More than two million young people who migrated to the border regions arrived in Kangju, Dayuan, and Wusun in July of the fourteenth year of the Kaiyuan era.
With the supplies left behind by Kangju, and the large amount of supplies that Cao Cao obtained by selling discarded weapons and armor to the Kushan Empire, Liu Yu, the governor of Xinzhou, was able to settle all the young people properly.
More than two million young people, facing this unfamiliar place far from their homeland, showed no discomfort or slackness, and all enthusiastically devoted themselves to reclamation and cultivation.
Their sole purpose was to accumulate supplies for the Han army and witness the beginning of the empire's rise to power. Thus, the vigorous border production movement was launched.
In November of the same year, an official road that had been under construction for three years with the participation of millions of laborers was finally completed.
This official road starts from Chang'an in the east, passes through Wuwei, Zhangye, and Dunhuang, and finally leads directly to Gaochang.
Thus, Xinzhou was finally and completely connected with the inner prefectures of the Han Dynasty.
With this official road, supplies from all over the country, both north and south, could be gathered in Chang'an via the canal, and then transported along the official road to Xinzhou at an extremely fast speed. Its strategic significance was immense.
With the completion of this official road, surrounding government offices also built a large number of post stations and inns on both sides of the road.
On the roads, besides the caravans coming and going, there were even more imperial convoys transporting military equipment and supplies.
Also in that year, the three princes of the Kushan Empire, who were in a tripartite balance of power, were instigated by Xi Zhicai, Jia Xu, and Yuan Shao to engage in a violent conflict involving more than 400,000 people.
The Kushan Wars were started by the third prince.
In June of the fourteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, Cao Cao provided his third prince with nearly 80,000 sets of armor.
Looking at his nearly 100,000 well-equipped troops, the third prince of the Kushan Empire could no longer suppress his ambition and led an army of 200,000 to attack the eldest prince.
With the support of Han army equipment, the Third Prince's army swept through the enemy lines, and the First Prince's 200,000-strong army suffered more than half its losses.
Just as the Third Prince was overjoyed and preparing to conquer the capital in one fell swoop, the Second Prince, on the advice of Xi Zhicai, sent 100,000 troops to launch a surprise attack on the Third Prince's rear.
Just as the Third Prince dispatched 100,000 troops to rescue his hometown, Jia Xu found the First Prince and used a contagious disease developed by Yu Zheng to infect the Third Prince's army with the plague.
Jia Xu's plan was so vicious that it almost wiped out the Third Prince's well-equipped army of 100,000. Even the First Prince's territory was hit by an unprecedented plague, resulting in the deaths and injuries of millions of civilians.
In the end, although the eldest prince managed to stop the third prince's attack, his territory was severely weakened.
On the other side, having learned from the previous sneak attack by the Xianbei and Xiongnu, the sneak attack army sent by the second prince encountered strong resistance along the way.
Although the raiding army caused great damage to the territory under the Third Prince's command, his soldiers also suffered heavy losses, with only 50,000 escaping back in the end.
This chaotic battle lasted until April of the fifteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, when it finally ended.
According to statistics, in this chaotic battle, the three sides suffered a total loss of more than 250,000 people, and the number of civilian casualties reached 2 million. Countless tracts of land were abandoned due to the war.
During the war, nearly one million refugees fled to New South Wales.
The overall national strength of the Kushan Empire suffered another severe blow.
However, the three princes of Kushan paid no attention to this.
At this point, they were truly engrossed in the fight, focused solely on defeating the other two factions as quickly as possible and then unifying the Kushan Empire.
During the war, all three princes witnessed the terrifying nature of the Han army's armor and weapons.
Then they all tried every means to contact Cao Cao, who was stationed in Xinjiang, and began to spend their entire fortunes to buy weapons and armor for the Han army.
June 10th, the fifteenth year of the Kaiyuan era.
After inspecting the border defenses in Dayuan, Cao Cao arrived at a military factory on the north side of the camp to check on the production of weapons and armor.
"General Cao, this is a recent order our factory received from the second prince of the Kushan Empire!"
As soon as Cao Cao entered the factory area, a factory manager ran over with an order form in hand.
"Heh~, he actually needs equipment for 100,000 people. Is this guy planning something big?"
Upon seeing the number on the order, Cao Cao couldn't help but chuckle.
A staff officer stepped forward and said, "General, according to reports, Nadamati suffered the least losses in the last battle."
He seemed to be planning to seize the eldest prince's territory while he was weakened, and then have a final battle with the third prince!
Cao Cao grunted in response, then looked at the head of the military factory, "Is the order from the eldest prince almost finished?"
"It's done!"
Cao Cao's eyes darted around: "Alright, first send the weapons that the eldest prince needs over to him. As for the second prince's side, we'll delay that for now!"
The head of the military factory hesitated and said, "General, what should I say if the second prince sends someone to urge us?"
Cao Cao grinned: "That's easy. Let him pay first. If that doesn't work, send women over. We'll expedite the process as soon as the money and women arrive!"
"I understand!"
Afterwards, Cao Cao began to inspect the manufacturing situation in the military factory.
When Cao Cao arrived at the inventory area and saw the long swords displayed on the weapon racks, he couldn't help but frown.
Cao Cao casually picked up a long sword and asked a worker beside him, "What is the steel content of this sword?"
"General, the steel content of this knife is only 50% of that of the swords worn by our soldiers!"
Upon hearing this, Cao Cao turned and tossed his long sword to Xiahou Dun, who was accompanying him, saying, "Give it a try!"
"Here you go!"
Xiahou Dun agreed, then had someone fetch a long sword commonly used by Kushan soldiers and handed it to Xiahou Yuan, who was standing nearby.
The two brothers clashed their longswords together, and the Kushan longsword snapped in two, while Xiahou Dun's longsword remained completely unharmed.
Then, Xiahou Yuan drew his own sword and slashed at Xiahou Dun's long sword again.
With a "clang," a gash appeared on Xiahou Dun's longsword.
Seeing this, Cao Cao looked at the long sword in Xiahou Dun's hand and said in a deep voice, "No, this sword is not good enough. Further reduce the steel content. It must be strong enough to cut through our army's weapons with a single blow!"
The craftsman hesitated and said, "General, if the price is lowered any further, this knife will probably break after only a few uses!"
Cao Cao waved his hand: "It doesn't matter, as long as it's better than the Kushans, they won't say anything."
Besides, if we don't break this knife and let them keep using it, how will we make money?
"yes!"
"Oh, and those too, make the armor plates thinner, make the spearheads crisper, and the bows and arrows softer..."
As Cao Cao traveled along, he offered his opinions on all the weapons.
"Oh no, this is really bad!"
Upon hearing Cao Cao's instructions, the others accompanying him couldn't help but grumble inwardly.
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