"I see." Liu Xian nodded to indicate that he understood.

In fact, it may not be just Ding Yuan, all parts of the Han Dynasty have to send people back to Beijing to report on their work around the New Year, and report to the imperial court on the situation of the jurisdictions they have governed in the past year. This is what later generations called a work report.

After that, they complained to the imperial court about the various situations in their respective jurisdictions. The so-called appeal, that is, the later generations applied to the imperial court for funds and applied for support and assistance to the local government.

In the new year, we will conduct a comprehensive discussion on the development of various local governance work and formulate a correct development policy.

Well, that's the rough picture, that's what it should be.

However, Liu Xian felt that Ding Yuan's visit to Beijing this time might be in vain, because he could not get too much support from the imperial court.

The border defense of the Han Dynasty has indeed become more and more tense in recent years, and the original strength of the border army is no longer enough to cope with the current situation. Liu Xian estimated that Ding Yuanjing should have wanted to apply to the imperial court for funds for army expansion.

As mentioned before, it is really not an easy task to raise an army, whether it is the court or a private person, the cost of money and food is about the same. If Ding Yuan wanted to expand the army, if there was no support from the imperial court, it would be difficult to implement it.

Historically, since Dong Zhuo had the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he returned to Xiliang and began to develop his own military horses. As for Ding Yuan, he is actually in a similar situation to Dong Zhuo. One is in Xiliang and the other is in Bingzhou. However, after the emperor's death, when Dong Zhuo led the army into Beijing, it was an army of 200,000, while Ding Yuan only had 30,000 horses. From this situation, it can be seen that Ding Yuan himself should not have much ability to raise the army on his own, and can only rely on the support of the imperial court. In this way, even if the support of the imperial court is concerned, I am afraid that it will be extremely limited.

These are all Liu Xian's guesses, and he naturally won't talk about these issues with Zhang Liao and Gao Shun now. Instead, he said: "The abnormal movements of the aliens really require us to be more vigilant. I hope that General Ding Yuan can attract the attention of the imperial court. Two big brothers, those are the affairs of the people above, we can't control it, you have been fighting against the Huns, right? Can you tell us about the situation when you fought against the Huns? It's a good idea to talk about some of your examples. ”

"Good! Speaking of the war with the Huns, in fact, our Han army fought very hard, and, in fact, we were not able to take advantage of too much. ”

Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, they were both soldiers, and they both served under the original account of Ding Yuan, and they had always fought against foreigners. It can be said that their lives are spent fighting against those aliens.

It is also this aspect that they are most familiar with and most interested in. Liu Xian talked to them about the topic of aliens, which was equivalent to touching their sore spots, and immediately talked to Liu Xian with great interest about the war with the Huns.

"In general, fighting against the Huns, we are basically in a passive situation. A lot of the time, we can't guard against it. ”

"Specifically?" Liu Xian listened and asked from time to time.

"Specifically, it is the Huns, or the ordinary aliens. Their situation is similar, and under normal circumstances, it is difficult for us to distinguish who is an ordinary person of a foreign race and who is the real murderer. Zhang Liao shook his head and said: "Let's put it this way, those aliens, on the surface, are submissive to our Han, so they are nominally the people of our Han." Moreover, our Han has also been settling some aliens who have submitted to us to live in areas close to the Great Wall. For example, we and the Hesu Plain area outside the state customs. It is the main activity area of the Huns. ”

"Our Han border army is mainly stationed on the Great Wall, and uses various entry and exit passes as key passes, such as Yanmen Pass in our state. However, we also have government offices and officers and soldiers in the Hetao Plain. ”

"Think about it, those Huns are nominally equivalent to our Han people. Usually, they also seem to be very honest, grazing when it is time to graze, and even learn from our Han people to do farming and weaving and other labor. In the face of such Huns, it is impossible for us to destroy them regardless of 3721, right? However, if you let them seize the opportunity, they will immediately turn into thieves, and they can be very deferential to you in person, and they will talk and laugh with you, and even invite you to drink the mare's milk wine of their herdsmen, but if you are not careful, they will turn around and give you a knife. Whether we Han people or Han soldiers, if we go out alone and encounter the Huns, we will basically die for life. ”

"That's the difficulty for us, if it weren't for them, it would be really hard to tell who was the thief. But by the time it was too late. Because the Huns were also very cunning, when they were not sure, they generally did not move, and when they did, it was a storm-like attack. ”

"I remember one time, I led a group of men and horses to patrol outside the pass, about 1,000 people. On the steppe, he met a nomadic Hun detachment. When they saw us, they were very welcoming, and brought out their mare's milk wine, and slaughtered some cattle and sheep to entertain us. As a result, in the middle of the night, our camp was actually surrounded by the Huns. It turned out that the nomadic Xiongnu tribe united with other tribes to attack. The battle was sudden, and the Hun cavalry rushed in from all directions. My thousand men and horses suffered heavy casualties, but fortunately, I had already been on guard, and I had a dense tripping rope and traps in the camp, so that the Huns who came into the camp had some scruples, so they retreated. They come and go like the wind, and we really don't know where they are until they show up. If they don't attack well, they will retreat immediately and will not entangle with our Han army. ”

"In fact, there are very few cases of frontal decisive battles in our battles with the Huns, which are basically attacks and counter-attacks, ambushes and counter-ambushes."

"In addition, it should be noted that the cavalry of the Huns, their war horses have excellent patience, and it is difficult for our Han cavalry to catch up with them when they are pursued. We followed General Lu Bu and tried to chase them many times, but in the end we couldn't really catch up and destroy them. ”

Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, you are talking endlessly, talking about the situation of the Huns.

Liu Xian interjected: "In this case, our war with the Huns is really too passive. If it goes on like this, it's really not a way, one will go on and the other will rise. In our Han Dynasty, there were flying generals Li Guang, Ban Chao Bangu, Wei Qing, Huo Qubing and other famous generals, who could deter the Huns, and there were also Mengwu Mengkuo who gave the Huns a great blow in the pre-Qin period. Now there is also Flying General Lu Bu, but this is really not a long-term solution. If this continues, the Huns will always become the henchmen of our Han Huaxia. ”

"Isn't it? It's a pity that we don't have many cavalry, plus the problem of war horses. Otherwise, according to Gao's meaning, he would directly enter the desert steppe and destroy all those Huns. Gao Shun said with some anger.

"Hehe, that's unlikely. The desert steppe outside the Guan, thousands of miles away, vast and boundless, could not destroy the Huns just by fighting. What's more, in this case, it is only a symptom but not a cure. Even if the Huns can be destroyed, there will still be Wuhuan people, Xianbei people, and countless other alien people. Liu Xian shook his head and smiled.

"Yes! We in Huaxia don't know how many years we have been entangled with those aliens outside the border. Millennium? Thousands of years? During the period of the Second Emperor of Yan and Huang, we have been fighting against those aliens. It seems that this is the fate of our Han people. Zhang Liao said with some emotion.

"Could it be that we will never be able to solve our frontier worries?" Gao Shun is not angry.

Liu Xian smiled and didn't say anything more on this issue.

In a country, the problem of border defense is basically eternal. After the destruction of the Xiongnu, there will be other alien people, and when the alien races are completely unified, then they will border with other countries, and new border problems will arise.

In later generations, China also had border problems with the Three Kingdoms of Afghanistan, Nanyue and other countries, and friction continued.

But not to mention the future generations, now, to completely solve the problem of the Huns and those aliens, it is not impossible to say that it is impossible. But this takes time, and it needs a really strong and powerful man, and most importantly, there needs to be a Ming Jun. In this way, it will be possible to formulate various means of countering the country. or repression or subjugation, and then assimilation.

In the final analysis, it is a military strike, cultural erosion. Then, through reasonable integrated governance, appropriate relatively fair and just laws regulate the order of their life and production.

The powerful and powerful Han Dynasty can make those foreign peoples who live in the desert steppe live a relatively prosperous and prosperous life. In this way, under the governance of the Han Dynasty, they will slowly and naturally be assimilated, and finally become an inseparable part of the Han Dynasty.

But now, it is useless to talk to Zhang Liao and Gao Shun about this.

"Okay, two big brothers, drinking and drinking, the affairs of aliens, we can only do our duty as a Han soldier, they are here, let's just fight back." Liu Xian raised his glass and said.

Brother Liu Xian said the same. Come on, it. ”

Zhang Liao and Gao Shun also raised their glasses.

Liu Xian put down his wine glass, invited the two of them to eat some food, and then said: "Two big brothers, then again, don't you plan to stay in the border army and haven't thought about where to go in the future?" “

"Where to go in the future? Hey, we're still young, and we really haven't thought about it. We think that under the account of Lord Ding Yuan of Bingzhou, it is not bad to follow General Lu Bu to fight the Huns. When we are old and can't move, we should have accumulated enough military merits, and there should be no problem in finding an official and a half-position at that time, right? Gao Shun said.

Zhang felt that men should fight on the battlefield. A certain person rarely convinces people in his life, but he really obeys General Lu Bu, so Zhang plans to follow General Lu Bu in his life and fight the Huns to the end. As long as Zhang is here, he will never let those aliens kill our Han and cause trouble to our Han! When Zhang Liao talked about Lu Bu, his eyes did have a bit of fanatical admiration.

"Ha, I'm afraid it's hard to realize your idea." Liu Xiandao.

"Oh? Why did Brother Liu Xian say this? Zhang Liao asked puzzledly, and Gao Shun also looked at Liu Xian.

"Two big brothers, you are in the border army, so you may not know much about some of the actual situation of the Han. In fact, it's hard to know. Liu Xian thought about it, and still said: "Let's say this, there are some things that may be difficult for you to understand for a while, but you just listen to them." “

"Brother Liu Xian, please."

"Okay, what I want to say to you is that compared to our current Han, in fact, aliens are not the biggest threat to our Han. In your hearts, you will definitely think that the aliens, the Huns, are your lifelong enemies, even the only enemies. You are full of enthusiasm, dedicated to defending your family and country, and intend to use your lifelong enthusiasm and loyalty to the Han to guard our borders. However, perhaps...... It won't be long before you find out that your enemies are no longer the Huns. When the time comes, you will have to face more and more different enemies. The most heartwarming thing is that your future enemies may be your friends today. “

"Huh? Ha ha...... Brother Liu Xian, are you joking? So mysterious? Is it possible that the enemy of the future will be today's friend? This...... Impossible. Gao Shun laughed with a big grin.

"Brother Liu Xian...... What do you mean? Could it be that you and I ......" Zhang Liao pointed at Liu Xian and himself with some confusion, he thought that Liu Xian was talking about the people here.

"No, no, your future enemy is not mine, of course, not too absolutely." Liu Xian waved his hand.

"That said, is it still possible?" Zhang Liao seemed to have mastered something, but he couldn't say it clearly for a while.

"Alas, two big brothers, in fact, the biggest enemy of our big man has always been ourselves. Haven't you heard of it? Some rumors that the big man is exhausted and the world will be chaotic? Of course, rumors are just rumors, and they can't be true. But you should all know that now our Han court is corrupt and traitors are in power, right? Liu Xian looked at the two of them.

Zhang Liao and Gao Shun glanced at each other, but they each shook their heads, Zhang Liao said: "The imperial court seems to be too far away for us, and we occasionally hear about it, but Zhang really doesn't know it." ”

"It's okay if you don't know. But you should always have a personal experience, whether you are at the border or in other places in Dahan. What I see and feel, is the life of the people everywhere not so easy in today's Han Dynasty? Is there a displacement of Han people everywhere? Is there a road everywhere with frozen bones? If you can see this, then you should have some feelings, today's big man seems to be really getting worse day by day, and it is getting more and more chaotic. ”

"This ...... It seems to be exactly what Brother Liu Xian said. Zhang Liao's tone became a little heavy.

Gao Shun also looked thoughtful.

The big man is exhausted, Zhang Liao or Gao Shun have naturally heard of this sentence, but they don't take it to heart. It's just a rumor. However, this big man is indeed getting more and more chaotic. They do have a deep understanding of what Liu Xian said.