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

Chapter 374: Using Savages to Control the Huns, the Royal Court in Crisis

On July 25th, the eighth year of the Han Dynasty, at the Wuhouqin River, the camp of Liaodong Protectorate.

Outside the neatly-knit camp, there were camps of Hu people and savages gathered in groups of three or four. On one side there was order, on the other side there was chaos, which looked very inconsistent.

In the central army tent of the Liaodong Protectorate, Lü Chen sat high in the commander's seat. On his left sat the princes of the Han Dynasty, and on his right sat the leaders of the Hu and wild tribes with strange shapes and various paints on their faces.

Liu Bang introduced them enthusiastically, "Commander-in-chief, this is Tielang, the leader of the Yu people. He is a first-rate archer in Liaodong and once competed with the Xiongnu's eagle archers. This is Kehu, the leader of the Qiewo people. He is a first-rate hero who once hunted down a tiger alone. That tiger was more than ten feet long. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the best warrior in Liaodong.

Lu Chen looked at Ke Hu, who was more than nine feet tall, with several knife scars on his weather-beaten face. His arms were as thick as a normal person's thighs. Just by looking at his appearance, he was obviously a first-class warrior.

Faced with such a brave warrior, Lu Chen also raised the wine in his hand to show his respect.

Ke Hu took the wine glass on his desk and drank it all in one gulp.

But he didn't expect that this was distilled liquor with an extremely high alcohol content. After drinking a glass of it, it felt like a fire was burning in his stomach.

"That's great! This is the burning knife of you Han people. It really feels like it's being burned."

At first, Xu Fan made strong liquor as medical alcohol, and it was used in medical treatment, but soon the injured soldiers began to drink the alcohol secretly after smelling it. Some people even suggested to Xu Fan that he should just make such fine wine and sell it, which would not only provide them with a meal, but also increase the income of the court.

But Xu Fan still refused, because at that time, food was always in short supply during the war, and drinking distilled liquor would consume too much food. If it weren't for the anti-virus effect of medical alcohol, it wouldn't have been made during the war.

After the country was unified, the Han Dynasty had more and more food, and the price of food was getting lower and lower. Xu Fan set up several distillery workshops in the Han Dynasty to supply the north. The demand for Shaodaozi in Liaodong and Mobei was very great. A bottle of Shaodaozi weighing ten kilograms could only be exchanged for a horse and two cows.

Liu Bang said: "Ke Hu, if you want good wine, you can exchange it with the Xiongnu."

Then Liu Bang continued to introduce: "These are the leaders of the Zhenfan tribe, the Mahan tribe, the Goguryeo tribe, and the Buyeo tribe~~~."

Liu Bang introduced more than a dozen leaders of Liaodong tribes in succession.

Although the Han Dynasty was the dominant force in Liaodong, most of the territory in this area was still occupied by local tribes.

For thousands of years, there has been no dominant force in the Liaodong region, which has led to the gathering of small and medium-sized tribes in the area, forming a veritable ethnic melting pot. Every few years, a tribe rises and another declines. Even the local indigenous people do not know how many tribes there are in Liaodong.

After the emperor and Lu Chen discussed using the barbarians of Liaodong to deal with the Huns, Lu Chen gave Liu Bang the task of contacting the tribal leaders of Liaodong, because Liaodong was the place where he had the most extensive connections.

Even though he had his own vassal states, Liu Bang was a man who could not sit still. He often wandered around the vast wasteland of Liaodong with his personal guards.

Liu Bang was sincere and generous, and he could often become close friends with local tribal leaders after just a few drinks. He did not have the airs of a nobleman at all.

After a few years, Liu Bang had made many close friends in Liaodong, and friends all over the world.

After receiving this task, Liu Bang did not disappoint Lu Chen and really brought together more than a dozen tribes and 70,000 to 80,000 savages.

After Liu Bang introduced the identities of these people.

Lu Chen said: "This governor is ordered by the emperor to fight against the rebellious Xiongnu. The emperor has issued a reward order to the Xiongnu in the desert. If you can capture a Xiongnu young man alive, you will be rewarded with ten stone of wheat, or cloth, cattle, horses, fine wine, sugar, tea of ​​equivalent value. In short, all the goods that the Han Dynasty can produce can be traded to you."

When the tribal leaders of these savages heard this, they all drooled.

The goods that Lu Chen mentioned were all what they needed, and only the Han Dynasty could provide them in this world. If they could capture a Hun, they could get ten stones of wheat. For these tribal leaders, that would be a huge profit.

In the past, they were afraid of the Xiongnu, but now the Xiongnu have been beaten like dogs by the Han people. They are the best at beating a drowning dog.

Ke Hu asked: "If I captured several thousand Xiongnu people, you will not deny your debt, right?"

Tens of thousands of dan of grain were already a huge fortune for Ke Hu, and he was worried that the Han people would default on their debt.

As a result, as soon as these words came out, the princes of the Han Dynasty and others laughed, looking as if they wanted to see a bumpkin.

Lu Chen suppressed his smile and said, "Even if you capture all the Huns in the desert, my Han Dynasty can still pay the money and food."

Up to now, the Han Dynasty has spent millions of gold to deal with the Huns. If it is really possible to exchange ten stones of grain for one Hun, the Han Dynasty is willing to spend all the grain in Ao Cang.

Lu Chen clapped his hands twice, and a team of personal guards came in carrying a large pile of gifts. Among them were the fine wine that Ke Hu wanted to drink, as well as thick and warm woolen cloth, exquisite silk, tea, spices, sugar and other luxury goods.

"These are gifts from me to all the leaders. How much money and food you can get from them depends on your abilities. As long as you capture the Huns, you can come here to exchange them for money and food. We will exchange money and people for you."

With this gift, the tribal leaders finally gained some confidence in Lu Chen, and left with the gifts, ready to do a big job.

After these tribal leaders left, Lu Chen said to the princes of various places: "We will lead the army to follow these barbarians. If we encounter a large group of Huns, we will annihilate them. If we encounter a small group of Huns, we will leave them to these barbarians."

Chen Ying asked: "Why is it so troublesome to deal with the Xiongnu? We can lead our troops into the desert and destroy the Zhelan tribe."

Lu Chen said: "Firstly, the Xiongnu are the local tyrants in the desert. If they start a guerrilla war and drag us into the desert, it will be disadvantageous to the war. With these wild tribes, we can fight guerrillas with guerrillas, and the Xiongnu's guerrilla warfare will have no effect on us.

Second, entering the desert is not our army’s main task. Using the Huns’ population to fill Liaodong is our main task.

The emperor thought that the development of Liaodong was too slow, but the Han Dynasty could not provide enough population to fill Liaodong, so the emperor came up with the idea of ​​using the Xiongnu to fill Liaodong. "

Liu Bang nodded and said, "Liaodong is too desolate and too dangerous. If we really want to develop Liaodong like the Central Plains, it will be filled with countless corpses. Your Majesty wants to fill it with the Huns."

Because Liu Bang often traveled, accidents often occurred in Liaodong. Ferocious beasts such as tigers, black bears, and wolves could be seen almost every time he went out on patrol.

The vassal states of Liaodong had the custom of hunting every year, not because the vassal kings liked hunting, but because there were more wild beasts in the wilderness of Liaodong than people. Tigers and black bears would appear from time to time to take people away, and even wild wolves would take children away. These wild beasts had seriously threatened the production safety of the people in Liaodong. Regular hunting was to eliminate the local beasts and provide a safe environment for farmers working outside.

In addition to ferocious beasts, Liaodong also has swamps, various poisonous insects, and various accidental deaths are commonplace. This is also the reason why Liaodong's development has been slow over the years.

Lu Chen said: "In short, this battle in Mobei is a good opportunity for us to expand our strength. We should find a way to get 50 Xiongnu people to Liaodong. Don't hold us back."

"promise"

In the following time, tens of thousands of savages rushed into the territory of the Huns, and they captured any small Hun tribes they saw.

After that, when they were captured and brought to the rear, Lu Chen immediately paid for the goods. Even if they were old and weak Huns, Lu Chen did not mind a penny.

After several transactions, the confidence of these barbarian tribal leaders in Liaodong increased greatly. The Han people kept their words, so this was a good deal.

They began to unite and encircle and suppress the Huns in the desert. Although these Huns hid in the corners of the desert, Lu Chen and his men could not find them.

But these tribal leaders in Liaodong were all masters of survival in the wild. They could find and capture the hidden Huns by observing the growth of a grassland, the feces of cattle and sheep, or even the mountain terrain of the desert.

These tens of thousands of savages became the vanguard of the Liaodong Protectorate. Wherever they went, the Huns were captured completely.

The Huns' guerrilla warfare was simply a suicide mission. Dozens or hundreds of small cavalry groups were immediately captured by these barbarians and directly exchanged for money and food. When a large group of Huns appeared, the barbarians immediately lit a wolf smoke signal. Lu Chen led the coalition forces of the Han princes to attack, and the cavalry of the Zhelan tribe could only flee.

Lü Chen led an army of 5 and advanced slowly every day, annexing the territory of the Zhelan tribe bit by bit. Wherever Lü Chen's army passed, there was no longer a single Hun. The most important thing the allied forces did was to have soldiers escort these Huns back to the Liaodong vassal states, while also escorting grain and goods as exchange items.

In less than a month, the Zhelan tribe lost 5 to 6 troops and half of its territory, while the losses of the Han Dynasty's coalition forces did not exceed a thousand people, and even the casualties of the barbarians did not exceed 5000.

On July 25, the eighth year of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu camp

King Zhelan said solemnly to one of his subordinates: "Tell Maodun Chanyu that my army can no longer stop the Han people's attack. Please support me, Chanyu. Otherwise, the Han army will enter Mobei in a month at most."

King Zhelan's face was extremely heavy. At the beginning, he and Maodun had discussed to use guerrilla warfare in the vast Wuhou Qinshui to delay the main force of the Han Dynasty. He was full of confidence at that time, but he did not expect that the Han people would bring tens of thousands of Liaodong barbarians to the desert. Their guerrilla warfare was useless to these barbarians. Even if they killed a lot of barbarians, the Han people would not feel heartbroken. On the contrary, because of the high reward offered by the Han people, all the barbarians from other tribes in the desert went crazy. They rushed into the desert without caring about their lives, just to catch the Huns.

King Zhelan was filled with grief. They, the Huns, were the overlords of the grassland, but now they had fallen to the point where even tribes whose names they could not even remember dared to bully them.

August 5th, the Xiongnu royal court.

At this time, the atmosphere in the royal court was tense. Hundreds of thousands of Han troops rushed to the desert. The crisis of extinction once again loomed over them, and this time they had no way to retreat. Behind them was only the North Sea, and behind the North Sea was an ice field that had not melted for thousands of years.
Now everyone who remains in the royal court is looking towards the south with worry, as an unprecedented crisis is approaching.

The Huns’ central camp.

Hu Yanlan, the Right Guli King of the Xiongnu, said, "King Zhelan has asked the royal court for help. The Han people have occupied the Wuhou Qinshui River and are preparing to attack the royal court. There are more than 100,000 Han troops, most of whom are Liaodong barbarians. King Zhelan's guerrilla tactics have failed. If the royal court cannot support King Zhelan, the Liaodong Protectorate troops of the Han Dynasty will enter Mobei in a month at most."

Maodun said with a sullen face: "Let King Zhelan lead the remaining people to retreat to the North Sea."

This month was very difficult for Maodun. All the strategies he had formulated at the beginning failed. The Han Dynasty steadily attacked the northern desert from three directions.

At this time, the most dangerous place for the Xiongnu was no longer the Liaodong area, but the hinterland of Mobei. Han Xin, the governor of Mobei, led 5 cavalrymen across the Mobei Desert and entered the Mobei area. The 5 cavalrymen of the Mobei Protectorate slowly advanced towards the Xiongnu royal court.

The Huns naturally would not watch the soldiers of the Mo Nan Protectorate advance.

Maodun sent his own Zuoguli King to lead 2 cavalrymen to cross the Han cavalry and attack the rear of the Han people, hoping to cut off the Han people's food supply in this direction.

When the Huns arrived in the south of the desert, they were shocked to find that there was a series of forts behind the Han cavalry, almost one every hundred miles. There were 5000 Han soldiers in the forts, equipped with plenty of long arrows and various city defense weapons.

The Xiongnu King Zuoguli led his cavalry to attack the fort, but was severely hit by the Han army's long arrows. After losing thousands of soldiers, he could only lead his subordinates to flee.

These forts connected the grain routes from the south to the north of the desert, leaving the Huns helpless. There was nothing in the north of the desert except grass, so they couldn't even build siege equipment.

The Huns had no choice but to change the direction of their attack. They wanted to kill the Han people's baggage train, but these baggage trains would quickly turn into a car city and immediately light beacons.

When the Xiongnu cavalry charged forward, countless long arrows would be shot from the chariot city, and there would also be a kind of thunder bomb shot at them. One shot of this kind of thunder bomb could kill or injure dozens of people, making it even more impossible for them to defeat the Han people's baggage train.

And before long, countless cavalrymen would come to attack them. The Huns were shocked to find that these cavalrymen who were attacking them were all their own people, but they hated every Hun so much that they wanted to kill them all as soon as possible.

The Huns never expected that while they could still escape if they encountered Han cavalry, it would be difficult for them to escape if they encountered their own cavalry. These people would chase them for hundreds of miles and would not return until they had no chance left.

Maodun's guerrilla tactics on the central line had completely failed. When the Xiongnu people came to the south of the desert and saw the 30 forts built in one month and the Han people's thunder bombs, the ignorant Xiongnu people thought they were fighting against gods and had no chance of winning. After all, building forts in one month was something that only gods could do, and being able to control thunder was also something that gods could do.

These two incidents dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Huns. Even though Maodun had refuted the rumors to his subordinates, saying that the Han people built their forts with sacks, and that such forts were of little use and would be blown away by the wind and sand, and that the thunder bomb was just a catapult, few Huns were willing to believe what the Hun nobles said.

Maodun gradually dispatched 5 cavalrymen to the south of the desert, but 2 of them were killed in battle, more than 2 were captured by the Han people, and only less than cavalrymen escaped back to the desert.

Hu Yanlan, the Right Guli King of the Xiongnu, said: "The King of Loufan has led his people to flee to the Qilian Mountains. He requested to join the Right Xian King's army."

King Loufan understood that he was no match for the Han army. He did not want to be cannon fodder, but he also did not want to surrender to the Han Dynasty. If he surrendered to the Han Dynasty, the Loufan tribe would completely disappear, just like the Loufan people in the Han Dynasty now, they have completely become Han people.

Ji Xin disagreed with his neutrality, and Maodun had no way to support him, so he simply fled to the northwest. He knew clearly that Ji Xin's attack was directed at the Mobei royal court. A small character like the Loufan tribe was not worthy of being hunted down by the Han army. As long as he avoided the front line of the Han army's Northern Expedition, the Loufan tribe could escape.

Maodun understood King Loufan’s thoughts, he wanted to escape.

He asked, "Did the Han people chase them?"

Hu Yanlan, the Xiongnu Right Guli King, said: "There are 10,000 cavalrymen chasing after the Loufan tribe."

Mao Dun said: "Agree to his request."

The Xiongnu right general Xubu Bao said, "Chanyu, the King of Loufan wants to escape from the battlefield. You should let him stop the Han army from guarding the north."

Mao Dun said: "The Loufan tribe cannot be stopped. They are lucky to attract 1 Han cavalry."

"The next war will depend on us. If we stop the Han army, the desert can still belong to us, the Xiongnu. But if we can't stop them, the Xiongnu may disappear into thin air."

The other Xiongnu generals also fell silent. With hundreds of thousands of Han troops approaching from three directions, the Mobei Desert could no longer help them resist the Han army.

The Xiongnu right general Xubu Bao asked, "What should we do now? Should we meet the Han army?"

Maodun shook his head. "The royal court only has these 10 men. This is our last strength. Without this cavalry, the Xiongnu Kingdom will be wiped out."

"And our 10-man army is no match for the Han army. Let alone counterattacking the Han army in three directions, we may not be able to defeat the Mo Nan army in front of us."

"The Han Dynasty's strong logistical support capabilities enabled them to cross the 3,000-mile desert and still maintain the army's strong combat effectiveness."

Then Maodun said viciously: "I don't believe that the Han people can still support an army 5000 miles away. We retreat, retreat immediately to the North Sea. I don't believe that the Han people can maintain their combat effectiveness after going to the North Sea."

Hearing this, the Xiongnu generals looked unhappy. Xubu Bao said with difficulty: "This is our Xiongnu royal court. There is also an arsenal that we worked so hard to build. If we give up the royal court like this, our loss will be too great."

Maodun said excitedly: "Retreat! As long as we can defeat the Han army, no matter how great the losses are, we can recover. If we fail, the Xiongnu Kingdom will be gone, and what is the use of the royal court! Order the army to abandon the royal court immediately and retreat northward quickly."

(End of this chapter)