Wei Yan, who was waiting at the border, was shocked when he received the report. In his eyes, Goguryeo was just a small country, and he dared to openly confront the big man. But because Ma Yun was reprimanded by Ma Yun in dealing with the Hebei gentry, this time Wei Yan didn't dare to dictate himself and sent someone to report the situation here to Chang'an.
Ma Yun was also surprised by this result, and once again called a group of ministers to discuss in the side hall. Some guards have hung up a big map and set up a big sand table. These are the masterpieces of the Foreign Affairs Office and the Research Institute. The officials gathered around the map and the sand table in amazement, but they debated whether to send troops to fight against Goguryeo.
Some people advocated resolutely implementing Liu Xin's policy of "those who commit crimes against me will be punishable even if they are far away" and that we should seek crimes. Others worry that the people will be overwhelmed by the strength of the nation and the people, so comfort should be the top priority.
Ma Yun knew that although Korea was small, it was a hard bone. Historically, Yang Guang’s three campaigns against Goryeo were all defeated, and even Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, who was known as a Mingjun, also returned home.
However, after seeing this map, Ma Yun had confidence. Goryeo at this time is not yet unified, and Goguryeo and later Goryeo are not the same country. Don’t use troops now, wait for them to grow slowly in the future, and eventually become a major problem. He waved his hand to stop the discussion of the officials and said: "Goguryeo accepts the rebellion of the Han, and kills the envoys of the Han. If you don’t crusade, I will face the face. Where is it? How can you convince the public?"
Tian Feng said with his hands, "Goguryeo has offended Tianwei. It is right to ask! It's just that now my big man has used troops at Daqin, Wusun, and Guishuang at the same time. At this time, I will send troops to fight against Goguryeo. Suspicious of poor soldiers."
In recent years, although Dahan has become richer and richer, he has been fighting internally and externally, and has never been given the opportunity to recuperate. Fighting is an extremely costly affair. There are countless foods and salaries lost every day, as well as pensions for casualties and family members. These are ultimately borne by the common people. Over time, the people will be overwhelmed and will inevitably provoke uprisings.
In this regard, Yang Guang, the later Emperor of Sui Yang, is the best example. He built the Grand Canal, built the eastern capital of Luoyang, created the imperial examination system, conquered Tuyuhun in the west, and conquered Korea three times. However, the abuse of people's power eventually caused great chaos in the world and led to the demise of the Sui Dynasty.
Ma Yun comes from a later generation, and of course she understands these truths and also understands Tian Feng's worries. But she knows better that now the world is tentatively set, and it is necessary to show softness to the inside and toughness to unite people's hearts. If you do not attack Goguryeo at this time, you will not only be despised by the people of Goguryeo, but will also make the people mistakenly believe that the imperial court is at the end of the battle. From this point of view, no matter how difficult it is, this battle must be fought.
However, the concerns of Tian Feng and other ministers are also worthy of attention. Ma Yun pondered for a while, and suddenly said: "If you fight or not, let's listen to the opinions of the people in the world. Mr. Yuan Hao, you write an essay that clearly records the ins and outs of this incident and publishes it in the Dahan Express. , See the people’s reaction before making a decision!"
If Liu Xin were here, she would definitely order troops without hesitation, but Ma Yun was more delicate. She wanted to use the power of public opinion to win the support of the people. Those who win the hearts of the people will win the world, and with the support of the people in the field of foreign warfare, it will also be detrimental.
At this time, Liu Xin, who was far away in Syria, already knew about these things happening in the rear, but he could not be a teacher. This time, he did not fight for one city and one place, but to completely overthrow the Daqin regime. A behemoth like the Great Qin Empire fell under the iron hoof of the Han army, who would dare to offend the big man easily? This war may kill a lot of people, but it is definitely worthwhile for the big man to win decades or even hundreds of years of peaceful development.
However, Caracalla did not take revenge as much as Liu Xin hoped. Most of the month has passed, and the borders of the Syrian provinces are still peaceful, and the secret agents of the Foreign Affairs Office in Rome have not found any signs of frequent mobilization of the Daqin army.
In fact, after Karakala learned of the annihilation of his six legions, he was extremely shocked, and he wished to send troops to annihilate the Han Chinese who had come from afar, but he was restrained by Getta.
Caracalla had 16 legions, but six legions were lost in this battle. Among them was the Macedonian legion, which was extremely powerful. Even the commander of the Macedonian legion was killed by the Han. Although Getta also lost two legions, none of them were the main force. In the past, his strength was twice that of Getta, but now it has become five to three. If he rushes to send troops for revenge, if he loses again, the balance of power between him and Getta is likely to change because of this, so he has to be cautious.
Excluding the garrisons of various provinces, the Qin army still has 800,000 troops, but they are distributed in an extremely large area, and it is not easy to gather them together. Moreover, they belong to Caracalla and Getta respectively, and it is difficult to achieve coordinated operations. This also greatly weakened the combat effectiveness of the Qin army.
On the other hand, the more than 1,000 prisoners of war released by the Han army tirelessly told their companions about the experience of the fiasco, especially the fierce hand-to-hand battle with the Han army’s infantry, which often caused these surviving warriors to fight. Waking up in the dream also greatly shaken Qin Jun's military spirit. For the first time, the confident face of the soldiers of the Qin Army, who had always been victorious in all battles, showed timidity.
Caracalla convened his confidant plan and finally decided to continue to wait for work in accordance with the strategy offered by the righteousness, deploying heavy troops in the three provinces of Thrace, Messia, and Macedonia to block the Han army in the strait between the provinces of Macedonia and Asia. On the other side. The Han army came from a long way, and it was difficult to replenish it. When the army ran out of food and retreated, the Qin army swung his army to kill again, and he could win a complete victory.
Liu Xin also understands the reason for the expedition of the labor division and the quick decision. Since Qin Jun stood still, he could only take the initiative to attack. Liu Xin's original battle plan was to annihilate the active forces of the Qin army at the border, and then take advantage of the emptiness to attack Rome. The capture of Rome, the capital of the Great Qin Empire, means that the Han army has won a complete victory in this war.
As for the vast territories of the Great Qin Empire, Liu Xin had never thought about it. From the beginning, he had not planned to fight province by province.
The so-called whip is beyond reach, after all, Dahan is thousands of miles away. Today, when communication and transportation are extremely backward, even if they occupy the entire territory of Daqin, the language, customs, races, and food are different, the court can hardly maintain effective rule here.
It is conceivable that after decades or even more than ten years, local nobles, radicals and even ordinary people may rise up to rebel against the imperial court. This place is wider than the mainland of the Han Dynasty. The successive rebellions made the Han army exhausted and eventually dragged down the entire dynasty to weaken. This is not the result Liu Xin wanted.
But the Daqin army could not come, and Liu Xin could only fight over. The main force of the Qin army still exists, and then selectively attacking Rome is the key point. The Han army that penetrates into the Great Qin territory will fall into the siege of the Qin army if it is careless, and even be made dumplings by others.
Unwilling to retreat, and advancing too risky, Liu Xin suddenly came up with a new countermeasure in the dilemma. He immediately promulgated the imperial decree, announcing that the provinces of Asia Minor and Syria, which were occupied by the Han army, would exercise autonomy and become independent from the Qin Empire and become two new countries.
In fact, the Great Qin Empire a long time ago only expanded to its current scale after countless foreign wars in the area around Rome. In many places, some people still have deep feelings for their homeland.
On the third day of the promulgation of Liu Xin's imperial decree, someone elected the descendants of the Syrian king who had been living among the people. Liu Xin did not distinguish between the authenticity and immediately held a grand coronation ceremony for him, acknowledging him as the new Syrian king.
The Province of Asia Minor was originally not an independent country, and the aborigines there were independent tribes. Liu Xin summoned the chiefs of these tribes and asked them to elect a trustworthy chief as the king.
At the same time, with the exception of some strategically important places and traffic arteries that were still under the control of the Han army, other towns and villages were handed over to these two emerging countries.
Immediately afterwards, Liu Xin gathered all the 110,000 light cavalry from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th Army regiments and marched southward and invaded the Arab provinces adjacent to the Kingdom of Syria. He issued a message to order the Arab provinces. Governor Horrick is independent. As long as Horlick declared independence, the Han Dynasty recognized him as the king. Unexpectedly, Horlick was frightened by the prestige of the Daqin army and did not dare to obey Liu Xin's order, and organized the army to resist the attack of the Han army.
The Great Qin Army in this area was completely annihilated in Asia Minor, and there was no official army in the Arab provinces. Horik hurriedly armed hundreds of thousands of freedmen and slaves and drove to the front line, but was surrounded by the Han army at the border. The cavalry of the Han army did not fight with them, but fired with bows and crossbows.
Poorly these new recruits from the Qin Army were untrained. Although they also had large shields and spears, they were shot as hedgehogs before they could rush in front of the Han Army. After a panic, Qin Jun began to run away. However, they were surrounded by Han cavalry on all sides, and they couldn't run four legs no matter how powerful they were. The desperate Qin army didn't discern the direction and ran around in disorder, so that they trampled on themselves. There are only a few dozen survivors of more than 100,000 people, and most of them are trampling to death. Almost every family in the Arab provinces has filial piety.
After the battle, the Han army did not clean the battlefield, and directly set fire to the corpses. The fire burned for a whole day and night. The scorching smell was audible for dozens of miles, and the local people were even more frightened.
A day later, the Han army occupied the entire territory of the Arab provinces. Horrick, who had resisted, was hanged in public. Nobles and all local people who participated in the war were confiscated, their property and food were confiscated, and their wives and daughters were used as slaves.
These methods are extremely cruel and inhumane. But time is running out, Liu Xin must further psychologically attack the confidence of Daqin people as soon as possible, and only by unscrupulous means.
After the capture of the Arab provinces, Liu Xin also announced that the provinces will be self-governing, but he has not yet elected a new king. But the Han army couldn't wait any longer, and the army's front had been directed at the Egyptian provinces.