Daqin Engineering Corps

"Shan Yu, the supply of raw materials for gunpowder in the Qin State has suddenly been cut off, and we are no longer able to produce 'Zhen Tianlei'."

Mao Dun Shanyu couldn't help being shocked:

"This raw material was originally traded underground. Even if Qin Jun found out about breaking one or two places, how could he break it all at once?"

The subordinate replied:

"Chan Yu, it is said... those raw materials were sold to us by Qin Jun."

Don't believe in Mao Dun Shanyu:

"The 'Shocking Thunder' is so powerful, how can Qin Jun..."

As a result, before I finished speaking, I realized where the problem was.

If it wasn't for the Qin army to sell it to the Huns, how could they have cut off all the raw materials in one go?

Thinking of this, Mao Dun Shanyu shouted:

"not good!"

"The Qin army is coming to attack, hurry up and get ready to withdraw!"

Mao Dun Shanyu's guess was right, as soon as he left, Yang Duanhe escorted the main force of the Qin army to pass through the wolf's mouth and enter the grassland.

It's not that Mao Dun Shanyu is timid, but that the Huns cavalry have always used this tactic against the infantry-based Qin army. Surround and annihilate them.

But this time it didn't work very well.

The reason is that Yang Duan and this Qin army are just a cover, and the real main force is actually the cavalry army led by Shen Bing.

At this time, the cavalry in the Western Regions had been reduced to [-].

The Yuezhi cavalry was reduced to [-].

On the contrary, the Pu Lei army led by Jiang expanded to [-].

This may also be because the soldiers and civilians in the Western Regions will look at the situation and know that only three armies in the coalition army belong to the Qin army: Shenwu Army, Hanoi Army, and Pulei Army.

It is almost impossible to join the Shenwu Army and the Hanoi Army.

This is not to say that the Qin army does not allow outsiders to join, but that the language and habits are different, especially the Hanoi army is still infantry... No soldier in the Western Regions would like to give up their horses and become infantry.

So there is only one choice: Pu Leijun.

Although the name of the Pulei army is "Pulei", it is the name of a country in the Western Regions, and the cavalry is mainly Pulei cavalry and Yuezhi cavalry.

But everyone knows that this army is a straggler recruited by the Qin State from the Western Regions, and it is a veritable cavalry army controlled by the Qin Army.

Although the equipment is temporarily still based on the Huns herdsmen's habit of holding bows and arrows in leather armor, but the harness, supplies, knight system, and military system are all based on the Qin army.

So the soldiers and civilians of the Western Regions compared:

Joining the coalition army does not have so many benefits, and you will not get rewards for winning battles or taking land... The benefits of the coalition military system belong to the country, and the country can handle it by itself.

But of course, the soldiers of all countries who are in slavery and have not been reformed are likely to get no rewards or only very few rewards.

Instead, he joined the Pu Lei Army, regardless of language, habits, etc., and gained military merits and titles and fiefdoms.

The same is fighting, the same is licking blood on the edge of a knife, why do you have to sacrifice your life for others instead of yourself?

As a result, many people actually chose to join the Pu Lei Army because they wanted to be eliminated. This was true for the Western Regions Army, and it was also true for the Yuezhi Army.

Shen Bing just turned a blind eye and closed his eyes as if he didn't know.

This has only advantages and no disadvantages for Qin Jun.

In addition, with the addition of 8 Hanoi soldiers, the Qin Army has a total of [-] soldiers, driving the cattle and sheep collected from various countries in the Western Regions and marching into the depths of the grassland.

During the Han Dynasty, one of the reasons why Huo Qubing was able to hit repeatedly while other generals failed to find the main force of the Huns and finally returned without success was that the cavalry led by Huo Qubing was not looking for the main force of the Huns but to attack them. .

Yanran Mountain and Langjuxu Mountain, which run from east to west, lie in the middle of the grassland. The Xiongnu built a dragon city at the southern end of the narrow valley between the two mountains.

The ancient poem said "but let the dragon city fly, don't teach Huma to go to Yinshan Mountain", the dragon city is in this position.

The Huns were cavalry, and it was extremely difficult for the cavalry to cross the mountains.

Therefore, the geographical location of Dragon City located between the two mountains is extremely important.

Once the Han army captured Longcheng, the Xiongnu's range of activities would be much smaller and their mobility would be limited.

Huo Qubing must defend when attacking him, and he made surprise long-distance raids again and again, so how could he not make extraordinary achievements repeatedly.

The problem is that Huo Qubing's raids again and again are mostly sneak attacks with a small force, so the Xiongnu can recover their vitality again and again, and finally they can't afford it, so they have to stay away from Mobei.

Shen Bing's attack this time was to take down Dragon City at once and stay there for a long time.

To be precise, it is not a long-term garrison, but it is handed over to the Western Regions and the Yuezhi cavalry... They are also nomads. If they can get this large grassland suitable for grazing and at the same time conform to their living habits, how can they be unwilling? reason?

However, how could the Huns be willing to have their grasslands occupied by others!

What's more, there is only one strategic center of gravity, Dragon City.

So the Xiongnu, the Western Regions, and the Yuezhi will compete and hate each other in this area, so the Central Plains will have less trouble.

As for whether the Western Regions and the Yuezhi will develop into enemies of the Central Plains in the future...

Shen Bing believes that this does not depend on who is in the grassland, but on the Central Plains itself.

If the Central Plains is weak, no matter what ethnicity is in the grassland, it may become a threat to the Central Plains.

This is not something that Shen Bing can control and it is also beyond his ability.

No one can guarantee that the Central Plains will never be invaded by foreign enemies. It would be good to be able to hold on to the present decades.

From this point of view, it is obviously correct for Shen Bing to support the weaker Western Regions, and the Yuezhi, who was beaten by the Huns in history and wanted to flee to Central Asia, became the enemy.

Chapter 468 Dragon City

This is also the so-called "pull one faction to fight another faction" or "use barbarians to control barbarians".

The reason why Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty went to the Western Regions was also the same idea, but at that time because of the inconvenient transportation between the Central Plains and the Western Regions, and the Xiongnu blocked them... the mission itself would spend several months on the road, and be captured by the Huns for several years. , so the strategy failed to work.

Shen Bing's advantage is that he knew from the very beginning where the strengths and weaknesses of the Huns were, so he didn't need to try, search, and try again and again like the Han army before finally defeating the Huns.

As soon as the Qin army sent troops, Xunyun, the right sage king of the Xiongnu, noticed it immediately.

In fact, King Youxian made preparations very early.

Ever since the envoy of the Huns was attacked and killed in Qiuci, Xun Yun knew that something bad was going to happen.

Xun Xun said to the general:

"If Qiuci kills my envoy, he will be attached to the Qin army."

"If Qiuci is attached, all countries in the Western Regions will follow, and the Qin Army will stabilize its position in the Western Regions."

"Next, the Qin army will send troops to the grassland!"

Therefore, King Youxian immediately sent spies pretending to be herdsmen in the Western Regions to monitor the movements of the Qin army.

This is not difficult for the Xiongnu. The Western Regions and the Huns are nomadic peoples, and even the language along the border is similar. There is no household registration system in the Western Regions, so there is no need for disguise.

The news spread to King Youxian one after another, and King Youxian was secretly surprised.

Because King Youxian thought that if Shen Bing wanted to attack the grassland, he would prepare for more than ten months or even one or two years if he wanted to attack the grassland.

After all, it will take time to win over the countries of the Western Regions and stabilize the hearts of the people, it will take time to recruit troops, and it will take time to train the army to stockpile food and grass.

Who would have thought that Shen Bing would finish it in just two months.

After a while, I returned to the cavalry from all walks of life in the Western Regions to gather my aunt, and after a while, it seemed that I was going to send troops after training.

King Youxian still didn't believe it, and still rested in the area of ​​Yanran Mountain... Although King Youxian's troops lost little after the First World War in the Western Regions, the morale of the whole army suffered a serious blow.

Because as Xun Yun said before starting the war:

"If one hundred thousand soldiers can't fight against ten thousand Qin army, how can the Xiongnu be the opponent of Qin army?"

This Haikou continued to boast, but the result was that the battle was not only failed to win but also suffered a disastrous defeat, so the side effects followed:

Although the Xiongnu soldiers did not say it clearly, they secretly spread the words of Xunyun, "One hundred thousand against ten thousand Qin army is still invincible, how can the Qin army be the enemy?".

Fighting is such a weird thing sometimes.

If all the soldiers believe that this battle can be won, they will all move towards this goal and fight the enemy bravely, then they will really win.

Conversely, if all the soldiers have doubts about themselves and even worry that they will lose the war before they start fighting, they all want to be wise and protect themselves, so they will really lose.

At this time, King Youxian's [-] army is the latter.

In fact, King Youxian's army at this time was more than [-], and after returning to the grassland, he urgently recruited [-] and expanded it to [-]...

The Xiongnu will recruit troops much faster than the Central Plains.

The reason is that the Central Plains is a farming nation, most of the people can only farm, and after being recruited as soldiers, they have to be trained to be useful.

Although this is not entirely the case, because the people of the state of Qin usually serve shifts, but they only serve one month a year, and not all of this month is used for training, and sometimes it is used as hard labor.

Therefore, to go into battle, especially to become an elite, you have to hone back and forth for several years.

However, the Xiongnu nomads have been riding, shooting and hunting since they were young, and they are almost qualified soldiers when they are old enough to join the army.

This is the case with King Youxian's urgent conscription of [-] troops.

However, when the morale is so low and the whole army thinks that they cannot fight against the Qin army, all the veterans talk about is how powerful the Qin army is and how terrible it is to fight against it... It would be nice if the new recruits were not frightened when they came in, so what Be able to fight!

How could Xun Yun not know this.

So Xun Yun has been training the troops during this time, hoping to improve morale and prepare for a battle with the Qin army.

However, even Xun Yun himself has no confidence in his heart.

What should Qin Jun do if he comes to commit an offense?

It is said that the Qin army has brought together a hundred thousand troops this time... Even a ten thousand Qin army cannot defeat it, so how can a hundred thousand troops be able to defeat it?

If he loses again, how will he explain to Shan Yu?

These are the questions that Xun Yun thinks about the most.

However, Xun Xun still comforted himself:

"Qin Jun is not good at riding and fighting."

"The patchwork of cavalry from the Western Regions is nothing to worry about."

"This is the grassland. The Huns cavalry have never been defeated in the grassland. How can they be afraid of the Qin army?"

Xun Xun thought, at worst, when the Qin army came to invade, he would use the familiar terrain to roam around. At that time, the Qin army would not be able to catch up and fight, so why be afraid?

Thinking of it this way, Xun Xun felt calm.

A few days later, someone suddenly reported:

"Youxian King, something is wrong!"

"Qin Jun's attack is only a few days away from me..."

Youxian King sat up with a sound of "teng", and then was furious:

"The Qin army is only a few days away? Why did you report it at this time? Can't you just travel around the mountains and rivers on the road?"

In fact, it was King Youxian who wrongly blamed the spies.

If the spies traveled day and night with light clothes and someone to replace them along the way, it would not be a big problem for the news to travel [-] miles a day.

And the cavalry army mobilizes the army to supply supplies and cattle and sheep, so it is almost enough to travel a hundred miles a day.

However, Shen Bing dispatched troops uncharacteristically. He did not choose to travel during the day but at night. At the beginning, the spies only thought that the Qin Army only had daily training, so they didn't pay attention.

It wasn't until the next day that the Qin army had disappeared, and it didn't feel right. After catching up, I realized that the Qin army's army was heading straight for the grassland.

This slowed down for half a day.

After that, the Qin cavalry army was generally equipped with saddles, stirrups and horseshoes, and the marching speed increased from the original one hundred miles per day to one hundred and fifty miles per day.

Especially when marching all the way, they sent out cavalry to scout around, and if they encountered herdsmen along the way, they would not take them into custody and march with the troops.

So the Xiongnu spies disguised as herdsmen were imprisoned and unable to escape.

One after another Huns spies on the road were also taken into custody by Rangers without any preparation.

It was not until a few days later that a few spies hiding in the dark were missed, and then they rushed to report the news.