Daqin Engineers

Go further north and enter the boundary of Taiyuan County.

Shen Bing intentionally stayed here for a while.

Staying here is not for anything else...Taiyuan County is also Taiyuan City, the capital of modern Shanxi Province.

When you talk about Shanxi, you will definitely think of coal here.

Shanxi not only has coal, but also a large number of medium-thick coals with a complete range of coal types and good coal quality. The shallow burial is very suitable for open-pit mining.

Because there is a lot of coal in Shanxi, and people are gradually discovering that it can burn in their daily lives, the coal has been initially used, such as making fires and cooking.

Shen Bing stayed in Taiyuan to inquire about the coal situation.

But of course it was not Shen Bing who inquired in person, but sent the cavalry to ask around.

There will be results in only one hour.

Wang Ben came in to report:

"General, I waited to find a family in the east of the city and found that they were using coal to make a fire."

"It's just that they call it Nirvana."

Shen Bing said "Oh", the secret path was originally called Nirvana, but this name is also appropriate. "Nirvana" means black, and Nirvana is a black stone.

Shen Bing asked again:

"Have you ever asked where is Nirvana?"

Wang Ben replied:

"Jinshan Mountain and Benmen Mountain are inexhaustible."

As Wang Ben pointed out the location of the two mountains on the map, Shen Bing nodded without saying anything, and then ordered the troops to continue northward.

On the way, Fusu asked strangely:

"Why did the general search for Nirvana on the way? What is the magical effect of this thing?"

Shen Bing replied:

"My son knows what's the most important thing when I wait to go to the Northland?"

Fusu thought about it, then replied:

"I defend myself against the Huns."

"But with the general's ability, would you still be afraid of the Huns?"

Shen Bing shook his head and replied:

"This trip to the Xiongnu may be different from the past. You must not underestimate the enemy."

Fu Su Qi Road:

"Why did the general say this?"

Shen Bing replied:

"I asked Wang Bai and Lei Hui the other day. The news from the Northland was that the Northland was extremely cold last year."

"The Xiongnu's cattle and sheep have died of frostbite.

"In this way..."

Fusu said "Oh":

"In this way, the Xiongnu will go south to plunder food and grass for supplies?"

Shen Bing nodded and said:

"Exactly, especially if the news of Li Mu's death reaches the Xiongnu, and Zhao Wangjia has given up the Northland and moved to Daiguo..."

Fusu nodded cautiously after hearing this.

If the Seven Kingdoms of the Central Plains want to say that there is only Li Mu who can truly defeat the Huns, but now Li Mu is dead, the Huns are so hungry that they pretend to be Venus, and the north is empty.

But Fusu changed his mind and asked:

"But what does this have to do with Nirvana?"

Shen Bing only answered two words:

"Smelt iron."

Fusu looked dumbfounded.

Although he knows that iron smelting requires fuel and knows that Nirvana can be burned, why does iron smelting need Nirvana?Charcoal won't work?

This is one of the reasons why coal has not been taken seriously in this era.

Everyone thinks like Fusu, and they are all using charcoal to make iron, so a large amount of coal is discovered but it is only mined by the people for cooking and heating.

Another reason is that some people have tried to smelt iron with coal, but found that smelting iron with coal will produce more impurities and reduce the quality of iron, so they abandoned it.

This situation did not change until hundreds of years later.

But obviously, Shen Bing will not wait until then.

Continue to go north along the Yellow River, and finally arrived in the north after more than ten days.

There are actually three plains in the Loop:

One is in the middle of the "ji" in the Yellow River, one is at the first turning point, and the other is at the second turning point.

These three areas are called "Western Sets", "Back Sets" and "Front Sets".

Shen Bing's army garrisoned the "rear" and "front" to prevent the Huns from going north and south.

The main area is the "Qiantao" area, because "Qiantao" is directly connected to Yanmen County (now south of Youyu County, Shanxi), which is the only place through which the Huns invaded the Central Plains.

To the west of the "back set" is the Hexi Corridor, passing through the Hexi Corridor is the Western Regions unknown to the Central Plains.

Therefore, things in ancient times are sometimes really unclear. In fact, the Central Plains and the Western Regions have always had some connection, such as merchants or refugees in the Central Plains and the Western Regions.

However, this kind of communication is very rare and only limited to the people. In addition, the roads are difficult and the Huns are obstructed, so the Central Plains countries did not even know that the Western Regions existed.

The one who came to greet him was a soldier named (jiā).

The is a wind instrument, popular in the northern and western regions. The father of this is a musician. He was given this name because he hoped that he would continue his mantle. Who would want him to become a Qin army officer.

Ji is the old ministry of Wang Jian. The more than 3,000 Qin troops he led were left when Wang Jian was ordered to clear the Yellow River here, so of course he knew the name of Shen Bing.

After he saw Shen Bing, he hurriedly took a cadre and waited forward to greet him. After seeing Shen Bing, he said with relief:

"If you have a general to help your subordinates, don't worry."

"These days, there are always people from the Huns squad coming to test, and more than 3,000 of them are guarding the north for fear that they will not be able to catch them!"

Shen Bing nodded.

The Hetao area has a total area of ​​more than 20,000 square kilometers, and of course more than 3,000 people can't keep it.

However, even if Shen Bing and other people arrived, the situation was not optimistic... The Liang Army and Shenwu Army under Shen Bing only had more than 10,000 soldiers.

Among them, there were five thousand Shenwu Army, six thousand Liangliang Army, plus three thousand Qin Army, barely only more than 14,000.

Shen Bing asked Wang Bai who was following Wang Ben:

"How did General Li Mu guard this northern land?"

Wang Bai was taken aback, and then replied:

"General, at the beginning General Li Mu led one hundred thousand soldiers guarding the north."

"After several years of operation, it has grown to 200,000 North Goblin soldiers."

"The 200,000 soldiers are divided into two sets of front and back."

Shen Bing was speechless for a while.

The god of war Li Mu needs 200,000 people to stay here to prevent the Huns from coming, but he has only 14,000.

What's more serious is that when Zhao Wangjia moved out all the people in the area when he established the dynasty, leaving only the old and weak with no use value, so Shen Bing had only soldiers and an empty city.

The only advantage is that there are many houses left by the original inhabitants, and the Qin Army does not need to work hard to build them.

Seeing this situation, Fusu whispered to himself:

"But it was Fusu who caused the generals."

"I'm afraid Zhao Gao and Li Si have known the situation here."

"They condemned that the general came to actually use the power of the Huns to get rid of Fusu."

Shen Bing felt that Fu Su was right.

Because Jia must have reported the situation here to Yingzheng, Zhao Gao is the insider.

Perhaps Ying Zheng didn't take the Huns as barbarians seriously.

But Zhao Gao and Li Si knew that was not the case.

So he was born with the help of a knife to kill.

Shen Bing replied calmly:

"It's not helpful to say this at this time. I should wait to prepare for the war."