"Several branches (tribes) of the Di people have been the mother (relatives) of the Zhao family (referring to the Zhao royal family) since the Spring and Autumn Period, and have been of great help to the Zhao family. Before the fall of the Zhao State, the countries did not have a single soldier to support, only on the grassland heard that the Qin State was attacking the Zhao State Di people sent troops to the south to support," Wei Han looked at Wang Ben with a confused face: "General Wang's father also participated in the battle to destroy Zhao, and General Wang personally participated in the last batch of Zhao troops left in the north with Zhao Mu, shouldn't he have forgotten that incident?" ”

Of course, Wang Ben did not forget that the nations at that time did not support Zhao, and a Di people of about 35,000 people were indeed the only support army of Zhao. He responded: "Indeed, at that time, there was a group of Bai Di who came to the rescue of Zhao Guo, and it seems that they were relatives of the Zhao family one or two hundred years ago? ”

After the Bai Di army came to Zhao Realm, it was assigned to Zhao Mu, who was guarding the state at that time, and then the king of Zhao State fell into the Qin State's divisive plan to capture Li Mu back to Handan, and the Bai Di army also stayed in Bingzhou. After the Qin State conquered Handan and destroyed the Zhao State, many Zhao troops who were not in Handan surrendered, and some Zhao troops that did not surrender were also wiped out by the Qin army.

"We have collected quite a few tribes on the grassland, and found that the so-called Xiongnu people are actually quite a lot of people, which is not the case, which is why the official title has always been generally called Hu people and not called Xiongnu," Wei Han explained to Wang Ben the unified title of the old Han army general to the grassland people, and then continued: "Among them, there are Di people, Rong people, and there is no shortage of Hujie people and some tribes that do not even have ethnic names. There are both yellow and white people among the Di and Rong people, and all the Hujie people are white. We found that all the white Hu people are from the West, and only the Hu people who have lived in the East for a long time will be the Hu people with the same skin color as us but with different facial features. ”

"......" Wang Ben still didn't understand what Wei Han wanted to say when he said so much. He knew that it was definitely not meaningless for the commander of the Fifth Cavalry Regiment to say so much, so he patiently continued to listen.

"The Huns are said to be a race, but rather a camp regardless of color, race, and culture, and it doesn't matter where the real Huns come from. But there is one thing worth thinking about," Wei Han glanced at Xu Zhi next to him, and then turned his head to look at Wang Ben again: "Why are the Di and Rong people, who have the most tribes and the most populous people on the grassland, not the main body on the grassland at present, oh...... The so-called subject is the dominant one. So many tribes and populations of the Di and Rong people, what are the entourages under the leadership of the Xiongnu? ”

Although he still didn't understand it, Wang Ben finally began to have a little reminiscence, could he understand that the Han State would study the ethnic structure on the grassland again, and then try to find a way to win over the Di and Rong people for his own use like the former Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty?

"The Di and Rong people are numerous, but they have ceased to be the overlords of the steppe since the late Zhou Dynasty, but have repeatedly become the followers or stepping stones of the newly rising ethnic groups. According to the king's explanation, the Di and Rong people did not progress with the passage of time, but gradually withdrew from the stage of history in the long river of history. Maybe someday in the future. Will the Di and Rong people change their ethnic names because of the strong rise of a certain ethnic group on the grassland, or will they call themselves Xiongnu, or other messy names? Wei Han smiled: "The scattered Di and Rong people have lost their upward spirit, and they are destined to be swallowed up by a certain ethnic group......"

"If it's going to be swallowed up by a certain race, why can't it be us?" Wang Ben took this sentence.

"Maybe it will be wiped out by us, maybe it will be merged with us." Wei Han put away his smile and gradually became strict: "The king's order is to select the Di and Rong tribes to form a servant army in advance of those tribal populations that have been recovered, and move their families to the interior. Then let them expand north under our supervision, destroying more tribes and replenishing the number of servants. After a pause, he paused and waited for Wang Ben to finish digesting the sentence before he continued: "In view of Wang Zhonglang's (will) familiarity with the grassland. This matter will be presided over by Wang Zhonglang (general), and Wang will send another deputy general to assist. ”

The Wang family is familiar with the north and has worked the tribes on the grassland, so they will compete with the Meng family for the control of the north. The competition between the Wang family and the Montessori family failed. Wang Ben originally thought that it would be difficult to apply his understanding of the north again, but things came to a turning point, and after joining the Han Kingdom, he went to conquer outside the country. Now that he learned that he would be in charge of running and building up the servant army on the steppe, he was both excited and at a loss.

What is a Servant Army? It was the first time Wang Ben had heard this title. According to his understanding, is the servant army like the auxiliary army of the vassal state? If so, did the Han state want to support one or more vassal states on the grassland?

Don't blame Wang Ben for being stunned, that's the case in Chinese history, there was a period of time when a powerful national clan pulled a large group of younger brothers, and those younger brothers were naturally vassal states. However, the vassal state sending troops to help the suzerain's war is a kind of protection fee, and the vassal state must prepare its own food and grass while sending troops, and it must also bear its own losses in battle. However, after the overlord's victory, the subject country will be able to receive a share of the spoils.

The suzerainty has the power to lead the vassal state, but it does not interfere in the internal affairs and has no right to directly command its army, and the internal affairs are handled by the vassal state itself, and the army can only be mobilized by the suzerain's generals, and if the generals of the vassal state do not obey the orders of the suzerain, it is difficult for the suzerainty to deploy the army of the vassal state.

Obviously, the Han State didn't think about what vassal states to support on the grassland, what they wanted was the kind of servant army that could be directly commanded, how could they tolerate an army that could not be commanded to exist on the grassland?

As soon as he listened to Wei Han's explanation, Wang Ben completely understood that the original servant army was similar to the slave army in Chinese history, and there were so many Di and Rong tribes on the grassland, and these two races were "degenerate" races, and easy to conquer was definitely the object that could be used, so the Han State hit their mind.

"Our footsteps will not just stop at the inner grassland, but will inevitably step into the depths of the grassland in the future, so it is very necessary to tame some grassland tribes in the shortest possible time for our use, and we can get great help in the future when we are in the depths of the forbidden grassland." The inner grassland that Wei Han refers to is probably modern Inner Mongolia, and this area is now called Monan.

The military occupation of the inner steppe is only a part of the conquest, and the occupied territory must always be formed and utilized, otherwise the occupation of land alone will only increase the territory on the map, and may even become a burden on the state.

Lu Zhe already has a plan for the inner grassland, and subduing the grassland tribes as much as possible is making preliminary preparations for that plan, and it is not only about entering the depths of the grassland in the future...... That is, the so-called Mobei, which is still planning to permanently occupy the grassland.

If you don't know how to use the grassland, the grassland is really not of much use to the farming people, the first thing that the farming people think of after occupying the grassland is how to turn a large area of grassland into farmland, but it turns out that the soil quality of the grassland is not suitable for farming, even if it is a time-consuming and laborious large-scale development, the yield of those heavens and the earth is pitifully low, and there is almost no value for cultivation.

Therefore, it is not that the farming people have not attacked the grassland and occupied the grassland, but because they do not know how to use the grassland, they feel that there is no value in occupying it, or even that the occupation will increase the burden, and the result is either to give up the grassland automatically, or to allow the Hu people to occupy it again.

Does Lu Zhe know how to use the grassland? He naturally knows how to use the grassland, in addition to continuing to graze according to its territory and providing cattle and horses for the interior, Lu Zhe has ordered to study how to use wool since five years ago, and as early as three years ago, he has already developed a set of methods for using wool to spin thread, and a variant version of the cotton jacket has also been made.

With the use of wool, the grassland is no longer just a base for the farming people to obtain cattle and horses, but also a source of cheap raw materials for garment making throughout the country.

In addition, Lu Zhe is very aware that the mines of the grassland are also extremely rich, and many mines in the vast grassland are even exposed and do not need to dig deeply, but the Hu people who have lived on the grassland for thousands of years do not know how to use it, and the Chinese civilization that knows how to use it has not penetrated into the grassland, and finally a group called Khitan learned how to identify minerals before using them, and finally established a civilization on the grassland that does not belong to the smelting technology of Chinese civilization.

Modern Inner Mongolia is rich in iron ore and other minerals, and the mineral resources of Outer Mongolia can rank among the top ten reserves in the world.

For a long time, some people have always said that the territory of the land of China is vast and rich in the four seas, but to be honest, the mineral resources on the land of China are not so rich, and many resources cannot even be exploited without modern industrial technology. The vast territory does not mean that the products are abundant, and even the land that can be cultivated is not good, and if you want to rely on the resources of China to conquer the world, only people who do not know the truth will have a naïve idea.

He knew very well what was on the grassland, and Lu Zhe would not know what was there and not want to occupy it. For him, it was inevitable that a series of industries would be established on the steppe in the future, and that would be the beginning of a new round of outward expansion of the imperial army.

And to achieve that, the first step is to form an absolute occupation of the grasslands...... (To be continued......) R1292