Under Yelvsu's persuasion, Yelv Deguang gave up directly resisting the Sui Dynasty, and then directly ordered the expansion of troops, recruiting Qiang veterans and young men to join the army. In a short period of time, an army of 20,000 to 30,000 people was formed, and the number was still growing. .
At the same time, the Sinicization faction headed by He Lou Ziqian and Han Yanhui, and the Qiang Nvgan faction headed by Yelu Lage and Yelu Diela were also aggressively expanding their power.
In response to this, the Sui government not only did not respond at all, but also gave it the green light and encouraged the Qiang people under their rule to join their army and serve the country.
For a time, the entire Haizhou was occupied by Qiang forces, and they were all expanding their troops in a brazen manner.
Among the four major factions of the Qiang people, apart from the fleeing faction, among the other three factions, the dormant faction is the strongest.
Yelu Deguang was able to quickly unite the Hidden Sect, and in just a few days, he formed an army of two or three people, and the number continued to grow. This was something that neither the Qiang Nugan Sect nor the Sinicization Sect could compare with. of.
But after the army was formed, more and more troubles followed.
While Yelu Deguang was working hard, he secretly built and purchased a lot of weapons and equipment in preparation for his future restoration, but it was only enough to equip 30,000 people. No matter how many people there were, he would not be able to afford it.
However, due to the great pressure brought by the Qin Dynasty, Yelu Deguang prepared to recruit 40,000 troops. According to this momentum, it will be full soon, but the weapons and equipment of the extra 10,000 troops have not yet been obtained.
In addition to weapons and equipment, military pay is also a problem.
The army before the Qiang people did not pay military salaries. They only provided food to the soldiers, and they could take whatever they could get as their own.
But now that the Qiang people have introduced the Han system, it has become a matter of course for them to be soldiers and receive military pay. Naturally, they can no longer continue to use the old system.
In addition, the 60,000 to 70,000 Qiang soldiers who joined the Sui army received the same treatment as the Han soldiers, and Yelu Deguang would definitely give them the same treatment.
Nowadays, all countries adopt the currency system of Qin Dynasty, that is, one gold coin is exchanged for five silver coins, and one silver coin is exchanged for three hundred copper coins.
Among the countries, the military pay of Great Qin is the highest. The Qin army's military pay is one or two and a half qian of silver per month, while the rates of the Central Plains countries are between one and two and 1 and 2 and 5 yuan.
The Sui Kingdom was located in the barren land of Guanxi and could not afford such high military pay, only one tael of silver per month.
If Yelu Deguang could not give his soldiers the minimum monthly salary of one tael of silver per month, he would probably not get the support of the Qiang people, let alone the great cause of restoring the country.
That is to say, the inheritance left by Abaoji before his death was quite generous. In addition, Yelu Deguang had made money in various ways over the years and filled his own pockets. He had also saved a lot of wealth, otherwise he would not have been able to support him. So many troops.
But when I think about the Qin army, they raised more than 1.2 million troops.
In other words, Great Qin's annual military expenditure alone cost at least 22 million taels of silver, while the Sui Kingdom's annual military expenditure was only 2.52 million taels.
At the thought of this, Yelu Deguang couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, and even goosebumps appeared on his body.
Before the chaos broke out in the Han Dynasty, the combined annual tax revenue of the thirteen states was probably not as much as 20 million taels. And the Qin Dynasty had not yet occupied the Central Plains, and it had already surpassed the Han Dynasty with only half of the country.
This is too outrageous, the gap is really too big.
Yelu Deguang did not know the specific information about Da Qin, so the data he calculated was not accurate at all. He thought that Da Qin only had 1.2 million troops, but in fact it was 350,000 less, plus various other factors. With such expenditure, Great Qin's annual military expenditure alone reached 30 million taels.
If internal expenditures and expenditures on various projects are included, the total annual financial expenditure of Da Qin reaches 50 million taels, which is more than twice the total annual revenue of the Han Dynasty, and is also the total annual financial expenditure of the other nine countries. Double.
The Qin Dynasty obviously only occupies half of the country, but its fiscal revenue is several times that of the Han Dynasty, which has thirteen states. The reason is that the level of development of civilization is completely different.
Before the chaos broke out in the Han Dynasty, new technologies such as high-yield grain, looms, papermaking, and steelmaking that could greatly promote social productivity had not appeared.
But now the same acre of land can grow more food
The same female worker can produce more cloth in the same time.
Different civilizations develop differently, and social productivity is completely different.
Of course, the reason why Daqin's taxes are so high is not only due to internal factors such as the improvement of total social productivity promoted by technology and the exploration of internal governance, but also the opening up of sea trade to find customers to sell various commodities such as ordnance, and the colonization of winning states, etc. External factors also account for a very large proportion of Daqin's fiscal revenue.
It is precisely because of these two major sources of internal and external revenue that it can support Great Qin's huge financial expenditure of 50 million taels per year, and allow Great Qin to maintain an upward trend even during the war. This is far beyond the reach of all other countries. .
Yelu Deguang tried his best not to think about Da Qin, because the gap was really too big, and thinking too much would easily make him lose his fighting spirit.
Regarding the problem of insufficient weapons and equipment in the army, Yelu Deguang solved it within a few days. He directly sent troops to take over Yushu County, opened the Sui State's treasury, and used the Sui State's resources to expand his own army.
In response to this, the Sui State not only had no response at all, but also sent a canonization edict.
Yang Guang granted Yelv Deguang the title of Marquis of Liao, and the fiefdom was completely under his control in Yushu County. He directly recognized Yelu Deguang's independence from the law, and did not mind exposing his fierceness and weakness.
After Yelu Deguang, Yang Guang also conferred some titles on other Qiang forces, but their status was not as high as Yelu Deguang's. He also took the initiative to increase their weapons and food to support their military expansion.
Under the deliberate connivance and support of the Sui State, the Qiang forces, which took hundreds of years to be exterminated by the Han people, grew rapidly in a short period of time.
The Hidden Sect, headed by Yelu Deguang, formed an army of 40,000, the Sinicization Sect had 30,000 cadres, and the Qiang Nugan sect had 28,000.
The total strength of the three major Qiang factions has reached 100,000, and nearly half of them are veterans. Therefore, the overall quality of this Qiang army is very high, and with a little training, it will be able to exert its considerable capabilities. The combat effectiveness is naturally incomparable to that of the Qin Army, but it is much stronger than the Western Region Allied Forces.
It's not that Yelu Deguang has never thought about continuing to expand his army, but the Qiang people's foundation is too thin. His 40,000 army alone was established with the help of the Sui State. No matter how much more, he simply couldn't support it.
Yelu Deguang watched helplessly as the materials, money and food in the warehouse were rapidly decreasing at a speed visible to the naked eye every day. He felt distressed in his heart, and finally understood why the Qin army was so capable of fighting.
It was all spent with free money. If the army's combat effectiveness is not strong, it will not be worth the resources spent.
Just when Yelu Deguang was actively expanding and training his army and preparing to unite with the Sui Dynasty to fight against the Qin Dynasty, he received great news.
After receiving the summons from Yelu Deguang, the fleeing faction who had taken refuge in Yuan Meng immediately recalled a meeting to discuss whether to return.
The life of the fleeing faction after they took refuge in Yuanmeng was actually not easy. Just look at what happened to the Murong family after they surrendered. Murong Ke was the only one who almost died before he was truly accepted. How could it be possible for them to accept so many Qiang so easily? Where are the people.
Of course, although the fleeing faction headed by Yelu Shilu defected to Yuanmeng, they did not give up military power. At the same time, they refused to actively integrate into Yuanmeng. It was just a gesture of seeking protection, so naturally they were not accepted by Yuanmeng.
Just when Yuanmeng's tolerance for the fleeing faction reached its peak, Yelu Chucai stood up and took advantage of Tuo Lei's death and Yuanmeng's internal strife to lead the Qiang people to support and help Kublai Khan secure his throne, and became Kublai Khan's confidant and advisor allowed the escape group to avoid the fate of being completely embezzled by Yuan Meng.
Although Yelu Chucai has a high prestige among the Escapers and can mobilize the Qiang army at critical moments, he is still too young after all and belongs to the junior generation. The real leadership core of the Escapers is actually Yelu Shilu and Yelu Gelu. .
Therefore, after receiving the summons from Yelu Deguang, the fleeing faction headed by Yelu Shilu, Yelu Xiuge, Yelu Gelu, and Yelu Xiezhen, who were dissatisfied because they were not accepted by Yuan Meng, decided to return to their hometown to support Yelu. Deguang restored the country.
The people who had been accepted, headed by Yelu Chucai, decided to stay in Yuanmeng, and the reasons given were also very fatal.
It is not certain whether the restoration of the Qiang people can be accomplished, but with them in Yuanmeng, if Yelv Deguang fails, the Qiang people who fled will at least have a place of refuge.
Yelv Shilu and other older Qiang people could not refute this reason and could only agree that Yelu Chucai should stay in Yuanmeng.
After the Qiang people were exterminated, the Qiang people who escaped from the Qiang land fled into the desert through Han Sui's territory. After defecting to Yuanmeng, they were resettled in the Western Desert grassland, close to Hezhou and Liangzhou, but far away from the capital of Yuanmeng. Dragon City.
The number of the fugitive faction when they escaped from the Qiang land was not large, only 20,000 in total, but they were all elites, and they also included the two elites of the Qiang people, the Pishi Army and the Tielin Army.
After so many years of recuperation, the Qiang escape sect also took root in the Moxi grassland. It grew by annexing some small tribes and became the leader of the three major tribes in Moxi. It now has a population of 150,000 and an army of 40,000.
It is precisely because the fleeing faction is not weak that they can get involved in the civil war between Yuan and Meng and support Yelu Chucai all the way to the center of Yuan and Meng.
Now the Qiang fleeing faction has split into two factions: the return faction and the Yuanhua faction.
The return faction headed by Yelu Shilu decided to return to the Qiang people, but there was Liangzhou between Moxi and Haizhou, so it was impossible for them to bring ordinary people back.
Therefore, after some discussion, Yelv Shilu decided to return with only 30,000 troops to support Yelv De's restoration of the country.
The Yuanhua faction headed by Yelu Chucai led 100,000 tribesmen and 10,000 troops to stay on the grassland and continue to serve Yuanmeng.
When he learned that Yelv Shilu would return with an army of 30,000 men, Yelu Deguang was naturally overjoyed. He quickly summoned Yelu Shilu and asked him to return as soon as possible to avoid long nights and nightmares. After all, if Yuan Meng knew about it, Kublai Khan's stingy personality would be gone. It is definitely impossible to let Yelv Shilu come back.
Yelu Deguang actually thought too much. Not only would Kublai Khan not let people go, but he also wanted Yelu Shilu to return.
Dragon City.
Yelu Chucai did not feel at all that his informing behavior was a betrayal of his fellow tribesmen and tribesmen, because without Kublai Khan's nod, it would have been impossible for Yelv Shilu and others to go back, and it would even involve hundreds of thousands of families in the tribe. Small, so he had to be this snitch.
Looking at Kublai Khan who had his back turned to him, but with a calm and calm expression on his face, not at all angry about betrayal, Yelu Chucai couldn't help but scold Yelu Shilu and others for being disrespectful.
His Majesty the Yuan Emperor was already tolerant of the Qiang people, but they kept saying they were grateful, but Yelu De took their hearts away with just one letter. They simply didn't know what was good or bad.
Although Yelu Chucai also hoped that Yelu Deguang could return to the country, the person who enabled him and allowed his talents to be displayed was Kublai Khan. A soldier dies for a confidant, so in his heart Kublai Khan is the one worthy of his life. Loyal to the wise king.
"That's all, their hearts are no longer in Dayuan. They can keep their people, but they can't keep their hearts."
Kublai Khan waved his hand and said calmly: "Let them go if they want to leave."
When Yelu Chucai heard this, he was so moved that he almost shed tears. He knelt down and said, "Your Majesty has a heart that has never been seen before. I surrender to you."
When Kublai Khan heard this, he shook his head and laughed, and said no more.
He let Yelu Shilu and others leave, naturally not because he really didn't care about betrayal, but because he wanted to use these people to support the Sui State and create trouble for the Qin Dynasty to destroy the Sui Dynasty.
