In the third year of the first peace, in 192 AD, the situation in the world was still chaotic.

Yuan Shao in the north continued to fight with Gongsun Zhanzan. Yanzhou, since Dian Wei killed Liu Dai, the assassin of Yanzhou, Cao Cao took advantage of the situation to enter Changyi and presented himself as the pastor of Yanzhou.

Yangzhou Yuan Shu, coveting the wealth of Jingzhou, sent his general Sun Jian to lead troops to attack Liu Biao. As for Chang'an Dong Zhuo, he is still drunk and dreaming of death.

Although Chen Xu has been paying attention to the movements of the princes in the world, what he cares about more is the war in northern Xinjiang.

At the end of last year, since the Jinyang Wang clan surrendered to Chen Xu, the local wealthy families in Bingzhou also began to slowly contact Chen Xu and released their goodwill.

Coupled with the money and grain that Chen Xu borrowed from them, and the food of millions of new people in the state, it has already been settled.

Chen Xu calculated carefully, only to find that in the face of the huge new population in Bingzhou, the money and grain he borrowed could barely support the harvest next autumn. However, there is no surplus food in the entire state.

If there is no surplus food, there is no way to go on the expedition. If other princes take the opportunity to attack the annexed states, the annexed states will also face the dilemma of lack of food.

Moreover, even if it is settled and the new people in the state are settled. If Chen Xu wants to repay the money and grain borrowed from the wealthy families in the state with interest, it will take at least three years.

In three years, the entire state will have no room to expand. And these are not what Chen Xu wants to see.

Although Bingzhou covers an extremely wide area, there are countless deserts, Gobi, mountains, and wastelands in the northwest. There is not much land that is really fertile and suitable for farming.

If you can't expand your territory, you can't continue to grow your strength. Chen Xu comes from later generations, and no one understands the importance of time in troubled times better than him.

And he also knew that Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu in the second year after moving the capital to Chang'an. At that time, the entire Liangzhou and Sili were empty, and they were about to become borderless. If he didn't take the opportunity to expand the power of the state, Chen Xu would be unwilling.

Thinking of this, Chen Xu was very eager to seize more money and food.

The current state has been almost squeezed by Chen Xu. If you forcibly persecute those powerful and powerful people, not to mention the good relationship that the two have just established, it will collapse with a bang.

If they are persecuted too much, the whole state will be in turmoil. These are not what Chen Xu wants to see.

After thinking about it, Chen Xu finally decided on the way to earn money and food, that is, plunder.

The Xianbei in the north, when the tribe is short of food, often goes south to fight grass valleys. Now that there is no food in the state, Chen Xu naturally paid attention to the Xianbei people.

Although the Xianbei people are not good at farming, their tribe is full of cattle, sheep, and horses. These things are far more valuable than food. If Chen Xu can send troops to break through these tribes and plunder these livestock.

Then, he can completely use these things to offset the debts of the wealthy families in the state. If you grab enough things, you can sell them to those local wealthy families.

You must know that in peacetime, a war horse is worth a minimum of 20,000 yuan, which is still the lowest level of war horses. If there is chaos today, the value of war horses has tripled. In the south, where there is a lack of war horses, it even increased fivefold.

In this way, a lowly-grade war horse is worth between 40,000 and 100,000. Those good war horses are worth between 400,000 and 1 million, which can be regarded as hard to find.

Therefore, it is not a correct saying to say that 'shoot a man before a horse'.

First of all, the value of a war horse is too great, and the soldiers on both sides of the war will try to protect the war horse. Because if you can snatch a war horse on the battlefield, it will be a great credit.

Secondly, although the skin of a war horse is not as thick as a cowhide, it is difficult for an ordinary bow and arrow to shoot through. In addition, the size of the war horse is very large, even if it is shot with more than ten arrows, as long as the arrow does not penetrate the flesh, it still cannot shoot the war horse to death.

If you want to 'shoot people and horses first' on the battlefield, you must have extremely accurate archery skills and be able to shoot the vital point of the horse's eyes. Either use a strong bow and crossbow to shoot the war horse simply and clearly.

In this way, it is certainly possible to shoot the war horse. But if you have such an ability, there is no need at all, shoot such a valuable war horse, but you should directly destroy the enemy.

The preciousness of the war horse is like the sedan of the future generations. During the war, war horses were strategic materials, and the princes of all parties were extremely strict about the sale of war horses.

If you can get lucky enough to grab some good horses in the process of plundering the Xianbei people, then it will greatly improve the finances of the entire state.

Later, Chen Xu summoned back Zhang Yang, Chen Jing, and Hu Chuquan, and sent Zhao Yun, Dian Wei, Zhao Huang, Tang Chen, and Jiang Wu. Let them lead 10,000 elite cavalry, plus 10,000 Hun cavalry, from Wuquan in Yunzhong County, to Saiwai.

20,000 cavalry went out of the fortress, carrying only half a month's dry rations. Chen Xu's request for Zhao Yun is to use war to support the war and try to grab supplies as much as possible.

Although Zhao Yun is full of righteousness, he has no good impression of the Xianbei people outside the Saiwai. Chen Xu asked him to go out of the fortress to rob the Xianbei people, and Zhao Yun did not have a bad psychological burden.

Before leaving, Chen Xu told Zhao Yun eight words: divide and attack, surround and annihilate.

It can be said that for this raid, Chen Xu can be regarded as painstaking. Zhao Yun commanded the cavalry, and the corporal did not dare to disobey. Dian Wei bravely crowned the three armies, and no one could stop him from charging into battle.

In addition, Hu Chuquan is the younger brother of Xiongnu Shan Yu, and he also has an understanding of the living habits of the Hu people.

Since ancient times, it is not that the army of the Central Plains is inferior to the Hu people, but because of the vast and sparsely populated and many deserts, many Han generals lead their troops out of the Cypriot Islands, and they often lose their way.

Just like in the six years of Xiping, 45,000 Han cavalry went out of the fortress. If it weren't for the fact that they were trapped in the desert, thirsty and tired, I am afraid that if Tanshi Huai wanted to annihilate them, he would have paid a heavy price.

As for Tang Chen, Zhao Huang, and Jiang Wu, they used to be outside the Saiwai, and they can be regarded as having a good understanding of the terrain everywhere. With the three of them, this cavalry of 20,000 people will basically not lose their way.

And the current Xianbei, with the death of Helian, has long been falling apart. There are very few tribes with 10,000 capable warriors. Even if it is such a super large tribe, in the face of the 20,000 cavalry of the annexed state, there is absolutely no possibility of victory.

Even so, Chen Xu still repeatedly told Zhao Yun and the others not to start the war easily for those big tribes. We must do our best to preserve our strength.

The purpose of going north this time was to grab supplies. Therefore, it is impossible to use only infantry like the last raid on Danhan Mountain, and then run long distances under the stars and nights.

In the battle on the grassland, the main force was the 20,000 cavalry under Chen Xu's account. However, the cavalry could carry too few materials, so Chen Xu also dispatched 20,000 elite infantry, followed by the cavalry, and collected the materials.

And this foot soldier, their main source of food, is also from the outside of the plug. Within the territory of the state, it is simply impossible to afford the consumption of food for such long-distance operations.

Plundering everywhere and feeding the war with war can certainly save a lot of money and food for the state. But if you are not careful, you may be wiped out.

So since the 40,000 army came out of the fortress, Chen Xu couldn't sleep well almost every day.

An army of 100,000, including 20,000 cavalry, is not a small number. If they are completely annihilated outside the Saiwai, then the strength of the entire annexed state will be weakened by at least one-third.

This kind of result is not at all the loss that Chen Xu can bear.

In the past two months, good news from outside the country has been reported frequently. Zhao Yun successively attacked several small tribes, beheaded more than 20,000 people, and seized countless cattle, sheep, horses, and supplies.

But now, a full month has passed, and the battle report from outside the Seychelles has not come again. This couldn't help but make Chen Xu extremely anxious.

Tian Feng and Chen Gong stayed beside Chen Xu and comforted him: "Don't worry, my lord, some time ago, Zilong and they have already broken through several Xianbei tribes, and the captured grain and grass materials are enough for them to use. ”

"In addition, the 20,000 foot soldiers have Zhang Yang and Chen Jing in command, and Zhong De is accompanied by the army to provide advice and assistance, there will definitely be no problems."

Thinking of Cheng Yu, Chen Xu relaxed a little.

Before the war, Cheng Yu took the initiative to ask to become their accompanying military division. Chen Xu considered that tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were mobilized, and if there was no wise man accompanying him, he would not be able to say anything at all, so he agreed to his request.

Regarding Cheng Yu's talent, Chen Xu did not have the slightest doubt. He believed that Cheng Yu plus Zhao Yun, Dian Wei and other fierce generals, Xianbei people must have no way to take them.

Thinking of the affairs in Bingzhou, Chen Xu felt a big head again, and he asked Tian Feng: "Yuan Hao, how long is there until spring ploughing?" ”

Tian Feng replied: "Bingzhou is located in the north, and the temperature does not rise quickly after the beginning of spring. The grain planted last autumn will not mature until May. It's February now, and there are still three months to go before spring planting. ”

Chen Xu thought for a moment and nodded.

If it is in the south, spring ploughing can be carried out from February to April. But in the north, due to the climate, sometimes it even drags on until June in the summer.

"Before spring ploughing, we must cultivate enough fields. It is also necessary to dig channels and create a large number of water wheels to ensure the irrigation of crops. ”

When Tian Feng and Chen Gong heard this, they all nodded vigorously.

In troubled times, only food is the root of everything. Only with food can we recruit displaced people, train troops, and conquer cities.

Chen Xu was about to discuss the follow-up matters with the two of them, when he suddenly heard a rush of footsteps. He looked up and realized that it was Xu Huang who ran in in a hurry.

Seeing Xu Huang, Chen Xu hurriedly asked, "Gongming, have you ever heard about Zhongde and Zilong?" ”

Some time ago, because they had been unable to contact Zhao Yun and them, Chen Xu sent Xu Huang to take people to investigate the detailed situation.

Now Xu Huang appeared, and there was still an anxious look on his face, which made Chen Xu have a bad premonition in his heart.