It was still more than half a month after Jicheng was breached, Xiang Kangcai personally led 50,000 troops to Yandi, and joined forces with Xia Shuo, Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong's former counterinsurgency army.

Originally, Xiang Kang didn't need to come to Yandi anymore, he only needed to issue a few orders in the rear, and adjust the personnel and government affairs of Yanguo to end the affairs of Yandi, but after careful consideration, Xiang Kang still decided to come to Jicheng with 50,000 troops to personally deal with the aftermath of the Yandi battlefield, but the more than 40,000 Qi troops led by Zhu Jishi turned around and withdrew to Qidi halfway, and ran away in vain.

When Xiang Kang arrived in Jicheng, needless to say, the soldiers of the Han army of course lined up in three armies, bowed to greet them, the scene was very grand, and countless Yandi people also rushed to see Xiang Kang's tyrant demeanor, Xiang Kang was also accustomed to this, and he was very skilled and quickly completed the formalities, and then ordered to reward the three armies, set up a banquet in the imperial camp, and celebrated the victory of the counterinsurgency war with the Han army.

Xiang Kang is sometimes very anxious, after drinking happily after three rounds of drinking, Xiang Kang rewarded him on the spot, and gave Xia Shuo, Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong, who had made great contributions, each of them with 2,000 households, and Gongsun Tong was named Yan Xiang, and Tao Xi was named Yan Guo's captain, so as to reward them for their courage in fighting and quickly quelling the rebellion. Gongsun Tong and Tao Xi were both from martial arts, and they didn't expect that Xiang Kang would hand over the real power of Yan Kingdom to them in advance, so they naturally left the table quickly and thanked Xiang Kang.

"Two Aiqing excuse me, get up quickly." Xiang Kang personally picked up Gongsun Tong and Tao Xi, the two new-generation generals, and took their hands and said: "I handed over the real power of Yan Kingdom to you, in addition to rewarding you for quickly quelling the rebellion, more importantly, I trust you, I believe that you will be able to complete my next entrustment, change the original situation of Yan Land, and prepare for our next strategic plan." ”

"Please instruct Your Majesty, Your Majesty and others will swear to complete the mission assigned by Your Majesty!" Gongsun Tong and Tao Xi replied in unison.

"No need to die, it's not that serious." Xiang Kang smiled and said: "The task I have given you is also very simple, that is, to control the border trade of Yandi for me, to block every gap in the smuggling of prohibited goods as much as possible, and not to let our cloth, salt and iron tools be smuggled to the grassland at a low price by those traitors who harm the country and benefit themselves, and implement the national policy of our Han to fight the Xiongnu barbarians through trade." ”

"Gongsun Xiangguo, Tao Taiwei, this is also the thing that our Majesty is most concerned about." Chen Ping next to him interjected and said: "Before this, although Guangwujun controlled the border trade in Daijun and Yanmen, Yanguo has always been a big mouth, and all kinds of prohibited goods necessary for the Xiongnu are smuggled to the grassland almost every day, resulting in the loss of our taxes, and the national policy of forcing the Xiongnu to sell horses is also difficult to implement, so after the two of you take over the government and military affairs of Yandi, you must put the fight against smuggling and the blockade of border trade in the first place, so that the national policy of our Han court can be truly implemented." ”

"Your Majesty rest assured, Prime Minister rest assured." Tao Xi, who was in a hurry, immediately rushed to say: "From tomorrow, your subordinates will issue a strict order, who else in the Yandi army dares to smuggle contraband, or shield those traitorous profiteers to smuggle contraband, and bury all those caught alive!" All their families were reduced to slavery! ”

"In troubled times, it is indeed indispensable to use heavy codes to crack down on smuggling, and to punish harshly and harshly enforce the law." Xiang Kang rarely praised the tyranny and severe punishment, and then said: "But it is too rigid and easy to break, Tao Aiqing, you can't blindly use force to solve the problem, how to manage the border trade, you and Gongsun Aiqing have to use their brains more, and in case of trouble, they must discuss with Zhao Shi Aiqing and Zhai Aiqing, who are familiar with the situation in Yandi." ”

After that, Xiang Kang turned to Zhao Shi next to him and said to Zhai Xu: "Zhao Shi Aiqing, I have made you a fake appearance of Yan State, Yuan Marquis, Zhai Aiqing, you are still the county guard of Guangyang, Ho Hou, help Gongsun Aiqing and them handle the affairs of Yan Kingdom well, and I will naturally have another reward in the future." ”

Zhai Xuan and Zhao She, who were actually involved in the rebellion, were overjoyed when they heard this, and they also hurriedly saluted Xiang Kang, and Xiang Kang also gave Li Lao a thousand household marquis, Li Scoop thanked him happily, and said cautiously: "Your Majesty, can your subordinates ask more, about your subordinates' sister, that is, the wife of the traitor Zang Yan, I don't know how Your Majesty plans to send it?" ”

Speaking of this, Li Lao hurriedly added: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty knows that the family members of the traitor deserve death, and Your Majesty should not intercede for her sister, but Your Majesty is such a sister, and Your Majesty's mother has always loved her, and her mother also knelt down to Her Majesty for this, and Your Majesty is really ......, and ...... it." ”

"Aiqing pleaded with me for filial piety, and I won't blame you." Xiang Kang said smoothly: "If I am not mistaken, Aiqing, your sister seems to have only one daughter, right?" The family of the traitor cannot be forgiven, this is the law of the country, and I cannot violate it, so let's do it, for the sake of Aiqing's face, I will exempt your sister and your niece from the death penalty, accept them as palace slaves, and fulfill your filial piety Aiqing. ”

My sister and niece don't have to be killed, although they were punished as palace slaves, they also went to the palace to be slaves, food, clothing, housing and transportation were actually much better than ordinary people, Li Scoop was of course overjoyed when he heard it, and quickly nodded to Xiang Kang again and again, and thanked Xiang Kang again and again for his mother and sister. However, Xiang Kang's kindness only ends here, in order to warn future generations, even if Zang Di's subordinates did not mercifully kill the family members of Yan Guo who betrayed the civil and military, Xiang Kang still ordered all the other family members of Zang Di's father and son to be executed, and killed some innocent people indiscriminately.

The matter was not over, and on the second day, Xiang Kang received two more reports related to the Yandi rebellion, the first was that after receiving Zang Di's letter of rebellion, Wu Rui, the king of Hengshan, not only immediately took down Zang Di's envoy, but also personally escorted Zang Di's envoy to Guanzhong to meet Xiang Kang, so as to prove that he had absolutely no intention of rebellion. Xiang Kang, whose history has not yet been sparse to the extreme, smiled when he heard this, and couldn't help but say: "No wonder he is the only king with a different surname who can avoid Liu Laosan's butcher's knife, and he is really careful in his work." Anyway, Liu Laosan can tolerate him, and of course I can tolerate him, so let him, the king of Hengshan, continue to be the king. ”

After being trapped in the Yimeng Mountains for nearly a month, Han Xin, who was hungry and cold, saw that there was no hope of going north to Yandi, so he could only take the initiative to return to Chu and find his old boss Feng Zhong to surrender. In addition, Feng Zhong also presented a military book given to him by Han Xin, which was also a military book compiled by Han Xin himself when he was idle in Huaiyin.

After carefully reading Han Xin's military book and thinking about it for a long time, Xiang Kang still gave Feng Zhong a face, and ordered Han Xin to be escorted to Guanzhong and handed over to Zhang Liang's servant archery temple to take care of, and let Han Xin help the doctor of the servant shooting mansion to sort out and compile military books as a guilty person, giving Han Xin a chance to spend this life in obscurity - of course, if Han Xin still wants to play any tricks, then Xiang Kang just wants to spare him again, and there is no reason to spare him anymore.

After dealing with these affairs, Xiang Kang took time out to lead some Han court civil and military forces to the north to Shanggu County, crossed Zhangjiakou to inspect the grassland, tour the grassland scenery, understand the various situations on the grassland on the spot, and study the next step against the Xiongnu combat strategy.

This is also the first time Xiang Kang came to the grassland in his previous life and this life, the vast green grassland made Xiang Kang refreshed, but also made Xiang Kang worried, looking at the horizon in the distance, Xiang Kang didn't have a head and a brainless sentence, "If I don't do it for the rest of my life, I'm afraid it will be difficult to see the scene of the Han army sweeping across the grassland and completely expelling the Huns." The grassland is too big, and our national strength is too much to consume in the civil war, so it is estimated that at least I will have to wait until I am too old to walk, and even wait until my son's generation, before it is possible to seal the wolf Juxu, set foot on the Guyan Mountain, and drive those Hun barbarians away from the grassland. ”

"What Your Majesty said is very true." Lou Jing next to him echoed: "For the Hun barbarians, we can only be prepared for a long-term hard battle, and we must not covet it overnight, it is absolutely impossible to do." ”

Xiang Kang nodded, just thinking about whether the stirrup and the Takahashi saddle should be invented in advance, who would have thought that Lou Jing said again: "Your Majesty, about the Huns, Your Majesty has always had an immature idea. At present, as far as our national strength is concerned, it is definitely difficult to do if we want to go to Guyan Mountain and go straight to Shan Yuting, and the same is true for the Huns, if they want to enter the Central Plains on a large scale and occupy our hinterland, they do not have the strength, but if the Huns just want to harass our borders and make our border army exhausted, it will definitely not be difficult to do this. ”

"We need time to recuperate and restore our national strength, if the Xiongnu continue to harass our borders and force us to station heavy troops in northern Xinjiang for a long time, the situation will definitely be unfavorable to us." Lou Jing continued: "Therefore, Your Majesty thinks that it is best for us to find a way to ease relations with the Xiongnu as much as possible, strive to temporarily pacify the Xiongnu barbarians, and reduce the war and conflict with the Xiongnu as much as possible." In this way, we can greatly reduce the burden of money and food, and at the same time, we can disarm and rest our frontier soldiers, resume farming, and restore national strength at a faster speed. ”

"It's not like we haven't done it before." Xiang Kang said: "The last time I asked the Huns for peace, you still had to do it, what is the attitude of the Huns and barbarians, have you forgotten?" ”

"Your Majesty, may we try again?" Lou Jing said: "Your Majesty suggests, in addition to seeking peace this time, we might as well send another royal lady to marry the Xiongnu Shan Yu, Your Majesty, although you have no sisters, but you can choose a woman of the right age and appearance from the Xiang family, think of sisters, and be named a princess, and then send the princess to the grassland to marry the Xiongnu Shan Yu and enter into an in-law alliance ......." ”

"Needless to say!" Xiang Kang was very rare to interrupt his subordinates to offer advice, and said: "I will never do anything about relatives, it's too embarrassing." And it's useless to do this, the Huns are cruel and untrustworthy, and when they want to beat us, they will definitely not care about any in-laws. ”

Lou Jing, the historical policy maker of peace and proximity, refused to give up, and listed various benefits of peace and proximity to Xiang Kang, but Xiang Kang resolutely shook his head and refused to adopt it, the reason is that Xiang Kang can't pull this face, and the second is that Xiang Kang's history is sparse and he knows that the Han Dynasty he inherited is not like Liu Laosan when he founded the country, and the national strength was completely exhausted by the civil war, and both the economic and military foundations were much better than when Liu Laosan founded the country, so Xiang Kang was resolutely unwilling to adopt a peace policy that would humiliate the Han people in later generations.

However, Lou Jing's persuasion also reminded Xiang Kang of a major event, which made Xiang Kang think in his heart: "If I remember correctly, Liu Laosan should have been after the siege of Baideng, and found that he was forced to make peace after finding that he could not defeat the Xiongnu, and the siege of Baideng was that the Xiongnu sent troops to surround Liu Laosan, which means that the Xiongnu may also send the main force of the whole country to fight me, if I encounter such a situation, will it be an opportunity?" ”

After carefully thinking about it for a long time, an extremely bold idea suddenly appeared in Xiang Kang's heart, and then Xiang Kang suddenly turned to Chen Ping next to him, and said: "Mr. Chen Ping, with our national strength, we are now unable to go straight to Guyan Mountain and step on the court, but if the Xiongnu raise a national army to the south, we will also meet it with the main force, and the main force of the Xiongnu will fight on the border of the Han Dynasty, do you think we are sure of winning?" ”

Chen Ping quickly understood what Xiang Kang meant, and after carefully thinking about it for a while, Chen Ping immediately said, "Yes!" First of all, the first point is that our weapons have a huge advantage, and we have a chance of winning with weapons. Second, the veterans of a hundred battles that we have been trained through real experience have just been disarmed, and the martial arts of cavalry and archery have not yet become unfamiliar, and they can immediately become an elite soldier when they pick up weapons again, which is the victory of the army. Third, in the border war, our national strength can also afford the main Han force to fight on the border for several months, which is a geographical advantage. With these three victories, even if we don't have a ten-percent chance of winning in front of the Huns, we have a chance of winning six-seven-percent. ”

After pointing out these three advantages, Chen Ping said: "In fact, Li Mu, the eldest father of Guangwujun, did this back then, deliberately tolerated it again and again, lured the Xiongnu to attack, and then concentrated the elite soldiers and strong generals to fight with the Xiongnu in Daidi, and fought for the Zhao State for more than ten years of peace in the north. ”

"Then we'll do it!" Xiang Kang made up his mind and said: "It's March, there is still plenty of time, before this winter, we are ready for a decisive battle with the main force of the Xiongnu on the border, and at the same time we are trying to provoke the Xiongnu to go south this winter, take the opportunity to fight a decisive border battle with them for defense and counterattack, and strive for more than ten years of border peace in a battle, so that we can rest and recuperate and restore our national strength." ”

"Your Majesty, if we can do this, we can indeed get peace on the border for a long time without having to communicate with our relatives." Chen Ping praised it, and then said: "But if you want to do this, it is not so easy, first of all, it is not so easy to completely anger the Xiongnu and let them go south on a large scale this winter as we hope." After all, now this Xiongnu Shan Yu is also a generation of heroic heroes, and in order to temporarily stabilize the Donghu tribe, he was even willing to give away his wife. ”

"Think more about it, I believe that with your cleverness, Mr. Chen Ping, you will definitely be able to come up with a way to make the Xiongnu go south on a large scale this winter according to our wishes."

Xiang Kang habitually pushed the problem to Chen Ping again, kicking the grass under his feet that was already higher than his knees, Xiang Kang suddenly remembered one thing again, and hurriedly turned his tail to Zhao She, who accompanied him, and said: "Zhao Shi Aiqing, the wind blows the grass and sees the cattle and sheep, when will the grass of the grassland grow to be taller than the cattle and sheep?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, it's so high after midsummer." Zhao Shi hurriedly replied: "In autumn, the grassland gradually begins to wither yellow, when the wind blows, the grass waves rise and fall, you can see the cattle and sheep in the depths of the grassland, at that time the scene of the grassland is also spectacular, if Your Majesty is interested, you can come back in autumn to enjoy the grassland scenery." ”

"Definitely not time." Xiang Kang smiled bitterly and said: "I didn't ask this, I just vaguely remembered, it seems that when our Central Plains army was fighting with the Xiongnu army, it used the tactic of setting fire to the grassland in the autumn, but I don't know if I remember wrong." ”

"Your Majesty is not mistaken." Zhao Shi hurriedly said: "Your Majesty once heard that when the Tyrannical Qin army was fighting with Yiqu, they used this tactic to burn the grassland so that the cattle and sheep of the Yiqu tribe could not get close to the border to eat, so as to limit the scope of activities of the Yiqu tribe. ”

"Then why didn't you use this tactic when you assisted Zang Tu rebels to guard the frontier?" Xiang Kang asked.

"Your Majesty forgives you." Zhao Shi hurriedly said: "We were afraid of provoking the Huns and attracting retaliation from the Huns, so we didn't dare to use this tactic." Because the Xiongnu regarded cattle, sheep and livestock as their lives, if we cut off the rations of their livestock, they would definitely send troops to retaliate. ”

Xiang Kang laughed when he heard this, turned to Chen Ping next to him and said, "Mr. Chen Ping, look, isn't there already a way?" That's it, and if you lead our advisors to think of more ways, I don't believe that you won't be able to provoke that barbarian from Maudun. ”