It is said that this wheelbarrow was invented by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period.
That is what is called "wooden ox and flowing horse" in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
This "wooden ox and horse" is a legendary myth that generally transports grain by itself without human and animal power, which is definitely wrong.
Historians analyze that it is very likely that it is a wheelbarrow.
The reason is that the Shu Road is difficult to move, and it is not only narrow and steep but also extremely dangerous. It is inevitable that it is transported with cattle, horses and other animal powers: if you don’t pay attention or if you are frightened, the horse will fall to the cliff and lose all the food, grass and livestock.
At this time, using manpower to transport grain with flexible, light and small wheelbarrows is more efficient and safer.
Seeing that the modification was appropriate, Shen Bing did not hesitate anymore, and immediately ordered the Shenwu Army to build a large number of wheelbarrows.
In fact, there are not many wheelbarrows needed. For each wheelbarrow, the Shenwu Army of 2,000 people only needs two hundred wheelbarrows.
Another hundred vehicles were added to carry more arrows, thunderbolt fireballs, grain and water bags, so only three hundred vehicles were needed.
The Shenwu Army had no time to build wheels on the marching road... In fact, the main part of the difficulty in building wheelbarrows is also the wheels.
Chen Bing copied Wang Ben's method to change the carriage into a wheelbarrow.
These carriages were originally used to transport military rations and supplies, and the carriages that were vacant could be used for modification after eating.
In addition, Shen Bing asked the fast horses to rush to Suzhou, and ordered Li Yan to make wheels or prepare carriages. So it was time for insufficient wheelbarrows to arrive in Suzhou to make it.
After more than ten days, Chen Bing and his group finally arrived in Suzhou.
Li Yan had been greeting him with his personal guards early in the morning. When he saw Chen Bing and his party from afar, he rode his horse to greet him. Then he bowed to Chen Bing with relief and said:
"Sir, please welcome the general!"
"If the general comes to take charge of the overall situation, my subordinates will feel at ease."
Chen Bing asked:
"What's the situation in Suzhou?"
Li Yan replied:
"Report to the general, everything is normal."
"It's just that there are Huns and Yuezhi spies from time to time outside the city."
Shen Bing Qi Dao:
"The Yuezhi and the Xiongnu have already arrived in Suzhou?"
Li Yan replied:
"Return to the general, it's just a small force."
"Most of them are Yuezhi cavalry."
"The Yuezhi army was stationed on the front line of Sanwei Mountain and built fortifications."
Chen Bing was even more strange when he heard this.
Yuezhi should have no interest in Suzhou.
This is mainly because the Yuezhi population is limited and occupying the oasis in Shazhou is enough for its living. Suzhou is 800 miles away from Shazhou and has drought and water shortage. It is not until Suzhou that there is a Beida River, which is mainly grazing. Yuezhi is useless...
Because if it occupied Suzhou, if Yuezhi, who had lived in Shazhou for many years, would have to drive her horses and sheep to eight hundred miles away if she wanted to grazed?
If you want to move the people to Suzhou, you must send soldiers to garrison.
This is also the reason why Yuezhi did not occupy Suzhou after the Huns retreated.
If Suzhou is occupied, how many soldiers need to be sent to garrison it to be safe?
With fewer troops, these soldiers were not enough to protect the safety of herders, so they could not operate and develop Suzhou and were only robbed.
If there were too many troops, Shazhou's strength would be divided into two parts. At that time, Shazhou would probably be unable to stop the attack of the Huns.
So the Yuezhi King didn't think much about it, just occupied Shazhou and kept it firmly.
However, now, why is Yuezhi interested in Suzhou again?
After thinking about it, Chen Bing understood.
Yuezhi was adjacent to the Qin army for many years and even had wars with the Qin army, so the Yuezhi King was very clear about the advantages and disadvantages of the Qin army.
Previously, King Yuezhi thought his opponent was the Huns and the cavalry, so he did not dare to occupy Suzhou lightly.
But now, the King of Yuezhi knew that the opponent was the Qin army dominated by infantry. At the same time, the King of Yuezhi knew that there was no farmland for more than a thousand miles of the Hexi Corridor, and that it was also an alliance with the Huns... At this time, it did not occupy Suzhou. When will it last?
Chen Bing was right, Yuezhi was making this plan.
After the Xiongnu envoy left, King Yuezhi said to the general Qiu Ju in a terrified manner:
"It is reported that Qin has unified the Central Plains and its national strength is in full swing at this time."
"Now we have killed the Qin envoys and got along with him. The Qin army will definitely send troops to attack. What should we do?"
Qiu Ju's confident answer:
"Don't worry too much, your lord."
"You must know that the Qin people make a living by military farming. This place is far away from Qin and has no land for thousands of miles."
"I imagine that the Qin people could not send many soldiers and transport much food and grass to this place."
"In the opinion of our subordinates, we should not only not worry... but we can use the power of the Huns to expand our power and return to Hexi."
When the King of Yuezhi was said this, he felt it was reasonable, so he sent a small group of troops and spies to Suzhou, waiting for the Qin army to retreat and they would once again include Suzhou in the territory.
When Chen Bing understood the reason, his heart was half relieved.
If the King of Yuezhi was making this plan, it would probably be that the Qin army would give up Suzhou due to insufficient supplies, and would even be ready to accept it... It would mean that the Yuezhi underestimated the enemy.
The consequences of underestimating the enemy will cause strategic misjudgment on the one hand, and on the other hand, Sanweishan’s defense is not strong... Since the enemy is expected to retreat rather than attack, the defense and fortifications are of course just to deal with.
Thinking of this Shen Bing raised his hand to signal the troops to stop.
Li Yan looked at Shen Bing in confusion:
"Why did the general stop moving forward?"
Chen Bing thought about it and said:
"I can't wait to enter Suzhou anymore, so I set up camp on the spot."
"At the same time, all soldiers in Suzhou were ordered to withdraw from Suzhou and retreat to Ganzhou."
Ganzhou is the modern Zhangye City, Gansu Province, and "Gansu" is derived from Zhangye and Jiuquan. The ancient name Ganzhou and Suzhou were taken from Zhangye and Jiuquan.
Li Yan couldn't help but look at Chen Bing in shock when he heard this.
Before this, Li Yan was really feeling scared.
On the one hand, the enemy's troops were much more powerful than the Qin army. The Huns had 100,000 plus the Yuezhi 70,000, and the Qin army was 35,000.
On the other hand, Li Yan had always been commanding the infantry before and had never had the experience of commanding the cavalry, but Suzhou had cavalry from the Western Regions who had no language and could not even understand the banner... Once this started fighting How to command?
He originally thought that Shen Bing brought these reinforcements... Although there were not many reinforcements, only three thousand people.
But Li Yan knew the ability of Shen Bing. Shen Bing has always been able to defeat the strong with fewer and weaker, so even if the total strength of Suzhou is less than 40,000, Li Yan believes that Shen Bing can stabilize the situation.
However, before the Shen Bing's troops arrived in Suzhou, they ordered the withdrawal of troops as soon as they heard that the Yuezhi had already arrived at the city.
Seeing that Li Yan was standing still for a long time, Chen Bing urged:
"I have my own opinions. General Li Yan will make arrangements now!"
Li Yan responded and then went down with suspicion on his face.
After Li Yan left, Wang Ben came up and lowered his voice and said to Chen Bing:
"The general's clever plan is in trouble today!"
Chen Bing knew it.
With Wang Ben's words, he knew that he was much better than Li Yan.