Daqin Engineering Corps

Shen Bing found that he finally looked at the problem from a strategic height.

Chapter 376 The Savage

There is a saying that "everything is difficult at the beginning".

Although the focus of Xitao has been set, it still needs to be operated step by step, and it is impossible to become prosperous overnight.

The first thing Shen Bing has to do is to build water conservancy through animal husbandry and farming, and strive to solve the problem of self-sufficiency in Xitao's grain by farming in Xitao in the spring of next year.

In fact, Shen Bing does not only operate in Xitao, but develops the service industry in the Xitao model all the way to the Western Regions through the Hexi Corridor.

Just imagine, it is about two thousand miles from Xitao to Dunhuang through the Hexi Corridor.

If the caravan is calculated at fifty miles per day... Although the caravan uses horse-drawn carriages to transport goods, and the goods they transport are also light silk cloth, the uneven roads in the Hexi Corridor are not fast, and it will take at least more than a month to cross.

The uneven road was the fault of the Yue clan who had lived here for a long time before, and the Yue clan was still a nomadic people at this time... The reason why we say "at this time" is because they changed to farming after moving westward.

Nomads naturally don't know how to build roads, but if they ride a lot of horses, they will naturally have roads.

These roads may be suitable for riding horses, but not for carriages.

And this is only through the Hexi Corridor without reaching the Western Regions, and it has to pass through the arid zone and even the desert.

If a caravan carried two months or even three months of grain across the Hexi Corridor to the Western Regions for business, how much silk could they bring?

In the meantime, there are risks of being looted, insufficient food, insufficient water, insufficient horses, and damaged vehicles.

Therefore, when the caravan considers these things, even if it has extremely high profits, it will also discourage many people.

If caravans are discouraged, then this Silk Road will never be prosperous and certainly cannot be developed.

In order to protect the safety of the caravan and at the same time reduce the cost of the caravan and increase its profit, Shen Bing plans to set up a point every [-] miles in the direction of the Western Regions.

In fact, Li Yan's troops have already done so.

From Wuyuan, the [-] soldiers under his command left a thousand people to set up a city every five hundred miles.

Of course, it is not strictly five hundred miles.

Instead, it is about [-] miles away to find a place with water, suitable for farming and good for defense to build a village.

After that, the remaining troops have two tasks:

One is responsible for clearing out the bandits and the Xiongnu who were too late to withdraw.

The second is to build water conservancy and prepare for farming.

After completing these two tasks, the area around the Walled City is a safe area. If it is profitable, businessmen chasing profit will naturally open inns near the Walled City.

With the inn, the caravan going to the Western Regions only needs to carry supplies for more than ten days... Every ten days, they can go to the inn along the way to replenish, and they can also get the protection of officers and soldiers.

This reduces the cost and risk of caravan business in series.

Of course, Shen Bing still needs to make a start.

Because it is very likely that there will be a "chicken or the egg first" problem.

Caravan business and inns along the way are a mutual win-win relationship.

There are no inns along the way, the cost of doing business is high, and the risk of caravans is high, so there are few caravans.

The lack of caravans will in turn make the inns along the way afraid to open too many because they are not profitable...

Thus, a vicious circle is formed, and the development of both is limited.

To break this vicious cycle, Shen Bing, as a merchant from the north, opened inns in each city to ensure the supplies of the caravan.

Caravans are profitable, so there will be more and more caravans. When there are more caravans, the number of inns along the way will also increase.

This forms a virtuous circle, which is what Shen Bing calls guidance and regulation.

Otherwise, if it is allowed to develop naturally, it may eventually develop and take shape, but in this ancient time when commerce was extremely underdeveloped, it may only take hundreds of years to complete this development and finally prosper.

Of course, Shen Bing couldn't wait for these hundreds of years.

Shen Bing's approach can be said to have copied the model of the development of the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty.

Xitao is the modern Ningxia.

It is about five hundred miles from Gantang in Ningxia to Wuwei.

It is about five hundred miles from Wuwei to Zhangye.

It is still five hundred miles from Zhangye to Jiuquan.

It is a little further from Jiuquan to Dunhuang, [-] miles, but there is Guazhou in the middle.

It is not accidental that these cities have such a uniform distance, but it is convenient for the caravans on the Silk Road to set up supplies along the way, and for the needs of operation and defense, it is necessary to choose places near water sources and with better geographical location.

Over time, the scale of these supply areas became larger and larger and developed into a city.

Shen Bing's first step is to drive the cattle and sheep to Xitao...

The main ones are sheep, because cattle, as farming tools, must be kept as much as possible in areas that require large-scale agricultural operations.

Sheep are mainly for food.

Beidi bought a batch from the Xiongnu, and then bought a batch from the people on the frontier. The first batch collected more than 2000 sheep and put them in the south of Xitao.

Then these sheep will eat grass, grow meat, and the sheep will give birth to lambs, and the lambs will grow up to give birth to lambs...

Two thousand sheep are enough for hundreds of people to survive without accidents.

This is actually the way of survival of the Huns, and it is also the reason why they can maneuver around the grassland without having to think about supplies... They drive the flocks wherever they go, and there is also milk from goats and horses. Kind of, almost self-sufficient.

So much so that the Han army also adopted this model when attacking the Huns.

That is to say, every time they went north to conquer the Xiongnu, the Han army always drove the cattle and sheep that could not be seen at a glance.

This tactic is very clever, because in this way, they can hardly consider the supply issue like the Huns, so they don't have to worry about the supply line being cut off and surrounded like Liu Bang.

The only thing to worry about is that the Han army did not have the experience of the Huns in raising cattle and sheep, so they always drove out the cattle and sheep in pieces, and basically only had people and horses when they came back.

There is also a small episode when the flock is released.

When the Qin army entered a grassland surrounded by the southern mountainous area... the "savages" in the mountainous tribes ran around in fright.

This may be because the Huns were not very friendly to them when they entered Xitao.

If it weren't for the fact that most of these "savages" had hunted for a living and had no extra food, they would have been robbed and killed by the Huns long ago.

Shen Bing strictly ordered his subordinates not to conflict with local tribes, and should even help these tribes within their capabilities.

It's not just for humanitarian reasons.

Doing so will save the Qin army a lot of trouble, and the other is that Xitao needs labor.

These primitive tribes have the ability to survive in Xitao and are very strong. With a little training, they may become good farmers.

Only later did Shen Bing realize that he was thinking too much.

These "savages" have been hunting in the mountains since they were young. They are very good hunters, and they know nothing about farming and have no interest in farming.

They might be able to be converted into farmers, but it would likely take several generations of assimilation and education.

Chapter 377 It's All About You

Shen Bing had contact with these savages several times.

The first contact was to go into the mountains to select pastures for sheep...

In fact, there is no need to choose at all. There are large tracts of grassland in the south of Xitao. Even in modern Ningxia, the grassland area still accounts for 53.7%.

Shen Bing only brought a hundred personal guards to ride his horses.

When passing through a village at the foot of the mountain, I saw "savages" screaming and running away in all directions, and dozens of young and strong "savages" were holding earthen bows and arrows, wooden spears, wooden sticks, etc. The original weapon blocked the front to prevent Shen Bing and others from approaching, as if to cover the villagers' evacuation.

The personal guards "Hula" stepped forward to protect Shen Bing and took out their bows and arrows to prepare for battle... If the personal guards launch an attack, how can they be opponents with the crude equipment in the hands of the "savages", only a round of arrows When it rains, there are not many left.

Shen Bing stopped the guards, jumped off the horse and left the guards to try to communicate with the "savages".

Wang Ben hurried forward to stop:

"General, barbarians don't know etiquette, I'm afraid..."

Shen Bing smiled and said:

"What can I do with the wood in their hands?"

"The captain also underestimated me, Shen Bing!"

The guards all laughed and didn't take the "savage" seriously.

However, Shen Bing was still a little nervous when he stepped forward.

Although the rattan armor on Shen Bing's body is a bow and arrow that is not afraid of "savages", but the sharpened wooden spears and other equipment that rely on stabbing the enemy are the nemesis of the rattan armor.

Wang Ben also knew this, so he followed Shen Bing and put his hand on the handle of the sword, and he would block in front of the "savage" only if there was a slight movement.

Shen Bing opened his hands to the wild man to indicate that he had no weapons, then carefully took out a scallion pancake from his arms and handed it over.

This is the dry food that Shen Bing brought from Wuyuan. If it is not convenient to bury a pot for cooking during the march, they usually use it to satisfy their hunger.

To Shen Bing's surprise, it was a woman who came out from the opposite side.

It would be difficult to spot her if she stood among the "savages", because she was wearing animal skins and a fur hat like the others, but there was an extra feather on the fur hat, which seemed to indicate that she was the leader of the group .

The female leader is very vigilant, which can be seen from the fact that she holds a bow and arrow in her hand and keeps the string half-opened...

Half-open string means that as soon as there is danger, you can draw the bow as fast as possible and shoot the arrow.

What surprised Shen Bing even more was that the female leader took a look at Shen Bing and asked in blunt words:

"Wait, Qin man?"

Shen Bing was taken aback for a moment, then nodded his head:

"Qin people, sinking soldiers..."

Before Shen Bing finished speaking, the leader replied:

"You are not welcome here, leave here!"

Wang Ben frowned, and was about to go forward to argue but was stopped by Shen Bing.

Shen Bing said:

"We have no intention of competing for territory."

"I'm just looking for a piece of grass to graze sheep!"

The female leader didn't speak, but just raised her head behind Shen Bing.

Shen Bing looked back, and there was a valley full of tender grass hundreds of steps away, so Shen Bing understood what she meant.

Shen Bing said "Thank you", put the scallion pancake on the ground in slow motion, made a gesture of eating, and then left.

Wang Ben couldn't help muttering behind him:

"Why should the general waste so much time talking with these barbarians."

"It's enough to take them all down or expel them. It's the best of humanity to keep them alive!"

Shen Bing replied with a smile:

"There are few people in the Central Plains, and we will fight to the death for a piece of land."

"There are few people here, there are grasslands everywhere, why should we fight with them?"

Wang Ben replied "Yes".

But Shen Bing knew that he was still slightly dissatisfied.

The ancients had a kind of thinking, that is, "people who are not my race must have different hearts", so usually there are barbarians on the side, either they don't occupy it, or they have to beat them to bow their heads and surrender.

This is because they think that only in this way can they be truly safe, otherwise they will be "thorns in the back".

In fact, most people lack a sense of security in the era of war, so many times they hope that a certain piece of land is completely under their control.

For example, Wang Ben had many concerns at this time: