Chapter 374 Crisis is coming
As a large number of horses came trampling on the ground, rolling dust filled the entire field of vision. A rough count showed that there were actually thousands of people.
This surprised the general guarding the city. No wonder he lit the beacon fire immediately. It turned out that so many Huns came to raid the valley.
In this time and space, there was originally going to be a great war between the Han Dynasty and the Huns, but a heavy snowfall in Luoling delayed the arrival of the Huns' peak period.
The Xiongnu, who suffered huge losses, began to lick their wounds. The Xiongnu royal court did not dare to go south to invade the Han court, so they took advantage of the opportunity that other tribes suffered heavy losses to begin to annex those disobedient forces. Even Korea, which had not been conquered before, fell into the hands of the Xiongnu.
At this time, the Han court gradually entered a prosperous era relying on the Great Wall, and starting from Empress Lü, the rulers of the Han court paid more attention to the development of the land within the Great Wall.
Compared with the bitter and cold land outside the Great Wall, they are more willing to develop the fertile land in Jiangdong and on both sides of the Yangtze River, including the Jianghan Plain, etc., because the climate here is warm and as long as it is developed, it can be used for farming.
The strategic choices made by both sides enabled the Xiongnu and the Han court to have an extremely long period of peace.
After decades of arduous marching, the Xiongnu recovered. Thanks to the favorable climate, herds of cattle and sheep, and no major natural disasters, they once again had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses.
This is absolutely normal, because the grassland is there, and where there is grassland there are cattle and sheep, and where there are cattle and sheep there is food, and where there is food there is food to feed the population.
In ancient times, there were no such deep technological barriers as in modern times.
The power of modern technological weapons has far exceeded human power. Without decades of technological catch-up, no matter how many people there are, it will be useless.
For these classical empires, once the population recovered, half of their strength was restored. With sufficient war resources, a country could evolve from being vulnerable to being invincible within ten to twenty years.
The Han court did not directly control the Western Regions and cut off the Xiongnu's access to technology and armor through the major routes in Central Asia. It was normal that it took them decades to recover.
This is also why the heavy snow in Luoling delayed the peak of the Huns instead of directly exterminating them.
However, the accumulation of national strength is like rowing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat. The Xiongnu has just recovered to its former level, and the Han court is no longer the same as it used to be.
After decades of recuperation, the situation between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu has truly changed from offense to defense. The blood of the Han court is so thick that the Xiongnu is somewhat fragile in comparison.
As long as the Han court planned the rhythm of the war well, even if it suffered a series of defeats, it could drag down the Huns before it collapsed through continuous wars.
Although Wei Qing came to the border as a criminal, he was a horse breeder before, as recorded in the documents of exile. So after arriving at the border, he took over his previous job and continued to feed the few war horses in the city.
The soldiers defending the city were not afraid of the Huns. If they were the guards of the Huns' royal court, they might be a little afraid, because those guards of the Huns' royal court were wearing full body armor and were the elite among the elite. However, most of these ordinary Huns did not have armor on their bodies. In comparison, at least many people on the Han army had leather armor or cloth armor, which provided some defense.
Moreover, the Han army had better bows and crossbows, which was the weakest point of the Xiongnu compared to the Han army.
However, the Huns were also well aware of this and usually would not confront the Han army head-on. Instead, they would bypass the city and plunder the villages, then run away after the looting. The Huns had very good horses and one man had many horses, so it would be too late to chase them. The Han army was extremely annoyed by such attacks and was overwhelmed to cope with them.
The Han army would naturally not be afraid when facing the Huns. They left enough troops to guard the city and rode out of the city to fight the Huns.
Wei Qing was known for his bravery in the army and was also a good rider, so naturally he went with them to the battle.
When the Huns saw that the Han army was catching up with them, they turned their horses around and launched a rain of arrows. These small tribes naturally did not have any good bows and arrows, but after all, they were sent out to rob things, so they still tried their best to bring some weapons that could hurt people.
Especially the tetanus arrow, which is a must-have skill in this era and is extremely terrifying.
"Brothers, the reward of promotion is just around the corner!"
With the Han army's complete system of encouraging military merit, a bureaucracy that had not yet become corrupt, and a clear political environment, these soldiers did not need his encouragement at all and rushed forward shouting.
Wei Qing was the first to take the lead. He was already burdened with guilt, and now killing the enemy could atone for it. He held the crossbow tightly in his hand, then drew the bow and put an arrow on it.
“Whoosh!”
As the bow sounded louder.
"ah!"
A Hun fell off his horse, blood gushing out from his neck, instantly dyeing the ground red.
He unexpectedly shot the neck with one arrow. This skill of archery on horseback made everyone cheer. Wei Qing was encouraged and thought that if he shot another one, the guilt on him could be completely absolved.
From now on, he will be a normal soldier and can get promotion based on his military achievements. This is what he has always dreamed of.
…
Chang'an.
The generals guarding the borders of the Han Dynasty had relatively large autonomy, but the results of the battles had to be sent to Chang'an afterwards, including the calculation of military merits, which had to be attached.
Jia Yi received the results of this battle. The Han army suffered 33 casualties, and the Huns suffered 34 casualties, which was basically a one-to-one casualty ratio, similar to the previous battle.
"Wei Qing, he killed four people by himself. He is really a brave man. He should be pardoned according to his military achievements."
Jia Yi saw the military merits attached to the document and the reward standards presented by the general, but he didn't pay much attention to them. Military merits like this can be seen everywhere. Jia Yi casually outlined his agreement and called the waiter, "Send this document to the general's mansion. Please take a look at it. If there is no problem, present it to Your Majesty. Don't let the soldiers who fought bloody battles wait any longer. Give the rewards on time and in accordance with the amount."
According to Luo Chen's reforms last year, important military affairs of the Han Dynasty must first go through the hands of the prime minister. Today's prime minister has enormous power and is, to some extent, the vice emperor.
After all, even the prime minister’s assistants are among the Nine Ministers, and even his deputy, the Chief Censor, is directly one of the Three Dukes. One can imagine how honorable the prime minister is!
The prime minister basically only needs to discuss government affairs with the emperor, but adhering to the idea of expanding the power of the prime minister and dividing it into civil and military affairs, the prime minister is only the first level of military affairs, and then they have to be sent to the general for re-examination.
In military terms, the prime minister is more like the general's deputy, so the general is called the "military prime minister."
After the general has reviewed it and confirmed that it meets the requirements for rewards, it will be handed over to the emperor. However, any rewards for middle-level officers and above, as well as rewards for more than ten people, must be reviewed by the emperor and sealed with the emperor's seal.
When the waiter took the documents away, Jia Yi suddenly realized that such things seemed to have happened more frequently since the beginning of the year. He was quite sensitive to numbers, so he quickly asked someone to look for previous battle reports.
"Prime Minister, this year's four months alone are equivalent to last year's entire year. The Xiongnu's attacks on the Han Dynasty have indeed increased."
After the assistant officer finished the calculation, he quickly reported the news to Jia Yi. Jia Yi's face became solemn when he heard it. It turned out that it was not his illusion. The Huns were really ready to make a move, but this sudden increase in attacks was abnormal.
Jia Yi pondered and said, "Where are the weather conditions reported by the border last year and this year? Bring them to me."
The princes, marquises, county governors and county magistrates who guarded various counties and kingdoms had a persistent task, which was to report abnormal weather conditions in various places, such as long periods of no rain, or droughts, heavy rains, heavy snows, etc., to the court.
When the assistant officer brought the sealed information, Jia Yi immediately began to look through it, and he discovered that in the past one or two years, the climate on the grassland and on the border had not been very good, and the grain production on the Han side was decreasing. However, because of the bumper harvest in previous years, there was enough grain storage in various places, so he did not feel anything yet.
"Many tribes on the grasslands have suffered natural disasters, so they have gone south to plunder more frequently. The Xiongnu court has a strong foundation and occupies the best grasslands, so they have not participated in this. But if the climate continues to deteriorate, even if the cow, sheep and cheese decrease by 10%, the entire Xiongnu will definitely go crazy."
Jia Yi was horrified when thinking about this possible future. Following Luo Xin, Jia Yi understood a truth, that is, if grain production was reduced by 10%, the result would not be that everyone else would eat less, eventually reaching the point where everyone had enough to eat. Instead, it would develop to a point where 10% of people could not afford to eat, and everyone else would eat normally!
This principle is universal on the grassland because it is human nature and does not vary due to differences in regional culture.
Thinking of this, Jia Yi suddenly became a little restless and said immediately: "I want to go to the palace to meet His Majesty and prepare the horses."
…
Jia Yi walked into the palace and saw that it was more magnificent than the last time he came. He felt that this Majesty was completely different from the previous emperor. He had a very complicated impression of Liu Che and could not help comparing Liu Che with Liu Heng. Then he felt more and more uncomfortable.
In particular, Jia Yi always felt that when the emperor looked at him, there was a hint of inquiry in his expression, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.
"Prime Minister, His Majesty is calling you into the palace."
Soon, a waiter came out and called Jia Yi in. Jia Yi cleared up the complicated thoughts in his mind, straightened his clothes, and followed the waiter into the inner hall.
As soon as he entered the inner hall, he saw not only Emperor Liu Che there, but also a middle-aged scholar in Confucian robes. Jia Yi thought for a moment and realized that he was not the Doctor of the Thirteen Classics.
He was a little curious. He thought that if he could come to the palace to meet the emperor alone, he must not be an unknown person. He didn't know which school of Confucian scholar he was from, but he was definitely not from Mencius. Jia Yi himself was the leader of Mencius, so it was impossible for him not to know the Confucian scholar in his own faction.
(End of this chapter)
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