"Hahaha, Yuan Shu really lived up to his expectations!" Li Xiang couldn't help but laugh out loud at the news coming from Chang'an.
At this time, in front of Li Xiang, Wang Meng and Liu Bowen also showed a hint of joy.
In order to ensure the concealment of Li Mi's side, when it came to the situation there, Li Xiang only discussed it with Wang Meng and Liu Bowen, who already knew the truth. No matter what it is, the fewer people know about it, the less likely it will be leaked!
At this time, Li Xiang was not in Luoyang, but in Chang'an. The Guanzhong area has thousands of miles of fertile land and abundant reserves, and the repair of the Zhengguo Canal has also been very effective.
Therefore, in the past few years, this has been the focus of Li Xiang's development, and Li Xiang strives to turn this place into another large granary besides Hetao.
Now, the reason why Li Xiang came to Chang'an with a group of civil and military personnel was to mobilize food and troops here.
Mobilizing grain and grass and deploying troops and horses to Guanzhong, anyone with a discerning eye would know at a glance that Li Xiang was going to make the next move. Starting from Chang'an, the most likely target was Liu Che, who was located in the land of Bashu.
And he only needs to continuously mobilize so much food and grass if he sets his target on Liu Che in Bashu.
On the one hand, given Bashu's geographical advantage, it would be a protracted war to conquer this place. The longer the war, the more grain and grass reserves would be needed.
On the other hand, the terrain of Bashu is inconvenient to transport grain. If we really want to attack here, hundreds of thousands of civilians will have to be deployed to transport grain. Seven of the ten carts of grain and grass will be consumed halfway.
It is because of this reason that there is a saying that before the world is in chaos, Shu will be in chaos, and the world is in peace before Shu is in peace.
For the princes located in Bashu, the dangers of mountains and rivers provide them with the safest environment, but it is much more difficult for them to fight out. Just the consumption of food and fodder by the army is a terrifying figure!
Li Xiang's behavior seemed to start a war, which really made Liu Che take it seriously, and sent a series of generals to guard Chencang Road, Qishan Road and other important roads into Shu.
What Li Xiang did was not that he changed his target to the land of Bashu, but his target was still the land of Jingxiang.
In the past few years, Han Xin's method of attacking Li Tang openly and secretly attacking Yuyang made Li Xiang very jealous. Today, he is ready to follow suit. Although it is not convenient to send troops from Sizhou, Nanyang is after passing Wuguan Road from Guanzhong. This time, Li Xiang decided to send troops to Jingxiang from Sizhou and Guanzhong.
"How long will it take for Su Dingfang's Qiang army to arrive?" Li Xiang asked Wang Meng. Wang Meng, the great butler, had always kept an eye on these trivial matters for him.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty pacified the Southern Barbarians in the past few years and gathered 100,000 barbarian troops. This made Li Xiang jealous. The physical fitness of the barbarians was much higher than that of the Han army. The strength of the Han army lay in its various kind of equipment. One hundred thousand barbarian troops, if used properly, can be one hundred thousand elite infantry.
Therefore, out of jealousy, Li Xiang targeted the Qiang people last year. Around Li Xiang, this is the only soft persimmon he can pinch.
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to implement the strategy of "isolating the Qiang and Hu" and prevent the Xiongnu from reconnecting with the Qiang, he established the four counties of Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zhangye and Wuwei.
However, over hundreds of years, with the continuous changes in Qiang policies, a large number of Qiang people moved inward to Liangzhou. Therefore, a large number of Qiang people also gathered here in Liangzhou.
At this time, most of the future Tibet, Qinghai and western Sichuan belonged to the various tribes of the ancient Qiang people. In most of Ningxia and northern Shaanxi, there are also Qiang people from the northwest living here.
In this year, Su Dingfang pacified the Qiang in Liangzhou, and continued to push southward, constantly eroding the territory of the Qiang people. Now Su Dingfang has advanced to the Qinghai Lake area, but now that the war is about to begin, he has temporarily paused.
Fifty thousand Qiang troops were forcibly recruited by Li Xiang for this big battle. The integration of Han and Qiang did not happen overnight. The Eastern Han Dynasty failed to do this for two hundred years. Therefore, Li Xiang could only find ways to reduce the proportion of Qiang people in Liangzhou.
On the one hand, the migration of Han people to Liangzhou, on the other hand, depleted the number of Qiang people. And if you want to consume the number of Qiang people, war is the best way.
The Qiang people are indeed famous mercenaries during the Three Kingdoms period. Under Li Xiang's coercion and inducement, they actually let him arm 50,000 troops. These 50,000 Qiang people all grew up on horseback and were born cavalrymen.
Speaking of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the land of Bashu was definitely a hard nut for Li Xiang. Li Xiang owns five states and only has a population of over 18 million, but Yizhou and the Nanman alone have a population of over 10 million.
Among the five states of Li Xiang, Liangzhou, not to mention Liangzhou, does not have many people in the first place. It all depends on the migration of people from Yongsi two states. Yongsi and Sizhou, especially Sizhou, were a good place at first, but they were ruined by Fatty Dong.
Although the population of Bingzhou was not large at the beginning, Li Xiang had been attracting refugees in the early days. Coupled with the gains from the Yellow Turban period, the population had grown tremendously. However, after occupying Hezhou and large-scale migration, the population of Bingzhou declined again.
As for Yizhou, during the peak period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yizhou was the largest state in the Eastern Han Dynasty, with 1.52 million households and a population of 7.24 million. Otherwise, Zhuge Liang would not have focused on this place during the "Longzhong Dui". Even when Liu Yan entered Shu, Yizhou still had a population of about six million.
It can be said that Liu Che has a great foundation. There are natural dangers of mountains and rivers, the land of Bashu is fertile enough to be used as a granary, and the population is sufficient. Coupled with the support of the system, he has actually accumulated a population of tens of millions. .
Fortunately, the emergence of high-yielding grains such as potatoes and Champa rice showed that various princes also attached great importance to their populations. The population that was sorted out by the system was not wasted.
However, the system cannot always provide unlimited population, otherwise, with the ancient productivity, one day it will reach the point where it cannot support it. When Li Xiang occupies more than half of the states and counties, the population function will change, and it will be impossible to increase the population for free every year for no reason like now.
Out of population considerations, Li Xiang decisively abandoned Yizhou and attacked Jingxiang first. The population represents the potential for war. Coupled with the terrain of Yizhou, if we attack Bashu at this time, we will definitely hit our head and bleed.
Moreover, if Liu Che is to attack Jingxiang, he will definitely send troops to rescue him. Wouldn't it be nice to lure him out and consume his troops?
