At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 272, Han’s Manifest Destiny and Mayi’s Conspiracy

On May 23, the fourth year of the Han Dynasty, Pingcheng, Yanmen County.

"Tie Lang Niang, these are the clothes your son bought for you with his allowance." A Han army officer said while holding the clothes.

"Tigress, this is the cloth your son bought with his allowance."

"Isn't there a reward before the battle begins?" Iron Wolf Girl asked strangely.

Of course, the cavalry on the grassland didn't have such a thing as salary. If they got it, they would get spoils. If they couldn't get it, they would get nothing. That's why she was so surprised that there were spoils before the war started.

"Your son's current Han army and my big Han army all have subsidies. I am not a savage like the Huns. I have nothing and can only rely on looting." The Han army officer said proudly. The welfare benefits of the Han army have always been first-class, even those of the Qin State cannot compare. Not to mention the Huns.

Then the Han army officer kept chanting his name, and each of the relatives of the Aries soldiers received the things given by the Han army officer in surprise.

"My lord, please tell my son and ask him to work hard with Shan Yu. He must not let down Shan Yu's importance." In the eyes of these relatives of the Aries soldiers, the Han people have given so many things, and their sons must be affected by it. Appreciated and reused. In the future, his son might become famous and become a leader of a small tribe.

The officer said angrily: "He is the emperor, and Shan Yu is what the Huns call him. Now that you are the subjects of the Han Dynasty, you can no longer say Shan Yu. Remember to say emperor in the future."

Therefore, Xu Fan attaches great importance to these experimental strongholds. As long as it succeeds, this model can be popularized throughout the grassland, and the Han Dynasty can gradually annex the territory on the grassland.

Xu Fan said: "This pilot project of yours is very important. The settled herdsmen are no different from us Han people. After the success of the Pingcheng experiment, the border counties of our Han Dynasty will follow your model to absorb the barbarians from the desert."

But as long as these herdsmen settled down, lived in cities, and raised their own livestock, there would be no essential difference between grazing and farming. When the economic activities were the same, the Han could truly and completely occupy the grasslands and eliminate the nomads at the source.

"When the time comes, I, the Han, can use this model to annex the grassland bit by bit. The Han will enfeoff the princes to suppress the grassland. When the entire vast grassland becomes my Han's vassal state, the Hu people, the enemy of our farming civilization for thousands of years, will completely disappear. ”

Xu Fan said: "No matter how difficult it is, we have to do it. As long as we settle down, even if we are grazing, we are Han people. But as long as they are nomadic, even if this person is Han, he will quickly become a barbarian. This is the high price of the imperial flower." The reason for letting them settle down is the core policy of the imperial court. "

Xu Fan, along with Li Shang, the prefect of Yanmen County, Fan Kuai, the captain, and Chen Chen, the county supervisor, were not far away to observe the settlement of the Aries tribe.

Hu people and Han people are not determined by blood, but by their production habits and economic activities. Historically, when Hu people entered the Central Plains, they would quickly assimilate into Han people, and when Han people entered the desert, they would quickly become Hu people.

In the next few years, I will ask the court to introduce policies to vigorously promote cattle farming and horse farming throughout the world, so that there will be no shortage of markets for your livestock. As long as these herdsmen can make money, they will not care about the change in lifestyle and can live in the city. It is better than living in the wilderness with simple conditions. It is human nature to yearn for a better life. As soon as the settlement and captivity mode begins, nomadic preferences will be quickly discovered. This is the replacement of backward productivity by advanced productivity. "

Li Shang said: "With the support of the imperial court, I will have confidence."

Li Shang frowned and said: "Your Majesty, nomadism is the habit of these barbarian people. They must graze their livestock. Even if it is forced to change their habits, it will be very difficult, and it may not be worth the loss for the court."

In order to resettle these tens of thousands of Aries tribesmen, the Han people paid a very high price. Each tribe would build a settlement for them with cement bricks. This kind of settlement was surrounded by 2-foot-high walls. On the grassland, It is said to be very safe. As long as they don't encounter thousands of cavalry, ordinary tribes cannot bully them.

This is also the reason why grassland peoples and farming peoples have been entangled for two thousand years. Two different production methods have created these two races. It is impossible to eliminate nomadic peoples without trying to eliminate economic activities such as nomadism.

Only then did Li Shang understand Xu Fan's ambition. The emperor not only wanted to destroy the Huns, but also wanted to destroy their enemies for thousands of years.

"You must do a good job in changing customs. The first point is to change their nomadic habits and fix them on the grassland. Any tribes and herdsmen who dare to cross the border and return to nomadic life will be severely punished." Xu Fan firmly told Li Shang The three said.

If we only use military capabilities to deal with the grasslands, this war will be like history repeating itself, with farming civilization and grassland civilization fighting for thousands of years without end.

"Yes, yes, you must follow the emperor and work hard."

No matter how prosperous the farming civilization is, it cannot occupy the grassland, because it exceeds the capabilities of farming civilization. When the old overlord of the grassland ends, a new overlord will replace him. The Xiongnu declined and Xianbei appeared. wait.

It even specially helped these herdsmen build houses, stables for their livestock, and built
Wells, some simple public infrastructure has been built, and the pastures around Pingcheng have been divided according to each herdsman household. Generally speaking, one herdsman family can get tens of thousands of acres of pasture. With green storage fodder, even if the herdsmen are not nomadic, they can To survive, on average the big man spent tens of thousands of dollars on each herdsman.

Thinking of this, Li Shang said excitedly: "I will not let your Majesty down."

Xu Fan said: "So you must promote silage feed and raise cattle and sheep in captivity. The court will also help you in this regard. The cattle and sheep raised in Yanmen County can be sold in the Central Plains.

People in this era are all enlightened. Wu Taibo and Jiang Taigong are heroes who have gone down in history. Especially after Xu Fan became the emperor, he repeatedly expressed his respect for Jiang Taigong and other people, saying that they transformed the original Yi and Di people. The land has become the land of the Xia Dynasty, which is beneficial to the present and will last forever. The civil servants and military generals of the Han Dynasty paid more attention to education.

Moreover, the Han's policy of enfeoffing the princes was also tied to their education. Naturally, I, the Han, would not say that I was invading the territory of the barbarians, but that I wanted to educate them and bathe in the light of the Han's civilization. Many Confucian scholars have begun to publicize that the emperor enfeoffed the princes. The princes, the princes educate the barbarians, this is the responsibility of the Han Dynasty, and it is also the Manifest Destiny of the Han Dynasty.

For their own benefit, the civil servants and generals of the Han Dynasty also consciously or unconsciously promoted the voices of these Confucian scholars. Although their current achievements are not enough to establish vassal states outside the Great Wall, they will continue to make contributions. When they have done enough, they will He also wanted to establish his own vassal state.

Therefore, the enfeoffment system of the Han Dynasty could not only be given to the founding heroes, but also a system should be formed to allow latecomers like them to also have the opportunity to establish vassal states. The Confucian scholars' Manifest Destiny theory was very suitable for the interests of these generals.

The reason why Li Shang was so excited was because he joined the Han Dynasty too late and his contribution was not enough. But if the Emperor's experiment really succeeded, the Hu people, the biggest enemies in the world for thousands of years, would be eliminated by the Han Dynasty. Naturally, the Emperor would be the first to take the credit. , but as the first person to promote such a policy, he will definitely go down in history. With the emperor's generosity, it would not be difficult to make him a duke and let him establish a vassal state.

Fan Kuai rolled his eyes when he saw the excited Li Shang. The emperor just said a few words, and you were so excited that you couldn't find the east, west, north, and south, and you forgot the purpose of coming here.

Fan Kuai said: "Your Majesty, as you are of high status, it is better not to stay in Pingcheng for a long time. It is too unsafe here. The Huns' army may attack Pingcheng at any time."

Chen Chen also smiled bitterly and said, "The Prime Minister is already scolding us for not admonishing Your Majesty. He also warned us that if something happens to Your Majesty, we will all be buried with you."

Only then did Li Shang remember that their purpose in Pingcheng was to persuade the emperor to leave here. Zhou Zhang originally dissuaded Xu Fan from going to the front line, saying that the son of a rich man could not sit down in court, but Xu Fan said that only by being on the front line can one understand the Huns' movements. At that time, Xu Fan was leading the Han's latest cavalry equipped with iron armor.

Zhou Zhang thought that with the protection of this large army, it was impossible for the Huns to defeat the Han army, so he did not continue to stop them.

But he never expected that the emperor would only lead 5000 cavalry and stationed them in Pingcheng, which was already outside the Great Wall. Although the Qin Dynasty had built some Great Walls, they could not protect this area forward. The Hu cavalry could still rush in through the gaps.

This made the three princes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty extremely panicked. After repeatedly persuading Xu Fan to retreat and refusing to listen, Zhou Zhang could only order Li and Shang to bring the emperor back.

Li Shang also immediately said: "Your Majesty is really going to retreat this time. Our spies on the grassland have received information that a large number of Huns have gathered in the royal court. They may move south in large numbers.

But according to the habits of the Huns, they usually go south after the autumn harvest, because they only have food to grab at that time, and in order to grab more food, the Huns usually send multiple armies south to invade our Han border counties, like Like last year, the Huns invaded the border counties in the north of our Han Dynasty at the same time. Such a large-scale gathering is extremely abnormal. The Huns most likely knew that His Majesty was in Pingcheng and wanted to capture His Majesty. "

Chen Chen said: "Pingcheng is no longer safe. Your Majesty should lead the army back to Yanmen Pass as soon as possible." Xu Fan was obviously deep in thought. He also agreed with Li Shang's words. It was most likely that Mao Dun suddenly gathered the army for his sake. He was really a little wary. There is a hill not far from Pingcheng called Baishan Mountain. People of this era may not know the name of this hill, but to Xu Fan, this hill is famous.

Having learned from Liu Bang's mistakes, Xu Fan must of course be wary of falling into Liu Bang's fate.

"Bring me the map."

Xu Fan's personal guard immediately took out a map of the north.

After looking at it for a long time, Xu Fan said: "The gathering of the Huns may not be a good thing for me, a big man."

"The main force of our Han army is infantry, leading hundreds of thousands of infantry to kill people in the grassland. As long as the Huns fight guerrillas with us, our Han army will be unable to advance or retreat.

Therefore, I am not afraid of a decisive battle with the main force of the Huns. Even if I suffer 1:1 casualties, I have a population of 2 million and can afford to lose it. The Huns only have one million people. If I lose hundreds of thousands of young people, I will have to recuperate for 000 years. They can't afford it.

I am afraid that the Huns will fight guerrillas against us, causing my Han army of hundreds of thousands to find no target and be wasted on the prairie. Even with the national strength of my Han Dynasty, I cannot maintain an army of hundreds of thousands on the grassland.

But if hundreds of thousands of Huns invade Yanmen County, the area from Mayi to Pingcheng is a basin. As long as the armies from the surrounding counties of the Han Dynasty occupy the surrounding dangerous areas, the hundreds of thousands of Huns will be unable to fly, let alone annihilate them all. Even if the Huns are severely damaged, they can create a peaceful period for our big man for more than ten years.

Li Shang said in fear: "Your Majesty, you must not do it. Compared with your body of thousands of gold, the Huns' army of hundreds of thousands is nothing. If you are still in Pingcheng, you should kill me first."

Xu Fan thought for a while and said: "I can sneak back to Yanmen Pass secretly and leave my big banner in Mayi to make the Huns think that I am still in Mayi, attracting the main force of the Huns and leaving time for the imperial army to assemble."

Then Xu Fan looked at the three of them and said, "I will leave you 1 soldiers in Mayi. Can you hold it for three months?"

Li Shang said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, let alone three months, the general can guard it even at the end of three years, as long as you return to Yanmen Pass."

Xu Fan said loudly: "Send an order to the prefect of Yunzhong County, the prefect of Taiyuan County, the Dai Wang, the King of Shanggu, and the Zhenbei General Mansion, and ask them to assemble their armies and be ready for war at any time. When the Huns attack, immediately reinforce Yanmen County. , I will severely defeat the Huns in Mayi."

"promise!"

Then Xu Fan led his followers to retreat to Yanmen Pass, while Li Shang and others gathered tens of thousands of soldiers from Yanmen County to station in Mayi. The two cavalry left by Xu Fan were stationed outside the city, and Xu Fan's emperor's emperor's banner was always inserted in Mayi. On the city walls, the news of Xu Fan's return was hidden, preparing for a decisive battle with the Huns.

Court of the Huns
"Modun Chanyu, please give the order and teach the Han people a profound lesson." In the court of the Xiongnu Chanyu, the Aries King almost roared these words.

At this time, the Huns have already gathered in the royal court, including Aries, Loufan, Kunxie, Xiutu, Zhelan and other major tribes. It can be said that the main force of more than 100,000 Huns has all gathered in the royal court.

Maodun Shanyu asked: "Where is the emperor of the Han people now?"

Zang Yan said: "According to reports from our spies in the Han Kingdom, the Han Emperor retreated to Mayi and was stationed there. It is said that there were tens of thousands of elite Han men in the city to protect the Han Emperor, and there were tens of thousands of cavalry outside the city."

Mao Dun frowned and said, "Has Emperor Han noticed our actions?"

The gathering of hundreds of thousands of troops. It is difficult to conceal such a thing. When the Han Emperor noticed it, Mao Dun was not surprised. He was just curious about what the Han Emperor was doing in Mayi. Shouldn't they flee back to the Central Plains?

Zang Yan sneered and said: "The Han Emperor must have known about the gathering of our army, but just like I said yes to you, the Han Emperor was too proud. Even if he found out that you were gathering the entire Huns army, he still He thought that the 20,000 soldiers he had were enough to resist the Huns' 100,000 cavalry.

"The Emperor of Han is arrogant. At the end of the day, General Shanyu asked you to be the vanguard to kill Emperor Han on your behalf." King Zhelan said angrily.

But Mao Dun said: "The Han Emperor is proud, and your Zhelan tribe may not be the Han Emperor's opponent."

Mao Dun looked at Zang Yan and said, "In your opinion, how should I, the Xiongnu, capture the Han Emperor?"

Zang Yan said excitedly: "If the Han Emperor retreats to the south of Yanmen Pass, it will be difficult for our Huns cavalry to overcome the copper and iron walls of Yanmen Pass!"

Although Mayi is a fortified city, it is far inferior to Yanmen Pass. If the Chanyu can concentrate the main force of the Huns, first defeat the cavalry outside the city, and then attack the city regardless of casualties, even if all 100,000 Huns cavalry are used up, as long as they capture the Han The emperor is also worthy.

Zang Yan's words made all the leaders of the Huns' tribes extremely angry. What do you mean by fighting all the 100,000 Huns cavalry? Do you want to wipe out all their tribesmen?

King Zhelan stood up angrily, whipped Zang Yan and said, "We will wipe out the Huns' 100,000 cavalry. Do you know what the 100,000 cavalry means to us? It means that our great Huns are about to perish."

"The Chan Yu must be a spy of the Han at this time. I ask the Chan Yu to kill the Han spies."

Other leaders of the big tribes also said: "I ask the Shanyu to kill the Han spies."

What Zang Yan just said was offended by all the leaders of the Xiongnu tribes.

Mao Dun said: "Joining the army was an unintentional mistake. You don't need to take it to heart. Every one of our Xiongnu warriors is precious. I will not let them die in vain."

Mao Dun knew that Zang Yan had a grudge against the Han Emperor for killing his father. He could not be a spy of the Han Dynasty. He just said this just because he wanted to kill the Han Emperor. Now that the Huns are dealing with the Han, they need Zang Yan, someone who knows the inside story of the Han.

Mao Dun looked at Zang Yan and asked, "I, the Huns cavalry, are not good at attacking cities. If the Han Emperor is really capable as you say, I'm afraid it will be difficult to capture Mayi."

The Huns and Qin and Zhao had been at odds for hundreds of years, and both sides knew each other well. Because the Huns have a low level of civilization, they don’t even know how to make ladders, and their siege ability is almost zero. Of course, they don’t care. After all, the Huns invaded the Central Plains not to conquer the Central Plains, but to plunder supplies. They didn’t want to Instead of attacking cities, he likes to plunder villages and towns in all directions.

But the people in the border counties also adapted to the Huns' plundering, and they would build city walls and forts. When the Huns invaded, the people in the border counties would hide in the cities and forts at extremely fast speeds. Then, the Huns could only look at the cities and forts with excitement, or pay an extremely heavy price to break through the forts.

Therefore, unless the Huns are really in a situation where they cannot survive, they will not attack large cities and forts. Without this need, naturally there is no technology tree for attacking cities. Of all the steppe empires, the Xiongnu Empire should have the worst siege capabilities.

Mao Dun continued: "And if the Han Emperor is really as talented and strategic as you say, it will be a trap for him to stay in Mayi. If the main force of the Xiongnu stays in Mayi, the main force of the Han army will be surrounded from other directions. There are high mountains and obstacles near Mayi. , our Xiongnu army is in danger.

Moreover, once our Xiongnu troops are concentrated near Mayi. The royal court does not have enough troops to protect it. If the Han army from Yunzhong County kills the royal court, what should I, the Huns, do?
When King Kunxie and King Xiutu heard this, they glared at Zang Yan because their tribes were in the north of Yunzhong County. When the Han army came to attack them, they were the first to bear the brunt.

(End of this chapter)