In June of the third year of Qin II.
Zhang Gou and his party have left the last post house and passed the line of Yangguan and Yumenguan in later generations. Further west is the first country in the Western Regions: Loulan located around Lop Nur.
The Qin army led by Wu Jian could only send them here, and then they entered the territory of other countries.
Unlike the Xiongnu, although the thirty-six kingdoms in the Western Regions are small, they are serious countries. The Xiongnu has not even formed a serious Chanyu system. At this time, Touman Chanyu was more like the leader of the Five Kings, lacking strong control over the tribes. It was not until the Han Dynasty that he learned from the models of the Central Plains countries and formed a state-like tribal group.
It is not appropriate for Da Qin to show too much aggression at the moment. After all, others don't know, but I understand that in addition to the thirty-six countries in the Western Region, there are many countries further west.
Moreover, it is not easy to conquer the thirty-six countries in the Western Region. The climate there is different from that of the Central Plains. Even if it is not full of Gobi desert like in later generations, it is not fertile land. If preparations are not made in advance, the Qin army may not be able to adapt.
Wu Jian saw that they continued to go west, so he quietly led his army back and did not arrive at the Chaoyi camp until early July.
Zhang Gou and his party were exhausted along the way, but fortunately they did not encounter any trouble.
"We didn't encounter any Huns along the way. It seems we are lucky."
The group of people couldn't help but feel lucky, thinking that they were lucky. They had no idea that 30,000 Great Qin cavalry were quietly following behind to protect their safety.
In July of the third year of Qin II.
Touman Chanyu encouraged Titomur, the leader of the East Hu, to launch a large-scale attack on Liaoxi, Shanggu, and Yunzhong areas. Although the frontier troops relied on the Great Wall to prevent them from going south, they were exhausted. Meng Tian even ran back and forth along the Great Wall to command and defend the enemy.
I ordered Wu Jian and Feng Ta to rush to Liaodong, and ordered Meng Tian to defend. When the time is right, the Qin cavalry will be sent straight to the north of Liaodong, out of the Great Wall and attack Donghu.
Compared with Beihu, Donghu is smaller, with a tribe of only 40,000 to 50,000 people.
Of course, pick the persimmons that are soft.
August of the third year of Qin II
The training of the supervisory army was finally completed. I personally went to the Chaoyi camp. After inspection, I sent the supervisory army to the Qin army in various places.
He also ordered Yuchi to return to Xianyang and start transforming Weishui Villa into the Qin Army Palace. As for the role of the Great Qin Military Mansion, I did not tell them that this matter could not be rushed. The supervisory army must play its role before I can proceed with my next plan.
Zhang Han still served as the captain of the guard army, but I sent him to Lingnan to monitor Zhao Tuo.
Since the last rebellion in Lingnan, Zhao Tuo's army has replaced one left general and three partial generals who died. However, there are still some problems with the local Qin army, and now they are quite constrained in fighting. After Zhang Han goes there, he can quickly put the supervisory army into effect.
Another purpose is that Zhang Han needs to understand the fighting methods that are different from the Xiongnu. The main threats that Da Qin faced were the Huns in the north and the barbarians in the south. Once Zhang Han had leadership experience in both, I was ready to let him serve as Taiwei.
Now that there is no Taiwei, all military reports are actually handled by the Guard Captain, but in the end they all have to be reported to me for approval again, which is really annoying.
In September of the third year of Qin II, I began to establish the five counties of Hexi.
Xianyang Palace, Xianyang Palace, court meeting.
"I intend to change the five posthouses in the Hexi Corridor into five counties. Although the Hexi Corridor has been divided into five areas according to the posthouses, there are still no fixed cities, county guards, etc. Originally, I wanted to wait until After Zhang Gou came back, he set up counties and counties again, but according to Zhang Gou's report, their speed was much slower than I expected."
Li Si bowed and spoke first: "I think it's okay. The Hexi Corridor has excellent pastures and luxuriant water and grass. Now the news of the surrender of the Northern Qiang clan has spread throughout the Qin Dynasty. Many merchants can't wait to trade with the Western Regions and want to do business with the Western Regions. The Northern Qiang clan has opened up trade. In addition, there are many surrendered Huns and Qiang people who want to live in the Hexi Corridor and resume their status as herdsmen."
I nodded, straightened my body, and said slowly: "I have already thought of the names of the five counties in Hexi."
"From east to west, one county is Wuwei. Our Great Qin's great victory over Gushui happened here, which means martial arts and military power, to show that our Great Qin's martial arts and military power reached Hexi;"
"One county is Qinchang. This is the place where our Great Qin originated from to the west. We take the meaning of the prosperity of Great Qin to show that our Great Qin never forgets its foundation;"
"The first county is Zhangye. It has the Qilian Mountains on its back in the south and is adjacent to the Yanzhi Mountains. It can reach Daqin and the Western Regions in the east and west, and reach the Xiongnu in the north. It is like embracing the grassland and taking the arm of Zhang State to connect the Western Regions;"
"One county is called Jiuquan. I heard that there is a golden spring under the city here, and the water is like wine, so it is called Jiuquan."
"One county is Dunhuang. Dun, Daye, Huang, Shengye. It is the eastern gateway of the Western Regions and an excellent springboard for Da Qin to lead to the Western Regions. We, Da Qin, will use it to open up the Western Regions."
When everyone heard this, they all agreed: "Your Majesty is wise."
I paused and frowned: "However, I am a little worried about how to build five cities as soon as possible. Although the posthouse is already quite large, it is still incomparable with real cities. If Jiuquan has a city, Hulda's ten thousand The cavalry is nothing to fear."
Li Si showed an imperceptible smile and stood up calmly.
"Your Majesty. As I just said, there are many surrendered Qiang and Huns who want to live in the Hexi Corridor. These people number about 20,000. Together with those captured and surrendered by the Hormu tribe, it is enough to Build a city. I think we can let these people go to the Hexi Corridor to build a city, and the court will provide them with food and accommodation."
"After the construction of the city is completed, those who participated in the construction of the city can be given a certain number of cattle, sheep and pastures by the court and become herders again."
I nodded and agreed: "What Prime Minister Li said makes sense, so I will follow what Prime Minister Li said. I will leave this matter to you, with Meng Hanyu's assistance."
Li Si said yes.
Two questions. First, what if these people are unwilling to build a city? Second, these people may not all sincerely surrender to the Qin Dynasty. What if they cooperate with the Xiongnu or Qiang people inside and outside to trigger a rebellion in the Hexi Corridor?
I thought about it, and Li Si must have thought about it too.
But he didn’t mention it, and neither did I.
Last time I rashly ordered Ren Xiao to succeed Zhao Tuo as the general, but Ren Xiao took the opportunity to rebel. Although people were sent to deal with the matter, few people knew what happened. As Mi Yi said, my decision was wrong, and I will not tell the world about it in a big way.
Now this matter naturally has the same risk. Li Si just mentioned that the surrendered people want to go to the Hexi Corridor. How could I not think of who to build the city?
It’s just that this proposal couldn’t come out of my mouth, so Li Si wisely did it for me. I glanced at Li Si. Who wouldn't like such a capable minister?
As I experienced more and more things, I discovered that being an emperor like Liu Che and Zhu Yuanzhang was often not a good thing.
Qian Gang is arbitrary, self-centered, and sounds mighty and domineering. But similarly, once a decision is made incorrectly, all the blame will be placed on the decision-maker. By then, no matter how many correct things the decision-maker has done, his faults will still be found, which will greatly reduce the prestige of the decision-maker.
Everyone knows that for some words, it matters who speaks them!
