At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Page 730

"Yes, I know it was burnt to ashes and I can't come back, but I'm just wondering why it wasn't burned before, but why is it burned now? And so many people burned together, isn't it too coincidental?"

Cao Xiu's smile became more and more eccentric.

"Perhaps...it's just a coincidence, an incredible coincidence...maybe."

King Qiuci felt uncomfortable being watched by Cao Xiu.

Cao Xiu nodded annoyed.

"Do you take me as a fool or the emperor as a fool?"

"Don't dare! Don't dare! I really don't dare! The account book was really burned, and we are very helpless!"

King Qiuci waved his hands again and again, but he didn't dare to follow Cao Xiu's words.

Are you kidding me?

Treat the Son of Heaven as a fool?

Are you crazy or am I crazy?

"Knowing that you dare to burn the account books?!"

Cao Xiu looked extremely angry: "This time, Ben Duhu came here to investigate this matter thoroughly! Check it out! Who burned it and why, Ben Duhu must know! Your Majesty, you will cooperate with me, right?"

The meaning in Cao Xiu's words, King Kucha seems to have gotten it.

"Guardian, don't worry, this king will definitely cooperate with the guardian."

King Qiuci understood what Cao Xiu meant.

Cao Xiu was probably also under a lot of pressure, so he came to them to vent his anger and asked them to give an explanation, so that he could go back and give an explanation to the person he couldn't afford to offend.

That's what happened.

King Qiuci had a calculation in his heart, and began to think about how to find a scapegoat that would be the most appropriate.

Who is the best person to be the scapegoat?

King Qiuci began to carefully select a guy who was suitable as a scapegoat, and then chose one of his relatives who held military power but often had conflicts with him, who was a member of the royal family.

This person's status is important, and he also holds military power. The most important thing is that he doesn't deal with King Qiuci. King Qiuci feels that he has found a good opportunity to kill people with a knife, killing two birds with one stone.

So he triumphantly betrayed this man to Cao Xiu.

Cao Xiu also seems to have accepted King Qiuci's "goodwill" very knowledgeably, and listed that relative of King Qiuci as a sinner.

Then he used the power of his own guardian, and with the "cooperation" of King Qiuci, he took down this relative and beheaded him in public to frighten people's hearts.

After the death, King Qiuci felt that he had passed the test, so he was very happy to entertain Cao Xiu. He invited Cao Xiu to eat, drink and watch the beauties dance, celebrating that both his goal and Cao Xiu's goal had been achieved.

Then, his family was taken over by Cao Xiu in turn.

Cao Xiu had already known in advance that Xia Houyuan's army was rushing towards here, so he took advantage of this banquet and acted decisively. He personally led three hundred warriors and killed dozens of princes, nobles and ministers of the Kucha Kingdom. , and captured King Kucha and his family alive.

King Kucha was terrified.

"Why! Cao Duhu! What are you doing!"

Cao Xiu wiped the blood off his face and grinned grimly.

"What else can I do to win peace for the country and make contributions!"

After finishing speaking, Cao Xiu killed King Qiucha with one knife, and ordered his subordinates to kill all the family members of King Qiucha.

Chapter 1254 One Thousand One Sixty Four Wealthy Small Country

When Cao Xiu bloodbathed the palace of Kucha, the remaining more than 1000 soldiers of the Wei army also set fire to and killed people in many places in the city.

The soldiers of the Wei Army killed all the unsuspecting Kucha soldiers in Yancheng, and then seized the city defenses and closed the four gates of Yancheng to cut off internal and external traffic.

Afterwards, officials in Kucha were searched and arrested in the city, and they were killed when they were caught. They did not hold back, and further controlled the defense of the whole city.

By the time the news of Yancheng's shocking change spread to other cities in the Kucha Kingdom, Xia Houyuan's vanguard army had already arrived in Yancheng to meet Cao Xiu.

Cao Xiu thought he would face the siege of the Kucha army, so he made the worst preparations and had to hold out in Yancheng until Xiahouyuan arrived.

Unexpectedly, until Xia Houyuan arrived, the revenge of the Qiuci army had not even been seen.

"Could it be a mess of scattered sand, running around?"

Xia Houyuan made malicious speculations.

Cao Xiu shook his head.

"I don't know, but even if they escape, all the military expenses for our army's expedition have already been paid for."

Cao Xiu led Xia Houyuan to see the warehouses in the capital of Kucha and the private warehouses of the royal family in the palace.

Rao Xia Houyuan was also from a wealthy family, and he had seen the spectacular sights of warehouses and arsenals in Luoyang, but when he saw such a large scale of gold, silver, pearls and jade belonging to King Qiuci, he was also terrified, his heart pounding. Jump.

"How much does it cost? Your Majesty will be so happy to see these gold and silver that he can't sleep for three days. It's the fault of these people that I, Wei, have such a lack of gold and silver?"

Because of the large amount, Xia Houyuan even felt that the gold and silver of Wei State had been embezzled by Western Region countries through the Silk Road.

Xia Houyuan wronged the countries of the Western Regions.

The bulk of the silk trade route still belongs to Wei State, or to someone from Guo. The amount of gold and silver in the hands of someone from Guo has increased linearly in the years since the silk trade route was opened.

A lot of Guishuang gold and silver coins flowed into Wei State along the silk trade route. Mr. Guo no longer lacked so much gold and silver, although it was far from the level where gold and silver could be used as currency.

It's just that the countries in the Western Regions are small in size, with a population of tens of thousands of 10,000+, which is about the same as a county town, but they have so much wealth. At first glance, they appear to be particularly rich.

On a per capita basis, almost everyone in the Western Regions lives in heaven, everyone has a lot of wealth, so don't live too comfortably.

And the state of Wei is so poor, it seems that the whole country is living in hell, and even the emperor Guo himself is a pauper, the kind who can't even afford food.

But what good is that?

At the end of the war, these small countries are like pigs raised in captivity by big countries. When the time comes, when they are fat and strong, they should be slaughtered and eaten.

The big country is full of oil, shaking its head and shaking its head, so happy.

This is the sorrow of a small country, the fate of a small country.

Therefore, the worst country in the world is not a small country that is poor, but a small country that is very rich.

The former is ignored at all, just like a piece of waste paper, too hard to wipe your buttocks, while the latter is always thought of by people, and it is a little troublesome. The first unlucky one is this small country.

"Guci is the strongest and largest among the countries in the Western Regions, and it is only natural that they have the most wealth. Of course, I didn't expect there to be so many. With this, His Majesty must be very happy."

Cao Xiu ordered people to strictly guard the warehouse of King Qiuci and take care of all the property here.

He planned to wait until Guo Jin arrived and hand it over to Guo Jin, and then Guo Jin would arrange to transport it to Luoyang and dedicate it to Guo Peng, so that Guo Peng could be happy.

Xia Houyuan led the army as the vanguard, and made countless contributions to destroying the country all the way, so he is in a particularly good mood now.

"Why, Wen Lie, you are not tempted at all, and you want to dedicate everything to His Majesty?"

When Cao Xiu heard this, he looked at Xia Houyuan with a straight face.

"Under the whole world, could it be that the king's land, all the property in the world belongs to His Majesty, and we are just trying to seize these properties for His Majesty, how can we be selfish? Uncle Miaocai, you must take good care of your subordinates, and don't let yourself be fooled." Shouldn't have thought."

Xia Houyuan made fun of it, and waved his hand to show that he knew.

Everything captured should be returned to the public first, and then rewards will be given based on merit. This has always been the rule of Wei Jun, and everyone abides by it. If anyone breaks the rules, it is no small matter.

This time Xia Houyuan has done a lot of credit, and he already feels that he needs to stop in Kucha for a while, otherwise he will continue to fight.

These countries can't help but fight. If they directly penetrated themselves all the way, Guo Jin would really be left behind?

To be honest, this wave of Guo Peng's operation of letting Guo Jin lead troops to attack the Western Regions made him very puzzled. He really didn't understand why Guo Peng did this.

It doesn't have to be so early to raise the prestige of the crown prince early, right?

But he is the emperor, and he is happy, so Xia Houyuan can't do anything about it.

To give the crown prince face, to give the crown prince the opportunity to make contributions, and to let the crown prince make contributions.

If I continue to fight, I will lose face. Even if Guo Jin doesn't mind, the emperor probably doesn't want to, then I will really be a bad person in Wei.

Well, thinking of Guo Peng's methods of handling affairs, Xia Houyuan didn't feel at all relaxed because he was a relative general. On the contrary, he even felt a little panicked.

Xia Houyuan still understood this point.

Coincidentally, Shanbei Road has actually been repaired here, and the rest of the road has not been repaired in time.

In fact, this is enough. Business travelers don't have to walk much to reach other countries from Gancheng, and most of the Western Regions have already passed.

Guo Peng's plan is to flatten the Western Regions before repairing it.

In case the road is too long, when the war breaks out, the countries in front will not have time to get the news, and they will not have time to damage the road, but the countries behind will have time to damage the road.

So instead of repairing it after it is damaged, it is better not to repair it from the beginning, and then repair it when it is finished. Wouldn't it be beautiful?

So Xia Houyuan joined forces with Cao Xiu's army, and divided his troops to attack several other cities to see if he could take advantage of it.

If you can't take advantage of it, let's wait until the main force of Guo Jin and Cao Ren arrives.

Anyway, Xia Houyuan is not in a hurry now.

Coincidentally, the situation encountered by Zhang Fei was similar.

After a whirlwind, Zhang Fei smoothly wiped out the Jingjue Country—the Jingjue Country that only a few hundred troops could use.

The opponent didn't even have a decent counterattack and it was over.

The army of Wei rushed over like locusts, and in about two sticks of incense, Jingjue King's City was finished, and the people of Jingjue country panicked and fled everywhere, and finally everyone became captives and prisoners.

After the country was subjugated, King Jingjue continued to cry and ask Zhang Fei why he did this, and why Shangguo wanted to crusade against the country of innocence.

Do they have any crimes that must be punished?

"Innocent? Being here is the greatest sin!"

Without hesitation, Zhang Fei killed all the high-ranking dignitaries including King Jingjue, destroying the inheritance of Jingjue Kingdom, and then fell into deep thought.

He was thinking of continuing to attack Khotan.

But as soon as the road of marching troops reaches Jingjue Country, it becomes more difficult to continue marching.

Secondly, I have destroyed a lot of countries all the way. If I continue to fight, won't Guan Yu and others want to follow him and eat ashes?

Thirdly, Khotan is different from other small countries. It also has some strength and territory in the Western Regions. It mobilizes more than 2 soldiers and horses. If it really wants to fight, I am afraid that my 5000 troops will not be easy to use. Even if I defeat them Unable to expand the victories.

Thinking of this, Zhang Fei slowly stopped.

After the Jingjue Kingdom was eliminated, Zhang Fei stationed in Jingjue City, supplied supplies on the spot, restored order on the spot, and was ready to wait for Guan Yu's main force to catch up.

Anyway, based on his relationship with Guan Yu, would he still be afraid that there would be no battle?

Zhang Fei can still make this calculation.

Chapter 1255 One thousand 160 five small countries with few people are so vulnerable

Zhang Fei and Xia Houyuan stopped at the end of Shannan Road and Shanbei Road at the same time. It was the end of October in the eighth year of Yande.

The Wei army's northern and southern armies won a complete victory. They have wiped out several small and large countries in the Western Regions, expanded their territory to the blessed land of the Western Regions, and basically controlled half of the Western Regions.

The remaining half is just in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, the weather turned cooler, the autumn wind was howling, and the climate on the plateau was even colder, which itself was not suitable for large-scale mobilization of troops.

However, after the Wei army's logistics has been fully transformed into mules and horses, its logistics deployment capabilities have been greatly improved, and its sustainable combat capabilities are extremely strong.

Under such a premise, Wei Jun's attack did not slow down at all.

The main force of Guo Jin and Guan Yu galloped along the Western Region Avenue, trying their best to catch up with the progress of the vanguard Xia Houyuan and Zhang Fei, for fear that they would seize all the opportunities.

They were really worried, especially Guo Jin, and they really didn't expect that it would be so easy to clean up the countries in the Western Regions. If they charged forward, some small countries would disappear.

As for the so-called big countries, they were just a few siege battles. After the siege battles were over, these so-called big countries would be completely abolished.

The so-called small country with few people is so vulnerable.

This kind of battle, if he really comes, he can do it, it is simply lying on the powerful national strength of the empire, waiting for victory to knock on the door.