My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 282 Wei Shang in the Clouds!

While feeling strange, Yizhixie couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

——The south of the mountain under the control of Yizhixie is what later generations called the Mongolian steppe, located in the southern half of the Mongolian desert;
Compared to Mubei, Munan covers a relatively smaller area, but has a relatively warmer climate and more lush grasslands.

In the Munan area, which is more suitable for living than Mubei, the southern area occupied by the headquarters of Yizhixie's Right Wise King, that is, the Hetao Basin, is undoubtedly the best animal husbandry area.

The tent of Yizhixie, the Right Wise King, has stood on the edge of the salt lake for many years!
Coupled with its location in the southernmost part of the grassland and the climate blessing of the Hetao Basin, it is no exaggeration to say that the territory directly controlled by Yizhixie is an existence that even the Chanyu himself would envy and jealous from time to time.

Unfortunately, the Hetao Basin is such a small area, and the Chanyu Ting is not only responsible for the political responsibility of patrolling the grasslands on a yearly basis, but also often has to lead hundreds of thousands of people, as well as several times, or even dozens of times, the number of cattle and sheep for livestock activities;
Knowing that the Chanyu Court could not stay in Hetao for a long time, and that Hetao could not bear the hundreds of thousands of people and millions of cattle and sheep of the Chanyu Court, the Chanyu had no choice but to accept the reality.
——Let the actual controller of the Munan area and the highest authority of the Xiongnu’s strategy toward the south, that is, toward the Han Dynasty: the Right Wise King, occupy this fertile grassland.

Even so, every autumn, Shanyu Ting, who returned from his tour in the north, would choose to spend the winter in the Hetao Basin, and would not leave until the ice and snow melted the following year, reluctantly.

Therefore, as the Right Wise King, Yizhixie should have been the richest and most powerful Xiongnu noble in southern Mu, occupying the best pastures, enjoying the most abundant resources, and living the most affluent life.

But now, Yizhixie's situation on the grassland - whether it is in the Chanyu court, the political situation among the chiefs of various tribes, or the actual situation of his headquarters directly under the Right Wise King, can be said to be extremely difficult.

Last winter, Yizhixie led his army to the Han Dynasty's Chaona Pass and fought a battle.
Didn't take it down.

It took more than forty days, thousands of brave warriors were killed or injured, and thousands of people even froze to death or were frostbitten during the retreat, but they failed to even break through Chaona Pass - the gate of the Han people.

The nomadic people of the grasslands have always believed in the strong and followed the most primitive rules of jungle survival.

From a personal point of view, they worship those who are strong in force;
For nobles like Yizhixie, the simplest and most direct way to gain the worship and respect of the nomadic peoples was to lead them to victory and snatch more money, food, cloth, and even slaves and women from the hands of the Han people who were as docile as lambs.

This is what Yizhixie's father did.

A small move every three years and a big move every five years - basically, once life becomes a little tight, they will go to the Han people's territory.

Thanks to his repeated victories and the never-failing fairness and justice in dividing the spoils, Yizhixie's father became increasingly respected and loved by the various tribes in the south of Mu.

There was a time when the young Yizhixie even thought that even if his father sent troops directly to the southern edge of the Damu to separate the north and south of the Damu, he could still "divide the curtain and rule separately" with the Chanyu Court and become the "Southern Chanyu" together with the Chanyu Court in the north of the Damu.

However, it was also his father's increasingly high prestige among the Munan tribe that made the then Zuoxian King, Yizhixie's cousin: Luandi Junchen, want to kill him.

In order to maintain his ruling position, Junchen adopted treacherous means like the Han people and summoned Yizhixie's father to Longcheng in the name of "discussing important matters".

A few days later, news came from Longcheng that the Right Wise King had conspired to rebel, but was suppressed on the spot by the Chanyu. The Right Wise King and his followers were all executed.

At that time, Yizhixie already knew that his father had committed a crime that only Han people were guilty of.

——His achievements are so great that they frighten his master.

Yizhixie knew that his father's only sin was that he was too powerful;

He even threatened the Chanyu court - not the former Chanyu, but the current Chanyu Junchen, so he was murdered by Junchen.

The impact of that coup on the Huns and the people of the grassland was enormous.

The first to be hit was that the Right Wise King was murdered by Shanyu Ting's conspiracy. The noble leaders of the Right Wise King's faction were seriously injured, causing the Right Wise King's faction of Munan, which was originally responsible for the anti-Han strategy, to suffer an unprecedented heavy blow.

As the implementer of the Xiongnu Empire's strategy against the Han people, the blow suffered by the Right Wise King's faction naturally meant that the Xiongnu Empire's strategic oppression of the Han people had become extremely obvious.

So much so that last winter, when Yizhixie, in the capacity of Right Wise King - the same capacity as his deceased father, followed his father's example and went to Nasai to attack the Han fortress, the Han fortress that was once on the verge of collapse turned into a wall of despair where the entire Mu'nan could not see any hope even after putting all its efforts into it.

Another thing is that Yizhixie is still feeling aggrieved about it to this day.

——Not long after my father's death, a massive rebellion broke out among the Han people!

It is said that in the east of the Han territory, the seven most powerful kings united together and launched an armed rebellion against the Han Emperor in Chang'an!
At the most dangerous moment, the armies of the seven kings even approached the Han people’s Guanzhong gateway: Hangu Pass!

As the most outstanding descendant of the previous Right Wise King, the current Right Wise King, and even the most outstanding new generation of the Luandi clan, Yizhixie knew very well that at that time, as long as the Xiongnu sent an armed force - not too many, just three or two thousand would be enough;

As long as there are warriors from the Great Xiongnu appearing on the Han-Xiongnu border at that time, it will surely throw the Han emperor in Chang'an into chaos!

The best outcome might be that the Han people would have two emperors, who would fight among themselves and have no time to care about the north.

The worst outcome would be the emergence of a new emperor among the Han people - an emperor who had sought help from the Xiongnu during the rebellion.

In any case, it was a win-win situation for the great Xiongnu Empire.

Just send out troops;

As long as it's a soldier, even if there's only one horse!
But unfortunately, the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting at that time was still busy dealing with the aftermath of the Right Wise King's "execution for treason" and had no time to intervene in the Han territory where civil strife was taking place.

——The highly respected Right Wise King died mysteriously in Longcheng, and the entire Munan was furious!
Junchen initially suppressed the rebellion with an iron fist, but he found that the more he suppressed it, the more he seemed unable to suppress the rage of the Munan tribes?
Finally, realizing that if he continued to suppress the rebellion, the entire Mu'nan would most likely be out of the control of the Shanyu court, Junchen had no choice but to compromise.

The most direct proof of Junchen's compromise was Yizhixie, who inherited his deceased father's legacy and succeeded to the throne of Right Wise King.

In order to appease the various tribes in the south of Mu who were extremely dissatisfied with the Chanyu court due to the death of the Right Wise King, Junchen suppressed his disgust and promoted his cousin Yizhixie, the son of the late Right Wise King, to the position of the Right Wise King.

Deep down, Yizhixie didn't even feel too sad or angry about his father's death.

——The strong prey on the weak; this has always been the eternal truth on the grassland.

Junchen was able to kill his father, whether by upright absoluteness or by the conspiracy track he learned from the Han people, it was ultimately his ability;

It was only natural that my father was killed because he was not as skilled as others.

As a son, it was natural for Yizhixie to avenge his father, but compared to the missed opportunity - an opportunity that plunged the Han people into endless civil strife and made it impossible for them to unite as one, his father's death was not that important to Yizhixie.

Or it should be said that when it came to his father's death in Longcheng, Yizhixie's anger towards Junchen was first of all because Junchen was only concerned with eliminating dissidents, but missed the opportunity to strike the Han people, and even had a great chance of striking the Han people to the point of paralysis. He was angry at Junchen for not fighting back!

Secondly, from a personal standpoint, he was angry at Junchen for killing his father.

Because Junchen had killed the Right Wise King in an extremely ugly and clumsy way, his prestige among the various tribes on the grassland, especially those in the south of Mu, had actually been somewhat subtle before last winter.

On the contrary, Yizhixie, the successor of the late Right Wise King, received strong support from the vast majority of the Munan tribes.

Even words like "Please wait for the right time, strengthen yourself, and then avenge Tushe" were mentioned by Yizhixie from at least ten Munan tribe leaders and kings! But after the war last winter, everything changed...

"The battle of Chao-Na made Cheng Buzhi the 'unbeatable general', but it also made me, the Right Tushe of the Xiongnu, become an incompetent person who disappointed all the tribes in the south of Mu."

"And the Nanchi, which was originally the most fertile and prosperous place in Munan, is the headquarters of the most powerful Right Wise King in Munan. Now there are countless warriors who are eating rotten meat from who knows how many years ago to fill their stomachs."

"——Even if it is difficult, my Right Wise King's tribe should be the richest tribe in Munan and the one that does not need to worry about survival."

"But now, you, a slave, told Ben Tushe that in the originally barren and cold East, the tribes did not even fight each other, and each lived a life without starving to death..."

"Is that right?"

As he spoke, Yizhi sat diagonally on the back seat of the tiger-skin king's chair, crossing his hands and raising them to cover the lower half of his face;
However, his eyes were full of sinisterness as he gazed into the depths of the eyes of the man in Hu clothing, as if he wanted the man in Hu clothing to give an explanation.

Or perhaps, it was to give an explanation to those Eastern tribes who had enough food and clothing in such a good year, but were struggling to survive under the command of the Right Wise King.

"Tu, Tushe!"

Stared at by Yizhixie's vicious gaze like a venomous snake, the Han man in Hu clothing was visibly confused. He immediately knelt on the ground, crawled forward, and kissed Yizhixie's bare feet.

After kissing for a long time, before Yizhixie could stroke the back of his head, the Han Chinese in Hu clothing became increasingly flustered. He quickly raised his head and said sincerely, "Tushe, we are all Han Chinese from Yunzhong City!"

"It's the Han people from Yunzhong City. They sold food to the tribes in the east and only asked for furs in exchange!"

"It is said that the food sold in Cloud City alone is enough to feed those tribes for more than a month!"

"There are also Han people from other places who are selling food!"

"——Yanbei, Yanmen, Shangjun, and Daijun are all openly selling grain in the market!"

"What they want are the furs and tibias of cattle and sheep, and they don't ask for stallions or cows!"

"These words were heard by Tushe Zhongchen's servants from the Han merchant caravan that recently came to Yanchi!"

"Your most loyal servant has no connection with those Eastern tribes at all..."

By the end of the conversation, the Han man in Hu clothing was crawling on the ground again, but he didn't bother to continue licking Yizhixie's toes - he just crawled on the ground trembling and even closed his eyes in fear.

A Han Chinese dressed in Hu clothing, he was originally an ordinary tenant farmer in Yanmen County, northern Dai;

In the 14th year of Emperor Taizong's reign, the main force of the Xiongnu entered Beidi and Longyou from Chaona, and a small force entered Daidi from Yanmen.

It was at that time that the Han people wearing Hu clothing were captured by the troops of the previous generation of King Youxian.

After arriving at the Salt Lake, the Han people were filled with fear and worked very hard, fearing that if they were not careful they would be used as food reserves by these barbaric orcs.

Fortunately, at that time, there was a Han Chinese imperial teacher in the court of the Xiongnu Chanyu.

Bank of China said.

He was the savior that every Han Chinese dressed in Hu clothing - and even every Han slave captured to the grassland - would never forget.

The Han people wearing Hufu clearly remembered that at that time, the Han national teacher only said one sentence to the former Right Wise King: A Han slave should use his wisdom, not his strength;
As a result, the Han people wearing Hu clothing became important figures under the command of the former Right Wise King, and could even participate in major decision-making discussions!

Although still a slave;

Although he was still a slave of the Right Wise King, there was a difference between slaves.

——A seventh-rank official at the prime minister’s doorman!

The slaves of King Youxian are more noble than some tribal chiefs and petty kings on the grassland!

Unfortunately, later on, the Han national teacher lost power and was exiled to the North Sea by the current Junchen Chanyu. The Han slaves on the entire grassland also suffered a drastic drop in status.

That is to say, high-level slaves such as the Han people wearing Hu clothing were protected by some nobles and kept by their side to give advice, just like having a think tank.

But after the war last winter that the entire grassland was unwilling to mention, and even felt ashamed of the name Yizhixie, the Han people wearing Hu clothing felt more and more that the day when they would be taken away by the shaman priests and then skinned and sacrificed to the gods seemed to be getting closer and closer...

"Cloud City."

"Wei Shang?"

After a long time, Yizhixie uttered a name with a normal expression, which made the Han people in Hu clothing nod their heads hurriedly.

"It's Wei Shang!"

"Since the time of Laoshang Chanyu, Wei Shang has never organized his Han soldiers to exchange goods with the surrounding tribes."

"This year, Wei Shang got so bold that he actually started doing grain business with the tribes in the East!"

"Thanks to the food purchased from the clouds, the tribes in the east did not go to war with each other..."

After the Han man in Hu clothing said this, Yizhixie fell into long contemplation.

After a long time, Yizhixie instinctively waved his hand and drove away the Han people in Hu clothing who seemed to have been pardoned.

When he was the only one left in the tent, Yizhixie still couldn't come back to his senses for a long time.

He kept murmuring that person's name.

"In the clouds..."

"Wei Shang..."

···
"Wei Shang..."

(End of this chapter)