Go further north and enter the boundary of Taiyuan County.
Shen Bing stayed here intentionally for a while.
The reason for staying here is not for anything else... Taiyuan County is also the modern Taiyuan City, the capital of Shanxi Province.
When you think of Shanxi, you will definitely think of the coal here.
Shanxi not only has coal, but also has a large amount of medium-thick seam coal with complete coal types and excellent coal quality. The shallow burial depth is very suitable for open-pit mining.
Because there is a lot of coal in Shanxi, and people gradually discovered that it can be burned in life, they have begun to use coal, such as making fires for cooking.
Shen Bing stopped in Taiyuan just to inquire about the coal situation.
But of course Shen Bing did not inquire in person, but sent cavalry to inquire everywhere.
It only took an hour to get the results.
Wang Ben came into the tent and reported:
"General, we found a family in the east of the city and found that they used charcoal to make fires."
"It's just that they call it nirvana."
Shen Bing said "Oh". The secret passage turned out to be called Nirvana, and the name was quite appropriate. "Nirvana" means dyed black, and Nirvana is also a black stone.
Shen Bing asked again:
"Have you ever asked where the Nirvana Stone is?"
Wang Ben replied:
"Jinshan and Pimen Mountains are inexhaustible."
As he spoke, Wang Ben pointed out the locations of these two mountains on the map. Shen Bing nodded without saying anything, and then ordered the troops to continue heading north.
On the way, Fusu asked a little strangely:
"Why did the general inquire about the Nirvana Stone on the way? What is the magical use of this thing?"
Shen Bing replied:
"Master, do you know what's my first priority when I go to the Northland?"
Fusu thought for a while and replied:
"It's natural to resist the Huns."
"But with the ability of a general, are you still afraid of the Huns?"
Shen Bing shook his head and replied:
"This trip to the Xiongnu may be different from the past. Young Master must not underestimate the enemy."
Fusu Qi said:
"Why did the general say this?"
Shen Bing replied:
"I asked Wang Bai and Lei Hui a few days ago. The news from the North is that it was extremely cold in the North last year."
“Countless Xiongnu cattle and sheep froze to death and suffered frostbite.”
"In this case..."
Fusu said "Oh":
"In this case, the Xiongnu will go south to plunder grain and grass for supplies?"
Shen Bing nodded and said:
"Exactly, especially if the news of Li Mu's death reaches the Xiongnu, and Zhao Wangjia abandons the North and moves to Dai..."
Fusu also nodded cautiously after hearing this.
Among the seven countries in the Central Plains, the only one who can truly defeat the Xiongnu is Li Mu. But now that Li Mu is dead, the Xiongnu are so hungry that there are stars in their eyes, and there is no one in the north. How long will it take if we don't take action now?
But Fusu changed his mind and asked again:
"But what does this have to do with Nirvana?"
Shen Bing only answered two words:
"Iron smelting."
Fusu looked confused.
Although he knows that smelting iron requires fuel and he knows that nirvana can be burned, why does smelting iron require nirvana? Not charcoal?
This is one of the reasons why although coal exists in this era, it has not been taken seriously.
Everyone thought like Fusu and were using charcoal to make iron, so a large amount of coal was discovered, but only the people mined it for cooking and heating.
Another reason is that some people tried to use coal to smelt iron, but found that using coal to smelt iron would produce more impurities and reduce the quality of the iron, so it was abandoned.
This situation did not change until hundreds of years later.
But obviously, Shen Bing will not wait until then.
Continuing north along the Yellow River, we finally arrived in Beidi after more than ten days.
There are actually three plains in the Hetao area:
One piece is in the middle of the word "ji" in the Yellow River, one is at the first turning point, and the other is at the second turning point.
These three areas are called "Xitao", "Houtao" and "Qiantao" respectively.
Shen Bing's army was stationed at "Huntao" and "Qiantao" to stop the Huns from the north and south.
Among them, the main area is the "Qiantao" area, because "Qiantao" is directly connected to Yanmen County (south of today's Youyu County, Shanxi Province) and is the only place where the Xiongnu invaded the Central Plains.
To the west of "Huntao" is the Hexi Corridor. Through the Hexi Corridor is the Western Region unknown to the Central Plains.
Therefore, it is sometimes hard to tell what happened in ancient times. In fact, the Central Plains and the Western Regions have always had some kind of connection. For example, merchants or refugees communicated between the Central Plains and the Western Regions.
However, this kind of communication was very rare and limited to civilians. In addition, the roads were difficult to travel and blocked by the Xiongnu. Therefore, the countries in the Central Plains did not even know that the Western Regions existed.
The person who came to greet him was a military commander named Jiā.
Jia is a wind instrument popular in the northern part of the Great Wall and the Western Regions. The father of this Jia was a musician. He was named because he hoped that he would continue his legacy. Who would have thought that he would become an officer of the Qin Army.
Jia is Wang Jian's old tribe. The more than 3,000 Qin troops he led were left behind when Wang Jian was ordered to dredge the Yellow River, so of course he knew Shen Bing's name.
After seeing Shen Bing, he hurriedly led a group of people to greet him. After seeing Shen Bing, he said with relief:
"When the general comes to help my subordinates, I can rest assured."
"These days, there are always small groups of Huns coming to test them. More than 3,000 of my subordinates are guarding the north, but I am afraid that they will not be able to catch them!"
Shen Bing nodded.
The total area of the Hetao area is more than 20,000 square kilometers. Of course, more than 3,000 people cannot defend it.
However, even if Shen Bing and others arrived, the situation would still not be optimistic... The Shenwu Army under Shen Bing's command of the Liang Army only had more than 10,000 soldiers in total.
Among them, there were 5,000 Shenwu troops, 6,000 Daliang troops, plus Jia's 3,000 Qin troops, barely more than 14,000 troops.
Shen Bing asked Wang Bai who was following Wang Ben:
"How did General Li Mu defend this northern land in the first place?"
Wang Bai was stunned for a moment, and then replied:
"General, back then General Li Mu led a hundred thousand troops to defend the north."
"After several years of operation, it has grown to 200,000 elite soldiers from the North."
"These 200,000 troops are divided into two groups: the front and the back."
Shen Bing was speechless for a moment.
War God Li Mu needed 200,000 men to station here to prevent the Xiongnu from invading, but he only had 14,000 men.
What's more serious is that when Zhao Wangjia established the Dai Kingdom, he also moved away all the people in the area, leaving behind only the old and weak who had no use value. So all Shen Bing had was soldiers and an empty city.
The only advantage is that there are many houses left by the original residents in this area, so the Qin army does not need to work hard to build them.
When Fusu saw this situation, he blamed himself in a low voice:
"But it was Fusu who implicated the general."
"I'm afraid Zhao Gao and Li Si already know the situation here."
"The reason they came to condemn the general was to use the power of the Xiongnu to get rid of Fusu."
Shen Bing felt that Fusu was right.
Because Jia must have reported the situation here to Ying Zheng, Zhao Gao is the insider.
Perhaps Ying Zheng did not take the Xiongnu barbarians seriously.
But Zhao Gao and Li Si knew that this was not the case.
So a plan to kill someone with a borrowed knife came out of nowhere.
Shen Bing replied calmly:
"It's useless to say this at this time. We should hurry up and prepare for war."