As a large number of horses stepped on the ground, billowing dust and smoke filled the entire field of vision. A rough count turned out to be thousands of people.
This surprised the general who was guarding the city. No wonder the beacon fire was lit directly. It turned out that so many Huns came to thresh the grass in the valley.
There was originally going to be a war between the Han and the Xiongnu in this time and space, but a heavy snowfall in Luoling delayed the arrival of the Xiongnu at their peak.
The Xiongnu who suffered huge losses began to lick their wounds. The Xiongnu royal court did not dare to go south to invade the Han Dynasty, so they took advantage of this opportunity when other tribes suffered heavy losses and began to annex those disobedient forces. Even North Korea, which had not been conquered before, entered. In the hands of the Huns.
At this time, the Han Dynasty gradually entered the prosperity of the Great Wall relying on the Great Wall, and starting from Lu Pheasant, the rulers of the Han Dynasty paid more attention to the development of land within the Great Wall.
Compared with the bitter cold places outside the Great Wall, we are more willing to develop the fertile soil on both sides of the Jiangdong and Yangtze Rivers, including the Jianghan Plain, etc., because the climate here is warm, and as long as it is developed, it can be cultivated.
The choice of strategic directions by both sides gave the Xiongnu and the Han court a very long period of peace.
After decades of painful marches, the Xiongnu recovered. Thanks to the good climate, flocks of cattle and sheep, no major natural disasters, and hundreds of thousands of string control men again.
This is really normal, because the grassland is there. Where there is grassland, there are cattle and sheep. With cattle and sheep, there is food. With food, you can feed the population.
In ancient times, there were not as deep technological barriers as there are in modern times.
The power of modern technological weapons has far exceeded that of manpower. Without decades of technological catch-up, no matter how many people there are, it will be useless.
For these classical empires, once the population recovers, their strength is restored by half. With sufficient war preparation resources, a country can directly evolve from being vulnerable to being invincible in the world within ten to twenty years.
The Han Dynasty did not directly control the Western Regions and cut off the Xiongnu's channels to obtain technology and armor from the Central Asian Channel. It was normal for it to take decades to recover.
This is why the heavy snow in Luoling delayed the arrival of the Xiongnu at its peak, rather than directly exterminating the Xiongnu.
However, the accumulation of national power is like sailing against the current. If you don't advance, you will retreat. The Xiongnu has just returned to the level of the past, and the Han Dynasty is no longer the same person it was back then.
After decades of recuperation, the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu are now in a true offensive and defensive relationship. The blood of the Han Dynasty is really too thick, but the Xiongnu is a little fragile in comparison.
As long as the Han Dynasty plans the rhythm of the war, even if it loses the battle, it can use non-stop war to defeat the Huns before it collapses.
Although Wei Qing came to the border as a sinner, he had raised horses before, which was recorded in the exile documents, so after he came to the border, he took over his previous job and continued to feed the few war horses in the city.
The soldiers guarding the city were not afraid of the Huns. If they were the guards of the Huns royal court, they might be a little more afraid, because the guards of the Huns royal court were wearing full body armor and were the best of the best, but these ordinary Huns , most of them don't have armor on them. In comparison, at least many people on the Han army have a leather armor or cloth armor, which has some defensive power.
Moreover, the Han army had better crossbows, which was the weakest point of the Huns compared to the Han army.
However, the Huns also knew this very well. They usually would not confront the Han army directly. Instead, they would go around the city and plunder the villages, and then run away after robbing. The horses of these Huns were very good, and they always With so many people and horses, it was too late to catch up. The Han army was very annoyed in the face of this kind of attack, and it can be said that it was exhausted.
Naturally, the Han army would not be timid when facing the Huns. They left enough defenders and horses to ride out of the city to fight the Huns.
Wei Qing still has some reputation for bravery in the army, and his riding skills are good, so he naturally went with him on the expedition.
When the Huns saw that the Han army was catching up, they turned around and were met with a hail of arrows. Naturally, these small tribes did not have any good bows and arrows, but after all, they were sent out to grab things, so they tried their best to bring some that could hurt them. Human weapons.
In particular, the Tetanus Arrow was a sure-kill move in this era and was extremely terrifying.
"Brothers, promotion and reward are just around the corner!"
With the Han army's perfect military merit incentive system, as well as the official system that has not yet been corrupted, and the political environment of the Qingming Dynasty, these soldiers did not need him to motivate them at all, and they rushed forward screaming.
Wei Qing took the lead. He was already burdened with guilt, and now he could atone for it by killing the enemy. He held the crossbow tightly in his hand, then drew the bow and nocked the arrow.
"Whoosh!"
With the sound of bows.
"ah!"
A Huns fell off his horse. Blood gurgled from his neck and instantly stained the ground red.
He actually hit the neck with one arrow. This ability of riding and shooting made everyone cheer. Wei Qing was heartened. One more shot, and he would be completely exempted from the guilt.
From now on, he will be a normal soldier, and he will be promoted based on his military exploits. This is what he dreams of.
…
Chang'an.
The generals who guarded the border in the Han Dynasty still had relatively large autonomy, but the results of the battle had to be sent to Chang'an afterwards, including the calculation of the military merits.
Jia Yi received the results of this battle. The Han army suffered 33 casualties and the Huns suffered 34 casualties. The casualties were basically one to one, which was similar to the previous battle.
"Wei Qing, he killed four people with his own hands. He is really a brave man. He should be exempted based on his military exploits."
When Jia Yi saw the military exploits attached to the document and the reward standards presented by the general, he didn't pay much attention. Military exploits like this can be seen everywhere. Jia Yi casually sketched his agreement, and then called the waiter, "Send this document to the general." Mansion, please have the general take a look at it, and if there are no problems, submit it to Your Majesty. Don’t make the soldiers who fought bloody battles wait any longer, and give out the rewards on time and in proportion.”
According to Luochen's restructuring in the past years, the important military affairs of the Han Dynasty must first go through the hands of the prime minister. Today's prime minister has great power and is to a certain extent the deputy emperor.
After all, even the prime minister's assistants are Jiuqing, and even the deputy censor, the doctor, is directly one of the three princes. You can imagine the nobility of the prime minister!
The prime minister basically only needs to discuss government affairs with the emperor. However, adhering to the idea of expanding the power of the prime minister and dividing civil and military affairs, the prime minister is only the first level for military and aircraft matters, and will be sent to the general for review later.
In military terms, the prime minister is somewhat like the deputy of the general, so the general is called the "military prime minister".
After review by the general, it is confirmed that the reward regulations are met and then handed over to the emperor. All rewards for mid-level officers and above and rewards for more than ten people must be reviewed by the emperor and bear the emperor's seal.
When the waiter took the document away, Jia Yi suddenly realized that since the beginning of the new year, it seemed that such things had happened more and more. He was still relatively sensitive to numbers, so he quickly asked someone to look for previous battle reports.
"Prime Minister, only four months of this year are as good as the whole year of last year. The Xiongnu's harassment of the Han people has indeed increased."
After the assistant officer finished the calculation, he quickly reported the news to Jia Yi. Jia Yi looked a little solemn when he heard this. It was not his illusion. The Huns were really ready to attack, but this sudden increase in attacks was abnormal.
Jia Yi pondered: "Where are the weather conditions reported by the border customs last year and this year? Get the truth."
The princes, princes, Chehous, county guards, and county magistrates who guard various counties have a constant task, which is to report abnormal weather in various places, such as no rain for a long time, or drought, heavy rain, heavy snow, etc. All must be reported to the court.
When the assistant officer fetched the sealed information, Jia Yi immediately began to rummage, and then discovered that in the past two years, the climate on the grasslands and on the border was not very good. The grain production on the Han side was decreasing, but because of the previous There was a bumper harvest, and there were enough grain stores everywhere, so I didn’t feel anything yet.
"Many tribes on the grassland encountered natural disasters, so the number of raids southward increased. The Xiongnu royal court had a strong foundation and occupied the best pastures, so they did not participate in this. But if the climate continues to deteriorate, Even if the amount of beef and sheep cheese is reduced by 10%, the entire Huns will definitely go crazy."
Jia Yi was horrified when he thought about this possible future. Jia Yi, who followed Luoxin, understood a truth, that is, if grain production is reduced by 10%, the result will not be that everyone else eats less, and eventually everyone will have enough to eat. , but it will develop to the point where one adult cannot afford to eat, and the others can eat normally!
This principle is universal on the grasslands because it is human nature and does not differ due to differences in regional culture.
When he thought of this, Jia Yi couldn't sit still for a while, and immediately said: "I am going to the palace to meet His Majesty to prepare the horse."
…
Jia Yi walked into the palace and saw a more gorgeous palace than the last time he came. He felt a little emotional that his majesty was really completely different from the late emperor. He had very complicated feelings about Liu Che and could not help but compare Liu Che and Liu Heng. , and then I felt more and more awkward.
Especially Jia Yi always felt that the emperor looked at him with a trace of inquiring expression, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.
"Prime Minister, Your Majesty calls you to enter the palace."
Not long after, the waiter came out and called Jia Yi in. Jia Yi cleared the complicated thoughts in his mind, straightened his robes, and followed the waiter into the inner hall.
As soon as he entered the inner hall, he saw not only the emperor Liu Che, but also a middle-aged scribe in Confucian clothes. Jia Yi thought for a moment that he was not a doctor of the Thirteen Classics.
He was a little curious. He couldn't come to the palace to meet the emperor alone. He couldn't be an unknown person. He didn't know which family he was a great scholar. Anyway, it wasn't Mengru's. Jia Yi himself was the boss of Mengru. It was impossible for a great scholar in his own faction. do not know.
(End of chapter)
