Liu Tan took a deep breath and said, "Send out scouts and search as many as possible. Also, try to evacuate the people from the nearby villages into the city. Patrol the city walls day and night, and have archers take turns guarding them!"
It has to be said that having a backbone who can give orders decisively and quickly at this time can greatly boost morale.
Li Buyan and Wei Buyi were both dumbfounded before. Zhao Po Nu was full of confidence when he left. It was a serious crime to spy on military intelligence. Liu Tan did not ask, but just seeing Zhao Po Nu like this, he felt somewhat relieved.
Unexpectedly, he disappeared before his elite thousand men even had formal training!
In fact, if we analyze it carefully, we cannot blame Zhao Po Nu. He went there on the orders of Liu Che. No one knows how he contacted the Left Grand Commandant or what they said.
Liu Tan didn't even know who Liu Che sent to contact the Left Grand Commandant. If he sent someone secretly, it would be hard to say what the situation was. But if he let Gongsun Ao contact him, then it wouldn't be surprising that the Left Grand Commandant's affairs were exposed.
Because Captain Sang Qian is away, most of the military power is now in the hands of Li Buyan and Wei Buyi. However, they have recently divided the work between them. Li Buyan will lead the newly selected thousand elite soldiers, and the rest will be under the control of Wei Buyi.
This was also because Wei Deng was among that group of elite soldiers, and Wei Buyi was afraid that Liu Tan would think he was letting Wei Deng off, so he avoided suspicion.
Wei Buyi turned around and went to assign tasks. Li Buyan was about to leave when he hesitated and turned around to ask, "Your Highness, are you going to send out the thousand elite troops?"
Liu Tan said angrily, "What are we going to do with a bunch of new recruits who have never been to the battlefield? Are they going to die? Besides, we are not going to fight the Xiongnu to the death now, but to defend!"
The one opposite him is Wu Shilu, the King of the Xiongnu. No matter how arrogant Liu Tan is, he can never think that he can compare with Wu Shilu.
The reason he dared to advance recklessly in the Western Regions before was because he had Lu Xuan's support, and his subordinates were all elite soldiers and generals. It couldn't be said that the commander guarding Yumen Pass was not elite, right?
Now he has more people to protect, so he can't act rashly.
Li Buyan said in a deep voice, "Many of these people have been to the battlefield. Your Highness, after the looting last year and the subsequent construction of the city, the people generally live not far from Shuofang City. Evacuation should be quick. It's the mines that are in danger now."
Liu Tan's heart skipped a beat and he immediately said, "Then, you take them to guard the iron mine. If we can't hold it, we can destroy it and not let the Xiongnu get it!"
Among these minerals, the only dangerous one is iron ore.
Coal mines are indeed very useful, but they are located deep in the hinterland. Even the Huns may not dare to advance so deep. On the contrary, the iron mines are very close to the border and are very dangerous.
In fact, Liu Tan originally wanted to destroy the iron mine directly, or set it as a trap.
But on second thought, the Huns might not come. If they didn't come and I destroyed the iron mine, I would have to clean it up again after things settled down, which would be very troublesome.
After Li Buyan left, Huo Guang comforted Liu Tan and said, "Don't panic, Your Highness. The Xiongnu may not come to Shuofang again. Even if they do, we have Shoujiang City to defend us."
Liu Tan thought about it and agreed. In history, although Zhao Po Nu was captured and his soldiers were also captured, the Huns did not continue to attack, so they decided to stop while they were ahead.
I think this time should be no exception.
The only difference this time compared to history is that Zhao Po Nu has a map in his hand, so he should not be captured while looking for water, and... the Xiongnu general is Wu Shilu.
After Liu Tan thought about it carefully and felt that everything was arranged, he took a special look at the patrol situation on the city wall and felt a little relieved.
But he stood at the foot of the city wall, looked at it and thought for a long time before saying, "At night, the view shouldn't be very good, right?"
Huo Guang was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and said in confusion: "At night... no one can see it."
After listening to this, Liu Tan suddenly remembered three words: night blindness.
He remembered that night blindness was caused by a lack of vitamin A. In that day and age, being able to maintain basic food and clothing was already considered good, and balanced nutrition was basically difficult.
The only thing he could remember that was rich in vitamin A was animal offal.
This has to be put on the agenda. Liu Tan was thinking about this while pondering how to provide light.
He thought for a moment and then turned and ordered, "Go, have someone make a few large bronze mirrors. The bigger the better."
Everyone was a little puzzled as to what he wanted the mirror for, but they still obeyed and had someone make a large bronze mirror.
Anyway, Liu Tan has copper mines, and the production of bronze mirrors is slow. Generally, there are patterns on the front of the mirror and pictures on the back.
How could the things used by the princes not be exquisite?
However, this time Liu Tan specifically instructed that nothing was allowed, no patterns or pictures. The only requirement was that the mirror must be bowl-shaped with a depression in the middle, but not too deep. Secondly, it must be able to rotate, and a total of eight sides were made.
After finishing the eight sides, he specially found a night and asked someone to bring a bronze mirror to the city wall, divide the wall into three equal parts, and then placed bronze mirrors in the two middle positions, and a large burning brazier in front of the bronze mirrors.
Liu Tan tested it, and when he adjusted the mirror up, down, left and right, a beam of light shot down from the city wall.
After Liu Tan lay on the city wall and took a look, he couldn't help but sigh and said, "The effect is not very good. Forget it, it's better than nothing."
It's not as good as a searchlight, but it can at least illuminate the area under the city wall.
Their Shuofang City does not have a moat, or rather, there are only a few cities in the entire Northern Territory that have moats.
Liu Tan knew the importance of the moat, but the conditions were not available now, unless the water from the Yellow River was diverted. But to divert it over that distance...that was no small project, not comparable to building a city.
After Huo Guang followed Liu Tan down the city wall, he asked in confusion, "What is your Highness doing with this?"
If a fight really breaks out, the vision will not be disturbed. The Huns are all night blind, and if they attack at night, they will definitely bring torches for lighting.
Liu Tan asked gravely, "Do you still remember how Dayuan disappeared?"
Lu Xuan hadn't used any lighting when he attacked Dayuan, and his men were of course night blind. However, while Zhao Po Nu was holding back the main force of the King of Dayuan, he had managed to get to know the gates he wanted to attack!
So it can be said that the Wusun people fought blindly that time. Of course, there was lighting after they climbed up the city wall, so the most dangerous and difficult part was the distance from the garrison to the Dayuan royal city.
When Liu Tan found out, he couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine. He knew Lu Xuan could be crazy when fighting, but he didn't expect him to be this crazy.
Huo Guang didn't know this part. After listening to Liu Tan's story, he couldn't help but say, "Lu Xuan is not an ordinary person. He may not be willing to be inferior to others for long."
Liu Tan paused and looked at Huo Guang expressionlessly: "Does Prime Minister Huo know something?"
Huo Guang was always trying to please Lu Xuan in front of him. If Liu Tan still couldn't notice anything, he would admit that he was really stupid.
Huo Guang did not feel guilty at all about being exposed. Instead, he asked, "What point did your highness make?"
He looked so nonchalant that Liu Tan felt a little embarrassed. It felt a bit inappropriate to gossip about his love life with his colleagues.
He didn't say anything, but Huo Guang took the initiative to ask: "Is it about the little Kunmi's affection for Your Highness?"
Liu Tan glanced at Huo Guang in horror and found that the other party's expression did not change when he said this.
Huo Guang turned to look at Liu Tan and saw that he looked very shocked. He was a little surprised. "Why? Isn't this something everyone knows?"
Can't you see that? Do you think everyone is blind? Are the things Lu Xuan did the same as those done by ordinary allies?
Liu Tan's face flushed uncontrollably, and he turned his head away and said, "Nothing... nothing."
He now regretted bringing up this topic and hoped that something could divert Huo Guang's attention.
When Huo Guang saw his blushing face, his heart suddenly turned cold.
He couldn't help but whispered, "Your Highness, the young master of Chang'an is at your disposal. Why do you have to make things difficult for yourself?"
Then he heard Liu Tan sigh deeply and whisper, "No one is better looking than him."
Huo Guang: What’s so good about him?
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