It turns out there is a reason why there are thirty-six countries in this area of the Western Region.
As mentioned before, the Western Region is an oasis culture, and beyond the oasis is a desert that is short of water or even waterless.
Under such terrain, if you want to attack the city, you will face the same problem as the Qin army attacking Loulan... The attacking party will attack the city when there is a lack of water or even no water. It will be extremely difficult to supply supplies. If it is not captured within a few days,
The target city has only one dead end.
Therefore, there will be a situation of "one continent, one city, one city, one country".
Even if some countries only have a few hundred people stationed there, if they use tens of thousands of troops to attack, they may not be successful. Even if they succeed, the losses will be heavy and the gain will not be worth the loss...
If a country has only a few hundred troops, it means that the country has only a few thousand people.
If there are only a few thousand people in the country, it means that the oasis can only support a few thousand people.
So……
So what if we capture it?
After taking great risks and losing troops, what we got was only a small city that could accommodate a few thousand people. Any expansion was impossible due to the restrictions of water and plants.
As a result, most of the countries in the Western Regions did not invade each other and became one.
If there is a war of mutual annexation, or the two countries are too close to each other, water supply is not very difficult, such as the several oases around Gushi.
Or it could be that a certain country had exhausted its water resources and had no choice but to put it to death and survive. For example, Loulan moved southward and destroyed several small countries a few years later.
As the largest country in the Western Region, Qiuci’s problem is that it is too large...
In fact, if it is a Central Plains country or a grassland country, its size is not large at all, only seven or eight hundred miles from west to east.
But for a country in the Western Region to be so big, it’s extraordinary.
You must know that the distance from Gushi to Loulan is only more than 500 miles, and the country of Qiuci is 700 to 800 miles from west to east. It is no wonder that it can be called the largest country in the Western Regions.
Excessive size is a disadvantage rather than an advantage in the Western Region.
For example, the King's City of Kucha is located in Yancheng to the east. It is far away from Kuqa, Baicheng, Xinhe, Shaya, etc. under its control, ranging from more than a hundred miles to six or seven hundred miles.
Fortunately, the distance is short. It only takes one day to reach more than 100 miles.
The long journey of six or seven hundred miles would take six or seven days just to march. If these cities heard that the King of Kucha was going to reform and implement the twenty military merit title system... what would they do if they rebelled and declared their separation from Kucha?
King Qiuci directly controlled 10,000 troops. Although he was the most powerful party, he was helpless against a city six or seven hundred miles away.
At that time, as long as one city declares its independence from the Kingdom of Kucha, the other cities will follow suit, and the result will be like what Princess Wuyou said...if it does not reform, it will be nothing, but once it is reformed, it will fall apart.
Shen Bing thought for a while and said:
"What if the general uses the Qin army to help the king with his reforms?"
King Qiuci shook his head and said:
"If this is the case, the nobles will say that the king has surrendered to Qin, and use this as an excuse to oppose the reform."
This makes sense.
At that time, the nobles stood on the side of justice, but King Qiuci became a villain who was greedy for life and fearful of death, betraying his country and seeking glory.
Shen Bing said:
"In this case, the Qin army should also use Qiuci artillery to support it!"
King Qiuci couldn't help but widen his eyes when he heard this, and looked at Shen Bing in surprise:
"Artillery? The messenger is talking about the firearm that destroyed the Loulan city wall and defeated the Huns?"
Shen Bing nodded and said:
"Exactly."
"As long as the artillery is there, the city wall will be in vain."
"If your Majesty is equipped with this thing, those nobles will not dare to make trouble on their own."
This is actually the advantage of the Qin army.
The difference between the Qin army and other countries in the Western Regions is that it can easily knock down the enemy's city walls with artillery and capture the target city within a few days.
As a result, the previous problem of supply difficulties due to lack of water and being helpless about cities six or seven hundred miles away no longer existed.
But King Qiuci couldn’t believe it:
"The messenger is saying that the general is willing to donate artillery to the king to help me reform the military system?"
Shen Bing answered without thinking:
"certainly!"
At this time, Shen Bing was certainly considering whether the secret would be leaked.
But when it comes to leaking secrets, Shen Bing believes that the production process is more important, especially the gunpowder formula.
If other people don't know that the gunpowder used in artillery is saltpeter accounting for three-quarters, it has no such power at all. If the Xiongnu type is used, which not only has a small proportion of saltpeter but also adds miscellaneous things such as Maru, can it be done? Getting the shells out is a problem.
To say that the artillery was given to Kucha would be a leak...
Shen Bing believes that anything that is used in batches in the army and is clearly visible to the soldiers cannot be kept secret.
For example, the artillerymen of the Qin Army can see what the artillery looks like, what materials the inner and outer walls are made of, what shape the artillery shells are and how to operate them, etc.
There are a thousand people in the artillery, which means there are a thousand people who know this information.
The Huns only needed to randomly send a few spies to deliberately contact a few of these thousands of people, and then they could extract relevant information from their mouths.
Especially the artillery will be replaced batch by batch... there will always be wounded, old, sick and disabled, there will be battle damage, etc.
Therefore, it is unrealistic to block news in this regard.
In this case, there is no big difference between leaking secrets and not leaking secrets.
As for whether we should worry about King Qiuci using these artillery pieces to deal with the Qin army...
This worry is even more unnecessary.
In modern society, the reason why the US military is so keen on requiring other countries to purchase American equipment is that in addition to making money by developing the arms industry, more importantly, it achieves the purpose of interfering in the military and political affairs of that country through the monopoly of equipment.
For example, if Shen Bing equipped the Kucha Kingdom with artillery now, the King of Kucha would use the artillery to control the nobles and implement reforms.
So what Shen Bing said was based on weight?
Did King Qiuci listen to Shen Bing's "suggestion" to a certain extent?
Otherwise, Shen Bing only needs to cut off the supply of King Qiuci's artillery...
The artillery will be damaged after being used for a long time. Do you need to replace it with a new one?
Should the artillery shells be provided from Shen Bing?
Do we need Qin Army craftsmen for maintenance and training?
The Qin Army was needed in all aspects, so it became dependent on the Qin Army.
With this dependence... Shen Bing no longer worries about him escaping from his grasp.
So this is a good thing for the Qin army.
Of course King Qiuci didn’t know that there would be so many problems in the future, let alone that this was a trap. He thought to himself:
"This artillery can be used to attack cities and to fight enemies."
"Tens of thousands of Xiongnu were also blown away by this cannon and fled. Tens of thousands of Qin troops were not able to do so."
"If Kucha is equipped with this thing, why should it be afraid of enemy countries anymore?"
Thinking about it, King Qiuci looked at Shen Bing with expectant eyes and asked:
"But I don't know how many cattle and sheep it takes to exchange for one of these artillery pieces?"
King Qiuci was a little worried that it was too expensive and he couldn't afford it.
In fact, it is no problem for Shen Bing to give it away for free: he can not only control the Qiuci Kingdom and promote its reforms, but also strengthen the anti-Hongnu alliance, why not?
However, when Shen Bing thought about it, if he gave it away "for free", it would definitely arouse the suspicion of King Qiuci.
So he said:
"Da Qin and Kucha are not outsiders when they become allies."
"My subordinates think that one statue with a thousand sheep will suffice."