September 6, the eighth year of the Xinli calendar of Qin.

In Gaoque City, two thousand Qin border cavalry and soldiers were covered with helmets and armor, one man and two horses rushed out of the city gate. In the queue, the central army of Wang Xi, the guard general in the city, was clearly included.

Two hours ago, a small team of Qin troops patrolling and hunting outside the city was unexpectedly attacked by a small tribe of the Huns. Under the huge gap in strength, the Qin side cavalry shot and killed more than 30 Huns. Their own team leader, Shi Chang and others were all killed in battle. Only a few five and six people fled back to the city.

When Wang Xi, who was used to fighting a battle with the wind, was furious when he heard this and immediately ordered two thousand troops to be ordered, led by him, to go out of the city to bloodshed the disobedient Xiongnu tribe.

When leaving the city.

Wang Xi turned around from his horse, raised his head and looked at the Qin flag flying on Gaoque City. An excellent Qin border general. Just guarding a city is nothing, and what is more glorious and outstanding should be that the army drove the enemy hundreds of miles away, making the enemy panic and dared not look south.

Wang Xi didn't know at this time that he was about to face the siege of the Helian tribe's 30,000 string-controlling soldiers. With his 2,000 soldiers alone, no matter how many crossbows or arrows there were, he could not win in the face of the human sea tactics.

September 8th, noon.

They chased the remnants of the Huns to the near Longcheng and met the Helian tribe who was ambushing here. The two armies came into contact with a big battle. Although the soldiers of the Qin border army were brave and tenacious, they still failed to break through the Huns after shooting the last crossbow arrow in the quiver.

Wang Xi was defeated and died.

Not only him, from Longcheng to the birthplace of Gonglushui, two thousand Qin soldiers fought and retreated, and loyal soldiers of the border army kept falling down. One experienced officer after another lost his life in this hopeless great defeat.

Wang Xi, the Qin army border general who was immersed in the imagination of "talking about war on paper", was determined to prove himself on the battlefield and to make great achievements. But he did not think about whether he had such ability, and Wang Li's preference for this nephew in Suli also briefly harmed him.

After losing two thousand elite troops, Gaoque City was in turmoil, and Helianbi rushed to the south without stopping, and the saddles of the Huns were covered with the heads of Qin generals. The bloody scene made people shudder. Compared with the Southern Xiongnu, these Huns of the Helian tribe were called Shengman. They had been fighting with more primitive tribes such as Dingling and Qushe for a long time in the Beihai area, and their lifestyles and living habits were closer to the original state.

In Gaoque City, all the elite troops were taken out by Wang Xi. Although there were more than 4,000 remaining people, more than half of them occupied the baggage soldiers, and many of the remaining people were father and son, uncle and nephew. These soldiers were excited to see their relatives being killed, and they could not care about the laws and regulations.

The defenders in the city were all excluded by Wang Xi. The remaining incompetent people were usually only able to do things to please, but even more unbearable. One of the guards was the commander of the city, and Zang Yan's eyewitness. It was his betrayal that made Gaoque City's every move known to the Huns.

September 9th, dusk.

After a day and night of tenacious resistance, the defenders of Gaoque City finally failed. Only more than 200 people withdrew from the southern city. Most of the remaining soldiers died in battle, and only a few were captured.

Seven thousand border soldiers.

Because of the carelessness of the Qin general Wang Xi, after Gaoque City was easy to defend, the Xiongnu people took an important pass to open up Hetao. Without the obstacles of the strong city pass, the Xiongnu cavalry could drive in and plunder the plump grassland that had been run by the Qin State for many years.

——.

Jiuyuan.

Qin border army garrison.

Wang Li, the general of the Qin army who ruled the entire Hetao Army, was shocked by the news that Gaoque City had "accidentally" lost.

what to do?

He led his army to fight to the death with the Huns, fighting to the death. If he could win, it would be considered as making up for his mistakes and avenge the soldiers who died in the battle.

However, the border army is no longer the invincible army that Meng Tian was commanding. Julu was defeated and the Qin border army group, known as the 200,000 army, lost nearly 100,000 elite troops. Finally, with the help of Li Yuan, Wang Li and Su Jiao led the remnants back to Hetao, but then there were different opinions within the border generals. After Su Jiao, Yang Wengzi, Meng Hu and other old subordinates left one after another, although Wang Li's border army retained the main force, its strength was no longer as strong as the strongest.

Now, the total strength of the border army is about 30,000. Gaoque City lost 7,000 people in one battle, accounting for nearly one-quarter of the total strength of the border army. What made Wang Li even more regretful was that in order to take care of Wang Xi's close relatives, the 7,000 soldiers in Gaoque City were all brave men selected from the border army.

The border troops were mainly deployed to target the Xiongnu. The strategy adopted was to focus on border towns and ignore the inside line. The remaining more than 20,000 border troops were scattered in multiple cities such as Jiuyuan, Yongquan, Gaonu, etc. The most were only about 5,000 people, such as Jiuyuan. Once the Xiongnu entered the hinterland, the border troops would be unable to defend themselves.

There is no war.

In desperation, Wang Li had to ask for help from Chang'an, and while sending messengers to Yunzhong, Yan Dai and Longxi and other surrounding counties requested reinforcements.

Among the three places, Su Jiao's men were stationed in Yunzhong County. This was the closest to Jiuyuan and Wang Li's most confident support. Su Jiao and him were both the important generals of the border army back then. Although Su Jiao led his troops to attack Yunzhong and Hedong areas when the Qin army attacked Zhao, which was considered to be a departure from the border army system, in terms of personal friendship, Wang Li and him were still well maintained.

Yan, in the Departure area, there is little possibility of sending reinforcements. In addition to the two Qin generals Han Xin, Yang Wengzi and Wang Li, the relationship between them was not good, because of the important nodes in contact with the two places, Mayi City was attacked by the Jin tribe of the Xiongnu Zuoxian King Qiu Li, and the Qin army in Yanbei was in trouble to come to aid.

As for the direction of Longxi, Wang Li was not sure how many troops there were stationed here. Longxi was only separated from Hexi by a river. When the battle in Hexi became more and more intense, the Qin army in Longxi might be mobilized west at any time. If the troops in the county were empty, he would not be able to rush to Hetao to support him.

The Huns rage Hetao.

The Hun tribes were like wolves wading into the flock of sheep, looting everything they could find on both sides of the river. By the time Maodun's tent arrived at Gaoque City, the Hun tribes had already tossed the Hetao grasslands.

——.

Chang'an.

As the emergency military situation in Hetao came, the people in Guanzhong became increasingly uneasy. The Huns' invasion this time was completely different from the previous small-scale fights, but they tried their best to invade. For a full six months, in the northern border of Qin, from the Yan land in the east to the Hexi in the west, beacons everywhere.

Now, it is the turn of war in Henan, the closest to Guanzhong. Judging from the news that has been heard one after another, the king of the Great Shanyu of the Xiongnu has also appeared.

What's wrong with Daqin?

Two years ago, the Qin army wanted Yandi and Hexi to kill the Huns and defeat them. Nearly 10,000 enemies were captured, but it was only less than two years ago. Where was the Qin army that was invincible to destroy the princes of Guandong?

"King Wu, what's wrong? Why haven't it appeared yet? Is the Qin Dynasty going to fall into disintegration after a brief revival?"

"We go to the Shenhou Mansion to wait. No matter what happens to King Wu, there must be an explanation. If King Wu really has any accidents, he should choose a new king as soon as possible."

Before the New Qin Dynasty, the so-called countries established by the princes of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were actually just private territories for the princes to do whatever they wanted, while the people of various countries were slaves who worked hard on their territories. They worked hard every year just to support their families' food.

As for the dignity of a person, it is undoubtedly an unattainable luxury for ordinary people.

The people's hearts are united.

Just in a subtle way.

Just when foreign enemies invaded and Qin was in crisis, they suddenly gathered together. This was something that had never been established since the founding of Qin. Even when the First Emperor was in power, most of the people of Qin just silently carried out orders from the central government. They were like machines without thoughts, only knowing to contribute everything in their own position.

Now, under Li Yuan's rule, a vibrant new country is gradually taking shape. It not only gives the people of Qin a stable life, but also allows the concept of "equality, freedom, and mutual love" to slowly penetrate into the hearts of the Qin people, and the bloody battles of the soldiers on the frontiers. The Qin people are extremely proud; the busy scenes on the streets of Chang'an make Qin people full of happiness; and the life and death of Li Yuan, the leader, made them even more worried and pray for them-.

In front of the Shenwu King's Mansion.

On the long street, more and more people gathered. In the mansion, Li Yuan, who had not seen him for many days, looked a little tired, but his body did not look like a serious illness as rumored.

Beside Li Yuan, the single-minded and rude man Cao Xin looked excited. The frustration over the past few days made him feel the urge to tell him a good story when he saw Li Yuan.

"King Wu, you are back. If you don't reply, even if Xin looks fierce, he will not scare the people who leave the door." Cao Xin pressed his sword and said loudly.

"General Cao, it is not easy to make the Huns' spies believe that I was seriously ill. Now, it is time to teach the Huns a profound lesson." A glimmer flashed in Li Yuan's eyes, and his fierce murderous aura spread out.

It was said that it was gone for illness.

Li Yuan was not actually far away from Guanzhong. He mysteriously arrived at the Bing Zao in Jushui. There, the second division Peng Yue had an accident while studying "Sky Fire". In scientific terms, it was because of the proportional allocation problems when developing black gunpowder, which caused nearly half of the entire Bing Zao's craftsman team responsible for Tianhuo to lose nearly half of the people.

Without professional guidance, it is difficult to obtain the more powerful "Sky Fire" with only some experience in alchemy. During this period of time in Jushui, Li Yuan worked with Peng Sheng to study and obtain the stable formula of "black gunpowder". At the same time, he also hoped to take this opportunity to guide Peng Sheng and others to help them deepen towards the trajectory of the development of gunpowder history.

The future of Qin State.

Weapons that are more powerful than iron tools are needed. Although we cannot cross from the age of cold weapons to the age of hot weapons, if we can make some attempts to allow the Qin army to obtain more reliable advanced weapons, Li Yuan felt that it was still possible.
Chapter completed!