My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 497 Yizhixie's Decision
If we really have to say who is the most uncomfortable, it is undoubtedly the current leader of Munan - and even the temporary leader of the grassland: Right Wise King Yizhixie.

Again.

——Under the law of zero on the grassland, the strong have everything and the weak lose everything.

Corresponding to this are top nobles like the Chanyu and the Left and Right Wise Kings, who are the ones who naturally rush to take the reins of power.

The last sentence "He who has the strongest army and the most powerful soldiers shall be the emperor" may not work within the Great Wall of this era or in the Han Dynasty today - at least it remains to be discussed.

But on the grassland, the one with the strongest army and the most powerful horses will become the Chanyu, which is an indisputable objective reality.

From the most basic tribes based on families, to small tribes formed by the union of multiple families, medium-sized tribes formed by the merger of multiple small tribes, and large tribes that unified an area, to the Chanyu himself who ruled the entire grassland, it was no exception.

In a family on the grassland, or in a "tent", who will be the one making the decisions?
As Han people, the person in charge of a family may be an experienced elder, a mainstay of the workforce in their prime, or an old father or mother who serves as the bond between family members.

But on the grassland, there is only one answer to this question.

——Whoever fights the best has the final say!

Whoever is the strongest and most capable of protecting this family has the final say.

It is not even just this person who has the final say and is in charge;
Instead, this person owned everything in this family, including wealth, livestock, slaves, and even people!

All the women in this family - slaves, sisters from the same mother, even mothers, grandmothers, nieces and great-nieces - can do whatever they want as long as the "strongest" wants.

For all the men in this family - whether they are shepherds, brothers, even fathers, grandfathers, nephews and great-nephews, their life or death, whether they go east or west, whether they go hunting or grazing, all are decided by this strongest man.

Some people in later generations said that the Xiongnu was a slave-based nomadic regime.

But in fact, the Huns' political system was even more outrageous than slavery.

——After all, slavery only exploits slaves, but does not treat family members as slaves.

Under the slavery system in the Central Plains, the entire family of a slave owner would be slave owners.

The slave owners' wives, children, the elderly, and other family members were all exploited by the slave owners, who deprived them of their own lives.

But nowadays on the grassland, the 'head of the family' who is a slave owner is the only slave owner of the entire family, or even the entire tribe.

All the remaining people, whether they are family members or not, are essentially slaves of this "master of the house".

And such a family is naturally just a microcosm at the most microscopic level.

When several such families unite to form a small tribe, the leader of the tribe will also be the strongest one, and he will legally own everything in the entire tribe.

For example: Zhang San, Li Si, Wang Wu, and Zhao Liu, four people, with their respective families, united into a small tribe of dozens of people.

After the most primitive struggle with force, Zhang San became the leader of this small tribe.

Therefore, the women in Li Si, Wang Wu and Zhao Liu's respective families would become Zhang San's "harem" for him to pick.

The men in each family will also become Zhang San's followers, subordinates, or "people".

Even though Zhang San and Li Si were originally neighbors and sworn brothers, Li Si could not refuse Zhang San's request of "your wife is still charming".

Then, this small tribe united with several other small tribes around it to form a tribe of several hundred people.

What a coincidence - Zhang San is still the leader.

By the same token, the life and death of these hundreds of people are the responsibility of Zhang San, the leader, and are also controlled by Zhang San, the ruler.

And so on, up one level at a time, until the present supreme ruler of the grassland: the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting. In theory, the person on the grassland who is the best fighter, has the highest personal martial arts skills, the highest wisdom, and who can best lead the nomadic people of the grassland should be the Xiongnu Chanyu.

Moreover, from the lowest-level "head of the family" to the highest-level Chanyu himself, no one can refuse a challenge from anyone.

Like a pack of wolves.

Wolf King, you can never refuse a challenge from your members.

Even though the challenge failed, the Wolf King is still the Wolf King.

If the challenge is successful, the Wolf King steps down and the challenger becomes the new Wolf King.

In such a cultural and civilizational context, the rulers of the grassland, while naturally having the right to own all affairs and life on the grassland, also need to be responsible for everything on the grassland.

To put it more bluntly: on the grassland, the person who is the best fighter should be the supreme ruler.

On the contrary: the supreme ruler should be the most capable fighter.

And the most capable fighter will not allow himself to fail.

To put it simply, it means not failing when challenging others or yourself.
In a broader sense, when a family, a tribe, or even an entire nomadic people faces external threats and challenges, the ruler must lead his "people" to achieve unquestionable victory.

After understanding this social status system, it is not difficult to understand the dire situation of the Xiongnu Khan Luandi Junchen who lost Hetao last year, and the Right Wise King Yizhixie who is in a dilemma due to the loss of Gaoque at present.

——In China, the army can lose the battle.

Especially kings, most of them will not take too much responsibility for the failure of a war.

As long as the failure of a war does not directly lead to the overthrow of the dynasty, it is almost impossible for the Chinese monarch to be overthrown because of the failure of a war.

Because in the system of Chinese civilization, the king is not the first person responsible for the war.

The failure of a war may be due to many factors such as the right time, right place, and right people. It may be a strategic mistake made by the entire court, or it may be due to the disadvantageous operation of specific generals, and so on.

Even if the king is responsible, it can never be the main responsibility or the full responsibility.

But on the grassland, the failure of any war or battle will be the sole responsibility of the ruler.

——Who made you the ruler?

——Who lets you own everything on the grassland?

You say which woman you want to sleep with, and that woman will have to climb onto your animal-skin bed obediently. You say you want to kill which man, and that man will be tied up and brought to you. You can kill him or flay him, all up to you.

Isn't the purpose of giving you ultimate rights to make you bear ultimate responsibilities?

If we lose the war, you, as the supreme ruler, are not responsible. Are you going to hold us, your followers who unconditionally listen to you, responsible?
Isn't this nonsense? This is not...

So, last year, due to the defeat in the Hetao-Mayi battle, the Xiongnu Empire lost its Chanyu Junchen in the Hetao area, and unsurprisingly suffered a setback.

It's like a pack of wolves that haven't caught any prey for a long time and are almost unable to survive.

At this time, the wolf king should be held responsible for the long-term failure of the wolf pack to obtain prey. The way to be responsible is naturally to replace the wolf king and see if he can reverse the decline and lead the wolf pack to capture prey and maintain survival.

The same is true for the nomadic people on the grasslands.

——Even if you, Junchen Chanyu, are indeed the most powerful and best-fighting one on the grassland, the failure of a war can still prove from the side that you are not strong enough.

It's even possible that you are no longer strong!

Therefore, after the Hetao-Mayi War between the Han and the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu Chanyu court was in a "high-incidence period of coups" for quite a long time.

In the end, Junchen had no choice but to reach a tacit understanding with the most ambitious person: Right Wise King Yizhixie, and only then was the situation stabilized.

At the same time, in order to minimize the negative impact of the defeat at Hetao-Mayi on his position as ruler and regain the unconditional support of all grassland tribes, Junchen made the strategic decision to move westward.

According to Junchen's original plan, as long as the Han and the Xiongnu could live in peace for the next two years, Junchen would lead the various tribes on the grassland to the west to pick on the weak, burn, kill, loot and have fun, and then return with endless wealth and supplies, and his rule would continue.

Even if the loss of the Hetao region cannot be completely forgotten by the nomadic people of the grassland, it can be "forgotten" to the greatest extent, or in other words, not many people care about it.

After returning from the Western Expedition, everything returned to normal, and Junchen once again became the supreme ruler unanimously supported by the grassland, and then patiently waited for the opportunity - such as the spring after a difficult winter, or the autumn of a disaster year.

Under the premise that all the tribes on the grassland have the objective need to "rob something from the Han people", they integrate their troops and then seek revenge and settle accounts with the Han people!
If all goes well, maybe we can take Hetao back!
At the very least, the Han people could be hurt and frightened, and they would return to the past, kneeling down, marrying a princess and begging for peace with a humble attitude.

As a result, problems arose again.

The problem was not somewhere else, but Gaoque, the place where problems were least likely to occur in the Xiongnu Empire and where the Xiongnu Chanyu court could least afford the cost of problems. There was a big problem.

But this time, the person primarily responsible for the loss of Gaoque was no longer the supreme ruler of the grassland: Junchen Chanyu.

——The general went on the western expedition and hasn’t come back yet!
Munan, and even everything on the grassland, was temporarily entrusted by the military minister to the Right Wise King: Luandi Yizhixie!
The reason is easy to understand: whoever holds power bears responsibility.

Nowadays, Yizhixie is in charge of almost all power in the grassland, so Yizhixie should bear all the responsibility for negligence.

Gaoque, in particular, is the key gateway to Munan.

The Right Wise King Yizhixie was the ruler of the Munan region.

Even if Junchen had not launched the Western Expedition and entrusted the power over the grassland to Yizhixie, Yizhixie, as the Right Wise King, would still be responsible for the Munan region under his control, as well as the Munan gateway: Gaoque.

Now, Gaoque is lost.

Yizhixie couldn't bear it, nor could he afford to be offended.

Especially after Junchen returns from the Western Expedition, he will definitely tear up the previous tacit understanding of "harmonious coexistence" between the two sides, and even retaliate against Yizhixie!
In such a background, let alone forgiving Yizhixie - the fact that Junchen did not throw the secondary responsibility of his own poor leadership and entrusting the wrong person to Yizhixie, and made Yizhixie's main responsibility the full responsibility, was already a rare kindness on the grassland.

Therefore, for Yizhixie, Gaoque must be taken back.

Whether it was for the purpose of being more "invulnerable" in front of the military officials who returned from the Western Expedition in the fall, and not giving them any handle to deal with him, or for the sake of Yizhixie's own rule in the Munan area;

Gaoque must be taken back.

However, the war situation in the past period of time told Yizhixie clearly and unambiguously that it was almost impossible to recapture Gaoque.

At least relying solely on Yizhixie and the various tribes in the south of the Mu, the possibility of retaking Gaoque is infinitely close to zero.

Perhaps only if Chanyu Junchen himself, who had just returned from the Western Expedition, integrated all the tribes of the entire grassland and launched a fierce attack at all costs and regardless of casualties, would it be possible to recapture Gaoque.

But it is obvious that Yizhixie would most likely not live to see the day when his military ministers would gather the power of the country and seize Gaoque.

Before deciding to retake Gaoque, Junchen must first "deal with" the Right Wise King Yizhixie, who lost Gaoque and put the Xiongnu Empire in an awkward position...

"There is no need to continue fighting."

"The warriors charged fearlessly, but also died meaninglessly."

"Continuing to attack Gaoque will only cause more warriors from each tribe to die."

After a long silence, it was Yizhixie who finally broke the silence in the king's tent.

The leaders of each tribe raised their heads following the sound, but soon lowered their heads again in dejection.

——The facts are already clear.

It’s just that no one pointed it out before, and it was finally pointed out by Yizhixie.

The reason why no one pointed out this fact before was because once the fact was pointed out, it would mean that the various tribes in the south of Mu would have to completely give up on taking back Gaoque this year.

This is unacceptable to the various tribes in the south of Mun, and it is even a horrific incident that can give people nightmares.

So, no one points it out, just like an ostrich burying its head in the sand - even if the facts are right there, they just pretend not to see them and they don't exist.

But Yizhixie knew very well: the tiger would not disappear just because the ostrich buries its head in the sand.

A tiger is a tiger.

There he is.

Whether the ostrich closes its eyes or buries its head in the sand, the tiger will eat the ostrich.

At this moment, as an ostrich, Yizhixie - or the Xiongnu Empire and the nomadic people of the grassland should first lift their heads out of the sand.

Accept reality first.

Then, try to resolve the life and death crisis at hand.

"My opinion is that since Gaoque cannot be recaptured, we should inflict the same degree of damage on the Han people in other places."

"For example: Break through the clouds!"

Having said this, there was no trace of the laziness and wantonness that one would expect of a grassland noble and the Right Wise King of the Xiongnu on Yizhixie's face.

What they did have was the light of wisdom that was seriously inconsistent with the nomadic people, and the determination to sacrifice themselves.

"We have to get something back!"

"Since we have lost Gaoque, we must take something back from the Han people!"

"Otherwise, let the Han people take a little bit every year and win a war every year."

"It won't be long before our great Xiongnu - and even our nomadic people - will succumb to the swords of the Han people!"

(End of this chapter)