There is no doubt that the world is already very big, but the so-called "big" depends on when, the more backward science and technology is, the bigger the world will be, and the more developed science and technology, the smaller the world will become.

Meng Tian listened very carefully to Li Liang's explanation of the Hequ generation, and when he listened, he would nod from time to time and ask some questions.

In the Hetao area, the footsteps of the Han army stopped at the foot of Yin Mountain.

Yinshan Mountain is a mountain range cluster composed of many mountains, located in the central part of the modern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a mountain range running east-west, including Wolf Mountain, Wula Mountain, Serten Mountain, Daqing Mountain, etc.

Of course, in the pre-Qin period and even in the long history of China, the names of many mountain ranges in Yinshan have been changing, but no matter what the name, they have always been an obstacle to the expansion of the Chinese ancestors to further afield.

There are many reasons why the Han army in the Hetao area did not march to Yinshan, the most important of which is that the main task of the Han army in the local area is to attack the trapped Xiongnu and other Hu people, and the second reason is that the terrain of the Yinshan mountain range is complex.

The terrain of Yinshan Mountain is complex, with many peaks above two thousand meters above sea level, and almost all of them are narrow corridors surrounded by mountain peaks. Some of the mountains that block the way can be climbed, and many more are too sloping for the army to walk, after all, the army is not only a human foot, but also a large number of livestock and vehicles.

For half a year, the Han army in the Hetao area has been conducting reconnaissance on Yinshan, and at first there was not much progress, and then it was only by joining the local Hu people as guides that they could find the roads that could be passed, but those roads were seasonal. The reason is that many of the roads that can be walked on are actually dry river flats, which have the disadvantage of being moist and easy to trap, and once the rain comes, they either turn into rivers again, or they turn into muddy land as soon as they are trampled.

“…… The only road we know of can be navigated at any time of year, but that passage is a road of variable width, and the narrowest section can only accommodate three people side by side. ”

"Really? The Hu people marched and fought by carrying cattle and sheep and other livestock as food for the army. There were only a few chariots and horses, and the Hu people also plundered the enemy's strategy during the war, and that kind of terrain did not have much restriction on their logistics. However, our army is very dependent on logistics lines, and it is difficult for logistics vehicles to pass through, so it is not feasible to become a grain route. ”

"It cannot be ruled out that there are other wider and easier roads in the Yinshan Mountain Range, but we have not found them yet. At the present stage, the direction of our army's expansion to the grassland is to rely on the northern line of Yanmen County and make a long-distance detour from the grassland outside Yanmen. ”

"The grasslands outside Yanmen are vast, but most of the area is desert and swampland, right?"

"Our army has subdued many local Hu people, and through their leadership, we can avoid deserts and swamps, and have been able to form a relatively continuous logistics supply line."

Meng Tian was shocked again. If you want to form a sustainable supply line on the grassland, you need a premise, that is, absolute security. He didn't quite know whether the Han army cleaned up all the Hu people along the way, or whether the Han army established fortress strongholds along the way. In general, he still prefers the plan of the Han army to set up fortress strongholds along the way, after all, the mobility of the Hu people is too large to be completely cleaned up, and don't forget that the method of building a city quickly is from Han Wang Zhe.

This time, Meng Tian didn't guess correctly, it was not so easy to establish a fortress stronghold on the vast grassland, which was basically sandy and there were not many stones that were easy to use. Sand has no cohesiveness, and it is impossible to build a city without mixing other materials. In addition, the Han army did not go out of the fortress for a long time, and it was also because the logistics line of the Han army had problems because of Jiaozhou Bay, but the supply line of the Han army was tight. It is already difficult to transport grain and military equipment, so how can we have the extra capacity to transport cement and other materials for thousands of miles?

The Han army's practice of guaranteeing supply lines in the grasslands was somewhat primitive, and in addition to leaving the necessary garrisons to set up camps every few distances, some irregular cavalry also deployed war horses on a large scale. and use the Hu people who have been subdued to become another patrol force, and only under the coordination of multiple kinds can the security of the logistics line be maintained, which is still based on the relative emptiness of the Hu people on the grassland.

"Really? The forces involved in this way are huge! Meng Tian's face was full of surprise.

Li Liang smiled. He said: "There is no shortage of troops under my king's command. ”

Ne Shi Teng and Li You next to him couldn't help but look at each other, and they all doubted whether what Li Liang said was true.

Meng Tian did not doubt that the national policy of the Han State was destined that Han Wangzhe would indeed not lack troops, and in some respects, what Han Wangzhe needed was to worry about the rapid expansion of troops.

Li Liang left, and Nesten waited until Li Liang was far enough away before speaking.

"General, why do you think that Han Wangzhe is taking the initiative to suppress the number of troops?"

"Don't you think Han Guo is very much like us before?"

"What?"

"The Han State under the leadership of Han Wang Zhe was under rapid expansion, the morale of the army and the people was extremely high, and the army could obtain a large number of military exploits on many occasions, and the spoils obtained from the conquest were even more divided by the public and the private score of three points......"

The more Nei Shi Teng listened, the more reasonable he felt, the former Great Qin was also high morale, how could there be a lack of troops under the temptation of a bright prospect? And the Han conquest can also obtain private spoils, which the former Great Qin did not have, and the belligerence of the Qianshou under the rule of the Han Wang Zhe under repeated victories can be imagined.

"Soon after the Central Plains came under the rule of Han Wangzhe, although there was a large number of national engineering hired laborers, it was not enough for many people. Being hired to become a servant was something that ordinary Qiantou looked forward to, and those who were wealthy and armed were even more eager to participate in this feast of expansion and plunder led by Han Wangzhe. ”

There is no need for Meng Tian to explain too much later, where does Nei Shi Teng not know that it is a kind of general trend in the world, and it is used to describe a trend...... That is to say, after the power is great, it will definitely attract countless people from the dragon minister to follow, and evolve the situation of gaining the general trend into obtaining the mandate of heaven.

The Chinese ethnic group believes in fate, thinking that a person's fate from the moment of birth is almost doomed, and they believe that when the troubled times come, there will be a true son of heaven, and the world will definitely belong to the rule of the true son of heaven, so once it is found that the true son of heaven appears, he will enthusiastically go to take refuge.

"Maybe there's really a Mandate of Heaven, right?" Meng Tian's gaze became a little deeper: "Many people think that the wilderness is where Han Wangzhe only developed for six years after he invaded from the Baiyue tribes, and the wilderness area six years ago has now become the largest granary under Han Wangzhe's rule, and together with the Bashu Plain and the Qianzhong Plain, it has become the cornerstone of the Han army's conquest of the world......"

Li You, who had been silent, seemed to have finally run out of patience. said: "I don't know when it started, many areas under the rule of Han Wangzhe planted a rice seed that can be harvested in two seasons, which made Han Wangzhe become more powerful and no longer worry about the shortage of grain." ”

What is the war fought? It is a contest between the armies, but the most important thing for the army is to ensure that there is no shortage of food, as long as there is enough food, an army will not fall apart so quickly even if it encounters setbacks, but once there is a shortage of food, even if it is a moment ago, it will continue to win, and the next moment it will inevitably collapse because of the lack of food.

"Yes, if it weren't for the lack of food, we would ......" Nesten didn't know what to say.

If it weren't for the lack of food, Daqin would not have caused the current situation. However, it is an unspeakable taboo why we are in such a situation.

The 150,000 Qin army had been marching northward, leaving Xianyang for more than a month, near Luoshui, and stopping at a small tun called Shi, which was known in modern times as Wu Qi.

"Shi" is a station in the old Great Wall section, more than 40 miles to the north is a big mountain (modern Baiyu Mountain), Qin Zhidao in the construction of the mountain peaks directly bulldozed. The act of bulldozing the mountain peaks had to be said to be a miracle at the time, but the price paid was nearly 30,000 dead and wounded.

"It's less than ten miles away from Luoshui," Li Liang pointed to the rolling Luoshui River, looked up at the sky and continued, "The fleet will arrive in a few moments." During the time, the general was also asked to arrange for manpower to carry out the unloading. ”

Luoshui is a large river with a length of thousands of miles, running through Bukchi-gun, Shang-gun, and Neishi-gun until it is connected to the larger river system of Sancheon-gun. The water system of Sanchuan County is connected to a number of river systems in the mainland, and many rivers are directly connected to the Yangtze River.

Lü Zhe rose to prominence in the south. The use of the water system was valued by the southern regimes of the previous dynasties, because the northern expedition needed and some subsequent material transportation, how could the Han State not use the various water systems?

"Some lots are impassable, right?" Li You's face was full of confusion: "It seems that the river section of Liang County in Sanchuan County is too shallow......"

Li Liang explained: "It is true that some areas are impassable. More areas are not connected by rivers, and the best thing to do is to dig a canal by manpower, but my king thinks that it is not advisable. The way we do this is by short-distance overland transport. Arrange a reserve vessel at the planned location to wait for dispatch. ”

There is another item that Li Liang did not say, inland canals should be dug depending on what area they are in, and the canals dug in some areas can only be used for military purposes, and it is very likely that they will lose their importance after a short period of time, so it is completely unnecessary to spend huge manpower and material resources and invest huge sums of money in digging them, and only some areas that not only have important military purposes and economic value will consider digging, such as the Ling Canal that is being planned.

"Is it good to use water transportation in the north?" Meng Tian seemed to have grasped the key point: "Li Shilang, have you included the Yellow River in the usable water system?" ”

Not? Li Liang is the squire of the Taiwei Administration, and the military rank in the army is a partial general, and Meng Tian is called it with deep meaning, that is, at this moment, he asked the squire who belongs to the Taiwei Bureau, and asked about some deployments of the Han military.

The current estuary of the Yellow River is at the border between Julu County and Jibei County, and the sea area is in the Bohai Sea area, and the Han side is exploring the route from the south to the Bohai Sea, but most of the previous energy is involved in finding a natural port that can land, and there is no result in the exploration of the Yellow River.

Meng Tian participated in the war against Yan and Qi in the battle of Qin unification, and he was not completely unfamiliar with the Yellow River, so he asked a more critical point: "Most of the Yellow River will freeze in winter, do you think that the Yellow River, a seasonal restrictive water system, can be included in the strategic deployment?" ”

That is not a question that Li Liang can answer, fortunately, a fleet has appeared in the distance of Luoshui, and the appearance of a large area of dense sails and many small boats has caused a "buzzing" discussion on the scene.

The Qin State did not have enough ability to maintain the logistics of the Northern Qin Expeditionary Army, so the pressure of grain and some military equipment was taken over by the Han State.

This time, the amount of materials dispatched to the army under Meng Tian's command was not a lot, the amount of various types of grain was 150,000 stones, and there were nearly 50,000 weapons of various kinds, the largest number of arrows and crossbow arrows, and the smallest number was less than 1,000 iron weapons.

In fact, the use of the water system in Shangjun, Taiyuan County, Shangdang County and other counties has been included in the study of the Han State, and at present, Luoshui is already in the stage of practical use because of the compromise of the Qin State, and the inland Yellow River across dozens of counties will also be gradually utilized, so the transportation pressure from the south to the north will definitely disappear with the use of the water system, and the logistics line with great transportation capacity will be restored.

"General Meng, in addition to the supplies for your army, some of the materials are the ......ordnance of the Fertile Front," Li Liang was interrupted by Nei Shi Teng before he finished speaking.

Nesteng was saying that the huge amount of supplies would slow down the Qin army's march, and that the Qin army did not have enough vehicles to load those supplies.

Li Liang is strange, how can it be said that this can also be regarded as the territory of the Qin State, and the lack of vehicles and livestock will not be requisitioned?

"The squire doesn't know," Li You explained a little, talking about the destructive power of the Xiongnu's southward invasion, and recounting the difficulties of the people: "So ......"

Li Liang really didn't know what to say for a while, so he was silent for a while before he spoke: "Then...... Your army can be pulled out first, and those supplies can be left in place and wait for the follow-up troops to deliver them. ”

Nesten was surprised: "There is no follow-up army, and the 150,000 army here is the entire force." ”

"No, no, no," Li Liang waved his hand: "It's not that the follow-up troops of your army are the two legions that my king transferred from the direction of Taiyuan," paused, saw Ne Shiteng's face change greatly, and quickened his speech: "The king of your country knows about this matter." ”

Ne Shi Teng seemed to be a little unconvinced, although it was said that the two sides eliminated the hostility, but before the negotiation of the details of the merger was fruitless, the Han army should not be able to be fully armed and form a legion, from Zhao Di directly into the north of the Qin realm, right? (To be continued......)