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

Chapter 578: Humiliation of the Xiongnu and Marriage

However, the battlefield was filled with smoke, and the thick dust directly obscured the vision of the soldiers on both sides.

However, the casualties of the Hun soldiers had exceeded 30% at this time. Even though they had won many battles over the years and accumulated rich experience and morale, the Hun soldiers were now on the brink of collapse.

At this time, Laoshang Chanyu drew his sword and continued to boost morale with his 500 cavalry guards, saying: "Hun warriors, charge!"

Then he took the lead and charged towards the Han army with 500 cavalrymen.

Laoshang Chanyu's actions boosted the morale of the Xiongnu soldiers, who followed their Chanyu and continued to charge.

After the previous battle, the distance between the two sides was less than 100 steps, which was just a few steps for a war horse.

After suffering a small amount of losses, Laoshang Chanyu's cavalry charged directly into the Han army. Laoshang Chanyu even killed a Han soldier in front of him with his saber, which boosted the morale of the Xiongnu and caused a lot of losses to the Han soldiers.

But the Han army's bayonet skills were no worse than the Huns'. The cavalry of Laoshang Chanyu soon lost their impact and were surrounded by Han soldiers, who kept stabbing the Huns' horses with bayonets.

"Chanyu, the soldiers have done their best, you should withdraw from the battlefield as soon as possible." Seeing that they were about to be surrounded, the captain of the Xiongnu guards persuaded the old Chanyu to escape.

But he had already intended to die, so it was impossible for him to escape at this time. Instead, he continued to fight.

"shot!"

"Bang bang bang!" The Han soldiers thought that Lao Shang Shanyu was a high-ranking official, so they concentrated their fire on him. More than a dozen bullets hit Lao Shang Shanyu, immediately making more than a dozen bloody holes in his armor.

"Chanyu!" The captain of the guards retreated frantically at this time, and then tried to grab the body of the old Chanyu, mounted his horse, and quickly left the battlefield.

The other Xiongnu guards blocked the Han soldiers like crazy, but were eventually stabbed to death one by one by the Han army's bayonets, and their general flags were also cut down by them.

The Hun soldiers in the rear, who were already on the brink of collapse, broke their last string when they discovered that their commander's flag had fallen. They immediately began to abandon their weapons and weapons and fled to the rear.

Seeing the Xiongnu collapse, Han Xin gave the order: "Pursue the enemy for 1 li and then turn back, leaving one battalion of soldiers to clean up the battlefield and take care of the wounded on both sides."

The Han Dynasty's main purpose in this war was to suppress the Huns. Han Xin saw that his goal had been achieved, so he naturally did not want to cause too many casualties.

Moreover, if they were to fight a war like that of the Spring and Autumn Period, even if they captured the Huns now, they would have to be returned after the war. The Han army did not need to capture the Huns' soldiers in vain.

On the battlefield, the Huns were completely defeated. After a brief pursuit, the Han army returned with the captives to gather the wounded from both sides.

On the hill outside the battlefield, the envoys of all Mediterranean countries looked at the defeated Huns with mixed feelings, especially Prince Antiochus. Since the Parthian Empire was annexed by the Huns, the Seleucid Empire has always regarded the Huns as its biggest enemy. The entire country built castles on the border, expanded the army, recruited the people and soldiers of the Parthian Empire, and even organized a revenge army with these defeated soldiers. All of this was to deal with the powerful Huns.

But they never expected that such a powerful Huns would be defeated so badly on the other side of the world. An army of 5 was defeated in one day. It can be said that they were defeated without any chance of fighting back.

Apatius smiled bitterly and said, "This is a top-level war between land powers. Although the Huns were defeated so miserably, our army will not be able to hold out for even half a day if they come to this battlefield. The Han army's muskets can fire more than a dozen times in a short period of time, and their lethality far exceeds that of bows and arrows. In the future, muskets and artillery will be the world of war."

Thinking of the Roman Empire, most of the army was equipped with cold weapons. The real muskets and artillery were only purchased in small quantities by the Han Dynasty's sea merchants. Although they ordered a batch from the Han Dynasty this time, they were second-hand goods from the Han Dynasty. Their power on the battlefield was not as powerful as the Han Dynasty's new rifles. If the enemy had such rifles, they would be in danger.

Rome's development began with its own artillery military industrial system, otherwise it would never become a first-class power.

He was even a little glad to have witnessed this great battle. The powerful Han army also pointed out the direction for Rome's subsequent military reforms.

October 34, 10nd year of the Han calendar

The main tent of the Han army.

Li Zuoche smiled and reported: "In this battle, our army suffered more than 2000 casualties, including 1400 wounded. They are already receiving treatment, and most of the soldiers with gunshot wounds can be saved. The Xiongnu casualties reached more than 15000, of which more than 6000 were shot dead, and most of the remaining 9000 were not seriously injured. More than 8000 were captured. If it weren't for your order to stop the pursuit, few Xiongnu would have escaped."

Han Xin said: "Your Majesty has no intention of destroying the Xiongnu Kingdom. Capturing these Xiongnu people would only waste our army's rations."

Jing Tao smiled and said, "Our Western Expedition Army won a great victory in this battle. They said that if the Xiongnu were less than 10,000, they would be invincible. That's because they didn't encounter our Han army. If they encountered us, they would just be a mob."

All the princes present had smiles on their faces. With such a great victory, it would be much easier for them to submit their request to the court for transfer of fiefdom. They could even ask for a better territory. Not necessarily gold and silver mines, but at least fertile land. They didn't want to live in the desert anymore.

"Commander-in-chief, white sails have been hoisted in the Huns' camp." Zhang Pijiang suddenly walked in and said.

"Is the old Chanyu dead?" Han Xin was a little surprised. Although the fighting on the battlefield was so fierce, it was relatively easy for the commander of a large army to withdraw from the battlefield. That's why it was strange that in ancient times, beheading a general and seizing a flag were considered tasks of the same difficulty.

Casualties are the norm when two armies fight, and generally speaking, white sails will not be hoisted for the entire army, unless the commander of the army is killed in battle. The commander of the Xiongnu army was none other than Laoshang Chanyu.
Han Xin was stunned and said, "Lao Shang Chanyu seems to be leading his general flag and charging at the front. I thought he was trying to boost morale, but I didn't expect him to actually fight at the front line."

It is no wonder that Han Xin was so surprised. The old Chanyu was more than ten years older than him. People of this age generally have difficulty in moving, let alone riding a horse. It was even more unimaginable to lead a large army to charge.

"Wouldn't it be better if the old Shanyu, this scourge, died?" Jing Tao said.

Zhang Pijiang explained: "With his death, it will be difficult for the court to continue punishing the Xiongnu."

The Han Dynasty had a tradition of respecting the dead. What was more important was that the excuse used by the imperial court to send troops this time was that Laoshang Chanyu disobeyed the emperor's will, so the emperor sent troops to teach him a lesson.

Now that he was dead, this was basically the most severe punishment. The Han court could not continue to punish the Xiongnu. His death was a relief for the Xiongnu. At least the Han court had no way to continue to punish the Xiongnu morally.

Even the Xiongnu tribes might change their minds about the Han army. The old Chanyu had a very high prestige in the Xiongnu. The court said it was a lesson, but they directly beat people to death. Who knows whether the Xiongnu tribes would hate the Western Expedition Army because of this? Not to mention that these herdsmen attacked the Han army, even cutting off their food source would make the Western Expedition Army very uncomfortable.

Han Xin thought for a moment and said, "Give each of the Xiongnu captives one silver coin and send them back. Treat the Xiongnu wounded well and send them back after they are healed. Ambassador Zhang, you will go to express your condolences to the Xiongnu on behalf of the court."

"promise!"

On October 34, the 10th year of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Pijiang came to the Xiongnu camp on behalf of the Han Dynasty and found that the Xiongnu army's mourning hall was set up for Laoshang Chanyu.

He offered a stick of incense to Laoshang Chanyu amid the hateful gazes of the Xiongnu generals.

At this time, Yuan Wen, who was in charge of the Xiongnu's military affairs, arranged Zhang Pijiang in a tent.

After a long time, he came back and asked, "The Xiongnu has been defeated, and the Chanyu has died on the battlefield. How does the court want to punish the Xiongnu?"

Zhang Pijiang said: "Brother Han and our two countries are brothers by blood. This war has cost both sides a huge price. It is time to stop it."

"The court does not want to kill Laoshang Chanyu or destroy the Xiongnu. Doing so will only make the relatives sad and the enemies happy. But the court also has its bottom line, which is that the Xiongnu cannot challenge the world order that the Han Dynasty wants to establish. This is the overall situation of the entire Chinese civilization. Although the Han and the Xiongnu are brothers, if the Xiongnu dares to challenge this order, the Han Dynasty will have no choice but to kill them."

Yuan Wen said angrily: "What is the bottom line of the court? More than a decade ago, it was the emperor who supported our Xiongnu country's westward expedition and hoped that we Xiongnu could fight to the end of this continent and expand the influence of Chinese civilization."

Zhang Pijiang said: "The world is different now than it was a dozen years ago. Now all the countries around the Mediterranean have established diplomatic relations with our Han Dynasty, and many countries even want to become dependent on our Han Dynasty. You, the Xiongnu, cannot just stick to the old ways and use the words of the emperor a dozen years ago to resist the order that the Han Dynasty is trying to establish now."

"The court's attitude is also very simple. The expansion of the Xiongnu territory must stop here. You cannot annex the Han allies such as the Seleucid Empire. The court originally intended to ask you Xiongnu to hand over the land in the Ili River Valley, but as it stands now, if you hand over the Dayuan area, this punitive battle will be over."

After hearing this, Yuan Wen felt humiliated. His monarch died on the battlefield, but the imperial court still asked them to cede the city of Dayuan, and subsequently restricted the further expansion of the Xiongnu. Such an unequal treaty was a common treatment for small countries during the Warring States Period.

This was a huge humiliation for the Xiongnu Kingdom, which had dominated the Mesopotamian Basin for decades. And from Zhang Pijiang's words, he could also feel that the Han Dynasty wanted to restrict the development of his Xiongnu Kingdom. If the Xiongnu dared to continue to increase the land area, they would be suppressed by the Han Dynasty.

But when Yuan Wen thought of the military strength of the Han Dynasty, he had to swallow the bitter fruit. The Xiongnu Kingdom was the undisputed overlord in the Mesopotamian region, but it was an out-and-out small country to the Han Dynasty. 3 Western Expedition Army could directly defeat 5 elite Xiongnu troops. The Han Dynasty had the strength to destroy the Xiongnu Kingdom again.

The soldiers captured by the Han army have returned to the camp, and some lightly wounded Xiongnu soldiers have also returned. They also brought back the Han army to take very good care of the remaining wounded. It is obvious that the Han army really just wants to teach the Xiongnu a lesson.

If the Xiongnu Kingdom rejects the Han Emperor's opinion again, it will not be enough to just teach them a lesson. From this war, it can be seen that in terms of firearms, the Xiongnu are completely one generation inferior to the Han Dynasty. If they continue to fight, the Xiongnu's losses will become even greater.

June 34, 10rd year of the Han calendar.

The Hun army began to retreat, and the Western Expedition Army did not continue to pursue them.

On October 10, the news of the Xiongnu's defeat in Dayuan City spread back to Xin Qufu, especially the news that Laoshang Chanyu had died on the battlefield, which made the whole country sad.

As the founding monarch of the Xiongnu, Laoshang Chanyu won every battle for more than a decade and unified the fragmented countries in the Mesopotamian region, ending hundreds of years of war in the region and allowing the local people to taste the breath of peace. This alone established his supreme prestige.

The most important thing is that it promoted the progress of local civilization. The system of awarding titles based on military merit would naturally limit the expansion of the rights of the nobility and replace the slave system with the system of self-cultivating farmers.

Although the original intention was to obtain more soldiers and improve the fighting power of the Xiongnu, it objectively greatly promoted the development and progress of local civilization. Wherever the Xiongnu went, they would kill the local nobles with their sabers, divide their land among the serfs, demolish their castles and build villages, and transform the Mesopotamian region from a slave civilization to a feudal landlord civilization. This alone was a progress of thousands of years.

Not to mention that he also brought Confucianism to the Mesopotamian region, using Confucian scholars to destroy temples and cut down mountains, sweeping away the barbaric totem worship, cruel blood sacrifices, and backward god worship systems in the Mesopotamian region. In the Mesopotamian region, a relatively progressive family system, clan system, and national civilization system were established, sweeping away the ancient barbaric and backward habits.

He also learned from the Han Dynasty's school system and established a relatively complete system of primary and secondary schools (the Xiongnu's finances did not support compulsory education, but even paid education was a huge improvement in this area).
At the same time, the imperial examination system was implemented for the first time in the Mesopotamian region, and a civil service system was established in the Mesopotamian region. In terms of the political system, Laoshang Chanyu also established a centralized county system, so that this area was no longer a place where noble lords came with sabers to collect taxes.

It can be said that Laoshang Chanyu brought the level of civilization in the Mesopotamian region to a level only slightly lower than that of the Han Dynasty in terms of military, political, and cultural aspects. He accomplished the work of the First Emperor and Duke Zhou.

Laoshang Chanyu was a living god in the Xiongnu Kingdom, and his death plunged the entire Xiongnu Kingdom into sorrow.

The newly appointed Khan of the Xiongnu Kingdom, while feeling grief-stricken, listened carefully to the messenger's account of the entire battle of Dayuan.

After knowing that the Xiongnu Kingdom was inferior to the Han Dynasty in terms of artillery and muskets, and that the Xiongnu army was completely suppressed by the Han Dynasty on the battlefield, he understood that even now, the Xiongnu Kingdom was still far from being a match for the Han Dynasty. If the Xiongnu people wanted to continue to survive, they had to obey the orders of the Han Emperor and follow the rules they set.

So Junchen sent an envoy to Chang'an to attend the meeting of princes, gave up the city of Dayuan, and sent his sister to marry the Han Dynasty to express the Xiongnu's intention to submit to the Han emperor.

On the one hand, he called his younger brother Yizhixie and said, "The Han Emperor will not allow the Xiongnu to expand again. This battle is a warning from the Han Emperor. My father paid with his life to stop the Han from suppressing the Xiongnu. The Han is the overlord of the world, and the Xiongnu must obey the orders of the Han Emperor.

If the Xiongnu want to continue to expand, they can only find another way. The best way I can think of is to learn the feudal system of the Han Dynasty. You are the second prince of my Xiongnu country, and you also have the responsibility to expand the territory of my Xiongnu country. Brother, I support you with 10,000 troops, and you can find a direction to build your own country. "

When Yizhixie heard this, his face turned gloomy and ugly. He thought that his brother was truly a good student of the Han Emperor. He not only learned from the Han Emperor in the industrial field, but also in political strategies. It sounded nice to say that he wanted him to establish his own country, but this was just an attempt to drive him away.

Even now, Yizhixie still refused to accept that his brother had become the Chanyu. He had originally wanted to compromise with the Han Dynasty as a military official, find ways to weaken the prestige of the military officials, and then launch a coup to seize the position of Chanyu.

However, he did not expect that his brother would be more clever and would directly cut off the source of the problem. He wanted to drive him out of the Xiongnu Kingdom in the name of enfeoffment. If others were no longer in the Xiongnu Kingdom, no matter how good his ideas were, he would not be able to implement them. Unfortunately, he had not yet come up with any good excuse to refute Junchen's proposal.

June 34, 12rd year of the Han calendar.

The envoys from the Mediterranean countries returned to their countries one after another, and they brought an extremely sensational news, that is, the biggest demon in their hearts, Laoshang Chanyu, was defeated by the powerful Han army in the Shenzhou continent, and he himself died in the battlefield.

Laoshang Chanyu died. Other places didn't know about it, but in every city of the Seleucid Empire, there was laughter and joy, and it was full of festive atmosphere. After the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Seleucid Empire was worried that the Huns would attack them. Now this demon was dead, and the emperor of the Han Empire warned the Huns not to continue to expand westward.

This was simply the best news in the world. The sword hanging over their heads had finally disappeared.

After listening to Prince Antiochus's story about the Battle of Dayuan, King Seleucus was excited and said, "The Han people's weapons are so powerful that they can even defeat the powerful Xiongnu. Did we buy too little? We should buy 10 muskets and 1000 cannons to equip our Seleucid army. Then we may be able to recapture the Parthian Empire."

In the eyes of the Seleucid Empire, the land of Parthia originally belonged to them.

Prince Antiochus smiled bitterly and said, "This victory only shows the strength of the Han army, not the weakness of the Xiongnu. Besides, the Han did not give us the best weapons."

After watching the Battle of Dayuan, he was even more terrified of the fighting power of the Xiongnu army. They could march a hundred steps under the fire of muskets and artillery, and survived even when casualties reached 30%. There was no such army in the entire Seleucid Empire. Facing such a powerful army, if they dared to provoke the Xiongnu, they would only be seeking their own death.

(End of this chapter)