My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 313 Cultural Differences
In the first year of Emperor Rong Xinyuan, on the twenty-first day of the eighth month in autumn.

The first step of the operation on the northern battlefield was considered a complete success.

The Northern Front Army, led by Yu Hou Luan Bu, accomplished the feat of sneaking across the river at night with the loss of hundreds of wading soldiers and an equal number of combat troops.

Next, two cavalry commanders led by Gonggao Hou Han Tuidang, totaling 10,000 cavalry, quickly swept in all directions with the smuggling point as the center, expanding the space for activities of the Northern Front Army.

It was precisely during this process that something happened that shocked the whole world - both the farming people of China and the nomadic people of the grasslands.

——Han Tuidang’s 10,000 cavalrymen are invincible wherever they go!
It’s not that these 10,000 cavalrymen displayed such amazing fighting power;
Instead, the Munan tribes who remained in Henan chose to surrender almost the moment they saw the Han cavalry and the Han flags.

There was no resistance plot like when the border counties of the Han Dynasty were invaded, where soldiers and civilians risked their lives to resist, which happened at all.

Han Tuidang's troops swept through the country along the way, accepting surrenders from the Munan tribes along the way.

Luan Bu's troops, the main infantry group of the Northern Front Army, which had been planning how to provide support to Han Tuidang, became the logistics force of Han Tuidang's cavalry after this appalling large-scale surrender and raising of the white flag.

Whenever Han Tuidang led his troops to "conquer" a tribe, Luan Bu's main infantry would follow to accept the surrender, and take the captives into custody and guard them;
Just a few days later, there was even a strange phenomenon where the leaders of the Xiongnu tribes surrendered without a fight and requested to lead their troops into battle to fight for the Han army!
Frightened by the bizarre sight, and with no time to consult Chang'an, Luan Bu had no choice but to discuss the matter with his generals, such as Han Tuidang and King Liu Fei of Jiangdu.

In the end, it was Han Tui who made the final decision: Use it!
When Luan Bu asked about the reason in detail, Han Tuidang analyzed a situation unique to the grassland to Luan Bu and others in detail.

——On the grassland, character, integrity, even nationality and beliefs are no big deal!

There is only one eternal truth on the grassland.

Survive!

In order to survive, nomadic people on the grasslands could kill their fathers and brothers with arrows, or they could give away their wives and concubines, or even pay tribute and pledge their loyalty.

As long as they can survive, the nomadic people of the grassland are willing to give up everything they have except their lives.

Therefore, when war comes - especially when nomads are attacked, the first thing that comes to the nomads' minds is never to fight to the death;
Instead, run if you can, and throw if you can’t.

Of course, if the invading enemy is obviously not strong enough, the nomads will naturally muster up the courage to defend their tribe, family, and hard-won habitat.

But when attacked by an enemy that is stronger than themselves - or even just 'not weaker than themselves', it is difficult for nomadic people to have the idea of ​​fighting to the death.

Run!

Just jump onto the horse's back and run in any direction. The grassland is so big that it is impossible not to find another place to stay.

If you really can't escape, then surrender. There's nothing shameful about it...

"So it seems that in the eyes of the people of Zhuxia, the extremely humiliating surrender is just the norm for nomadic people?"

August 24th in autumn, in the center of Henan.

Riding a horse around the newly-set-up military camp, looking at the endless vast grassland where not even a reference point could be found, Yu Hou Luan Bu said this, causing Gong Gao Hou Han Tuidang to nod and sigh.

"It's not easy for nomadic people on the grassland to survive."

"——and it's not easy!"

"A heavy snow, a severe drought, or an epidemic is enough to kill large numbers of nomadic people."

"In the minds of my people, disaster means many people will die;"

"In the grasslands, in the minds of nomadic people, disasters mean the disappearance of many tribes."

···
"Those tribes that were able to retain some population and livestock after the disaster were all powerful and dominant in their area."

"Once a smaller or weaker tribe encounters a disaster, it will generally take until the next year, or even many years, for other tribes passing by to discover it."

"——For a tribe that was wiped out without a sound, the place where it was destroyed would trigger a desperate fight among other tribes around it."

"Unlike the people of Zhuxia, who are wary of such ominous places, the nomadic people on the grasslands would only say that if many people died here, the grass and water here would be nourished and lush..."

Talking about what he saw and heard on the grassland when he was young in a tone with a hint of reminiscence, Han Tuidang couldn't help but show a trace of pity on his face.

After a long while of adjusting himself, he finally calmed down and continued, "Besides natural disasters, there are man-made disasters."

“Even if they avoid natural disasters such as drought, flood, heat and cold, there are still man-made disasters that constantly threaten the safety of nomadic people.”

“Perhaps it was a piece of grassland that caused a dispute among several tribes;”

"It could also be that a few lives were lost, causing hatred between several tribes."

"In short, in order to survive, nomads spend their entire lives fighting against the sky, the earth, and people."

"——The power of mortals cannot compete with the laws of heaven and earth;"

"If there is no natural disaster, there will always be deaths."

"So, the nomadic peoples of the grasslands would compete with each other for the only chance of survival..."

After hearing this, although Luan Bu did not have a very deep understanding of the Huns and the nomadic people on the grasslands, he roughly understood the reason.

——The nomadic people on the grassland are busy struggling for survival all their lives.

Moreover, unlike the Chinese agricultural civilization in the Central Plains, which only required hard work and busyness for food and clothing, the survival problems facing the nomadic people on the grasslands were innumerable.

Among them, the two issues of food and clothing can even be said to be the most inconspicuous and easiest to solve.

Under such living conditions, all propriety, righteousness, integrity, character and pride must give way to the word "survival".

As long as they can survive, they can consider peace talks for a battle that could have been won;

In a war where both sides are evenly matched, it is entirely possible to consider surrendering and joining forces with the opponent.

As for the situation where the enemy is stronger, there is no need to say more - run if you can, surrender if you can't!

Considering that running takes time and requires discarding many existing production tools and wealth, surrender is the first choice for nomadic people.

If they could surrender and save their entire clan, lives, and some of their wealth by offering loyalty, no one would choose to flee. Unless the hatred between the two sides was too deep and the grudges were too great to the point of a fight to the death, where the clan would be exterminated if they lost, no one would be willing to abandon everything they already had and become a lone wolf wandering on the grassland.

This is true of the war between two nomadic tribes, and also of the collision between agricultural civilization and nomadic civilization.

For the Han family and the people of other countries, surrendering without fighting and being willing to be captured and enslaved may be a difficult thing to understand.

But from the logic of the grassland nomads, this is indeed a very simple truth.

Take this time, for example, when the Han army went out from the north to attack Henan;
You are the leader of a Xiongnu tribe. Your tribe has tens of thousands of people, including several thousand male cavalrymen, an equal number of herdsmen responsible for daily production labor, and tens of thousands of horses, tens of thousands of cattle, and hundreds of thousands of sheep and other livestock as the wealth of your tribe.

One day, you heard that the Han people were coming, and they were like divine troops descending from heaven. There were tens of thousands of them, maybe even more than a hundred thousand!
What would you do?
Unite with the surrounding tribes, which usually compete with you for water and pastures, and are even ready to annex your tribe and enslave your neighbors at any time, to fight against the powerful Han army that came from nowhere?
Even if you unite, your military force is still less than one tenth of theirs. How can you use it to fight against a rock with an egg?
For the Han people, doing so may be a sign of integrity and courage;

But on the grassland, this is pure stupidity.

——There is no need to do this at all!

Instead of risking military casualties and the survival of the tribe in a war that is likely to be lost, why not surrender quickly?
As long as they surrender, not only can they save the lives of all the members of the tribe, but they may also be able to retain the livestock of the entire tribe and become a subordinate tribe that keeps guard for the Han people on the Han-Xiongnu border!

Even if they were captured, the Han people rarely killed them.
Even after the war, becoming a slave of the Han people is better than losing your life in vain.

What's more, surrendering does not mean that you are destined to be enslaved!
As long as you can gain the trust of the Han army's commander, fight for the Han army, and make certain contributions, your dream will most likely come true and you will really become a subordinate nomadic tribe of the Han people!
As for doing this, will there be any psychological burden?

Where does the psychological burden come from? !

Not only does the Chanyu Court require you to pay tribute of thousands of cattle and sheep every year, but you are also required to lick the toes of the so-called Xiongnu Chanyu!

As a subordinate tribe of the Han people, even if you, as the leader, cannot be granted a title of nobility, you can still retain your noble status!

And unlike the Shanyu Court who exploited your tribe to death - the Han people will not exploit your tribe too much.

If you send hundreds of cattle and sheep every year, maybe people will give you gifts in return with precious silk, cloth, or even bronze utensils!
In the final analysis, the only difference between nomadic people and agricultural civilization in surrendering is that agricultural civilization "knows honor and disgrace when they have enough food and clothing", and they think that doing so is shameful, humiliating, and shameless;
But the nomadic people on the grasslands are busy struggling for survival all their lives, so for them, this is the most cost-effective option.

It’s just like what people say in later generations: As long as I have no morals, you can’t morally blackmail me.

For nomadic people who have been troubled by the word "survival" all their lives, morality is undoubtedly a very luxurious and even incomprehensible word.

Morality?

Can you eat?
Is it better to eat to fill your stomach or to wear clothes to warm your body?
You Han people think that being remembered in history is worth exchanging your life and property for - or even gambling on a possibility;
But in the eyes of us nomadic people, the value of the four words "name in history" is not as real as a full meal.

After understanding this, Luan Bu also understood Han Tuidang and openly supported the idea of ​​incorporating the Hetao tribe, which had just surrendered, into a formal combat organization.

"So, if it comes to charging into battle, these Hu cavalrymen may be more courageous and fearless than our Han soldiers, right?"

Luan Bu tried to smile, but Han Tuidang just shook his head solemnly.

"more than!"

"In the eyes of nomadic people, life after surrender is determined by one's own values."

"So, in order to fight for a better future life, these Hu cavalry will be even more brave than our Han soldiers!"

"It's just like when the Qin Dynasty was in power, the fierce and fierce army killed people in Guandong for the sake of official positions and titles;"

"These Hu cavalrymen who surrendered to my Han Dynasty will be even more ruthless than my Han soldiers in killing the Xiongnu!"

"Because there has never been a concept of 'ethnicity' on the grasslands."

"The nomadic people of the grasslands never considered themselves to be part of a certain nation, but only considered themselves as members of 'a certain tribe' as a whole."

"On the grassland, tribes can easily appear and disappear..."

After hearing this, Luan Bu's last doubts disappeared and he secretly made up his mind.

If the facts are really as Han Tuidang said, then the next battle will be extremely easy to win!

In the past four miles, Han Tuidang led his troops to attack across half of the Hetao, from the big river on the eastern border of the Hetao to this place in the center of the Hetao.

There were dozens of tribes, large and small, gathered along the way.

Even if each tribe could only contribute one thousand cavalry to fight for the Han army, these dozens of tribes together would have twenty or thirty thousand cavalry.

On the grassland, twenty or thirty thousand cavalrymen might be a force that cannot be ignored, but they are definitely not an "invincible" powerful army.

But for the Han Dynasty, tens of thousands of cavalry?
——In this battle, Emperor Rong almost plundered most of the Han family's wealth to provide Han Tuidang with two cavalry captains, totaling 10,000 cavalrymen!
It is no exaggeration to say that the 10,000 cavalrymen were the only cavalry force of the Han Dynasty!

With these 10,000 cavalry, when the main force of Shanyu Ting returns to attack Hetao a few months later, the Han army will not have to use pure infantry against pure cavalry - although it is still limited by the restraint of the arms, it will not be too frustrating.

But if we had these tens of thousands of Hu cavalry...

"I hope that when we see the Yinglong Banner of the Chanyu Court, these Hu cavalry will still be able to charge bravely for our Han family without fear of death."

Thinking in this way, Luan Bu finally made up his mind and formally issued a military order: to select 500 cavalrymen from each of the tribes that surrendered in the past few days.

Of course, these cavalrymen born in various tribes will not be reorganized into cavalry captains, but will be dispersed into the main infantry force led by Luan Bu in units of 500 people, namely cavalry Sima, as a mobile force.

In addition, the two cavalry captains under Han Tuidang's command will also receive a total of 2,000 troops.

Among the 10,000 Han cavalry, there were 2,000 reorganized Hu cavalry, basically one Hu cavalry was inserted into every squad;
It will not cause any trouble, and can allow Han Tui to lead the cavalry, thus strengthening the military strength.

At this point, the Northern Front Army officially set foot in Henan and gained a firm foothold.

The originally planned sweep and purge turned into a relatively easier armed march + forced surrender.

The next step is naturally to build a defense line in the northern area relying on the river, preparing to welcome the counterattack of the main force of the Shanyu Ting reinforcements.

In other words: the focus from now on will all be on Mayi...

(End of this chapter)