as perfect as that of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The prime minister still served as an adviser to the "inner court officials", assisting the emperor or the empress dowager in handling government affairs.
However, Empress Dowager Hu did not have much ability to govern, so all the policies of the Northern Wei Dynasty now had to be stamped by the Menxia Province before being sent to the Shangshu Tai for execution.
After reading the suggestions written by You Zhao, Prince Qinghe Yuan Yi reluctantly handed them to Prince Jiangyang Yuan Yi beside him. After several prime ministers had read them.
King Yuanyi of Jiangyang said, "According to You Pushe's suggestion, we will transfer General Su Ze, the Protector of the Qiang, to General Anxi and lead troops to support Dunhuang. Do you have any objections?"
After Yuan Yi finished asking, the important officials of the Qinghe King's party fell silent.
You Zhao is the minister in the court who knows Liangzhou best. Since it has been determined that no troops will be sent to Hexi to quell the rebellion, it is not impossible to oppose You Zhao's suggestion. However, when opposing You Zhao's suggestion, you must put forward a more reasonable suggestion.
It was obvious that none of the ministers present could offer a better suggestion.
If nothing was done, no one, including the King of Qinghe, could bear the historical infamy of losing the border county.
Since You Zhao suggested that Su Ze go to support Dunhuang, if Dunhuang was really conquered by Gaoche, it would be the responsibility of Su Ze, the General of Anxi.
Thinking of this, Qinghe Prince Yuan Yi nodded slightly. Seeing Yuan Yi nod, Minister of Personnel Cui Liang also nodded.
The Menxia Province had rarely reached a consensus, and the officials immediately summoned the Hanlin scholars, drafted the Menxia Tangchu on the spot, gave it to Empress Dowager Hu for her seal, and then sent it to Hezhou by messenger.
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"Order the army to set up camp near the valley to rest."
Su Ze gave orders to his confidants, and the army of 5,000 people set up camp in front of the valley.
As the vanguard, Hou Jing led the team around the camp after the army set up camp. After confirming that there were no enemies nearby, he came to Su Ze's tent.
"General, there really is a passage ahead!"
Hou Jing was the vanguard all the way. He also captured a few nearby herdsmen to inquire. He only knew that they had crossed Qinghai Lake and were heading west along the Qilian Mountains, but he had no idea where they were going.
Could it be that General Su wants to go around to Dunhuang along the Qilian Mountains?
How can this be?
Since ancient times, the Tuyuhun region and the Hexi region have been separated by the Qilian Mountains, and there has never been any report of a connecting passage.
Unless they took a detour through the Western Regions and then turned back east to Dunhuang, they would have to cross the desert, and by the time they reached Dunhuang, it would have already been conquered.
The road that Su Ze took was rarely seen even among the Qiang tribes.
If Su Ze did not have a high prestige in the army, problems would have arisen within the army long ago.
A few days ago, Su Ze began to send scouts to search the mountain pass, and Hou Jing actually found an entrance to a valley today.
Hou Jing also discovered traces of human activities at the entrance of the valley, and he immediately determined that this was an ancient road.
Is there really a passage that crosses the Qilian Mountains and enters Hexi?
After listening to Hou Jing's description, Su Ze confirmed it through the system map and the report sent by the scouts and followers, and confirmed that this was the mountain pass he was looking for, the Dangjin Pass from Tuyuhun into Dunhuang.
Apart from the Dadouba Valley, this is one of the only two mountain roads in the Qilian Mountains that can accommodate a large army.
If you cross the Qilian Mountains from Dangjin Pass and head north, you will reach Dunhuang not far away!
After establishing a stronghold in Xihai County, Su Ze sent scouts and followers to search for Dangjin Pass along the Qilian Mountains.
Just last month, two scouts finally crossed the Dangjin Pass and arrived near Dunhuang City. They submitted a report to Su Ze and marked the route on the system map.
Su Ze's scouts also asked the Qiang tribes near Qinghai Lake. Some tribes also had legends that there was a valley in the Qilian Mountains leading to the Hexi Corridor, but no one could point out the location of the valley.
Although there are traces of human activities in the valley, only a small number of caravans know about this "shortcut".
Neither the Qiang people, Tuyuhun people, nor the Han people in the Hexi Corridor who lived in this area knew of the existence of this valley.
It was not until the scouts saw Dunhuang City and confirmed that the valley could accommodate a large army that Su Ze decided to set off.
He was going to cross the Dangjin Pass, appear behind Dunhuang, and surprise attack the Gaoche people!
Just like when the Tibetans attacked Dunhuang 200 years later. Yes, when Jinshankou was mentioned in history books, it was during the An-Shi Rebellion more than 200 years later.
At that time, the growing Tubo Dynasty had already annexed Tuyuhun and took control of the entire plateau.
After occupying Tuyuhun, Tubo began to covet the fertile Hehuang Valley and Hexi Corridor.
What the Tibetans coveted most was naturally the city of Dunhuang, the pearl outside the Great Wall.
At that time, the Tibetan people, led by their Dalun (Tibetan Prime Minister) Shang Qixiner, gathered in the Tuyuhun area, then crossed the Dangjin Pass into the Hexi Corridor, besieged and captured Dunhuang!
From then on, Jinshankou was known to later generations as a strategic channel.
The Tibetans also built stone forts at the entrance and exit of Dangjin Pass, named them Big and Small Stone Forts, and sent troops to garrison them, so that they could station troops on the plateau and control the Hexi Corridor.
Although he found the entrance to Dangjin Pass, Su Ze still did not relax.
The scouts and their followers passed through the mountain pass, crossed the Qilian Mountains and reached the Hexi Corridor, but this did not mean that the main army could pass through.
The reports submitted by the scouts also mentioned that the valley was full of thorns, the highest points were breathtaking, and some roads were even covered with ice and snow all year round.
All this shows that there is a high-altitude road across Dangjin Pass, which is very dangerous and may cause a large number of non-combat casualties.
But the risk is worth it.
From the intelligence gathered by Su Ze, the main force of the Gaoche people were all near Yumen Pass, and the one besieging Dunhuang was just a small force.
With the elite level of Su Ze's army, it would be easy for them to pass through Dangjin Pass, enter the Hexi Corridor, and defeat the Gaoche troops that were besieging Dunhuang.
Once the siege of Dunhuang is lifted, the offensive and defensive situation will immediately change. The Gaoche people, who are sandwiched between the Yumen Pass in the middle of the Hexi Corridor, will be trapped between the two cities of Dunhuang and Jiuquan and become the besieged party.
At that time, whether to force the Gaoche army to surrender or directly defeat them would depend on Su Ze's decision.
After resting for a day at Dangjin Mountain Pass, Su Ze summoned all the soldiers and explained the purpose of this trip to them.
When they heard that Su Ze was planning to cross the Qilian Mountains and raid the army besieging Dunhuang, the eyes of Hou Jing and other generals lit up.
The military officers who were willing to come to Hezhou, including Hou Jing, all wanted to achieve success.
With such a huge achievement in front of everyone, how can everyone not be excited?
Su Ze couldn't help but sigh, it was worthy of being the Northern and Southern Dynasties when martial virtue flourished!
Since the army's morale was high, Su Ze ordered the officers to explain the plan to the soldiers and announced that there would be a generous reward as long as they crossed the Qilian Mountains and entered the Hexi Corridor. He also ordered the soldiers to slaughter livestock, eat their fill, and take dry food into the mountains!
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Ten days later, Dunhuang.
Linghu Qiu, the defender of Dunhuang, has not slept for a whole day.
Originally, yesterday was the day that the nearby Ganliangxi Army had agreed to deliver livestock.
However, he had been guarding the city wall for a whole day and did not see the Ganliang West Army breaking out, so Linghu Qiu began to have bad guesses.
After taking a short rest in the city gate, Linghu Qiu indeed received some bad news.
When he climbed up to the city gate, he saw a group of Gaoche cavalrymen holding spears with several Han heads stuck on them. They rode arrogantly around the Dunhuang city gate just to let the defenders on the city wall see the heads clearly.
"General Linghu! That's Captain Zhang!"
A soldier of the new Ganliang Army who entered the city recognized a head. It was Captain Zhang of the Ganliang Western Army who gathered near Dunhuang to support Dunhuang.
The new army of Gan and Liang was scattered in the Western Regions, and their leaders were all titled as colonels. This colonel Zhang claimed to be a descendant of the Zhang family of Former Liang and was active near Gaochang and other countries.
It is said that the previous operations to support Dunhuang were all planned by Captain Zhang.
But now he had his head chopped off and was impaled on it by the Gaoche people and paraded around the city as a warning to the public. Linghu Qiu was filled with anger and ordered his men:
"Whoever shoots the rider will be rewarded with a piece of silk!"
Sparse arrows fell on the city wall, but they were all dodged by the rider. He found that he had attracted the attention of the soldiers guarding the city, so he approached the city wall even more arrogantly, holding the head on the spear high to provoke the defenders on the wall.
Linghu Qiu snatched the longbow from a soldier beside him, pulled the bow quickly, and a flying feather shot out, but it deviated by a few inches and missed the target.
This is already a pretty good shooting skill, but the luck is a little bit bad.
The rider also knew that there was an archer on the city wall, so he immediately controlled his horse to retreat and soon left the shooting range of the archers on the city wall.
Linghu Qiu let out a long sigh. If he hadn't spent a whole day on the city wall and his hand hadn't shaken when he drew the bow, the arrow would have shot the arrogant rider off his horse.
But now he could only watch the other side escape, and he couldn't even collect the bodies of his comrades.
No, I have to cheer up.
Linghu Qiu knew the importance of morale when defending a city. He was about to boost the morale of the soldiers defending the city, but suddenly heard his adjutant say:
"Military commander, over there!! The military flag of the Wei Dynasty!"
Linghu Qiu was just about to refute his deputy. Where were the Wei army near Dunhuang and where did the Wei military flag come from?
But when he turned his head, he really saw a black military flag on the horizon!
Linghu Qiu looked into the distance and could vaguely see the word "Su" on the military flag.
He rubbed his eyes. Su? Was it Su Ze, the famous general who protected the Qiang in Liangzhou? How could he appear near Dunhuang?
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Under the military flag, the cloak behind Su Ze had several holes in it, and the armor on his right hand was also missing.
The cavalrymen behind him also seemed to have uneven armor. Su Ze's personal storage was too small, with only ten grids in total. The only things he brought intact across the Qilian Mountains were ten sets of armor for the cavalrymen.
Crossing the Qilian Mountains from Dangjin Pass was not as smooth as expected.
There is a snowy mountain area in the mountains with an altitude of up to 3,000 meters. The roads are dangerous and slippery on a daily basis.
Su Ze ordered the soldiers to cut off their clothes and tie them around the feet of the people and horses so that they could pass safely.
The most difficult part of the journey is a steep downhill section.
This mountain road was really difficult to walk on. In the end, Su Ze could only wrap his body with a felt and lead the way down the mountain before he finally crossed the Dangjin Pass.
Su Ze also sent soldiers who were familiar with the nature of horses to drive the horses down the mountain. What made Su Ze sad was that nearly half of the war horses were lost before the battle even started.
After crossing Dangjin Pass, Su Ze counted the number of soldiers and found that 300 of the 2,000 regular soldiers had been reduced, and the losses of the auxiliary soldiers were even greater.
Su Ze had no time to feel sad. He just hid at the exit of the valley for one night and immediately ordered the entire army to rush towards Dunhuang City.
The Gaoche people only defended the Yumen Pass east of Dunhuang and Gaochang City west of Dunhuang. They obviously did not think that enemies would emerge from the boundless Qilian Mountains south of Dunhuang. Su Ze approached Dunhuang City all the way without encountering a single Gaoche scout!
Su Ze's army smoothly followed the Ganquan River that flows through Dunhuang and came across the Gaoche people's camp of wooden Gaoche gathered on the edge of Dunhuang City.
Su Ze put down the telescope in his hand. He saw the head of the Han people stuck on the spear, suppressed his anger and said: "Who will destroy that cavalry?"
This time Wang Hui said immediately: "I am willing to go!"
Su Ze nodded and said, "There is no mercy in this battle, go!"
Wang Hui led a group of cavalrymen with excellent archery skills and rushed out of the crowd and suddenly rushed towards the retreating Gaoche cavalry.
The spears in the hands of these cavalrymen were stuck in their heads. The leading cavalry captain had already sensed something was wrong. He was just about to throw away the spear and replace it with a bow and arrow when Wang Hui pierced his chest with an arrow, shooting him off his horse with his spear.
The head of Captain Zhang of the Ganliang West Army rolled on the grass and fell in front of the captain of the Gaoche cavalry. The battlefield was so cruel that the Gaoche cavalry, who had just been showing off their might, were completely wiped out.
Su Ze looked at the camp formed by the Gaoche people's wooden vehicles and waved his hand to order: "Cavalry charge, throw torches into the camp, and light it up!"
(End of this chapter)