My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 462 Either Stupid or Bad

Just a few days after Liu Rong made the top-secret plan for the "Battle of Gaoque", news came back from Hetao again.

——Cheng Bushi, the governor of Shuofang and Marquis of Bowang, led his army to Xiutu Lake.

The new master of Xiutu Lake and surrounding areas, King Hunxie and his followers, showed great welcome to the arrival of Cheng Buzhi's troops.

They cooked sheep and cattle, drank and had fun - for three consecutive days, Cheng Buzhi was carried back by his personal soldiers to rest.

Afterwards, Cheng Buzhi, on behalf of the Han court, made a promise to the Hunxie tribe: the Han court highly recognized the Hunxie tribe's action of seizing Xiu Tu Ze and handing it over to them.

In order to reward the Hunxie tribe for their bravery, and also to allow them time to find a real habitat, the Han family allowed the Hunxie tribe to occupy Xiutu Lake before next summer in order to recuperate.

As for how the Han family will take over Xiu Tu Ze after next summer, where the Hunxie tribe will move to, and how the rotation of defense will be carried out - all will be discussed later.

Moreover, Cheng Buzhi, in the name of Shuofang governor and Shuofang commander, issued a warning to the areas around Xiutu Ze: King Hunxie occupies Xiutu Ze legally with the orders and grace of the Han emperor!

Even the official identity and seal of the 'Han Hunxie King' are on the way to Hexi!
From now on, if any tribe on the grassland dares to harm the Hunxie tribe, it will be tantamount to declaring war on the Han Dynasty!

After completing all this, Cheng Buzhi ordered his army to march out without any reluctance, returning eastward to Hetao.

After Cheng Buzhi's troops left, King Hunxie, who had gotten what he wanted, was not idle either.

——Almost every day, hundreds of thousands of cavalrymen would fly westward in all directions with Xiutu Lake as the center.

Within just a dozen days, the news that the Hunxie tribe had surrendered to the Han Dynasty and was conferred the title of "Han Hunxie King" by the Han Emperor spread to most of Hexi.

In this regard, the various tribes in Hexi naturally had their own ulterior motives and different thoughts.

Those who are more conservative still believe that the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting will sooner or later regain his power in the Hexi region.

As for the Hunxie Department?
The grasshopper in autumn—he can’t jump for more than a few days!

Some who were a little more radical and active also began to use Han merchant caravans to inquire about the Han people's treatment of the Guiyi tribes, as well as the methods and channels for returning.

Of course, the vast majority are still waiting and watching.

Let's wait and see in which direction the future of the Hexi region will develop.

Because after Hetao became the property of the Han Dynasty, the strategic forms of both sides had actually quickly reached a new balance.

If in the past the Huns ruled the world except for the Great Wall, now the two sides have reached a very delicate balance in the Hexi, Hetao and Munan areas.

The Munan area was naturally an absolute reserve for the Xiongnu;
Hetao is the new treasure acquired by the Han family.

Both of these areas are territories in the absolute sense, and are border territories with extremely high strategic value.

The two sides used Gaoque as the boundary. Even if they didn't interfere with each other, at least neither could do anything to the other.

——The Han people will definitely not be able to take down Gaoque, which is on the north side of the Great River;
On the south side of the river, the newly built Bowang City by the Han people also blocked the Huns at Gaoque, preventing them from easily crossing the river to the south.

The Han and Xiongnu sides used the river as the boundary, each owning Mu'nan and Hetao, which could be said to be a clear division between Wei and Jing.

But Hexi is a little subtle.

Between Hexi and Munan lies the Mongolian Plateau of later times.
There is a big river between it and Hetao.

There is no strong pass like Gaoque separating Hexi from Mu'nan and Hetao.

As long as they wanted, the Han and the Xiongnu could cross the plateau/cross the river and set foot on the Hexi land at any time.

However, both sides were somewhat cautious, fearing that any moves they made in Hexi would cause problems in their own base camp.

For example, if the Xiongnu sent troops to the Hexi region, Munan would probably no longer be infallible;
The same logic applies: if the Han Dynasty extends its power to Hexi, the Hetao region may no longer be safe.

Didn’t you see that when Cheng Buzhi led his army to Xiutu Ze, he only brought 40% of the troops in Hetao, and then hurried back?

Under such circumstances, the situation in the Hexi region is very delicate.

That is, they could not resist the Xiongnu, nor the Han people;

When the Huns came, they had to kneel down and lick the toes of the Khan. If the Han people attacked, they also had to kneel down and shout "Long live the emperor".

Such a delicate strategic situation has made the situation in the Hexi region increasingly confusing and complicated.

There are those who believe in "kneeling is no problem, whoever gives you milk is your mother";
There were diehards who still believed in the military power of the Xiongnu and were determined to serve the Xiongnu as dogs and guard the Hexi region for the Xiongnu Chanyu.

There are fence-sitters who vacillate between the two sides, make contact on both sides, ask for benefits and promises from both sides, but are reluctant to make up their minds.

There were even radicals who concluded that the Han Dynasty would rise and that it would be right to call for surrender.

Is this the end?

No.

There is also the most common "school" on the grassland - the ambitious people who think they can take advantage of the situation and unify Hexi to form a three-way confrontation with Han and Xiongnu.

Each tribe had its own plans and ideas, and they were scattered across the Hexi region in an intertwined manner.

Those who wanted to surrender to the Han people had to be wary of the hereditary lackeys of the Xiongnu Chanyu court next door;
Those who want to be fence-sitters must always be on guard against those next door who are trying to unify Hexi.

The main theme is that there is order in chaos and everyone has their own ulterior motives.

In response to this situation, Cheng Buzhi also conducted in-depth research and submitted a memorial to Liu Rong.

In the memorial, Cheng Buzhi mentioned the general tendencies of the various tribes in Hexi.

For example, so-and-so can strive for it, so-and-so can try it, and so-and-so doesn’t even need to try, just hit it directly and it will be right.

Among them, Cheng Buzhi focused on the conservatives who swore allegiance to the Xiongnu Chanyu court.

In Cheng Buzhi's view, the existence of these tribes will cause extremely serious obstacles and negative impacts on the Han Dynasty's future plans in the Hexi region.

If the Han Dynasty wanted to gain control of Hexi more smoothly and easily, the first thing it needed to deal with was the old-fashioned tribes who were loyal to the Xiongnu Chanyu's court, or who were superstitious about the Xiongnu's military power.

These tribes are not numerous, perhaps five or six;

But it was these five or six tribes that were able to gather a full 80,000 cavalry, totaling 48,000 soldiers and horses!

A cavalry cluster of this magnitude could undoubtedly trigger a medium-scale or larger battle even in a decisive battle between the Han and the Huns.

What's more, in addition to the 48,000 cavalrymen loyal to the Chanyu court, there are at least an equal number of fence-sitters and just as many lying low in the Hexi region.

In the future, if a war breaks out between the Han and the Xiongnu, and the Han is at a disadvantage, all these troops will inevitably stand on the side of the Xiongnu Chanyu.

On the one hand, the threat of the Xiongnu Chanyu Court on the grasslands had been there for a long time, and had long formed a strong inertial mindset in the minds of the nomadic peoples. On the other hand, the slight identity of being nomadic peoples also made most of the grassland tribes more inclined to stand with the Xiongnu Chanyu Court rather than the Han family.

If we follow the Han family, whether we will farm or herd in the future, whether we will die in battle or starve to death, everything is unknown.

By following the Xiongnu Chanyu's court, one could at least foresee one's own fate - either still exist as a tribe, or be swallowed up by a larger tribe.

The worst case scenario is being divided up and enslaved by other tribes.

The ending may be good or bad, but at least it is certain...

Cheng Buzhi's opinion on these situations was also very simple and crude.

——If the Han Dynasty intends to use military force in the Hexi region, the first thing to do is to slaughter those conservatives who are loyal to the Chanyu court.

Kill them all and scare them away, and the remaining fence-sitters and those who lie low will all turn to the Han side.

With the addition of these fence-sitters, the pressure in dealing with the Munan area, especially the Huns in Gaoque, will be greatly alleviated, regardless of casualties, manpower, combat methods, or troop restraint.

As for those tribes that have already made up their minds and want to ask the Han family about the price of returning, Cheng Buzhi's opinion is: buy horse bones for a thousand gold coins.

It doesn't matter how much money it costs or what it costs.

As long as we can trick these tribes into joining our camp, when the Xiongnu Chanyu moves west to Europe in the future, won't the Han Dynasty be able to do whatever they want with the grasslands?
In addition, in addition to the strategic situation in the Hexi region, Cheng Buzhi also put forward some strategic suggestions.

——Following the example of the Bowang City built on the south bank of the river opposite Gaoque, a city with the nature of a military stronghold was also built in the western part of Hetao, across the river from Hexi, to serve as a strategic defense fulcrum in the western part of Hetao.

Liu Rong thought about this suggestion again and again, and finally agreed.

The reason why he did not agree readily was naturally because Liu Rong felt that there was no great need for the Han family to build this city.

In Liu Rong's opinion, Hexi is already in his pocket, and it is only a matter of time before he takes it back.

Since Hexi has been tacitly regarded as the "Han territory", after Hexi and Hetao areas are connected, there is actually no need for strategic fulcrums on the east and west banks of the Yellow River.

Otherwise, how could Liu Rong have endured until now?
I'm afraid that as early as after the end of the Hetao Campaign, the Han Dynasty's architects had to "fight on two fronts", and simultaneously began to build the Bowang City in the north of the Hetao, and the city in the west of the Hetao proposed by Cheng Buzhi.

But if that’s the case, why would Liu Rong agree?

A city is neither big nor small, but building such an unnecessary "military town" would waste a lot of money, food and materials! !

As a result, a small-scale friction and dispute even broke out among the officials in the court.

In the end, Liu Rong was still determined to build such a city to defend the western part of Hetao.

As for the reason?

Of course, it was not that Liu Rong changed his mind and felt it was necessary to build a city in the western part of Hetao.

It's for strategic deception.

This is easy to understand.

If you were a Hun, what would you think of the Han people today and what concerns would you have?
——The answer is, of course, that the Han army is extremely troublesome and difficult to deal with. If it is allowed to grow and develop, sooner or later the Xiongnu Chanyu will be trampled to the ground.

Therefore, in order to curb the strategic expansion of the Han people, the Xiongnu side not only had to defend Gaoque, but also had to exert a certain influence on the Hexi region;
In order to prevent the Han from occupying Hexi too early, and thus having no worries, they could turn around and attack Gaoque with all their strength, and even gallop freely in the Munan area.

If at this time - when everyone in the Chanyu's court was in panic and the various tribes south of Mu felt that the Han people were coming to attack and they were all going to die, someone told you that the Han people built a city in the western part of Hetao to guard against the various tribes west of Hetao?

Then you will only say: Han people are no good~
Last year they were able to capture Hetao, but this year they can't even afford to offend the tribes in Hexi - even though they don't have the necessary conditions like Gaoque, they still built a city in the western part of Hetao.

The extremely rare knowledgeable people in the Xiongnu Chanyu's court might realize that this city was most likely a smokescreen released by the Han Dynasty.

As the old saying goes: The more people lack something, the more they like to show it off.

The same goes for the opposite - if you want to do something in secret, it's best not to have anything to do with it openly.

It’s like a fruit stall owner who earns a million a year will always drive a Jinbei instead of a Mercedes-Benz or BMW.

The reason is to avoid irritating customers and to protect and hide one's personal financial situation.

Same reason;
If the Han wanted to attack Gaoque, they needed such a smokescreen to tell the Huns through practical actions: I don’t know Gaoque and I am not interested in Gaoque.

Even more so: I want everything, but it is too difficult to conquer Hetao, and I don’t have the energy to do anything else.

Let alone Gaoque - I am even afraid of Hexi, so I built such a city to defend the Hetao that I obtained with great difficulty.

The Huns may or may not be fooled;

But Liu Rong dared to conclude that the Huns would once again pay an even heavier price for their pride, arrogance and stupidity.

The last time was Hetao;

This time, it was either Hexi or Munan...

When the city began to be built, it was natural that the Chang'an court needed to pick out capable craftsmen from the Shaofu and send them over.

Now, secretly transporting food and supplies to the northern front of Hetao is no longer a headache.

Furthermore, this city undoubtedly serves as a strong warning to the Hunxie tribe, which now possesses Xiu Tu Ze.

——Don’t fucking think that I don’t know what you’re up to!

——With your limited skills, I can guess your little thoughts with my knees!
——Be a good dog for us and we will give you a bone;

——Otherwise, it would be a bargain to eat you up completely, including the bones.

With this city, the Hunxie tribe will understand that in the eyes of the Han people, their little calculations are no different from those of those who secretly cheat in exams and arrogantly think that "the teacher can't see".

Moreover, the Han Dynasty was already prepared to use pure force to slowly advance westward along the river and occupy the Hexi region.

Didn’t you see that he has built important frontline towns and offensive strongholds?

Thus, after the Battle of Gaoque broke out, even if the Hexi region intended to cause chaos in the western part of the Hetao region, they would have to think carefully.

After all, it is understandable that the tribes in Hexi, with their thin arms and legs, can dominate local areas of the grassland.

But in front of the only two big guys in the known world: the Xiongnu and the Han monsters, any nomadic tribe is like a chicken or a dog.

It can be said that the Xiongnu tribes on the grassland were independent small countries one after another.

As a small country, would we have friction or even go to war with the Han and the Xiongnu?
Anyone who can make such a decision is either stupid or evil!!!
(End of this chapter)