This battle, in which they repelled the Xiongnu's siege of the city, broadened Zhang Liao's horizons.
Facing tens of thousands of Xiongnu people and their various simple and brutal siege tactics, the Great Wall army did not expend much effort.
Like a rock that stands firm amidst raging waves.
Despite the crashing waves, it remains unharmed.
It should be noted that when he was a minor official in Yanmen, the Xiongnu people frequently raided the border.
If a garrison in any part of Yanmen Commandery could behead ten or twenty Xiongnu soldiers, send their heads to the governor's office, and then report to the imperial court, it would be a great achievement.
Obtaining the heads of these twenty or so Xiongnu people required an immense amount of effort.
First of all, the Xiongnu people were skilled horsemen, adept at archery on horseback, and could traverse terrain with ease.
They are like wolves on the grassland, howling and darting about, slippery and elusive.
The garrison of Yanmen County would have to pay a heavy price to capture them.
Therefore, when the garrison of Yanmen Commandery saw the Xiongnu invading, they were generally unwilling to go to the pass to pursue and capture them; they were content to just guard the pass!
In addition, most of the troops in Bingzhou were recently transferred to Jizhou to help General Lu Zhi quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion, leaving even fewer troops in Yanmen, Ningwu, and Pianguan.
The thousand men escorting salt and iron that Zhang Liao led this time were the last remaining assets of the Bingzhou governor's office.
During the breakout at Luo County, facing several thousand Xiongnu cavalry, even with Lü Bu clearing the way and Zhang Liao covering the rear, they were still in dire need of assistance.
The Xiongnu were numerous and powerful, and the Xiongnu were only fighting and retreating. They never treated the Xiongnu like pigs and dogs and slaughtered them like this.
This battle stirred Zhang Liao's emotions.
Born into a wealthy merchant family in Mayi, he loved martial arts from a young age and mastered excellent skills.
However, the military strength of the Han people in the four prefectures of Yunzhong was weakened, and the Han people living in the four prefectures fled inland one after another.
Zhang Liao, however, chose to join the border army, becoming a border guard like his elder brother Zhang Xun, and driving out these foreign tribes.
Unfortunately, the border troops only guarded the pass and did not venture out.
After being discovered by Ding Yuan, he went to the governor's mansion, thinking he would be able to go to the frontier, but his first mission was to deliver supplies to the Xiongnu.
Now, I have the good fortune to meet the Marquis who has been the subject of much speculation in the border regions these days, who is said to be planning to reclaim the four prefectures of Yunzhong.
Moreover, he personally participated in the battle in which the Marquis's troops repelled the Xiongnu attack.
If this continues, one will gain at the expense of the other.
With the city's defenses and a variety of ingenious defensive tactics, Liu Wei's troops are sure to drive the Xiongnu to their knees.
Within three to five days, as long as the morale of the Xiongnu is low, the cavalry in the city will seize the opportunity to attack and surely cause the Xiongnu to suffer a complete defeat.
Zhang Liao also saw the cavalry of the Great Wall Legion in the city; it was an elite force.
Dressed in black armor and riding tall, magnificent horses, even the newly recruited Eight Colonels of the Western Garden Imperial Guard wouldn't have such equipment.
For a time, Liu Wei seemed to begin to believe Zhang Liao's claim that the Xiongnu could be annihilated in five days.
On the Xiongnu side, the 10,000 cavalry under King Wenyudi returned empty-handed.
Five hundred warriors who were trying to break through the gate were wiped out by the hot excrement poured down from the city wall. The entire army was wiped out, not a single one was spared.
Of the three thousand infantrymen and two thousand cavalrymen who participated in the siege, a total of one thousand were lost.
Despite the losses, King Wenyudi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
If we hadn't retreated in time and had continued the attack and fought at night, the losses would probably have been even greater.
In the eyes of the Han people, the Xiongnu's siege was like children playing house, showing off their skills in front of their ancestors.
That evening, Qiangqu Chanyu summoned the kings, commanders, marquises, and other ministers who had accompanied him on the expedition to discuss matters.
Inside the large tent, people were bustling about.
The air was filled with a strong smell of alcohol, mutton, and sweat.
The Xiongnu people only bathed three times in their lives: once at birth, once at marriage, and once at death.
Therefore, it's normal that they don't smell good.
Everyone was used to it, but the atmosphere inside the tent was somewhat oppressive.
Everyone was drinking silently, gnawing on their mutton without saying a word.
A series of smacking sounds,
"You mean the other party actually threw hot excrement and urine at you?"
After hearing the report from King Wenyudi, Qiangqu learned the reason for the failure of the first attack and was furious.
The Xiongnu, immune to all poisons, had nothing to fear from this.
However, many people present imagined the taste themselves, and the mutton in their mouths suddenly lost its appeal.
"Yes, Your Majesty! If I hadn't stopped the attack, the consequences would have been unimaginable!"
"The soldiers who were splashed with the liquid all had festering skin and were covered in blood and gore, as if they had contracted the plague!"
"If other soldiers also go up to attack, the casualties will be even greater."
plague!
It swept through the minds of everyone in the tent like a demon.
Speaking of which, the Xiongnu were the originators of "biological warfare".
As early as the Han Dynasty, when the Han Dynasty was fighting against the Xiongnu and the Xiongnu were suffering repeated defeats, the Xiongnu came up with a ruthless trick.
The Xiongnu shamans used rat excrement as a form of poison to infect warhorses and livestock.
This "poison" can cause livestock to become ill, but it won't cause them to develop the disease, thus making them a living source of infection.
The Han Dynasty was short of horses, and while defeating the Xiongnu, it also captured a large number of horses, cattle, and sheep.
As a result, these diseased livestock entered the Central Plains, especially the areas north of the Yangtze River.
When people are infected with this type of pathogen, they experience two types of symptoms:
Firstly, the patient's body will develop spots and sores, which is the origin of the word "injury";
Secondly, the patient will have a high fever and feel cold, hence the term "cold".
This is also the origin of typhoid fever!
Zhang Zhongjing, the medical sage of the Eastern Han Dynasty, had over a hundred members of his family die of typhoid fever over ten years, which forced him to research treatment methods, resulting in the "Treatise on Typhoid Fever".
Later, the Huns were driven further west, where they invaded Europe and used the same tactics to launch a new round of biological warfare.
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