Late at night, in Luoyang, Liu Hong's bedroom.

Liu Hong asked with a pale face, "What does the Governor of the Western Regions do to eat?" In just one night, most of the soldiers and horses were lost! ”

The five members of the cabinet standing in the dormitory, the six Shangshu and the staff officers of the General Staff Department bowed their heads one after another, and then Dong Zhong, the secretary of the Military Department, said loudly, "Your Majesty, there are only 20,000 soldiers and horses under the command of the Governor of the Western Regions, and they have to be stationed in various places, so they let the enemy have a chance to take advantage of it." ”

"Humph!" Liu Hong snorted coldly and said, "I'm afraid there is still a matter of internal and external cooperation!" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, according to the report from the front, it is the case, the countries of the Western Regions believe that the Roman Empire is a more powerful country than the Han Dynasty, and in the previous history, its king Alexander almost invaded the Central Plains during the Warring States Period."

"If it weren't for the mistake of its map, I'm afraid it would have taken the Central Plains!"

As soon as Liu Hong heard this, he looked at the person who spoke, and it turned out to be Kong Rong, the twentieth grandson of Confucius, who was working as a staff officer in the staff department at this time. (At this time, the staff officer was the historical councillor, and most of the children of the family were first councillors, and then officials.) ）

Hearing this, Liu Hong sneered and said, "I don't know what to do, and I dare to talk nonsense in front of me by hearsay." ”

When Kong Rong heard this, his temper came up, and he retorted, "Why did Your Majesty say this?" What the minister said is well-founded, why is His Majesty's speech nonsense? ”

Liu Hong glanced at Jia Xu, and Jia Xu said, "When Alexander wanted to attack my Central Plains, there were only tens of thousands of warlike divisions under his command, and at that time, the Central Plains was a powerful Qin Dynasty in Guanzhong, if the so-called King Alexander came to the Central Plains, I am afraid that hundreds of thousands of armored soldiers of the Qin State could easily destroy his army." ”

Kong Rong's face changed for a while. Then he asked unwillingly, "Then King Alexander." It can destroy dozens of countries in a row. How can there be only tens of thousands of troops? ”

This is Liu Hong said disdainfully: "Western countries are also worthy of being called countries? The battle of more than 10,000 people in a large country, more than 100 people in a small country, and more than 1,000 people in two countries is a large-scale battle that can go down in history. ”

As soon as they heard Liu Hong's words, the civil and military forces in the hall all burst into laughter.

Kong Rong bowed his head in shame, Liu Hong gave Jia Xu a color, Jia Xu nodded knowingly, the second day. The Han Dynasty began to spread the words of Confucius's descendant, Kong Rong, who was short-sighted.

Liu Hong is not against Confucianism, but against the style of this celebrity, the so-called celebrities can sometimes challenge the imperial power, if it were not for Liu Hong's prestige at this time is incomparable, even if those celebrities scolded themselves, Liu Hong had to endure it, this is not Liu Hong's style of doing things.

After solving Kong Rong, Liu Hong discussed the matter of the Western Regions with everyone again.

A staff officer said, "Your Majesty, it is better for my Han to send troops again and completely defeat the countries in the Western Regions." To ensure the smooth flow of the Silk Road? ”

If I heard this, it was not for the sake of majesty. Liu Hongzhen wanted to roll his eyes, and said secretly, "Sending troops to defeat the countries of the Western Regions is easy to say, if you want to achieve this strategic goal, you must send at least 200,000 troops, and the 100,000 troops under the command of Huang Zhong, the governor of Anbei, must ensure the stability of the grassland, and at least 60,000 troops must be stationed in the grassland." ”

In other words, the Han Dynasty must send at least 160,000 troops from the Central Plains, and the grain and grass for the expedition must ensure the needs of the army for a year, after all, the countries in the Western Regions are not like the previous Xianbei. Xianbei met an idiot king, gave up his strengths, and used his weaknesses to fight against the strengths of the Han Dynasty, only to fail. ”

"And the countries of the Western Regions are not all idiots, let alone how many Roman follow-up armies there are! To be able to end the war in one year is already a blessing among all blessings. ”

Sure enough, Qiao Xuan, the head of the household, said, "No, my Han has just finished the war, the soldiers are tired, and there is a shortage of food and grass, how can I start a big war again?" ”

The staff officer shook his head and said, "That's true, but it is precisely because my Han has just finished the war, and the soldiers can quickly defeat the countries of the Western Regions with the power of great victory." ”

Jia Xu sighed when he heard this, "No, what you said is a smooth battle, what if the war of the army is not going well?" The battle to destroy Xianbei is a decisive battle on the grassland, my Han and Xianbei have been fighting for a long time, and there are countless soldiers in the Han army who are familiar with the grassland, so there is this great victory. ”

"And we don't know the geography and customs of the Western Regions, and we lost the time and place before the war, and after the first battle of Xianbei, it was His Majesty who exchanged for the abolition of slavery, and there was no such situation in the Western Regions, and I don't know if there was a follow-up army in Rome, and in the end, our army could not even occupy it."

"As the saying goes, the time is not as good as the location, the location is not as good as the people, the time, the place, the people and the three are not occupied by my Han Han, how can I rashly send troops?"

Jia Xu's words made the civil and military in the palace nod their heads.

The staff officer couldn't refute it for a while, so he had to keep silent.

Liu Hong thought for a while and said, "In this case, I ordered Huang Zhong, the governor of Anbei, to lead 30,000 elites under his command into the Western Regions, and the Liangzhou Governor to lead 50,000 border troops into the Western Regions. ”

"And my Han wants to accumulate grain and grass in three years, at most four years, and prepare for the army to march westward, at that time, my Han can't help but take the Western Regions, and also fight to the extreme west, so that the Roman Empire can see my Han Dynasty's Jin Ge Iron Horse!"

"No!"

With the decision-making of the high-level of the Han court, the Han began a series of deployments, the first of which was taxation, and Liu Hong implemented the apportionment of the mu thousands of years in advance, which can be said to have offended the wealthy family cleanly.

But in front of the mighty Liu Hong, he didn't dare to have the slightest dissatisfaction, and the person who secretly made some small moves was caught by Jinyiwei.

However, during the expedition to Xianbei, Liu Hong discovered a problem, that is, the Jinyi Wei under his command seemed to have developed somewhat to the Jinyi Wei of the Ming Dynasty, responsible for collecting intelligence, but most of them were internal intelligence of the Han Dynasty.

If this continues, will Jinyiwei develop into what Liu Hong had in his heart?

Liu Hong didn't know, and he couldn't solve it at this time, because Liu Hong's biggest enemy at this time was still the family, and Liu Hong was not afraid of them rebelling, but afraid of them making small moves.

The elite forces in the Han army are all in Liu Hong's hands, and the generals in charge of the army are not from the family, this is Liu Hong's capital, but the family makes some small moves, but it is not something that the army can solve, so Jinyiwei will have to go out.

Liu Hong secretly said in his heart, "As long as the trouble of the family is basically solved, Jinyiwei will dare to transform." ”

While the Han was accumulating strength, Cheng Yu was leading an army of 80,000 to confront the 150,000 Western Regions coalition army.

Among the Western Regions coalition army, the Roman army Cassius had the largest army, with 50,000 troops, so this coalition army was led by it, the second largest was the Dayue clan, with 30,000 soldiers and horses, and the remaining 70,000 troops were patched together by the countries of the Western Regions, some countries sent thousands, and some were hundreds, which shows how amazing the number of countries in the Western Regions is.

The countries of the Western Regions originally did not dare to fight against the Great Han, but the persistence of the Great Han gave them the courage, and they regarded the Great Han's forbearance and humiliation as weakness and bullying.

The Great War is on the verge of breaking out!! (To be continued......)