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

Chapter 576: Challenge my son to fight me
Prince Antiochus said, "It is said that the one coming from the opposite side is Laoshang Chanyu. Can the Han general defeat him?"

The tent suddenly became quiet. The name of Laoshang Chanyu was much more terrifying than the Whip of God in later generations. The Mesopotamian region was originally a fragmented area. A city could be considered a country and a grassland was a tribe. After the Huns came here, their power expanded rapidly and completely occupied the most fertile land in the Mesopotamian region. They destroyed more than a hundred countries and forces. The speed of the destruction of races and countries can only be compared to the Stars and Stripes in later generations.

As the monarch who controlled this rapidly expanding empire, Laoshang Chanyu was the king of kings in the Mesopotamian region.

These people acknowledged that the weapons and equipment of the Han army were advanced, but the combat effectiveness of a famous general even surpassed that of the equipment, which was vividly demonstrated in the Punic Wars. Carthage was not as powerful as Rome, but it once brought Rome to the brink of extinction.

But the Greek scholar suppressed his excitement and said, "Everyone can rest assured. The commander of the Han army is no ordinary man. I know from the history books of the Han Dynasty that this commander named Han Xin is also a famous general of the Han Dynasty. He defeated enemies more than ten times his size in the founding wars of the Han Dynasty. Because of his repeated military exploits, he grew from a small soldier of the Han army to the youngest general of the Han Empire within three years."

"The Xiongnu originally lived in the desert, but they were eventually defeated by the Han army. At that time, the emperor of the Han Dynasty sent three commanders, including Han Xin, the commander of the current Western Expedition Army. He accumulated merits in the battle to destroy the Xiongnu and became the youngest duke of the Han Dynasty. He was less than 30 years old at the time. The father of Laoshang Chanyu, the king of all kings, was killed by Han Xin. This was a battle between famous generals."

They knew that the Duke was the highest-ranking noble in the Han Dynasty. There were only a dozen or so such high-ranking nobles in the entire Han Dynasty. They were all assistants to the Emperor of the Han Dynasty and ruled this huge empire. Moreover, they themselves had huge fiefdoms, and their status was equivalent to that of the kings of the Mediterranean countries.

Upon hearing that the two sides' commanders had such a relationship, these people suddenly became curious and wanted to know more information. They also told the Greek scholar in detail what they knew.

Xiongnu Kingdom, the central military tent.

The old Chanyu sat in the first seat with a sullen face, and the Xiongnu generals on both sides also had serious expressions and were silent.

Laoshang Chanyu knew that this battle would be difficult, but he never expected that his own people would support the arrival of the Han army.

He summoned these tribesmen and asked them why they supported the Han army.

As a result, the tribal leader argued that the Han and the Xiongnu were one family, and the Xiongnu were also Han people. This was the emperor's army, so why couldn't we support it?
Laoshang Chanyu suddenly realized that he had been vigorously absorbing the Huns from the desert over the years, and now it was his turn to pay the price. These Huns recognized their identity as Han people more, and it would be fine if they did not oppose the Han Dynasty. As long as they fought against the Han Dynasty, these tribes were not reliable at all.

But Laoshang Chanyu knew that he had no choice. The total number of Xiongnu people who followed him to the Mesopotamian Basin was only about 5. If he did not absorb Xiongnu people from the desert, the Xiongnu would not be able to conquer such a large territory and establish the current Xiongnu Empire. In fact, because the main ethnic group was too small, it would not take more than a few decades for the Xiongnu to be submerged among millions of Mesopotamian natives. So even though he knew that this was a poisonous drink to quench thirst, he had to drink this cup of poison.

He didn't even dare to refute the Han-Xiongnu family's statement, nor could he punish these tribal leaders, because the Xiongnu were invincible in the Mesopotamian region, and the support of the Han Dynasty was one of the important factors. Not to mention the weapons, equipment and industrial technology, the Han Dynasty allowed them to recruit millions of Xiongnu people, which was the greatest support for the Xiongnu country. Now the Xiongnu people from the desert accounted for more than 90% of the population of the Xiongnu country. If he opposed this statement, he would shake the foundation of his rule over the Xiongnu country.

The Huns worship the strong. Compared with the small countries in the Mesopotamian region, the old Chanyu is naturally a strong man, but compared with the Han emperor, he is a weak man. In order to maintain relations with the Han Dynasty, the Huns' high-ranking officials would not mind changing another family to become the Chanyu of the Huns.

The old Chanyu could only ask about matters related to the war: "I saw three large balls hanging in the sky above the camp. Do you know what they are?"

In the past few days, Han Xin sent you as scouts to gather intelligence on the Huns, and Laoshang Chanyu was also investigating the situation of the Han army. After all, this is the homeland of the Huns, and the Huns have an advantage in intelligence. He found out the number of troops, artillery, and even muskets of the Western Expedition Army. Only the three fireballs floating in the sky made Laoshang Chanyu a little confused.

But he also noticed through the telescope that there were people on these three balls. His rich military experience told him that if the Han army observed their own troops from these balls, then the deployment of their troops would be exposed, which would be very disadvantageous to one of the warring parties.

Yuan Wen, an officer of the old Chanyu, said, "That is the hot air balloon that the emperor has developed in the past two years. It is now the most popular thing in Chang'an. All the major restaurants use small hot air balloons to hang their banners. There are also many rich children who use hot air balloons for drifting. Even many caravans want to use hot air balloons for business."

What the Xiongnu valued most was their diplomatic relations with the Han Dynasty. They had spies in Chang'an all year round, so the Xiongnu could quickly know what was happening in Chang'an.

Under Xu Fan's maintenance, Dahan's business environment is good, and the scientific research conversion rate is extremely high. He holds a science and technology expo every four or five years, displaying the technologies and products developed by Dahan's inventors in recent years, allowing wealthy people to make angel investments in these technological inventions that benefit the country and the people. He even directly gives inventors noble titles.

Therefore, when a technological invention of the Han Dynasty is successful, countless angels will try to commercialize the invention.

Just like the hot air balloon that Xu Fan made, many businessmen had ideas that he had not thought of. They thought that the hot air balloon provided such a great lift that they could hang several thousand kilograms of cargo underneath, and the hot air balloon did not need to rise too high, just a few feet high. These hot air balloons could be pulled by horses, which would greatly reduce the cost of goods circulation. After all, gasoline was cheap in Han Dynasty.

But these merchants soon encountered a new problem: it was difficult for them to control the direction of the hot air balloons. When the wind blew, the hot air balloons would float randomly. Moreover, hot air balloons were made of silk cloth, and the manufacturing cost was extremely high. After all, the cost of transporting goods by hot air balloons was still higher than that by train.

However, during this period of time, the merchants of the Han Dynasty have developed a new way of playing. Since they cannot control the direction of the hot air balloon, they just let it float with the wind. The wind in this world does not blow randomly. There will be southeast winds in summer and northwest winds in winter. So at the turn of spring and summer, they use hot air balloons to transport goods from the south to the north, and in winter, they transport goods from the north to the south. The most important thing is that they transport goods that are expensive but time-sensitive.

The Han Dynasty was an era of openness, and the people from top to bottom were full of adventurous spirits and the spirit of daring to think and act. Many businessmen thought that this method was right, so they could experiment. So they bought fresh lychees from Lingnan, pressed them with ice, and then drifted along the southeast wind. It took three days for them to drift to Luoyang. The lychees that were worthless in Lingnan directly increased by hundreds of times in price when they arrived in Luoyang, but they were still sought after by the entire Luoyang citizens. First, lychees are delicious, and second, this experience of falling from the sky and its high price can satisfy the Luoyang people's pursuit of enjoying luxury goods.

These adventurers reaped the first wave of dividends, and now some merchants are looking for high-value goods in the north, planning to drift south when the westerly winds blow in winter. They have no intention of going back unless they can make hundreds of times the profit.

Hot air balloons have become a hot topic in Dahan, so it is naturally impossible to hide the information.

Lao Shang Shanyu asked: "Can our rifles shoot down the enemy's hot air balloons? These hot air balloons are floating in the air. My every move is under the enemy's surveillance. This is very disadvantageous to our army."

Xia Jie shook his head and said, "Chan Yu, the enemy's hot air balloon is too high. Our muskets cannot reach such a high place. Moreover, the enemy's hot air balloon is behind their army. Our soldiers cannot cross the Han army and directly attack the hot air balloon behind them."

"Report, Chanyu, this is the Han army's declaration of war."

Laoshang Chanyu took the declaration of war presented by his soldiers. The content on it was also extremely simple, which was to ask Laoshang Chanyu to fight in three days.

To fight a war in the Spring and Autumn Period, Han Xin could not use surprise attacks or night raids as he did in the past.

Instead, you have to defeat your opponent in an open and aboveboard manner, and you have to prepare a declaration of war and other things.

The old Chanyu said solemnly: "Tell the Han envoy that I have agreed to fight a decisive battle with the Han army under the city of Dayuan in three days."

"promise!"

June 34, 10rd year of the Han calendar.

Two armies were seen marching in orderly steps, appearing outside the suburbs of Dayuan city amid the deafening sound of war drums.

The Mediterranean envoys were observing from a small hill outside the two armies, and what made them speechless was that this small hill might be the best observation point on the battlefield, as it was crowded with Hun herdsmen. If they had not had the help of a Han soldier, they might not even be able to squeeze through these numerous and powerful Hun herdsmen.

However, they were still a little dumbfounded by the warring armies of both sides. The Huns learned from the Han Dynasty, especially in the art of warfare. The Han Dynasty had transformed from a militaristic country to an industrial country, and many of the previous military training had been gradually replaced.

The frequency of the Huns' wars had not stopped in the past few decades, so they still retained the system of a militaristic state. The wealth accumulated by the small countries in the Mesopotamian region over hundreds of years all became the Huns' spoils of war. This could be fed back to the Huns' tribes, allowing them to benefit from military training, which in turn strengthened the Huns' militarist system.

This is the essence of the farming and warfare system. As long as the invasion can bring benefits, this system will be strengthened. In the winter, the leaders of the Huns still led their tribes to conduct military training. So Prince Antiochus and his men saw that between the Han and the Huns, more than a dozen square formations advanced in an extremely orderly manner. They did not even need to adjust along the way. The uniform movements of tens of thousands of people brought an extremely powerful shocking effect. Such discipline alone defeated all of their countries.

Apatius said: "My Roman phalanx can also be so strict."

"Huh!" The envoys from the Mediterranean were disdainful. They acknowledged that the Romans were powerful in combat, but to say that they had such high discipline was nonsense. Everyone had fought against each other, so everyone knew each other.

A strange thing also happened when Apatius was holding the telescope.

"Why do the Han people's artillery look so small? The Xiongnu's artillery is twice as big as the Han people's."

Apatius' words aroused the curiosity of these people. They looked at the artillery phalanx through telescopes and found that the Huns' artillery was thicker and required several horses to pull. The style of these artillery was a bit like the red cannon that Xu Fan saw in TV dramas in later generations.

The Han Dynasty's steel cannons, because their ductility and strength far exceeded those of iron cannons, had longer barrels and thinner walls, which increased the power and range of the cannons, and they already looked like three-quarters of the land-based cannons of later generations.

But people of this era naturally had no idea what land-based artillery would look like in later generations. In their impression, the more powerful a cannon was, the better. A slender cannon did not look powerful at first glance.

"That shouldn't be the case. The Han Dynasty is the birthplace of artillery. The Xiongnu's artillery was learned from the Han Dynasty. Their artillery should be more powerful than the Xiongnu's."

Prince Antiochus said, "When the two sides start fighting, we will know the reason."

"Artillery battalion attack!" Laoshang Chanyu gave the order. The Hun soldiers led their horses and pulled their cannons. They were divided into two teams and advanced quickly, preparing to occupy a good shooting position.

Han Xin detected the movements of the Huns through a telescope. The scouts on the hot air balloon also quickly reported the intelligence about the Huns. Then the Han army used models to lay out the positions of the Huns' cavalry, infantry, and artillery on a simple military map, so that they could have a clearer understanding of the Huns' deployment.

Han Xin sneered when he saw the Huns' battle formation. Comparing artillery with the Han people was simply a waste of time.

"Order the artillery battalion to attack and completely destroy the Xiongnu's artillery for this governor."

"Yes!" The messenger immediately went to the artillery camp's square formation with Han Xin's order.

After the Han army's artillery battalion received Han Xin's order, you quickly appeared in front of the army, calculated the position of the Huns' artillery, and adjusted the angle of your own artillery fire.

"Fire!" The Han army's 200 artillery pieces fired almost at the same time.

"Bang, bang, bang!" 200 ten-pound iron bullets drew a graceful arc and hit the Hun artillery battalion.

"Boom, boom, boom!" After a series of earth-shaking noises and blood and flesh flying everywhere, three Hun artillery pieces were destroyed and dozens of artillerymen were blown to pieces, with wailing everywhere.

"Impossible!" The captain of the Xiongnu artillery battalion couldn't believe what he was seeing. The Han army's artillery was firing at them from six miles away, which was twice the range of their artillery.

But every second counts on the battlefield, and he has no time to think about why the enemy's artillery can shoot so far?

He roared, "Speed ​​up and move forward quickly, and quickly set up artillery positions."

This three-mile distance is their life and death line. If they cannot deploy the artillery within the range, they will be directly killed by the Han army's artillery.

The Hun artillerymen naturally understood their situation. They slapped their horses desperately to make them speed up, and the soldiers also pushed the cannons desperately.

The Han army's artillerymen quickly adjusted the angle of the artillery. In this era, artillery did not have a barrel retraction mechanism, and the recoil of gunpowder was extremely large, so the angle of the muzzle had to be readjusted after almost every firing.

Of course, the Han army gunners around were not idle either. They unscrewed the bolts behind the muzzle, stuffed the shells in, then stuffed in the silk-wrapped explosives, and tightened the spiral breech block.

"Fire!" More than 200 projectiles once again drew a graceful arc and shot towards the Huns' artillery.

"Bang bang bang" these shells were like a meteor shower, smashing the Huns' gunners into pieces, causing their flesh and blood to fly everywhere and their horses to run wildly without seeing the enemy.

"fire!"

"bang bang bang"

"Boom boom boom"

The Hun's artillerymen had moved less than a mile when the Han army's artillery fired six rounds of bombardment, destroying the Hun's artillerymen's morale.

Now the Huns' artillery battalion did not dare to move forward at all, but instead lay on the ground one by one to minimize the possibility of being hit. The artillery of this era relied on kinetic energy to exert its power. As long as they hid in the corner, it was generally difficult to hit the enemy. These Huns' artillerymen not only knew how to fire artillery shells, but also knew where to hide safely.

When Laoshang Chanyu saw this scene, his face was so solemn that water seemed to be dripping out of it. Cannons have always been the most effective weapon of the Xiongnu army in war. Now, this weapon is about to be smashed by the Han people before it is even unsheathed. You know, it is not easy to produce these cannons. If you want to train an excellent gunner, you have to spend gold to make one.

The range of the Han people's artillery was far beyond his imagination. His men had tried their best, but they could not reach the enemy and could only take the bombing without being able to fight back. They could not let their artillery be wasted in vain.

Laoshang Chanyu said: "Order the cavalry battalion to attack from both wings to the rear of the Han army and disrupt the Han army's rhythm."

The messenger immediately conveyed the order of Laoshang Chanyu. The Xiongnu were originally a people on horseback, and the area near the Western Regions was the Xiongnu's pasture. For this expedition, the Xiongnu allocated 1 cavalry. After receiving the order, the 1 cavalry divided into two groups and attacked the flank of the Han army.

On the small hill outside the battlefield, Prince Antiochus and his men looked at the scene in shock. The Hun artillerymen who were invincible in the Mesopotamian region were completely suppressed by the Han army and had no ability to fight back. You must know that in the battle to attack Parthia, Parthia had five large cities, but they were quickly defeated because their city walls were destroyed by the Hun artillerymen.

Is this what the Han Chinese mean when they say "father beats his son"? It is indeed very vivid.

(End of this chapter)