The first thing Shen Bing did was to shrink the defense line.
A force of 14,000 troops is definitely unable to garrison an area of more than 20,000 square kilometers. Even if Xitao does not need to be defended, it still has more than 10,000 square kilometers. If the defense line is not reduced, it will only be defeated by the Xiongnu one by one.
So Shen Bing decided to concentrate his troops on Yunzhong County in Qiantao... After Wang Jian received Qiantao from Zhao Jun, Ying Zheng set up Yunzhong and Jiuyuan counties in Qiantao, Beidi, and brought the people here Incorporate household registration into unified management.
Jiuyuan County was abandoned by Shen Bing, because the troops in Shen Bing's hands could not even defend the two places.
The geographical location of Yunzhong County is obviously more important and safer than that of Jiuyuan County.
Because Yunzhong County is right at the second corner of the "Ji" shape of the Yellow River.
Defending here will prevent the Xiongnu from entering the hinterland of the Central Plains through the gap in the Great Wall.
Moreover, Yunzhong County is also adjacent to Yanmen County to the north, so it is easier to receive support from the rear, and the Xiongnu cannot cut off the retreat of the Northern Army.
On the contrary, if Shen Bing defends Jiuyuan and abandons Yunzhong, the Huns can easily cut off Shen Bing's connection with the Central Plains as long as they occupy Yunzhong.
In fact, the Xiongnu still had another way to go, which was to cross the Yellow River from the "ji" shape and then go deep into the Central Plains.
However, to the south of that stretch is the Kubuqi Desert, then the Ordos Plateau, and further south there is the Mu Us Sandy Land, and then the Loess Plateau...
This is a desert, a plateau and a sandy area. It is an absolute nightmare for the Huns' cavalry.
If the Huns had taken this route, they would all have starved to death before reaching the Central Plains.
Therefore, Shen Bing can relax and give up all the west of Yunzhong County.
The Hetao area is really a treasure, at least for the Central Plains.
The reason why we say this is because the two plains in the front and back are irrigated by the Yellow River water, so there are many pastures.
Pasture is an excellent natural horse farm in the Central Plains.
Moreover, “horses like high cold and are not favored by the heat”, which means horses are suitable for breeding in cold areas.
It needs both cold and fertile grass and beautiful water. Looking at the entire Central Plains, there are only two places, Hetao and Guanzhong.
Among them, Guanzhong has always been the center of the dynasty. As the population increased, the pastures were destroyed. Therefore, the only place in the Central Plains that could raise horses, or that could raise horses of the same quality as those of the northern nomads, was the Hetao area.
At this time, the countries in the Central Plains had not yet realized this, because they did not attach much importance to cavalry and did not take the Huns into consideration.
After this, the Song Dynasty lost the natural horse breeding ground in the Hetao area, so it was unable to develop cavalry and could only rely on foot to defeat cavalry. It was eventually destroyed by the Mongols.
These are all things for later.
It was only a helpless move for Shen Bing to give up this treasured land at this time.
It's just temporary. Shen Bing believes that it won't be long before he can regain the Loop again.
Shen Bing's abandonment was very complete, that is, he directly moved all the people to Yunzhong County.
Wang Ben was a little puzzled by this. He suggested to Shen Bing:
"General, the people in Jiuyuan County and the west are all old and weak. Concentrating them in Yunzhong County is just a waste of food and grass and has no effect."
"We are already nervous about the food and grasslands, and now there are so many more people. I'm afraid..."
Fusu frowned after hearing this:
"The captain's words are wrong."
"Even if they are old and weak, they are still my subjects of Great Qin. How can we leave them to the Xiongnu?"
"As the saying goes, 'Whoever loses the support of the people will lose the world.' If we take small profits today and forget about our righteousness, how will we be able to win the support of the people in the future?"
After Fusu said this, Wang Ben did not dare to say anything more.
It’s no wonder that Wang Ben would suggest such a thing. He had received a “Legalist” education since he was a child.
There is a saying that "the law does not allow mercy." The most important thing in Legalism is love. You can do whatever is beneficial to you. This is also one of the reasons why later generations have cruel officials and endless torture.
For example, Li Si and Han Fei were classmates and both were Legalists. However, Li Si was jealous of Han Fei's talent and worried that Han Fei would affect his power, so he planned to put Han Fei in prison and get rid of him.
This is the method of the Legalists. Although the Qin State became stronger after the reform, it was much less humane.
Wang Ben, who has been under this kind of rigid and cold education since he was a child, naturally has a "profit first" mentality.
Fusu, which was influenced by Confucianism, is another story.
Seeing that Wang Ben was dissatisfied, Shen Bing said:
"The captain doesn't know something."
"The people of the North are not just old and weak..."
Wang Ben couldn't help but wonder:
"But my subordinates have never seen young men, even strong women, and very few children."
Shen Bing explained:
"The captain didn't see me because all the young men and women were in Daiguo."
Wang Ben thought for a while and couldn't help but said "oh":
"The general's intention is that this can attract the people of Daiguo to come?"
Shen Bing nodded and said:
"May I ask the captain, why did the people of the North move to Dai Kingdom with Zhao Wangjia?"
Wang Ben replied:
"They are originally the people of the Zhao Kingdom. How dare they disobey Zhao Wangjia's order and the soldiers threatening him?"
Shen Bing praised:
"What the captain said is very true."
"But there is another reason. Zhao Wangjia abandoned the Northern Territory, and the Northern Territory was bound to be conquered by the Xiongnu."
"If you don't move with Zhao Wangjia, you will stay and be captured by the Huns."
Wang Ben said "Oh" again and agreed:
"What the general said is true."
"That's why the people in the north left their homes and followed Zhao Wangjia."
"But it is conceivable that this trip was not what they wanted, and moving to the country was just a helpless move."
Shen Bing nodded and said:
"This is very true."
"If one day the Dai Kingdom is defeated, and our army holds the northern territory in Yunzhong County and has great potential to march westward to regain the Hetao, the captain thinks..."
Wang Ben nodded repeatedly and said:
"The general is wise!"
"I will be kind to the old and weak in the North today."
"The people in the north will come in droves to help us, and it will be a piece of cake to regain the Hetao."
Shen Bing said:
"exactly."
"This is what Young Master said, 'He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world.' Do you think this is true?"
Wang Ben admired Shen Bing so much that he fell to the ground, and he held his hands in shame and said:
"Wang Ben has learned a lesson!"
Fusu also looked at Shen Bing in surprise.
He didn't understand how Shen Bing did it?
What Shen Bing said just now seems to merge Legalism and Confucianism into one path.
This is unimaginable in this era, because everyone knows that Legalism and Confucianism are incompatible with each other...
But actually this is nothing strange.
There is a Chinese saying that goes "too much is too little".
The legalist view is an extreme.
Using entirely Confucian methods is another extreme.
The Chinese people pay attention to the "gold mean".
That is to say, use both to achieve a balanced state, which is just right.
So of course the two have many similarities and can be discussed together.