…… There are no less than 400,000 Huns who control the strings?! Bai Lixian lost his voice and ......, General, where did this start?"

"How?" Xiang Zhuang was a little unsure, "Ziliang, don't the Huns have forty hundred cavalry?" ”

"Of course not." Baili Xian shook the feather fan, and said casually, "I have gone deep into Mobei twice, and I have a good understanding of the details of the Huns, and now the Huns' single name is Mao Dun, and he is indeed a heroic hero, but the population of the Huns is at most seven or eight hundred thousand, most of which are Fu Ru, and the strongest Ding is at most 200,000, how can there be 400,000 people who control the strings?" ”

Saying this, Baili Xian said: "And the Xiongnu are formed by hundreds of tribes of all sizes, they graze by water and grass, and spread over a very wide area, only in late autumn every year, the Xiongnu will temporarily gather in one place when checking the cattle and sheep, and in normal times, even if the Xiongnu are alone, it is already the limit to be able to gather thirty or forty thousand cavalry!" ”

"I see." When Xiang Zhuang heard this, he had a feeling of being sudden.

The siege of Baideng in history happened in winter, that is, after the Xiongnu checked the cattle and sheep, so Mao Dun was able to pour the strength of the Xiongnu southward, but it seems that Sima Qian still deliberately exaggerated the strength of the Huns, and it is even more exaggerated to say that there are four kinds of Yan sè 100,000 cavalry each in the four directions.

And now it's only early June, and there are still four or five months left before late autumn.

In other words, if you go north to Jiuyuan now, you will face at most 30,000 or 40,000 cavalry.

Xiang Zhuang said: "However, even if there are only 30,000 or 40,000 Hun cavalry, our army is afraid that it is still invincible." "There is no doubt that the iron smelting technology of the Huns is very backward and the weapons are very primitive, which is the main reason why the Huns were defeated by the Han Empire in their most prosperous period.

In reality, there is always a generation gap between agricultural civilization and nomadic civilization in science and technology, which is an indisputable reality.

The siege of Baishan Mountain can also prove this, because at that time, Liu Bang only had a few thousand Han cavalry, while the Hun cavalry had at least 200,000 cavalry.

However, the Huns besieged thousands of cavalry with 200,000 cavalry, and the terrain of Baishan Mountain was not steep at all, but the Huns stormed for seven days but did not take it down, what does this mean? This shows that the Huns' ability to attack fortifications is very weak, and the biggest reason for the weakness of attacking fortifications must be the lack of sharp weapons, not the lack of brave warriors.

In reality, the living conditions of the Huns were harsh and harsh, and there was never a shortage of warriors who looked at death as if they were at home.

It's just that Xiang Zhuang will never despise the combat effectiveness of the Huns because their weapons are primitive.

Historically, the Huns could be like yin haze shrouded in the head of the Han Empire for a hundred years, defeated by the Han Empire, and after moving westward to Europe, it formed a great shock to Europe, and indirectly led to the destruction of the ancient Roman Empire, not without reason, although the Huns are backward in science and technology, primitive weapons, but they also have a sharp weapon that transcends the times...

That's stirrups!

Whether the stirrup was invented by the northern nomads or invented by the Central Plains people, there is a constant controversy in the historical circles of later generations in China, one view is that the stirrup must be and can only be used by the nomads first, but the other view is that the nomads are a people living on horseback, so the use of stirrups is not urgent, but the Central Plains people are more likely to invent stirrups in order to improve the combat effectiveness of the cavalry.

Xiang Zhuang didn't know about the controversy about stirrups, but he knew that in less than 20 years from Qin Shi Huang's annexation of the Six Kingdoms to Liu Bang Lao'er's establishment of the Han Empire, the combat effectiveness of the Huns had been reborn, but it was an indisputable reality.

Although there are reasons for the regression of the Central Plains civilization, the newly established Han Empire is completely incomparable with the Great Qin Empire during its prosperity in terms of population, military system, and military technology.

However, it is also an indisputable reality that the strength of the Huns has increased in twenty years.

The strength of the Huns suddenly skyrocketed, and there were only two possibilities, one was that the population had increased and the number of people who controlled the strings had increased significantly: the other was the emergence of weapons and equipment for the revolution!

In just twenty years, it was impossible for the population of the Xiongnu to grow explosively, or even negatively, because it was Mao Dun Dang Shan Yu at that time, and he was constantly fighting against the strong neighbors of Donghu and Yueshi.

Then there is only one possibility left, that is, the weapons and equipment of the [Revolution] life xing appeared!

The Huns were backward in science and technology, and it was impossible to create such a sharp weapon as the ring-headed knife, but it was entirely possible to invent the stirrup.

In the evolutionary history of cavalry, there has never been any weapon and equipment like the stirrup, although it is simple, but it has a great impact on the combat effectiveness of the cavalry, so that even the horseshoe cannot be compared, because the horseshoe only improves the endurance of the cavalry.

Of course, it is likely that the Huns are only using simple wooden stirrups, which is enough to make the combat effectiveness of the Hun cavalry jump! Although Xiang Zhuang is brave and good at fighting. But he would never be so arrogant as to think that his 20,000 infantry could defeat the 30,000 or 40,000 Hun cavalry equipped with simple stirrups.

In reality, the 20,000 Chu army infantry is likely to not be able to defeat even 5,000 Hun cavalry!

The reason is very simple, because the Hun cavalry is like the wind, fast as lightning, the Chu army can't catch up, let alone fight the Huns, but the Huns can launch endless attacks on the Chu army at any time and anywhere, which is like a wolf's nose on the grassland, even if it can't bite the big prey, it can drag you down and consume you a little bit......

Facing Xiang Zhuang's question, Bai Lixian spread his hands and said with a smile: "General, let's not talk about whether we can win the Huns or not, the problem now is, there is no need for our army to fight with the Huns?" ”

Xiang Zhuang frowned, and said: "Ziliang, Jiuyuan County has been occupied by the Huns, if we go north to Jiuyuan, how can we not have a conflict with the Huns?" Bai Lixian was surprised: "Where did the general know that Jiuyuan has been occupied by the Huns?" "What?" Xiang Zhuang was actually not very sure, and asked at the moment, "Isn't that so?" "Of course not." Baili Xiandao "Jiuyuan County has a high natural danger, and there is a Great Wall that stretches for thousands of miles to defend the northern frontier, how do the Huns go south to herd horses?" After saying this, Bai Lixian said again, "Don't hide it from the general, I just returned from my trip to Jiuyuan more than a month ago, and the umbrella of Jiuyuan County is still under the control of the old Qin people." "Old Qin?" Wei Yu Huoran got up and said eagerly, "Jiuyuan still has the Qin army?!" ”

The Great Qin Empire pursued a strict system of cultivation and warfare, and the whole country was a strong man for the people in his spare time and a soldier in wartime, so where there are old Qin people, there will be Qin troops!

Bai Lixian nodded and said: "At the beginning of the First Emperor, General Méng led an army of 300,000 to attack the Xiongnu in the north, and won Henan, and the First Emperor requisitioned hundreds of thousands of households from Guanzhong and Guandong to fill the border and put 34 counties!" **, Wang Li led 200,000 elites to the south, and in the next three or four years, the Kwantung army and civilians were scattered, but the old Qin people stayed. ”

Wei Yuji's old face turned red with emotion, and he said hurriedly: "How many old Qin people, how many Qin troops?" Baili Xian said: "There are always more than 30,000 old Qin people and more than 5,000 Qin troops, but they are all cavalry." "Providence, providence!" Wei Yiji was inexplicable, and immediately said to Xiang Zhuang, "General, these five thousand Great Qin Iron Cavalry are a gift from God to Great Chu, and the revival of Great Chu is hopeful!" ”

Xiang Zhuang was also excited, and set his eyes on Bai Lixian with anticipation.

Bai Lixian shook the feather fan and said casually: "This old Qin army is led by the false son of the general Méng, and he is a friend of eight worships with Méng, and he is willing to enter the fortress alone for the general and persuade Méng to raise troops to vote."

"Good!" Xiang Zhuang was overjoyed when he heard this, and said happily, "If you get help from Méng, why worry about it?" ”

Xiang Zhuang can't help but be happy, if he can really get the five thousand Great Qin Iron Cavalry, it is really a great estimate, with these five thousand Great Qin Iron Cavalry, there is no longer any need to worry about the tail pursuit of the Han cavalry, this to Yunzhong, Yanmen, Daijun, Shanggu is a smooth road, Aries, Lin Hu, Lou Fu and so on

Needless to say, the tribes are not afraid even the Huns!

With the backing of five thousand Great Qin Iron Cavalry, Xiang Zhuang even had greater ambitions in his heart.

If you take the large amount of corn, silk, and cloth hoarded in the Xianyang Palace, Cangli, and the treasury,

Jewelry and ornaments are loaded into trucks and transported along the straight road to Jiuyuan, so can they exchange the materials urgently needed by the Hu people for a large number of cattle and sheep, especially horses, from the hands of small tribes such as Baiyang, Linhu, and Loufu?

If there are enough horses, will it be possible to train all of his 20,000 infantry into cavalry after several months of intensive training? Also, a few months is enough time for the accompanying blacksmith to equip each horse with stirrups, and if enough ring-headed knives are made, I am afraid that even a small Hun cavalry will have to retreat, right?

Of course, Xiang Zhuang would never be so arrogant as to think that he could permanently occupy Henan with this little strength.

Xiang Zhuang knows very well that unless there is a sudden outbreak of large-scale human plague or horse plague in the Mobei grassland, otherwise, the Huns' large-scale southward movement is inevitable, and the current Huns may not be as strong as recorded in the history books, but it is more than enough to reoccupy the abundant land of Henan, which is probably irreversible.

What's more, even if the Chu army relied on the high danger and the Great Wall to block the Huns' troops, Liu Bang Lao'er in the Guanzhong will never give up, and is sandwiched between the two major cattle of Mao Dun and Liu Bang.

However, it was perfectly possible to assemble a cavalry before the Huns marched south.

After all, there are at least four months left before the Huns use troops in the late autumn season, and four months is enough to create a Great Chu Iron Cavalry?!。