Daqin Engineering Corps

But of course, this is not to let them supply in vain.

Because there is a saying that "there is no filial son before a long-term sick bed", if everything is fine in the short term, a stable system must be established in the long run instead of relying on coercion, affection, and loyalty.

For example, what if the Qin army had to fight for three or five years after leaving the Western Regions?

Will the countries in the Western Regions have to provide supplies for three to five years without complaint?

This is obviously unrealistic.

Therefore, Shen Bing ordered to record all the supplies, including drinking water, provided by the countries in the Western Regions, and they will be repaid with cloth or silk in the future.

Countries in the Western Regions are also willing to do so.

Because the Qin caravan came anyway, and they also wanted to exchange these cattle and sheep with the merchants for silk. At this time, even drinking water can be exchanged, so why not do it?

Therefore, Shen Bing actually transferred the pressure of logistics to the caravan.

When passing through Kucha, Shen Bing went to visit the King of Lower Kucha.

The meeting between Shen Bing and the King of Kucha this time is completely different from the standard of reception received as an envoy before.

King Qiuci even used carpets to spread the carpet in front of the palace aisle to the palace gate, and sprinkled flowers along the way until he met King Qiuci.

This may be the highest standard reception ceremony in the Western Regions.

Although Qiuci was angry with Shen Bing in his heart, how could he dare to be negligent as Shen Bing appeared outside the city with an army of more than [-] at this time.

As soon as King Qiuci saw Shen Bing, he greeted Shen Bing enthusiastically, and said with a smile:

"General, I didn't know that it was the general who came to Kucha before. This king is so negligent. The general forgives me!"

Shen Bing stopped being polite to King Qiuci, and asked straightforwardly:

"I don't know if Your Majesty knows the whereabouts of Princess Wuyou?"

King Kucha shook his head and said:

"General Lao is concerned, and this king has been looking for the princess."

"It's just that this girl has traveled around the world since she was a child. If she intends to go abroad, I'm afraid..."

King Qiuci shook his head while speaking, and said:

"It's the king who can't teach well, which made the general laugh!"

"If the princess returns to Kucha one day, this king will definitely ask her to apologize to the general immediately!"

Shen Bing let out an "ah" and said:

"Wuyou must not want to see me again, so he didn't even return to Qiuci."

"That's it!"

"Your Majesty, you can post a notice to tell Wuyou that if you don't want to see Shen Bing, Shen Bing is not willing to make things difficult for others."

"She can go back to Kucha, don't suffer from traveling outside."

King Qiuci bowed and said:

"My king will do it right away."

Shen Bing didn't say much, and after saying goodbye to King Qiuci, he turned and left.

On the contrary, King Qiuci looked at the back of Shen Bing leaving with joy.

The subordinate looked at King Kucha's appearance a little strangely, and asked:

"My lord, we really don't know where the princess is going. Why is your lord so happy?"

King Kucha replied:

"What do you know?"

"You can see that Shen Bing looks lost?"

"It means that he has a deep affection for Wuyou, so I am still worried that he will run away?"

Chapter 495 Lan's

It took Shen Bing and his party more than [-] days to arrive in Dawan.

In fact, they had not yet reached Dawan at this time, and Shen Bing ordered to set up camp when he was more than [-] miles away from Dawan.

Wang Ben was a little curious and asked:

"General, it's just after noon, and I'm only [-] miles away from Dawan, why don't you rush to your destination and set up camp?"

Shen Bing replied:

"Do you know Dawan?"

Wang Ben shook his head:

"My subordinates only heard that Dawan has [-] soldiers."

"The enemy army is [-] and our army is more than [-], why should we be afraid of them!"

Shen Bing asked again:

"Do you still remember the danger that I waited to attack Loulan?"

Wang Ben replied:

"of course I remember."

Shen Bing asked:

"Then why is it that Loulan is a small country, but let me wait to advance and retreat, almost unable to gain a foothold in the Western Regions?"

Wang Ben replied:

"It's all because the sandbar is far away from the Western Regions and there is not enough drinking water."

Shen Bing nodded and didn't speak any more.

Then Wang Ben suddenly understood:

"The general is wise, our army's expedition to Dawan is like an expedition to the Western Regions."

"And there is also a shortage of water near Dawan. We should first capture a place to gain a foothold."

Shen Bing nodded.

The problem in this part of Central Asia is serious salinization. Although there are lakes in many places, they are undrinkable saltwater lakes.

Therefore, the army urgently needs to seize a place as a forward base instead of rushing to war with the mighty Dawan.

This was the reason why Li Guangli's first attack failed.

Li Guangli was smart the second time. He occupied a water source and raised a large number of cattle and sheep before attacking. It is said that there were [-] cattle and sheep, [-] horses, and tens of thousands of donkeys and camels.

On this basis, the siege of Dawan lasted for more than forty days before it was considered defeated.

Now that Shen Bing knows this, and has previous experience in Loulan, he will certainly not make such a mistake again... Where there is a shortage of water, the first thing is to find a place to stand.

But looking at the map, Wang Ben frowned and said:

"But, where should I take it?"

"Most of the places with water sources are occupied by people or other countries. We can't learn from the unknown and destroy several countries in one go!"

This is indeed a problem.

There are not many countries in this area, such as Wusun and Kangju, but their strength is much stronger than that of the 36 countries in the Western Regions.

Among them rest in particular.

The word "Anxi" is the name of the country when the Central Plains knew the country, and Rome called it "Partia", which is the empire that defeated the Roman army of Crassus and killed Crassus in the future.

Therefore, if the 5 soldiers brought by Shen Bing come up indiscriminately and just pick one up and fight, it is likely to become a common threat to all countries and force these countries to form an alliance to drive Shen Bing out.

But Shen Bing had already made up his mind.

He pointed to the Lan's City Road in the southwest of Dawan:

"We can take this country as our base."

Wang Ben was shocked and said:

"What is the teacher's name?"

"Why did the general choose the Lan family?"

Shen Bing replied:

"Remember your battle to break the sandbar?"

Wang Ben replied:

"Naturally, I remember that King Yuezhi died in that battle, and we were relieved of being trapped by the Huns Yuezhi."

Shen Bing continued:

"In that battle, thousands of Yue clan's defeated soldiers fled westward with a large number of cattle and sheep. Where do you think they fled to?"

Wang Ben couldn't help but widen his eyes:

"The general said that he fled to the Lan family after a while?"

Shen Bing nodded:

"Exactly."

"It is said that Xun Dunxihou fled here and captured Daxia."

"The Great Xia is made up of tribes without a king, it's like a mess of sand."

"They were successively defeated by the Yue clan's rout troops, so they were enshrined as kings, and thus the Lan clan came into existence."

Wang Ben let out an "oh", and then said happily:

"That's very good. Then I'll be well-known as a teacher."

"The way to go is...Xu Dunxihou killed King Yuezhi and fled. We will seek justice for King Yueshi!"

Shen Bing was a little surprised by Wang Ben's words.

Originally, Shen Bing wanted to attack the Lan family under the pretext of "rebels", but he didn't want Wang Ben to be more ruthless, so he directly pushed the death of King Yueshi to Xun Dunxihou.

But thinking about it, it seems right.

At that time, the moon was dark and the wind was high, no one knew who said about King Yueshi, maybe it was just a stab in the back to hurt someone?

It really doesn't matter what the truth is.

The important thing is that the Qin army had an excuse to attack the Lan family, which made other countries think that there was a reason for the Qin army to fight this battle, so they only attacked the Lan family and not them, so they stood by and watched.

Many people might even believe that it was Xun Dunxihou who killed King Yueshi, otherwise why would he flee here with his troops?

As a result, other countries will think that this is just Yuezhi's housework, and they are even less willing to intervene.

Thinking about it, Shen Bing nodded and said:

"Just do it like this, but who is leading the Yuezhi army? You go and explain it!"

Wang Ben responded and went down to make arrangements.

The leader of the Yue clan's army was a Yue clan commander named Guilu, who led [-] troops this time to go out with Shen Bing.

This Guilu is a staunch supporter of Shen Bing, because he once sent troops with Shen Bing to surround the Gushi, and Shen Bing made a speech in the city vowing to keep the nobles who were held hostage by the Huns. This Guilu believed it to be true. So he became Shen Bing's supporter.

From this we can also see that the ancient saying "He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world, and those who lose the hearts of the people lose the world" still has some truth.

For example, Shen Bing did that to win people's hearts, but it was not as sincere and pedantic as Confucianism.

Shen Bing's actions may be called "hypocrisy" and "reality", but war is a thing that is omnipotent, and there is no sympathy or morality to speak of here.

What's more, wouldn't it be a good thing for Yuezhi that Shen Bing could deceive Guilu's trust and support?

Otherwise, if Yuezhi really wanted to fight Shen Bing...it would be another bloodbath.

Wang Ben told GUI Lu the whole story, and GUI Lu knew what to do immediately.

First of all, Guilu brainwashed five thousand subordinates with "confidentiality":