My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 455 What can we do?

Li Ji shouted out, and then fell into a trance.

Luan Bu and Han Tuidang, who were standing by, did not notice anything unusual about Li Ji.

He just smiled and walked forward to the huge feng shui where Liu Rong was;
They noticed that Liu Rong's gaze was actually on the Feng Shui, the east-west pass marked as "Gao Que". The two looked at each other, and their brows frowned involuntarily.

"Your Majesty, do you intend to attack Gaoque?"

Yu Hou Luan Bu was quite worried about the intentions revealed by Liu Rong at this time.

Different from Li Ji, the Marquis of Quzhou, who "sold his friends for fame", and Han Tuidang, the Marquis of Gonggao, whose father and grandfather surrendered to the Huns and surrendered to the Han again - he clearly had pure Chinese blood but was defined as a "Huns surrendered general";

Luan Bu's life of nearly eighty years cannot be described as difficult, but it can definitely be described as: magnificent.

Luan Bu was born in Liang during the reign of Emperor Qin Shihuang. He had a close personal relationship with Peng Yue, who was also a commoner at the time.

Although Luan Bu's family was poor when he was young, he almost never suffered from hunger. In order to find a job, Luan Bu traveled eastward from Liang to Qi, which was famous as a "rich place" in the world at that time, and worked as a servant in a tavern.

During this period, Peng Yue, who was still a civilian, was wanted by the Qin court for a crime. He had no choice but to become a bandit and robbed houses in the Juye area.

Luan Bu was accidentally kidnapped and sold as a slave in Yan.

During this period, Luan Bu's master, the slave owner who owned Luan Bu, accidentally formed a life-and-death feud with someone.

Although Luan Bu was a slave, he felt that his master treated him well, so he risked his life to avenge his master.

This incident caused quite a sensation in Yan area at that time.

At that time, it was the first year of the reign of Qin Shi Huang, when the First Emperor passed away and he ascended the throne at the age of 20. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang started an uprising in Daze, and heroes emerged from all over the world.

With Chen Sheng and Wu Guang taking the lead, heroes from all over the country responded one after another, and the six kingdoms that were originally destroyed by Qin also quickly vied to "restore their country".

How to "restore the country"?
After sounding the clarion call against Qin in Daze Township, Chen Sheng proclaimed himself King of Chu and established the "Zhang Chu" regime.

Later, in order to unite the people of the world - especially the people of the former six kingdoms and inspire the anti-Qin beliefs of the people of the world, Chen Sheng decided to first take the former territories of the six kingdoms from the hands of the Qin court!

Having made up his mind, Chen Sheng sent his younger brother Wu Chen, one of the initiators of the Daze Township Uprising and a fellow villager from Chenliu who had firmly supported him during the uprising, to lead an army to attack Zhao.

Just as Chen Sheng had expected, when they heard that the army led by Wu Chen was the leader of the Daze Township Uprising: the 'royal army' sent by King Chen Sheng of Chu to rescue the State of Zhao from the oppression of the Qin court, the former people of the State of Zhao, or the people of Zhao, unanimously decided to nominate Wu Chen as the King of Zhao.

With this successful precedent, King Wu Chen of Zhao followed suit and sent his general Han Guang to attack Yan.

As expected, Han Guang was also elected as the King of Yan by the people of Yan State.

Around the same time that Han Guang was elected King of Yan, the story of the slave Luan Bu avenging his master spread throughout the land of Yan.

Upon hearing this, General Zang Tu, a general under the command of King Han Guang of Yan, was very impressed by Luan Bu's virtue of "being grateful and repaying kindness".

So he personally recommended Luan Bu to Han Guang, the King of Yan, and made Luan Bu a captain.

As a result, Luan Bu, who was born in a peasant family in Liang State, worked as a servant in Qi State, and was then sold to Yan State as a slave, suddenly became a general of one of the anti-Qin righteous armies: the Yan Army.

The following year, that is, the second year of the reign of Qin II, Zhao general Li Liang secretly surrendered to Qin, and according to the agreement with Qin general Zhang Han, he launched a mutiny and killed Zhao Wang Wu Chen!
The King of Zhao died suddenly, and the whole Zhao State was in chaos. Zhang Han took advantage of the chaos to advance eastward, killed Xiang Liang, captured Handan, and pursued the fleeing Zhao army all the way.

The King of Zhao died, Handan was captured, and the Zhao army was in danger.

In the time of great crisis, Zhao Xiang Zhang Er and General Chen Yu decided to support the descendant of the former Zhao royal family: Zhao Xie as king in order to reassure the people.

At the same time, Zhang Er, under the pretext of being the King of Zhao, Zhao Xie, sought help from various rebel forces across the country.

In the end, he led the surviving 10,000 Zhao troops and the newly appointed King of Zhao, Zhao Xie, to the east, but was eventually trapped in Julu and had to hold out for help.

Everyone is familiar with the story of the Battle of Julu.

——Zhang Han won victory after victory. Wherever he went, the anti-Qin righteous army would be killed if they touched him, and would be king if they touched him.

Therefore, when Zhang Han's army arrived at the city and besieged Zhao Xie, King of Zhao, Zhang Er, Prime Minister of Zhao and others who were defending Julu, the rest of the allied forces were unable to take care of themselves and built fortified camps, fearing that the Qin army would attack them.

The various rebel armies were all unable to take care of themselves and were in a difficult situation, let alone send troops to rescue Zhao and lift the siege of Julu.

Among them were Yan general Zang Tu, who was sent by Yan King Han Guang to lead an army to rescue Zhao, and the commander Luan Bu.

The story that follows is naturally well-received: Overlord Xiang Yu burned his boats and crossed the river to destroy the Qin Dynasty in one battle, and the morale of the rebel armies across the world was greatly boosted!
The Yan general Zang Tu and Yan Duwei Luan Bu were impressed by the Overlord's demeanor under the city of Julu, and followed Xiang Yu westward and entered the pass together.

Afterwards, the third generation of Qin died, and Xiang Yu, as the leader of the rebel army, enfeoffed the generals of various rebel armies as princes.

Among them, Han Guang, the former King of Yan, was named King of Liaodong.

The Yan general Zang Tu had made outstanding contributions and was named King of Yan by Xiang Yu, replacing the former monarch.

Han Guang was naturally not happy when his former subordinates snatched away his title of "King of Yan", and he went to the desolate Liaodong to become the King of Liaodong.

Soon after that, King Zangtu of Yan sent troops to kill King Han Guang of Liaodong and annexed the so-called "Liaodong Kingdom".

As for Luan Bu?

Luan Bu, who was already highly appreciated by King Zang Tu of Yan, naturally became a general of the State of Yan.

Two years later, in the third year of the Han Dynasty (204 BC), the world situation changed drastically again.

——The various princes who once joined forces with Liu Bang, the King of Han, either actively or passively, fought endlessly with Xiang Yu, the King of Chu.

The Chu-Han contention has truly entered its final, white-hot stage.

In order to continuously compress the living space of the Chu army under Xiang Yu, King Liu Bang of Han sent General Han Xin to successively kill King Zhao Xie of Zhao and King Dai Chen Yu, and pacify the territories of Zhao and Dai.

It was called pacification, but in fact it meant killing the two princes who were disobedient and unwilling to form an alliance with him, and then enthroning an obedient one as king.

Dai and Zhao ceded to Han, and the State of Yan, which was separated from Han by a strip of water, naturally became the next target of Han Xin, or rather, King Liu Bang of Han.

However, as soon as the Han envoy delivered the letter of surrender, King Zang Tu of Yan quickly knelt down and surrendered.

At this point, of the eighteen princes that Xiang Yu had once enfeoffed, except for King Liu Bang of Han, the remaining seventeen princes either surrendered or died, and almost all of them returned to Han.

First, King Yong, King Sai and King Zhai of Guanzhong were incorporated into the territory of the Han Dynasty as early as when Liu Bang went north from Hanzhong and pacified the Three Qins.

——The 'Three Qins' in "Reconquering the Three Qins" refer to the three kings of Yong, Sai and Zhai.

And the four states of Yan, Dai, Changshan and Liaodong - Liaodong was annexed by Yan King Zang Tu, and Dai and Changshan were united by Zhang Er to form Zhao.

Moreover, these two people returned to Han one after another.

If we count the King of Wei, Wei Bao, who jumped back and forth and was eventually killed, the King of Han, Han Cheng, who was beheaded by Xiang Yu, and the King of Jiujiang, Ying Bu, who was instigated to surrender to the Han Dynasty;
Henan King Shenyang and Yin King Sima Ang, who surrendered to the Han Dynasty in seconds, and Linjiang King Gong Ao, who nominally belonged to Xiang Yu's camp but remained "neutral" and never sent troops to participate in the war;

There were also the three kingdoms of Jiaoxi, Jibei and Qi, which merged within the family and eventually unified into the Tian Qi Kingdom... Counting on one's fingers, among the eighteen princes enfeoffed by Xiang Yu, except for King Han Liu Bang, only King Linjiang Gong Wei remained neutral.

The other sixteen families, whether they were lands, people, countries or armies, all returned to Han!

It is no wonder that in the end, Xiang Yu was forced to draw his sword and commit suicide, and had no face to cross the river.

Let’s talk about Luan Bu.

After King Zangtu of Yan surrendered to the Han Dynasty, Luan Bu naturally became the "Yan general in the Han army camp".

Later, Liu Bang became emperor, and the Han Dynasty was established.
When King Zang Tu of Yan rebelled, Emperor Liu Bang of Han led the army in person and eventually captured Zang Tu alive and executed him.

However, Luan Bu was defeated and captured.

As per convention, King Zang Tu of Yan attempted rebellion and was defeated and killed. Luan Bu, a general of Yan State, also could not escape death.

But at this time, Luan Bu's childhood friend, King Peng Yue of Liang, stepped in and asked to redeem his old friend Luan Bu, and took Luan Bu to Liang State to serve as a senior official.

Later, Peng Yue also "plotted a rebellion";

Even without any action, he was beheaded and hung in public for the crime of treason - or in other words, because of Empress Dowager Lu's words "I have already offended him, so let's just kill him."

After beheading Peng Yue and hanging his head on the city wall of Luoyang, Liu Bang also ordered that anyone who came to visit, pay tribute to Peng Yue's head, or collect Peng Yue's body would be imprisoned immediately!

At that time, Luan Bu had just returned from his diplomatic mission to Qi State.
So he came to the city gate, and without paying any attention to Liu Bang's threat of "not allowed to visit and restrain", he reported to Peng Yue's head hanging on the city gate with tears and snot, on the work of his mission to Qi.

After the report, they openly offered sacrifices to Peng Yue and even planned to collect his body, bury him and hold a funeral for him.

Upon learning that someone did not take him and his orders seriously, Liu Bang became furious!
He ordered Luan Bu to be brought in, and then he asked, "I have told you not to visit or collect Peng Yue's head, but you don't take me seriously. Do you want to rebel like Peng Yue?"

Then they cooked and killed Luan Bu on the spot as an accomplice of treason.

When it came to a matter of life and death, Luan Bu was not vague - he pointed at Liu Bang's nose and started talking.

Although it did not go to the extent of "pointing at someone's nose and scolding him", the truth was almost revealed and Liu Bang's fig leaf was torn off one by one.

What? My king Peng Yue's rebellion was false, but Your Majesty's greed for Liang land was true~
What? My king has made outstanding contributions, and his achievements are so great that His Majesty cannot tolerate my king~
No matter how hurtful it was, Liu Bang couldn't refute it.

But he was Emperor Taizu of Han after all. On the one hand, he was thick-skinned and treacherous, but on the other hand, he was not completely unreasonable.

I know that every word Luan Bu said is true, and his words are rough but his logic is sound;

In addition, Luan Bu's final request was also extremely simple: I request that the king's body be collected and buried before he dies.

Liu Bang was moved by Luan Bu's loyalty, so he pardoned Luan Bu and appointed him as a captain, allowing Luan Bu to officially join the ranks of "Han generals".

From then on, Luan Bu's second half of life could be considered smooth sailing.

He served as a captain during the reign of Emperor Taizu and spent more than twenty years in the army. During the reign of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, he became the Prime Minister of the State of Yan, with a salary of 2,000 stones.

Afterwards, he returned to the army as a general and fought against the Huns on the border many times - he did not have many achievements, but he also did not make many mistakes.

More than 20 years later, after Luan Bu suppressed the Wu-Chu Rebellion, he was granted the title of Marquis of Yu for his merits and was given a fief of 1,800 households.

Today, Luan Bu, who is over eighty years old, has become a top-ranking general in the first echelon, on par with Li Ji and Han Tuidang, and is at the top of the Han Dynasty military pyramid.

Among them, Li Ji was in control of the overall situation, while Han Tuidang specialized in cavalry warfare.

Luanbu, on the other hand, is a subtle combination of the two.

——Luan Bu can be a talented commander who can control the overall situation;

Luan Bu, the commander of the cavalry group who led the attack, had no problem either.

Therefore, Luan Bu's first reaction to Liu Rong's idea of ​​plotting against Gaoque was that Liu Rong was crazy.

It's very simple.

Which good person would attack Hangu Pass head-on using conventional combat methods?
How much family property and assets do you have?
Gao Que, aren’t they the same?
It's simply filling it up with human lives, and it's almost impossible to fill it up!

We can only hope that the enemy is exhausted from drawing bows and arrows and swinging swords, and that no fresh troops are rotated in at the right time, giving us a chance to climb to the top of the wall by stepping on the corpses of our comrades piled high.

Obviously, the Huns could not be so stupid.

Unless there are unexpected factors, such as thunder, meteorites, or natural forces such as hail, wind and snow to help the Han Dynasty;

Or maybe there were problems within the Xiongnu themselves - for example, infighting in the Chanyu's court, civil war in Mu'nan, or even the Gaoque defenders split into two waves and fought each other to the point of being brains out.

Otherwise, Gaoque in its normal state would be almost impossible to break through and capture from the front through manpower.

Luan Bu certainly knew the importance of Gaoque.

Of course, knowing that Gaoque could be captured, the Han Dynasty would almost certainly not have the possibility of being "defeated by the Xiongnu".

Mu'nan and Hexi will become the back garden of the Han army soldiers. They can go there whenever they want without any restrictions.

But it was precisely for this reason that Luan Bu was also extremely certain: the defensive forces deployed by the Xiongnu on the Gaoque line could hardly be lower than the defensive forces of the Chanyu Court.

For the Huns, Gaoque was as important as Chanyu Ting!
However, the experience of getting along with Liu Rong over the past few years - especially the Battle of Chaona in the north and after the Hetao-Mayi Campaign - finally made Luan Bu swallow the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Let’s listen to it first.

Don't be quick to curse.

If Your Majesty really has a good idea - a good 'unconventional' idea, then Gaoque may not be untouchable or unattainable.

In terms of "taking an unconventional path", the current Liu Rong has more than once opened the eyes of people inside and outside the court.

What if Liu Rong doesn’t have any special methods?

It’s not too late to scold then!
Thinking of this, Luan Bu quietly narrowed his eyes and carefully observed the terrain of Gaoque area.

——As a senior general of the Han Dynasty’s military, Luan Bu knew the terrain of the Gaoque area very well, if not by heart.

But it is precisely because of this understanding that the doubts in Luan Bu's heart become deeper with the passage of time.

What can be done?

How could Gaoque be breached and captured head-on without incurring huge costs and losses?

(End of this chapter)