My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 349 Strategic Shift
Liu Rong had only heard a little about the wave of ideological confusion on the grassland.

But I didn’t think deeply about it;
In Liu Rong's view, whether it is the present-day Huns or the later Great Beauty, their proud hegemony is based on absolute military strength.

——More than two thousand years later, relying on the most powerful and most desperate military force in human history, Great Beauty traveled unhindered and recklessly across the entire Blue Planet;

Whatever they want, there is no other way but to rob it.

Of course, it’s not all just robbery.

Sometimes, the beautiful masters feel that using force is too troublesome and too expensive, so they will formulate a "rule" tailored for plundering so that they can plunder the entire blue planet.

But when it comes down to it, all the tricks played by Great Beauty are based on military hegemony.

When all the countries on the blue planet united, they were 100% unable to defeat Great Beauty, Great Beauty was the beacon of freedom;

But when a certain mysterious Eastern power was able to fight back and forth with Great Beauty on its own, Great Beauty, whose military hegemony collapsed, could only go to the dead end of collapse.

no way;
All of their means, or advantages, are based on their strong fists.

If your fist is not strong enough, all financial, technological and other means are just the emperor's new clothes, a fig leaf that the entire blue planet despises.

The same is true for the Huns of this era.

——In the past, the power of the Xiongnu Empire forced the entire known world to succumb to the whip of the nomadic peoples.

The Central Asian states, such as Dayuan and Daxia, were defeated by the Xiongnu cavalry in one battle. They knelt down and surrendered before they could even finish their slogans.

The countries in the Western Regions did not even dare to resist and tacitly agreed to allow the Xiongnu Empire to take whatever it wanted.

Even the Han Dynasty, the only big guy in the entire known world besides the Huns, had to compromise and marry off its daughters in exchange for the Huns' temporary peace.

Just like the great beauty in its heyday in later generations: during the heyday of the Xiongnu Empire, it was still military hegemony that supported this regime that had no civilizational background at all - and had nothing to do with civilization at all.

But just like the Great Beauty in later generations, which gradually declined after the collapse of its military hegemony, the foundation of the Xiongnu Empire was also military hegemony.

As long as the military hegemony is in place, no matter whether the Xiongnu practiced slavery or the later folk system—no matter whether the Xiongnu believed that bestiality was legal or homosexuality was reasonable, no one dared to say that they were wrong.

But when their military hegemony collapsed, every breath the Huns took reminded people of the atrocities they committed against the world during their heyday.

Specifically at the moment, a battle in Hetao has put the military hegemony of the Xiongnu Empire in jeopardy and on the verge of collapse. Liu Rong was mentally prepared for this.

However, whether in later times or in this era, Liu Rong had never witnessed the collapse of hegemony;

Liu Rong did not have a clear vision of the process of the collapse of hegemony.

It’s like the Huns;
The end of the Hetao Campaign certainly made everyone in and outside the Great Wall see clearly that the Xiongnu were not invincible;

At least in front of the Han people, the Huns were not an invincible myth.

But what happens after that?

After the Hetao Campaign, how would the Xiongnu's military hegemony collapse?
Did it collapse overnight, and the great barbarian country split into hundreds of grassland countries?
Or will they finally fall down through unyielding struggle and continuous victory over the Han army, one battle after another, year after year?

Liu Rong didn't know.

The only thing Liu Rong could be sure of was that the Hetao Campaign was just the beginning;
A single Hetao battle would never have been able to so easily destroy the Xiongnu's decades-long military hegemony.

After Hetao, there is Hexi;
After Hexi, there is Munan.

Only by winning battle after battle, year after year, could the Han Dynasty finally replace the Xiongnu and once again become the sole leader of human civilization.

——If the Han Dynasty seizes Hetao, the Xiongnu people may be shocked;

But in the end, there is a high probability that they will comfort themselves with words like "the Han people are treacherous" and "a lucky hand".

When Hexi changes its master in the future, the Xiongnu people will not feel that they are no longer powerful.
Instead, we will say in a relatively realistic way: Well, the Han people are as strong as us, so we must cheer up.

Until the south of the wall was no longer owned by the nomadic people, until there was no royal court in the south of the wall, and the people of the god of the plow could only survive in the bitter cold land of the north of the wall, the Xiongnu people would have difficulty admitting that the hegemony of the Xiongnu had collapsed.

The entire human civilization has welcomed a new king.

To be precise, it was the old king who regained his crown...

"Previously, everyone in and outside the court agreed that after the spring, the military officials would definitely be unwilling to give in and launch a counterattack against Henan."

"For this reason, our Han army soldiers have spent the entire winter consolidating the defense line in the northern part of Henan, that is, the northern border of Wuyuan County."

"When I first heard that Yuhou said in this memorial, 'Junchen intends to send Shanyu Ting to the north as usual,' my first reaction was that Junchen wanted to let my Han family down and send troops to Henan when they were unprepared."

"But according to what Lord Yu said, the sincerity of the military minister's request and his humble attitude are unprecedented in the history of the Xiongnu Chanyu."

"According to your opinions, what is the truth of this matter?"

"How should the Han family respond to this?"

Liu Rong had a rough idea of ​​what Junchen meant when he heard the humble request: "Please stop fighting. I'll give you Hetao. I still have to make a northern tour. Please don't attack my Gaoque." This was an unprecedented humble plea.

But after all, he was still young and his career as an emperor had just begun, so Liu Rong was not in a hurry to put forward his own opinions;
It is said that this was something that the late emperor taught Liu Rong personally when he was still alive.

——When something is uncertain and unclear to everyone inside and outside the court, as an emperor, don't be too smart and rush to speak.

Let the ministers speak first;

Never mind whether what they say is right or wrong - first listen to all the possibilities from the mouths of the most brilliant and intelligent people in the entire Han Dynasty.

Compare it with your own guess and finally determine which one is the greatest and most reasonable.

If possible, it would be best to keep silent from beginning to end, and let the ministers discuss it themselves and finally come to a conclusion, which would probably be the most reasonable inference.

Otherwise, as an emperor, he would jump out impatiently and say "I think this and that" when something happens. If he guessed wrong, it would be embarrassing at the least, but being ignored by his subjects would be a big deal...

Although Liu Rong has always had complaints about the old man's teachings, he rarely comes up with any decent rebuttal.

——As a feudal emperor, Emperor Xiaojing Liu Qi was undoubtedly cold-blooded and ruthless to the extreme.

As a mortal being with flesh and blood, Liu Rong instinctively rejects this cold and ruthless code of conduct.

But as an emperor, especially a qualified "wise ruler" who aspires to do better, Liu Rong had to admit that Emperor Xiaojing was the most standard and perfect template for feudal emperors.

Many things may have better ways of handling or solutions.

But you have to admit: if you adopt the approach of Emperor Jing of Han, Liu Qi, there will definitely be no problem - at least no big problem.

For emperors in most periods of the feudal era, what was important was often not to do something, but to avoid making mistakes.

If you think so, then you can follow the path of Emperor Jing of Han, and you won’t go wrong…

"In my opinion, Junchen's move is mostly a retreat to advance - pretending to be submissive, but in fact, he is still unwilling to accept the loss of Henan."

"If the Han Dynasty believes this and indeed reduces its troops in the northern border of Henan, that is, along the Wuyuan-Gaoque line, the military ministers may lead the army south to attack Henan." "But if you don't believe this, if hundreds of thousands of troops are stationed in Henan for a long time, the treasury may also be burdened after a long time."

Almost at the same time as these words reached his ears, Liu Rong identified the speaker based on the content of the words.

——Tingwei Zhao Yu.

As a legal expert who came from the Legalist school, Zhao Yu would never hesitate to speculate on anything with the greatest malice and the most pessimistic attitude.

In military terms, to put it nicely, this is called estimating the enemy's strengths.

To put it bluntly, it is overly pessimistic.

If such a person were to be a general, there would really be no mistakes;

But it really can't get anything done.

Moreover, the cost of "no mistakes" often approaches the limit.

This extreme pessimism and extreme caution is different from Cheng Buzhi's cautious and prudent approach.

——Cheng Buzhi's step-by-step strategy was based on the changes in the battlefield situation, the strength of both sides, and the morale and spirit of the army, and he made corresponding judgments based on these factors and tended to be slightly conservative.

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For example, if the enemy has 50,000 troops and ours also has 50,000 troops, and the two are evenly matched, Cheng Buzhi would choose to carefully test and maintain a conservative stalemate, taking the "slight disadvantage on our side" as the standard, and wait for an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

However, Zhao Yu's "estimating the enemy's weakness" paid the greatest attention to the local side and underestimated his own side, taking the worst and most serious possibilities as the basis for his response.

The same example - the enemy and our side each have 50,000 troops;

Zhao Yu would most likely say: The enemy's 50,000 might just be the vanguard troops, there might be hundreds of thousands of main forces lying in ambush behind them!

Our army has 50,000 soldiers, and among them there may be some new recruits, some old soldiers, and some young masters with experience.

All in all, they may not have the combat power that 50,000 people should have!

Considering all these factors, with 50,000 troops against 50,000, our army is at a huge disadvantage.
The best option: withdraw immediately!
It is not difficult to see from Zhao Yu's speech just now that although he did not forget to mention that "if the defense force in Henan is maintained, the treasury may be under pressure", Zhao Yu still tends to do so.

That is: no matter what the Huns think or plan, we must take the fact that "the Huns may come out in full force at any time to seize Hetao" as the basis and make corresponding responses.

If this is really done, Hetao can indeed ensure safety and security;

But the price to be paid is infinitely close to: the Han Dynasty has to mobilize the whole country to protect Hetao.

Whether it is worth doing so is obvious.

——In Liu Rong’s opinion, it’s worth it!

But it is not necessary.

This is like a cave with treasures hidden in it. You don't know whether the treasure is guarded by a tiger or an ant.
At times like this, it's certainly worth firing an RPG straight into the hole.

But if possible, the most cost-effective way is to use a flashlight to see what's going on in the cave.

If it is really a jackal, tiger, leopard or something like that, then it doesn't matter whether you shoot or fire a cannon - as long as you can kill the beast in the cave and ensure your safety, it's worth it.

But if it is a nest of ants, then a pot of boiling water is obviously more cost-effective than RPG.

"I think that's not entirely true."

Sure enough - not long after Zhao Yu finished speaking, Prime Minister Liu She's voice rang out at the right time, drawing Liu Rong's attention.

"In my opinion, the Xiongnu Chanyu Court is most likely still unable to recover from the chaos."

"——In the Battle of Henan-Mayi, the Xiongnu lost troops and territory, and suffered an unprecedented defeat since Maodun dominated the grasslands."

"Especially when fighting on two fronts and making no progress, even if the blame for the Mayi battlefield was passed on to the Right Wise King Yizhixie by Junchen, the loss of Henan cannot be avoided by Junchen."

...

"After all, since the Han Dynasty came to power and the Xiongnu dominated the grasslands, the Xiongnu has experienced three rulers and the Han Dynasty has experienced five emperors;"

"And Henan has always been controlled by the Xiongnu."

"——Whether it was the reign of Maodun Chanyu during the reign of Emperor Taizu Gao, Emperor Xiaohui, or the reign of Laoshang Chanyu during the reign of Emperor Taizong, my Han family never had the energy to covet the land of Henan."

"Not only did they not dare to covet Henan, but they had to worry at any time that the Xiongnu would send troops to Henan to plunder the north and Longyou."

"While Junchen was in office, our Han dynasty turned from defense to offense and was able to occupy Henan. No matter whose fault it was, Junchen, our prestige will surely be greatly damaged."

"Nowadays, there will definitely be nonsense like 'military officials have no moral integrity and are not worthy of serving the ancestral temple' in the court of the Xiongnu Chanyu."

"Especially the Left Wise King Yizhixie, who will definitely interfere in order to fish in troubled waters..."

As soon as Liu She said this, the expressions on everyone's faces in the hall became visibly more relaxed.

——Zhao Yu’s previous words, such as “If this is the case, then we have to withdraw, but if it is not the case, then we will be finished if we withdraw”, are simply not true.

In comparison, Liu She's statement truly demonstrates the strategic considerations at the national level.

Liu She’s meaning was very simple: the chaos brought about by the Hetao Campaign has not yet ended within the court of the Xiongnu Chanyu.

Without a bloody massacre to allow the military officials to eliminate the ambitious people who were ready to make moves, or by simply replacing the Xiongnu Khan, this chaos would not end.

Before this chaos ended, the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting, who could not even unite as one, had no power to move south with all their strength to seize Henan.

Therefore, Liu She was more inclined to leave basic garrison forces in Hetao and withdraw the main force of the army originally sent to fight the Hetao Campaign in order to reduce the logistical pressure on the army.

As soon as Liu She finished speaking, everyone in the hall basically agreed with him, and it was obvious that they had basically reached a consensus.

As for Liu Rong on the imperial couch, although he did not express his opinion, he had already agreed with Liu She's proposal in his heart.

——It is certain that the Huns will most likely not set their sights on Hetao in the short term.

But in Liu Rong's opinion, this was not because of the chaos within the Chanyu Court, or the "undercurrent" or something like that...

"Jun Chen, it's time to change the strategic focus..."

"From the previous focus on advancing westward to hunt down the Yuezhi people, expanding territory, and going south every now and then to 'beat' our Han family, to: going westward with all your strength to strengthen yourself, and sucking blood from the Western Regions with all your strength, and trying your best not to conflict with our Han family?"

···
"Hey;"

"If this is true, then the Western Regions, which have 'suffered from the Xiongnu for a long time'..."

"What a pity~"

"It's a pity that the land west of the river..."

(End of this chapter)