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The boundless grass is spread out between heaven and earth like a huge blanket. The wind blows, the cattle and sheep are leisurely, the horses are jubilant. The flowing river cuts through the grassland, and the fragrance of wild flowers embellishes the appearance of the grassland.
This beautiful grassland scenery will soon change.
Anyone familiar with the grassland knows that autumn is the time when the grassland changes from lush to bleak. The bright moments of spring and summer are short-lived on the grassland.
The grasslands are mostly characterized by the harsh autumn and long winter, which make people deeply feel the difficulty of life.
Once autumn and winter arrive, in the wilderness where the grass withers in the wind and frost, in that desolate yellow loneliness, the knife-like white wind, the overwhelming snow, and the biting cold all come together. By then, all life on the grassland must hibernate under the harsh power of nature.
Meng Ke had been in Liaodong for many years, and he was very clear about these things. Now, Qin Mu had entrusted all the military and political affairs of Liaodong to him. Such trust meant a huge responsibility, which made Meng Ke walk on thin ice and dare not be careless.
Jiang Yihan, who was appointed as the deputy commander of the army, walked into the tent with two bowls of mutton porridge and said to Meng Ke who was checking the map, "General Meng, eat something first."
Meng Ke turned around and took the bowl. There were some wild onions sprinkled on the mutton porridge, and the stewed large pieces of mutton exuded an attractive aroma. While eating, he asked, "Has the court sent an official?"
"I'm afraid it won't be that fast. I heard that the counties and cities across the Central Plains are still facing a serious shortage of officials. I'm afraid they won't be able to take care of Khorchin for a while."
"In this case, you, Jiang Chenshi, will have to work harder. Our soldiers are no match for the herdsmen on the grassland. Before winter, we must build some camps and prepare sufficient supplies to hold on. Otherwise, if our army retreats back to the border wall this winter, I am worried that Korchin will make another move." Meng Ke finished a bowl of mutton porridge in big mouthfuls and asked his personal soldiers to bring another bowl.
"I understand. Commander Meng, this woman Yatu is not a simple person. Aobai's 3,000 troops, plus Qin Tiedan, can't contain her. Commander Meng, why don't you consider sending more troops to surround and annihilate her?"
Meng Ke finished another bowl of thick mutton porridge in a few bites, took a sip of tea handed to him by his personal guard, and then said: "For Daqin, whether Yatu's rebellion can be quickly suppressed is not very important. The most important thing is to stabilize Korchin before the severe winter comes, and make Korchin a real bridgehead for Daqin to enter and exit the Mongolian Plateau. This is the top priority."
The grassland climate is dry, rainless, and cold for a long time. Tea is indispensable here. The diet here is mostly hot, greasy, and difficult to digest, such as beef, mutton, and milk. Tea is rich in vitamins, tannic acid, theophylline, etc. It can replenish what the body needs.
Moreover, tea contains a lot of aromatic oils, which can not only help dissolve fat for people who eat a lot of animal fat, but also lower cholesterol and strengthen the toughness of blood vessel walls, which can make up for the deficiencies in the diet structure of nomadic peoples.
Qin Mu attached great importance to this, so Meng Ke could drink the best Longjing tea at this moment. The fragrance filled the big tent, and Jiang Yihan, who had a mouth full of the smell of mutton, even stopped eating porridge and asked his personal soldiers to make a cup of good tea.
"It seems that Governor Meng has other plans for Yatu?"
Jiang Yihan didn't notice it for a moment. These words sounded a bit strange, as if to say that Meng Ke had ulterior motives towards Yatu. The guards outside the tent looked strange after hearing this.
Meng Ke seemed not to notice the expressions of his personal soldiers. He pondered and said, "Although Yatu can stir up trouble for a while, she is a woman after all. It is difficult for her to make the grassland tribes truly obey her. So no matter how smart she is, she can only control Qitate behind the scenes. Without Qitate, she is nothing.
Let's look at Qitate again. He was the nephew of Manzhu Xili. Manzhu Xili died in a strange way. Qitate lacked prestige and was suspected of murdering Manzhu Xili. It was not easy for him to control the Left Wing Middle Banner. It was impossible for him to call on the Mongolian tribes.
I have had a vague idea these days. This woman Yatu's interference may be a good thing for our Great Qin. If we use this matter well, it will be of great help to us in controlling Mongolia in the south of the desert."
After listening to Meng Ke's words, Jiang Yihan realized that Meng Ke was not in a hurry to suppress Yatu's rebellion with all his strength, and he did have other ideas. He fell into deep thought for a while.
"Doctor Meng is planning to drive the wolf to devour the tiger?"
"That's probably what I mean." Meng Ke nodded and said, "As long as we keep strong pressure on her, she will have to find ways to unite with other Mongolian tribes to fight against our army; but there are probably not many Mongolian tribes in the south of the desert who dare to openly unite with Yatu and become enemies of our Great Qin;
Therefore, she is doomed to fail if she attempts to unite the various tribes to fight against us. If she wants to survive, she has only one way to go, which is to continue to strengthen herself."
Jiang Yihan felt that Meng Ke's analysis was very reasonable. The Qin Dynasty had just destroyed the Qing Dynasty and at the same time, nearly half of the troops of the tribes south of the desert were lost in the Central Plains. The military power was at its peak. At this time, there would not be many who dared to challenge the Qin Dynasty openly.
"The path of uniting various tribes to fight against our Great Qin is not feasible. If Yatu does not want to be annihilated by us, then he can only annex other Mongolian tribes to strengthen himself.
Now she has 2,000 troops, plus Qitate's 3,000 or 4,000, a total of 6,000. Compared with the various tribes in the south of the desert, she is already a relatively powerful force. It is not a problem for her to annex some of the weaker tribes.
This is Governor Meng's strategy of driving away wolves and swallowing tigers, but I think that although this strategy has great potential, if Yatu really allows Yatu to continue to annex those small tribes and grow stronger, it will definitely be a good thing for us."
"This is exactly why I hesitated. This is a double-edged sword. We must handle it well, otherwise it will only bring harm to the people. The Qing Dynasty's previous countermeasures against the Mongolian tribes were to divide them as much as possible. In the southern part of the desert alone, 49 tribal leaders were appointed to make it difficult for them to form a joint force and threaten the rule of the Qing Dynasty. This strategy has proven to be effective."
Jiang Yihan said: "If we allow Yatu to annex us at will, wouldn't that be a disguised way of promoting the unity of Mongolia?"
"Don't forget, Mr. Jiang, without the restraint of the Qing Dynasty, even if we don't drive away the wolves and tigers, the Mongolian tribes are annexing each other and fighting endlessly. So I think that instead of letting others continue to annex and grow stronger, it is better to let Yatu annex. Her growth will not change the fact that she is a woman, and Qitate is not a hero. Anyway, there is no need to worry too much. As of now, the annexation of the Mongolian tribes is a big trend, and we are temporarily unable to stop it. We can only act according to the situation, and when the conditions are ripe in the future, we will re-divide the tribes according to the needs of Daqin."
The so-called "acting according to circumstances" means focusing on dealing with whoever becomes stronger. If the weaker Mongolian tribes do not want to be annexed, they will be forced to move closer to the Qin army, just like many tribes turned to the Qing Dynasty for fear of being annexed by Ligdan Khan.
Meng Ke looked at the grassland outside the big tent. On the distant hillside, herds of cattle and sheep were enjoying the last fresh delicacies before winter came, so that their bodies could accumulate more meat and fat to withstand the cold winter that would come soon.
The herders also stopped shearing the sheep to prevent them from freezing to death in the severe cold. "Shearing the sheep..." Meng Ke whispered to himself, as if he had gained something, but quickly denied it. After all, Yatu and Qitate were not the sheep in your sheepfold, and you couldn't shear them whenever you wanted.
"Report!" A soldier suddenly came to report outside the tent, "Grand Commander, the King of Qin sent General Niu Wanchuan with 500 rifles to help. The King of Qin also has an order for the Grand Commander. Tell the Grand Commander to hurry and receive it."
When Meng Ke heard the word "rifle", he was already happy. When he heard that there was an imperial decree, he did not dare to delay. He quickly stood up, adjusted his armor, and then walked out of the tent quickly.
The soldier actually didn't explain clearly that what Qin Mu gave Meng Ke was not an imperial edict but a letter. Meng Ke did not open it on the spot. He knew that Qin Mu did not issue an imperial edict but a private letter, and this matter should definitely not be announced to others.
This time, the King of Qin asked Niu Wanchuan to bring the first batch of rifles produced by the Military Equipment Bureau. There were rifling inside the barrel, which was different from the rifles of the Red Haired Demons that were originally seized. According to the King of Qin's wishes, this batch of rifles had improvements in bullets. They used fixed-charge powder and conical lead bullets. The lead bullets were slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the barrel, so unlike the original Red Haired Demons' rifles, they did not need to be hit with a hammer before the bullets could be loaded in.
The lead bullets improved by the Ordnance Inspectorate are relatively soft, and the tail of the bullet has been specially treated. When the propellant explodes, it will force the tail of the bullet to suddenly expand and stick to the rifling. This not only achieves a good breath-holding effect and allows the effectiveness of the propellant to be fully utilized, but also forces the bullet to rotate at high speed along the rifling, greatly increasing the stability and range of the bullet, and the accuracy of the shot is also greatly improved.
Meng Ke had long heard that this kind of rifle was more powerful than ordinary bird guns. Looking at the five hundred rifles that were shiny with new oil, Meng Ke did not test them immediately, but bowed facing south and said loudly: "Your Majesty, thank you for your grace. Long live the King of Qin. Long live the King of Qin. Long live the King of Qin."
Meng Ke was not a reckless man who knew nothing. He could imagine how much trust Qin Mu showed by urgently sending these 500 rifles to the grassland.
Generally speaking, the first to be equipped with such powerful weapons would definitely be the emperor's guards, almost without exception. Now Qin Mu handed over all the 500 rifles that had just been produced to him, and Meng Ke couldn't help but be moved.
The autumn wind was howling on the grassland, and the clouds were flying. It was Niu Wanchuan's first time to come to the grassland. He looked a little excited. He pointed at the cattle and sheep in the distance and said, "If Governor Meng wants to test the gun, why not use that cow? I haven't eaten beef for many years. This time I finally have the opportunity to come out of the border, and I must eat enough."
It was not easy to eat beef inside the Great Wall, as the imperial court prohibited the public from slaughtering working oxen at will.
Meng Ke laughed and said, "What's the harm?"
As he spoke, he picked up a rifle himself. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. Yes, he had the scissors. Now he should be able to carry out his plan of "shearing the sheep".
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ps: I only got two monthly tickets today, so sad, I need monthly tickets urgently! Recommendation tickets!
Urgently looking for monthly tickets! Recommendation tickets!
Urgently looking for monthly tickets! Recommendation tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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