Xuande

Chapter 842 Zhang Fei seems to have some brains?

On the 23rd of the first month of the third year of Zhenguan, Dong Zhuo and Zhao Qi led troops to raid the former King's City of Cheshi.

It was said to be a royal city, but in fact it was just a masonry and earthen city with no defense. The Han army's cavalry roared in and quickly killed all the troops in the city. They went straight to the palace and killed the king of the Hou Kingdom and his royal family. All captured and tied up.

After that, without caring about anything else, he took all these people outside the city and beheaded them directly. In less than an hour, Che Shihou's country was wiped out.

Then Dong Zhuo sent people to Dunhuang to tell Zhang Fei and asked him to send people to take over the post-war affairs of Che Shi's country. At the same time, he also sent a large number of captured trophies back to Luoyang to let Liu Bei know about their treatment of Che Shi. By the way, I told Liu Bei the reason why the Hou Kingdom went to war, saying that the Han army won another battle.

Then, he had the heads of the royal family behind the chariot division processed, and sent a small group of cavalry to take the banner of the Han envoys and these heads to set off first to "pass on the head" to the country he was going to. .

The purpose of this is naturally to let the rulers of these countries know the consequences of disrespecting Han envoys, and to give them a little bit of a deterrent to the Han Dynasty.

Walking all the way to fight is a bit unsightly and expensive. Dong Zhuo feels that he is patrolling the Western Regions, not going to fight in the Western Regions. If he really wants to go all the way to fight, he does not respect the profession of "Han Envoy", and it is also a bit unfair. I have too much respect for Zhang Fei, who is going crazy with the desire for war.

Dong Zhuo is now Da Honglu and Luoyang Two Thousand Stones. He does not rely on military merit for promotion, but relies on political performance. If he insists on military merit, he will easily offend Zhang Fei.

Given the relationship between Zhang Fei and Liu Bei, offending Zhang Fei was not a good choice, so Dong Zhuo felt that he had to be more restrained and not fight unscrupulously.

So it can reduce a little trouble. There is no need for the army to use military means to solve things that can be solved with a head. Taking the initiative to give in after seeing the head is the best outcome. Hello, I am good, everyone.

If we really get to a country where even the sight of a head makes you feel indifferent, then it’s time for Zhang Fei to take action, and it’s not the time for Dong Zhuo to take action.

The first team roared away. Dong Zhuo and Zhao Qi rested for a while in the Cheshihou Kingdom until Zhang Fei personally led his troops to the Cheshihou Kingdom.

"Is this going to be destroyed?"

Zhang Fei felt very depressed when he looked at the King's City behind the chariot with the Han army's flag and the prisoners who looked shriveled.

Dong Zhuo and Zhao Qi had achieved military success in destroying an entire country in the blink of an eye, but as a general, he had received no credit and had gained nothing. This felt very unpleasant.

Although this is not a big country with great combat effectiveness and scale, and it is indeed not difficult to destroy it, it is still a military achievement to destroy a country.

Zhang Fei felt that he should replace Zhao Qi and personally lead people to follow Dong Zhuo all the way?
In this way, if there is a war, we can fight it in time, right?
So Zhang Fei told Dong Zhuo this idea, and Dong Zhuo was very depressed after hearing this.

"General Zhang, under your Majesty's order, I came to inspect the Western Regions to promote the country's prestige. It is not for the purpose of fighting. I can only say that there are people who are ignorant and insult the majesty of the Han Dynasty. As an envoy of the Han Dynasty, of course I cannot tolerate it, but the purpose of this trip The purpose is to allow the countries in the Western Regions to send envoys to pay tribute and restore the power of the Han clan leader, not to destroy the country."

Zhang Fei patted Dong Zhuo's shoulder.

"Old Dong, I understand what you mean. How can I not understand? But the problem is that I am afraid that some people are ignorant, just like this King of Car Masters. How can he not know about the Han envoy? He just owes Beat him up, seek death, what can you do? Then at this time, my role will come into play.

You said, instead of sending people back to find me when you encounter trouble, I will also lead people to prepare and go on the road. This comes and goes. If something happens in the middle, a month or two will pass. During this time, you If I encounter any danger and no one is alive, Your Majesty asks, what should I do?What do you think? "

Dong Zhuo blinked, but he didn't jump out of Zhang Fei's logic.

"Ah, this..."

"Okay, okay, old Dong, don't say anything. This time, I will accompany you! I will escort you all the way to Dawan. I want to see who else dares to despise the Han envoy!"

"But you can't mobilize the army to fight without the permission of the Privy Council. Moreover, you are the commander-in-chief of the entire army. If you leave your post without permission, what will you do if His Majesty gets angry?"

"…………"

Zhang Fei suddenly felt aggrieved.

But Dong Zhuo really hit the mark on the rule that he least dared to violate.

Dong Zhuo didn't say anything else, and pulled Zhao Qi away quickly, leaving Zhang Fei with a complicated look on his face to lead troops to clean up the battlefield, sort out post-war affairs, and wait for the report from the court.

There is no way that as the general of the army, he has no freedom of his own.

Zhang Fei failed to follow him, but Dong Zhuo and Zhao Qi followed the previously planned route to the country of Che Shiqian.

The Cheshi Front Kingdom and the Cheshi Later Kingdom were originally one country, but when the Ban family was running the Western Regions, the Cheshi Kingdom also split. The north was controlled by the Northern Huns and became the Cheshi Hou Kingdom, and the south was controlled by the Han Empire. The forces took control and became Cheshi's former country. They were hostile to each other and often fought with each other.

Later, the forces of the Eastern Han Empire successfully defeated the forces of the Northern Xiongnu, so the Cheshi Hou Kingdom lost its backer and was conquered by the Han Empire. It also became a vassal state of the Han Empire.

Compared with the complicated experience of the Che Shi Hou Kingdom, the Che Shi Qian Kingdom was a bit clearer. It was the dog leg of the Han Empire from the beginning.

Not to mention that the entire Che Shi Hou Wang family had been played by Dong Zhuo and Zhao Qi. Looking at the processed heads of that large family, which looked very distinctive, the King of Che Shi Qian still dared to say what?

As soon as he heard that the Han envoy was coming, he went out of the city to greet the Han envoy in person. He used his bad qualities to the extreme, fearing that Dong Zhuo would be dissatisfied. Even the thousand Han cavalry became his guests and immediately Serve them hot meals and delicious drinks, treat them to a feast, and then ask them why they came.

Knowing that Dong Zhuo came to inspect the Western Regions and promote the country's prestige, the king of Che Shiqian was very depressed.

You said that you, the old man, came to patrol the Western Regions to promote the national prestige, so just promote it. As for using so many heads to promote the national prestige?
Of course, he didn't dare to say such words. He could only say good things, saying that the Han Dynasty had cut off contact with their country for more than ten years. The whole country was eager for the return of the Han Empire. The whole country was eagerly waiting for it. The edict of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty was sent here so that these wanderers could find their true hometown.

This king seems to be quite good at Sinology, and he still has some ink in his belly. At least he has more literary talent than Dong Zhuo, a gangster who made his fortune by killing people.

So Dong Zhuo was very happy after hearing his flattering words. He laughed and praised him, and by the way, he severely scolded the idiots in Che Shi's former country.

Later, after reaching the news of sending people to Luoyang to pay tribute, Dong Zhuo and Zhao Qi soon stayed and headed south to the Moshan Kingdom.However, before setting off, the king of the Cheshiqian Kingdom told Dong Zhuo that the Moshan Kingdom, as well as the Weixu Kingdom and Yuli Kingdom they were going to, were actually now similar to the vassal states of the Yanqi Kingdom.

The Yanqi State was once a relatively powerful country with fighting capabilities. During the late Western Han Dynasty and the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the Yanqi State repeatedly opposed the forces of the Han Empire and killed many officials and troops of the Han Empire.

Later, when Ban Chao pacified the Western Regions, he led more than 6 coalition forces from various countries in the Western Regions to attack Yanqi, Weixu and Yuli, and won victory, and then Yanqi was pacified.

However, although the Yanqi Kingdom was pacified, not long after, the Northern Xiongnu became powerful, and the Yanqi Kingdom fell to the Northern Xiongnu again, and continued to oppose the Han Empire. The Han Empire suffered a lot from this country.

Later, the Yanqi Kingdom was severely hit, and it calmed down for a while. It became the younger brother of the Han Empire for a while. At the beginning of Liu Hong's accession to the throne, the Yanqi Kingdom also followed the Han Empire officials to attack Shule Kingdom.

However, with the decline of the Han Empire, its influence on the Yanqi Kingdom also gradually declined. After the Liangzhou Rebellion, the Yanqi Kingdom felt that it was okay again.

So the Yanqi Kingdom fought everywhere, giving full play to its advantage in fighting. It fought various wars and acted as monsters. It successively exerted influence on its former little brothers Moshan Kingdom, Weixu Kingdom and Yuli Kingdom, and turned them into vassal-like states again. It exists like a country, which means that there are no tigers and monkeys in the mountains to dominate.

Therefore, what the king of Cheshiqian State meant was that if Dong Zhuo and the others wanted to exert influence on the three small countries of Moshan, Weixu and Yuli, they would definitely not be able to avoid Yanqi State, which had a population of more than 5 and claimed to the outside world. There are 2 people capable of fighting. They are a fighting nation in the Western Regions and are very fierce.

Moreover, the Yanqi Kingdom has a mountainous border and dangerous terrain. It is easy for him to hit others, but it is often difficult for others to hit him. Otherwise, when Ban Chao faced the alliance of Yanqi Kingdom and other three countries, he would not have needed to use more than 6 coalition troops in the entire Western Region to act. .

The king of Che Shiqian Kingdom hoped that Dong Zhuo and others would be more careful and not capsize in the ditch.

Dong Zhuo naturally listened to his kindness.

When he was an official in the Western Regions, he had heard a lot about the strong backbone of the Yanqi Kingdom. Now that he saw that the Yanqi Kingdom had returned to the posture of the Ban Chao era, he felt that this was probably not something that his 1000 people could solve.

After thinking about it, he felt that it was necessary to talk to Zhang Fei about this matter. Before he left, he found Zhang Fei and asked for details.

Zhang Fei naturally felt that there was nothing to be afraid of. How could a small country with a population of more than 5 people still need to worry?
Can 2 people fight a war?

I'm afraid it won't be all men, women, old and young!
How effective are these 2 people?

But having said that, Zhang Fei also realized that it would be a bit difficult to exert influence on these four countries that have vague signs of alliance at the same time with only Dong Zhuo's 1000 people.

Therefore, we cannot just rush forward rashly and ask them to surrender and pay tribute. We must at least let them see the strength of the Han army and carefully weigh their own importance.

The troops approved by the Privy Council for patrolling the Western Regions were in one battalion. Dong Zhuo and his deputy initially used 1000 troops each. In other words, Zhang Fei could still use 1000 troops for Dong Zhuo in a short period of time. .

The Three Thousand Han Cavalry did have enough influence during the Western Han Dynasty or during the Ban Chao and Ban Biao eras, and they could indeed mobilize the armies of the Western Regions to fight a grand proxy war with their small and large powers.

However, as time has passed, the influence left by the Ban family to the Han Empire has been almost worn away. The newly born Third Empire needs to reopen its situation in the Western Regions. A small-scale war may not be enough. A series of larger-scale wars are also needed. Only through fighting can the pattern of [Father of the Western Regions] be finally established.

For so many small countries in the Western Region to call each other "Dad", what is definitely needed is to use force at the level of annihilation against any country.

Now, the Third Reich has not proven that it has that level of force. Zhang Fei, who has the ability of a general, is fully aware of this fact.

Zhang Fei realized that if the Yanqi Kingdom had no idea, these 2000 people might be able to get things done, but if the Yanqi Kingdom made up its mind to be an enemy of the Han Empire and wanted to be the monkey overlord, it would be very difficult for the two thousand Han army to do so. Difficult to use.

But marching and fighting requires more than just superior force. Proper use of strategy and diplomacy is also very meaningful.

In these years, Zhang Fei was not only training soldiers, but also doing his best to understand the history and current situation of some countries in the Western Regions. Although he did not know much, Zhang Fei was the one who struggled to survive among the great powers and forces. understand.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Fei had an idea.

"I have an idea. Don't go to Yanqi State first. Go to Moshan State, Weixu State and Yuli State first, and let these three countries surrender to the Han Dynasty first. Yanqi State is warlike, tyrannical and ungrateful. I think the three countries are intimidated by Yanqi State. Because of their power, they were forced to follow the Yanqi Kingdom, rather than sincerely wanting to follow the Yanqi Kingdom.

If the Han Dynasty returns to the Western Regions, these three countries will definitely not be willing to continue to follow the Yanqi Kingdom. They will definitely have more ideas, so you can take this opportunity to cut off the Yanqi Kingdom's arms first. Later, if the Yanqi Kingdom knows the stakes, It would be best if you take the initiative to surrender and don't go against the big man.

If the Yanqi Kingdom is ignorant and insists on going against the Han Dynasty, you have two thousand cavalry, plus the armies of the three countries, you should be able to fight against the Yanqi Kingdom for a while. During this period, I will send people to Luoyang to report this to Your Majesty. To do things, strive to get the right to act expediently, increase troops to the Western Region, and strive to destroy them in one battle! "

Seeing Zhang Fei sketch out this action plan that sounded very feasible in a short period of time, Dong Zhuo was amazed. He felt that this rough-looking man was not just a guy who only knew how to use force. It seemed that he was also capable of using force. Have some brains?
What surprised him even more was the captain Zhao Qi.

Zhao Qi put forward some opinions on Zhang Fei's plan.

"Although your suggestion is very good, I think there is one thing that I have to guard against."

"where?"

"Although the Moshan, Weixu, and Yuli Kingdoms were probably forced to follow the Yanqi Kingdom due to their fear of force, no one can guarantee that the Han envoys will immediately abandon the Yanqi Kingdom and choose to follow the Han."

Zhao Qi said slowly: "The soldiers and horses of the Han Dynasty are thousands of miles away, and the soldiers and horses of the Yanqi Kingdom are right in front of us. Although the Han Dynasty is powerful, the Yanqi Kingdom is definitely not an opponent, but there are still a few people who are threatening their lives right in front of us. Can we ignore it? The Yanqi Kingdom cannot destroy the Han Dynasty, but it can still threaten the Three Kingdoms.

I think that if you want to persuade the Three Kingdoms to abandon the Yanqi Kingdom and follow the Han Dynasty, you must at least make the Three Kingdoms believe that the Han Dynasty has the strength to protect them from the Yanqi Kingdom. This is exactly what we do not have at the moment. Therefore, we must take a safe approach. , maybe we should wait until the army sets off from Dunhuang, and then go to the Three Kingdoms to lobby. "

After Zhao Qi finished speaking, Zhang Fei fell into deep thought, while Dong Zhuo looked at Zhao Qi in surprise.

Is this what a captain can say?
Is this the kind of insight a captain can have?
Moreover, could a subordinate captain actually raise objections to the general's strategy and refute the general's views?

(End of this chapter)