At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 564: The Germanic Warriors Who Violated the Law of Heaven and Failed to Keep Up with the Times
The current population of the Xiongnu Kingdom is roughly four to five million, similar to the Niu Niu in history. The surrounding Parthia Kingdom has a population of five to six million, the Seleucid Empire has a population of over ten million, the small countries of the Greek Federation have a combined population of over ten million, and the Mediterranean powers such as Rome, Carthage, and the Ptolemaic Dynasty have a combined population of twenty to thirty million. Together with other small countries and tribes, the Xiongnu Kingdom has a commodity market and raw material production areas that are more than ten times larger than its own.

The new industrial system of the Xiongnu Kingdom had no way to learn from the Han Dynasty and follow the path of domestic demand, and its external market environment and conditions did not force them to take the more difficult path of domestic demand.

Therefore, the Xiongnu, with this small industrial system, naturally chose to embark on the path of bulls in history. They needed markets, raw materials, and colonies, and all of this required the Xiongnu to expand abroad in order to complete the upgrading of the Xiongnu's industry and create profits. All of this forced the Xiongnu to embark on the path of external expansion.

Junchen told his father about the current situation the Xiongnu was facing. If they followed the orders of the Han Dynasty, they would only disintegrate internally. Expansion was their only way to survive. They should take advantage of the Han Dynasty's inability to stop their expansion and annex the Parthian Empire. By doing so, the population and area of ​​the Xiongnu would double, and the national strength would increase dramatically, making it more capable of resisting the Han Dynasty.

After three days of contemplation, Laoshang Chanyu decided to attack the Parthian Empire according to the original plan.

June 33, 6rd year of the Han calendar

The Xiongnu State mobilized 20 troops and divided them into two groups to attack the Parthian State. One group was led by the Xiongnu Chanyu with an army of 10 to attack the Parthian capital of Nia.

Along the way, Junchen led an army of 100,000 to attack the southern city of Persepolis of the Parthian Empire.

The envoys were divided into two groups, with Zhang Pijiang leading the team to follow Laoshang Chanyu, and Zhou Yafu leading the team to follow Junchen.

On the evening of June 4th, the Huns’ southern army camp.

Zhou Yafu was recording his experiences and observations in the Xiongnu army. In Zhou Yafu's opinion, although the Xiongnu army was poorly trained, its formation was not as orderly as that of the Han army, and its weapons and equipment were not as good as those of the Han army.

Now the Han Dynasty has begun to equip itself with muzzle-fired rifles, while the Xiongnu Kingdom has not even been able to fully popularize firearms. Half of the Xiongnu soldiers are still equipped with cold weapons, and the other half are not well equipped with firearms, still using heavy matchlock rifles. Not even 30% of them have flintlock rifles.

Of course Zhou Yafu also understood why this was the case. The price of the Xiongnu's heavy matchlock rifles was more than 5000 coins, and the price of the flintlock rifles they made was as high as coins. The Xiongnu people simply could not afford the flintlock rifles they made, and all they used were second-hand flintlock rifles from the Han Dynasty.

Although the Han Dynasty's second-hand flintlock rifles were cheap, after traveling across the ocean to the Xiongnu Kingdom, the price of one rifle reached 30,000 coins, and the military officials could not afford to equip themselves with too many flintlock rifles.

Although the weapons and equipment of the Xiongnu army were backward, the morale of the troops Zhou Yafu saw along the way was high, and the Xiongnu soldiers were full of confidence in victory in this war. Obviously, this was a powerful army that was constantly fed by victories. The Xiongnu army was stronger than most of the princes' armies he had seen. If they could not be equipped with the artillery and muskets of the Han Dynasty, I am afraid they could really compete with the Han army.

The Xiongnu northern army camp, the central army tent.

Laoshang Chanyu invited Zhang Pijiang to play Go in his tent. Although Laoshang Chanyu already knew that Zhang Pijiang and his group wanted to prevent the Han Dynasty from annexing the Parthian Empire, he still treated Zhang Pijiang and his group with favor.

"What has the emperor been doing these years? I have seen less and less news about him in the Han Monthly Report."

Laoshang Chanyu was extremely wary of Xu Fan. His favorite thing to do in the Xiongnu Kingdom was to collect intelligence on Xu Fan. Xu Fan's movements were reported in various newspapers and periodicals of the Han Dynasty, so Laoshang Chanyu developed the habit of collecting monthly reports from the Han Dynasty.

But in recent years, Lao Shang Shanyu has discovered that Xu Fan's name appears less and less frequently in the monthly reports, and only on some major holidays and court meetings will Xu Fan's name appear.

Instead, Prince Xu Aimin appeared more frequently in the monthly report, either building new neighborhoods or promoting agricultural cooperatives. Almost every issue of the monthly report reported on Prince Xu Aimin's deeds.

This made Laoshang Chanyu a little suspicious whether Xu Fan had a physical problem and wanted to entrust the Han Dynasty to the prince.

Zhang Pijiang made a move and said, "Your Majesty has been spending more time in the laboratory these years. The clock and tractor were developed by Your Majesty in these years. Your Majesty intends to manufacture more equipment that will benefit the people of the world in the next few years."

Laoshang Chanyu sighed: "The emperor is well versed in hundreds of schools of thought. It seems that there is nothing he doesn't understand. We Xiongnu have also ordered 100 tractors. These are simply magical tools for farming. With these tractors, our Xiongnu country has reclaimed tens of thousands of acres of land a year."

Then the old Chanyu asked the prince of the Han Dynasty what he had been doing over the years?
Zhang Pijiang briefly told Laoshang Chanyu what the prince had done in the past two years. It was not a confidential matter and was reported in the monthly report of the Han Dynasty, so he was not afraid of leaks.

After listening to this, Laoshang Chanyu shook his head and said, "The prince's ambition is too high. I'm afraid his idea is difficult to realize. We Xiongnu have millions of civilians, but it's already our best effort to support hundreds of thousands of Xiongnu nobles."

"Although the Han people are richer than the Xiongnu, they want to support tens of millions of farmers and craftsmen and make them the masters of the Han people. I do not approve of this behavior."

Zhang Pijiang said: "Just because the Xiongnu couldn't achieve their goal doesn't mean the Han can't achieve it. The Han has been moving towards the Great Harmony since the founding of the country. Over the past 30 years, we have made steady progress. Now, tens of millions of people have achieved a well-off standard of living. In my opinion, the living conditions of the Xiongnu nobles are not as good as those of the rich families in the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty has not stopped its pace of progress. With another ten or twenty years of development, the well-off standard of living can be achieved, and then the Han Dynasty can move towards the ideal of Great Harmony."

Laoshang Chanyu smiled calmly and said, "I am not as good as the emperor and the crown prince in governing the world, but I understand people's hearts better. Where there is a master, there are servants. This is a two-sided thing. I can say without hesitation that the millions of people in the Xiongnu Kingdom are the servants of hundreds of thousands of nobles in the Xiongnu Kingdom. A dozen people can support one noble. This is affordable. These servants have to farm for their masters, make money for their masters, and serve their masters. When war comes, they have to join the army for their masters. The greatest wealth of the masters is these servants."

"And now the Han Dynasty wants to make tens of millions of craftsmen and farmers the masters of the Han Dynasty? Then who will be the servants of the Han Dynasty? Where can the Han Dynasty find hundreds of millions or even billions of servants?

Who is the servant in the Han Dynasty? This is something I have never seen. Who helps the master to farm, make money, and join the army to fight? They are all masters, so there is no master, and there is no master in the country. Envoy Zhang is a learned scholar who is familiar with the classics. Has such a country appeared from ancient times to the present? "Zhang Pijiang said: "My Han Dynasty has been pioneering new history. I can proudly say that there has never been a country as powerful as the Han Dynasty from ancient times to the present. So the fact that it has not appeared does not mean that it will not appear. At least my Han Dynasty is still on this path now."

Laoshang Chanyu was speechless after being refuted. The strength of the Han Dynasty was beyond doubt, and it was no exaggeration to say that it was unprecedented in history.

But Lao Shang Chanyu still said: "Tigers are naturally less numerous than cattle and sheep. This is the law of nature. The Han Emperor and the Crown Prince want to make all the tens of millions of craftsmen and farmers in the Han Dynasty like lions. This is against the law of nature. Now the Han Emperor has a high prestige, so he can violate the law of nature, but this trend cannot last forever. Every year it lasts, the backlash to the Han Dynasty will be greater."

Zhang Pijiang fell into deep thought after hearing this.

On the other hand, the Parthian Empire was well prepared for the invasion of the Xiongnu. After all, the Xiongnu had been stockpiling food and fodder and expanding their army. This large-scale troop mobilization and food and fodder accumulation could not be hidden from anyone.

In order to deal with the invasion of the Xiongnu, the Parthian Empire rapidly expanded its own standing army. On the other hand, the nobles of the Parthian Empire were also actively recruiting the sons of nobles to join the army, while also recruiting serfs from their own country and hiring mercenaries with large sums of money in the Mediterranean area.

The nobles of the Parthian Empire also invested a lot in this regard. The political system of the Parthian Empire was feudal aristocracy, and the Parthian king was the most powerful leader among these nobles. When the Huns invaded the Parthian Empire, they not only attacked the Parthian king, but also wanted to destroy the families of the Parthian nobles.

In the first two wars between the Parthians and the Xiongnu, the local nobles were killed by the Xiongnu, their land was taken away and given to the Xiongnu nobles. The conflict between the two sides had reached the point of life and death. The so-called century-old dynasty and thousand-year-old nobles were not established in this land. The Parthian nobles were willing to shed blood to arm the army.

He even spent a lot of money to recruit a Han artillery unit. Although they were not the regular army of the Han Dynasty, they were experienced sailors with more than 10 years of rich naval combat experience. Their experience in operating artillery far exceeded that of the artillerymen trained in Parthia.

At the same time, the Parthian Empire also launched diplomatic actions, sending envoys to the Seleucid Empire, the Ptolemaic Empire, Carthage, Rome, and the Greek Commonwealth. In short, it sought help from all the countries that could be sought.

These countries contributed materials, money, and people. In short, everyone was united in fighting against the brutal enemy, the Huns.

Even countries like Rome and Carthage, which were far away from the center of the world island, did not want a powerful empire to emerge in this area. Parthia was already a relatively powerful empire in this region, and the Seleucid Empire, whose population was several times that of Parthia, could not do anything to them.

The small hegemonic state in such a region was beaten by the Xiongnu and had no power to fight back. If the Xiongnu annexed the Parthian Empire, the aging Seleucid Empire would be no match for the Xiongnu. If the Seleucid Empire was annexed by the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu's territory would directly rush to the Mediterranean, which would be disastrous for the countries in this area of ​​the Mediterranean.

Small countries like Rome, Carthage, and Greece would rather be neighbors with the Seleucid Empire and Parthia than with the powerful Huns.

Parthia, Persepolis.

Jin Zhe looked at the mercenary who was wearing leather armor, carrying a wooden shield and crossbow, and holding a spear with an iron spear head, and said, "Didn't you buy a breastplate and a musket?"

The German mercenary who was asked by Jinze looked very strange and asked: "What is a musket?"

Hearing this, Jin Zhe was indignant. He had said many times that he should find more Han mercenaries. Although Han mercenaries were expensive, they were strong in combat.

How can the war be fought by hiring such Germanic barbarians who don't even know how to use muskets? Are they going to be dragged to the battlefield to be cannon fodder? With so many parasites in the country, how can the Parthian Empire possibly defeat the Huns?

Even during the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, Chinese civilization had a core regional hegemon. However, Han civilization was different. The Mediterranean region had never been unified for thousands of years, and there was not even a hegemon to lead one side. Instead, there was only one civilization declining and another thriving.

The only empire that was relatively unified in this area for thousands of years was the Roman Empire, which occupied the entire Mediterranean. However, this empire had just stepped out of the Apennine Peninsula at that time. It did not truly flourish until 100 years later. Rome had just defeated Carthage and became the overlord of the Mediterranean, but had not yet ruled this area in the center of the world island.

Hiring mercenaries to fight in this area has been a tradition for thousands of years. For most nobles, this is the most cost-effective. Usually, they rely on a small number of noble knights and private soldiers in their own families to suppress the serfs. When they encounter powerful foreign enemies, they pay mercenaries to fight, and disband the mercenaries after the battle. They spend money when they are needed and disband them when they are not needed, and even save the cost of pensions.

This time, in order to deal with the Huns, Parthia announced the news of recruiting mercenaries at high prices throughout the Qinzhou. The hiring price was three times that of the past, which caused a sensation throughout the Qinzhou. Mercenaries on the Mediterranean front line came to the Seleucid Empire by ships, and then entered the Parthian Empire.

Tens of thousands of mercenaries poured into the entire Parthian Empire, with 20,000 mercenaries in the city of Persepolis alone.

Of course, mercenaries have their advantages and disadvantages. That is the combat effectiveness of mercenaries. Just like online shopping in later generations, it all depends on luck. If you encounter well-equipped and powerful mercenaries, you may win the battle. If you encounter cannon fodder mercenaries, you may be defeated.

But now Jin Zhe is dissatisfied with this group of mercenaries. Judging from their weapons and equipment, they are not even qualified to be cannon fodder.

Over the past decade, the war between the Parthian Empire and the Xiongnu Empire has become increasingly fierce, and the weapons and equipment of both sides have been updated more and more rapidly, from the initial army mainly equipped with leather armor and iron spears, to the later iron armor and steel knives, and then to the heavy cavalry, heavy infantry, and sabers. With the current use of muskets and artillery, it can be said that the weapons and equipment of both sides are updated almost every three to five years. The thousands of years of history of the Middle Ages have been surpassed by both sides in the past twenty years.

In contrast, these Germanic people are still trying to seize the city of Rome. They could never have imagined that in just twenty years, the arms race in the center of the world island would become so fierce. They have changed from cheap and powerful Germanic warriors to the despised cannon fodder they are today.

(End of this chapter)