In the Zhongshan Palace, Yongxing City, the capital of the Great Zhou Kingdom, Xu Wu, the king of Zhongshan, shouted angrily: "That rogue in Jiangpu actually ran to Baiguo with the Black Armor Army, and gave Bozhou, Haizhou and Shouzhou to the Han people, it is really not enough to make a plan!" ”

Strategist Chen Ji sighed and said: "With the black armor army's run, the alliance formed by the seven forces of our Great Zhou Dynasty is equivalent to falling apart, and then the Han army can take measures to break the other six forces." ”

Xu Wu, the king of Zhongshan, took a deep breath and said: "Those rogues, this king will not believe them anymore, but Deng Ying, the king of Kaiping, Zhu Yong, the king of Dingxiang, and Zhang Jun, the king of Xuanping, this king thinks that they can still unite with them and resist the Han army together." ”

The strategist Chen Ji nodded gloomily and said: "Now it has to be like this, presumably Deng Ying, King of Kaiping, Zhu Yong, King of Dingxiang, and Zhang Jun, King of Xuanping, should not oppose the alliance between the four princes." ”

Xu Wu, the king of Zhongshan, continued: "This time, the one million troops sent by this king to the territory of the Black Armor Army have no loss, but there are only more than 4.5 million troops under the command of this king, and once the Han army invades the territory of this king, with more than 4.5 million troops, it will not be enough to resist the army of the Han State at all, so this king is ready to start recruiting young people in various cities for training now, so as to cooperate with the Zhongshan army of this king and guard the cities." ”

Because Xu Wu was named the king of Zhongshan by the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the army under Xu Wu was called the Zhongshan Army, and the army of Deng Ying, the king of Kaiping, was called the Kaiping army, the army of Zhu Yong, the king of Dingxiang, was called the Dingxiang army, and the army of Zhang Jun, the king of Xuanping, was called the Xuanping army.

The strategist Chen Ji said approvingly: "What the lord said is that our Zhongshan army really has to prepare early, and according to the strength of the Han army, it is likely to enter the five states controlled by our Zhongshan army. ”

Deng Ying, King of Kaiping, Zhu Yong, King of Dingxiang, and Zhang Jun, King of Xuanping, still recognized the alliance between the four princes, and these three princes also jointly elected Xu Wu, the king of Zhongshan, as the leader of the alliance.

After the Han army captured Bozhou, Haizhou and Shouzhou without bloodshed, it soon invaded the territory of the Red Dragon Army of Zhou.

As one of the three major rebels of the Zhou State, the Red Dragon Army also owns the territory of three states, and the army is about 1.5 million.

After the Han army invaded Luzhou, which was controlled by the Red Dragon Army, Lu Hao, the commander of the Red Dragon Army, gathered 1.2 million troops, as well as two million young men who were temporarily recruited, and took the initiative to fight a decisive battle with the Han army.

The only troops of the Han army participating in this decisive battle were the Tiger Army, the Xuanjia Army, the Cowardly Xue Army, the Beifu Army, the Qin Ruishi, the Trap Camp and the Wei Wushu, and the troops of the Western Xinjiang Army, the Gaochang Army and the Xuanwu Army had not yet entered Luzhou controlled by the Red Dragon Army.

However, the total strength of the seven elite units of the Han army reached 3.1 million, which was not less than the strength gathered by the Red Dragon Army, and the combat effectiveness was much stronger than that of the Red Dragon Army.

The decisive battle between the Red Dragon Army and the Han Army lasted only half a day, and ended in the crushing defeat of the Red Dragon Army, the commander of the Red Dragon Army, Lu Hao, died in the chaos, 1.2 million Red Dragon Army, about a quarter were killed in battle, and the rest were almost 900,000 people, becoming prisoners of war of the Han army.

The two million young men temporarily recruited by the Red Dragon Army lost about 400,000, and many of the 400,000 young men who lost were trampled on each other and died, and the remaining 1.6 million young men also became prisoners of the Han army.

In this battle, the losses of the seven elite troops of the Han Dynasty were less than 10,000, which shows how big the gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides is.

The main force of the Red Dragon Army was almost lost in this decisive battle, so the next Han army in the three states controlled by the Red Dragon Army, basically did not encounter much resistance, and at the end of November of the 2nd year of the Han Dynasty, Luzhou, Shuzhou and Huangzhou controlled by the Red Dragon Army also fell into the hands of the Han army.

At this time, Heishuitai had already learned the information that the four princes of Zhou had once again formed an alliance, so Liu Ji set the next target of the Han army as the White Lotus Army.

In the state governor's mansion in Huai'an City, Xuanzhou, Zhou State, Yang Sen, the commander of the White Lotus Army, said to the military advisor Guo Chong in a deep voice: "Now the three states controlled by the Red Dragon Army have all been captured by the Han army, if nothing else, the next target of the Han army must be our White Lotus Army!" ”

The military advisor Guo Chong said helplessly: "My lord, it seems that I can only accept the conditions of the Qiang tribe, otherwise we will not be able to stop the invasion of the Han army just by relying on the strength of our White Lotus Army." ”

Yang Sen, the commander of the White Lotus Army, sighed and said: "A million weapons and 200,000 sets of armor are nothing, but the Qiang tribe also asked us to cede the three counties of Yonghe, Yuanyang and Matang in Raozhou. ”

The lofty mountains in the east of the Great Han Dynasty are called the 100,000 Great Mountains, while the lofty mountains and mountains in the south of the Great Zhou Dynasty are larger and are known as the Million Mountains.

Compared with the Eastern Barbarians, there are only two strong clans, and there are five strong clans that can be called strong in the Nanban, namely the Diqiang people, the Lano people, the Jihu people, the Nani people and the Nandai people, among which the Diqiang people are the weakest, but they also have a population of about 40 million, and the territory has tens of millions of square kilometers of vast forests.

Most of the prefectures and counties in the south of the Great Zhou Kingdom are adjacent to the territory of the Diqiang people, and a small part is adjacent to the territory of the Lano people.

Because the men of the various tribes of the Southern Barbarians were trained in hunting and fighting from an early age, just one Qiang tribe could gather almost 16 million men.

The military advisor Guo Chong hesitated for a moment and said to Yang Sen, the commander of the White Lotus Army: "My lord, now that the Han army is about to come to the city, let's get through this difficult hurdle first!" ”

"Can you ask the four princes for help?"

"Lord, since the Black Armor Army fled without a fight, the four princes will no longer believe in our White Lotus Army, this time the Red Dragon Army and the Han Army battle, the four princes did not send a single soldier to support the Red Dragon Army!"

There is a lot of contradiction between Yang Sen, the commander of the White Lotus Army, and Lu Hao, the commander of the Red Dragon Army, and it can even be said that there is hatred, the younger brother of Yang Sen, the commander of the White Lotus Army, died at the hands of the Red Dragon Army.

After pondering for a long time, Yang Sen, the commander of the White Lotus Army, gritted his teeth and said: "Then tell the Tusi Rida Danmu of the Diqiang tribe that our White Lotus Army can cede Yonghe County, Yuanyang County and Matang County in Raozhou to the Diqiang tribe, but the Diqiang tribe must first send troops to help our White Lotus Army defeat the invading Han army!" ”

In the Tusi Mansion of Xing'er City of the Million-Dollar Qiang Tribe, Lou Qi, the general engineer of the Qiang Tribe, excitedly said to the Tusi Rida Danmu of the Qiang Tribe: "Lord Tusi, the White Lotus Army has finally agreed to our request, and is willing to cede Yonghe County, Yuanyang County and Matang County in Rao Prefecture of Zhou State to our Shanqiqiang, and there are also a million weapons and 200,000 sets of armor!" ”

The Tusi of the Diqiang tribe, Rida Danmu, frowned and said, "But the White Lotus Army requires that the three counties of Raozhou be handed over to our Diqiang tribe only after defeating the Han army. ”

The general engineer Lou Qi immediately said: "As long as we don't let the warriors of the Qiang tribe, in the face of the several fortresses in Raozhou, our army of the Qiang tribe, even if it sweeps the entire Zhou State, it is not a difficult thing, as for the Han army, as long as Lord Tusi can let me lead the troops to the battle, I will definitely fight the Han army!" ”

Tusi Rida Danmu shook his head and said: "Gong Lou Qi, don't underestimate the army of the Han State, according to the information obtained by our Di Qiang tribe, the Han State that inherited the territory of the Jin State is far stronger than the Jin State, and even the Zhou State, and even the vast Western Regions have now been conquered by the army of the Han State, of course, our warriors of the Di Qiang tribe will not be afraid of the army of the Han State!" ”

The general engineer Lou Qi asked: "Lord Tusi, then will our Qiang tribe send troops to the Zhou State this time?" ”

Tusi Rida Danmu nodded and said: "Sending troops must send troops, Yonghe County and Yuanyang County in Rao Prefecture of Zhou State, this time we must take the Qiang tribe, but this cake of Zhou State is too big, and the stone of the Han army is too hard, I am ready to let the Lano tribe also share a piece of cake and give Matang County of Rao Prefecture of Zhou State to the Lano tribe." ”

After the Han army annexed the three states of the Red Dragon Army, it began to prepare to attack the five states controlled by the White Lotus Army, but before the Han army could attack, Heishuitai sent Liu Ji a shocking news.

In a council room in the Prefecture Pastoral Mansion in Jianyang City, Shuzhou, Zhou State, Liu Ji said in a deep voice to the generals under his command: "Heishuitai has just sent a piece of information, and the White Lotus Army has invited one support army, or two support armies. ”

Li Cunxiao, the commander of the Xuanjia Army, immediately asked, "Your Majesty, could it be that someone from the four princes of the Zhou State sent troops to aid the White Lotus Army?" ”

Liu Ji shook his head and said, "It's not the army of the four princes of Zhou, but the Qiang and Lano tribes of the Southern Barbarians. ”

After receiving the invitation of the Qiang tribe, the Lano tribe readily agreed to jointly send troops to the Great Zhou State to help the White Lotus Army defeat the Han army.

Yang Sen, the commander of the White Lotus Army, learned that the Qiang tribe invited the Ranor tribe to send troops together, and did not object, anyway, the White Lotus Army would only pay 1 million weapons, 200,000 sets of armor, and the three counties of Raozhou this time, and there was no need to pay the Ranor tribe extra compensation.

The Qiang tribe invited the Lano tribe to send troops together, promising to give the 400,000 weapons, 100,000 sets of armor and Matang County in Raozhou to the Lanor tribe as an ally.

Later, Li Ru, the military advisor of the Western Xinjiang Army, explained to the generals: "In the millions of mountains south of the Zhou State, there are five powerful Southern Barbarian peoples, the Qiang and the Lano are two of them, according to the information obtained by Heishuitai before, the Diqiang people have a population of about 40 million, and the area of the territory is not even smaller than that of the Zhou State, and the Lano people have a population of about 50 million, and the territory they control is larger than that of the Diqiang people. ”

After a pause, Li Ru continued: "The living environment of the million mountains is even worse than the 100,000 mountains east of our Han Dynasty, so the men of the Southern Barbarian tribes have been trained in hunting and fighting since they were young, and the Qiang tribe with a population of 40 million can gather more than 16 million men, and the Lano tribe with a population of 50 million can gather more than 20 million men, that is to say, just these two Eastern Barbarian ethnic groups can form an army of 36 million. ”

Li Ru's introduction made the generals in the council hall gasp, you must know that the entire Han Dynasty, counting the garrison troops of various states, is only 35 million troops.

At this time, Xun Yu, the military advisor of the Xuanwu Legion, said: "However, the armies of the Southern Barbarian tribes have a weakness, that is, they are short of iron weapons, and many soldiers of the Southern Barbarian tribes use sharpened long wooden sticks as weapons, except for the generals, the soldiers basically have no armor. ”

Xun Yu's words made the generals in the council hall breathe a sigh of relief again, and Lu Xun, the commander of the Beifu soldiers, said: "If the armies of the Qiang and Lano tribes, as Xun Yu said, are just a rabble with a little more numbers to our Han army. ”

Liu Ji said in a deep voice at this time: "The information sent by Heishuitai says that the White Lotus Army will send a million weapons and 200,000 sets of armor to the Qiang and Lano tribes this time, which is enough for these two tribes to arm millions of elite troops. ”

Wei Xiaokuan, the commander of Wei Wushu, asked, "Your Majesty, has Heishuitai not received the approximate number of troops sent by the Qiang and Lano tribes?" ”

Liu Ji nodded and said, "According to the news that Heishuitai got from the White Lotus Army, the Qiang tribe will send three million troops into the five states of the White Lotus Army this time, and the Rano tribe will also send three million troops. ”

Wei Xiaokuan hesitated for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, the six million troops of the Diqiang and Lano tribes, plus the three million troops of the White Lotus Army, then our Han army will face nine million enemies, and the Diqiang and Lano tribes can continue to send more troops to the territory of the Zhou State, so the last general suggested that it is better to solve the four major princes of the Zhou State first, and then concentrate forces to deal with the White Lotus Army and the Diqiang and Lano tribes." ”

Liu Ji touched his chin, then turned his head to Li Ru, the military advisor of the Western Frontier Army, and asked, "Li Ru, who do you think our Han army should fight first?" ”

Li Ru pondered for a moment and said: "The four princes of the Zhou State are afraid of the strength of our Han army, if we fight the White Lotus Army, the four princes should not dare to send troops to attack and disturb, if we fight the four princes first, the White Lotus Army may also dare not send troops to attack and disturb, but the Diqiang and Lano tribes may not be. ”