Hanhou

The first year of Emperor Jing, August

One year's weather was good, and there were no Huns to disturb the border, the border county enjoyed a bumper harvest, and the people were full of households.

After the autumn harvest, the frontier residents worked tirelessly, brandishing flails, to thresh the corn and dry it in the air, put it into sacks and rattan baskets, and send it to the official temple to pay the grain tax.

In front of the official temple, the small officials set up the measuring tools, the civil officials were in charge of recording, the county magistrate was in charge of supervising and inspecting the corn delivered, and urged the young officials to strictly follow the laws and regulations, and no bullying was allowed.

At the same time, large carts came from western and eastern Liaoning. The men driving the carts had big arms and round waists, and the muscles in their arms were protruding, as if they were going to burst through the short brown.

Baskets of coarse salt were loaded on the carts, and after being transported into the salt field, they were purified and processed by salt workers to make snow-white refined salt, which was transported to various counties in the Han Dynasty.And some additional storage will be sent from the selected caravan city to the grassland to exchange for a large number of cattle, sheep and horses to enrich the border county.

In addition, the caravan organized by Xian Chiyong and Shu Buli is also ready. Their task is to go all the way west, pass through the blockade of the Xiongnu, and find a commercial road.

The members of this caravan were very mixed, including Wuhuan people, Huns, Qiang people who had surrendered, and a few Xianbei people.Half of the guards are old soldiers selected from the frontier army.In addition, there are civil servants mixed in, who are responsible for drawing maps, confirming routes, and communicating with each other.

Before the team set off, Zhou Jue Cao specially hosted a banquet, met the leader of the team, and spoke a lot of encouragement.

Xian Chiyong and Xu Buli were so moved that they burst into tears, they patted their chests and expressed that they would resolutely complete the task, and whoever dared to intercept the caravan would definitely take up their knives and fight desperately.Regardless of other departments or the headquarters, there will be no return!

As patients, Xian Chiyong and Xu Buli have the same heart and mind, and the tacit understanding is very comparable.

The caravan carried new salt, silk, silk clothes, and some exquisite pottery. They set off from Yunzhong County, passed through the dangerous land where there were very few Hu tribes migrating, avoided the Huns cavalry, and continued to march westward, looking for people blocked by the Huns. Nations and countries.

The Qiang people and the Huns are both good at taming falcons, and the westward caravans sent back news through falcons.

After the team set off, a message was sent back half a month later, saying that they had found a way to go west, but they had not encountered any obstacles yet.After that, there was no news for a whole few months. Whether it was busy on the road or encountered trouble, it is not known yet.

It was not until March of the second year of Emperor Jing that the eagle came from the west and brought back a letter from the officials, saying that the caravan was attacked and escaped in a dangerous situation. Then it strayed into a vast forest and lost its way. The foreign people who were grazing herds entered a small country.

Regarding the dangers encountered on the way, the officials basically passed them by, focusing on describing the areas that the caravan passed through.

"The country is narrow, like a big county like the Han Dynasty. The houses are made of huge trees, with tops. The rich wear silk, while the poor wear hemp and animal skins. It is located on an important road, leading to the west and the Xiongnu."

From the beginning to the end, comparing the attached map, Zhao Jia had some suspicions that the Fanbang found by Xian Chiyong and others was probably a small country in the Western Regions where Zhang Qian had been sent as an envoy.

However, based on the description in the letter and the rough map, he was not quite sure.

After all, compared with later generations, the topography and customs at this time are different.

The Gobi desert of future generations is now full of lush water and grass.Loulan and other places, which were covered by wind and sand in later generations, still have towering ancient trees and green grass like shade.

According to the scribes' description in the letter, all the silk and silk qiluo in Fanbang came from the Han area and were sold by the Huns, and the price was unreasonably cheap.However, there is still a price but no market, and it is difficult to buy gold and jewelry.

Continuing to the west, there are even bigger countries, and the price of silk will increase exponentially.

After going through several middlemen, the price of a piece of silk has increased hundreds of times, and it must be settled with gold, pearls and gems, and livestock and horses. No one cares about it, and it is even laughed at.

Zhao Jia knew about the Silk Road, and was mentally prepared for it.

The bigwigs in Yunzhong County are not the same. Even though they knew the price of silk was high, they didn't expect it to be so high.

Thinking of the Xiongnu intercepting the trade route, buying silk at a "low price" and making hundreds of times the profit by changing hands, the eyes of the big bosses, including Wei Shang, are red.

In the past, the Xiongnu had to be killed for the hatred of the country and the family, but now it is even more important to kill them for the sake of gold and open up business channels!

Wei Shang wrote a letter in his own hand, attached the details of the transaction and a map, and sent flying cavalry to Dingxiang, Yanmen, Shangjun, Wuyuan and other places.

The bosses of the counties received letters, exchanged opinions with each other, and unanimously rolled up their arms and sleeves, expressing that this matter cannot be tolerated!For the sake of the big man, for the sake of fairness and justice, take up the knife and go together, kill the Huns, and destroy these second-class dealers!

The bosses of Bianjun reached a consensus to send a letter to Emperor Jing together.

The sick emperor saw the memorial, and his face turned red immediately. He was so frightened that the eunuch rushed to find a doctor, and even the Changle Palace was alarmed.

Fearing that something might happen to Emperor Jing, Empress Dowager Dou visited Weiyang Palace in person.

The crown prince Liu Che, the crown princess Chen Jiao, and Princess Yuyang, who had returned from the fiefdom and were planning to get married in June, also came one after another. When they entered the announcement room, they thought they would see the weak emperor, but unexpectedly, Emperor Jing was full of energy and had a ruddy complexion. He was chatting with the Queen Mother enthusiastically.

Empress Dowager Dou also had a smile on her face, she could hardly contain her joy when she heard the good news.

"Royal father, mother?"

Liu Che, Chen Jiao and Yu Yang were all confused and didn't understand what happened.

Emperor Jing turned his head and handed Liu Che a volume of bamboo slips.

"Look at it all."

The three of them got together and read the content on the bamboo slips, their eyes were wide open, they couldn't believe it.

"Sure?"

"Yunzhong Shou, Yanmen Shou, and Shangjun Shou played at the same time, there will be no false ones." Emperor Jing was in a good mood, and his condition seemed to be much lighter.

Holding the bamboo slips, Liu Che couldn't contain his excitement.

Chen Jiao and Yu Yang looked at each other, both excited.

Chen Jiao was taught by Empress Dou, and gradually matured politically. Yuyang jumped out of Chang'an's barriers, opened his eyes, and knew what this meant for the Han Dynasty.

It sounds unbelievable to exchange a piece of silk for several times its weight in gold.

However, the prefect of Bian County is very strict and will never lie in the memorial.What's more, several people played at the same time, which is enough to prove the authenticity of the matter.

Emperor Jing was happy, and looked at Prince Liu Che with great anticipation.

Liu Che did not disappoint him, put down the bamboo slips, and solemnly said: "My son will definitely sweep away the barbarians in the north, raise our country's prestige, and enrich our Han people!"

"Great!"

Emperor Jing was happy, and the imperial decree was sent from Chang'an to Bianjun. The main purpose is one: boldly, don't be cowardly, and I and Zhuqing are backing!

With this memorandum and the ever-increasing military expenditures, the morale of the big bosses in the border counties was high, and they started the mode of "explosive soldiers" and "violent soldiers" using the ride in the cloud as a template.

The Hu people who surrendered were called up, and after strict screening, they became the auxiliary soldiers of the Han cavalry.

The Hanbian Racecourse received an order to send out all the horses with a shoulder height of 1.5 meters.

Tang Yihou, who supervised the manufacture of harnesses, was very busy, and the arsenal craftsmen who made and repaired armor weapons began to work continuously.

A large number of artisans and county soldiers were stationed in the salt fields of Yuyang, Liaodong, and Liaoxi. Even the king received an order to set up a separate place in the salt field to purify refined salt.

As a result of doing so, the salt farm has been separated from the noble family in a substantial sense.

For those who are more knowledgeable and voluntarily donate to the salt field, the emperor will issue a decree to call the children of his clan into Chang'an, and use Lang Guan as the palace guard.A small number of talented people follow the prince as young cavalry, and they will be named in the team of the future emperor. As long as they don't commit suicide, their future is limitless.

As for the uninterested, the stationed county soldiers will teach them how to behave.

Emperor Jing hadn't planned to do it so quickly, he could only say that it was a coincidence that the memorial sent by Bianjun was indeed quite stimulating, and even acted as a booster.

According to the original history, at this time, Emperor Jing was dying of illness, and the Xiongnu took the opportunity to attack and invaded the border.Wars broke out on the border of the Han Dynasty, and the troops from the four corners of the royal court broke into the Han territory in one breath, burning, killing, looting, and even burning the Ganquan Palace, causing a lot of insults.

Nowadays, with Chang'an, the border county, taking over the spies, it will not be so easy for the Xiongnu to spy on Chang'an again.Coupled with the chaos in the hinterland of the grassland, the cavalry of the headquarters will not venture south and attack Hanbian before Xianbei is wiped out.

As a result, the Xiongnu army, which was supposed to come surging, was held back by Xianbei, busy cleaning up the remnants of the army, and had no time to look south.The Han Dynasty contacted the Western Regions in advance, and learned of the huge profits of silk and silk, and the new salt that was plundered as soon as it came out, suddenly turned from defense to offense, and began to send troops to the grassland.

Such changes caught the grassland ministries by surprise.

Riding tall horses, wearing armor, holding iron weapons, Han cavalry, and Hu cavalry who surrendered, started to clear the map from the pasture near the border county, and hunted down the other tribes with all their strength, and drove the other tribes into the depths of the grassland.Not to mention that, they also had to rob cattle, sheep, horses, and burn tents, clearly not intending to give them a way out.

Such cruel actions reminded the priests of the miserable experience of their ancestors, the fear of being dominated by Yan Bing, Zhao Bing and Qin Bing.

However, the Han army was fierce and fierce, and its main purpose was to train soldiers. They exercised restraint in their actions. Except for a few strong cavalry, they basically would not go too deep into the grassland.

Discovering this, Biebu scrambled to move into the hinterland of the grassland in order to survive.

No matter how rich the pasture is, the number of cattle and sheep that can be carried is also limited.A large number of tribes gather together, and they can survive in summer and autumn. When the north wind howls and the weather turns cold, people, cattle and sheep will face food problems.

To make matters worse, scouts from the Han Dynasty mingled among the scattered herdsmen, found the tribal gathering places, and confirmed the main water sources everywhere.

Not long after, the cattle and sheep in the tribe began to fall ill in large numbers, and the tribesmen were also unavoidable.Priests prayed to no avail, so a doctor was invited from the headquarters, and the result of the diagnosis was an epidemic.

With the current medical conditions, no matter the Han area or the grassland, they are all talking about the epidemic.

When the doctor diagnosed the disease, the priest and the leader were frightened on the spot. Without thinking at all, they drew their swords and beheaded the doctor on the spot. Afterwards, they threw away the sick tribesmen and livestock, and led the rest of the people to flee the camp overnight.

Unfortunately, they are still not fast enough.

The sound of rumbling horseshoes chased after him, and when he was within range, the sound of breaking wind continued, and rockets flew down like rain, igniting a big fire on the pasture in late autumn.

The leader of the Xiongnu who was chasing him ordered that no one should be left in front of him, and all of them must be killed.

There is a considerable distance from the headquarters here, so there is enough time to cut out the firebreak, and there is no need to worry about the fire burning through.With the current wind direction, the fire will continue to burn to the south. If it can burn to the Han side, it will kill two birds with one stone and cause some trouble for the Han people.

As the epidemic continued to break out, one by one the tribes were slaughtered.

A few people escaped by chance, and all the cattle, sheep and war horses in the tribe were lost. Even if they survived, they could not survive the harsh winter.

In order to save their lives, herdsmen from different tribes and remnants of Xianbei gathered together to plunder passing caravans and small tribes, and soon became a banditry, strong enough to resist the cavalry of the headquarters.And the methods are extremely cruel, and they are afraid of the caravans.

In order to clear up these bandits, the Huns took great pains, but the opponents came and went like the wind, it was easy to disperse them, but it was difficult to exterminate them.As long as there are only a few left, another team will be formed soon.

The Huns who plundered all the year round finally tasted what it was like to be robbed by others.It's not that you can't beat it, you can kill it clearly, but you just can't destroy it, let alone the frustration and depression.

The more chaotic the grassland, the more stable Hanbian will be.

It's another autumn harvest. Although there is a severe drought, relying on wells and water trucks, and there is no disturbance from the bandits, the yield per mu is not good, but at least a few buckets can be harvested.Coupled with the court's tax reduction and exemption, life can always be maintained.

At the end of autumn, news came from Chang'an that Tiaohou Zhou Yafu was imprisoned, and soon died of a hunger strike in prison.The King of Chengyang and the King of Jiyin died, and the Crown Prince succeeded to the throne.

The queen's elder brother Wang Fenggaihou, and the two younger brothers Tian Fu and Tian Sheng are still white.

The prime minister, Liu She, was seriously ill and dismissed from office, and Wei Wan, the censor, was appointed prime minister, and Wei Weizhi was no doubt the censor.

Wei Shang and Liu She had a long history of friendship and kept writing to each other.As early as July, Wei Taishou had expected this kind of result.

Received a letter written by the eldest son of Liu She, knowing that his old friend Yao Shi had no cure, Wei Shang wrote the letter himself, sent someone to send it to Chang'an, and sent a loyal servant to see the second son, and asked him to go to the house on his behalf to see the sick man. old friend.

The news of Chang'an kept coming, and the big bosses of the border counties tensed up and recalled the cavalry who had gone out one after another to strengthen the defense of the frontier fortress.The Hu tribe who surrendered was restricted in their scope of action and were not allowed to step out at will, otherwise they would be shot and killed.

The atmosphere in Bianjun was chilling, and the air became solemn.

Every time Zhao Jia went to the prefect's mansion, prefect Wei always had a serious expression on his face, no longer relaxed as usual.Face to face with Wei Yue, the third son of Wei rarely smiled. He just told him to call the pawns, and if the Huns appeared on the frontier, he would listen to them at any time.

Three years after entering Emperor Jing, in October, solar and lunar eclipses appeared one after another, which the sorcerer said was a bad omen.

In December, Emperor Jing suddenly fainted at the court meeting, the gates of Weiyang Palace were closed, and the wind in Chang'an was jittery.

The news spread to the border counties, and the defenses of the fortresses became tighter.

Zhao Jiade ordered that from today onwards, Shaling County will be strictly guarded, the entry and exit of outsiders will be strictly checked, and anyone suspicious will be arrested.

Putting down the wooden tablet, Zhao Jia pinched his brows, looked at the swaying lights, and had a premonition in his heart that Chang'an was about to change, the era of Emperor Jing was coming to an end, and the era of Emperor Wu was coming.