The Moon in the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 440 Prepare to Deal with Him
In winter, horses exercise less and have insufficient feed, which causes their muscle strength and endurance to decline. In early spring, horses have long hair and thin bodies and have no fighting power.

Even humans have no fighting ability. Nomadic people are already short of supplies and have difficult living conditions. Tents and other living facilities can hardly withstand the severe cold and snow.

However, even though the conditions are so harsh, they still need to carry out hard work such as raising livestock, keeping warm, and finding water sources in an extremely cold environment.

Not to mention fatigue and hardship, even a person's health will be seriously affected, affecting their ability to work and combat effectiveness, and it will take some time to recover.

For nomadic people, every winter may be the end of their lives.

In addition, livestock need to mate and give birth in spring and summer, only in this way can they give birth to cubs safely and be weaned safely in autumn and winter. This is why nomadic peoples are often only able to move south in autumn.

Only after they have taken care of their livestock will they have the energy and time to move south. Otherwise, if they only rely on robbing, they will never survive the terrible winter on the grassland.

Autumn is the strongest season for nomadic peoples. Only in autumn can horses recover to their fat and strong state, and be able to gallop long distances and have combat effectiveness.

The climate in autumn is relatively cool. It is neither as hot and humid as in summer nor as cold as in winter. It is the best time to exert combat effectiveness.

In addition, the water level of rivers is relatively low in autumn. For example, the water level of important rivers such as the Yellow River begins to drop in autumn, and the water flow is relatively gentle, making it easier for cavalry to cross the river.

But it is different in the Central Plains. Autumn is the harvest season, and soldiers and farmers are integrated. If they want to harvest grain, their defense will inevitably be weakened, which is a case of one thing gaining while the other loses.

So the best way is to take the initiative!
Spring and summer are actually the strongest times for the Central Plains. After spring plowing, women can work alone on the remaining farm work in the fields, and men can lead troops to go to war. The material reserves in the Central Plains are also enough to allow their horses to quickly recover to combat status. At this time, the nomadic peoples are still hungry.

The completely opposite production methods of nomadism and farming determine that the time available for war for both sides is completely different.

The nomadic peoples in the spring and summer were both loose and fragile, and they dared not delay grazing at all. Any delay would result in death.

As long as the Central Plains take the initiative to attack in spring and summer, mainly with destruction and killing, or even just making trouble, scaring the herds to stop mating, or even causing large-scale miscarriages, they will definitely not be able to survive the cold winter, and will even lose the ability to fight back and take the initiative.

If you don't take good care of your livestock in spring and summer, they will have no ability to fight in the fall, and will be dead in the winter.

This is also the reason why nomadic peoples must migrate immediately if they cannot defeat the enemy, because if they do not leave, after this happens three to five times, or even two to three times, they can be declared extinct.

Of course, there is another way besides migration, which is surrender.

Whenever the Central Plains dynasty was strong, there was an endless stream of nomadic tribes that came to seek refuge in the Central Plains because they could not defeat them.

As for why they didn’t run away, it was because the living environment was already extremely harsh. If they ran to an even worse place, they would be worse off than dead.

The living space of nomadic peoples has always been compressed, and they have been migrating all the time.

The State of Yan defeated the Donghu and expanded its territory by a thousand miles.

King Wuling of Zhao State subdued the Linhu and Loufan tribes, opened up the three counties of Yunzhong, Yanmen and Daijun, built the "Great Wall of Zhao" at the foot of the Yin Mountains, and expanded the territory by thousands of miles.

The Xiongnu, which had just risen a little, was beaten by Li Mu and fled in panic. Now the Xiongnu can no longer be considered the number one power on the grassland.

The Qin Dynasty destroyed the Western Rong, swallowed up Yiqiu, took over Bashu, and drove out the Western Qiang. Now these pure nomadic peoples, or semi-agricultural and semi-nomadic peoples, can only eat sand in the west or drink snow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The Xiongnu and Donghu in the north are now in the Mongolian Plateau and the Northeast Plain. In this era, it is difficult to say with a clear conscience that they are good places.

The Northeast Plain was still a place of exile two thousand years later, during the Qing Dynasty. As for now, the environment is terrible and life is difficult, one can imagine. The phrase "Bai Shan Hei Shui" is not nonsense.

Even though the Central Plains has not yet been unified, it is still easy for the Qin Dynasty to deal with the scattered Qiang people or the Dayuezhi people.

And there is no need to rush, just take your time.

If we take over Henan and Xitao regions, we will inevitably have to confront Zhao's elite cavalry, which would be a loss.

But it is also possible to support the Qiang people to cause trouble.

As for the Hexi Corridor, the Great Yuezhi must be conquered.

However, we can let the Qiang people take action first.

Building a city in the Hexi Corridor is not a matter of a day. Today, the Central Plains is not yet prosperous, and the people are certainly unwilling to migrate there. In addition, due to their living habits, it would be a disadvantage to force them to migrate.

Or the population is too small. The total population of the Central Plains today does not exceed 35 million. If you disperse them, it is true that the land is vast and the population is sparse.

Not to mention immigrating to these places which are strategically located but still cold and harsh, it takes a lot of effort just to stabilize the basic base.

It is necessary to learn from the Han and Tang dynasties and absorb the Hu people.

There was also inevitability in absorbing the Hu people. If one wanted to travel thousands of miles to attack the Hu people's pastures with abundant water and grass, it would be impossible without people who were familiar with the roads.

Although there are mechanical Suzaku, the survival skills and wisdom of the grassland and Gobi cannot be separated from them.

Fortunately, as long as they are given the opportunity, the Qiang people are now willing to be dogs of the Qin Dynasty.

Just tame them well. It would be too easy to assimilate them.

It is too easy to make a group of people who have simple political culture, are hungry, admire the strong and fear the powerful obey.

Moreover, the Qiang people were neighbors of the Qin Dynasty, so it was not that difficult to assimilate them. Thinking of this, Ying Zheng could not help but sigh in his heart that the thunders that later generations had stepped on would not have to be stepped on again, and all the experiences summed up could be used immediately.

Open-book exams are so comfortable.

Ying Zheng finally thought about it and made up his mind to either not do it or do it well.

Kill the Yuezhi people, assimilate the Qiang people, open up the Silk Road now, and use the Silk Road to strengthen ourselves.

Since they improved the weaving technology, they have been sucking the blood of the six kingdoms in the Kanto region with the help of cloth and silk. The technical exploitation of the Qiang people and the Dayuezhi has made them want to die, and their business has been done by the Xiongnu.

They are plundering the wealth of the nomadic people without even realizing it.

There are already signs of the sheep eating people.

Daqin had its own horse-breeding land and was not short of horses. It deliberately cultivated the barbarians to raise more cattle and sheep, which also weakened their fighting power.

As for cattle, sheep and horses, the more the Qin Dynasty had, the better, and all it had to pay for them were relatively expensive low-quality salt, expensive silk cloth, and grain.

Ying Zheng was still kind-hearted, at least he didn't add anything to the food.

Since the advanced farming nations cannot defeat the nomadic peoples, the most correct approach is for them to use economic warfare against them.

To be honest, professional matters should be left to professionals, and nomadic people are naturally better at animal husbandry.

Using advanced productive forces to exploit and exercise indirect control is not much different from actual rule.

It is enough to just keep a firm grip on a few tribal chiefs.

High returns and no responsibility, perfect.

But there are always smart people. The clever Dayuezhi even became a middleman, buying cloth and silk from the Qin Dynasty at high prices, then selling them to the Western Regions countries at an even higher price, and lived a pretty good life.

The most fundamental reason why the Great Yuezhi could do this was that they occupied the Hexi Corridor and firmly controlled the countries in the Western Regions.

Get rid of him now and prevent the middlemen from making a profit from the price difference.

However, it would be safest to leave this matter to our own family.

Only Cheng Jiao is the most suitable.

However, Cheng Jiao was newly married and his wife was reportedly pregnant. It was inappropriate for them to be separated.

Ying Zheng hesitated again and again.

Forget it, let Lu Buwei’s son go.

Let's discuss it with Lu Buwei first. Lu Buwei is responsible for all trade with the Qiang, Yuezhi and even Xiongnu people.

Having made up his mind, Ying Zheng gave an order: "Come, ask Prime Minister Lu to come over."

When Lu Buwei came, Ying Zheng told Lu Buwei about his idea of ​​governing the Western Regions and making preparations in advance.

The importance of the Hexi Corridor and the Hetao Plain was also explained in detail.

Lu Buwei pondered for a moment and agreed very much.

"Your Majesty's thoughts are very reasonable. As the saying goes, if you plan ahead, you will succeed; if you don't plan ahead, you will fail. When it comes to governing a country, you must prepare for everything in advance, so that you can prepare for the unexpected."

"Although the Hu slaves are not a threat now, we must not let them develop. The Hu slaves are fierce and cruel, like jackals. If they have the chance, they will bite the flesh off people."

"Now that we have the opportunity, it would be a good thing to tame them into Daqin's loyal dogs in advance."

"If we can take over the Hexi Corridor and the Xitao area and raise a group of loyal dogs, we can also harass the northern border of Zhao State."

"The Qiang tribes are scattered and are close to the Qin, so they are not a concern. However, the Yuezhi are getting stronger and are relatively united, so it would be good to destroy them."

Ying Zheng nodded in agreement: "What the Prime Minister said is very true, and this is exactly what I meant."

"I want to establish four counties in the Hexi Corridor. The four counties can firmly control this strategic route. However, this is not a one-day job. Now that the world has not yet been unified, it is not appropriate to invest too much energy in the Western Regions."

"I want to first establish two counties and immigrate 10,000 households from Guanzhong. With these 10,000 households as the foundation, I can absorb the Hu people who obey the king's rule to cultivate land and build a city. It can also be used as a trading city, exchanging silk cloth for the wealth of the Western Regions and the Hu people. The benefits are considerable."

"This matter is of great importance, and it requires an absolutely reliable and trustworthy person to do it."

"But after all, managing a wild land from scratch and dealing with barbarians is really hard work. I don't know who should be sent. Does the Prime Minister have any recommendations?"

Lu Buwei pondered for a moment. These were two counties. Although the locations were a little poor, it would take a lot of effort to develop them from scratch. However, this kind of construction from scratch often meant holding great power.

The county magistrate is no small official. He can directly become one of the Nine Ministers in the central government, or even directly join the cabinet. Moreover, as he is in charge of such an important strategic location, he is likely to leave his name in history.

(End of this chapter)