At present, the grassland ruled by the Han state is probably Inner Mongolia of the later Chinese dynasty. A little outside, the territory is not completely controlled. There are still some "blank" areas and some uncontrolled tribes.
The grassland is too big and wide. In particular, there is no obvious landmark. Just rely on the stars, sun and moon to identify the direction, or have a compass as a tool. Really don't expect how accurate the route can be. If there is a slight deviation on the map, it may be more than ten miles away. How big should the range be? It's not difficult to hide some people.
In the age when cavalry dominated, in fact, it was not how much cavalry could really fight. It was that they fought whenever they wanted, and they wanted to escape, which was much higher than the mobility of infantry. Militarily, the deterrence of cavalry has never been placed on the front battlefield. It is their excellent mobility. They can be ruthless when people don't pay attention, and can withdraw quickly after attack.
The most troublesome thing about nomads is not how powerful they are in the front battlefield. It is usually difficult for agricultural people with infantry as the main force to find them. In addition, it is also difficult to find opportunities to fight a decisive battle with the main force of nomads.
If you look at the history books, you will find that when the nomads fought against the Central Plains Dynasty, even if the pure cavalry group had fought a frontal battle, the farming people with infantry as the main force won the most times, even if the cavalry troops were defeated, the loss was quite limited, However, as long as the Central Plains Dynasty with infantry as the main force fails, it will be a disastrous defeat.
"We control part of the grassland, which is based on the premise that they (nomads) go south."
Liu Yanzhi will think that this is a good era, that is, all the nomadic tribes on the grassland should go south. When they go to the Central Plains, they lose the greatest advantage of the nomadic people. Without the grassland as a cover, they don't find a place to hide.
The nomadic tribes who are more capable of fighting and the most aggressive go south. Those who stay on the grassland basically belong to those who are not enterprising. In fact, most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled. The greatest difficulty in controlling the grassland is not to destroy or capture them in battle, but how to find them.
"The Hu Lu we dealt with was fundamentally different from the Hu Lu we dealt with before the Han Dynasty."
In the early Western Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu people were still in the semi stone age. They rarely had iron tools. Their melee weapons included stone axes, spears and Maces. The arrowheads of arrows were either bones or stones, but they still suppressed the newly established Western Han Dynasty.
Until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in fact, the nomads on the grassland did not enter the complete iron age, that is, the number of metal weapons in the hands of soldiers was increased, and the forces in the Central Plains could form an advantage over nomadism. In addition to the lessons that the Han Army had impressed the nomads before, they were in an all-round lead in weapons and equipment.
It's no joke to say that if the arrowhead is an arrow of bone or stone, it will have a certain killing effect on people without armor. People wearing leather armor and iron armor should be blinded.
From the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Han Empire had a war with the nomads on the grassland. It has always been that the Han army was harassed by the nomadic cavalry or cut off the supply line, resulting in food shortage, or weapons can not keep up, or trapped, or retreat, or surrender. In addition, there is really no example of the elimination of the troops with the "army" as the unit in the force war.
The Han Empire will be suppressed by the Hun empire. It is because the Han Empire is blind to the mobility of the cavalry forces of the Hun empire. Even if they know where they are, they will disappear long after they catch up. More often, the pursuing forces are intercepted or ambushed by the enemy occupying the advantage of mobility.
After the Western Jin Dynasty, the nomads fundamentally completed their evolution, finally connected with the times, and entered the era of large-scale use of iron. That's when they finally entered the Central Plains and gained territory. At the same time, they also had enough labor force and production capacity. Before, let alone the arms of armor and riding equipment, the number of sudden cavalry was pitifully small. Only the king's guard could afford iron.
Liu Yan seems to have read an article somewhere. The nomadic people mastered a complete set of smelting technology during the Wuhu Luanhua period. That tribe was the Khitan after the division of Yuwen Xianbei.
Khitan inherited the heritage of Tuoba on the grassland, and then picked up the territory left by Murong Xianbei after he went south to the Central Plains. During this period, he obtained a considerable number of Han slaves. Their comprehensive mastery of smelting technology was obtained from Koguryo. Since then, Khitan has become the first nomadic nation to master a complete set of smelting technology.
In fact, the stage of "Wu Hu Luan Hua" is really very important for nomads. They have completed their first entry into the Central Plains in this era and taught a valuable lesson to the latter nomads.
If it is spiritual wealth to inform the later nomads that they can also enter the Central Plains, they have left a considerable legacy after ruling the Central Plains for the first time. From that moment, the nomadic society began to have the shadow of an agricultural nation, such as military system and some technologies.
It was the first time that nomads were able to rule the Central Plains. After that, any overlord who ruled the grassland had a goal. That goal was no longer an unreachable dream. It was that they could really kill in and become the master of the Central Plains. Since then, the nomads regarded the Central Plains as no longer a place for simple robbery. It was a small goal to grab a handful and run away. The big goal was to kill and rule the Central Plains.
What is the opposite? It is because the Central Plains Dynasty has never been able to possess the grassland. Even if it occupied part of the grassland for a certain period of time, it really did not understand what benefits the grassland can bring. Instead, it invested huge military expenses in order to maintain its possession. It often gave up its control over the grassland and retracted.
"In the widowed generation, we must complete the rule of the grassland." When Liu Yan spoke, he stretched out a hand and compared it with a rowing posture: "once many great people said that they would not leave their children after suffering, and few people would do it."
The rule of the Han state over the grassland was based on blood. All the time, there were formed cavalry or reconnaissance cavalry of the Han Army sweeping the grassland. Only if they were willing to become a member of the Han state and accept management could they live on the grassland. It must be said that blood is very useful on the grassland, forcing tribes who are unwilling to give in to flee far away. They can't escape and don't want to die, so they can only be digested by the Han state.
"Big Han's business income in the grassland is great." Li Tan is responsible for the military affairs in Northern Xinjiang. Because the army plays an extremely important role, he also has a clear understanding of some other things: "the grassland is providing a steady stream of meat to the hinterland, and has also developed textiles."
In fact, the most important thing is textile. Before, wool was considered worthless. Herders herded sheep simply for dairy products and meat, waiting for wool textile to be created, which opened the door to a new century.
Nomads are not naturally poor and ferocious. In fact, they have so many means of survival. The income from grazing is far more unstable than that from farming. After a rinderpest, sheep plague and horse plague, an originally huge tribe directly loses the food it needs to survive. If you don't want to starve to death, of course, you have to rob, and there is only such a means.
Relatively speaking, even if natural disasters break out in farming, the pressure resistance of farming people is much higher than that of nomadic people. At least farming people can still have grain reserves, and nomadic people don't have any grain reserves at all. In addition, the farming people also know that in addition to decent food, some plants can survive. There are many ways to survive, and cruel means are not the first choice. This is also one of the reasons why farming people are considered relatively mild.
In the grassland ruled by the Han Dynasty, herding is no longer just for dairy products or meat. Herders pay more attention to the benefits brought by wool collection or sustainable benefits. They don't kill the meat, but the sheep can grow again after shaving their hair, producing benefits again and again.
From the northwest to the grassland, you need to pass another mountain before entering Junji mountain. That mountain used to be of considerable significance to some nomads. Its name is kuihan mountain.
Kuihan mountain was the place where Li Ling was defeated and surrendered in the Western Han Dynasty. After his surrender, Li Ling became the right virtuous king of the Xiongnu and became a tribe of the Xiongnu with the Han army forced to surrender. For a long time, the place where Li Ling trained the troops for the Huns was near the kuihan mountain. He had a neighbor relationship with Weilu, the tribe of the Changshui Hu people who originally served the Han Army and surrendered to the Huns.
As time goes by, even tragic or tragic past events will become talk. For Liu Yan, who visited here, what he learned is the residual foundation of some buildings left during the Li Ling period.
Drought and locust plague have not affected this area for the time being. Looking around from the highland, you can see some scenes of grazing sheep. If it is more poetic and picturesque, groups of white sheep are wandering, maybe you can imagine it as white clouds floating one after another.
This area is close to the territory of xigaoche, and locusts are rampant in xigaoche. If there are no accidents, locusts will soon come to the place.
"We cleared an interval of more than 200 miles north of here." In order to make Liu Yan have a more intuitive impression, Li Tan took out a chapter of schematic diagram. Pointing to the picture, he continued, "from here to here, when you are ready, you will light a fire and burn a scorched earth zone about five miles wide."
Did Liu Yan know this in advance or did he issue an order himself.
The locust disaster in xigaoche is really exaggerated. The intelligence returned by the spies has repeatedly used the adjective "no grass grows". No one knows whether burning a scorched land with fire can prevent locusts from going south, but we have to try anyway.
The state of Han will not allow the withdrawal of troops or people from the grassland. Once the withdrawal wants to come back, it will not only be troublesome, but also there may be a price. But if locusts are rampant, they can't withdraw. Otherwise, leaving people on the grassland is to let them die.
"How far is Yu jiulu Bati from here?" Liu Yan got the answer, pondered and asked, "when will it be ready over there?"
Clearing a blank area is not easy. Enough livestock have been mobilized to gnaw it, and huge manpower needs to be used to clear it carefully. It has been three or four months, but it is still a long way from the completion of the project.
"We can't let Yu jiulu Bati find out what we did that for." Liu Yan is not sure whether it is useful to do so. As long as there is one in ten thousand feasibility, he should not let Rouran people learn: "after Yu jiulu Ba mentioned it, he set off immediately."
Rouran now has a vague position between allies and non allies for the Han country. The Han country needs to find it hard to find donggaoche, Tuoba remnant and Murong remnant. It is also wary of Rouran because the rule of the Han country on the grassland is still weak.
Yu jiulu Bati was at least a gentle ruler. He had to be forced to do something to bring only a thousand cavalry into the Han territory. His ruran rule was also affected by the plague of locusts. The border between the West and xigaoche was not ravaged by dense locusts, but too many Dingling people were attacking the ruran border.
Of course, Rouran was absolutely frightened by the locust disaster in xigaoche. She didn't know how much she was afraid that the place where she lived would become the scene of Dingling people.
The state of Han has done research on Yu jiulu Bati's adventure into the Han territory. There must be something to deepen the relationship. More of it is to ask Liu Yan for help in person.
Liu Yan met Yu jiulu Bati in kuihan mountain. They met face to face for the first time.
Yu jiulu Bati must have been taught in advance... Or how to meet Liu Yan, but he doesn't know whether he can't remember or doesn't take it seriously. The audience process doesn't look like it. If he can talk, he'll be straight to the point. If it's difficult, it's quite unreasonable.
"Is there nothing wrong with my ears?" Liu Yan doubted whether he had heard wrong: "at least 200000 stones of plant grain, no less than 200000 sheep and 20000 cattle; 20000 bows, 50000 swords and 50000 guns..." he couldn't read any more. He looked at Yu jiulu Bati like an idiot, Looking back at Li Tan, he asked, "my army has been defeated by Rouran, and the capital is about to be captured?"
In the military tent, there was a sound of blades pulling out. One of them was staring at Yu jiulu Bati with covetous eyes. If Liu Yan allowed, they would rush up and break up thousands of corpses.
The Rouran people in the tent were more tragic. Except that Yu jiulu Bati could bring weapons in, the other Rouran people were disarmed. They looked at the Han people who suddenly became fierce in fear, as if they didn't understand what happened.
Yu jiulu Bati didn't seem to understand either. He looked at Liu Yan in wonder and said in doubt: "we are allies. Isn't it normal to ask allies for help when we are in trouble?"
At that moment, Liu Yan finally knew why the rest of the nomads called the Rouran people "squirming people". Is it mentally retarded? Fighting only depends on force, no strategy, and more defeat wins less... The Han people don't know much, but they look like insects who can't think. It seems that they are right.