Chapter 651 [Second Update]

To be honest... Li Xi had no way to answer this. It was impossible to say that the Xiongnu had no people. The Xiongnu's hierarchy was very strict, even stricter than that of the Han Dynasty. They had quite a few capable and good generals. The general who captured Zhao Po Nu before was a good one. Although Wu Shilu personally took action that time, he mainly took action later when he went south. Before that, they were all generals under his command.

Although Zhao Po Nu was a bit useless, he actually defeated the Huns and his strength was not bad.

After Wu Shilu stepped down, Liu Tan heard that some of his generals had directly defected to Xuli Lake. Logically speaking, Xuli Lake should not be short of talents.

Liu Tan turned to glance at Lu Xuan. Seeing the calm expression on his face, he knew what he must know. Without saying anything more, he simply asked, "Where is King Zuo Tuqi now?"

Li Xi pointed at the map and said, "At the foot of Yanran Mountain."

Liu Tan took a look at the map and found that the other party had chosen a good location, or rather, the location of Longcheng was well chosen.

Longcheng is located north of Yanran Mountain. If they want to attack Longcheng, they must cross Yanran Mountain. There is a valley leading to Longcheng in Yanran Mountain, but it is now firmly guarded by King Zuo Tuqi. If they want to cross Yanran Mountain, they must either defeat King Zuo Tuqi or take a detour.

In fact, it is basically impossible to take a detour, as there is a vast desert to the east of Longcheng.

Liu Tan was able to walk out of the desert and reunite with Li Xi because the journey was not very far, but if he took a detour to the east of Longcheng... there would be no problem with direction, but they did not have enough water resources.

Groundwater can be drilled in the desert, but no one knows where it comes from unless someone is particularly familiar with the area.

So the only option left for them was to fight a battle with King Zuo Tuqi.

In fact, Liu Tan had no intention of choosing another one, so why did he go around it? It seemed as if he was afraid of King Zuo Tuqi.

Liu Tan glanced at the marching route planned by Li Xi and nodded, saying, "Let's organize the troops for two days first."

After all, the army he led and the army Li Xi led had been fighting for a long time, respectively, and they had to rest to be in better condition.

After letting Li Xi rest, Liu Tan turned to look at Lu Xuan: "Do you know something?"

Lu Xuan whispered, "The news from over there said that it wasn't King Zuo Tuqi who was originally sent, but King Zuo Tuqi insisted on fighting, so Xulihu agreed to let him go."

Liu Tan was puzzled. "Striving to fight? I don't have any deep hatred against him, right? Why is he so upset?"

Lu Xuan looked at him with an indescribable expression: You captured two of his capable subordinates alive, and you still say there is no deep hatred?

Liu Tan looked at his expression, thought about it carefully, and then suddenly realized it. He touched his chin and said, "But if that's the case, shouldn't he find two more people? Why did he go into battle alone?"

Lu Xuan said expressionlessly, "Perhaps it's because Xuli Lake has already begun to be wary of him."

"Hmm?" Liu Tan felt like he was smelling gossip. "What do you mean?"

Lu Xuan patted Liu Tan's head and said, "King Zuo Tuqi is getting older and has become somewhat unruly. The Xiongnu don't care about such things. If King Zuo Tuqi becomes more powerful, he might kill his father to take the throne."

Even in tribes that value filial piety, such things may not be uncommon. Not every emperor and prince can live in such harmony as in the Han Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Lu Xuan felt that it was no wonder that the Han Dynasty was in this situation.

We are united as one, and even if we have some minor disagreements, they are nothing in the face of major issues.

As for the rebels... this is unavoidable, but even when the danger was so severe before, didn't it still not shake the foundation of the Han Dynasty?

Liu Tan pondered this and asked, "Could we start by looking at the relationship between the father and son?"

Lu Xuan asked, "What do you want to do?"

In fact, if Lu Xuan came, he would have many ways to do it, but he was worried that if he went too far, it would affect Liu Tan's plan, so he waited for Liu Tan to make a decision.

Liu Tan lowered his head and pondered for a long time. As he thought, he couldn't help but started biting his nails.

Lu Xuan couldn't bear to watch this any longer, so he held his hand and said, "Don't be so embarrassed, it's not a big deal..."

Liu Tan perked up when he heard this: "That's right, we can just crush them directly, why use such a risky method?"

Not only does it waste brain cells, but it also doesn't guarantee success. Even if you succeed, if it doesn't meet your expectations, it would be a waste of time.

Lu Xuan originally wanted to say that he could leave this matter to him, but after hearing what Liu Tan said, he suddenly felt a little tired.

Indeed, any conspiracy or trick is futile in the face of absolute strength.

They didn't even need to develop any strategies or tactics, all they had to do was throw barrels of gunpowder into the middle of the valley.

The only thing you need to be careful about is not to blow up the mountains on both sides. If they do collapse, the other side will lose, but they won't be able to get through.

After Liu Tan and Li Xi worked out the details of which direction to bomb, how to bomb, and how much to bomb, they all thought that this siege would be no different from previous ones.

However, Lu Xuan went out at this time. When he returned, he frowned and said, "I'm afraid the plan needs to be changed."

Liu Tan looked up at him: "What?"

Lu Xuan sighed and said, "King Zuo Tuqi is indeed not easy to deal with. He has already realized the power of the powder keg and has taken certain countermeasures."

Liu Tan frowned: "What?"

Lu Xuan sighed and said, "Not only that, he also knew we were good at digging tunnels, so he covered the entire base with copper plates."

Liu Tan looked incredulous. "Copper coins? Those are copper coins. Is he that rich?"

The smelting level of the Xiongnu is relatively low, and anything related to metal is very expensive. It is known that King Zuo Tuqi's vanguard this time has about 20,000 troops. Of course, they are on the vanguard side and have no base in the valley.

Suppose we just cover the bases of these pioneers with copper plates, how much money would that cost?

Lu Xuan was silent for a long while before saying, "He's probably richer than you."

Liu Tan:!!!

Why!

Seeing his eyes widen, Lu Xuan immediately said, "When it comes to making money, he's naturally not as good as you. As for how he made his money, you should understand even without me explaining. The Xiongnu...are different from the Han."

Liu Tan understood immediately.

The Xiongnu was still in a slave society, so of course the money was in the hands of the slave owners. Even before Xulihu came to power, King Zuotuqi was still a prince and of course had money, not to mention that after becoming the crown prince, it was naturally easier for him to plunder the people's wealth.

So it's not surprising that he is richer than Liu Tan. After all, Liu Tan's money comes quickly, but he spends more, all of which is subsidized to the Northern Border Kingdom and the army.

Liu Tan couldn't help but curl his lips: "Then let's not dig a tunnel. There are mountains over there anyway, so it's not easy to dig."

Lu Xuan added, "He also dug a pond at the very front of the valley."

Liu Tan: ???

Lu Xuan said, "According to our previous plan, if we throw gunpowder barrels at the designated location, they'll basically be thrown into the pool. But if we get any closer... they have archers stationed on both sides of the mountain. As soon as our cloud chariots get close, they'll basically be within their range. Plus, we don't dare deploy too many cloud chariots, so the archers can basically hit our throwers with great accuracy."

Liu Tan was stunned for a while and couldn't help but say: "What a talent!"