Xiang Yu had been retired for some time, and Liu Bang was determined to retake Xingyang, and after a while he returned to Luoyang, he began to act.

From a military point of view, after Han Xin's training is completed, Liu Bang's military strength will catch up with Xiang Yu, but to completely defeat Xiang Yu, he still needs to control the entire north in order to form a strategic advantage.

When Xiang Yu entered the pass, there were 400,000 troops, that was only temporary, there were so many people, after returning to Chu, some of the Chu troops went home to farm, and only with the grain production of Chu, it was impossible to maintain the food consumption of 400,000 troops for a long time.

——————

In a certain house in Xiangguo, the door plaque is engraved with the three big characters of "Jinyiwei", which is used as the location of the official office of Jinyiwei.

In mid-January, Zhao Xie came here, accompanied by Xiao Ping.

Originally, there were more than 1,000 people who passed the initial registration assessment, but after Xiao Ping's screening in the past few days, those with poor potential were eliminated, and these 500 people remained.

Five hundred people will line up in the open space, and they will be uniformly trained, and they will be selected layer by layer in the future, including loyalty, psychological quality, reaction ability, espionage skills, and other aspects, and another batch of people will be eliminated.

Looking at these five hundred young faces, Zhao Xie said loudly: "You all have the potential to become a member of the glorious Jinyi Guard......

Five hundred pairs of eyes all looked at King Zhao and listened to King Zhao's speeches and teachings.

After speaking, Zhao Xie and Xiao Ping came to the side and exchanged views with each other. The current 500 people are all men, and a group of female spies needs to be trained.

The most basic requirement is that the family must be in Zhao State. No matter how well trained a spy is, there is no absolute guarantee that there will be no possibility of rebellion, and his family is in Zhao State, at least he has some scruples.

Xiao Ping suggested: "The king, the minister thinks, can be selected from the family members of the officials. If they recommend their family members to sign up and make meritorious contributions after being trained as spies, their family members will also be meritorious; If the spy has a different intention, the family is also implicated. ”

Zhao Xie felt that it made sense, agreed to this suggestion, and ordered someone to send a notice to the officials of the capital and the local government to recruit female brocade guards.

The matter of the formation of Jinyiwei soon spread in Zhao State, and everyone only knew some registration requirements, and no one knew the specific list of the five hundred people and how they were trained.

Zhao Xie gave a death order, and whoever dared to divulge this secret was a capital crime.

——————

On January 15, on both sides of the Yellow River at the junction of the eastern Zhao State and the Qi State, a group of troops from each country gathered here, and a large number of wooden boats were concentrated here on the Yellow River.

The lower reaches of the Yellow River are not as far north as the Yishui River, and the river is wide and largely freezing.

On the east bank of the Yellow River, there are a large number of sacks loaded by horse-drawn carts, and the bags are filled with grain.

On the west bank of the Yellow River, the household officials were escorted by Wen Shidi and 3,000 soldiers, and Zhang Xing, the household servant, was responsible for the grain and grass trade with the Qi State.

First of all, the Bapin officials crossed the Yellow River by boat first, and after confirming with the Qi personnel, they waved to the west bank.

Zhang Xing then ordered the Qing Officials Division of the Du Branch Division to transport the goods brought over, and a group of soldiers took a boat to the other side.

After crossing the river, after the Qi side counted the money and property, and then asked the officials of the Zhao State to count the grain, and after the two sides confirmed that it was correct, the Zhao army transported the grain across the river, and then transported it to the warehouse under the jurisdiction of the household department of Xiangguo.

This batch of grain is not small, and it can meet the needs of 100,000 troops for half a year.

——————

Donghu is an ancient nomadic people in the northern region, living in the eastern part of Saibei, and has existed for more than a thousand years since the Shang Dynasty. Originally, Donghu was a loose tribe, and later there was a king of Donghu.

As far as the present day is concerned, Donghu is a tribal alliance that includes large and small tribes of the same nationality but different names at that time.

On the surface, Donghu is the largest force in the Saibei grassland, "even stronger" than the Xiongnu.

When the Xiongnu Mao Dun had just ascended the throne Shan Yu, the king of Donghu was strong and extorted all kinds of materials from Mao Dun, and Mao Dun had the intention to unify the northern grassland, in order to paralyze the king of Donghu, he met his requirements one by one.

After He Xian bid farewell to Queen Zhao and went all the way to the north, after arriving in Jicheng, Li Zuoche had already selected people who knew the Donghu language and were familiar with the situation of Donghu, and assigned them to He Xian as his entourage.

In the past, Donghu also invaded the northern border, but unlike the large-scale invasion of the Xiongnu in the past, He Xian went out of the Great Wall and showed himself to the Donghu soldiers on the border as an envoy of Zhao, explaining that there was an important matter to discuss with the king of Donghu, and sent some of the belongings he carried.

The Donghu generals on the border sent someone to report the incident to their superiors and sent someone to take him to the location of the king of Donghu.

He Xian paid attention to the situation in Donghu all the way, after leaving the Great Wall, most of the north belonged to the grassland, although it was now spring, the weather was still very cold, and the north was still icy and snowy.

But in the Donghu settlements that He Xi saw, the Donghu people were all staying in tents, and few people came out, and the horses and sheep were locked up in the enclosures.

He Xian also paid attention to the Saibei horses, compared with the Zhao war horses, there is not much difference in size, and even slightly shorter, but they look better, according to Zhao Wang, the biggest advantage of the Saibei horse is endurance, which is more suitable for long-distance running than the Central Plains horse.

Because there are no mountains in Saibei to block the cold wind, the climate is not only colder than that of Yanguo, but also blows more violently in the north.

A few days after leaving the Great Wall, He Yan's mount was shivering with cold, and the mounts of several retinues were also like this, but the war horse that led the Donghu soldiers with him did not have this phenomenon.

One day in late January, He Xian came to the location of King Donghu.

As far as the eye can see, there are a series of tents and a large number of enclosures.

The accompanying Donghu soldiers first went to the king's tent to spread the word, and returned after a while, chattering a few words of Donghu language, which He Xian couldn't hear at all.

The interpreter pointed to the largest tent and said, "Lord He, that tent is the tent of King Donghu." The king of Donghu will meet the people sent by the Xiongnu first today, and then receive the adults. ”

In that tent, there was a group of Donghu soldiers guarding.

He Xian had no choice but to wait first, and the Donghu officials arranged him in a tent.

Although there was no snow now, the north was still howling, and it was the coldest weather He Xi had ever experienced.

However, in addition to negotiating with Donghu, He Xi had to do more things, he only stayed in the tent for a short time, drank some boiled goat's milk to warm his body, and then came out, he had to observe the surrounding environment more, and learn more about the situation in Donghu and the Saibei grassland.

After a while, he saw countless small black dots appear in the eastern sky, and after these small black dots gradually approached, He Xian saw clearly that this was a horse escorted by cavalry.

As the horse team got closer, He Yan saw more clearly, the men were mainly divided into two groups of people in different costumes, and there were ten other women.

He called his entourage and stepped aside to question a Donghu soldier.

"Are those Huns or not? Did the horses and women be given to your king by the Huns? ”

The interpreter then translates the original words.

Nadong Hu Bing immediately looked angry and said some words, although He Yan couldn't hear it clearly, he could guess the general meaning.

I only heard the interpreter say: "This Donghu soldier said: Our Donghu is the most powerful, and Mao Dun was afraid of us, so he had to send horses and women, and begged our king not to beat him." ”