But the time Gao Huan bought for Yuwen Tai was zero.
-------------------------------------
In the south of the battlefield, Zhang He had also received the news long ago. He had made preparations one hour before Yuwen Tai arrived at the battlefield. Eight thousand infantrymen lined up with their backs to the water, with the bottomless Fen River behind them to defend against surprise attacks from behind.
At the same time, she quickly used the unique skill of the Han army infantry to fight against the nomadic cavalry: chariot forts, which connected wooden carts carrying various supplies together to instantly form a temporary wooden wall. Then a large number of crossbowmen hid behind the chariot forts, ready to go.
By the time Yuwen Tai's 7,000 troops arrived at Zhang He's position, 8,000 Han army infantry had already made full preparations. Some knowledgeable grassland Hu people changed their faces when they saw this situation - two hundred years ago, the 5,000 Han army infantry led by Li Ling used this method to fight against the Xiongnu cavalry that was ten times their number for several days, until they ran out of arrows and were able to surrender.
But today, the number of Han army's infantry is even greater than our cavalry, and everyone has heard about how tough Zhang He is. What's more, do we have enough time to defeat Zhang He?
At this critical moment, Gao Huan's letter for help arrived: Lu Bu, who beat you to death that day, is rushing into the camp in person, and I can't stop him. Please send some reinforcements quickly!
What's even more terrible is that these messengers not only spoke to Yuwen Tai, but also to other centaurs chiefs, which instantly caused a lot of panic, forcing Yuwen Tai to withdraw another 1,000 cavalrymen to provide assistance, leaving only 6,000 cavalrymen available.
There’s no other choice, let’s fight!
Chapter 140: Total Annihilation
With flags waving and drums beating, Yuwen Tai personally led his brave cavalry to charge. Due to the obstruction of the horse's back, the Han army's cavalry archers could only use some short bows, which were far inferior to the infantry archers in terms of range and accuracy. However, not only were the man and the horse one, with superb riding skills and infinite strength, but also because the man was in the front and there was no obstruction of the horse's back, these cavalry could use longer and larger infantry longbows for longer-range cavalry shooting.
In terms of charge, the Han cavalry could rely on better weapons and armor, as well as more organized formations, to tie or even defeat the horses in close combat, but mounted archery was always a pain in the ass.
Therefore, when the two sides were a hundred steps away, the commanders of both sides gave the order to shoot almost at the same time. A large number of troops threw a rain of death arrows into the sky, accompanied by creepy screams. Thousands of feather arrows drew gorgeous parabolas in the air. After passing over the chariot defense, they fell on the heads of the Han army like a downpour, and most of them were blocked by the covering chariots and shields.
The Han army's crossbowmen fired a round of devastating crossbow arrows. Thousands of crossbow arrows were shot horizontally, tearing the sky apart and forming an extremely dense barrage of destruction. They hit the charging horses and created dazzling and terrifying blood-red fireworks. The first row of horse archers fell down like wheat under a sickle, and the land of the Fen River was dyed red with blood.
In the shooting phase, the Han army had the upper hand, but the crossbow loading speed was a bit slow. The troops in the back rows finally rushed over. They wanted to use the speed of the charge to crash into the Han army camp, but a row of chariots and wooden carts turned into a wooden defense line more than one meter high, lying between the troops and the Han army.
There was no other way. The horses could only push off the ground with their four hooves and rely on their outstanding jumping ability to jump over the wooden cart fortress and smash into the Han army's formation like meteors. Although they had passed the wooden cart fortress, the advantage of the charge was lost. Next, they could only engage in hand-to-hand combat.
Horsemen and horses wielded giant axes and spears, while Han soldiers wielded long swords and halberds, fighting fiercely. Their shouts surged like a violent storm! With the clanging of metal, sparks flew, blood flew, and corpses fell one after another. The bright red blood gradually dyed the ground red, and the air was filled with a strong and insoluble smell of blood.
Both sides were killing each other on the front line, arms holding weapons were raised high, and blood was flying heavily. Men and horses had the physical advantage, but the three battalions of Han troops led by Zhang He were better equipped, and the private soldiers of various families and county magistrates were not much inferior. The soldiers of Anyi Wei family even had armor.
The huge bodies of the horses and soldiers, who were generally meters tall, made them stand out from the crowd at the front line. The Han soldiers in the back row calmly picked up their crossbows and raised them slightly upwards, letting rounds of dense crossbow arrows pass through the heads of the Han soldiers, shooting and wounding the horses and soldiers all over their bodies! For a moment, the soldiers' war cries, the clanging of metal, and the crackling of crossbow strings intertwined into an echo of death!
What's even more terrifying is that this time, in order to fight against the Hu people, the three major families in Hedong all came, including the Anyi Wei family, the Wenxi Pei family, the badly beaten Xiangling Jia family, and various small families. The powerful people all joined the three battalions of the army led by Zhang He in anger. There were as many as fifty sons of each family.
Some people used the [Human Gigantism Technique] to make the front-line soldiers twice as tall and eight times as heavy, giving them an overwhelming advantage in hand-to-hand combat with centaurs.
Some people cast [Flame Rays] and [Fireball] to burn the enemy with terrifying flames.
The patriarch of the Wei family, Wei Ji, was a 13th-level scholar of ancient Chinese literature. With a wave of his hand, the ground suddenly cracked into horrible spider-web-shaped cracks, which were as hideous and terrifying as the gates of hell. A raging wind carrying a raging fire gushed out from the cracks, instantly forming a blazing fire storm that covered the sky and the sun!
The flames raged like a mad dragon tumbling in the air, engulfing everything in the sea of hot fire. The wind howled, and countless flames danced in the air like a group of burning butterflies. These sparks drifted with the wind, igniting everything nearby. The fire spread rapidly, turning into a sea of fire in the place where the people and horses were most dense.
Wherever the firestorm went, everything turned to ashes, the ground was burned black, the wooden shafts of spears and bows crackled in the flames, and every man and horse was instantly burned to charcoal by the firestorm!
Seeing that the situation on the front line was unfavorable, Yuwen Tai once again used his unique skill: digging a tunnel. However, Zhang He was well prepared. The moment she climbed up, he came roaring over on a white horse, holding a long spear and entangled Yuwen Tai again. The two long spears were like dragons covering the sea, and they fought fiercely!
Zhang He was inferior to Yuwen Tai in both strength and skills, but relying on his talent of dragon blood transformation, Yuwen Tai had no chance of winning in a short period of time. He was outlasted by her for thirty rounds and was unable to gain any advantage by means of underground warfare. The troops who had finally jumped over the wooden carts and entered the position were trapped by dense spears and then sniped by thousands of powerful crossbows.
After the number of casualties exceeded two-tenths, the first wave of charging cavalry began to collapse, and they fled the front line screaming. Zheng Jiang commanded the army to pursue the victory, and thousands of powerful crossbows once again shot out a sea of death. Of the one thousand soldiers in the first wave of charge, only half escaped.
The Han army suffered only one hundred casualties, with a casualty ratio of one to five.
Yuwen Tai had no choice but to retreat, and organized several more charge attempts, only to find that Zhang He's defense was impenetrable. The first row of chariots blocked the cavalry charge, the second row of spears were densely packed like a forest, and the third row of strong crossbows were used to shoot and kill. This formation was a natural counter to cavalry! Several charges were unsuccessful, and the men and horses suffered heavy losses from the strong bows and crossbows. The whistling sound of countless crossbow arrows across the sky was like thousands of banshees, making a soul-stirring scream in the sky!
While Yuwen Tai was fighting Zhang He, Liu Zhuang was also on the way. The troops she sent out to provide reinforcements had no idea that Gao Huan had already rebelled. Liu Zhuang was rushing here, and thought that the way back was extremely safe, so he was not suspicious.
As a result, they were discovered by Liu Zhuang's scouts on the way, and Liu Zhuang immediately deployed a pocket formation in front of them. The group fell into the trap unknowingly and were surrounded by 3,500 cavalry.
It's not impossible for a thousand cavalrymen to fight against three thousand five hundred cavalrymen in the field. At least they can still escape without any problem.
But the moment the troops were surrounded, their morale had already collapsed. First, they were hit by Jia Xu's captives, and then by Gao Huan's fake letter. They were already wondering, and now they were surrounded by three times more Han cavalry, and their fighting spirit collapsed instantly - why did the Han army appear here? Did He Liuhun surrender? Then our army was trapped by Zhang He and Liu Zhuang from front and back? What a fight!
Liu Zhuang simply ordered the cavalry to shoot three waves of arrows and launched a charge, and a thousand soldiers and horses collapsed. Several soldiers dressed as chiefs simply raised their hands and surrendered.
"Master! Master! Didn't you say you wouldn't kill those who surrender? I surrender!"
After quickly collecting the surrender of a thousand soldiers, Liu Zhuang ordered five hundred people to detain the prisoners whose weapons and armor had been confiscated, and continued to charge towards the final battlefield with the last three thousand soldiers! He personally served as a scout, using his double pupils' super-long-range vision to detect Yuwen Tai's movements. When the army was less than three kilometers away from the enemy, he immediately ordered everyone to stop, cut down nearby branches, and tied them to the horses' tails to raise dust, so that Yuwen Tai could not judge how many people had come. After a short rest, he rushed the last three kilometers.
For a moment, the earth shook and dust flew. Yuwen Tai, who had been attacking Zhang He for a long time but failed, changed his expression. A large number of cavalry were approaching? How could it be? Wasn't He Liuhun resisting stubbornly? Even if she was defeated, there were still a thousand reinforcements on the way. Why did the Han army come so quickly?
At this moment, not only Yuwen Tai, but also other horse chiefs changed their expressions. The fall of Jie Xiu City and the cutting off of their retreat had already caused their morale to plummet. Yuwen Tai's defeat to Lu Bu in Jie Xiu dealt a great blow to and questioned her authority. He Liuhun's letter this morning made everyone panic, feeling that they were being sandwiched from both sides.
And now, a group of Han troops of unknown size has come to their backs! Iron hooves are shaking the sky, dust is rolling, and a cavalry team wearing black armor is sweeping in like a black whirlwind. They are wearing heavy armor and holding spears, like a black wave sweeping across the world, accompanied by dust rising into the sky, shocking people's hearts!
"Helan! Helou! You two clans go and stop them!"
Yuwen Tai was terrified and tried to resist this powerful attack, but the Han cavalry surged like a tide, with arrows raining down and long spears like a forest, directly breaking the panicked troops' defense line. For a time, blood and flesh flew everywhere, corpses were everywhere, wailing came one after another, and there was chaos. A large number of troops were shot to death by the rain of arrows, a large number of troops were pierced by long spears, and a large number of troops fled. The whole army was in chaos, and countless people died under the hooves of the enemy and their own horses.
The already low morale of the Yuwen Xianbei was completely shattered when the two armies just came into contact. The troops, whose morale had long been demoralized, scattered in panic and fled to various places in small groups. Many troops, seeing that they could not escape, simply surrendered to the Han army.
"Everyone! Spread out into teams of fifty! Surround these people! Don't let them get away! Especially Yuwen Tai! This guy is another hidden danger when he returns to the grassland!"
Liu Zhuang bent his bow and shot two horses dead with three arrows in the chaos. All the Han soldiers roared in unison in the Xianbei language they had just learned from Tuoba.
"Put down your weapons! Surrender and you won't be killed!!!"
Under the chaotic formation of the cavalry and the deafening roar, a large number of soldiers and horses surrendered, but some people were still fleeing. Yuwen Tai could no longer care about anything at this moment and turned into a groundhog again, trying to burrow into the ground to escape.
"Don't leave Yuwen Tai!"
At this critical moment, Liu Zhuang cast a [Hunting Mark] on her, causing an eye with double pupils emitting a golden halo to slowly open above her head.
"This talent is so annoying. Send out cavalry to patrol nearby. She will crawl out of the ground sooner or later. I don't believe we can't catch her."
Looking at Yuwen Tai who escaped into the underground, Liu Zhuang felt a little troubled.
"Don't worry, my lord. I'll catch her!"
Tuoba Yun said confidently, and along with the dark blue demon shadow, he also turned into a pale groundhog wearing armor, burrowed into the ground, and started a chase with Yuwen Tai.
Chapter 141: The Captured Chieftain
Yuwen Tai, who was escaping underground, was like a frightened bird. He had been pierced through the chest by Lu Bu's halberd before, and his wound had not yet healed. He was also hit several times by Zhang He just now. He was in extremely bad condition. At this moment, he ignored his subordinates and allies and dug frantically to escape. But while digging, he suddenly felt something was wrong. Why was there a sound behind him?
She turned around and saw a white groundhog covered in armor, digging towards her in the same way! Its eyes were even burning with a faint blue light.
What the hell is this? This eye, this armor, it's definitely not a wild marmot! Is there anyone with a dragon blood talent similar to mine? ? ?
Although he couldn't turn other people into animals, Tuoba Yun's power of transformation was arbitrary. As long as the animal was lower in level than himself, he could transform it, and marmots were naturally no problem. Yuwen Tai was forced into a corner and turned around and let out a cute scream. His whole body quickly swelled and grew, causing the entire tunnel to collapse. He turned into a black marmot the size of a giant bear. With a loud roar, he pounced towards Tuoba Yun!
Tuoba Yun was not in a hurry. In the widened underground space, he also transformed into a blue-eyed white bear. The two beasts roared and snarled, charging towards each other! Yuwen Tai tried to turn Tuoba Yun back into a marmot, but found that his ability was ineffective - her transformation ability was similar to that of a druid. In the transformed state, she was immune to any deformation effects.
There was no other way, Yuwen Tai could only bite the bullet and engage in hand-to-hand combat. His fangs and sharp claws tore at Tuoba Yun's armor, causing sparks to fly, but he just couldn't break her defense. Tuoba Yun roared and hit her with his bear paw, causing her entire brain to shake and tremble!
Yuwen Tai's group transformation into rats is more inclined to auxiliary and sneak attack; while Tuoba Yun's demon dragon painted skin is a purely violent battle!
After several rounds of fierce fighting, Yuwen Tai, knowing that he was no match for his opponent in animal form, transformed into an extremely rare human-animal hybrid form. She still looked like a dark centaur, with countless colorful lights flying and jumping on her shiny hair.
However, a pair of furry groundhog ears grew out of her head, and her hooves and hands turned into extremely sharp, pointed claws, holding a long spear and engaging in a fierce battle! This hybrid form also possessed the weapon grasping ability of humans and the attribute enhancement of beasts. With the power of the beast, she stabbed Tuoba Yun in the face with a spear!
Tuoba Yun tried to break through, but this was underground and the space for him to maneuver was extremely limited. Even if he turned into a tiger and pounced, there was a chance that he would be blocked by that damn spear. So he simply changed into a centaur form, holding the spear and fighting fiercely with Yuwen Tai underground!
There was the clanging of metal and the flying of sparks as the two long spears fought to equal strength. In his hybrid orc form, Yuwen Tai's strength remained the same, but his agility was greatly enhanced, and his speed was comparable to that of Lu Bu.
Seeing that he could not defeat her, Tuoba Yun relied on his heavy armor to resist two of her attacks and began to cast the magic of the blasphemous priest. Accompanied by a chaotic and terrifying magic halo, one magic spell after another wrapped around her body. Her arms first turned into white jade, and then an ethereal shadow of a god appeared behind her.
Immediately afterwards, the magical shadows of a bull and a cat slowly appeared on Tuoba Yun's body.
[Fist of Confucius]: Consumes 1 mana point, Strength +6.
[Grace of Slaanesh]: Consumes 1 mana point, hit +2, damage +2, dodge +2.
[Power of the Ox]: Consumes 3 mana points, increases strength by 4, and doubles charge damage.
[Cat Agility]: Consume 3 mana points, Agility +4.
With the help of four magics, Tuoba Yun gained the upper hand again. After the two fought for twenty rounds in the narrow underground, Tuoba Yun stabbed Yuwen Tai in the chest with a spear, at the place where she was pierced by Lu Bu before. She coughed up blood and could no longer fight.
Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, Yuwen Tai pulled off his gold-studded belt and threw it in front of Tuoba Yun. Then he turned into a groundhog again, screaming and digging the ground to escape.
"Foolish girl! You are also a centaur! Why do you have to kill all your compatriots? If all the centaur outside the Great Wall are dead, then what value will you Xianbei traitors have to the Han people? Haven't you learned the saying that when the rabbit dies, the dog is cooked, and when the bird is dead, the bow is put away? Wouldn't it be better to take this golden belt back and claim the reward???"
Tuoba Yun was stunned for a moment, then picked up the valuable belt and responded without hesitation, then turned into a groundhog and continued to chase.
"You are so stupid! Even if I catch you, the gold belt will still be mine!!!"
Seeing that the plan of sowing discord had failed, Yuwen Tai had no choice but to continue fleeing. Blood was constantly flowing out of her chest. She still had Liu Zhuang's hunting mark on her head. Facing Tuoba Yun, who could change into any form, she had no way out.
When underground, Tuoba Yun can turn into a groundhog, and her digging ability is not much worse than her own. Although the heavy armor hinders her speed, she casts a Slaanesh spell to increase her movement speed, allowing her digging speed to even surpass her own.
Seeing that he was about to be caught up, Yuwen Tai ran to the ground and turned into a centaur. However, Tuoba Yun was also a centaur, and a blasphemous priestess. With the blessing of Slaanesh's magic, she ran faster than him even in heavy armor!
There was no other way, Yuwen Tai took off his helmet, abandoned his armor, and jumped into the Fen River to escape - you are wearing such thick full body armor, you can't jump into the river to catch me, right? ? ?
Tuoba Yun sneered, took off his armor as quickly as possible, and jumped deep into the river. What jumped into the water were a group of pale horses, but what floated to the surface was a river fish. In a few breaths, it caught up with Yuwen Tai who had managed to escape, and then, accompanied by a dark blue burning magic shadow, it turned into a giant crocodile, bit Yuwen Tai's horse hoof, and dragged him to the bottom of the river.
"Gululu——"
Caught off guard, Yuwen Tai was choked by a mouthful of water. She looked at the water surface getting farther and farther away in despair, struggling to escape from the crocodile's grip. She was as strong as Tuoba Yun, but humans were not good at underwater combat, and Tuoba Yun had directly turned into a crocodile. She really could not beat him in the water. After struggling several times, she ran out of oxygen, and finally her eyes rolled back and she suffocated underwater.
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Chapter 142: The Uncrowned King
At this point, the invasion of the Yuwen Xianbei ended with the complete annihilation of the army.
Liu Zhuang checked the spoils and found that in this invasion, after seven battles of varying sizes, he had captured a total of 6,000 soldiers and horses, 500 Southern Xiongnu orcs, and 1,000 surrendered Han people led by Gao Huan. The rest had died in the war or in infighting.
The spoils of war captured were even more enormous. Not only was it the property of Yuwen Xianbei, but also the things looted in Xihe and Taiyuan all belonged to the Hedong troops.
Liu Zhuang was very generous. He immediately asked his clerks and minor officials to count the military achievements and keep half of the spoils as public property. He distributed the other half to all the noble families, county magistrates, and his own army who had participated in the battle. This made the not-so-wealthy county magistrates smile with joy and have some admiration and trust for the prefect.
Although these supplies were a drop in the bucket for the aristocratic families, they were a good symbol, representing that the prefect was willing to share power and spoils with them, thus easing the originally tense relationship between the two sides.
A preliminary calculation showed that the total value of that half of the public property was 30,000 strings of cash, an enormous sum of money.
The problem now is how to deal with this group of people. If possible, Liu Zhuang certainly wants to take them as his own, but it is not easy to conquer these people.
Fortunately, he had Tuoba Yun as his trump card. She captured Yuwen Tai alive and brought him back in front of everyone. According to Xianbei customs, the troops that defeated the chief would become the next chief. Therefore, many troops had already implicitly recognized Tuoba Yun as their leader.
But there were still many people who disliked Tuoba Yun's identity as a traitor of the Xianbei people and were very dissatisfied with it. Even if the Tuoba tribe included several tribes that had surrendered before, there were only a few thousand people. It was still too difficult for them to take in six times the number of prisoners of war in one go.
Liu Zhuang shook her head and put this complicated issue behind her. She first held a celebration banquet with all the generals, soldiers, and aristocratic families. Everyone came to attend, except Gao Huan. She smiled bitterly and said, "Tie me up and put me next to the prisoners of war. I betrayed Yuwen Tai and joined you, thinking that you would kill all these people, but now you want to take Yuwen Tai in as well."
I don't know how powerful your power will be by then, but I can forget about staying here with you - tie me up quickly and put me together with those people as a prisoner, and treat me as if I was defeated by you. When the imperial court's appointment and dismissal order comes down, release me together.
Liu Zhuang looked at Gao Huan's beautiful face and couldn't help but feel his heart beating faster. That incomparably beautiful face, like Liu Bei's, reflected the most beautiful fantasies in his heart in his pupils, making Liu Zhuang breathe faster. However, what she did was too dangerous. Today, she would betray Yuwen Tai and join him for the sake of profit. What about tomorrow?
Liu Zhuang thought about it, but if he didn't do this, Gao Huan would feel it was dangerous to stay by his side and she would betray him without hesitation. So he agreed to her request and tied her up and threw her next to Yuwen Tai as proof that she was not surrendering but was defeated and captured alive.
Moreover, in this way, she also had a trick in her hand - she had zero time to stop the Han army. If she dared to play tricks, as long as she told these people that Gao Huan was a traitor rather than a prisoner, Yuwen Tai would be able to get the answer immediately after a quick calculation of the time. At that time, she would not need to do anything herself, as these people would go berserk, jump up and tear Gao Huan to pieces alive.
The next day, Liu Zhuang began to write a report of the great victory to the court, writing down everyone's contribution very clearly. After all the noble families signed it together, he sent it to Luoyang, requesting the emperor's reward. He also said that the world was in chaos now and the Southern Xiongnu might betray him. I want to take all the captives for myself and guard the border for Your Majesty in Hedong, but I regret that there is a shortage of food and land. I hope Luoyang can allocate some food to solve the urgent problem.
In Luoyang, the emperor and the eunuchs received Liu Zhuang's letter with mixed feelings.
The good news is that this large-scale invasion of the south ended with the complete annihilation of Yuwen Xianbei's army. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was a test by the Great Khan of the Southern Xiongnu, but there was no evidence. If Yuwen Xianbei returned with a great victory this time, the Southern Xiongnu would immediately rebel.
Now, the complete annihilation of Yuwen Xianbei's army will make the Xiongnu Khan who rules the Hetao area more restrained. He will realize that the Han army is not easy to mess with, but he will still be wary of it.
What was worrying was that the empire did not have enough food and grass. In order to take back power from the aristocratic families, Liu Hong launched several consecutive Party and Faction Persecutions, imprisoned a large number of Confucian scholars, and delegated power to absolutely loyal eunuchs, training them to fight against the aristocratic families. As a result, he offended a large number of aristocratic families.
By doing so, he did regain central power, but after offending a large number of aristocratic families, local power collapsed very thoroughly, and the empire's control and macro-control capabilities deteriorated. The aristocratic families in Jizhou even dared to put pressure on the emperor during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, not to mention the aristocratic families in other places.
In the past, grain from the rich inland areas of Jizhou, Qingzhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou would be allocated to the three border areas of Youzhou, Bingzhou, and Liangzhou. The grain from other states would be used to feed the huge armies of the three border states.
But now, this kind of macro-control has collapsed. The Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou are still wreaking havoc in Taishan and Donglai. The grain and grass transported from Qingzhou will be robbed by the remnants of the Yellow Turbans eight out of ten times, and only one in ten of the grain and grass transported to Youzhou survives. It is not known whether it was really robbed by the Yellow Turbans or swallowed up by the bureaucratic families of Qingzhou.
The wealthy Jizhou, Yuzhou and Yanzhou were all the hardest hit areas by the Yellow Turbans. Although they were suppressed, they suffered huge losses in population and land, and were unable to resume production and pay tribute in a short period of time. This made the already densely populated Luoyang and Youzhou, which had a large number of troops on the front line, even more stretched. At one point, the Youzhou soldiers could not even get enough food to eat, and there were several small-scale mutinies.
As for Jingzhou? The richest place in Jingzhou is Nanyang. Nanyang County is where Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu started his career. A large number of Eastern Han noble families and powerful people are from Nanyang. Liu Xiu couldn't even count the population of Nanyang County and collect taxes here stably, let alone Liu Hong?
The Yellow Turbans in this remote area of Yangzhou have not yet stopped, and Danyang County also needs to raise troops to fight against the Baiyue.
Yizhou and Jiaozhou are remote areas separated from the central government by mountains and hills, so it is even more difficult to reach them. We are thankful to be able to contact them.
Liu Hong looked at the thirteen states under his rule, each with its own situation and emergency, and fell into silence. He had to admit that the macro-control of the Han Empire had also collapsed, since the empire had to face the enemy in four directions: Liangzhou, Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Yangzhou, and resist the invasion of foreign races in the four states at the same time.
Since the cost and expense of managing each state is getting higher and higher, and the difficulty is becoming greater and greater, why not let each state produce its own food and support its own soldiers?
To send the cavalry from Youzhou across thousands of miles to Liangzhou to quell the rebellion, or to send grain and grass from Qingzhou and Yangzhou across thousands of miles to Youzhou, the cost would be outrageously high for the current Han Empire.
Liu Hong and the eunuchs thought about it for a whole night and finally came up with a compromise.
From today on, until the empire is back on track, I will not ask for any taxes from your Hedong County. You must use the grain of Hedong to feed your own army. There is a salt field, two copper mountains, and two iron mountains in Hedong. I will give you two of the iron mountains to forge armor and weapons.
