My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 320 Wei Qing
The battlefield of Mayi was silent. Although the war was not over yet, everything seemed to have been settled.

The Hetao battlefield is bounded by the large river basin in the northern part of the Hetao;
——At Gaoque on the north side, the Xiongnu were gritting their teeth over the loss of Hetao and anxiously waiting for the return of the main force of Chanyu Ting. At the same time, they were secretly trembling with fear, fearing that the Han people on the other side of the river would not be satisfied and would cross the river again and attack Gaoque!

On the south side, the craftsmen and official slaves of the Shaofu, who had arrived in the north before the war in the name of "post-war reconstruction of the north" and had now set foot in Hetao, were busy building the city wall.

After obtaining the Henan area, the Han Dynasty not only named the county "Shuofang" early on, but also gave a name to this riverside city whose foundation had just been laid.

Bowang City.

Let’s not talk about what the word “Bowang” actually means, or whether it is the expectation of the Chinese nation;

Just the Bowang Garden, the former private garden of Prince Rong, is enough to explain everything.

The Han family, especially the current Emperor Rong, has great expectations for Bowang City!
Obviously, with the Hetao already in hand, this great expectation cannot be as simple as just "guarding the Hetao gateway"...

The war was progressing steadily, but at the same time, the city of Chang'an was eerily quiet.

It's not that some people want to take advantage of the situation and do something shameful;
Rather, the intensity of the war was due to the fact that it was going too smoothly and was beyond the expectations of people inside and outside the court in Chang'an.

——That’s Henan!
When Qin obtained it, the nomadic people dared not go south to graze their horses. When Han lost it, it suffered from a severe shortage of war horses for more than 50 years, and it is still a precious land that cannot be raised up until now!
For such a precious land, even if the Huns did not defend it with the whole country's strength, they should have stationed heavy troops there and been on guard against the Han's plots at all times, right?
But the reality is: the sayings of hundreds of years ago, 'Born in hardship, die in comfort' and 'Those who love war will perish, those who forget war will be in danger', reached their peak value after the Hetao Campaign.

The Xiongnu people had lived in peace and stability for too long in Hetao.

They even forgot about Hetao and were not recognized as the master by the Xiongnu Khan with a shed blood.

The Huns had lived in peace for too many years, thanks to the Han's repeated concessions and years of humiliation.

As a result, they have forgotten that just a few decades ago, another Han dynasty defeated them and even the other two overlords: Donghu and Yuezhi, so badly that they dared not even think of it across the curtain and could only retreat to the northern desert and eat raw meat and drink blood.

As a nomadic civilization, the Xiongnu people naturally had a strong military character.

But towards the Han family and the Chinese nation, the Huns had long lost the vigilance and sufficient strategic attention they should have had.

It was not until this time that no one in the streets of Chang'an said that Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, Emperor Xianxiaojing - and even Emperor Taizu Gao and Empress Dowager Lu before them - were weak and cowardly in dealing with foreign countries.

Hetao was the final result of the Han emperors' endurance of humiliation, their willingness to use marriage alliances to flatter and gradually paralyze the Huns' nerves.

The grievances, abuses, and accusations were endured by the previous emperors;
Paralyzing the enemies one by one and finally taking back Hetao in one fell swoop was the work of the current Liu Rong.

But no one will ever say: The credit for Hetao lies solely with Liu Rong today.

Even Liu Rong himself is the same.

As for the strange silence that filled the sky above Chang'an City and even inside and outside the court, Liu Rong was filled with emotion and sighed.

If we say that the Xiongnu people had lived so well in the past few decades that they forgot that there was a powerful enemy called the Han people;

The rulers and people of the Han Dynasty have suffered so much humiliation and hardship in the past few decades that they have forgotten that they are the nobles of the Han Dynasty and the subjects of the Xia Dynasty.

——The awareness that the Xiongnu cavalry cannot be defeated by force and that one cannot leave the city to meet the enemy when they come has penetrated deep into the souls of the Han emperor and his ministers!
As for taking the initiative to go out of the border and launch an attack, it was something that was shocking to the bureaucrats, nobles, and common people of the Han Dynasty.

At the beginning, everyone in the world thought that this battle, like the battle of Chaonasai at the beginning of the year, was a simple battle to defend Mayi.

If we hold Mayi, we will win;
If we can't defend Mayi, then we can retreat to Loufan, or even Pingcheng further south, which is not a big loss at all.

When the news came back from the north that the Han army was marching westward toward Chaona Pass, crossing the Yellow River and planning to attack Hetao, everyone in the world was dumbfounded and speechless.

what the hell!

We are short of war horses, and the cavalry is nowhere to be seen. How can we take such a risky move and take the initiative to go out of the border? !

In the court, countless old scholars and old stubborn people appeared, pointing at Liu Rong's nose and cursing him with dirty words like "a tyrant who brings disaster to the country" and "the army is exhausted".

No one thought that in this battle, the Han Dynasty could really conquer Hetao;

Everyone felt that this strategic arrangement was foolish to a certain extent, and was undoubtedly like an egg hitting a stone or an ant trying to shake a tree!

Most people believed that the best outcome of this battle was that the Han army did not suffer too much loss in Hetao and successfully retreated to Chaonasai.

If we could draw some maps and understand the topography of the Hetao region, it would be a pleasant surprise.

As for the worst outcome, no one dared to think about it.

——Is it not possible that the troops going into battle across the border would be completely wiped out?
Probably!

The infantry group, in the grassland and in the open terrain, was bitten by the flexible cavalry, and had no help and fought alone;
No matter how you look at it, it looks like they're about to be completely wiped out.

Even when the Northern Front Army was completely wiped out outside the Great Wall and the Han army lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers in one battle, it was not all the loss, it was just the beginning!
Once the Northern Front Army is completely wiped out outside the Great Wall, the Huns will surely take advantage of the situation to attack the Great Wall!
After that, it is most likely a replica of the war in the 14th year of Emperor Taizong's reign that shook the foundation of the Han Dynasty.

Everyone thinks so.

Except for the officials and nobles in the court who knew the internal affairs, or who were aware of military affairs and the current military strength of the Han Dynasty, less than half of them - almost everyone else thought so.

In the court, the meritorious officials were uneasy and the officials were constantly complaining;

In the streets and alleys, idle people were cursing and pointing fingers at others.

As for Guandong, the clan princes who had just settled down began to have different ideas.

Everyone felt that taking the initiative, using infantry to attack cavalry, and actively going out of the border wall to fight in the nomadic people's territory was tantamount to digging one's own grave.

So, when the good news that Hetao had changed hands and the Han family had completely regained Henan came back, everyone was stunned.

what?
Ah? ? ?
Just like that, it was taken down?

They didn’t even fight much, but they took back Henan?

When did the Huns become so vulnerable?
When did our Han family become so powerful that we could so easily take back the Henan area that determines the combat power of the East Asian monster cavalry?
And this weird atmosphere has continued to this day.

Until today, the court in Chang'an has drafted a plan to "establish Shuofang County in Henan", but the Han family, from top to bottom, is still somewhat unresponsive.

Everyone was confused and stunned;

It feels like a dream.

And there was no way I could wake up from this wonderful yet completely 'illogical' dream.

However, there are also people who, when everyone is stunned by this "surprise from heaven", feel excited and happy about it, and at the same time, they welcome the most important turning point in their originally dull and irrelevant lives...

"Sister, how are you these days?" In Shangguanli, Chang'an, the Mansion of Marquis Pingyang.

As a slave and singing and dancing girl in the marquis's mansion, Wei Zifu originally lived in a large thatched hut in the southeast corner of the mansion's backyard, next to the toilet.

The thatched cottage did not belong to Wei Zifu alone, but was home to more than a dozen young women of the same status as Wei Zifu.

There was a road in the middle, and a large bunk bed with low mud couches on both sides. Twenty or so little girls in their early teens were living together like rough men.

Now, Wei Zifu lives in a small tiled house that belongs to her alone.

It’s not big, but it belongs to Wei Zifu alone…

"Everything is fine."

···
"Have you ever been to see your mother?"

Hearing her brother Wei Qing's greetings, Wei Zifu forced a smile, and then reminded her brother to go see their mother as well.

——In recent years, my mother’s health has not been very good.

Especially in the past one or two years, the illness she suffered in her early years has been constantly tormenting my mother's old and broken body.

As a slave, my mother never had the blessing of confinement and recuperation;
She has given birth one after another since she was in her twenties. Even her strong body has been destroyed by the illness she suffered in her early years.

As a slave-born child in a marquis's mansion, although Wei Zifu was still young, she understood many of the filth and discords in the world.

The treatment she received in the mansion suddenly changed, and Wei Zifu could roughly guess that she might have been noticed by some important figure.

It wasn't that the Marquis suddenly understood human nature and planned to treat the servants and slaves in the Marquis's mansion well;

Rather, the Marquis decided to take good care of herself for the sake of that big shot's reputation until she was old enough to get married - or in other words, until she was old enough to please that big shot with her body.

Wei Zifu did not feel any sadness or sigh about such a fate.

——Wei Zifu had long anticipated her own fate.

And now this path can even be said to be a wonderful ending that Wei Zifu never dared to imagine before.

As a slave-born child, being able to become a concubine of some important person - even just for one night of pleasure - is much better than being a concubine like my mother in this marquis's mansion.

Nowadays, Wei Zifu no longer thinks about herself.

——Live obediently in the marquis's mansion, learn needlework, and wait to be picked up by the important man when you grow up.

What really worried and concerned Wei Zifu was her mother who was seriously ill and her brothers and sisters who had not yet grown up.

When she asked, "Maybe he went to visit his mother?", her brother Wei Qing scratched his head shyly, and Wei Zifu understood immediately.

He took a deep breath, sighed, and gently pulled his brother Wei Qing's hand over;

Then, in a earnest tone, he planned his brother's future life path.

"Sister, I may be blessed."

"In three to five years, I will be taken away by some nobleman to be his concubine."

"——The one who can make our Pingyang Marquis treat him with such care is probably not just an idle marquis with a fief of 1,800 households."

"By then, if Ah Qing can achieve some success, I can introduce him to that lord and help him find a way out..."

Wei Zifu certainly knew that Wei Qing, for some unknown reason, had been received by the current emperor and stayed in the palace.

But as a person of the lowest status and the most lowly class in this era - especially a woman, Wei Zifu also knew that there are some things that not everyone can possess.

Just like his younger brother Wei Qing, when he was just over ten years old, he was already appreciated by the emperor.
The servants in the marquis's mansion all said that Wei Zifu's current treatment was due to her brother's help. The Marquis of Pingyang improved the treatment of Wei Zifu and her entire family because of the emperor's favor towards Wei Qing.

But Wei Zifu knew very well: let alone how capable her younger brother Wei Qing was - even if he really had abilities that could be appreciated by the current emperor, his identity as a slave was enough to prevent Wei Qing from ever seeing a single brick or tile inside the gate of Weiyang Palace for his entire life.

This is an era that values ​​bloodline, identity and status.

The reason why slave-born children are lowly is that their bloodline is not recognized and they are considered to be "people without ancestors and descendants."

Therefore, Wei Zifu roughly inferred that her brother was summoned by the emperor probably because of the queen.

Perhaps His Majesty suddenly felt like asking someone from the Marquis's Mansion about something related to the Queen.

It was precisely for this reason that Wei Zifu was also clear: her younger brother Wei Qing could not be left in the palace like this.

——In the palace, any person you pick out can be linked to the family of the founding fathers, or even directly to the royal family of the Liu clan!

How could my younger brother, a slave's son, stay in a place like that where people are eaten without leaving any bones?

If one's virtue does not match his position, he will suffer the consequences!
Rather than letting his younger brother stay in a place that is not suitable for his status and is destined to have no future, it would be more practical for him to find an opportunity to get out, get close to a meritorious family, and serve as a personal soldier for a young prince of a marquis's family, fighting for a future with his life.

Wei Zifu did not have very high expectations for Wei Qing, or even for all her brothers and sisters.

Restoring her civilian status and becoming a "person" again instead of someone else's wealth was the best future Wei Zifu could imagine with all her imagination.

But to achieve this goal, you need opportunities, courage, and you may even have to sacrifice your own life to secure such an opportunity for future generations...

"Sister..."

“Ahem;”

"Sister..."

"Marquis Pingyang, didn't you tell my sister about this?"

Just as she was frowning and thinking, her younger brother Wei Qing asked a strange question, which made Wei Zifu frown suddenly.

——Could there be another variable? !
But Wei Qing lowered his head thoughtfully, thinking for a moment, and then lowered his voice and said: "Marquis Pingyang treated my sister with courtesy, in fact, it was because His Majesty had given instructions..."

"Your Majesty also told me that the reason I was able to enter the palace to serve you and even read the military books in Shiqu Pavilion was because of my sister..."

"Your Majesty also said that my brother will become a relative by marriage in the future..."

(End of this chapter)