Daqin Engineering Corps

"Messenger, please speak!"

Shen Bing said:

"The subordinates know that the king has recently closed the city of Kucha and silenced it to prevent the soldiers and civilians of Kucha from rebelling like Loulan."

"However, can the King Zhendao seal the city and lock the words to solve the problem?"

King Kucha did not answer.

Shen Bing added another sentence:

"Even if the city can be blocked for a while, the king should also seal the city together with the surrounding countries."

"otherwise……"

Shen Bing drew a circle around Kucha on the map and said:

"At this time, the surrounding countries obeyed the order of Kucha and followed Kucha's lead, because Kucha is strong and other countries are weak."

"One day, all other countries will implement the system of [-] military merit titles and have strong soldiers and strong horses."

"It will form a situation where other countries are strong and Kucha is weak."

"At that time... how can Qiuci be alone?"

Hearing this, King Kucha couldn't help frowning and dared to embarrass him.

Shen Bing was right.

The incentive effect of the [-]th military merit title system on the army and the people is obvious. After the implementation, the common people will change their previous attitude of fleeing if they can and fleeing to join the army enthusiastically in order to make military merits.

The soldiers of the army will fight bravely to fight and kill the enemy in order to make meritorious service and be promoted.

Even if it is the same country, the same army, and the same equipment... the morale and combat effectiveness will immediately improve after the implementation of the [-] military merit title system.

At that time, if only Kucha does not implement it and the surrounding countries implement it, it means that Kucha will be eroded by neighboring countries in turn. How will Kucha respond then?

Princess Wuyou asked:

"Is there no other way to go?"

"Military title system must be implemented?"

Shen Bing shook his head:

"The subordinates are not speaking from the standpoint of the Qin army."

"It's the same change that took place in the Central Plains. All countries that did not implement the military title system were all destroyed by the Qin State."

"Among them, there is no lack of troops several times that of Qin, and Chu has as many as 60 to [-] troops."

"If the king and princess don't believe it, they can send people to the Central Plains to investigate."

Shen Bing is an experienced person, of course he knows that when an advanced social system replaces the backward old society, it is like a surging wave of reform that cannot be stopped by manpower.

There is only one result of not following the trend, and that is to be submerged by the tide without leaving a trace.

Qin's ability to unify the world was due to the disunity of the six countries in detail, but in the final analysis, it was Shang Yang's reform that made Qin's system more advanced than the other six countries.

Although Qin collapsed in less than ten years after that, the Han Dynasty still followed the Qin Dynasty's legal and military system. From the perspective of the system, it was actually an upgrade rather than annihilation.

Seeing that King Qiuci and the princess were silent, Shen Bing asked suspiciously:

"If Your Majesty's firm stand on reform wins the support of the army and the people, the reform will obviously do more good than harm to Your Majesty."

"Why is Your Majesty so difficult?"

Shen Bing was right.

The reform may touch the interests of the noble class, but it will separate the king from the noble class and place him in a detached position...

Under the slave system, the nobles were powerful and could even compete with the king. Every decision made by the king had to balance the ideas of the nobles and strive to get the support of the majority of the nobles.

Under the feudal system, the nobles' fiefdoms and subjects were all placed under the management of the king, and all power was concentrated in the hands of the king, and the nobles were only "managers" under the king's system.

If you know this, why is King Kucha so reluctant to reform?

Princess Wuyou sighed and said:

"It's fine if there is no reform in Kucha, but if it is reformed... I'm afraid it will fall apart."

Chapter 451 Control

It turns out that there are as many as 36 countries in the Western Regions for a reason.

As I said before, the Western Regions is an oasis culture, and beyond the oasis is a desert that lacks water or even has no water.

Under such terrain, if you want to attack the city, you will have to face the same problem as Qin's attack on Loulan... The attacking party is attacking the city without water or even no water, and supplies are extremely difficult. If you don't take it within a few days There is only one dead end for the target city.

That's why the situation of "one continent, one city, one city, one country" will appear.

In some countries, despite the fact that there are only a few hundred people stationed there, even tens of thousands of soldiers all over the country may not be able to succeed in attacking.

If a country has only a few hundred troops, it means that the country has only a few thousand people.

If the country has only a few thousand people, it means that the oasis can only support a few thousand people.

So……

So what if it is captured?

After taking great risks to lose troops and lose generals, what we get is a small city that can accommodate thousands of people, and expansion is impossible due to the restrictions of aquatic plants.

As a result, most of the countries in the Western Regions did not invade each other and became one.

If there is a war of mutual annexation, or the distance between the two countries is too close, water supply is not very difficult, such as the few oases around Gushi.

Or the water source of a certain country is exhausted and can only be put to death and survived. For example, several small countries were moved to the south of Loulan after a few years.

As the largest country in the Western Regions, Kucha's problem is that it is too large...

In fact, if it is a country in the Central Plains or a grassland country, its size is not large at all, and it is only seven or eight hundred miles from west to east.

But as a country in the Western Regions, it would be great to have such a big country.

You must know that the distance between Gushi and Loulan is only more than five hundred miles, and the country of Kucha is seven to eight hundred miles from west to east. It is no wonder that it can be called the largest country in the Western Regions.

Excessive size is a disadvantage rather than an advantage in the Western Regions.

For example, King Qiuci City is located in Yancheng in the east, and the distance from Kuqa, Baicheng, Xinhe, Shaya, etc. under its control ranges from at least a hundred miles to six or seven hundred miles.

Fortunately, the distance is short, and it only takes one day for more than a hundred miles.

The long distance of six or seven hundred miles is only six or seven days for marching. If these cities hear that the King of Kucha is going to reform and implement the system of [-] military merit titles... What should they do if they rebel and announce their departure from Kucha?

King Kucha directly controls 1 troops. Although he is the strongest, he has nothing to do with the city that is six or seven hundred miles away.

At that time, as long as one city declares independence from the Kucha Kingdom, the rest of the cities will follow suit, and the result will be just like what Princess Wuyou said... If there is no reform, it will be broken, and if there is reform, it will fall apart.

Shen Bing thought for a while and said:

"What if the general uses the Qin army to help the king reform?"

King Kucha shook his head and said:

"If this is the case, the nobles will say that the king has surrendered to Qin, and use this as an excuse to oppose the reform."

This also makes sense.

At that time, the nobles will stand on the side of justice instead, while the King of Kucha has become a villain who is greedy for life, fears death and betrays the country for glory.

Shen Bing said:

"Since this is the case, the Qin army will also support the Kucha artillery!"

King Qiuci couldn't help but widen his eyes when he heard the words, and looked at Shen Bing in surprise:

"Cannon? The messenger is talking about the firearm that smashed the wall of Loulan and defeated the Xiongnu?"

Shen Bing nodded and said:

"Exactly."

"With artillery in place, the city walls will be empty."

"If your majesty is equipped with this thing, forgive those nobles who would not dare to make trouble on their own."

This is actually Qin Jun's advantage.

The difference between the Qin army and the countries in the Western Regions is that it can easily knock down the enemy's city wall with artillery and can capture the target city within a few days.

As a result, the previous problem of difficulty in supplying water due to lack of water and being helpless to cities six or seven hundred miles away no longer exists.

But King Kucha couldn't believe it:

"The messenger said that the general is willing to donate the cannon to the king to help me reform the military system?"

Shen Bing replied without thinking:

"Of course!"

At this time, Shen Bing certainly had to consider whether the secret would be leaked.

But when it comes to leaking secrets, Shen Bing believes that more is the production process, especially the gunpowder formula is particularly important.

If other people don't know that the gunpowder used in the artillery is saltpeter, accounting for three-quarters, it will not have such power at all. If you use the Xiongnu's kind of gunpowder that not only has a small proportion of saltpeter, but also adds miscellaneous things like maru, can you do it? Getting the shells out is a problem.

If it is said that the artillery was given to Qiuci, it would be a leak...

Shen Bing believes that as long as it is used in batches in the army and can be seen by the soldiers at a glance, it cannot be kept secret.

For example, the artillerymen of the Qin Army can see what the artillery looks like, the material of the inner and outer walls, the shape of the shell and how to operate it, etc.

There are 1000 artillerymen, that is, 1000 people know this information.

The Huns only need to send a few spies to contact a few of these 1000 people intentionally, and they can extract relevant information from them.

In particular, the artillery will be replaced batch by batch... There will always be old, sick and disabled, battle damage, etc.

So it is not realistic to want to block the news in this regard.

That being the case, there is no big difference between leaking secrets and not leaking secrets.

As for whether to worry about King Qiuci using these cannons against the Qin army in turn...

This worry is even more unnecessary.

In modern society, the reason why the U.S. military is so keen on asking other countries to buy U.S.-style equipment is not only to make money by developing the arms industry, but more importantly, to achieve the goal of interfering in the country’s military and politics through the monopoly of equipment.

For example, if Shen Bing equips the country of Kucha with artillery, the king of Kucha will use the artillery to control the nobles and carry out reforms.

So is what Shen Bing said just in terms of weight?

Did King Qiuci listen to Shen Bing's "suggestion" to a certain extent?

Otherwise, Shen Bing only needs to cut off the confession of King Qiucha's artillery...

The cannon will be damaged after being used for a long time. Do you want to replace it with a new one?

Should the shells be provided from Shen Bing?

Do you need Qin army craftsmen for maintenance and training?

Waiting for Qin Jun to be needed in all aspects, so he became dependent on Qin Jun.

With this dependence... Shen Bing is not worried that he can escape from his palm.

So this is a good thing for Qin Jun.

King Qiuci certainly didn't know that there were so many problems in the follow-up, let alone that this was a pitfall, so he thought to himself:

"This artillery can attack the city and attack the enemy."

"Tens of thousands of Huns were also blown up by this cannon and fled to ten thousand Qin troops."

"If the Kucha Kingdom is equipped with this thing, why should they be afraid of the enemy country?"

Thinking about it, King Qiuci looked at Shen Bing with expectant eyes, and asked:

"But I don't know, how many cattle and sheep are needed to exchange for one of these cannons?"

King Kucha was a little worried that it was too expensive and he couldn't afford it.

In fact, it is no problem for Shen Bing to give away for free: he can control the Kucha Kingdom and promote its reforms, and it can also strengthen the strength of the anti-Xiongnu alliance, so why not do it?