Chapter 405: The End of the War
Along with the sound of rapid horse hooves and deafening shouts of killing, Huo Qubing and Luo Wuji were riding BMWs, almost leading the way, with personal guards and brave warriors guarding on both sides, like arrows shot from a bow.
The ghost of Youguli King was about to jump out of his skin, and he said in horror: "Where did this group of Han soldiers come from? Meet the enemy!"
But it was completely useless. In this era where communication was basically based on shouting, it was all too common for a crowd to become chaotic, especially since the Huns had poor discipline. Faced with Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing who suddenly rushed out from the flank, the Hun army instinctively met the enemy, then were shot by a wave of arrows and quickly covered their faces and lowered their heads.
There were more than ten thousand people, stretching across the sky, not to mention that the Huns' march was long and narrow, and it stretched for a very long distance, and the grassland was different from the plains.
The plain is flat, and everything can be seen clearly from dozens or hundreds of meters away or even further.
The grassland is not flat, but undulating. The slope may be very gentle, but after tens or hundreds of meters, there is still a drop of several meters, which is far greater than the height of a person or a horse.
This created a very scary situation. The marching soldiers could not actually see people in the distance. They did not know what was happening and could only hear fierce shouts and the sounds of fighting.
Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing rushed out from both sides. Although the number of their soldiers was only one-third of that of the Huns, their absolute numbers in a head-on battle were overwhelming.
There is no such thing as a war in which the weak defeats the strong. Victory is achieved by forcing the weak, just like the most famous Battle of Feishui. The hundreds of thousands of troops of the Former Qin Dynasty seemed extremely strong on the surface, but at the same time they had two negative effects: internal instability and Fu Jian's command. The final result was that the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which was united in defending its territory, became stronger.
The purpose of both sides' calculations was to put themselves in a strong position in the war. For example, Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing now had all the advantages, and the Huns' army could not be stopped at all. The Huns' nobles had a characteristic, that is, once they found that they could not win, they would decisively slip away. King Youguli concluded in a short time that he could not stop this wave of Han army at all, and he guessed that this wave of Han army must be the same one that defeated King Aries before.
Without putting up any resistance, King Youguli directly left with his Golden Guards. In order to allow others to provide cover, he did not even notify them to retreat. This was clearly sending others to their deaths, and the longer he could delay, the better.
King Youguli was naturally heartbroken that so many herdsmen and slaves died here, as these were all his private property. But if he did not run away, he himself would have died here.
After Luo Wuji saw this, he exchanged glances with Huo Qubing and said, "The King of Youguli is running too fast. We can't catch up with him. Defeat this Xiongnu army!"
Huo Qubing also understood that the Xiongnu king ran too decisively. With so many people in front of him, they could not catch up at all. However, once the King of Youguli ran away, the Xiongnu were completely leaderless. Then Huo Qubing and Luo Wuji asked the Xiongnu in the army to shout loudly: "The King of Youguli has run away, the King of Youguli has run away!"
When the Huns who were fighting fiercely with the Han army saw the location of King Youguli, they found that he had really disappeared. Only smoke and dust were left billowing away. In an instant, all their will to resist disappeared completely.
In a tribal state like the Xiongnu, except for the herdsmen who had close relations with the royal court, most of the Xiongnu people were like semi-slaves. You would think too much if you expected such people to love the Xiongnu and be willing to die for them. Not to mention the Xiongnu, even in the Ming Dynasty, where the debate between Chinese and barbarians had lasted for thousands of years, the resistance of the lower-class people was not fierce until the order to shave their heads.
If the Qing army had not entered the pass, they would have been oppressed by the landlords, wealthy people, and literati, and had to pay so many exorbitant taxes that they could not even survive. After the Qing army entered the pass, although they still could not survive, at least those damn landlords and many literati also died under the swords of the Qing army, and this was enough to make the people feel comforted.
The Huns had lost their fighting spirit, but the Han army was full of fighting spirit. Huo Qubing immediately said, "Brother Wuji, these are the elite of the Huns. This is a great opportunity!"
Luo Wuji immediately understood what Huo Qubing meant. The armor rate of these Huns was obviously higher than that of King Aries' army, and they were also equipped with more war horses. This was the army that King Youguli led to provide support. The proportion of herdsmen temporarily recruited was relatively low. Such elite troops were now in such a mess, like cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
Luo Wuji immediately raised his lance high and shouted, "Kill!"
The two men knew without even communicating that there would be no prisoners in this battle. After all, they still had to march hundreds of miles and it was impossible for them to carry a time bomb like the Hun prisoners.
In ancient wars, when an army with complete formation attacked a disorderly army, the only way to describe it is to kill them indiscriminately. The disorderly army was only concerned with escaping and had no intention of resisting at all. The soldiers of the two captains' divisions formed a goose formation and directly slaughtered people layer by layer.
The battle ended quickly. Half of the Huns fled in the direction they came from. Those who tried to escape to the east were all caught up and killed. There were so many corpses on the ground that basically every person had an ear left.
In this kind of battle with favorable wind, the Han army suffered relatively few casualties and everyone was in high spirits.
The most precious thing was the large number of horses left behind at the scene. After this fierce battle, many horses ridden by the Han army were injured, and their hooves had begun to swell. They could no longer bear the heavy task of galloping hundreds of miles, so they could only be left here to fend for themselves.
Huo Qubing rode past and asked loudly, "Brother Wuji, we have roughly counted the spoils. Do you need a rest?"
Luo Wuji replied loudly: "No need, it's too dangerous to stay here, and there are important matters to deal with. Don't let the general wait any longer, march immediately."
As the Han army left, only corpses were left on the ground, proving that this place had just experienced a brutal battle, which was very brutal for the Huns.
After this battle, the Han army had become one man with five horses, and the marching speed, which had been slightly delayed due to the concern for horsepower, was immediately increased.
March, rest, eat, and recover strength, march again, rest again, eat again, and recover strength.
Life on the grassland is so simple and unpretentious. Long-term raids place high demands on generals. After all, raids are not just about reaching the destination, but also about ensuring combat effectiveness. This tests the generals' understanding of the physical condition of the soldiers and requires them to rest at the right time.
After marching for hundreds of miles, the two of them stopped at the same time and listened to the noise coming from afar.
"It's time to let the soldiers have a good rest and wait for the opportunity in the early morning."
"Get ready for battle. Beyond this hill to the south is the Loufan Kingdom."
…
King Loufan was drinking heavily in his tent. The fierce battles with the Han army in the past few days made him feel relieved. He boasted to everyone, "The Han army is just so-so. Tens of thousands of troops were blocked by me and could not move forward. King Baiyang was defeated by a few thousand Han soldiers. He is really a waste."
After saying this, he burst into laughter. If King Aries knew in his grave how King Loufan had framed him, he would probably be so angry that he would come back to life and fight to the death with King Loufan.
After the banquet, the entire Loufan King's tribe fell into silence. Only the scouts on night watch were on guard against the sudden attack of Wei Qing's army. Piles of bonfires were burning, providing vision for these night blindness patients.
But at the same time, these bonfires completely exposed the whereabouts of the Huns. Taking advantage of the dim moonlight, Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing changed their previous surprise attack and slowly led their troops to the distance of the Huns' camp. It was unrealistic for an army of thousands of people to approach directly for a night attack.
When Gan Ning led a hundred cavalrymen to attack the enemy camp and his feat shocked the world, there were only a hundred of them, so Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing brought a small number of people to the front of the camp to search for targets to attack.
Luo Wuji whispered: "Qubing, I can see at night as clearly as during the day. Do you see those bonfires? That is the golden tent of the Loufan King's court. But I don't know if the Loufan King will be the same as the Aries King, but there shouldn't be many eccentrics like the Aries King.
The terrain we are standing on happens to be relatively high, so the soldiers can charge from the left side. The right side is a little steep, and there seem to be some gravel washed by the river, which will hurt the horses. I don't recommend going there."
Huo Qubing pondered and said, "When the time comes, we will charge down from the left side, and then send the remaining horses of inferior quality down from other directions, and attack the Huns' camp together, and also confuse them."
After some discussion, the two men decided on a strategy for attack, and then quietly waited for the time when the men and horses were most tired. The Han army had already rested before, and this was the time when they were most energetic.
Time passed quickly, and soon it was the darkest time before dawn. The sound of swords being unsheathed could be heard. Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing mounted their horses and said, "After this battle, we will return to Chang'an to celebrate our victory!"
The war horses began to trot slowly down the gentle slope, and then their speed became faster and faster. Even the wrapped horse hooves could not cover up the noise. Especially as the war horses got closer and closer, the Huns realized that it must be the Han army coming to raid the camp.
But at this time the Huns made a fatal mistake, they thought it was Wei Qing's troops who raided the camp, so the Huns soldiers who were always ready to deal with the raid, all led by their chief officer, headed towards Wei Qing's troops.
Wei Qing was also waiting for this opportunity. He shouted to the Han army generals who had been waiting for a long time: "Order all camps, and send all troops to attack King Loufan tonight. Victory or defeat depends on this one move."
The Han army, which had not launched an all-out attack before, lit all the torches under Wei Qing's command, making it as bright as day. The cavalry rushed directly forward. This was the first time Wei Qing used cavalry in this way. Previously, he would only use cavalry at critical moments.
This was actually to cover up Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing. The Huns were fooled. In the darkness, people were extremely insensitive to directions and extremely sensitive to sounds. By the time they realized that there were not only the sounds of horse hooves in front of them but also behind them, it was already too late.
What Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing faced was a Huns camp that was completely defenseless against them, and the Huns camp didn't even have chevaux de frise or anything like that. After all, there were not so many trees on the grassland for them to make these siege and defense equipment, highlighting its simplicity.
A total of six or seven thousand cavalrymen rushed into the Huns' camp unhindered. No one paid any attention to the endless tents. Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing only had eyes for the tent of the King of Loufan.
The two men, with hundreds of the most elite soldiers, collided directly with the Golden Guards of King Loufan. In almost an instant, people and horses were thrown to the ground. Luo Wuji, holding the horse lance in his hand, smashed it hard, directly making a hole in the armor of the Xiongnu soldier. Although the armor was not broken, the man was obviously dead. Luo Wuji even felt a little pain in his hand due to the shock. After all, he was not a strong man like Xiang Yu who had the ceiling of martial arts and could directly break armor.
"No problem, go on."
Huo Qubing shouted loudly, and then threw a heavy object directly at him. Luo Wuji stretched out his hand to catch it, and it turned out to be a blunt hammer. Huo Qubing laughed and said, "To hit these armored soldiers, we need a hammer."
As he said that, he swung his hammer with one hand and easily killed a Hun soldier. The two hammers were captured from the Huns before. After all, carrying a sword, a lance, a bow, a crossbow, arrows and armor on a long journey was very heavy, and generally no one would carry a hammer.
"Thank you!"
Luo Wuzhi held the horse lance in his right hand and the sledgehammer in his left hand and started swinging. The martial arts values of both of them were over 90. They were certainly not as strong as Xiang Yu, but they could kill each of these miscellaneous soldiers with one hammer.
Under the beating of two super fierce men, Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing, together with brave warriors and the Han guards, the two of them directly charged into the king's tent, and then saw a Hun noble with feathers on his head and a gray face.
"Are you King Loufan?"
Huo Qubing raised his whip and asked sternly.
"I am."
At this point, lying was useless. Although King Loufan was unwilling, he still admitted it readily.
Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing burst into laughter upon hearing this. "We caught you. Take him away and reunite with uncle!"
Outside the king's tent, the fighting was raging and the ground was covered with blood, but the outcome was already decided!
————
From historical records, it can be concluded that the Battle of Mobei and Moxi was originally a pure battle in Henan Province, but the unexpected victory of the Han Dynasty caused the Han Dynasty to quickly change its strategic goals and launch a super-large-scale battle that affected Mobei and Moxi.
The victory of this war completely eliminated the threat of the Xiongnu to the border of the Han Dynasty. Henan, namely the Hetao Plain, returned to the hands of the Han Dynasty. This was a heavy blow to the economy of the Xiongnu Empire, but the Han Dynasty obtained the most critical war resources, a large number of horses, which greatly enhanced the Han Dynasty's war potential. After this battle, the situation between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu changed from strategic stalemate to strategic offense, and the initiative of the war fell into the hands of the Han Dynasty.
Huo Qubing and Luo Wuji, two talented cavalry commanders, stood out in this war, opening the history of the Han Dynasty's magnificent foreign offensive and expansion. ——"The Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty"
(End of this chapter)
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