Shache City, the camp of the Han army.
Since the end of the Battle of Camel Ridge, Wu Qi captured this important Babylonian frontier town that Xiang Yu had failed to take with all his efforts, and opened the door to march into the Rest Empire.
It can either encroach on the land of Babylon to the west, or attack the cities of Bactria to the north, completely occupying the initiative in the war.
Although the battle of Camel Ridge was a complete victory, the Han army also paid the price of nearly 50,000 losses, and the weather was getting colder, so Wu Qi did not rush forward, but stationed troops in Shachecheng, let the wounded recuperate and recover, replenish grain and grass, and wait for the states to send new soldiers.
There are Xun Yu and Li Si who ruled Guizhou, as well as Shang Ying, who ruled Taizhou, and Wang Shouren, who ruled Jiaozhou, and the four capable officials who supplied grain and grass, supplied baggage, and recruited new soldiers, Wu Qi did not have to worry about the elongation of the battle line at all.
After a fierce war, the total population of the Kushan Empire dropped from 9.5 million to 7 million, but because nearly a million people from the Mauryan Kingdom in the eastern part of the Indian Peninsula were merged, the total population of the entire Kushan Continent was still around 8 million.
In order to avoid power imbalance, Liu Wei assigned the eastern part of the Kushan Empire to Taizhou, which was governed by Shang Ying, making the people of Taizhou more than 3 million.
The rest of the area was set up as Guizhou, with Xun Yu serving as the assassin.
In addition to Guizhou and Taizhou, which were newly incorporated into the territory, Jiaozhou, which was governed by Wang Shouren, also undertook the task of supplying grain and grass to Wu Qi's army and replenishing the supply of troops.
After the Taiping Rebellion, the extermination of the remnants of the Sun family, and the total annihilation of Meng Tian, after Wang Shouren's three-year governance, the vitality of Jiaozhou has recovered a lot, and many people who fled to Jingzhou and Yangzhou for refuge have returned to their hometowns, cultivated fertile land, and planted trees, so that the population under his rule has exceeded 2 million again.
In other words, Wu Qi was now able to completely eliminate the support of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the annexed countries alone were able to maintain a steady supply of materials and troops.
With a total population of more than 11 million, the combined power of the three states is still above the entire Resting Empire, which is naturally far from being able to compete with Bactria and Babylon, with a population of only 2 million.
Wu Qi and his generals were fully convinced that if there were no external forces to influence the situation, they could sweep away Bactria and Babylon within a year, and destroy the entire Anxiguan Empire within two years.
In order to consolidate the Han Empire's rule over the Kushan region, Xun Yu, Shang Ying, and Wang Shouren worked together to strengthen local linkages and introduce many policies to encourage immigration.
For example, if the people of the Kushan area move their families to Jiaozhou to settle down, they will receive rich rewards from the Yamen, such as cattle, farm tools, grain seeds, and daily necessities, and they will also enjoy the preferential policy of exempting cultivated land from taxation for ten years.
By the same token, if the Han Chinese in Jiaozhou were willing to migrate to settle in the Kushan region, they would receive the same generous rewards.
In addition to encouraging immigration, the governments of the three states also encouraged merchants to trade, and if goods were trafficked from Guizhou to Taizhou or Jiaozhou, they would enjoy tax reductions or even complete tax exemptions, and would be given priority to the protection of the yamen along the way.
In addition, the three states also encouraged the Kushan people to intermarry with the Han Chinese or other tribes in Taizhou, and issued considerable rewards according to the facts, and the offspring born in the future can also enjoy the preferential policy of exemption from labor and taxation for a certain number of years, and military service will also be taken care of.
In addition, the three major states have vigorously established free schools to allow children and even adults in the Kushan area to learn Chinese and Chinese characters, instill Han culture, and slowly assimilate the Kushan people ideologically.
Under the joint governance of the three powerful officials, the population flow of Guizhou, Taizhou and Jiaozhou was extremely active, merchants came and went actively, intermarriage of various ethnic groups was frequent, and the Chinese language was all the rage, which quickly diluted the concept of the death of the Kushan people, and unconsciously accepted the rule of the Han Dynasty.
It was precisely because of Xun Yu, Shang Ying, and Wang Shouren's super performance in internal affairs that Wu Qi poured out of the nest without any worries to declare war on the Rest Empire, and seized the opportunity to beat Xiang Yu and Alexander with a dull stick, and quickly gained the upper hand.
After a month's rest and recuperation, Xun Yu sent another 20,000 recruits, 500,000 stone grain, and 15,000 pieces of armor from Guizhou.
Shang Ying refused to lag behind, and sent people to send 18,000 recruits, 5,000 war horses, and 300,000 stone grain, which arrived in Shachecheng one after another, and continuously replenished them to Wu Qi's army.
Wang Shouren, who governed Jiaozhou, was relatively far away, and had not sent new soldiers and materials to the Western Expeditionary Army for a year and a half, and this time he sent two uncles, Xue Ji and Sun Yi, half a year ago, to lead 30,000 state soldiers to take more than 500 warships of different sizes, transporting 600,000 stone grain, 50,000 pairs of armor, 30,000 bows and crossbows, and 500,000 feather arrows from Rinan County into the sea, through the Strait of Malacca, from the Arabian Sea to the Persian Gulf, from the eastern Kushan Mingara landing, transported to the Wuqi camp.
After a month of recuperation, the strength of Wu Qi's army quickly exceeded 500,000 again, and the armor, weapons, and food were all replenished, piled up like a mountain, and the morale was high.
The camp outside the city of Shache is continuous, the flags are displayed, the swords and guns cover the sun, the armor is clear, and it is magnificent.
After the two uncles Xue Ji and Sun Yi handed over the materials to Kuai Yue, who was in charge of the materials, they came to the Shuai tent together to meet Wu Qi: "The two of us came to the front line on the order of the king's envoy, not only to transport grain and grass and baggage, but also to make meritorious contributions.
Wu Qi stroked his beard and thanked: "Hehe, the two uncles have traveled a long distance and wandered at sea for a few months, it is really hard for you, please stay in the military camp for the time being, rest for a while, and when you are waiting for people, you will definitely send someone to summon." ” Xue Ji and Sun Yi bowed and thanked each other, and happily led 30,000 Jiaozhou soldiers to camp outside Yache City.
Wu Qiming Er will continue to lead this army of soldiers and horses, and in his spare time, he personally took Huang Feihu, Jiang Song and others to instruct the soldiers in martial arts, teach formations, and boost morale.
In the early morning of this day, Wu Qi summoned all the civil and military forces under his command to gather in the commander's tent to discuss the next military plan, including Tian Dan, Fu Zhu, Kuai Yue and other strategists, Su Lie, Huang Feihu, Jiang Song and other military generals all attended, and the two sides were separated.
Wu Qi sat high on the handsome tiger skin chair, glanced around with his majestic gaze, and said solemnly: "Now that all the grain and grass baggage have arrived, and the soldiers are almost recuperating, it is time to continue to use the army."
Please express your views on whether the next step should be to continue to attack Babylon in the west or Bactria in the north."
Su Lie was the first to speak: "Great Xia is located directly north of Yache City, if our army attacks Babylon to the west, it is very likely that Xiang Yu will cut off the material supply route, so the last general thinks that we should go north with heavy troops, destroy Xiang Yu first, and then wave our army to the west to sweep Babylon." ” "What General Su said was extremely true," he stroked his beard and agreed with Su Lie's opinion, "Attack the enemy first and plan later, and only by ensuring that there are no worries can we attack the enemy with all our might."
From a geographical point of view, only by destroying Great Xia first can we ensure that the rear is foolproof. ” After listening to the analysis of Su Lie and Fu Zhu, Kuai Yue, Huang Feihu, Lu Xiangsheng, Zhang Han and other generals all unanimously agreed: "What General Su and Mr.
Fu said is extremely true, only by destroying Great Xia first can there be no worries about the Western Expedition, please give the order to attack Great Xia, I have been idle these days, and it is time to launch a war of annihilation against Great Xia." ” He Yuanqing stroked his chin and put forward a different opinion: "There are only two million people in Great Xia, less than 100,000 troops, and my 500,000 army is pouring out to attack whether there are some cows and chickens to cook, and the slaughtering knife is used to kill chickens?"
Yang Qilang also expressed support for He Yuanqing's opinion: "What General Yuanqing said is extremely true, as long as General Su is sent to lead half of the troops and horses to increase the number of generals, it is enough to destroy Great Xia, why should the governor personally go on the expedition" Wu Qi gestured with his fist: "The whole army is like a fist, which can quickly and forcefully destroy the enemy, if the division of troops is like attacking the enemy with only two fingers, the effect will be greatly reduced."
And Xiang Yu is brave and good at fighting, like the rebirth of an overlord, so it must not be underestimated, only 100,000 soldiers and horses are left to guard Shache City, and the governor will lead an army of 400,000 to the north to conquer Daxia and eradicate Xiang Yu as soon as possible."
"Newspaper" At this moment, the captain guarding the door hurriedly came to report, and knelt down on one knee in the center of the handsome tent: "Qiyu Dudu, there are four monks outside the door, and the head monk calls himself Master Xuanzang."
It is said that he was sent by His Majesty to Rome ten years ago to learn scriptures, and after twists and turns, he finally returned from Rome.
I heard that the Governor's army was stationed in Yarkand City, so I came to ask for an audience."
He Yuanqing was short-tempered, and without waiting for Wu Qi to speak, he rushed to shout: "Nonsense, my Han monk has traveled thousands of miles to Rome to learn scriptures, I see that nine times out of ten it is an assassin sent by Alexander or Xiang Yu, so I will immediately arrest and torture them to see what their conspiracy is."
Including Wu Qi and Su Lie, the people who were born relatively late in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu tent, and most of them didn't know that the Emperor of the Han Dynasty sent Xuanzang to travel west, and in the end, Lu Xiangsheng, who was born earlier, remembered this rumor and went out to tell the story.
"General He, slow down, when I left Jiangdong with General Xu Gongming and went south to crusade against Shanyue, I heard this rumor, Your Majesty assigned a master with the name Xuanzang to go to the West Heaven with three disciples to learn scriptures.
It's just that many years have passed, and the four masters and apprentices are gone, and they all thought that they had died on the way to the west, and everyone slowly forgot about it, but they didn't expect to appear in Shache City today, maybe it's really the four masters and apprentices."
Wu Qi frowned and ordered: "Oh, it turns out that there is really such a thing, just a few monks, even if it is an assassin, it is not to be afraid, bring them into the camp and ask." t1706231537: