My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 283 Strategic Preparation
"In the seventh year of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen's reign, Wei Shang died of illness..."

"Since Wei Shang, Yunzhong County - or Yunzhong City - has always been a place that the court in Chang'an is worried about, fearing that something might go wrong;"

"——Emperor Taizong Xiaowen and Emperor Xian Xiaojing both considered finding a veteran general who was not much different from Wei Shang for Yunzhong."

"But in the end, Emperor Xiaojing had no choice but to issue an edict: Wei Shang's death should be kept secret to prevent the barbarians from invading;"

"In Yunzhong today, Wei Shang's son Wei Wu is in charge of the post office, the chief clerk and other officials..."

Chang'an City, Weiyang Palace.

At the turn of spring and summer, Liu Rong rarely stayed in the Greenhouse Hall on the left side of the Xuanshi Hall, or the Qingliang Hall on the right side.

He sat casually on the imperial couch and chatted about the border wall with Han Tuidang, his elder brother-in-law, Pingyang Marquis Cao Shou and others.

Speaking of the border wall - especially the Huns' invasion that is likely to happen again after this autumn, everyone's attention is naturally focused on the map, that isolated city outside the Great Wall, with all the areas within a hundred miles belonging to the Huns' territory.

Cloud City.

As the first feudal city to appear in the history of Inner Mongolia, Yunzhong City's strategic location attracted the attention of Chinese civilization and nomadic civilization outside the Great Wall as early as the Warring States Period.

The middle period of the Warring States Period - to be precise, it was the 300th year of King Wuling of Zhao ( BC). The Zhao army, which had grown strong by virtue of its Hu clothing and horse riding, expanded its territory under the leadership of King Wuling of Zhao.
Recover the Zhongshan land, expand the territory to the north to Yan and Dai, defeat Linhu and Loufan, and expand west to Yunzhong and Jiuyuan!
A long wall was built from Dai, and the area from the foot of Yinshan Mountain to Gaoque was used as a barrier, and Yunzhong, Yanmen, and Daijun were established...

In other words, not too far away, 150 years ago, the Yinshan Mountain, which is now regarded as a sacred mountain by the Xiongnu, was the strategic starting point of the northern front set by King Wuling of Zhao;
As for Yunzhong, Yanmen and Daijun, they were newly conquered areas protected by the defensive fortress line that started from Yinshan Mountain and ended at Gaoque.

During the Qin Dynasty, General Meng Tian led an army of 400,000 soldiers from the Qin Great Wall and drove the Hu barbarians northward for thousands of miles, making the nomadic people dare not go south to graze their horses. When they saw the Qin black dragon flag, they dared not draw their bows. If they were fast, they would flee at the sight of the wind. If they were full, they would kneel on the side of the road, trembling with fear to meet the Qin cavalry.

At that time, Yunzhong City was one of the many border cities located north of the Great Wall of Dai and Zhao and south of the Great Wall of Qin on the Qin map.
But after the death of Qin II, the Central Plains fell into war again, and everything on this land changed...

"During the reign of Qin II, he implemented harsh policies and imposed heavy taxes. Even when Chen Sheng and Wu Guang raised their arms and called for action, everyone in the world followed their lead."

"After that, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were defeated by Zhang Han. When Zhang Han's army marched eastward through Hangu Pass and intended to confront Xiang Yu at Julu, the Second Emperor ordered all the soldiers on the northern wall to march south to defeat Xiang Yu..."

Liu Rong sighed with emotion, and Han Tuidang beside him also sighed with a bleak look on his face. Then he recalled the regrettable past from the standpoint and perspective of a grassland man - or a nomadic people.

"The Second Emperor of Qin ordered the soldiers on the northern wall to march south to quell the rebellion. The urgency of his decree and the severity of his order were unprecedented in history."

"Wang Li, Marquis of Wucheng, who received the Second Emperor's edict and succeeded Meng Tian as the Great General and took charge of the troops along the northern border of Qin, ordered his troops to march south to attack Zhao immediately."

"——No one knows whether Wang Li was really eager to lead his army south, or had other plans;"

"It was just that after Wang Li led his army southward, a small grassland tribe that had been struggling to survive near the Qin Great Wall obtained the food, fodder, and weapons that Wang Li's army had no time to take away and had to abandon..."

···
"Afterwards, Wang Li encountered Xiang Yu, who was determined to make a desperate move, in Julu. Hundreds of thousands of Qin's northern border soldiers were wiped out."

"And in the north, the small tribe that received Wang Li's army's baggage and weapons grew rapidly in a very short period of time."

"——When Emperor Taizu Gao founded the Han Dynasty, the leader of the tribe had already been murdered by his son Mingdi;"

"And that once extremely weak and insignificant tribe has now grown to the point where it can share the grasslands with the Donghu and Yuezhi."

"Later, that small tribe first destroyed the Donghu and then the Yuezhi, and since then has become the unrivaled overlord of the grassland..."

Han Tuidang's words made Liu Rong smile bitterly, and also made Pingyang Hou Cao Qi, who was standing beside him, sigh.

Without Han Tuidang's explicit explanation, Liu Rong, Cao Qi - and even every Han Chinese in the world today, knew what the tribe that was fortunate enough to inherit the weapons and equipment of Wang Li's legion and thus grew rapidly was like now.

——That tribe was called the Xiongnu.

The leader who led the tribe to retrieve, or rather, snatch back, the baggage left behind by Wang Li's army was called Luandi Touman.

The one who killed his father and Luandi Touman with a whirlwind, and then led the Xiongnu tribe to grow rapidly and eventually dominate the grasslands was the first true Chanyu of the Xiongnu Empire: Luandi Maodun...

"I heard someone say that if Wang Li had not been in a hurry to go south and left those baggage behind, thus benefiting the Xiongnu, his insight helped the Xiongnu grow stronger, and now the Han Dynasty might not have a headache about the northern wall."

"But the late emperor once told me: If it weren't for the baggage left by Wang Li, which allowed the originally weak Xiongnu tribe to quickly become strong, thus triggering a war that lasted for several years on the grassland, then during the chaotic times at the end of the Qin Dynasty, I'm afraid there would be more foreign barbarians who would interfere in my land of China."

"——Perhaps it was the Donghu people who defeated Emperor Taizu Gao in the Battle of Pengcheng;"

"Or maybe it was the Yuezhi who forced Xiang Yu to commit suicide by jumping into the Wujiang River at Gaixia..."

Liu Rong's words immediately caused Han Tuidang to nod his head in approval.

He sighed a little and continued the topic: "Before the rise of the Xiongnu, the Donghu and Yuezhi were in opposition on the grassland."

"——The Donghu have dominated the grasslands for a hundred years, but they have long lost their former vigor. The nobles are content with the status quo, sitting back and enjoying the fruits of their labor, and only think of oppressing other small tribes."

"Well, it's just like the Xiongnu Chanyu Maodun, who was sent to the Donghu King as a hostage when he was a child;"

"It was during the time when he was a hostage that Luandi Maodun had his later life realizations: If the Donghu people wanted my woman, I had to give her to them; if the Donghu people wanted my fine horse, I dared not refuse; but if the Donghu people wanted our land, then no matter how timid I was, I had to lead my people to fight them to the death..."

···
"The Donghu at that time was like an old, rotten tree that could fall down at any time;"

"As for the Yuezhi people, they developed a sense of contentment when they were halfway through their rise."

"——In the eyes of the Yuezhi people, being able to be on an equal footing with the Donghu people and jointly become the overlords of the grassland is completely acceptable."

"So, if the Xiongnu had not risen, the grasslands at that time would have maintained a peaceful situation between the Donghu and Yuezhi."

"When Qin II died and disputes arose throughout China, the Donghu and Yuezhi peoples were likely to unite and seek to set foot on China."

"At the very least, we must take back all the pastures that can be used for grazing, and not leave even a piece of pasture for my people of Zhuxia."

Liu Rong and Han Tuidang were talking to each other, and Cao Shou was listening all the time.

It was not until Han Tuidang talked about this past event that Cao Shou finally got the chance to speak.

"I still remember when I was a child, my grandfather once said to my father: The Xiongnu's growth was indeed due to Wang Li's eagerness to go south and not taking all the food and supplies with him;"

"But if there hadn't been the Huns and the war for grassland hegemony that they had triggered, the world would have been even more chaotic at the end of the Qin Dynasty."

"It's just that the Huns are so powerful that they are different from any other grassland overlord in the past."

"——They are not like the Donghu people who are content with the status quo, nor like the Yuezhi people who, as long as there is enough pasture, can accept another being as powerful as themselves and coexist with them on the grassland."

"The Xiongnu's massacre of the Donghu people was appalling!"

"Until the end, when the blade of the killing sword was almost bent, the old man Maodun finally gave in and was willing to exile the last remaining bloodline of the Donghu people to the far east - that is, the Wuheng Mountain and Xianbei Mountain north of Youbeiping County in Yan State."

"As for the Yuezhi people, they have been hunted down by the Xiongnu for decades. Even now, the Xiongnu are still trying to find out the whereabouts of the remnants of the Yuezhi who fled after being defeated in the battle."

···
"In the thirteenth year of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen's reign, the Yuezhi people were defeated and routed by Laoshang Chanyu in Hexi, so that they abandoned their ancestral land and fled westward."

"It was also because of this battle that in the fourteenth year of Emperor Taizong's reign, the old Chanyu personally led an army of 140,000 into the north. The court in Chang'an did not react until the Xiongnu vanguard set fire to the central palace."

"——In fact, before that, the court in Chang'an had always believed that with the Yuezhi occupying Hexi, even if the Xiongnu occupied Henan, they would not dare to risk being attacked from both sides by attacking the border from the north."

"But after defeating the Yuezhi and occupying all the land west of the Yellow River, the Xiongnu no longer had any worries;"

"On the other hand, the Han people - the Xiongnu have already reached Xiaoguan. We thought that the Yuezhi people occupying Hexi would make the Xiongnu afraid to act rashly..."

These words made Cao Shou reluctantly participate in the topic, and also made Liu Rong look at his brother-in-law with a new respect, whom he had originally looked down upon.

Of course, it is just a matter of admiration.

——As the fourth generation descendant of a family of founding fathers, Liu Rong's only expectation for his brother-in-law was that he should not make trouble;

As long as Cao Shou could correct his behavior, avoid bullying and taking advantage of his power, and provide some help to his sister Cao Shu, who is already the empress, and the future eldest prince, Liu Rong would have nothing else to ask for.

Of course, if Cao Shou could demonstrate his outstanding abilities in certain areas on this basis and bring some unexpected surprises to Liu Rong, Liu Rong would be happy to take a step ahead and cultivate wings for the future eldest prince and raise the long-declined Pingyang Marquis family to a height that does not belong to them.

But just based on such a not stupid and understandable remark, Cao Shou was far from enough to make Liu Rong change his prejudice against the children of meritorious marquises, especially those of the third and fourth generations.

Even so, Liu Rong still nodded to Cao Shou with a smile of approval, and gave him a slightly encouraging look;

Then, he turned his attention back to the ongoing topic.

"At this time, it is meaningless to study the history of the Xiongnu people."

"The most important thing right now is Yunzhong."

"——Especially at the beginning of this spring, the Xiongnu envoys came to the court and were humiliated by me;"

"The Huns probably can't swallow this bitter pill~"

"After this autumn, the Huns will most likely attack again."

"Even if we don't send an army of 100,000 or 200,000, at least we will send 30,000 or 50,000 to get rid of the bloody wrath we suffered at the beginning of the year."

Having said that, Liu Rong looked at Han Tuidang again, with a hint of gloom between his brows.

"The Yunzhong of our Han dynasty today is no longer the same as the Yunzhong County of the past."

"——Yunzhong County, which belonged to Zhao during the Warring States Period, is a newly conquered area south of the Yinshan-Gaoque defense line;"

"——The clouds of the Qin Dynasty were hidden deep in the rear area a hundred miles south of the Qin Great Wall."

"But now, our Han family's Yunzhong is called Yunzhong County, but in fact, it is just a Yunzhong City."

"The area within a hundred miles of Yunzhong City is all the land of the Huns!"

"Except for Yunzhong City, the northernmost defense line of our Han family in Dai and Shang is still more than 170 miles south of Yunzhong!"

"If there is a place that can support Yunzhong during the war, it is Daibei, located in the southeast of Yunzhong, more than 300 miles away from Mayi..."

After these words were spoken, Liu Rong's originally relaxed expression couldn't help but become a little serious.

For Yunzhong, an isolated city that is isolated outside the Great Wall and deeply embedded in the heart of the grassland, the name Wei Shang is almost equivalent to a spiritual totem!

Even though he was once imprisoned for falsely reporting a gain, and was later pardoned by Emperor Taizong at the advice of veteran minister Feng Tang, the only things that the people of Yunzhong remember are those bloody battles.

——In the past twenty years, the Huns have left at least five thousand corpses under the city of Yunzhong!

The number of Xiongnu nobles who died in the attack on Yunzhong even reached the level of Danghu!
And all these honors were obtained by Wei Shang, the defender of Yunzhong, who led the civilians of Yunzhong City, who numbered no more than ten thousand households, and fought down the people with swords and spears, even at the cost of many lives.

In the seventh year of Emperor Taizong's reign, Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Heng, passed away. Everyone in the world wept in grief upon hearing the news.
But in that year, the people of Yunzhong were crying because of the death of the county magistrate Wei Shang.

To this day, that man has been dead for seven years. Although the Han family has been hiding the truth and Wei Shang's flag is still hanging on the top of Yunzhong City;
But the people are gone, and Yunzhong City is no longer the impregnable city that made the court in Chang'an feel at ease and could only sigh, "As long as Wei Shang is here, Yunzhong will not be lost!"

At the beginning of the winter, the Huns came from the northwest and attacked the northern lands to no avail;
After this autumn, it would be fine if the Huns do not come, but if they come, they will almost certainly come from the north.

At that time, Yunzhong City, which is isolated outside the Great Wall and located a hundred miles north of the Han Dynasty's northern defense line, will definitely be the first to bear the brunt.

This time, there is no longer an old general named Wei Shang, wandering around the top of Yunzhong City, inspiring the soldiers and civilians of Yunzhong to unite as one and defend the city wall...

(End of this chapter)