Chapter 282: The strategy may be old, but it works
The counter-espionage tactic is old, but it is really useful.
Hu Chen and Mo Zhe Tiansheng are two rebel forces, and they are nominally friendly forces.
Mozhe Tiansheng was known as the Heavenly King. He also accepted the recruitment of Po Liu Han Kongque and announced that he would respond to the banner of the "True King". He was also regarded as the Guanxi branch of the Six Towns Uprising Army.
After Hu Chen left Gaoping County, he also went to Jingzhou at the suggestion of Po Liu Han Kongque, and also raised the banner of "true king".
The Qinzhou rebels and the Jingzhou rebels, in theory, both responded to the "True King's" command, but in fact they were centrifugal forces in Qinzhou and Jingzhou, who went public using the "True King's" shell.
In other words, these are two affiliated companies, but in fact the company management and operating rights are independent.
After Hu Chen started his rebellion, he only reached a verbal agreement with Mozhe Tiansheng to form an alliance.
But in fact, Jingzhou and Qinzhou are intertwined, and the two sides have had a lot of friction in the competition for land, population and water resources.
Su Qinmingda is an old subordinate of Hu Chen. If he defected to Mo Zhe Tiansheng, the fragile trust between Hu Chen and Mo Zhe Tiansheng would probably be broken.
This is what the Guanzhong rebels were like in history.
Mozhe Tiansheng, Hu Chen and Wanqi Chounu successively wreaked havoc in Guanzhong, but the relationship between them was one of mutual cooperation and mutual attack.
To put it bluntly, these rebel forces are all ambitious people from one state or one prefecture. They are local rebel forces established with clan and tribe as the bond. They are local tribal leaders themselves. The reason for their uprising is the interests of their respective tribes. They have no slogans or programs that can unite everyone. Once these local warlord rebels can no longer defeat the government troops, they will attack and annex each other.
Su Ze agreed to Su Liang's plan and asked Su Liu ([Ordinary Golden Sword Messenger]) to join Li Xian's pursuit team to persuade Su Qinmingda to join Mozhe Tiansheng's rebels.
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Su Qinmingda didn't run far.
After Su Qinmingda was imprisoned by Yu Jin, his old subordinates were dispersed and incorporated by Yu Jin using various methods, and there were not many of them left.
Later, Su Ze led his troops to Gaoping and incorporated several armies. Su Qinmingda was left with only a few dozen loyal tribal soldiers.
The ones who followed Su Qinmingda to escape this time were these dozens of die-hard tribal soldiers.
After receiving Su Ze's military order, Li Xian immediately led the cavalry in Yongle City to pursue and soon caught up with Su Qinmingda's team.
Along the way, Li Xian ordered his soldiers to constantly harass and gradually wear down Su Qin Mingda's morale. He also used his numerical advantage to consume the strength of Su Qin Mingda's army and continued to drive them away.
Su Qinmingda's team was like a hunted beast and was exhausted in less than three days.
This was also a set of military tactics that Li Xian developed when he was building Yongle City, after learning from the bandit tribes in Xiazhou.
Su Qinmingda was forced into a deserted village, when Li Xian suddenly asked to talk to him.
Although Su Qinmingda didn't know what Li Xian was up to, all his followers were members of the tribe, and every loss would make him feel sad. No matter why Li Xian wanted to negotiate, Su Qinmingda was willing to talk no matter what the cost, as long as he could save his troops.
Li Xian rode on a horse, and across the small river in front of the village from Su Qinmingda, Li Xian said:
"I am also an old acquaintance of General Su Qin. General Su treated the general kindly, so why did he rebel?"
Su Qinmingda also lowered his head. To be fair, Su Ze did not treat him badly.
Seeing Su Qinmingda lowering his head, Li Xian continued according to what Su Liu taught him:
"For the sake of our old acquaintance, I am willing to let Su Qinjun go, but you cannot go to Jingzhou."
Su Qinmingda raised his head and looked at Li Xian, asking doubtfully:
"Why!?"
Li Xian said:
"No reason. General Su is about to attack Jingzhou. I don't want to see General Su Qin on the battlefield. Then there will be no chance for me to let you go."
Hearing what Li Xian said, Su Qinmingda's eyes turned, and he was ready to pretend to agree. At worst, he could go to Jingzhou after arriving in Qinzhou.
But Li Xian's next words made Su Qinmingda a little shaken again.
"General Su has already issued an order to drive the Qiang tribes in Gaoping County to Qinzhou. The tribe of General Su Qin is among them. Mo Zhetian in Qinzhou is also a Qiang. He should treat your tribe well."
After saying this, Li Xian turned around and left with his army.
After Li Xian's army left, Su Qinmingda's left and right bodyguards looked at the gradually dissipating smoke in disbelief. They thought he was doomed to death, but how could he have survived in such a miraculous way?
The guards on both sides came up and asked Su Qinmingda:
"Military Lord, are we really going to Qinzhou?"
Su Qinmingda had originally gone to join his old boss Hu Chen without hesitation, but Li Xian's two words just now made him hesitate.
Qiang people.
Hu Chen was a Xiongnu, Wanqi Chounu was also a Xiongnu, but Su Qinmingda was a Qiang.
In the Northwest, ethnicity is important and unimportant at the same time.
In fact, the customs and habits of Su Qinmingda's tribe and Hu Chen's tribe are almost the same, and they are all Chinese-speaking Hu people. But at some times, this identity determines everything. For example, in Hu Chen's circle, Su Qinmingda is not as close as Wanqi Chounu. Hu Chen will communicate with Wanqi Chounu first on many confidential topics.
There was no way. During the time of the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China, people of various ethnic groups in Guanzhong, a breeding ground for poisonous insects, had been fighting for hundreds of years. Deep blood feuds had already been formed between ethnic groups. The most trustworthy people were still the brothers from their own tribe.
But Mozhe was born as a Qiang.
Su Ze drove the Qiang tribe of Gaoping County southward into Qinzhou. If he also entered Qinzhou, wouldn't he be able to use these Qinzhou Qiang people to form a team and join Mozhe Tiansheng's team with the capital?
Moreover, when Su Qinmingda was in Gaoping County, he had already heard of the reputation of the Mozhe family.
Among the many rebel forces in Guanzhong today, Mozhe Tiansheng's force has the most brilliant record. They have occupied Qinzhou and Qizhou, and defeated Xiao Baoyin's government troops.
Su Qinmingda looked around. He only had a few dozen riders left. He was afraid that even if he went to his old boss Hu Chen, they would not be able to use them.
Su Qinmingda gritted his teeth and said to his left and right:
"A real man keeps his word. Let's go to Qinzhou!"
After Li Xian led his troops away, he asked Su Liu beside him:
"Military Advisor Su, will Su Qinmingda really go to Qinzhou?"
Su Liu smiled and said:
"Of course I will go. Su Qinmingda only has so many people left. It will be difficult for him to be reused if he goes to Jingzhou. Li Canjun's words only reminded him of his Qiang identity."
After a while, Li Xian received a report from the scouts in ambush that Su Qinmingda was really leading his troops towards Qinzhou.
Now Li Xian admired Su Liu even more, but he was also afraid. This kind of strategist who played with people's hearts always made military generals like Li Xian uncomfortable. What if he was also used in his tricks someday?
Su Liu looked towards Jingzhou and said:
"The next step is to spread the news and tell Hu Chen of Jingzhou that his old subordinate Su Qinmingda was recruited by Mo Zhetiansheng of Qinzhou and has changed his allegiance and joined Qinzhou."
"When Hu Chen is defeated and retreats back to Jingzhou, he will hear the news and will fight Mo Zhetiansheng to the death?"
Li Xian shuddered. These scheming counselors were really dirty!
He secretly made up his mind that he must not offend Su Liu, but also keep his distance from him.
This guy can plot against anyone, and I don't want to be plotted against by him.
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Su Liu's prediction was correct. Hu Chen had just defeated the government troops of Beihai King Yuan Hao in Shayuan. Before he had time to be happy for too long, he heard the news that Yu Jin was leading his troops south.
Hu Chen was imprisoned by Yu Jin in the past, so when the two enemies meet, they are naturally jealous of each other.
Moreover, Hu Chen had just defeated the government army and was feeling very proud of himself, so he didn't take Yu Jin seriously at all.
Hu Chen had been pursuing the King of Beihai's army to Huayin City, the capital of Huazhou. When he was preparing to besiege the city, he heard that Yu Jin was leading his troops south. He immediately abandoned his plan to besiege Huayin City and led his troops north to meet the enemy.
Yuan Hao, the King of Beihai in Huayin City, felt both relieved and angry when he saw Hu Chen leading his troops away.
What he was thankful for was that Hu Chen stopped attacking the city, but what made him angry was that Hu Chen didn't take him seriously at all and actually bypassed him to fight Yu Jin!
However, he did not dare to ask Beihai King Yuan Hao to leave the city to attack Hu Chen, and in the end he watched Hu Chen go north.
On the way north, Hu Chen heard that Yu Jin had only 3,000 cavalry, while on his side, including the defeated army of Jin Wei that he had incorporated and the captured and surrendered government troops, he had a total of 10,000 regular soldiers.
If the auxiliary troops driven by the army were included, Hu Chen could easily claim to have 50,000 men. Faced with such a numerical advantage, Hu Chen looked down on Yu Jin even more.
He didn't even send scouts to intercept and kill the enemy's scouts. He didn't hide his whereabouts at all and went straight to meet Yu Jin's army.
Next, Hu Chen encountered a battle that he would never forget.
Yu Jin is the most skilled military officer under Su Ze.
He comes from a family of military generals. He has loved reading military books since he was a child and has been trained at the grassroots level in the military.
After making friends with Su Ze, he received a military book lent to him by Su Ze. After marriage, his wife Li brought a summary of the experience of leading troops written by her grandfather Li Chong.
Yu Jin's experience in leading troops was honed bit by bit by combining books with practice.
If Hou Jing, who changed his career late, relied on his talent and bravery in his blood, and was a martial arts genius like Duan Yu, then Yu Jin, who had both natural talent and hard work, was a martial arts genius like Qiao Feng.
A hard-working, humble and self-disciplined general, who led Su Ze to build an elite cavalry with countless money, food, high-level followers and veterans, facing a rebel army like Hu Chen with undisciplined troops, it would be strange if he could not defeat Hu Chen in one battle.
On March 25th of the first year of Xiaochang, Yu Jin led 3,000 elite cavalry and defeated Hu Chen's 10,000 rebels head-on!
Hu Chen fled back to Jingzhou with only a thousand cavalrymen, and Yu Jin did not pursue him. Instead, he led his troops south to Tongguan to meet Princess Chenliu's wedding party.
However, Yuan Hao, the King of Beihai in Huayin City, was once again ignored by Yu Jin, and the army bypassed Huayin City and went south.
(End of this chapter)