When Liu Tan heard the words "Xiongnu Chanyu", he subconsciously thought: What is Wu Shilu going to do next?

It was a little late before he remembered that Wu Shilu was dead and the current Xiongnu Khan should be Xulihu.

But why did Xulihu write to him?

Liu Tan asked, "Where's the letter?"

The Minister of Rites immediately sent for a silver box and said, "We have checked everything and there is no poison."

After the silver box was presented, Liu Tangang held his hand and Yan Xingsheng, who was sitting behind him, said, "Your Highness, please let me do it."

Although the box was fine, Honglu didn't dare to open the letter from Xulihu casually. After all, the letter was addressed to His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory by name. If he opened it and there was something he shouldn't know, wouldn't that be courting death?

Liu Tan glanced at Yan Xingsheng and said, "Put a cloth under you."

He didn't think there was anything wrong with the people around him being so cautious. After all, they now had a great feud with the Huns. He could pretend to ask Wu Shilu out to stab him, and the other party could also pretend to write him a letter and poison him in the letter.

Yan Xingsheng responded and carefully untied the silk rope on the cloth, unfolding it bit by bit.

Liu Tan had already covered his mouth and nose with a cloth. After unfolding the cloth, he raised an eyebrow and said, "This handwriting is sharp and has a lot of style. I wonder who wrote it."

Yan Xingsheng muttered, "No matter how good your handwriting is, it's not courageous to defect to the Xiongnu."

Liu Tan said, "One cannot generalize one person's circumstances. No one knows his situation. Let's first read the contents of the letter."

He just took a casual glance and found that Xulihu actually asked Liu Tan to help him secure the position of Chanyu.

In the letter, Xulihu said that as long as His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory was willing to help him, he would offer the Wushilu tribe to him with both hands - that meant that he knew that your Northern Territory was short of people, and you could take these people and use them as you pleased.

When Liu Tan was wondering, he saw the last sentence - the Xiongnu was willing to cede the land west of Yanshan Mountain to the Wusun Kingdom. Could the Wusun Kingdom withdraw its troops temporarily?

Xulihu wrote two things in one letter, neither of which made Liu Tan confused.

He put the first thing aside and turned to Yan Xingsheng and said, "Go to the Wusun King's residence and ask if there has been any news about him in the past two days."

There have been so many things going on lately, one after another. If Xulihu hadn't mentioned it, he would have almost forgotten that Lu Xuan hadn't written to him for quite some time.

Judging from Lu Xuan's previous behavior of wanting to write a letter every day, Liu Tan had every reason to suspect that he had done something quietly again.

Thinking of this, he said to Yan Xingsheng, "By the way, ask about the battle situation over there."

Yan Xingsheng took his orders and left. Liu Tan looked at the Herald and asked, "What's the situation with the Xiongnu now? Isn't it natural for Xulihu to become Chanyu? Is there anyone who objects?"

The Minister of Rites immediately explained, "The original heir should have been Wushilu's youngest son, but he suddenly disappeared. Now, the only one eligible to inherit the Chanyu throne is Xulihu. However... the Xiongnu have also committed usurpation of the throne before. Now, several nobles are claiming that Xulihu murdered Wushilu's youngest son for the Chanyu throne, saying he is unworthy of the position and they are planning a rebellion against him."

Liu Tan couldn't help but laugh after hearing this: "Wu Shilu's trick... is also quite good."

The Grand Master was slightly taken aback. "Your Highness is saying... Wu Shilu had already thought of this before he died?"

Liu Tan said, "It's very likely that he knows his son can't hold the position of Chanyu securely. Those people fighting for it will at most make his son a puppet. When the time comes to decide the winner, that will be the time when his son dies. Even if someone else ascends the Chanyu position directly, they won't treat his son well. He's completely disgusting his successor."

To be honest, if Wu Shilu was not an enemy, Liu Tan would have admired him quite a bit. He played this move beautifully.

The Honglu official was puzzled: "But where is Wu Shilu's youngest son?"

Liu Tan was slightly stunned, then he remembered that Honglu did not know that Wu Shilu had wanted to entrust his young son to him. Now the child had arrived in Chang'an. It was said that Liu Che gave Qiemo Che a mansion and asked him to raise the child, leaving them to fend for themselves.

Liu Tan didn't want the situation of Wu Shilu's young son to be exposed too much. It would be best if no one knew his identity. If Qiemo Che didn't need to raise him, Qiemo Che probably wouldn't have stayed.

He coughed lightly and said, "Who knows? Since Wu Shilu still has followers resisting Xulihu, it means his son is definitely not dead."

And those people knew it very well in their minds, but as to whether they were really loyal to Wu Shilu or wanted to create a puppet young master, no one knew.

Honglu always felt that His Highness must know something, but since he didn't tell him, it meant that this was not something he should know.

So he simply asked, "Your Highness, would you like to reply to Xuli Lake?"

Liu Tan looked at the piece of cloth and said, "You can go back for now. I still need to discuss this with the Prime Minister."

The Honglu immediately retreated.

Liu Tan looked at the letter on the table, then looked at the map, and suddenly felt that this might be the best opportunity - an opportunity to split the Huns.

The countries in the Western Regions and the Huns were different from the countries in the Central Plains. Since Emperor Wu of Han promoted Confucianism, the entire nation began to embark on the path of civilization. The most important thing was that they began to pay attention to having a legitimate reason to fight.

And they also have to consider their reputation, but those countries tend to follow the law of the jungle.

They will also pay attention to the ideas of their subordinates, but that is when their ideas are not much different from their own. Once there is a disagreement, they will not mind showing their fangs.

Therefore, Lu Xuan's father would rebel against the country and declare himself king because he was dissatisfied that he was not the crown prince while his nephew became the crown prince. Naturally, the Xiongnu could also be divided.

Since those people are not convinced by Xulihu, now that Xulihu has come to Liu Tan for help, it is obvious that his power is not enough to suppress those people.

This gives Liu Tan a lot of room to maneuver.

When Liu Tan thought of this, he picked up his pen and wrote a letter to Xulihu. The letter didn't say much, just one sentence: You want me to take action, but those people are not enough as bargaining chips.

He wasn't afraid that Xulihu would get angry after seeing it. The fact that he put forward the conditions meant that the matter could be negotiated.

A business is one where there is give and take. If he doesn't mention any conditions, the other party will become suspicious.

After writing the letter to Xulihu, he called over the person he had previously selected to be responsible for placing Hun spies.

This man's name was Yuyang. It was said that he grew up by the sea so he got this name. However, he was selected as an embroidered robe envoy, so he traveled all the way from there to the north.

In order to place Xiongnu spies there, Liu Tan had previously sent the Xiongnu people to Yuyang for selection, and those who were suitable were then trained by him and sent to the Xiongnu.

There was no other way. The Huns he had originally accepted did not have a high status in the Huns, and it was extremely difficult to let them blend in with their original identities, so he could only train them and try his best to let them get useful information.

At that time, Yubi proposed a method - using the children of the Huns to obtain intelligence.

The Xiongnu still practiced slavery, and half-grown children could easily be bought as slaves by the Xiongnu leaders. They could simply let the Xiongnu people in the Northern Border pretend that they couldn't make ends meet and sell the children.

As for why children are used, in Yubi's words, children are easier to educate than adults and are more likely to make people let down their guard.

Liu Tan originally didn't want to use the child for anything, but the Northern Border Kingdom really lacked news about the Huns, so he had to turn a blind eye.

However, the intelligence system cannot be established overnight. The big net of Yubai has just been laid out, and it is not known whether it can yield any results.

After Yu Qiang arrived, Liu Tan asked directly, "What's the current situation with the Xiongnu? How many people are against Xili Lake?"

Yu Qiang said, "I was just about to report this news to Your Highness. The Xiongnu are now in civil strife to a certain extent. The only one who can threaten Xili Lake is the Left Grand Commandant, and he is from Wu Shilu."

Liu Tan smiled slightly: "Are you opposing under the banner of supporting the young master of Wu Shilu?"

Yu Qiang said: "It's not just a banner, this person is loyal to Wu Shilu. Not only him, but also those around him and King Zuo Guli are all very loyal to Wu Shilu."

Liu Tan was slightly stunned. He felt strange at first, and then he thought that Qin Hui still had two or three friends. Although Wu Shilu was very crazy, it did not mean that he was really alone, otherwise his position as the Xiongnu leader would have been unstable long ago.

Thinking of this, he asked, "These people are beyond my expectations. How could they pose such a great threat to Xili Lake?"

Yubi was also a little confused: "They are not as strong as Xuli Lake. Xuli Lake should not be forced into this state by them."

Liu Tan asked, "Is Xuli Lake so powerful?"

Yu Qiang explained, "It's not that he's strong. It's mainly because on the night Wu Shilu died, he led his men to slaughter several tribes that were loyal to Wu Shilu, leading to their decline."

After hearing this, Liu Tan laughed and said, "This Xuli Lake is quite interesting."

He likes people who do things decisively, but unfortunately this person is his enemy. If he is an enemy, he would hope that the other person would be as indecisive as possible.

However, this does explain why Wu Shilu's men and Xulihu are fighting to the death. They are killed directly without even going through the process of bribery. If they don't resist, they will all be killed one by one.

But the question still comes back. Since Xulihu is weakening the power of Wu Shilu and others at the first moment, why is he so anxious now?

Just when he was wondering, Yan Xingsheng, who had just been sent out by him, came back quickly with an expression on his face that was difficult to describe.

Liu Tan looked at him and asked, "What? No news about the King of Wusun?"

Yan Xingsheng said, "Yes, but... the King of Wusun has now deviated from his original route and marched eastward. He has now stationed his troops at the Xiongnu River."

Liu Tan was dumbfounded. He looked at Yu Qiang and said, "No wonder Xu Lihu was so anxious. It turns out the key point of the letter is actually the last sentence."