I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 487 Unexpected Cooperation

But in this way, the Huns became the arrows of the Han Dynasty.

It can also be said to be the horse under the big man!

No matter how the Han people pulled the reins or whipped them, the Huns would run and kick hard... This situation is worse than becoming a vassal state of the Han people!
At least, as long as the vassal states of the Han Dynasty received the seal of the Han Dynasty, they would acknowledge themselves as subjects of the Han Dynasty.

They would still have most of their autonomy, and the royal family's ruling status in their own country would not only be recognized by the Han Dynasty, but when necessary, the Han Dynasty would even send troops to provide military assistance to help them maintain their rule.

But now the Xiongnu are more like livestock kept by the Han Dynasty...

However, Uwei Shanyu had no choice at all.

Even though the pain of losing his son made him hate Liu Ju to the core, his extremely passive situation forced him to accept Liu Ju's conspiracy and accept Liu Ju's "virtue of loving life" like a beast.

“Why did I decide to move west?”

“Why did I think of moving westward?”

"Why do I feel that the westward migration was the conspiracy of the Han Dynasty, or the prince of the Han Dynasty?"

Wuwei Chanyu suddenly felt a little regretful, and then thought of a person who had influenced his decision-making - Wei Lu.

If it weren't for Wei Lu, he would never have considered giving up the Xiongnu's birthplace and leading his people to migrate westward to avoid the fierce offensive of the Han cavalry.

If it weren't for Wei Lu, he would never have gone against the majority opinion and insisted on moving westward when the Xiongnu was at a disadvantage.

If it weren't for Wei Lu, how could he appear in this place and fall into such a passive situation?
Wasn’t Yizhixie Chanyu also defeated by Huo Qubing’s army and killed in Xinlong City, and was also conferred the title of Wolf’s Lair?

But so what? The Huns only gave up Xinlong City temporarily and came back after the Han army withdrew. Didn’t they survive just the same? And their strength has even recovered in recent years, right?
Therefore, the Huns may not have needed to migrate westward at all.

The westward migration of the Huns was probably not what the Han prince was most worried about, but what he hoped for most. Everything was in his plan. He wanted to make the Huns migrate westward and then force them to become livestock for him to drive, extending the influence of the Han Dynasty to the vast land west of the Western Regions.

For example, the Great Xia Kingdom and the Parthian Empire.

There were also countries and regions further west than the Parthian Empire.

The Huns came to be the bad guys, and the Han Dynasty came to be the good guys.

However, it is obviously too late to realize this now.

The Huns had unknowingly become livestock under the whip of the Han princes and had no choice at all.

Even joining forces with the Parthian Empire and the Bactrian Empire to fight against the Han Dynasty was impossible, because the land allocated to the Huns by the Han princes could not feed hundreds of thousands of Huns. If they did not continue to occupy more land and plunder other countries, the hungry Huns would soon get out of control.

Regardless of whether it is the Dayuezhi, which is currently receiving assistance from the "Western Alliance" coalition forces, or the Sindhu Kingdom, which Liu Ju specifically requested to protect.

None of them could be invaded and plundered by the Huns, because now not only the Han army, but even the "Western Alliance" coalition forces have made the Huns under his command terrified, and acting rashly would only lead to greater losses and pressure.

Then the only two remaining states were Bactria and Parthia, which bordered the area that Liu Ju had allocated for the Huns.

Moreover, even whether the Huns under his command would invade the two countries was not entirely under the control of Wuwei Chanyu. Just like the previous Huns plundering the Han Dynasty's borders, in fact, at least five out of ten times it was not the intention of the Huns Chanyu, but some tribes went there spontaneously to take advantage of the situation.

Afterwards, the Xiongnu Chanyu had nothing to say.

After all, the Huns had been living this way for nearly a hundred years before, and had long since formed a custom of herding when they were busy and begging when they were free.

In other words.

Now living in the area designated by Liu Ju, he could not feed the Huns under his command, and could not control these Hun tribes from looting neighboring countries.

They did not dare to offend the Han Dynasty and the "Western Alliance", so they would reach out to Bactria and Parthia.

Even if he made an alliance with Bactria and Parthia, it would be difficult to maintain the alliance if the Huns often plundered Bactria and Parthia.

"Wei Lu misled me!"

Wuwei Chanyu suddenly felt indescribable despair.

"Will the Xiongnu eventually be exterminated in my hands? Will I become the Xiongnu's greatest sinner?"

"Someone, summon Wei Lu to this emperor!"

He wanted to ask Wei Lu carefully to verify his guess...even though many things had already become facts and no longer needed to be verified.

A moment later, Wei Lu entered the tent.

Seeing that Wuwei Chanyu looked unhappy, he naturally did not dare to say anything more, but just bowed his head and saluted:
"Wei Lu has met the Chanyu..."

Although he didn't know what the released Huns said to Uwei Chanyu, he had been living in fear recently.

After the Huns moved westward, the Han army and the "Western Alliance" coalition forces were always inseparable.

The Huns did not obtain large tracts of lush pastures with lush grass and water, and they suffered even more losses during their westward migration.

Under such circumstances, all the Huns who knew that it was he who proposed the westward migration to Uwei Chanyu were dissatisfied with him. If he had not stayed by Uwei Chanyu's side, he might have been killed by a Hun at any time.

Most importantly, he also felt that something was increasingly wrong.

Didn’t it happen that Liu Ju was most worried about the Huns migrating westward?

Why was it that after the Huns migrated westwards, the Western Alliance became even stronger, and now the Western Alliance's coalition forces alone are enough to defeat the Huns?
The Huns became all the bad guys, and the Han people became all the good guys.

Those who have great benefits are suspicious.

Could this kind of thing, which only benefits the Han Dynasty, be Liu Ju's biggest worry?
Looking back now, Liu Ju inadvertently said in front of him that he was "most worried about the Huns migrating westward", and sent troops to attack during his mission as an envoy to the Right Wise King of the Huns, making him unpopular both internally and externally. He had no choice but to surrender to the Huns and brought this "worry" to the Huns.

Why did he feel that Liu Ju had treated him as a pawn since the first time he met him, and had been using him from the beginning to the end?
"This emperor is really confused. In fact, you have been a spy sent to this emperor by the Han Dynasty from the beginning, right?"

Wuwei Chanyu laughed at himself, but murderous intent appeared in his crow's feet eyes.

"Chan Yu, please understand!"

Wei Lu's heart trembled, and he immediately knelt on the ground.

"I am a Hu who is closer to the Xiongnu. I have always longed for the Xiongnu. Every word I said to the Chanyu was from the bottom of my heart. I have never done anything to deceive the Chanyu, and I am definitely not a spy sent by the Han Dynasty."

"Moreover, if I was really a spy, I could have taken advantage of the chaos to escape at any time while the Chanyu was leading the Xiongnu to migrate westwards. Why would I have followed the Chanyu all the way here?"

"Since I was sent as an envoy to the Right Wise King, every step has been a treacherous one. If I take a wrong step, I will die without a burial place."

"Where in the world would there be a spy who is willing to risk his life like this?"

"Is it?"

Wuwei Chanyu snorted coldly.
"Earlier, my son plotted an ambush on the Han prince, and the Han prince dared to intervene and use himself as bait, not only killing my son, but also severely damaging the Xiongnu elite."

"The Han Dynasty has such a prince, so how can there not be similar spies?"

"This……"

Wei Lu was choked by the question. This was the first time he had seen a prince like Liu Ju who dared to join the game. At least before Liu Ju, there had never been such a ruthless person in the Han Dynasty. Even before that, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, led the army in person and was eventually besieged on Baideng Mountain.

At that time, Liu Bang never thought that he was involved in the game himself, but there were mistakes in his strategy and communication, which resulted in the delay of the arrival of reinforcements from other routes.

However, Liu Ju had indeed deliberately led only 10,000 troops to lure the main force of the Huns to come and besiege them.

This can be seen from the arrows that Liu Ju prepared in advance, which were sufficient for the "NATO" coalition forces to use together, and have not been used up until now...

"It doesn't matter whether you are a spy of the Han Dynasty or not."

Wuwei Chanyu said again,

"At this point, someone must be held responsible for this matter and give an explanation to the Xiongnu subjects under my command. I will have to borrow your head for now. This will show your loyalty to me."

"Someone, take it!"

"Open the altar to offer sacrifices to the gods, and inform the subjects!"

……

Although Liu Ju did not receive the news that Wei Lu was being sacrificed to the gods, he did not care.

What's more, he is now facing a very difficult situation.

Liu Che's new envoy has arrived.

This time, not only new envoys came, but also two generals.

The envoy was Liu Ju's cousin Huo Guang.

The two generals were Lu Bode and Li Ling.

As Huo Qubing's half-brother, although Huo Guang had never joined the army and had no roots in the military, just this identity was enough to scare most of Huo Qubing's old subordinates.

There is no need to say much about Lu Bode. He was an old general of Huo Qubing and was awarded the title of Marquis of Fuli for his military achievements in the Battle of Mobei.

And because of his good military management, he enjoyed considerable prestige both in the army and in the court.

Although Li Ling's qualifications were slightly inferior, as the grandson of Flying General Li Guang, he was also respected by the soldiers in the army.

This time, Li Ling also brought 5,000 Jingchu warriors that he had trained himself.

It is said that these are brave warriors who are strong enough to tie up a tiger and can hit the target with any shot. They are undoubtedly elite troops.

Liu Ju knew about these 5,000 brave warriors of Jingchu. Historically, Li Ling led 5,000 infantrymen to the north to attack the Huns, but was eventually besieged by the Huns' Chanyu with a total of more than 100,000 cavalry. He eventually killed more than 10,000 enemies. When he was captured because he ran out of arrows, he should have been taking these Jingchu warriors with him.

And the most important thing is.

This time, Lu Bode and Li Ling also brought the tiger talisman and staff bestowed by Emperor Liu Che himself.

Needless to say, when this item comes out, it is like the emperor himself is here.

The tiger talisman was even more powerful. In this era, the tiger talisman was the only token of control over the military. Especially the tiger talisman bestowed by the emperor himself, which was different from the tiger talisman that was usually only half-granted in local areas. No soldier in the world dared to disobey.

"Cousin, what does my father mean by this?"

After meeting the three people, Liu Ju greeted them one by one, then looked at Huo Guang with a smile and asked questions even though he knew the answer.

Huo Guang was once again helpless about Liu Ju calling him that in front of Lu Bode and Li Ling, but he did not correct him in person. He just said solemnly:
"Don't be surprised, Your Highness. After General Wei passed away, His Majesty saw that Queen Wei had lost her appetite and was worried that she would suffer from exhaustion. Therefore, His Majesty hoped that Your Highness would return to Queen Wei and fulfill your filial duty to relieve her pain."

"Besides, it has been some time since your Highness came to the Western Regions. Consort Yishuo and the Emperor's grandson Liu Fuling also miss your Highness very much."

"The situation in the Western Region has been stabilized. I believe General Lu Bode and General Li Ling are in control of the situation. Your Highness has made great contributions during this trip. Your reputation is known to the world. It is time to take a rest."

"I also think that your majesty's action is entirely out of love for your Highness."

"My elder brother died young because he was exhausted from years of fighting in the desert. The general died of illness a few days ago, which may have something to do with his glorious years."

"Therefore, I implore Your Highness to pack your bags and return to the capital with me to report."

"..."

After hearing what Huo Guang said, Lu Bode and Li Ling also quickly chimed in:

"Captain Huo is right. The current favorable situation is the work of Your Highness and the General. We two came here to replace Your Highness this time. We dare not take any credit for it. We are just following Your Highness' orders to act temporarily."

In fact, the three of them had reached a consensus on the way.

They even discussed privately the reasons why Liu Ju refused to return to Beijing to report, and the final conclusion was:

Liu Ju must have been afraid that his credit would be taken away from him.

This is not their fault for being narrow-minded. It is mainly because they did not know about the future "Witchcraft Disaster" and Liu Ju was still too young to understand the seriousness of "his achievements surpassing his father's".

However, Liu Ju smiled and said:

"The two generals may not understand that I am only a guard."

"The one you are here to replace is not me, but General Zhao Po Nu. He is the commander-in-chief of the entire army, and the military talisman is always in his hands."

"As for the troops my uncle brought, they are currently under the temporary command of General Zhao."

"Since this is what my father wants, I will obey with all my strength."

"Guo Zhen, summon General Zhao, as well as General Wang Hui, Lieutenant General Su Wu, Military Supervisor Sima Qian, and all the captains and generals of the various armies. Recall them all to meet General Lu and General Li. Those who should hand in their military orders should do so, and those who should pledge allegiance to General Lu and General Li should do so. No mistakes should be made!"

"……promise."

Guo Zhen couldn't help showing doubt when he heard this, but after hesitating for a moment he agreed and quickly went forward to pass on the order.

He really didn't quite understand it.

In his impression, Liu Ju seemed to have no intention of returning to the capital to report.

Starting with Dongfang Yu, every wave of envoys tried to summon Liu Ju back to the capital, but he used various means to evade them every time, and even kept the envoys in the Western Regions for his own use.

Even the Minister of Agriculture, Sang Hongyang, has been stranded in the Western Regions for several months.

Why are they so cooperative this time?

Could it be that because Huo Guang had arrived, Liu Ju didn’t want to embarrass his cousin?
It is not impossible. After all, Huo Guang once accompanied Liu Ju to pacify the Nanyue Kingdom and went to Donglai with Liu Ju to wait for the gods. The friendship between the two was not shallow...

However, Liu Ju seemed to have overlooked one thing.

Even if he cooperates so abnormally this time, would Zhao Po Nu, Wang Hui, Su Wu, Sima Qian, and the captains and generals of each army be willing to give up the greater credit that has already come to fruition?

(End of this chapter)