Dunhuang 2,000 years ago was stunningly beautiful.

In the west, the Altun Mountains, in the early morning and dusk, shine like gold in the sun, and can brighten the eyes of blind dogs; In the Qilian Mountains in the east, the snow line is very low, and from a distance, it is snow-capped and ancient wood.

In the middle of the two mountain ranges, a huge river valley is formed, and the vast grassland is endless.

The water and grass are abundant, and the lakes and seas are dotted.

Here, there were many fierce human races, and with the changes of history, war changed everything, and everything was born, so that this land has never had a fixed owner.

Only the birds and beasts never seem to change.

For example, those bar-headed geese, in the warm spring sun, will migrate from the far south, hovering in the sky, chirping, like a flock of impatient, looking for last year's nest.

They're gliding slowly through the sky.

One moment, one 'S', one moment, one 'B'.

Of course, more often than not, they will line up in a 'human' character, calling and seeking, frolicking in pairs in the sky.

At the turn of spring and summer, Sugan Lake becomes a paradise for birds.

More than 300 miles of water, plus more than 500 miles of wetlands, make this natural basin climate humid and warm, feeding flocks of bar-headed geese.

However, the bar-headed goose is just one of them.

Grey cranes, sandpipers, black-necked cranes, black storks, ruddy shelducks, mallards, pintail ducks, white-boned grouse, black-winged stilts, redshanks, whooper swans, mergansers......

These guys, noisy and chattering all day long, will always make Yang Chuan feel depressed for a while.

He misses his Zhuyuantou village and his three little women.

Princess Nangong, Princess Pingyang, Wei Qing, Cao Xiang...... Of course, what he misses the most is the three little women Liu Man, Zhiniang, and Naren Toya, as well as his three sons and a daughter.

The son is more realistic, and it is estimated that when he grows up, he will become very naughty, and he will inevitably be beaten by three little women on the ground to teach them the truth of life.

Liu Man gave birth to a girl, I guess I can't raise my head now, right?

The little woman was very arrogant, relying on herself to be a princess of the Han Dynasty, she always felt that Zhiniang and Naren Toya had a low status, and she couldn't help but want to bully people, but as a result, she was pressed to death by Zhiniang, and there was no.

There's an old saying, how do you say it?

It's a dish and a fun-loving one.

Moreover, it is often impossible to play......

The military village built by Yangchuan is not big, but it is extremely solid, like a small castle with a wooden and stone structure, close to the mountains and rivers, get up every morning, open the doors and windows, you can see the Sugan Lake in the distance.

This is a fertile pasture, because of its remote location, it was not affected by the two Hexi wars, so it gradually gathered many small tribes.

The law of the grassland, whoever has a hard fist is the boss.

Yang Chuan had more than 2,000 men under his command, and it only took one month to kill all the tribal leaders and high priests.

So.

The only owner of this sea and wetland, as well as the surrounding thousands of miles of grassland, is Yang Chuan.

According to his custom, a second nobleman was never allowed to appear on his own territory, because he felt that in the current era of war and chaos, if he wanted to establish an ideal state of the ruling system, he had to use some iron-blooded means to firmly control all the power in his own hands.

The next step is to take all the pastures, lakes, seas, cattle, sheep and livestock into 'state ownership', so that those poor herdsmen can become real 'proletarians'.

So, there were lumberjacks, farmers, herders, and miners.

The rest is his set of 'logging, building, farming, mining, and exploding' gadgets, which sound a little crude and simple, but the problem is very effective.

In the shortest possible time, Yang Chuan turned the Dunhuang area into another 'base camp'.

The reason why he chose to lay out Dunhuang was that he considered it far-reaching, and this place was located at a key node between the Hexi Corridor and the Western Regions.

Second, over the Altun Mountain, it is the rotten place where the Tang monks of later generations learned the scriptures.

Third, all the way to the northwest, you can not only enter the Western Regions, but also bypass the Western Regions and directly enter Central Asia and West Asia......

As a chef, how can you let go of such a good location so easily?

He planned to operate another 'Luding City' on the land of Dunhuang, so as to monitor the operation of the Han Empire in the Hexi Corridor and the Western Regions in the east, and connect Central Asia, West Asia and the country of Buddha in the west, and become a 'middleman' on the Silk Road between the East and the West......

……

"Teacher, there is news from Rouge City, Han Yan left 30,000 military households in the area of Rouge City, let them reclaim wasteland, build the city, and the remaining 20,000 or so households were taken by him to continue westward, and it seems that he wants to settle fields in the area of Tuweizi City."

On this day, Yang Chuan was busy in the kitchen, and Huo Guang hurriedly came in to say goodbye.

"Is there a specific plan for Tuntian?"

While Yang Chuan was busy, he asked casually: "30,000 military households, even if a family of five or six people is counted, there are nearly 200,000 people, so many people are sprinkled out to open up wasteland and farm, and they also have to serve as conscripts to help the imperial court build the city, is there enough money and food?"

Where was the city built?

How many animals, farm implements, and seeds did they bring with them? What are they? Is there more barley wheat, or is there more millet in the Guanzhong area? ”

Huo Guang gave up his hand and told them one by one: "Han Yan just left 30,000 military households behind, and handed over the specific matters to the civil officials of Rouge City, and did not leave any words on how to reclaim wasteland, how to sow seeds, and how to build the city.

In addition, most of the grain seeds brought by those military households were millet, millet and soybeans, and there was basically no barley and wheat. ”

"By the way, Zhu Maichen is now in charge of the specific matters."

Huo Guang added.

Yang Chuan scolded a swear word, straightened up, and slapped his old waist a few times: "Han Yan is the emperor's accompaniment, and I don't know what books to read, 200,000 people are thrown in Rouge City, let them tuntian, tun's fart!"

The most suitable for growing in the Hexi Corridor are alfalfa, flax, barley, wheat and soybeans.

Especially Zhu Maichen's dog, he didn't know anything about farming and cropping, and after reading a few sage books, he thought he had become a character?

His big peasant order, it is better to let Cao Xiang be the one, even if he tosses blindly, he will not be so perfunctory, and bring some millet and millet to Tuntian.

In the Han Dynasty, if you want to talk about the Tun army, my father-in-law Wei Qing should be the first person.

Liu Che doesn't need my father-in-law, he would rather let a fool lead the troops to fight, and let a nerd pass through the Hexi Corridor for tens of thousands of miles, it's just ...... Only! ”

Yang Chuan sighed, took a bowl of tea handed over by Huo Guang, took a sip, and said: "However, everything is good, and naturally there are disadvantages, in Li Er's words, it is a blessing and a curse."

Huo Guang, it is precisely because Han Yan and Zhu Maichen are fools that the opportunity for you, Zhang Anshi, and Yang Yi has come. ”

Huo Guang looked dazed: "Teacher, what chance?" ”

Yang Chuan thought for a while, chuckled, and said: "When Han Yan was killed by the Hu people in the Western Regions, and Zhu Maichen was secretly killed by the Huns, the entire Hexi Corridor was in chaos, and the imperial court spent tens of millions of dollars and grain on the water, so you and Yang Yi must rush back to Chang'an City and give the emperor a performance." ”

Before Yang Chuan's words were finished, Huo Guang's two eyes lit up.

This kid is not like Huo Quzhi at all, he is simply a little yin π, at a young age, as stable as an old dog, this is only eleven or twelve years old, and he feels like a bad old man in his seventies and eighties.

It's bad.

Huo Guang rubbed his hands vigorously, but the expression on his face did not change, and his voice was very flat: "Teacher, do you mean to say that while the fire is burning, you will rob and take the chestnut from the fire?" ”

Yang Chuan raised his head, glanced at Sugan Lake in the distance, and said leisurely: "No, it's not just about robbing while the fire is burning, it's just taking advantage of the fire." ”

"Huo Guang."

"The teacher gives you a task, if you can complete it, then you will be a teacher, and I can give you a chance to become one of the few powerful ministers in the Han court...... One. ”

Huo Guang took a deep breath and nodded: "Teacher, I am willing." ”

Yang Chuan reached into his arms, took out a small deerskin pouch and handed it over: "This is my seal, talisman and a few items that I carry with me, after you take it, let's go to Rouge City." ”

Huo Guang hesitated.

Once these things are taken away, if Yang Chuan and the others become the 'black households' of the Han Dynasty, they will almost be stateless savages......

"Take it, this is your step into the body."

Yang Chuan said with a smile: "When you arrived in Rouge City, you pretended to be injured and concealed from Zhu Maichen and the embroidered messengers of the imperial court, so you said that you followed me all the way to the west, near Loulan Kingdom, strayed into a devil's city, and the whole army was wiped out, and you were rescued by a shepherd, and you escaped with a life after a lot of hardships."

As for me. ”

Yang Chuan groaned twice, and then said: "You go back and tell the emperor, just say that after entering the Devil's City, after seven or eight consecutive days of sandstorms, everyone was lost, and I was gone......

……

After sending Huo Guang back to Han, Yang Chuan quickly took action.

Han Yan is a fool, let him enter the Western Regions with tens of thousands of Han elites, and if he replaces Emperor Liu Che, he is competing for the military exploits of Huo Quzhi, Yang Chuan, and Cao Xiang.

This is a yin trick against Huo Qu's disease, but it is still a bright and flickering yang scheme, and there is basically no solution.

Yang Chuan will never allow this kind of bad thing to happen.

He sent a secret order to Ah Tie, asking Na Ha to arrange a Lost Soul Array in the Western Regions, ensuring that Han Yan would be killed while minimizing the casualties of the Han army.

It's a technical job.

Because, what Yang Chuan wants to do is to find a way to kill Han Yan on the battlefield in the Western Regions, but also not to let the vitality of the Han army be greatly damaged, and give Liu Che, who is far away in Chang'an City, a false message-

It turned out that Han Yan was really a big straw bale.

To this end, Yang Chuan formulated three sets of plans, which were sent to Ah Tie one by one, so that he could analyze specific problems according to the actual situation and arrange troops according to local conditions.

So, a month later.

Han Yan commanded 30,000 elite iron cavalry, escorted more than 20,000 military households, and dragged them to Tuweizi.

Tuweizi City is the 'Jiuquan' on the map of Yangchuan.

In the original history books, the origin of Jiuquan is related to Huo Qu's disease; The red-faced Sima Qian wrote in his 'Historical Records' that after Huo Qu's illness penetrated the Hexi Corridor, on the way back to the court, Emperor Liu Che gave 100 jars of wine.

As a result, a hundred jars of fine wine, more than 8,000 orphans in the feather forest, there is no way to drink it at all.

Huo Qu had an idea, poured a hundred jars of wine into the water at a spring, and then asked the soldiers to scoop and drink the spring water with their helmets.

That spring became the famous 'Jiuquan' in later generations.

When Liu Che named the four counties of Hexi, he called Tuweizi City 'Jiuquan', and Jiuquan, one of the four counties of Hexi, was also extremely famous after 2,000 years......

After Han Yan arrived in Tuweizi City, the first thing he did was to leave the 'big burden' of more than 20,000 military households in the reclamation area, and let a few big peasant officials command them to open up wasteland and farm, and at the same time, start building Jiuquan City day and night.

This set of processes was originally not a big problem.

After all, without a figure like the great general Wei Qing, the imperial court would be a mess, nothing more than gathering a group of hundreds of thousands of 'untouchables' in the six counties, setting aside a large area of land suitable for farming, and letting them open up the wasteland and farm.

How did Han Yan know that the so-called tuntian is more of a military operation, and it is not an ordinary wasteland cultivation at all.

After some selection, they set aside two pieces of land for reclamation on the two pieces of land east of Tuweizi City and began to organize military households to open up wasteland.

At the same time, they rammed two walls more than two zhang high at the east and west ends of Tuntian, which can be regarded as the most humble 'Great Wall'.

Some young and middle-aged military households were quickly selected, and they were given some basic weapons such as bows and arrows, knives and guns, and began to take turns on duty, and if they were turned into border soldiers on the spot.

This set of processes was summarized by Wei Qing and Yang Chuan when they were in Tuntian, Shuofang County, which was a little rough, but it was the most effective method when the imperial army was not firmly established.

Yang Chuan observed from a distance for a few days, feeling a little comforted in his heart.

150,000 or 60,000 military households, under the supervision of several teams of cavalry of the Northern Army, quickly reclaimed several large tracts of land, and planted millet, millet, soybeans, etc., and they were able to harvest a batch of grain that year.

That's good.

As for Han Yan......

Well, the emperor's bedmate, who is in Tuweizi City at the moment, spends all day drinking, making a fortune, except for sending cavalry to rob the disabled Xiongnu tribes, Hu and Qiang tribes every day, it seems that there is nothing to do?

Yang Chuan knew.

This dog's day is waiting.

After Huo Qubing completely cleared the Western Regions, the 30,000 elites of the Northern Army under his command will enter the Western Regions with a 'lightning speed and stealing bells'......

Yang Chuan could tell with his toes that the imperial court, or Liu Che, had no idea about the specific form of the Hexi Corridor and the Western Regions at the moment, and would definitely start to pass through the Western Regions in accordance with the 'established diplomatic model'.

Yang Chuan is very sure of this.

The consistent method of the Han court is to send an elite iron cavalry to beat up the disobedient small countries while carrying out 'friendly negotiations' very generously.

One word.

The Han Empire's strategic thinking on the Western Regions is still stuck in the established model of 'suppressing part of the country and supporting part of it', and wants to 'govern Hu with Hu' and support a group of puppet kingdoms.

There is nothing wrong with this approach.

Moreover, in the case of insufficient strength, it is impossible to complete the complete conquest by force, this obscene method is crude, simple and effective.

But.

Today's Western Regions, under the repeated ravages and disasters of Huo Quai, Youxian Wang, and A Tie, is the same as the former Hexi Corridor, in fact, it has long become a mess.

All that remains is to continue to ravage and continue to wreck...... Uh, okay.

To put it another more harmoniously, that is, today's Western Regions only needs to be conquered by force, so that this two-million-mile territory can really be incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty......

Yang Chuan's conjecture was quickly verified.

Because, on a sunny day, a team of people came to Tuweizi City; Guarded by more than 2,000 soldiers, they were dressed in bright armor and waving their flags, and several very luxurious and elegant carriages moved slowly.

They came from Chang'an City, and they had quite an identity at first glance.

The one who is the leader is still Yang Chuan's old acquaintance-

Bo Wanghou, Zhang Qian.

(End of chapter)