The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 213 Rouran
The grassland, beside the rich and beautiful Beihai Lake, is the homeland of the Rouran people, and it is also the barrier they rely on for survival. With the unique geographical advantages of Beihu Lake, it not only protects tens of thousands of Rouran people, but also provides fertile soil. Let this half-herding and half-farming nation survive under the watchful eyes of Turks and Tie Le.

Rouran, a branch of the Xianbei ethnic group, lived a nomadic life on the Mongolian plateau from the [-]th to the [-]th centuries.Tribal Khanates were once established on the Mongolian grasslands following the Huns Khanate and the Xianbei Khanate. In order to meet the needs of military conquests, they imitated the Northern Wei Dynasty, established military laws, set up battle formations, reorganized the army, established the Khan Royal Court, and made Rou However, it quickly entered the early stage of slavery from the tribal alliance, and later generations also called it the Rouran Khanate.The cavalry is like "the wind gallops and the birds go, coming and going suddenly", forming a powerful force that shakes Mobei.

During the heyday of Rouran, its power spread across the desert from north to south, from the North Sea (Baikal) Lake in the north, the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain in the south, the Daxing’an Mountains in the northeast, connecting with Didouyu, and Kumoxi and Xilamulun River in the southeast. Khitan is a neighbor, and the west reaches the Junggar Basin and the Ili River Basin, and once entered the Tarim Basin, making the countries at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains subordinate.During the development of Rouran, it gradually merged with other ethnic groups.

On the one hand, the rulers of Rouran in this period continued to adopt the strategy of close-range attack and distant relations, uniting the Later Qin, Northern Yan, and Northern Liang to jointly deal with the Northern Wei Dynasty; on the other hand, they continued to harass and plunder the northern border of the Northern Wei Dynasty.The Northern Wei Dynasty adopted the policy of "crusade" against Rouran in order to relieve the threat from the north, unify the north and south of the desert, and plunder wealth.Therefore, in the past 80 years, there have been more than 20 times of Rouran's southern disturbance and Northern Wei's northern attack.

But Rouran's strength was only temporary, and was eventually replaced by Turkic, who had been a slave of Rouran. When Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty unified the world, Turkic also replaced the Rouran Khanate and became the king of the grassland.

soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
On the endless grassland, groups of cattle, sheep and horses drink water leisurely by the lake, and white felt bags are dotted on the vast grassland like stars.

Suddenly, the drinking cows and sheep raised their heads and began to make noises anxiously. On the ground, there was a thunderous hoofbeat, and the entire grassland seemed to be in turmoil.

The nearby herdsmen changed their colors one after another. This is only the case when thousands of horses are galloping. Could it be that the damn Turkic people are calling again?

A large number of herdsmen took off their bows and arrows and gathered quickly. The desolate and tragic horn sound spread far and wide on the vast grassland. The flag fluttered in the wind and gradually became more visible.

"This, this is the army of the Han people!" Although the herdsmen did not know the Han people, they were able to distinguish them. Turkic flags usually used totems as banners: "Go and inform the Great Khan!"

Seeing that it was the Han army, the herdsmen breathed a sigh of relief, but they did not let down their vigilance. Although they were Han, it did not mean that the Han would not attack them. During the process of Beiyan and Beiliang, they split up to attack Rouran seven times. In 429, Tuoba Tao led his army to attack Rouran from east to west and was defeated.In this Northern Expedition, the Northern Wei Dynasty achieved great success, capturing nearly 30 Rouran troops, millions of horses, and tens of millions of livestock. It not only dealt a military blow to the Rouran Empire, but also a fatal economic blow.At this point, the Rouran Empire began to decline and decline, and under the military pressure of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it began to emigrate
So far, Rouran has turned from prosperity to decline, although there was a revival.Soon, however, the struggle between nobles and slaves broke out.The former Rouran forging slaves living in the southern foothills of today's Altai Mountains - the Turkic tribe is becoming stronger and stronger.

Turkic leader Territory Gate (Yili Khan) was rejected because of his marriage proposal to Rouran Khan, so he united with Gaoche and sent troops to attack Rouran, Anahu was defeated and committed suicide.

The Rouran royal family An Luochen and others fled to the Northern Qi Dynasty, and those who stayed in Mobei were also divided into two parts: the eastern remnant was dominated by iron cutting; the western remnant supported Deng Shuzi as the main one.Rouran in the east was defeated by the Turks and defected to the Northern Qi Dynasty, and was placed in the Mayi area.The next year, he rebelled against Northern Qi and returned to Mobei.After being pursued by the Northern Qi Dynasty, the eastern Rouran was basically disintegrated. In 555, the Turkic Mugan Khan led an army to defeat the western Rouran, and Deng Shuzi led thousands of others to defect to the Western Wei Dynasty.However, under the intimidation of the Turks, the Western Wei Dynasty handed over 3000 people under Deng Shuzi to the Turkic envoys, and brutally killed them outside the Qingmen in Chang'an.The Rouran Khanate perished, and the rest of the people collapsed in all directions, or were assimilated by the Eastern and Western Wei, Northern Zhou, and Northern Qi, or annexed by Turks, and there was no news of the rest.

It's just that no one thought that in the northeast of Beihai, there is still a group of Rouran people living today, or maybe its strength is vulnerable, and the Turks have never taken it seriously from the beginning to the end.

Rouran people know the history of grievances between Rouran and the Central Plains, so they are very wary of Han people who suddenly appear here.

It was only when the other party approached that they realized that this Han army was small in number, at most two thousand, but they had a frighteningly large number of horses, five or even ten horses per person, no wonder there was such a big momentum.

The Han army came to a halt only a stone's throw away, and they did not launch an attack, which made the herdsmen relax their vigilance.

At this time, Yiqi galloped to a place not far from the herdsmen, and said in fluent Turkic: "I am Xue Wanche, General of the Sui Dynasty. I want to see your leader."

A mighty herdsman rode forward and said in blunt Chinese: "Our people have gone to inform the Great Khan, please wait for a while."

"Can you sell some food? We can exchange war horses."

Xue Wanche heard that the other party had a literati tone that was well-educated in Sinology, so he switched back to Chinese. After they completed the task, they were chased by the Turkic people frantically. More than 1000 people.

"No problem, please wait a moment." The mighty herdsman is the leader of this area. Seeing that the Han army is very tired and looks like a dusty man, he kindly asks them to rest first, and prepares food with the surrounding herdsmen.

In the distance, Xue Wanche led all the soldiers off their horses, and many of them fell down and lay on the ground.

"We've been out for so long, and we don't know what happened to General Qin and the others..." Xue Wanche sat down on the ground.

Xue Huai sat beside Xue Wanche, and said with a wry smile: "General Qin and the others will definitely not be able to lose. Even if they lose, the ones who die will be Turks. Guan Nei Dao has an army of 10,000+ from Li Jing, the governor. I'm worried about us now, if the fight continues like this, we brothers will all be lost on the grassland."

Xue Wanche said with a smile: "Since the day I took up arms as a soldier, everyone has never thought about dying."

Xue Huai sighed. In the past half a month, countless small Turkic tribes have been annihilated. This is already a miracle, but if you hurt one thousand enemies, you will lose eight hundred. Even with the leadership of a fierce general like Xue Wanche, Turkic life After the alert was raised, the encirclement and suppression were carried out. Even though these soldiers had already decided to die, this army that could not be rested was on the verge of collapse.In Xue Huai's view, it is already a great miracle that more than a thousand people are still alive.

"It's just..." After hesitating for a while, Xue Huai looked at Xue Wanche: "Will Rouran agree?"

The news that Rouran survived was learned from a Turkic tribal chief, and because of this, they rushed all the way here.

Xue Wanche nodded: "The Rouran people were defeated by their own slaves, and the royal family even died. They hate the Turks far more than they hate the Han people. They don't have many horses here. This is unusual. I think this It's the Turks' restrictions on them. The purpose is, of course, they don't want Rouran to rise again. On the grassland, without horses, it means losing half of their life. From this, it can be seen that Rouran people are not only having a hard time, but they are also always in a Turkic state. Who would have thought of such a precarious life? As long as there is a way out, I believe they are willing to find it no matter how high the price is, otherwise, they can only be annexed by the Turks or other people, so as to completely Annihilated in the long river of history!"

During the difficult days, Xue Wanche grew up rapidly.

"I hope!" Xue Huai nodded. He looked into the distance and saw that some herdsmen had brought food here.

Xue Wanche selected a Liaodong horse that was hardworking and full of tenacity, and after ensuring that one person rode two, he took out all the captured war horses, intending to barter with the Rouran people to replenish the army rations, arrows, and weapons!
But the leader of Rouran couldn't make the decision, and asked Xue Wanche to wait for their sweat to make a decision.

After a while, there was another sound of horseshoes on the grassland, and a small number of Rouran cavalry rushed towards this side, which should be their troops.

Xue Wanche waved his hand, and the soldiers under his command immediately put on guard.

"Chief of Rouran, Yu Hong, met General Xue of the Great Sui Dynasty." Yu Hongnian was about fifty, with a rather tall figure, and gave a soft salute to Xue Wanche.

"The chief knows Da Sui?" Xue Wanche replied with a Han salute, and looked at Yu Hong suspiciously.It's no wonder he asked this question. After all, the Rouran Khanate has faded out of the world for too long, and Rouran lives in the North Sea far away from the Central Plains. He thought the other party didn't know about the Sui Dynasty.

Yu Hong understood what Xue Wanche meant, and said with a wry smile: "Rouran is far away from the Central Plains, but I also know what happened in the Central Plains from the Tiele people. I never thought that my Rouran Khanate is gone, and the Northern Zhou, Northern Qi, and Southern Dynasties are gone. Civil strife broke out again in the Sui Dynasty in the Central Plains, which is really unpredictable."

"The current chaos in our Great Sui Dynasty is a disease left by the Han Dynasty, and it is not a disaster of one dynasty!" Having said this, Xue Wanche said sonorously: "However, His Royal Highness King Qin knows how to use people well, loves the people, and is sympathetic to his subordinates. With elite soldiers and strong generals, with a broad and profound layout, we will surely be able to dominate the world!"

"King Qin of your country is well-known on the grasslands. Now everyone in the grasslands knows about him. I also know a thing or two about his deeds. He is indeed a great hero with great wisdom." Yu Hong said with great reverence.

Yang Tong may not be popular in the Central Plains, but on the grassland where the strong are respected, even if the hostile Turks and Xue Yantuo mention Yang Tong's name, they should call him King of Sui and Qin in awe.The Rouran people who have the hatred of destroying the country with the Turks have no reason to be hostile.

"What the chief said is right. In the twelve states of the Central Plains, I, the Sui Dynasty, ruled three and a half states and monopolized one-third of the world. With the unity of the civil and military forces and the support of the army and the people, we will surely win the entire north, and then sweep across the Central Plains, ending the troubled times." Xue Wanche was incomparable. Said confidently, full of pride.

He is a general with both civil and military skills. Seeing from the details that Rouran's living conditions are worrying, he is moved to subdue him. Since the other party admires Yang Tong, of course he will praise him vigorously, but Xue Wanche thinks this is the truth.

Yu Hong nodded, "But I don't know why the general is here?"

"To tell you the truth, we dispatched 15 troops to the Turks this time. Xieli held [-] troops and had no will to win, so he assembled another [-] troops in Yudujin Mountain. I am under the order of General Qin Qiong, Lead [-] soldiers to delay the Turkic reinforcements near Yudujin Mountain! In the past half a month, we have killed countless enemies, but there are only so many of the [-] brothers left." Xue Wanche said a little sadly, but soon After recovering, he said: "However, we also successfully held back the Turkic reinforcements, laying the foundation for General Qin Qiong's brilliant victory in annihilating [-] Turkic soldiers. Brothers are loyal to the country and deserve to die."

"A real hero!" Yu Hong said with emotion.

Xue Wanche took a big sip of wine, and said: "Rouran was annihilated by the former forging slave Turk, not to mention Guozuo, and he also took strict precautions against you Rouran. The current situation of the Rouran tribe is very dangerous. If you don't resist, Sooner or later, it will be annexed by Turks or Tiele. I don’t think the chief doesn’t know about it?”

Although Xue Wanche was asking a question, his gaze and tone of voice staring at Yu Hong were full of affirmation.

"This..." Yu Hong couldn't help but choke, looking into Xue Wanche's eyes, he could only smile wryly and said, "General Xue is right, Rouran is indeed at the critical point of life and death. Presumably the general also saw that we don't have many war horses." ?”

"Indeed! Why is this?" Xue Wanche asked the doubts in his heart.

"Jieli Khan confiscated 50 horses, [-] sheep, [-] cattle, and [-] catties of corn, which is equivalent to [-]% of our supplies! We don't know how to survive this winter. " Yu Hong said worriedly.

"Oh?" Xue Wanche's eyes flashed, he looked at Yu Hong and said, "Is there a question that should be asked?"

"General, please speak."

"As far as I know, Jieli Khan made certain promises when expropriating materials from other tribes, saying that he would compensate them afterwards. Is there any promise for you?"

Yu Hong sighed, and said very worriedly: "He did make promises to others, but when he came to us, he didn't have a word of promise."

"Xieli doesn't want you to live at all. Now General Qin has wiped out [-] troops of Jieli, and the area around Yudujin Mountain has been completely destroyed by me. Next, Jieli must take the opportunity of recuperation to annex some small Tribe! And you are special, probably not even qualified to be annexed, in my opinion, you are simply the opposite!"

"My Rouran family has a population of less than [-], and now there are less than [-] people who can fight. How can we rebel? I'm afraid..."

"6000 people are enough!"

(End of this chapter)