Chapter four hundred and forty-ninth coalition forces
The next morning, Shen Bing was ordered to go to the imperial study room to discuss matters with King Qiuci.
To Shen Bing's surprise, Princess Wuyou was also there. As before, she still covered half of her face with a veil and only exposed her eyes.
She raised her eyebrows at Shen Bing proudly and asked:
"Are you really the envoy of Qin?"
Shen Bing was about to answer, but was stopped by King Qiuci's glare.
Later, Shen Bing found out that in fact, King Qiuci had never wanted Shen Bing to have contact with Princess Wuyou... The reason was as mentioned before. If the princess married a commoner, especially a Qin soldier, wouldn't it mean that the Qiuci Kingdom would degrade itself? ?
However, discussing the Qin army's alliance with Qiuci and even the Western Regions to conquer the Xiongnu... This should not be allowed to be known to outsiders, especially the Yuezhi merchants.
So King Qiuci, who didn't understand the language, had no choice but to ask Princess Wuyou to translate.
After King Qiuci asked Shen Bing to sit down in front of the case, he slowly spread out the map on the case and said:
"Let's not talk about alliance for now."
"If the Western Region successfully forms an alliance, I would like to know how the general will conquer the Huns?"
King Qiuci's words hit the point right away.
Some people like to take things one step at a time, but some people like to plan everything.
If you are just a soldier, you should probably choose the former.
But if you are a commander, it should be the latter.
For example, at this time, the Qin Army has no plan to defeat the Xiongnu, or even if the Qin Army and the Western Regions can form an alliance, it is impossible to defeat the Xiongnu... Then forming an alliance to form an alliance becomes a meaningless and useless effort. It is better not to form an alliance and maintain the status quo. .
However, Shen Bing naturally knew this well. He pointed at the map and said:
"Our army should launch its offensive in two steps."
"The first step is to focus on the attack, and use the cavalry to quickly penetrate to Yanran Mountain in Mobei, Langjuxu Mountain and occupy it..."
King Qiuci was startled by Shen Bing's words and asked:
"Is this the envoy's intention or the general's intention?"
Shen Bing replied:
"Of course it means the general."
If it meant "messenger", I'm afraid King Qiuci would have rejected it immediately.
But since it means "general"... you must know that Shen Bing has led the Qin army to achieve an almost impossible victory, so King Qiuci felt the need to continue the discussion.
Qiuci frowned and said:
"Does General know that the Huns cavalry is unbeatable on the grassland?"
Shen Bing nodded and replied:
"Of course I know, this is one of the reasons why the Qin army did not dare to attack the grassland rashly."
"That's why we have to form the Western Region Alliance Army."
King Qiuci shook his head:
"Although the cavalry in the Western Regions are good at riding and shooting, most of them are useless."
Shen Bing nodded sympathetically.
In terms of the quality of individual soldiers, the Western Regions cavalry is indeed no worse than the Huns cavalry. Especially the Western Regions cavalry grew up in the harsh terrain of desert oasis. The cavalry and horses are more tolerant of drought and can endure hardships. They will be better on the grasslands where there is no need to worry about water and grass. When the stress is reduced, the horse's energy will increase.
This is a bit like living on the plateau for a long time, and it is easier to start running on the plains. Therefore, plateau horses are of the highest quality.
The problem with the cavalry in the Western Regions is that they have never seen big scenes and the layout is too small.
This is determined by oasis culture: an oasis is a city, and a city is a country.
As the largest country in the Western Region, Qiuci is better off. The other thirty-six countries have a few thousand cavalry, which is a lot, and there are still hundreds and dozens...
Admittedly, it would be a lot to gather these soldiers together.
Especially with the Yuezhi cavalry and the Shenwu Army and Pu Lei Army, which the Qin Army has been working hard to expand, the entire army should have about 70,000 to 80,000 cavalry troops by then.
In terms of number, they are no less than the Huns cavalry.
But how to solve the problems of commanding operations and internal conflicts, especially "being wise and protecting oneself"?
Thirty-six countries means that there are at least thirty-six armies, which means that a decision may have to take into account thirty-six interests...
Shen Bing also considered this issue, so he said:
"So the thirty-six countries only sent troops but not generals."
Qiuci asked puzzledly:
"What does it mean to send out troops but not generals?"
"If we only send out troops but not generals, who will lead them?"
Shen Bing explained:
"Under the unified command of the Shenwu Army!"
"Split the Shenwu Army into instructors and assign them to each army for training."
"After integration, we can form an army."
This is actually the way Britain formed its colonial army in modern times.
For example, when it colonized India, there were problems similar to those of the Western Region Allied Forces:
India was not a country before, but the name of a region, that is, the Indian subcontinent.
This continent was originally a collection of scattered ethnic groups and countries that did not belong to each other. After the British conquered these countries, they unified management.
At this time, the establishment of the colonial army encountered the same difficulties as Shen Bing does now:
How to combine these contradictory soldiers, who even have different habits and beliefs, into an army with unified command and combat effectiveness?
The answer is that all the officers at the command level are British.
So the so-called "British-Indian Army" appeared.
This is not just a matter of British officers having more command experience, but also a matter of Indian soldiers being all grassroots soldiers, or at most grassroots officers, regardless of status or class. Therefore, everyone seems to be "equal" and internal conflicts will not intensify.
This army did have impressive combat effectiveness on the battlefield. It defeated the Japanese army commanded by Mutaguchi Renya, and also landed in Africa to fight Rommel's German army.
Therefore, after India became independent, it considered itself to be the third most powerful country in the world.
Who knows, after the British officers were replaced by Indian officers... what this army lost was not only the command experience, but more seriously, the intensification of internal conflicts turned it into a piece of disorganized sand:
The upper castes do not need to perform meritorious service to become officers and show off their power at the top, while the lower castes work hard but can only be enslaved at the grassroots level, and the credit is taken by the upper caste officers... How can such an army fight?
In the same way, if the Western Region Allied Forces unite their forces in this way, there will be no hope of victory.
Only under the training, leadership and command of the Qin army can it be possible to unite together and form a fighting force.
King Qiuci nodded slightly and said:
"This method may be feasible, but how can the thirty-six countries safely hand over their military power?"
This is true. Military power is the foundation of a country. If you hand it over, you won't even have anything to protect your life!
Shen Bing said:
"We wait and demand that he surrender all military power."
"You only need to hand over part of it, and the spoils and benefits obtained from the expedition... will be distributed according to the number of troops sent."
"After returning from the expedition, I will hand over my military power."
Then there are interests involved.
The more troops you send, the more benefits you get.
The fewer troops you send, the less benefits you get.
What's more, the Qin army is suppressing the formation...
If anyone doesn't hand over military power, the Qin army can just move forward and attack the formation.
What's more, the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions are all under the Qin army. Is there any difference between the right to surrender troops and the right not to surrender troops?
Can security be ensured without handing over military power?