Daqin Engineering Corps

So Shen Bing persuaded in a low voice:

"Princess, don't be reckless, we should be careful."

Princess Wuyou nodded slightly:

"Let's do as the general wants, and I won't mention the identity of the general for the time being."

"But... about the marriage..."

Shen Bing cupped his hands and replied:

"The princess is willing to marry Shen Bing, and Shen Bing can't ask for it."

"After Shen Bing returns to his aunt, he will send envoys to propose marriage. I don't know what the princess wants..."

Princess Wuyou only replied "It's a deal", and then forced herself to be calm, opened the door and walked out.

But Shen Bing still caught a glimpse of the smile in the corner of her eyes when she turned around.

In order to avoid suspicion, Shen Bing waited for a while before going out.

Then he returned to his residence with a group of guards.

A total of [-] personal guards came, and only after asking did they know that Qin Jun had a hard time finding them for a while.

That night, Wang Ben dispatched two thousand martial arts troops from his aunt to search in the desert...

The reason why only the Shenwu Army is transferred is because the Shenwu Army is a cavalry army and it is easy to find people.

The second is because the Shenwu Army has the strictest tone, even if they know that the general is missing, they will not let it out.

The third reason is that the search for too many military forces inevitably makes people suspicious.

Because Shen Bing got lost halfway, so he only knew whether Shen Bing was buried by the wind and sand or fell into the quicksand, and almost made people dig three feet to turn over the area there.

After searching for a few days, I couldn't find it. At this time, I wondered if I entered the city to escape the wind and sand, or was rescued by a passing caravan.

So the troops were sent to the nearby cities to search.

Kucha is a big city, divided into thirty.

They took Shen Bing's portrait with them, and planned to ask Qiuci all over in groups of two after entering the city. They didn't want to find Shen Bing just after entering the city.

This made them overjoyed and wept with joy.

When they were waiting outside, they fainted two people.

Of course, this is not because of happiness, but because they are almost non-stop during this period of time and lack of supplies and drinking water...

In fact, the Shenwu Army in this area should not be short of supplies, especially drinking water.

Because Shen Bing's lost location has Gushi in the north, Loulan in the south, and Qiuci in the west, and there are several water sources dozens of miles in the middle, it is not difficult to get drinking water at the speed of a cavalry army.

But they didn't dare to take the time to resupply if the general was not available. Even if it was really impossible to go to resupply, they would go there in a hurry and then rush back immediately.

So when Shen Bing was found, many soldiers were hungry, thirsty and extremely tired. They supported themselves with perseverance, and they didn't relax until they found Shen Bing... and after this relaxation, they couldn't hold on anymore and passed out on the ground.

Seeing this, Shen Bing felt a little sorry.

But think about it, I really have no chance to inform them when I am trapped in the city of Kucha.

Fortunately, all the ministries are safe, and Shen Bing doesn't feel so guilty in his heart.

Not daring to hesitate any longer, he sent six people in three teams to start from three city gates in three directions to inform the Shenwu army who were searching outside.

When I left the city, I even resorted to some tricks...

In this era, entering and leaving the city is not just a matter of coming and going, especially when you are a soldier whose enemy is unknown.

As a result, a few horses were used to bribe the soldiers defending the city, and they were searched to confirm that they were not spies, so they were released.

But those horses... Shen Bing believed that he would be able to get them back soon.

Chapter 456 Outgrown Branches

Leading this team of personal guards is a village chief named 坾【zhù】.

坾 means to accumulate dust, which probably explains the situation when he was born or when his father named him... The house is full of dust and no one takes care of it.

He was very capable in handling affairs. As soon as he arrived at Shen Bing's residence, he immediately took people to familiarize himself with the surrounding terrain, and even drew a map.

Then, a few people were arranged to set up secret whistles around them, and they also designed several possible escape routes.

Not to mention, a city wall like Qiuci, which is only a few meters high, really can't trap the Qin army, especially the Shenwu army.

The reason is that they are equipped with cable arrows.

These cable arrows were used to surprise the Yuezhi when they crossed the mountains and mountains, and now they have become common equipment of the Shenwu Army.

When Shen Bing saw Xiaji's escape plan, even Shen Bing was surprised.

He pointed to one of the routes leading to the east gate and said:

"The subordinates think that if there is a war, we must be surrounded."

"If you only escape along the way, there is little hope of success."

"So we can take advantage of the night to lure the enemy by attacking the city gate one way, and break out by climbing the city wall from the north on the other way."

Shen Bing nodded secretly.

Although this breakout plan is unlikely to be used, and even if it is used, the probability of success is not high, but only a village chief can use tactics and careful thinking, which also comforts Shen Bing.

Shen Bing asked curiously:

"With your talents, why are you still the head of the village until today?"

He cupped his hands and replied:

"Go back to the general because the subordinates don't want to leave the Shenwu Army."

Shen Bing understood with an "oh".

In fact, it is quite normal for the Shenwu Army to have so many talents. Their predecessor was the Wei Cavalry Army. Even the personal guards are selected from the Shenwu Army.

This also confirmed the status of the Shenwu Army, and at the same time, it was also a result of the outstanding military exploits of the talented people.

The reason why he is only a village chief at this time is not because of his lack of combat achievements or his low title, but that there are many people in the Shenwu Army with higher military exploits and titles than him.

If you want to take up a high position, you have to transfer the Shenwu Army to serve in the Daliang Army or the Pu Lei Army.

The Daliang Army is an infantry army, and the Pu Lei Army is a Western Region Army with a language barrier, so no matter which army you go to, it seems inappropriate.

Shen Bing said:

"That will change very soon."

What Shen Bing was talking about was the coalition army. Once an alliance with the Western Regions was formed, the high-quality talents of the Shenwu Army would be useful.

As time passed, Shen Bing felt something was wrong.

Because of Princess Wuyou's unrestrained character, after knowing that Shen Bing is the general of the Qin State, she should fly to Shen Bing's side after talking with King Kucha.

However, Shen Bing didn't see anyone for a long time.

At this moment, Shen Bing became a little alert.

He thought to himself:

Could it be that the King of Kucha was going to turn against Qin Jun after being rejected?

But thinking about it, that's unlikely.

Although Qiuci is the largest country in the Western Regions and may unite with more than ten small countries around it, even so, it does not have the capital to fight the Qin army.

The reason is as mentioned before, the countries in the Western Regions actually have the advantage of controlling the water source, and whoever defends the city will have the advantage of the water source, so it is advantageous to defend but not to attack.

But this rule is invalid in front of Qin Jun.

The reason is that the Qin army has the advantages of artillery and the strength of infantry, so no matter which city they attack, they are confident and sure to take it within a few days...

The artillery that fires solid bullets is the most useful for siege, and its destructive power to the wall is unmatched by other equipment.

In this way, the Qin army can be said to be invincible in the Western Regions, that is, it can break any city it wants to break.

What's more terrible is that once the Qin army captures a city, they control the water source there, and then set up artillery at the top of the city... The city will soon be impenetrable.

Therefore, the cities in the Western Regions seem to be tailor-made for the Qin army, so that the Qin army can attack and defend.

King Kucha is a smart man, of course he knows this.

This is one of the reasons why artillery is very attractive to King Kucha.

After owning the artillery, although it is still impossible to fight against the Qin army... Of course, it is impossible to fight against the Qin army. The artillery and shells are all provided by the Qin army.

To be precise, the cannon and the solid ammo Kucha are somewhat capable of crafting.

As the largest state-owned bronze smelting capability in the Western Regions, Kucha even has many mineral deposits in the Tianshan Mountains.

Although there is no new iron technology in Kucha, it can be replaced by bronze. Although the quality is not as good as iron-cored copper cannons, at least there are.

The problem lies in the ammunition kits and flowering ammunition. These things that cannot be made are used one by one during the war, and it will not take long for the ammunition to run out and the artillery to become a pile of scrap iron.

Reasons why King Kucha urgently needs artillery:

On the one hand, as Shen Bing said before, if Qiuci has artillery, it can shock the domestic nobles and use this as a basis to promote domestic reforms and concentrate the power in the hands of the nobles in the hands of King Qiuci.

On the other hand, if Qiuci has artillery and other countries do not, then it will be the most powerful country in the Western Regions.

One day, if the Qin army's power in the Western Regions recedes, wouldn't Kucha be able to dominate the Western Regions with these artillery pieces?

In the face of many benefits, how could King Qiuci easily turn against Qin Jun?

Considering these, Shen Bing made up his mind, thinking that he was thinking too much.

But it turns out that Shen Bing didn't think too much.

Just as Shen Bing was pouring his own drink boredly, a maid handed a plate of grapes to Shen Bing's case, and then whispered in the Central Plains dialect with a changed pronunciation:

"Come on!"

"Hun envoy!"

Although the words did not match the context, and the maid turned around and left without saying anything, Shen Bing immediately understood what was going on.

This maid must have been sent by Princess Wuyou to warn Shen Bing.

The problem was not the "rejection of relatives", but that the Xiongnu intervened between Qin and Kucha and even sent envoys to Kucha.

But it can also be said to be the reason for "refusal of relatives".

Because if the general of Qin had not "rejected relatives", King Qiuci might have directly driven away the Huns' envoys instead of hesitating between the two.

Shen Bing guessed right, that's why King Qiuci called Princess Wuyou away.

From King Qiuci's point of view, if he can marry Qin Jun, the mutual trust will be further improved.

Now Qin Jun refuses to marry... Does that mean that Qin Jun is planning to cross the river and tear down the bridge?

Of course, this inference is untenable.

Because even if Qin Jun intends to cross the river and demolish the bridge to use Kucha, he can still accept the marriage.

But King Kucha would not think about these things when he was furious.

Just at this time, the envoys of the Huns arrived in Kucha, so the King of Kucha didn't think much about it, and asked the soldiers to welcome them into Kucha.

It goes without saying what the purpose of the Huns' envoys was.

That is to let Qiuci unite with the Huns and then attack from east to west to drive the Qin army out of the Western Regions.

Upon hearing this, King Qiuci felt that this might also be a feasible solution.

Chapter 457 A Dilemma

For this reason, Princess Wuyou had a dispute with King Kucha.

As soon as King Qiuci shared his thoughts with Princess Wuyou, she was immediately opposed by Princess Wuyou:

"Father, the Xiongnu turned his back on him several times, ruthlessly, and never believed in his words. How can I trust him this time?"