Chapter 70: Heading North

  Luoyang, Jia De Hall.

  Dong Zhuo was frolicking with his concubines when suddenly Li Ru rushed in hastily.

  "My lord, Chen Cang has urgent news!"

  Li Ru rushed forward and handed a secret letter to Dong Zhuo.

  "What's going on?"

  Dong Zhuo's heart skipped a beat as he hastily took over the secret letter and opened it, scanning it from top to bottom before finally letting out a long sigh of relief.

  Li Ru asked: "My lord, is there a change in Chen Cang?"

  Dong Zhuo said carelessly, "Chen Cang has nothing to do with it. It's just that Luo Zhen sent a fast report saying that Ma Teng is extorting 20,000 stones of military rations from him. If not, he won't let the main force pass through Hanyang. So we want to borrow a road to An Dingbei and go to Lingju from Wuwei, but because the military rations are not enough to support the main force to rush to Lingju, so please take the opportunity to eliminate the Qiang Hu rebels along the way to supplement the military rations."

  Li Ru's eyes widened in surprise, and then his gaze became fixed.

  Ma Teng had anticipated an ambush, but he did not expect that Luo Zhen would head north to Anding and borrow a path.

  Dong Zhuo asked: "What does Wen You think?"

  Li Ru sank into thought for a moment, then said: "It should be true. Ma Teng and Han Sui may have surrendered to the imperial court, but they obeyed the edict without listening to orders. At present, Ma Teng's army is short of grain, and it is reasonable for Luo Zhen to collect grain from the landowners. He will not easily let Luo Zhen borrow a path."

  Dong Zhuo furrowed his brow and said: "The Prime Minister is asking the wrong question."

  Li Ru said: "Is the lord worried that Lü Bu will take advantage of the situation and occupy Pingyi and Beidi?"

  Dong Zhuo nodded and said with deep meaning: "This matter is a miscalculation, can't help but worry!"

  Li Ru's heart skipped a beat, as he had initially recommended Luo Zheng and would be held responsible if Luo Zheng were to rebel. He said, "Don't worry, General Luo Zheng is loyal and wouldn't dare commit such treason."

  Dong Zhuo gazed at him deeply before saying: "Well then, well then!"

  Li Ru secretly wiped away a cold sweat and thought for a while, feeling that the possibility of Luo Zheng owning troops and occupying territory should not be great.

  At this time, making concessions would be disadvantageous for Luo Zheng and have no benefits.

  Li Ru thought that with Luo Zhen's cleverness and strategic thinking, he shouldn't have done something so stupid.

  Half a month later, news came from Anding that Lu Bu led 8,000 troops into Wuwei from Anding. Only then did Dong Zhuo's mind clear of all worries, and Li Ru and Niu Fu also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened after all.

  Wu's clan, Central Military Camp.

  Luo Zheng had just finished setting up camp when a soldier came to report.

  "General, Governor of Anding Huangfu Song has sent a hundred shi of military grain."

  The guard's face was filled with indignation, looking as if he had an urge to draw his sword and stab someone.

  "Hundred Stone Military Rations?"

  Lu Zheng listened and frowned deeply, this was also too bullying.

  Either don't give it at all, or if you're going to give it, then give a bit more.

  Sending one hundred shi of military rations is no big deal, it's really a bit bullying.

  Xun Yu said: "This is expected, General, you don't have to worry."

  Luo Zheng nodded and said, "Forget it, Huang Fu Jian Shou is just a mediocre person, far inferior to his father. He shouldn't deliberately come to provoke me, but I don't know who gave him this stupid idea. Let's not bother with him."

  Xun Yu said with a smile: "The general is brilliant."

  Luo Zheng said, "Ten thousand stones of military rations, eight thousand troops plus five thousand civilians, at most can only last three months. It should barely be enough to hold on until the main army arrives at Lingju. However, Lingju won't have any grain left for this general, so we must make early preparations."

  Xun Yu said: "Western Liang has many Qiang and Hu people, and they are repeatedly lawless. General, you can send troops to attack them and collect their grain and grass to fill the military rations."

  "This general is indeed of this mind."

  Luo Zheng nodded and immediately shouted towards the outside of the tent: "Come in."

  "What does the general have to say?"

  The guards outside the account responded and entered, clasped their hands and waited for orders.

  "Go and call Li Meng over."

  The guard responded with a sound and immediately went to call Li Meng.

  Before long, Li Meng arrived hastily and cupped his hands, saying: "I don't know what orders the general has for me?"

  Luo Zhen said: "Go and find out, from the Wu family to Wuwei, all the way, which Qiang Hu people's mountain strongholds are there, let General know about them in detail. Those who are poor and can't eat will be spared."

  "Roger."

  Li Meng accepted the order and rushed out quickly.

  Three days later, news came back.

  In the Fanting Mountain ten miles west of Wu's residence, there was a Qiang people's stronghold.

  Li Meng captured a few Qiang people to interrogate, and found out that there were nearly two thousand Qiang people in the mountain stronghold. They were all Qiang people who had followed Beigong Boyu to rebel against the government in the early years. After Beigong Boyu was killed, these Qiang people fled to Fanting Mountain and became bandits.

  After An Dingtao Shou Huangfu Jian's tenure, although he recruited more than 1,000 soldiers, he was powerless to suppress the bandits.

  Not to mention thousands of bandits, even dozens or hundreds of robbers on the mountain roads, the garrison troops of the counties and states are also unable to cope.

  Luo Zhen didn't say a word, and ordered Zhao Yun to lead 3,000 cavalrymen to guard the grain and fodder, while he personally led 5,000 northern soldiers to Fan Ting Mountain, where they flattened this mountain stronghold of over 2,000 Qiang people.

  Grains and crops are only a thousand stones, but there are over a thousand heads of cattle and sheep, and two hundred war horses.

  The Qiang people were originally a nomadic nation. After moving to Liangzhou, although they learned to farm, they did not give up their habit of grazing. They attached great importance to the breeding of cattle, sheep and horses. Even if they became bandits, they would still raise livestock for food.

  However, the name of the Qiang people being fierce is indeed not in vain.

  More than two thousand Qiang people died in battle, several hundred escaped, and only over six hundred were captured.

  Luo Zhen incorporated all the captured Qiang people into the civilian camp, ordering Zhao Yun to lead 500 cavalrymen to strictly guard them. Moreover, in order to prevent these Qiang people from rioting, they were only given one meal a day and not allowed to eat their fill.

  After a night's rest, the army continued to march north, passing through Chaona and Gaoping, breaking through more than ten bandit strongholds along the way, capturing grain and fodder needed by the army, driving thousands of cattle and sheep, crossing the river half a month later and advancing westward to Wuwei.

  There are two official roads to take here.

  One is Nanxiaowei, who entered Jincheng Prefecture from Yu County.

  Secondly, continue westward from Cangsong, go south and arrive at the residence of the Protector of the Qiang Garrison.

  Although this road is a bit far and has to detour hundreds of miles, it can avoid Han Sui's large army.

  Luo Zheng did not need to deliberate and immediately gave the order for the army to continue westward, heading towards Cang Song.

  It's now in a grand season, northwest is extremely cold, the north wind blows on the face, like a knife cutting through life.

  Fortunately, the weather was favorable, although there were several snowfalls, they were all light and scattered, with no significant accumulation of snow, which did not greatly affect the army's advance. Otherwise, if a heavy snowfall had occurred, the consequences would have been disastrous.

  The weather turned gloomy again that day.

  The north wind howls, rolling up clouds of sand and dust, but snow is nowhere to be seen for a long time.

  Lu Zheng cursed his mother as he rode his horse slowly on the uneven official road.

  Zhoa Yun led a thousand cavalry, supervising five thousand civilians and more than two thousand surrendered Qiang people transporting grain, with mules, donkeys, and oxen pulling large carts, rumbling along the official road, continuously spewing out white mist.

  Behind them, Northern Army Colonel Wu Xi led five thousand Northern Army infantrymen in formation.

  In the rear, Li Meng and Wang Shuang each led 500 cavalrymen, driving thousands of heads of cattle, sheep and horses, following slowly behind the cart team.

  Gan Qian and Ren Yan's sedan chairs were jolting along the road, making it difficult for them to ride. Several women almost had their intestines turned inside out.

  Lu Zheng looked up at the sky, this damn weather was causing great trouble for the army's advance, and they had to stop and rest almost every hour. In a day, if they could march fifty miles, it would be very good.

  The captain of the vanguard suddenly rode forward and said loudly: "General, the vanguard sent to the north has not returned yet."

  Luo Zheng's eyes suddenly narrowed and he reined in his warhorse, asking in a low voice: "How long has it been?"

  The captain of the Hui army replied: "It has been three incense sticks' time."

  Luo Zhenggang wanted to speak, but at this moment, a faint thunderstorm suddenly sounded in the north.

  "There is cavalry."

  Luo Zheng reacted immediately after years of fighting on horseback.

  Xu Chu was even more professional and said in a low voice: "At least no less than a thousand cavalry."

  Luo Zheng immediately shouted loudly: "The army will camp on the spot, drive the cattle and sheep to the rear, order Wu Xi to lead 5,000 infantrymen to take care of grain and fodder as well as luggage carts, Li Meng and Wang Fang to take care of livestock, and the rest of the cavalry quickly gather, follow the general to meet the enemy."

  "Roger."

  Several cavalrymen responded loudly and dispersed quickly, passing down military orders.