All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

The knowledge they learn from Han Chunming will be passed on to others, and ultimately, this valuable knowledge will be passed down from generation to generation.

These people are the spark, the true descendants of the dragon.

In this era, women originally had a very low status, but in the Dragon Clan tribe, their status was elevated to an unprecedented level.

They can do almost any job that most men can do, and they can even join the army. In the newly established field hospital, women make up 70 percent of the staff.

Of course, most of these women do clerical work, and most are teachers, doctors, or factory workers.

In paper mills and textile factories, the proportion of female workers is far greater than that of male workers.

With everything in ruins and needing to be rebuilt, every minute is crucial for Han Chunming.

Unfortunately, good times are always fleeting, and the enemy eventually appeared.

If the Dragon Clan is allowed to develop like this for two years, it will definitely become a dominant force.

Launching a war at that time might be more effective.

But nothing in this world is foolproof. The fact that Han Chunming has been able to develop steadily for eight months is already a great blessing from heaven.

The enemy that Tianshan City has attracted this time is neither the Xiongnu nor the Qin Dynasty, but a small country in the Western Regions called Tuwan.

This country has a population of over 400,000 and an army of around 5,000. It is a branch of the Qiang ethnic group.

Because this country relied on nomadic life, it was almost entirely composed of cavalry. Their territory was more than 300 li to the west of this place.

Originally, being so far apart, they shouldn't have been able to provoke each other at all, but they just happened to run into each other, and the other party even had inappropriate thoughts about the Dragon Clan tribe.

The story begins two and a half months ago. After six months of recuperation, Han Chunming decided to establish his first caravan to exchange goods with surrounding tribes and countries.

Although the Dragon Clan tribe has gotten on the right track under Han Chunming's leadership, it is still lacking in many things.

He originally wanted to form a thousand cavalrymen, but the entire tribe couldn't gather a thousand warhorses, so in the end he could only select eight hundred cavalrymen.

There are also cattle and sheep, even fur products, and various plant seeds, as well as gold, silver, copper, and tin, all of which are scarce resources.

Therefore, Han Chunming had to establish a caravan and begin trading activities.

The first caravan was entrusted with an important mission by Han Chunming. Most of the members of this caravan were originally from the Yin tribe.

The Yin tribe had a tradition of trading, and in addition to the Yin people, there were also twenty young men in the caravan.

These twenty teenagers were Han Chunming's first batch of students. These teenagers were naturally adventurous and had active minds, making them good prospects for doing trade.

To protect these promising talents, Han Chunming dispatched his top generals. Yin Tian led ten Black Bear tribesmen, each over two meters tall, and eighty cavalrymen to escort the caravan westward.

On their first journey as merchants, they carried only five cartloads of goods, but the contents of those five cartloads were priceless in that era.

These things are naturally various glass products. Because the craftsmanship is substandard, the glass produced by the glass factory still has a few air bubbles. Therefore, Han Chunming decided to make some glass beads and some glass vases.

Besides the glass, there are two mirrors, each half a meter long and wide, with edges made of poplar wood. This thing is incredibly luxurious.

It can be said that a single mercury mirror, if handled properly, could be traded for ten thousand head of cattle and sheep; this is truly a national treasure.

The goods in these five carts weighed less than two hundred pounds in total, but for this era, they were like a thunderbolt, appearing out of nowhere.

This caravan of over three hundred people traveled westward for more than four hundred li, bringing back over a hundred cartloads of goods—a business that was almost incredibly profitable.

The reason for bringing so many people was, of course, to haul goods back. They were all experienced veterans.

The caravan traveled over 400 li (approximately 200 kilometers) and passed through more than 20 tribes, including trading with two small kingdoms, one of which was this Tuwan Kingdom.

In the Kingdom of Tuwan, the caravan traded a mirror and fifty catties of glass balls for sixty carts of fine cattle and sheep leather, twenty carts of wool, several carts of metal materials, and finally five hundred fine horses.

This deal was fucking worth it. The original king of the tribe even wanted to exchange the other mirror, but the caravan refused.

The other twenty carts contained all sorts of seeds and all sorts of strange and unusual things.

As per Han Chunming's instructions, along the way, any unfamiliar crop seeds encountered, whether edible or usable, should be exchanged for some, regardless of whether they were recognized or not.

The first trade operation was a great success. Although the journey was short and lasted less than two months, the gains were enormous.

The seeds he brought back included the seeds of most plants from the Western Regions, as well as many seeds that Han Chunming did not recognize at all, and many of them may have become extinct in later generations.

In short, regardless of whether we recognize them or not, we'll plant them first and then study them slowly. Next spring, the Academy of Agricultural Sciences will be established, and these seeds will be their next task.

Among these seeds, there was one plant seed that gave Han Chunming a pleasant surprise: cotton.

He didn't expect that this thing had already appeared in the Western Regions. It wasn't until a thousand years later that it slowly appeared in the inland areas, and by the time it became widespread, it was already the Ming Dynasty.

This trade was very fruitful, but the consequences are also beginning to emerge.

The people from the Tuwan Kingdom, with whom we had previously traded, had never seen such treasures as glass and mirrors before, and were utterly astonished!

As the saying goes, the world is bustling with activity, all for profit; where there is profit, there will naturally be people willing to do it.

The king of Tuwan Kingdom was a young man in his early twenties. He had been on the throne for less than three years, was ambitious, extremely possessive, eccentric and arrogant, and had no bottom line in his actions.

His father was whipped to death by him. When he was seventeen, his father was in good health and had given birth to three younger brothers.

Under the guise of celebrating his father's birthday, he poisoned dozens of his younger siblings to death over a single meal. This man was utterly depraved.

With such a personality, it's clear that they wouldn't let go of a rare mirror and glass.

He originally intended to plunder the entire caravan, but on the advice of his strategist, he decided to follow them and find the lair that could manufacture these unparalleled treasures.

Such a large caravan could not possibly be kept quiet. Even though it was 30 kilometers away from Tianshan City, Han Chunming had already prepared his troops to welcome it and had also sent scouts along the way.

However, the spies from the Tuwan Kingdom still managed to discover the location of Tianshan City. The spies were very shrewd; after discovering the location of Tianshan City, they did not linger for long, but only surveyed it from a distance for half a day before returning.

The spies from the Kingdom of Tuwan rushed back and quickly reported to the irritable king.

Upon hearing that the place capable of creating unparalleled treasures was merely a small tribe of tens of thousands of people, the irritable king was overjoyed and immediately began to assemble his army.

And so, a cavalry force of over three thousand men, led by the irritable king himself, swiftly marched toward Tianshan City.

The dragon tribe's scouts set up mobile outposts in the surrounding mountain streams more than a hundred miles away, and the scouts detected the enemy almost as soon as they appeared.

By the time Han Chunming received the news, the cavalry of the Tuwan Kingdom were only about fifty li away from Tianshan City.

When Han Chunming heard that three thousand cavalrymen were coming, he did not panic, but only frowned.

He then instructed Yin Tian to begin mobilizing his troops, for a tough battle was about to begin!

He glanced at the darkening sky and immediately had an idea.

Very well, it's been over eight months since I established my Dragon Clan tribe, it's time to put my army to a real battle.

Three thousand cavalrymen—this whetstone is indeed a bit too hard, but an army that doesn't weather storms can never develop.

Han Chunming had anticipated this situation in the course of business, and it was perhaps something he had been hoping for all along.

The battle between the Xiongnu and the Qin Dynasty is now nearing its end. Both sides are licking their wounds and can no longer care about small fry like themselves. Han Chunming had long ago made this plan, and it was time to continue the conquest.

The Dragon Clan can only grow strong quickly through conquest. Otherwise, how could Han Chunming have so much time to develop like a farmer?

Quickly conquer and reap the rewards, then integrate the enemy's resources, and finally conquer again. Relying on a Snake-like strategy, gradually establish yourself in the Western Regions and eventually become the new overlord.

The Tuwan Kingdom is indeed too large for the current Dragon Clan tribe. If they could truly swallow this behemoth, it might give the Dragon Clan tribe a real foothold.

Once Han Chunming made up his mind, he immediately went into the operations room to convene a meeting, where 230 people had already gathered.

Two hundred of them were his students, a group of boys and girls sitting attentively around him, some of them holding notebooks and quill pens.

The other thirty people were mid- to high-ranking officers in the army. These people were not only skilled in martial arts, but also knew how to write simple simplified Chinese characters.

The operations room was open-plan, with two huge wooden boards standing behind Han Chunming, and two large maps hanging on the boards.

One map is a rough, simplified map of the Tuwan Kingdom, and the other is a detailed map covering an area of ​​three hundred li in circumference.

This detailed map, covering an area of ​​300 li, is already in its fifth edition. Over the past eight months, three hundred scouts have gradually pieced together the map by reciting it verbally.

There was no other way; the old maps were too simple. Apart from place names, there were no mountains, rivers, or topography. Han Chunming had to start drawing the map from scratch.

This map contains a complete description, even including where there is a small lake, a mine, and some conspicuous obstacles that can be marked.

Han Chunming didn't give these people a chance to speak. He directly started pointing to the map and explaining the upcoming combat missions, as well as the arrangements that each department should make next.

As for summarizing and learning, we can teach that slowly after the battle is over; it's not too late.

With everything ready, Han Chunming donned his armor, strapped on the Qin sword at his waist, and led the group toward the military camp.

Chapter Seventeen: Night Raid

The Dragon Clan's military camps were set up in two locations: an infantry camp and a cavalry camp, located to the north and south of Tianshan City, respectively.

These two locations also serve as the two entrances and exits of Tianshan City, with infantry stationed at the entrance and cavalry at the exit.

In the past six months, although no expeditions have been launched, the training has become more intense.

Every morning, infantrymen had to undertake a long 10-kilometer march with heavy loads. In the morning, they would then conduct bayonet training and infantry battle formation training. After having a hearty meal at the barracks at noon, they could leave.

In the afternoon, they also have to help with farm work. Such high-intensity training and physical labor require a lot of meat and grain.

If it weren't for the fact that the original Yin tribe had a large surplus of grain, Han Chunming really wouldn't have been able to support an army of five thousand men.

Infantrymen are still part-time farmers and part-time soldiers, while cavalrymen are professional soldiers. Their training intensity is greater and their consumption is also greater.

Supporting 5,000 troops with 100,000 people is simply too much for them. The only way to continue developing is to sustain the war effort through war.

Han Chunming's original plan was to recuperate for a year and then begin to conquer the surrounding small tribes. Within two years, he wanted the Dragon Clan tribe to have a population of 200,000, and within five years, the population to exceed 500,000.

Even if the Tuwan Kingdom doesn't come, Han Chunming has already prepared a plan for conquest.

However, plans can change quickly, and this time, the Kingdom of Tuwan gave Han Chunming an opportunity—a chance for a snake to swallow an elephant!

Han Chunming had just briefly checked out the situation in Tuwan Kingdom in the operations room, although he didn't know much about the country's basic situation.

However, the geographical location of Tuwan Kingdom is very good. The country is located in a canyon plain, with towering snow-capped mountains on both sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The land of Tuwan is fertile and rich in water resources. Its cattle, sheep and horses are famous in the surrounding area, so many countries in the Western Regions are willing to trade with Tuwan, and its commerce is very developed.

With so many advantages, there are naturally also disadvantages. Tuwan Kingdom borders two small countries, one of which is a branch of the Qiang people, who share the same ancestor as Tuwan Kingdom.

The border areas of the Qin Dynasty, including the Western Regions and the northern grasslands, encompassed millions of square kilometers of land, and contained hundreds of countries of varying sizes.

Most of these countries had a weak presence, and in later generations, they could not even be considered countries, because some of them had only tens of thousands of people and lived in a remote place for hundreds of years, isolated from the world.

Among the historically famous ethnic groups, the Xiongnu, Donghu, Yuezhi, and Qiang were probably the most well-known.

The Xiongnu were the most powerful, successively defeating the Donghu and Yuezhi, unifying the northern grasslands, and establishing the powerful Xiongnu Empire, whose territory was even larger than the present-day Qin Dynasty.

The Tuwan Kingdom was a branch of the Qiang people. The Qiang people did not have a large unified state and were not well-known in history.

The most famous of these was probably the Later Qin, which was established during the Five Barbarian Invasions, but it was only a short-lived dynasty.