Has the Han Dynasty been restored today?

Chapter 98 Deception

Hanzhong and Wudu were originally neighboring prefectures. If an army set out from Mianyang County in Hanzhong and traveled along the Jushui River to Wuxing at the southern end of Wudu Prefecture, the distance would be no more than 130 or 140 li.

Because of the numerous military campaigns launched during Zhuge Liang's reign, the roads from Hanzhong to Wuxing, then to Wudu and Qishan were all well-maintained official roads for the Han army. In addition, there was no need to pay too much attention to logistics, so Jiang Wei led the Tiger Infantry Army to arrive in two days.

When Jiang Wei set out from Hanzhong, he had already sent envoys to the Qiangduan and Fushuang Di tribes in Wudu Commandery, summoning them to Wuxing. By the time Jiang Wei led his army to Wuxing, the two groups of messengers had already arrived in Xiabian and Hechi respectively.

Xiabian and Hechi were the true center of Wudu Commandery, and were reoccupied by the Shu Han five or six years ago. Several Di tribes in Wudu Commandery also submitted to the Shu Han.

However, Qiang Duan and Fu Shuang were originally on the side of Cao Cao's army during the Battle of Xiabian in the Jian'an period, so they have a dark history of opposing the Shu Han.

Furthermore, Wudu was not far from Chencang and Guanzhong, and almost equidistant from Hanzhong. Therefore, these two Di tribes were practically "physically in the Han camp but mentally in Cao's." Just like a promiscuous woman staying at home while her husband is away, Sima Yi and Guo Huai only slightly beckoned in Guanzhong, saying they would be granted official positions, and Qiang Duan and Fu Shuang's souls were almost stolen away!

So, naturally, when Jiang Wei's envoys arrived at Xiabian and Hechi, Qiangduan and Fu Shuang panicked almost simultaneously.

Who isn't afraid when stealing someone's partner?

Jiang Wei's request was very clear: after the messenger arrived at the two tribes, Qiang Duan and Fu Shuang should accompany the messenger to Wuxing early the next morning.

Qiang Duan's forces were scattered around Xiabian, numbering over 5,000 households. Fu Shuang's forces, on the other hand, were scattered around Hechi, numbering over 3,000 households. Hechi was closer to Chencang in Wei, while Xiabian was slightly farther away.

Qiangduan was clearly the more anxious one—after agreeing to the envoy's request to depart the next morning, he settled the envoy in and then, in the evening, led more than twenty of his confidants on horseback eastward, intending to travel under cover of night to the Fu Shuang tribe.

Using the moonlight and their familiarity with the surrounding roads, Qiang Duan and his men rode for two hours before finally arriving in Hechi.

Interestingly, since the areas around Xiabian and Hechi had been destroyed by the Han and Wei dynasties and the cities were in ruins, the leaders of the Qiangduan and Fushuang tribes both resided in these dilapidated cities.

The two groups were quite familiar with each other, and Qiang Duan and his men entered Hechi City without any hindrance.

When Fu Shuang first saw Qiang Duan, he was stunned and hesitant at first, then asked, "Brother, why are you here in the middle of the night?"

"Enough with the small talk," Qiang Duan said, panting heavily. "Tell me, has General Jiang's envoy arrived at your headquarters?"

Fu Shuang nodded: "He's here. He also said he wants me to go to Wuxing with him tomorrow."

Qiang Duan stared wide-eyed at Fu Shuang: "You agreed?"

"Yes," Fu Shuang replied readily.

"Foolish!" Qiang Duan stamped his foot in exasperation. "The Wei general is going to bestow official titles upon us, and now General Jiang is summoning us to Wuxing. He must have heard of some trouble. If you go, won't you just be walking into a trap?"

Fu Shuang frowned, stepped forward, tugged at Qiang Duan's fur robe sleeve, and pulled him to the fire pit, gesturing for him to sit down: "Sit down first—what else can I do? Just say I'm not going? Wei says they're going to Chencang on February 15th. If I go to Wuxing now, I can still make it back to Chencang!"

Qiang Duan was utterly speechless. He broke free from Fu Shuang's grasp and explained in a deep voice, "If you go, you probably won't come back! General Jiang should already know that we're going to defect to Wei. I'm being lenient by not killing you!"

Fu Shuang frowned even more, looking at Qiang Duan with confusion: "I'm not a Han Chinese, I'm not under the jurisdiction of the government, and I didn't actually go to Wei, why would he kill me?"

"Sigh!" Qiang Duan sighed heavily. "I won't lie to you. When that official from the Yongzhou prefecture of Wei came to Xiabian before, I already bribed him and found out that Wei might be going to grant us marquises this time! I didn't tell you, did I?"

"A title of nobility?!" Fu Shuang perked up almost instantly. "We Di people can be granted titles of nobility? Really?"

"Really!" Qiang Duan said confidently, "I've heard about it all. The Wuhuan people in Bingzhou have been granted the title of King of Guiyi, and many more Marquis of Guiyi. Although we Di people are not as powerful as the Wuhuan, what's wrong with being granted the title of Marquis of Guiyi?"

"Let me tell you, the Marquis of Guiyi's seal is a gold seal! It's completely different from the bronze seals of those state and county officials!"

Fu Shuang swallowed hard. "Brother, what should we do?"

Qiang Duan gripped Fu Shuang's hand tightly, leaned close, and carefully instructed, "When General Jiang's envoy saw me today, I deliberately walked with a limp in front of him, lying that I had broken my leg in a horse accident. Tomorrow morning, you will go to Wuxing with General Jiang's envoy. I'll have my second son go with the envoy. When you get there, say you haven't heard of any people from Wei, that you know nothing, and just answer whatever comes to mind—do you understand?"

Fu Shuang withdrew her hand again, tucking it into her fur robe, and leaned forward, getting even closer to the flames in the fire pit: "Why isn't it you going? I don't want to."

Qiang Duan thought for a moment: "I'll give you two hundred 'lu' (a unit of land measurement) from my troops! And tomorrow I'll send you a daughter to marry your son. Our two troops can then form a marriage alliance, how about that?"

"Two hundred isn't enough." Fu Shuang looked at Qiang Duan suspiciously: "Five hundred!"

"Three hundred!" Qiangduan replied through gritted teeth.

"Three hundred it is." Fu Shuang finally smiled.

After hurriedly finishing his conversation with Fu Shuang, Qiang Duan dragged his leg and rode his horse back to his own tribe overnight.

The next morning, the messenger from Xiabian returned with Qiangduan's second son, while the messenger from Hechi returned with Fu Shuang. After meeting in the Zhuoshui River Valley, they rode together towards Wuxing.

Whether they were Qiang, Di, Xiongnu, or other miscellaneous Hu people, none of the Qiang and Hu people in Yongliang were not skilled at riding horses. Their light cavalry came like the wind and rain and went like a broken string, easily covering hundreds of miles a day.

As evening approached, before they even reached Wuxing, the two envoys, along with Fu Shuang and Qiang Duan's second son, encountered Jiang Wei's troops about fifty li north of Wuxing.

The messenger's mission is complete, so there's no need to worry about much. Whoever comes, just hand them over to General Jiang and that's it.

But for Fu Shuang at this moment, it had a somewhat chilling meaning.

Even if Fu Shuang didn't understand the intricacies of politics, he could already tell that this was not Wuxing, but a place fifty miles north of Wuxing, the distance from Wuxing where an army would march for a day and then camp!

In other words, is Jiang Wei about to lead his troops north to Wudu?

Who are they going to attack?

Hit me? Or hit the stronger party?

>