Chapter 299 The road comes first

Author: Gongsun Wujiu

Chapter 299 The road comes first

After completing the summer sowing, Pan Hong immediately organized manpower to build the road from Ershi City to Wuji City.

After occupying a land, building roads has always been one of Zhu Xia's strengths.

If you want to effectively control an area, especially a newly occupied area, communication is the first priority.

In order to complete the road to Wuji City as soon as possible, in addition to the necessary security personnel, the rest of the people were invested in road construction.

On the Wuji City side, Liu Yi made the same choice as Pan Hong after officially garrisoning Shule.

While clearing away the bandit groups in the Shule area, he also mobilized manpower to build roads.

At this time, Ali and others who surrendered in the Battle of Yarkand became Liu Yi's effective assistants.

Ali and others were originally famous thieves in the Shule area, and they knew the thieves' strongholds in various places very well.

With Ali's help, Liu Yi wiped out all the famous bandit organizations in the entire Shule area in just three months.

After these days of clearing up the Shule area, the security has not only returned to the pre-war level.

It also brought a lot of human and financial resources to Shule.

In terms of manpower alone, nearly 1,500 bandits were captured.

All these bandits were demoted as slaves by Liu Yi and became the main force in building roads.

As for the various property seized, except for 30% that was handed over to the Protectorate, the rest belonged to Shule itself.

Don't underestimate the gains from suppressing bandits, Shule is located on an important transportation road.

It is an important node in the Silk Road trade. If it were not located on a plateau, even Yarkand would not be able to compare with it.

Many of the bandits in Shule are old bandits who have been fighting for several generations, and their accumulated wealth even exceeds that of many small city-states in the Western Regions.

Through the large-scale suppression of bandits, it can be said that Liu Yi made a lot of money at once.

However, Liu Yi did not put this wealth into his own pocket, but invested it all in the construction of Shule.

People around him saw this in their eyes and admired Liu Yi endlessly.

Especially the former Shule princes Aihe and Ali.

The two of them also saw Liu Yi's ambition and pursuit from Liu Yi's actions.

For both of them, following such a boss would ensure their futures.

"Ali, Aihe, yesterday Pan Gong sent a letter to build a road between Ershi City and Wuji City. What do you think?"

After Liu Yi received the letter from Pan Hong, he specially summoned the two of them.

Aihe thought for a while and said, "Ming Gong, this matter may not be easy... This may not be something Shule and Ershi can accomplish... It would be better to build the road from Wuji to Shule first..."

Liu Yi did not speak for the time being, but turned to Ali and asked, "Ali, what do you think?"

Ali said, "I don't know if the big man has any intention of marching westward?"

Liu Yi asked, "What's the difference?"

Ali said, "If the Han Dynasty has no intention of marching westward in a big way, Wu Ji will reach the second division's road, so he can naturally postpone the construction..."

Liu Yi heard this and continued to ask, "What if the Han Dynasty intends to march westward?"

Ali bowed and said, "If the great Han wants to march westward in a big way, then the officials think that they should cultivate this path at all costs..."

Liu Yi nodded with satisfaction and said, "The most important thing for an army expedition is the supply of food and grass... Without roads, it will be difficult to sustain an army expedition..."

Ali bowed and said, "What Ming Gong said is true. I once heard that the General of the Second Division was defeated in the logistics supply issue when he first conquered Dawan..."

Liu Yi sighed, "But it is like this. During the second expedition to Dawan, only a few hundred people died in the battle, but tens of thousands died due to cold and starvation..."

When Ai He heard this, he didn't know Liu Yi's plan, but he did not agree.

"What Ming Gong said is true, but Wuji and even the entire Shule are located on the plateau, and the mountain roads are difficult to travel... I am afraid that I have more than enough ambition but not enough strength..."

Liu Yi frowned, "What Marquis Aihe said is not unreasonable... but there are always more solutions than difficulties... A solution can always be found..."

After some discussion between the three, Liu Yi finally decided to build a road to advance westward from Wuji to the Second Division.

"Aihe, suspend the Chidao from Shule to Wensu, and concentrate all manpower on Wuji..."

"No" Aihe agreed.

Liu Yi nodded and turned to Ali.

"Ali, how many slaves can we capture now?"

After thinking about it in his mind, Ali said, "Most of the bandits known to the junior officials have been defeated, and there may not be many left...~"

Liu Yi frowned when he heard this, "Can I buy slaves?"

Ali hesitated and said, "Yes, but I'm afraid the water from far away won't be able to quench my thirst for nearness!"

Liu Yi couldn't help but frowned when he heard this.

At this time, Aihe said, "Ming Gong, a few days ago, Luntai Cai Gong sent a message that 700 households of immigrants will pass through Shule in the past few days... It is better to intercept a group..."

When Liu Yi heard this, he immediately said, "This is not possible. These are the men sent by the emperor to farm the fields of Ershi... You can't do it... Besides, Ershi City needs this group of manpower more than we do..."

Ali said, "Ming Gong, in the great battle at Chigu, the Han captured tens of thousands of Huns, why not write a letter asking for some prisoners of war!"

Liu Yisi thought, "This method should be feasible..."

…

While Liu Yi was worrying about manpower, Ma Han was also in trouble.

"What, are you saying that most of the horses in the racecourse have been robbed?"

Ma Han looked at Aniumuzhi with an angry look on his face.

"Ask him who stole the horses from the ranch?"

The translator talked with Aniumuzhi and said, "Ming Gong, it was King Yucheng who robbed the horses..."

Ma Han frowned when he heard this, "It's actually King Yucheng!"

The name Yu Cheng is naturally familiar to people of the Han Dynasty. This is the little king of the Dawan Kingdom whose strength is second only to the King of Dawan.

The direct reason why the Han conquered Dawan was that King Yucheng killed the Han envoys who came to exchange horses.

King Yucheng was also the only force in the Western Regions that truly defeated the Han army.

When Li Guangli conquered Dayuan for the second time, although Shangguan Jie captured Yucheng, Zhao Di even beheaded the former king of Yucheng.

But Yu Cheng's strength did not suffer much loss.

With the development of Silk Road trade, the strength of Yucheng has reached a higher level than before.

According to the information provided by the King of Dayuan, Yucheng now has nearly 10,000 troops, including more than 3,000 cavalry.

It is said that King Yucheng even had the ambition to compete for the position of King of Dawan.

With the current strength of Ershi City, although it is not afraid of Yu Cheng, it is not easy to seize food from the tiger's mouth.

Ma Han thought for a while and then said, "Let this person summon the surrounding herdsmen..."

After the translator conveyed this to Aniumuzhi, Aniumuzhi kissed Mahan's boots again and immediately began to summon the herdsmen on the ranch.

Perhaps because the herdsmen were afraid that the Han army would renege on their promise, it was not until seven days later that the herdsmen returned to the pasture one after another under the call of Aniumuzhi.

"Well done..."

Mahan happily patted Aniumuzhi on the shoulder and immediately appointed him as the ranch manager...
Chapter completed!