My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 319: Going to Long to visit Shu?

In the Hetao Plain, or the future Shuofang County of the Han Dynasty, all the generals of the Northern Army were in high spirits, ready to welcome the main force of the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting who was about to arrive at Gaoque.

Although the situation was not as bad as Luan Bu said - with the Han Dynasty on guard, it was unlikely that the Xiongnu would be able to smoothly go south from Gaoque, cross the river, and seek to retake Henan;

But there is one thing that Luan Bu said that is absolutely correct.

——Before the beginning of winter this year, as long as the Xiongnu people north of the Yellow River and within Gaoque cannot set foot in Henan and the "Shuofang County" of the Han Dynasty, then by the beginning of spring next year, the place name Henan will no longer exist in this world.

Whether in the Central Plains of China, the steppes, or even the Western Regions and the West, no one will ever say: There is a great river in the East, which changes its course at the border of the steppes and the Silk Road and surrounds the Hetao, thus forming the southern part of the Xiongnu.

Instead, they would say: The Silk Country has a big river, which turns in the north and surrounds the river. This is the Silk Country's Shuofang County, a place bestowed by God to raise horses...

The Chinese people have always had a good appetite.

Any territory that is eaten will never cause indigestion.

All it takes is one winter;
It only takes from November of this winter to February of next spring - no more than three months at most, and the former Hetao and Henan areas will be completely absorbed by the Han family and become Shuofang County!

This means that as long as Shuofang County is successfully established, all the generals of the Northern Front Army will be able to return to the court with the credit of "expanding the territory" in this battle!
Regardless of whether it was the old military merit accounting mechanism in the past or the current military merit accounting reform plan proposed by Liu Rong - as long as it is not a system created by a troublesome idiot, the merit of expanding territory will never be ranked second on the merit list.

You have to know that in Chinese civilization, even the standard for judging the emperor's achievements is that founding a country is the highest achievement!
What is founding a country?
Isn't it just starting from scratch and aiming to expand your territory to the limit of your ability?

This is true for emperors, and the same applies to warriors and soldiers.

Being the first to charge into battle, beheading a general and seizing a flag, these are just manifestations of personal bravery.

The "highest achievement" that can truly become beyond doubt and convince the whole world is always the four words "expanding territory".

Now, such a huge achievement has been taken away by the Northern Front Army;
In the coming winter, as long as the Northern Front Army "keeps its mouth shut" and doesn't let the Huns take away the credit for this great achievement, then this matter will be considered a success!
From this perspective, it is not unreasonable for Luan Bu to take this matter so seriously.

——What really matters is not how aggressive the main force of the Chanyu Court that came back to support is, or how difficult it is for the Northern Front Army;
But this achievement is really too great;

In order to securely take in this tremendous achievement and digest it thoroughly, the Northern Front Army could not be too cautious.

In fact, when the war developed to this point, the Northern Front Army was still able to muster such a high level of spirit and such a serious attitude. The final outcome of the war was basically determined.

——It is almost impossible for the main force of Shanyu Ting who came back to provide support to cross the river south of Gaoque and set foot on Henan again before this winter, under the premise that the Han army soldiers are united and on high alert!
The final battle will most likely be a very magical reverse defense battle.

That is: the Xiongnu occupied the high gate which was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and protected most of the southern part of the country behind them, but they were thinking about attacking, crossing the river, attacking the other side of the river, and invading Henan;

The Han army soldiers were outside Gaoque, separated from them by a river, but they had no intention of crossing the river or attacking the pass. Instead, they were thinking about how to block the Huns on the other side of the river and at Gaoque, how to repel the Huns who tried to cross the river, or how to push them away into the river.

The big river that was supposed to provide a natural barrier for Gaoque will become the only natural barrier and terrain advantage that the Han family can rely on in this war.

No matter how magical the process is, the ending is almost certain.

——The Huns really lost Hetao.

Whether it can be recaptured depends on whether the Han will be stupid and make a major and unforgivable strategic mistake;
Or maybe a meteorite fell from the sky and severely damaged the Han army's northern front, to the point that they "dared not go against the will of heaven".

As we all know, good luck like this has always belonged to the Chinese nation.

Rather than relying on such fluke mentality, the Xiongnu people should think carefully about how to adjust their strategic posture towards the Han Dynasty starting from next year, so as to avoid falling into a further disadvantageous position...

The war was not over yet, but Liu Rong in Chang'an had already secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

As the ruler of the Han family and the head of Chinese civilization, Liu Rong was under great pressure in this battle.

Fortunately, everything is going smoothly. If nothing unexpected happens, Liu Rong will get everything he expected before the war.

Including Henan area;
This includes direct strategic deterrence against the Hexi and Munan regions;

In addition, the border defense pressure on the northern wall was relieved, Liu Rong's prestige was greatly enhanced, and so on - the benefits were innumerable.

But after experiencing the initial joy and the sigh of relief, Liu Rong quickly regained his spirits.

After calming down, Liu Rong unexpectedly developed an inexplicable tacit understanding with his fifth brother, King Jiangdu Liu Fei, who was far away outside the Great Wall.

——The two brothers were thousands of miles apart, but they thought of the same thing.

"Xiu Tubu..."

"Xiu Tu Ze..."

···
"Further west is Jutingze, as well as Zhangye and Jiuquan."

"Further west is the Western Region..."

I squatted on the low steps with great determination, looking at the simulated sand table that was slightly sunk into the ground below the steps;
His gaze slowly moved westward from the "J"-shaped Hetao area. Liu Rong finally stood up and walked towards that direction.

With every step he took, a small black triangular flag was inserted by Liu Rong onto the simulation sand table which consisted of only mountains, rivers, grasslands and wilderness.

"The Loufan and Baiyang tribes in Hetao will probably only be able to live in Munan from now on."

"The area west of the river, namely Hexi, is the closest to the Hetao and is also the most powerful and has the largest number of troops, most notably the Xiutu tribe of Xiutuze."

"——How can I allow others to sleep soundly beside my bed..."

"If we don't get rid of the Xiutu tribe, how can we raise horses in peace in Shuofang County and train thousands of war horses for the Han Dynasty?"

···
"It's just that Xiu Tu Ze is in Hexi..."

"If you want to kill Xiu..."

"Start the Hexi Campaign ahead of schedule?"

For a moment, Liu Rong couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Long before he was the Son of Heaven - not even the Crown Prince, let alone the Prince of Glory, but merely the grandson of Emperor Taizong, Liu Rong already had a complete and general plan for the future of the Han Dynasty.

Externally, Liu Rong concluded that in history, Emperor Wu of Han first dealt with the small ones, then the big ones, and finally dealt with the final boss: the Xiongnu. This was forced by the situation and was definitely not the most cost-effective choice. Liu Rong certainly thought about whether he should first deal with the Baiyue in the south, especially Zhao Tuo, as well as the Korean Peninsula in the northeast and the Southwestern Yi in the southwest;
Then, he even went a step further and contacted various countries in the Western Regions and even the Wusun people before fighting the Huns.

After doing all this, he would gather all the forces of the known world to attack the arrogant Xiongnu Empire in order to decide the outcome in one battle.

But as he grew older and gained more political experience and strategic vision, Liu Rong soon discovered that historically, the reason why Emperor Wu of Han did so was not because it was right to do so, but simply because he had no other choice at the time.

——At the beginning of his reign, Emperor Wu of Han established a new policy, which completely destroyed the friendship he had accumulated with the Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace over the years. In the end, he had to rely on Empress Ajiao and his mother-in-law, the Princess of Guantao, Liu Piao, to help him save the throne.

For a long time afterwards, Emperor Wu of Han was under the protection and close surveillance of Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace.

As a result, Emperor Wu of Han, who was completely unable to govern - or even interfere in state affairs, could only eat, drink, play, hunt, train soldiers, and play with mud in Shanglin Garden for many years.

After finally waiting for the old queen mother to pass away, there were still undercurrents inside and outside the court, and it was impossible for everyone to unite and launch a full-scale war against the Huns.

Therefore, in order to fight for the right to speak step by step, and also to gradually build up his own power and team, Emperor Wu of Han had to start with small monsters.

At the end, they finally had the ability and the right to speak to launch a full-scale war against the Huns. However, the Huns became the only final boss in the entire known world that the Han Dynasty had not yet dealt with...

Liu Rong thought about it more than once and always believed that compared with the historical situation where Emperor Wu of Han started strong but ended weak and then fought back with heavy burdens, Liu Rong's political situation was many times better.

Therefore, Liu Rong did not need to consider questions like "Will my grandmother allow me to fight the Huns?", "Will unifying the Baiyue by force make too much noise?", "Will seeking to conquer Korea be too risky?", etc., like the Emperor Wu of Han in history.

Liu Rong only needs to think about: how to do it in a way that will bring the greatest benefits to the Han family and the highest cost-effectiveness.

After repeated and careful consideration, Liu Rong finally came to the conclusion that in his own dynasty, the Han Dynasty's foreign strategy should not be to start small and then big, in a level-breaking and monster-killing order;

Instead, we should attack the big ones first and then the small ones, and start with the Huns!

As for the reason, a very simple example will give you a clear idea.

——At the beginning of this year, the Han Dynasty fought a not-so-big battle with the Xiongnu in the north;

It was hard to say that the Han Dynasty had gained much fruit from the victory, or a clear strategic advantage. They merely held Chaona Pass and repelled the Huns' attack.

As a result, less than a month after the end of the war, the Korean Peninsula in the northeast, the Baiyi in the southwest, and the Baiyue in the south all rushed to write letters requesting to come to Chang'an for an audience!

As for the princes of Guandong clan, there is no need to mention them;

The Guandong clan princes, who had been muttering and complaining, hoping that the death of the late Emperor Xiaojing would allow the thick stack of "Plans for Reducing Feudal Powers" to be taken away to the underground, suddenly became silent.

Just by "defending the city that the Xiongnu were attacking", the Han family staged a famous scene of being arrogant at first and then respectful in front of these internal and external sweet potatoes;
Liu Rong really couldn't imagine how much shock the news would bring to the princes of these vassal states when it reached these places in the spring of the following year, when the news that Hetao had changed hands and the Han people had taken the initiative to go beyond the border and seize the Xiongnu's territory would reach these places.

And this is precisely the core reason why Liu Rong decided to deal with the big ones first and then the small ones, that is, to deal with the Huns first and then deal with those small dishes.

——The Huns are the benchmark of strength in this era and the entire known world!
If you dare to show your teeth to the Huns, you must be a powerful country!

If you can resist the Xiongnu's attack, then you must be Han!
If we can counterattack the grasslands and defeat the Huns...

This is like in the future, you stripped the feathers of a bald eagle and made him your free-range chicken;
Look at the blue planet, who else dares to show their teeth to you?

The same principle applies - if Liu Rong decides to put the Huns aside and instead deal with these small vegetables around him, not only will the Huns jump up and down and make trouble, but even these small vegetables themselves will develop an inexplicable sense of self-confidence because of the existence of the Huns.

No matter how powerful your Han Dynasty is, can you be more powerful than the Huns?
Hey!
You only know how to bully the weak and fear the strong. If you have the guts, go to the grassland and fight the Huns!

If you have the guts, don’t leave!

I, Big Brother Xiongnu, might stab you in the back at any time!

At that time, I will ask you to withdraw your troops, or you will ask me to let you go...

But if it were the other way around, like we are doing now, if we started with the Huns, everything would become very simple.

——Are the Huns awesome?
——I beat him up!

——Not only did he beat him, he beat him so badly that even his mother couldn't recognize him. He was sent to Europe to be the whip of God!

What?
Do you have anything else to say to me, Han?

It can be said that the Xiongnu was the only boss facing the Han Dynasty in this era;

The rest of the small monsters, whether they are the Baiyue in the south, the Korean Peninsula, the Baiyi in the southwest, or the countries in the Western Regions, are nothing more than small monsters attached to this boss.

As long as the boss falls, the Han family doesn't need to do anything to deal with these monsters. They will naturally kneel down and become the clay that the Han family can trample on at will.

Liu Rong dares to guarantee it!

When the Han army broke through Longcheng and completely crushed the Xiongnu's rule in Munan, achieving the achievement of "no royal court in Munan", no matter how unwilling Zhao Tuo of Nanyue was, he would immediately write to Chang'an and request to submit!
Because Zhao Tuo must have realized that after there was no royal court in Munan, the Han Dynasty’s primary strategic goal would be to become the leader of the Baiyue in Lingnan.

Therefore, from the day Liu Rong ascended the throne, his idea was very clear - he had to deal with the Huns!
Killing the Huns can solve more than half of the current problems of the Han Dynasty!
According to Liu Rong's original plan, the entire process of killing the Huns could be roughly divided into four steps.

The first step: fight a battle to prevent the Huns from invading the Han territory and build up confidence inside and outside the court.

At this point, the battle against the Northern Front at the beginning of the year was basically the achievement of the goal.

The second step is to seize Hetao.

With the blessing of our ancestors and the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, this goal will soon become a reality in the foreseeable future.

The third step was to launch the Hexi Campaign, seize the Hexi region, and open up the passage between the Central Plains and the Western Regions, in preparation for the fourth step - combining the forces of the Western Regions and Wusun to encircle the Xiongnu, a great strategic goal.

However, in Liu Rong's original idea, the third and fourth steps would need to be handled by "those two";

Even the second step: seizing Hetao, was a decision Liu Rong made in order to gain strategic space and buy enough time for the development of "those two"...

"Should we wait..."

"Do you want to wait a little longer..."

(End of this chapter)