My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 284 Your Majesty, please prepare for a rainy day!

"With Cheng Buzhi and Zhidu in Yanmen, there's probably no need to worry."

"But Yunzhong may still need our Chang'an monarch and ministers to discuss matters carefully."

"——The new governor who will succeed Wei Shang and lead Yunzhong should not be rushed, and there is no rush."

"After all, Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xiaojing had been troubled by this matter for many years, but they never found the right person."

"But at least after this autumn, Yunzhong City must get the support of the Chang'an court."

"Whether it's military equipment, baggage, or replenishment of troops;"

"In any case, we cannot allow the people of Yunzhong to climb the city walls again because of the fear of the city being breached, or even let the son inherit the throne after the father's death, or the younger brother inherit the throne after the elder brother's death..."

Liu Rong's words made Han Tuidang and Cao Shou nod with emotion, and also made them fall into deep thought.

In other places around the northern wall of the Han Dynasty, raids and looting by the Xiongnu were almost an annual occurrence.
But over the years, different places along the border have developed their own ways of dealing with the situation.

What if the enemy has more than a thousand people? What if they have more than five thousand? What if they even have more than ten thousand people and attack in an organized manner? The border counties have figured out a set of standards and emergency plans that suit them.

Most of the time, if the enemy force did not exceed 10,000, the border counties would adopt a defensive strategy, that is, close the city gates, defend the city from dangerous places, and rely on the strength of the city walls to minimize casualties and property losses.
As for the villages scattered around the city, they will hide in the nearby mountains in an orderly manner, exchanging the destruction of the villages for the preservation of life.

When the invading enemy forces exceed 5,000, most counties will choose to form groups of three or five to jointly garrison a city, and try their best to ensure that most of the people in the wild villages can hide in the mountains and forests.

When the invading enemy force exceeded 10,000, the people in the border counties were often faced with a brutal war in which it was either you die or we die.

All human beings have the instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm.

The border is so unstable that the people are naturally unwilling to continue staying in the border county and risk their lives.

Therefore, in order to appease the people in the border counties to stay behind, and even to encourage the people in the south to move to the north wall to enrich the population in the area around the north wall, the Han Dynasty has been introducing corresponding incentive and compensation policies since Emperor Taizu Gao.

Especially during the reign of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, Chao Cuo, in his "Memorial on Military Affairs", officially set the core policy for the Liu Han country to persist in long-term immigration to the border and to recruit nomadic people near the Great Wall to serve as a barrier and to control the barbarians with the barbarians.

However, no matter how much encouragement and compensation the court gave, it could not change the fact that the lives and property of the people living along the border were not guaranteed, and they did not know when they would be drafted, either passively or actively, to fight in the city.

Among the northern border counties of the Han Dynasty, the most dangerous place was Yunzhong City, which was isolated for more than a hundred miles outside the Great Wall and would be surrounded in the event of a war.

——Every time!
Whenever the Xiongnu invaded Han territory in large numbers, no matter which direction they came from or which area of ​​the Han Dynasty they attacked,

As long as there is a large-scale southward march of more than 10,000 people, the first thing the Huns will do is to send out a detachment to surround Yunzhong City!

no way;
Located more than a hundred miles north of the actual border between the Han and the Xiongnu, Yunzhong City, which was so deep in the Xiongnu's heartland, made the Xiongnu people feel very uneasy, as if a thorn in their backs and a fishbone stuck in their throats.

Even though they knew that there were no more than 10,000 Han soldiers capable of fighting in Yunzhong City, and that even if they bypassed Yunzhong City, Yunzhong City would most likely not be able to stab them in the back, the Huns were still worried.

——Because of the existence of Yunzhong City, its significance to the Han family is that when necessary, that is, when the Huns march south in large numbers and attack somewhere in the north of Han, they can suddenly rush into the battlefield from behind the Huns to break the siege of the border wall.

Therefore, the Huns did not dare to gamble whether the Han people in Yunzhong City had the ability or courage to stab them in the back.

No matter how small, the possibility always exists.

This made it so that the Huns did not dare and could not ignore the existence of Yunzhong City. Even though they knew they could not break through Yunzhong City, they always tirelessly besieged Yunzhong City with heavy troops, so that Yunzhong City would be too busy to take care of itself and have no time to take care of other things.

certainly;

As a nomadic civilization that believed in the primitive law of the jungle and had a strong admiration for the strong, the Huns naturally did not conclude that the Han city of Yunzhong City was impregnable from the first day they saw it.

Once upon a time, the Huns also tried to send a large army to attack Yunzhong in an attempt to remove the nail that had penetrated deeply into the heart of the grassland - and even into the hearts of the nomadic people.

But the brutality of that war still makes people feel a dull pain even today when Han Tuidang, who heard it from others, retells it with the tone of "I heard it said".

That war was the battle that made Wei Shang, the former defender of Yunzhong, famous. It was also a meat-grinding battle that the people of Yunzhong would never forget...

"I remember~"

"Well, it was the third year before Emperor Taizong's Yuan Dynasty, right?"

A light question caused Cao Shou, who was standing beside him, to nod his head with emotion, and then Han Tuidang let out a long sigh.

Then, he once again talked about the past events from the perspective of the nomadic people on the grassland.

"In those years, the old Shanyu repeatedly attacked the border, and Emperor Taizong Xiaowen could no longer tolerate it, so he was determined to have a decisive battle with the Xiongnu!"

"Although I was still in the grassland at that time, some people in the court still knew what happened in Chang'an."

"——The northern and southern armies of Chang'an each lost more than half of their troops, two battalions of the southern army and four battalions of the northern army!"

"With these six schools of imperial guards as the backbone, Emperor Taizong has also recruited no less than 300,000 good men from Guanzhong, and he wants to lead the army himself to fight the barbarians!"

"By the time Emperor Taizong led his army to march out from Chang'an, half of the grain, salt, vinegar, and various sauces in the Shaofu treasury had already been emptied."

"Almost all the bows, feathers and arrows were taken away by Emperor Taizong..."

···
"After more than a month of marching, Emperor Taizong arrived at the Dai capital Jinyang and gave instructions on tactics to the old Shang Jizhou. They agreed to settle the blood debt of their fathers in the Pingcheng area!"

"But when the old general Ji Zhou led his troops south, crossed Mayi and the Great Wall of Zhao, and arrived in the area of ​​Loufan County, news came from Guandong - Liu Xingju, the King of Jibei, raised an army in Qi to rebel!"

"So Emperor Taizong had no choice but to make another alliance with Laoshang and accept the humiliating marriage."

"Then he turned around and went to Guandong to quell the rebellion in Qi."

"After the rebellion was quelled, the Shaofu's treasury was almost emptied. If the army is kept away for another three months, the court will not be able to provide food and wages for the army!"

"Under great helplessness, Emperor Taizong finally had to return to the capital and never mentioned the battle against the Xiongnu again..."

Han Tuidang's words also made Liu Rong and Cao Shou shake their heads and sigh. This incident was the third major national humiliation after Emperor Taizu Liu Bang was trapped in the siege of Baideng and Empress Dowager Lü Zhi wrote a letter to insult Maodun Chanyu.

It was this incident that forced Emperor Taizong Xiaowen to establish the core national strategic policy of making peace with the Hu people abroad and recuperating and accumulating strength at home for the Han Dynasty, which lasted for about 30 years between the two generations of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing.

It was also this rebellion of the princes that made Emperor Taizong repeatedly teach the then Crown Prince, the late Emperor Xiaojing: Don't think of fighting a decisive battle with the Huns before getting rid of the princes of the Guandong clan and eliminating their minions!
Your father and I are living, bloody examples!
With the facts of that battle as evidence, the Han people let go of their previous resentment and arrogance since the founding of the Han Dynasty, and completely accepted the strategic disadvantages of the Han Dynasty when facing the Huns and the necessity of adopting a strategic defensive posture.

After that, the Han Dynasty entered Chang'an for more than 20 years, nearly 30 years of sedimentation and rapid development.

——There was even a period of time when the imperial court in Chang'an was so busy recuperating that it was almost insane!

There was actually someone who openly proposed in the court meeting: No matter whether the dog is black or white, as long as it can stop the war, it is all a good dog!

If Emperor Taizong had not been deeply concerned about the principle of "too much is as bad as too little", and had not limited the Han Dynasty's tolerance towards the Huns to intermittent friendship to stabilize the situation, and intermittent conflict to flex muscles - seeking peace through struggle, the Han Dynasty might have invented such a notorious thing as annual tribute as early as BC!
This is the current mainstream view of the Han people regarding the decisive battle between the Han and the Xiongnu that took place during the third year of Emperor Taizong's reign, which did not end in a fight, or rather evolved into a rebellion to quell the rebellion.

Everyone said that the battle made the Han Dynasty fully realize the internal and external troubles it faced, and determined the strategy of keeping a low profile and awaiting future development, as well as the strategic priorities of attacking the interior first and the exterior second, and the princes first and the Huns second.

However, in the eyes of Han Tuidang, a former "grassland man", there was a place in that battle that was ignored by the whole world...

"The Battle of Pingcheng did not take place. After Emperor Taizong signed the humiliating marriage treaty, he hurried to Guandong to quell the rebellion of Liu Xingju, the King of Jibei."

"And the old Shang Jizhou, who came with high hopes but left with low hopes, noticed Yunzhong City again on his way to lead his troops northward and withdraw from the Han territory."

"—— Putting aside his identity as the Xiongnu Chanyu, Lao Shang Jizhou can also be regarded as a great leader."

"After just a quick look at the geomancy and a look around Yunzhong, Old Shang Jizhou completely understood the existence of Yunzhong City and its strategic significance to our Han family!"

“So, the old Shang Jizhou, who had already signed an alliance with Emperor Taizong and promised to lead his troops back to the grassland, immediately ordered: Gather all the forces that can be mobilized in Munan, together with the hundreds of thousands of troops under the command of the old Shang Jizhou, to break through Yunzhong at all costs!”

···
"At that time, I was still in the grasslands. Although I was still young and strong, I was not accepted by the Chanyu Court because of my status as a surrendered general - or I was not trusted."

"Besides, my father had passed away by then, and my elder brother inherited the throne of the Xiongnu King of Han. He was assigned to the north of the wall by the old Shang Jizhou - mainly to keep my Han King tribe away from the Han-Xiongnu border, pass on news to the Han family, and become the second Xiongnu Donghu King/Han Chang'an Marquis."

"So I was not able to be there in person during that battle;"

"But just after the war, when I heard those noble leaders of Mu Nan talk about it, I was already terrified, and I developed the utmost respect for the Yunzhong Shou, whom I had never met before..."

After these words came out, Han Tuidang seemed to really recall, or even really experience, that tragic war. With a dry mouth, he tugged at his collar lightly.

——It was the turn of spring and summer, and the Xuanshi Hall was not very hot;
But at this moment, Han Tui's forehead was already covered with a thin layer of sweat, and the hand that was pinching his collar was subconsciously fanning it slightly.

At this moment, Pingyang Marquis Cao Shou, who was standing nearby, also took over the conversation.

"After Emperor Taizong withdrew his troops, he focused all his attention on the rebellious Prince of Jibei Liu Xingju. He never expected that the old emperor Jizhou would be so cunning that he would attack Yunzhong City during the withdrawal!"

"By the time the Chang'an court received the news from Yunzhong, the war was already over."

"——It was not until the end of the war that the messenger sent by Yunzhong to Chang'an to report the battle situation was finally able to break through the Xiongnu's siege of Yunzhong City;"

"Later, according to Wei Shang, the governor of Yunzhong, the messengers who delivered the battle report to Chang'an were the sixteenth group of messengers sent by Yunzhong..."

"Even among the last group of messengers, only one person managed to reach Chang'an. After delivering the report to the outside of the palace gate, he died on the spot..."

These words made the already somewhat depressing atmosphere in the hall even more eerily quiet.

However, on the faces of Liu Rong, Han Tuidang and Cao Shou, the emperor and his minister, there were identical expressions of emotion and anger.

——In the clouds of that year, every family was in mourning;
That year, Yunzhong City was surrounded by three circles of tombs that stretched as far as the eye could see outside the city walls.

That year, in that battle, the county governor Wei Shang personally went to the battlefield and was wounded seventeen times!
Only one in ten officials in the county office survived, and nearly ten thousand county soldiers were almost wiped out!
Of Wei Shang's seven sons, five died and two were disabled...

"That year, the number of farmers in Yunzhong dropped sharply from 13,100 households and more than 55,000 people to 4,075 households and 9,326 people."

"——More than 80% of the people in Yunzhong died, with only one old man, woman or child left in a family or clan;"

"More than 9,000 households were wiped out, and the ancestral temples were cut off."

"The late emperor once said that the truly pitiful people in Yunzhong that year were not the families in mourning."

"But those families where the whole family died without a single person left, and there is no one to wear mourning..."

With Liu Rong's last words, this originally relaxed conversation between the emperor and his ministers finally came to its real core.

Han Tuidang had a stern face and looked at Cao Shou beside him for a moment. Then the two of them stood up together and walked forward to bow to Liu Rong.

"His Majesty!"

"In that battle, more than 50,000 soldiers and civilians died in Yunzhong!"

"Although the old Lord Ji Zhou also suffered a loss of more than 10,000 people, and even never mentioned the matter of conquering Yunzhong again, the brutality of that battle is still fresh in my mind!"

···
"There will be a battle in the autumn. If the barbarians do not come, it's fine. But if they come, they will definitely attack Yanmen, Shang, and Dai!"

"And Yunzhong may suffer another brutal war like the one that Wei Shang, the defender of Yunzhong, fought to the death..."

"——Your Majesty, please prepare for a rainy day!"

"But if possible, we will send tens of thousands of soldiers to reinforce Yunzhong to strengthen the city defense!"

After the two of them finished speaking in unison, Han Tuidang did not forget to take another step forward alone and bowed to Liu Rong again with a sincere face.

"I am not saying these words for the late Wei Shang - Duke Wei."

"It's for those heroes in the clouds who fought bravely but ultimately died..."

(End of this chapter)