Great Han Arrow God

Chapter 385 Settlement
Seeing the smiling and proud Han Yan, and Sima Qian in front of him, Liang Xiao felt even more worthless.Han Yan didn't make any contribution, just because she had fun with the emperor, she was able to shoot birds with golden marbles. Although Sima Qian had read thousands of books, traveled thousands of miles, and was full of knowledge, he couldn't redeem himself with fifty gold coins, and could only endure great shame and humiliation. .

What the hell is this?
Liang Xiao didn't like Han Yan. Ever since he rejected Han Yan's bribe, he didn't expect to have a good relationship with Han Yan. At this moment, he even said lightly: "Your question is right. If you know it, you know it. If you don't know it, you don't know it. Why do you do anything?" homework?"

Han Yan was rebuked by Liang Xiao, and her warm smile was a bit forced.He put his arms around Liang Xiao's shoulders, and said affectionately: "Lieutenant Liang, that's not what you said. The emperor should think twice before asking. If you make a mistake, wouldn't it be a major event?"

Liang Xiao calmly brushed away Han Yan's hand, like brushing away a wisp of dust. "It's up to me whether to say it or not. It's up to His Majesty to say it or not. In order to satisfy His Majesty, if you deliberately flatter and agree with me, it will be a waste of time."

Han Yan was favored by the emperor, everyone in the palace knew about it, and there were only a handful of people who dared to contradict him face to face.Liang Xiao repeatedly refuted today, and he could no longer keep smiling.He stared at Liang Xiao, took a deep look, and nodded with a smile on his face. "Lieutenant Liang has the style of an ancient straight scholar, and he is a loyal minister."

Liang Xiao also looked at Han Yan with a half-hearted smile. "Do something and don't do something. There is no such thing as a loyal minister. One must have a certain attitude in one's life, and one cannot follow others. Han Wangsun, do you think this is the case?"

Han Yan twisted her mouth and did not answer.Footsteps sounded outside the door, and the emperor, accompanied by Mei Gao and others, walked in quickly.Liang Xiao stepped forward to salute, the emperor nodded, and glanced at the "Mountain and Sea Map" that had been spread out.

"Liang Xiao, is the Nanshan you're talking about the Kunlun Mountain in the "Mountain and Sea Map"?"

Liang Xiao shook his head. "I don't know. When I was in the Western Regions, I only heard that the mountain was called Nanshan in the Western Regions. In fact, after thinking about it, it is not the exact name. It probably means the mountain in the south. I have never heard of the name of Kunlun. Looking at this picture, I don’t know why, so I dare not make judgments.”

The emperor pondered for a moment. "However, jade is produced in this mountain, and rivers flow out of it. It is quite consistent with the records of Kunlun Mountain in "Mountain and Sea Map". Can it be confirmed?"

"Your Majesty, there are more than one or two mountains in the world that produce jade? As far as I know, there is not one mountain that produces beautiful jade in the Western Regions. As for the rivers flowing out, there are countless. Water flows to low places, and every mountain has rivers flowing out. , I am afraid it is not enough to judge."

"You have been to the Western Regions in person, but you still can't make a conclusion?"

Liang Xiao walked to the door of the pavilion and pointed to Tianlu Pavilion to the east. "I dare you, Your Majesty, please estimate how many steps there are from this place to Tianlu Pavilion."

The emperor looked at Liang Xiao hesitantly, and observed for a moment. "About three or four hundred steps."

"Your Majesty, please choose a certain number, no more than ten steps up and down."

The emperor was a little embarrassed and thought about it for a long time. "Four hundred steps?"

Liang Xiao turned around and said to Sima Tan: "Tai Shiling, there must be books of Weiyang Palace hidden in these two pavilions. Dare I ask Tai Shiling to look it up and see how many steps are there between Tianlu and Shiquxiang Pavilions?"

Sima Tan asked the emperor for instructions, turned around to investigate, and after a while, he came back with a scroll of briefs. "Your Majesty, it should be 370 steps and two feet and three inches."

The emperor frowned.He already understood what Liang Xiao meant.The distance of [-] steps is already nearly [-] steps apart by visual inspection, and the Western Regions are thousands of miles away. Only by estimation, the difference is more than a thousand miles.It is really not reliable to rely on this "Mountain and Sea Map" to determine whether the Nanshan Mountain is Kunlun Mountain.Even if Liang Xiao has been to the Western Regions himself, I'm afraid it can only be used as a reference, which is not accurate enough.

The emperor was very disappointed and unhappy.Liang Xiao waited for a while, and then said: "If Your Majesty really wants to find out whether this mountain is Kunlun Mountain, I have a way."

The emperor's eyes lit up. "you say."

"This "Mountain and Sea Map" says that Kunlun Mountain not only produces beautiful jade, but is also the source of great rivers. In this case, why don't your majesty send some courageous scholars to go up the river, check the land according to the map, and record the terrain, climate and climate of the mountains and rivers along the way? Comparing the two, the veracity and veracity are judged. Just like when Meigao was an envoy to the Xiongnu, he described the topography of the Xiongnu. He saw it with his own eyes and drew it with his own hands. "

The emperor nodded slightly.He turned his gaze to Mei Gao.He sent so many people as envoys to the Huns, and Mei Gao was the one who satisfied him the most. He not only brought back real information about the Huns, but also drew a lot of maps.With the map, he had an intuitive impression of the situation of the Huns, and corrected many specious conclusions.

Mei Gao saw it and immediately stepped forward to salute. "Your Majesty, I think Liang Xiao's words are very insightful. I wish to go west, to be His Majesty's eyes and ears, and to patrol the world's mountains and rivers."

The emperor thought for a moment, then nodded.

Although he didn't get a satisfactory answer, the Son of Heaven was still very satisfied with Liang Xiao's down-to-earth attitude.He turned around and left the pavilion, signaling Liang Xiao to go with him.The two monarchs and ministers walked slowly along the long avenue, one in front and one behind.

"Liang Xiao, what advice do you have for the marriage, should you accept it or refuse it?"

Liang Xiao laughed lightly: "Your Majesty, this is not a problem at all."

The emperor turned his head, glanced at Liang Xiao, and smiled. "Well, let me change the question, how can we conquer the Huns?"

Liang Xiao asked back: "What price is Your Majesty willing to pay?"

The emperor frowned slightly, showing some doubts.

"Your Majesty, the Xiongnu is a powerful enemy. To conquer the Xiongnu may not be achieved in a day. If there is no overall plan and full preparation, it may not be possible to complete the effort. If the Xiongnu is not destroyed and the people's livelihood is difficult, I am afraid that Qin will inevitably be ridiculed. "

The emperor glanced at Liang Xiao again, and suddenly laughed softly. "I thought you would try your best to fight, but I didn't expect you to be like those..., looking forward and backward, timid, not like young people at all, but a bit old-fashioned."

Liang Xiao smiled wryly and said: "Your Majesty, I have no other choice. I fought two fierce battles with the Huns. Although I won a small victory, the loss was not small. I rushed to Hexi and killed nearly [-] horses. Even with Dawan's In terms of horse prices, the minister lost more than two thousand gold, plus the arrows, armor, and mercenary rewards, the minister paid at least twenty thousand gold for this battle. If it was not for the support of merchants, they would use war to support war and plunder a lot The horses of the Huns, my lord..."

The emperor suppressed a smile and interrupted Liang Xiao. "Are you here today to collect debts?"

Liang Xiao smacked his lips. "Your Majesty has wronged me. Didn't I give you an example? Of course, I do owe a lot of debt now. If Your Majesty doesn't give me some rewards, I will have to do small business."

The Son of Heaven gave Liang Xiao a contemptuous look, and curled his lips. "I have seen so many ministers, and you are the first one to cry for debts like you. If this spreads, everyone will be ungrateful."

"Your Majesty, I don't mean that." Liang Xiao called out to Qu. "Your Majesty, please grant me permission. Rong Chen will settle an account for His Majesty, and His Majesty will know that everything I said is true. Your Majesty, listen to what I say..."

Liang Xiao snapped his fingers and told the emperor the sum of the expenses.Since he decided to go west, he has been borrowing, first Guo Yu, then Nie Yi, and then Huang Fuqi. He borrowed a lot of money from these Han merchants.If he hadn't won consecutive battles and paid back some with the spoils, he would have gone bankrupt long ago.Even so, he still owed them a lot of money, and he needed to ensure the smooth flow of the Hexi trade road to make up for it.

Although the emperor felt that this scene was too joyful, he still listened patiently.If you don't listen, you don't know. When you hear it, you are shocked.After this calculation, he realized how much it cost to fight the war.Even the savings of the 70 years of the Han Dynasty may not be able to support several wars.

The biggest problem is the war horse.Liang Xiao was able to achieve such great victories in the Western Regions, all because of the sufficient resources of war horses in the Western Regions, he could run long distances at any cost, exhausting the Huns.But the big men don’t have so many horses. Take the Battle of Liang Xiao Hexi as an example, one person consumes four horses on average, and the total number of horses raised by the pastor of the six counties is only 30, which can only provide [-] to [-] cavalry at most, which is not enough to realize The goal of conquering the Huns.

The emperor stopped laughing, and his mood was extremely low, even a little depressed.

Wars cost money, he understands this truth, but before Liang Xiao calculated the account for him, he didn't have a definite concept, and felt that the accumulation of 70 years in the 70th year of the Han Dynasty should be able to handle it.After hearing Liang Xiao finish the calculation, he realized that he was too optimistic.If there is a slight negligence, the savings of the [-] years of the Han Dynasty may be squandered.When the time comes, I don't know how many people will compare him with Qin Shihuang, and maybe there will be a catastrophe for the country.

It is not unreasonable for the ancients to say that "although a country is large, it will perish if it is warlike". He did not dare to take such a big risk.

"So, for the time being, we can't go to war with the Huns, but we can only make peace?"

Contrary to the emperor's expectation, Liang Xiao shook his head again. "Your Majesty, if you can't quickly conquer the Huns, it doesn't mean you have to get married, at least you don't need to get married like before."

The Son of Heaven raised his eyebrows again, sparks rekindled in his dim eyes. "What do you think."

"Your Majesty, the reason why my big man can't go out of the fortress in a big way is that the transportation of grain and fodder is difficult and the consumption is huge; the second is that there is not enough horses. If we can rush to the horse-raising lands in Henan and Hexi, move the people to the border, and garrison and fight, there is no need In this way, I gain horses and gain ground, while the Huns lose horses and lose ground, and each other loses their horses and loses their ground. Even if they can’t seriously injure the Huns, they can still prepare for a full-scale counterattack, so why bother to endure humiliation and make love?”

"You mean...take Henan and Hexi first?"

"Yes." Liang Xiao nodded and said: "Compared to the Central Plains, Hexi and Henan are barren lands, but for the Huns, Hexi and Henan are the foundations. The Huns come and go like the wind, and it is difficult to catch them. It's hard to beat him. But if attacking him will save him, can he walk away without a fight?"

The emperor slowly clenched his fists and laughed silently. "That's right, just like fighting, pinch his eggs and see if he can run away."

Liang Xiao's face turned dark immediately.The dignified son of heaven, so rude?This should be said by me.

The emperor was still immersed in his joy, and he didn't notice that he swears and his image collapsed.He pondered for a long time before making a decision.

"Liang Xiao, come to the court meeting two days later."

Liang Xiao looked at the Son of Heaven in embarrassment, and said eagerly, "Your Majesty, I came from a humble background and just returned from the Western Regions, so I don't care about etiquette. If I lose my manners in the court and get kicked out by the imperial censor, wouldn't it be embarrassing?"
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(End of this chapter)