Yuan Xi's trading strategy with the Xianbei outside the Great Wall was very simple.
Food can be given, goods can be given, silks and satins can be given, and even weapons other than armor can be given as long as the numbers are controlled.
But the only thing they can't give you is technology.
From farming to water conservancy, from forging to manufacturing, no related craftsman tools were provided.
Wars are fought with technology. If these things are leaked out, sooner or later foreign enemies will turn against the Chinese people.
If you want, you can enter Youzhou and settle down there, and be registered as a citizen.
Yuan Xi does not think that the current chaos in the Central Plains is a good time for ethnic exchange and integration. On the contrary, it is a good opportunity for foreign races to take advantage of the situation. As long as there is a flaw, they will pounce on and bite like hungry wolves.
Moreover, in the following years, the weather will become colder and colder, and there will be fewer and fewer places for farming and grazing. This is a period of life and death between the Chinese and the nomadic peoples outside the Great Wall. In order to seize limited survival resources, both sides will inevitably fall into countless wars.
Yuan Xi and the Gongsun clan had reached an alliance previously. After Gongsun Kang returned, Gongsun Du agreed to the two sides joining forces, but his attitude towards how the two sides should cooperate has always been ambiguous.
Yuan Xi naturally knew that the other party still doubted his strength, so when the Xianbei outside the Great Wall invaded the border, he adopted the most fierce counterattack.
As expected, after the news of the Xianbei head storage spread throughout Youzhou, Gongsun clan immediately sent envoys to discuss how to deal with the Qingzhou pirates. Even the Wuhuan Chanyu, who had been ready to take action, was frightened and retreated, sending people to show goodwill to Yuan Xi.
After Yuan Xi learned that Jizhou had sent a high-ranking official to serve as the governor of Bingzhou, representing the Yuan family in reconciliation with the Southern Xiongnu of Bingzhou, he knew that the threat to Youzhou in the west had been temporarily eliminated. Now he could finally free up his hands and attack the Qingzhou pirates by surprise.
That's right, I'm afraid no one would have thought that Yuan Xi would send troops during the Chinese New Year!
The Chinese New Year season is the busiest time on sea routes and when pirates are most rampant. It is a great opportunity to eliminate them.
The pirates were cunning, so Yuan Xi also did a lot of deception. Among his generals in Youzhou, few were good at naval battles. Moreover, as the lord of Youzhou, Yuan Xi had just had two male heirs. Everyone thought that he would stop fighting during the New Year and hold a banquet to celebrate.
But Yuan Xi's real plan at this time was to lead a group of elite soldiers, disguised as members of the Zhen family caravan, to the sea to join forces with the Gongsun family to wipe out the pirates in the waters near Donglai!
He said to Lu Lingqi, "Do you really want to go with me?"
"This is a water station, not a land battle. You may not be able to adapt to the water."
Lu Lingqi raised her fist, "Are you looking down on me?"
"This kind of trivial matter has never troubled the daughter of the Lu family."
She didn't know that a few days later, she would regret saying this for a long time.
Yuan Xi laughed loudly, "Okay, let's set off tomorrow!"
He took Lu Lingqi out and found Lu Xun and Tian Yu who were selecting soldiers in the barracks.
Apart from Taishi Ci in Xuzhou, these two are already the most proficient generals in naval warfare under Yuan Xi. Now they are selecting and training elite soldiers suitable for naval warfare in the barracks.
Naval warfare and land warfare are two completely different things. Land warriors need to be tall and strong, able to wear heavy armor, have a solid lower body and powerful strength, so the best among them are all strong men like iron towers.
Naval combat soldiers are required to be agile and quick in action, be able to keep their bodies steady on a shaking deck, be good at using light weapons and have strong jumping abilities. Therefore, elite naval combat soldiers are all people with strong physiques and strong explosive power.
Now, Tian Yu and Lu Xun selected soldiers based on this standard. At the same time, the armor worn in naval battles cannot be too heavy, so they all changed into leather armor and lapel armor.
Looking at the hundreds of soldiers moving in unison under Lu Xun's command, Yuan Xi nodded slightly, thinking that he was indeed worthy of being the one who led his family to fight against Sun Ce.
On the other side of the military camp, Lu Lingqi ran to watch Gao Shun training the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp.
I saw two tall soldiers wearing heavy iron armor and helmets, holding two unsharpened ring-handled swords, and slashing at each other with all their might.
Both sides swung their swords fiercely, and the ring-handled swords made a shrill sound as they slashed at the weak points in the opponent's armor, trying to chop the opponent down.
This was actually quite dangerous. Although the two men were still wearing linings, if the ring-handled sword cut into the gaps in their armor, they would be unable to get up for a long time at best, or suffer direct fractures at worst.
But the two famous men did not hesitate at all. They used all their strength in their swords, even slashing at the other's head and neck.
When facing the opponent's blade, he didn't even blink, and was not even willing to dodge. Only when he was hit by a fatal blade, he slightly turned sideways and used armor to block it.
But even so, the two of them only shook their upper bodies slightly, and their feet did not move at all!
Lu Lingqi has seen the Xianzhen Camp training many times, but every time she sees it, she can't help but sigh that the soldiers trained with this method are absolutely the backbone on the battlefield.
The so-called trap camp is not designed to dodge enemy attacks, but to remain calm when facing enemy attacks even if Mount Tai collapses in front of you. The primary task is to firmly hold the position under your feet and push forward.
Soldiers trained in this way will not even blink an eye even when they encounter the enemy cavalry charging. With heavy armor and long swords, they can become powerful soldiers that can break through the enemy's formation with heavy infantry!
Of course, when you encounter an opposing soldier, standing and fighting can intimidate the opponent, but when facing a horse charge, it is also unwise to just stand there stupidly and use your body to withstand the horse's impact. It requires extremely high skills to keep your feet still and at the same time relieve the impact.
Gao Shun occasionally instructed the two soldiers on how to release the force. Looking back, he saw Lu Lingqi eager to try, and said helplessly, "Miss, you are already the wife of the envoy, so you should not have such thoughts, right?"
Lu Lingqi said excitedly: "Uncle Gao is too stingy. It would be good for them to practice with him."
Without saying anything, she put on the iron armor next to her, took out the double halberds at hand, and got into a fighting stance.
Gao Shun had no choice but to call one of them down and said, "Be careful. If you get hurt, I can't afford it."
Lu Lingqi laughed and said, "How could that be!"
She swung her halberds, took two steps forward, and came within five feet of the opponent.
The soldier was a big man nearly nine feet tall. When he saw Lu Lingqi entering the attack range, he subconsciously slashed at her with his sword. The sound of the wind whistled, and there was even a faint sound of thunder.
Lu Lingqi's body swayed, and the long sword chopped down from her side. Just as she was about to raise her hand to hook the opponent's armpit, the long sword turned and chopped towards her horizontally.
Lu Lingqi took a step and appeared beside the man, slashing out with the long spear in her other hand.
Seeing that the long sword was blocked by his body, the man actually changed his hands and swung the long sword back, forcing Lu Lingqi to take two steps back and shouted "Good!"
The two men exchanged dozens of moves, one using strength and the other using skill, but there was no sound of weapons clashing, and the people watching on the side were in perfect silence.
At this time, Yuan Xi and Tian Yu also came over to watch the fight. Tian Yu saw that Lu Lingqi's figure was like a flower, and she didn't even blink when facing the incoming blades. She dodged very accurately, and couldn't help but praise: "If the Wenhou girl was a man, I'm afraid she would have become famous all over the world long ago."
Yuan Xi asked aloud: "Do I have half her talent?"
Tian Yu coughed, as if he was choked, and turned his head away in embarrassment.
Yuan Xi received 10,000 critical hits.
The man was in high spirits and roared loudly. He finally turned his feet, causing the ring-handled sword to spin and slash at Lu Lingqi like a windmill. Lu Lingqi took a few steps back, looked for a flaw, and hooked the opponent's blade guard with two halberds.
With a snap, one halberd tip was inserted into the ring of the sword handle, and the other halberd tip hooked onto the sword body. However, with the help of the force of the opponent's sword body's rotation, the two halberd shafts were crossed together, stopping the sword's momentum.
The man saw that the halberd tip was stuck on his wrist. If he exerted a little force, his hand would be gone. Then he doubled the hilt and clasped his fists, saying, "I admire you."
Only then did the cheers of the crowd roar to the sky.
Lu Lingqi put her two halberds together and sent the knife back to the opponent, saying with a smug look on her face, "Thank you for letting me."
But she also knew that in a real battlefield, there would not be so much space for her to maneuver. If several opponents attacked together, she would have no choice but to run away.
Therefore, the famous brave generals were all cavalrymen, who at least had a horse to avoid being beaten up by a group of people, while the brave generals who fought on foot either found it difficult to achieve any results in battle or almost never lived long.
After they left the barracks together, Yuan Xi said to Lu Xun, "Thank you very much, sir, for your help this time."
Lu Xun quickly returned the greeting and said, "The boy is terrified."
He didn't understand why Xionghu trusted him so much when he was just a teenager of sixteen or seventeen, and let him take charge of the mission to eliminate the pirates.
Tian Yu on the side didn't understand either, but he knew that in the past two years, Yuan Xi had been very accurate in judging people. Even Tian Yu, who had never believed in prophecies, sometimes wondered whether Yuan Xi's subordinates were really experts in stargazing.
But according to my understanding, no one meets the requirements?
Yuan Xi turned to Tian Yu and said, "Gather the troops tonight, and tomorrow morning, disguise yourself as the Zhen family merchant caravan and rush to Yuyang Port."
"A real caravan had already set out the day before yesterday. I had already slowed it down and asked it to stay on the sea for a little longer to lure out the Qingzhou pirates first."
Tian Yu smiled bitterly and said, "It's almost the New Year, you must lead the army in person?"
"Just in case something goes wrong."
Yuan Xi waved his hand and said, "It's just a minor fight. It's just right for the New Year after the battle."
"I also want to verify some ideas from this, and then I can improve them when I come back."
"Besides, with Guo Rang and Boyan, we will surely win this battle."
After hearing this, the two men clasped their fists and said, "We will follow your orders, lord!"
When Yuan Xi returned to his room, Zhen Mi already knew that Yuan Xi would be away for a while. She did not ask what Yuan Xi was going to do, but just said, "My husband, please keep warm and don't catch a cold."
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll bring you some New Year's goods when the time comes."
Zhen Mi rocked the sleeping child in her arms and sighed, "This winter seems to be colder than previous years."
Yuan Xi sighed, "It may get even colder in the future."
"Just take care of yourself and your children."
Zhen Mi smiled and asked, "My husband, have you chosen a name for your child?"
Yuan Xi nodded and said, "Okay, I'll write it down when the full moon comes and we have a banquet to celebrate."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi said, "How is the marriage with the Hou family going?"
"It's almost a full moon. Have you not gone to see the Marquis' wife yet?"
Yuan Xi touched his nose and said awkwardly: "I'll go and tell you right away."
He walked to the door of the marquis's wife and hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door. The marquis's wife opened the door and saw that it was Yuan Xi. She was a little at a loss and lowered her head to let Yuan Xi in.
She closed the door, feeling somewhat uneasy. She had sensed the conflict and confusion in Yuan Xi's heart these days.
However, all she could do now was to wait.