When the envoys almost set foot in the Western Regions, it snowed that night, and the ground was covered with a layer of silver.

The Imperial Army eventually learned from some prisoners of war that it was already snowing in other areas of the steppe closer to the Arctic Circle, such as the tribes of Dingling, Hujie, Hun Yu, and Qu Sha, whose areas were already snowy in October.

Packing up the tent and resetting the camp, on the way out, the ground was patchy white and black, as if the grassland had suddenly become a zebra, and the intersection between black and white no longer saw green.

"Is this year's snow season big or small?" Liu Bang asked the local guide of the grassland.

The guide replied, "It doesn't snow at this time in previous years, and the snow is a little heavier than this year." Looking at the first snow of the year, shouldn't the snow be too big? ”

A large part of the Central Plains will also snow, such as the north of Zhaodi, which will snow in winter all year round, but the amount of snow is not fixed every year.

Chen Yu had long been accustomed to the snowy environment, and he arranged the next itinerary of the envoy group, and a series of warmth and precautions were also handed over to him.

Not to mention the Yandi side, the counties north of Guangyang County are not warm in winter, and they will be covered by heavy snow in winter, which is notoriously bitter cold.

A considerable number of the soldiers of the envoy were recruited from the northern frontier, and that was to consider that the series of encounters after leaving the fortress would not be too good, and that they needed people who were resistant to cold and had a strong character.

Since ancient times, northern Xinjiang has not been a place that can be peaceful all year round, and the people living in northern Xinjiang are not only accustomed to bitter cold, but they are also relatively able to adapt to various unexpected events. Therefore, I have to tell the truth, the people in the northern Xinjiang are really relatively good in the recruitment of soldiers in the land of China, and the people in the south are really a little behind the people in the north as soldiers.

Liu Bang's own nationality is a native of Zhongyangli, Fengyi, Pei County.

There is no mistake in writing, there was no Surabaya County before Qin unified the world, and the original name of Surabaya County was called Pei County, and Surabaya County was only created when the administrative counties were redivided after Qin unified the world.

Surabaya is located in the southeastern region. Seriously calculated as the boundary of Chu Land, unless it is a particularly cold year, there will be no snow in Surabaya County, Liu Bang knows what the snow is going on or after it flows to Hengshan County.

Liu Bang stayed in Hengshan County for two or three years, and in the first year, he was not so accustomed to the snow season, and he was so miserable that he was frozen, but he still had the first lesson to know how to keep warm in the snow season, and he also knew the situation of the snow season relatively well.

"Snow is not the coldest time compared to heavy snow and ice thawing." Chen Yu introduced to Han Xin: "It is the season when it has just snowed, and it is estimated that the amount of snow will not suddenly increase depending on the weather." We had about seven days to travel. ”

They entered the Western Regions through the Hetao region, and the first area they entered was a territory owned by a city-state called Pu.

It is not a good route to enter the Western Regions from the Hetao, in fact, it should be entered from Xiliang County to the Western Regions. The Hetao route is along the Yinshan mountain range, there are many fierce beasts along the way, and because it is a regional swamp in the Yellow River Valley, if it is not for the cavalry of the Wehrmacht to open the way first, it will take a lot of time just to confirm whether the road is safe.

There is a flat corridor on the side of Xiliang County, and the corridor runs through an area of more than 3,000 miles, so you can climb mountains and wade through rivers without so much difficulty. There was also a lack of water along the way, and this road was historically called the Hexi Corridor, and it was also the main transportation to the Western Regions of the Central Plains Dynasty.

After the Imperial army defeated the Touman army, they expanded all the way west. At the same time, a new round of development was carried out at the same time as the recovering of the lost land, and Xiliang County, Tianshui County, Anding County, and Wuwei County were established...... and other counties, the current expansion distance is probably near the Badain Jaran desert area of modern Inner Mongolia.

The lost territory was occupied by the Hu after Qin turned its efforts to the eastward expansion, and the newly opened areas were the territory that was snatched from some Zahu people. Most of these areas are largely in a relatively inhospitable state. According to some people's original words, that is, birds don't lay eggs and dogs don't poop, and I really don't know what the use of taking it is.

It cannot be said that those who are useless in the newly occupied territories are short-sighted. It is in their thinking that only prosperous areas have the value of occupation, even if they are not prosperous areas, there should be many residents in order to have the value of occupation, and a large area is not inhabited by many people. They did not realize that the area that is now prosperous is the result of years of development, and that the desolate land can become prosperous as long as people are willing to build it.

The value of the Hexi Corridor is very high, it is a bridge between the East and the West, and it has become a very important trade route more than once, but because history was inserted by Lu Zhe, Lu Zhe also turned the road to the Western Regions to the side of the Hetao, and the value of the Hexi Corridor itself remains unchanged, but it is a little uncertain whether it can be as important as the original history.

The road to the Western Regions of the Hetao, because the Imperial Legion has repeatedly taken this marching route, the places that should be avoided along the way have basically been figured out, and where there is a water source is also clear, and the facts have once again proved that the road has always been walked by people, no matter how inappropriate, as long as someone is willing to explore and observe, any place can form a road.

"The reason why the center chose this place not to choose the road over there in Longxi County is not an obvious thing!" Yu Fanjun took a breath, there was a mist of breath in his mouth, he cursed something in a low voice, and then continued: "Our current strategic focus is on the grassland, and the main goal next is to invade the Junji Mountain region where the little prince of the Xiongnu is located, so of course the main thing is to develop here first." ”

The envoys were walking all the way through the mud, the horses' hooves were constantly trampling so that the turf did not know how many times it had been turned, and the Wehrmacht was constantly going back and forth along this road, so how many horses' hooves should have been trodden by?

The rider was fine when he was on the road, although it was possible that the horse under the seat would fall on its side because of a hoof, but it would not hurt if it fell on the mud. It is far better to ride a horse than to walk on foot with their feet in the mud and to get out of the carriage and push it when the wheels are trapped.

After two days of walking westward in the snow, the envoys officially stepped into the core of the Pu city-state.

The ranks of the legations were too large, numbering as much as 140,000. Such a large contingent, coupled with the Wehrmacht cavalry who deliberately stopped and waited behind, the task of the entire team exceeded 200,000 people, but it frightened the king of Pu Country very much.

Located in the Hami region of modern-day Xinjiang, they were already affected by migrates from west to east in their early years. The country is already unstable because of the influx of too many fugitives. Later, Mao Dun led the army into the Western Regions, although the main invasion area of Mao Dun was the territory of Wusun, but the cities of Pu were also invaded by Mao Dun's department, and some individual city-states were even broken and looted, and the already weak national strength became more miserable after repeated tosses.

"Let the Auxiliary Marquis go to contact the contact?" The king of Pu is an old man who has passed half a hundred years old, maybe he has been too bad lately, and he looks a little weak after being too tired?

The Pu Kingdom has existed for more than 100 years, and they are a king system, under which the auxiliary state is elected by the auxiliary government, and one general and one commander are set up. The population of the country is about 400,000, and there are 30,000 troops.

The army of 30,000 was scattered among seven or eight cities, and in fact, after suppressing the fugitives and fighting with Maudun, Pu no longer had that many troops, and there were less than 20,000 left.

Needless to say, there are not as many as 30,000 troops, and even if the formation of the 30,000 army is intact, they do not have the confidence to resist in the face of the envoys who are constantly approaching and the number of more than 200,000.

"That team had at least eighty thousand cavalry. The banner is the unusually strong empire of the East lately. There is a vague version of when the empire was established, some people directly call them the empire, and many people also call them the Han Empire, because their emperor was the previous Han king. But that doesn't matter. "Fu Guohou looks like a prime man in his thirties, with a good figure, and his appearance is not bad. At this moment, his face was very grim: "At least 80,000 cavalry, it looks like there are tens of thousands of foot soldiers." They did not send an envoy to say hello and stepped directly into our territory, although they did not seem to be imposing, but they could also see that they were not good. ”

None of the kings and ministers of the Pu class could feel relaxed. In the face of the turmoil in the country, coupled with the continuous invasion of the Huns, and the expansion of the empire getting closer and closer, no one knows what kind of situation will be faced next, how can they not be worried?

"I heard from some Wusun people that the empire is at war with the Huns, and that the contingent coming from the east is the envoy corps of the empire, and there are merchants and envoys from the western countries in the envoy corps, and they are only passing through our land this time?" A man dressed like a businessman is actually a businessman, but he is also one of the civil officials of Pu Country, and he uses a consultative tone: "Why don't we prepare some reward materials to go over and test the temptation with a gesture of condolence?" ”

From the king to the common people, they have been frightened and frightened recently, and they are actually thinking about the future of the Pu country, and in the face of increasingly severe national conditions, everyone is looking for a way out.

The imperial army defeated the Touman army and won a great victory, and the imperial army in the central grassland and the eastern grassland was killed, and the various tribes on the grassland continued to die under the heavy defeat, surrender and flee, and the military prestige of the empire was not blown out, they were the prestige of annihilating one enemy army after another.

"As strong as the Huns, they have been defeated by the imperial army again and again, but the remnants of the Huns after the defeat are able to attack and harass Wusun, and many of our surrounding countries have been invaded by the Huns and ruined the country......" Pu Fuguo Hou thought with a face: "Powerful as Wusun could not withstand the attack of the remnants of the Huns, they contacted the empire for help, and the empire also responded......"

There are many countries in the Western Regions, there is a city that dares to call itself the king, and there are several cities that can be regarded as a strong country, there are not many cities of the Wusun people, but Wusun has a population of one million, and Wusun is indeed one of the most powerful countries in the Western Regions.

In the early days of the influx of fugitives from west to east, the countries of the Western Regions had united to block the flow of people into the Western Regions, but the distribution of those fugitives was too wide, and the combined forces of the countries of the Western Regions did not succeed in preventing the fugitives from entering the Western Regions, but fought with the allied forces such as Parthia and Bactria, which pursued the fugitives.

At that time, the main force of the coalition forces of the Western Regions countries was the Wusun cavalry, and the countries of the Western Regions did not send too many troops, and most of them played the role of logistics supply. Their combined army defeated the coalition forces of the Central Asian countries, but their own casualties were also considered heavy, and some losses were lost in the subsequent military operations to suppress the fugitives, and finally they could only negotiate with some large tribes or ethnic groups among the fugitives, and reached some consensus on peaceful coexistence.

The role of fugitives in the Western Regions has been changing, from invaders to seeking protection, some of them have merged into the city-states of the Western Regions to become obedient people, and some of them are looking for habitat to stand alone~, and the situation is far more complicated than anyone imagined.

It is in the complex and turbulent situation that the loose alliance of the countries in the Western Regions has suffered a heavy blow, and the most powerful Wusun has been passive in the subsequent series of events.

"Usun can seek the protection and help of the Empire, we ......" King Pu asked in a consultative tone, "This time the Imperial Envoy has passed through us, should we also take action?" ”

The meaning is more subtle, but I can hear that the king of Pu Province wants to hug the thighs of the empire, but he is worried that the empire's appetite will be too big, and he is also shocked by the strength of the empire...... At least the empire didn't even say hello when it passed through Pu country, and a huge team of more than 200,000 people came in directly, worried that the empire would have any unexpected moves.

"We can't stop it." The Marquis of Pu Fuguo said bluntly: "Whether we are willing or not, now we can only show a gesture of friendship." In the past, we were able to listen to Wusun, and that was because Wusun was strong. Whether the empire is strong or not we have not seen with our own eyes, but there are more than 200,000 envoys alone, and there are more than 100,000 troops to escort it...... I have also heard that the emperor has an army of nearly three million, and the empire must be extremely strong, and befriending the empire is not only an urgent task for us, but also a must. ”

"Then ......," the king of Pu asked, worriedly, "we have shown friendship...... Or a gesture of submission, can you keep the country of Pu? ”

This is really a difficult question to guess, and there is no definite answer to the question of whether the state can exist in the hope of good words or kindness from others. (To be continued.) )