Chapter 467: Happy! [Subscribe]

The news of the fire in Tianshui Warehouse soon spread back to the Xianbei.

At this moment, all the major Xianbei tribes gathered together, combining their strength to stabilize the situation.

"The news from Moganqiu is that the Tianshui Warehouse has been successfully burned down."

"The fire that night could be seen from miles away. By the evening of the next day, the fire was still burning."

"Tianshui City is filled with flying ashes."

"Afterwards, someone passed by the barn and saw thick smoke that could not be dispelled. The surrounding houses and military camps were all burned black by the flames."

"It has been confirmed that a fire did break out in Tianshui Warehouse."

The elite of the Shaman tribe were annihilated by the Wei army, which was a heavy blow to the high priest.

But the subsequent burning of Tianshui Warehouse made him feel more excited.

Not only the high priest, but all the Xianbei chiefs had happy expressions on their faces.

Food shortage is the biggest problem for any party.

The burning of Tianshui Warehouse was not enough to shake the foundation of Cao Wei.

But on the northern front, the Western Regions will suffer from severe food shortages.

This means that the Wei army will have to withdraw its forces for at least one or two years.

War consumes the most food supplies.

To put it more seriously, military mutinies in ancient times were mostly caused by lack of food.

If there is a lack of food, the army will be unstable and the soldiers will lose their fighting spirit.

It was impossible for the Wei army to launch an attack on foreign countries when it was short of food supplies.

"The Wei people have been at war for years, so they don't have much food to begin with. Burning the Tianshui granary will leave them with a huge food shortage."

"My dear chiefs, I think we should take the initiative to send troops to harass Hexi and increase their food consumption."

"If we attack first, they will be forced to engage in battle, which will amplify their food shortage problem."

The speaker was the leader of the Yizhan tribe, one of the eight Xianbei tribes.

His name is Yizhanjian. He has a reddish complexion, a big square face, and wears a brown leather robe.

"The Wei people's tricks are endless, real and fake, and this has been the case several times in the past."

Afu thought for a while:
"First, pass the news of the Tianshui Warehouse fire to Kushan."

"Let's wait a little longer and let the people in the south continue to pay attention to the changes in Tianshui Warehouse and even other parts of Cao Wei."

"Until we know exactly how much grain was destroyed in the Tianshui warehouse, we Xianbei cannot send troops lightly."

The high priest on the other side also showed a shrewd but unclear look of doubt, and nodded in agreement with Afu Yu's arrangement.

The Xianbei people became increasingly cautious due to the many battles in the past and the plots they had been taking against them by Cao Wei.

"Send an order to Chi Yunfu as well, asking him to find an opportunity to break out to the west of the Western Regions and join forces with the Kushans."

Hot weather.

The Xianbei, who had been observing Tianshui Warehouse, received news one after another over the following period of time.

Cao Wei began to purchase large quantities of food from merchants traveling east and west.

Within Cao Wei, food prices soared after the Tianshui fire.

Cao Wei showed signs of withdrawing its troops in the Hexi region and in Bingzhou and other places in the north.

All these messages point to one result.

Tianshui was burned, and signs of Cao Wei's food shortage began to appear.

There are corresponding changes in military, civil and commercial affairs.

After hearing the news, Afu Yu still did not act rashly.

But he was unwilling to give up the opportunity.

If Cao Wei's troops in the west were short of food, we would miss a golden opportunity if we did not take the opportunity to attack Cao Wei and magnify its problem.

Afu Yu and the high priest came up with an idea.

You don't have to move yourself, but you can continue to rely on the power of Kushan.

Although the Kushans were at a disadvantage in the battle and were suppressed by Cao Wei, they were not seriously injured.

The leader of the Yuezhi, Potiao, was ambitious, while the Kushans were still at their peak.

Although they suffered several defeats, considering the size of the Kushan Empire, it was not a major rout.

When the news of the fire in Tianshui spread, the Kushans immediately stepped up their offensive.

Afu ordered his disciple Chi Yunfu to break out to the west of the Western Regions, through the Pamir Mountains, and cooperate with the Kushans along the Shule line.

This was because the Kushans were in the southwestern corner of the Western Regions, fighting against Huang Zhong and Taishi Ci, and were unable to make any progress.

They also intended to change the battle line and were sending their elite troops from west to east from the Pamir Mountains, intending to join forces with Chi Yunfu to attack the border troops of the Wei Dynasty along the Pamir Mountains from both inside and outside.

In July, the sun in Yecheng is scorching.

Boss Cao was eating ice cream in the study.

Inside a palace in the Tongquetai Palace, there was an atmosphere of joy.

Zhen Mi is about to marry herself into the palace.

"The Xianbei have learned to be cautious. After repeated verification, they still don't take the bait."

"Their troops have been losing ground year after year. If they are not careful, they don't have that many troops to squander."

Jia Xu also got a bowl of ice cream that Diao Chan had just brought, and he ate it with slurps.

The so-called ice cream is a summer snack made by adding a small amount of grains, honey and ice cubes to chopped fruit.

"The Kushans were beaten by Ban Dingyuan a hundred years ago, but it seems that the beating didn't hurt."

A hundred years ago, Emperor He of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Zhao, was in power.

The Great Yuezhi once proposed to marry a princess of the Han Dynasty.

Ban Chao, who was in the Western Regions at the time, rejected this request. The King of Yuezhi then raised an army of 70,000, crossed the Pamir Mountains, passed through Dayuan and Shule, entered the Western Regions, and attacked the Han army.

Ban Chao defeated the enemy by adopting the strategy of first defending to deplete their food supplies and then launching a swift attack.

The Kushans immediately became obedient and surrendered to the Han.

Then the Han army withdrew most of its troops from the Western Regions without inflicting heavy damage on it.

When the Han people were strong, they were too polite to these foreign races.

A hundred years later, the Kushans came to provoke trouble again.

Cao Cao's strategy for dealing with the Xianbei and Kushan was clear: to place bait little by little, lure them out with their troops, and then erode their forces.

Whenever the opponent suffers a loss, I put out a little bait to rekindle his hope. He always feels that he is just one step away from victory, so he invests more and more.

Whenever the opponent increased its troops, Cao Wei would swallow them up, and the cycle would continue.

Of course, the timing of the process requires a lot of effort.

If you want your opponent to be fooled again and again, the bait should be bigger and more real so as to lure the enemy deeper.

Wait until they are consumed to a certain extent, and then give them a fatal blow.

According to Cao Cao's plan, that would be enough time to conquer China until there were no powerful countries left around it.

After swallowing up the old enemy Xianbei and the neighboring Kushan to the west, the territory of Shenzhou will be vast enough. The influence of Wei will also be enough to radiate to all the surrounding countries and attract hundreds of nations to come to pay tribute.

"The fleet heading south has sent back news."

"They have explored several large islands in the southern seas, and most of them are barbaric lands. There are natives, but no powerful tribes or countries."

Cao Cao nodded slightly and planned to first clear out the barbarians on the southern islands and use them as the outer island chain for subsequent gradual use.

Mid-July.

To the west of the Pamir Mountains to the west of the Western Regions, the troops of the Great Yuezhi were marching fast, approaching the border of the Western Regions.

In Shule, east of the Pamir Mountains, Chi Yunfu also led his troops to this area.

They planned to continue westward and join forces with the Kushans.

This time, the Xianbei's attack on the Western Regions brought to light a hidden danger that existed for the Wei Dynasty.

A few years ago, the Western Regions were once separated from the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and some small countries in the north were actually controlled by the Xianbei.

After Wei became powerful, the Western Regions were recovered, including several forces that had surrendered to the Xianbei.

This time when the Xianbei attacked the Western Regions, several families that had once belonged to the Xianbei became internal supporters and sided with the Xianbei.

Thanks to their support and provision of information, the Xianbei were able to promptly grasp changes within the Western Regions, obtain intelligence, and capture many cities in succession.

The pro-Xianbei forces within this part of the Western Regions were just the right opportunity to be cleared out.

The desert in summer is extremely hot.

It was not until evening that Chi Yunfu came out from his hiding place and led his troops westward.

A few miles away from the Xianbei army's advance, on the continuous sand dunes, a large group of crossbowmen that the Wei army had transferred from the Hexi Corridor were lying in ambush.

Qu Yi did not participate in the recent wars of the Wei Dynasty.

Since the fight against Goguryeo began, he was transferred from the northern line to Hexi.

Cao Cao had realized at that time that the Xianbei would take action, targeting Hexi and the Western Regions.

Therefore, the defense in Hexi was strengthened.

Today's large crossbowmen are absolutely a catastrophic strike force for light cavalry.

This time when he came to the Western Regions, Qu Yi brought with him 10,000 crossbowmen.

Qu Yi, who had not participated in a major war for nearly two years, was once again ordered to ambush, and his excitement was beyond words.

In the current Cao Wei, the number of crossbowmen has expanded to 27,000, and the arrows are plentiful.

Compared to a few years ago, it is several times more powerful.

far away.

The Xianbei Chiyunfu tribe revealed their traces on the road leading to the Pamir Mountains.

The road along the Pamir Mountains in the Western Regions runs east-west, with undulating sand dunes and mountains on both sides.

The Xianbei people sent their scouts very far away and asked them to be careful along the way.

The purpose is to prevent being ambushed.

As a team of scouts, they explored and approached the area where Cao's army was ambushing.

Zhang Fei, who had come with Qu Yi to set up an ambush, personally led his men forward and, with the help of the sand dunes as cover, quickly eliminated a small group of Xianbei scouts.

Then the Wei army changed into Xianbei people's clothes.

The two leading men among them also demonstrated the ability to change their appearance, becoming increasingly similar to the Xianbei scouts.

After they were dressed up, they rode their horses and appeared above the sand dunes, making signaling gestures to the Xianbei rear army, indicating that there was no problem.

As for where the corresponding hand gestures for internal communications among the Xianbei people came from, it was naturally obtained through investigation by spies lurking in the Xianbei.

The Xianbei army in the rear saw the message from the scouts on the sand dunes and knew there was no problem, so they ordered the entire army to continue moving forward.

In the middle of the team, Chi Yunfu glanced around and suddenly felt a sense of alarm.

They originally had a signal eagle accompanying the army.

But after days of fierce fighting, the psychic eagle had been swooped down and blinded by a falcon that Cao Cao had attached his divine consciousness to a few days ago, and it was dead.

So right now there is no communication eagle that can explore the way from the air.

Chi Yunfu’s uneasiness came from his experiences in the past few days.

The black-faced general who chased him and forced him into a city a few days ago was Zhang Fei. This time he led his troops to advance westward and never appeared again.

The Xianbei army marched all the way west and allowed Chi Yunfu to confirm one thing.

The Western Regions was a trap to lure them in from the very beginning.

All the way west, most of the small towns along the way were cleared out, and the population gathered in the big cities.

However, the city's gates were tightly closed and heavily guarded, so it was impossible to break through in a short period of time.

This shows that the Wei army had made adequate preparations in advance and even predicted their general troop route.

The cities they had previously captured were most likely abandoned by the Wei army.

Chi Yunfu had been thinking about related things all the way, with his brows furrowed like a hill.

He looked around and saw continuous mountains in the distance and undulating sand dunes nearby.

In the Western Regions, this kind of landform can be seen everywhere and is very normal.

But Chi Yunfu stared at one spot without blinking.

He was looking at a large sand dune.

Under the setting sun, the sand on the sand dunes is flowing down.

It is very likely that someone was moving on the back of the sand dune, creating pressure, which then caused signs of quicksand to appear on the side of the dune facing them.

Chi Yunfu shouted, "Stop moving forward."

At the same moment, Qu Yi behind the sand dunes was also shouting, "Shoot, shoot, shoot!"

hum-

shhhhh--

The bowstring vibrated with sharp and dense sounds like the buzzing of a bee.

A barrage of arrows shot out from behind the sand dunes.

Chi Yunfu's hair stood on end in an instant.

When the arrows fell, the screams of the horses and men, the flying blood, the men and horses being nailed into the sand...

After the first round of volleys, the second round followed closely, with arrows coming in rows.

The Xianbei soldiers fell off their horses in large numbers.

Because the arrows were too dense, some people and horses were shot into a hornet's nest in the blink of an eye!
Bloody and bloody!
Some Xianbei soldiers hid behind their horses, and the arrows penetrated the horses and still hit them.

What kind of arrow is this, with such terrifying power...

On the sand dune, Qu Yi shouted with red face: "Shoot again! Shoot again! It feels so good!"

“It’s really refreshing!”

Zhang Fei also shouted, his eyes wide open.

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(End of this chapter)