Daqin Engineering Corps

Without hesitation, Shen Bing immediately agreed to Ge Yu's request, and distributed horses for Ge Yu to continue to garrison Jiaohe.

On the other hand, Shen Bing informed King Youxian about the incident.

Of course King Youxian didn't dare to raise any objections.

This is not only because of Shen Bing's life-saving grace to King Youxian, but also because King Youxian felt ashamed of Ge Yu... Ge Yu was loyal when King Youxian put him down, but in the end he was killed by Youxian during the war. Wang abandoned.

Not only did he abandon him, but he also blamed Ge Yu for the first battle of Gu Shi, and even beheaded his family members.

Therefore, even if Ge Yu is willing to return to King Youxian's tent, King Youxian doesn't know how to face Ge Yu.

At this time, when he heard that Ge Yu and his subordinates were going to follow Shen Bing, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps out of guilt, or perhaps to express something to Shen Bing, King Youxian even agreed to hand over about [-] herdsmen from Tu Ge's family, which is the family of Ge Yu, back to Ge Yu.

Shen Bing couldn't help but be overjoyed.

Because this not only allows Geyu to fight outside with confidence, but also allows them to have a stable source of troops... There will always be depletion of troops, such as injuries, deaths, old age, etc., but if there are herdsmen as the base, then It can be continuously replenished, and it can also maintain combat effectiveness.

Since the Jiaohe area can no longer accommodate [-] herdsmen, it is also to maintain the traditions and living customs of the herdsmen...

The living habits of the grassland herdsmen are quite different from those of the western regions, and the forcible relocation of these [-] herdsmen to the western regions may also change their riding and archery customs.

So Shen Bing designated a 20-hectare grassland next to Yanran Mountain for these herdsmen to live in, and promised to implement the [-]th military merit system to distribute the land, and he personally distributed a part of Yingzheng's reward as his welfare.

In fact, Shen Bing did this on purpose.

Because as long as there is a precedent of slaughtering various tribes, if the herdsmen under King Youxian knew that it would be so beneficial to join Shen Bing, how could they be willing to stay with King Youxian as slaves?

In addition, the life of the herdsmen is relatively free... This is determined by the living habits of the grasslands where they live by water and grass, and they cannot gather all the herdsmen to live together.

Because getting together means that the grass in this area will be eaten up by a large number of livestock soon, which will cause too frequent migration.

Not being able to get together means not being able to build a city to control it like the Central Plains and the Western Regions.

As a result, many herdsmen sneaked away and joined the Tuge tribe.

This made King You Xian complain endlessly, but he had no choice but to watch his own strength getting weaker and weaker while Tu Geyi gradually grew stronger.

Shen Bing handed over all the trade in the Western Regions and grasslands to Princess Wuyou.

Shen Bing pointed to the map and said to Princess Wuyou:

"The Central Plains is rich in grain, hemp, silk and handmade products, but farming and transportation require a lot of animal power, such as cattle and horses."

"The grasslands are rich in cattle, sheep, meat, skins, wool and dairy products, but lack grain, hemp and handmade products."

"The two can communicate with each other."

"It will be much more convenient to transport silk and cloth from the grasslands to the Western Regions and even Wusun and other countries."

"Among them, it is necessary to set up a post station, as well as an inn to guarantee accommodation, supplies and replacement of horses along the way."

"Although the initial investment is relatively large, it will not take long before there will be rich returns!"

Seeing Shen Bing's serious look, Princess Wuyou couldn't help laughing:

"I don't want the general to study business in addition to marching and fighting."

"But Wuyou heard that the weaving and silk in the Hetao area are almost all the workshops set up by the generals. After opening up the commercial roads in the Western Regions, I am afraid that the country will be incomparably rich!"

"Why is the general still obsessed with this?"

Princess Wuyou was right.

Since the opening of the commercial route from the Hexi Corridor to the Western Regions, Hetao has been thriving in cloth, silk, cattle, sheep, horses, and money houses under the management of Yuntian.

And since the news that Hetao can make money spread, businessmen from Daqin gathered in Hetao one after another, and even those who were originally registered as workers and farmers joined the business team...

This is mainly driven by profit.

If the money earned from a trip on the Silk Road could be earned for a lifetime, then is the so-called "scholar, farmer, business" ranking still so important?

Does anyone still care about whether being noble or not will make people look down upon?

Shen Bing didn't ask how much wealth he owns, because he spent most of his time fighting abroad, and when he returned to Wuyuan, Yuntian happened to be in Yunzhong County.

But Shen Bing also knew that in terms of wealth, it would be enough for him to eat, drink and have fun for the rest of his life.

How wonderful it would be to have so much wealth in the peaceful age, then Shen Bing could enjoy the happiness of life.

However, now is the time of war and chaos, and these wealth are just passing things.

Shen Bing replied:

"Does the princess think that Shen Bing's move is just for money?"

Princess Wuyou couldn't help but wonder:

"If business is not for money... what else is it for?"

Shen Bing replied:

"Compared to grasslands, the two have different living habits and are isolated from each other."

"Whether it is the Xiongnu or the Yue clan who live in it, if they live purely as nomads, they must be influenced by the weather."

"When they are eroded by wind and snow and have insufficient food, they can only go south to plunder the Central Plains. Otherwise, they will be frozen to death or starved to death."

"In this way, the grasslands are only in the Central Plains, and there will be endless wars and chaos from generation to generation..."

Princess Wuyou couldn't help saying "Oh":

"The purpose of the general's move is to resolve the conflict between the grassland and the Central Plains?"

"But... doing business is only about exchanging needs, how can we do this?"

Shen Bing explained:

"The only food in the grassland is cattle and sheep, and cattle and sheep will freeze to death once they are hit by the cold current."

"What if the excessive cattle and sheep can be replaced with grain storage?"

"Its overwintering risk is naturally much less."

"If the grassland herdsmen can live a life of adequate food and clothing, why should they go to the Central Plains to plunder?"

Princess Wuyou nodded thoughtfully, looked at Shen Bing with a pair of beautiful eyes full of reverence, and said:

"Worriless return, the general is obsessed with money, but he has such a heart when he doesn't want to."

"But Wuyou misunderstood!"

Chapter 488

What Shen Bing said is a bit like a peasant theory, that is, if everyone in the world has enough food and clothing, then there will be no war.

This theory was overthrown by Shen Bing himself before, that is, the comparison of flowers, deer, and wolves shows that war actually plays a regulating and promoting role.

But specific issues need to be analyzed in detail.

Many times the war between the grassland and the Central Plains is indeed because the grassland has not enough "flowers", so the grassland can only invade and plunder southward.

But the problem of insufficient "flowers" in the grasslands is not the only way to solve it.

In fact, it is related to the backward productivity of the grassland and the primitive, single or even no storage thinking without a sense of crisis.

To put it simply, if you have wine today, you will be drunk today. When the livestock grow well, you will eat and drink. When something goes wrong in winter, you can only go together to grab it.

If this living habit can't be changed, no matter if it's King Youxian, King Yueshi, or the countries of the Western Regions living in the western grasslands, even if Shen Bing sits here, it's useless.

Because no one can guarantee that the cold current will not enter Mongolia. As long as the cold current goes south and freezes a large number of cattle and sheep to death, no matter who lives in the grassland, there is only one way to survive...to go south to plunder.

What can Shen Bing do then?

Strictly order them not to plunder?

Does that just sit back and watch them freeze to death or starve to death?

There is a possibility that Shen Bing spent all his wealth and used his accumulated wealth to store food for the grassland for the winter.

but……

There are more than [-] troops in the grassland alone, and hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Even if Shen Bing, who is so wealthy, saves them once or twice, can he save them every three times?

This is obviously not a long-term solution.

Therefore, there is only one way to really solve this problem: whether to strengthen communication or not.

No matter how stupid the grassland people are, they will not let the cattle and sheep freeze to death in large numbers before the cold snap. They also know how to replace them with grain for the winter...

In the past, the Central Plains and the Grassland had little contact with enemies, and there was no way to exchange them for food.

Now the businessman is at the door of the house, as long as the cattle and sheep are driven away, they can spend the winter without any danger, why not do it?

Therefore, the war between the grassland and the Central Plains is no longer in a state of "must fight", and the probability of occurrence is naturally much less.

After explaining the trade, Shen Bing relaxed.

With the migration of various countries and the completion of rest and reorganization, Shen Bing can also rest for a while.

During this period of time, rushing back and forth to do this and that, even though there was no war, Shen Bing was still exhausted.

The main reason is that as a general, he has to handle all aspects of affairs, and there are many troops under his command, so things are complicated and chaotic.

Fortunately, there are Wang Ben, Li Jian, and Jiang as helpers, otherwise Shen Bing really doesn't know if he can arrange it.

When Shen Bing was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, Fusu hurried into the tent with an imperial decree, and he hesitated when he saw that Shen Bing was resting in bed.

Shen Bing hurriedly got up, cupped his hands and said:

"This subordinate has seen the young master!"

"But what news does the emperor have?"

Fusu sighed, and said with some embarrassment:

"But I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing for the general."

Shen Bing replied:

"Sir, please speak."

"Now that things have happened, Shen Bing is used to storms, and ordinary things can't help his subordinates!"

Fusu nodded, then stepped forward and whispered:

"General, Fusu has a younger sister named Yinman, known as Princess Ziyang."

"This year happens to be 15 years old..."

Shen Bing knew the meaning of Fusu's words as soon as he heard it.

Because the average age of the ancients was relatively short, or it can also be said that wars had a greater demand for population, they usually married at a very early age... usually twenty-five for men and fifteen for women.

Fu Suyi said that he had a younger sister who happened to be fifteen, that is, at the age of marriage.

Shen Bing declined without thinking:

"Could it be possible that the young master wants to hold the red line for his subordinates?"

"My lord knows that Shen Bing fought all the year round and had a marriage contract with Princess Wuyou..."

Fusu shook his head and said:

"How could Fusu not know about the marriage contract between the General and Princess Wuyou?"

"But this..."

After speaking, Fusu handed over the imperial decree.

Shen Bing spread out the imperial decree and his face changed... This is Ying Zheng's meaning, and Princess Ziyang is already on her way.

But it turned out that after returning to Xianyang, Ying Zheng thought about it and always wanted to reward Shen Bing with something, but he didn't know what to reward.

Ying Zheng is the king of a country, and he has never been troubled by this matter before.

But Shen Bing's situation really gave him a headache.

Because if it is said that the land is entrusted by the title, the land area owned by Shen Bing outside the Great Wall is already comparable to that of the Central Plains, so what is the significance of enfeoffing land?

If it's money, Shen Bing is rich enough to manage Hetao alone, plus a large number of cattle, sheep and horses in the Western Regions and grasslands, would he care about that little money?