My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 305: War Machine Starts
"revenge?"

"avenge???"

……

"laugh!"

"Is the feng shui really changing?"

"what???"

Weiyang Palace, Xuanshi Side Hall, Qingliang Hall.

Sitting on the imperial couch, Liu Rong had a sneer on his face and waved the bamboo slips in his hand in front of him.

"It has been more than fifty years since the fall of Qin and the rise of Han;"

"——Is it finally his turn as the Xiongnu Chanyu to seek 'revenge' on our Han family?"

"Hey!"

"What should I say?"

"When will the cycle of revenge end?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the hall was immediately filled with a wave of friendly smiles with ill intentions.

Veteran generals such as Li Ji, Marquis of Quzhou, Han Tuidang, Marquis of Gonggao, and Luan Bu, Marquis of Yu, who were summoned by Liu Rong to discuss matters, as well as several meritorious marquises who heard the news and came to know the intelligence, and the ministers in the court, were all amused by Liu Rong's words and shook their heads and laughed.

After laughing for a long while, Han Tuidang smiled and stepped forward, bowing and taking the bamboo slips from Liu Rong's hands with both hands.

He flipped it open and glanced at it, then handed it to Li Ji, the Marquis of Quzhou, who was standing beside him.
While Li Ji was reading the bamboo slips, Han Tuidang's relaxed and comfortable voice also sounded in the Qingliang Hall.

"Once upon a time, the emperor and his subjects of the Han Dynasty all regarded the siege of Baideng by Emperor Gao and the humiliation of Empress Dowager Lu as national humiliations. We wished we could send out all the men in the world who could fight, march north out of the grasslands, and trample over Dragon City!"

"Now, it is the Chanyu Ting who, in the name of 'revenge', has gathered a large army and marched south, intending to attack the pass."

"——As your majesty said: Now, it is finally the Xiongnu's turn to seek 'revenge' on our Han people."

"It is finally the Xiongnu's turn to suffer at the Han-Xiongnu border."

As Han Tuidang finished speaking, Li Ji had just finished reading the bamboo slips.

He took the opportunity to take over the topic and said: "Regardless of whether this secret report from Chang'an Hou is true or false;"

"——At least it is certain that the Xiongnu Chanyu has gathered a large army and is heading south."

"In fact, even if there was no secret report, the war this autumn was already anticipated by the Han family, both the emperor and his subjects."

···
"The Marquis of Chang'an reported in a secret report that the Xiongnu Chanyu had gathered eight tribes in the north and fourteen tribes in the south - a total of twenty-two tribes and thirty-seven thousand cavalry;"

"Among them, the three tribes of Munan Zhelan, Baiyang, and Loufan each have two thousand cavalry, and the three tribes of Jinshan, Xiutu, and Linhu each have three thousand cavalry. All of them have a full complement of 6,000 people, a total of 15 thousand cavalry, a total of 90,000 soldiers and horses;"

"The remaining sixteen tribes each have only one 10,000 cavalry, and ten tribes also have a full complement of 10,000 cavalry with 6,000 men."

"The other six subordinate tribes each have two Wanqi consisting of 4,000 slaves each."

"——In this way, there will be another 60,000 regular soldiers, plus 48,000 slave soldiers."

"Add to that the six thousand cavalrymen from Shan Yuting's headquarters, and Jun Chen will probably bring four more, which will be 40,000 elite troops from the headquarters;"

"The Left and Right Wise Kings each have two headquarters of 10,000 cavalry, each with a full complement of 8,000 men, for a total of 32,000."

At the end, Li Ji fiddled with his fingers and counted, then took a deep breath and bowed solemnly towards the imperial couch above.

"To sum up, even if we exclude the troops responsible for defending the Chanyu Court and the Left and Right Wise Kings' tents, which are unlikely to participate in the battle, the Chanyu Court headquarters and the Left and Right Wise Kings' headquarters - this totals 72,000 elite troops;"

"The remaining 22 divisions and 370,000 cavalry alone are no less than 200,000 troops!"

"If we include the Chanyu Court, the headquarters of the Left and Right Wise Kings, and the subordinate tribes that we have gathered along the way..."

"The total number of Huns' troops heading south this time is probably no less than 300,000!"

Li Ji's words immediately caused everyone in the hall to gasp.

Three hundred thousand!
Still cavalry!

What concept?
Not to mention 300,000, even 30,000 - even 3,000 cavalrymen could raise a cloud of flying dust in a plain of dozens of miles in radius.

Tens of thousands of cavalrymen lined up to charge into the battle formation, it was like a mountain collapsing or a sea rushing!
The strategic threat and significance of a cavalry cluster of 300,000 men are no less than the big mushroom in the later era of hot weapons!

In the future, those who have the ability to deliver the giant mushroom, even if they cannot be among the top five gangsters, will at least be a powerful country in the top ten military strength of Blue Star.

And in this era - in this ancient era more than a hundred years before Christ, the only people who could gather 300,000 cavalry and throw them into a war were the Huns.

Even the Han Dynasty, without considering the objective reality of "the extreme shortage of war horses", might not be able to afford such a huge and outrageous cavalry group!
They can't even afford to keep them, let alone send them into war - especially the same war.

Feeling the horror of everyone in the hall, Liu Rong frowned and thought for a moment, then he clenched his fist and gently hit his thigh.

Then, he nodded slightly with a gloomy expression.

"It is impossible for the Chanyu Court's headquarters, as well as the Left and Right Wise Kings' headquarters, to participate in the war."

"——Unless they do not participate in the war, the other tribes will be annihilated. Otherwise, there is absolutely no way that the Chanyu Ting headquarters will survive."

"After all, the troops of the Chanyu Court were formed specifically to suppress the various tribes on the grassland."

"Rather than saying that the Shan Yuting headquarters will join the battle, it would be better to say that whichever of the other tribes dares to retreat, the Shan Yuting headquarters will chop down that tribe with its sword..."

···
"As for the Left and Right Wise Kings, the Left Wise King Yu Shan is the youngest son of Junchen. He was born in the second year of Emperor Xiaojing's reign. He is only six years old now, and is still old enough to ride a lamb."

"He is Junchen's only surviving offspring. Junchen will never let Yu Shan take risks."

"And the Right Wise King Yizhixie just suffered a 'defeat' in the north at the beginning of this year."

"Whether Junchen brings Yizhixie with him is still uncertain..."

With Liu Rong's analysis, everyone's throbbing hearts finally calmed down a little.

——An army of 300,000, especially a pure cavalry group of the Huns!

Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, the Han people have never faced a Xiongnu army of this magnitude!

In the Battle of Baideng between Emperor Taizu Gao and Chanyu Maodun, the Xiongnu side had only 200,000 soldiers and horses.

In the 14th year of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen's reign, when the Huns almost pushed the front line to Chang'an City, the old Chanyu only led an army of only 140,000.

Three hundred thousand was a number that the Han had never faced before;
If you remove the 70,000 or 80,000 troops of the Chanyu Court and the left and right virtuous kings, the remaining 200,000 or so are the order of magnitude that the Han family has seen and experienced. Although it is still huge and outrageously powerful, at least it is not something that they have never experienced or fought before.

Furthermore, this information was brought back by the biggest intelligence dealer on the grassland: the King of Donghu of the Xiongnu and Marquis of Chang'an of the Han Dynasty - the Lu family.

It is hard to say how much water it contains, but it is definitely not completely empty.

Is this not?

After excluding the troops directly under the Chanyu Court headquarters and the troops under the left and right Xianwang headquarters, Liu Rong immediately began to squeeze out the water from the intelligence.

"As for the 22 divisions of Munan and Mubei mentioned by Marquis Chang'an, totaling 370,000 cavalry, in my opinion, it is somewhat exaggerated."

"——Zhelan, Loufan and Baiyang are the three tribes of the Xiongnu Chanyu Court, which suppress the tribes of Munan and check and balance the Right Wise King stationed in Nanchi, so as to prevent Munan from separatism."

"Even if Junchen brings all three tribes, he can't bring all the six thousand cavalry from these three tribes."

"Each of these three tribes has two 10,000 cavalry, a total of six 10,000 cavalry. At least two will be left in Munan by Junchen, to prevent any changes in Munan from happening during the fierce battle, which could cause a fire in Junchen's backyard."

"Especially under the premise that the Right Wise King Yizhixie is likely to be ordered by the military officials to stay in Nanchi, this is beyond doubt."

···
"Let's talk about Mubei;"

"The reason why the Jinshan, Xiutu, and Linhu tribes each have three thousand cavalry - one thousand more than the three 'horses' of Zhelan, Loufan, and Baiyang - is because these three tribes are stationed in the westernmost part of the Xiongnu territory, bordering Dayuan all year round."

"Well, they are like the Yan, Dai, and Zhao of our Han dynasty, similar to the border guard kings of the western territory of the Xiongnu."

"The Jinshan tribe has been fighting the Dayuan people for many years and has no time or energy to raise livestock, so the Chanyu Court has to be responsible for supporting their tribe and army."

"Therefore, it is impossible for the military officials to mobilize all the troops of these three tribes - the three 'border guard kings' of Mubei."

"If each of the three divisions sends out 10,000 cavalrymen to boost their momentum, perhaps there will be some success;"

"If each of the three tribes sends out 20,000 cavalry, I'm afraid the Dayuan people will become restless."

"If we send out 30,000 cavalry from each of the three divisions, no matter what the outcome of the battle is, by the time Junchen patrols from south to north again in the spring of next year, I'm afraid the Dayuan people will have already turned Mubei upside down..."

Having said that, Liu Rong couldn't help but take a deep breath and took back the secret report from the grassland from Kui Wu beside him.

After looking at it again, he waved his hand without raising his head, signaling Li Ji to continue.

With Liu Rong's instructions and his previous words, the contents of the secret report were diluted, and everyone in the hall felt completely relieved.

——If it’s less than 200,000, then it’s easy.

The entire Han family had already prepared themselves mentally for the decisive battle between Han and the Huns!

Since it is a decisive battle, the number of troops deployed by both sides is unlikely to be less than 200,000.

You must know that five years ago, when King Wu Liu Bi raised his army to rebel and united the various clan princes in Guandong to "kill Chao Cuo and purge the court", Liu Bi's Wu Kingdom alone mobilized a full 200,000 rebels!
Although these 200,000 soldiers and horses were gathered by Liu Bi by mobilizing all the males in Wu who were between the ages of 14 and 62 - almost bankrupting his family, it is enough to illustrate the problem.

Two hundred thousand is not a small number, but for the Han emperor and his ministers, if the Han and the Huns went to war, the Huns deploying an army of two hundred thousand on the front line would not be beyond their expectations.

What's more, even with these 200,000, there is still some water in it...

"In that case, the Jinshan, Xiutu, and Linhu tribes can probably only send out 10,000 cavalry each."

"The three tribes of Zhelan, Loufan, and Baiyang will at most mobilize a total of 40,000 cavalry to participate in this war."

"——Without the eight thousand cavalrymen of these six divisions, there would be a loss of forty-eight thousand."

"Even if all the remaining troops were mobilized by the military minister as Chang'an Hou said, the total number of troops participating in the war would be only 150,000..."

At this point, the highest decision-making level of the Han Dynasty had reached a final conclusion on the estimate of the number of troops that the Huns would deploy in this war.

——Apart from the Shanyu Court headquarters and the "military supervisors" of the left and right wise kings, the total strength of the combat troops deployed by the Xiongnu this time is less than 150,000.

Then, naturally, the next step is for the Han family to make corresponding responses based on the enemy's military deployment and make the most cost-effective military deployment.

"Of the 150,000-strong army, at least 20,000 to 30,000 must be sent to Yunzhong, and another 20,000 to 30,000 must feint to attack Shangjun, to prevent Daidi from receiving support."

"The remaining 100,000 troops will all attack from Daibei..."

After making his own judgment on the war as the most experienced and capable person in the Han military, Li Ji gave a look and returned the topic to Liu Rong, who was sitting on the imperial couch.

Liu Rong frowned and thought for a long time before he stood up and came to the huge imperial portrait hanging in the air beside the hall.

After everyone in the hall came up, Liu Rongfang grabbed a long black stick and pointed towards the upper left side of the feng shui map.

"In the north of Dai, Wuzhou Pass is used as a forward warning, and Mayi is a strategic point on the line of the Zhao Great Wall."

"After Mayi, there is Loufan County, and further south is the Pingcheng area where Emperor Taizu and Maodun had a hunting party."

"——In this battle, since both sides have shown their cards and the Xiongnu cannot launch a surprise attack, there is no need to place the battlefield within the Great Wall of Zhao."

"Especially in this battle, the strategic goal of our Han family is not to achieve results on the Daibei front, but simply to hold the Daibei defense line and prevent the Xiongnu from setting foot south of the Zhao Great Wall."

"In that case, if we station about 50,000 troops in Mayi and station an equal number of troops in Loufan to provide backup for Mayi, it should be enough to deal with the Xiongnu's offensive on the Daibei front."

Upon hearing this, everyone present nodded, undoubtedly approving of Liu Rong's strategic judgment.

As early as the time of Emperor Taizu Gao, Mayi was already a strategic town on the northern defense line of the Han Dynasty.

The entire Zhao Great Wall, which stretches from Shangjun in the west to the junction of Yan and Dai in the east, has only a gap of several miles south of Mayi, which allowed the Huns to set foot in the Han territory.

After Emperor Taizu Gao conferred the title of King Xin of Han on Han, Mayi even became the capital of Han Wangxin for a time!
For a city like this, which is an important border town and once the capital of a country, it is enough to garrison it with half the attacking force.

Moreover, Loufan, who was behind Mayi, had another 50,000 troops as backup and response;
These 100,000 troops were responsible for the Mayi front line to meet the siege and attack of the 100,000 combat troops of the Huns - the offensive and defensive sides had equal forces!
Under this premise, if the city still cannot be defended, there is no need to fight the war. It would be better for Liu Rong to send a direct letter to the military officials to request submission.

The Mayi line was defended with 100,000 troops;
The rest is towards the north...

"As for the rest, we will discuss it carefully after the generals go down."

"——This battle concerns the fate of the Han Dynasty, and even more so the rise and fall of the Xia people in the next hundred years!"

"I must be careful and take it seriously..."

···
"Send the order to the Imperial Treasury of the Ministry of Finance and the National Treasury of the Prime Minister's Office."

"We have an army of 200,000 men and a budget of six months of fighting. We need to prepare military rations, vinegar, cloth, weapons, food, and other supplies."

"No later than the fifteenth day of the seventh month in autumn, all the supplies needed for this battle must be shipped from Chang'an!"

"The first batch of supplies must arrive at the battlefield at the latest on August 10th in autumn, so that the troops can be deployed!!!"

(End of this chapter)