After Aluka's explanation.

Muren also reacted.

To build a house, you must have people to live in it. Why build a house if there are no people to live in?

So no matter how many Han troops are here now, I'm afraid more Han troops will come after winter passes.

What the Central Plains dynasty valued most was rules.

Muren obviously wouldn't realize it, nor would he think of it.

Those houses were where the soldiers and civilians who once built the Great Wall lived.

Only part of the Great Wall is now inhabited by the defenders, and most of this part is close to the Great Wall.

Those a little further away are now used as warehouses.

And the people they saw repairing the house just now were actually arranged just now, just for a show.

They themselves don't know whether the imperial court will send more troops here.

Now, most of the people guarding this section of the Great Wall are soldiers from Yunzhong County. There are only 20,000 people here, and they are scattered along the Great Wall. There are only more than 3,000 people actually guarding here.

But even if there are only more than 3,000 people, relying on the advantages of the Great Wall, it is enough to defend it.

After all, the tall Great Wall is an insurmountable mountain for nomads.

Soon, the two of them arrived at the city gate tower. Several braziers were lit inside, and the temperature was much higher than outside. It even felt too hot when they came in on the first day of the new year.

The city gate tower is the general's daily office. It has the highest terrain and can best see the surrounding situation. It is also convenient for commanding operations.

At the same time, in order to prevent other situations from happening, the generals' offices are generally located in the second half of the city gate building, which is close to their own interior.

The deal was concluded quickly.

This is normal behavior for both parties.

A horse was given five stones of grain, ten stones of salt, and fifty bolts of cloth.

All of this was Aruka's argument, and his bargaining skills gave the general a headache. Muren was very happy to watch, and even called Aruka a genius.

More than a thousand cattle and sheep were exchanged for five thousand stones of grain, ten stones of salt, and fifty bolts of cloth.

If this price were obtained within the Han Kingdom, it would naturally be a huge loss.

But this is the border. The most valuable things on the grassland are cattle and sheep. According to the total number of the entire grassland, there can be millions of animals in one litter.

For the Han army, five thousand shi of grain was actually not much.

It's just that the salt makes people have a headache, but ten stone salt is not a lot at all, enough for them to eat for a long time.

But trading and everything else are incidental.

It was smoke and mirrors. During the bargaining process, Aluka still revealed a lot of information. This is the most important thing.

Finally, the two left the Great Wall.

The day of the transaction is set for tomorrow, and the place is under the city gate. The Huns put the cattle and sheep on the west side, and the Han people put grain, salt and cloth on the east side. After both sides put them away, they each sent people to bring them back and trade.

Finish.

Just after Aruka and the two left the Great Wall, the general exchanged opinions with the scout.

Then he quickly wrote a piece of information and sent someone to send it back to Luoyang as soon as possible.

For Han, this information is very important.

Let them directly understand some of the turbulence inside the grassland, which can temporarily relax the originally tense nerves.

The most direct thing is that the Han Dynasty no longer has to go through the winter to recruit troops and increase troops on the border.

Although the imperial court has long believed that war is impossible in winter.

In addition, the two parties also agreed on the next transaction time.

After the beginning of spring and before the beginning of summer.

If a war is launched, this time will be earlier.

…

Half a month later!

Luoyang!

Another urgent military message came.

Compared with last time, the soldiers who delivered the order this time looked even worse.

The messenger tied his entire body to the horse's back, and it seemed that he was hanging with only his breath left.

What's even worse is that this time the messengers couldn't even enter the city gate of Luoyang.

The stagecoach stopped a long way away, breathing heavily.

The imperial army guarding the city saw this scene and quickly sent people to investigate the news.

There were some bruises on his body, as if he had been thrown. His whole body was cold, and the cold air had already penetrated his clothes.

His mouth and nose were no longer breathing, and even if he felt his pulse, he could no longer detect any movement.

Only his slight body temperature told everyone that he was still alive not long ago.

The Imperial Guards quickly dragged him off his horse, rubbed him with his hands, and quickly carried him back to the city.

Some people also took over his duties, picked up the bamboo bag with five flags on their backs, and galloped towards the palace.

"Where are the soldiers who sent the order?" Seeing that it was the Imperial Army who sent the military information, Wang Buxu couldn't help but be stunned for a moment and asked.

"It won't work if I run outside Luoyang City. My whole body is cold, I have no pulse and I'm not breathing. I don't know if I can be saved..." the Forbidden Army said.

"I know..." Wang Buxian's face looked a little solemn.

It's not the war stage yet, it's just the preparation stage.

In just one month, two urgent military intelligence reports resulted in the loss of one soldier and the death of another.

If this reaches the stage of war, this kind of military situation will appear frequently.

Not only one a day, but one every three to five days is also normal.

Although the proportion is very small, based on one person every two days, there are only two to three hundred people in a year.

But this method was a bit difficult for Wang Buxu to accept.

If you can live, why should you pay the price with your life?

"Set up an additional military post, and deploy a few people sixty or one hundred miles away, specifically to convey emergency military information." Wang Buxu said first without opening the information.

This kind of movement requires the transmission of military information for thousands of miles, which is a bit unbearable even for a person driving on the highway, let alone riding a war horse.

The post stations of the Qin Dynasty were not yet perfected. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Wang Buxu began to gradually improve the post station system.

But this is a big project, and it is difficult for the current imperial court to establish a nationwide post station system in one go.

Therefore, the Han Dynasty only prioritized the establishment of a system of several important lines.

There is a post station every twenty miles. If information from other areas needs to be urgent, it is first sent to a nearby post station and then transmitted through the post station system.

Ordinary documents are transmitted between inns.

A postman will decide the speed of transportation based on the severity of the document. Unless it is urgent, he will be there and transported. Otherwise, the train will basically leave twice a day, at noon and evening.

But the border military post is different. What comes back from there is often important military information, and the fewer people handling it, the better, so there is a situation where one person can directly send it to the end.

That means changing horses but not people, and eating, drinking, and sleeping on the horse's back.

Every postman is a good horse rider.

"No, I will make arrangements soon!" Guan Ying nodded.

Wang Buxu opened the bamboo slip, took out the silk cloth inside, and read the contents on it.

Surprise, joy, pity.

For a moment, it was as if a spice box had been knocked over. There were all kinds of flavors, including sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty.

Wang Buxu handed the silk cloth to everyone.

Everyone looked at it one by one, and each one of them had indescribable feelings.

"Your Majesty is really as good as a divine divination..." Zhang Liang looked at Wang Buhung speechlessly.

"Yes, I didn't expect that Your Majesty could even take into account the change of ownership of the Huns." Xiao He also nodded.

Who could have thought of this?

It was mentioned above that some time ago, probably around the beginning of winter, the Kuantan clan killed his father and usurped the throne.

And Wang Buxu said that the Xiongnu might change hands around the time of winter.

The two are thousands of miles apart, so this is confusing and cannot be so accurate.

"What is this? Your Majesty also said that Qin will be destroyed in three years and reunified in five years. What's the result?" Sima Xin looked at these cabinet ministers lightly and said with contempt.
To be continued...