In the meeting hall of Prince Yan's Mansion, Zhao Bin looked at the military report sent back from Xiguan, and Lu Biao explained in detail the recent battle in Xiguan.
Several officials from Prince Yan's Palace below looked at Zhao Bin curiously. They didn't know the specific situation in the letter, but judging from Zhao Bin's expression, the situation should not be a big problem.
Zhao Bin has been thinking about how to completely eliminate the Jie tribe's 100,000-strong army. The Jie tribe are all cavalry. If they attack with pure infantry, they will definitely have a low chance of winning, and the enemy army has a certain advantage in numbers.
Zhao Bin briefly explained the situation to several people present.
After hearing this, Qin Fang said: "There is only one way to eat all these 100,000 troops, and that is to attack them from the front and back and trap them in the upper valley."
"Having said that, it's just that our troops are limited, and secondly, we don't have cavalry that can attack long distances and detour behind enemy lines." Xiao Chu added at the side.
"That's right. If there is a cavalry unit that can cross the mountains, bypass the enemy's rear, take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, and attack from both front and rear, this hundred thousand army can be wiped out forever."
Hearing this, Zhao Bin suddenly said: "We don't have it, but does anyone have it?"
Xiao Chu asked curiously: "Who has it?"
Qin Fang also looked puzzled. As far as he knew, there were no cavalry in Hebei Province, and there were even few cavalry in the whole of Daxia.
Cao Li seemed to understand what Zhao Bin said, so he whispered: "Could it be that the prince is talking about people from Xianbei?"
"Yes, they are located on the northwest border of Yanshan Mountain. In the past, the Sand Wolf tribe blocked the road leading to the grassland, but now the main force of the Sand Wolf tribe has been basically wiped out.
If the Xianbei people send an elite cavalry to bypass Yanshan Mountain and reach the entrance of the upper valley, it is completely possible. "Zhao Bin said excitedly.
This plan is definitely feasible and very effective, but it is difficult to say whether the Xianbei people will send troops.
Yancheng only has so many people, and if one dies, one will be missing. He is not willing to risk the lives of Yancheng's people and soldiers now.
If there was a sufficient price, he believed that the Xianbei people would definitely agree to send troops. Thinking of this, he spoke to several people.
"Think about it, everyone, what do the Xianbei people want most? What do they need most?"
"Does salt count?" Cao Li said. He was a civil servant, and the first thing that came to his mind was the people's daily needs.
"No, it should be iron or weapons. The Xianbei people's iron smelting technology is still very backward. They lack a large number of armors and weapons." Qin Fang said.
This is the thinking of a military commander, and on the grassland, the strength or weakness of military strength means the survival of the tribe.
Qin Fang was right. What the Xianbei people lacked most was battle armor. Many soldiers wore leather armor, so it was difficult to equip them with iron armor on a large scale.
"Then use the armor to send them troops!" Zhao Bin said firmly.
"But your lord, we don't have that many armors, and making private armors is considered treason."
Cao Li retorted without thinking.
Instead, Zhao Bin showed a weird smile, because he had no intention of actually giving it to the Xianbei people. Even if he created so many armors, he still wanted to arm his troops. How could there be so many armors for the Xianbei people? Just writing a bad check.
"Hey, is it something that will happen in the future? Maybe I won't have to give it to you in the future."
Qin Fang and Xiao Chu suddenly became interested. They looked at their prince and thought that they were trying to gain nothing.
Cao Li still said hesitantly: "Your Majesty, if this happens, our relationship with the Xianbei people is likely to deteriorate."
Zhao Bin did not deny Cao Li's concerns, but no one could tell how the situation would change in the future.
Now that he had the opportunity to greatly weaken the Jie people's vitality, he would not give up this opportunity no matter what.
Zhao Bin opened his mouth and said to Cao Li: "Master Cao is right, but the most important thing right now is to deal with these 100,000 Jie tribe cavalry. We will see what happens in the future depending on how the situation changes."
After deciding on the strategy, Zhao Bin asked Xiao Chu to bring a set of good armor and place it on the side of the meeting hall.
Originally, Zhao Bin had already produced black gunpowder, so it should not be a problem to eliminate the Jie tribe's army.
But so far, the sulfur he needs has not been obtained, making it difficult to continue the production of black powder.
Zhao Bin felt that Princess Leyang might have a grudge if she talked about armor and sending troops directly. It would be better to use brimstone as a primer and talk about sending troops later.
Thinking of this, Zhao Bin asked Cui'er beside him: "What is Princess Leyang doing?"
Cui'er said without thinking, "I'm just making perfume with Ling'er in the backyard."
"Invite Princess Leyang over and tell her that I have something to discuss with her." Zhao Bin said calmly.
Cui'er responded and walked towards the backyard. ,
At this time, Princess Leyang and Ling'er were working on their perfume business. When she saw Cui'er coming, she hurriedly asked Cui'er to come and help.
Cui'er just said with a smile: "Your Highness Princess, please come over and say that I have something important to discuss with you."
"Is it important? What is it?" Princess Leyang asked curiously.
Cui'er shook her head and said, "This slave doesn't know."
Putting down the things in her hands, Princess Leyang stood up and said, "Ling'er, you do this first. I, the princess, will go see what important matters there are with His Highness King Yan."
Ling'er said with a smile: "Go, go."
Princess Leyang followed Cui'er to the front hall. In the front hall, in addition to King Yan, the captain Qin Fang, the prefect Cao Li, the guard commander Xiao Chu and others were all there.
"Your Highness! I'm here. What do you want from me?" Princess Leyang walked into the meeting hall with a smile on her face.
When Zhao Bin saw Leyang coming in, he hurriedly said: "Princess, please sit down!"
Princess Leyang was not polite and sat down directly on a chair nearby.
"Your Highness Princess, I wonder if the sulfur I asked you to help find some time ago is known." Zhao Bin asked.
"Brimstone? I have already written a letter to Father Khan. I must be helping to find and raise it. Why is the prince in a hurry?"
Zhao Bin only told Leyang that he needed sulfur, but never told her about the gunpowder, so Leyang didn't know what the sulfur was used for, or whether Zhao Bin was in a hurry.
After all, the less people know about gunpowder, the better, especially now, especially when she is still a Xianbei woman.
"This is indeed a bit urgent. Please ask the princess to help me with some more questions."
"Well, in that case, I'll write a letter to my father. But after all, this sulfur production area is not in the area controlled by our Xianbei people. I can't say how much it can get."
This is not that Leyang is trying to shirk the matter, but it is indeed the case. The origin of sulfur is controlled by the Liao people, and the relationship between the Xianbei people and the Liao people is also subtle.
Although currently there is no large-scale war between the Liao and Xianbei people due to the strength of the Jie people, small-scale frictions often occur on the adjacent borders.
Zhao Bin also knew that there was no way around it. Although there was sulfur produced in Daxia, the quantity was sparse, and it was mainly concentrated in Sichuan and Sichuan.
In addition, sulfur can also be purified from pyrite, but pyrite is mainly located in the south, and this extraction method is relatively complicated, and it is impossible to purify a large amount of sulfur in a short time.
Another option is to purify the sulfur from coal mines, but relying on the current technology, the purified sulfur contains many impurities, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
The sulfur circulating in Daxia is firstly produced in Bashu, and secondly it flows in from the Western Regions.
Although the Xiongnu controlled the Hexi area, the Huns did not prevent trade. They would gain certain benefits from trade. Of course, the goods traded were restricted.
Zhao Bin promised that as long as Princess Leyang could help him get sulfur, he would definitely provide huge benefits to the Xianbei people.
Then while talking, Zhao Bin turned the conversation to the war in Xiguan, and revealed the current situation in Xiguan intentionally or unintentionally.
Zhao Bin slowly walked to the armor on the side with his back to Princess Leyang.
He said with some lamentation: "Hey! It would be great if I had a powerful cavalry. Then I could lead the cavalry around Yanshan Mountain, trap these 100,000 Jie soldiers in the upper valley, and annihilate them in one fell swoop."
Princess Leyang blinked, looked at Zhao Bin's back and said, "My lord, you have forgotten, we Xianbei people have cavalry, I can lead the Xianbei cavalry to intercept Shanggu."
As soon as these words came out, several people in the room suddenly felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere. Zhao Bin's hand that was originally touching the armor stopped in mid-air and remained motionless.
Qin Fang, Cao Li, Xiao Chu and others looked at Princess Leyang in disbelief.
"What's wrong?" Princess Leyang asked curiously.
Zhao Bin was speechless for a moment and didn't know how to answer the question.
Originally, he had prepared a lot of rhetoric to seduce the Xianbei princess in front of him, but when she came up and directly agreed to send troops, this was really unexpected.
Cao Li looked at Princess Leyang in disbelief and asked, "Princess, are you serious about what you said and you are not joking?"
Princess Leyang looked at Cao Li as if she were a fool and said, "Of course I take what I say seriously. Who are you kidding me? I'm here to help you fight against the Jie people."
"this......."
Cao Li was speechless for a moment, and the other people were also staring at each other, thinking that you were right, he didn't even mention any conditions, he just brought people over to help, while some of his elders were still here wondering what to do. Let people send troops.
After reacting, Zhao Bin hurriedly shouted, "Ah hahaha, what the princess said is, Mr. Cao, you are really confused."
"Um, it's because Wei Chen is confused, because Wei Chen is confused!" Cao Li hurriedly said.
Upon seeing this, Qin Fang said: "Your Highness, the Jie tribe has an army of no less than 100,000 people. If Your Highness, the Princess, still leads 10,000 cavalry, it may not be enough."
"I know that 10,000 is not enough. We can send out 30,000 cavalry at most. The rest will be solved by yourselves. After all, I can't bring all the Xianbei soldiers, and my father will not agree to it." Leyang The princess answered directly.
Qin Fang thought for a moment and then looked at Zhao Bin and said, "Your Majesty, I think thirty thousand cavalry should be about the same. The Xiguan garrison has more than forty thousand, plus the princess's thirty thousand cavalry, the total is more than seventy thousand."
Zhao Bin looked at Princess Leyang and said, "In how many days does the princess expect to arrive at the entrance of the upper valley?"
Princess Leyang thought for a while and replied: "About six or seven days."
Zhao Bin bowed deeply to Princess Leyang and said, "On behalf of the people of Yancheng, Zhao Bin would like to thank the princess for your help."
Princess Leyang stood up from her chair and came to Zhao Bin. She looked into Zhao Bin's eyes resolutely and said, "Your Highness, King Yan, I have one more condition."
Zhao Bin was stunned for a moment, then said: "Princess, please speak."
"In case, I mean just in case one day, my Xianbei tribe encounters a catastrophic disaster, I hope that the prince can also accept my people."
At this moment, Leyang seemed to Zhao Bin to be no longer the princess who was like a curious baby. She had a smart and kind heart.
She was very aware of the dilemma faced by her tribe. She realized that sooner or later, the Xianbei tribe living in the cracks would die.
Zhao Bin nodded heavily and said, "Well, I promise you that if that day comes, I will accept your people as my own people."
Hearing Zhao Bin's promise, Princess Leyang's face burst into a bright smile.
The two sides then agreed to launch a siege on the Jie tribe army in Shanggu in eight days. After that, Zhao Bin asked Xiao Chu to lead twenty escort brothers to escort Princess Leyang out of the city.
