In Zhao Xilie's view, whether He Lanxiong is good, he is also good, he came to serve in the Third Military Region, to put it bluntly, the Han Dynasty does not want the two of them to have strong military power in their hands, and their own situation is better, and when Zhao Di is completely integrated into the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty has digested this huge cake, and after no longer worrying about his influence, he may have to return to the regular army one day, but He Lanxiong is different. Helanxiong is the king's brother-in-law, and he is the current banner of the Huns, no matter in which way, he has little chance of regaining military power. This tiger will henceforth be encircled in a fixed circle, surrounded by the civil affairs work that he is annoyed about.

"Commander, we don't have any enemies in the northwest, and those who dare to resist us have turned into dry bones, so there's no need to invest too much military strength in the military, right?" Zhao Xilie said.

Helan Xiong glanced at Zhao Xilie and laughed, Zhao Xilie's heart was empty, knowing that his mind had been seen through by the seemingly reckless big guy in front of him.

"The area controlled by our Third Military Region is too large, the land is vast and sparsely populated, all the farms are distributed all over the place, it is indeed not necessary to build an infantry unit, but it is not necessary to maintain a cavalry with sufficient strength, and now all the cavalry in the hands of the two of us add up, less than 5,000 people, such a force wants to control such a large area is still not enough, if nothing happens, it will be regretted, besides, our northwest, it is not without hidden dangers, there is no enemy." He Lanxiong walked to the wall where the map was hung and looked up at the huge map.

"Where do our enemies come from?" Zhao Xilie was a little confused.

Helanxiong pointed to the yellow patch on the map.

"Desert?" Zhao Xilie was dumbfounded.

"Not the desert, but the other side of the desert." Helan Xiong said in a deep voice. "Lao Zhao, do you still remember the battle between Li Xin and Wang Xiao on the prairie a few years ago?"

"Of course, although I am not a participant, I also know that the battle was earth-shattering and thrilling." Of course, Zhao Xilie knew, because Li Xin passed through the upper valley controlled by the Zhao people at that time. The sudden attack on Daijun put the Han army in an unprecedented predicament.

"Wang Jian disappeared, and disappeared into the vast desert with more than 30,000 Zhao troops." Helan Xiong stared at the blinding yellow on the map. "Wang Xiao, Wang Jian, I hate them."

Turning around, Helanxiong sat down slowly, "More than ten years ago, in the Huolan Mountain, this father and son slaughtered tens of thousands of my Hun soldiers who had surrendered, at that time. I was not far from the slaughterhouse, and when I got there, I saw a hellish scene, my comrades with their hands tied behind their backs, people stacked on top of each other, people pressed against people, and they were lying there like that. They've surrendered! ”

Zhao Xilie sat down silently, of course he knew about that incident, afterwards. Although Wang Xiao was punished by the Qin court on the bright side, everyone knew that this was just a trick by the Qin court.

"In the Prairie War, I thought I could avenge them. But in the end, he only killed Wang Xiao, but Wang Jian disappeared into the desert with the main force of the Qin army, and has not been heard from since. I won't forget him. ”

Zhao Xilie heard He Lanxiong's fist clenched.

"But it's a desert. For so many years, I had never heard of anyone who could survive through the desert. Zhao Xilie said: "Or, they have already died in the desert." ”

"Nope. No! He Lanxiong shook his head and said: "In the past, there were occasional sporadic merchants who crossed this desert, and in the catastrophe of our Huns more than ten years ago, there was also a Xiongnu tribe that finally chose to cross the desert, although they also had no whereabouts. On the other side of the desert, there is another world. ”

Zhao Xilie took a deep breath, "Even if there is another world somewhere, if it is suitable for the survival of people, there must be forces that control them, even if Wang Jian goes, life will not be easy, or they have been exterminated by the local forces." ”

"Many years ago, there were still sporadic merchants who arrived at us, and we also got some information, but it was very little, but we also sketched out the specific form of the desert according to this pitiful amount of information, but in the past two years, not even a single merchant on the opposite side has been able to cross this vast sea of sand to reach us, do you know what this means?"

Zhao Xilie shook his head.

"In the information we have received before, on the other side of the desert, the territory is equally vast, but unlike ours, where there is a strong state control, where there are many forces and chaos, some small countries close to the desert, there are bold merchants who cross the desert, both to explore and to open up a trade route, but now, there is not a single one. In fact, the National Security Bureau has been sending spies to which side in the past few years, but unfortunately, all of them have gone and never returned. ”

Zhao Xilie became a little nervous, "So, now you are deliberately controlling not to let people flow this way?" ”

"Yes, someone is consciously controlling, what, who could this person be?" He Lanxiong waved his arm, "If you want me to say, it must be Wang Jian." Wherever he went, he survived, and he had built up a force strong enough to control the borders, and he was afraid that we would reveal his whereabouts from the merchants who occasionally came to us, and that we would hunt him down, so he forbade any more merchants from coming to us. ”

"It's just speculation." Zhao Xilie said.

"Yes, it's just speculation, but I'm not afraid of 10,000, I'm afraid of what if, Wang Jian has a deep hatred with us, and now his strength is weak, and he can't be our enemy, but if one day he becomes stronger, will he cross the desert and attack us? We have to be prepared. ”

"Does the king know about this?" Zhao Xilie asked.

Helan Xiong laughed: "Brother Zhao, do you really think that our Third Military Region is just here to reclaim and open up wasteland?" We developed the northwest, not to guard against them, of course, not only for Wang Jian, he is only one of the insignificant enemies in the king's plan. ”

"So that's it?" Zhao Xilie exclaimed.

"We want to develop the northwest, this is the first step, and now the most practical role is that we will become a barrier to the important cities of the Han Dynasty such as Jishi County behind us, without us, if there is really an enemy across the desert, the first one to be hit is Jishi County, the importance of Jishi County in my Han You know, this is our Han military town, industrial town, is the core driving force of our Han Dynasty."

"Now that the first step has been basically completed, the next step is to enter the second step, to develop the Great Northwest, so that it can become a base for us to attack and retreat, and wait until our Han Dynasty has cleaned up Qin and Chu, one day, we will wave our army across this desert to see the scenery over there."

He Lanxiong turned around and looked at Zhao Xilie with burning eyes, "So Brother Zhao, don't think that we were sent here, what we are shouldering is the direction in which the Han will move forward in ten years, or decades later, of course, or when the time comes, it is not the two of us who will enjoy this achievement, but it is the strong foundation that the two of us have laid from today, and when it really comes to that day, this northwest is our forward base." ”

Zhao Xilie only felt that the blood in his body was burning, it turned out that the Han Kingdom had now begun to outline the strategic plan for ten or even decades, and he had always thought that this was just a move to settle He Lanxiong and himself!

"Don't underestimate the king's heart." He Lanxiong said with a smile.

Zhao Xilie was a little impressed.

"So what are we going to do next?"

"The foundation has been laid, two years, we have taken root here, and then, naturally, it is the development, the northwest, not only to become the barrier of the Han Dynasty, but also to become the advance base of the Han army one day, civil affairs, military two major blocks, you are responsible for civil affairs, this is the most important piece, think about it you have to understand, our first step is to feed these hundreds of thousands of people, food, water conservancy, transportation, step by step will be Mengchong into a major town in the northwest, and I, focus on the military, First of all, I plan to expand the number of cavalry to about 10,000 men, and then use one to two years to turn them into a brave and warlike force. Until the king prepares to march, our army must be able to hold our ground in the northwest. ”

"Is the commander saying that before that, the enemy is likely to attack?"

"Who can say for sure? For example, Wang Jian, if he can really control the opposite area and sit big, then he doesn't have the idea of returning to his homeland? Moreover, the king had vaguely raised his nose in the past, saying that there were many powerful powers in the far away places on the other side, and that they would not cross the desert to invade us? It's all uncertain, so we have to think for the better, but we have to prepare for the worst. ”

Zhao Xilie nodded: "The commander is right." After thinking about it, he sighed again: "When our eyes are still limited to this small place in front of us, the king's vision has been placed in a place that we have never thought of, or this is the reason why the Han can rise quickly and be proud of the world!" ”

"Yes, sometimes I almost wonder if this man is a god in the world, otherwise, how could he know so many things that we never thought about." He Lanxiong said with emotion: "For example, our sailor, Brother Zhao, now our sailor is so powerful, I'm afraid you can't imagine it." ”

"How is it compared to the Chu people?" Zhao Xilie asked.

Helan Xiong laughed, "What is the Chu people's sailor, if our sailor is a dragon on the sea, the Chu people's sailor is just a little loach at best!" (To be continued......)