My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 358: Offense and Defense Change~
The time comes after spring plowing.

In Hetao - to be more precise, they left Gaoque and crossed the river to "knock on the gate and ask for a visit", the Xiongnu envoys finally arrived in Chang'an city smoothly.

However, the situation was different from what the Xiongnu delegation and even the Xiongnu Chanyu had expected.

——In Chang'an, the Xiongnu delegation did not encounter too many difficulties.

Although there were still Han people who gave them unfriendly looks and even made wild remarks when walking on the street, the Han people did not act like the "victors" in their reception.

The inn was exactly the same as every time before, and the food was not delicious but exquisite enough;

They still could not enter and leave the post station freely or move around on the streets outside, but correspondingly, a team of imperial guards still surrounded the post station.

——Restricting the scope of activities of the Xiongnu delegation was only incidental;
The real purpose was to protect the personal safety of the Hun delegation.

Such treatment made the originally worried Xiongnu envoys have some unrealistic fantasies in their hearts.

But what made the Xiongnu delegation despair was that the first time the Han emperor summoned the Xiongnu delegation, he gave the Xiongnu delegation, and even the entire Xiongnu Chanyu court, a great show of power...

"Lu?"

"Well, drag it down and chop it off."

Weiyang Palace, the main hall of Xuanshi.

The Xiongnu delegation had just been led into the hall, and before they had time to bow and salute, an indifferent murmur was heard from the imperial couch.

When everyone looked up in confusion, they saw Liu Rong with his head down, looking at the scroll in his hand that contained the list of names of the Xiongnu delegation members.

Before the delegation could react, the Xiongnu deputy envoy, Lu Rong, the youngest son of Lu Ta, the Xiongnu Donghu King and Han Chang'an Marquis, was carried away by the warriors outside the palace.

As Lu Rong was dragged away, Liu Rong's murmur was heard from the imperial couch, but his voice was obviously not lowered.

"What level, having the same name as mine?"

Then, Liu Rong raised his head with little interest and casually handed the list in his hand to his side.

"According to the list, all Han people from the Han King's tribe and the Donghu King's tribe will be beheaded."

Such words shocked the envoy Huyan Qiedang so much that his eyes widened. He could not believe that the Han emperor would kill the envoys so cruelly on the first day of their meeting!
Although he knew that his next words would most likely not change the Han emperor's determination, Huyan Qiedang still gritted his teeth and took a step forward.

"My delegation is sent by our Lord, the Great Khan of the Xiongnu, who was born by heaven and earth and appointed by the sun and moon, to meet His Majesty the Emperor for the sake of peace and friendship."

"Your Majesty, are you so ignorant of etiquette?"

"Even if you don't consider me, the Great Xiongnu, as your friend, Your Majesty should still abide by the old saying of the Han people: When two countries are at war, do not kill the envoys..."

Such words caused the Han emperor and his ministers in the hall to burst into laughter.

The look they gave Huyan Qiedang was more like that of a group of tourists who came to the zoo and heard a chimpanzee speaking human language - and reciting a passage in classical Chinese, full of curiosity.

Sitting on the imperial couch, Liu Rong had a faint smile on his face, and he did not forget to give his answer.

"When two countries are at war, envoys should not be killed - I agree with this as well."

"As for the envoys sent by your Lord Shanyu to Chang'an to discuss 'peace' and 'friendship', no matter how much I dislike it, I am still willing to do my best to be a good host."

"But your Excellency needs to know that the people I ordered to be killed cannot be considered as Xiongnu envoys."

"——These people were born in my Han family and have Han blood flowing in their veins."

"And it's royal blood!"

···
"Such a person does not value his noble royal bloodline, and is willing to give up the high official position and noble title bestowed by my Han family, and serve a foreign race."

"——People like this are called traitors by the Han people."

"Since he is a traitor of my Han family, no matter if he is hiding in your envoy group or escaping to a corner of the grassland to survive, my Han family will never let him go."

With a calm but firm tone, Liu Rong explained his action of being killed as soon as he showed his head. Then he finally sat up straight, posing as if he was a Chinese emperor receiving a foreign envoy.

But Liu Rong still added: "After returning, please tell your lord, the Chanyu;"

"——Don't send these traitors from the Han and Donghu tribes to the Han Dynasty as envoys anymore."

"In recent years, I have grown a little older and my temper has not been very good."

"If you anger me, I will target your Lord Shanyu's Munan Land..."

"Ah;"

"Ha ha……"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was another burst of stifled laughter in the hall.

——In recent days, the "good life" that the Xiongnu delegation had in Chang'an has made people inside and outside the court very angry!

Why do we treat the Huns so well?

That’s right;

For the nobles inside and outside the court, the fact that the Huns, a defeated country, sent an envoy to Chang'an without being blamed was simply unimaginable "kindness".

It was not until today, when Liu Rong put on such a casual yet domineering posture, that the Han officials finally smiled sincerely.

——Seeing that His Majesty is such a rogue, we are finally relieved!
Different from the "great relief" expressions of the Han ministers, the Xiongnu envoys - or to be more precise, "the rest of the people" - all had complicated expressions on their faces.

There is humiliation and anger!
Naturally, there are also fears and worries.

However, Liu Rong did not make things difficult for them. He just made it clear that he would stop there and picked up the wooden tablet with the Huns' letter.

After lowering his head and taking a quick look, the corners of Liu Rong's mouth once again raised an intriguing arc.

——The contents of the letter were sent to Chang'an and placed on Liu Rong's desk as early as when the news of the Xiongnu delegation's "request for an audience" came from Hetao.

The reason why Liu Rong took a symbolic glance was just to confirm whether there was any discrepancy.

As for Liu Rong's intriguing smile, it was because Liu Rong had just discovered a very interesting change.

——This wooden tablet does have some "discrepancies". However, it is not in the content, but in the size of the wooden tablet.

As early as the time of Emperor Taizu Gao, there was a custom for the correspondence between the Han and Xiongnu: wooden tablets one foot and one inch long and wide were used as the carrier, and "Xiongnu Chanyu" and "Han Emperor" were used as the official written names of both sides.

But later, as the Han national policy of "resting and recuperating" and "making compromise" became more profound, the strategic balance between the Han and the Xiongnu tilted more and more towards the Xiongnu, and the situation underwent some subtle changes.

For example, the wooden slips of official documents, which were originally planned to be one foot and one inch long and wide, were changed to one foot and two inches long and wide by the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting at the instigation of the first traitor in history: the eunuch Zhonghang Shuo.

The general meaning is: We, the Xiongnu, are stronger than you, the Han people; even our letters of credence are bigger than yours.

Afterwards, the official written title originally agreed upon by both parties - the "Han Emperor" of the Han family - was simplified by the Huns to "Emperor" by removing the word "Han".

It sounds like there is no difference, but in fact, it is downgraded by more than three or five levels.

It's like a king, you call him King of Yan, King of Chu, etc., which is very impressive.

But what if you call him King?

Although he is still a "king", he doesn't sound like the ruler of a certain world at all. He sounds more like a bandit or a robber who has become a bandit and robs houses.

The same logic applies - Han Emperor, Emperor, they sound the same, but it is only because within the Han family, the word Emperor itself means 'Han Emperor', and no one thinks there is anything wrong with it.

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But in external areas, such as the northern grasslands and the Baiyue area in the south, removing the word "Han" and simply calling him the emperor would cause big problems.

Not to mention anything else - Zhao Tuo, the King of Nanyue in Lingnan, still keeps the yellow roof and left flag to this day!
Although on the surface, Zhao Tuo promised in front of the Han family to give up the title of emperor and restore the title of king, but in Nanyue, Zhao Tuo was still the wise and brave Emperor Wu of Nanyue!

Since Zhao Tuo was the Emperor of Nanyue, Minyue and Dongyue, as their evil neighbors, naturally would not be willing to lag behind.

Therefore, in Lingnan, the word "emperor" may represent the Nanyue Emperor Zhao Tuo, the Minyue Emperor Zou Ying (zōu yǐng), or the Dongyue Emperor Zou Wuli.
But the only person who couldn't be the Han Emperor Liu Rong.

The situation is similar on the grasslands.

The word "Chanyu" in the Xiongnu language originally meant "vast appearance".

Ever since Maodun Chanyu Mingdi murdered his father, killed Touman Chanyu, and defeated Donghu and Yuezhi successively, thus unifying the grassland unprecedentedly, the word Chanyu has become a title one level higher than "king" and refers specifically to the supreme lord and ruler of the nomadic people of the grassland.

In terms of status and identity, the current "Chanyu" of the Xiongnu is comparable to the Son of Heaven or Emperor of China.

——Even the nomadic people’s respectful title for the Chanyu: Chengligutu, literally means ‘Son of God’, which is basically equivalent to the Xiongnu version of the Son of Heaven!

The word "emperor" originally had no similar synonyms in the Xiongnu language.
The Huns' weak cultural heritage could not support them to arbitrarily "create new words" like later Westerners did.

Therefore, the three words "Han Emperor" translated into the Xiongnu language actually mean simply and directly to the Xiongnu people: Han Chanyu.

It's just that the Han Chanyu here refers to the frank "Han Chanyu", rather than the taboo name "Chengligutu" as when referring to the Xiongnu Chanyu.

After understanding this, it is not difficult to find the problem when we look at the three characters "Han Emperor" without the character "Han".

——Han Emperor, in Xiongnu language is equivalent to: Han Chanyu;
If you remove the word "Han", then only Chanyu will be left!
What does it mean to be the Chanyu on the grassland?
Although Maodun, Laoshang, and now Junchen are all Xiongnu Chanyu in essence, on the grassland, no one would call them "Chanyu" unless they were enemies or reactionaries;
Instead, they respectfully call it: Chengligutu, or add a prefix and respectfully address the deceased as: Maodun Chanyu, Laoshang Chanyu.

The only person who was directly called "Chanyu" without a prefix was the noob who was killed by Maodun Chanyu Mingdi: Luandi Touman...

Furthermore, the official title of "Xiongnu Chanyu" was arbitrarily upgraded by the Xiongnu people to: The Great Chanyu of the Xiongnu, born by heaven and earth, and appointed by the sun and the moon.

This couldn't be simpler or more straightforward - just like the Qing emperors of later generations, who were often given posthumous titles of dozens of characters, the simplest and crudest of "crazy, cool, and awesome."

In this regard, the successive emperors of the Han Dynasty gritted their teeth, but had to compromise.

——Empress Dowager Lü’s arrogant attitude towards the Xiongnu and her invitation to Chanyu Maodun to “come and have fun” were just a humble expression: I am old and cannot please the Great Chanyu, so I will send you a young beauty to enjoy;

When Emperor Taizong saw the words 'Born by Heaven and Earth, and placed by the Sun and Moon, the Great Chanyu of the Xiongnu', he was only angry for a moment;
He returned home before the decisive battle even started, went to Kanto to quell the rebellion of the princes, and married another princess.

Emperor Xiaojing, who was such a mean and petty person, could only secretly grit his teeth at the arrogance of the Xiongnu people and vent his anger on Liu Rong.

On the surface, they still have the attitude of "No matter how angry you are, the Han family will not take the initiative to start a war", as steady as an old dog.

Just now, Liu Rong discovered a ridiculous change in the wooden slip of imperial letter in his hand.

——The size of the Xiongnu’s official letters was reduced from one foot and two inches, which had remained unchanged for the past few decades, to one foot!

It just so happened that Liu Rong opened his palm with force and measured the length of a cubit with the tips of his thumb and little finger!

It was one inch smaller than the 'one foot and one inch' originally agreed upon by both parties - Emperor Taizu Gao and Maodun Chanyu!
Well, Liu Rong's hands are indeed quite big, one hand is about 23 centimeters.

But Liu Rong knew very well that no matter how big his hands were, they could never reach one foot and one inch or one foot and two inches, which is 26 centimeters or more than 29 centimeters.

If we say that the Xiongnu reduced their official letters from the arrogant size of one foot and two inches to the original size of one foot and one inch, keeping the size consistent with that of the Han official letters, then perhaps it can be understood that the Xiongnu put aside their arrogance, placed the Han people on the same level as themselves, treated them as equals, and communicated with them;
But it was reduced by one inch from the original one foot and one inch, and it was directly reduced from one foot and two inches to one foot in one go!

This can only be understood as: the Huns really took a low profile and urgently needed both the Han and Huns to stop the war!
What's even funnier is that although the size of the official letter was reduced, the Xiongnu still retained the arrogant title of "The Great Khan of the Xiongnu, born by heaven and earth, appointed by the sun and the moon";

It’s like saying: Don’t think that I respect you, I just feel afraid of you!
I am still as cool and awesome as ever, and I am very strong!
But at the same time, the Xiongnu seemed to be afraid of angering Liu Rong, so they restored the word "Emperor" to the "Han Emperor" agreed upon by both parties decades ago...

All I can say is that nomadic people are truly honest.

Even playing tricks is so simple and cute.

Liu Rong had long understood the Huns' intentions and the contents of the letter, so he did not pretend to say polite words like "What is the reason for your visit, Your Excellency?"

Holding the Hun national letter which was only one inch long and wide, he pretended to read it carefully, but secretly he was thinking for a while;
After a long time, Liu Rong put down the wooden tablet in his hand and sighed with a smile.

"Ah~"

"It's hard for your Excellency, Chanyu."

"——After all, you have been the 'older brother' for so many years. It must be very frustrating for you to suddenly be so humble to your younger brother."

"It's just that over the past few years, while teaching my Han family, I also taught your Lordship a truth."

"Peace can never be bought with empty words..."

As soon as these words were spoken, Liu Rong's true intentions were revealed.

——In the past, when the Han people prayed for peace, although they did not go to the point of ceding territory or paying compensation, they would at least send their daughters to marry and give a considerable dowry.

Now, it is your turn, the Huns, to beg for peace;

For the sake of peace, what price can you, the Great Huns - the Great Khan born of heaven and earth and appointed by the sun and the moon - pay?
(End of this chapter)