Except for a few large countries in the northern part of the mountain, such as Wusun, most of the countries in the Western Regions were small countries that survived on a broken oasis that was far apart.

They resemble Lao Tzu's ideal form of a small country and a widow, living on oases and limited water sources, more of a city-state than a state.

The largest has more than 100,000 inhabitants and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and the average large country has tens of thousands of residents and thousands of soldiers and horses, while a small country has only a few thousand inhabitants and a few hundred soldiers and horses, and even a small point with only a few hundred people can call itself a country, but in fact it has no power.

It may sound better in the name of the country, but in fact it is not as good as a county order.

In such a situation, a single country in the Western Regions is eyeing Liuzhongcheng, and Liuzhongcheng is really not afraid, and a wave of counterattacks can defeat them in embarrassment.

Liuzhongcheng is one of the three important fulcrums of the Eastern Han Dynasty in the Western Regions, and it is also the only one that has not fallen under the control of the Western Regions countries at present.

The leader of this city is surnamed Ma, called Ma Ai, and it seems that he is a little distant from the Ma Teng family, but it is not worth mentioning.

"Speaking of which, over the years, once a small country in the Western Regions covets Liuzhong City, you have led people to repel it?"

Cao Xiu stood on the wall of Liuzhong City and looked at Ma Ai.

Ma Ai nodded.

"Yes, although I am not talented, I still have the ability to protect the territory and the people, and there are hundreds of soldiers and horses in the small countries of the Western Regions, and it is really not a problem, and they can't mobilize more soldiers and horses."

Ma Ai was very honest and what he said was quite truthful, Cao Xiu nodded, and asked again: "Since the four counties of Hexi have been in chaos, and the former Han Dynasty has withdrawn from the Western Regions, the significance of these small countries wanting to seize Liuzhong City is that they want to take advantage of the chaos to get involved in the four counties of Hexi?" ”

"It's hard to say."

Ma Ai shook his head: "No matter how chaotic the Central Plains is, it is also a big country, and the countries of the Western Regions should be clear, and a long time ago, we heard that there was a General Guo Zifeng who became the overlord of the Central Plains, and his strength was strong, and these small countries did not dare to really offend the Central Plains."

In the next thought, the reason why these people covet Liuzhong City is that they still value that Liuzhong City can become a transit and rest place for those business travelers, in the final analysis, it is still for money, and whoever can control this place can control this money. ”

"Then now that we're here, don't you feel sorry for the money?"

Cao Xiu asked with a smile.

Ma Ai also smiled.

"We are originally Han people, since the Wei Dynasty Han is orthodox, we are naturally Wei people, since we are Wei people, we should return to the Wei State, after returning to the Wei State, how can Wei Tianzi let us people have no food to eat?"

"You're smart."

Cao Xiu smiled even more happily: "That's right, I, Wei Tianzi, will never let those who obey Wei suffer, you raise the city to obey, you can be called a meritorious person in defending the city, and you will inevitably be rewarded, after that, I Wei will enter the Western Regions, and Liuzhong City is the outpost, and your benefits are indispensable, by the way, if any of you are willing to join the army, you can also." ”

"It is our honor to be able to do things for the Son of Heaven, and we are willing to obey the general's orders."

Ma Ai handed over the leadership to Cao Xiu, which made Cao Xiu very happy, reached out and patted Ma Ai on the shoulder, and expressed his appreciation and recognition.

Then Cao Xiu sent someone back to report to Cao Ren, letting Cao Ren know that he had occupied Liuzhong City and became an outpost of the army, and asked Cao Ren to give instructions for the next step.

The next instruction is, of course, to wait for Guo Peng to send a merchant to come over and do business directly with the countries of the Western Regions and restore the Silk Road.

Now let's see if these small countries have vision, whether they understand the rules, and whether they know when this time is.

Under the premise that there is no longer a strong umbrella, what should they do when the former suzerainty returns.

For those who stand obediently, they will naturally have candy to eat, and they can also eat the policy dividends of the Wei Empire's opening of trade routes in the Western Regions.

For those who are thorny, of course, we must teach them a hard lesson, so that they know what it means since ancient times.

Your dad is still your dad.

Showing military strength is the most important thing, by their side, or under their noses, to fight a battle, to show the strength of the Wei army, those small countries in the Western Regions should naturally know what to do.

When the Western Han Dynasty opened up the Western Regions, it was the laborer expedition that cleaned up the Dawan Kingdom, and the small countries in the Western Regions surrendered one after another.

After the Eastern Han Dynasty returned to the Western Regions, they also showed their strength under their noses and showed their muscles, and then these small countries sent envoys to Luoyang to ask to become vassal states.

Only when the fist is hard can the voice be loud and that someone is willing to listen, otherwise it will not work.

According to Cao Xiu's assumption, according to the level of these small countries in the Western Regions, a slight war of about two or three thousand people would be enough for them to stand up obediently.

Guo Peng had such an idea after learning that Cao Xiu had occupied Liuzhong City.

It is still a little too difficult to completely occupy the Western Regions, the place is too big, and the road is too far, but it is still very simple to make them vassal states again and obedient.

Guo also has a lot of military operations going on, and he has no plans to conquer the Western Regions for the time being, so it's good to let them be vassal states first.

In any case, the main tone of the country at the moment is construction and development.

The development project in the south of the Yangtze River is in progress, and various major projects have been launched one after another, and it is still very meaningful to open up the trade routes of the Western Regions and open up the state treasury when the money is like flowing water.

It is true that providing military spending for the army is the bulk of the current financial expenditure, and if it were not for the basic establishment of the tuntian system and the squeezing of the peasants, Guo would not have had the capital to carry out pioneering actions.

But pressing alone is not enough, there is a limit to the pressing, beyond which the peasants will revolt.

At present, not only can we not continue to increase the degree of oppression, but we must gradually reduce the degree of oppression, gradually give the peasants consumption power, stimulate domestic demand, enable domestic commerce to begin to prosper, and transfer part of the peasants' burden to the commercial level.

Therefore, it is very important to open up trade routes to foreign countries and increase commercial tax revenue.

The income brought by the Cao family caravan and the Mi family caravan to Guo is one of the reasons why Guo has the confidence to develop in Jiangnan.

The pioneering actions in Jingzhou Yizhou and Yangzhou have been going on all along, and now the pioneering operations in Jingzhou are almost over.

Zhu Ling led the army to set fire to the mountains in Wuling County, which was very ferocious, and after a big battle, the regiment wiped out the Wuling Man and killed the most murderous group of people in Jingzhou.

The four counties of Jingnan were pacified, and Wulin County, Changsha County, Lingling County and Guiyang County had no local forces that could continue to fight against the central government.

Then disarmament was declared.

Guo Peng issued an edict announcing that the size of the Jingzhou army of more than 50,000 people would be reduced to 20,000, and the establishment of the Jiangling battalion would be retained, and the other Jingzhou soldiers who had been reduced would be given land to the four counties of Jingnan for land distribution, so that they could cultivate the fields and start a family.

At present, it is necessary to retain a considerable standing army in this pioneering period, and the size of the Wei army has already increased to 500,000 and has begun to advance to 600,000.

However, maintaining such a large-scale military strength for a long time, as well as such a large-scale welfare investment, is very tight on finances, and it is also a great drain on the resources in Guo's hands.

In this era of limited productive forces, it is not conducive to future foreign development.

Therefore, Guo planned to study and improve the military service system of the Western Han Dynasty.

After the civil war is basically over, Guo Peng plans to develop a disarmament program and gradually disarm it.

Then, the Wei army's standing regular army was retained at about 200,000, and the best of the best were selected, and the training was completely carried out in the way of officers, so as to maintain combat effectiveness and quality.

The rest of the soldiers scattered out into the civilian population, which became his support for further strengthening his control over the local areas and laying the foundation for further laying the foundation for a nationwide military service system.