Lords of War: Sinicized Dragonborn

Chapter 69, Habitual Defensive Counterattack, Li Di's Romance Plot

As long as the Xiongnu dared to dismount and attack the city, the Han border guards would have enough time to react and mobilize a large number of troops to intercept the Xiongnu's invasion of the Han territory, making it difficult for the Huns to move forward.

The geographical location of Shule City is also very special. Although the city is not big, there are not many Han border guards, and it is not like Yumen Pass, which guards the main pass into the Central Plains.

But Shule City is special in that, like the guard, he is located on the outside of a canyon passage leading to the Great Wall.

The Xiongnu could ignore Shule City, skip Shule City directly, and attack Yumenguan, the gateway to the Central Plains, or sneak into the hinterland of the Central Plains from other trail windows.

But the result of ignoring Shule City is that Shule City is like a gatekeeper with inconvenient legs and feet, although it can't stop the Huns from invading the Han in the Central Plains.

However, the big Han frontier guards in Shule City can completely close the gate of the canyon main road leading from the Central Plains to the outside of the Great Wall slowly after the Huns broke through, and call a large number of big Han frontier troops for support. , Waiting for work with ease, waiting for the Huns' army to return home.

Since Qin Shihuang adopted the border defense strategy of building the Great Wall, if nomadic peoples such as the Xiongnu outside the Great Wall wanted to attack the hinterland of the Han Dynasty and the Central Plains, they would rob the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains.

From where they attacked the Central Plains, when the Huns returned beyond the Great Wall, they had to go back from where they came from.

If these Xiongnu troops want to detour back to the Great Wall, in addition to needing to travel four or five times the distance and spending a lot of time, they also need to face the siege and interception of the Han border guards, and set foot on another nomadic territory outside the Great Wall. The risk of being hacked.

You must know that the Xiongnu army on the return journey will not only have far fewer troops than when they left for the expedition, but the Xiongnu will also carry the massive supplies and women they looted from the great Han in the Central Plains along the way.

The return of the Xiongnu army with few people, precious and scarce materials, and the nomads outside the Great Wall who also lack clothing, food, and daily necessities, is undoubtedly more important than them attacking the big Han and plundering the Central Plains. Simple, and the risk of loss is not that great.

The way of life of the nomadic people is doomed to have too high population mobility, too low a sense of belonging to power, and generally family power is the mainstream.

The regimes of the nomadic peoples outside the Great Wall are also an alliance of princes similar to Zhou Tianzi.

Today is good like a brother, but tomorrow you may suddenly turn your back on him and come to kill your men with a knife in the middle of the night, and rob your women and all kinds of supplies.

Therefore, for the Huns and other nomadic peoples who came to the Central Plains to plunder, the time, energy, material and manpower required to detour home, and the risk of returning home along the way were too high and not worthwhile.

In particular, nomads outside the Great Wall often like to come to the Central Plains to plunder supplies around the autumn harvest.

There was delay on the way to attack, and when they returned home, they had to take a long and high-risk detour. Maybe when they successfully returned home, either their wives had already run away with their children, or other nomadic forces took the opportunity to steal the house. , or the family ran out of rice and starved to death and froze to death.

When who goes home, it is not so close, how to go?
Get home early, and after seeing your wife and children, will you let go of the worries in your heart when you go out, and then have the leisure to show off to your family the rich harvest of your trip?

Especially if the Xiongnu returned from the Central Plains too late and failed to return to the Great Wall before the road was blocked by heavy snow, let alone their wives and children, their strong Hun army, even if the big Han border guards left them alone, they would freeze Many people died.

If the encirclement and suppression by the Han border guards were added, the 4000 Huns who came here could successfully return to their hometowns outside the Great Wall. I am afraid that no more than [-] people, or even completely wiped out by the Han border guards, is not without precedent.

It can be said that the Eastern Yanhuang Chinese civilization also gradually developed the national habits and characteristics of defense and counterattack from here, after years of harassment and plunder by the nomadic peoples outside the Great Wall.

There is no way, the territory of the East occupies too much land, although the plain farming civilization has raised a large number of people and accumulated a large amount of supplies.

But no one knows how to raise an excessive number of border guards over the years, just to defend against the nomads outside the Great Wall who don't know how many years to attack.

There are more than a dozen important passages from outside the Great Wall to the hinterland of the Central Plains, each of which must be defended by at least 50 frontier defenders in order to rely on the city wall checkpoints to block the invasion of tens of thousands of cavalry from the nomadic peoples outside the Great Wall. Wan is a full-time sergeant who has been out of production for a long time.

After experiencing several fiscal deficits and rebellions by the frontier army, the regimes of the Central Plains have gradually learned how to use less labor-saving, more efficient and safer defensive methods.

Build the Great Wall, border guard posts and frontier guards jointly defend, I, the Central Plains, can't stop you nomads outside the Great Wall, just sneak into the Central Plains to eat and drink, but I can stop you from going back.

In the past, [-] troops each guarded one main road, but now there are [-] troops, with a small number of sporadic border sentries, helping to defend three main roads.

There are more places to defend, and more soldiers and horses that can be mobilized to support at any time, but at the same time, the number of frontier sergeants to maintain is smaller, and the materials consumed are also less.

But now, Shule City, which was besieged by the Xiongnu army and was about to attack the city, is so special that it can be left alone, but the future troubles brought to the Xiongnu army are endless.

Moreover, most of the surrounding areas of Shule City are high slopes of loess, yellow sand and Gobi, and it is not easy to see even a single grass, let alone a tree.

The absence of trees meant that the Xiongnu army could not build siege equipment on the spot.

Without grass, it means that they have two or three horses and horses, and they cannot graze on the spot.

The [-] Xiongnu army is a large number of people, but since they intend to come to the Central Plains to rob, of course it is easy to go when they go.

Not to mention the supplies they carried with them, it was about the same as that of Li Di and others, which would not exceed a month's supply in three to five days.

There is not much food to supply. If people eat horse chews and cannot get food supplies in time, the [-] cavalry army of the Huns will not be able to last for many days.

All kinds of factors are very unfavorable and extremely uncomfortable for the Xiongnu army who wants to attack the territory of the Han Dynasty.

As for the cavalry attacking the city, it was a joke. One hundred thousand cavalry is not as useful as thirty thousand well-trained and equipped infantry with shields.

The Huns, who were all cavalry, participated in the siege on horseback. Apart from allowing them to attack and retreat more quickly, it had no effect on the defensive counterattacks launched by the Han border guards against the city wall.

Standing on horseback under a rammed-earth city wall that is at least [-] meters and [-] meters high, shooting each other with the big Han defenders on the tower?

Is it that he doesn't die fast enough?
Rush to the bottom of the city tower, shoot a wave of arrows, and then run back?
You Xiongnu can shoot, so the big Han frontier guards on the city wall won't hide or block it?
Since it was attacking and defending the city, in terms of timing and location, the Han frontier guards who defended the city must have an absolute advantage. Relying on the fortifications of the city for defense must be stronger than the unobstructed Huns cavalry.

The Xiongnu roamed, rode and shot, in addition to giving free arrows to the big Han border guards on the city wall, as long as your Hun army does not send people to the city, what is the point of all this?
Kong Ming still needs straw boats to borrow arrows, you Xiongnu are good, I am afraid that the big Han frontier guards on the city wall will not have enough arrows, and they will send arrows to the city spontaneously and diligently without using any tricks or strategies.

The siege methods that the Xiongnu army could use were to send a small number of cavalry to besiege Shule City, and the rest of the cavalry to raid the surrounding villages to obtain supplies.

It is to use the lives of the Huns to transport soil to fill the city wall. This is an efficient and fast method, but it will lose a lot of troops.

So, I would like to ask, how much earth and stone will it take to fill a city wall of [-] meters and [-] meters wide with a gentle slope of [-] meters wide and [-] degrees wide enough to accommodate two horses galloping side by side?

How much earthwork is needed for a gentle slope of [-] meters wide and [-] degrees?
How much time would it take for an army of [-] Huns to eat, drink, or rest?
Carrying soil to fill the city must not be able to fill all four walls of the city. The amount of work is too large, and the Xiongnu have concentrated their soil to fill the city. How can the big Han defenders on the city wall be indifferent?
Concentrating troops to defend the section of the city wall where the Huns transported soil to fill the city, facing the Huns cavalry who concentrated on riding horses and transporting soil to fill the city, and the big Han frontier guards on the city wall, what is the difference from facing the moving Huns humanoid archery target?

Therefore, unless it is a last resort, the Xiongnu army is not willing to use this method to attack the city.

It was said that they were going out to rob the big men in the Central Plains, but as soon as they left the house and before they reached the ground, one-tenth or even more of them would die.

Who would want to take such a risk?

They are all Huns with their heads on their waists and going out to do great things.

I heard you say that I can go out and earn a lot of money, so I took the younger generation of the family to go out with you.

I respect you, I called you Khan, the leader of the team, but it turned out that you were unlucky. You didn’t see any belongings when you just went out, so you asked me to die first, or this kind of meaningless death.

Every family has several mouths waiting to be fed, and bears the responsibility of the whole family. If I die, the family will have no way of life. When the time comes, the wife will sleep with others, and it will be fine if the children don’t cook for you.

Who would?
If you don't believe me, try it, ask Shang Tongcun to go out to work, promise him a salary of one hundred and eighty thousand yuan, but take him out of the house and leave his hometown.

When you come to an unfamiliar place, tell him that if you want to earn a salary of 80 yuan, you need him to lend you [-] yuan in starting capital, or cut your waist first, and see if it will work. Someone got angry and beat you on the spot?

Now that Shule City has been surrounded by the Huns, the situation of Li Di and others has become very dangerous.

The besieged Shule City doesn't need to worry too much for the time being. Anyway, as long as the defenders of the city wall don't surrender, the Xiongnu army will not be able to attack it for a while.

On the contrary, Li Di and others, who are too close to the Huns army and have nowhere to hide in the wilderness, will face the danger of being discovered and hunted down by the Huns army at any time.

Not only Li Di's first thought was to find a place to hide, even the three big fellow sentinels did the same.

With more than 50 people, facing an army of tens of thousands of Huns, it is undoubtedly equivalent to hitting an egg with a stone.

In the wilderness, facing the charging and cavalry shooting of the Xiongnu army, it is estimated that the Huns will not be able to complete a round of attacks, and Li Di and the others will all die.

With the return of the sentry cavalry sent to another place to investigate, the current situation of Shule City and the approximate number of the Huns' army were confirmed.

The captain of the big fellow sentry cavalry turned his horse around, and beckoned Li Di and others to follow him into the mountain path beside him.

Specially choose those roads that are not convenient for cavalry to find a hidden mountain to avoid the scouts of the Huns.

Frightened and frightened all the way, he followed the big man's sentry cavalry, and came to the hidden mountain col where the source was safe for the time being. Li Di thought for a long time on the road.

Shule City must be entered, even if it will be an isolated city for a period of time in the future, it will be better than Emperor Li leading people in the wilderness.

After all, in the wilderness, he led a group of two-legged soldiers led by Liyue. Once the Xiongnu found him, he would definitely not be able to outrun the four-legged cavalry of the Xiongnu army.

So, the problem he has to face now is how to enter the city.

Li Di, who initially had a plan in mind, found the big man sentry cavalry captain alone.

"This big Han general, Shule City is currently surrounded by the Huns' army. Do you think we should send someone to the rear to inform the army stationed at the rear and pass the information on the Huns' invasion to the rear?"

In fact, what Li Di said was to show his position. Do you think I am thinking about the big man?

We are our own people...

Eliminate the suspicion and concerns of the big man sentry about him, Li Di and others, further increase the trust of the big man sentry in himself and others, and pave the way for his next plan.

In fact, even if Li Di didn't say or remind, after leading Li Di and others to this hidden mountain depression, the captain of the sentry cavalry of the big man planned to send someone to deliver the letter.

The friendly words of Li Di's expression of his position also eased the guarded eyes of the captain of the big man sentry cavalry.

The captain of the big fellow sentry cavalry turned his head and said hello to the previous big fellow sentry cavalry who often took the lead to explore the way.

Seeing the big Han sentry cavalry, he immediately rode his horse in the direction where Li Di and others came, and quickly took a small path to the big Han frontier garrison stationed at Yumen Pass, reporting the Hun army's invasion and the urgent information that Shule City was besieged.

"You are not bad. Although I grew up in a foreign country, I have not forgotten where my roots are! My name is Geng He, from Fufeng Maoling. Speaking of which, we are still half fellows..."

Li Di's initiative to show kindness along the way brought good results after all.

The attitude of the captain of the sentry cavalry changed, and he took the initiative to tell his name and hometown, and tried to get close to Li Di. In fact, it was not only the reason for Li Di's previous words.

It was the insignificant sense of trust that he had accumulated bit by bit after all his performances along the way since he met the big fellow sentry rider.

It is actually very difficult to win the trust of a stranger, especially in the case of the invasion of the Huns, it is really not easy to face the sensitive big man sentry cavalry.

Finally, he won the initial trust of the captain of the big man sentry cavalry, and Li Di was able to tell the strategy he had been thinking about for a long time.

However, before further communication with the captain of the sentry cavalry, Li Di and the captain of the sentry cavalry each sent their trustworthy subordinates to go to watch the movement of the Xiongnu army.

Unlike Li Di, who had a large number of subordinates, he sent a group of three led by the recruiting corps leader to investigate the enemy's situation in all directions.

At present, there is only one sentry cavalry captain available under his command, and he can only beat his swollen face to pretend to be fat, so he sent the only sentry cavalry under him to guard.

And this is also an important reason why the sentry captain, after confirming Li Di's position, changed his attitude towards Li Di and started to get close to him.

Regardless of whether these 50 people are useful to the tens of thousands of Xiongnu troops, let alone fifty armed civilians at a critical moment that concerns their own lives.

Even a single dog can bring a little bit of psychological comfort to the captain of the big man sentry cavalry.

After all, for those who fell into the water, a life-saving straw is also a life-saving scratch.

After arranging sentry guards, Li Di took the captain of the big man sentry cavalry to the side to discuss how to enter Shule City.

It must be impossible during the daytime. The collective action goal of more than 50 people is too big. As long as the Xiongnu army is not blind, they will definitely be discovered the first time Li Di and others show up.

Afterwards, it will not be the scene of Li Di and others entering the city, but meat buns beating dogs, to add some fun to the Huns army who are bored because of the siege.

If you can't do it during the day, you can only sneak into Shule City at night when your vision is limited.

There is no choice about the time to enter the city, only at night.

Then came another crucial question, how to open the city gate after Li Di and others successfully sneaked under Shule City.

This is a big issue, a big issue related to the life and death of Li Di and others.

Not to mention the current dangerous situation of being besieged by the Xiongnu army, even in normal times, after the curfew time and the city gates are closed.

As long as it's not urgent military intelligence, don't even try to open the closed city gate easily, even if you have a big relationship.

At that time, Li Di and others took advantage of the night to slander and ran outside the gate of Shule City a little bit. If the big Han frontier guards in the city don't open the door to you, an armed person of unknown origin, then Li Di should be an idiot face off.

At that time, there will be a big Han frontier guard with a bow and arrow on the city wall in front of him, and there will be a vicious army of Xiongnu who will find Li Di and others at any time.

Li Di was full of joy and thought that he could run to Shule City, but he was welcomed into Shule City with smiles and enthusiasm by the big Han frontier guards who were very short of defensive personnel, but he turned out to be a stranger inside and out.

After the Xiongnu army found themselves and others stopped outside the city gate, and verified the identities and positions of these unknown people.

Even if the big Han frontier guards in Shule City wanted to make up for their mistakes, even if the big Han frontier guards really wanted to let Li Di and others enter the city immediately, they would not dare.

If the Xiongnu army followed Li Di and others and rushed into Shule City, all the big Han people in the city would hate Li Di and others to death.

The key to Li Di's smooth entry into Shule City is the captain of the sentry cavalry in front of Li Di.

With the captain of the sentinel cavalry as a guarantee, the situation is completely different.

Although I can't guarantee it, I will definitely be able to open the city gate.

But at least Geng He, the well-organized captain of the sentry cavalry in the Han Dynasty, communicated and guaranteed with the Han border guards in Shule City.

It can greatly increase the probability of Li Di and others calling to open the city gate, and avoid the embarrassing situation that Li Di and others may be stopped outside the city gate as much as possible.

This is also the key point for Li Di to take the initiative to express his identity and standpoint and express his goodwill to Geng He sentry captain.

After Li Di's repeated confirmation, Geng He, the captain of the big man sentry cavalry, was really sure that he could open the gate of Shule City, allowing Li Di and others to enter Shule City smoothly.

Only then did Li Di let go of his worries a little, and began to discuss with Geng He, a cousin of the same clan as Geng Gong, the guard of Shule City, who did not leave the third service, to discuss how to enter the city.

As a country of etiquette, Yanhuang Huaxia people always like to bring some greetings when they visit.

Especially Li Di's current situation, he needs to quickly establish his own prestige after entering Shule City, so as to avoid the fate of being used as cannon fodder.

Just leading fifty famous generals, for Li Di, these capitals are far from enough to make Geng Gong, the guard of Shule City, pay so much attention to himself.

After all, although Li Di's 50 people are not a small number for the border guards in Shule City with few soldiers and horses, the arrival of Li Di and others still cannot change the current situation Shule City is facing.

If Li Di could bring the support of the big Han army stationed on the border, even if he was alone, then his weight in the heart of Geng Gong, the guard of Shule City, would definitely be worse than this. People are much more important.

Therefore, Emperor Li did not plan to sneak into Shule City empty-handed with people.

Instead, he wanted to take a risk to win a share, which was enough for him to gain a foothold in Shule City and stand in front of Geng Gong, the guard of the big man.

At that time, leading troops into the city to support is a heavy capital, and it is another heavy capital to pay and vote.

This kind of investors who bring their own project employees and funds can't be lowered anywhere, and they can be said to be very important.

As long as you don't say you're going to stop doing business, where are you going to be confessed as the God of Wealth?

And if you want to win the vote certificate, it doesn't mean that you can get it, and all kinds of factors need to be taken into consideration.

When I heard Li Di say that he wanted to sneak attack the Huns' army station at night to win the vote.

The captain of the big man's sentry cavalry, Geng He's eyes were almost dumbfounded. He had seen many new recruits who were born with calves and were not afraid of tigers.

But like Emperor Li, who wanted to use 50 people to sneak attack on hundreds of thousands of Xiongnu's camp, this was the first time in his life that he saw it with his own eyes.

Hearing that Li Di had such a plan in mind, he quickly shook his head crazily, trying to get rid of Li Di's unrealistic thoughts as soon as possible.

"Don't, don't, you are so stupid. When I said that I can bring you into the city, I don't mean that I can really open the gate of the city, but that I know a secret road leading to the city... You must not Come on, I don't want to die yet..."

Seeing Geng He's resolute attitude as the captain of the big man sentry cavalry, Li Di could only give up such arrogance with regret.

Generally speaking, Emperor Li was still influenced by the legends of the romances in his previous life, and always wanted to do some earth-shattering events like the famous generals in those romances.

After many years of practicing martial arts on the battlefield, he was finally able to personally participate in this ancient cold weapon battle, and because of the characteristics of the trial secret realm, he didn't have to worry about his own life, so Li Di's mentality became a little flustered.

"Okay, since it's a secret passage, there's no need to wait until it gets dark. Is the entrance to the tunnel near?"

Li Di's expression and tone were all expressing his unwillingness to realize the idea in his heart.

This made Geng He, the captain of the big man sentry cavalry, who could see what was in his heart, had no choice but to take his arm and walked all the way to the secret road of Shule City. delusion.

There are secret passages in Shule City, and the excavation site of this secret passage is also very particular.

It is on the cliff of a high loess slope, and there is nothing on the road that can be called a path.

Let alone riding a horse, people walk on this cliff without holding the wall with their hands, and they feel uneasy in their hearts.

It can be said that this secret passage was dug entirely for the Huns and other nomadic peoples outside the Great Wall.

　[-] words, one more chapter is missing

　　
　
(End of this chapter)