Shen Bing knew what King Qiuci had planned. He was always worried about the coalition forces being able to defeat the Huns on the grasslands, so he left a way out for himself:
If there is a rush for Princess Wuyou to marry Shen Bing at this time, and one day the allied forces are defeated by the Xiongnu in the grassland and the Xiongnu forces return to the Western Regions, then King Qiuci will not be able to wash his hands of it even if he jumps into the Yellow River.
But if Princess Wuyou and Shen Bing were not married yet, King Qiuci could put all the blame on Shen Bing, and it could even be said that he organized the coalition under Shen Bing's coercion.
On the other hand, if the coalition forces win and the Huns are driven out of Mobei... Princess Wuyou will naturally marry Shen Bing, which will be beneficial to King Qiuci.
Sure enough, ginger is still spicy after old age, so this wishful thinking came true.
Shen Bing didn't care about this and agreed without thinking. He was more concerned about when King Qiuci would organize the Western Region cavalry and hand them over to Shen Bing.
The following series of operations truly let Shen Bing know what Lao Jiang is.
Shen Bing originally thought that King Qiuci would delay in this regard, but it didn't take long to discover that this was not the case.
Less than half a month later, groups of Qiuci cavalry arrived at Gushi one after another, even arriving before the Yuezhi cavalry.
What made Shen Bing strange and happy was that these Qiuci cavalry not only numbered seven thousand, but most of them were young and strong.
Shen Bing was a little puzzled by this.
King Qiuci only has 10,000 troops, and he is still busy reforming. How can he still hand over 7,000 elite troops to Shen Bing's command...
After asking, I found out that these were soldiers in the hands of nobles.
However, King Qiuci used Shen Bing to reduce the military power of the nobles.
And the nobles had to agree, because if they didn't agree, they might have to face a joint attack by King Qiuci and the Qin army... In fact, not to mention joining forces, no country in the Western Region at this time could stop the Qin army's offensive. .
Once these 7,000 elites were mobilized, the available troops in the hands of the nobles would be no more than 3,000, and King Qiuci would no longer have any pressure on his reforms.
Then, King Qiuci sent three thousand elite cavalry from his headquarters to make up the total of 10,000 cavalry.
This is not surprising. King Qiuci will contribute something no matter what.
What surprised Shen Bing was that the leader of the army was Princess Wuyou.
When Princess Wuyou saw Shen Bing, she said with some embarrassment:
"Forgive me, General. The date of the wedding and coming to lead the army...are not my wishes."
Shen Bing knew what Princess Wuyou meant.
Princess Wuyou came to lead the army. In fact, King Kucha hoped that Princess Wuyou could control the Kucha cavalry based on her reputation and status as Shen Bing's fiancée. If the coalition army was defeated one day, Princess Wuyou could bring these cavalry back to Kucha. It is not about returning to the hands of the nobles or being controlled by Shen Bing.
Shen Bing didn't take it seriously. He smiled and asked:
"Shen Bing just wants to know, does the princess want to get married sooner or later?"
Princess Wuyou didn't expect Shen Bing to say that. She quickly took a peek around and said angrily:
"Are you not afraid that others will hear you?"
Shen Bing replied:
"The marriage between you and me is already known to the whole world, so what happens if it hears about it?"
Princess Wuyou only looked at Shen Bing for a while, then turned away and sighed:
"General, you should know why my father arranged this!"
Shen Bing nodded and replied:
"I know it!"
Princess Wuyou said again:
"Even if you know, why don't you blame Wuyou at all?"
"Wuyou has not thought about food or tea for several days. He is thinking about how to explain to the general. He doesn't want to..."
Shen Bing interrupted Princess Wuyou:
"Princess, you are worrying too much!"
"The king is the esteemed king of a country, so it is natural to consider Kucha."
"Besides, the king is the father of the princess, so how can Shen Bing blame him even if he goes to great lengths?"
Princess Wuyou asked back:
"You really think so?"
Shen Bing replied:
"Absolutely true."
"but……"
Princess Wuyou asked:
"But what?"
Shen Bing replied:
"However, as a general of the Qin State, Shen Bing must ignore his children's personal affairs and consider the interests of the Qin army if it is a life-or-death situation."
"I hope the princess will understand!"
Princess Wuyou nodded and said:
"This is what a real man should do."
After thinking for a while, Princess Wuyou asked again:
"By saying this, the general, does he think that my father is hiding his hidden agenda and has not reached the critical moment of life or death?"
Shen Bing shook his head and said with a smile:
"What the princess wants to say is that if the coalition's battle is unfavorable, the Qiuci cavalry will rebel against the Qin army?"
Princess Wuyou did not deny it. She hesitated for a while and then replied solemnly:
"Although this is not Wuyou's intention, and Wuyou swears here that he will do his best to avoid this, even if it costs his life."
"However, there are some things that Wuyou can't control. Does the general understand what Wuyou is thinking?"
Shen Bing nodded.
He seemed to understand why Princess Wuyou had been reluctant to marry the Qin general.
From the beginning, Princess Wuyou knew that King Kucha used this marriage as a political bargaining chip.
She doesn't want to be used as a bargaining chip, nor does she want to be caught between her father and her husband.
but now……
Through a series of coincidences, Princess Wuyou finally reached this point.
Therefore, the difficulty before her was not a question of whether or not, but a question of how to choose.
Shen Bing could feel her hard work and unreserved trust in him. It would not be an exaggeration to even call her love, but at the same time he could also feel her embarrassment.
Shen Bing comforted Princess Wuyou:
"Don't worry, it won't come to that point!"
"As long as I win this battle, I won't have that moment."
Shen Bing had never thought about this issue before, but when Princess Wuyou mentioned it... he suddenly realized that this battle was not as easy as he thought.
Princess Wuyou replied:
"Although the general has fought countless Qin armies, he is invincible."
"But this time we are going to the grassland to conquer the Huns."
"Our army is a coalition of countries with different agendas, so it is not an exaggeration to say that this battle is as dangerous as an egg."
"How can the general guarantee that our army will win?"
Shen Bing fell silent.
No one can guarantee victory on the battlefield, not even Shen Bing.
If Kucha has such a plan, it means that other countries in the Western Region also have such plans.
This means that if the Qin army wins this battle, it will be fine. If it loses, it is likely that it will not only face the Xiongnu cavalry, but also the Western Regions cavalry... The Western Regions cavalry will probably rebel immediately, and in large numbers. Rebellion is not just in Kucha.
It is true that, as Shen Bing said before, handing over the command of the Western Region cavalry to the Shenwu Army can indeed solve part of the problem.
However, it is not possible to completely tame the Western Region Cavalry through short-term intensive training, let alone uproot its inner strength.
At that time, if they are attacked from both sides by the Xiongnu and the Western Regions, how should the Qin army in the grassland respond?