On the north bank of Huangshui, in Baima Bay, 20,000 Han soldiers lined up along the river, murderous.More than 30,000 Qiang people were blocked in the narrow triangle between the Huangshui and the Haoqian water, and the people were panicked.The trumpets sounded one after another, and the old and weak women and children rushed to gather in the middle, and the young and strong men held weapons and galloped on horses, and lined up around, ready to fight.Several tribal leaders got together and while pointing fingers at each other, they arranged a line of defense.They were all tribes who refused to accept Mei Gao's suggestion and were bent on joining forces with the Huns.After Mei Gao was refused, he didn't say anything, he left at that time, and these tribal leaders didn't take it too seriously.Their pastures were closer to the Han realm, and after hearing about the floods in the Han Dynasty, they felt that the Han army was just pretending and it was unlikely that they would really go to war.Riding into Qiang with 40,000 paces is obviously somewhat absurd.The nearby large and small Qiang tribes add up, if not 200,000, there are 100,000, it is really not good, drill into the mountains, the Han army will not find them, and in less than a month, they will leave.They never expected that the Han army not only really went to war, but also arrived at their station in only three days.In a hurry, they had to drag their families and families to migrate, preparing to avoid the limelight and wait for the Han army to leave and come back.Once again, they miscalculated, and the Han army pursued them closely and blocked them in this river beach.It was the end of summer, the Huangshui was very urgent, and it was impossible to wade across the Huangshui, and there were only two ways in front of them: either to surrender or to fight.After discussion, several tribal leaders decided to do both, fighting first, and if they were not victorious, they would surrender again.The reason why everyone agreed to this plan was that they were facing a Han army of only 20,000 foot soldiers, and the two sides had equal strength and had the strength to fight.The Qiang people took action, quickly reorganized their formation, and put on a posture to meet the battle.Seeing that the Qiang people were not running away, Cao Shi breathed a sigh of relief.He put down his clairvoyance and summoned the generals to discuss the matter.The war drums sounded, and dozens of lieutenants and lieutenants rushed to him, looking at him nervously and excitedly.Half of these people are children from various families, or have been in the army for many years but have not been promoted, or have just joined the army, because of the ancestral yin and the title of the junior officer, suddenly became a middle-level officer in command of hundreds of people or even a school.Whatever the case may be, they will need a hearty victory to prove themselves and revive the family's glory.Cao Shi looked at these generals, who were familiar or unfamiliar, and felt a little bit of kinship in his heart.As a representative of the heroic family, he was well aware of the importance of this battle.There are more than 30,000 people in front, a lot of baggage and cattle and sheep, eat them, the army can get at least a month's supply, this victory is enough to prove the combat effectiveness of their descendants of heroes, and it is not a problem to Bo a few marquises.If it is defeated and morale is frustrated, the rest of the war will be difficult.Many of these people have just joined the army, and newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, which is both a good thing and a bad thing.If you win a battle, your morale will be stronger, and if you lose a battle, you may also be depressed.Cao Shi was deeply touched by this, and the most obvious example was Liang Xiao's record of leading 500 South Vietnamese cavalry to raid Zhangpu.Only by taking them from victory to victory can we forge an invincible elite."
Everyone, do you know where Wei Qing went" The generals looked at each other, not knowing why Cao Shi asked this.Wei Qing was a lieutenant general, commanding the cavalry, and he hadn't shown up for several days.As for why, only Cao Shi and the people around him knew, and it was impossible for ordinary generals to understand."
I broke him away."
Cao Shi smiled and played with the clairvoyance in his hand."
As for the reason, you should figure it out."
Everyone looked at each other, and some began to smile knowingly.Unlike them, Wei Qing and his subordinate Zhang Cigong and others were all from common people, and they were promoted to marquis because of their military merits, which was the most relied on by the Son of Heaven and one of the roots of their downfall.Cao Shi divided Wei Qing, naturally to monopolize this battle exploits, proving that the sons of heroes also have combat effectiveness that is not inferior to Wei Qing and others.An atmosphere of refusal to admit defeat slowly spread."
There are thirty or forty thousand people on the other side, and there are four or five tribal leaders."
Cao Shi kept pinching his fingers and said word by word: "Thirty or forty thousand levels, which is about equivalent to thirty or forty thousand households, four or five leaders are equivalent to four or five thousand households, a total of forty or fifty thousand households, is it enough for you to eat" This sentence was like a torch thrown into the pyre, which immediately caused a raging fire.With an average of 1,000 households for a title, if you win this battle, you can have forty or fifty people have the opportunity to be a marquis, even if the court cuts half of it, there are twenty or thirty people.Even considering that a lord like Cao Shi will occupy more food estates, less than a dozen people have the opportunity to be a marquis.In other words, everyone in power has a chance, and whether they can get a piece of the pie depends on their ability.No wonder Cao Shi wants to separate Wei Qing and others, this is a big piece of fat, so he naturally has to take care of them who are also the children of heroes."
Prince, we have received your wishes."
A disciple of the Dou family shouted: "I will live up to the expectations of the prince." ”"That's right, if anyone is cowardly, say it early now, don't stand in the way of our meritorious service.""
Your mother, what are you bragging.I've fought many times, which time did you kid win against me" For a while, these gentlemen who looked down and didn't look up to see each other, and didn't know how many fights they had fought in Chang'an, shouted, one did not accept the other, and they all wanted to fight for the opportunity to fight for the first battle, and some of them had already drawn their swords and were ready to fight again.Cao Shi saw it in his eyes and was happy in his heart.He is also from a humble background, so he naturally knows the virtues of these guys.It's not exciting, they're not excited.He waved his hand, signaling everyone to be calm."
Mind you, we still have a battle to fight and no food to feed the captives."
When they heard this, they understood and squeezed each other's eyes.Cao Shi's meaning has been made very clear, those Qiang people on the opposite side, whether they are warriors or old and weak, must be counted as the first level of military exploits.Only in this way can there be enough credit."
But we can't kill prisoners.Killing prisoners is ominous, you should all understand. ”"Understood," someone shouted, "The opposite side is full of Qiang people, young and strong, all warriors, and no prisoners." ”"Yes, where do the captives come from, aren't the Qiang people all proud of dying in battle, they will not surrender."
Everyone screamed and couldn't help laughing.In their eyes, there is no benevolence, righteousness and morality to speak of, they only pay attention to the first, only merit, and only reward.Cao Shi waved his hand and signaled the generals to return to the battle and prepare for battle.He called them over just to talk about that, and as for the specific tactics, there was no need to say more.Most of them are from the Jiangmen, and they often train their formations in the way of hunting, and they don't forget to arrange their troops even when they fight, and it is not a piece of cake to deal with the Qiang people.The sound of war drums sounded again, echoing the sound of the Qiang trumpets.The Han army began to press forward.They lined up in a neat formation, stepping on the drums, squeezing forward step by step, until they pressed three hundred steps in front of the Qiang people's formation, and then they stopped and reorganized their formation under the command of the war drums.A battle formation of 5,000 people took the lead in the battle, forced a hundred paces in front of the Qiang people, shot at the position, and the sword and shield bearers and spearmen set up a shield formation in front of them, and the three thousand crossbowmen followed closely behind, lined up in three horizontal formations, and began to shoot with all their might.The bow and crossbow has always been the most threatening weapon of the Han army, equipped with a proportion of as high as five or six percent, and it is common knowledge to use the bow and crossbow for covering shooting before the hand-to-hand encounter, the Han army knows, and the Qiang people also know.Seeing the Han army's crossbow soldiers in formation, the Qiang people immediately raised their shields in their hands and prepared to accept the first wave of attacks from the Han army, and at the same time, the Qiang archers also stepped forward and began to fight back.The battle began with the exchange of fire from both sides.The Han army was dominated by crossbows, and the four-stone arm open crossbow to the eight-stone kick open crossbow was the main crossbow, with a range of 160 steps to 300 steps, basically covering the entire Qiang archer position.Crossbows of eight stones or more are used for sniping and are aimed at opposing generals.The strong crossbow captain gave an order, and thousands of crossbows fired in unison, shooting in a row, forming a continuous and dense rain of arrows, whistling across the sky and rushing towards the Qiang people's position.Even if it flew more than 100 steps, the strength was still strong, shooting on the big shield of the Qiang people, shooting on the leather armor of the Qiang people, it pierced the body of the Qiang people mercilessly, blood splashed, screams were endless, one after another the Qiang people fell to the ground with arrows, tossing and wailing.Although the Qiang land also produces good bows, in terms of overall strength, the Qiang people are obviously much inferior.Although their bows and arrows were numerous, their range was much inferior, and they were a little floating when they shot a hundred paces away.Compared to their leather armor, the Han army was all iron armor, and it was difficult for these fluttering arrows to cause any substantial damage when shot.Although there were also Han soldiers who were wounded by arrows, the losses were much smaller than those of the Qiang.As soon as the two sides started the war, the Qiang people suffered a major blow and were embarrassed by the Han army's arrow array.After only one meal, the Qiang arrows were destroyed, and even if the Qiang generals tried their best to puff up, they could not get the archers to stand up from under their shields and fight back.Successfully suppressed the Qiang arrow formation, the Han infantry immediately launched a new wave of charge.The two commanders, each commanding five hundred men, rushed out from the sides of the crossbowmen and pounced on the Qiang's arrows, which had been shot to pieces.At the forefront were more than a hundred trappers wearing light armor, or not wearing armor at all, most of them were composed of skilled and fierce rangers, roaring as soon as they came out of the formation, and rushed towards the Qiang people.Behind them, foot soldiers armed with swords, shields, spears and halberds lined up in a neat formation and marched briskly.The trappers were the first to engage in battle, brandishing their swords and pounced on the Qiang who met them.There is no formation, only a small range of cooperation, relying on fearless courage and the tacit understanding tempered by the usual group fights, they pounced in groups, where there are flaws, they rush to where.Although the Qiang people are also warlike, they are still a little scrambling in front of these rangers.Before they could react, the Han army's infantry arrived, and the neat battle formation was like a powerful chariot, quickly crushing the Qiang people's battle formation that had been disrupted.The Han army marched like a wall, swords and spears were in unison, killing mercilessly.Seeing that the foot soldiers were engaged in battle with the enemy, the strong crossbow captain gave an order, and the crossbowmen adjusted their direction and fired in depth to block the support of the Qiang people.At the same time, the crossbowmen, repelled by the sword and shield hands, moved forward in turn, approaching the Qiang position.On the battlefield, which was four or five hundred paces wide and three or four hundred paces deep, the two sides fought together, sacrificing their lives.The Han army had a clear upper hand.Not only did they have a well-organized formation, but they were also well-equipped, and although the Qiang people were also very tenacious, they still suffered heavy casualties.It didn't take long for the Han army to break through the Qiang resistance and occupy their positions.The sound of the war drums of victory sounded and spread throughout the battlefield, and the morale of the Han army was greatly boosted.Cao Shi took advantage of the situation to strike the iron, and immediately launched a second wave of attacks, and once again sent three captains to lead 5,000 people to attack, replacing the soldiers who had just won a while.Encouraged by the victory in the first battle, these 5,000 men threw themselves into battle with even higher morale.Although there are more than 30,000 Qiang people, less than half of them are actually able to go into battle, and most of them are old, weak, women and children.In front of the 20,000 well-equipped and meritorious Han troops, they couldn't resist at all.In just half a day's effort, he was broken by the Han army three times in a row and forced to the water's edge.Seeing that there was no hope of victory, the Qiang leaders did not dare to fight again, asked for a truce, and asked Cao Shi to surrender.Cao Shi refused.He left 5,000 men to monitor the rear formation to avoid accidents, and then immediately led his troops to personally go into battle and attack with all his might.The Qiang people were taken aback.This was a situation they did not expect at all, and for a moment there was chaos.The Han army took the opportunity to advance and quickly broke through the Qiang position.On the banks of the Huangshui River, blood flowed all over the place, more than 30,000 Qiang people, regardless of the old and young, were killed by the red-eyed Han army, and only a small group of people ventured to swim across the river and fled in panic.Wei Qing immediately stood on the hill in the distance, looked at the Qiang people's position full of mourning, shook his head, and put down his clairvoyance.He knew what Cao Shi was doing, but he couldn't stop it.Cao Shi needed an undoubted victory to prove himself, and the Han army needed a landslide victory to deter the Qiang.Even if the massacre was too tragic and barbaric, he could not say anything.After all, there is only victory and defeat on the battlefield, and there is no benevolence, righteousness and morality.That night, after Cao Shi got the detailed statistics, he wrote a military report carefully and sent it to Chang'an.At the same time, he sent someone to inform Mei Gao.With this victory, Mei Gao will have more confidence to speak.Two days later, Mei Gao came to the camp with more than a dozen Qiang tribal leaders to meet Cao Shi.Shocked by Cao Shi's victory, these tribal leaders accepted Mei Gao's persuasion to surrender, and were willing to lead their own warriors, prepare their own saddle horses, food and grass, and cooperate with the Han army to fight.Cao Shi agreed, and readily promised to treat them the same as the soldiers of the Han army, and if they made meritorious contributions, the court would reward them without hesitation.Under coercion and temptation, the Qiang people bowed their heads and obeyed orders, were willing to be the forerunners, actively inquired about news for the Han army, and ran to serve.A few days later, the edict of the Son of Heaven arrived, adding 5,000 households in the food estate, and another 11 marquis, ranging from 2,000 to several hundred households, with a total of more than 30,000 households.Among them are Mei Gao, the Marquis of Jue Changshe, and three hundred food towns.In the conquered Qiang settlement, the county was established, and the name of the county was broken.Cao Shi immediately notified the whole army of the edict: