Chapter 2704 Iron-blooded Prime Minister Bismarck, Loulan and the Queen of Xiliang
Chapter 2701: Iron-blooded Prime Minister Bismarck, Loulan and the Queen of Xiliang
Among the fifteen countries in the Western Regions, the strongest ones are naturally the ten independent countries. As for the five subordinates of the Qin Dynasty in the Western Regions, even if the five countries are combined, they are not as strong as the two weakest countries.
Any force with some strength cannot be willing to act as a vassal state.
For forces like the five major vassal states, if they cannot rely on their own strength, they can only rely on stronger forces and obtain protection by paying tribute. This is the way for small countries to survive.
Under the leadership of Ji Xiaolan, the anti-Sui coalition forces of the 15 countries in the Western Regions were formed, and then they naturally sent troops to fight against the Sui army.
This battle was related to the survival of the fifteen countries in the Western Regions, and the number of 100,000 Sui troops was even more overwhelming, so the countries in the Western Regions did not dare to hide it anymore.
The five powerful countries including Dayuan, Daliang, Xiliang and Khotan all dispatched troops ranging from 20,000 to 35,000.
The five countries including Loulan, Shule, and Kucha each sent troops ranging from 10,000 to 15,000.
As for the five major vassal states of the Qin Dynasty, the five countries combined to form a total of 30,000 troops.
At this point, the total force of the anti-Sui coalition forces of the 15 countries in the Western Regions has reached as much as 240,000.
In addition, there are 15,000 Qin troops under Wang Ben''s command.
This 5,000 army was not transferred from the Qin Dynasty, but a new army formed by Wang Ben, after the seven countries in the Western Regions voluntarily became vassal states of the Qin Dynasty, took the 300 elite cavalry who had entered the Western Regions as the backbone, and absorbed the defeated troops of the Western Regions to destroy the countries, the refugees and strong vain of the vassal states, and the extermination of bandits and bandits.
This army is the worst army in the Qin Dynasty. One is not formally organized by the Qin Dynasty, the second is no military pay and logistics supplies, and the third is very poor in weapons and equipment. Compared with the regular Qin army, it is even worse than the beggars.
The reason for this situation is mainly because the Sui Kingdom is separated from the Western Regions and the Great Qin Dynasty. The Western Regions are isolated thousands of miles away, and the logistics supply of the Great Qin cannot be transported at all, so all the supply of this army is supported by the support of the fifteen Western Regions.
In fact, when this army was first formed, Ji Xiaolan and Wang Ben had a dispute.
Ji Xiaolan felt that their mission was just to balance the forces of all parties in the Western Regions and let them unite to fight against the Sui State. There was no need to form another army.
But Wang Ben believed that if he did not have an army, his back would not be strong enough and he would not be confident in speaking. The countries in the Western Regions would only disobey the situation, so it was urgent to recruit troops on the spot to expand the army.
The two reported their respective opinions to Li Jing. After some thought, Li Jing turned to Wang Ben, a soldier, but he also knew the difficulty of building an army in the Western Regions, so he agreed without much hope, but it was just that he had not given a formal establishment.
In other words, the Western Qin army formed by Wang Ben is an army that is not officially recognized by the Qin Dynasty. It has neither military pay nor logistics supplies. It requires Wang Ben and Ji Xiaolan to find a way to resolve the source of troops, money, food, weapons and equipment, etc.
Ji Xiaolan and Wang Ben were both shocked after receiving Li Jing’s reply.
You don’t give me any support, and you don’t even have a single stone of food and grass. How can I form an army?
Just when Ji Xiaolan and Wang Ben were both worried about it and even wanted to give up, Bismarck took the initiative to ask for orders to come to the Western Regions and helped Ji Xiaolan and Wang Ben solve the biggest problem.
Bismarck saw the opportunities contained in the situation in the Western Regions.
Wang Ben wanted to expand his army in the Western Regions, but there was nothing except the escorts of the three hundred elite cavalry and the banner of the Qin Dynasty.
If he can help him form the army and this army makes contributions in the future Western Regions War, it will naturally be a great achievement for him.
In Bismarck''s view, Wang Ben looked nothing on the surface, but in fact he had everything.
Wang Ben understands military training, Ji Xiaolan understands politics and is good at diplomacy. Behind them are the support of the Qin Empire, which is far more important than any material.
Short of money and food? It doesn’t matter, the fifteen countries in the Western Regions have them.
The Qin Dynasty helped so many countries in the Western Regions. Although it did not ask for compensation, should you be more conscious and pay some protection fees?
You Ji Xiaolan aren’t you, I’m going to convince them to call out the money and grain, and you’ll get more wool from the vassal states, and you’ll get less if you’re not the vassal states.
Lack of troops? It doesn’t matter, the fifteen countries in the Western Regions have them.
There are so many countries that have destroyed the Western Regions, most of them are defeated soldiers and refugees. Aren’t these ready-made sources of troops?
In addition, you can also encircle and suppress bandits to train troops.
Shortage of weapons and equipment? No... this is not that easy to solve. After all, the fifteen countries in the Western Regions also lack weapons and equipment.
Bismarck initially asked Li Jing to send him 100 craftsmen to mine on the spot for weapons forging, but the efficiency was too slow. Only a small number of people could use the equipment of the Qin Dynasty, and most people could only make do with the old equipment from the Western Regions first.
Later, Bismarck discovered that the armored rate in the army was too low, the number of long-range weapons such as bows and crossbows was too small, and there were no cavalry, which greatly restricted the army''s combat effectiveness.
Weapons and equipment such as armor, bows and crossbows are not so easy to forge, and it is also extremely difficult to obtain war horses.
Bismarck had no good idea, so he could only let Li Jing transport one batch secretly, but two of the five batches were seized by the Sui State.
The intercepted equipment naturally made the Sui Kingdom in vain, which made Wang Ben feel very distressed, but what was transported was barely enough for the Qin army in the Western Regions.
Bismarck was responsible for making suggestions, Wang Ben was responsible for recruiting troops and training to suppress bandits, and Ji Xiaolan was responsible for lobbying countries and relied on his mouth to pull out the wool from countries in the Western Regions.
The three of them performed their duties and with sincerity, they finally formed a warable army as the backbone.
But if you rely solely on the tribute from the five major vassal states and the income from the wool from the ten Western Regions, when the number of troops in Wang Ben''s hands exceeded 5,000, it was obvious that he could not afford it and could not afford it at all.
Bismarck obviously had expected this. He also arbitrarily gathered refugees in the Western Regions and rebuilt the city at the ruins of the country, reclaimed the world to resume production, and also opened factories such as glass and paper.
Bismarck used the goods produced by his factory to trade with the fifteen Western Regions countries, and even attracted merchants from Kushan, Timur, Seljuk and other countries from Central Asia to purchase goods, and then transported them back to their country for sale. Bismarck earned a lot of wealth through trade and purchased food from Central Asian countries to support Wang Ben''s expansion of his army and raising his army, and eventually expanded the number of troops to 15,000.
This number is quite large, even among the ten Western Regions countries, it is not the bottom, let alone the Qin army in the Western Regions has stronger combat power and equipment.
Due to the restrictions on territory and population, if Wang Ben still wants to continue to expand his army, he must increase his population and territory, but the surrounding Western Regions are all ally of the Qin Dynasty.
Usually, Wang Ben and Bismarck led their troops to fight against bandits and bandits, but if they really attacked any country, the rest of the countries would not ignore it.
What''s more, Wang Ben''s habitual task is to unite the countries in the Western Regions to restrain the Sui State, rather than annex the countries in the Western Regions, so naturally he cannot attack his allies.
Bismarck had no way to expand his territory and increase his population, so the military expansion matter naturally came to an abrupt end, which also made the countries in the Western Regions secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
As the Sui Kingdom, Ji Chang and Li Siyuan completely gained a foothold in the Western Regions, the Han people''s power in the Western Regions became increasingly stronger, and the local forces in the Western Regions did not want the Qin Dynasty to become stronger and stronger in the Western Regions.
I have to say that although Bismarck, who has intelligence, politics and politics, performed well in Yongliang, it was not very eye-catching, but his various performances after coming to the Western Regions were simply amazing.
In just two years, Bismarck made almost nothing, helped Wang Ben form an army of 15,000 people, and restored three abandoned cities, and restored the population of the three cities to 78,000. His ability and means were rare even in the Qin Dynasty, and he deserved the reputation of the Iron-blooded Prime Minister.
When Bismarck came to the Western Regions, he was just Ji Xiaolan and Wang Ben''s younger brother, but now Ji Xiaolan and Wang Ben are mainly Bismarck, and they are obviously completely conquered by Bismarck''s various outstanding performances.
The Sui Kingdom made its third western expedition to the Western Regions, and claimed that it had dispatched a hundred thousand troops. It forced the fifteen countries of the Western Regions to join forces again and held an alliance in Tianshan Mountains. The person who presided over the alliance ceremony was Bismarck.
This alliance is related to life and death, and no country dares to neglect at all, so the kings of the fifteen countries are also present, including the King of Daliang Daiba, the King of Dayuan Lingyun, and the King of Khotan...
Among the fifteen countries in the Western Regions, the former kings of Xiliang and Loulan had no children, but they both died in the battle with the Sui Kingdom, so their eldest daughter inherited the throne.
Today''s Queen of Xiliang and Queen of Loulan are both women, and they are also beautiful women who are fascinating. Their arrival has also relieved some tension for this alliance.
Under Bismarck''s advocacy, a Han-style alliance ceremony was carried out in an orderly manner.
Although the Queen of Xiliang and Queen of Loulan are both women, they are soft on the outside and **** the inside. There is no ambiguity in the two aspects of dropping blood and drinking blood wine. They even sipped the blood wine with the kings without even frowning their eyebrows.
“…The alliance has been made. From today on, we should share weal and woe with each other. The Sui army will not collapse and the alliance will not disperse.”
Bismarck stood on the altar and shouted, and the fifteen kings below also shouted in unison: "The Sui army will not fall, and the alliance will not disperse."
Under the attention of everyone, Wang Ben walked onto the altar and took the seal symbolizing the command of the 15-nation coalition forces from the King of Daliang, who represented the fifteen-nation kingdoms.
Wang Ben''s 15,000 Qin army, plus the 240,000 anti-Sui coalition forces of the 15 countries in the Western Regions, the total strength of both sides has reached an astonishing 255,000.
This is a total of 255,000 troops. Even in the Qin Dynasty, few people have commanded so many troops, but now, Major General Wang Ben has become the commander of the 250,000 troops.
I''m afraid that no general would be jealous of this resume when he took it out. Wang Ben was also extremely proud of it. The only drawback is that this army is all aliens. If it were all replaced by Qin army, it would be perfect, but if it was all Qin army, it would not be his turn.
Wang Ben became the chief general of the 15-nation coalition, holding 255,08 major troops, but facing the 100,000 Sui army, he still had no confidence in winning with a 2.5-fold advantage of military strength, but he was still a little worried.
There are three main things that Wang Ben is worried about: First, the comprehensive quality of the armies of both sides;
The armies of the Western Regions, after Wang Ben''s training, were a little stronger in combat, but not much stronger, which was still far behind the Sui army, not to mention that the only ones who came this time were not only the Sui army, but also the Tang army of Ji Chang and Li Siyuan.
As the biggest opponent before the founding of the Qin Dynasty, the Tang State''s battle with the Qin Dynasty was even more likely to lose, and even if it was destroyed, its powerful combat power was still in the hearts of the people.
The troops under Ji Chang and Li Siyuan were all elites of the former Tang Kingdom. They had confronted the main force of the Qin army many times, but were still tenacious and unbroken.
Although Wang Ben now has an army of 250,000, facing a army of 100,000, if he is really the elite of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, he really dare not face the other side head-on. After all, the soldiers are in the elite but not in the large number, and the possibility of losing in a real battle is even greater.
The second thing that worries Wang Ben is the lineup of the generals of both sides.
The Sui army not only has famous generals such as Yang Shuang, Ji Fa, Yu Wen Tai, but also powerful generals such as Gao Xingzhou, Gao Changgong, and Gao Ang. Even if they are not an all-star lineup, they are already quite luxurious, and there will definitely be no problems in the command and dispatch of the army.
On the other hand, the only one local famous general can take advantage of the Western Regions Alliance. The only foreign aids on the Qin side are Wang Ben and Wang Li, and the civil servant Bismarck.
The two generals Meng Ben, Ruan Wengzhong who once protected Ji Xiaolan and Wang Ben, and Wang Xuance who entered the Western Regions have now been transferred back to the Qin Dynasty to participate in the Central Plains War. Now there are no strong generals in the Western Regions.
The Western Regions army was originally weak in combat and had no strong generals in charge. Now the field battle was even more unfavorable.
In addition to the above two points, the third thing that made Wang Ben worried was that the fifteen countries in the Western Regions would not obey the command.
When Yang Su fought against the Western Regions for the second time, he almost won the battle with Wang Ben''s strength, but because some countries did not obey the command, all the good situation was wasted.
This time, Wang Ben didn''t want to make the same mistake again.
Wang Ben was preparing to fight steadily and rely on his military strength to fight a war of attrition with the Sui army, but he did not expect to suffer a defeat as soon as the war began.
Wang Ben''s most worried thing happened. The pig teammates in the Western Regions failed to withstand the temptation, and once again refused to obey the command and sent troops without authorization. As a result, the 30,000 army was defeated by Gao Changgong''s two thousand Sui army, with nearly 10,000 casualties.
The loss of nearly 10,000 teammates of the Western Regions Alliance was nothing, but he made a very bad start, which made the morale of the Western Regions Alliance, which was already extremely afraid of the Sui army, even more depressed.
Just as Wang Ben was entangled with Yang Shuang and Jifa in the Western Regions, Li Jing, who was far away in Guanzhong, also received news of the Sui army''s western expedition and responded immediately.
"Everyone, the time has come to destroy the Sui Dynasty. It''s our Yongliang Army''s turn to take action."
(This chapter ends)