Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 546 Yangping Pass
Zhang Lu was in Hanzhong, actually relying on the geographical advantages and the fact that there were many households. Especially after Guanzhong was robbed by Dong Zhuo, a large number of farmers fled to Hanzhong.
Zhang Lu, relying on the philosophy of Tianshi Dao, quickly absorbed and assimilated these refugees...
The most important thing to smoothly absorb refugees is to "fill their stomachs" and "win their hearts". Zhang Lu originally had a lot of grain in Hanzhong, and the laws and regulations of the Tianshi Mansion had many "overly ideal" parts, such as asking patients to repent and pray for self-healing, pardoning prisoners three times, executing serious crimes and repairing roads for minor crimes, prohibiting alcohol, building "charity houses" on official roads, and placing grain and water for passers-by to use...
Although there are many drawbacks, and many funds cannot be supervised at all, they can only be attributed to "ghosts and gods", that is, curses. Naturally, it is only useful for true believers of the Heavenly Master - others who do not believe in evil are not afraid of those curses...
Will people who give away food for free be punished by ghosts and gods? If you don't believe in ghosts and gods, there will be no punishment.
However, it must be said that this kind of law based on a simple sense of right and wrong is very suitable for the initial stage when people are not yet enlightened and are still struggling to make progress.
After all, more complete laws like the "Chu Law" cannot be implemented before society has developed to a certain level. Even in today's Chu State, it is a bit of "forcing things to happen", and it is not suitable to start from scratch.
It's not counterproductive, but it's by no means a perfect match. This is because Bai Tu took into account the speed of Chu's development and forced it to be made - just like ordering a larger school uniform for a growing child.
Even the predecessors of the Chu State, Yangzhou Prefecture and the General's Mansion, completed their initial infrastructure construction by relying on work-for-relief, that is, extremely cheap labor - at that time there was no welfare protection like today, and relief food to fill their stomachs, insignificant remuneration, and work intensity that did not threaten health constituted all the rules of "work-for-relief".
Of course, the days when a large amount of cheap labor could be easily obtained are now gone in the State of Chu. Workshop owners who want to "return" need to talk to the Ministry of Justice.
Zhang Lu was very successful in the initial stage, occupying Hanzhong, eroding Ba County and Guanghan, and refugees flocked to him...
But later on, he was restricted by the Tianshi Dao and found it difficult to grow powerful among the princes. As long as he maintained these outdated rules, the problems in Hanzhong would gradually be exposed even if no one attacked.
Moreover, although Zhang Lu controlled Hanzhong, he had few capable people under his command. After all, the "Tianshi Dao" was considered a fallacy in the eyes of the aristocratic families of the world. China would never entrust the right to rule to ghosts and gods.
Even though Taoism was revered during the Wei and Jin dynasties, people only used Taoist theories as material for metaphysical discussions rather than truly believing in gods.
Therefore, Ma Teng and Han Sui were full of confidence. They had nearly 70,000 soldiers and horses, claiming to have 200,000 soldiers. They also had more than 100,000 Qiang "mercenaries" and tens of thousands of civilians as transport forces, claiming to have a total of 500,000 troops...
As for the mercenaries, they were not really hired with money. Rather, they referred to the Qiang tribes that were conquered by Ma Teng and Han Sui. In order to show their obedience, they offered their warriors to them, as well as mobilized a part of the affiliated tribes. Basically, they only needed to provide them with food!
Of course, don't expect a lot of combat effectiveness from a foreign race that can be conquered so easily. Not to mention compared with the Xiongnu royal court that had a back-and-forth relationship with the Western Han Dynasty, even the current Southern Xiongnu and Hexi Xianbei have far stronger individual combat effectiveness than the Qiang.
Among all types of cavalry, Qiang cavalry is basically at the bottom. They are just huge in number, but the quality of both men and horses is not high...
In comparison, the Qiang people also have a stronger cultural habit of submitting to the strong, which is far beyond the once-conquered Southern Xiongnu.
For example, now... the Qiang people worship Ma Chao, the son of Ma Teng, as the "divine and powerful general" - ever since Ma Chao defeated all the Qiang people and was invincible, this "foreigner" has become a god to the Qiang people.
This is also one of the reasons why the two men from Xiliang easily mobilized a large number of Qiang people. If they had not taken into account the supply of food and fodder, they could have even recruited more!
Zhang Wei led his troops to garrison at Yangping Pass, trying to block the enemy west of Yangping Pass.
Yangping Pass is one of the northern gateways of Hanzhong, located northwest of "Nanzheng City", the seat of Hanzhong.
The Hanzhong Basin is sandwiched between the Qinling Mountains in the north and the Daba Mountains in the south, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack both in the south and the north. Yangping Pass is a pass built on the west side, between the Daba Mountains and the Qinling Mountains.
The two famous plank roads in Qinling Mountains, Qishan Road and Chencang Road, both lead to Yangping Pass. After entering from these two plank roads, you need to go through Yangping Pass to enter the Hanzhong Basin...
The difference is that Qishan Road and Chencang Road are both famous for the Northern Expedition from Hanzhong, but Zhang Lu occupied Hanzhong. Although he won because of the unity of the people, he was slow to respond strategically and was very "conservative", and could only defend against the enemy at Yangping Pass.
In fact, if it were not for Liu Zhang, Zhang Lu would have wanted to surrender long ago and took his family and disciples to Chang'an, purely as a Taoist priest, studying and spreading Taoism.
However, because of the existence of Liu Zhang, Zhang Lu had no choice but to surrender to the Han Dynasty. Not only could Zhang Lu himself not forgive Liu Zhang for killing his mother and many relatives, but also because of the long-term war between Hanzhong and Xichuan, the Han Dynasty, which had lost its prestige and was gradually recovering, must have been determined to use him as a warning to others.
Zhang Lu in history trusted Cao Cao, but Zhang Lu now does not trust the Han Dynasty. Even if Liu Xie agrees to accept Hanzhong's surrender, Zhang Lu will never dare to give up Hanzhong and leave...
When Zhang Wei came to Yangping Pass, he was furious and ready to teach these Liangzhou barbarians a lesson. However... when he saw the huge crowds of troops arriving outside the pass, he was intimidated by the "human presence" and his momentum was immediately dampened by three points.
In fact, if you look closely, you will find that the troops outside the Great Wall are not only in disarray, but also mostly dressed in tattered felt clothes...
Since we are going to attack the city, we should naturally put the ones we are least worried about in front.
"Qiang" at this time could not be considered a nation, but a general term used by the Huaxia to refer to the ethnic minorities in the west. In fact, the Qiang people were also divided into different ethnic groups. For example, Fu Jian, the emperor of the Former Qin Dynasty during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, was from the "Di" tribe, and the Dangxiang people who established the Western Xia during the Song Dynasty are now all part of the "Qiang".
"My brother, Marquis of Hanning, is a vassal of the Han Dynasty, just like your masters, Marquis of Yong and Marquis of Zhai. You... have invaded my prefectures and counties without reason. Doesn't the Han Dynasty have royal laws?" Zhang Wei shouted a little cowardly.
However, it is obviously a pipe dream to use the law to stop the Xiliang Army now. It even fails to shake the morale of the army. On the contrary, the cowardly tone has a counterproductive effect.
At this time, a young warrior walked out slowly from the front center. He was not wearing any armor and was not riding a warhorse. He just walked out step by step. However, wherever he passed, not only did the poorly trained Qiang soldiers give way, but they also lowered their heads and did not dare to look directly at him...
