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

Chapter 378: The Monkeys Scatter When the Tree Falls and the Battle of the North Sea

On September 10th, the eighth year of the Han Dynasty, in the northern desert, the Huns’ camp.

Maodun had made up his mind to fight a decisive battle with the Han army. This news made the leaders of the various Xiongnu tribes uneasy and fearful, but also brought a hint of relief.

If this war was not fought, the Huns would collapse. Maodun assembled 80,000 Huns cavalry, and the barren North Sea had to provide food and fodder for the 80,000 cavalry and hundreds of thousands of war horses.

In less than a month, the Huns had almost exhausted all their supplies, and the leaders of all the Hun tribes, both large and small, complained bitterly about this.

Even if they win this battle, winter in the desert is coming. They have not prepared any fodder for the winter, and the livestock in the desert have almost run out of food. They can't see the future at all. For many tribes, whether they win or lose this battle, their tribes will be destroyed.

Mao Dun could only encourage his men by saying, "The Han people have stored countless food and supplies on their borders. As long as we can defeat the main force of the Han army, we can seize these supplies and survive the winter."

Maodun's words boosted the morale of the Huns and gave them the courage to continue fighting.

In the central army tent, all the leaders of the major Hun tribes gathered here.

Maodun saw the two missing positions and asked, "Why didn't King Hunxie and King Xiutu come?"

Although Maodun moved all his people to the North Sea, they were not concentrated in one place. After all, it was difficult for millions of people and millions of cattle and sheep to gather in one place to survive. Therefore, the Xiongnu people were scattered within a thousand miles of the North Sea. The Hunxie and Xiutu tribes were still hundreds of miles away from this place.

Hu Yanlan, the Xiongnu Right Guli King, said dejectedly: "I just received news that King Hunxie and King Xiutu led their subordinates southward."

Maodun's face suddenly turned ugly. At this time, King Hunxie and King Xiutu led their subordinates southward. Naturally, they could not possibly fight with the Han army. They could only want to surrender to the Han army.

The Hunxie and Xiutu tribes were originally from the Hexi tribe. They were the tribes that defected to the Xiongnu during the Xiongnu's heyday. Obviously, now that the tree has fallen, the monkeys have scattered. The Hunxie and Xiutu tribes want to defect to the Han Dynasty, which is a bigger tree.

What’s more important is that the betrayal of these two tribes left Maodun without 4 cavalrymen, which was an almost unbearable burden for the Huns who were about to launch a decisive battle.

A war was about to begin, but something like this happened. This was not a good sign and was extremely detrimental to morale. The atmosphere in the tent became heavy.

The Xiongnu right general Xubu Bao lamented: "Chanyu, the Zhelan tribe is now surrounded by the Han army in Langjuxu Mountain. I am afraid they can't resist for a few more days.

"The Tuolan clan was defeated by the Han general Ji Xin in the Qilian Mountains. Almost 10 warriors were killed in the battle, and Tuolan Bao also died on the battlefield. The Han army's Zhenbei army has no enemies left. At most they will meet up with the Mo Nan army in ten days. At that time, we will have to face armored cavalry of the Han army."

The atmosphere of sadness in these tents became even stronger. The Huns suffered heavy losses in battle after battle. Now their strength had declined to an unprecedented level. More importantly, they saw no chance of winning at all. An unprecedented failure was looming over them.

"How could this happen? This is a desert. Even if we can't defeat the Han people, why can't we even escape? How did the Han people find our warriors in the desert? Is this still the desert of the Xiongnu people?"

The Xiongnu right general Xubu Bao said viciously: "Most of the Han cavalry are warriors of the Hu people, and the main force is us Xiongnu people. They are the tribes living in the desert, so they know everything about the desert. What's more hateful is that some people have forgotten their roots and are more ruthless in killing us Xiongnu people than the Han people. When we encounter Han cavalry, our warriors can surrender and survive, but there is no way to survive against these traitors."

The scene fell silent again, and all the tribal elders looked at Maodun, wanting to make a decision with him.

Mao Dun said: "Everyone, prepare your warriors. We will have a decisive battle with the Han army the day after tomorrow."

The situation in the desert was becoming increasingly unfavorable for the Huns. Maodun understood that if they did not fight this battle, the Huns would have no chance of winning once the three Han coalition forces gathered.

Han army camp at the foot of Qilian Mountains.

In the central army tent, Ji Xin hosted a banquet for King Hunxie and King Xiutu who had come to rely on him.

Ji Xin raised his wine glass and said with a smile: "It is a wise decision for the two kings to join our Han Dynasty at this time. As the saying goes, a wise bird chooses a tree to inhabit, and a wise minister chooses a master to serve. Is there any monarch in the world who is more wise than my Majesty?"

The surrender of King Hunxie and King Xiutu was a pleasant surprise to Ji Xin. He originally thought that the Zhenbei Army only played a supporting role in this battle, and the main credit went to the Mo Nan Army.

But the combined population of the two tribes, Hunxie and Xiutu, was more than 50. Their surrender allowed the Zhenbei Army to annihilate more than captured Xiongnu. Even though the Mo Nan Army annihilated the main force of the Xiongnu, the Zhenbei Army's military exploits were not bad.

King Hunxie said righteously: "The emperor is merciful. Even those of us in the desert know that the herdsmen in the desert have long wanted to become the emperor's subjects. Only Maodun was ungrateful and hindered the entire desert from being bathed in the king's rule. The Xiongnu suffered this disaster because of him."

King Xiu Tu also said loudly: "That's right, we have long wanted to become the emperor's slaves, and today we finally have this opportunity."

During the time King Hunxie and King Xiutu were in the North Sea, they had been trying to persuade Maodun to bow to the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. It is not shameful to bow to someone who is not as strong as others, and we Huns have no morals, so we should preserve our strength first.

They believed that the Han people did not know how to graze, and that the desert would ultimately belong to them. As long as the Han people's power declined, they would rebel and take back the desert.

But Maodun reprimanded them, thinking that they failed to see through the Han emperor's evil ambitions. The Han people had already settled in the desert and were constantly assimilating their tribes, making them think that they were Han people. If they surrendered to the Han people now, the Huns would truly perish.

King Hunxie and King Xiutu didn't care whether the Xiongnu was destroyed or not. If they were destroyed, they could just be called Xianbei, Turks, or even Mongols. The tribe was just a title. As long as the land was there, their bloodline would be there. They didn't want to be buried with the Xiongnu. After discussing for a while, they simply went south from the Beihai Sea to join the Zhenbei Army.

King Hunxie asked with some fear and a hint of expectation: "I wonder how the emperor will deal with us?"

King Xiutu also looked over, this was also what the two of them were most concerned about.

To a certain extent, the unity of the Huns now depends on the harsh policies of the Han Dynasty. If their tribal leaders surrender to the Han Dynasty, they can only become ordinary herdsmen. This leads to the fact that any tribal leader who has a choice is unwilling to surrender to the Han Dynasty.

If the two of them had not understood that the Huns were in a desperate situation, they would never have come to surrender.

Ji Xin said: "Such a major event can only be done by the emperor, but I will definitely report the merits of the two kings. The two kings came to surrender, so that the Han and Xiongnu peoples no longer have to kill each other, and saved tens of thousands of Yanhuang bloodlines. Your Majesty is strict in rewards and punishments. With your merits, you two will definitely become nobles of our Han Dynasty."

However, Ji Xin understood that it was impossible for the emperor to keep these Hu nobles in the desert, and it was likely that they would spend the rest of their lives in Chang'an.

At the foot of Wolf Mountain.

Liu Bang reported: "In the past few days, we have killed more than 6,000 Xiongnu tribesmen, captured 3,000 people, and killed more than ten Xiongnu generals. I am afraid that there are less than a thousand Xiongnu people left in the mountains, but they are still resisting fiercely."

Lu Chen frowned as he looked at Langjuxu Mountain. It was rare for the Huns to fight their army to such a death. King Zhelan had retreated thousands of miles and had been trying to attack the weaknesses of the coalition forces of the Liaodong princes to avoid a head-on battle with them. Now the Zhelan tribe was almost wiped out. With such high casualties, the Huns should have collapsed or retreated long ago, but they were still resisting.

After thinking for a while, Lu Chen asked, "What's the situation of the central army?"

Liu Bang said: "After Han Xin captured the Xiongnu king's court, he continued to lead his troops to the North Sea."

Lu Chen suddenly realized: "King Zhelan wants to stop us from joining forces with the Mo Nan army. Maodun has no way to retreat now, he wants to fight a decisive battle with Han Xin."

Liu Bang shook his head and said, "King Zhelan is also a fool. How can Maodun's strength be a match for the Mo Nan Army?"

Lu Chen said: "Send our soldiers to speed up the encirclement and suppression. We have finally come to Mobei, and we can't retreat without even seeing what Maodun looks like.

Soldiers from the Liaodong Protectorate in Langjuxu Mountain also joined the encirclement and suppression campaign, and the Zhelan tribe could no longer withstand the attack of the Han army.

Half a day later, King Zhelan's head was brought to Lu Chen.

Lu Chen looked at the head of King Zhelan and said, "He is also a loyal minister of the Xiongnu people, so bury him on the sacred mountain of the Xiongnu people."

Then Lu Chen pointed to the North Sea and said, "The whole army will set out to the North Sea to deal the final blow to the Xiongnu."

The eighth year of the Han Dynasty, on September 13th, in Mobei, Hongri Plain.

Maodun led 80,000 Xiongnu cavalry and divided them into three groups: left, center and right, and assembled here.

Han Xin also led 50,000 soldiers from the southern desert to confront the Huns.

In this vast desert, the main forces of the Han army and the main forces of the Huns are finally about to engage in an unprecedented decisive battle.

"Woo woo woo!" The Xiongnu horns sounded their attack. "Kill all the Han people!" Hu Yanlan, the Xiongnu Right Guli King, shouted. Behind him, 20,000 cavalrymen charged towards the left wing of the Han army.

Inspired by the sound of horns, 20,000 cavalrymen rushed towards the Han army with murderous intent.

"Mortars are ready to fire," Captain Cui Yan shouted.

Thousands of soldiers rushed to the front of the battlefield. Several soldiers frantically dug holes with short-handled shovels. After digging, they half-buried mortars into the holes. A soldier stuffed a round cake of black gunpowder wrapped in silk into the holes, and then stuffed the wooden boards prepared in advance into the holes to compact them. No one could stuff in more explosives.

Then he shouted: "The shells are loaded."

"Fire!" Cui Yan shouted.

The soldier lit the fuse.

"Puff puff puff!" Hundreds of muffled thunders were heard on the battlefield.

Hundreds of explosive packs fell from the sky in a graceful arc and landed in the Hun cavalry formation.

All the Xiongnu soldiers were surprised by this scene, because the Han army did not cause them many casualties, only a few unlucky guys were hit and fell off their horses.

"Boom boom boom!" Hundreds of thunders sounded, and all the Huns within a two-meter radius of each explosive pack were blown away. The Huns were blown into a bloody mess by the explosive packs weighing more than ten pounds. The war horses neighed and galloped everywhere, and were already in a state of complete madness.

Cui Yan was overjoyed and said, "Kill!"

Tens of thousands of cavalrymen lined up in neat rows and rushed towards the Huns' cavalry like a tide. The Huns' morale had already collapsed during the mortar attack.

Now faced with the overwhelming offensive of the Han army, they immediately fell into chaos, and were killed by the Han soldiers, with corpses scattered all over the ground, ghosts crying and wolves howling, and they had no power to fight back. The battlefield was completely one-sided, and the right wing of the Xiongnu army collapsed directly.

Han Xin used a telescope to observe the situation on the left wing of the battlefield. He was surprised to find that the power of the mortar became even greater after concentrated use, and it directly destroyed 2 Hun cavalry at one time.

Han Xin was overjoyed and ordered: "Order General Fan Kuai and General Jing Tao to attack the Xiongnu's center army, use mortars as the vanguard, and blow up the Xiongnu's army formation."

Fan Kuai and Jing Tao received orders from Han Xin to lead 20,000 cavalrymen to fight. The cavalrymen lined up in neat formations and quickly approached the Xiongnu's central army.

At about 150 steps, Fan Kuai and others stopped their troops.

The soldiers of the artillery battalion untied the mortars from the horses, and the soldiers worked in groups, with four digging pits, two loading explosives, and two standing guard. Soon, hundreds of mortars were aimed at the Huns' army.

Maodun felt something was not good when he saw this scene. He had always heard from the soldiers on the front line that the Han people had a weapon that could explode, but he had never seen the power of this weapon with his own eyes. He only thought it was a small catapult that could only be used for defense.

But when he saw the power of this explosive weapon with his own eyes on the battlefield, he found that it was even more exaggerated than the legend. His 2-strong army was directly destroyed by this weapon.

Maodun shouted: "Go and destroy the enemy's iron cylinders!"

Under Maodun's command, the 4-strong central army of the Huns began to attack the Han army.

Although he wanted to stop the mortar firing, it was too late.

"Puff puff puff!" Hundreds of explosive packs drew graceful arcs and smashed into the Hun cavalry.

"Boom boom boom!" The violent explosion caused the Huns to fall to the ground on their horses, their flesh and blood were all over the place, and broken limbs flew everywhere. The frightened war horses ran around in panic.

Jing Tao was overjoyed when he saw this scene and said, "Soldiers, follow me and charge! Kill!"

"Kill!" Thousands of heavy cavalrymen in iron armor followed Jing Tao and charged out.

The heavy cavalry formed five rows and charged directly towards the Hun cavalry formation like a thick city wall.

The Huns were already panicked by the mortar bombardment, and now they were hit by the heavy cavalry, and were directly killed and retreated step by step. The Huns' heavy army formation was directly cut open by Jing Tao's heavy cavalry with the momentum of hot knives cutting oil. The heavy cavalry soldiers were so powerful that they were unstoppable.

Fan Kuai, who was in the rear, was overjoyed when he saw this and said, "Let the whole army charge forward, catch up with them, widen the gap, and completely cut off the Xiongnu."

The following 20,000 Han cavalrymen pierced into the Xiongnu army like sharp arrows, continuously widening the gap created by the heavy cavalry.

Fan Kuai, the leader, was even more courageous and killed dozens of people. His bravery inspired all the Han soldiers, and the Han cavalry attacked more and more fiercely. The Xiongnu people were about to collapse after suffering a series of blows.
On the battlefield, Maodun waved his sword and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Don't retreat, stop them, don't retreat, stop them."

Even if Maodun shouted at the top of his lungs, he could not change the absolute strength. The Xiongnu cavalry was still beaten back by the heavy cavalry.
"Brothers, follow me and kill without stopping. Kill our way through the Huns' army." Jing Tao shouted.

Maodun was covered in blood, holding a bloody knife, and standing on the ground panting. He watched the Han people's armored cavalry kill through his central army. He couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "The Xiongnu can't even equip every soldier with an armor, but the Han people are so extravagant as to put armor on their horses. The gap is too big."

The Xiongnu right general Xubu Bao discovered that Maodun was in danger and wanted to come to support him, but Han Xin sent out Captain Yu Long with 10,000 cavalry to block the Xiongnu's last mobile force.

Fan Kuai, with his five hundred guards, saw Maodun gasping for breath on the battlefield and said in great joy, "Maodun, you can't escape."

Mao Dun summoned all his strength, raised his sword and shouted: "It's not that easy to kill me."

Maodun led the remaining dozens of his personal guards and cavalry and launched a final hand-to-hand fight against Fan Kuai and his men.

Fan Kuai raised his sword high and said, "Brothers, don't let Maodun escape. Kill him!"

"Kill!" Hundreds of Han cavalrymen raised their weapons and followed Fan Kuai closely to kill Maodun.

"Boom!" The collision between the two sides made a dull loud noise, and then the sound of killing rang out. The soldiers on both sides were blood-thirsty, and the scene was full of flying limbs and flowing blood.

Fan Kuai slashed at Maodun more than ten times, breaking his sword directly, and then slashed him in the chest. The blood spurted out directly onto Fan Kuai's body, turning Fan Kuai into a bloody man.

Fan Kuai took a breath and then cut off Maodun's head and held it up, saying: "Maodun is dead. Surrender and you will be spared."

"Maodun is dead, surrender and you will be spared." The Han soldiers shouted.

When the Huns around saw Maodun's head, their morale collapsed immediately. They sadly threw away their swords and waited in confusion for their unknown fate.

On the right wing of the battlefield, Yu Long and the Huns were fighting fiercely, but at this time there was a commotion in the rear of the Huns.

A group of Xiongnu cavalry actually rebelled against the Xiongnu people. They joined forces with the Han army to attack Xubu Bao's army from the front and back. In less than half an incense stick of time, the last force of the Xiongnu was bloodily massacred.

Yu Long was panting on the battlefield when a 9-foot-tall, strong man with golden hair came up to him, knelt down and said, "Dingling Hans greets the general."

"Dingling people?" Yu Long asked curiously, "Aren't you Xiongnu people?"

Hans said, "General, you can tell from our appearance that we are not Huns. Three years ago, Maodun led the Huns' army and invaded my tribe, forcing us to become slaves of the Huns. If you hadn't brought your soldiers to rescue us, we would still be slaves of the Huns."

Yu Long then suddenly realized that this was another fence-sitter who, seeing the fall of the Huns, defected to the Han people.

He helped Hans up and said with a smile: "You have risen up on the battlefield and performed great merits. I will definitely report it to the general and have the court reward you."

Yu Long then led the cavalry to continue encircling and suppressing the remnants of the Huns.

(End of this chapter)