Chapter 287: Taking Hexi, no one can resist! [Subscribe]

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, made many achievements both domestically and internationally.

If he had not been superstitious about gods and immortals in his later years, and had not been keen on Fengshan and suburban sacrifices, striving for immortality, his life would have been more glorious.

Cao Cao opened the treasure left by Emperor Wu.

The inside of this small bead is like a room filled with secret treasures, all of which are gold, pearls and jade.

Emperor Wu collected these things not for wealth itself.

In ancient times, there was a recipe for elixir that could be used to extract a substance from pearls, jade, and gold to make medicinal stones.

Cao Cao silently calculated the amount of gold and was secretly shocked.

He also found many ancient scrolls, including Emperor Wu's handwriting, as well as a bronze crossbow and three arrowheads.

This bronze crossbow comes from the Qin Dynasty. It is the special bow and arrow used by the Qin people's crossbowmen.

As we all know, the bows and crossbows of the Qin Dynasty once reached the peak of crossbow shooting in the cold weapon era, and they could not be surpassed for thousands of years.

The Qin crossbow is known for its powerful lethality.

The arrowhead is different from the usual one and is prismatic.

The error of each edge is so small that it is difficult to replicate in later generations.

People in all dynasties have been studying and imitating the Qin crossbow, including the Dahuang Crossbow of the Han Dynasty and the Shenbi Crossbow of the Song Dynasty. They were both famous at the time, but none of them were as good as the Qin crossbow.

After the founding of the Han Dynasty, the Qin crossbow was repeatedly developed, but it was always inferior and could not inherit its power and range.

Among the things left behind by Emperor Wu, there is a complete Qin crossbow with a blueprint next to it, which is truly rare.

Cao Cao held the arrowhead and the Qin crossbow, looked at them for a moment, and then picked up a handwritten letter from Emperor Wu to read.

"…Since I ascended the throne, I have inherited the foundation laid by my ancestors. Since the sixth year of Yuanguang, I have sent generals such as Wei Qing to go out of the border for many years to defeat the Xiongnu and recover the Hetao area…

In the second year of Yuanshou, I sent Qubing to the west to fight.

He was a rare general, and his victory was known to the world after one battle. He helped me open up the Hexi Corridor and set up four counties, thus isolating the Qiang people and the Xiongnu. He then controlled the road to the Western Regions, and became a strong support for the national strength of our Han Dynasty.

I am very pleased..."

In the first half, Emperor Wu recorded his achievements briefly in the scroll.

His love for the famous general Huo Qubing is beyond words.

In the second half of the article, Emperor Wu lamented the passage of time and that there were still many things he had not done.

In his handwriting, he recorded his search for medicines and remedies, but all of them were proven to be false.

Later, there was finally a harvest.

"In ancient times, there were spiritual roots of heaven and earth. I have found a tree of immortality."

“It can produce the three fruits of heaven, earth and man. If we obtain all of them and combine them to make a great medicine, can we achieve immortality?

This is the clue left on the Longevity Map... I personally saw someone achieve immortality, open the door, and fly away."

Cao Cao's heart skipped a beat.

Emperor Wu wrote down the words "longevity" with certainty and even mentioned that someone had achieved immortality!
“…However, the Qilin wood, one of the five sacred trees, requires the three fruits of heaven, earth and man to be obtained before one can hope to refine the elixir of immortality.

If one plants five hundred trees and only produces one fruit, how can one eat three fruits at the same time?
I have thought of a way to hasten its maturity... and I have also found a path, which is also the clue to the Longevity Diagram..."

When Cao Cao saw the end, his thoughts were in turmoil.

It seems that Emperor Wu believed firmly in the theory of immortality.

But the longevity diagram that he mentioned many times was not found in the scroll inside the bead.

Cao Cao withdrew his consciousness from the bead and inadvertently saw many spells appearing and disappearing in the bead.

He thought about it and pushed his luck into the bead again.

The spells inside the beads were intertwined, and the scattered halo of light shone on the blue-gray ground, vaguely reflecting a image.

Cao Cao closed the ventilation window and the room became dark.

The spell inside the beads and the pattern reflected on the ground became clearer.

It was a map of mountains and rivers.

This is the geographical features of China, with the Yellow River running through the center of Kyushu.

At a certain location on the Yellow River, a bright spot is marked.

Its position coincides exactly with the mark on the Yellow River that was previously printed on Sendai.

The longevity diagram that Emperor Wu mentioned is the bead itself.

In his scroll, he said that he had found a "path" that corresponded to this mark on the Yellow River.

The Sendai seal also has the same mark.

The entry calls it the Yellow River Tomb.

Cao Cao shook the beads in his hand which were engraved with the longevity diagram, and thought: If there is a chance, let Ling Jin and others go and investigate.

The gold left by Emperor Wu in the bead provided enough money to build the Bronze Sparrow Palace.

Cao Cao put away the beads, and his mind suddenly responded to the huge bird that was controlling his soul on the other side.

This bird played an outstanding role in the fight against the Xianbei.

It is flying over the grassland.

With the help of its eyes, Cao Cao saw an extremely spectacular scene on the endless green grassland below.

There is a herd of wild horses.

Thousands of horses were running on the grassland, raising clouds of dust and grass.

In the afternoon sun, the horses galloped, as if the entire grassland was shaken by them.

From the perspective of a big bird, the green grass carpet looks like a beautiful painting.

Thousands of horses are raising their hooves, with fluttering manes, showing infinite vitality and full of magnificent beauty.

In front of the herd, there was a majestic horse king. Its fur was like satin, reflecting the sunlight and surprisingly quite dazzling.

The bright color of its fur indicates that it has abundant energy and is good at running.

Its entire body is jet black without a single stray hair. When it leads the herd of horses to run, it is as fast as a shadow.

[It is a thousand-mile horse from Dayuan, with the purest bloodline, alert in nature, and as fast as the wind, comparable to Red Hare]

[It came from Dayuan among the Western Regions, leading a herd of horses to live near water and grass. In spring and summer, it traveled from west to east to the grasslands to enjoy the best grass and water.

It is the most famous divine horse in the Western Regions, but also notorious.

It has kidnapped seven horse herds in various countries in the Western Regions and various Xianbei tribes.

[Both the Xianbei and the Western Regions people have organized a siege against it. If you capture it, you can not only get a divine horse, but also the entire herd of horses it leads.]

[But it was able to escape all the blockades. Unowned, to be named, one of the ten best horses in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period]

This horse is really good. I will take Red Hare and Claw Yellow to surround it and beat it up when I get a chance. I will also catch a wild horse king and try riding it.

Cao Cao decided to let the big bird work for a while, follow the herd of horses, and travel on the grassland.

In the afternoon, Cao Cao was busy sending and receiving messages from all parties and handling government affairs.

At the time of Shen, I had some free time.

Jia Xu came in from outside, "King of Wei, Han Sui of Liangzhou has retreated a hundred miles again, and has given up the entire Hexi Corridor. Judging from his reaction of continuous retreat, it is obvious that he is hoping for a lucky break, and is still observing whether we will continue to advance westward."

"His troops have moved westward several times, squeezing out the living space of the small countries in the Western Regions and starting to engage in battle with them."

"If he doesn't want to surrender, there's no need to wait. Defeat Han Sui as soon as possible."

Cao Cao gave the order expressionlessly: "How many troops does Han Sui have now?"

"About 30,000, and about 8,000 of them can be called elite."

Jia Xu answered fluently and reported the news from other parties. Finally, he saw Cao Cao looking at the current defense maps of various states and counties:
"This time our army defeated the Xianbei, an unprecedented achievement in the world in the past hundred years.

The news sent by various parties all say that your achievements and military skills are comparable to those of several great military masters in history."

Cao Cao laughed and said, "It was not my achievement to defeat the Xianbei."

"We use military forces based on the tradition, such as the Great Wall.

The Qin Emperor connected several sections of the Great Wall to form an overall defense along the northern line.”

"Because of the Great Wall, we can quickly transport troops and send messages, and block the horses of the grassland tribes, so that we Han people don't have to worry about the north."

"With the Great Wall as a barrier, we don't have to worry too much about defense, and we can almost attack with all our might. This is an advantage accumulated through our national heritage. If we fight on this basis and still can't defeat the Xianbei, how can we still be qualified to fight for the world?"

"Good words from the King of Wei."

Cao Cao smiled.

After Jia Xu left, he took out a wooden kite.

This thing was first obtained when Jia Xu was captured. There were more than ten wooden kites in an ink worker's bag.

Later it was found to be of little use because of distance restrictions, so it remained in Cao Cao's hands.

He wrote a letter and hung it on the wooden kite.

The wooden kite carried the letter, and the Mohist patterns on its wings flickered. Just like a real bird, it flew away through the air.

Cao Cao took out the Qin crossbow obtained from Emperor Wu's relics, held it in his hand, and examined the craftsmanship patterns on it.

This tiny crossbow contains one of the most advanced secrets of the Qin military and is a powerful weapon for sweeping away nomadic peoples.

Cao Cao stood up from his seat, walked to the window, and looked far away in the direction west of Yecheng.

This severe blow to the Eastern Xianbei, coupled with the existing conflicts within the Xianbei, should make it impossible for the Eastern Xianbei to invade the south for a short period of time, allowing them to concentrate all their efforts on conquering Liangzhou and occupying the Western Regions.

In this way, the nine northern provinces will all fall into his hands.

Cao Cao took out the communication bead and conveyed the order to Huang Zhong, who was in charge of the troops on the western front.

……

Before this, Cao Cao had written a letter and had someone deliver it to Han Sui, the last warlord in Liang Province who refused to surrender.

On an afternoon in late June, Han Sui sat on a sand dune on the border of the Western Regions, holding in his hand the letter written to him by Cao Cao.

Han Sui, whose courtesy name was Wenyue, was from Liangzhou.

He initially became famous in Xizhou. After being kidnapped by the Qiang and Hu rebels, he was able to make the rebels obey him and elect him as their leader, which shows his ability.

Han Sui became famous because of this, and he quickly gathered people. Under the pretext of killing eunuchs, he raised an army of 100,000 and participated in the rebellions that broke out in various places at the end of the Han Dynasty.

He successively competed with famous generals such as Huangfu Song, Zhang Wen, Dong Zhuo, and Sun Jian, causing a stir in the world and gaining fame.

Han Sui established his own regime and became sworn brothers with Ma Teng, and they worked together.

Later, their relationship broke down.

Before and after the Battle of Guandu, Ma Teng and Han Sui were persuaded by Zhong Yao to join Cao Cao.

He even sent hostages to Yecheng.

But his surrender was just a delaying tactic after weighing the situation, and it was not sincere.

He wanted to buy himself some time to wait and see.

However, the speed of Cao's army's expansion far exceeded their expectations.

After the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao immediately launched a surprise attack in all directions, not giving Yuan Shao any time to catch his breath, and immediately marched into Jizhou. All the parties were unable to resist him.

When Cao's army came west, Ma Teng surrendered upon hearing the news, leaving Han Sui without his last barrier and facing Cao's army head-on.

At this time, he lowered his head and looked at the letter Cao Cao wrote to him.

He had read the letter several times, and when he read the contents again, he still felt shocked: "How could it be possible..."

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(End of this chapter)