Chapter 596: Five Strategies for Pingnan
Soon, under the guidance of his personal guards, Shentu Mou entered Jia Cong's tent.
When the two met for the first time, Shen Tumou was stunned for a long while, and then he said in disbelief, "You...you are the commander-in-chief of the Daqian army here?"
Ever since Jia Cong's advance, the Southern Xinjiang troops have been steadily losing ground. Rumors about Jia Cong have circulated among the various factions. Some claim he possesses three heads and eight arms, a ferocious appearance, while others claim he can summon wind and rain, and even conjure soldiers from beans. Shentu Mou naturally disbelieved these rumors, but in his mind, Jia Cong was either a skilled warrior or, like Zhuge Liang, a master military commander and master strategist.
But no matter what, Jia Cong must be middle-aged or even elderly.
However, the Jia Cong before him, though a rather burly figure, was nonetheless a handsome young man. Dressed in a formal robe and with a kind face, he looked more like a powerless student than a commander commanding an army. He...had actually been defeated by such a man?
Jia Cong smiled but didn't respond. Instead, he said , "I'm not good at making tea, but I have a close friend who is very good at the tea ceremony. I've learned a few tricks from him. Since it's a rare opportunity to meet Elder Shentu today, I'd like to offer this Wumeng tea as a token of my appreciation. I hope Elder Shentu won't mind."
Shen Tumou finally gathered his composure, then stepped forward, bowed, and said respectfully, "Defeated general, Shen Tumou, the Great Elder of the Void Hatred Tribe, greets the Grand Champion Marquis of Daqian!"
"My Lord is a master of military strategy. Shen Tumou is ashamed of himself!"
After saying this, he walked forward and sat opposite Jia Cong.
After silently sipping a cup of not-so-delicious tea and putting it down, Shentu Mou sighed and said, "The various tribes of Southern Xinjiang gathered hundreds of thousands of troops. We thought they were enough to invade Shuzhong and even look north to the Central Plains to see the colorful world. However, we never imagined that Daqian would have such a talent as Guanjun Hou. If we had known this, the tribes of Southern Xinjiang should not have gone north to Shu!"
Jia Cong smiled. The reason why he asked Meng Hua and others to force Shen Tu Mou to surrender instead of killing all the soldiers was naturally because he had his own purpose.
First, it was to reduce their own casualties. After all, even if they fought all night, their side would still have the absolute upper hand. However, the enemy still had over 20,000 troops. If they fought to the death, how much damage would their own troops suffer?
Secondly, after recapturing the elite troops of Shentu Mou's Xuhen tribe, the troops of Jiading Prefecture can be completely divided, which will be beneficial for the next major battle.
Thirdly, as Lu Feng said, the Qiongbu Prefecture is headed by the Xuhen tribe and the Wudeng tribe. In addition, there are more than a dozen tribes of varying sizes that are subordinate to these two tribes.
There are a million Southern Xinjiang barbarians in Qiongbu Prefecture alone. Should we kill all of them? Since we can't kill them all, the best way is to subdue them.
However, surrendering them was not easy. First, they had to be beaten into submission, making them fear Daqian. Second, there were internal constraints. Unifying Qiong Province with either the Wudeng or Xuhen tribes was not in Daqian's best interests. If the two tribes were to confront each other, Daqian's mediation was the best approach.
The two tribes are of similar strength. If tens of thousands of elite members of the Xuhen tribe are killed here, there will be no rival for the Wudeng tribe in the entire Qiongbu Prefecture.
As for how to recapture Qiongbu Prefecture, Jia Cong naturally had a plan in place long ago.
Before the troops were dispatched, Jia Cong had a report with the retired emperor. The retired emperor asked how to establish the capital in southern Xinjiang. Jia Cong mentioned three difficult problems, but also proposed five strategies to deal with them.
The first of these five strategies was to proceed cautiously and never act rashly. The second was to recruit the powerful families in Shu to supply military supplies and fodder, thereby alleviating the pressure on the imperial court.
The third strategy was to control the power of the Nan'an Palace and, through it, the Shuzhong area. The fourth strategy was to prioritize the primary and secondary, with the Qiongbu Prefecture and the Wumeng tribes as the main opponents, while excluding the Xishan tribes and the Luo clan ghost kingdom as much as possible to reduce the pressure of war.
The last strategy is to divide and win them over, intimidate them with weapons, and lure them with benefits.
After listening to Jia Cong's five strategies, the retired emperor also gave Jia Cong the most tempting bait, which was the title of "King of Qiongdu".
Speaking of the title of King of Qiongdu, we have to mention a kingdom that existed only in legend: the Qiongdu Kingdom. Few traces of this kingdom remain, and the greatest evidence of its existence is a single sentence in the "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of the Southwestern Barbarians."
It says, "North of Dian, there are ten rulers, and Qiongdu is the largest ."
This means that to the north of Dian, there were more than a dozen small countries with monarchs, among which Qiongdu was the most powerful one.
The exact location of Qiongdu is difficult to verify, but it is generally believed that these small states were mostly offshoots of various southern barbarian tribes with different surnames. The Book of the Later Han records that during Emperor Wu's conquest of southern Xinjiang, Qiongdu was also conquered and Qiongdu County was established. Later, the Qiongdu tribes rebelled, but after their suppression, Yuexi Commandery was established. However, even then, the Qiongdu King remained a revered figure among these tribes.
As time went by, the area south of the Dadu River in Jiading, now in Shu, was called Qiongdu.
When Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, founded the country, he demarcated the border with a jade axe, abandoning the land south of the Dadu River and declaring it barbaric. This was because the Central Plains was newly established, and the Song Dynasty lacked sufficient strength to attack southern Xinjiang. Secondly, Zhao Kuangyin's strategy was to preserve the southern Xinjiang region, just as he had preserved the Northern Han to ward off attacks from the Khitans in the north. By preserving southern Xinjiang, the region would serve as a buffer zone between the Song Dynasty and Dali, avoiding a direct border with Dali when the Song Dynasty was weak.
What Zhao Lao Da didn't anticipate was that, while the Song Dynasty had initially enjoyed a peak, it had been on a downward spiral since Zhao Lao Er. The Song Dynasty had always focused its military operations on the north, and had never had the opportunity to attack southern Xinjiang again throughout the Song Dynasty's three hundred years. Therefore, throughout the Zhao Song Dynasty, the ownership of the southern Xinjiang region remained a matter of debate.
Some say it was an independent country, some say it belonged to the Song Dynasty, and some say it was a subsidiary of Dali.
In particular, the words left by Taizu that the area south of the Dadu River was not part of the Song Dynasty further support this statement.
However, in fact, during the Zhao Song Dynasty, in order to stabilize southern Xinjiang, the leader of the major clan in southern Xinjiang was enthroned as the King of Qiongdu.
Getting back to the point, it is no exaggeration to say that the enthronement of King Qiongdu is like a delicious piece of meat in the eyes of the tribes in southern Xinjiang. Even if they know it is a bait, they will bite it without hesitation.
As long as the war in Shu goes smoothly, the title of King of Qiongdu can be used to contain the various tribes after the war, which will appease the southern border to the greatest extent, and even force them to rely on Daqian, because the enthronement of the Central Plains dynasty represents orthodoxy in the surrounding areas, and this has never changed.
This is why Jia Cong not only did not kill Shentu Mou, but treated him well.
