Chapter 108 Wei Shengxue: Bombs sweep the ground, sweeping away thousands of troops
The Huns are gathering and war may break out at any time. As the commander of the border army, Meng Tian is so busy that he doesn't even have time to sleep.
Wei Shengxue knew nothing about military affairs, so he did not go up to cause trouble.
In fact, Meng Tian had asked for her opinion at the beginning, but she had only one way to resolve the war:
——Don’t care about life or death, just fight if you don’t agree!
The magic power is boundless, and the gods descend from heaven.
The artillery shells washed the ground and swept away the enemy troops.
As for tactics? What's the point of just brute force?
This simple and crude method made Meng Tian and his deputy general want to complain a lot, but they couldn't say it because of her identity.
"The gods have infinite magical powers, so naturally the strong are respected. We cannot learn from them." In the end, Meng Tian could only teach his generals like this.
The people below naturally nodded repeatedly, although they all felt that this reminder was really unnecessary. They could not learn the immortal's method even if they wanted to.
Putting this aside, Weishengxue still provided a lot of ideas. Although they were all dirty tricks, all is fair in war, and if used well, they can indeed catch the enemy by surprise.
Meng Tian was busy deploying his troops, so the task of meeting the caravan fell on Wei Shengxue.
There was no doubt within the Qin Empire about the outcome of this battle, and even the people who would reap the fruits of victory had been arranged.
After the Xiongnu were defeated, this group of merchants would enter the grasslands in the shortest possible time and establish economic ties with the Xiongnu tribes, either by providing necessities of life or ordering wool and livestock for the coming year. In short, they would immediately grasp the Xiongnu, who were in urgent need of supplies, and make them accustomed to the supplies from the Qin Dynasty, so that they would become mobile blood packs that could not do without the Qin Dynasty.
Anping Tower, the largest restaurant in the border town.
The border town is poor, and this restaurant was renovated with funds from a caravan that passed by a few months ago. The facade has been renovated to the point where people of some status can come to negotiate, and it just happens to be used today.
"One seat in box number one." The waiter in the restaurant called out and welcomed her in.
The guard who had been waiting outside opened the door for her. Inside the room were the leaders of the caravan.
When they saw Wei Shengxue coming in, they all stood up and saluted: "We are here to greet the Immortal Master."
"No need to be so polite."
Wei Shengxue waved her hand, picked a seat nearby and sat down, then got straight to the point. "Everyone knows about this mission, right?"
Several people exchanged glances, and finally a middle-aged man emerged as their representative to answer, "The Internal History has given instructions." He then introduced himself, "My name is Wu Shiluo, and I mainly deal in cattle, sheep, and horses."
Then introduce them to everyone one by one.
"This is Lv Wen. This time we're doing the snowflake salt business." Lv Wen was a middle-aged man who looked very cultured. The way he stood up and saluted made Weishengxue feel familiar.
"You... Have I seen you before? You look familiar."
As soon as these words were spoken, others looked at Lu Wen with jealousy and envy.
Some people even looked him up and down with a rather critical look, with a flash of contempt in their eyes.
——How can an old vegetable stem be favored by an immortal?
Lu Wen didn't expect that after more than a year, the opportunity would come again. He kept saying in his heart: Fortunately, I couldn't resist him this time and brought my daughter with me, otherwise it would be hard to say what the relationship would be like.
"Master, thank you for your concern for my daughter E'ou. When you first came to Daqin, you had a teacher-student relationship with her for a few days." Lu Wen couldn't wait to explain his relationship.
This made others so jealous that they clasped their hands.
Who would have thought that they had such a past relationship? No wonder he had to travel such a long distance with his underage daughter.
Wei Shengxue didn't have much of an impression of him, but the mention of that exceptionally bright little girl brought her back to mind. She exclaimed in surprise, "She's here too? I was planning to visit her in Shanfu County, but I got delayed along the way. I was planning to make another trip next spring, and I unexpectedly ran into her here."
Lu Wen struck while the iron was hot: "That girl has been studying hard since she separated from the immortal. She has accumulated a lot of questions that she wants to ask you. I have tried to persuade her, but I can't bear to scold her. It's really..." He shook his head, pretending to have a headache.
Wei Shengxue saw that his intention was to show off, but she had a good impression of the little girl E'ou, so she followed suit and said, "It's a good thing to be studious. If she wants to learn, let her learn. It's a good opportunity to let her take the exam next year."
Lu Wen was stunned when he heard this. "This, this E'ou is a woman, how could she..."
Wei Shengxue didn't understand his concerns and looked at him strangely: "The imperial examination doesn't have any gender restrictions. The Qin Dynasty is so short of people right now. If you have the ability, just apply."
Lu Wen wanted to say more, but Wu Shiluo interrupted him with a light cough and brought the topic back to the topic, "I haven't introduced these people to the Immortal Master yet."
"This is Qing from Badi. His family runs some mining business." Qing, with his gray hair tied up in a neat bun, looks like a very serious person.
She stood up and bowed, "Ba Guafu Qing, greetings to the Immortal Master."
Wei Shengxue had an impression of her. "I heard Daoist Ying Zheng mention you. You are the only supplier of certain materials for his tomb."
This was the first time Qing heard such a statement, and the smile on his face became more obvious. "It is my honor to be remembered by the Immortal Master."
"The last one is Chayan, a tea merchant from Chu." This is a very young man with a very outstanding face, which made Weishengxue take a second look.
Chayan saluted with her hands crossed, "Yan, I have met the Immortal Master. I will definitely live up to your expectations."
There was another person who was in the cloth business. He was a subordinate of the Shaofu. Weishengxue knew him, so there was no need to introduce him separately.
"You don't need to explore or take risks on this trip. You can stay in the city for the time being. If you are worried, you can temporarily move to other counties in Yunzhong County. However, when the trade is opened after the war, I hope you will not delay and do your best to open up the markets of the major tribes."
Several people looked at each other and understood the hidden meaning in her words.
——The big tribes can give them, but the other small and medium-sized tribes must give way to other caravans, and they must open up trade routes that can allow them to travel together for a long time.
This condition is very reasonable.
Then several people stood up and expressed their attitude: "We are willing to die for the Qin Dynasty."
After the matter was settled, Wei Shengxue made an appointment with Lu Wen to bring E'ou to visit, and then she got up and left.
Before returning to the government office, she first went to the temporary traveling doctor's dormitory next door to comfort each one of them.
Song Jing, whom she wanted to see the most, was still in seclusion researching penicillin, so she waved her sleeves and left again.
Everything is ready, we are just waiting for the Huns to fall into our trap.
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On the grassland, a small tribe near Yunzhong County...
As expected, the Chanyu's order to recruit soldiers came down, and Tara stood in front of the tent for a long time, holding a knife.
He looked far to the south, where the Qin city wall was located and the direction Agu left.
I wonder how he and his wife are doing in the south? Have they managed to hide it from the Qin? Has he not found enough work to support himself? Is he... still alive?
"Tara!"
A familiar voice sounded in her ears. Tara turned around and saw her tall father running on horseback.
"Dad!" Tara smiled, opened her arms and hugged her father who had dismounted from the horse.
"Dad, you must know that Qimuge has made new kumis. Come with me." Tara put his arm around his father's shoulder and led him into the tent.
Before entering the tent, Tara's father saw the extra cattle and sheep in his family and asked curiously, "Tara, where did all these extra cattle and sheep come from? The last time I came here, your sheep could not even fill the sheepfold."
Tara was not on guard against her father, and blurted out the truth when she heard the question, "Agu entrusted all his cattle and sheep to me."
After saying this, I saw my father's anxious expression and then I realized something was wrong.
He subconsciously covered up for Agu and said, "He followed the caravan to Daqin, saying he wanted to infiltrate and obtain intelligence."
Upon hearing this lame excuse, Tara's father snorted and shook off his hand. "Agu grew up under my watch. Don't I know what kind of person he is? Lurking? He would never do such a thing! Was he tempted by the riches of the Central Plains and betrayed the grasslands?"
Tara immediately argued loudly: "Agu did not betray, he is not a traitor!"
His father laughed in anger, "Great, he really did go to the Central Plains! His grandmother was a Central Plains woman, and she gave birth to a daughter who wanted to escape back to the Central Plains every day. Now even he has been bewitched."
He drew his sword and slashed at the air angrily, making a rustling sound, as if if Agu were in front of him, he would be chopped to death by him with his own hands.
Tara looked at his angry father and sat dejectedly by the fire. The flickering light of the fire reflected in his eyes, making them flash with an erratic gleam.
"Father," he said in a low voice, filled with an lingering question, "Why can't we live a prosperous and stable life like the people of the Central Plains? They don't have to migrate day after day, year after year. They don't have to worry about blizzards crushing their sheepfolds in the winter, or about dying of weakness from lack of precious salt. Why can't we live such a beautiful and prosperous life?"
The tall man looked at his child, as if he had returned to his innocent childhood, a child full of curiosity about the world waiting for his omnipotent father to answer his questions.
Then his father said, "Tara, that's because the people of the Central Plains occupied the most beautiful and fertile land and drove our ancestors to the barren and cold grasslands, leaving us homeless and without food. If one day we can fight our way back to the Central Plains, we can live a life like them, with everything we want, and enjoy their food and their women!"
The tall father was inspired by the beautiful life he imagined. He danced with joy as he described the wonderful future, as if that life was really within his reach.
"We can't beat them, so why can't we surrender to the Qin people like the Aries tribe did? We couldn't beat them when it was still called 'Zhao', and later they became 'Qin', and we couldn't even get food! Many people died, but we still couldn't get enough food for the tribe to survive." Tara thought of the earth-shaking changes in his childhood. It was during that time that their tribe fell from a large tribe, and in just over a decade, it became a small marginal tribe.
"What are you talking about?!" The father was furious, his dark face bulging with eyes as big as cow eyes. "We are the children of the Wolf God! How can we submit to those cowards who only dare to hide behind the city walls!"
"But……"
"It's nothing! We just haven't found a way to destroy those walls yet," the older man said, completely lost in his enthusiasm. "We have the strongest horses, the most powerful warriors, and the most outstanding horsemanship. Oh, and now we even have the legendary Khan, the most invincible! This time, we're sure to kill the Central Plains people and seize the food and women that will strengthen our entire tribe!"
He warned his son, "If you see Agu, you must not let him go. You must bring him back to the tribe for trial! The descendants of the Wolf God are absolutely not allowed to betray the grassland!" After that, he lifted the curtain and walked out.
"Dad!" Tara chased after him, shouting loudly, trying to sober up her fanatical father. "The Central Plains people have the sharpest swords and spears, the strongest armor, and more warriors than all our tribes combined. We're just hitting stones with bird eggs!"
He chased after him, grabbed his father's arm, and pleaded, "Why don't we just secretly do business with the caravans from the Central Plains, just like we are doing now? We only need to pay for the wool that no one wants, and we can get countless salt and tea in exchange. They don't even want the sheepskins!"
His father fiercely shook his hand away, pointed at his nose and asked, "Don't you want to join the Chanyu's conscription?"
"No, I will go."
Tara clutched the knife tightly in his arms. His dark gaze slid across his face, falling onto the vast grassland, then turning to the tent where a little light was coming through. He repeated, "For you and Amma, for my brother, for Qimuge and the children, I will go."
He could not afford the consequences of disobeying the Chanyu's orders, even if it was a journey of no return, he had to go.
The father smiled again after receiving a positive answer. He happily patted his son's shoulder with his big hand and said, "Tara, my good son, I knew you were a warrior of the grassland. Daddy will take your brothers with you to the fertile Central Plains to rob food. Then we will all be heroes of the tribe!"
"You are all Daddy's pride!"
Tara watched her father ride away on horseback. The figure seemed to overlap with the back of Agu when he left that day, and she felt lost and unable to grasp the reality.
Can they...really come back?
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The cavalrymen who stretched to the end were led by the leaders of their respective tribes to the place designated by the Chanyu. They raised their heads and looked at the people on the platform with eager eyes.
"My men, the people of the Central Plains have seized our most beautiful and fertile land, forcing us to live on the vast grasslands, worrying about the deaths of our cattle and sheep every year. Now I will lead you to take back what is ours!"
The Chanyu, wearing a fur hat, stood on a high platform, raising his arms and shouting: "Kill all the men in the Central Plains! Take away the food in the Central Plains! Enjoy the women in the Central Plains!"
Below the platform, the Xiongnu soldiers on horseback raised their swords and shouted, "Kill all the men! Take all the food and women!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
The desire for plunder was in their blood, and the warm climate, abundant food, and beautiful women in the Central Plains made their blood boil.
They don't need to be cared for as carefully as they are with cattle, sheep, and horses, nor do they need to pay constant attention to them as they do with pasture. They just need to spur their horses on and raise their butcher knives. They will have food, women, and the coming cold winter will be far away.
The nobles were thirsty for plunder, for glory and treasures more precious than gold;
The civilians were eager to plunder, eager to obtain enough food to survive the winter and precious salt.
trade?
The transactions that require payment are no match for this zero-cost deal.
Touman Chanyu stood on the high platform and shouted: "All troops, prepare yourselves and set out in three days. Let the people of the Central Plains see how powerful we are!"
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