My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 385 May Forest
It was May, the height of summer.

In Chang'an, Liu Rong was busy worrying about the reform of the court system, especially the reform of the Shaofu system, which involved a lot of people.

But thousands of miles away on the grassland, in Longcheng, the political center of the Xiongnu located in the south of Mu, the Xiongnu Chanyu Junchen was worried about another more pressing problem.

Compared with the problems that the military officials are worried about at this moment, the court system reform that Liu Rong is worried about is really a bit like a "happy trouble".

——Liu Rong’s headache was how to make the Han family better;
The military officials were worried about what to do to prevent the Great Xiongnu Empire from getting worse...

"This year's Julin Conference..."

"Ugh……"

Thinking of this, Junchen looked dimly at the martial arts competition of the Zhulin Conference that was taking place not far in front of him.

As in previous years, it was the same old routine consisting of horse riding, archery, wrestling, horse archery, and mounted swordsmanship.

But there is an obvious difference from previous years: this year's Zhulin Conference, no matter which project it is, is completely incomparable to previous years.

As spectators, the herdsmen watching were naturally not interested and smacked their lips in regret;
But as a core figure of the Xiongnu Empire, Junchen could not have been unaware of why this year's Xulin Conference had turned out like this.

"In previous years' Zhulin Conference, the Huyan clan must have had many talented people and warriors;"

"Especially wrestling and slashing, they have always been the unique skills that Huyan family is proud of, right?"

"Ok?"

The more he looked, the more suffocated he felt. Junchen finally couldn't help but questioned with dissatisfaction the Right Chief Eminent Official, Huyan He, who was sitting in the fourth seat to the right of the main seat not far away.

The seating arrangement is different from that of Chinese civilization, where the host sits facing north and south, and the guests are divided into two seats, east and west - the guests sit opposite each other and the host sits in the middle;
The seating arrangement at banquets and gatherings of the Huns, or nomadic peoples, was generally in the shape of a "goose".

The host seat is still in the center, but the guest seats are not separated and placed on both sides. Instead, they are like the wings of a wild goose, resting on both sides of the host seat and extending to both sides.

At this moment, the person sitting on the main seat in this open-air venue was naturally the Xiongnu Chanyu: Luandi Junchen.

On both sides of the military officials, seats were arranged according to their status, with the principle of "the higher the status, the closer to the Chanyu".

——On the left of Junchen is the Xiongnu's 'first prince', Junchen's only surviving offspring, the Left Wise King: Luandi Yushan.

Yu Shan is Junchen's youngest son, and is only five or six years old.

According to the rules of the grassland, Yu Dan is not even qualified to ride a colt now, and can only hone his riding skills by riding a lamb.

On the grassland, to mock a man for being young and immature, people would use the phrase "a baby riding a lamb".

Similar to the yellow-haired children in the Central Plains.

On the right side of Junchen was naturally the Xiongnu's 'Second Prince' corresponding to the Left Wise King Yu Shan, Junchen's only surviving brother/cousin, the Right Wise King: Luandi Yizhixie.

Compared to Yu Dan, who was young and ignorant and seemed not to understand his own identity, Yizhixie was undoubtedly in his prime.

Especially at this moment, it is the time of the annual Zhulin Conference in May, the venue is located near Longcheng, undoubtedly the heart of Munan.

In his own territory, sitting beside the current Chanyu, and attending the Zhulin Conference as the Right Wise King, Yizhixie could be said to be calm and at ease.

Further down, the organizational structure is still strictly in accordance with the Xiongnu Chanyu Court - on the left side of the military officials, from the Left Wise King Yu Shan below, there are the Left Guli King, the Left General, and the Left Great Danghu;
On the right side, from the Right Wise King Yizhixie below, there are the Right Guli King, the Right General, and the Right Great Danghu.

As we all know, these eight people are the "Eight Pillars" under the Xiongnu's Double-Headed Eagle Policy.

Among them, the Left and Right Guli Kings were also members of the royal family of the Luandi clan, but they were not from the Junchen lineage. Instead, they were respected men from side branches.

When the Chanyu passed away and the Left and Right Wise Kings met with accidents at the same time, the Left and Right Guli Kings would serve as "substitute princes" to inherit the Chanyu's throne to prevent the throne from falling into the hands of outsiders - people outside the Luandi royal family.

The left and right generals, as well as the left and right great Danghu, were inherited by the four major Xiongnu clans.

The Huyan clan was the one among the four major Xiongnu clans that inherited the position of Right Danghu.

Logically speaking, although the political significance of the Zhulin Conference is great, the overall atmosphere of a political event is more entertainment-oriented. A conversation between the Chanyu and one of the Eight Pillars would not attract the attention of others.

But at this moment, as Junchen's undisguised question rang out, the twenty or thirty people on Junchen's left and right all turned their eyes to the object of Junchen's questioning: the current Right Danghu, the contemporary head of the Huyan family, Huyan He.

As for the reason why Huyan He was questioned - especially by the Chanyu, in public at the Zhulin Conference, everyone had a rough guess in their minds.

"That kid from the Huyan clan is really..."

"Ah, it's no wonder that boy;"

"As for this task, no one can do better than that boy..."

For a moment, burning gazes fell on him and low whispers reached his ears, making Huyan He's cheeks hot and he felt embarrassed.

Huyan He certainly knew why Junchen was so angry for no reason.

——The reason why they were dissatisfied with the performance of the various tribes at the Zhulin Conference this year was naturally because after the Hetao-Mayi Battle, the various tribes on the grassland had developed some different emotions towards the Chanyu Court.

Although it cannot be said that they have become disloyal and no longer obey orders, or even directly left or rebelled;
However, it is obviously not impossible to ask each tribe to send its most outstanding warriors to the Xulin Conference as in previous years so that the Chanyu Court can strengthen their own armed forces.

Junchen was of course well aware of this.

And knowing the reason clearly and being unable to make the matter public, the reason why Junchen wanted to target Huyan He was so obvious that he didn't even need to think about it.

Because a few months ago, the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting sent envoys to discuss the matter of re-forming an alliance with the young Han emperor.

The chief envoy of the delegation was Huyan He's most outstanding son (or nephew), the generally recognized next generation leader of the Huyan tribe: Huyan Qiedang.

Judging from the results alone, Hu Yanqie's mission was obviously not a very good one.

Especially under the strange thinking of the nomadic people on the grassland, Huyan Qiedang failed to complete the instructions of Chanyu Ting and failed to reach an alliance with the Han people that satisfied Chanyu Ting, which meant he had betrayed Chanyu Ting's trust!

The most unfortunate one was that Huyan Qiedang was the first Hun envoy to visit the Han Dynasty as a defeated country since the Hun unified the grassland.

——In the past, Xiongnu envoys would go to Han territory with military victories, arrogantly showing off their power and extorting money;

In the future, the Xiongnu envoys would probably bring the military defeat and beg the Han people to stop and give the nomadic people some chance to survive.

The embarrassing thing about Huyan Qidang is that the timing of his diplomatic mission happened to be stuck between these two "great eras".

The defeat in the Hetao-Mayi Campaign, especially the loss of Hetao, meant that the Xiongnu no longer had an absolute military advantage over the Han people, and they could no longer support the Xiongnu delegations to go to the Han areas and show off their military might.

Although the war was lost, not many people on the grassland realized that the Hetao-Mayi Campaign was an important turning point in the bilateral strategic relationship between the Han and the Xiongnu.

Many people, including most of the nobles in the Shanyu court, stubbornly believed that the Hetao-Mayi Battle was just an accident.

Before that, the Han people had never been able to defeat the Huns, and from then on, the Han people were also unable to defeat the Huns' warriors again.

Therefore, almost everyone believed that the Han people should treat the Xiongnu envoys in the same humble manner as in the past, asking for whatever they want and fearing to anger them.

Perhaps in the future, after a few more consecutive defeats in wars, the nomadic people on Caoyu will realize that the Han people are not so easy to control; instead, it is we, the Great Xiongnu, who have fallen to the point of being controlled by the Han people.

But now, after the defeat of the Hetao-Mayi Campaign, which was attributed to an "accident", no one felt that the offensive and defensive positions had changed, and the status of the Han and Xiongnu had been reversed;

Naturally, no one would think that the Xiongnu delegation would have a hard time moving forward after entering the Han territory, or even be unable to refuse the Han people's conditions.

Maybe someone knows;

For example, Chanyu Junchen, Youxian Wang Yizhixie, and a few "knowledgeable people".

But they won't admit it.

They would not admit that Hu Yanqi's mission was completely dragged down by the outcome of the war and had no room for maneuver.

They would only say: How could my powerful Xiongnu produce such a weak and incompetent envoy like you?

Knowing these internal and external factors, Huyan He no longer thought it was strange when he recalled the question that Junchen had just asked him.

——At this year's Zhulin Conference, all the tribes were busy but not putting in any effort. The Chanyu Ting's own tribe could not pick out any brave warriors that were worthy of their attention, so the military officials were naturally annoyed;
Especially this action of the tribes, and the political intentions behind it, made the military officials feel upset.

As for Hu Yanhe, first his son "made a mistake" when he was sent as an envoy to the Han territory, and then he was involved in this incident where the various tribes concealed their incompetence at the Zhulin Conference.

It is no wonder that Junchen chose to target Huyan He’s Huyan family.

As an old-school Xiongnu noble, especially the head of one of the four major clans and one of the eight pillars of the contemporary era, Huyan He naturally could not tolerate such humiliation.

But the gap in identity and status - especially the gap in hard power - was there. No matter how unwilling he was, Hu Yanhe could only suppress his anger. He placed his right hand on his chest, bowed slightly to Junchen, and said in a muffled voice: "The warriors of the Hu Yan family have never changed."

"It's the warriors from other tribes who have changed."

"The warriors of other tribes have become even more powerful, but the warriors of my Huyan clan have become proud and complacent because of their past strength."

"——I always teach them: Don't be complacent just because you are strong enough, you should work hard to become stronger."

"This year's Zhulin Conference is a lesson for them."

"I think that from today on, the warriors of my Huyan clan should also understand the Han Chinese saying: There are always people better than you, and there are always things better than you..."

After saying these words, Huyan He felt even more depressed. He immediately picked up the golden bowl in front of him and took a sip of the sour kumis.

After drinking the sour wine and letting out a long breath, Huyan He's gaze naturally turned to the Right Wise King Yizhixie, who was standing next to Junchen and tasting roasted lamb with a small dagger in his hand.

As the head of the right four pillars among the eight pillars, the Right Wise King naturally has the responsibility to protect the direct line, namely the Right Guli King, the Right General, the Right Great Danghu and the forces behind them.

Therefore, at this moment, the look Huyan He gave Yizhixie was equivalent to reminding Yizhixie: Brother, I, your little brother, have been bullied!

The military officials naturally saw the look in Huyan He's eyes as he surrendered to Yizhixie.

Huyan He's words, which were even more treacherous than those of the Han people, made the military officials even more furious.

But unfortunately, Junchen couldn't get angry.

——The four major clans are the vital foundation of the Xiongnu Chanyu court.

As early as the time of Maodun Chanyu, the Luandi clan had realized that the Luandi royal family and the original Xiongnu headquarters alone could not completely rule the vast grassland.

Therefore, in order to better rule the grassland, Maodun Chanyu created the Chanyu Court's core power system with four heirs and eight pillars and four major clans as the core;

In addition to this, sixteen official positions were created that were independent of the Eight Pillars, and together with the Eight Pillars they were called the Twenty-Four Chiefs.

For example, the left and right Guduhou, the left and right grand duwei, etc.

In this entire political system, the four crown princes, or the "four corners" consisting of the Left and Right Wise Kings and the Left and Right Guli Kings, are not only the successors and crown princes of the Chanyu, but also the competitors that the Chanyu needs to guard against.

As for the sixteen leaders outside the eight pillars, such as the left and right Gu Du Hou, the left and right Da Du Wei, etc., it is difficult for them to form long-term and stable interest relations with the rebellious forces because they are not hereditary.

Only the four major clans!

The only exception is that they are not the royal family of the Luandi clan, and the four major clans among the hereditary "Eight Pillars" are the four lower clans that any generation of Xiongnu Chanyu has to win over.

There is a saying within the Chanyu Court;
——As long as the four major clans are united, they will definitely become the next generation of Chanyu!
If three of them surrender and the other one remains neutral and does not cause trouble, he can sit on the throne of Chanyu without much effort.

But once any one of them stands on the opposing side, even with the full support of the other three, if they want to sit on the throne of Chanyu, they will definitely have to go through a bloody storm!
As for the two families being united or hostile?
Sorry: The Left and Right Wise Kings are basically like this - the Left Wise King has the Left General and the Left Danghu loyal to him, and the Right Wise King has the Right General and the Right Danghu following him.

In this situation, let alone competing for the position of Chanyu - the two can't even do anything to each other, and even if they fight hard, it will only be a loss for both sides...

"Why did we lose?"

"Hetao, how come it was lost..."

At this moment, Junchen felt an inexplicable surge of regret in his heart.

Why go to Mayi?
Wouldn’t it be better to just guard the Hetao area well?
Things have come to this point, even the Shulin Conference has become a perfunctory affair;

Dare to openly defy the Chanyu Court, who knows what the tribes are thinking in private...

"Western Expedition, we must win!"

"We must bring back from the West an endless supply of food and weapons, as well as craftsmen who can make weapons for our Xiongnu for generations to come!"

...

"When that time comes, the Han people won't have to rush to clean up."

"——It's you!"

"You are traitors who are even more cunning and sinister than the Han people..."

"I will never forgive your disloyalty!"

In his heart, Junchen roared in helplessness.

On the other hand, Junchen had to turn his head away reluctantly, and also cut off a piece of meat with a small dagger, put it in his mouth, and vented his anger on the piece of meat.

"What the Right Danghu said makes sense."

"It's time for us, the Great Huns, to learn a lesson."

"——Our past strength made us, the Great Xiongnu, too proud and complacent, and allowed the Han people to take advantage of us."

"This kind of thing must never happen again."

(End of this chapter)