Chapter 187: Karez, New Follower (5k)
Gao Hui looked at Su Ze in confusion. Release these Gaoche people? Then why did you still attack Yumen?
Su Ze said: "Of course not all Gaoche people will be released. Those Gaoche people who attacked Dunhuang and Yumen will have to stay in Dunhuang and serve for five years to pay for their crimes."
Gao Hui was well aware of the rules of the grasslands. He said, "General Su, if we only release the elderly, the weak, the women and the children, the fate of their tribe will be even worse."
This is the rule of the grassland. A pasture without young and strong people to guard it is like a child walking in the market with silk in his arms. The surrounding tribes will rush up and divide it up. It would be better to stay in Dunhuang as a slave.
But Su Ze obviously had other considerations.
The spring plowing in Dunhuang has been delayed. Even if we buy grain from the Western Regions, it will not be able to support such a large population.
Killing these Gaoche people? That was not Su Ze's option.
He said to Gao Hui: "Gao Pingxi, when I escorted Princess Shouyang to the grassland, I made an alliance with the grassland tribes."
"The tribes are not allowed to attack without authorization. Any disputes over grasslands and the redivision of grasslands must be discussed at the grassland conference."
"Today, Gaoche Zuoxian King offended the prestige of our great Wei state and has committed suicide to apologize. This battle has nothing to do with women and children. Let them return to the grassland."
"As for what will happen after we return to the grassland, we should invite Gao Pingxi to mediate. I will also send an envoy to find the King of Gaoche and ask him to preside over the affairs here."
Gao Hui was stunned for a moment, then asked about the system of the grassland conference.
After listening to this, the experienced diplomat smiled.
He understood the usefulness of this grassland conference system better than anyone else!
This is a powerful tool to divide and control the grassland!
However, no matter how good a system is, it will only be useful if it is implemented in practice.
A covenant that no one keeps is of no use.
This time, the Battle of Yumen, in which the Gaoche Zuoxian King's army was defeated, was another opportunity to demonstrate the grassland congress system.
The Gaoche Zuoxian King's army was not a small force. The fact that it was defeated by Su Ze had a great deterrent effect in itself.
After defeating Zuo Xian Wang's tribe and sending them back to the grassland, these remnants had to rely on Su Ze completely in order to avoid being annexed by other surrounding tribes.
If Su Ze can really keep their pastures, it will prove that the new system of the grassland assembly is effective, and more tribes will try to use this system to resolve disputes.
Holding a meeting is always better than bloodshed. The people of the grassland are not aggressive by nature. Why can't they solve the problem in a civilized manner?
Gao Hui was also tempted. If he could really implement this grassland conference system according to Su Ze's idea, Gao Hui predicted that the Northern Wei Dynasty would have no northern border threats within ten years!
Compared to the unsuccessful mission to the Western Regions, this is the best opportunity to put into practice what I have learned in my life!
Gao Hui thought for a while and made a decision.
"I am willing to give it a try, but I need soldiers."
Seeing Gao Hui taking the bait, Su Ze immediately started to pull the hook and said, "The defense in the northwest is tense, and I'm afraid I can't give Gao Pingxi too many troops."
Gao Hui said, "General Su, don't worry about this. I only need one hundred of your elite cavalrymen, and I will have the Hezhou clan send out the rest."
Su Ze couldn't help but be overjoyed. In fact, he had originally planned to give Gao Hui 500 people, but who knew that he would actually bring his own people.
That’s right. The Gao family in Hezhou has been running the business for two generations. It is not easy to recruit a few hundred soldiers in Hezhou.
In fact, these soldiers could also be recruited from Hezhou, but Gao Hui knew that Su Ze had elite cavalry under his command. On the grassland, one hundred elite cavalry were sometimes more useful than a thousand ordinary soldiers.
The two sides quickly reached an agreement on the number of troops to be sent, and Gao Hui said, "I need one more person."
"people?"
"General Su, the envoy who persuaded Zuo Xian Wang to surrender, Su Jie, I want him to be my deputy."
Su Ze hesitated for a moment. He was originally planning to send Su Jie to the Western Regions, but it was not bad to keep him by Gao Hui's side, so he nodded and said, "Then let Su Jie be your deputy."
In the following days, Gao Hui showed strong subjective initiative, as if he had suddenly become ten years younger. He sent people to ask his nephew Gao Ren for people, visited the Gaoche prisoner camp, inquired about the latest situation of the grassland, and determined the plan of his mission to the grassland.
Su Ze, who occupied Yumen and Dunhuang, refused to leave. Strangely, Yuan Yu, the governor of Liangzhou, also remained silent about this.
He did not send officials here again, and pretended not to see the fact that the Dunhuang prefect gave up his life to become a monk. He just watched Su Ze send troops to station in Yumen, just as Su Ze occupied Xiping City, and allowed him to control Dunhuang and Yumen.
At the beginning, Su Ze was still a little nervous, but Gao Hui dispelled his doubts.
Gao Hui said: "To the Yuan governor, General Su is much more reliable than the local generals in Liangzhou. He is eager for General Su to stay in Yumen."
Su Ze suddenly realized that he had overestimated the control that the Northern Wei border governors had over their subordinates. They did not care who controlled the city, as long as they could control the people in the city to be loyal to the court.
Su Ze, the General Protector of the Qiang appointed by the court, is naturally more reliable than the local heroes.
If the governor had the power to appoint county magistrates, the Yuan governor would have wanted to grant Su Ze the position of Dunhuang County Magistrate.
After understanding all this, Su Ze occupied Dunhuang and Yumen with peace of mind.
He treated this place as his own territory and began to cultivate it intensively.
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Madam An rode a camel and followed Su Ze to inspect a booming construction site south of Dunhuang.
[The costly and laborious Western Region water conservancy project] After Su Miao was summoned, he went into the oasis desert near Dunhuang. When he returned to Dunhuang, he handed over a huge water conservancy project plan to Su Ze.
Su Ze had a headache. The ambition of this plan was too big. Once it was completed, there would be no problem with irrigation of grasslands and farmlands north of Dunhuang, which meant that Dunhuang could feed more people.
Population is a very important resource. In Gaochang, not far from Dunhuang, there are 3,000 monks in Buddhist temples alone. This is because the land near Gaochang is fertile and there are resources to feed so many people.
And because Gaochang had a large population, caravans were more willing to stay in Gaochang, which made Gaochang a famous trade center in the Western Regions.
Without sufficient population, construction cannot be carried out, and there will not be enough soldiers to protect oneself.
However, such a huge water conservancy project requires a large amount of manpower, which is also a headache for Su Ze, who has limited resources.
However, if Su Miao is asked to reduce the scale of the design, he will be dissatisfied and the quality will be reduced.
So Su Ze decided to check it out in person to see whether Su Miao’s plan was feasible, and then decide whether to start this major project.
Su Miao brought Su Ze to the Qilian Mountains in the south of Dunhuang, pointed to a cave that was being excavated and said:
"There is a hidden spring underneath. I have already explored its size. As long as we divert the hidden spring, we can irrigate a large area of land south of Dunhuang."
"But there is plenty of sunlight here. If we divert the hidden spring directly to the riverbed, it will easily evaporate due to the sunlight."
"So I plan to dig underground channels so that the water can be better utilized."
"As long as these underground canals are built, the grasslands south of Dunhuang can be transformed into farmland and white calamus can be planted."
Is this a karez?
Su Ze listened to Su Miao's plan. Isn't this a karez?
The main working principle of the karez is that people use the natural slope of the mountain to bring the large amount of rainwater, glacier and snowmelt that seeps into the ground in spring and summer to the surface for irrigation, so as to meet the production and living water needs in the desert area.
For farming and nomadism, the two most important factors that determine what grows on the land are soil and water.
Why don’t people grow crops on grasslands? Do they not want to? Most of them cannot grow crops.
The rainfall and water irrigation conditions of the northern grasslands determine that only grass that requires little water resources can grow.
Both grain and cotton require stable water irrigation to survive.
The oases in the Western Regions were able to become semi-agricultural and semi-nomadic areas, and it was only by relying on the oasis water irrigation to produce stable food that city-states could be established.
Karez is the product of the people of Central Asia and the Western Regions utilizing water resources to the extreme.
After listening to Su Miao's plan, Su Ze was also somewhat tempted.
If these projects are completed, based on the expansion of arable land, Dunhuang's population can be expanded two to three times to reach 30,000 to 40,000 people.
Then Dunhuang could become a comprehensive large city on the Silk Road and a bridgehead for conquering the Western Regions.
Dunhuang can absorb the Ganliangxi Army from the Western Regions to cultivate land, and Su Ze can obtain a superior grain-producing area and military base.
However, Su Ze still had a question, so he asked Su Miao: "Won't this groundwater run out? How long can it last?"
Su Miao grinned and said: "My Lord can actually think of this!"
Su Ze curled his lips. From the propaganda of later generations, he certainly knew that water resources were precious and non-renewable resources, especially groundwater. Once it was used up, it would take decades or even hundreds of years to accumulate again.
"Don't worry, sir. My water diversion project not only uses groundwater, but can also store rainfall and melted snow from the mountains."
"And in recent years, rainfall has been increasing across Hexi."
Su Ze asked, "Is the rainfall increasing throughout the Hexi Corridor?"
Su Miao nodded, and Madam An beside him also said: "This is true. In recent years, the rainfall in the entire Western Region has been increasing, and many oases have expanded."
Rainfall in the Western Regions has increased. Is this a sign that the climate is beginning to warm?
Speaking of which, when Su Ze was in Luoyang, he heard that the summer in Luoyang was getting hotter and hotter.
These city-states in the Western Regions were greatly influenced by the natural climate. The rise and fall of some countries were not due to foreign enemies, but to nature.
For example, the famous ancient kingdom of Loulan was once a state with great influence in the Western Regions, but it gradually declined with climate change and later became a ghost town.
The conquest and development of the Western Regions by the Sui and Tang dynasties was certainly due to the rise of their national strength, but another reason was the expansion of the oases in the Western Regions, which made the Western Regions prosperous again and provided the city-states with enough food and garrison control.
Su Ze looked towards the Qilian Mountains again. There was also a ferocious beast on the plateau, which gradually awakened as the temperature rose. This beast named Tubo defeated the Tang Dynasty in the middle and late Tang Dynasty and controlled the Western Regions.
Just like the twins of fate, Tubo eventually perished along with the Tang Dynasty as the temperature dropped.
Putting these thoughts aside, since it was confirmed that Su Miao's project was not a one-size-fits-all approach, and that the karez project south of Dunhuang could provide more farmland for Dunhuang, Su Ze made up his mind to start construction.
The Gaoche captives were transferred here and began this vigorous natural transformation project.
However, Su Ze still reminded Su Miao not to think about completing a large project all at once, but to divide the project into several phases, and then start the next phase after completing one phase this year.
Su Miao was very satisfied that Su Ze accepted his plan in its entirety, and he nodded in agreement to these small changes.
When Su Ze and Madam An returned to Dunhuang City, they happened to meet an envoy sent by the court to read the imperial edict.
The traveler who read the imperial edict had a tired look on his face. He set out from Luoyang and arrived in Hezhou exhausted, but heard that Su Ze had already gone to the farther Xihai County.
The traveler could only go to Xiping City and wait for Su Ze to return to Xiping City to read out the decree of his promotion.
But no matter how long he waited, he got the news that Su Ze had crossed the Qilian Mountains and won a great victory in Dunhuang.
This traveling messenger also had a deadline, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and go to Dunhuang.
This is why the messenger stopped at the gate of Dunhuang and went to Su Ze to announce the imperial decree.
After a long imperial edict in four-six parallel prose was read out, Su Ze was finally promoted to General Anxi, and the number of officials he could recruit increased to ten.
Su Ze himself did not have much desire for his position. As long as the troubled times came, the least valuable things would be these general titles.
But seeing the eager eyes of his subordinates, Su Ze realized that his promotion was not just his personal matter, but a matter for the entire group.
As he was able to appoint and recruit more officials, the generals under his command would also be able to enter the court's official system and get regular positions in the court.
As long as they get promoted, the positions below will be vacated, giving other people in the system more room for advancement.
Oh, it seems that I also need to make progress. If I don’t make progress, how can I be worthy of my subordinates in my group?
As per custom, a gift was given as a token of gratitude to the traveller who had travelled a long way, and the other party finally smiled.
I didn't expect Su Ze to be so generous. Also, I heard that due to his contributions in Dunhuang, he might be promoted soon. So I will try to read the imperial edict next time.
After seeing off the hurried pedestrian messenger, Su Ze opened the mall again, bringing Madam An with him, and the system mall indeed displayed purple products again.
[Ordinary Sassanid Shield Cavalry]
Grade: Purple;
Effect 1: A Sassanid armored cavalryman wearing chain mail and holding a shield, using an iron bone in his right hand and is good at breaking shields.
Effect 2: You can train shield-breaking charge tactics in the military camp.
Comment: "For the King of Kings!"
Price: 500 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of 200 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins is required. It has a horse and needs to be equipped with two slave soldiers to cooperate in combat.
Sassanid shield cavalry?
The cartoon character in the store is a warrior riding on an armored warhorse. The warrior is wearing chain mail and holding an iron bone sword in his left hand.
Tieguduoer is an ancient weapon that is like a long stick, made of iron and has a melon-shaped top.
This weapon, combined with the impact of cavalry, can break through shields and achieve the effect of breaking through formations.
Moreover, the armor of the Sassanid Persian cavalry was not the Liangdang armor or Mingguang armor used by the Northern Wei cavalry, but the chain mail used by medieval Western cavalry.
This type of armor's ability to defend against long-range arrows is similar to that of the Liangdang armor, but it is much lighter.
Chain mail and Ming Guang armor each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Chain mail is more flexible, but its defense against melee weapons is slightly weaker, which is equivalent to using the defense of melee weapons in exchange for flexibility.
This is a type of cavalry that is specifically designed to break through the infantry shield defense and is specifically designed to deal with infantry phalanxes.
The Sassanid Empire was a relatively powerful force in Central Asia today, but it was being suppressed by the Hephthalites. Many Sassanid cavalrymen were defeated and reduced to serving as mercenaries for the Western Regions.
This might be the reason why I encountered this type of soldiers around Madam An.
Compared to the current weak northern grasslands, the Hephthalites were the overlords of the Western Regions.
The Sassanid Empire was not a weak country, but it was also suppressed and beaten by the Hephthalites. Now most of the states on the Silk Road have surrendered to the Hephthalites. If Su Ze wants to expand the Western Regions, he must confront this country.
[Ordinary Sassanid shield cavalry] may not be a very powerful type of soldier, but the Sassanid Persian idea of using cavalry to break infantry phalanxes is worth learning.
This is very similar to the idea of the later Jin Dynasty in dealing with the Song Dynasty infantry. They completely abandoned other means of attack, and used armor and shields only to defend against arrows. They used shield-breaking weapons such as the Tieguduo to break the shield line of the infantry phalanx.
When we return to the Central Plains, we will face more battles against infantry, and many places may not have terrain suitable for large-scale cavalry charges.
An elite cavalry capable of breaking shields will certainly be helpful when returning to the Central Plains to fight in the future.
Su Ze also discovered that he focused too much on cavalry combat and the number of infantry under his command was too small.
After returning to the Central Plains, if you want to capture the city, well-trained infantry is also indispensable.
This time, a non-military purple unit also appeared.
[Arrogant Guest]
Grade: Purple;
Effect 1: Dianke, responsible for entertaining envoys from all nations and managing tributes from various states. An arrogant attitude can highlight the dignity of the Celestial Empire, but it can also worsen the diplomatic relations of some states.
Effect 2: Can be placed in the building [Posthouse] to perform reception work and obtain tribute income.
Comment: "All nations come to pay tribute."
Price: 500 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins, and a monthly maintenance fee of 200 Wen Tai and Wu Zhu coins is required. The unit quality will be reduced after being insulted.
The Dianke was the government office responsible for receiving foreign envoys, and in the Wei Dynasty it was the Siyi Hall.
This is also a very practical unit. Su Ze certainly cannot build the Siyi Pavilion now, but if he conquers the Western Regions, he can also establish a tribute system when the troubled times come.
The remaining blue followers are non-military followers with neutral affixes, such as [Western Merchant], [Farm Expert], [Carpenter], etc. For Su Ze who is preparing to farm, these are all good followers.
Looking at the map, it’s time to farm!
Just when Su Ze was determined to farm, the situation in the Central Plains changed faster than he had imagined.
(End of this chapter)