Chapter 626: If I can’t defeat you, can I still escape?
Thinking of this, Liu Bei began to complain that he had not gritted his teeth and persisted and completely destroyed Xianbei in central China.
If I had persevered and defeated the Xianbei in central China, we wouldn't have so much trouble now...
Liu Bei rubbed his temples with some annoyance.
“Could it be that our actions to restore the union have stimulated them?”
Liu Hui whispered: "To the north of Bingzhou is the activity range of the Xianbei people. Maybe they even regard part of Bingzhou as their territory. They will know it as soon as we take action."
"To put it this way, it turns out that we didn't think carefully."
Liu Bei said slowly: "Approximately how many people and troops are there in Xianbei in central China?"
"A rough estimate is that with a population of 170,000 or 80,000, the number of victorious soldiers is more than 30,000, less than 40,000."
Liu Hui said: "After the previous Northern Expedition, their population and number of soldiers and horses should have decreased. They will not be as large as in the past. Moreover, both the western Xianbei and the eastern Xianbei have been conquered by our army, and the losses have been
It was so disastrous that there was only one single seedling left in Xianbei in central China, which is not difficult to deal with."
"So...are they really gathering people at this time to attack me?"
Liu Bei looked at Liu Hui doubtfully: "Our army should have been frightened by the successive battles before. Now that they heard that our army is heading north, they actually dare to take the initiative to attack south? They think they have lived too long and are seeking death.
?I can’t figure it out.”
When Liu Bei said this, Liu Hui also felt a little depressed and couldn't think of anything to do.
"There are indeed many things in this world that we can't figure out. Then...shall I go explore again?"
"Well, you go and explore again to see if they really want to go south to attack."
Liu Bei nodded, and 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 up with the possibility that Xianbei in central China would dare to go directly south. However, there are too many things in the world that seem impossible but actually happened, so he still has to do both.
Prepare.
So he ordered Xia Houyuan, the general of the Leopard Cavalry, to make war preparations. If the remaining Xianbei troops in the central part really dared to go south, then let Xia Houyuan lead troops north to support Guan Yu and Qianzhao - and then make a northern expedition to completely destroy the Xianbei in the central part.
Although the cost will be relatively high and the logistics pressure will increase, the other party has already taken action, and you must give them a head-on blow.
And this money... it's not that we can't afford it, it's just that it wasn't in the budget at the beginning. If we really have to pay for the Northern Expedition now, it's really not possible if the national treasury is slightly reorganized. Plus, with the Shaofu, we can definitely afford this war.
, the seizures after the war must have been quite rich.
The previous Battle of Youzhou and the Northern Expedition brought Liu Bei a huge amount of wealth. He sold livestock and prisoners of war to Jizhou, Qingzhou and even Yanzhou, and made a lot of money and food. The development and construction of Youzhou was also thanks to this.
It takes a huge amount of income to support it.
The local wealthy households in Jizhou, Qingzhou and Yanzhou were very interested in the cattle and sheep on the grassland and were willing to pay for them. They were also very interested in the Xianbei prisoners of war, and spent a lot of money to buy a batch of them from the imperial court.
Prisoners of war went back to serve as slaves.
Counting the official slaves needed for local construction in Youzhou, as well as the high-quality grassland humans 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 expenditures of the entire war, as well as the benefits gained from the war, and found that this business was quite profitable.
By selling prisoners of war and livestock, and taking in official slaves for use, the imperial court not only did not lose money, but even evened out the construction costs of Youzhou and Bingzhou. In the end, it also made a small profit.
It can be said that the Battle of Youzhou and the Northern Expedition not only did not lose money, but also made money. This interesting fact earned Liu Bei a great reputation in the court.
From this point of view, if the war against Xianbei in central China were to start again, it would just be another trip north to "replenish goods". The resistance in the court would be very small, or even basically non-existent.
From other perspectives, Liu Bei does not object at all to launching a thorough attack on Xianbei in central China.
The Xianbei ethnic group profoundly influenced the entire history of China 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 present, Liu Bei has wiped out the main forces of Western Xianbei and 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 move south...
However, according to his prediction, if he really wipes out all the Xianbei people within a period of time and sweeps the northern grasslands, then there will not be a substantial threat to the nomadic group on the grasslands for hundreds of years.
The reason is simple: the Little Ice Age is coming.
At this stage, the ecological environment of the northern grasslands will become harsh, the relatively warm moments are no longer suitable for the birth and development of a group of people, and the natural climate and resources cannot support a larger population.
Without the buffer of the warm period, even if sporadic nomadic tribes migrate here, the population will not be able to grow much.
Unless they move south to warmer areas, the harsh natural environment cannot support the excessive population, and the power of nature will automatically help humans control the population size.
Without the explosive growth of the grassland population during the warm period, it was naturally impossible to encourage them to further expand their living space southward for survival during the Little Ice Age, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of grassland cavalry roaring southward.
There simply aren't that many people who can live on the grassland, nature doesn't allow it.
In other words, even if they cannot be completely wiped out, as long as all the Xianbei forces in the northern grasslands are wiped out at this stage, no threatening nomadic armed group will be able to grow on the grasslands in the next hundreds of years.
It wasn't until the warm period of the Sui and Tang Dynasties that a brand new grassland tribe might emerge and pose a threat to the Central Plains dynasty again.
This is an excellent historical opportunity.
Thinking of this, Liu Bei felt that it would be necessary to send troops to sweep the grasslands.
As long as we persist in winning this wave, we will usher in a golden development period for hundreds of years. This kind of good thing is rare in the entire history.
What happened next proved that many unpredictable things may indeed happen in the world, but there will still be more predictable things.
For example, Liu Bei's judgment on the Xianbei in central China was actually not wrong - the Xianbei in central China escaped and did not fight from the south.
They really didn't do anything that would make people look bad, they just smoothed things over.
Hearing that Liu Bei had launched a military campaign against Bingzhou, Bu Du, the most powerful man in Xianbei in central China, was frightened. He felt that this was a precursor to Liu Bei launching a war against Xianbei in central China.
He thought that Xianbei in central China had been licking his wounds honestly these days and did nothing. He didn't dare to retaliate against Liu Bei for his previous attack. Where did he provoke Liu Bei?
But whether it should be said or not, there is no need for reasons or excuses for what the strong do to the weak, nor does it require anyone's consent. As long as the strong is willing, anything can be done.
Budu thought about it and thought that he could not defeat Liu Bei no matter what. He was afraid of suffering the same fate as Suli, Mika and others, so he had only the last option.
If I can't fight, can't I hide?
Other powerful adults in Xianbei in central China were also afraid of Liu Bei's tyrannical force. They did not dare to confront Liu Bei and did not want to die, so they could only keep up with Bu Du Hei.
So when Liu Hui found out the specific information, they had already begun to migrate westward.
Hundreds of thousands of people moved westward with their cattle, sheep, horses and other livestock and property. A large group of people wanted to leave the place where Liu Bei's troops could reach and go to the farther west to seek survival.
When Liu Bei heard the news, he was a little happy and a little depressed.
I am happy that my reputation finally allowed the Xianbei people to retreat without a fight.
What's depressing is that they have run away now, but I can't chase them, and I don't know where they will go in the future.
If we don't eliminate them now, they will be a disaster in the end, 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 master the escape routes and final settlements of Budu and his troops. When he was free, he would launch another Northern Expedition to bring the military and armed forces on the grassland to
The group fell 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 were cast towards the northwest.
At present, the Han army's military operations in Bingzhou are still continuing.
In mid-to-late March, Qianzhao and Yu Fuluo's troops fought against a larger Xianbei tribe in the Hetao Plain area of Shuofang County, completely wiping out this large tribe of 20,000 to 30,000 people, and achieved great results.
On the sixth day of April, Guan Yu led his troops to defeat a Wuhuan army of more than 5,000 men and their tribes in Yuanyang County, Yunzhong County, and won a great victory.
On the eighth day of April, he led the troops and defeated the Xianbei and Xiongnu troops in Anyang County, Xianyang County, Wuyuan County, beheading more than a thousand people and capturing more than 10,000 people.
On April 15, Qianzhao arrived at Wuyuan County and Jiuyuan County. On the same day, Guan Yu's vanguard arrived at Xianyang County, Yunzhong County. The two armies basically completed the task of merging the states.
With their full harvest, they conveyed the message of victory to Liu Bei, letting Liu Bei who was far away in Luoyang know about their glorious victory.
Bingzhou was restored.
Liu Bei established a Bingzhou terrain sandbox in Luoyang, constantly updated the advancing direction and results of Guan Yu and Qianzhao's troops in real time, and conducted remote military status understanding based on battle reports.
When he learned about the latest progress of Guan Yu and Qianzhao's armies on April 23, he knew that the Bingzhou Campaign had been successful.