At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

According to the degree of distance in the Western Regions, not counting the time to go to and from the local area, the rotation time must be every three years. It will take at least three years for this group of garrison soldiers to return to the mainland to reunite with their families.

And during these three years, they had to open up their own living space in the unfamiliar Western Regions and try to adapt to the local life. They had no one to accompany them, and they didn't know where to vent their anger.

This is bound to go wrong.

Although the existence of camp prostitutes has to be acquiesced, and Guo will maintain a certain scale, the fundamental solution to this problem is to improve the treatment of soldiers and try to help soldiers form families.

This can solve the problem and increase the fertility rate and increase the population. In any case, it is much better than camping prostitutes.

So someone Guo denied Zaoyi and Dong Zhao's way of looking at the problem from the economic perspective.

"Three thousand soldiers stationed in the Western Regions are very important to my Silk Trade Road. Their existence will bring great help to Wei's business travel, and I don't want to see how much commercial tax revenue the Silk Trade Road will drive in the future. Say, what do you see?"

Someone from Guo looked at Zaoyi and Dong Zhao.

Zaozhi and Dong Zhao looked at each other.

"Then, why don't we send some camp prostitutes to go there, or ask the countries in the Western Regions to put in some effort to arrange some women. At worst, we can pay them some money and it will be settled."

Zao only gave new suggestions.

Guo Peng still shook his head.

"Whether it's sending camp prostitutes or asking the countries in the Western Regions to provide them, we must send more doctors to follow them to prevent possible malignant sores. This is very dangerous. Several years ago, there were several malignant sores in the army. You guys Don't you forget?"

Zao only lowered his head and did not speak.

A few years ago, when the Duke of Wei was not yet established, due to inadequate sanitation measures in the army, the disease broke out in several battalions one after another, and more than 600 soldiers fell ill.

What's even more damning is that at that time, there were some military leaders who were worried that they would be punished, so they tried to cover up their illness.

If it wasn't for a military judge who learned about the matter and broke through the barriers and reported it directly, it is estimated that this illness would have killed all the sick soldiers.

After learning the news, Hua Tuo led the military medical team to take an emergency action and saved most of the lives, but more than 150 soldiers still died due to the long delay.

In addition, more than 100 soldiers were not fully cured because they did not receive timely treatment, and their bodies were injured to varying degrees, so they had to leave the army.

It still caused a lot of shock.

After investigation, it was determined that the officials in charge of this aspect in the military were negligent, did not do a good job of sanitation inspection, failed to deal with the sanitation problem, failed to report it in time, and even tried to cover it up, so that such a thing happened.

A scandal caused Guo Peng to lose nearly [-] well-trained elite soldiers, which made him extremely annoyed.

In a fit of rage, Guo Peng questioned 23 responsible officers in the army and executed them. He also executed three officers who cooperated with the health officials in covering up their illnesses.

Afterwards, the military treatment of their family members was abolished, and their family members were exiled to the frontier together, and they were not allowed to return to their original places.

Then, Guo Peng strengthened the health inspection regulations in the army and realized the problem of camping prostitutes.

From then on, Guo Peng really began to promote the marriage and formation of families among single soldiers in the army on a large scale, instead of thinking that having camp prostitutes would solve any problems.

Guo Peng's plan is to gradually increase the marriage rate of soldiers in the army, gradually reduce the number of camp prostitutes, and establish a more standardized and scientific treatment policy for soldiers, so as to truly solve the existence of camp prostitutes.

This kind of problem is real and objective, and it cannot be regarded as not seeing it.

Everyone is strong and strong, and they are not Buddhists. Although Wei Jun's military discipline is strict, it is not to the point of exterminating human relations.

The problem must be faced directly and cannot be avoided, even if more money is paid for it, otherwise it will cause internal conflicts, which is far more terrifying than the decline in the combat effectiveness of the army.

Over the past few years, Guo Peng has vigorously promoted the plan for single soldiers in the army to marry and form families. Every year, special funds are allocated for the help of military leaders and local governments.

If the parents are still alive, the local government will help them discuss marriage in the place of household registration, and the army will provide certain marriage subsidies to support and protect their marriage.

For those whose parents have passed away and are unaccompanied, the government will arrange for healthy orphans of the school age to match them, form a family, and then distribute land and houses, and provide marriage subsidies, and arrange for them to settle down nearby and become naturalized locally.

Every year in the army, soldiers are given a certain amount of vacation to go home and visit relatives. They take turns so that everyone can reunite with their wives and have children.

The family is regarded as a member of the military. In addition to the condolences of the military, the local government also gives preferential treatment in terms of welfare and taxation, which is different from ordinary households in rural areas.

When military families give birth to children, the local government will celebrate it and give extra food, oil, rice and noodles to express their blessings.

Guo Peng invested a lot of money in this, and those orphaned girls who survived the war and disaster relief also got at least a good place for them.

In this era, it is good to be alive, have a home, and be able to eat.

Living with a partner is much better than facing it alone, let alone being an orphan, who can expect anything else?

The Guowei regime was the first to rescue war refugees on a large scale and manage them, especially for orphans.

There are a large number of orphans among the refugee group, and their living environment and conditions are far worse than other refugees.

Therefore, Guo Peng specially formulated a rescue plan for orphans. In addition to arranging some ingenious ones to be included in the military nursing camp to help the army deal with the wounded, they were paired with single soldiers in the army and bachelors.

With the passage of time, the rate of singles in the army has decreased year by year, basically reaching the point where every soldier has a family, and then take turns to visit relatives on vacation, and also give family members the opportunity to visit relatives near the barracks in turn, so as to solve the soldiers' own problems. question.

At this point, the personal problems of the soldiers of the Wei Army were basically solved.

But the personal problems of the soldiers stationed in the Western Regions are obviously different.

Chapter 970 .980 Ma Yuan's trip to Dawan

In the interior of the Wei Empire, this plan was implemented well.

But after leaving the land of China and going to such a distant Western Region, the rotation time of the garrison will be longer, so this problem is obviously not a simple holiday that can be solved.

For this reason, Guo Peng investigated the materials of the former Han Dynasty and learned that during the Han Dynasty, facing the same problem, the governments of the Han Dynasty also allowed the families of soldiers from the Western Regions to follow the army.

Of course, it is estimated that there is also the idea of ​​​​immigrating as a matter of course and increasing the population to occupy the local area.

It may cost a lot at the beginning, but with the increase of the number of people and the reclamation of the land, the local population carrying capacity will definitely increase.

No matter how barren the land is, it has a certain population carrying capacity.

So someone Guo decided to do this.

Moreover, the strategy of reclaiming nearby land for military settlements is already a strategy that Guo Peng has decided to implement. Before flattening the Western Regions, there must always be a few tenable strongholds in the Western Regions, otherwise how can it be flattened?

It doesn't take too long to build roads, and it will only take a few years to push the Western Regions flat. If we don't step up investment now, if there is a problem with the army's westward march, who will be responsible?

So Dong Zhao and Zaoyi had nothing to say, and expressed their approval of Cao Xiu's request, and were willing to send someone to handle this matter, and send the families of the soldiers stationed in the Western Regions to reunite with them.

That's how the matter was settled.

Soon, Guo Peng issued an imperial decree to inform the matter, and all departments worked together to complete the matter.

Then they sent the news to Yongzhou and Liangzhou, asking Chen Gong and Mao Jie to pay attention, and to take special care when transporting logistics supplies.

At the same time, Guo Peng once again issued an imperial decree, asking the country where the Western Regions garrison is located to allow the Western Regions garrison to reclaim wasteland nearby to increase crop production, so as to reduce the burden of logistics and transportation in the inland, and also requires the countries where the garrison is stationed to bear some corresponding responsibilities cost.

He summoned the envoys from the front and rear Cheshi divisions in Beijing, as well as the envoys from the three kingdoms of Kucha, Gumo, and Yanqi, and summoned them to discuss this matter.

Guo Peng asked each of them to bear part of the living expenses of the troops stationed in one place, provide some food and daily necessities, and discuss the specific content and share with the Ministry of War.

More or less, all must be provided, not allowed.

Not long after the status of the vassal state was established here, Guo Peng began to exercise the power of the emperor of the suzerain country, asking them to provide convenience for Wei's garrison.

The envoys of several countries agreed obediently, and then went back to sort out the news, and sent people back to the kings of their own countries, so that their respective kings could be upset.

Anyway, they didn't expect it. They haven't enjoyed much of the benefits yet, and business travelers haven't entered the Wei Empire on a large scale to do business. As a result, they will face the task entrusted to them by the Great Wei Emperor.

How dare they refuse such a thing?

Seeing that the good days are coming, if Emperor Wei is unhappy because of this kind of thing, who knows what Emperor Wei can do?

They dare not take risks.

After the status of the vassal state and suzerain state was determined, Guo Peng naturally opened the border, allowing business travelers from various countries in the Western Regions to bring their own goods to the Central Plains to do business, and giving them certain tariff preferences.

The countries in the Western Regions were very happy, and almost immediately organized large-scale caravans to go to the Wei Empire to do business. The main targets were the two giant cities of Chang'an and Luoyang.

With a large population and rich people, the scale of business must be large, which is very good for them.

In a small country with few people, those who can do business generally have an official background. Making a single business is enough for them to be happy and extravagant for a while. If the business is bigger, the benefits will be more.

However, even if they make a lot of money, they still need somewhere to spend it. Their small place doesn't have so many commodities for consumption.

So at this time, the joint caravan of the Wei Empire came in handy.

Carry a huge amount of goods to the countries of the Western Regions as traveling merchants, and make a big circle around the entire Western Regions, including all the countries in the Western Regions, so that they have things to buy, places to consume, and a luxurious life.

In addition to this huge joint caravan, there are also private caravans who are very upset because they did not catch up with the departure of the first wave of caravans.

They were worried at first, and they didn't quite believe that the emperor would lead them to do meaningful things. They suspected that the emperor would cheat them. As a result, when the Wei Empire successfully returned to the Western Regions and established a comprehensive suzerain-vassal relationship with the Western Regions, They regret it.

But this is not the fault of Mr. Guo. Mr. Guo really did not cheat them. All the information is transparent and open. Everyone knows that although there are selections, there are many who did not participate and are qualified. No, who is to blame?

Regret must be meaningless, so they paid deposits to the court one after another, in exchange for exit tokens, and got the opportunity to do business in the Western Regions.

While Cao Xiu led [-] troops to the five cities, more private caravans also set off from Yumen Pass.

They entered the land of the Western Regions, followed their guides to the countries of the Western Regions, and set up a big business, not only selling, but also buying themselves.

Buy some in-demand commodities that are not common in the Central Plains, and then transport them back to Wei State to sell. The farther you go, the better, and the more remote the better. If you can go to Jiangdong, Jingzhou, and other places, you will really make a fortune.

The general trend of Central Plains caravans entering the Western Regions has formed. As time goes by, this news will spread to Hebei, Qingxu Coast, and Jiangnan.

As the vanguard of this wave of trends, the huge joint caravan led by Ma Yuan has already completed half of their mission.

From November of the third year of Yande to February of the fourth year of Yande, in three months, they had already arrived in Shule Kingdom.

After seven days of free trade in the Shule Kingdom, they began to move forward, and this time the goal of the advance was Dawan.

Dawan did not follow the Western Regions to join the Wei Empire as a vassal state, because at this moment, Dawan is not an independent country at all, it surrenders to the Shache Kingdom, and Shache Kingdom joins the Western Regions to seek refuge The Wei Empire became a vassal state.

So Dawan Kingdom is considered a vassal state of a vassal state, and it feels very strange.

Ma Yuan was also surprised when he first learned about it. It is said that Dawan Kingdom is bigger than Shache Kingdom, but Dawan Kingdom actually surrendered to Shache Kingdom, which shows how weak Dawan Kingdom is.

Dawan Kingdom wasn't that weak at the beginning, and certainly it wasn't that strong either.

Once, before the establishment of the Guishuang Empire, a Greek-style country ruled Central Asia, and this country was called Daxia.

This country was established by a group of troops who failed to return to the motherland due to various reasons during Alexander's Eastern Expedition. After Alexander's death, they established the Greek-style Bactria Kingdom here.

At that time, Dawan was once under the influence of this country.

After Chinese history entered the Han Dynasty, the Great Xia Kingdom began to weaken. Later, it was attacked by the Yuezhi people who were oppressed by the Huns and had to move westward. This Greek-style country perished.

The Yuezhi people established the current Guishuang Empire on the ruins of Daxia.

The establishment of the Guishuang Empire allowed the Dawan Kingdom to get rid of the influence of the Daxia Kingdom and gain independence. At this time, Chinese history entered the period when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty counterattacked the Huns.

In order to contact the Guishuang Empire established by the Yuezhi people to fight against the Xiongnu together, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian on a mission to the Western Regions, and discovered the existence of the Dawan Kingdom on the way.

With the increasingly frequent exchanges with the Dawan Kingdom, the fact that Dawan produced good horses was learned by the Han Dynasty officials.

In order to fight back against the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty needed better horse breeds. The sweat-blooded horses made in Dawan were valued by Emperor Han Wudi. For this reason, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent envoys to Dawan to buy sweat-blood horses in order to obtain good horse breeds and improve them. Central Plains horse breed.

As a result, the king of Dawan at that time was head-tied, thinking that the sweat-blooded BMW was a national treasure of Dawan and could not be given casually, so he rejected the request of the Han envoy. Emperor Tiangao killed the Han envoy far away and seized all the property.

Emperor Wu of the Han was furious. In order to frighten people and establish the prestige of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han sent General Li Guangli to attack Dawan across Xinjiang twice.

For the first time, due to insufficient preparation, the small countries in the middle of the road did not accept the Han army and did not provide food. Li Guangli fought while walking, and the army was at a loss. After arriving in Dawan, he was exhausted and had to retreat. He asked Emperor Wu of the Han to cease fighting. .

Emperor Wu of the Han became even more angry, and imprisoned Li Guangli's troops in Dunhuang and was not allowed to retreat. Then he prepared a large army to destroy the country and handed it over to Commander Li Guangli, strictly ordering him to clean up Dawan and establish his prestige.

Li Guangli had no choice but to lead this well-prepared army to destroy the country and advance again.

This time, because of adequate preparations and a large number of troops, no one dared to stop him along the way. Li Guangli marched smoothly and hit Dawan, where he was beaten miserably.

The nobles of Dawan were unwilling to subjugate their country, so they collectively killed the king of Dawan who angered Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and begged Li Guangli for mercy with his head.

Li Guangli accepted, and then selected dozens of high-grade BMWs and more than [-] middle- and low-grade war horses from Dawan Kingdom as spoils of war.

Guo Peng didn't know about this matter at first, but only later saw it in history books.

From this, he felt that his Wei Empire's smooth expansion and rule in the Western Regions was really inseparable from the blood shed by the Han army in the Western Regions in the 400 years of the Han Dynasty.

These small countries have never been so honest. It was only because the Central Plains Empire was too strong that they had to surrender and had to be vassal states to reap benefits.

Because they know that once the Central Plains Empire is angered, the Central Plains Empire is really capable of destroying them.

The former Han Dynasty never regarded the Western Regions as a real territory, and obviously believed that the entire Xinjiang region was sparsely populated, and it was not suitable for agricultural areas. Only a few scattered and broken oases could develop agriculture, and the carrying capacity was also very limited, and the terrain was not conducive to Take control.

But Mr. Guo is completely different here.

Like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Mr. Guo has a strong sense of enterprising and revenge, and he is also very interested in the excellent horse breeds owned by Dawan Kingdom.

He completed the cavalry revolution here, enhanced the combat effectiveness of the cavalry, and raised horses extensively in the country. He also carried out the selection of the best horse breeds by himself, selected excellent stallions, and strived to breed even better tall horses.

However, the effect is limited, and no change can be seen in a short period of time.