My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 317 Qinguan: Gaoque

"Dismiss him from his post as governor and demote him to the position of Zhonglang..."

"Reduce the number of households in the city by 200..."

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"Your Majesty, are you trying to protect Cheng Buzhi?"

Hetao, 600 miles north of Chaona Sai and 150 miles northwest of Shangjun, is the former residence of the Baiyang tribe.

Inside the central military tent, there was a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere.

——This place is already located at the isolated outpost of the Han Dynasty outside the Great Wall: due west of Yunzhong City!

Another hundred miles to the north is the old Qin fortress: Gaoque.

If the former territory of the Han Dynasty could be described as a flat land in the north with a rectangular piece missing in the upper left corner, then Hetao is the last piece of the puzzle to fill in this defect.

With Hetao, the former front lines: Beidi County and Chaona Fortress, will become "quasi-front lines" like Longyou - quasi-front lines that are located on the border but not directly bordering the enemy.

As for the former Shangjun, there was Yunzhong County to the north, but it was separated from Yunzhong County by more than 200 miles and three or five Xiongnu tribes.

In the west, the Aries tribe was lurking covetously and would come to attack us every now and then.

The south, which should have been the rear and the base, was Beidi County, whose strategic location was even more dangerous than Shang County.

Only in the east, there is the central region of Dai State, namely Taiyuan County where the Dai capital Jinyang is located, but it is separated from Shang County by layers of mountains and hills arranged vertically from north to south.

In the past, the most dangerous and strategically worst part of the Han Dynasty's northern border was Shangjun, which was surrounded on two sides and could not provide support from the other two sides, except for the isolated city of Yunzhong, which was in danger of being surrounded at any time.

In the past, once there was a change in the border wall, the generals and officers in Shangjun would be so busy that they would tear down the east wall to repair the west wall and had no idea what to do.

In the north, towards Yunzhong, even if we cannot support Yunzhong, we must at least deploy defenses on the northern border;

Although there is a natural barrier of rivers on the west side, it is not uncommon for scattered Hun cavalry to cross the rivers and plunder. We must retain the mobile forces that must be retained, and not reduce any of the energy that must be invested.

——Especially in this direction, it would be fine if the Huns don’t come, but if they come, they must be the elite of the Aries Tribe!
In order to prevent the entire Shangjun from becoming like the former northern land, a back garden that the Huns could take whatever they wanted, Shangjun had to station heavy troops in this direction.

The west and north sides are fine - even on the south side, where Beidi County is located, Shangjun cannot save any effort.

The reason is very simple: unlike Shangjun, the Northland does not have a large river to wrap around the entire border and serve as a natural barrier;
Especially the Chaona fortress, once it is breached by the Huns, let alone the north - the entire northwestern border including the Beidi, Longyou, Shang and Dai, will be destroyed within just a few months!
The war in the 14th year of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen's reign left a profound lesson for the entire northern border of the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, in order to ensure that the county would not be harmed by the Huns' cavalry when Chaonasai was breached by the Huns and Beidi was lost, Shangjun had to set up defenses at the border between itself and Beidi County.

Defense on three sides!

Such heavy border defense pressure overwhelmed generation after generation of Shangjun prefects and border defense generals.

Now, the Hetao area changed hands, and the Han army marched westward to Chaona Pass, and then quickly occupied the entire Hetao area, namely Henan.
After such a drastic change, Shangjun and Yunzhong County were undoubtedly the first to feel the change.

First, the Han Dynasty controlled Henan from then on, so Shangjun no longer had to worry about strategic threats from the west, that is, Henan.
Secondly, the change of ownership of Henan meant that Beidi County behind Shangjun was no longer the back garden of the Xiongnu where the Hu cavalry could invade and ravage at any time.

There is no longer any defensive pressure from the west and south, and it is even possible to get support from these two directions, which undoubtedly greatly improves the border defense pressure of Shangjun.

From now on, the only direction in which Shangjun needs to deploy a defense line is the county boundary due north of Shangjun.

And this is precisely the top priority for the Han Dynasty to regain Henan and greatly improve the strategic situation of Shangjun.

——To the north of Shangjun is Yunzhong County, which is isolated outside the Great Wall!
Even if other factors are not taken into consideration, just because there is Yunzhong City - a majestic city serving as an outpost, the border defense pressure faced by Shangjun in this direction is not that great.

In the past, Shangjun’s border defense was under great pressure because it faced enemies from the west and north, and needed to be defended from the west, south, and north.

Now, the border pressure from the west and south no longer exists. The troops and energy that once needed to be deployed on three sides will now only need to focus on the northern defense line.

It is no exaggeration to say that from now on, Shangjun, while fulfilling its own border defense mission, is likely to have the ability to go north to provide assistance to Yunzhong!

As for the reason, it’s not that Shangjun really has such a strong war potential;
It was because at this moment, although the place where Luan Bu and other generals were located was still a hundred miles away from Gaoque on the north side, it was already located due west of Yunzhong City.

What concept?
From this moment on, starting from the central military tent where Luan Bu is located, heading eastward, crossing the river, you can directly reach Yunzhong City!
In other words, as long as Luan Bu's central military tent can be included in the Han territory, Yunzhong City will no longer be an isolated city outside the Great Wall!
In fact, the target of the Han army in this battle was definitely not this wilderness located due west of Yunzhong but with no target objects.

It’s just that Gaoque is, after all, an old Qin fortress…

"Cheng Buzhi has done his best."

"The reason why we failed to retain the main force of the Chanyu Court was that Junchen Laoer was too cunning and too eager to return to Henan for support."

"No matter what, Cheng Beidi cannot be blamed for this matter."

"——After all, Cheng Beidi even resorted to such risky moves as abandoning Mayi."

"The rest is up to us."

After Luan Bu said this, everyone in the tent, such as King Jiangdu Liu Fei, Marquis Gonggao Han Tuidang and others, all nodded.

In today's Han Dynasty military, Li Ji and Luan Bu are almost universally recognized as two old naughty boys.

On weekdays, the two brothers are inseparable and often do things that make people laugh and cry.

But when it comes to war, these two brothers are recognized by the world as the two most experienced, capable and trustworthy people in the Han military.

In comparison, Li Ji was a founding hero, while Luan Bu was famous for his noble morals after Taizu founded the country. He gradually accumulated merits during the reign of Emperor Taizong and became a great general of the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, among these two people, Li Ji was the first and Luan Bu was the second.

However, in this battle, although Li Ji, Marquis of Quzhou, was appointed as the Grand Marshal by Liu Rong, he still had to take into account the two battlefields of Mayi and Hetao and needed to stay in the center to control the overall situation.

Especially in the early stages of the battle, the Han army had to use Mayi in public to cover up its plans for Hetao.

Therefore, since the beginning of the war, Li Ji, the Grand Commandant and Marquis of Quzhou, has always been in Jinyang, the capital of Dai, remotely commanding the battle in Mayi and symbolically intervening in the Hetao battlefield. This battle was probably Li Ji's last battle.

If Li Ji did not want to become the second Zhou Yafu, his best choice would be to retire after this battle and return home.

At the very least, he had to take the initiative to give up his military power and say that he was "old and weak and unable to assist Your Majesty". Only then would Liu Rong return the favor by giving Li Ji an honorary position like Grand Tutor, which sounds impressive but actually has no real power.

Li Ji himself obviously has a clear understanding of this.

Since the start of the battle, Li Ji has always maintained extreme strategic determination, and always maintained an attitude of "I am responsible if there is any problem, and I don't care how to fight specifically". He left the two battlefields of Mayi and Hetao to Cheng Bushi and Luan Bu to make their own decisions.

Li Ji obviously has full trust in Cheng Bushi.

Especially in the city defense battle, Li Ji really didn't know who else in the Han family was trustworthy except Cheng Buzhi.

As for Luan Bu, he was an old friend after all, and Li Ji knew exactly how much he weighed.

In addition, since this was the last battle, Li Ji was happy to let go in advance and let the two front-line commanders fight freely. Although he was a grand marshal, he was willing to be a qualified logistics minister.

On the battlefield of Mayi, the former general and Yanmen prefect Cheng Buzhi was the leader, and the later general and Yanmen commander Zhidu was the assistant. Obviously, there was nothing strange about it.

However, the command system of the Hetao battlefield was slightly more complicated.

Logically speaking, the order of military ranks that still exist in the Han Dynasty is: Taiwei, General, General of Chariots and Cavalry, General, and then front, back, left and right generals and so on.

According to this ranking, with Taiwei Li Ji commanding the rear and the Han Dynasty not having a general, Han Tuidang, Marquis of Gonggao, who was appointed General of Chariots and Cavalry before the war, should be the second-in-command of the Han Dynasty in this entire battle - and even in the current military.

As for General Luan Bu, he should be the third person;

Since the No. 1 Grand Marshal Li Ji was far away in the capital Jinyang, the No. 2 General Han Tuidang should have the final say on the Hetao battlefield, with the No. 3 General Luan Bu assisting him.

But the actual situation is: Luan Bu, who is usually gentle and never competes for power with others, as the third most important figure in the Han family, took away the overall command of the Hetao battlefield from the second most important figure Han Tuidang without hesitation.

In response to this, Luan Bu did not make any comment, as if he was the General of Chariots and Cavalry, the highest-ranking general of the Han army on the Hetao battlefield.

The strange thing is that Han Tuidian, who had his power taken away, had no opinion on this.

In fact, in the eyes of outsiders, the brothers Li Ji and Luan Bu had already become three brothers together with Han Tuidang as early as the time of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen.

Emperor Taizong discovered that Han Tuidang, the surrendered general, had no popularity, and because of his father, Han Wangxin, he was despised by the entire court.

Therefore, in order to find some friends for Han Tuidang and also to appease Han Tuidang, Emperor Taizong acted as a matchmaker and found Li Ji, who also had a bad reputation (cheating Lü Lu of the tiger talisman and selling out his friends for fame), to form a pair of brothers with Han Tuidang.

But no matter what, Li Ji's stigma is ultimately just a moral stain, and it cannot be compared with Han Tuidang's traitorous bloodline;

Therefore, on weekdays, in front of outsiders, Li Ji and Luan Bu would still intentionally or unintentionally keep a distance from Han Tuidang.

Han Tuidang also had no objection to this.

In Han Tuidang's opinion, the two brothers were willing to take him out to play instead of avoiding him like the plague like other people did, which was already the most kind thing to do.

Even if the two brothers didn't care, Han Tuidang would take the initiative to keep a distance from them in front of outsiders to prevent the two brothers from being implicated by him.

Over the years, the three brothers have become, if not as close as brothers, at least close enough to wear the same pants.

Who makes the decisions, who does the work, who is the main one and who is the auxiliary, among the three brothers - especially between Luan Bu and Han Tuidang, who are "not founding fathers", it is basically a matter of discussion.

We are brothers, so why should we be so polite to each other?

This was the case in this battle - before Luan Bu could raise his concern that 'my brother has surrendered himself and if he becomes the main general, I'm afraid the court in Chang'an will be in unrest', Han Tuidang took the initiative to pat his chest and said: It's agreed that I will only be in charge of the cavalry, and I won't be in charge of anything else!
Seeing that Han Tuidang was so sensible, even to the point of being a little distressing, his old friend Luan Buzi was also very happy about it.

Today, the time has come to the end of the first year of the current emperor Rong Xinyuan;
The battle had been going on for nearly a month, but there were basically few decent battles on the Hetao battlefield.

This certainly does not mean that in a normal war, the Han Dynasty could obtain Hetao without any effort;
Quite the contrary - Luan Bu is now worried about the upcoming brutal battle, which is like a flood.

"The high palace cannot be achieved overnight."

"Your Majesty has also issued an order: The Northern Front Army must do their best to preserve the fruits of victory in this battle - to take over Henan!"

"Afterwards, the Shuofang Commandery was established in Henan Province, with the Great River as the boundary, and the Xiongnu separated by a high pass."

"As for seizing Gaoque, this battle is not enough..."

As he said this, Luan Bu's gaze turned very naturally and fell on his old friend beside him: Han Tuidang, Marquis of Gonggao.

At the signal from his old friend, Han Tuidang stepped forward and came to the geomancer. He drew a circle around Henan, or the western and northern defense lines of Han Shuofang County, that is, the river basin in the Hetao area.

"If the Great River is the boundary and Gaoque is the future border between the Han and Xiongnu, then right now, in addition to the main force of the Chanyu Court that is coming from afar at night, our army still needs to solve two major problems."

"——The first one is the tribes west of Henan, namely the Xiutu, Hunxie, Liyu and others in Hexi;"

"The second is the former garrison of the Baiyang and Loufan tribes."

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"The former concerns whether the Shuofang County of our Han family can become a place for our Han army to take root and gain a foothold in the future, rather than a place of hundreds of battles and bloodshed that is lost and regained again and again."

"The latter concerns whether the northern border wall of Shuofang County, which is the defense line across the river from Gaoque, can be stable."

"——Especially in the former Baiyang tribe's garrison, there are many Qiang people stealing sheep, robbing houses, and killing people on the road."

"If we don't solve these problems, even if the main force of the Shanyu Court who came back to help fails to retake Henan, it will be difficult for our Han family to gain a foothold in this 'Shuofang County'."

"Even these three words 'Shuofang County' are likely to become empty talk and a joke."

(End of this chapter)