"Hahaha, Yuan Shu really lived up to his expectations!" Li Xiang couldn't help but laugh out loud at the news coming from Chang'an.
At this time, in front of Li Xiang, Wang Meng and Liu Bowen also showed a hint of joy.
In order to ensure the concealment of Li Mi's side, when it came to the situation there, Li Xiang only discussed it with Wang Meng and Liu Bowen, who already knew the truth. No matter what the matter was, the fewer people who knew it, the more likely it would be leaked.
The possibility will be smaller!
At this time, Li Xiang was not in Luoyang, but in Chang'an. The Guanzhong area was fertile and wild, with abundant reserves, and the repair of the Zhengguo Canal was also very effective.
Therefore, in the past few years, this place has been the focus of Li Xiang's development, and Li Xiang strives to turn this place into another large granary besides Hetao.
Now, the reason why Li Xiang came to Chang'an with a group of civil and military personnel is to mobilize food and troops here.
Going to Guanzhong to mobilize grain and grass, deploy troops and horses, a discerning person would know at a glance that Li Xiang was going to make the next move, and starting from Chang'an, the most likely target was Liu Che, who was located in the land of Bashu.
And he only needed to continuously mobilize so much food and grass if he set his target on Liu Che in Bashu.
On the one hand, given Bashu's geographical advantage, it would be a protracted war to conquer this place. The longer the war, the more grain and grass reserves would be needed.
On the other hand, it is inconvenient to transport grain due to the terrain of Bashu. If we really want to attack here, hundreds of thousands of civilians will have to be deployed to transport grain alone. To transport ten carts of grain and grass, seven carts will have to be consumed halfway.
That is to say, it is because of this reason that there is a saying that before the world is in chaos, Shu was in chaos, and that the world has been pacified before Shu was pacified.
For the princes located in the land of Bashu, the numerous dangers of mountains and rivers provide them with the safest environment, but it is much more difficult for them to fight out. The consumption of food and grass by the army alone is a terrifying figure!
Li Xiang's behavior seemed to start a war, which really made Liu Che take it seriously, and sent a series of generals to guard Chencang Road, Qishan Road and other important roads into Shu.
What Li Xiang did was not that he changed his target to the land of Bashu, but his target was still the land of Jingxiang.
In the past few years, Han Xinming attacked Li Tang and secretly attacked Yuyang, which made Li Xiang very jealous. Today, he is also preparing to follow suit. Although it is not convenient to send troops from Sizhou, after passing Wuguan Road in Guanzhong, there is Nanyang
.This time, Li Xiang decided to send troops to Jingxiang from Sizhou and Guanzhong.
"How long will it take for Su Dingfang's Qiang army to arrive?" Li Xiang asked Wang Meng. Wang Meng, the great steward, had always been keeping an eye on these trivial matters for him.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty pacified the Southern Barbarians in the past few years and gathered a hundred thousand barbarian troops. This made Li Xiang jealous. The physical fitness of the barbarians was much higher than that of the Han army. The strength of the Han army lay in its various
A kind of equipment. One hundred thousand barbarian troops, if used properly, can be one hundred thousand elite infantry.
Therefore, out of jealousy, Li Xiang targeted the Qiang people last year. There was only one soft persimmon around Li Xiang that he could pinch.
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to implement the strategy of "isolating the Qiang and Hu" and prevent the Xiongnu from reconnecting with the Qiang people, he established the four counties of Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zhangye and Wuwei.
However, over hundreds of years, with the continuous changes in Qiang policies, a large number of Qiang people moved inward to Liangzhou. Therefore, a large number of Qiang people also gathered here in Liangzhou.
At this time, most of the future Tibet, Qinghai and western Sichuan belonged to the various tribes of the ancient Qiang people. In most of Ningxia and northern Shaanxi, there were also Qiang people from the northwest living here.
In this year, Su Dingfang pacified the Qiang in Liangzhou, and continued to push southward, constantly eroding the territory of the Qiang people. Now Su Dingfang has advanced to the Qinghai Lake area, but now that the war is about to begin, this is temporary
Paused.
Fifty thousand Qiang troops were forcibly recruited by Li Xiang for this big battle. The integration of Han and Qiang did not happen overnight. The Eastern Han Dynasty did not do this well for two hundred years. Therefore, Li Xiang could only
Find ways to reduce the proportion of Qiang people in Liangzhou.
On the one hand, migrating Han people to Liangzhou, on the other hand, will consume the number of Qiang people. And if you want to consume the number of Qiang people, war is the best way.
The Qiang people are indeed famous mercenaries during the Three Kingdoms period. Under Li Xiang's coercion and inducement, he actually allowed him to arm 50,000 soldiers and horses. These 50,000 Qiang people were all grown on horseback.
The big one is a natural cavalryman.
Speaking of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the land of Bashu was definitely a hard nut for Li Xiang. Li Xiang owned the land of five states, and it only had a population of over 18 million until now, but the land of Yizhou plus the convenience of Nanman
There are more than 10 million people.
Among the five states of Li Xiang, Liangzhou, not to mention Liangzhou, does not have many people in the first place. It all depends on the migration of people from Yongsi Prefecture. Yongsi Prefecture, especially Sizhou, is a good place at the beginning, but it is a good place.
Fatty Dong caused a lot of trouble.
Although the population of Bingzhou was not large at the beginning, Li Xiang had been attracting refugees in the early days. Coupled with the gains during the Yellow Turban period, the population had grown tremendously. However, after occupying Hezhou, the population of Bingzhou increased greatly.
Due to large-scale relocation, the population of Bingzhou declined again.
As for Yizhou, during the peak period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yizhou was the largest state in the Eastern Han Dynasty, with 1.52 million households and a population of 7.24 million. Otherwise, Zhuge Liang would not have targeted this place during the "Longzhong Dui". Even Liu Yan
When entering Shu, Yizhou still had a population of about six million.
It can be said that Liu Che received a very good foundation. There were natural dangers of mountains and rivers, the land of Bashu was fertile enough to be used as a granary, and the population was sufficient. Coupled with the support of the system, he actually accumulated a population of tens of millions.
.
Fortunately, the emergence of high-yielding grains such as potatoes and Champa rice showed that various princes also attached great importance to the population under their command. The population that was harvested by the system was not wasted.
However, the system cannot always provide unlimited population. Otherwise, with the ancient productivity, it will one day be unable to support it. When Li Xiang occupies more than half of the states and counties, the population function will change.
It may be like now that the population is increasing for free every year for no reason.
Due to population considerations, Li Xiang decisively gave up Yizhou and attacked Jingxiang first. The population represents the war potential, and coupled with the terrain of Yizhou, if he attacks Bashu at this time, he must hit his head.
The blood can't be broken.
Moreover, when attacking Jingxiang, Liu Che would definitely send troops to rescue him. Wouldn't it be nice to lure him out and consume his troops?
