Sima Xin met with She'a in the midst of his busy schedule.

Before the Fifth Cavalry Corps brought the Wusun envoys over, the Han and Qin coalition troops stationed at the edge of the desert had just fought a big battle with the Xiongnu and other Hu people, which was a battle far larger than any previous engagement, the Qin and Han sides dispatched 100,000, and the Xiongnu side dispatched 160,000, and the two sides launched a bloody battle on a flat terrain.

The enemy and us dispatched a total of 260,000 troops to engage in the battle, which was actually a campaign-level war in terms of scale, but the process of the battle was dragged, and the battlefield had been moving during the half-month-long battle, and finally the Huns and other Hu people took the initiative to retreat and the war temporarily subsided.

Sima Xin received Shea on the battlefield after the Great War, so what Shea and the Wusun people saw was a mess after the Great War.

The grass was trampled down, and the ground was littered with corpses, including dead soldiers from both sides of the war, and even dead horses, but what attracted the people of Wusun and the others the most was that some areas were full of arrows, and the dead who were lying in those areas were full of feathered arrows.

"Wusun?" Of course, Sima Xin knew where Wusun lived, and he also knew the social structure of Wusun in general: "You were at war with the armies of several Western countries before, right? ”

Shea did not think it was a secret: "Yes, noble lord, we have been at war once with a coalition of nations led by Parthia. After answering, he asked with a little curiosity: "Your Excellency, what made you interested in those countries?" ”

Sima Xin was not curious, but inquisitive, before Wusun's envoys came, they also received a wave of guests here, that is, several envoys who claimed to be from Parthia, Osidmus (Bactria) and other strange countries and forces, and now those guests have been sent to Nanling.

What Parthia, what Bactria, what Kashmir...... Wait, the name sounds messy to Chinese people, and it's really a bit difficult to remember. Sima Xin originally regarded that group of people as barbarians, but after a little contact, he became less prejudiced.

In fact, whether it is Parthia or Bactria, a country dominated by Persians and a country ruled by Mediterranean Greeks, both countries show what should belong to "civilized people", for example, Parthia and Bactria officially submit their credentials, and their dress and some etiquette also show that they are not barbarians, but aliens with cultural heritage.

It is difficult to say whether the civilization of the Persians was brilliant or not, but the ethnic groups that appeared in the Babylonian Empire should have some background, and the Parthian envoys tried their best to show the etiquette of "civilized people". There is a set of ways to do it.

The Greeks really have a profound civilization, they can be said to lead the Western culture, from clothing to customs, beliefs and other aspects have led the Western world for more than 2,000 years, not far behind.

Of course, Sima Xin didn't see what kind of cultural depth the Persians and Greeks were, and civilizations from different regions could only know what the etiquette of a certain civilization was after a long period of exchange.

Sima Xin would send envoys from Parthia, Bactria, and other countries to Nanling for a simple purpose, knowing full well that the object of his allegiance was curious about everything, and Lü Zhe was more than happy to learn about any ethnic group and country outside the borders of China. He also heard a little. The last time the prisoners of war were escorted to Nanling, Lu Zhe was very satisfied, and he even found a black girl named Yadi from a prisoner of war, and learned a lot of strange things about Central Asia and the West from that black girl.

That's right, Sima Xin is using an attitude of offering rare things. The envoys of Parthia, Bactria, and other countries are like monkeys to make people look at it, and so on, there is absolutely no respectful attitude in doing things.

"Huh? Did those Westerners also send envoys? Shea seemed to be very surprised: "Those countries are very far away from Wusun, and even more so thousands of miles away from your country, what are they sending envoys for?" ”

There is a kind of military strategy in China called "long-distance friendship and close attack". The Wusun people knew the strategy of distant friendship and close attack from the Yueshi people, and Shea had to suspect that some Western countries such as Parthia, who had been at war, wanted to carry out diplomacy against Wusun.

"Tens of thousands of miles?" Sima Xin was a little puzzled: "It doesn't seem to be that far away, only about six thousand miles away?" ”

"......" She'a was stunned for a long time: "So it's about five thousand miles away from Wusun?" ”

Sima Xin laughed a few times. His eyes were full of exploration, and he thought in his heart: "The empire and Wusun are about three hundred miles away, so it is not far from those chaotic countries. ”

Since Lü Zhe sent troops to the Central Plains, the territory of the Han State has been expanding at a high speed, waiting for the oppressive countries to agree to merge into an empire, and the territory has expanded several times in a very short period of time.

The current territory of the empire extends from grasslands in the north, plateaus in the west, ice fields in the east, and the sea in the south, which is about twice as large as that of the Qin Dynasty, and is at least about 6.5 million square kilometers if fully counted.

The territory is constantly expanding, and some countries (forces) that originally seemed distant are getting closer and closer, Sima Xin is one of the senior generals who are qualified to view the full map of the empire's territory, and he also knows the expansion goal of the empire in the next five years, if the goal is achieved, the land named the Western Regions will become one of the empire's territories, and South Asia will also expand one after another, and how can the estimated empire's territory be between seven million square kilometers and eight million square kilometers.

The empire's five-year expansion plan did not include the plateau and the area belonging to Donghu, and in fact, the expansion at sea was not estimated. It is very normal that there is no estimate at sea, after all, no one knows how much land can be found at sea in five years, and at present, no one except Lu Zhe regards the islands in the ocean as valuable land.

"Tell me about those papas and what they." Sima Xin was a little interested in listening to it.

However, Sima Xin's question made She'a dumbfounded.

It is true that Wusun is located in the northwest of the Western Regions, but to be honest, they did not know too much about the surrounding areas, and the countries and forces they came into contact with were very limited, and many of them were already known by the Chinese civilization, such as the Xiongnu, Yueshi, Hujie, Ding Ling, and what can be said is that Huaxia does not know Kangju, Dong'an, and Cao, and the Wusun of Parthia and Bactria are also blind!

After a long time, She'a was under Sima Xin's waiting gaze. He can only single out the Kang Juguo who knows the most to talk about it.

Kangju is definitely not a strong country, and it is even much smaller than Wusun in terms of population, that is, a weak country with a population of about four or five hundred thousand. The territory of Kangju is not large, if you compare it, it is about the area of several counties in China.

“…… They have an amazing talent for trading, and their people wander the Western Regions, the grasslands, and the West, often selling goods back and forth, and they can also find some rare things. Shea saw that Sima Xin was listening attentively, and Wusun also hoped to get attention from this Eastern Empire, and racked his brains to try to describe it.

Of course, Sima Xin listened very attentively, and She'a would never have thought of why Sima Xin listened so attentively.

“…… Dong'an has a slightly larger population than Kangju. The land he owned...... "Shea was still carefully explaining what he knew.

If there is a mind reading technique, Shea will definitely shut up immediately, and even leave here quickly, how does he know that every time he talks about one more place and one country, Sima Xin has one more goal in his heart, although it is a bit ridiculous in some aspects, but Shea is really sending Kangju and Dong'an to the tiger's mouth of the empire.

“…… Cao is a relatively powerful country, with a land area larger than that of Kangju and Dong'an combined, and its population is twice that of Kangju and Dong'an combined......" Shea introduced very hard.

Get. There is another country that the empire can conquer in the future, and Sima Xin also showed a happy expression when he heard it.

Seeing Sima Xin's smile, She'a spoke in more detail, but he had basically said everything he could say, and finally his mind turned. I thought to myself: "Isn't Wusun fighting for an alliance with this Eastern Empire?" Seeing that the general in front of him seems to have a high status in the Eastern Empire, why don't you talk more about Wusun? ”

Sima Xin heard She'a start to introduce Wusun, and the smile on his face became even stronger.

On the other side, the hunter Mi and some Wusun people walked on the battlefield under the leadership of Han Xin.

Because this time, the battlefield between the Han and Qin coalition forces and the Xiongnu and other Hu people has been changing positions again. In fact, the area that can be zoned into the battlefield area is very large, and this is just the last battle place between the Han and Qin coalition forces and the Xiongnu and other Hu people.

In fact, there is not much to describe in every battlefield that has gone through a big battle, nothing more than the corpses of the dead and some weapons, armor and other equipment all over the ground. But there is basically no scene of black smoke rising in modern film and television, after all, the fight in the era of cold weapons is not a scene of guns and shells flying, and there is no need to set fire to the fight, where does so much black smoke come from.

One thing that the dead of close combat have in common is that the blood that no longer flows after death will stiffen all parts of the body, including their faces, which will always retain the last expression before they died, so they can always see horror or hideousness on the faces of the war dead.

"This empire in the east is very good at using long-range troops, and the war dead of the Xiongnu and other tribes are ......" The hunter pointed to a place not far away: "Look at the ground full of dense feather arrows, and then look at the corpses are all people from the Xiongnu and other tribes, they were annihilated on the way to the charge." ”

What can be seen everywhere on the battlefield is the same picture, the arrows stuck in the ground and the corpses of the Huns and other Hu people lying down, the fact is indeed as the hunter guessed, the Huns and other Hu people were covered by strong long-range kills on the way to charge, and they were eliminated before they rushed to a position where they could fight hand-to-hand with the Han and Qin Alliance.

At this moment at the battlefield site, some auxiliaries are cleaning up the battlefield, those who should carry away the corpses are holding stretchers, and those who should be recovering arrows and other weapons are holding baskets.

"What are those who are wearing white cloth coats with red crosses on their chests and backs?" Hunter Mi was asking Han Xin a question through an interpreter.

"Red Cross?" Han Xin's gaze shifted to the past, and what he saw was a battlefield ambulance soldier who found a Hu man who was not dead, and the battlefield ambulance took out the dagger on his waist and cut off the Hun man who was not dead with a smile, blinking his eyes and really not knowing how to answer.

Seeing the ambulance soldier smiling and slitting the throat of a wounded Hun soldier, Hunter Mi swallowed his saliva and said, "I probably know, it's a person like our shaman." ”

This made Han Xin curious: "Shaman? What is it? ”

The hunter replied, "A person who can communicate with spirits." ”

"Oh, it's the shaman!" Han Xin was no longer curious, the empire also had such a profession as a shaman, which used to refer to the people from the Yin Yang School, but now it was some people who were arranged to the martyr's cemetery: "We also have this kind of people, they are very good. ”

"Spirit" refers to the fact that everything has a spirit, not a god, but a nomadic people who believe that everything has the potential to become a god, and that the god is transformed by a spirit. Huaxia also believes that everything has a spirit, but it is divided into two concepts, one is the "spirit" that may become a god, and the other is the "spirit" that can become a monster or monster.

In addition to being responsible for communicating with the gods and spirits, but also responsible for the sacrificial person, the nomadic also plays the role of a doctor in the tribe, and for each nomadic tribe, the shaman may often have a higher prestige than the tribal leader.

The original Chinese civilization was the first to appear as "witch", the first person to master the means of herbal healing, and then in the subsequent development of the "non-living thing" to communicate, "witch" also became "wizard", but after the end of the ancient pre-Qin era, there were not many wizards, but Taoism began to rise.

Hunter Mi saw a strange scene again, just now the "shaman" who killed the wounded soldiers of the Huns with a smile, but the next moment he ran to a soldier of the Eastern Empire, when he thought that the "shaman" was about to draw a dagger and cut his throat, the expression on his face became serious, checked the wounds of the wounded soldiers of the empire, and then called out to his companions.

“…… Doesn't seem to be what we think? A Wusun man said: "Or is it a sacrifice to kill the Huns, and to treat your own people is a rescue?" ”

The hunter seemed to have figured out something, and looked at Han Xin with a little anger: "That's not a shaman at all!" ”

Shamans are indeed very important in nomadic tribes, but that is a custom that is not well understood by Chinese civilization, so the anger of the hunter is not understood.

"I didn't say he was a shaman or anything." Han Xin's tone sounded very "flat", and the so-called "flat" is the kind that does not have a little fluctuation in tone, which makes people listen very unpleasant. (To be continued......)