When spring arrived, the prairie outside Dingxi City finally came back to life, and many cattle, sheep and horses roamed around the settlement on the green and boundless grassland, and a few little shepherd boys rode foals chasing after me.

"Kill!" A little shepherd boy of about seven or eight years old drove a black foal that was not much taller than himself, waving a dead branch that he had picked up from nowhere, and his dirty little face was extremely excited, and shouted in the whistling spring breeze: "I am the armored cavalry under the seat of General Li Mu, and the Hu people are not coming to die soon!" ”

On the opposite side of this shepherd boy, another shepherd boy was also very vigorous, holding a hay sword that swayed a little in the wind, and shouted: "Ah, I am the armored cavalry under the seat of General Li Mu, and you are actually pretending to be me?" Let's see how I kill you! ”

Several girls cheered for them.

"Charge, charge!"

"Wan Sheng, Wan Sheng!"

"Oops, ay, ay, a......"

Hearing the shouts of the girls, the two children straightened up more and more, and their little faces showed a somewhat serious expression, their legs tightly clamped the horse's belly, and they swore not to give up if they did not win.

Amid the shouts of the other shepherd boys, two foals passed by, and one of the shepherd boys' dead branches struck the other on the chest, knocking him off the horse.

Amid the howls of the fallen shepherd boy, the winning shepherd boy triumphantly waved the only half of the wooden sword in his hand, and shouted at the rest of the shepherd boys who were cheering and clapping: "From this day forward, I am the real armored cavalry, and let me protect your peace!" ”

Yi Qusheng, who was riding a horse not far away, looked at the scene in front of him, and his face was very strange.

And next to Yiqu Sheng, Li Mu watched all this with a smile.

Looking at the shepherd boy who was riding back and forth like a victorious general to accept the cheers of his companions, Yiqu Sheng only felt that the sense of disobedience in his heart became stronger and stronger, and finally couldn't help but speak: "These children are obviously Hu people...... Damn it! ”

A bunch of children dressed as Hu people, but at this moment their hearts are cheering for becoming an armored cavalry?

This made Yi Qusheng, who was also a member of the Hu people, feel very unhappy.

"Hu Ren?" Li Mu laughed and said to Yiqusheng very seriously: "Confucius said, 'If Yi Di enters China, then China will be; When China enters Yidi, it will be Yidi. Now these people are all the people of the Zhao State, and since they are the people of the Zhao State, they should be proud to join the armored cavalry! ”

Yiqusheng rolled his eyes sullenly and said, "Don't think that I, Yiqusheng, have not studied in Xianyang, when did you Li Mu believe in Confucianism?" ”

Li Mu shrugged his shoulders and said, "No, I just think it makes sense to use this sentence to refute you." ”

Yiqusheng: "......"

In fact, what Yiqu Sheng didn't know was that this sentence was actually said by Zhao Dan to Li Mu.

Yi Qusheng, who had suffered a loss of culture, decided not to continue to entangle with Li Mu on this issue, but asked, "You called this king here today, what is the matter?" ”

Li Mu snorted and said: "Don't put that King Hu in front of this general, don't enter China and don't practice etiquette, talk to you, me, and me so rudely, shame!" ”

Yiqu Sheng shook his head and said, "Hey, don't think that I don't know about the intentions of your Central Plains people, we were also ruled by the Qin people back then. You just want to assimilate us with words and customs, so that after a few generations, we will completely forget the identity of the Yiqu people and become a part of you Central Plains people, right? If I really cultivate any of your etiquette, then Yiqu Kingdom will really be in trouble! ”

Li Mu glanced at Yi Qu Sheng in front of him in great surprise, obviously he didn't expect that Yi Qu Sheng, who was five big and three thick brains and one tendon in his mind, would be able to say such a reasonable thing.

As the envoy of the northern Zhao State, although Li Mu's duty is to be in charge of military affairs, due to the particularity of the seven northern counties of the Zhao State, the education of the Hu people is also within Li Mu's scope.

If Zhao wants to dominate China and even continue to expand its territory northward to the grasslands in the future, these Hu people are definitely a very important force.

But the possibility of raising tigers also exists, so these Hu people must be slowly educated, so that they can identify with the identity of "Zhao Guoren" from the bottom of their hearts.

For these Hu people who don't know a single big word, what kind of holy king's culture and religion is a thing that pulls calves, and it is not nonsense to let a group of children who have been riding horses and archery since they were young to pick up a pen and write?

So what to do?

In fact, as early as the time of King Wuling of Zhao, the emperor of Zhao State, who was eloquent and unprecedented, gave the answer.

"Hu cavalry moves erratically, and if you want to expel it or surrender it, non-infantry soldiers are enough to do it."

After that, Zhao began to implement a policy of assimilation on the grassland from generation to generation.

Due to the strength of the Zhao army, generations of Hu cavalry have been joining the Zhao army for decades, and in the process, the Hu people have also begun to accelerate their integration into the Zhao state.

For the people on the grassland, they don't care whether they are from the Zhao State or the Huns or the Linhu people or anything else, as long as they can survive and become strong, it is enough.

It was also in this generation of assimilation that the way of life of these Hu people began to slowly move closer to that of the Zhao people, and the Zhao people greatly narrowed the difference between them and the Hu people through the reform of Hufu cavalry and archery, and the Zhao State became the best example of Hu and Han integration - at least during the Warring States period.

Compared with the Xiongnu, Donghu and even many overlords on the grassland in later history, the biggest difference between Zhao and Zhao is that it is cultured.

It is precisely because of culture that the Chinese civilization of the Central Plains Dynasty can continue continuously, while the northern prairie can only rise one comet after another, or a short few decades, or a slightly longer hundreds of years, but after all, it cannot escape a gloomy end.

The infiltration of advanced civilization into backward civilization is actually very powerful, which can be seen from all this in front of Li Mu.

The way these Hu children speak has begun to move closer to the way they speak in the Central Plains of the Zhao Kingdom, and their heart is to join the armored cavalry and become a heroic soldier of the Zhao king, and their parents have now begun to slowly get used to living in this kind of settlement that is no different from the village, and even in front of Li Mu's eyes, there are patches of cultivated fields excavated by the Hu people.

As long as it is another hundred years, no, thirty or fifty years, it is very likely that villages will appear here, and the way of life here will change greatly, and the people here will call themselves from the bottom of their hearts - Zhao Guoren!

Li Mu originally thought that only he knew these things, but he didn't expect Yiqu Sheng to know about them.

Obviously, any leader who can build a country, even if he is the leader of a country of Yidi in a wild land, must be a person of wisdom and should not be underestimated.

Li Mu took a deep breath, slowly sat up straight, and bowed to Yiqu Sheng: "Taught." ”

Yiqu Sheng was stunned for a moment, and glanced at Li Mu a little inexplicably: "What are you doing, you are crazy again?" ”

In Yiqu Sheng's impression, this seems to be not the first time.

Li Mu coughed and said, "King Yiqu, the reason why I met with you today is mainly for one thing, a thing that is definitely a great thing for you and Yiqu Kingdom. ”

Yiqu Sheng was stunned for a moment, and then glanced at Li Mu suspiciously: "There is still such a good thing?" The king does not believe it. ”

Li Mu was obviously stimulated by Yi Qusheng's suspicious eyes, and said angrily: "Isn't it a good thing to expand the territory? I ask you, do you want to take more pasture for your Yiqu country? ”

"Ranch?" When Yiqu Sheng heard this, he immediately came to his senses, and hurriedly asked, "Where did the ranch come from?" ”

With more pasture, more cattle and sheep can be fed, and more cattle and sheep can feed more people, and more people naturally bring more soldiers and more powerful tribes.

Whether as a steppe man or as a steppe king, pasture is the most desired thing for Yiqusheng.

Li Mu smiled slightly, as if he was no exception to Yiqusheng's reaction, and after coughing, he said slowly: "I plan to cross the Yellow River and lead the army to build a city at the southern foot of Helan Mountain, if you want, you can participate." ”

"The southern foot of Helan Mountain?" Yi Qusheng's eyes rolled slightly, and he seemed to understand something: "Are you going to go to the trouble of the Yue Clan?" ”

Li Mu spread his hands: "There are no Yue's people anymore, and now it is the world of the Huns and Wusun people." ”

The expression on Yi Qusheng's face became even more strange: "So you got permission from your king to go west?" ”

"Nope." Li Mu smiled slightly and said, "I only got permission to build a city." ”

Yiqu Sheng snorted and said, "I understand, if you really build a city, the Huns and Wusun people will definitely not be indifferent." So you want to use the power of this king to provide protection for your new city? ”

"Yes." Li Mu admitted very happily: "The king's authorization to send troops to me is only 3,000 people, and these 3,000 people are enough to sweep the grassland, but it is not enough to build a city. Your Yiqu Kingdom should have 10,000 cavalry by now, right? As long as you have your Yiqu cavalry, then the success of the city building is very certain. ”

Yiqu Sheng looked at Li Mu with wide eyes: "Li Mu, although this king has a good relationship with you, but you want this king to bring the cavalry of the entire Yiqu country to you to escort?" That's impossible! ”

Li Mu smiled and said to Yiqu Sheng: "If I remember correctly, your Yiqu Kingdom seems to be suffering from famine now, right?" ”

Yiqu Sheng snorted and said, "Nonsense! It's just that there is a shortage of food. ”

In the previous battle to assist Zhao against the Xiongnu, Yiqu Sheng gained great benefits, captured thousands of prisoners, and made his Yiqu cavalry swell to the scale of 10,000 people in an instant.

But the expansion has also brought about a disadvantage of multiplication, that is, there is not enough food.

The food of the steppe people is cattle, sheep and livestock, but the pasture of Yiqu Country is limited after all, and it cannot support so many cattle, sheep and livestock that can support this huge cavalry.

Li Mu looked at Yiqu Sheng fixedly, and the smile on the corner of his mouth became even richer: "If you are willing to send troops, you can give you 3,000 stone of grain now, and after the matter is completed, I will give you 7,000 stone of food." ”

"Ten thousand stone of grain?" When Yiqu Sheng heard this, he suddenly became a little uneasy.

If it is based on the rations in the Central Plains, one person eats one and a half stones of grain a month, and 10,000 stone is not enough for Yiqu to win 10,000 cavalry for a month.

But this cannot be said in the steppe, because the grain is only a supplement for the Yiqu cavalry, and they also have meat and milk from livestock as rations.

Therefore, if 10,000 stone of grain is given to Yiqusheng, if you save a little, there is absolutely no problem in supporting the military rations for four or five months.

Li Mu hurriedly threw out another condition: "I will bring a thousand armored cavalry to attack, and you must lead the cavalry to cooperate with me in battle." Thou shalt receive forty percent of the pasture and the spoils of war that thou hast taken. ”

Yiqusheng thought for a while, and said viciously: "No, fighting with the Huns and Wusun people will kill people!" And the king's people will surely die a lot. This king wants half of the pasture and loot, and he has to choose it first! ”

Li Mu's smile became even brighter: "Yes, but if this is the case, all the Yiqu cavalry must obey my command." ”

Yi Qusheng hesitated for a long time, muttered a few words in his mouth, and then slapped his thigh: "It's so decided, when will you attack?" ”

Li Mu smiled slightly and said, "Naturally, it's ...... The sooner the better! ”