Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 532
After deciding on the national policy of aggressively invading the Central Plains in the winter, the founder of the Xiongnu hegemony, Mao Dun, besides ordering the Xiongnu to gather at the designated time and designated place, took time out to summon the Huns who were sealed off after surrendering. Zang Tu, who is the Hulu King of the Huns, and Zang Quan, Zang Yan, Zhang Sheng, and Ying Chi, who surrendered with Zang Tu, asked them for their advice on marching into the Central Plains for their own reference.

Knowing that Maodun decided to dispatch the main force of the Huns to invade the Central Plains, the Zang Tu father and son, Zhang Sheng and others who had a deep hatred with the Han court were of course overjoyed, and they couldn't wait to persuade Maodun to take the road of Zhangjiakou to enter Yandi and help them regain the Yan Kingdom , and patted their chests to promise that as long as Maodun led his troops into Yandi, they would immediately organize a large number of old troops to lead the way for the Xiongnu.

It's a pity that Maodun, who is talented and general, also has a certain understanding of the situation in the Central Plains. He knows that Yandi is sparsely populated, money and food are in short supply, and the economic foundation is very weak. King Donghulu, Ben Khan is very aware of your eagerness to restore the country, but there is no way. The main purpose of our Xiongnu going south this time is to seize food, salt and cloth to solve the livelihood problem in the coming year. Your Yandi is too little. , even if it is shot down, it doesn't make any sense."

"There is more." Mao Dun added: "Ben Khan also received a spy report. After Xiang Kang, the emperor of the Central Plains, went north to Yandi, he left heavy troops in Yandi to guard the dangerous places, preventing you from leading the way for Ben Khan. Going south to Yandi, if our army directly enters Yandi, it will definitely encounter stubborn resistance from the Central Plains army, which will not help us to make a quick victory and seize favorable terrain to meet the reinforcements of the Central Plains army. Therefore, we will not go to Yandi when we go south this time. , the matter of helping you restore the country can only be discussed later."

Seeing that Zang Tu and the others looked disappointed, Mao Dun casually gave Zang Tu a reassurance, and said, "But this winter you have a chance to restore your country. If our army advances smoothly, the Emperor of the Central Plains will definitely deploy the garrison in Yandi to reinforce us. The attacking area, when the time comes, Ben Khan will try his best to eliminate the Yandi garrison of the Central Plains people, and then you will have the hope of returning to Yandi to restore the country."

Seeing Mao Dun's resolute attitude, Zang Tu and others who betrayed the country and sought glory did not dare to force it. Zang Tu could only change his words and said, "Thank you, Great Khan. Since the Great Khan doesn't plan to enter Yandi, then we will go south to the Central Plains this winter. There are only three options left, one is to enter Dai County and Yanmen County, the other is to enter Shang County from Jiuyuan in Yunzhong, and the third is to take the Hetao area and directly enter Guanzhong. I just don’t know which way the Great Khan intends to take? "

"Of course we can't directly march into Guanzhong. Guanzhong is the heart of the people in the Central Plains, and it must be heavily guarded. Moreover, Xiaoguan, the only way for us to enter the army, is dangerous and difficult to attack. There is little hope of victory by directly marching into Guanzhong. Ben Khan will not To fight such an uncertain battle."

Mao Dun directly denied the option of directly entering Guanzhong, and said: "Originally it is most convenient for us to directly enter Yanmen and Daijun, and the road is also the closest, but the people of the Central Plains also deployed heavy guards there, and the guards still Li Zuoche, the grandson of Li Mu, our old enemy of the Xiongnu, is a very difficult person to deal with, so I plan to go directly to Shangjun from Yunzhong and Jiuyuan, what do you think?"

The translator quickly translated Maodun's words into Chinese. Zang Tu, Zang Quan, and Zang Yan and his son also looked at each other quickly. They all hoped that Maodun would directly attack Yanmen and Daijun, which border Yandi, but they found Less than an excuse to persuade.Fortunately, Zhang Sheng still had some ink in his stomach, so he hurriedly said directly in the Hun language: "Khan, you must not take this road to the south. Not only is this road very difficult, it may even be more dangerous than going directly to Xiaoguan."

"Why?" Mao Dun immediately asked, "Explain the reason clearly, the more detailed the better."

"I don't know about Da Khan, but do you know King Zhao Wuling of the Zhao Kingdom in the Central Plains?"

Zhang Sheng didn't answer the question, but to Zhang Sheng's surprise, Mao Dun recalled it for a while and said: "Remember, is it the King Wuling of Zhao who gave up the throne to his son, became the master himself, and was starved to death by his son in the end. "

"Khan is erudite, familiar with ancient and modern times, and I admire him." Zhang Sheng complimented him sincerely, and then said: "Although King Zhao Wuling suffered a miserable end, you know how much he has achieved in military affairs. In fact, when King Wuling of Zhao was alive, he also planned to enter Shangjun directly from Jiuyuan and Yunzhong more than once. After walking this path in person, I will completely die of this heart.”

"Why?" Mao Dun hurriedly asked.

"Because this road is impossible to walk at all." Zhang Sheng hurriedly replied: "The terrain of this road is more mountainous and forested than plains. On the contrary, marching troops from south to north is getting wider and wider, and the space for interspersed and detours is getting bigger and bigger, so if you go this way, the more you go south, the harder it is to fight, but the emperor of the Central Plains sent troops to counterattack. North Vietnam is easy to fight."

After roughly introducing the situation of the road in Shangjun, Zhang Sheng pointed to the map and explained in detail: "If you go southward, Dahan, you must first break through the fortress of Shangjun, which is heavily guarded by the people of the Central Plains, and you will definitely be attacked by people from the Central Plains." The Central Plains troops from Pingzhou, Yangzhou, and Gaonu are attacking. Even if we can bypass Shangjunsai and go south, we must capture Fushi to open the way to the south. This is not counted, even if we successfully captured Fushi, we only need If we can go southward through the narrow road of Wuding River Valley, we still have to meet the Central Plains troops of Pingzhou, Yangzhou, Diaoyin, Luodu and Qiyuan to resist. When we break through these places, the Central Plains people will of course gather long ago. A heavy army has risen to meet us."

After carefully listening to Zhang Sheng's introduction, Mao Dun nodded slowly at first, and then said decisively: "Forget it, don't take this road, let's take the shortcut of Yanmen and Daijun, this road is not only suitable for our cavalry We are also very familiar with the road terrain in combat, and it is suitable for our main force to go south."

Hearing Maodun's words, Zang Tu and his son, who had already learned some Hun language, were relieved. After secretly praising Zhang Sheng for being able to fool him, Zang Tu hurriedly said, "Khan, how about going to Daijun to enter the army?" ?Dai County is an important town in the northern border of the Han Dynasty, with a lot of money, food and materials, and the garrison is smaller than that of Yanmen, so it is easier to win."

Mao Dun laughed directly, and said: "Taking Daijun and opening the door to enter Yandi is very beneficial to you, King Donghulu, but the Taihang Mountain in the south blocks the way for our Hun army to go south. This problem How to solve?"

Zang Tu blushed, and hurriedly said: "Khan, I admit that I have some selfish intentions in suggesting that you go directly to Daijun, but the Han garrison in Daijun is really less than that of Yanmen, and it is much easier to attack."

"Does Ben Khan need to be afraid of the Central Plains' frontier garrisons?" Mo Dun sneered, and then said: "What Ben Khan is worried about is that the marching speed is too slow, which gives the Central Plains people the opportunity to gather troops to go north. Attacking Yanmen will definitely give the Central Plains people countless time to assemble their troops, so the best way is to go directly to Yanmen and find Li Zuoche's main force for a decisive battle first. As long as we can successfully kill Li Zuoche's main force, we can not only Destroy all the armies of the Central Plains on the frontier, and the prosperous and prosperous Taiyuan County of the Central Plains will be safe to defend."

Seeing that Mao Dun refused to use the main force of the Xiongnu to create opportunities for himself to restore the country, Zang Tu had no choice but to change his words and said: "The profuse sage, my ministers admire it. This is indeed the truth. We should attack Yanmen County first. .”

Mao Dun smiled, and ordered: "Hurry up and get ready. This time the Southern Expedition, the army you brought from the Central Plains, King Donghulu, will also participate. How to attack the city and build siege weapons is up to you." . Give Ben Khan a good performance, and the rewards are indispensable."

Having said all this, Maodun, who is very good at using troops, quickly conceived a tactic of attacking east and west, and decided to go ahead with a small group of troops, pretending to attack Daijun to lure the Han army to send reinforcements from Yanmen, and at the same time restrain the Han army's Daijun garrison , and then the main force suddenly went south to Yanmen, and the main force who killed Li Zuoche was caught off guard!
…………

Still quite coincidentally, after Maodun decided on the direction and route of this winter’s advance, in Chang’an City, the new capital of the Han Dynasty, Uncle Zhou, the Taiwei of the Han Dynasty, also accurately predicted the most likely direction of the Xiongnu’s large-scale invasion at the imperial meeting. It should be the battlefield of Yanmen and Daijun - for Uncle Zhou, it is really not difficult to achieve this. The people in Yandi are short of food and food, even if the Huns are defeated, they will not get much money. Xiaoguan and Shangjun are easy to defend and difficult to attack. Therefore, it is very unlikely that the main force of the Huns will choose the easy and the difficult, and even if the prediction is wrong, the Han army will be very easy to deal with, and there will be no uncontrollable consequences.Only Yanmen and Daijun are the most dangerous. They have money and grain and are the gates of Jindi, so they are naturally the easiest targets for the Xiongnu.

Not only that, Uncle Zhou even guessed that Maodun would attack Yanmen first. He also expected that Maodun would fight a blitzkrieg with a thunderbolt, giving priority to annihilating the main force of Li Zuoche's subordinates, and then Calmly deal with the relatively weak Daijun and Yunzhong Han troops.At the same time, Uncle Zhou also clearly pointed out that even if his predictions were wrong, the Xiongnu would have little effect if they attacked Yunzhong and Daijun first. As long as the Han court took precautions in advance and concentrated heavy troops to guard Daixian, Banshi and Yunzhong, the main cities would not be affected. There is great hope to persist until the main force of the Han army arrives for rescue.

Xiang Kang also recognized Uncle Zhou's analysis very much, and discussed the countermeasures with Uncle Zhou in advance, and decided to let the troops from all over the Han army set off northward in November and rush to Taiyuan, where the palace was built, to gather and wait for orders. When the Xiongnu went south to Yanmen, they quickly went north to look for opportunities for a decisive battle. When the tactical pre-rebellion went wrong, they could immediately cross the Taihang Mountains eastward to reinforce Yandi, or go westward through Lishi to rescue Shangjun.

In addition, Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou had to rack their brains to deploy careful defenses to prevent the Xiongnu from risking a surprise attack on Xiaoguan or Yandi. They deployed heavy troops in advance to guard the dangerous places. Take all kinds of precautions, and don't be pushed directly by the Xiongnu's wave - although with Li Zuoche's ability, this possibility is almost non-existent.

After finishing the mental work, Xiang Kang also came to the temporary blacksmith's workshop in the palace once again after the civil and military participants dispersed, drove away his absolute cronies including Xu Ji, took off his shirt, and set up a furnace to blow the wind himself. , took out the bronze semi-finished product locked in the wooden box and burned it red, clipped it to the anvil and beat it with a hammer. Amid the clanging sound, the first bronze stirrup of this era was also gradually formed on the anvil.

After cooling the stirrups with water, and playing with this revolutionary harness that he personally built, Xiang Kang was extremely hesitant, hesitant for the first time, and he couldn't help talking to himself, saying: "It's not difficult to build at all, I As long as this stirrup is handed over to the blacksmith in Chang'an, tens of thousands can be made in less than ten days, and it is completely in time to hand it over to the cavalry for training, but should I do this?"

"I can give the most reliable elite cavalry equipment, which can be taken back after the decisive battle. I can issue a ban order to make my cavalry forget such things. However, I must at least equip thousands of cavalry with stirrups to form combat effectiveness. Thousands of cavalry really All of them will be loyal to me and keep their mouths shut for the rest of their lives? As long as one of them secretly imitates a stirrup for convenience, the technology of the stirrup may be leaked and spread to the grassland."

"In the era when there were no stirrups, our farming peoples fought against the nomadic peoples, but after the invention of the stirrups, the Han people's record in front of the nomadic peoples was nothing good, including the Tang Dynasty, and they have always suffered from the nomadic peoples' harassment. , only after the invention of the machine gun did the nomads become able to sing and dance."

"Even if this battle starts as I wish, I don't have any confidence in completely annihilating all the Xiongnu robbers. There will definitely be countless Xiongnu robbers who will flee back to the grassland, and even if the Huns' vitality is seriously injured, the Xianbei robbers in the east and the Yuezhi barbarians in the west, The barbarians in the Western Regions are not something that I can completely wipe out in my lifetime, once the technology of stirrups is passed on to them, the nightmare of the Han people may come earlier..."

Talking to himself up to this point, Xiang Kang gradually made up his mind, slowly put the stirrup into the wooden box he prepared for it, locked it with his own hands, and said to himself: "You can't do it for Sesame, I lost the watermelon. This time, let’s fight with cavalry and infantry without stirrups. Let’s save the stirrups for my descendants. I have to tell them not to open this unless it’s a last resort or a critical moment of life and death. box."

After locking the stirrups that appeared more than 200 years in advance, Xiang Kang wrote this line on the wooden box with his own hands-my descendants can only open this box when the country is about to perish and the country is about to collapse.The founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, Xiang Kang. ——Of course, a Takahashi saddle made by Xiang Kang himself was put into this box later, and the key was kept by Xiang Kang himself for life.

After putting down the writing brush, besides deciding to vigorously develop gunpowder technology, Xiang Kang couldn't help but smile slightly, secretly said: "Fortunately, I haven't forgotten to study gunpowder weapons in the past few years. Although the lethality of those things is not as good as ordinary bows and arrows, but with It will definitely have a miraculous effect on the Xiongnu horses, which have never seen gunpowder."

(End of this chapter)