At the end of May this year, with the advent of early summer, the Tibetan people's grain-plundering war this spring ended with a major defeat, with the loss of more than 200,000 people.
It was only August now, the first golden autumn, and not even three months had passed before the Tibetan people came to visit us again, seeking cooperation with the Chu State.
"Are you planning to attack Helong again this autumn?"
Baling, in the palace, Lu Yuan looked at the Tibetan envoy below. After hearing the other party's explanation of his purpose, he couldn't help but ask.
"Yes."
The Tibetan envoy nodded, and then said sincerely: "Thanks to the Chu State's help this spring, we grabbed a lot of food and went back. This summer, no one in each tribe died of starvation.
But now more than two months have passed, and the food snatched from Helong has been eaten.
This autumn, there will be food shortages in various ministries.
If we cannot store enough food, in the cold winter and early spring, which lasts for four to five months, our people will die of hunger and cold.
Therefore, taking advantage of this autumn, before the wind and snow fall, it is our last chance to go to Helong to grab a wave of food.
However, the Zhou people are strong, and it is still difficult for us, the Xueyuan family, to defeat the Zhou people.
Your Majesty and I are married, and Chu and Zhou have always had hatred. We have a common enemy.
Three months ago, Chu State had cooperation with us, and we were very happy to cooperate with each other.
Therefore, after deliberation among the various ministries to plunder grain this autumn, they wanted to invite the Chu State to send troops together to plunder the Zhou State. "
The messenger explained why.
Lu Yuan was silent for a moment after hearing this, and then asked: "How many troops do you plan to send this time?"
The messenger immediately replied: "Because there is enough food and grass in the summer and the warriors and horses are fat and strong, we can provide more troops and horses this time than before.
We, the one hundred and twenty-seven tribes of Snowfield, have united, and under the leadership of the four kings, we can produce 800,000 cavalry.
These are warriors on the snowy plains, unparalleled in horsemanship and shooting. This time they descend with great force, they will definitely frighten the people of Zhou Dynasty. "
The messenger finally added a little unsurely.
The so-called 800,000 riders sounds quite powerful, and it is really bluffing when people spread it.
But in fact, they are just 800,000 grassland herdsmen gathered temporarily, and their nature is like that of brave civilians.
If those grassland herdsmen faced off against those untrained civilians, they could indeed easily defeat them with the majestic momentum of their horseback charge, and follow them to pursue them.
But if you encounter elite soldiers who have been trained for a long time and have strong armor and sharp spears, then the slight advantage of riding horses will be completely useless.
The trained elite soldiers are courageous and not afraid of the so-called horseback charge.
Moreover, war horses are something that people are afraid of. When they encounter a group of infantry formations and see spears and spears standing in front of them, they will be afraid and avoid them.
Therefore, as long as the infantry are brave enough, they will not be intimidated by the charging momentum of the horses, they will not collapse, and they can keep their formation intact.
So the so-called cavalry is simply a joke.
In front of the infantry forming a square formation, as long as the cavalry dares to charge forward, they are risking their lives.
Often thousands of infantry formed a square formation, and tens of thousands or even 100,000 cavalry came, but they could not move.
If you try to force yourself, you will only get a bloody head.
Give a typical example.
During the Three Kingdoms period in Lu Yuan's previous life, Gongsun Zan of Youzhou selected three thousand men who were good at riding in northern Xinjiang and ordered them to ride white horses, which they called White Horse Yi Cong.
He leads them across the grassland and is invincible. When the barbarians hear this, their expressions change. He is a famous horseman in the world.
Then during the Battle of Jieqiao, Gongsun Zan personally led three thousand white horse followers to charge in front of the formation.
As a result, Yuan Shao's vanguard general Qu Yi led 800 soldiers to advance to the death camp. Armed with shields and armor, and powerful crossbows, they defeated the elite cavalry in the world and beheaded more than a thousand people.
In this battle, Gongsun Zan lost all his elite troops. After that, his power collapsed and was finally destroyed by Yuan Shao.
This is the most famous example of using foot to defeat cavalry during the Three Kingdoms period.
Further forward, Li Guangling of the Western Han Dynasty used 5,000 Danyang elite troops to fight against more than 80,000 Xiongnu cavalry. Although they were inevitably defeated and captured in the end, they also achieved a record of killing tens of thousands of enemies.
As for later generations, there are more examples of battles in which infantry defeated cavalry.
Even during the Taizong period of the Tang Dynasty, there was a nomadic tribe of the Tiele tribe who relied on horseback infantry tactics to maneuver on horseback. When it came time to fight, they would dismount and fight on foot, and then fight on foot against the nomadic cavalry.
In the end, relying on this move, Xue Yantuo, the leader of the Tiele tribe, unified Mobei and became a grassland khan with hundreds of thousands of troops.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, fierce men emerged in large numbers. We can often see records of using infantry to defeat cavalry, or even infantry charging against cavalry, defeating tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of cavalry.
It can be seen from this.
A well-trained elite soldier is a crushing threat to the cavalry.
In the face of such elite soldiers, the only advantage of cavalry is mobility.
And if there are elite infantry forces as well as elite cavalry, then those nomadic tribes will lose their only mobility advantage.
Facing the infantry and being defeated, even if they wanted to escape, they could not escape the well-trained cavalry.
Many theories about the invincibility of cavalry in later generations were advocated by Hou Jin after he entered the pass.
A little digression here.
In fact, when Hou Jin pacified the grasslands and unified the nine states, most of the so-called elite Eight Banners were mounted infantry. They relied on infantry to win, and they were especially good at firearms.
Ahem...back to the topic.
A complete force basically has well-organized infantry and cavalry. If the two are combined, there will be no shortcomings.
It just so happens.
The Zhou Kingdom in the north fits these two points exactly.
The Zhou Kingdom is close to the grasslands. Not only are there many horse farms in the country, but also a large number of horses can be obtained from the grasslands. There is no shortage of war horses at all.
In fact, the Zhou Kingdom maintains a cavalry force of more than 100,000 people all year round. They are all well-trained cavalry. In terms of riding and shooting skills, they are not inferior to those of grassland herdsmen.
Even in addition to mounted shooting, these cavalry are also better at melee charges, and their frontal combat effectiveness is far stronger than that of ordinary herdsmen.
With such elite cavalry, coupled with a large number of elite soldiers, how could the hungry herdsmen cavalry on the snowy fields be their opponents?
This is also the reason why the Xueyuan Fan people have been fighting against the Zhou Kingdom for so many years, but they have repeatedly suffered defeats on the battlefield and have never received any benefits.
Because in frontal combat, you can't defeat the Zhou people.
If you use cavalry to charge into the formation, you won't be able to charge into the opponent's formation.
Even the cavalry and archery skills and frontal cavalry charges could not defeat Zhou's elite cavalry.
Even his own war horse could not compare with the fine horses carefully raised by Zhou Guo, and it could not run as fast as others.
If you lose on the battlefield, you can't escape even if you want to.
All kinds of disadvantages add up, and the Tibetan people take the lead to win.
The only benefit the Tibetan people have gained in recent years is that in the past few months, the state of Chu stabbed the state of Zhou in the back, causing the Zhou people to be attacked from both sides and in disarray.
In the end, the Tibetan people found an opportunity, destroyed several cities, and took back a lot of food.
That's why.
The Xueyuan people who had eaten this sweet taste now knew the taste of the marrow, so they wanted to cooperate with the Chu State again and take the opportunity to gain more benefits.
Regarding this request, Lu Yuan thought for a while and did not refuse, saying: "Xueyuan and my country of Chu are an alliance of in-laws. Now that I have a request, I will not refuse it.
When the envoy goes back, he can tell the four kings and tribes that after you mobilize your troops this autumn, our great Chu will follow and respond from behind the Zhou people. "
Weakening the Zhou State, and absorbing nutrients in the process, and at the same time achieving the purpose of weakening the Tibetan people.
It was Lu Yuan's original national policy to use war to drag these two major forces in the northwest into the abyss, continue to bleed, and completely defeat them.
And the best way to realize this national policy is the land of Helong.
Every year, two wars break out between the Tibetan people and the Zhou Dynasty here.
If you want to fish in troubled waters and stir up trouble, there is nothing more suitable than these two wars.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. Your Majesty's kindness will never be forgotten by our tribes in the Snowy Plains. From now on, we are determined to ally with the Kingdom of Chu forever and will never abandon it."
When the Fan envoy heard Lu Yuan's promise, his face suddenly showed joy, and he quickly made many promises and guarantees.
But Lu Yuan just smiled at these.
The so-called oath and promise, if you say that in the era when Taoism was prosperous, there were gods above the head, and there was the so-called destiny of heaven in the dark, then it would naturally be quite credible.
But in this kind of world where holiness is not revealed, in the end of the Dharma.
The so-called oath naturally has little credibility and binding force.
I don’t know whether others believe it or not, but Lu Yuan doesn’t believe it anyway, because he has not seen any gods or heavenly laws restricting the execution of the oath.
Just looking at the envoy's excited expression, he thought for a while and then talked about a business: "The envoy said that there is a shortage of food in various parts of the snow field, and many people die of cold and hunger every year, which is a tragedy in the world.
It just so happens that our country, Chu, has had quite a bumper harvest in recent years and has accumulated a lot of food.
Even if this is the case, many people on the other side will have no food to eat, while our vast land of Chu is sparsely populated and few people are farming.
How about you and I two families, I provide food, you provide people, how about exchanging people for food? "
Lu Yuan thought of a plan he had thought of before, using food to trade with the Tibetan people for population.
Rather than letting a large number of people freeze to death and starve to death in vain, it is better to use these excess people who cannot feed themselves to exchange food with the Chu State.
In this way, people who would otherwise starve to death can find a way to survive.
Chu State can also have sufficient manpower to develop the place.
This is the best of both worlds.
Hearing this proposal, the envoy below's eyes lit up: "What the king said about exchanging people for food, how do you mean this?"
Seeing his heart move, Lu Yuan smiled and said, "Then..."
At that moment, he told the envoy his general idea.
After an initial consensus was reached, the minister was summoned and asked to discuss the specific details of the transaction with the envoy.
As for Lu Yuan, after seeing off the envoy, he began to contact Huang Xuan and asked him to prepare troops and horses to prepare for the Tibetan action this autumn.
However, the Zhou people suffered a big loss during the last raid on Helong. Now that they have recovered, they have already implemented a tight blockade on the Yangguan trail from Hanzhong out of Long.
The original Linguan Fortress was not only widened and reinforced, but also the garrison was increased to 50,000 soldiers and horses, and an innate master assistant was also assigned.
With such a tight defense, even if Huang Xuan led hundreds of thousands of soldiers from Hanzhong, it would be difficult to break through and capture it.
Therefore, it is impossible to enter Longxi via this route.
Even if it works, Chu will have to pay a huge price.
Although Lu Yuan didn't mind helping the Tibetan people and pulling in this so-called in-law.
But if the cost of attracting in-laws is heavy losses for oneself, then it is worth considering.
Therefore, the plan to send troops from Hanzhong to Longxi was rejected by Lu Yuan after the last time.
However, although the Yangguan Road cannot be walked, the route from Chu State to Long is not limited to this one.
A few years ago, when he opened up Hehe County, Lu Yuan not only wanted to solve the Tibetan troubles near Xichuan County, but also had another important purpose, which was to see a young man between Hehe County and Longxi County. There is a well-known trail connection.
This route, which Lu Yuan called a forest trail, had been widened and consolidated a lot after years of exploration and development.
Compared with the past, only a few or a dozen people could pass, and the road ahead was often cut off, requiring people to climb mountains and pass through dangerous cliffs.
At this time, after construction, there was already a small road through which tens of millions of troops could pass through the forest and reach Longxi.
Although there are only a few thousand or ten thousand soldiers and horses, it is simply insignificant compared to the hundreds of thousands of people fighting between Zhou and Fang people, and they cannot create any trouble at all.
But for Chu State.
Being able to invest tens of thousands of troops on the battlefield is enough to fish in troubled waters and reap some benefits.
At the very least, sending tens of thousands of soldiers and horses and choosing a good general to lead them would be enough to break through some weakly defended counties in Longxi and plunder the materials and people there.
What Lu Yuan wanted was not to conquer Zhou, nor to conquer Longxi, nor to really help the Tibetan people.
What he wanted had always been Zhou's material and population.
It is enough to achieve this purpose.
If a small partial army is sent into Longxi and a few thousand people can be captured, then the Chu State can build a new town.
If you can capture tens of thousands of people, you can build a new county.
If one hundred thousand people can be captured, a new government can be established.
If you add up little things like this, if you go a few more times and spend a few more years, maybe a county will be established.
Moreover, this forest trail leads to the Longxi area, which is relatively close to the front line and is a place where the forces of the Tibetan and Zhou people intersect.
The Chu State had just reached a consensus with the Tibetan people on the exchange of people for food. At this time, this trail could be used as a trade route to transport people and supplies.
Therefore, this matter was urgent, so Lu Yuan had to contact Huang Xuan and ask his clone to supervise the matter in person, so that he could feel at ease.
…
The relationship between the Tibetan people and the Chu State is being intensively prepared.
As for the Zhou State in the north, with the arrival of autumn, they began to mobilize as in previous years to prepare for another round of grain-plundering wars by the Tibetan people.
Both sides are preparing for war.
However, what is unexpected is that this autumn, Zhou's first war was not against the Tibetan people.
August 29, the 10th year of Shenwu.
The 400,000-strong army on Wei's southern border suddenly launched an undeclared war and stormed into Shuofang County of Zhou.
Because a large number of elite veterans had been transferred previously, more than half of Shuofang County's troops were filled with new recruits and lacked experience.
In addition, Wei State's attack was sudden, and Zhou State did not have much preparation. Within just ten days of the war, Shuofang County was lost to more than half of its counties, and the war situation was completely ruined.
Only then did the surrounding countries know that Wei had been preparing for this war for a long time.
Not only did they secretly gather the most elite soldiers and horses in the country, but they also specially mobilized eight innate masters, including a world-famous general in the second innate realm, in order to catch Zhou Kingdom off guard.
It had been ignored before, but this year saw Zhou's elite soldiers from the northern frontier being transferred away and replaced by a large number of new soldiers. Only then did they see the opportunity and launch an attack.
After several years of planning, once launched, the results were indeed gratifying.
Half of the entire Shuofang County fell, and the Zhou people's defense system in the north was beaten to pieces.
The 300,000 troops originally stationed in Northern Xinjiang lost more than 200,000, and all the new recruits recruited this year were lost.
Even under the siege of several innates from Wei State, one innate Zhuguo from Zhou State died on the battlefield and died in Shuofang.
Facing this sudden powerful enemy, there is also the crisis that the Wei people are about to break through the northern border and reach the pass.
The monarchs, ministers and ministers in Chang'an City suddenly panicked.
The Emperor of Zhou hurriedly issued an edict, asking the 150,000 northern border elites originally transferred to Longxi County to immediately retreat to Shuofang to resist the Wei people.
At the same time, the two counties of Henan and Nanyang were ordered to withdraw 50,000 troops each and return to the pass to assist the capital.
Then he recruited two Zhuguo from Helong County to serve as commanders of the army.
After dismantling from the east and making up for the west, we finally managed to gather an army of 250,000, and two Xiantian Zhuguo, who were able to go north to Shuofang to resist the Wei people.
Just like this, with the departure of 150,000 northern border elites and the two Zhuguo, Zhou's power in the Helong County was instantly empty.
There were only more than 300,000 soldiers and horses left, as well as three generals of the Zhu Kingdom.
After several years of war with the Tibetan people, this was the most empty time.
Faced with such a good opportunity, the Tibetan people would naturally not miss it.
Almost the moment after the elite troops from northern Xinjiang left, 800,000 Tibetan horsemen descended into the snowy fields and charged into the Helong County.
After losing a large number of soldiers and horses, Zhou State was still able to resist the mighty invasion of the Tibetan people, and even defeated it.
But when faced with the Snowfield Tibetan people who were not engaging in a frontal battlefield confrontation but were invading from all directions, it was difficult to send out enough troops to carry out encirclement, suppression and pursuit.
For a time, countless Tibetan people poured into the two counties of Helong. Every prefecture, county, town, township, and village passed by was filled with flames of war and killing, and smoke rose from the northwest.
In this chaos, Huang Xuan also selected his troops and horses, and still led the troops himself. He left the valley through the forest path and entered Longxi again.
With the outbreak of war in Shuofang and Helong, the Zhou Kingdom also had millions of powerful enemies invading. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in the country were exhausted and had no energy left to take care of others.
Even the Han River line in the south had completely lost its ability to deter Chu as a large number of soldiers and horses from Nanyang County were withdrawn back to the pass.
At this point, there is no longer any threat to the northern border of Chu State.
At this moment, Lu Yuan could finally relax and go all out to start the southern expedition and deal with the four-nation alliance headed by Ning Guo.
But before that, he had to meet Li Li first.
Let's see what Feishuang Dao Master wants to say to him before leaving.
