I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 564: Sheep in the Tiger's Mouth (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to Everyone)

"We are here today for only one thing! There is a God-given fortune in front of us. Are we going to let it go?"

Qifu Lian summoned the Fusi, Chulian, Chilu and other tribes, which nominally belonged to the Western Xianbei. These tribes generally came from Mobei. When Mobei was hit by white disasters almost every year and it became difficult to survive, they began to migrate southward. In the process, they fought each other and also cooperated with the tribes in the new migration areas.

After hearing what Qi Fulian said, someone could not hold back and shouted, "What do you want us to do? Tell us straight away, don't play dumb."

Qifu Lian was quite used to hearing this. After all, in an environment where the strong prey on the weak, even a reckless man who only knew how to shout for war and killing could always find a place.

Qi Fulian continued, "According to the spies' report, the Han people have been stationed at Dou Bin's camp for quite some time, and they seem to want to force Dou Bin to agree to fight against us together! What does this mean?"

Qifu Lian looked around at everyone present. Every time at this moment, he, who claimed to be the smartest man among all the tribes present, always felt a sense of superiority.

"This means that the Han people and Dou Bin have united, but Dou Bin is originally a Han Chinese, so why is it strange that the two sides are connected?"

Hearing the familiar voice again, Qi Fulian got a little angry this time and asked, "So what do you say, then?"

After hearing this, Fusda, who had interrupted, fell silent. He didn't have any good ideas at all.

Seeing that Qifu Lian was silent, the leader of the Fusi tribe glared at Fusida fiercely and blamed him, "If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense. How can you offend a wise man?"

Then Qifu Lian said: "This shows that the Han people are guilty!"

Because of the interruption, Qi Fulian's conclusion, which he originally thought should be powerful, suddenly lost a lot of momentum.

"The Han people were in civil strife, and after Cao Cao led his army away to quell the rebellion, Bingzhou was already empty. And before that, I sent a message to Lord Mo Hou in the Western Regions. After he started the rebellion in the Western Regions, many Han troops in Liangzhou were transferred to the Western Regions."

Having said this, Qifu Lian’s momentum rose again.

"Now the northern border of the Han people is opening up to us. As long as we attack with all our might, we will definitely be able to seize this God-given opportunity! I once heard the Han people say that when Qin lost its power, the whole world chased it. Now that the Han people are in civil strife, it is time for us to seize the opportunity and grow stronger!"

After hearing Qifu Lian's words, the leaders of the various Xianbei tribes present all showed signs of wanting to take action.

The leader of the company asked bluntly, "In your opinion, what should we do?"

Qifu Lian replied: "Gather our forces together and press down on the Han army that has crossed the border, forcing Dou Bin not to form an alliance with the Han army... According to Dou Bin's past style, in order to maintain his prestige in the tribe, he will not easily agree to submit to the Han people. This is our opportunity."

"Even if Dou Bin agrees to join our tribe in attacking Han territory, it would be fine to give him a portion of the profits."

Finally, under the promotion of Qifu Lian, several tribes belonging to the Western Xianbei, living north of Hexi and west of Yinshan Mountain, united together.

They want to show their fangs when Bingzhou is at its weakest.

At the same time, facing the Han Dynasty's biggest enemy in the northwest of Bingzhou, how could Gongsun Zan and Xu Rong not pay attention!
But after hearing their movements, Gongsun Zan felt that he was being underestimated.

Yes, that's right. During the years when he served as the Governor of Bingzhou, he was overshadowed by Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao successively, but Gongsun Zan did not think this was a reason for these western Xianbei tribes to look down on him.

If these people asked the Xianbei people in the East, they would know that Gongsun Zan was someone who should not be provoked.

"We must make sure that they never return!" Gongsun Zan said gritting his teeth in front of Xu Rong.

At this time, his cousin Gongsun Yue came and brought another good news: "After hearing the news, Qiangqu Chanyu sent Huchuquan to lead troops to help."

As for his successor Yu Furuo, he had already followed Cao Cao to the battlefield.

Yan Gang suggested, "Your Excellency, these Xianbei tribes must have thought that Dou Bin would not agree to your request when they sent out their troops at this time, but they were wrong. I believe that if they have this intention, they will definitely send an envoy to contact Dou Bin. I think we can take this opportunity to make some plans!"

When it came to war, Gongsun Zan did not act on his own, but humbly listened to opinions from all sides.

On the other side, Huochequan led his troops to meet Gongsun Zan at almost the fastest speed.

When he was about to go to meet Gongsun Zan, Huchuquan recalled the earnest instructions given to him by his father, Qiangqu Chanyu, before he set out:

"General Cao will probably be promoted after suppressing the rebellion this time. After that, it is very likely that Envoy Gongsun will be in charge of Bingzhou's affairs."

"Based on my understanding of Envoy Gongsun's past, he has some prejudices against other races... Although the causes of these prejudices have nothing to do with the Xiongnu, we have to be vigilant."

"When you come to the tent of Envoy Gongsun, you must be careful with your words and actions, and be respectful when you ask for things. If Envoy Gongsun is still dissatisfied with you after doing this... Commander Xu is a man who takes the overall situation into consideration, so you can rely on him more."

Huochuquan knew that if his brother was not there, he would not be qualified to take on this important task, and therefore, he cherished the current opportunity very much.

After arriving at the military camp, Huochequan successfully completed the resettlement of the Xiongnu cavalry under the arrangement of a man who called himself Gongsun Yue. When he was about to follow Gongsun Yue to pay a visit to Gongsun Zan, he suddenly heard a hearty laugh.

"I can see from my eyes that you are a great general! I heard that you have not yet held an official position in the local area. Would you like to serve in my governor's mansion?"

When Huochuquan heard this, he was immediately interested. Isn't this the opportunity he wanted to seize?
In the past, this kind of opportunity always belonged to Yu Furo.

He immediately bowed and said, "Why not? I just regret that I didn't get to see you earlier!"

"Okay! From today on, you will be a brave warrior under my command!" Gongsun Zan laughed. He understood the principle of choosing the lesser of two evils. Long before Huochequan arrived, Yan Gang had advised him to show goodwill to Huochequan first. Now that he saw that his efforts to win him over had paid off, Gongsun Zan was even happier.

As long as you can achieve something, everything will be worth it.

Afterwards, Huochequan was brought to Gongsun Zan's tent, and soon Huochequan saw two people dressed strangely.

They are clearly Xianbei people, but they wear Han clothes and dress like Han people, which makes them look like a monkey wearing a human clothing.

Gongsun Yue introduced Huchuquan, saying, "These two are the sons of Lord Dou Bin, Dou Su and Dou Hui. Lord Dou Bin has decided to abandon his evil ways and join the good, so you have recruited them as your subordinates. They will be your colleagues."

After hearing this, Huochuquan felt a little sad for a moment - it turned out that he was not the only one.

But soon, he became happy again, because Dou Su and Dou Hui were both in charge of literature. What did these two know about literature? It was just an empty title.

Unlike him, he is a brave and powerful man and sounds very powerful!
The most important thing is that Huochuquan has some understanding of the officials of the governor's office. Although Wumeng Congshi is not a permanent position, he can lead troops to fight, and the upper limit is very high. Dou Su and Dou Hui are originally "guests", so they naturally don't care about what official position they hold in name. They just hope that they can go back smoothly after this battle.

For a moment, Gongsun Zan and Xu Rong, who coordinated the internal and external affairs, made all preparations and were just waiting for the arrival of the invading enemy.

……

"Sir, I think something is wrong!" Although Fusda can't speak, he is an expert in fighting. "I think the Han army over there is not afraid of us, but seems to want to fight with us."

Fusda expressed his conclusion to the leader of the Fus tribe in confusion: "This is different from what Qifulian said. It's as if the Han people are waiting for us to come to them."

After hearing this, Lord Fusi thought of Qifu Lian's previous wisdom and said, "Qifu Lian has never been wrong. He warned us not to attack the Han people before because the Han people had previously wiped out many of the Suotou tribes that attacked them, and they were very strong. But now many of the Han troops in Bingzhou and Liangzhou have been transferred away, and they are just strong on the outside but weak on the inside!"

Following Qi Fulian's train of thought, Lord Fus came to the conclusion: "The Han people are just bluffing!"

Bluffing? Fusda didn't think it was possible, but since the adults had spoken, he just led the charge.

Suddenly, I heard my master say, "It will be the time we agreed to meet Dou Bin soon, but we are not sure whether Dou Bin is a friend or foe. When we encounter Dou Bin's troops during the battle, we must not let down our guard!"

Fusda accepted the order and said yes.

……

Gongsun Zan looked at a huge black line in the distance. He knew that the black line was made up of the invading Xianbei people.

He suddenly asked Xu Rong, who was riding beside him, "What do you think was the biggest problem when we went out to fight the Xianbei in the past?"

Xu Rong was also an old hand at foreign wars. When faced with Gongsun Zan's question, he answered immediately: "It's nothing more than the Xianbei people bullying the weak and fearing the strong. When the army goes out of the border, the Xianbei people will flee far away if they feel they can't win. The army will waste food and grass and can't stay for long."

"And if the Xianbei see your weakness, they will rush forward. That's why when we fight the Xianbei, this kind of situation often happens - if we win, it's a small victory, but if we lose, it's a big defeat."

Gongsun Zan was also an old hand at dealing with the Xianbei and Wuhuan people. He naturally knew the actual situation and continued to ask, "Then how can we win a great victory?"

Xu Rong replied: "From what I can think of, there are only two points - the Xianbei people were born on the grasslands, grew up on horseback, and are better at running away on horseback... So we only need to attack their gathering place before they react, so that they don't have time to run away. But this is not suitable now."

"So what is the current situation?" Gongsun Zan began to make a cameo.

"Wrong judgment!" Xu Rong's words were powerful. "Let the Xianbei people think they can win, then they will naturally rush forward like hungry wolves pouncing on their prey."

Xu Rong said, drawing his sword and pointing it forward - "Just like now!"

Gongsun Zan smiled and said, “In the beginning, I thought about showing weakness and counterattacking, but then I saw the excited soldiers and realized that it was unnecessary. What’s more, if we scare them away during the defense, it would be a waste of effort!”

"In that case, should the entire army attack?" Xu Rong asked. He felt that now was the right time to fight.

"All troops attack!" With Gongsun Zan's order, the command flags were waved and the drums of attack sounded.

The generals who had received orders long ago led their troops and began to act according to the established plan.

"The Han army not only refused to retreat, but also dared to counterattack!" Qi Fulian was a little confused when he saw the posture of the Han army. "Who gave them the courage? Dou Bin?"

Thinking of this, Qifu Lian immediately sent people to deliver messages to the leaders of various tribes - Dou Bin must have colluded with the Han people and cannot be trusted!

In fact, as a smart man, Qifu Lian had thought about this possibility - even if the Han Dynasty was in the midst of internal and external troubles, and even if the military forces of Bingzhou and Liangzhou were very empty, the combined forces of their multiple tribes from Mobei were still no match for the Han people...

This was a possibility that frightened Qifu Lian so much that he was unwilling to think about it, because it meant that as long as the Han Dynasty solved its own problems, in the future that he could see with his own eyes, the Xianbei people would never be able to regain the glory of the Tan Shihuai era.

Therefore, in Qifu Lian's opinion, this battle must be fought and must be won!
Therefore, Qifu Lian, who always claimed to be a wise man, rarely appeared in the position of leading troops in battle. He didn't even understand why he made such a decision.

Faced with the advancing Han army and the coalition forces of the Xiongnu and Xianbei, Qifu Lian was unwilling to be outdone and led his men to charge forward.

This is the most direct and effective way to determine the winner. Whoever is stronger wins.

When the two armies were about to come into direct combat, Qifu Lian noticed the name of the enemy general's banner - Li. Could it be Li Jue?

This is indeed a famous warrior!
At the beginning of the fight, Qifu Lian did not encounter Li Jue, but he had already felt unprecedented pressure. During the break in the battle, he even had an idea in his mind - is what he is doing now really right?
Can they really defeat the Han army?

Seeing the number of his troops dwindling, Qifu Lian had a bad feeling in his heart. Dou Bin's betrayal was not beyond his expectation, but the fighting power of the Han army and the fighting will of the Xiongnu soldiers had exceeded Qifu Lian's imagination.

This happened three times, and Qifu Lian could no longer lift the knife.

He realized that he had brought his tribe's alliance to the Han people's doorstep.

Li Jue actually didn't know who he was fighting against, because it made no difference to him.

No, there are still some differences. If he is a tribal leader of the Xianbei, then the military merits he has will be greater. This is the only difference.

Thinking of this, the Xianbei people on the opposite side seemed to have become high-ranking officials with generous salaries in Li Jue's eyes.

He led his cavalry around in a small circle and turned around, shouting, "Kill more!"

He immediately received a response from his cavalry.

A battle like today's, where a sheep is thrown into the tiger's mouth, is rare in many years. A Xianbei head that meets the requirements for reporting merit is enough to improve the life of a low-level soldier. Who wouldn't want to fight for it!
The battle between the two sides lasted for most of the day.

In the end, the Qifu and other tribes were defeated.

Although Bingzhou is empty, it is not something that a small fry like this can mess with.

(End of this chapter)