Chapter 385: The Little Hun Overlord
"Woo~~~"
The call for conscription sounded, and the Han warriors began to train for battle. Government officials began to report the men in the counties and states who were suitable for going to war according to the household registration books.
The biggest difference between ancient dynasties and modern society in terms of the military is that neither dynasty maintains a large standing army.
Because for ancient dynasties with low productivity, the cost of doing so was too high and they simply could not afford it.
The nominal imperial guards of Chang'an City numbered more than 20,000 to nearly 30,000, but in reality, except for the period when the North and South armies had the largest military strength, the number of troops maintained at around 15,000 at other times. A captain with a rank of 2,000 stones was already a very high-ranking official, but the number of troops he actually controlled was very small. The rest of the imperial guards were distributed in various counties in Guanzhong and rotated.
The same is true for the vast counties of Shandong. Basically, each county or kingdom has hundreds to a thousand county soldiers, distributed according to the size of the counties and kingdoms. These are the standing army of the Han Dynasty, and these alone are already very costly.
Whenever the Han court went on an expedition, it always had thousands or tens of thousands of troops. These elite troops were used as the skeleton, and conscripts were constantly recruited along the way to fill the gap, eventually forming an army of tens or even hundreds of thousands. The conscripted soldiers were also well-trained and had high military qualities. The combat effectiveness of such an army far exceeded that of an army composed of criminals and prisoners, not to mention an army composed of peasants who could not even get enough food.
Zhou Yafu had served as the general for more than 20 years and knew the Han army too well. He quickly took inventory of the equipment and troops. The five armies were not going to fight blindly when they went out to the border. Instead, they had a combat plan, including requirements for when to arrive at what place. If they missed the deadline, it would be an extremely serious mistake.
When they were split up to act, Zhou Yafu solemnly warned: "Everyone, those who can participate in this war are either descendants of founding heroes or ministers trusted by Your Majesty.
Your Majesty is waiting for our good news in Changle Palace. It has been decades since Emperor Gao granted the title of Marquis to meritorious officials. We have become extremely wealthy and powerful. Now is our chance to repay the emperor's grace and use the heads of the Huns to continue our glory and prove that the glory of our ancestors continues in us!"
"Here! Follow the general closely!"
Everyone responded with great enthusiasm. Being able to fight was a great joy to them.
In the current Han Dynasty, compared with the marquisates, the kingdoms of the princes are larger, richer and more powerful, but the marquises have the oath made by Liu Bang when he founded the country and will last longer.
From the establishment of the Han Dynasty to the present, the Liu family princes have changed a lot, especially Emperor Xiaowen had many sons, so there was a major change of blood. However, except for those who were involved in treason cases, the princes have been passed down safely to the present.
But there is no difference in essence, both are feudal, except that the princes rely on blood ties to maintain their wealth, while the marquises rely on the emperor's trust and military merits.
If the emperor does not give these marquises noble status and enough trust, then these marquises will provoke wars and gain military merits even if they have nothing to do in order to maintain the wealth of their families.
When Liu Heng was the emperor, although there were basically no wars, rewards were given to these marquises every now and then. This was to appease the marquises, saying that without military merit, your wealth and honor could still be guaranteed.
…
The Han army marched out of the border in a mighty force and headed towards the grassland. The accumulation of wealth during Emperor Xiaowen's reign was extremely profound, not only in terms of money and food, but also in terms of the number of horses. However, the quality of these horses could not be compared with those of the Huns, but they were qualified as war horses.
Zhou Yafu studied previous battles against famous Hun generals, such as Li Mu of the former Zhao State, Meng Tian and the most powerful general of the Han Dynasty, Han Wumu, and then came to a conclusion, that is, to advance steadily and cautiously, although not to a big victory, but never to fail.
"General, do you have any plans in mind for this battle with the Huns?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yafu said, "Although the people who draw bows come and go like the wind, they can still follow a trail. The grasslands south of the desert are so small, and there are only a few places where livestock can drink water. As long as we arrive in advance, we can form a siege. In the past, General Han Wumu won a great victory after he surrounded the Xiongnu. Therefore, the key to victory is to prevent the Xiongnu from running!
If this goal cannot be achieved, then we cannot start a war with the Xiongnu without authorization, especially we must retain the number of bows and crossbows as a deterrent, and then form a battle formation and retreat. "
Upon hearing this, the deputy general asked curiously, "General, when we are retreating in formation, it is most likely to cause a flaw. If the Huns take advantage of the situation and rush over at that time, what should we do?
If the army were to go from retreat to defeat, I'm afraid only the late General Han Wumu would be able to gather the defeated soldiers."
In ancient times, due to the lack of convenient information exchange, the retreat of an army could easily turn into collapse. This is a truth that has been proven by countless wars. Currently, the most recent general who can completely maintain the ability of being defeated but not collapsed is Han Xin. In the decisive battle with Xiang Yu and Ying, it was with this ability of being defeated but not collapsed that he dragged Xiang Yu into a state of exhaustion and ultimately won the battle.
Zhou Yafu laughed out loud when he heard this and said, "That's why I brought those chariots."
Upon hearing this, everyone looked at the chariots. This kind of chariots was completely different from the ones that were popular hundreds of years ago. With the gradual rise of cavalry, that kind of chariots gradually disappeared in various wars. The chariots brought by Zhou Yafu were taller and larger. If people lowered their bodies slightly, they could even hide behind them. Moreover, the entire body of the chariots was made of iron and was extremely hard, just like iron boxes.
Seeing everyone's confusion, Zhou Yafu smiled complacently and said, "With these chariots connected in a ring, our soldiers can take turns attacking from behind. The most important thing is that the ring chariots can block the entry of horses, and can also enable the soldiers to follow the connected iron wall to stabilize their position and not lose their direction.
At night, we can take turns to rest. This is a mobile camp!"
Zhou Yafu's words made everyone's eyes light up, and they all praised: "The general is really wise and intelligent. He can actually make use of the discarded chariots. This is something we cannot do."
Zhou Yafu waved his hand casually and said, "These are just some insignificant tricks. If we want to defeat the Xiongnu, we can't just rely on these tricks. We still need you all to work together."
…
The Xiongnu were the overlords of the grassland. The huge Han army entered the grassland. It was impossible to hide this news from the Xiongnu royal court. Every tribe was the eyes of the Xiongnu royal court.
In particular, the Xiongnu tribes under the command of Qilian Chanyu were extremely united and quickly sent people to the Xiongnu royal court to report the news.
The envoy of King Zuoguli was the first to arrive at the Xiongnu court, because one of the grasslands closest to the Han court belonged to his tribe. The envoy of King Zuoguli said angrily: "Great Chanyu, the Han people have sent hundreds of thousands of troops into the grasslands, which is a declaration of war against the great Daxia. My king sent me to report to you that he will obey your orders and give the Han people the most severe blow."
Qilian Chanyu never expected that the Han people would actually take the initiative to attack the grassland. He almost laughed out loud. He had wanted to attack the Central Plains before, but was persuaded by everyone. He also became cowardly, so he gave up the idea of going to war with the Han court.
But he did not expect that the Han court would come to fight now. He immediately smiled and said, "Call the kings of all tribes. The great Xia Chanyu surrounded by the sun and the moon, in the name of the heaven, will issue a conscription order to all kings and nobles of the entire Great Xia Empire. Bring your livestock, bring your tribal herdsmen, pick up your weapons, wield your swords, mount your war horses, and follow me to fight until victory. The highest heaven, the great gods of Yanzhi Mountain and Qilian Mountain will bless us until victory."
The order from the Golden Horde court of the Chanyu soon reached the hands of the Xiongnu princes and nobles along with the messengers coming out from all directions. Many nobles began to pack up their tents and drove the livestock to gather together.
Once the war started, no one could ignore Qilian Chanyu. Whether his political skills were superb might still be debatable, but no one would doubt his ability to fight. He was called "the bravest warrior of Daxia" by all the Huns. He was a brave man who could tear tigers and leopards apart alive and even knock down a galloping warhorse.
Even though he was so brave, he was not a reckless man, but a cultured person who had learned the military tactics of the Central Plains. He was very clear about the superiority of the Central Plains culture, and only the people he trusted the most were qualified to read the books he got from the Central Plains.
Objectively speaking, Qilian Chanyu can be called the Little Overlord of the Xiongnu. In fact, as a person who is familiar with the affairs of the Central Plains, Qilian Chanyu does think that he and the Overlord of Chu are the same kind of people, and are unparalleled commanders and generals.
Countless Xiongnu scouts quickly spread out from various tribes, and then gathered here with Qilian Chanyu, waiting for Qilian Chanyu to arrange combat tasks. Mainly the four most critical kings, the Left and Right Wise Kings and the Left and Right Guli Kings. With the support of these four tribes, plus the power of the Xiongnu royal court, it is enough to shake all countries on the Eurasian continent.
Qilian Chanyu soon received the news that the Han army was divided into five routes. He was stunned at first, and then he immediately laughed out loud. "The Han army is so stupid that they divide the army into five routes on the grassland. This is simply a way to get defeated one by one. The Han people's military books have recorded such disadvantages, but they still made this mistake. This must be the blessing of the gods for Daxia.
"Pass on the Chanyu's order, gather the cavalry, first defeat the weakest group of Han people, cut off their connection, then surround and break through separately, don't let any Han people leave the grassland!"
Following Qilian Chanyu's order, tens of thousands of cavalrymen began to gallop across the grassland. These were almost the most elite cavalrymen in the entire grassland.
Zhou Yafu silently calculated the time, and then through the feedback from the scouts, he learned that many tribes had left their original grazing places. He smiled slightly, and abruptly changed the direction of the march. He changed his previous snail's pace and marched quickly using both chariots and cavalry.
…
As the situation on the grassland was turbulent, Luo Jing arrived at Zhaocheng and met Luo Ling directly. What surprised him was that Luo Ling seemed to know that he was coming. As soon as he walked in, he asked directly: "A Jing, are you here because of the war between the Han court and the Xiongnu?"
Luo Jing sat opposite Luo Ling and sighed, "That's right."
(End of this chapter)
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