Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 541 Decisive Battle against the Huns (3)

The Xiongnu Zuoxian King who quietly sent people to negotiate with the Han army was the half-brother of Maodun. If Maodun knew about this matter, then Maodun, who was able to personally kill his father, stepmother and younger brother, would definitely not let him off lightly, so that night Zuo Xianwang was so nervous that he didn't sleep well all night. Mao Dun heard the wind and asked himself to settle the score.

Fortunately, it was just dawn, and when King Zuo Xian was still having breakfast, the guards outside came in to report that the envoy had successfully returned to the Huns camp, and was not discovered by the Modun people during the period. Hearing great joy, he quickly ordered to summon the envoy immediately, and asked impatiently after the meeting: "How is it? Did the barbarian emperor promise me any conditions?"

The messenger's expression was obviously a little wrong, and he replied hesitantly: "Reporting to the king, the barbarian emperor refused to accept the conditions we offered, and he offered another condition, asking you to do one thing for him, the king, saying that as long as you are the king As long as we help him finish this matter, he will promise to release our tribesmen and return to the grassland. From now on, we will not only live in peace with us and not invade each other, but also open the border control and sell us food, salt and cloth at low prices .”

"Is there such a good thing?" King Zuo Xian, who didn't dare to put forward such a condition, was extremely surprised when he heard it, and hurriedly asked: "What does Emperor Manzi want me to do for him?"

The envoy looked hesitant and said hesitantly, "Your Majesty, don't be surprised when you hear that, the Manzi Emperor wants you to join hands with King Youxian to kill our Great Khan and divide the grassland equally."

"What?" Zuo Xianwang's surprise was not trivial, he said in surprise: "The Manzi Emperor wants me and You Xianwang to kill the Great Khan together, and then divide the grassland equally?"

The envoy nodded, then took out another letter and said, "This is a letter written by Emperor Manzi to King Youxian. I heard from him that the content is to tell the king that you also secretly concluded an alliance with the army of the Central Plains, so that King Youxian can be at ease with you." Join hands to kill us sweat."

Zuo Xianwang, who barely knew a few Chinese characters, quickly snatched the letter. Seeing that the contents of the letter seemed to be the same as the messenger's dictation, Zuo Xianwang couldn't help being even more surprised, and blurted out: "Could it be that Youxian King has secretly concluded an agreement with the barbarian army?" signed the covenant, are you going to kill the Great Khan and divide our grassland?"

"From Emperor Manzi's tone, it seems to be like this." The emissary replied truthfully, and quickly added: "Also, Emperor Manzi also threatened that you don't have to accept his conditions, but if you dare to send this letter Hand it over to the Great Khan, and he will kill all our tribesmen, and he will never let you go in the future."

King Zuo Xian's face suddenly became extremely gloomy, and after a long while of dark face, King Zuo Xian had an idea, and hurriedly ordered to the messenger: "Quick, come with me to see Da Khan, and give this letter to Da Khan, Report your mission to the Great Khan face to face."

"Your Majesty, are you joking?" The envoy was taken aback and hurriedly said, "The Emperor Manzi threatened that if you dare to hand over this letter to the Great Khan, he will never let our people go."

"If this king doesn't hand over this letter to the Great Khan, if the Great Khan makes up his mind to abandon our tribe and retreat directly, will the barbarian emperor let our tribe go?" King Zuo Xian sneered and asked rationally, He sneered and said: "In that case, then we might as well tell the truth to the Great Khan, hand this letter to the Great Khan, and show the King's loyalty to him, and then the Great Khan will consider the safety of the people for us." , will not listen to King Youxian's bewitchment and leave our tribesmen to retreat directly."

The envoy came to his senses and praised Zuo Xianwang for his wisdom, but Zuo Xianwang didn't hesitate any longer, he quickly wiped his mouth and led the envoy to visit Maodun, and when he saw Maodun, he prostrated himself to plead guilty, and honestly sent the envoy to go there privately. The matter of negotiating with the Han army was mentioned, and Mao Dun was of course shocked and angry when he heard it, and said angrily: "King Zuoxian, you are so courageous! Do you know what consequences you will have if you do this? People from the Central Plains If you are so cunning, you will definitely understand that we have already planned to leave the tribe and retreat directly! The Central Plains people have prepared in advance, and the price we will pay when we retreat will definitely be greater!"

"Brother, forgive me, I know I was wrong." King Zuo Xian hurriedly changed his address, then paused and said, "But I did this for the sake of our grassland people. Also, this time I sent someone to talk to the Emperor of the Central Plains privately. Contact, and accidentally discovered an important situation, an important situation related to your life, brother!"

"What do you mean? Speak carefully!"

Mao Dun immediately realized that something was wrong, and King Zuo Xian then presented Xiang Kang's letter to Mao Dun's other half-brother, King You Xian of the Huns, and reported to Mao Dun the process of contacting Xiang Kang, as well as the letter Mao Dun was shocked when he heard the general content, and hurriedly shouted: "Quickly, get the interpreter."

The guard went to find an interpreter according to the order, and Mao Dun hurriedly asked Zuo Xianwang's envoy for the details of the envoy. Zuo Xianwang's envoy answered truthfully one by one, saying that Xiang Kang's tone was very similar to that of You Xianwang, and he had indeed betrayed Maodun. Similarly, Maodun, who had long been suspicious of Youxian King, inevitably looked even more gloomy when he heard it. Then he came to translate the letter into Hun language and recited it to Maodun. He heard that the content of the letter was indeed Xiang Kang reassured Youxian King that he believed in Zuo Xianwang, and suddenly he was so angry that he slapped the table in front of him again, and shouted angrily: "Come on, go and call Youxian King to Ben Khan immediately!"

The good show of the brothers' fighting against the wall was quickly staged. After a while, when You Xian Wang Yiling came in front of Maodun, Maodun covered his head and threw Xiang Kang's letter on his face, asking him to give an explanation. After the translator carefully recited the book of faith to King Youxian, King Youxian was of course out of his wits, and quickly lay down on the ground and bowed his head again and again, swearing that there would never be such a thing, and swearing at Xiang Kang’s shameless framing. Roar asked: "Then how do you explain the fact that your tribe secretly traded with the Central Plains people and bought grain and salt from the Central Plains people at a low price? Also, you quietly mobilized cattle and sheep, and did business through your tribes on the frontier and the Central Plains people. Buying and selling, transferring to Shan Yuting to earn a high price, how do you explain it?"

King Youxian was stunned, and it took him a while to come back to his senses, and he had to plead guilty quickly, admitting honestly that he was greedy for profit, and that he secretly condoned the secret trade between the tribes under his command and the Han land, and swore: "Khan, my subordinates are responsible for this matter. The superior is indeed sorry for you, but the minister is really loyal to you, and absolutely did not collude secretly with the people of the Central Plains to harm you."

"Then why are you trying your best to encourage the Great Khan to give up our tribesmen and weaken the strength of our Eastern Grassland?" King Zuoxian said with a sneer, "According to our Chanyu court rules, you are the second-ranked Shanyu heir. You have weakened me, Zuo Xianwang, and if there is any accident in Da Khan, Shan Yu's position will be vacated, who else on the grassland can compete with you?"

"You..., you are talking nonsense!" King Youxian was completely anxious, and shouted with red eyes: "You are talking nonsense! I didn't mean that! I advised Da Khan to withdraw his troops quickly, because I wanted to save our army, and it was definitely not intentional. weaken you!"

"Is that what you mean? Only you know." King Zuoxian sneered, then turned to Maodun and said, "Khan, for the sake of caution, I suggest that it is best to take back the military power of King Youxian temporarily and transfer it to King Youguli. Temporarily command Youxian King's army, and then slowly investigate whether Youxian King has secretly betrayed you."

"You're dreaming!" King You Xian was furious, and hurriedly said to Mao Dun: "Brother, you must not listen to the nonsense of King Zuo Xian! In order to prove my innocence, my younger brother can hand over his military power, but now The enemy is at present, if I hand over the military power, if King Youguli can't restrain my army, the consequences will be disastrous."

In the face of the great enemy, of course the talented and bold Maodun would not do the stupid thing of changing the commander just before the battle, but continued to calculate with a gloomy face, and it was also a coincidence that at this moment, a scout rushed in from outside the tent and saluted Maodun. Said: "Qi Khan, the barbarians of the Central Plains dispatched part of the army to the north, and they are rushing towards us."

"How many soldiers and horses were dispatched?" Mo Dun quickly asked, "Have you found out who the leader of the barbarian army is?"

"Reporting to the sweat, the Central Plains dispatched about [-] troops to the north." The scout gave an answer that surprised Modu and the others, and what surprised Modu and the others was that the scout added in such a hurry : "The commander-in-chief of the Central Plains army going north is Xiang Kang, the emperor of the Central Plains!"

"The emperor of the Central Plains personally led the troops to the north, and he only brought [-] troops?" The wise kings of the left and right suspected that their ears had heard it wrong, and then the wise king of Zuo couldn't wait to ask: "Have you found out? Really? Is the emperor of the Central Plains personally leading an army of [-] to go north?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have found out that it is indeed the emperor of the Central Plains." The scout replied truthfully: "The emperor of the Central Plains is riding on a six-horse horse-drawn float and holding his dragon flag. It is absolutely impossible to find out wrong!"

King Zuo Xian was even more shocked when he heard this, and quickly turned his head to look at Mao Dun's reaction. Mao Dun looked extremely calm, and asked after a while: "How many cavalry did the Emperor of the Central Plains bring?"

"Reporting to the Great Khan, there are no cavalry." The scout immediately replied: "There are only a few thousand carriages, and all of them are pulling military supplies and weapons."

Mao Dun nodded slowly after thinking about it, and then ordered: "Continue to investigate again, send more scouts, closely monitor the situation of the barbarians' rear camp in the Central Plains, and report to Ben Khan immediately if there is any movement. Again, blow the trumpet, raise the account, call All the generals come here to discuss matters."

After the order was conveyed, the horn sounded immediately, and after a while, the Xiongnu nobles who were part-time generals rushed to the Chinese army tent to meet Maodu. Xiang Kang personally led the 40 troops to the north and announced to everyone. As a result, the nobles of the Xiongnu were of course very surprised when they heard it. They all said in amazement: "The barbarian emperor is crazy? Let more than [-] troops be used, and only bring such a small army. Going north, what does he want to do?"

"Quiet!" Mao Dun yelled, first stopped the commotion of the crowd, and then said very calmly: "The Emperor of the Central Plains is not crazy, on the contrary, he is very cunning. He left the main force unused, deliberately only brought [-] There is only one purpose for the army to go north, which is to lure us to send troops to fight him, entangle our army, and then dispatch his army to fight a full-scale decisive battle with us!"

"If I'm not mistaken, the barbarian emperor must have guessed that we were going to retreat to avoid a decisive battle, so he deliberately took risks and used himself as a bait to lure us into a decisive battle with him." He said calmly: "It's time to make a decision. Do you think we should retreat to the grassland immediately? Or should we seize this opportunity and fight a decisive battle with the Central Plains people?"

Before Maodun finished speaking, King Zuoxian, who had huge interests, couldn't wait to jump out, saluted Maodun and said, "Khan, I think this opportunity should be seized to fight the Central Plains barbarians. The barbarian emperor only brought eight Thousands of troops march north, as long as we seize this opportunity to kill his former army and himself, no matter how strong his rear army is, it will only be a mess, and it is absolutely impossible to be our opponent!"

Knowing that Zuo Xianwang would be the answer, Mao Dun ignored it, but turned his attention to Youxian King, the second most important minister of the Huns. Youxian King understood, and quickly thought: "What should I do? Don't fight? We should fight. The Manzi Emperor only brought 30 infantry to the north. As long as our [-] cavalry seize the opportunity to kill him, the rest of the battle will be easy to fight. And we are all cavalry, even if we can't kill the Manzi Emperor , You can also retreat quickly before the Central Plains army arrives."

Considering this, Xiang Kang's repeated despicable frame-ups, and Mao Dun's suspicion of himself, King Youxian gritted his teeth and said to Mao Dun, "Khan, this battle We should fight, Bantian Ridge is more than 50 miles away from Manzi's camp, even if Manzi sent troops immediately after receiving the scout report, it would take at least half a day to reach Bantian Ridge, we have plenty of time to capture the Manzi Emperor alive!"

Mao Dun nodded slowly, and to some extent dispelled some doubts about King Youxian, and other Hun nobles also echoed, all of them thought that they should seize this opportunity to fight the former army of the Han army, and try to kill Xiang Kang directly to make a decisive battle. Zang Tu even shouted in blunt Hun language: "Khan, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As long as you seize this opportunity and kill the tyrant Xiang Kang, the whole world will be yours. Our army is enough There are more than 30 people, and even one person can drown the tyrant Xiang Kang!"

Uncle Zhou's strategy of throwing jade to attract bricks is really powerful. Although he has already seen Xiang Kang's shameless intentions at a glance, he has always subconsciously wanted to avoid this decisive battle, but considering the tempting consequences of directly killing Xiang Kang , the huge disparity in military strength, and the subconscious desire to protect all the people, Mao Dun finally made up his mind, and shouted several times: "Fight! Try to kill the barbarian emperor directly!"

The Xiongnu nobles who felt that they were sure of winning were overjoyed when they heard this, and quickly volunteered to serve as forwards. They took the initiative to go south to find the front team of the Han army led by Xiang Kang himself for a decisive battle, but Mao Dun smiled grimly and said, "What's the rush? The barbarian emperor wants to pester We will definitely go north to the gate of our big camp, let our army line up in front of the camp, wait for work, and wait for the barbarian emperor to come to die on his own initiative!"

According to Mao Dun's order, more than [-] Xiongnu troops quickly mobilized and formed a huge and almost terrifying battle formation in front of the main camp of their own army. After the situation was reported to Xiang Kang by the Han army scouts, the accompanying Chen Ping suggested that Xiang Kang immediately send an order to Uncle Zhou to lead the main force of the rear army out of the camp to the north, but Xiang Kang shook his head and said, "No hurry, wait until our army arrives at the gate of the Xiongnu camp. The main force of the rear army was dispatched too early, if Mao Dun suddenly changed his mind and slipped away, our previous efforts would have been completely wasted."

(End of this chapter)