Xiliang, Beidi County, Lian County.

Since out of the left valley, this side is basically the plain area of a horse and a flat river, to the east but twenty miles is the Yellow River, after the Yellow River is regarded as the land of the river loop, thousands of miles of fertile soil as the grazing place of the Southern Xiongnu.

"Gongyan doesn't have to come here with me." Standing at the head of Lianxian County, feeling the dry and cold breath in the air, Liu Yi turned his head, looked at Jiang Wan beside him and said with a smile.

Even if it has entered spring, but this northwest place is still cold and scary, Liu Yi is physically strong, and he is still wearing the clothes sewn by his wife and Deng for himself, which has the effect of keeping warm, and he still feels a little unbearable.

I am like this, not to mention Jiang Wan, whose face is already a little pale, these years, people who are not used to this northern climate have rushed here, and there are many people who have not reacted when their fingers and toes fall off.

"Wan is entrusted by His Majesty to sort out the affairs of Liangzhou this time, so he naturally needs to understand more." Jiang Wan's teeth trembled, but the smile on his face was calm.

Liu Yi's internal affairs style as an old man under Liu Bei, Jiang Wan is clear, except for being willing to delegate power, there is no merit at all, this time temporarily acting as the pastor of Liangzhou, this Liangzhou big and small things, I am afraid that he still has to do it, not to mention that Liu Yi is also in charge of monitoring the movements of the Huns.

"Let's go back, it's not difficult to do the sand table in this area." Looking at Jiang Wan's frozen dog-like but still indifferent appearance, Liu Yi was a little speechless, saying that he was here to understand the situation in various places, but a place like Lian County, which is on the verge of border stops, will encounter the problem of the Huns crossing the border all year round, and the population is only a few shots, which is obviously not an internal matter.

But it is not necessary to say that it has nothing to do with him at all, if Liu Yi does not come this time, Jiang Wan will come to govern Xiliang, and the first problem he will face is the handling of border troubles, which is also the reason why Jiang Wan followed Liu Yi here.

After all, according to Liu Yi's plan, the purpose of his move this time is to defend the border, at least to temporarily solve the trouble, so he will stay in Lian County for a long time in the future.

The charcoal basin has been burned in the room, and the smell is a little pungent, after all, this place was not built by Liu Yi, it can shelter from the wind and rain, and it also has some warmth effect, but it definitely can't be compared with the building built by Liu Yi.

"Brother Zizhong will enjoy it." Liu Yi and Jiang Wan came in, looked at the chubby figure sitting there holding the stove, and looked a little rich, and smiled.

"No way, it's too cold." Mi Zhu smiled: "I also came to the Northland when I was young, but it was all spring and summer, and it was never so cold. ”

Although it is now considered spring, there must be a difference between it and the spring and summer seasons mentioned by Mi Zhu.

"Brother Zi Zhong has a lot of experience, especially when it comes to Bian Sai Hu Min, he doesn't know much about it, how can Brother Zi Zhong not seem to be worried about the war at this moment?" Liu Yi looked at Mi Zhu and asked with a smile.

"Bo Yuan doesn't know, just like my Han people take farming as the mainstay, there are busy farming, farming idle, the Xiongnu or the entire grassland population of all ethnic groups, also have a busy time, this spring and summer season, is the time when cattle and sheep give birth, and experienced a cold winter, the animals are very thin, have to drive the livestock to the pasture in spring and summer, at this time, even if it is Shan Yu, there is no way to mobilize these people to fight, so the general Xiongnu or Xianbei people go south to plunder, mostly in the autumn and winter season." Mi Zhu smiled and explained to Liu Yi.

Liu Yi groped his chin and nodded and said, "I've heard some things from insiders, but I don't know these reasons, Brother Zizhong is quite proficient in this." ”

"No way, Zhu was born in the family of merchants, this trade with the Hu people is also a common thing, I have to wait for the prophet to know what he needs, in order to make money, go to the southern Xiongnu Anfen, it is our army that defeated the Wei army, they don't know the reality of our army, plus the battle of Guanzhong, there are also Hun troops participating in the war, they have been damaged, and they are unwilling to take risks." Mi Zhu nodded.

The Mi family was a well-known wealthy businessman in the world, extremely rich, and a Mi family could help Liu Bei pull up an army, which shows how strong its financial resources are.

It's a pity that Liu Bei was fledgling at that time, and the situation in Xuzhou at that time was also complicated, and Liu Bei couldn't cope with it.

"Can Brother Zi Zhong tell me in detail about the laws of the various tribes in this grassland?" Liu Yi sat up straight and looked at Mi Zhu, and Jiang Wan beside him also looked at Mi Zhu, as a person from Jingzhou, the Huns were too far away for him, and the one who had the most contact was probably the Hun cavalry that the Wei army transferred to fight, and now that he was in charge of Xiliang, he naturally had to figure out these things so that he could prescribe the right medicine in the future.

"Actually, whether it's the Huns, Xianbei or Wuhuan." Mi Zhu carefully recalled: "Every year in the autumn and winter season, these cattle, sheep and horses are already fat and healthy, for my merchants, the livestock at this time is actually the most valuable, but I and other merchants rarely go north at this time, only some merchants will prefer to haunt the border in autumn and winter, Bo Yuan can know why?" ”

"This time of year is the time when the Hu people go south, but because of this?" Liu Yi asked with a smile.

"Yes, it's not right, at this time, even the Han army is also forbidden to trade, and those merchants mostly run through some mountains without garrisons, otherwise this time will pass, and you will be offended."

"Afraid of collaborating with the enemy?" Liu Yi raised his eyebrows and said.

"Collaboration?" Mi Zhu shook his head and said, "Bo Yuan thinks that those Hun cavalry can attack the city?" You're welcome, even if you put the defense map in front of them, you won't be able to break the city. ”

"Why is that?" Liu Yi didn't understand a little, since he was not afraid, it was better to increase trade, it was not racial discrimination, but at this time, in terms of business dealings, the Xiongnu must be the one who suffers, even if it is an ordinary businessman, he can turn the other party around.

"From Liaodong to here, how long does Bo Yuan know how long the defense line is?" Mi Zhu asked.

"More than 10,000 miles." Liu Yi shook his head, he really didn't know this, but across the three states of Youji and Liang, this line was not short.

"Although our army has garrisons in various fortresses, but the defense line of tens of thousands of miles, there are always some places that cannot be taken care of, in the heyday of our dynasty, there are thousands of large and small border fortresses on this line, but every year there are still Hu cavalry to invade the Central Plains, which is indispensable to the credit of these merchants, those remote trails, they helped to discover, and then the Hu people took the opportunity to go south from these trails, although the number is not too much, but the losses caused are difficult to estimate." In the end, Mi Zhu couldn't help but sigh.

This is certainly not the main reason, the Hu people go south every year, and they can't attribute the blame to these merchants, but they do have an unshirkable responsibility, especially in the period of Emperor Ling, the garrison of the border fortress was greatly reduced, and there were many places on the Great Wall that were in disrepair and broken, which also provided great convenience to the Hu people.

Liu Yi nodded, it's about interests, sometimes people become crazy, especially poor people who have nothing, and they are not afraid of killing their heads.

"This is the internal cause, but the most important thing is the autumn and winter season, is the time when the Hu people will hunt, the two should have heard that the Huns are all soldiers, hundreds of thousands of people who control the strings, but in fact, only at this time, the Huns, Xianbei or Wuhuan can be called the strength to bend the bow, all for the armor to ride, in the spring and summer, the population of all ethnic groups are busy with their livelihoods, even if they are alone, there is no way to order them to put down their livelihoods to assemble, the Hu people are different from my Han people, they all say that this is just like the Han family for the Hu people, but in fact, Shan Yu is not able to fully control the people under his rule like the Son of Heaven, and the Hu people live by water and grass, which is extremely difficult to control, and therefore, sometimes it is the Huns today, and tomorrow it may become the Xianbei or Wuhuan people. ”

Jiang Wan was curious: "Then why can Shan Yu mobilize tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops?" ”

When the Huns were at their peak in history, there were even hundreds of thousands of Hun soldiers, according to Mi Zhu, the Huns did not have a strong sense of belonging to Shan Yu, how could he gather so many people.

Don't say hundreds of thousands, even if it is an army of 100,000, whether it is the Han Dynasty, the Wei Dynasty or the Eastern Wu, it takes an extremely long preparation time just to prepare grain and grass, finalize the marching route, and so on.

The Han Dynasty prepared for the Battle of Guanzhong for six years, and it was Liu Yi who laid the wooden rails, which greatly reduced the transportation time of grain and grass and the manpower required, otherwise it would be impossible to dispatch 200,000 troops at once on the issue of supply alone.

And on the Xiongnu side, even if it is now much inferior to the Southern Xiongnu, it feels like drinking water to gather tens of thousands of troops, which makes Jiang Wan a little incredible.

"Gongyan doesn't know." Mi Zhu smiled and explained: "Every year in May and June, the beasts on the grassland are quite fat and strong, and the Huns will hunt at this time. ”

Jiang Wan nodded, looking at Mi Zhu suspiciously, what does this have to do with what he asked.

"A large-scale hunt, the participants will have tens of thousands or even more people, hundreds of thousands or even millions of cattle driven in one place for hunting, and this kind of hunting, but at any time can be turned into the looting of my Han, if our Han border is strong, the troops are sufficient, they will honestly hunt, but if the garrison is empty, they will give up the hunting, the border villages, and invade the south."

Liu Yi and Jiang Wan were suddenly, no wonder during the period of Emperor Ling, Xianbei seemed to invade every year, and at that time, the border defense was indeed much weaker than in the past.

"In other words, even if Shan Yu agrees to Cao Wei to send troops now, he will have to wait until autumn?" Liu Yi looked at Mi Zhu and smiled.

"Yes, even if the Xiongnu are alone now, it is not enough to gather the Xiongnu's soldiers and horses." Mi Zhu smiled and nodded.

"Half a year is still a lot of time." Liu Yi nodded, he also had a bottom in his heart, understood the enemy's habits, and then deployed more calmly, repairing defenses, paving roads, training soldiers and horses, and collecting more intelligence and information.

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