Ten thousand people faced off against the two hundred soldiers of the Nu Qiang. It only took a few moves to frighten the King of the Nu Qiang into leaving the city and surrendering in person.
But Shen Bing did not spare him, and beheaded him in public with just one order.
This is not to say that Shen Bing is cruel, but that the Western Regions Army is composed of thirty-six countries, and any voice of division is a big taboo for the coalition forces.
If King Nuqiang dares to pull out his teeth at this time, he will have to bear the price.
The Nu Qiang soldiers did not fare much better. They were demoted as slaves by Shen Bing and taken to Gu Shi to build the city wall.
The people of Zeqiu committed no crime, except that Shen Bingshun ordered his troops to take over all the iron smelting workshops in Nuoqiang.
Then just renovate those blast furnaces, and new iron can be smelted in Wuqiang soon. In addition, the people of Wuqiang have qualified labor force with forging skills, so Wuqiang became the production base of the Qin army in the Western Regions.
The Qin army prepared for more than a month, and then set off towards the grassland.
Before departure, Shen Bing sent several letters to Fusu who was stationed in the Hetao area.
The letters were delivered by pigeon relay. The reason why I asked for several letters was because I was worried about losing them on the road.
It goes without saying what the purpose of sending the letter is:
The first is to ask Fusu to tighten the gunpowder.
The second is to order Yang Duan and Beishang to cooperate with the Western Regions to attack the Xiongnu.
The Xiongnu immediately became nervous.
Especially Maodun Shanyu, who was waiting around the Yinshan area but never saw the Qin army coming to attack, became a little impatient.
Suddenly his subordinates came to report:
"Chanyu, the supply of gunpowder raw materials from the Qin State has suddenly been cut off, and we are no longer able to produce the 'Zhentian Lei'."
Maodun Shanyu couldn't help being shocked:
"This raw material was originally traded underground. Even if the Qin army knew how to cut off one or two parts, how could they cut it off in one go?"
The subordinate replied:
"Chanyu, it is said... those raw materials were sold to us by the Qin army."
Maodun Chanyu, don’t disbelieve yourself:
"The 'Shocking Thunder' is extremely powerful, how could the Qin army..."
As a result, before I finished speaking, I realized what the problem was.
If the Qin army hadn't sold it to the Xiongnu, how could they have cut off all the raw materials in one go?
Thinking of this, Maodun Shanyu shouted:
"not good!"
"The Qin army is coming to attack, hurry up and prepare to withdraw!"
Maodun Shanyu's guess was correct. As soon as he left, Yang Duanhe protected the main force of the Qin army through the wolf's mouth and entered the grassland.
This is not because Maodun Shan is timid, but the Huns cavalry have always used this tactic against the Qin army, which is mainly infantry. In fact, it is to lure the enemy deep into the grassland and drag it for a period of time before attacking the Qin army's supply line and Surround and annihilate them.
But this time the trick didn't work so well.
The reason is that Yang Duan and this Qin army are just a cover, and the real main force is actually the cavalry army led by Shen Bing.
At this time, the Western Region Cavalry had been reduced to 30,000.
The Yuezhi cavalry was reduced to 20,000.
On the contrary, the Pu Lei army led by Yan was expanded to 20,000.
This may also be because the military and civilians of the Western Regions will look at the situation and know that there are actually only three armies in the coalition that belong to the Qin Army: the Shenwu Army, the Hanoi Army, and the Pulei Army.
It is almost impossible to join the Shenwu Army and the Hanoi Army.
This is not to say that the Qin army does not allow outsiders to join, but the language, habits, etc. are different, especially the Hanoi army is still infantry... No soldier from the Western Regions would like to give up horses and become infantry.
So there was only one choice: Pu Leijun.
Although the name of the Pulei Army is "Pulei", it is the name of a country in the Western Regions, and the cavalry is mainly composed of Pulei cavalry and Yuezhi cavalry.
But everyone knows that this army is a scattered army recruited by the Qin State to face the Western Regions. It is a veritable cavalry army controlled by the Qin Army.
Although the equipment is still based on the leather armor and bow and arrow customary of Xiongnu herdsmen for the time being, the horse equipment, supplies, title system, military system, etc. are all based on the Qin army's standards.
So the military and civilians of the Western Regions compared:
Joining the coalition does not have these many benefits, and you will not get rewards for winning battles, winning military honors, or grabbing land... The benefits gained by the coalition military system belong to the country, and it can handle it domestically.
But of course, soldiers from various countries who are in slavery and have not yet been reformed are likely to receive no reward or only a small reward.
On the contrary, if you join the Pu Lei Army, your language and habits will remain the same, and you will also receive titles and fiefs if you gain military merit.
It's the same battle, and it's the same licking blood from the edge of the knife. Why do you need to sacrifice your life for others instead of yourself?
Therefore, many people actually chose to join the Pu Lei Army because they wanted to be eliminated. This was true for the Western Region Army, and the same was true for the Yuezhi Army.
Shen Bing just turned a blind eye and pretended not to know.
This has only advantages and no disadvantages for the Qin army.
In addition to the 10,000 Hanoi soldiers, the total number of Qin troops was 80,000. They marched into the depths of the grassland with cattle and sheep collected from various countries in the Western Regions.
In the Han Dynasty, one of the reasons why Huo Qubing was able to attack repeatedly while other generals failed to find the main force of the Huns and finally returned without success was that the cavalry led by Huo Qubing did not search for the main force of the Huns but attacked and rescued them. .
The east-west Yanran Mountain and Langjuxu Mountain lie across the center of the grassland. The Huns built a dragon city at the southern end of the narrow valley between the two mountains.
This is the location of the Dragon City in the ancient poem that says, "If you let the dragon city fly, you won't teach Hu Ma to cross the Yin Mountains."
The Huns were a cavalry army, and it was extremely difficult for the cavalry to cross the mountains.
Therefore, the location of Dragon City located between two mountains is extremely important.
Once the Han army captured Longcheng, the Xiongnu's range of activities would be much smaller and their mobility would be limited.
Huo Qubing must defend it when he attacks, and he makes unexpected long-distance attacks again and again, so how can he fail to perform extraordinary feats repeatedly.
The problem is that Huo Qubing's attacks again and again were mostly sneak attacks with a small number of troops, so the Xiongnu could recover their strength again and again, but in the end they had to avoid Mobei because they couldn't afford it anymore.
Shen Bing's attack this time was intended to capture Dragon City once and then garrison it for a long time.
To be precise, it is not to be stationed for a long time, but to be taken care of by the Western Regions and Yuezhi cavalry... They are also nomadic people. If they can get this large piece of grassland suitable for grazing and at the same time conform to their living habits, how can they be reluctant? reason?
However, how could the Huns be willing to have their grasslands occupied by others?
What's more, there is only one strategic center, Dragon City.
So the Xiongnu, the Western Regions, and the Yuezhi would fight against each other in this area, so the Central Plains would have less trouble.
As for whether the Western Regions and the Yueshi will develop into enemies of the Central Plains in the future...
Shen Bing believes that this does not depend on who is in the grassland, but on the Central Plains themselves.
If the Central Plains becomes weak, no matter what ethnic group is in the grassland, they may become a threat to the Central Plains.
This is something that Shen Bing can't control and it's also beyond his ability.
No one can guarantee that the Central Plains will never be invaded by foreign enemies. It is good to be able to defend it for the past few decades.
From this perspective, Shen Bing's approach of supporting the weaker Western Regions and the Yuezhi who were beaten by the Xiongnu and fled to Central Asia in history were obviously correct.