The battle of Hexi was imminent.

Whether it is from the perspective of smooth trade routes or from the aspect of military strategy, the Qin State has to fight hard.

Li Yuan has made up his mind.

Of course, the decision of Zuihou to send troops still needs to pass a formal court meeting, and at this court meeting, different voices appeared within the Qin State for the first time.

Outside the soil, you must first settle inside.

This is the opinion of the old-fashioned soldiers such as Zhang Han and Xin Sheng represented by the conservatives, who believe that when there is still a strong enemy like Western Chu in the Kwantung region, they should send troops to the Hexi Corridor to confront the Huns who have no trace of the grassland, and if the army is surrounded and annihilated by the enemy, the foundation of Great Qin will be shaken.

This view of Zhang Han and others was also endorsed by Li Si, Wang Li and others, and a shili was formed in the court to oppose sending troops to Hexi.

Corresponding to the conservative shili, are those young officials and generals, Bai Guangji and Li Zhongxiang are fighting alone in the Western Regions, facing enemies a hundred times or even a thousand times their own, so they see their brothers surrounded by enemies and then exhausted, like Luo Jia, Cao Xin, Feng Xuan, these young generals have long been unable to hold back.

Li Yuan's eyes were clear.

After becoming a father for the first time, his horizons seemed to have broadened a lot, and many historical mysteries were also answered in the summary of information from all sides.

This parchment scroll from Bai and Li sent back an important signal, that is, one day in the future, when Mao Dun completely quelled the rebellion in the Western Regions, his troops would immediately move south, and at that time, Li Yuan would face the same choice as Liu Bang during the Battle of Bai Deng.

If it is a choice battle, it is unknown whether the Qin army will be able to achieve the same results as in the civil war in the face of the unfamiliar Huns.

If he chooses to avoid the war, then the Qin State can only bow to the Xiongnu and admit his mistakes, just like the Western Han Dynasty in history. And selected the princess to go to the Xiongnu and send the Huns urgently needed wine, cotton wool, silk, grain and other condolences.

Such a result was by no means what Li Yuan wanted.

Great Qin's iron bones did not allow him to do this, and the souls from the traverser did not allow him to surrender to another barbarian king when he had a strong army, in that case, even if Zuihou won the supreme position, he would eventually leave a disgraceful mark in the history books.

Zuihou, at Li Yuan's insistence, the Qin State issued a mobilization order to go to Hexi. A new round of fighting is about to begin.

At the same time, due to the strength of the Huns, the Wang Li army in the Jiuyuan area had to stay in the north and hold its troops, and in the Kwantung area, the Qin army also had to face the increasing oppression of the Chu army, the Han Xin army in Zhao and the Jiang Yu army in Sanchuan County could not move, and the Feng Xuan Department in the south county also had to bear the responsibility of guarding the gate of Hanzhong, which could not be moved lightly.

Under the unstable situation on the eastern border of Qin, none of these armies could be mobilized to the western front. Li Yuan Zuihou decided to appoint Han Xin as the general of the Eastern Route Army and Jiang Yu as the deputy general to unify the command of the Qin army on the Eastern Front. Wang Li was appointed as the general of the Northern Route Army, Su Jiao was appointed as the deputy general, commanding the Qin cavalry in the area of Jiuyuan and Yunzhong County, and Wang Shang was appointed as the general of the Southern Route Army. Feng Xuan was the deputy general, commanding the Qin troops in Nanjun, Nanyang County, Ba, and Shu.

Without using these main forces of habitual warfare, the Qin army's westward expeditionary force consisted of a total of 60,000 soldiers. It is mainly composed of Luo Jia's 30,000 cavalry, Cao Xin's 5,000 Yue's infantry, 20,000 newly recruited heavy soldiers under the command of veteran generals Zhang Han and Xin Sheng, and in addition, plus the 5,000 cavalry of the headquarters of the Chinese army led by Gan Yong.

After the battles of Qin and Zhao, Gan Yong could have led an army to fight alone, like Wang Shang, Cao Xin and others, but when Li Yuan asked for his opinion, this rising star in the Qin army refused.

At the same time, in this Western Expeditionary Army, what is surprising is that the two veterans Zhang Han and Xin Sheng went out again.

Although during the court discussion, Li Yuan's insistence on the western expedition was reserved, but after the expedition was decided, Zhang Han and Xin Sheng showed the demeanor of a general.

"Wuhou, although the old man is not incorruptible, but he still has the strength of ten battles, the land west of the river, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and the Hun cavalry comes and goes to control the danger, and the safety of the baggage should be cautious and cautious, so Handan asked for 20,000 new soldiers to stick to the rear, thinking that Wuhou Zhang Gu was slightly arrayed." Zhang Han was above the court and shouted a plea.

"Old man Zhang, you are not old, how can Xin live in the world?" Zhang Han's voice did not fall, and Xin Sheng, another member of the Qin army, was also full of morale.

Judging from their age, Zhang Han and Xin Sheng are nearly sixty years old, and their originally gray beards are now all white, and the victories of the Qin army in the past few years have made the two old guys unable to sit still anymore.

"Wuhou, this battle to expand the territory, when the first emperor in the past, he sent General Meng Tian to lead an army of 200,000 to drive the Xiongnu north of the Hetao, and today our army is out of the fortress again, if we can stand on the land of a foreign country in this life, it is enough to close our eyes." Seeing that Li Yuan was delayed, the two veterans Zhang and Xin were excited and burst into tears, and they urgently asked.

Expand your territory.

It is the dream of every soldier of the Qin State.

Whether it is old or young, the Qin army faces the Huns like vicious jackals, and has the momentum of fighting for the wolf's life.

――。

In the sixth year of the Qin New Calendar, the first month of spring.

Longxi County, Di Dao.

After a long period of silence, the bridgehead city on the western border of the Qin state was once again busy, and the various Qin armies gathered here to wait for the order to go on the expedition.

The first to arrive here is the 30,000 cavalry of the Luo Jia Department that has been stationed in Longxi, after nearly three years of recuperation, under the full training of Luo Jia, the combat effectiveness of the Qin cavalry has been able to compete with the Hun cavalry.

Luo Jia after receiving the order of the Hexi Corridor of the Western Expedition, excited to high-five, overjoyed, these years, as a number of generals in the Qin army, because of the situation in the west, he had to stay in Longxi, so that many battles were not able to participate, and now, finally have his chance to fight.

In fact, Luo Jia has not made no achievements in Longxi in the past two years, you must know that the Qin army could not even keep Longxi, and was broken through the Great Wall by the Huns, and entered the hinterland of Guanzhong, and now, Hexi is close to the Jincheng area of Longxi, which has been completely occupied by the Qin army, and the Jincheng on the other side of the river has even become a frontier camp for the Qin army to attack.

The sixth day of the first lunar month.

Li Yuan personally led a large army to Didao, and the Qin army immediately swore here, and at this conference, Li Yuan's mobilization order made the Qin army soldiers excited.

"Soldiers of Great Qin, you are the pride of Great Qin, you are the warriors of Great Qin, today, you are going to embark on the battlefield of the expedition, to cut off the right arm of the Huns, open the left of my Great Qin, you are going to fight desperately against the Huns who brutally sacked us, to avenge the brothers and sisters who died tragically in the hands of the Huns, are you ready?"

"No, Nono!" What answered Li Yuan was the chorus of 60,000 soldiers, the faces of soldiers who were bare and eager to prove themselves on the battlefield.

"You must understand that Hexi is not Guanzhong, not the warm Kanto, but the cold, icy and snowy north, there, our enemies are not only the Huns, but also this evil God, perhaps, one day, you have to smash the ice, drink a mouthful of snow water, one day, you will hug your shoulders, hide in the snow and shiver, one day, you will dry your blood, lie in the ice and die slowly, are you ready?"

Li Yuan's voice was like a low and powerful war song, and when he narrated it like this, the soldiers of the Qin army seemed to see scenes of the battlefield of tragic tears and killings.

"No, no, no, no!"

"Great Qin, Great Qin, Great Qin!"

"Old Qin, restore my rivers and mountains, blood will not be drained, and death will not be truce."

"There is Daqin in the west, like the sun rising, a hundred years of national hatred, and the sea is difficult to peace. The world is in turmoil, how can Kangning, Qin has sharp soldiers, who competes with the heroes! ”

The battle songs and the shouts of 60,000 soldiers made the sky of Di Dao change color, the rushing river seemed to stop, and the nomadic aliens of the grassland changed color together.

After the oath is completed.

The Qin army, with 20,000 cavalry led by Luo Jia as the vanguard, set out from Jincheng and killed the Xiongnu in the old nest of the Huns in Hexi.

At the same time as the Qin army was attacking westward, the envoys sent by Li Yuan also arrived in Loulan first, and met with the Bai Guangji and Li Zhongxiang missions who remained here.

In a letter to Bai and Li, Li Yuan asked them to persuade the king of Loulan to kill the Xiongnu envoys, and then raise troops from Yanze to echo the Qin's western expeditionary army to attack the Xiongnu's important strongholds in the Hexi area: Dunhuang and Lingju, and finally realize the strategic intention of joining forces with the Qin army in Gaizang City.

After the Hexi Corridor was captured by the Huns, it quickly became an important source of funds for the Xiongnu Dadan in Maudun, and merchants who traveled between the Western Regions and the Qin State wanted to pass through here, and they had to pay a large number of passing honorarium to the Huns.

It was with these honorarities that Mao Dun was able to defeat the other tribes that rebelled against him in a short period of time, and now the Qin army aimed its attack at Hexi, which was a crucial battle for Qin and the Xiongnu that would determine their future strength or decline.

For the Loulan people entrenched in the Yanze area, they are also faced with a dilemma, on the one hand, they can't bear the exploitation of the Huns, and they are eager for the Silk Road to be reopened, so that the Loulan State can continue to absorb the nutrients of the Silk Road, and on the other hand, they are worried that the Qin army will not be able to defeat the Hun cavalry, and if the Huns fail to flank it, then the Loulan State facing the Hun cavalry alone is likely to be destroyed by the Huns.

Whether to survive for a long time, or to seize the opportunity to resist desperately, the situation in Loulan has become more and more strange, and it is quite difficult for Bai Guangji and Li Zhongxiang's Qin State Mission to complete the task of persuading the King of Loulan. (To be continued......)