The first news was that Yuezhi used the reputation of peace talks as a general, Qin army envoys, tricked them to Yuezhi and intercepted them.
At this time, Chen Bing felt something was wrong.
This does not mean that the Yuezhi or the Huns rarely kill these fifty-seven envoys.
Instead, Yuezhi expressed his attitude and stood on the side of the Huns and gave the Huns a letter of fame... He said nothing, and killing the Qin army envoys means that he would show the whole world that Yuezhi and Qin have turned against each other, so he could reassure the Huns.
The second bad news is that the Yuezhi blocked the Hexi Corridor and searched the Qin merchants and the Western Regions who were coming to join Qin across the country.
This is what really makes Chen Bing a headache.
At this time, the Yuezhi was located in Shazhou, which is the modern Dunhuang area.
This place is not only the exit of the Hexi Corridor, but also an important base for the Western Regions.
It is said to be an exit because the so-called Hexi Corridor is a strip-shaped plain area sandwiched between Heli Mountain in the north and Qilian Mountain in the south.
This strip plain area not only has a flat terrain, but also has many river oasis formed by the melting of snow water in the Qilian Mountains. These oasis can become natural recharge points.
It is said that it is an important base for going to the Western Regions, but Dunhuang is surrounded by mountains, Gobi or deserts, and there is only an oasis within a radius of hundreds of miles. If you don’t replenish food and fresh water, it will be difficult to reach the Western Regions.
Therefore, once this place gets into evil with the Qin army, the road from the Central Plains to the Western Regions can be said to be cut off.
Once the road to the Central Plains is broken, there will naturally be no Silk Road.
When Chen Bing thought of this, he frowned. He did not expect that the situation that had been improving all the way suddenly turned sharply.
Originally, everyone thought that Yuezhi was the enemy of the Huns, so it was natural for Qin to form an alliance with Yuezhi. Unexpectedly, Yuezhi not only did not form an alliance with Qin but instead formed an alliance with the Huns.
It seems that Shen Bing still underestimated the influence of the Huns in the Western Regions.
For this reason, Shen Bing made a special trip back to Wuyuan to hold a meeting.
At this time, Wuyuan was already a little bit under the joint governance of Yun Ting and Yang Duanhe: the silk swallowing from Changping Junna had been shipped in batches, and the silk was made from textile factories, and even the merchants had to buy silk and satin. The team has been formed...
This caravan is composed of dozens of organizations of all sizes, and there are more than a thousand carriages carrying silk.
The reason why dozens of organizations were required to form a caravan is that many small organizations even have organizations that have no business experience in joining the people.
These individual organizations are easily lost due to unfamiliar terrain, food, insufficient water resources, etc., and are especially robbed by bandits.
Therefore, they were all formed into a team, and a few guides who were familiar with the terrain were hired. Shen Bing sent a two hundred cavalry to protect the merchants for this caravan...the risk would be minimized.
But now, "Everything is ready, but the east wind is not available." The entire plan has stagnated because of Yuezhi's turnaround.
The soldiers were naturally angry and scolded Yuezhi:
"The Yuezhi King is so rude. Even if the two countries fight, they will not kill the envoys. But this guy tempted me to discuss peace and kill the envoys again!"
"Yuezhi was originally a barbarian, so how could she understand these etiquettes?"
"When we send troops north, we will capture the Yuezhi King and ask for punishment!"
...
Yang Duanhe was relatively calm. He bowed to Shen Bing amid the shouts of everyone and shouting:
"General, my subordinates think that this matter should be discussed for a long time."
"First of all, the enemy and our troops are very different. Yuezhi is reported to have 70,000 soldiers. Now it is an alliance with the Huns. If another 100,000 is the 200,000 soldiers."
"And our army is only 30,000 in Suzhou, so how can we attack Yuezhi?"
Wang Ben opposed:
"If Yuezhi had 70,000 soldiers, how could she be driven to Shazhou by more than 10,000 troops from the Xiongnu?"
"If the Huns could defeat them with more than 10,000 troops, how could our army's 30,000 troops fail?"
Although Wang Ben's reasoning was fine, Chen Bing felt that the situation could not be compared so simply.
The reason why the Huns were able to expel Yuezhi from the Hexi Corridor with more than 10,000 troops was largely because the Huns attacked Yuezhi on both sides, which made both ends unable to take care of.
on the other hand……
Yang Duanhe sighed and bowed to Wang Ben and said:
"The captain doesn't know anything."
"The Hexi Corridor is full of grasslands suitable for the Xiongnu cavalry to march, and they burn, kill, loot and fight to maintain war without worrying about supplies."
"At this time, our army's operations in Hexi were just starting, and the supply of merchants and brigades along the way was still in short supply. How could it be for the army to fight against the Yuezhi and the Huns?"
After Yang Duanhe said this, everyone had no sound.
Supply replenishment is always a big problem.
Li Yan set out from Wuyuan, leaving troops along the way to set up camps, suppress bandits, and guard villages. When he arrived in Suzhou, he only had 30,000 left.
The supplies for these 30,000 soldiers were mainly supplied from the Yuezhi end.
To be precise, it cannot be regarded as supplying the Yuezhi, but brought silk cloth with the army and used them to exchange for military rations.
Now that Yuezhi has turned against each other and has banned business travel, even the supply of these 30,000 soldiers is difficult, let alone sending a large army to fight Yuezhi.
Yang Duanhe continued:
"So, my subordinates think we should be at ease."
"There should be the focus now."
"As long as our army defends Suzhou and plants in military fields, the harvest will be the day when the Yuezhi King is awarded the title of the head of the emperor!"
Wei Ji agreed:
"I think General Yang said so much."
"And the Yuezhi and the Huns are in a temporary alliance. If we wait patiently for several months, we are afraid that the two countries will start another war."
Wang Ben opposed:
"That's why we have to win by fighting fast and fighting slowly."
"Otherwise, how can the 30,000 soldiers in our army make a living?"
"Can you still have to transport food from the Central Plains thousands of miles away?"
"But if our army defeats Yuezhi, it can not only solve the supply problem but also capture the countries in the Western Regions!"
For a time, the generals were talking, and the two factions of the main attack and defense were arguing endlessly.
Chen Bing pondered for a while and then asked Yang Duanhe:
"Can there be a city in Shazhou?"
Because Yang Duanhe was in charge of the Hexi garrison, he knew more about these things.
Yang Duanhe replied:
"Go back to the general, there is no city!"
The ancient city of Dunhuang was built by Emperor Wu of Han who defeated the Xiongnu Zhao Ponu in the west to fight against Loulan. Yuezhi and Wusun were all nomadic peoples, so of course they would not spend any effort to build the city.
Chen Bing asked again:
"Then, even if Yuezhi has an army of 70,000, how can we stop our army from attacking 30,000 Hanoi soldiers?"
Yang Duanhe hurriedly presented a map and said:
"The General doesn't know anything."
"There are Sanwei Mountains in the east of Shazhou, Mingsha Mountains in the south, the Gobi Bird and the Tianshan Mountains in the north, and a desert to the west."
"That is, there are dangers to guard on all three sides facing us. Not only is the terrain dangerous and has no way to go, but most of them are unable to cross it without water."
"Even without a city, it is extremely difficult to capture."
Shen Bing said "Oh".
In other words, most of them are easy to defend and difficult to attack.