After Northern Wei Tuoba Tao married his sister Princess Wuwei to Northern Liang, he was poisoned and persecuted, after the incident, the King of Northern Liang, Frustrated Qu Mujian, did not pay any attention to it, and also sheltered the poisoned people in every way, which was intolerable, Tuoba Tao had long wanted to fight against Northern Liang, and just on this as a reason to send troops, he asked Cui Hao for countermeasures.
Cui Hao said: "The rebellious heart of Mu Jian has long been revealed, and he cannot but kill. In the previous few years of the Northern Expedition, our army actually did not suffer any losses. But they decided that our national strength was exhausted and could not be restored. Now, if our army suddenly appears before them by surprise, they must be terrified, and they will not know what to do, and we will certainly be able to capture the enemy. ”
Tuoba Tao said happily, "Great, I think the same way." Therefore, he summoned all the ministers of state to discuss in the West Hall of the Taiji Hall.
Xi Jin and more than thirty other people objected: "Depressed Qu Mujian is an inferior small country attached to the western frontier, although he is not very subservient to us in his heart, but since he succeeded to the throne, the annual tribute has never been interrupted, and the imperial court also treats him as a vassal, and also marries the princess to him." Today, his crimes are not yet very obvious and should be forgiven. Our country has recently returned from a crusade to the west, and the people and horses are tired and can no longer raise troops on a large scale to fight. Moreover, I have also heard that the land in Liangguo is barren, with mostly saline and alkali land, and there are not many water and grass. When our large army is approaching the city, they will definitely hold on to the city, and there is nothing to rob in the wilderness, which is a dangerous strategy. ”
Shangshu Li Shun was ordered to send an envoy to Northern Liang, a total of twelve round trips, Tuoba Tao thought that Li Shun was very talented, but Cui Hao was extremely disgusted with Li Shun. At that time, the Northern Liang king Frustrated Canal Mengxun repeatedly entertained and drank with Li Shun, and Depressed Canal Mengxun often said some rude words to the courtiers, and he was afraid that Li Shun would leak to the Northern Wei court, so he stuffed many gold and silver treasures into Li Shun's arms, and Li Shun hid them for him. After Cui Hao knew, he secretly reported it to Tuoba Tao, who refused to believe it.
When discussing the attack on Northern Liang at this time, Li Shun and Gu Yi both said: "From the west of Wenyuan Water to Guzang City, there are dry stones everywhere, and there are absolutely no water weeds. Locals say that on the Tianti Mountain south of Guzang City, there is snow in winter, up to several inches deep. In the spring and summer, the snow melts and flows down from the mountains to form rivers, and local residents rely on the snow water into the canal to irrigate the farmland. If the people of Liangzhou hear that our army has arrived, they will certainly dig a canal mouth and let the water flow out, and the men and horses of our army will have no water available. Within a hundred miles of Guzang City, the land is waterless and weeds are not growing, and our soldiers and horses are hungry and thirsty, and it is difficult to stay for a long time, so Xi Jin's opinion is correct. ”
Tuoba Tao then asked Cui Hao and Xi Jin to debate, and the crowd had nothing else to say, but repeatedly claimed that "there is no water and grass in Liangzhou."
Cui Hao was confident and did not hesitate to say: "According to the "Book of Han and Geographical Chronicle", it was said: 'Liangzhou's livestock products are the richest in the world. 'If there are no aquatic weeds there, how can livestock breed?' In addition, the Han Dynasty would never build castles and counties on land without water and grass. Moreover, after the melting of alpine ice and snow, it can only soak the skin of the wetland and converge on the dust, how can it be possible to dig up channels and irrigate farmland? This kind of statement is ridiculous to the extreme! ”
Li Shun said strongly: "It is better to hear than to see with your own eyes, I have seen it with my own eyes, what qualifications do you have to argue with me?" ”
Cui Hao said contemptuously, "You accepted money bribes from others and wanted to speak for them, thinking that I would be blinded by you if I didn't see it with my own eyes!" ”
When Tuoba Tao, who was hidden behind the screen, heard these words, he came out to meet Xi Jin and the others, his words were stern, and the group of courtiers did not dare to say anything more, only dared to obey orders.
After the courtiers walked out of the Taiji Hall, the Zhenwu general Yi Fang said to Tuoba Tao, "If there is really no water and grass in Liangzhou, how can they establish a kingdom there, the opinions of everyone are not available, you should listen to Cui Hao." Tuoba Tao agreed with him.
Subsequently, Tuoba Tao sent troops to Pingcheng, ordered Mu Shou to assist the crown prince Tuoba Huang to preside over the imperial government, and sent the generals Ji Jing and Tuoba Chong to lead 20,000 people to garrison The Southern Desert to prevent the Ruoran Khanate from taking advantage of the false attack. Then he ordered the minister to issue a proclamation, counting the twelve counts of mujian of the Northern Liang King, and warned him: "If you personally lead the group of ministers, come out of the distance and prostrate on the ground to greet them, and then kneel before my horse's head to pray for sin, this is the best strategy; wait until our soldiers are in the city, you will tie your hands and carry the coffin out of the city to greet you, this is the middle strategy; if you are trapped in the isolated city, if you do not wake up in time, you will be prepared to die and be destroyed, and you will be punished with the most severe punishment in the world!" You have to weigh the pros and cons and find a way to live for yourself. ”
Tuoba Tao led a large army to cross the Yellow River from the clouds and arrived at the capital of Shangjun, the large army left Yuanzhong behind, and then deployed and dispatched various armies, ordered Tuoba Jian and Liu Yu and Tuoba Su to be the forwards, marched in two ways at the same time, and ordered Tuoba Pi and Du Chao to be the reserve army, with the Pingxi general Yuan He as the guide.
Yuanhe, whose original name was Bald-haired Broken Qiang, was the son of Bald-haired Tan Tan, the King of Southern Liang, and surrendered to Western Qin with his family after the fall of the country. After his father was killed by the King of Western Qin, bald-haired Andong's brother Bald-haired Hutai and sister Empress Bald-haired attempted to murder the Western Qin King, but were killed due to the leak of the matter, and Bald-haired Qiang fled to Northern Wei. At that time, the reigning was Tuoba Tao's father Tuoba Si, tuoba si admired him very much, and because Tuoba and bald hair were originally of the same origin, they gave bald hair to break the surname of Qiang.
Tuoba Tao once asked Yuanhe about the battle plan for capturing Northern Liang, and Yuanhe replied: "There are four Xianbei tribes next to Guzang City, all of which are old subordinates of my grandfather, and I am willing to preach to them the prestige of our country and analyze the evils and harms before the arrival of the army, and they will definitely surrender one after another." Once the reinforcements outside the city disintegrate and then take the isolated city, it will be easy to do so. Tuoba Tao clapped the case and applauded.
When Mu Jian heard the news of the Arrival of the Northern Wei army, he was shocked and said, "How can this be!" Subsequently, he adopted the strategy of Yao Dingguo, the left minister, and refused to go out of the city to greet him, but asked the Ruoran Khanate for help.
Frustrated Qu Mujian sent his younger brother Zhengnan general Frustrated Qu Dong to command more than 10,000 troops to go out of the city to meet the Northern Wei army, resulting in the collapse of the Northern Liang army. The Northern Wei forward general Liu Feng listened to the prophecies of the fortune tellers and believed that the hour was unlucky, so the recall army did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, and Dong Lai was able to escape into Guzang City, and Tuoba Tao was angry and gritted his teeth.
Tuoba Tao's army arrived at Guzang City and sent someone to inform Mu Jian of The Depression Canal, causing him to surrender quickly. When Mujian heard that the Ruoran Khanate was about to attack the borders of Northern Wei, he pinned his hopes that Tuoba Tao would lead his army back to the east to rescue the country, so he refused to surrender and ordered his generals to hold the city.
Frustrated Qu Mujian was so confident, but his nephew Frustrated Quzu recognized the situation and crossed the city wall to surrender to the Northern Wei army. Tuoba Tao then learned the true situation of Northern Liang and divided his troops to surround Guzang City. And Yuanhe also successfully appeased his grandfather's xianbei old department of more than 30,000 accounts, so Tuoba Tao was able to concentrate all his efforts on attacking the city without worries.
Tuoba Tao saw the lush water and grass outside Guzang City, hated Li Shun very much, and said to Cui Hao: "What you said back then has indeed come true today." ”
Cui Hao replied, "I don't dare not tell the truth, I have always been like this." ”
When Tuoba Tao decided to go north, the crown prince Tuoba Huang was also confused about the geography of Liangzhou. At this time, Tuoba Tao told him in the edict: "Outside the west gate of Guzang City, there is a steady stream of spring water, which has always been connected with the spring outside the north gate, and the water flow is so large that it is like a river. In addition to supplying farmland for irrigation, the rest flows down the ditch into the desert, so there is no arid place in this area. I have written this edict to dispel your doubts. ”
Although Cui Hao had never been to Beiliang, he could not follow the crowd, keep a clear head, and not be confused by a lot of information, but only rely on the records in the book to make correct inferences. On the one hand, his ability to control the truth is because he has read a lot of books, and more importantly, he is diligent in thinking and reading books to understand, so as to find the correlation behind it from seemingly unrelated clues, so as to find the truth of the matter.