On the yellow sand wilderness about fifteen miles away from the north gate of Qunu City, the camps stretched for dozens of miles, and the flags were so cold that they seemed to block the sun.
Dalong is in the twelfth lunar month of winter when the cold wind is blowing, but Qunu City, the royal city of the Boluo Dynasty in the southern border of Tianzhu, is now as warm as spring, and occasionally makes people feel a little stuffy.
In the large tent of the Central Army of the Three Armies of Dalong, Nangong Ye and other major generals were carefully examining the map captured five days ago. Tang Ru, the quartermaster of the three armies, hurriedly ran in with a stack of documents.
"Commander, deputy commander, governor, brothers, we found it, we finally found it."
Tang Ru's excited words attracted a group of people's eyes away from the map and looked at the document in Tang Ru's hand.
When Nangong Ye looked at the map, his slightly frowned brows relaxed involuntarily, he put down the bamboo pole in his hand and walked towards Tang Ru.
"sure?"
Ning Chao followed up and picked up the tea on the table next to him, then raised his hand and handed it to Tang Ru, who was sweating on his forehead.
"Old Tang, drink a cup of tea first to calm down."
Tang Ru took the tea from Ning Chao and exhaled heavily, distributed the pile of documents in his hand to the hands of a group of generals, and then took a sip of the tea.
"Chen Benli sent a letter to report that he and his three thousand soldiers had secretly found a large amount of raw materials for making cannonballs in the Hapu Dynasty's Valli City.
In less than twenty days, they can escort this batch of raw materials to join our main army.
As long as this batch of raw materials for making artillery shells is delivered to the hands of the army craftsmen, our crisis of artillery shell shortage will be completely solved.
The specific contents of General Chen Benli’s report have been copied down. Commander, please take a look.”
A group of generals led by Nangong Ye looked through the documents in their hands without hesitation. A moment later, a group of generals smiled happily and closed the documents in their hands and clapped their palms heavily.
Yun Chong sighed with relief: "Okay, great, as long as the crisis of insufficient shells is resolved, we have nothing to worry about."
Wanyan Chizha squinted his eyes and was silent for a while: "Commander, in order to ensure that this batch of raw materials for making artillery shells can be safely and promptly delivered to the hands of our main army, the general thought that we should dispatch another five thousand light cavalry to join Chen Benli.
We will fully assist Chen Benli and the three thousand soldiers under his command to ensure that these materials are escorted back without fail."
Yun Chong nodded in agreement: "Yes, the deputy commander is very thoughtful. In order to ensure the safety of this batch of shell raw materials, it is very necessary to send five thousand troops.
Although we have now completely occupied the entire territory of the Hapu Dynasty and 80% of the territory of the Balo Dynasty, due to the speed of our advance, we have no time and extra manpower to manage the local Yi people in the territories we conquered.
When the barbarian people saw that we had captured the city and collected food and fodder, they ignored them and continued to march. It is inevitable that they would be used by the so-called nobles of Tianzhu and obstructed.
Although these barbarians, as well as the hundreds of thousands of barbarian soldiers who are now dependent on us, do not know the use of these raw materials.
But to ensure nothing goes wrong, it’s better to be on the safe side.
No matter what, anything related to artillery must not fall into the hands of the foreigners from Tianzhu and Dashi. This is what His Majesty has repeatedly told us before the expedition."
Nangong Ye thought for a long time with bright eyes, and nodded solemnly: "What the two brothers said makes sense. When it comes to artillery and shells, we really can't be careless.
Ning Chao, Sima Chun."
"The end will be here."
"You sent orders to your respective lieutenants to allocate 2,500 generals and cavalry, and immediately rushed to the territory of Falicheng City in a light and simple manner, to assist Chen Benli in escorting the raw materials of this batch of artillery shells to our main camp."
"I have the order! I will retire at the end of the day."
After Ning Chao and the two left the Chinese army tent, Nangong Ye frowned and looked at Tang Ru: "General Tang, how is the situation of food and grass?"
Tang Ru took out an account book from his armor and flipped through it for a while: "Reporting to the commander-in-chief, since we collected food and grass again in Huala City and Guluo City in the Boluo Dynasty, my army on the right currently has enough food and grass.
It can last for half a year without any problem.”
Nangong Ye nodded clearly and looked at Wanyan Chizha: "How is it? There shouldn't be any problem with food and grass, right?"
Wanyan Chizha nodded silently and walked towards the map hanging on the wooden frame.
"Commander, brothers, except for the royal city of Qunu City and the eight cities of different sizes in the southern part of the royal city, all the cities in the northern part of the Boluo Dynasty have been occupied by our soldiers and horses.
Now that we are approaching Qunv City, even if it takes a month to capture it, the remaining five months of food and grass will be enough for our troops and horses to establish a foothold in important cities in both countries.
By then, even if our current supply of food and grass is exhausted, as long as we have a firm foothold and have a source of continuous replenishment of food and grass, the issue of food and grass will no longer be a problem.
As for whether it will cause resistance from the local barbarian people, as long as we treat the local people with a gentle government, we will not be able to cause any big trouble when collecting food and grass in the future."
Yun Chong looked thoughtfully at Wanyan Chiezha, who had the chance to win: "How to be gentle?"
Wanyan Chizha gently stroked his beard, his old eyes sparkling.
"Every brother has heard how cruel the nobles in the two countries are in exploiting ordinary people.
We must let the local people understand that our Dalong Heavenly Army is not here to plunder and occupy them, but to save them.
After we captured the Polo Dynasty, we immediately combined the troops and horses of our Dalong headquarters with the barbarian troops and horses attached to our command, and gradually dispersed them among the main cities in the two countries.
Suppress the big nobles who are rich and unkind, distribute their land to ordinary people, and then support the small nobles to assist our generals in implementing benevolent government and educating the Han people.
As long as our Heavenly Army soldiers from Dalong Headquarters don’t commit crimes and commit crimes that are outrageous and outrageous.
In less than two years, after the Yi people have tasted the benefits bestowed upon them by our Great Dragon Heavenly Army, no matter how the Yi people noble officials instigate them, they will no longer follow those ambitious Yi people nobles to make trouble."
"hiss!"
Many quick-thinking generals couldn't help but take a breath after listening to Wanyan Chizha's gentle policy.
If this plan is successful, it will definitely gain the full support of the barbarian people in both countries, and its effect will be far greater than suppressing it with strong force.
Wanyan Chizha did not pay attention to the shock of a group of generals and continued to talk: "The most important thing is that we must encourage unmarried soldiers in the army to marry local Yi women.
Our army on the right has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and there must be at least one hundred thousand hot-blooded young men who went with the army without getting married during our reign.
Married soldiers, as long as they are young, strong, and can treat Yi women well, they can also marry local Yi women in the Qin and Jin Dynasties.
It's so normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines, so it's just like having a house of concubines.
By then, as long as there are no major problems, there could be at least 100,000 children living in the two places a year.
Over time, it means that Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things!
One day, this place will..."
Nangong Ye looked at Wanyan Chizha's extremely calm expression and sighed quietly.
"He was replaced by me, Dalong Erlang. Right?"
Wanyan Chiezha nodded solemnly: "Of course!"
Nangong Ye glanced at the shocked group of generals, rubbed his brows and pondered for a while.
"This matter is too important and cannot be decided by you and me.
It just so happens that I am planning to send the latest good news to the capital, so I would like to mention this again by the way!
As for the outcome, let it be decided by Your Majesty.
After all, without the full support of His Majesty's will, the soldiers would not be so easily able to accept the intermarriage with a Yi woman.
If you let them just sleep with a Yiren girl in their arms, they will definitely not have the slightest objection. However, intermarriage is a life-long matter, so it is not allowed to be careless!
Come to think of it, only His Majesty's prestige can keep it in check."
Wanyan Chizha smiled bitterly and nodded: "We should indeed send a letter to His Majesty and ask him to help us control the situation."
"Commander, Deputy Commander, shall we continue to persuade the Polo Dynasty troops in Qunu City to surrender?"
“You still need to be persuaded.
But now the crisis of our army's shortage of artillery shells has been resolved. If the enemy refuses to surrender, they can just attack the city directly.
Keep 10% of our remaining cannonballs for emergency use, and shoot out all the remaining cannonballs.
We can cover it with artillery bombardment and resolutely prevent the soldiers from risking their lives in attacking the city."