Straight man of steel

Chapter 410 Finding Countermeasures
Maybe the spring bleeds too much.

The fall of this year is a harvest season.

The treasury, which had just been emptied, was filled again.

Liu Che once again wanted to launch a war against the Huns.

But this time it was not Zhang Yuan's suggestion.

Zhang Qian came back from the Western Regions.

Just like Columbus discovered the New World.

Chu Da did not meet Zhang Qian in Touman City, and before Chu Da was captured by the Aries King, Zhang Qian had already escaped from the Huns' territory.

Zhang Qian, who was going to Dayuezhi, heard that the Han Dynasty had successfully eliminated King Loufan and King Aries of the Xiongnu, so he turned around and returned to the Han Dynasty.

The Huns did not imprison Zhang Qian either. Zhang Qian still knew some news when he was in Touman City.

From the Battle of Mayi to the recovery of Hetao Henan, Zhang Qian felt that the Great Han might be able to defeat the Huns without the help of the Great Yuezhi.

So he chose to come back.

Half of the news he brought back was what he saw from the Western Regions, and the other half was hearsay.

After all, he hadn't really traveled through the entire Western Region.

Zhang Qian's return broadened Liu Che's world view once again.

Liu Che wants to open up the Hexi Corridor and establish connections with countries in the Western Regions.

This necessitates another war.

The target of the war is still the Huns.

Now Liu Che realized that Zhang Yuan might be an excellent military advisor.

So when he had this idea, he went to find Zhang Yuan and Wei Qing.

"I pay homage to Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty."

When Zhang Yuan came to know Liu Che's purpose from Wei Qing, Wei Qing felt a little anxious, but Zhang Yuan objected.

You can't delay the war with the Huns, you have to beat the Huns to collapse in one go.

When the big man has 20 cavalry to mobilize, it will be the time for a decisive battle with the Huns.

But at that time, it was hard to say whether the Xiongnu Da Shanyu was a military minister or not.

Yu Shan, the son of a military official, seems to have died not long ago.

Zhang Yuan heard that Liu Che castrated Yu Dan and died of inflammation.

This death is bad enough.

"Great Sima, the two Taixuelings, do you know why I summoned you today?"

"I don't know!"

Zhang Yuan lowered his head and glanced at Wei Qing, this guy has learned to deceive the emperor.

"It's not a big deal. I just think that the Xiongnu King Xiutu and the Hunxie King have repeatedly committed crimes, so it's time to teach them a lesson."

"I don't know what lesson His Majesty wants to teach them?"

Wei Qing objected and didn't want to speak, so Zhang Yuan spoke for him.

"I want to wipe out the Xiongnu in the west of the river, so that there will be no trace of the Huns west of the Yellow River!"

Liu Che was already inflated, and he didn't take the Huns seriously at all.

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask, how many cavalry can my big man mobilize now?"

"One hundred thousand!"

This number is already high.

It was almost the total of the Eighth Colonel of the Northern Army, the Qimen Army of the Habayashi Army, and the [-] cavalry led by Wei Qing last time.

"Your Majesty, I believe that the king of the Huns is not monolithic.

You can send envoys to King Hunxie and King Xiutu of the Huns first, and threaten them to surrender. If they are unwilling, then we will send troops. "

Now the chance of King Hunxie surrendering is not very high, but Zhang Yuan still wants to give it a try. If it succeeds, then he will suddenly lose a big enemy.

"Who do you think is more appropriate to send?"

"I don't have a suitable candidate in mind, Your Majesty can give it a try.

Now the Huns should already know how powerful our big men are. If they don't know the current affairs, then we have a reason to send troops. "

"Okay, then I will find someone to send an envoy.

However, Da Sima and Tai Xue ordered you two to be ready to fight at any time. "

"Here."

When he came out of Yutang Hall, Wei Qing had a cold face.

"what happened to you?"

"Why did Brother Yuan give His Majesty such advice?"

"As a courtier, is there any problem with your Majesty asking me to answer this question?"

"No problem, but Brother Yuan, don't you know that the big man needs to recuperate? Starting another war immediately will do more harm than good."

"I know, but I think getting rid of the Huns is more important than anything else.

The shortcomings will be made up for later. "

"Well, even if you're right, I don't recommend starting a war right away."

"Who told you to start a war immediately?"

"Don't your Majesty and Brother Yuan mean to launch a war immediately?"

"I don't know what Your Majesty means, but what I mean is to persuade you to surrender first, and then fight if you can't persuade.

After the mission to the Xiongnu, it will be too late next spring, and the war will have to wait until the spring of the next year. Is such a long period of recuperation not enough? "

After hearing Zhang Yuan's explanation, Wei Qing no longer kept a cold face.

He can still accept this statement.

"It seems that I was overthinking it. I thought Brother Yuan that you were carried away by the victory."

"You remember clearly, I won't lose my head if you lose your head, besides, do you ever say that about your brother?"

Zhang Yuan smiled and patted Wei Qing, and the two walked out of Jianzhang Palace arm in arm.

There were some conflicts before, so the relationship between the two of them was estranged, and it happened that they hadn't talked and played together for a long time, and then at this opportunity, Zhang Yuan asked Wei Qing out of Chang'an City.

Wei Qing gave Zhang Yuan this face, and asked for a few days leave to go to Lantian Mountain with Zhang Yuan.

Zhang Yuan still likes some places with distinct seasons, so that each season will have the appearance he should have.

This is what Lantian Mountain looks like now, the whole mountain is mixed with red, green and yellow.

This view allowed Lao Wang to get some food and wine, and he could see nightfall from early morning.

It brings a peaceful emotion to people.

Wei Qing, who was enjoying the scenery, seemed to remember something, so he asked Zhang Yuan.

"Brother Chu, are his family members here?"

Only a few people knew about this matter, but Wei Qing was not included. Liu Che did a very good job of keeping it secret.

"Yes, sister-in-law and several nephews are in the bamboo forest ahead.

The other members of the Chu family are all on Lantian Mountain. "

"Before I said that you were impatient, Brother Yuan. If Brother Chu's family is in my house, I wish I could lead troops to go to Langjuxu Mountain immediately to rescue Brother Chu."

"Everyone has their own life trajectory, just like you, young brother, no matter whether someone else appears or not, you will become a famous general through the ages.

And I am the star that flickers in and out of the sky, and Brother Chu, maybe he should be unknown in his whole life. "

Wei Qing didn't really agree with what Zhang Yuan said, but he always felt that what Zhang Yuan said was right.

He himself did not expect that he could become what he is now.

Soon the sky darkened, and a meteor streaked across the sky.

The ancients were particularly sensitive to things like meteors, and Wei Qing was the same, he always felt that something was about to happen.

But Zhang Yuan thought it was a good thing, and counting the time, Wei Zifu should be pregnant again.

This one is a boy.

Sure enough, Wei Zifu was pregnant, and the news didn't come out until two months later.

Liu Che really doted on Wei Zifu, and became pregnant four times in a row. This kind of favor is something no other woman can envy no matter how much she envies.

Zhang Yuan sometimes doubted himself. Wei Zifu was about the same age as him, and Zhuo Wenjun was only a few years older than her. Why did he not move for so long.

But Zhang Yuan felt that the problem should be with himself. If the problem was with Zhuo Wenjun, Zhang Yuan had no choice but to find someone else to try.

The seeds bought from Kucha City were all planted in the ground after Zhang Yuan returned.

Later, not many sprouted, and basically no fruit was produced.

Relying on the leaves and vines, Zhang Yuan can distinguish the grapes. As for the others, we can only see what will grow and bear fruit next year.

Zhang Qian brought back some seeds, and delivered them all to Danong Temple. Fortunately, Yan Yi was an insider, and Zhang Yuan got a lot back.

Zhang Yuan also plans to wait until next spring to plant together.

There are really too few types of fruits here, and there are only a few dishes that come and go. I can only live by some fresh things.

Being idle and bored, Zhang Yuan asked Lao Zhao to make out the sand table in Hexi, and made gestures on it all day long when he was bored.

As expected, the envoys sent by Liu Che to the Huns disappeared as soon as they left.

That person will either die immediately. In any case, the Huns and the Han are now mortal enemies.

Otherwise, next spring will bring some good news.

King Hunxie, King Xiutu, and King Loufan, King Baiyang, are not actually Huns in the strict sense.

In the beginning, there were several groups of nomadic peoples in the north, such as Shanrong, Hunyu, meat porridge and so on.

These peoples were the ancestors of other nomadic peoples who came later.

Then for various strange reasons, more than 100 Rong tribes finally emerged, and they fought and merged with each other.

Some are classified into the Central Plains, such as the Yiqu people.

Some were annexed, like King Loufan and Aries King, they were all annexed later.

Most of the Xiongnu under the command of the Hun Shanyu were Donghu people annexed by Modu.

So they don't have a sense of cultural identity, and the Huns don't have much culture.

If the people of Yiqu can be integrated into the big man, then King Hunxie and King Xiutu can also be integrated into the big man.

For them, surrendering to the big man is actually the same concept as being annexed by the Huns at the time.

Zhang Yuan felt that King Hunxie would choose to talk as long as he was not stupid.

When Zhang Yuan led his troops to confront the Xiongnu Da Shanyu in Gaoque, the military ministers must have sent troops from Hunxie King and Xiutu King, but in the end there were only Da Shanyu's soldiers and horses.

This can explain some more realistic problems.

There is also a worse situation, King Hunxie and King Xiutu do not want to surrender, so it is much more difficult to find their two tribes than to find King Loufan and King Aries.

The scope of activities of King Hunxie and King Xiutu is estimated to be the largest among all the tribes of the Huns.

In fact, these two groups did not plunder the Han people very much. They often went to those countries in the Western Regions to fight the autumn wind.

Geographically speaking, they are closer to the Western Regions.

However, if Liu Che wants to communicate with the Western Regions, he must open up the Hexi Corridor.

The Hexi Corridor is the territory of King Hunxie and King Xiutu.

Zhang Qian was lucky this time and was not captured by the Qiang people or the Huns, but it does not mean that this place is safe.

That's why Liu Che wanted to do it once and for all.

Zhang Qian brought too many beautiful fantasies to Liu Che.

Wusun's Tianma, as well as beauties in strange clothes, all kinds of delicious fruits, different customs.

Zhang Yuan also wants to visit, and opening up the Hexi Corridor is also a systematic task.

That's why he was busy playing with the sand table in his free time, trying to find the law of the activities of the Huns on the Gobi Desert.

It's easy to find them on the grassland, just look for those sheep plates.

But King Hunxie and King Xiutu got together in the desert and the Gobi Desert.

Zhang Yuan is relatively unfamiliar with these two places.

There seemed to be no real way to find the Huns other than to find oases.

As for how Huo Qubing found those Huns, Zhang Yuan really didn't know.

He couldn't ask Huo Qubing, who was only ten years old now, to ask him.

If you want to take the initiative in the war against the Huns, the biggest difficulty is to find the moving Huns tribe on the desert Gobi grassland without markers.

With such a large place, tens of thousands of people and 10 people are just a point on the map.

If the angle is slightly shifted, it is possible to miss it directly.

Zhang Yuan had thought about using the Qiang people to find the Huns, but it was difficult to gain the trust of the Qiang people in a short period of time unless force was used.

First attack the Qiang tribe in Hexi, and then force them to lead the Han army to find the Huns in Hexi.

In this way, it is very likely that the enemy will be attacked from the back. Of course, if the Han army has an absolute advantage, it will be fine to be attacked from the back.

It's very difficult, and it can't help but make people doubt themselves.

The big man has very few records about King Xiutu and King Hunxie.

I only know that they are often active outside Longxi County, Tianshui County, and Anding County.

The looting is also aimed at these three counties, and they have the most Qiang people under their hands.

This location is closely next to Qinghai, which is the stronghold of the Qiang people, and the Huns will not go to this place.

Some Han horse thieves are also active in this area. Their targets are Han merchants going to the Western Regions and Western merchants who want to come to the Han Dynasty.

So Zhang Qian was really lucky to be able to pass through this area safely.

The thousand miles across Yanzhi Mountain to Yumen Pass is synonymous with chaos.

The fate of the Hexi Corridor has actually been like this for a long time.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, even though there were princes, big and small, who kept fighting, they didn't fight for decades like the Hexi Corridor without a result.

The reason is that there are everyone in this place, and they are all keen on force.

Here you can see horse bandits formed by the Han, the Huns and the Qiang. There are everyone in them. They don't look at the nationality and only want cold blood.

Even the Qin Dynasty, as powerful as the Qin Dynasty, did not continue to explore the west to find opportunities to expand its territory.

It is also possible that the Qin Dynasty existed for too short a time, which caused this place to be forgotten.

It is hard to imagine what kind of decision Qin Shihuang would make if he lived long enough and knew that there were dozens of small countries to the west.

Whether to continue to expand the territory or the same as Liu Che thought, just want those small countries to surrender.

It's good to promote the demeanor of a great country, show off its force, and show off its muscles.

After thinking hard for several months, Zhang Yuan did not find a good solution. Seeing that this year is almost over, the unresolved problems still have to be put here.

However, this year was a year for the big man to be proud, and the no royal court in Monan finally became a reality.

North of Yinshan Mountain, there are already three Han cities standing on the grassland.

The territory of the original Qin Dynasty has also been completely recovered, and every subsequent battle will be to expand the territory, which has a completely different meaning.

(End of this chapter)