My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 250 Shanyu Court

At the same time, Hetao.

This area is now called "Henan" by the Han people, Mu'nan by the Xiongnu people, and Hetao by later generations. Each of these names is derived from the geographical features of this area.

——The big river, which was later called the Yellow River, flows from west to east. When it reaches the Ordos Plateau, it turns north and bypasses the Ordos Plateau.

It is not difficult to see from the map that to the west of the Ordos Plateau, the main body of the Yellow River flows in an east-west direction;
When it reaches the Ordos Plateau, it detoured northward to bypass the plateau, then returned southward to its original direction, flowing from west to east towards the ocean.

This "J"-shaped area, which was formed when the Yellow River bypasses the Ordos Plateau, was later called the Hetao.

——The area trapped by the Yellow River.

As for this area, it is now called "Henan" by the Han people, naturally because this area is generally located south of the river.

For the Huns, the Hetao region, surrounded on three sides by the Yellow River, was the only habitable place south of the desert.

Therefore, the Hetao area referred to by later generations and the Henan area referred to by the Han people were also privately called "Munan" by the Huns.

It was late October in winter, and most areas of the grassland were already covered with heavy snow;

Countless low-level herdsmen, with their entire families, crawled into their yurts, expertly counting cheese and other winter rations while secretly worrying about the cattle and sheep outside the tents.

Meanwhile, in Hetao, beside a lake that has not frozen yet, the chiefs and nobles of Shanyu Ting, Youxianwang and the Munan tribes were sitting in an open-air venue, eating beef and mutton cut with a knife while enjoying the singing and dancing performances in the center of the venue.

On the tiger-skin chair at the top, the Xiongnu Chanyu, Luandi Junchen, sat with one hand on his knee and the other holding a wooden bowl filled with a pale white drink, taking a sip from time to time.

However, his eyes did not fall on the performance in the center of the venue. Instead, like a hawk, he scanned everyone present one by one.

To the left of the tiger-skin chair where Junchen sat, a young man stood with a smile on his face, but his attention was attracted by flying insects from time to time, and he was obviously absent-minded.

——On the grassland, such a naive man would be looked down upon even by the royal family of the Luandi clan.

But at this moment, not even one person dared to look at this young man with disdain.

The reason……

"Yu Shan."

The young boy was concentrating with his head down, observing the flying insects that had landed at his feet, when he heard his father's steady and heavy call, causing him to quickly raise his head.

Then he saw Junchen still sitting in the tiger-skin chair, only glancing at the young man beside him imperceptibly.

Then, he smiled faintly and looked forward, saying softly, "Take Prince Zuo to a seat."

When the Chanyu gave the order, the burly man at the side stepped forward immediately and respectfully led the Left Wise King Yu Shan to sit down in the first seat on the left hand side of Junchen.

At the same time when Yu Dan sat down, Junchen's fierce eyes, as fierce as a tiger or wolf, were fixed on the opposite side of Yu Dan - on the first position on the right.

"Chengli Tianshen told me that the Right Wise King is in Munan and seems to be doing something disloyal to Chengli Tianshen."

"Right Wise King, do you want to confess your mistakes to the common leader of the grassland, Chengli Gutu of the Great Xiongnu?"

At the same time when Junchen opened his mouth, the Hu music surrounding the venue quietly stopped, and the singing and dancing girls in the center of the venue also retreated.

On both sides of the venue, a group of chieftains and nobles with different hair accessories and metal rings of different sizes on their faces, followed their reputation and went up to the main seat.

Feeling the malicious gaze of the military official, he looked towards the chief on his right with either gloating or worry.

——People who have these two reactions are very different!

On the left side of Junchen, everyone sitting on the side of Zuoxianwang Yudan had a look of gloating;
On the other hand, on the right side of Junchen, the leaders sitting on both sides of the Right Wise King Yizhixie all had worried expressions on their faces.

Under the deep gaze of the military official, Yizhixie's expression changed again and again, but he finally stood up with difficulty and walked forward;

She came in front of Junchen, slowly knelt down, buried all the humiliation in her heart, and humbly kissed Junchen's toes.

"Your will, the great support..."

Seeing Yizhixie offering all his loyalty to Junchen in the unique way of the Xiongnu people, the noble leaders of Zuoxian King's lineage burst into laughter.

As for the seats of the Right Wise King’s faction, the middle-aged man sitting in the third seat on the right immediately stood up and walked forward respectfully.

"Please report back to the great Chengli God, Chengli Gutu."

"Ever since four years ago, when the despicable Right Wise King went against the will of the gods and rebelled like the Qiang people who stole sheep for a living, and was suppressed by Cheng Li Gu Tu, there has been no despicable person who is not loyal to Cheng Li Tian in the entire Mu Nan."

"——The current Right Wise King is the son of that despicable villain back then;"

"But that despicable guy is also Chengli Gutu's brother."

"According to the custom passed down from generation to generation by our nomadic people, the current Right Wise King is also the descendant of Chengli Gutu."

"According to the system of our Great Xiongnu, the Right Wise King Yizhixie and the Left Wise King Yushan are both qualified to inherit the throne of the Chanyu..."

Before the middle-aged man finished speaking, several leaders and nobles from the Zuo Xianwang faction on the left immediately slammed the table and stood up!

Beside Zuo Xian Wang Yu Dan, the burly man who was ordered to lead Yu Dan back to his seat looked at the middle-aged man fiercely.

However, the military official sitting on the tiger-skin chair at the top raised his head with a gloomy expression, and stared deeply into the eyes of the middle-aged man;
After a long time, he lowered his eyes and smiled with an indescribable expression of joy or anger.

"Supporting the sky, I feel the loyalty of the Right Wise King."

"I also felt the Right Great Danghu's loyalty to the Right Wise King."

As soon as these words were spoken, the two groups of nobles glared at each other, wishing they could fight on the spot. Then they turned away indignantly and chewed the meat in their mouths with ferocious faces.

It was as if what they were eating was not beef or mutton, but the flesh and blood of their enemies.

Looking at the behaviors of the nobles and leaders on both sides, Junchen secretly sighed and couldn't help but regret his choice back then.

——The current Zuo Xian Wang Yu Shan is Junchen’s son.

Moreover, he is the only son.

It's not that Junchen was over thirty years old, but he only had this one son;
But among Junchen's dozen or so sons, only the weakest and most incompetent Yu Shan survived.

The grassland is harsh, not as harsh as the Central Plains.

In this era, as the most advanced civilization in the entire known world, the Han Dynasty could only watch less than half of its newborns survive;

It is even more unreasonable to talk about the nomadic people whose medical level is still at the stage of shamanism.

Junchen had many sons.

There were even many sons who were extremely brave and wise from childhood. But on the grassland, nothing is more fragile than life, more fragile than human life.

Any disaster, disease, even a hunt, a fight - even a piece of old dried meat - can take the life of a warrior.

Junchen was lucky;

Thanks to the blessing of the god of ploughing, Junchen still has a son who is still alive.

As for the Right Wise King Yizhixie, he was the son of Junchen's elder brother, or in Chinese terms, Junchen's nephew.
However, according to the customs of the Huns, there is no distinction between brothers, and if one person has a son, it means that all his brothers have sons.

——By this calculation, Yizhixie is the son inherited by Junchen from his elder brother, the former Right Wise King.

But Junchen knew very well in his heart: this son was more like a wolf cub than a son.

While I am alive, the wolf cubs dare not act rashly. Naturally, they can only lick my toes obediently and give me all their loyalty.

But when the Wolf King grows old, this wolf cub will definitely be the first one to stand up and challenge the Wolf King's authority, intending to seize the position of Wolf King!
The grassland follows the law of the jungle, and the strong are respected.

Junchen wanted to nip this wolf cub, who might threaten him in the bud, in the bud while he was still in control of the situation.
However, the unique customs of the grassland made it impossible for Junchen to make up his mind, and just four years later, he massacred the King Youxian's tent for the second time.

——That’s right;
Yizhixie's biological father, Junchen's unfortunate brother, the former Right Wise King, died four years ago in the bloody suppression launched by Junchen against the Right Wise King.

As for the reason, it is very simple - during the period of the former Shanyu, Junchen was the Left Wise King, and his half-brother was the Right Wise King.

There is a prince on the left and a prince on the right. It would be strange if they could pee in the same pot!

After his father passed away, Junchen, who was the Left Wise King, became the first in line to inherit the throne of Chanyu and soon took control of the Chanyu Court.

But I just can't get over the humiliation I suffered from my brother during the years when we were fighting for power.
In the end, Junchen decided to strike first. He summoned his brother to the Chanyu Court on the pretext that the Right Wise King had secretly sent troops to attack the Han Dynasty, and then massacred the forces of the Right Wise King's lineage.

Junchen originally thought that in this grassland where the strong are respected, his act of massacring the lineage of the Right Wise King would surely be praised and respected by the entire grassland.

But only afterwards did Junchen realize what he had done.

"The Right Wise King has never been alone."

“——but a group of people.”

"Just like Zuo Xian Wang, it is also a nickname for a group of people..."

Thinking of this, Junchen slowly raised his head and looked to his right, where the right chief minister, Landletu, had returned to his seat.

——The Xiongnu has never been a synonym for a nation;

During the Qin Dynasty, the Huns were one of the most inconspicuous nomadic tribes on the grassland.

Even later, when they gradually became stronger under the leadership of Maodun Chanyu and eventually overthrew the grassland overlord: Donghu, and replaced it to become the new overlord of the grassland, it was still the same.

The former Loufan tribe, even if it succumbed to the Xiongnu, was still the Xiongnu Loufan tribe;

The former Zhelan people, even though they became the most valued military force in the Xiongnu Chanyu court, still retained all their culture and customs and called themselves: Zhelan people.

The Xiongnu's control over the grasslands was extremely dependent on the double-headed eagle policy established by Laoshang Chanyu and still in use today.

——King Zuo Xian, King Zuo Guli, Zuo General, Zuo Da Danghu;

——The Right Wise King, the Right Guli King, the Right General, and the Right Great Danghu.

The two factions, the Eight Pillars of the Xiongnu - the Left and Right Wise Kings, the Left and Right Guli Kings, were all members of the Luandi clan and had the right to inherit the throne of the Chanyu.

The left and right generals and the left and right heads of households were hereditary from the four major clans of the grassland: Lan, Xubu, Huyan and Qiulin.

The two factions each performed their duties and competed with each other, using a method similar to raising insects to train generations of Xiongnu Chanyu.

At the same time, it ensured that the Chanyu was always born into the royal family of the Luandi clan, and that the four major clans were always at the highest decision-making core of the Chanyu court and would not be marginalized by power.

At this point, the order is constructed;
All members who benefit from the order will spontaneously maintain this established order.

It was precisely for this reason that Junchen's act of massacring the Right Wise King's family for no reason unexpectedly brought about strong dissatisfaction from the four major clans, and even the Shanyu Ting headquarters and the Luandi royal family.

——If you don’t like the Right Wise King and want to kill him, then fight him like a warrior!

——Using the power of the Chanyu to trick people into the Chanyu’s court and kill them, what is the difference between him and the despicable and cunning Han people?
Therefore, even though he had all kinds of concerns in his heart, Junchen had to retain and even appease the remaining "right" nobles, and appointed the former Right Wise King Dudu as the new Right Wise King.

Junchen really didn't like this roundabout way of handling things.

Junchen knew that his father was very good at these things, but Junchen was not good at them and did not like them.

In Junchen's opinion, the people of the grasslands who draw bows should suppress all disobedience and conquer the entire world with force!

However, today's military officials do not have the prestige that their fathers and grandfathers had during their heyday, nor do they have the lofty prestige of "saying the law and following it" among the tribes on the grassland.

In Junchen's opinion, this was a good opportunity;
Use victory and the blood and flesh of the Han people to establish a good opportunity for yourself to have supreme prestige...

"Han people, a new emperor has been appointed."

"——He was replaced by a young emperor who is even younger and more incompetent than the previous emperor."

The long silence was broken by Junchen's sudden words;

The two groups of people rarely suppressed their hostility. They sat up straight and looked up at the tiger-skin chairs above them.

Then Junchen slowly stood up, took two steps forward with his hands behind his back, and then turned his head slightly to look to the left.

"Zuo Xian Wang, you are still old enough to ride a sheep, so stay with me in Nanchi."

"The Right Wise King has lived in Munan for a long time, so let him go there and give the little Han emperor a good beating."

No matter how reluctant he was, Junchen had to admit that his son Yu Shan still did not have the ability to fight.

——It was already very strange that he was not abandoned by the tribe on the grassland when he couldn’t even ride a foal.

On the other hand, the little wolf cub, Yizhixie, the Right Wise King, had already become the most prestigious and bravest son of the former Chanyu during the time of the former Chanyu.

Today, he has become the Right Wise King of the Xiongnu. Even though he is still young and has not even reached the age of "crown" as the Han people call it, he has already gained the loyalty of the entire Munan by relying on his father's prestige.

Junchen certainly didn't want Yizhixie to get this advantage;

But apart from doing this, Junchen had no better choice.

——Who made Yu Dan so disappointing?
——Who made Junchen’s sons, who were older, braver, more prestigious on the grassland and more respected by various tribes, die of various bizarre reasons?

(End of this chapter)