Daqin Engineering Corps

"But King Youxian, my aunt can't tolerate so many soldiers."

Xun Xun replied:

"It's okay, we can drive some of the redundant horses to the grassland to relieve the urgent situation."

Ge Yu had no choice but to respond, and then retreated.

Xun Xun's approach may be right. Driving the redundant war horses back to the grassland can reduce the consumption of aquatic plants. For example, each person originally had three horses, but now each person has one horse.

However, the Xiongnu who stayed in the grassland for a long time without worry and grazing did not know the fragility of the oasis vegetation. Those aquatic plants will not recover for a long time in the future after being destructively consumed. How can reducing a part of the war horses solve the problem? .

Needless to say what the result was, Xun Xun waited for the aunt but couldn't wait for Qin Jun.

Suddenly one day I received information that Thrall had fallen.

Only then did Xun Yun realize that the situation seemed to be just like what Ge Yu said, the Qin army's target was not the aunt but the oasis around the aunt.

The Qin army attacked Saar after gaining a firm foothold in Jiaohe.

There is a walled city in Jiaohe, surrounded by horse pits, and 3000 people guarding Jiaohe can protect it from loss.

After that, Shen Bing led more than [-] people to attack Saar.

Saar is more than a hundred miles away from Jiaohe.

This time, Shen Bing learned the lesson from last time and adopted a more cautious attack method... Calculated the time based on the marching speed, arrived at Saar after dawn and set up a formation to approach Saar.

In the past, the Huns were good at riding and shooting and were more suitable for daytime combat than night combat.

But now, the Qin army has more long-range equipment that is more suitable for daytime combat.

On the contrary, the Qin army was more afraid of being rushed into a chaotic battle by the Huns because of insufficient troops... The total strength of the Huns was [-], and even if two, three, or even four or five people could fight off the Qin army alone, it would be enough for the Qin army to fight. lose.

The best way not to fight melee is to fight the battle clearly during the day when visibility is good.

Shen Bing took Thrall without much effort.

The [-] Hun cavalry stationed in Saar withdrew only after the Qin army fired a few shells.

The Huns cavalry could only retreat.

This is also the disadvantage of the cavalry in this era. When the infantry is preparing for the formation with carbine guns and pikemen layer by layer, there is almost no possibility of cavalry charging.

In the past, when the Qin army only had bows and crossbows, the Xiongnu cavalry could compete with infantry with the advantage of riding and shooting.

However, if the Qin army is equipped with three-bow and long crossbow cable arrows and artillery with a range of more than [-] steps, it will become a mobile fortress that can be defended and attacked from a distance. Although it moves slowly, it is almost invincible to the Huns cavalry. .

On the other hand, the Xiongnu cavalry army was invincible, their bows were not as far as the Qin army's range, and even the Qin army's strong crossbows couldn't reach them, so they had to give up Saar.

As soon as Thrall lost the fume, he realized that the problem was serious.

Because Saar was also the advance base for the Huns to go deep into the desert to attack the supply line of the Qin army... Once Saar was lost, it meant that the troops who went deep into the desert to harass were in danger.

What made Xun Yun even more troublesome was:

Jiaohe and Saar are the largest oases outside Gushi City, and they accommodate [-] and [-] Hun cavalry respectively.

Once these two places were lost, more than ten thousand Xiongnu cavalry gathered in Gushi.

What people eat is not a problem for the time being... The Xiongnu brought a large number of livestock, and they only needed to slaughter the cattle and sheep to avoid starvation.

The problem is that there is no grass for these livestock including war horses.

Not to mention that there is no grass, the water level of the lake in Gushi City has been greatly reduced due to the large number of livestock drinking.

If this continues, I'm afraid even drinking water will become a problem.

Only then did Xun Xun realize that fighting in the Western Regions is not as arbitrary as in the grasslands, and it is not something that can be solved with a large number of soldiers.

In desperation, they could only withdraw their troops to the grassland in batches.

In fact, at its root, it is still a problem of "offense outweighs defense".

On the one hand, the special terrain of the Western Regions made the Xiongnu cavalry lose their ability to maneuver.

On the other hand, it was the reliance of the Huns cavalry on the oasis that forced those who were good at mobile offense to be on the defensive.

Defense itself requires more troops, and there are loopholes everywhere.

The Qin army can concentrate its forces to attack its weaknesses and compress its living space.

Chapter 432 Benefits

The Qin army occupied Saar and stopped attacking other places. They did nothing but perfected Saar's defense like operating Jiaohe and waited quietly.

The Qin army can afford to wait, and it is not a problem for the two oases of Jiaohe and Saar to support a total of more than [-] Qin troops.

Not only is it not a problem, but it can also be said to live a very nourishing life.

Shen Bing even summoned the common people and old troops of his aunt to live in these two places...

After the Xiongnu occupied Gushi, they expelled the soldiers and civilians of Gushi. These people wandered around in neighboring countries and were looked down upon by others.

Of course, Shen Bing knew that using these forces was also a form of public opinion propaganda, and sent people everywhere to gather Gushi's soldiers and civilians under the banner of helping Gushi restore the country.

Gu Shi's soldiers and civilians didn't believe it at first, how could there be such a good thing in the world, someone would help him drive away the Huns and return the country to them.

However, once he heard the news from Loulan, he knew it was true.

So they gathered from all directions to Jiaohe and Saar.

Among them, Ji and his Pulei Kingdom naturally play a linking role.

At this time, most countries in the Western Regions used Cypriot (Iranian language family), which was a brand new language for the Qin army in the Central Plains, and communication was very problematic.

If there is no existence, many things cannot be completed smoothly.

Shen Bing even met with several aunt nobles: one is the younger brother of the aunt king, and two half-sons of the aunt king: Tong Shanjun and Xiang Shanjun.There are also two ministers: one Fuguohou and one Anguohou.

Most of the nobles in Gushi were captured by the Huns and placed under house arrest in Gushi. These nobles escaped because they were sent to other countries or they were hunting or stationed on the frontier.

Although the two ministers are soft-spoken, the point is that they have soldiers in their hands, the Marquis of Fuguo has a thousand cavalry, and the Marquis of Anguo has [-].

You must know that there are only [-] horses in Gushi's country, so these two "hous" can almost be said to account for half of Gushi's country.

These people all have their own forces and refuse to give in to each other, each asking Shen Bing to help them restore their country.

Jiang, who was in charge of translation and lobbying, had a headache.

Because there is a problem: which of the five forces should help?If one of them is helped, the other four will naturally fall apart and form their own faction.

But Shen Bing agreed without even thinking about it.

Jiang asked Shen Bing suspiciously:

"General, there is only one aunt, but there are as many as five forces here to vote."

"How can we help them all return to the country?"

Shen Bing didn't answer and asked instead:

"How many oases are there besides my aunt?"

Can't help but "Oh":

"What does the general mean, is to let each of their forces guard one place?"

Shen Bing just nodded.

Jiang also said:

"That must be the aunt of Fuguohou!"

It's not surprising that he would say that, because the Marquis of Fuguo has the most troops, and there are more than [-] people following him.

Gushi is the biggest oasis and a city.

Not only can it accommodate more people, but it can also organize defenses as soon as possible to deal with possible threats from the Huns.

Then Shen Bing shook his head and replied:

"I plan to let Mr. Tongshan stay in my aunt."

Jiang looked at Shen Bing in surprise:

"Mr. Tongshan? The second prince who only knows how to eat, drink and play?"

"Why did the general choose him to be the teacher."

Shen Bing replied lightly:

"Otherwise, wouldn't my aunt soon become one country and become a threat to Great Qin?"

He couldn't help but nodded slightly with an "oh".

The reason is simple, a unified and united aunt is obviously not in the interests of Qin.

This set is played with great proficiency in modern Western countries.

For example, India was forcibly divided into India and Pakistan based on religion, so the wars between the two countries continued.

Another example is to divide Rwanda into Hutu and Tutsis and deliberately intensify their conflicts... In fact, in the local language, Hutu and Tutsi are just herding and farming, and the Rwandan massacre resulted.

……

These are actually artificial divisions and conflicts for better control.

Under the influence of Confucianism, China often pays attention to benevolence, righteousness and morality. Even in modern times, it still contributes to the unification and peace of neighboring countries.

This is not to say that neighboring countries have no conscience or that they will repay their kindness with hatred, but that between countries only care about interests and not human relations.

If the neighboring countries are united, it means that there will be no enemies, and China will naturally become its competitor. If China is not an enemy, who else can it be?

Shen Bing already knew these bloody lessons, so naturally he wouldn't be so stupid as to put personal feelings in national interests.

Therefore, when treating aunts, one must adhere to the principle of "supporting the weak and suppressing the strong" just like treating the Qiang people.

Otherwise, if the most powerful Fu Guohou is supported, it won't be long before the Fu Guohou gathers the other ministries into his own tent and forms his own faction. At that time, will he have to do something for Shen Bing or show his face? ?

Now, Shen Bing intends to support the weak so that they are evenly matched and fight each other. In the end, none of the factions can be strong, let alone the Qin army to come out to uphold justice... At that time, the Qin army will have the right to speak and then they will be able to plan a strategy. Well!

So Shen Bing even thought out the name of the country for them.

In the future, after Gushi is recovered, it will not be called Gushi, and several oases will be called: Cheshi Front Kingdom, Cheshi Houguo, Cheshi Duwei Kingdom, Cheshi Houcheng Changguo...

Although he didn't quite understand Shen Bing's intentions, he was secretly startled, thankful that Pu Lei had surrendered to Daqin, otherwise he would have to face the same fate as his aunt.

Of course, these will be after the Xiongnu withdraw from the Gushi.

But that doesn't seem to be a problem anymore.

Because as Jiaohe and Saar fell into the hands of the Qin army, the "human-land conflict" of the Huns in Gushi further deteriorated.

This is especially Saar. The loss of Saar means that the Huns cannot go deep into the desert to attack the supply line of the Qin army for a long time, and they can only retreat within a few days.

As a result of its retreat, Wang Yu's [-] reinforcements arrived in Loulan smoothly, so shells, flocks, crossbows, etc. were further supplemented.

A third batch of reinforcements and supplies was on the way, and even a silk caravan came with the army.

At this time, the Qin army can be said to be rich and powerful. They brought silk from the Central Plains and exchanged a lot of cattle, sheep and horses from the Yuezhi.

In fact, it is not worthwhile to change from Yuezhi, and it is obviously more valuable to bring Loulan... Rare things are more expensive, and it takes [-] miles to cross the desert area from Yueshi to Loulan, and there is a Bearing the risk of being intercepted by the Huns, of course they had to sell at a high price in Loulan.

Loulan may not have so much financial resources, but there is no shortage of countries in the Western Regions. When merchants take silk to various countries, what they bring back are batches of cattle and sheep.

So there is almost no need to worry about the Qin army's supplies in the Western Regions.

On the other hand, the Xiongnu concentrated their forces in Gushi but lived like a year.

Xun Yun was looking forward to Qin Jun's attack every day, but he couldn't see Qin Jun's shadow...

Chapter 433 Lord Daomin

Xun Xun knew that waiting like this was not an option, and the result was to watch the Qin army getting stronger and stronger, while the Xiongnu had to withdraw their troops to the grassland again and again because of the lack of water and grass.

Under the ebb and flow, it won't be long before the Huns' strength in Gushi will be surpassed by the Qin army.

Therefore, there are only two paths before Xun Yun:

Either attack when there are more troops than the Qin army, or give up the Gushi.