Chapter 416 Battle Report
As the spring breeze blew across the earth, the lush green color reappeared in the world, and the war machine that the Han court had prepared for three years began to operate.
"Order the general, Marquis of Changping Wei Qing, to lead 100,000 infantry and cavalry out of Daijun and Youbeiping to attack the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting and the Zuoxian King's tribe. Order the general of the cavalry, Marquis of Guanjun Huo Qubing, to lead 30,000 elite cavalry out of Shuofang to attack the Xiongnu Youxian King's tribe. Order the general of the cavalry, Marquis of Wushuang Luo Wuji, to lead 30,000 elite cavalry out of Longxi to attack the Xiutu King and the Hunxie King's tribe."
Outside Chang'an City.
Thousands of knights in iron armor rode on horses, stretching as far as the eye could see, and the sound of horses neighing could be heard everywhere. These were the most elite cavalry in the entire Han court.
Later, there will be other good family sons who will join the army while marching, and countless young men from Guanzhong will follow along the way from Chang'an to Longxi.
There will also be hundreds of marquises and sons of generals who will accompany them on the expedition. Among these people, no one knows how many will be able to come back alive, but this is their fate. The feudal system does not support idle people.
"Wu Ji, just rush to Hexi and the Western Regions boldly. I will take care of the Right Wise King. Also, make sure you are safe and don't let your sister worry."
Huo Qubing said, putting his arm around Luo Wuji's shoulders.
Luo Wuji smiled and said, "I have the blessing of my ancestors, so nothing serious will happen to me. But you must pay attention to your physical condition during the march. If not for yourself, you must also think about your sister."
After saying this, he whipped his horse and said, "Qubing, I'm leaving. I'll meet you at the Xiongnu king's tent!"
Luo Wuzhi led a large army from Chang'an, and along the way he recruited good family men into the army in various counties. They all the way to Longxi County and were about to enter the Hexi Corridor. He already had 30,000 elite cavalry under his command.
He did not lead the infantry, because the infantry would only slow him down. This time he wanted to launch a surprise attack and defeat the Xiongnu king entrenched in the Hexi Corridor with lightning speed.
In Longxi County, Luo Wuzhi made a general mobilization before the war. The first thing he did was to worship King Su and the Lord of War Xiang Yu. Although the people in Guanzhong are a fusion of Qin, Luo and Chu people, the culture is mainly Luo and Chu, and the ancestral gods of Qin are being ignored.
"Brothers, once you leave Longxi County, you'll reach the Xiongnu's territory.
This time we have no logistical supplies except dry food. We will eat wherever we fight and let the Huns see the elegance of us Chinese men.
Spread the glory of the Suwang Emperor to the dark and barren lands!"
"Kill Hu!"
"Kill Hu!"
Once you leave Longxi County and walk a short distance, you will feel the vastness between heaven and earth, and a sense of desolation brought by the wind.
Luo Wuji looked at the vast grasslands and couldn't help but sigh: "This is a better horse farm than Henan. If we can raise horses here, the number of war horses in the Han Dynasty may reach hundreds of thousands. By then, we can completely suppress or even destroy the Xiongnu."
The Northwest, the northern frontier, and the Northeast are the three major horse-breeding areas, especially the Northwest. Sixty percent of the world's war horses come from here, and they are of excellent quality. They are all tall and strong horses, fast, have strong impact, and can run long distances. The only drawback is that they are not very durable. Not only are they not cold-resistant, but they also require careful care.
If they wanted to launch an offensive in winter, they had to use the war horses from the northern border, which were the Mongolian horses of later generations. Although they were smaller in size, they had thick skin and flesh, could endure hard battles, march for several consecutive days, and could fight at high intensity. The Mongols of later generations traveled across the world, and several westward expeditions were carried out with Mongolian horses.
Luo Wuzhi's goal was to attack the court of King Hunxie directly. The Huns would never have thought that tens of thousands of Han cavalry would raid Hexi, because in the eyes of the Huns, it was impossible for the Han people to suddenly have so many cavalry.
…
The warhorse ridden by Luo Wuji stepped over a pit of blood. Looking at the dust mixed with blood on the ground, Luo Wuji had no expression on his face. He slowly inserted the lance dripping with blood into the side of the warhorse.
A brave warrior stepped forward and asked, "Sir, what should we do with these Xiongnu prisoners?"
Luo Wuji said: "We only have 30,000 people, and we can't waste them all. Kill all the Xiongnu tribal leaders and their cronies, and let the slaves ride on horses and give them knives. Let them follow us. As long as they can kill a Xiongnu, we will pardon their slave status.
Take the dry food with you and throw away all the other baggage so as not to slow down the march."
"yes!"
After receiving the order, the brave warriors went down, and then there were dozens of sounds of knives cutting into flesh. The Xiongnu slaves looked at the Han army with fear, and then learned that they would not die, and immediately became ecstatic.
The Han army killed all the injured horses of the Huns, had a good meal, and then immediately mounted their horses and started on their journey.
After continuous and uninterrupted marching and running for hundreds of miles, Luo Wuji finally arrived at the royal court of King Hunxie. There were endless tents and no defenses at all!
Luo Wuji looked at this scene and laughed loudly: "The Huns are really unprepared. Brothers, follow me and kill them!"
…
In the Changle Palace in Chang'an.
Ever since the three armies set out from the border, Liu Che had been anxiously waiting for news. This was the first full-scale war between the Han Dynasty and the Huns, and the outcome was crucial.
He knew that the infantry and cavalry led by Changping Marquis Wei Qing would not be particularly effective, and their main function was to play a diversionary role. The battle report that came in said the same thing. Wei Qing led a large army in a fierce battle with the Xiongnu Zuoxian King's army, and the two sides were evenly matched. Zuoxian King's army could not break through the Han army's defenses, and the Han army had no ability to pursue.
Liu Che's real hope was on the two cavalry forces of Luo Wuji and Huo Qubing. Those 60,000 men were the most elite troops of the Han Dynasty. Countless amounts of money were invested in them. The hundreds of thousands of horses alone consumed countless amounts of iron and leather.
"His Majesty!
Wushuang Hou sent the battle report:
Since leaving Longxi County, I have led the army to travel hundreds of miles day and night, and successively defeated five Xiongnu tribes. I also launched a surprise attack on the camp of King Hunxie. King Hunxie was caught off guard and fled to the west. I captured and killed Xiongnu nobles alive, including princes, vice kings, captains, porters, prime ministers and 73 others. In addition, I captured 12,773 people from King Hunxie's tribe.
The army of King Hunxie is still there, and I am heading west to hunt down King Hunxie and wait for an opportunity to destroy King Xiutu's army!"
Liu Che didn't expect to receive such good news so soon. He couldn't help but clap his hands and cheer, unable to hide the joy on his face.
Once a battle report arrived, it meant that the fighting between the two sides had already begun, and Huo Qubing's battle report would soon arrive.
“Report!
Your Majesty, the Champion Marquis has sent in the battle report."
"read!"
"The Champion Marquis went all the way north from Shuofang, crossed the Gobi Desert, and raided the camp of the Right Wise King in Dalan, Xiongnu. The two sides fought fiercely and captured 23,000 Xiongnu heads. The Right Wise King fled westward, and the Champion Marquis was chasing him."
Liu Che slowly sat down at the table and finally felt relieved.
He was relieved, but King Hunxie and King Youxian cursed, "These damn Han people, what kind of evil tools did they hang on their war horses?
How unfortunate it is to suddenly have so many powerful cavalrymen!"
"We must inform the Chanyu court immediately that the Han people have a large number of cavalry and we are completely unable to stop them."
…
When Chang'an received the battle report, Luo Wuzhi had already been chasing King Hunxie and killing him all the way. Thousands of Huns died at the hands of the Han army almost every day.
King Hunxie and King Xiutu were both relatively large royal courts of the Xiongnu, ruling over a population of nearly 100,000 and millions of cattle and sheep, but they felt vulnerable when facing Luo Wuji.
In fact, it was because of the previous raid that King Hunxie's elite troops were almost completely lost, and the entire Hunxie King's army was in chaos. They could not organize a normal counterattack in the process of fleeing. Moreover, Luo Wuzhi was very bold to accept the Huns into the army. These Huns were originally gathered together, and in fact the tribal conflicts and contradictions among them were even greater than those between the Han and the Huns.
Luo Wuji incorporated a small Yuezhi tribe, a tribe that had a blood feud with the Xiongnu and had the same origin as the Dayuezhi who migrated to the Western Regions. Luo Wuji named them the Yuezhi Yicong. These people fought the Xiongnu more vigorously than the Han army, and were even better at dividing the Xiongnu internally, because they could clearly distinguish the racial differences within the Xiongnu.
This made Luo Wu Ji's journey to the west much smoother. After chasing for more than 300 miles, Luo Wu Ji gradually stopped. He observed the map in his hand, thinking about King Hunxie's escape route.
"We can't go all the way west anymore. King Xiutu must be prepared. We should turn north now, cross the desert to Guyan, and then turn back and attack from behind. King Xiutu will definitely not be prepared.
Send a war report to Chang'an immediately, report the gains during this period, and explain the general's intentions to His Majesty. We will set out immediately and cannot wait for His Majesty's order. Let's go!"
When a general is away from the court, he may not obey some orders from the king.
Not to mention a general like Luo Wuzhi who had marched thousands of miles away. All the emperor could get were letters of battle reports, either victory or defeat. It was absolutely impossible for him to give orders or command.
Even if he could send planes to drop instructions and give micro-management commands in this era, Luo Wuji would not listen.
Another battle report came from the front line. Liu Che listened with a smile. Each battle report was about victory. Who wouldn't be proud?
“Your Majesty, after Wushuang Hou defeated King Hunxie’s army, he captured another 22,000 people and accepted the surrender of 12,000 people. The main force of King Hunxie’s army has been completely annihilated.
King Hunxie fled to King Xiutu's tribe with a small army.
Marquis Wushuang sent a letter saying that there was a high probability that King Xiutu's tribe had begun to be alert. In order to avoid causing huge damage, he would lead the army to turn north across the desert, then march west, and then turn back to the south to raid King Xiutu's tribe.
When the battle report arrives, he should already be in the desert Gobi, and will send back the battle report after defeating King Xiutu's tribe."
Liu Che immediately stood up and looked at the geomancy map hanging on the wall. He drew a line at Luo Wuji's marching direction and laughed out loud, "Marquis Wushuang is truly a man of great skill and courage!"
In the desert Gobi, Luo Wuzhi was leading his army on a difficult march.
(End of this chapter)
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