Chapter 716
The war finally ended when it was just dark. Thirty thousand Di Hu cavalry were killed, and more than 10,000 left were all prisoners of war. Not only that, nearly 200,000 Di people, young women and children also became prisoners of the Han army. The Han army seized millions of sheep and tens of thousands of war horses, and won the first great victory of the battle against the Hu people since the establishment of the Jiangxia Army, and defeated the Eastern Di tribes in one go.
It was already dark, and a group of men and women Di people were disarmed and escorted to the open space behind. Two hundred thousand people sat on the grassland and cried helplessly. They were like more than 200,000 lambs waiting to be slaughtered. They had no choice. Their fate would be decided by the Han army, and there were eight thousand Han cavalry guarding them around.
Hundreds of Di nobles were imprisoned in another large tent, and all Yang Qianwan's brothers and nephews were killed. These nobles were the leaders of various tribes. They were even more afraid and waited for the arrival of a moment of killing in despair.
In the central army's tent, Liu Jingzheng discussed the resettlement of these Di people, and it was obviously not realistic to kill all these unarmed women and children, nor was it the tradition of the Han army. The current differences are how to resettle them, whether to move them into Shu, integrate with the Han people, or let them stay in Longxi and restore their former lives.
Liu Jing prefers to move them into Shu, but Pang Tong and Fa Zheng agreed that they should be left in Longxi. Pang Tong said: "Have you ever thought about it? There are also Qiang people, Tuyuhun people, Xiongnus, Xidi people and other Hu people in Longxi. If you move these Eastern Di people, the gap left will be filled by other Hu people immediately, which will encourage other Hu people to be strong. It is better to let them stay in Longxi, diversify the Hu people in Longxi, and also help our rule. The key is to turn these Hu people into sheep, turn Dihu people into Di sheep, and become our people, which is beneficial to our source of war horses and livestock."
"Shi Yuan said it well!"
Fa Zheng also added: "They are Hu people and are accustomed to nomadic life. If they move them to Shu, whether they can adapt to farming is still the same. The key is mostly women and children, and the government also needs to spend money and food to take care of them. Instead, it increases the burden on local officials. If it involves land division, it will also cause hostility among the Shu people and lead to conflicts. I don't agree with forcing them to be sinicized. You should take it slowly."
Liu Jing nodded, then turned around and asked Ma Chao, "Where is Meng Qi's opinion?"
Ma Chao said lightly: "The borders of the Han Kingdom are all the people of Your Highness, why bother with Han Hu?"
Seeing that the three of them were not advocating for moving the people, Liu Jing stopped insisting, so he said to the guards: "Go and find several elders of the main tribes."
Soon, five elderly tribal elders were taken into the tent. They knelt down and cried, "I beg His Highness the King of Han to spare our tribe's lives and not kill us!"
"I didn't want to kill anyone, but you have been enemies with me and helped the evil and abuse it. It's your own fault!" Liu Jing said sternly.
An old man in the head kowtowed and said, "Report to your highness, we are also coerced by Yang Qianwan. He bewitched our young herdsmen, saying that the Han army wants to steal our ranch, take our wife and daughter, and kill us old people. The young people are deceived by him and fight against the Han army in order to protect their wife and children's hometown. They are by no means born to be enemies with the Han army. As long as your highness gives us a chance, we are willing to surrender your highness and become your highness's people."
"We are willing to surrender to Your Highness!" The elders behind responded one after another.
Seeing that the old man had a clear mind and fluent Chinese, Liu Jing asked, "What's your name? Which tribe elder is it?"
"Report to your highness, the young man's name is Agui, and he is the leader of Qiuchi's tribe."
Ma Chao next to him added: "Qiuchi tribe is the second largest Di tribe after Xingguo tribe, and Elder Agui is trustworthy."
Liu Jing pondered for a moment and said, "Since you are willing to be the people of the Han Kingdom, I will no longer kill you. I can let you live and not take your property. But I have two conditions. First, you must fulfill Yang Qianwan's promise and offer ten thousand war horses and 300,000 sheep to the Han army. Secondly, all aristocratic young men under the age of fourteen must go to Chengdu to study, and can return to Longxi after the age of eighteen."
The five old men were extremely excited and kowtowed, and the leader Agui said, "We fully agree to the request of the King of Han. In addition, we still have many horses in the Xishan Ranch. We are willing to select another 20,000 horses to offer to His Highness the King of Han!"
Liu Jing was quite satisfied with their attitude, so he nodded and said, "Since that's the case, sheep can be reduced to 100,000. From today on, Agui will be the king of Di and replace Yang Qianwan. In addition, the Han army will protect you from bullying by the Qiang people."
Five old men looked at each other and the Han army actually agreed to protect them from the bullying of Qiang people. All five said in tears: "If we had known that the Han King was so kind, why would we have to be deceived by Yang Qianwan? So many children were killed and injured in vain? We swear here that we will never have two hearts and wish to be the people of the Han Dynasty for generations."
Five old men cut their wrists and dripped blood and swore. Liu Jing was overjoyed and officially named Agui as the King of New Di. That night, Liu Jing ordered the release of the Di people and returned their property. More than 200,000 Eastern Di people packed up their tents and property amid the cry of gratitude. Under the leadership of the King of New Di Agui, they drove the flock to their hometown pasture.
The Han army then killed sheep and cooked wine, rewarded the three armies. After two days of rest, 50,000 Han army continued to advance westward, and rushed towards the city of Kuohan and launched an offensive against the Western Di people.
The Western Di people are different from the Eastern Di people. Song Jian, the leader of the Western Di people, was a powerful Han Han in Longxi. He started a riot in Kuanghan thirty years ago and gradually conquered more than 200 tribes of Western Di and Tuyuhun people in the Hehuang area. He established an army of 80,000 people, repeatedly defeating the officers and soldiers who came to fight for the suppression. In the end, the imperial court acquiesced his existence.
Song Jian hated the Han Dynasty and established himself as the King of Han, established a royal government, enthroned the queen and prince, and established officials such as Shangshu, Shizhong, and governed the local area. He was actually a separatist regime that had existed for 30 years.
The city of Kohan is a solid stone city with a circumference of more than ten miles. It has built a magnificent palace and the residences of ministers. There are thousands of slaves who serve them. There are countless gold, silver and jewelry piled up in the underground palace of the palace, as well as mountains of precious fur. There are also 30,000 troops stationed, with a large amount of food in the warehouse, which is enough for the army to eat for a year.
Song Jian first wanted to join forces with Yang Qianwan to deal with the Han army's attack, but because of their deep hatred, and Yang Qianwan was confident that he could defeat the Han army, their alliance was not reached. At this time, Song Jian had already received the news that Yang Qianwan was defeated and died. He was deeply frightened and immediately ordered his two sons Song Qi and Song Lin to use his golden arrows to rush to various tribes and summon troops to support Kuohan City.
But the situation seemed to be a little bad. Five days had passed, but reinforcements from various tribes had not arrived for a long time. Song Jian paced back and forth on the city wall with his hands, as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
Song Jian is about 60 years old this year. He was of medium figure when he was young and was not very handsome. Now he is over 60 years old and has become a thin old man. He is wearing a royal robe woven with golden silk and jade strands and a crown with hundreds of gems. Although he is thin, he has dozens of wives and concubines, and has hundreds of children. He has countless wealth. Perhaps because his children have too much wealth, he has too much concern and cannot leave Kuohan City.
At this time, a soldier pointed to the distance and shouted: "Prince, the second prince is back!"
Song Jian lay on the battlements and looked down. He saw his second son Song Lin fleeing back in a panic with more than a dozen people. He was stunned. How could there be no army? He immediately ordered: "Bring him to see me!"
Soon, several guards took Song Lin to the city. Song Lin knelt in front of his father and cried loudly, "The child was almost killed and could not see his father again."
"What happened, tell me!"
"The child went to summon the Di army, but Agui sent people to send letters to the tribes in advance, telling them not to resist the Han army. These tribes believed Agui's bewitchment and refused to send troops again. Instead, they imprisoned the child and prepared to present it to Liu Jing. Thanks to the entourage who tried to save him, the child fled back."
Song Jian was stunned when he heard this. He still hoped that the 30,000 troops of the Di people would come to help, but now it was gone. He was very anxious and turned around and ordered: "Send people to Huangzhong to pick up the eldest son."
As soon as he finished speaking, another cavalry fled back in the distance, but it was the eldest son Song Qi's entourage. The entourage shouted in horror under the city: "Prince, something happened to the eldest son."
The eldest son Song Qi is Song Jian's most beloved son, the prince who inherited his career. When he heard that something happened to his eldest son, Song Jian's eyes turned dark and almost fell down. He held the battlements and quickly ordered people to bring his entourage. The entourage knelt on the ground and shed tears and said, "We followed the eldest son to Huangzhong to order Tuyuhun to send troops, but they refused to send troops in every possible way. We had to come back. On the way, we encountered a Han cavalry. The eldest son was shot to death by arrows. Most of the brothers died, and only a few escaped."
Song Jian shouted and fell on his back. The guards quickly woke him up. Song Jian cried like rain and gritted his teeth: "I, Song Jian, don't be a human being!"
He took off his robe, put on his armor, and led 30,000 troops to patrol the city day and night. Although Song Jian was the king of Western Di, the cavalry had to rely on the Di people and Tuyuhun people. Now both families were unwilling to send troops, which caused him to lose the support of the cavalry. There were less than a thousand war horses in the city, and most of the soldiers in the city were Han infantry. Song Jian knew that the 30,000 troops in the city were not rivals of the Han army, so he could only rely on the tall, solid and sufficient food and grass of the city to confront the Han army. In the end, the Han army would retreat without fighting.
This is the secret of Song Jian's repeated defeat of the imperial army for decades. It has been tried and done. This time, he still had to use this secret to defeat Liu Jing's Han army, and then deal with the Di and Tuyuhun people who dared to betray him.
On the afternoon of the seventh day, the main force of the Han army finally appeared, and waves of war drums came faintly from afar. The huge Han army gradually drove towards the city of Kuanghan. Song Jian shouted: "All troops are in place, archers are ready!"
Chapter completed!