I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 397 A national weapon that can be compared with a powerful crossbow!

The royal city of Loulan.

"Your Highness, our army has been resting in Loulan for more than two months, and Your Highness has not blocked the commercial traffic. The news of the Han Dynasty's surprise attack on Loulan must have spread to half of the Western Regions, and we have lost the advantage of the initiative."

Zhao Po Nu waited for a month and finally couldn't sit still anymore, so he took the initiative to come to Liu Ju to make suggestions.

"I wonder how long Your Highness plans to wait before sending troops to conquer the small countries along the way and target my teacher?"

"Let the arrow fly for a while longer, and wait for my father's imperial edict, which should arrive soon in the next few days."

Liu Ju still spoke slowly.

Chang'an is too far away from Loulan. Even if the messenger rode at full speed, it would take at least a month for the imperial edict to reach Emperor Liu Che. It would take another two months for Liu Che's edict to be sent back.

He had to confirm one thing first, which was what decision Liu Che would make in the end.

Naturally, it was not a decision on whether to continue attacking Gushi, but whether to agree and support stationing troops and cultivating land in Loulan, and whether to continue to let himself lead troops to participate in the war.

It is certain that the attack on Gushi will continue, because this is what Liu Che did in history.

Naturally, this matter had no impact on him.

The key points are the issue of military farming and garrisoning troops and whether he will be recalled. These two things will directly affect his plan for self-reliance.

After all, he is not yet fully grown. Without the financial and human support of Liu Che, it would be impossible to realize the establishment of military farms and garrisons in Loulan. In history, after Zhao Po Nu conquered Loulan, Liu Che did not establish military farms and garrison troops in Loulan for some reason. Perhaps he had his own considerations, or he was limited by the treasury.

However, if Liu Che did not allow him to continue leading troops to fight and insisted on recalling him to Chang'an to report, then he would no longer have a legal status in the Han army, which would only make those under his command feel caught in a dilemma, and even the Jianzhang cavalry would be difficult to control.

Once this situation occurred, Liu Ju had to find another way to realize his plan of self-reliance.

He was mentally prepared for this.

Ban Chao, Marquis Dingyuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was able to lead only 36 people on a mission to the Western Regions. During his 31 years in the Western Regions, he conquered more than 50 countries. As for the countries 40,000 miles away from the sea, they all sent envoys to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty. This is enough to show that the Western Regions are not a monolithic entity. As long as the right methods are used and courage, determination and wisdom are shown, becoming a marquis thousands of miles away is not a myth.

Ban Chao can do it, and Liu Ju has now become a full-level human, so he naturally has full confidence.

However, if he could continue to get the support of Liu Che, achieving this goal would be much easier. If there was a other way, why would Liu Ju give up the easy way and start from scratch?
However, Liu Ju secretly felt that the problem should not be serious.

Although the victory reports he ordered to be sent to Chang'an this time were all facts, he also carefully considered the wording. Even the killing of the surrendered soldiers and the threat of massacre in the city were intentional, just to please Emperor Liu Che.

Especially the blood letter written by thousands of Loulan people, "regarding the Han army as the royal army and Liu Che as their parents, and requesting Liu Che to establish military farms and bless Loulan", which was kept in a bamboo tube for more than a month without drying, although it was a bit disgusting, it must have left a deep impression on Liu Che, which was completely in line with his desire for "great unification".

Even Liu Che should not fall into the cliché of doing things unintentionally, right?
Isn't there a saying that goes, "If you feel comfortable and get along well with someone, it means that the other person's emotional intelligence and experience are higher than yours"? Liu Ju just wanted to try whether, with his current full-level human status, he could make Liu Che feel "very comfortable and get along well" in this regard, and thus form an independent yet harmonious relationship with him.

Of course, if Liu Che's reaction did not meet expectations, Liu Ju would not feel frustrated. After all, even if Liu Che was not a full-level human with all five attributes like him, he was still Emperor Wu of Han, a child of destiny who surpassed most emperors. How could he be underestimated?
Thinking about this, Liu Ju turned and asked:
"By the way, you have been promoting my stirrups in the army recently. How is the effect?"

"Speaking of this matter..."

Zhao Po Nu suddenly regained his spirits and said in a bright and cheerful manner,
"Your Highness has great talent. I would like to call it a national weapon that can be compared with a powerful crossbow. I am not exaggerating. With this weapon alone, all the cavalrymen under my command can stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jianzhang cavalry under your Highness!"

This is the main reason why Zhao Po Nu was so eager to fight.

And it wasn't just him. Many of his generals and cavalrymen also wanted to start a war as soon as possible. They felt like a gamer who had just obtained a powerful equipment and would feel uncomfortable if he didn't kill a few monsters immediately.

Since the night attack on Loulan Kingdom two months ago, many people have witnessed Liu Ju standing up from his horse and throwing out his stunning halberd.

This feat soon spread among the army, and Liu Ju's riding skills were regarded as miraculous.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Liu Ju gathered the generals of various armies and revealed on the spot the secret of how he was able to stand up from the horse - double stirrups.

Nowadays, the Han people's horses still use soft single stirrups made of leather or linen.

This single stirrup is not for assisting in riding a horse, but for assisting in getting on a horse. You step on it when getting on the horse, and once on the horse you can only maintain your body shape by tightly clamping the horse's belly with your legs and using your hands holding the reins.

It was therefore absolutely impossible for anyone to stand up while riding a horse, and most cavalrymen could only free up one hand at most.

This was also a major disadvantage for the Han cavalry when facing the Xiongnu cavalry.

The Han cavalry was strong in its heavy cavalry with full armor, and the Xiongnu light cavalry with only leather armor found it difficult to fight the Han heavy cavalry head-on.

But the Huns have lived on horseback since childhood. For most of them, riding a horse is as easy as drinking water and eating. Their riding skills are naturally much better than those of the Han cavalry, who need deliberate training. It is also no problem for them to draw a bow and shoot an arrow with both hands while riding on a galloping horse.

However, only a small number of the most elite cavalry of the Han Dynasty have this ability.

Moreover, even the bows and arrows used by the Huns for horseback archery could only be short bows with less bow power. Both the effective range and lethality were far behind the Han Dynasty's smallest bow, the Stone-arm Crossbow.

The same was naturally true for the Han cavalry. In this situation, most of their energy was spent just trying to keep their bodies steady, and it was simply impossible for them to immediately use the Han cavalry's world-leading crossbows.

But the situation changed after Liu Ju invented the double stirrup.

Even those vassal cavalrymen under Zhao Po Nu, who were not considered elite, could easily use a stone-arm crossbow on horseback, and using two-handed long weapons was no problem at all.

An inch long, an inch strong!

The spears and halberds are at least three feet longer than the ring-handled swords and scimitars commonly used by the Huns!
The range of a stone-arm crossbow is at least a hundred steps longer than that of the Huns' mounted shortbow, which is enough to make up for the lack of shooting frequency!
No one knows better than Zhao Po Nu, who once fought a bloody battle with the Huns in the desert, what this means!
(End of this chapter)