The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Protectorate of the Western Regions.

In Dingyuan City, which had already begun to take shape, Liu Bei put down the letter and announced the good news to everyone.

"The emperor has pacified Jiangdong! The chaos has finally come to an end!"

"..."

When Liu Bei got so excited, he almost clasped his hands and burst into tears!

But there was no reaction from either side.

Guo Jia, Pang Tong, Xu Shu and others all said "Oh" absentmindedly, and then fell silent.

Cao Cao was indeed excited... but when he saw Liu Bei looking at him with expectation, he also lowered his head like Guo Jia.

"No, you guys? Oh???"

Liu Bei patted the letter from Chang'an and said excitedly: "Your Majesty has pacified Jiangdong! The Han area, which had experienced decades of war, has been completely pacified!"

"What a reaction! Should we sing and dance? Should we celebrate?"

Cao Cao rolled his eyes at Liu Bei and said, "Since you came to the Western Regions, Liu Xuande, have you not been partying every night?"

"You only had two children in Chang'an, but how many Hu girls did you get pregnant after you came to the Western Regions? What? Do you want to emulate your ancestor, King Jing of Zhongshan, and give birth to more than 120 children?"

Liu Bei's face turned red, but he could not find any reason to refute.

Since he came to the Western Regions and lived a comfortable life, his children were born one after another.

This should have been a good thing, but why did it come to Cao Cao's mouth as if Liu Bei was not doing his job properly?
Liu Bei immediately said angrily: "That's not as many as you, Cao Mengde!"

"I don't date Hu girls!"

"Nonsense! You just don't like me! That Goguryeo princess before! And those few now..."

"Cough cough cough!!"

Seeing that the two were about to expose each other's shortcomings again, Guo Jia stepped forward to act as a peacemaker.

"Ming Gong! Stop talking! It's a blessing that the emperor's uncle has many sons and is blessed with many children. There's nothing worth making up."

"Uncle, you should also understand... It is indeed a cause for celebration that Your Majesty has pacified Jiangdong, but who doesn't know that the emperor will definitely win the battle for Jiangdong? Although such news is worth celebrating, the problem we are facing right now is the biggest problem!"

Everyone present here is the best among the Han people.

Given the gap in national power between the imperial court and Jiangdong, it is not surprising that the imperial court pacified Jiangdong. It would be surprising if Jiangdong dared to fight back.

Especially the battle of Jiangdong was fought by the emperor himself!
With the addition of several pillars of the country, countless famous ministers and counselors, as well as young talents, the probability of the emperor falling from grace can be completely negligible!

Therefore, pacifying Jiangdong is not a problem at all in the eyes of these people!
On the contrary, the Kushans they are facing right now are the problem that leaves them helpless!
Seeing this, Liu Bei said a little aggrievedly: "Okay!"

"Kushan, Kushan... Damn it! What's wrong with that Yuezhi King Bo Tiao? He actually declared war on the Han Dynasty? What a bastard!"

Cao Cao approached Liu Bei at this time, wanting to steal the letter "The Imperial Court has pacified Jiangdong" that Liu Bei had left behind. However, Liu Bei turned around and put the letter in his arms, which made Cao Cao quite resentful...

"Meng De, what's that look in your eyes? Tell me, is it true that the Han Dynasty cannot defeat the Kushan Empire?"

"..."

Cao Cao curled his lips and said, "Haven't we discussed this matter countless times before?"

"The Kushans have an advantageous terrain. We must not act rashly! Otherwise, we will inevitably suffer a great defeat!"

There are two routes from the Western Regions Protectorate to Kushan.

One road goes out from the west of the Ili River Valley, then goes all the way south, and it's all wilderness!

Another road is to the west of the former site of Dayuan Kingdom. There is a long and narrow mountain road. By crossing that mountain road, you can reach Kushan.

But both paths have their own difficulties.

The former, although it is a wilderness, the journey is extremely long!
The Wusun and Kangju kingdoms along the way lived a nomadic life and had no fixed cities, which meant that the Han army could not get enough supplies along the way and most likely fell into a food shortage crisis before arriving.

Moreover, because this route was suitable for cavalry combat, even if the Han army found a way to build a supply line, it would be destroyed by the enemy's light cavalry, making their efforts in vain.

So this road may seem smooth, but in fact it is full of dangers, and the army cannot be allowed to take risks!
The second road is a rugged mountain road, a miraculous mountain road!

This mountain road is more than 600 miles long, which is equivalent to the distance from Luoyang to Guanzhong... In other words, it is equivalent to an ancient road of Qiaohan in the west!
As for attacking the ancient road of Qiaohan by force, it is a stupid thing that no one who has read military books would do!
A seemingly smooth road, but actually a dead end.

The other is a complete dead end!

The Han Dynasty and the Kushan Empire had such geographical restrictions, it would be great if they could live in peace and exchange what they have! But the Kushan Empire inexplicably wanted to provoke a war, no wonder Liu Bei was so annoyed!
"What should I do?"

Liu Bei was obviously distressed.

"The emperor said that we should make some big noise in the Western Regions to draw the attention of the Kushans..."

"Ok?"

The few people who were unhappy just now suddenly looked at Liu Bei.

Cao Cao's mouth twitched: "Why didn't you tell me that the emperor had other plans?"

"Oh~~ I just heard that the emperor was so excited about pacifying Jiangdong that I forgot..."

"..."

Cao Cao clenched his fists and tried hard to regain his breath.

Guo Jia had already stepped forward to ask Liu Bei for the letter: "Uncle, can you let me see the emperor's letter?"

"No problem! Here~"

When Guo Jia took the letter, his eyelids twitched wildly.

"The emperor said in the letter that Jiangdong has been completely pacified, so the sea route to Annan Protectorate has been opened."

"The emperor will send Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Sun Ce, Zhou Yu and others to launch an offensive from the sea from the Annan Protectorate, so we need to cooperate in the Western Regions and concentrate as many Kushan troops as possible here to create conditions for the navy."

"..."

Now even Pang Tong and Xu Shu looked at Liu Bei with some strange eyes.

It seems that you had already started to talk about the emperor's words when you were reading the letter just now!

What should have been read later was not read at all!
Liu Bei noticed that the atmosphere was wrong and also laughed.

"No matter what, the emperor's pacification of Jiangdong is a happy event, we should celebrate first!"

"Celebrate your..."

Cao Cao tried hard to hold back his curse, stepped forward, snatched the letter, and confirmed its entire contents.

"The emperor must have known that it would be difficult to attack from land, so he decided to stop the Kushan offensive from the sea!"

Cao Cao chewed over these words, but felt terrified for no apparent reason.

No wonder!
He had always been a little puzzled when he saw that the emperor had already built warships in Qingzhou and Jingzhou.

To deal with Jiangdong and Sun Quan, there is no need for the emperor to devote all the national strength to building warships.

It turns out that as early as that time, the emperor had already made preparations and started thinking about the war with the Kushans?
Cao Cao is now increasingly grateful that he did not act rashly and fight to the death with the emperor.

The emperor's chess game has been going on for who knows how many years!

Making an enemy of the emperor is definitely asking for trouble!

Fortunately.

Now he is not the enemy of the emperor, but stands with the emperor!
"This is easy to handle!"

From being the main force in the front to being the auxiliary force on the side, the pressure on the generals in the Western Regions was completely reduced!

As long as they could delay the Kushan army as long as possible, the Han navy of the Annan Protectorate would be able to easily go around and crush the Kushans!
As soon as the news came out, everyone was excited!

The huge pressure of the day was suddenly lifted from my shoulders, and I felt so relieved!

But Liu Bei was still puzzled: "Meng De, others don't know, but you and I know." "The Kushan Empire has a vast territory and many soldiers! It is a great country! Can we really defeat the Kushan Empire with only the navy and a few warships?"

"..."

Cao Cao glared at Liu Bei unhappily.

"Worry about it!"

"There are so many people in the court! Sima Zhongda! Zhuge Kongming! And Yun Chang! Which one of them is not smarter than you!"

"Even they think there's no problem, what are you worried about?"

Liu Bei tilted his head and thought for a while, and found that it seemed to be true!
"Too!"

"Wonderful! After Yunchang and I defeat the Kushan Empire together, I will be able to drink with Yunchang and sleep on the same bed!"

"..."

Cao Cao could no longer tell whether Liu Bei did it intentionally or unintentionally, and his mood was extremely bad at the moment!

"Let's get down to business!"

"Since the emperor wants us to serve as a detachment, then it will be easy."

"The grain in the Ili River Valley is about to be harvested, which can be used as military rations."

"Send a large number of troops to Wusun and Kangju to give the Kushans the illusion of a massive attack. They will definitely mobilize their troops for defense."

"On the other hand... since the Dayuan royal family has fled to Kushan, they will surely be obsessed with counterattacking their old territory."

"We can send a few generals to the mountain pass and make them lose several battles in a row to lure the Kushans into a trap."

"Once the Kushans penetrate deep into the heart of the Western Regions, they will have no choice but to withdraw!"

Rather than saying that Cao Cao had a quick mind, it would be better to say that Cao Cao had wanted to do this for a long time!
But such tactics are extremely risky, and if you are not careful, you will lose everything!
But now that the emperor wants them to be a detachment, they will naturally have to act more radically!
Guo Jia and others also agreed with this point.

"We are only a small army now. If we concentrate the main force of Kushan in the Western Region, we will have completed our mission. Naturally, there is no need to worry!"

When Liu Bei saw the reactions of the crowd, he knew that his dream of celebrating was shattered.

But Liu Bei soon cheered up -

"It's alright! We'll celebrate after we go to Kushan and meet Yun Chang and Kong Ming!"

"Meng De! I'll leave the affairs of Ili in the north to you, and I'll take care of luring the enemy in the south!"

"you?"

Cao Cao stared at Liu Bei with suspicion.

"Don't mess this up! We must let the Kushans launch a massive attack!"

"no problem!"

Liu Bei was extremely confident——

"There is no shortage of such talents in my team!"

-

Zhang Fei and Ma Chao.

The two men led the cavalry along the long mountain road, both feeling a little strange.

"Meng Qi, why do you think Big Brother wanted us to come here?"

"I do not know!"

Ma Chao hesitated and asked, "Could it be that the Emperor's uncle noticed that you and I are very alert, so he entrusted this important task to Yide and me?"

"Oh?"

Zhang Fei thought for a moment, then nodded immediately: "I think that's it!"

There are cliffs on both sides of the mountain road, which is very suitable for setting up bunkers and ambushes.

However, the crude craftsmanship of the Kushans obviously could not hide from the discerning eyes of the Han scouts.

Soon a scout discovered that something was wrong with the mountain ahead and came to remind the two.

"what!"

Zhang Fei burst into laughter when he saw the mountain.

"They really are a bunch of rats. Even the place they live in is a rat's nest!"

Ma Chao also laughed and said, "Yide, don't you say that! Aren't these Kushans the same people as the Yuezhi people back then? When the Yuezhi were driven from their homeland at the foot of the Qilian Mountains to this remote area by the Xiongnu, weren't they just like rats?"

"..."

The time that the Kushans had been in contact with the Han Dynasty was quite long.

Especially the Kushan soldiers on the border, they all understood some Chinese.

So he could hear Zhang Fei and Ma Chao's words very clearly, there was no language barrier at all!
When these Kushan soldiers heard Zhang Fei and Ma Chao insulting them like dirty rats, they were all very angry!
This is not over yet!

Ma Chao stayed in the Western Regions for a longer time, so he also gave Zhang Fei a history lesson.

"Back then, Emperor Xiaowu sent Zhang Qian, Marquis of Bowang, to the Western Regions in order to join forces with the King of Dayuezhi in the west to attack the Xiongnu!"

"After all, the Yuezhi and the Xiongnu are sworn enemies! Even the skull of the Yuezhi king was taken by the Xiongnu Chanyu to be used as a wine vessel! But guess what? The Yuezhi were very generous! They didn't care about this at all! Not to mention revenge on the Xiongnu! Don't you think they are awesome?"

Zhang Fei, who was standing next to him, looked like a supporting actor, and immediately widened his eyes: "That's amazing!"

"Not everyone cares that their ancestor's skull was used to hold horse urine. This is something that not everyone can do!"

"Isn't it? How could a human being do such a thing? This is clearly something that only rats can do!"

Both of them burst into laughter.

Now hundreds of years have passed.

The Kushans may not know their own history, and some may not even know that they are Yuezhi people... But it doesn't matter! Their dark history is all recorded in the little notebooks of the Han people!
The Great Yuezhi were driven away by the Xiongnu, and even the head of the Great Yuezhi king was made into a wine vessel; on the other hand, the Han Dynasty beat the Xiongnu and made them call them daddy...

In terms of both emotion and reason, the Han Dynasty had sufficient reasons to look down on the Yuezhi, which is now the Kushan!

The Han soldiers on both sides also burst into laughter.

"A rat lives in a rat's nest, how apt!"

"You were so cowardly hundreds of years ago, tut tut!"

"What Ban Dingyuan said in his book "The Story of Subduing Demons" is indeed true! This Yuezhi man is guilty! He must be punished!"

……

Like general, like soldiers!

The soldiers under Zhang Fei and Ma Chao's command are just like their commander, they are all very talkative!
With people mocking them from both sides, the Kushan soldiers in the bunker finally couldn't hold back any longer!
"You unreasonable Han man! Die!"

As the Kushan soldiers poured out of the bunker, Ma Chao was about to take up his spear and go into battle confidently, but was stopped by Zhang Fei.

"Meng Qi is confused! Do you remember what big brother said to us?"

"You can only lose! You can't win! Why are you still so angry?"

"..."

Ma Chao scratched his head in embarrassment: "I was so happy cursing just now that I really forgot about it!"

The two men swung the spears in their hands a few times and then immediately fled in panic!
The victorious Kushan soldiers were delighted but puzzled.

"The Han army is so vulnerable!" (End of this chapter)