My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 251 Poisonous snake!

The Xiongnu's double-headed eagle policy is actually very different from the feudal system, county system, and the central system of three dukes and nine ministers of Chinese civilization.

——For the local areas, that is, the tribes on the grasslands, the Xiongnu adopted a feudal system similar to the institutional system.

Moreover, just like the Chinese civilization of dividing land and enfeoffing kings, the Xiongnu also adopted a system of enfeoffment, which also included the title of king plus the fiefdom, and the people of the fiefdom were also granted to the recipient.

To be precise, the Xiongnu actually wanted to follow the Zhou Dynasty's way of enfeoffment of various princes in the grassland as a whole, and then use the Chanyu himself to play a leadership role similar to that of the Zhou emperor.

Normally, the grassland tribes that were conferred the title of king did not need to accept the direct leadership and control of the Chanyu Court. They each governed their own country, just like local emperors.

However, when the Chanyu Court initiated a war mobilization, each tribe had to follow the Chanyu Court's requirements and send out its own troops to cooperate with the Chanyu Court in fighting, or even fight alone.

In addition, a portion of the tribes' annual production of cattle, sheep, furs and cheese had to be handed over to the Chanyu court to support the royal family of the Luanti clan.

On the whole, the Xiongnu as a whole should be considered a loose alliance regime of nomadic civilization, and the name of the regime should not be the Xiongnu Empire, but a nomadic union with the Xiongnu as the main body.

Xionglian - this was a name that Liu Rong liked to use to refer to the Xiongnu people in his previous life.

The policy of the left and right double-headed eagle and the eight pillars meant that when the Chanyu court took military action, it could only and must adopt a balancing act of favoring some and distancing others, and supporting the weak and suppressing the strong.

As the former direct line of military officials, the left faction headed by Zuo Xian Wang Yu Shan is very strong.

As for the Right Clan headed by Right Wise King Yizhixie, they were suppressed by successive Xiongnu Chanyu due to their political role as "vice crown prince" or "substitute crown prince".

In addition, the previous generation of Right Wise King, Yizhixie's biological father, was suppressed by Shanyu Ting with iron blood, which was even more devastating.

According to the law of the jungle followed by the grassland, the weak should die naturally.

But as a nomadic regime, no matter how backward and ignorant the Xiongnu were, they had eventually reached the threshold of "checks and balances".

Alone yin cannot grow, alone yang cannot grow.

In order to ensure that the left and right factions can maintain healthy competition rather than a one-sided crushing advantage, no matter how reluctant Junchen was personally, he had to support the relatively weak right faction from the standpoint of the Chanyu - the common leader of the nomadic peoples and the Chanyu of the Xiongnu.

Of course, if his son Yu Shan is outstanding enough, Junchen would not rule out using Shanyu's privileges to suppress the right faction further.

However, the mysterious deaths of more than a dozen sons in succession made Junchen worry that he was cursed by the gods.

Therefore, in order to ensure that in the future, if the Left Wise King Yu Shan also died unexpectedly, the grassland would not return to the chaotic era of warring warlords, and the military officials could not do too much to the Right Wise King Yizhixie.

Suppress, yes;
No, I can’t crush him to death.

Since it is about raising Gu, human intervention should be reduced as much as possible.

As the Xiongnu Chanyu, Junchen still has some awareness...

"Tushe."

Junchen ended the meeting and, with the entire Chanyu court, unsurprisingly occupied the most fertile pasture in the south of Mu: Nanchi.

As the actual master of Nanchi, the Right Wise King Yizhixie had no choice but to retreat obediently and stay temporarily in another pasture near Nanchi.

Riding his horse out of the camp set up by the Chanyu Court beside the South Pond, he heard the voice of the Right Chief, Landeltu, and Yizhixie pulled the reins in his hand with a gloomy face.

The horse under his crotch stopped immediately, and he saw Yizhixie turned slightly, squinted his eyes, and looked deeply behind him, seizing the Chanyu court headquarters in Nanchi.

"Military Minister..."

"According to the rules of the grassland, I, Tushe, must call you father."

"But according to what the Han people say, Junchen the Great Chanyu is the enemy who killed my father..."

As he murmured these words with a sinister tone, Yizhixie's eagle-like sharp eyes pierced through the felt tents in the Shanyu Ting headquarters camp and fell directly on the tallest and most central felt tent in the camp.

——The Chanyu’s tent!
In the hearts of grassland nomads, it is a symbol of supreme power!

But at this moment, in Yizhixie's eyes, the tent was unique on the grassland. Even if it was placed in the Han people's territory, it was not much smaller than some palaces, but it revealed backwardness and ignorance from the inside out.

Human skulls made into wine vessels;
Ritual instruments and musical instruments made from human bones;
There were also animal furs everywhere, and in the blink of an eye, a circle of dirty red blood was stained around the South Pond.

"The Han people have found a second crop. We no longer need to worry about the Han people not having enough to eat;"

"But we nomadic people still rely on the milk from cattle and sheep to barely fill our stomachs."

“——The hands of the Han people can grow their own food and the silk needed to make clothes;”

"But we nomadic people can only squeeze milk from cows and sheep, or take back the milk squeezed from cows and sheep..."

···
"My Great Xiongnu has already embarked on the path of decline."

"——It won't be long before the Han people become completely powerful."

"They will bring enough food to cover the entire grassland and enough cloth to cover the entire sky, and come to settle the blood debts of the past with my nomadic people."

"When that happens, what should we, the Great Xiongnu, do?"

"Under the leadership of Junchen, to what extent will our Great Xiongnu fall..."

Riding his horse slowly across the grassland, Yizhixie felt indescribably suffocated.

As the most outstanding and only surviving son of the former Right Wise King, Yizhixie had a very deep understanding of another big guy in the known world.

But it was precisely for this reason that Yizhixie was worried about the future of the Xiongnu and nomadic peoples.

——The late Right Wise King once said to Yizhixie in person: Just a few decades ago, the Han people south of the high wall were still extremely weak slaves.

Their troops were pale and thin, their soldiers had weak limbs, they had no horses and no strength to pull the bowstrings, and they could only inflict casualties on the Hun warriors by exchanging their lives.

When Yizhixie was young, he once witnessed a Han village with his own eyes - a village with a population of over a thousand and hundreds of young and strong Han people was slaughtered by just a dozen grassland warriors!
But Yizhixie saw that the Han people had gradually grown from being weak in the past to being strong today, with their soldiers being tall, strong, and powerful, and they could even fight on foot against the grassland warriors on horseback.

Yizhixie was very clear: the Xiongnu needed to change.

The Huns needed to invade continuously year after year to slow down the Han people's growing strength and learn everything useful from the Han people to make the Huns so strong that the Han people would never be able to catch up.

This was not only Yizhixie's idea, nor was it Yizhixie who first proposed it. It was the view of Yizhixie's deceased father: the former Right Wise King.

Unfortunately, for the sake of his own power and selfish desires, Junchen launched an armed suppression in the Chanyu court, and wiped out the forces of the Right Wise King in one fell swoop.

Although they did not kill all of them and left Yizhixie as a sole survivor to appease the people, the wind direction in the Chanyu court changed drastically from then on.

——During the time of Laoshang Chanyu, the lineage of Zuoxian Wang Junchen advocated advancing westward, while the lineage of Youxian Wang advocated advancing southward;

Laoshang Chanyu did not neglect one thing for the other, but assigned the strategic tasks of advancing westward and southward to the left and right factions respectively. It was in that context that the Double-Headed Eagle Policy gradually took shape.

Laoshang Chanyu once said: The speed at which the Han people are growing stronger is something that the people of the grasslands will never be able to match, so we must delay the speed at which the Han people are growing stronger through frequent forays, or even large-scale invasions!

But the Xiongnu themselves could not become powerful by imitating the Han people, but should move westward.

We must go to the distant West, absorb the strengths of the nations along the way, and embark on a path to prosperity that is completely different from that of the Han people.

Now, Laoshang Chanyu is no longer in office, Junchen Chanyu has taken his place;
Once upon a time, the strategy of advancing westward, which was formulated in order to seek ways to strengthen oneself, became a hunting ground for military officials to win over the leaders of various tribes and make profits.

The strategy of invading the south, which was formulated to suppress the Han people, became a thankless and inferior strategy in the eyes of the military officials.

Even this time, if the Han people had not replaced a young emperor, the Xiongnu would have needed a victory to consolidate their position as the "brother" among the "brother countries" of Han and Xiongnu, and Junchen would probably still be unwilling to start this war.

Even if he launched the rebellion now, he would still be like an ordinary chieftain or a small king - in order to preserve his own strength, he would let the political enemies of the Right Wise King attack the Han people.

Such vision and separatism really made Yizhixie doubt: Is this really the successor left by the wise and intelligent old Chanyu for the Xiongnu?

Under the leadership of such a Chanyu, where will the nomadic people go...

"Tushe."

"This time, Junchen obviously wants Tushe to fight the Han people until both sides suffer losses, and then he can jump out and reap the benefits."

"——If Tushe is not doing well in the battle, the military officials will definitely use this as an excuse to further suppress Tushe, saying he is 'unbeatable' or even 'cowardly';"

“But if Tushe fights to the death and Junchen jumps out to snatch our gains, then Tushe’s losses will outweigh the gains…”

Tushe, in Xiongnu language, means sage or wise man.

Specifically in the current context, it is obviously a respectful title for Yizhixie that Landletu used.

However, Landletu's words, which had some Han characteristics, did not cause Yizhixie to be surprised or confused.

——The person who knows you best must be your most powerful enemy.

As the main force of the Xiongnu that often attacked and invaded the Han Dynasty, the Right Wise King, or the various tribes in the south of the Mu, had already been influenced and infected by the Han culture to varying degrees.

Let's take Landletu for example. He is the current head of the Lan family, one of the four major Xiongnu clans. He is also the current Right Danghu and one of the Eight Pillars.

He had black hair and brown eyes, a short and stocky build, small eyes and a flat nose, and slightly raised cheekbones - a typical Hun appearance!

As soon as he opened his mouth, his Guanzhong dialect, with correct pronunciation, was more standard than that of most Han people.

He can quote classics and idioms with ease.

If a Han Confucian scholar - especially a great Confucian scholar from Lu - saw this, he would surely be unable to suppress his excitement and say: This person has been influenced by the king for a long time, and he can be the ruler of all China!
But Yizhixie knew very well that understanding the Han people was just a tool for Landletu to attack the Han people more effectively and accurately.

Yizhixie also has such a tool...

"Jun Chen, still the same Jun Chen."

"——He only has the power of a great Chanyu, but not the prestige or wisdom of a great Chanyu."

"He only thought that by doing this, he could strike at the Right Wise King's faction while at the same time striking at the Han people and achieving his own goal without consuming the strength of the Chanyu Court."

"But he never thought: If we lost the Right Wise King and his clan, and lost the Munan tribes, how could those foolish people in the Chanyu Court be able to be a match for the Han people?"

Having said this, Yizhixie couldn't help but sigh again, and subconsciously loosened his hand holding the reins, letting the horse under him enter the 'autopilot' mode and walk towards the camp in the distance.

After a long time, Yizhixie shook his head, unable to hide his sadness.

"Today's Junchen is still someone we cannot resist."

"For now, the only way is to win enough in this war to make my Munan tribes stronger, so as to break Junchen's conspiracy."

"——The North and Longyou are both poor places in the eyes of the Han people, but they also have countless things that are beneficial to our nomadic people."

"Get these things back and eat them before Junchen does;"

"After a few years, a large number of calves and lambs will be born in Munan, women will give birth to children, and warriors will shoot down eagles and become real warriors..."

Yizhixie didn't say anything next.

The life span of grassland people is very short.

Ordinary herdsmen start to age in their twenties, and after thirty, they are considered old in the absolute sense.

When the tribe encounters difficulties such as food shortage and poor livestock production, these "elderly people" over the age of 30 will be abandoned on the grassland to fend for themselves.

Junchen is almost thirty years old.

Yizhixie had no confidence that he could accumulate enough strength to avenge his father before Junchen's death.

But being unable to take revenge on Junchen did not mean that Yizhixie would never be able to avenge his father's murder...

"Yu Dan~"

"My dear brother..."

"Zuo Xian Wang, who could even crush the lamb he was riding to death with one hoof..."

···
"Hey;"

Thinking that in the future he would be able to replace the weak Yu Shan and become the true Shanyu of the Xiongnu and a powerful totem who could truly lead the nomadic people, Yizhixie's originally gloomy expression finally blossomed with a rare brilliance.

——For Yizhixie, this war is both a danger and an opportunity!

If he could seize this opportunity, the one who killed Junchen might not be Cheng Litian.

"Tonight, let's take the warriors and leave Nanchi and head towards the north."

Having said that, Yizhixie turned around again and glanced at Nanchi from afar with a slightly depressed expression.

"I feel bad watching Shan Yuting desecrate the sacred pond."

"Attack the Han people sooner and become stronger sooner;"

"As soon as possible, we should defeat Junchen's Chanyu Ting and make him unable to come to Nanchi anymore..."

(End of this chapter)