My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 451: Stability Has Its Benefits
Obviously, Cheng Buzhi is facing an extremely difficult choice.

Most of the troops that could be mobilized in the Hetao area were led out by Cheng Buzhi.

What's next?
——Just take your soldiers to Xiutu Lake, take a look and then come back?
Or should we just forget about this and not go at all, and just go back to Shuofang and Wuyuan - the two Hetao counties - to rest?

From a factual point of view, it is hard to say which of these two options is better or worse.

First of all, forget about taking over Xu Tu Ze.

As I said before: the Han army, especially the infantry group, could not hold any "strategic location" in the open terrain of the grassland.

To be more precise, it’s not that I can’t bear it, but that I can’t bear it for too long.

Stay where you are, no matter which direction the wind blows, I will remain unmoved. The Han infantry group can naturally do this.

But it was difficult for the Han infantry soldiers to maintain this state for several months, especially when they were deep in the heart of the grassland and were isolated and helpless under the mental pressure.

In fact, to be honest, if necessary, the Han army is not completely unable to hold its ground on the grassland.

If it were the beginning of spring instead of the approaching winter, the Han army would certainly be happy to build a Great Wall of flesh and blood and even lives in the area around Xiutu Lake.

As for why you ask?
Infantry soldiers will tell you: Buy time for the craftsmen to build a city and construct defense lines/fortifications in Xiutu Lake.

In other words, whether one can defend Xiutu Lake and whether one is willing to defend Xiutu Lake depends on whether the period of defense is meaningful and how much meaning it has.

After all, it is not the modern army of later generations, which is disciplined and strictly abides by military orders. The Han army soldiers still have some pursuits of their own.

If they were asked to go to Xiutu Lake in early spring to resist the covetousness and attacks of other nomadic tribes on the periphery, thereby buying precious time and a relatively safe construction environment for the Xiutu Lake construction team, they would definitely be happy.

Because they believe that whether they live or die, win or lose, at least it is meaningful.

Live happily and die well.

But now it is the turn of autumn and winter, and winter is coming soon.

Even if Cheng Buzhi led his army and really took over Xiu Tu Ze from the Hun Xie people, he would not be able to start construction right away.

The soldiers were only guarding the Xiu Tu Ze;
If we keep defending until spring, who knows how many people will die - there is even a possibility that the entire army will be wiped out, and we may not be able to hold out until the day when the construction of Xiutu Lake and the official start of the construction of "Xiutu City" begins.

To put it bluntly, it is an unnecessary sacrifice.

Starting from the spring, it was meaningful and valuable to engage in battles with the surrounding tribes for the purpose of building the Xiutu Lake and constructing a defense line around the Lake.

If problems arise, the Hetao region, as well as the northern area and Longyou behind it, and even the central government in Chang'an, can mobilize forces to provide support as soon as possible.

But when winter comes, he will take over the Xiu Tu Lake and fill the dead meaninglessly until winter passes and spring comes?
Cheng Buzhi knew very well that in the harsh winter on the Hexi grassland, let alone the two counties of Wuyuan and Shuofang, that is, the available troops in the Hetao area;
Even if most of the Han Dynasty's northern border garrison troops were deployed there, it would still be of no use at all.

——When spring came, some of the Han soldiers froze to death, some starved to death, some died of disease, and some died in battle.
We can't expect the corpses of the Han army soldiers to build a wall around Xiutu Lake to resist the covetousness of the surrounding tribes, right?

To put it bluntly, whether it is the Xiutu tribe in the past, the Hunxie tribe now, or the Han Dynasty that may take over this area in the future, if they want to truly and securely control this area, the most important thing is people.

In the past, the Xiutu tribe always occupied the fertile land of Xiutu Lake by relying on its unique hard power in the Hexi region: three thousand cavalry, eighteen thousand soldiers, and nearly half of its weapons and equipment made of metal.

Although the current Hunxie tribe is only slightly stronger than the extinct Xiutu tribe, its strength is mainly reflected in the weapons and equipment sent by the Han merchant caravan.

Judging from the past of the Xiutu tribe and the current situation of the Hunxie tribe, if the Han Dynasty wants to truly control the Xiutu Lake, it will be impossible without 20,000 soldiers!
In addition, the Han army was still mainly composed of infantry, and the infantry stationed in strategic locations needed to rely on passes and city walls.

Therefore, in the Xiu Tu Ze "area", the Han Dynasty needs at least 20,000 soldiers, multiple civilians and auxiliary soldiers, plus at least one city, to effectively implement long-term control.

In order to achieve this goal, the Han Dynasty could barely accept sending infantry soldiers to fight the Xiongnu cavalry in the field for three to six months - sacrificing in exchange for precious construction time.

But this winter, Cheng Buzhi's only choice, the Han family's only choice, is to let Xiu Tu Ze temporarily fall into the hands of the Hunxie people.

Only in the spring, when a comprehensive team consisting of the army + construction team + logistics team is formed and sent to Xiutu Lake to immediately start the "Western Development", can the Han family truly move towards controlling the Xiutu Lake.

This makes the problem very tricky.

——This winter, the Han family is absolutely unable to eat Xiu Tu Ze;

Not only can I not eat it, I can't even touch it, hug it, or smell it.

Under this premise, is it necessary for Cheng Buzhi to lead his army on this journey?
Or should we say, is this trip beneficial to the Han family, or...

"The army appeared in Xiu Tu Ze, and the people who were happy were naturally the Hun Xie people."

"——Because the presence of our Han army will surely tell other tribes around: Don't think of targeting the Hunxie tribe;"

"Don't even think about taking advantage of Xu Tuze."

"In this way, at least this winter, Xiu Tu Ze will never be lost by the Hun Xie people, and the Hun Xie people can rest assured to consolidate the direction of the Xiu Tu Ze area."

"But in this way, the Hunxie people can also establish a foothold in the Xiu Tu Ze area in a very short time."

"If we want to uproot them, it will be as difficult as uprooting the Xiu Tu tribe..."

Standing in the makeshift military tent, with his hands behind his back and facing the tent door, he looked at the hanging feng shui and talked to himself, and the confusion on Cheng Buzhi's face became even more intense.

As Cheng Buzhi said: Going there is not beneficial to the Han family;

Instead, it allowed the Hunxie tribe, relying on the confidence that "I have the support of the Han army behind me", to extremely quickly replace the original Xiutu tribe and become the new patron saint of Xiutu Lake.

On the bright side: this means that Xu Tu Ze will not be lost.

By the beginning of next spring, Xiu Tu Ze will most likely still be in the hands of the Hunxie Tribe.

But looking at the bad side: as long as the Hunxie tribe is determined to become the new Xiutu tribe, they will "guard" the Xiutu Lake for generations?

If the Han family wants to take control of Xiu Tu Ze again, they can only attack - and it must be a strong attack.

In the past, when the Xiu Tu tribe was still around, the Han had to use their fists to defeat Xiu Tu Ze;
Now that the Xiu Tu tribe is gone, the Han family still has to rely on fists if they want to take over Xiu Tu Ze.

Didn’t the Xiu Tu tribe die in vain?

But if we don't take this trip and instead return the same way, the situation will be even worse.

——First of all, doing so, at least from a theoretical level, is equivalent to the Han Dynasty voluntarily giving up its "sovereignty claim" over Xiutu Lake.

If the Han army does not make a positive response to the Hunxie tribe's request to "hand over Xiu Tu Ze with both hands in exchange for the protection of the Han Dynasty" - especially an action response, the Han Dynasty's credit will be bankrupt on the grassland.

In the future, when a tribe considers whether to surrender or submit to the Han Dynasty, they will surely recall what the Hunxie tribe went through today. - Surrender?
——Think about it again!
——Thinking back then, didn’t the Hunxie tribe use Xiu Tu Ze as a token of their allegiance, but still failed to gain the protection of the Han people?

This was definitely not a good choice for the Han Dynasty, which aimed to effectively control the grasslands in the long term and to resolve the threat posed by nomadic peoples to China's Central Plains agricultural civilization from the root, and which advocated "killing people and destroying their hearts."

So, the question becomes: Is it a waste of time to make a trip to Xiutu Lake, and for the sake of so-called "reputation", suffer this loss tailor-made for the Han people by the Hunxie tribe, leaving the image of "Han people are idiots who only care about face and not substance" on the grassland?

Or should we refuse to take this loss and let the Hunxie tribe fend for themselves, get eaten up by the wolves from the surrounding tribes, lose this seemingly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to obtain Xiu Tu Ze, and leave the impression on the grassland that "the Han people are simply unreliable, and even if we are at the end of our rope, we must never surrender to them"?

Both are obviously very bad.

Can't even tell which one is worse.

Especially at this moment, the court in Chang'an probably just received the news of the sudden change in Xiu Tu Ze, and was subconsciously reveling and celebrating;

However, as for the specific response plan, the court in Chang'an may not have realized the seriousness of the problem and had not had time to initiate emergency discussion plans.

Even if it was launched - even if someone in the Chang'an court realized the seriousness and complexity of the problem and had begun to discuss what to do, but by the time the instructions from the Chang'an court reached Hetao, it would be too late.

The current situation is a very representative one among the situations faced by the border generals of the Han Dynasty.

It was too late to ask for instructions from Chang'an;

Without asking for instructions, I can't make up my mind.

So we can only follow our instincts and choose one that is relatively less bad from many seemingly bad options.

But often, these choices are so bad that it’s hard to tell which one is worse;
It makes people wonder which one to choose to get relatively good results...

Especially now, Cheng Buzhi is not in the capital of Shuofang County: Bowang City.

Nearly 40% of the combat-ready forces in the Hetao area were brought out by Cheng Buzhi and stationed west of the river.

This is the limit of the number of troops that can be mobilized under the premise of ensuring that there are no problems in the Hetao region in the short term.

Such a large-scale military mobilization, which could be described as "all out in force", obviously put Cheng Buzhi on the spot...

"Xu Tuze~"

"Xiu Tu Ze..."

"The Chaos Evil Department..."

"Chaotic..."

For a moment, Cheng Buzhi missed the days in Chang'an when he could see Pingqu Hou Gongsun Kunxie at any time.

In the current situation, even if Gongsun Kunxie cannot play a decisive role, he can at least get in touch with the Hunxie tribe of the same origin as the "former Prince of Yiqu".

Regardless of the final result, at least we can judge their true thoughts from the attitude shown by the Hunxie Tribe during the communication process.

Worst case scenario - even if Cheng Buzhi decides to swallow this loss, he can still gain certain benefits for the Han family through negotiations to minimize the losses.

But right now, the only way to contact the Hunxie tribe occupying Xiutu Lake is to send troops there.

The appearance of the Han army in Xiu Tu Ze also meant that the Hun Xie tribe's "strategy had been accomplished", and the Han Dynasty could only swallow this loss...

"Your Majesty once said: The land of the Xiongnu is not a battlefield or a scorched earth, but a place where we Chinese have been raising livestock for thousands of years."

“Therefore, even if we want to destroy the Xiongnu nation, destroy their customs, and exterminate their people, we cannot attack the nomadic tribes on the grassland.”

"——If we can't kill them all, we must be gentle."

"At least, we can't let all the tribes on the grassland stand against our Han family."

"We need to leave them a way out, if things really go wrong, they can surrender to the Han dynasty."

Thinking of this, Cheng Buzhi had a rough plan in his mind.

It seems that the Han family can only grit their teeth and swallow this loss.

——Send the army over and be supported by the Hunxie tribe!
Help the Hunxie tribe to gain a foothold in Xiutuze, and tell the other tribes on the grassland: as long as you surrender, we will be good friends!
As for what happens in the future—especially after the spring?
"If the army goes through this journey and stops at the Lake of Destruction, then in the spring of next year, the Hunxie tribe will be considered to have betrayed us and failed the Han people's sincere desire to protect us."

"Although nomadic people have always been like this, at least my Han family is 'not wrong'."

"On the contrary, if I don't make this journey, it would mean that my Han family is unreliable and not worth serving."

"It is clear at a glance which one is better or worse, and which one is more important."

"As for Xiu Tu Ze - no matter what choice we make, I'm afraid it won't be that easy to take him down..."

"But it's normal."

"If it can be taken so easily without any effort, then it is not an important place in Hexi: Xiu Tuze."

Comforting himself in this way, Cheng Buzhi finally made a decision.

——Anyway, no matter which one he chooses, it is unlikely that Xu Tuze will be able to win;

Instead of getting entangled in it, it is better to create a positive image of the Han people who are generous, open to all the grassland tribes who come to serve, and can provide real support.

As for Xiu Tu Ze, Cheng Buzhi didn't think it would be a good thing to capture him in this way.

Again, the same thing;
On the grassland, there is only one law, and that is fists.

Only when you obtain something through fighting will others recognize that you have the legal right to own it.

Therefore, in Cheng Buzhi's opinion, instead of relying on the so-called "free gift" from the Hunxie tribe, it would be better to rely on the future, when the Han army soldiers would defeat him with swords and guns.

Otherwise, although Xiutu Lake was obtained in vain, the subsequent long-term invasions by surrounding tribes would not be much easier than directly taking over Xiutu Lake by force.

This is the principle that says "one punch is enough to prevent a hundred punches from coming".

Specifically speaking of Xiu Tu Ze, perhaps it should be said: Throw a punch that causes the mountains to collapse and the earth to crack, so as to avoid the rivers and seas from turning upside down in the future...

(End of this chapter)