Chapter 56: Han Sui Blocks the Road

  But Song Pei led the army to kill and rush to Tianshui Prefecture, destroying the steps of Qin's military integration. Leaving Li Sichan with 10,000 Western Xia elite troops blocking outside Huating City, preventing Gongsun Zan from attacking Li Jue's rear.

  In the face of the wolf-like Qin army, Li Si agreed to the proposal of the Liang army and jointly sent an alliance message with the Liang army to other forces, attempting to resist the Great Qin together.

  On September 7, Dong Zhuo led his troops to arrive at the city of Chongxin County and decided to launch a night attack on the Western Xia army stationed outside Huating. He immediately rushed with light equipment and sent Guo Liang and Hua Xiong to quietly rush to Huating.

  "Master, Guo Liang has arrived." It was already midnight, and Gong Sun Ce was drinking alone when he heard Chu Mengmeng's excited voice.

  "Big brother!" The door was pulled open, and Guo Liang had a dusty face.

  "What happened? Why are you so late? Where's Liu Wei?" Gong Sun Ce had expected Guo Liang to return within three days, but he didn't expect that Guo Liang would be gone for almost ten days. He was naturally worried and thought something unexpected had happened.

  "It's a long story, but I arrived in Xianyang and everything was fine at home. I had planned to return the same day, but was summoned by Li Si, the governor of Xianyang, to ask about my brother's military campaign. Later, Dong Zhuo defected to Qin..."

  Guo Liang went into great detail, recounting his entire experience in Xianyang. Gong Sun Ce and Chu Mengmeng listened with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

  "Dong Zhuo doesn't hold grudges, so I won't go looking for trouble with him. If he treats you well, then acknowledge him as your foster father. This will be beneficial to you, me and everyone!" Gong Sun Ce saw that Guo Liang spoke of Dong Zhuo with great respect, knowing that Guo Liang had a good impression of Dong Zhuo, and anyway, he also approved of this matter.

  "Alright, big brother!" Guo Liang felt relieved after getting Gong Sun Ce's personal promise. He had been receiving benefits from Dong Zhuo and the Western Liang generals, which was like taking a deposit. If Gong Sun Ce opposed him here, he didn't know how to face the Western Liang generals.

  "Dong Zhuo will launch a night attack on the Western Xia army outside the city tonight, and he sent me here to ask Big Brother to add some strength when he attacks the Western Xia camp, so as to achieve a decisive effect!"

  "As for tonight's night raid plan, it's very operational! However, the order of attack needs to be swapped. The Western Xia army has been on guard against me, so I'll launch the night raid first. This will eliminate their vigilance, and then Dong Zhuo's unit can launch a night raid, which is sure to achieve a miraculous effect!"

  During this time, Gong Sun Zan and the Western Xia army outside the city confronted each other. After much consideration, the only way to break through the enemy was a night raid. However, Li Siyan's nighttime defense capabilities were very strong, and his camp was extremely well-organized, with strong outer defenses that were closely linked together. It wasn't something he could breach in a short amount of time, and it would be impossible to penetrate deep into the camp in a short period, making a night raid meaningless.

  That night, Dong Zhuo led his army to the rear of the Western Xia army and was about to launch a surprise attack when General Li Jin brought letters from Gong Sun Ce and others to him.

  Dong Zhuo finished reading several people's letters, thought for a moment, and burst out laughing.

  "Just tell Li Jin: 'The arrow is on the string and must be shot! Otherwise, it will greatly affect the morale of the soldiers! This battle is the first battle since the establishment of the Pingxi Army, and we must go through a bloody battle to lay the foundation for the Pingxi Army!'"

  Dong Zhuo's plan for a night raid will not change, so Li Jin had no choice but to take Dong Zhuo's letter and go find Gongsun Zan.

  Inside the Western Xia camp, Li Siye received a scout report that said the Qin army had exited the city of Huating and was marching towards his own camp.

  Li Sui deployed his troops and set up an ambush outside the camp, forming a net-like formation to wait for Gong Sun Zan's arrival.

  Just as Gong Sun Zan was about to fall into the net set up by the Western Xia army, Li Jin arrived and handed over Dong Zhuo's letter to Gong Sun Zan. Gong Sun Zan took a look and burst out laughing, immediately ordering his troops to form battle arrays and advance forward.

  "Kill!" The night vision was blocked, and the hidden Xia army saw the Qin army's large team enter the ambush circle. Suddenly, they shouted loudly and rushed towards Gong Sun Ce in a dense manner!

  What awaited them were the Halberdiers! The Western Xia army charged forward fiercely, and upon seeing that the Qin soldiers did not panic or scatter, they were perplexed. They continued to charge at the Qin army, only to be blocked by a wall of shields. Behind the large shields, the halberdiers struck with their halberds, hindering the Xia army's advance, unable to move forward, and retreated in disorder, facing off against the Qin army in the dark night.

  The battle line formed by the halberd and shield soldiers was sharp, with the shield wall advancing first, followed by the halberd soldiers, who swept away the enemy with their chaotic halberds. Before long, the well-prepared Western Xia army came charging over, carrying large logs that smashed into the shield array, breaking it, and the two armies became entangled in a fierce battle.

  "Song Pei guessed that shorty correctly, Gong Sun Ce indeed deployed the halberd and shield soldiers!" Li Siyuan stood in the camp, continuously listening to the scouts' reports, stroking his beard and laughing loudly.

  "Report! Your Majesty, a large group of Qin soldiers are approaching the rear camp, I don't know how many enemies there are! Our troops are few in number and are fighting hard to hold their ground. Please, Your Majesty, quickly dispatch reinforcements!" A lieutenant rushed into the main tent in a flurry, and upon hearing the news, Li Siyuan suddenly stood up, and soon after, the sound of killing shouts drifted over from the rear camp.

  He picked up the war sword on the table, and Li Siyan walked out of the big account. He saw that the fire in the back camp was burning high into the sky, as if it were daytime. Under the fiery red light, Li Siyan's face was pale, like a bright moon.

  "Kill!" Under the firelight, a group of Qin soldiers bearing the Pingxi General flag appeared, continuously pursuing and killing the retreating Western Xia soldiers from the rear camp.

  Dong Zhuo wore a suit of golden armor adorned with mountain patterns, and was wrapped in a dark purple cloak. His generals stood around him. He grasped his sword and pointed at Li Su, shouting loudly: "The enemy general is there! All of you follow me to kill!"

  "Kill!" The Western Liang generals heard the order and rushed forward one after another, throwing off Dong Zhuo and charging straight at Li Su.

  Li Siyan was struck as if by lightning, his mind a complete blank, and the nearby generals pulled him to run. The loyal soldiers formed a battle array, holding their ground, buying time for Li Siyan's retreat.

  "Li Mu of Longxi is here! The bandits will be captured!"

  "Wu Wei Zhang Xiu has arrived! The bandit leader is coming to surrender!"

  Under the firelight, Li Meng and Zhang Hua, both with youthful faces, wore white armor, each leading their personal troops, advancing in formation to kill Li Siyuan.

  "Dong Yue, Dong Huang, what are you doing standing guard beside me?" Dong Zhuo turned around and scolded the two young generals behind him: "Hurry up and go kill the enemy, don't lose face for my Dong family!"

  "Right!" The two Dongs exchanged a glance and each led their personal troops towards Li Siyan, who was moving continuously.

  Dong Heng was the son of Dong Zhuo's elder brother and had mediocre military abilities; Dong Yue, on the other hand, was a nephew of Dong Zhuo and possessed exceptional abilities.

  "My lord, Niu Fu and Duan Zhuang have already defeated the Western Summer Army's right camp!" Suddenly, the Western Summer Army's right camp was in great chaos, with flames shooting up to the sky. Almost at the same time, the Western Summer Army's left camp was also breached by Hu Zhi and Yang Ding.

  "Pass on to all the troops, advance bravely and pursue and kill the enemy. Do not be greedy for wealth and delay military action!" Dong Zhuo knew that this battle was already without suspense, and immediately gave the order.

  A group of flying bears and guards left in a hurry, heading west to spread Dong Zhuo's military orders to various generals.

  "Retreat!" A Western Xia general who was locked in a fierce battle with Gong Sun Zan saw the military camp catch fire and heard the loud killing cries. He hastily retreated his troops, planning to go defend the camp and rescue Li Siyuan.

  "Go to hell!" Under the firelight, Gongsun Zhan stretched out his foot and hooked up a short spear, throwing it at the back of the Western Xia general. The two were about 30-40 meters apart, and the enemy general was unaware of the situation behind him. He was pierced through the chest by this swiftly shot spear and nailed to a dead tree in front.

  "Release the arrows!" Gong Sun Ce saw that he and the Western Xia army had opened up a distance, which was an excellent target, and could not miss this opportunity. In the dark night, the sound of crossbow arrows breaking through the air rang out continuously, and the Western Xia army fell to the ground in large numbers, with deaths and injuries everywhere.

  "Kill!" Guo Liang held his horse spear and followed Fu Qi's cavalry charge, striking down the Xia army one after another. Some Xia soldiers also rushed towards Guo Liang in a group, but Hua Xiong, wielding a large sword, strode forward and with two or three swings of his blade, this group of Xia soldiers became a pile of corpses.

  "Young Master's martial arts skills are already at a bottleneck." Hua Xiong already knew that Gongsun Zan did not object to Guo Liang becoming Dong Zhuo's adopted son, so he changed his words and called Guo Liang "Young Master".

  "I also felt it, even Big Brother is in this state, unable to find a breakthrough for a long time." Guo Liang dismounted his horse, this battle has already been won, he saw that Gongsun Ce had joined forces with Dong Zhuo, the Western Xia commander's flag was cut down.

  As the two men were talking, a thunderous shout erupted from the entire army. It turned out that Li Sui had been beheaded by Zhang Heng.

  That night, they counted the casualties and cleaned up the battlefield. On the second day, Dong Zhuo left Hu Zhen and Yang Ding to lead a thousand Qin soldiers to defend Hua Ting, while he joined forces with Gongsun Zan to attack Chencang.

  After the two joined forces, the Qin army had a strength of over 14,000 men. Dong Zhuo was experienced in battle, and Gongsun Zan and the Western Liang generals were exceptionally brave. They marched westward, defeating enemy after enemy, with no one able to stop them.

  Of course, this is also closely related to the fact that Liang Jun's elite troops were all transferred to Tianshui.

  Finally in Tianshui Prefecture's Qin'an County, Lucheng Ancient Town, the Qin army stopped its advance. Because here appeared Dong Zhuo's old friend - Han Sui.

  Han Sui, styled Wenjiao, was a native of Jincheng (present-day Yongjing, Gansu). He was one of the warlords of the late Han Dynasty. Initially, he gained fame in Liangzhou as a Confucian scholar and became a local notable. Later, he was kidnapped by the Qiang Hu rebels led by Bei Gong Boyu and Li Wenhou, who proclaimed him their leader. Under the pretext of eliminating eunuchs, he raised an army to rebel against the government, gathering over 100,000 followers. He successively defeated famous generals such as Huangfu Song, Zhang Wen, Dong Zhuo, and Sun Jian. Later, he accepted amnesty from the imperial court and controlled a region for over thirty years.

  He had once sworn brotherhood with Ma Teng of Fufeng, but later fell out with him over a territorial dispute. It was during this time that Han Sui led his troops to slaughter the family of Ma Teng! However, they did not completely wipe them out, otherwise the two would have become sworn enemies.

  Later, when Yuan and Cao were competing, Ma Teng and Han Sui were persuaded by Zhong Yao to attach themselves to Cao Cao. Ma Teng was tired of the turmoil in the northwest and accepted Cao Cao's invitation, entering the capital and leaving his son Ma Chao to lead the troops. Later, when Cao Cao went on a western expedition against Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, many generals from Liangzhou thought this was one of Cao Cao's tricks, wanting to use the name of attacking Zhang Lu but actually intending to solve the problem of the various generals in Liangzhou.

  Ma Chao then promoted Han Sui as the leader, uniting the various generals of Liangzhou to rebel against Cao Cao. In the end, the allied forces of Liangzhou were defeated by Cao Cao at Wei River, and Han Sui fled to Longzhou. He was later defeated again by Xiahou Yuan and died of illness, aged over 70.

  Han Sui led the eight Western Liang tribes, originally roaming south of Jincheng. Recently he took Song Xi's advice and prepared to join forces against Qin. He also surrendered to Northern Liang, was appointed as General Who Pacifies The West by Northern Liang, and together with Song Xi attacked the Qin army in Tianshui Commandery.

  Tianshui County was then embroiled in war, and within the ancient town of Longcheng, there were three forces vying for control, creating a chaotic situation, yet amidst this chaos, there existed an unusual peace.

  These three forces are not weak, but they dare not break the existing balance, and it is because of their mutual restraint that this place has become a peaceful and happy land.