My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 457 Gaoque is related to the destiny of the Han Dynasty!
"Gaoque can only be attacked by force, and it must be attacked by force."

"Other than that, there is no other way."

In response to the suggestion of Li Ji, Luan Bu and Han Tuidang that "it is difficult to defeat them, and it is difficult to clean up after fighting them", Liu Rong's response was simple and straightforward.

——The Huns must be fought!
You have to fight.

This point has always been the consensus of the Han emperor and his subjects since the Battle of Baideng led by Emperor Taizu Gaozu.

The reason why it has been delayed until now, for more than 50 years, is not because we don’t want to fight it, but because we want to grow temporarily and fight it when we are confident.

The count starts from the fifth year of Emperor Taizu's reign, when the Han-Xiongnu Pingcheng Battle, which caused Emperor Taizu Gao to be trapped in the siege of Baideng, made it clear that "the Han Dynasty could not defeat the Xiongnu for the time being",

The reign of Emperor Taizu lasted for seven years, that of Emperor Xiaohui for seven years, and that of Empress Dowager Lü for eight years.

Adding the first three years of Emperor Taizong's reign - twenty-five years had passed since the Han-Xiongnu Pingcheng Battle, and the time came to the fourth year of Emperor Taizong's reign.

Emperor Taizong thought that since the boy had grown for 25 years, he should be able to defeat him, so he gave it a try.

This test revealed the rebellion of Liu Xingju, King of Jibei, and incidentally, told the Han Dynasty that after twenty-five years of development, the Han Dynasty might be able to confront the Xiongnu head-on.

But as long as a war breaks out, there will definitely be problems in Guandong, and some clan princes will definitely raise troops and cause rebellion.

As a result, the Han family began to develop in a wretched manner again.

Nineteen years after Emperor Taizong and six years before Emperor Xiaojing - exactly twenty-five years had passed.

With the rebellion of the Seven States of Wu and Chu being put down, the hidden danger of "as long as the Han and the Huns fight, there will be problems in Guandong" was completely eliminated.

At the same time, the progress of the Han family's insane development did not slow down at all, and it continued to develop for another twenty-five years.

In the first year of Liu Rong's reign, the war between Han and Xiongnu broke out in Beidi Chao, and exactly fifty years had passed since the Battle of Pingcheng during the Siege of Baideng.

During the fifty years, the Han Dynasty experienced the "Plan to Eliminate the Princes of Different Surnames" during the reign of Emperor Taizu, and the internal alienation and integration during the reign of Empress Dowager Lu.

After most of the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing - it is no exaggeration to say that the current Han Dynasty, even the once powerful rulers Maodun and Laoshang, father and son, would have doubts in their hearts when they saw it.

How the hell do I fight this?
You are a pure late-game hero of the Han family, right?

As long as you don't die, you can grow, and grow so well?

If I had known this, I should have killed you earlier...

In short, after fifty years of development and growth, the Han Dynasty solved almost all internal problems, and through the most effective "stupid method": light taxes, increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, it pushed the poor financial situation at the beginning of the founding of the country, people's livelihood work, and military construction work to an unprecedented height.

——Except for the military hard power, which is slightly inferior to the Qin Empire during the reign of Emperor Qin Shihuang due to the scarcity of cavalry, that is, war horses, the current Han Dynasty is far superior to the Qin Empire in all other aspects!
Then the problem is much simpler.

On people's livelihood - His Majesty the First Emperor's people were all building the Great Wall and straight roads, while the people of the Han Empire were resting and recuperating;

On the economy - His Majesty the First Emperor might have had money, but he also wished he could spend three times as much as he could to build infrastructure everywhere, erect palaces, and engage in large-scale construction in order to seek immortals.

In contrast, in the current Han Dynasty, if the emperor earns five dollars, he would like to deposit six dollars into the treasury.

The only difference is the military aspect, which is a little far behind the once-dominant Qin Empire.

What else is there to say?

In terms of people's livelihood and economy, they have already surpassed the Qin Empire. So what's left is to madly increase the number of soldiers and equipment to raise the military strength and achievements, right?

The Han family did indeed do so.

In the first year of Emperor Liu Rong's reign, the battle between the Han and Xiongnu dynasties undoubtedly told the Xiongnu people in the most direct way: We Han people are no longer the place where you can easily invade our country and do whatever you want in the border areas.

We, the Han people, can guard our national borders and protect our national borders!

And the Hetao-Mayi Battle just half a year later told the Huns in an extremely domineering manner: Don't reach out!
If you reach out, I will chop you off!

If we attack Mayi, our Han family can take away your Hetao!
Where are you going to hit next time?

In other words, next time, what do you plan to let my Han family take away from you?
Therefore, although the strategic situation between the Han and the Xiongnu has not yet reached the point of "the enemy can go, and I can go too", the change in offense and defense is undeniable.

In the past, the Huns came and went as they pleased, and the Han people were exhausted from dealing with them, so they just hoped that the Huns would not come - or at least come less often.

Now, it was the Han's turn to sit back and wait for the Huns to invade a certain point on the border wall. When they got the chance, they would attack the Huns' weak points from other directions.

That’s how we took over Hetao.

And now, it is inevitable that Liu Rong has set his sights on Gao Que.

——The strategic significance of Hetao to the Han Dynasty, apart from its strategic importance in terms of geographical location, lies most importantly in this natural horse-breeding land covering hundreds of miles in radius.

In other words: Hetao was an airdrop snatched by the Han family.

Grabbing the airdrop is not the ultimate goal.

The ultimate goal of the Han family is to obtain weapons and equipment from the airdrop, defeat the enemy, and finally win the game.

To be more specific, we must first take over Hetao and fill the northwest gap in the shape of a "dou" on the northern border of the Han Dynasty, greatly reducing the pressure on border defense.

Then, relying on the existing horse population base in the Hetao region, they quickly acquired a sufficient number of high-quality war horses and used them to form a cavalry unit.

In the end, it was a head-on battle with cavalry against cavalry, with every sword drawn drawing blood, and the Huns were driven to Europe to be used as a useless scourge of God.

So what specific things need to be done to defeat the Huns?
A head-on fight, a 1v1 real manly battle, killing the Huns and making them lose their armor and weapons, and then heading west to Europe?

This is of course the simplest and most direct way.

But here’s the thing: the Hun is not a brainless NPC;

Instead, they are a nomadic people who have been fighting for their lives with heaven and earth since birth.

The main theme of the nomadic civilization world is to run away if you can't win, and not to rush to fight if you can win.

So, forget about confronting the Huns head-on with your 100,000 cavalry and my 80,000 cavalry - last year's Hetao Battle scared the Huns so much that they ran to the Western Regions to recover!
The Huns did not fight with the Han.

Especially not fighting against the Han Dynasty, which is now at its peak and has already begun to show its prowess.

What should I do?
do not fight?
Obviously impossible.

——How can I allow others to sleep soundly beside my bed? ! !

Especially since the Xiongnu was such a vicious tiger that had committed numerous crimes against the Han Dynasty, the emperor and the people, it was even more impossible for them to "sleep soundly beside the bed". The Han Dynasty must beat the Xiongnu, but the Xiongnu were unwilling to fight. What should they do?
Anyone who has played the game knows this: as soon as you start attacking the enemy's defense tower, an enemy will randomly spawn to stop you from stealing the tower.

When you attack the enemy's crystal hub, any sane enemy will try their best to stop you!
On the contrary, if you go shopping or playing in the wild when you have a big advantage, the enemy will not care about you and will just avoid you so as to buy time to develop.

The Huns today probably have similar ideas.

——The Han Dynasty developed. In the Battle of Chaona and the Battle of Hetao-Mayi, the Xiongnu lost two large groups in a row and also lost the "big dragon" of Hetao.

They were already unable to win, and now with the addition of a dragon buff, the Han family was even more defeated.

Therefore, the Huns decided to hide away for the time being and go to their own jungle area - the Western Region, and use defensive towers to temporarily clamp down on the Han people to buy some time for development.

What are the Huns' defense towers?
The grassland is endless and dizzying, and you can't recognize the road at all - there is even no geographical feature of "road";
They are tribes scattered all over the grasslands and nomadic.
It is a large river that surrounds most of the Hetao area;
Of course, there is also Gaoque.

There was a high fortress blocking the way, and the Xiongnu's main camp, Munan, happened to be hiding behind the high fortress.

If the Han Dynasty wanted to force the timid Xiongnu to fight against the Han Dynasty, it could only attack them where they were.

Only Munan.

Only Munan, the foundation and basis of the entire Xiongnu Empire, could make the Xiongnu people ignore the gap in strength between the enemy and us, and ignore the cost-effectiveness of a head-on confrontation, and fight desperately regardless of the consequences.

So the question becomes: if the Han Dynasty wants to defeat the Huns, if they want to lock down the Huns' position by threatening their foundation, rather than just fighting when they want and running away when they don't want to, they must pose a threat to the Munan region.

The best way is to take Gaoque.

As long as Gaoque is breached, the people in the southern part of Mu will be in chaos, the Chanyu's court will be in turmoil, and the Xiongnu Empire will be in danger.

According to the nature of nomadic peoples, there might be several coups d'état, replacing one or two Hun Khans.

Just like back then, when the Rebellion of the Seven States of Wu and Chu broke out, the main forces of the Wu and Chu rebels fiercely attacked the Liang capital Suiyang, and looked like they could take it down at any time, which caused panic in the court of Chang'an.

When the situation was at its worst, some people even began to secretly write congratulatory messages to King Liu Bi of Wu in advance to congratulate him on his accession to the throne!

The reason for this was that once the Liang capital Suiyang was destroyed, King Liu Bi of Wu could continue to advance westwards with smooth sailing until he reached Hangu Pass.

Hangu Pass is the eastern gateway to Guanzhong.

Let's not talk about whether he was strong enough to block a thousand enemies, or whether the rebels of King Wu Liu Bi could not break through;

The fact that "faced the enemy at Hangu Pass" alone was enough to make the then emperor Liu Qi "guilty of heaven and beyond reproach", and then he silently abdicated and handed over the throne to King Liu Bi of Wu.

Why do you keep silent?

Of course, it’s because the dead can’t speak.

It's like you live in a farmyard in the countryside. Recently, there are rumors in the village that there is a tiger in the mountains, and it has killed several people in the neighboring village.

You may not panic too much for now.

But one day, the tiger appeared in your village, and happened to appear outside your farmyard;
Have you ever thought about whether the walls and gates of your house can stop this tiger?
Obviously not.

You will only say: There is something wrong with the Feng Shui of this place!
As long as you can survive, move out quickly, leave tomorrow!
The same logic applies - if the rebel army of King Liu Bi of Wu had been able to reach Hangu Pass, the question that people in and outside the court of Chang'an would have been thinking about would definitely not be whether Hangu Pass could be defended.

But rather: Gou Ba, the King of Wu, Liu Bi, could have reached the Han Dynasty's Hangu Pass?

As expected of you!
The emperor is coming!!!
I am a strong man, but you have only been the emperor for a few years and you have become so weak?

There is something wrong with what you did to Emperor Gouba!
According to this logic, Gaoque can actually be regarded as the southern gate of Munan;
The Han army was at Gaoque, which was enough to kill the current Xiongnu Chanyu: Luandi Junchen.

Liu Rong was also puzzled by this: How could such a "fog-killing" Chanyu, in the grassland where people believed in the law of the jungle, not be driven out by some royal family of the Luandi clan, such as Yizhixie?
Let’s talk about Gaoque.

As the southern gateway of the Munan region, the foundation and root of the Xiongnu Empire, Gaoque not only resembles Hangu Pass in shape and structure;
The significance of Gaoque to the Xiongnu Chanyu's court and that of Hangu Pass to the Han court are almost the same - both are key gateways to the base and stronghold.

When the gate of power is facing a threat, whether the supreme ruler lives or not is another matter - the entire regime must be in a state of panic.

This is also the reason why Gaoque is so difficult to attack, and why Li Ji, Luan Bu and Han Tuidang are extremely pessimistic, and they almost patted their chests and said, "Your Majesty, trust me, we will definitely not be able to take it down."

In addition to Gaoque's own defensive attributes and difficulty in attacking, its strategic significance will also make the Han family cautious.

for example.

The inland sea near the capital was the coastal defense gateway of China in later generations.

As long as we seize that inland sea, we will be able to pose a direct threat to Kyoto.

So if one day, the Kingdom of Yimajin attacks this inland sea and is lucky enough to conquer it, then I would like to ask: what will happen next?

Can the country of Aunty Scarf really easily pose a threat to the Chinese capital and gain huge benefits from it?
China will go to the country of aunt towels and beg: Please don’t attack my Kyoto, I will give you whatever you want?
Absolutely not!

That inland sea was acquired by the Kingdom of Aunt Jin, and the Kyoto area was facing a direct threat, so only a copy called "Great Wall Watch" would be activated!

The same goes for Gaoque.

If one day, the Han Dynasty really captured Gaoque, the Xiongnu people would surely rush to Gaoque like a tide, and would not hesitate to sacrifice their lives to protect the Munan land behind them.

Just like in that battle, the Chinese soldiers fought one after another - they walked for three months on the road and lived on the battlefield for three hours, fighting to the death to resist the invasion.

There is even no need to wait for the Han Dynasty to completely capture Gaoque!

As long as Gaoque is in danger and there is a hidden danger of being breached, the Xiongnu people in the entire Munan area will collectively go crazy!!!

At that time, tribal conflicts, regional structures, and local interests will all have to be put aside.

Shan Yuting was just an organizer who brought everyone together to jointly deal with the enemy;
Everyone, every one of them, will fight to the last drop of blood to defend the Huns' only "fertile land": the Mu'nan grassland.

Because every Xiongnu knows that with Mu Nan, the Xiongnu is the "empire" and the Chanyu Ting is the common ruler of the grassland;
Once they lose Munan, the Xiongnu will once again become the tribe that is struggling to survive in the cracks, and the Chanyu Court will become the "Xiongnu Royal Tent".

The most terrifying thing is: if another nomadic civilization replaced the Huns, most of the tribes would still have some confidence.

It is not uncommon for them to first pledge allegiance to the Donghu, then surrender to the Yuezhi, and finally become one of the three leaders of the Xiongnu.

right?

King Loufan?
But what if he is a Han Chinese? !

What if the Han people - what if the people of Xia replaced the Xiongnu and became the new rulers of the grassland?
(End of this chapter)