(Does anyone know about the Scourge of God in the West?)
After the remaining tens of thousands of Xianbei and Wuhuan cavalry fled to Touman City, they were not allowed to enter the city by the Xiongnu who had not yet migrated there. Instead, they scoffed at their claims that the Han army had betrayed them. Even if it were true, they would never let these enemies, who had previously slaughtered their people without mercy, into the city.
Faced with this situation and with time running out, the cavalry of both tribes had no choice but to attack the city.
Having witnessed the power of artillery and rifles, they knew that on the open grasslands they were nothing more than targets for the Han army's guns and arrows. They were no match for the Han army, which possessed rifles and artillery. Only by fighting in urban streets and restricting the Han army's weaponry could they have a chance to survive. Moreover, they didn't have much time left. The Han army could arrive at any moment. They had to capture Touman City at all costs, otherwise they would be caught in a pincer movement between the Han army and the Xiongnu within Touman City, with nowhere to escape.
On the other side, Cao Cao did not pursue them as the two tribes had imagined. He only left one division of the army to guard against them. Two of the remaining three divisions quickly launched attacks on the Xianbei tribes on the grasslands in regiments, while the other attacked the Wuhuan Kingdom, preventing the Wuhuan Kingdom from coming to their aid.
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"A tenfold to a hundredfold increase in vitality can only delay its death and enhance its wound recovery ability. It can make it immune to some powerful venoms, and the speed of wound healing will be visible to the naked eye. The speed of physical recovery will also be much faster, but it still cannot create an immortal body. The speed of recovery still cannot keep up with the speed of death." In the pharmacy in Shangdang City, Wang Han looked at the dead rabbit, made some notes on a piece of paper with modern characters and symbols, and then threw the dead rabbit aside.
"My lord, the Xiongnu prisoners have been delivered," Hua Tuo said as he approached Wang Han.
Upon hearing this, Wang Han wiped his hands clean and asked, "Is everyone ready?"
"My lord, everyone is ready," Hua Tuo quickly replied, then cautiously asked, "My lord, do we really have to do this?"
"If we want to make rapid progress in medicine and save more lives, sacrifice is necessary." Wang Han nodded and said, "We cannot sacrifice our civilians and soldiers, so we can only sacrifice prisoners. Only by advancing medicine can we save more lives."
"Moreover, the promotion of medicine in the future will require a lot of experience and experiments as the foundation of medical knowledge. The foundation of medicine can indeed rely on long-term accumulation, but this time is very long, possibly decades or even hundreds of years. I can't wait that long, so it is necessary to do this." Wang Han continued, "Hua Tuo, in order to promote medicine in the future and enable everyone to see a doctor when they are sick, you don't have any mental burden."
"Yes," Hua Tuo quickly replied, "Your subordinate understands."
Seeing that Hua Tuo understood, Wang Han nodded in satisfaction. As they walked, he asked Hua Tuo, "Also, how's the task I asked you to do—to preserve five portions of all the medicinal herbs in the world using tree resin?"
Upon hearing this, Hua Tuo quickly replied, "My lord, I have already carried out your instructions. Apart from some rare medicinal herbs that are really hard to find, only one or two portions were found, or even none at all, the rest have been preserved."
Wang Han asked, "What other medicinal herbs are we missing?"
Upon hearing this, Hua Tuo quickly said, "My lord, the herbs that have not yet been preserved include the Blood Orchid of the Western Regions, the Datura of the Desert, Chalcedony, Jade Insect, Nine-Leaf Flower... These herbs are either extremely rare, even once in a hundred years, or grow in extremely dangerous places, or are produced in places far away in the Western Regions, or even further away."
"Just do your best and prepare one for me," Wang Han nodded and said.
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When the Xianbei and Wuhuan cavalry captured Touman City with over 20,000 casualties, what awaited them was not the Han army following closely behind, but the Xianbei refugees.
It was only then that they learned that the Han army had not pursued them, but had left only a portion of its troops to defend them, while the rest of the army had turned around to clear out the Xianbei tribes on the grasslands, and had intentionally driven the fleeing Xianbei towards Touman City.
"Damn Han people!" The Xianbei general stood on the city wall, cursing as he looked at the fleeing Xianbei. However, he dared not fight the Han army on the open grassland. The Han army still had 40,000 troops watching them, and on the open grassland, those 40,000 troops were enough to wipe them out.
Now that there was no way to provide aid, he could only watch his people fleeing to Touman City while ordering the city walls to be reinforced. He knew that since the Han army's goal was to occupy the grasslands, they would not allow them to pose a threat in Touman City. After they occupied the grasslands, they would definitely mobilize a large army to attack Touman City, and he had to prepare in advance.
"We must find a way. We can't just sit here and wait to die. Otherwise, if the Han army regroups and attacks again, even if we hold Touman City, we'll be trapped and die inside," said the Wuhuan general. Although they hadn't seen any Wuhuan people among the refugees yet, once the Han army wiped out the Xianbei, it would truly be the Wuhuan's turn. After all, the three most powerful forces on the grasslands and in the desert were the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, and the Wuhuan. The Han army had eliminated the other two; they couldn't allow the Wuhuan to become the dominant power.
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Today, fewer than 300,000 Xiongnu remain, and they are already on their way to migrate westward. Facing attacks from the Han army, the Xianbei, and the Wuhuan, they have suffered heavy casualties and gradually lost their right to survive on the grasslands. They had no choice but to begin a massive westward migration, and because of the haste, they didn't even bring many essential supplies. Even now, with the Han army turning against the Xianbei and Wuhuan, they have no way to return. The Xiongnu are now greatly weakened, their population almost halved, and those remaining are mostly the old, weak, and disabled.
Even so, the Xiongnu's inherent ferocity remained. Coupled with their current dire situation, almost everyone who could take up arms did so, and they plundered supplies along the way to survive during their migration.
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