Chapter 44 Shuffling the cards in the court

Author: Gongsun Wujiu

Chapter 44 Shuffling the cards in the court

The Han army seemed to have suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Dawan, but in fact it gained a lot of benefits.

Due to the excellent stallions they obtained, the quality of horses bred by the Han Dynasty gradually caught up with and surpassed that of the Huns.

The decline of the Huns' control over the Western Regions also greatly weakened the strength of the Huns.

The Han army completed its strategic intention of surrounding the Xiongnu on three sides.

After that, the main battle between the Huns and the Han army also shifted from the east and south to the Western Regions.

If the empire could make good use of this advantage, the collapse of the Huns would be at least decades ahead of schedule.

After King Kangju returned to his palace, he regarded the defeat by the Han cavalry as a great shame and humiliation.

He swore in front of all the nobles that he would take revenge on the Han army and make the Han army pay the price for what he had done.

However, he also knew that relying on the current Kang Juguo army to fight the Han army would be courting death.

In order to improve the national strength, King Kangju implemented a series of military reforms in the country, hoping to build a powerful army to avenge his defeat by the Han army.

In the following years, the Kangju people abandoned their original military system and took the initiative to learn from the Xiongnu and Han armies.

After several years of hard work, a powerful cavalry and heavy cavalry corps was finally formed, and it became a military power in Inner Asia again.

…

In the autumn of the fourth year of Taichu, the expeditionary force led by General Li Guangli of the Second Division finally returned to Dunhuang.

In addition to the bloody horses brought back from Dayuan, those who returned to Dunhuang also included envoys and protons from various countries in the Western Regions.

In the end, the Han army returned to the pass with only 11,000 cavalry left.

However, unlike what Zhang Yue saw in the history books, most of the Han soldiers who did not return were actually not dead.

Instead, they stayed in the Western Region, and the actual death toll was probably around 30,000.

Only a few thousand of them died in the battle, and the rest died from lack of water and severe cold.

Especially when crossing the Congling Mountains, more than 20,000 Han troops died in the snow-capped mountains later called the Pamir Plateau.

After learning that the Han army had won a great victory and captured the Pegasus, the emperor was overjoyed and immediately issued an edict to the world.

The edict said: "The Xiongnu have been causing harm for a long time. Although they have moved to the north of Momo, they are conspiring with other countries to kill the Yuezhi envoys and kill Zhonglang Jiangjiang. Therefore, Yanmen is guarding the enemy. The danger must be to the west and Dawan to be killed.

In the Qimen car order, Zhonglang will go to court and poison the country's envoys, separated by the east and west roads.

General Guangli of the Second Division conquered Jue, and defeated Dawan. The spirit of Lai Tian traveled from Suihe Mountain, waded through quicksand, and led to the West Sea. There was no snow on the mountain, and the scholar-bureaucrats crossed the river and captured the king's first prisoner. All the rare and strange things were displayed there.

Que. He granted Guangli the title of Marquis of Haixi, with a settlement of 8,000 households."

Then he ordered Li Guangli to report the list of meritorious persons.

After receiving the emperor's order, Li Guangli was not polite and reported to the emperor a list of more than 4,000 meritorious officials within half a month.

Li Guangli's petition caused an uproar in the court.

Many ministers and princes in Chang'an wrote letters criticizing Li Guangli.

However, it did not have any effect, and the emperor issued another edict half a month later.

The Zhao brother who killed King Yu Cheng was granted the title of Marquis of Xinji; Zhao Shi, the commander of Li Guangli's army, was worshiped as Guanglu doctor; Shangguan Jie was promoted to Shaofu; Li Duo also became the important governor of Shangdang County.

This time, three of Li Guangli's officials became Jiuqing, more than a hundred officials were promoted to the rank of two thousand dan, and there were more than 1,000 officials below the rank of 1,000 dan. Even ordinary soldiers in the army were given 40,000 dan.

A new political and military group was rising in the empire.

The moment he saw the emperor's edict, Zhang Yue couldn't help but said to Li Si and others: "It seems that there will be another bloody storm in Chang'an City soon!"

At the same time, Prince Consort Jin Rixi also sighed in the mansion: "The world has changed..."

After the edict was issued, the princes and Erqianshi in Chang'an City were all in danger. They all sighed secretly: "The government is going to be in chaos..."

In fact, it is very easy to make such a judgment, because there are hundreds of millions of officials in this era and in later generations.

The total number of officials in the entire Han Empire was less than 10,000. This time, General Ershi was awarded more than 2,000 official positions.

These newly appointed officials will inevitably fight for power at all costs for their own interests.

And they all come from the Second Division General's army, so they will inevitably form a new interest group with the Second Division General Li Guangli as the core.

And when does a group have the strongest combat effectiveness? Of course, it is when they are first born.

Striving for power does not require anyone to teach you, nor does anyone need to instruct you. This is human nature.

The two thousand princes of Chang'an City now shudder when they think of the situation of the Second Division Army returning to Chang'an City.

After these people return to Chang'an, they will definitely be like crazy dogs that have been beaten to death, desperately looking for trouble, and trying every means to bring down the original powerful people.

Only when the original dignitaries are ousted will they have a place to sit.

Sure enough, throughout the winter of the fourth year of Taichu, the entire city of Chang'an fell into chaos.

Every day in the court hall, two thousand stones of former princes were thrown down. It was not until the summer of the first year of the Tianhan Dynasty that the dust settled.

By this time, more than a dozen ranking princes, four Jiuqing, and dozens of high-ranking officials worth two thousand shi had resigned. Hundreds of officials worth 1,000 shi had stepped down.

Not only Chang'an City, but in the end, in order to settle these heroes under General Ershi, it even affected dozens of counties.

In particular, except for Zhangye, which was controlled by Li Ling, the four counties in Hexi fell into the hands of the Ershi Group.

Throughout the entire process, these new heroes fought for power at all costs.

Framing and plundering can be said to be completely unscrupulous. They try every means to attack and destroy anyone who may affect their interests.

When the dust settled, everyone suddenly discovered that the list of losers was even more than the winners.

…

After taking control of the power, General Li Guangli of the Second Division was now very high-spirited and wanted to do something great to show others.

He wanted to show the world that he was by no means a mediocre person relying on nepotism, but an imperial general no less powerful than Wei Huo.

After discussing with the shogunate officials, he was determined to do something great in the Western Regions.

In fact, this is why he is secretly comparing himself to Wei Qing and Huo Qubing.

Wei Qing's main achievements were in Henan, which was the eastern front of the Huns.

Huo Qubing's achievements were mainly in the Hexi Corridor, that is, the middle road area.

He, Li Guangli, will make achievements on the Western Front no less than theirs this time.

During the two campaigns against Dawan, Li Guangli fully realized that the biggest problem that troubled the Han army in fighting in the Western Regions was the logistical supply of grain and grass.

In order to solve this problem, he decided to write to the emperor and request direct farming in the Western Regions.

So which place is most suitable for the Han army to farm?

Soon a name appeared in Li Guangli's mind.

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