My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 316: Human affairs are over, the rest is fate

Unfortunately, Yizhixie, the Right Wise King of the Xiongnu and the second in line to the throne of Khan, once again bore a huge blame.

——The military official left.

Even though Cheng Buzhi gave up Mayi and exposed the entire Daibei area to the Xiongnu army, Junchen still resolutely left the Mayi battlefield, not daring to stay for a moment, and headed straight for Henan.

If everything goes well, about twenty days later, the main battlefield of this war will shift from Mayi to Henan - or the Hetao battlefield.

But Junchen left, but he didn't "completely leave".

That’s right;

Yizhixie was kept back by Junchen.

The Shanyu Ting headquarters, the left and right Xianwang headquarters, and the northern and southern divisions of the Mu were basically all taken away by the military officials.
Only Yizhixie's own headquarters of the Right Wise King and several Munan tribesmen close to the Right Wise King were left to Yizhixie by Junchen.

There were not many soldiers and horses left, and the task was so heavy that it could crush Yizhixie to death.

——Conquer the Dai capital Jinyang!
When Junchen issued this death order to Yizhixie in an unquestionable tone, God knows that Yizhixie's language talent skyrocketed several levels in that instant.

If greeting Junchen's relatives was not the same as greeting his own relatives, Yizhixie would never have been able to suppress his anger.

Even though he swallowed his anger, Yizhixie still scoffed at the task, or wish, that Junchen left for him before he left.

The capital of the dynasty, Jinyang...

How to say it;

Yizhixie would rather return to Henan and launch an attack from the north towards Nasai, just like he did at the beginning of this year, with the Han capital Chang'an as the ultimate strategic goal.

At least Chang'an City did not have so many battle-hardened border guards, nor so many Han "troublemakers" who were fearless and hated the Huns to the core.

But no matter what, this was an order issued by the Chanyu himself, so no matter what Yizhixie did, he had to pretend.

So, on the same day that Junchen led the main force of the army to retreat northward and then turned west to support Henan, the headquarters of the Right Wise King led by Yizhixie and the other tribes that followed the Right Wise King formed a cavalry group of about 80,000 people, passed through the south gate of Mayi and crossed the Great Wall of Zhao.

Then, the Yizhixia people were stunned.

——Almost at the moment when he led his army through the gap in the Zhao Great Wall, Yizhixie saw a barracks that had obviously been operated for a long time.

The barracks is not the usual square shape, but a regular octagon.

Outside the camp, defensive fortifications such as chevaux de frise and horse traps formed three layers inside and outside the barracks, tightly surrounding them.

Can't be defeated!

Almost at the moment he saw the barracks, the following words popped up in Yizhixie's mind: We can't take it down.

It is impossible to break through such a Han army camp from the outside without 200,000 or 300,000 troops attacking in turns and spending three to five months.

So, Yizhixie also took the opportunity to put on an attitude of "this is really hard to beat" and set up camp directly at the gap in the Zhao Great Wall.

To put it in a positive way, Yizhixie's move was to block the gap in the Great Wall of Zhao with his barracks, to "cut off" the main force of the Chanyu Court that was returning to Henan to support it, and to ensure that Cheng Buzhi's troops could not attack from the Great Wall of Zhao, follow, or even hold onto Junchen's main force of the Chanyu Court.

But only there.

After setting up camp, Yizhixie was unwilling to launch even a symbolic attack. He just paddled in the barracks to kill time.

Seeing Yizhixie's actions, he sent out scout troops of nearly a thousand people to gather intelligence. Finally, Cheng Buzhi had to admit: the battlefield of Mayi had reached the limit of what Cheng Buzhi could do within his ability.

——In order to retain the main force of Junchen's Chanyu Court, Cheng Buzhi risked the destruction of the entire northern Han Dynasty and gave up the important town outside the gap in the Zhao Great Wall: Mayi!
But even so, they were unable to retain Junchen, who was eager to return home. So there was no other strategy in this world that could keep Junchen's main force in the Mayi battlefield under the premise of changes in Henan.

Cheng Buzhi had done his best to keep Yizhixie's 70,000 to 80,000 troops and slightly ease the defensive pressure in Henan.

Next, what Cheng Buzhi had to do was to ensure that Yizhixie's less than 100,000 troops could not move south or forward after crossing the Great Wall of Zhao.

At this point, the focus of this battle has completely shifted to the North-Hetao battlefield.

No matter how the battle of Hetao goes - no matter whether the Northern Front Army, which has already captured Hetao, can hold on to Hetao, which has just been taken and is not yet warm, there will be no changes on the Mayi battlefield.

"I hope Your Majesty will not blame us for not fighting hard enough just because Junchen's main force returned to Henan to provide support."

"After all, we have done everything we can."

"I plucked up the courage to do something that I couldn't do."

"——All human efforts have been made."

"As for the rest, we can only leave it to fate..."

Having said this, Cheng Buzhi returned to the main military tent in the barracks located west of Loufan County, blocking the southern exit of the gap in the Zhao Great Wall.

Behind Cheng Buzhi, looking at Cheng Buzhi lifting the curtain and entering the central army tent, Cang Ying Zhidu just lowered his head thoughtfully and fell into a long contemplation.

——From this war, Zhidu seemed to have learned something from Cheng Bushi.

But I can’t really say what I learned specifically.

"General Cheng, why aren't you worried that His Majesty will punish you for voluntarily giving up Mayi..."

"Could it be that in your majesty's heart, General Cheng's honor and favor have actually reached such an extent?"

After thinking for a moment, Cheng Buzhi shook his head with a sullen face.

The current Liu Rong can be said to be the most special emperor since the Han Dynasty.

——The Emperor Taizong's sophistication and the Emperor Xiaojing's cruelty are both present in Liu Rong.

The magnanimity of Emperor Xiaohui and the heroism of Emperor Shao Liu Gong are also possessed by the current Liu Rong.

In some extreme cases, even the roguery and heroism of Emperor Taizu Gao can be seen in the current Liu Rong.

It is no exaggeration to say that the current Liu Rong possesses almost all the strengths of all the previous emperors of the Han Dynasty.

Whether it was the wise and brave Emperor Taizu Gao, the benevolent Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, the gentle Emperor Xiaohui, or the tolerant Emperor Xianxiaojing;
Even Emperor Liu Gong, who ascended the throne at the age of four and died at the age of eight, had the heroic spirit to shout out, "I am not yet strong, but when I grow strong I will make changes." The present Liu Rong also possesses the same spirit.

From a personal emotional point of view, in Zhidu's eyes, the current Liu Rong is almost a textbook-level template of a feudal emperor.

There may be some minor flaws, but there is not a single major flaw worth mentioning.

And such an emperor - such a young, ambitious, experienced and steady emperor template - could not have absolute trust in any of his subjects.

Emperor Taizu Gaozu was magnanimous and generous enough, and he also trusted his subjects enough, right?
Zhang Liang, the Marquis of Liu, was almost granted an unprecedented fief of 30,000 households by Emperor Taizu Gaozu! Unlike the vast majority of founding emperors in Chinese history who would be abandoned after their success, the founding marquises who followed Emperor Taizu Gaozu to establish the Han Dynasty basically had a good ending.

But even such a heroic, cheerful and extremely confident emperor still forced Prime Minister Xiao to defile himself to protect himself, and even forced Liang Wang Peng Yue and Huaiyin Hou Han Xin to be executed for treason.

Emperor Taizong, such an outstanding and benevolent emperor, still set up a mourning hall himself and forced his only maternal uncle, a meritorious official who had entered Chang'an from his own land, to death.

As the great-grandson of Emperor Taizu Gao and the eldest grandson of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen - especially the eldest son of Emperor Xian Xiaojing, it is impossible for Liu Rong to have such a level of trust in anyone as "No matter what you do, I trust you".

As for honors and favors - no matter how close the relationship is, Emperor Rong will never forgive any general who voluntarily gives up garrisoning a city during wartime.

This is still the case even if this is done for the greater good and the overall strategy.

To put it more bluntly: no matter what the outcome of this battle is;

Even if everything went well in Hetao, Shan Yuting failed to recapture Hetao after returning to support;
Even in Mayi, the war situation did not change in the slightest to the disadvantage of the Han family because Cheng Buzhi took the initiative to withdraw from Mayi;
Even if in the end, everything remained the same on the Mayi battlefield - the Han still used Mayi as the front line between the Han and Xiongnu, and the Xiongnu did not cause any damage to Daibei, and everything went smoothly on the Hetao battlefield, the Han successfully took over the Hetao horse-breeding land;
However, Cheng Buzhi's voluntary withdrawal from Mayi almost certainly meant that Cheng Buzhi would bid farewell to his military career.

——The greatest achievement is to expand territory!
On the contrary, the greatest sin is to lose a city or territory.

Even if Cheng Bushi lost Mayi on his own initiative, it was not something that Cheng Bushi, as an individual, could afford or be responsible for.

After this battle, the most ideal outcome for Cheng Buzhi would be for the entire Mayi Front Army, with more than 100,000 soldiers, to jointly petition and plead for mercy from the current Emperor Rong!
On this basis, Emperor Tianzi Rong would have to really want to let Cheng Buzhi go before he could show mercy outside the law and give Cheng Buzhi a conclusion like "merits and demerits offset each other", or "demote him but keep him in the job, and allow him to make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence".

What if not?
Hey!
A lost city - especially in this war, the guilt of losing Mayi is enough to make Cheng Buzhi win the Nine Clans Elimination Chamber!

And this was exactly what Zhidu couldn't figure out. He felt something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

——It’s already like this!
Just as the war is about to end, disaster is about to happen!

How come Cheng Buzhi is not worried about himself at all, but is still worried about the war situation and the progress of the Hetao battlefield?
Could it be that Cheng Bushi during the war was really so devoted to the cause—to the point where he only cared about the country's gains and losses, but did not care about his personal honor or even his life?
or……

"or……"

"Or perhaps in General Cheng's opinion, compared to the gains and losses of the country, personal honor and disgrace are not worth mentioning at all."

"To the extent that he is willing to sacrifice his own honor and disgrace, the prosperity and decline of his family, and even..."

"Property, life?"

With such doubts, Zhidu returned to his military tent and fell into deep thought for several days.

The answer to this question was not discovered by Zhidu until many years later.

But at that time, Zhidu could never return to this day.

In the autumn of that year, the drums of war in Mayi roared and the horses' hooves thundered, but there were few decent battles.
Cheng Buzhi had no outstanding achievements. He first defended Mayi, then abandoned it and set up camp 150 li south of Mayi and south of the gap in the Zhao Great Wall.

In the autumn of that year, Zhidu made his military career debut.

The gears of fate began to turn.

A generation of famous generals also rose slowly with the turning of the gears of fate...

·
·
·
·
"Mayi, that's about it."

"——Cheng Buzhi, what a great general."

"With such courage, he still failed to retain the main force of the Chanyu Court of Junchen~"

"Time is also fate."

Chang'an City, Xuanshi Hall of Weiyang Palace.

Looking at the neatly stacked rolls of military reports on the imperial desk in front of him, Liu Rong could only let out a long sigh.

At Liu Rong's side, upon hearing Liu Rong's words, the doctor Zhou Ren was secretly surprised.
After a moment of silence, he finally cautiously asked, "From what I have heard from your majesty, I don't know about Cheng. Your majesty doesn't seem to intend to punish me?"

Seeing Zhou Ren's surprised look, Liu Rong nodded instinctively.

After thinking about it for a moment, he chuckled and shook his head slightly.

"Blame, you must blame."

"After all, this precedent must not be set."

"—— Cheng Buzhi was a man of great skill and courage. In order to retain the main force of the Chanyu court, he courageously abandoned Mayi. He is a model of 'a general plans for a battle, a commander plans for a country'."

"Although Mayi was lost, it is definitely not Zhan's fault - if he wanted, Cheng Buzhi could take Mayi back at any time."

"What's more, Cheng Buzhi dared to abandon Mayi and head south because he was certain that even if the Xiongnu got Mayi, they would not station heavy troops there all year round. Instead, they would withdraw their troops before winter and after the war ended, and return Mayi to our Han family."

"All of these things, one by one, can only be done by a master of military strategy."

"It is precisely because of this reason that Cheng Buzhi took the initiative to abandon Mayi. I must blame him..."

···
"After all, Cheng Buzhi, there is only one in my Han family."

"But with a general as ambitious as Cheng Buzhi, my Han family has tens of thousands of them on the city walls."

"——Any general with a reckless and straightforward character would have the courage to voluntarily abandon Mayi."

"But I have never seen anyone as capable as Cheng Buzhi."

"If I don't blame them, and everyone follows Cheng Buzhi's example and abandons the city at will, what will we do if the war situation is disrupted?"

Liu Rong said this with a smile on his face. He stood up from the couch and walked two steps with his hands behind his back.

After pretending to 'think' and 'consider' for a moment, he said lightly: "Draft an edict."

"Yanmen Governor Cheng Buzhi was afraid of the enemy and abandoned the city to retreat."

"Since he did not abandon his army and flee, but recognized his mistake and quickly blocked the second line of defense, his sentence is reduced by one level."

"——Now, Cheng Bushi is dismissed from his post as governor of Yanmen and demoted to the rank of Zhonglang."

"Deprive the Marquis of Che of his fief of 200 households."

···
"After the battle, Cheng Buzhi will immediately set off for the capital, without any mistakes!"

"Appoint Yanmen Duwei Zhidu to temporarily replace Yanmen Taishou."

(End of this chapter)