Dong Zhuo had never had a deep understanding of the Han army, and he didn't know why Liu Bei had built this powerful army that had won many battles. Now he looked at Zhao Qi and Zhang Fei, and he was more and more surprised.
Obviously, there seems to be something completely different between this Han army and the "Han army" he understood in the past.
Dong Zhuo's surprise was not within the scope of Zhang Fei and Zhao Qi's consideration.
After Zhao Qi put forward his opinion, Zhang Fei thought about it and had to agree that Zhao Qi's opinion was reasonable. The so-called county magistrates are not as good as the current ones. The Yanqi Kingdom is here, with a fierce spirit, but the Han Dynasty's heavenly soldiers are thousands of miles away.
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How many people can still have the so-called "long-term vision" when their lives are threatened?
When life is threatened, no matter whether it is a person or a country, the first thing to consider is the safety of one's own life. Even if there is a sinkhole in front of you, that is something you will only think of after saving your life.
If the lives of Dong Zhuo, Zhao Qi and two thousand Han troops were threatened because of this incident, and the mistakes of the Western Region Protector during the Xinmang period were repeated, then Zhang Fei would feel that he was really a sinner.
A sinner who cannot forgive himself.
"What you said makes sense. This matter must be taken into consideration. In this case, I will immediately send people to Luoyang to ask for orders. You will stay here to rest first, and then send people to inquire about the information and establish the relationship between Yanqi Kingdom and the other three countries.
If you want to find out the relationship clearly, I will work hard here and expedite it for 500 miles, and we will have the result soon."
Zhang Fei made the decision, and Dong Zhuo and Zhao Qi had no objection for the sake of safety.
So Dong Zhuo and Zhao Qi temporarily stayed in Cheshiqian's territory to rest and recuperate, while Zhang Fei immediately dispatched his capable men 500 li to rush to Luoyang to seek expediency from Liu Bei and the Privy Council.
As long as he gets this power, Zhang Fei will immediately become the commander-in-chief of the operations in the Western Regions. Zhang Fei will have the authority to direct all wars that occur in the Western Regions. It is easy to decide how many troops to dispatch to perform tasks.
Although the 30,000 troops of the Northwest Military Region are small in number, their combat effectiveness is reliable. Zhang Fei took them on many combat drill missions and confirmed that they have a strong will and sufficient combat capabilities.
Zhang Fei speeded up the action, while Dong Zhuo believed that there was no need to wait here for news from Luoyang. The preliminary preparations should at least be done well.
For example, take the lead in contacting the kings of the Moshan Kingdom, Weixu Kingdom, and Yuli Kingdom and tell them the news that the Han envoys are about to arrive.
But to be honest, the incident where Dong Zhuo and Zhao Qi destroyed Che Shiqian's country was still very symbolic.
The arrogant actions spread across the world soon reminded the people of the Western Regions of the past when the Han army and envoys roamed the Western Regions without any scruples. It didn't even need the Han army to conquer the Western Regions again. Just an outpost battle was enough to wake up many people.
memory.
When the Ban family and his son were running the Western Regions, they also did not receive much military support from the Eastern Han Empire. It was with a small number of elite Han troops that the Ban family and his son made a name for themselves, and with the help of their great reputation and personal charisma left over from the Western Han Dynasty, they
It quickly mobilized the military and political resources of various countries in the Western Region.
This allowed the Ban family and his son to control the military operations of various countries in the Western Regions with a small number of Han troops, and achieved the Han Empire's control of the Western Regions at a very small cost. This was a very successful diplomatic tactic.
Of course, there are limitations to this. The Eastern Han Dynasty's three connections and three specialties in the Western Regions are one thing. After all, its own strength is not as good as that of the Western Han Dynasty. Therefore, at the control level, it relies too much on personal prestige and ability. Once the Western Regions Protector is not strong enough,
, the countries in the Western Regions may not be very obedient.
But in other words, as long as one's own strength is sufficient, the legacy left by the Western Han Dynasty and the legacy left by the Ban family and his sons are still enough to be taken over by the Third Han Empire.
Having it and not having it are two completely different things.
So Zhang Fei and Zhao Qi are certainly right to be cautious, but they don't really understand the ups and downs that the Western Regions have experienced over the years, and they don't know how rich the predecessors of the First and Second Empires of the Han Dynasty left them.
public opinion legacy and political legacy.
Every time the head of Che Shihou's royal family was sent to a country, the ruling class of that country seemed to have experienced a great memory recovery technique. They immediately recalled the fear of being dominated by the Han Empire and the majesty of that year.
The macho men of the Han Empire, who were impressive in the region, immediately realized the fact that the Han Empire was about to return to the Western Regions.
It seems that their chaos is over.
They've sorted things out, and now they're coming to take back what was once theirs.
The big man is back like lightning!
A bolt of thunder pierced the sky, and the rulers of the Western Regions were shaken. They all realized that the situation in the entire Western Regions might change like a major earthquake. Those arrogant guys in the past ten years or so might be severely punished.
The Han Empire who returned to the Western Regions will give them a hard lesson if they are not obedient enough.
For the rulers of the Western Regions, this can be said to be both a good thing and a bad thing.
Fortunately, the Han Empire was a king. It would not destroy a small country for no reason, nor would it allow them to do things they could not accept. It was not that strong in intervening in the domestic and foreign affairs of various countries.
There are also disadvantages, that is, you cannot go against the wishes of Emperor Han, and you cannot fail to give Emperor Han enough face. If you make him feel that his face has been damaged by you, then you will have to wait for a powerful army to come and cause trouble for you.
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The Emperor of the Han Dynasty will not take action at will, but every time he takes action, it will kill you.
Although the slightly stronger monkey overlords in the Western Region were relatively unreasonable, they did not have the ability to destroy the country in one battle. They were basically noobs pecking each other, and they could not be said to be powerful in the Western Region.
The volume is limited after all.
Therefore, the traditional order brought by the return of the Han Empire will make some small countries that are willing to obey feel relaxed and happy, but for some medium and large countries that want to challenge the traditional order and create a new order, it will be a severe crisis
Challenged.
For example, Yanqi State, which is currently the closest country, is a country that has the ambition and practical operations to challenge the old order and establish a new order in the past, present and future.
In the past, they united with the Huns and the Northern Huns to oppose the Han Empire. They killed the Western Region Protector twice and thousands of Han troops. They were retaliated and wiped out by the forces of the Han Empire many times, but they never destroyed the country.
When faced with the threat of the powerful Han army, they could bow their heads and act small. But when the strength of the Han Empire declined, they could do it again and be able to raise their heads again.
For example, this time, the Han Empire withdrew from the order of the Western Regions for more than ten years. They had already made the three younger brothers obedient and forced them to pay taxes and obey their orders. They behaved just like the Han Empire did back then.
What he did was to unify the other countries and establish the hegemony of Yanqi State.
As a result, King Long Guang of Yanqi did not expect that the power of the Han Empire would come back just ten years after it withdrew.
Not long after the Liangzhou Rebellion, he learned about the civil strife in the Han Empire. A year or two later, he learned that the Liangzhou Rebellion had subsided. He was worried for a while, suspecting that the Han Empire was about to make a comeback.
But no.
Since then, the influence of the Han Empire has not penetrated further into the Western Regions. Only in Pu Lei and Shanshan there will be some products and news from the Han Empire. It is said that Liu Bei, a clan member of the Han Empire, put down the rebellion in Liangzhou, but he has no business in the Western Regions.
The idea is to continue eastward to compete for power in the Central Plains.
There was great chaos within the Han Empire, and they had no time to go west.
After inquiring from various parties and confirming the implementation, Long Kuang finally determined that the Han Empire would not be able to return in the short term, and that the Western Region would become the paradise of the strong and the grave of the weak, so he decided on the hegemony strategy of the Yanqi Kingdom.
He began to lead his men to fight everywhere, conquering east and west. He launched many offensives against his former subordinates, forcing them to abandon the order of the Han Empire and switch to the order of Yanqi State, regaining the fear of being dominated.
It should be said that the information given by the king of the Cheshi Kingdom is relatively accurate. The people of the Yanqi Kingdom are indeed good at fighting and have no rules. However, they have strong combat effectiveness and are relatively capable of making weapons. Therefore, to deal with the three former younger brothers around them,
It was a hit and miss, and within a few years, it became the regional hegemon again.
Long Guang was very proud and felt that he would soon be able to restore the glory of the Yanqi Kingdom, and he began to prepare to annex the Moshan Kingdom, the Weixu Kingdom and the Yuli Kingdom to increase the population and available troops, and then further conquer the east and west to expand the country.
national territory, and finally achieved the goal of unifying the Western Regions and competing with the Han Empire.
The goal is huge and the execution ability is very strong. The three surrounding countries are powerless against him. Even Cheshi Country has encountered threats from him and is quite afraid of him.
However, this time the Han Empire's strategy of returning to the Western Regions began to be implemented, which made Long Guang feel a huge threat. He realized that if he could not overcome the obstacle of the Han Empire, his hegemony strategy would never be realized.
He kept in mind the history of the complete failure of his ancestors' hegemonic strategy under Ban Chao's operation. Not only him, but all the Yanqi kings since then have never forgotten that period of humiliating history.
The failure of the resistance and the history of losing power and humiliating the country deeply left a mark on Long Kuang's heart. He hated the hegemony of the Han Empire and was determined to achieve his own hegemony and restore the glory of his ancestors since he was a child. He must make the Han Empire pay the price.
Fortunately, when the Han Empire finally weakened, he caught up with the good times. The golden ten years of development allowed him to achieve the first step of his plan - to harvest three younger brothers, and he could develop himself by sucking the blood from the younger brothers and transform himself into a powerful warrior.
Become stronger and richer.
The second step is to annex the three younger brothers and officially embark on the fast track of development.
But just before this second step of the plan was on track, the Han Empire came back.
Ten golden years have passed, and the Han Empire has returned to the Western Regions. With their powerful military power, they destroyed the country behind Che Shi and slaughtered all the royal family as soon as they came back. The news spread far and wide, reminding everyone that they had been conquered by the Han Dynasty.
The fear of imperial domination.
Yes, the Yanqi Kingdom had the ambition to dominate and was unwilling to admit defeat, but at the same time, the Yanqi Kingdom was defeated and conquered by the Han Empire, and became a small country that obeyed orders like Sun Tzu.
That period of humiliating history brought them not only hatred, but also fear. Fear and hatred were intertwined, making the Yanqi ruling group headed by Long Kuang very entangled with the news of the Han Empire's return to the Western Regions. They didn't know what the current situation was.
How to deal with this sudden big change.
With the size of the Han Empire, if they want to return to the Western Regions, they will definitely regain the hegemony of the Western Regions, and the Yanqi Kingdom will not even think about resisting, unless they can annex all three younger brothers in a short period of time, absorb and digest their power, and then come back.
Fight against the Han Empire.
But can this be successful?
When facing Ban Chao, Yanqi State also formed an alliance with its three younger brothers and fought fiercely, but in the end they were defeated. This fully proved that the strength of the Yanqi State alliance was not as good as that of the Han Empire. In this case, is there any point in continuing to fight?
After the Han envoys finished their mission and continued westward, two voices soon appeared in Yanqi.
The first voice is that of the warring faction. They strongly do not want to continue living under the traditional order of the Han Empire. They long for freedom and hegemony, and hope to be a master, rather than having a Han Empire father on their head.
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They suggested that Long Kuang implement a thoroughly hostile strategy and immediately annex the Moshan, Weixu and Yuli Kingdoms before the Han Empire returned, and then combine their populations and forces to form a powerful army to fight against the Han Empire.
They fought against each other and firmly disagreed with the Han Empire's hegemony in the Western Regions.
This is a difficult road. If you are not careful, you will overturn, be destroyed, and lose everything. Therefore, the voice of the main war faction is relatively small. Only a few army generals and hawk clan members express support, such as Long Kuang's uncle and younger brother.
In contrast, the Zhehe faction has a louder voice and more supporters.
They believed that the Han Empire was too powerful and that the Yanqi State would never be a rival to the Han Empire no matter how many years it developed. Therefore, they should not confront the Han Empire, but should learn from the experience of their predecessors, choose to surrender, and work hard to climb up in the vassal system of the Han Empire and strive for
Standing on the head of all the vassal states, instead of being a grandson, strive to be a son.
In vassal states, there are also distinctions between high and low status, sons and grandsons, and biological and adopted ones. Since we can’t beat them, let’s accept it and strive to move up the system, be our biological sons, and step on the heads of those grandsons.
If you go up, can't you also be domineering and blessing?
And given how well the Han Empire treats its own son, maybe Yanqi’s life will be better in the future than it is now!
This kind of voice is very loud and has many supporters. In comparison, the voice of the war faction is much smaller and it is difficult to get support. At the meeting, the proposals of the war faction were even ridiculed by the peace faction, thinking that they were not good enough.
If you overestimate your own capabilities, you will bring about your own destruction, and you will be doomed sooner or later.
Therefore, the most important thing to do now is not to engage in military confrontation, but to immediately send people to Luoyang to express their loyalty to the Emperor of Han.
Long Kuang was livid at such a suggestion. He really couldn't accept it, but how could he turn the situation around when so many people opposed it?
At the critical moment, Long Kuang's younger brother Long Wei stood up. With an angry look on his face, he walked up to the official who shouted for peace the loudest. He pulled out his knife and stabbed the official to death, killing the people around him.
I was so scared that my liver and gallbladder were split apart.
"The shame and blood of our ancestors are right before our eyes. As descendants, we don't want to avenge our ancestors, but we actually kneel on the ground and beg for charity from our enemies, and even feel complacent about it. Is this what we should do? We
We have swords in our hands, we have brave soldiers, we have strong generals, why not fight?
The Han State is indeed powerful, but it costs a lot of money to send troops to expeditions. We fight locally, with many forts and dangerous places. Even if we cannot defeat the Han army head-on, as long as we hold on and wait for the Han army to run out of food, we will win.
, there is obviously a chance to win, but you want to give up this opportunity and be willing to be a slave. Is this your will?"