Xuande

Chapter 626 I Can't Fight, Can't I Dodge?

Thinking of this, Liu Bei began to complain that he didn't grit his teeth and persevere at that time, and completely defeated the central Xianbei.

At that time, if we persevered and destroyed the Xianbei in the central part, we would not have so much trouble now...

Liu Bei rubbed his temples with some annoyance.

"Could it be that our actions to restore and consolidate the state irritated them?"

Liu Hui said in a low voice: "To the north of Bingzhou is the scope of activities of the Xianbei people. Maybe they even regard a part of Bingzhou as their territory. They will know as soon as we act."

"Speaking of it this way, we have not thought carefully."

Liu Bei said slowly: "Approximately how many people and soldiers are there in the central Xianbei?"

"Roughly estimated, with a population of [-] to [-], there are more than [-] victorious soldiers, less than [-]."

Liu Hui said: "After the previous Northern Expedition, their population and number of soldiers and horses should have decreased, and they will not be as many as in the past. Moreover, both the western Xianbei and the eastern Xianbei have been conquered by our army. It's terrible, there is only one seedling in the central Xianbei, and it is not difficult to deal with."

"So...they are gathering people at this time, is it really to take the initiative to attack me?"

Liu Bei looked at Liu Hui suspiciously: "Our army's repeated battles before should have discouraged them a long time ago. Now that they hear that our army is going north, they dare to take the initiative to attack south? They think they have lived too long, and they take the initiative to seek death. Is it? I can't figure it out."

When Liu Bei said this, Liu Hui also felt a little depressed, and couldn't figure it out.

"There are indeed many things in this world that I can't figure out, so... shall I go and explore again?"

"Well, you go to explore again and see if they really want to attack south."

Liu Bei nodded, so Liu Hui left quickly.

After Liu Hui left, Liu Bei felt that no matter how much he thought about it under normal circumstances, he would not come to the possibility that the Xianbei in the central part would dare to go south directly, but there are too many things that seem impossible in the world but actually happened, so we still have to do both. Prepare.

So he ordered Xia Houyuan, the general of Leopard Rider Zhonglang, to prepare for battle. If the rest of the central Xianbei really dared to go south, then let Xia Houyuan lead his troops north to support Guan Yu and Qianzhao-then the Northern Expedition completely wiped out the central Xianbei.

Although the cost will be relatively high, and the logistical pressure will also increase, but the other party has made a move, and I must give them a head-on blow.

And this money... It's not that I can't afford it, it's just that it wasn't included in the budget at the beginning. If we really want to pay for the Northern Expedition now, the national treasury will run a little bit. , and the post-war seizures must have been quite rich.

The previous Battle of Youzhou and the Northern Expedition brought a huge amount of wealth to Liu Bei. He sold livestock and prisoners of war to Jizhou, Qingzhou, and even Yanzhou, earning a lot of money and food. The development and construction of Youzhou also owed it to this A huge income can support it.

Local wealthy households in Jizhou, Qingzhou, and Yanzhou were very interested in the cattle and sheep on the grasslands, and were willing to pay to buy them. They were also very interested in the Xianbei prisoners of war, and spent a lot of money to buy a batch from the imperial court. The prisoners of war went back to serve as slaves.

Counting the official slaves needed for local construction in Youzhou, and the high-quality humans on the grasslands who helped the imperial court build pastures, the huge population of prisoners of war obtained in this battle basically had a place to go, and was quickly digested by the Han Empire.

Afterwards, the imperial court calculated the losses and expenses of the entire war, as well as the benefits gained from the war, and found that the business was quite profitable.

By selling prisoners of war and livestock, and accepting official slaves for use, the imperial court not only did not lose money, but even equalized the construction costs of Youzhou and Bingzhou, and in the end, made a small fortune.

It can be said that the Battle of Youzhou and the Battle of the Northern Expedition not only did not lose money, but also made money. This interesting fact gave Liu Bei a lot of prestige in the court.

From this point of view, if the war against Xianbei in the central part is started again now, it will just go north to "purchase goods" again, and the resistance in the court will be very small, or even basically non-existent.

From other perspectives, Liu Bei is not at all against launching another thorough attack on the central Xianbei.

The Xianbei ethnic group profoundly influenced the direction of the entire Chinese history in the following hundreds of years. It was not until the Sui and Tang Dynasties that they gradually disappeared and were assimilated by many other ethnic groups.

At the moment, Liu Bei has wiped out the main forces of the Western Xianbei and the Eastern Xianbei through two Northern Expeditions, and it is difficult for the remaining Xianbei people to make any waves.

I just don't know who will rise up in a place beyond his control after the Xianbei people leave, and then gradually go south...

However, according to his prediction, if he really wiped out all the Xianbei people within a period of time and swept up the northern grasslands, then there would not be a substantial threat of nomadic groups on the grasslands for hundreds of years.

The reason is simple, the Little Ice Age is here.

At this stage, the ecological environment of the northern grasslands will become harsh, and the relatively warm time is no longer suitable for the birth and development of a group of people. The natural climate and resources cannot support more population.

Without the buffer of the warm period, even if there are sporadic nomadic tribes migrating here, the population cannot increase too much.

Unless they move south to warmer areas, the harsh natural environment cannot carry the excess population, and the mighty power of nature will automatically help humans control the population size.

However, without the explosive growth of the grassland population during the warm period, it would naturally be impossible for them to expand their living space further south in order to survive during the Little Ice Age, let alone hundreds of thousands of grassland cavalry roaring southward.

There are not so many people who can live on the grasslands, nature does not allow it.

In other words, even if it cannot be completely wiped out, as long as the Xianbei forces in the northern grasslands are completely wiped out at this stage, then in the next few hundred years, no threatening nomadic armed group will grow up on the grasslands.

It was not until the warm period of the Sui and Tang Dynasties that a brand-new grassland tribe might appear to pose a threat to the Central Plains Dynasty again.

This is an excellent historical opportunity.

Thinking about it this way, Liu Bei felt that it would be necessary to send troops to sweep the grasslands.

As long as this wave persists in winning, it will usher in a golden development period of hundreds of years. This kind of good thing is rare in the entire history.

What happened afterwards proved that many unpredictable things may indeed happen in the world, but more predictable things will still happen.

For example, Liu Bei's judgment on the central Xianbei did not actually make a mistake-the central Xianbei escaped, not calling from the south.

They really didn't do anything to make people's eyes black, they just moistened it.

Hearing that Liu Bei launched a military campaign against Bingzhou, Budu, the most powerful adult in Xianbei in the central region, was frightened by that, feeling that this was a precursor to Liu Bei's war against Xianbei in the central region.

He thought that the Xianbei in the middle of the country had honestly licked their wounds these days, did nothing, and didn't dare to retaliate against Liu Bei for his previous attack. How did he provoke Liu Bei?

But should I say it or not, what the strong do to the weak does not need reasons and excuses, nor does it require anyone's consent. As long as the strong are willing, they can do anything.

After thinking about it, Budu felt that he could not beat Liu Bei no matter what, and was afraid of suffering the same fate as Suli, Mijia and others, so there was only one last choice left.

I can't fight, can't I hide?

Other powerful adults in Xianbei in the central region were also afraid of Liu Bei's tyrannical force. They didn't dare to confront Liu Bei, and they didn't want to die, so they could only keep up with Buduhe.

So when Liu Hui found out the specific news, they had already started to migrate westward.

10,000+ people moved westward with a large number of livestock and property such as cattle, sheep and horses. A large group of people wanted to leave the place where Liu Bei's soldiers could reach and go to the farther west for survival.

Liu Bei was a little happy when he heard the news, but also a little depressed.

I am happy that my reputation finally made the Xianbei people retreat without a fight.

What is depressing is that they are running now, but I can't pursue them, and I don't know where they will go in the future.

If we don't wipe them out now, it will be a disaster after all, and we must not leave this disaster to future generations.

So Liu Bei could only continue to issue long-term orders to Liu Hui, asking him to send people to track and grasp the escape routes and final settlements of Budu and his troops. The group was flat in one fell swoop.

Even if you run to the ends of the earth, I will catch up with you and kill you all.

Liu Bei's fierce and greedy eyes projected towards the northwest.

At present, the military operations of the Han army in Bingzhou are still going on.

In mid-to-late March, the armies of Qianzhao and Yu Fuluo fought a large Xianbei tribe in the Hetao Plain of Shuofang County, completely wiped out this large tribe of 3 people, and achieved great results.

On the sixth day of April, Guan Yu commanded troops to defeat a Wuhuan army of more than [-] soldiers and their tribes in Yuanyang County, Yunzhong County, and won a big victory.

On the eighth day of April, the leading troops defeated a part of the Xianbei and a part of the Xiongnu in Xi'anyang County, Wuyuan County, beheaded more than [-] people, and captured more than [-] people.

On April [-]th, Qianzhao arrived at Jiuyuan County, the prefecture of Wuyuan County. On the same day, the vanguard of Guan Yu's troops arrived at Xianyang County, Yunzhong County. The two armies basically completed the Bingzhou battle mission.

With a lot of gains, they sent a message of victory to Liu Bei, letting Liu Bei who was far away in Luoyang know their brilliant victory.

Bingzhou was restored.

Liu Bei established a Bingzhou terrain sand table in Luoyang, constantly updated the direction and results of the advance of Guan Yu and the Zhaozhao Office in real time, and conducted remote military status understanding based on the battle report.

When he learned of the latest progress of Guan Yu and Qianzhao's two armies on April 23, he knew that the Battle of Bingzhou had been successful.

(End of this chapter)