My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 361: The head can be cut off, the blood can be shed, but the land cannot be given up!

Time seems to stand still.

Sitting on the imperial couch, Liu Rong looked leisurely into the hall, obviously waiting for Hu Yanqie Dang's next words.

At the foot of the imperial steps, Huyan Qie's expression changed constantly, and no one knew what he was thinking about.

On both sides of Huyan Qiedang, the Han officials were also busy - some were picking their ears exaggeratedly, while others were picking their nails with their heads down, and almost everyone looked impatient.

Obviously, the Huns did not have enough bargaining chips.

Acknowledge that Henan is now owned by the Han, cede Beihai as the Han's "enclave", add a Dayuan horse, and there is no beauty in ten grasslands;
This bargaining chip, both in terms of political value and practical value, is far from enough to match the Han Dynasty's promise of "I will not send troops to attack you, so you can go west with peace of mind."

After all, if the Han people really wanted those damn Dayuan horses, they could buy them.

——After all, there is only one horse;
If there were only a hundred or eighty horses, it might not be possible to transport them across the grassland from Dayuan under the noses of the Huns.

But it was only one horse;

As long as the Han people can afford a high price, there will be plenty of daring Hu merchants who are willing to fight for the hundredfold profit.

In other words: the Dayuan horse is simply a valuable commodity that is definitely not impossible to buy.

Moreover, regardless of the quality of these Dayuan horses or whether they are suitable as war horses - the number alone is enough to ensure that they cannot make even the slightest contribution to the Han Dynasty's horse policy construction and horse breeding.

If there were a dozen stallions and a few hundred mares, Liu Rong might be able to think of it as "strategic materials".

But there was only one, so it was purely a rare thing from foreign land. Apart from being a source of Liu Rong's enjoyment and curiosity, it had no other value.

Not to mention the ten beauties on the grassland - they are not even curious or rare, they are just making up the numbers.

The political regulations that are truly valuable and attractive to the Han family are actually the first two;
But even the first two items have too low content value...

"I have heard that merchants barter goods by simply asking for a high price and then bargaining."

"Your Excellency has proposed such an outrageous price. I guess you are asking for an exorbitant price, right?"

"Hmm;"

"Then, is it my turn to bargain?"

After an unknown amount of time of silence, Liu Rong finally took the initiative to speak when he saw that Huyan Qiedang still had no intention of speaking.

As soon as these words were spoken, Huyan Qiedang's face turned visibly darker. He then saw Liu Rong stand up from the couch, put his hands behind his back, and walk leisurely.

While pacing, he began to state his "conditions".

"Henan Land~"

"After all, it is owned by our Han family. Whether your Excellency Chanyu cedes it or not, it is still our Han family's Henan land."

"——Or in other words, it is the two counties of Wuyuan and Shuofang of my Han family."

"If you want to cede it, your Excellency Chanyu can be more generous and just give Hexi to our Han family;"

"Well, it also saves me from sending troops to fight again."

...

"As for the North Sea~"

"I heard that since the time of Maodun Chanyu, the North Sea has always been a place where nomadic people exiled prisoners."

"——It is said that the traitor Zhongxing Shuo was exiled to the North Sea by your Lord Shanyu?"

"Although the land of our Han nation is small, we still have tens of thousands of miles of arable land;"

"A bitter and cold place to exile prisoners, my Han family, at least has it..."

As he spoke, Liu Rong couldn't help but shake his head and smile, and pretended to be conflicted for a moment before slowly nodding his head.

"North Sea, let's change it to East Sea."

"——With the Xianbei and Wuheng Mountains as the base, the land within a radius of a thousand miles will belong to our Han family from now on."

"After all, the East Sea is at least adjacent to the Yan State of our Han Dynasty, unlike the North Sea, which is an enclave thousands of miles away?"

...

"As for the Dayuan horses and the beauties from the grasslands, I will not trouble you, Your Excellency;"

"My Han family has already acquired Henan as a horse breeding area, so we have no shortage of horses."

"It's a plowing ox~"

Liu Rong deliberately dragged out the sound, frowned at the right time, lowered his head, pinched his fingers, and calculated in a low voice.

"There are 30 million people and more than 5 million households..."

"One cow for every ten households..."

After getting the calculation results, Liu Rong nodded solemnly again.

He turned sideways and finally faced Huyan Qiedang again.

"Your Excellency, you don't know~"

"As early as the Qin Dynasty, the people of our country had already begun to use oxen to pull the plow to help with farming."

"After the fall of Qin and the rise of Han, Henan was occupied by nomadic people. We, the Han people, lost this land for raising horses and cattle. Even if we wanted to use cattle to plow, we didn't have enough cattle to do so."

"——Your Majesty Chanyu is willing to give me a good horse as a gift, which comforts me greatly."

"But since Han and Xiongnu are brother countries, as the elder brother, your Excellency Chanyu should give your younger brother something that he can use and urgently needs, instead of giving him something that he doesn't need."

"There are 30 million Han people, more than 5 million households. If all of them were to use oxen to plough the fields, at least 10 households would have to share one ox to make up for the shortage."

"One cow per 10 households, more than 5 million households, that means more than 500,000 cows..."

...

"Although Henan is owned by our Han family, there is no reason for our Han family to take away the cattle, sheep and horses owned by the various tribes in Henan without compensation."

"Even if we pay, we can't buy all the cattle in Henan and make them unable to survive."

"——Thanks to my father and grandfather's support, I have a little money in my hands."

"Take it to Henan, and you can buy more than 200,000 oxen."

"The number of oxen needed for plowing alone is more than 500,000."

"As for the remaining 300,000 heads, I'll have to trouble you, Lord Chanyu, to take care of my brother who is in financial difficulty..."

After giving his "price", Liu Rong finally sat back on the imperial couch. He seemed to be sipping water comfortably, but in fact, he did not forget to observe the changes in Huyan Qiedang's facial expression, intentionally or unintentionally.

——Just as Liu Rong said just now: Doing business is actually about asking for a high price and paying a low price.

The price Hu Yanqie had given earlier was really ridiculously low;

And Liu Rong's "sky-high price" on this basis is indeed a bit unrealistic.

Both parties are dreaming, so whether the deal can be concluded actually depends on the willingness of both parties. Whoever is more eager to conclude the deal will have to make more concessions;
Liu Rong was obviously not so urgent.

It was Huyan Qiedang, or rather the Xiongnu people represented by Huyan Qiedang...

"My Lord Shan Yu will never cede the Hexi area to His Majesty the Emperor."

Without any thought, Hu Yanqie gave his answer in a firm tone.

After saying this, without waiting for Liu Rong to respond, he added: "Your Majesty, I believe that you also know how the first Khan of the Xiongnu, Maodun, rose from humble beginnings, right?"

"——Back then, when the Han people were still experiencing the strife of unification at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the only overlord on the grassland was the Donghu people."

"The Donghu were the hegemons, the Yuezhi were the masters, and our Xiongnu was just a small tribe in the south of Mu."

"Touman Chanyu was unable to strengthen our Xiongnu tribe, and even sent his most outstanding son, Maodun Chanyu, to the Donghu royal court as a hostage."

...

"When he was held hostage in the court of the Donghu king, Maodun Chanyu suffered a great deal of humiliation."

"Even after he returned to the Xiongnu tribe as an adult, the King of Donghu was still not satisfied. After taking the woman of Chanyu Touman and the beloved horse of Chanyu Maodun, he asked the Xiongnu tribe to give up most of their only pasture to the Donghu people."

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"Tauman Chanyu was afraid of the might of the Donghu soldiers and planned to surrender;"

"So, first Maodun Chanyu killed his father with a whistling arrow, and then left behind the famous saying on the grassland that has been passed down to this day."

"——First, Maodun Chanyu said: The Donghu people wanted my woman, and I gave her to them;"

"The Donghu people wanted my good horses, and I gave them to them;"

"They even asked me to lick the toes of the Donghu King. For the safety of my people, I licked them without hesitation."

"But now, the Donghu people want our land. I can't give in no matter what."

"So, Maodun Chanyu worked hard to govern the country and quickly expanded the Xiongnu tribe. Then he fought decisive battles with the Donghu and Yuezhi, and made our Great Xiongnu the only overlord of the grassland..."

Hu Yan was speaking, and the Han officials in the palace were listening.

Even Liu Rong, who was sitting on the imperial couch, acted very interested as he listened to Hu Yanqiedang talking about the history of the Xiongnu.

But secretly, Liu Rong did not forget to complain.

The stories told by Hu Yanqie Dang are basically true.

However, a considerable number of extremely critical facts were deliberately concealed by Huyan Qiedang - or by successive Xiongnu Chanyu in the past few decades.

In the dozen years after Qin Shi Huang unified the country, the Huns were indeed an ordinary and common small tribe on the grassland.

Today, any of the three major forces of Munan: Zhelan, Baiyang and Loufan, could defeat the Xiongnu and make them kneel on the ground and sing the song of conquest if they could allocate only 10% or 20% of their troops.

At that time, the 'Xiongnu King' Luanditouman demanded whatever he wanted from almost every tribe on the grassland.

Not to mention the dominant Donghu and the upstart Yuezhi;

What is Lin Hu?
Qu Lin~
The Xiongnu tribe worships every tribe that still exists on the grassland and has a name as its ancestor.

As for the Xiongnu princes: Luandi Maodun was held hostage in the court of the Donghu king, and this was not an isolated case - in the Yuezhi king's tent, there was also a Xiongnu prince of the Luandi clan held hostage.

To be precise, on the grasslands at that time, almost every weak tribe like the Xiongnu would send their princes to the royal courts of Donghu and Yuezhi as hostages.

At its peak, the Donghu royal court even organized an army of '10,000 hostages', all of which were composed of hostages sent by various tribes on the grassland, and the strength of the army reached an astonishing 4,000 people!

And Luandi Maodun was just an ordinary member of the 4,000 hostage army.

Later, Luandi Maodun returned to his tribe when he reached adulthood. Having broadened his horizons at the court of the Donghu king, he became one of the best and most talented people in the Xiongnu tribe.

But starting from the part where the Donghu royal court asked the Xiongnu to "cede land", this period of history showed traces of extremely deliberate human fabrication.

——Whether it was the Donghu, the Yuezhi, or the weak and tiny Xiongnu tribe at that time, they were all nomadic tribal civilizations!

Where does the territory come from for nomadic civilizations?

For nomadic people who live by following water and grass all year round and can cover half of the grassland in a year, where does the concept of "territory" come from?
So, the fact is that at a certain season of that year, the King of Donghu discovered that the grass and water on the pasture where the Xiongnu tribe was grazing was growing a little too well this year;

Such good pasture should not be occupied by a small tribe like the Huns.

Therefore, the King of Donghu ordered the Xiongnu to set off immediately to find a pasture that was suitable for their status and strength.

The good quality pasture was given to those tribes that were strong and worthy of it.

This is very common on the grassland.

To be honest, the King of Donghu was willing to do this because he was actually protecting the Xiongnu tribe!

Otherwise, if the King of Donghu simply did not care and adopted an attitude of "you guys discuss it among yourselves, I will not interfere", the Xiongnu tribe would probably become one of the many small tribes on the grassland that were killed and extinct because of that grassland.

Any powerful tribe that coveted this grassland could easily wipe out the Huns.

——A man is innocent unless he is in possession of a treasure.

At that time, for the weak Xiongnu tribe, even if they only briefly occupied a piece of high-quality pasture that they did not deserve, it was no different from a child holding gold in a busy city.

Then, there was the famous scene in the history of the Xiongnu - Maodun Chanyu killed his father with a whistling arrow, killed Luandi Touman who was about to obey him, and uttered the famous saying "I can give you anything, but I can't give you land".

Taking advantage of the momentum of the new Chanyu Mingdi who killed his father and usurped the throne, the Xiongnu tribe under Maodun's control swept away its previous weakness, defeated the surrounding tribes stronger than itself one after another, and quickly grew stronger by capturing prisoners and stationing troops.

At first, the Donghu royal court did not take it seriously, thinking it was just a struggle of a small tribe before its demise, and did not even bother to send anyone to question it.

By the time they reacted, the Xiongnu, led by Chanyu Maodun, had actually occupied half of Mu'nan, becoming a dark horse that was not much inferior to the Yuezhi!
Thus, a new pattern was formed on the grassland: the Donghu dominated, the Yuezhi and the Xiongnu rose rapidly, and the three powers were in a tripartite confrontation.

The reason why the Xiongnu people, after they developed, did not suffer from the targeting of the Donghu royal court was precisely because of this three-way balance of power, which prevented the Donghu royal court from daring to deal with the Xiongnu people with all its strength.

Just like hundreds of years later, during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the geometric concept of "triangle has stability" was interpreted and explained perfectly at the national strategic level...

Logically speaking, once a three-way balance of power is formed, this pattern should last for a long time unless one of the parties does something stupid.

But soon after the "three-legged tripod" pattern was formed on the grassland, a sudden external force completely broke the balance of the triangle.

——After the death of the First Emperor, the Second Emperor was enthroned!

Just a few months later, before the end of the first year of the Second Emperor's reign, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang roared, and the Daze Township Uprising broke out, and the whole country rose up to rebel against Qin.

After just a few months, Guandong was almost completely out of Qin's control;

In a panic, the Qin court headed by Emperor Qin II Hu Hai and the treacherous minister Zhao Gao ordered Wang Li's corps on the northern Great Wall to move south quickly to assist Zhang Han's army that had led the army out of the pass to quell the rebellion.

After that, naturally, Xiang Yu burned his boats and fought a desperate battle, defeating the Qin court's last elite troops: the Great Wall Army, and completely nailed the lid of the Qin Dynasty's coffin.

At the same time, the Xiongnu, who had just gained a foothold in Munan and were planning to form an alliance with the Yuezhi people to fight against the overlord Donghu, were stunned by a gift from the sky.

——When the Qin Great Wall Army retreated, all the food, fodder, weapons and other baggage that they had not had time to take away fell into the pockets of the Huns!

Then, the Huns equipped themselves with bronze swords and bronze crossbows without hesitation, bypassed the Yuezhi people whose strength was not much different from their own, and directly challenged the overlord Donghu!
The Donghu people still didn't take it seriously.

It was not until the stone and bone tools of the Donghu people were chopped into pieces by the bronze swords of the Xiongnu people, along with their weapons, that the Donghu people finally realized that the Xiongnu people seemed to have been truly blessed by the gods.

Even these terrible weapons that were originally only in the hands of the Qin, Yan, and Zhao people were bestowed by the gods on the once insignificant Xiongnu people...

(End of this chapter)