Chapter 1025: Success in the East and Success in the West (VIII)

He Lanxiong stood in a pool of blood on the ground, his face ashen. This was a village of a small Xiongnu tribe, with about a hundred households, but now, except for ashes and corpses on the ground, there was nothing.

Since the Xiongnu annexed Gaoyuan, life has been getting better and better day by day. A large number of the Huns have chosen to settle around major Han cities such as Jishi City and Dayan City. In this way, while engaging in traditional animal husbandry, they can also Some farming techniques can be learned from the Han people, and the local Han government often sent some experienced farmers to teach farming techniques, which allowed these Huns to slowly get rid of their single lifestyle.

Around these cities, the government has designated pastures and implements rest grazing every year to ensure the long-term development of these herdsmen. Living around the cities, the herdsmen’s livestock, dairy products, and furs can also be quickly and easily sold directly to people in the city. Shops, reducing intermediate links, allowing them to obtain greater profits. Of course, in addition to these benefits, if herders have excess labor at home, they can also go to the city to find jobs. The city can always provide well-paid jobs. Compared with Compared with the Han people, these Huns who came to the city to look for work charged lower prices and worked harder, which made them favored by merchants of all sizes in the city.

The tribe that was wiped out by the Qin army today obviously does not belong to this category. They still maintain their traditional way of life. On the ruins, the remains of livestock fences can still be identified. The livestock inside are naturally the same. There is nothing left.

"Commander, we found a survivor!" He Lanjie ran over, "It's a pity that he died again without saying a few words. His injuries were too serious."

The light in the eyes of He Lanxiong, who had just heard that there were survivors, dimmed quickly. If a tribe still had one person, then with his own help, the tribe could still survive, but now, I am afraid that this tribe will be destroyed again. Submerged in the dust of history.

"Which tribe is it?" He Lanxiong asked in a low voice. Everything here had been robbed, and the rest was burned into ruins. Even He Lanxiong couldn't tell which tribe this was.

"It's the Guoluoluo tribe. Their clan leader is unwilling to live around the city. He still leads his people and lives a traditional herding life. This time, people didn't pay attention to the warning and did not report to Jishi City. They retreated from these places, and then they suffered a disaster. The man said that there were more than 500 people in the clan, and no one was left. They were all killed. Livestock, grain, and all valuable things were robbed." He Lanjie road.

"Which Qin army is it and how many people are there?" He Lanxiong's eyes flashed with blazing anger.

"It's a mixed Qin army with about a thousand cavalry and two thousand infantry. Our scouts have found traces of their advance, and they are now heading towards Jishi City along the Siyang River."

"Why are there only more than 3,000 people?" He Lanxiong asked.

"Looking at the Qin army's formation, I'm afraid they sent a large number of such troops to sweep the Xiongnu tribes on the grassland who had no time to withdraw, and rob livestock, grain and grass. You know, the Qin army's grain road is too long, Li Xin is afraid The idea of ​​fighting is to feed war with war."

"Fight to feed war!" He Lanxiong snorted. As a general with Huns origin, he naturally knew the bloodshed behind the so-called "fight to feed war" decision.

"Send our scouts to warn all the Xiongnu tribes who have not retreated to Jishi City not to have any illusions. The Qin people are determined to burn them all, kill them all, and rob them all. Now they have retreated towards Jishi City. It's too late, I suggest them to immediately flee in the direction of the Hetao. Lose whatever they can, save the people first," He Lanxiong ordered.

"Yes, I'll do it right away!" He Lanjie agreed and turned to leave.

"Hao Lianpo!" He Lanxiong shouted loudly.

"Commander, the general is here." Hao Lianpo ran over quickly.

"Send out scouts to find out where this Qin army is now. I will repay blood with blood!" He Lanxiong said with murderous intent.

By the Siyang River, Li Xin poured a handful of water on his face, feeling the coolness, and sighed: "What a wonderful place. We once had the opportunity to completely occupy this land, but because of this and that The reason is that in the end, it was Gao Yuan who was advantaged, and he achieved his current huge foundation. He also became the biggest enemy of our Great Qin."

"Now his good days are over. Back then, when the general drew his sword, the Huns were wiped out. Now, the general draws his sword again. How can Gao Yuan stand in the way of the general's troops?" General Dan Yu said with a smile beside him.

Li Xin shook his head, "Today is different from the past. Although the Xiongnu had a royal court, the major tribes actually still did their own thing. This gave us the opportunity to defeat each other. Today's Han Dynasty is unified from top to bottom, and the government orders are smooth. With one order, the whole country can Mo Cong, with this kind of mobilization ability, in this world, apart from our Da Qin, there is only the Han Dynasty. Gao Yuan is our strongest enemy, otherwise the king would not give up the opportunity to destroy Zhao State in one fell swoop this time, but instead seek the far side instead of the near. We must defeat the Han State first!"

"This is exactly what I don't understand." Dan Yu humbly asked for advice: "General, one hundred thousand elites of the Zhao State were wiped out by our country. The Zhao State is now in a period of weakness. Such a great opportunity, if we do not take advantage of it, , wouldn’t it be too wasteful, Zhao State is a big country after all, if you give them time to recover their strength, wouldn’t it cost a lot of money again in the future?”

Li Xin laughed and said, "This is the king's brilliance. The Zhao State is large and powerful, but compared with the threat to us from the Han State, it is really nothing to mention. The Zhao State is now headed by Zhao Qi. This person is short-sighted, good at playing small conspiracies but lacks great wisdom. In terms of the grand strategic layout, he is simply a mess. With such a person in charge of Zhao State, why should Zhao State have anything to fear? What we have to do now is just to help Zhao Qi maintain the His rule in Zhao State was defeated by our country this time. Zhao Qi's status was already in jeopardy. Zhao Wuji was also extremely dissatisfied with him. In order to maintain his status and save his own life, Zhao Qi was afraid that he would go on a killing spree again. , the more he kills, the more people in the country will oppose him, and the more opportunities we will have to intervene. Can such a country still worry us? Sooner or later, it will be in our hands. But the Han Kingdom It’s different. You know that Han soldiers are good at fighting, but what worries the king even more is the economic development of Han. In just a few years, Han’s economy has advanced by leaps and bounds, and its economic strength has surpassed that of our country. , What’s even more worrying is that Gao Yuan has an excellent reputation in Han Dynasty. Do you know the bonds he issued? With just such a white note, a huge amount of wealth can be raised among the people in the blink of an eye. But Yu, do you think , if our country follows this approach, will it be effective?”

But Yu frowned and thought for a while, "General, I'm afraid I can't. Those who have money are unwilling to buy it, and there are people behind them, so they can't force it. And some others, I'm afraid, don't have the money to buy it."

"That's right!" Li Xin nodded and said: "Your Majesty is worried that as time goes by, the Han Congress will become stronger and stronger, and it will overwhelm us economically. In the end, this war is all about money. Ah, a sword, a bow, and a pair of armor all have to be bought with silver. The annual consumption of a horse and a soldier requires money from the treasury. As the Han Dynasty gets richer and richer, they will spend more. More money to equip more troops. In less than ten years, Gao Yuan has grown from a county captain with a hundred people to hundreds of thousands of troops now. If he is given another ten years, wouldn't he be able to equip millions? Troops come out."

"Can't my king summon millions of troops with just one order?" Dan Yu said.

Li Xin glanced at Dan Yu, "One million troops and one million troops sound the same number, but sometimes, the difference between them is huge. I don't think that by that time, our one million troops will really It can be compared with the Han army's millions of troops, and if it really comes to that day, as long as the war drags on for a little longer, our country Qin will be crushed. Gao Yuan has avoided large-scale conflicts with our country in these years, so Why are you here? His mind is very clear, he has this idea, he wants to bring us down."

"Why can't we imitate his lofty policies on people's livelihood?" Dan Yu said with some distress: "His lofty economic and people's livelihood policies are no secret?"

"It's easier said than done!" Li Xin shook his head and said: "If we copy what Gao Yuan implemented, we're afraid that the country will be in chaos before the economy and people's livelihood have developed. But Yu, Gao Yuan's Han Kingdom Strictly prohibiting land annexation, his ministers and generals are not allowed to own more than one thousand acres of land each. He uses land as a reward for warriors' military exploits. He distributes land to the people for free and collects very low taxes. He can do this He did it because he was a new regime, a country built on a mess of nothing. The original power structure was completely wiped out during the war, so he did it without any resistance, but Our country has been established for hundreds of years, and domestic forces are deeply intertwined. If you really want to talk about it, do you know who the biggest landlord in our country is?"

But Yu opened her mouth, several people flashed through her mind, and she shook her head, unable to tell who was more numerous.

"The largest landowner in our country is the royal family!" Li Xin sighed, "Do you want the king to kill you?"

But Yu opened his mouth wide enough to stuff a duck egg inside.

"But this battle is not easy to fight!" Dan Yu scratched his head, "It would have been much easier if He Lanxiong had been blocked in Dai County and let him escape to the grassland, but the fish would return to the sea. , Bird Fei Jiutian, it will be even more difficult to catch him again. His infantry is accelerating to retreat towards Jishi City. By then it will be even more difficult for us to attack Jishi City. I saw what Heibingtai got. To be honest, I haven’t figured out any effective way to attack the city.”

"In a war, there is nothing certain. In short, the more likely you are to win, the less likely you are to lose!" Li Xin laughed, "He Lanxiong escaped, but it is not necessarily impossible to catch him." (To be continued)