Currently, Wei Shao’s army had stationed in Jingbian, where he was attacked and hit by a poisoned arrow last time. A month ago, Liangzhou had fallen into Wei Shao’s hands after the battle in Anding County. Most of the Qiang tribes in Huangzhong had followed in the Beihe tribe’s footsteps.

Only the Shaodang tribe remained in the area of Guyuan. Jingbian and Guyuan were far apart, and the last battle was about to start. As long as the Guyuan was defeated, the three areas of Bingzhou, Huangshui, and Liangzhou would unite. In the future, the West Qiang would cut off the Xiongnu’s pathway, controlling the pass in Liangzhou, and adding Youzhou and Jizhou. Half of the world was almost in Wei Shao’s pocket.

Gongsun Yang was disbelieving about this rapid progress. As Han Feizi said, those that good at spreading the net would catch their strings. Gongsun Yang realized that the ‘main point’ in the Marquis’ plan to conquer the west was the Qiang people. He thought it would take at least a year to reach this point. After all, subduing the Qiang and defeating Feng Zuo was not easy.

Unexpectedly, once the luck was up, it was unstoppable. First, the Beihe tribe led most of the Qiang people in Huangshui, followed by the Qiang soldiers in Feng Zhaoge’s army revolt that reduced their fighting force sharply. After two big battles and several minor battles, they defeated Liangzhou.

From the beginning of the year, when Wei Shao came to Jinyang until this time, it took only half a year.

The Shaodang tribe was fierce. When Wei Shao personally led the army to fight with Feng Zhao, they attacked Shang County several times. But it was impossible to preserve without help from others. It was only a matter of time before they took down Guyuan. All the generals under Wei Shao were overjoyed, everyone was eager to fight and looking forward to success, and their spirits lifted.

……A short military meeting had concluded inside the leader’s tent. Wei Shao ordered Li Chong, Zhang Jian, and Wei Liang to lead the three armies to attack Shaodang and take Gu Yuan completely.

He decided to launch an active war against Guyuan faster, in addition to taking advantage of the after-effects of the battle in Anding County, also because last night, he caught an emissary sent by Xing Xun to the Shaodang tribe.

The messenger carried an imperial decree issued by Xing Xun in the name of the young emperor, making Diao Mo the King of Jin Qiang, promising him money, and ordering him to continue lobbying the Qiang people to rise against Wei Shao.

Wei Shao killed the messenger and ordered a full-scale attack on the Shaodang tribe today.

……

On the first day of the year, when he did not go to Luoyang Palace to participate in the ceremony implicitly announced the break between Youzhou and Luoyang. Today, sitting in Luoyang, Xing Xun could no longer continue to watch him grow further.

And Wei Shao, who became the true hegemon of the north, was taking the first step in his ambition: to challenge the supreme power of Luoyang.This final battle against the Shaodang tribe was a point of departure.

The real battle that will disturb the world will come soon.

……

After a great battle, Wei Shao’s army surrounded Diao Mo and his less than two thousand Qiang soldiers on a barren land. The rest were either captured or died. He tried several times to organize the last cavalry formation to break out of the siege but ceased by the arrow formation. The encirclement circle was getting smaller and smaller. He was desperate and wanted to kill himself with his sword, but his subordinates stopped him. The battle was a major defeat for the Shaodang tribe. They lost all their cavalries while Diao Mo was taken captive.

Three days later, Diao Mo accepted Gongsun Yang’s invitation to surrender and submitted a submission letter to Wei Shao.

In his submission letter, he said that his sin was his own, not his clan’s. Since he was fortunate enough to be forgiven by the Lord, he was willing to lead his tribe to join him and would not have second thoughts.

At this time, Wei Shao had already embarked on his journey back to Jinyang. After receiving Xiao Qiao’s letter more than half a month ago, he immediately replied with a letter and ordered the messenger to deliver it.

But she never replied again. Wei Shao felt slightly uneasy. When the dust of the war finally settled, how could he sit still? He left the aftermath to Gongsun Yang and set off on his journey back to Jinyang.

His heart felt anxious to return, and now the thing he wanted the most was to see her.

……