North of Bangkok Port, in a dense jungle.
The once dense, sparsely populated forest is now bustling with activity.
Fifty thousand soldiers put down their spears and bows and picked up saws, machetes, picks, shovels, torches, and other tools to busy themselves with felling trees, chopping firewood, and burning the wasteland.
The ferocious beasts, snakes, insects, rats, and other creatures within a radius of several miles were so frightened by the spectacle that they fled to deeper areas.
With the combined efforts of 50,000 soldiers, they cleared out a plain of several thousand acres around the camp in just five days and continued to advance slowly.
Especially after Liu Wen announced that the reclaimed land would be distributed to everyone as farmland, the soldiers worked even harder.
After all, owning a piece of land like the common people of the Han Dynasty, and having a life where the whole family could live comfortably, was the life that everyone longed for.
Inside the military camp, Liu Wen's face was full of smiles as he watched the soldiers working enthusiastically ahead.
Before the army set off, Liu Wen and his advisors had conducted numerous simulations on how to attack the indigenous tribes.
However, each simulation resulted in either a defeat for the Han army or a Pyrrhic victory.
Ultimately, it's because those indigenous tribes have lived in dense forests for many years, and they are very good at setting up various traps and using their agility to ambush people.
Therefore, this vast dense forest became a natural barrier for those indigenous tribes.
Even though the soldiers he led were warriors from other tribes, the attacking side would always suffer losses.
Moreover, if the 50,000-strong army were dragged into a protracted war of attrition by the indigenous tribes, the daily consumption would be astronomical.
Although the losses were not significant due to the support of Bangkok Port, Rinan County, and a large number of merchants, for Liu Wen, Cao Pi, and others, fighting a group of indigenous tribes was a failure if the losses were too great.
Therefore, at Zhuge Liang's suggestion, Liu Wen ordered the creation of a "forest removal and land restoration" plan, which would both clear away the dense forests that were obstructing his path and increase the area of arable land.
Since developing these places will require a lot of manpower and resources in the future anyway, it's better to start now and save a lot of effort later.
If we clear away the dense forests that the indigenous tribes depend on for survival, depriving them of their habitat, they will naturally collapse on their own.
As for environmental damage, talking about that in this day and age is nothing short of laughable. People can't even get enough to eat, and you're talking to them about environmental protection? What kind of fool is that?
Furthermore, the world is so big, and there are so many people, why should the Han Dynasty be the one to protect us?
The Han army's actions quickly reached the indigenous tribes.
When they learned that the Han army was cutting down trees on a large scale and preparing to clear the dense forest bit by bit, the indigenous tribes could no longer sit still.
You must understand that they have lived in the dense forest for generations, and their food, clothing and shelter all depend on this forest. Once it is all cut down by the enemy, they can only wait to die.
"No, we have to stop them!"
"Yes, we absolutely cannot let them continue to destroy the forest!"
"Yes, otherwise our people would just starve to death!"
The leaders of several large tribes also clamored to send troops to stop the Han army's sabotage, and even the leader of the Segen tribe was furious.
There was no other way; this jungle was their foundation. Once it was destroyed, they would either have to hide in the mountains or wait to be gradually devoured by the Han army.
Of course, most importantly, the Han army's slow advance completely destroyed all their plans, rendering traps and ambushes ineffective.
If this drags on, the Han army will certainly suffer heavy losses, but they will not be able to withstand it.
Rather than slowly waiting to die, it's better to give it your all.
A dozen days later, a dozen large tribes, led by the Segen tribe, joined forces with some medium-sized tribes, gathering a total of 40,000 able-bodied men, and headed straight for the Han army camp.
Shortly after they left, Chu Han, who was in charge of sending envoys to those small tribes, also visited the last target tribe.
After more than two months of lobbying, more than forty small tribes agreed to surrender to the Han Dynasty.
Upon learning that the indigenous tribes, led by the Yisegeng tribe, had gathered all their people to fight the Han army, Chu Han immediately sent people to inform Serihan and others, urging them to mobilize all the able-bodied men in their tribes to prepare to support the Han army.
In order to gain more favor from the Han Dynasty in the future, Serihan and the leaders of those small tribes, after receiving Chu Han's notice, summoned all the people they could mobilize under their command without reservation, including those with strong physiques.
November 5th, the 28th year of the Kaiyuan era.
Just as those indigenous tribes led their troops straight towards the Han army's camp, Chu Han also led nearly 10,000 people, gathered from a group of smaller tribes, toward their homeland.
At the same time, 40,000 troops from the indigenous tribes arrived at a place 50 miles away from the Han army camp.
At this time, after this period of logging, nearly 30,000 mu of dense forest have been completely cut down.
Looking at the large open space in the distance and the Han army camp in the center of the open space, the hearts of the indigenous chieftains were bleeding.
They didn't know how to farm and didn't understand the importance of arable land. Therefore, in their eyes, the Han army's act of cutting down dense forests was a complete desecration of the homeland given to them by the gods.
After a brief reorganization, the leader of the Segen tribe led his soldiers to attack the villains who were cutting down trees.
Upon seeing the indigenous tribes attack, the soldiers, who had been working tirelessly, retreated to their camp immediately under the leadership of their officers and used crossbows and arrows to keep them outside the camp.
Just as Liu Wen had finished organizing his army and was preparing to leave the camp for a decisive battle with the enemy, Zhuge Liang also came looking for him.
"Your Highness, although those natives are not as well-equipped and powerful as our army, they have come with hatred and are in high spirits, so they will inevitably cause damage to our army."
They arrived in such a hurry that their army must be short of provisions.
In my opinion, we should first keep the camp gates tightly shut, hold our ground, and wait until the enemy's supplies are exhausted and their morale is low before launching an attack. Then we can win in one decisive battle!
"Yes, Kongming's words make sense, let's do it this way!"
Liu Wen, who was already wearing armor, nodded in agreement after hearing Zhuge Liang's advice.
Subsequently, Liu Wen ordered the army to hold their ground and not venture out, and to deploy more crossbows and arrows around the camp.
Seeing that the Han army had suddenly retreated and refused to come out, the local soldiers, who were initially in high spirits, rushed forward, ready to break through the Han army camp in one fell swoop.
However, under the suppression of powerful crossbows and arrows, they were unable to get close to the Han army camp.
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