June of the third year of Qin II.

Zhang Wei and his entourage have left the last post house, out of the Yangguan and Yumen Pass in later generations, and then to the west is the first country in the Western Regions: Loulan around Lop Nur.

The Qin army led by Wu Jian could only send them here, and before that, they entered the territory of other countries.

Different from the Xiongnu, although the 36 countries in the Western Regions are small, they are serious countries, and the Xiongnu have not even formed a serious single system. At this time, Toumandanyu was more like the leader of the Five Kings Alliance, lacking strong control over the tribe, and it was not until the Han Dynasty that he learned the model of the Central Plains state and formed a state-like tribal group.

It is not appropriate for Great Qin to show too strong aggression at the moment, after all, other people don't know, but I understand that in addition to the thirty-six countries of the Western Regions, there are many countries further west.

Moreover, it is not a simple matter to take over the 36 countries of the Western Regions, where the climate is different from the Central Plains, even if it is not full of Gobi deserts like in later generations, it is not a fertile land. If you don't prepare in advance, Qin Jun may not be able to adapt to it.

Seeing that they continued westward, Wu Jian quietly led his army back, and did not arrive at the Chaoyi camp until the beginning of July.

Zhang Wei and his party were exhausted along the way, but fortunately they didn't encounter any trouble.

"We didn't meet the Huns along the way, so it seems that we are lucky."

The group couldn't help but rejoice, and thought that it was luck, unaware that there were 30,000 Great Qin Iron Horsemen quietly following behind them to protect their safety.

July of the third year of Qin II.

Tou Mandan instigated Titomur, the leader of Donghu, to attack Liaoxi, Shanggu, and Yunzhong together. Although the border army relied on the Great Wall to prevent them from going south, they were exhausted, and Meng Tian ran back and forth on the front line of the Great Wall, commanding the enemy.

I ordered Wu Jian and Feng to rush to Liaodong and ordered Meng Tian to defend it. When the time is ripe, let the Great Qin Iron Cavalry go straight to the north of Liaodong, go out of the Great Wall, and attack Donghu.

Compared with Beihu, Donghu has less power, with no more than 40,000 or 50,000 tribes.

Persimmons, of course, have to pick soft pinch.

August of the third year of Qin II

After the training of the prison army was finally completed, I personally went to the Chaoyi camp, and after inspecting it, I sent the prison army to various Qin troops.

He also ordered Wei Chi to return to Xianyang and began to transform the Weishui Palace into the Great Qin Military Mansion. As for the role of the Great Qin Military Mansion, I didn't tell them that this matter was not urgent, and I needed to play a role in the prison army before I could continue my next plan.

Zhang Han was still the captain of the guards, but I sent him to Lingnan to supervise Zhao Tuo.

Since the last time Lingnan was in turmoil, Zhao Tuo's army was replenished with one dead general and three partial generals, but there were still some problems with the run-in with the local Qin army, and now the battle is quite constrained. After Zhang Han goes there, he can quickly make the prison army play a role.

Another layer of intention is that Zhang Han needs to understand the different ways of fighting from the Xiongnu. The threats faced by Great Qin were mainly the Xiongnu in the north and the barbarians in the south, and after Zhang Han had the experience of leading the two, I was ready to make him the position of Tai Lieutenant.

Now there is no lieutenant, and all the military reports are actually being handled by the captain of the guard, but in the end, they have to be reported to me for review again, which is really annoying.

In September of the third year of Qin II, I began to set up the five counties of Hexi.

Xianyang Palace, Xianyang Palace, Chaohui.

"I intend to reorganize the five post houses in the Hexi Corridor into five counties. Although the Hexi Corridor has been divided into five areas according to the post house, there is still no fixed castle, county guard, and so on. Originally, I wanted to wait until Zhang Wei came back to set up a county, but according to Zhang Wei's report, their speed was much slower than I expected. ”

Li Si bowed and took the lead in speaking: "I think it's okay." The pastures in the Hexi Corridor are excellent, and the water and grass are abundant. Now that the news of the surrender of the Northern Qiang clan has spread to the entire Great Qin, many merchants can't wait to trade with the Western Regions, and want to trade with the Northern Qiang clan. In addition, there are many surrendered Xiongnu and Qiang people who want to go to the Hexi Corridor to live and restore their status as herdsmen. ”

I nodded, straightened up, and said slowly: "I have already thought of the names of the five counties in Hexi. ”

"From east to west, a county is Wuwei. It is here that the great victory of my Great Qin Gushui is taken, which means martial arts and military might, to show that my Great Qin's martial arts and military might have reached Hexi; ”

"One county is Qinchang. My Great Qin originated to the west and took the meaning of Great Qin's prosperity to show that my Great Qin did not forget its foundation; ”

"One county is Zhangye. It is backed by Qilian Mountain in the south, close to Yanzhi Mountain, east and west to Daqin, Western Regions, north to Xiongnu, such as the grassland, take Zhang Guo's armpits, in order to pass the meaning of the Western Regions; ”

"One county is Jiuquan. I heard that there is a golden spring under the city here, and its water is like wine, so it is called Jiuquan. ”

"One county is Dunhuang. Dun, Da Ye, Huang, Sheng Ye. It is the eastern gateway of the Western Regions, and it is also an excellent springboard for Daqin to the Western Regions. ”

When everyone heard this, they all agreed: "Your Majesty is wise." ”

I paused, frowned, and said, "However, I am a little worried about how to build five cities as soon as possible. Although the post house is already quite large, it still can't be compared with the real city. If there was a city in Jiuquan, Hulda's 10,000 cavalry would not be feared at all. ”

Li Si showed an imperceptible smile and stood up calmly.

"Your Majesty. As Chen just said, there were many surrendered Qiang and Xiongnu who wanted to live in the Hexi Corridor, and these people numbered about 20,000, plus the people who were captured and surrendered by the Huermu tribe, enough to build a city. The ministers thought that they could be ordered to build a city in the Hexi Corridor, and the imperial court would provide food and lodging for these people. ”

"After the construction of the city is completed, the people who participated in the construction of the city can be given a certain amount of cattle, sheep and pasture by the imperial court, and become herdsmen again."

I nodded and agreed: "What Li Xiang said is reasonable, so I will follow what Li Xiang plays." I'll leave this matter to you, and Meng Hanyu will assist. ”

Li Si said yes.

Two questions. First, what if these people are unwilling to build a city? Second, these people may not all be sincere in surrendering to Great Qin, what if they go to the Hexi Corridor and they cooperate with the Xiongnu or Qiang people to cause a rebellion?

I thought of it, and Lees must have thought of it too.

But he didn't mention it, and I didn't mention it.

Last time, I rashly ordered Ren Huan to take over the post of Zhao Tuo's chief general, and Ren Huan took the opportunity to rebel. Although someone was sent to deal with the matter, few people knew what happened. As Qi Yi said, it was my decision that was wrong, and I would not tell the world about this matter in a big way.

Now this matter naturally has the same risk, Li Si just mentioned that the surrendered people want to go to the Hexi Corridor, how can I not think of who to let build the city?

It's just that this proposal can't come out of my mouth, and Li Si wisely did it for me. I glanced at Li Si, who wouldn't like this kind of talent?

As I experienced more and more things, I realized that many times it is not a good thing to be an emperor like Liu Che and Zhu Yuanzhang.

Qiangang is arbitrary, self-respecting, and sounds mighty and domineering. But in the same way, if a decision is wrong, all the blame will be placed on the decision-maker. At that time, no matter how many right things the decision-maker has done, he will be caught at fault and the prestige of the decision-maker will be greatly reduced.

There are some words that everyone understands, and it is important from whose mouth they come out!