Tiger Guards

Chapter 634 Indirect Plagiarism
"Without snow, our army's progress is slow, and it will be difficult to explain to the Grand Tutor."

In Beidi Commandery, on the banks of the Yellow River, Zhao Yun's grain supervisor, Han Dong, looked troubled.

He was in charge of logistics, and in preparation for the winter war, he prepared 7,000 light and heavy sleds.

Although they had anticipated light or no snowfall, and thus rushed to produce military supply wagons and other tanks, the northern region was only beginning to recover, with too few available manpower and insufficient production efficiency.

With fewer than two thousand chariots of various types, plus the chariots owned by Zhao Yun's own troops, they could barely carry supplies on a long-distance raid. The downside was that the supplies they carried were insufficient; they could only reach the battlefield by raiding, but not enough to sustain the frontline forces.

Han Dong participated in the campaign against the Hu in its later stages, but unfortunately he was wounded and had to stay in the north to recuperate, temporarily serving as Zhao Yun's supply officer.

Zhao Yun also reviewed the logistical documents submitted by Han Dong, looking at the various boats, vehicles, livestock, and auxiliary troops recorded on them: "I will lead the cavalry ahead, and you will use boats to transport grain, fodder, and equipment."

Han Dong's expression changed slightly upon hearing this: "General, the river could freeze over at any moment..."

"If the land freezes, the sleds will only carry some hay, advancing empty, and supplies will be transferred from the ships. I don't need much; once the entire army reaches Jincheng, you must provide me with a month's worth of provisions. In a month, Grand Tutor, you will be able to defeat Han Sui's rebel army!"

Zhao Yun's tone was resolute; he would show no mercy in dealing with Han Sui, the culprit who had caused the collapse of the Han Empire's finances.

Even though the task Zhao Ji assigned him this time was quite dangerous, Zhao Yun still bravely took on the responsibility.

Not only him, Zhao Ji also deployed Zhang Xiu's army, which would cooperate with Zhao Yun to launch a surprise attack on Jincheng from the flank and cut off Han Sui's rebel army's retreat!
Jincheng is important because it is a transportation hub in Liangzhou.

There are five famous passages in total. To the north, they lead to Wuwei, one of the four prefectures of Hexi; to the west, to the Hehuang region; to the south, to Longxi, with branch roads leading to Wudu and into Yizhou; and to the east, to Tianshui.

Another route is the one that follows the Yellow River northeastward, leading to the northern end of Beidi Commandery after crossing the border.

If the canal transport on the upper reaches of the Yellow River were dredged, the canal transport from Jincheng could be connected with Shuofang and Wuyuan.

Zhao Yun and Zhang Xiu's mission was to march together towards Jincheng after Han Sui launched a counterattack and rallied the Han and Hu chieftains of Liangzhou to rise up in rebellion, thus cutting off the rebels' retreat.

A small team of dozens of people, if they are agile and familiar with the roads, can traverse mountains and valleys and open up various trails.

However, armies must rely on main roads to ensure their safety and the smooth flow of supplies.

If you are leading thousands of desperate men, you can naturally ignore the impact of transportation on military operations and execute various tactics to infiltrate deep into enemy territory and launch attacks.

The rebels in Xiliang were also an army, and they were generally well-versed in the tactics and military knowledge of the Han border troops.

When Jincheng's retreat route is cut off, the morale of Han Sui's army will waver, leaving them with very few options.

However, Zhao Yun and Zhang Xiu's mission was equally difficult.

With current communication capabilities, it is difficult for two people to maintain constant contact and launch a joint attack on Jincheng.

Even if the roads between the two sides are clear and an effective communication can be completed in two or three days... but since the two sides have not cooperated before, who can guarantee the other party's reliability?
Therefore, Zhao Yun had to ignore the transportation problem in order to ensure that the army could set off on schedule.

Otherwise, if he arrives late while Zhang Xiu launches his offensive on schedule, it will be very difficult to directly breach or cut off Jincheng.

Whether Zhang Xiu is late or not is Zhang Xiu's problem; in any case, Zhao Yun doesn't want to be late. This is a big gift from Zhao Ji. How many retreating rebels he intercepts and captures is meaningless to Zhao Yun now.

As long as he is a member of the Zhao clan, he no longer needs precise figures on his achievements.

The number of Han Sui's heads is fundamentally different from the number of ordinary rebel officers and soldiers captured or killed. Whether it was capturing Han Sui or beheading him in battle, it would elevate Zhao Yun's reputation to a new level, making him a famous general in the country.

Han Sui repeatedly brandished his small knife during the turmoil he stirred up in western Liangzhou, spilling a bucket of blood on the critically ill Han Empire.

Although he was also forced to join the rebels, it was his involvement that gave the rebels, who should have plundered and vented their anger in a short period of time before dispersing and actively suppressing the rebellion, resilience and strategic goals. This is why they repeatedly bled the court dry after the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

In the eyes of discerning people across the country, Han Sui's harm was no less than that of Dong Zhuo. As for Ma Teng, his reputation was actually better than Han Sui's because Ma Teng would actively mediate conflicts between the Han and Hu peoples. If the Qiang, Tu Ge, and Xiongnu rebelled and looted everywhere, Ma Teng would take the initiative to send troops to suppress them.

Han Sui was different. Although he also mediated the conflicts between the Han and Hu tribes under his rule, he cared more about the distinction between friend and foe. He would not let the Han and Hu tribes who followed him suffer losses.

Ma Teng was different; he distinguished between Han and non-Han peoples and was proactive in safeguarding peace in the border regions.

Therefore, Ma Teng realized his mistake and returned to the right path, possessing a strong sense of righteousness; Han Sui, on the other hand, only saw the distinction between friend and foe, without considering the differences between Han and non-Han peoples.

However, in Liangzhou, some Han and Hu chieftains could not clearly explain their lineage.

Han Sui, a renowned scholar from the border region, didn't see the difference between Han and Hu peoples as a big deal. He could cut off their heads with a single stroke and they would all die, regardless of whether they were Han or Hu.

Therefore, Han Sui valued practicality and survival, which made him, a renowned scholar from the border regions, even more despised by the gentry of the Central Plains.

If the troublemakers were a poor military man from a remote border region like Dong Zhuo, or a powerful chieftain from the Qiang tribes, then the gentry and court officials would have reluctantly accepted it and would have pushed forward the plan to grant them amnesty much sooner.

However, the imperial court simply could not bring itself to grant amnesty to a rebel leader like Han Sui, who came from a family of scholars.

Even during Dong Zhuo's reign, influenced by a think tank composed of many famous scholars, Dong Zhuo was somewhat reluctant to grant amnesty to Han Sui.

Only people like Li Jue and Guo Si, who couldn't see the future, would break through the bottom line of cognition and grant amnesty to Han Sui and Ma Teng.

People who shouldn't have been granted amnesty were, and now that person has rebelled, they must be severely suppressed, preferably captured alive.

Zhao Ji hoped to capture Han Sui alive so that he could use this as a pretext to attack so-called famous scholars and great Confucianists.

However, Zhao Ji did not want this to affect the performance of the frontline generals. Capturing him alive would be very difficult, so killing Han Sui directly was better than letting him escape.

Zhao Yun decisively set out on schedule. If the fleet or sled team following Han Dong encountered problems, then after Zhao Yun arrived in Jincheng, the provisions carried by the entire army would hardly last seven days.

During these seven days, they could either attack the settlements and fortified villages of Han and Hu chieftains near Jincheng to seize their winter supplies, or join forces with Zhang Xiu to obtain the supplies he was carrying.

In any case, Zhao Yun's marching route was long. From the moment he set out, he sent messengers to Zhao Ji, giving Zhao Ji ample time to communicate with Zhang Xiu. They could communicate two or three times... In fact, Zhao Ji himself could even travel through Jieting and appear three hundred miles away from Zhang Xiu, directly commanding Zhang Xiu to advance towards Jincheng.

Therefore, Zhao Yun was not worried; he believed that Zhao Ji would not abandon his 10,000 cavalry.

At this moment, Zhang Xiu's army rapidly withdrew from Zhangye and followed the Tianshui Road from Yang Qiu's retreat route to Longxi County, forming a northern defense node together with Yang Qiu.

The western defense node was built in Zhang County by the military supervisors Ma Chao, Zhu Ling, and Zhang He to resist the continuous influx of Han Sui's Xiliang rebel army.

Tianshui became the main logistics base for the entire army. Wang Qi, who was supervising the grain transport, quickly advanced and occupied Shanggui and Jixian, controlling the core cities of Tianshui.

There was also Lintao, which was insignificant and had no impact on anything, and was guarded by Pang De, the Southern Commandant.

With fewer than two thousand soldiers, they could barely hold the county seat, but they were unable to stop the Qiang chieftains south of Lintao from rebelling.

Zhang Xiu, however, was incredibly brave. He led a group of thirty-odd cavalrymen disguised as a small tribe of mixed Qiang people and returned to the area east of Jincheng and north of Yuzhong.

Zhang Xiu wore a tattered leopard-skin hat and had a messy beard, looking much like a young Qiang leader. He squinted at the open terrain near Yongshichuan, his brows furrowed, feeling that Han Sui might be lying in ambush here.

The only way to advance towards Jincheng without interference is from the northeast, and Yongshichuan is almost a necessary route.

The stereotypical memory of the Jin army's various units fighting bravely came to mind. Zhang Xiu clenched his fist and decided to fight a fierce battle with Han Sui's garrison at Yongshichuan.

(End of this chapter)