"Your Majesty, the revenge for the Second Prince and the thirty thousand warriors must be taken!"
“We must not only wipe out this prince and his entire retinue, but also make the second prince and his followers pay with their lives.”
"We must also storm into Yanmen Pass, plunder Bingzhou, and make the emperor of the Central Plains apologize to us."
The Right Grand Commandant also looked fierce, gritting his teeth.
Hufro's relationship with him was unusual; he was his brother-in-law.
Of the 30,000 Xiongnu cavalry, 10,000 were his followers, and his daughter was captured by the Han people.
"Grand Commandant Lan, you are resourceful and wise. Tell me, what should we do now?"
Qiangqu looked at the other leaders, each with their own thoughts.
Only the Right Grand Commandant's family had a marriage alliance with the Chanyu's family, thus binding the interests of both families together.
Although Yufuluo may not become the Chanyu, he will be a tribal king in the future.
But now that he has been beheaded by the Han people, the bet made by the Right Grand Commandant has suddenly become meaningless.
He naturally hated the Han Chinese army in Shanwu City to the core.
The Right Grand Commandant pondered for a moment, then slowly said:
"Your Majesty, before we discuss how to attack Shanwu, I think we should clarify one issue first, which concerns the prince of the Han Dynasty!"
"Um?"
Qiang Qu frowned. "Right Grand Commandant, what do you mean by that?"
The Right Grand Commandant analyzed:
"If the Han Dynasty sent this prince to recapture the four commanderies of Yunzhong, then there must be other troops coming to his aid!"
"According to the past practice of the Han Dynasty, they would launch an attack in several routes."
"But since we assembled a large army from Meiji to Shanwu, there has been no movement in the three places of Yanmen, Loufan, Pianguan, and Bingzhou. Apart from a 1,000-strong army that delivered salt and iron to us, no large army has left the pass."
Qiangqu's eyes lit up, as if he had caught some key information: "Continue!"
Meanwhile, King Zhu Ri, King Jian Jiang, King Gu Li, King Wen Yu Di, as well as officials such as Marquis Gu Du and Qie Qu, also pricked up their ears, eager to hear what the Right Grand Commandant would say next.
"This prince is said to have been demoted to Shuofang and enfeoffed there. Before leaving the pass, he only had about twenty followers. This has been confirmed by the two burly envoys."
"But after this prince came out of seclusion, he suddenly acquired such an elite army without authorization!"
"As far as I know, even the current governor's office of Bingzhou doesn't have this many troops."
Qiangqu and other Xiongnu officials couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Since they wanted to raid Bingzhou, they naturally had to pay attention to the military situation there.
They also inquired about the garrison troops stationed in the four neighboring prefectures of Yanmen, Taiyuan, Xihe, and Daijun.
In the entire Bingzhou region, the Han Chinese population combined in the three passes of Pianguan, Loufan, and Yanmen was less than ten thousand.
There are now more than 10,000 soldiers in Shanwu City.
They knew nothing about such a large-scale military operation.
This army of over ten thousand seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
"That's right, even if the Xianbei people helped him, they couldn't possibly assemble such an elite army!"
“I know about the Xianbei tribe over at Yehuling. Their leader, Budugen, only has about 100,000 followers, of whom only three to five thousand are capable warriors.”
The Xiongnu officials whispered among themselves.
Seeing the crowd discussing, the Right Grand Commandant coughed lightly:
"My deduction is that the central government had no idea that such an army existed outside the Great Wall!"
"This prince is a privately-run armed force, which, in the eyes of the Han Chinese court in the Central Plains, is treason and a heinous crime."
Qiangqu was taken aback: "So what?"
After analyzing for a long time, the Right Grand Commandant came to this conclusion.
"He is a prince who commands an army of ten thousand men; he is a threat to us!"
"Wouldn't that also pose a threat to the emperor of the Han Dynasty?"
"Even to the other princes of the Han Dynasty and their supporters, aren't they a huge threat?"
Qiangqu was able to become the Chanyu (ruler of the Xiongnu) because he possessed some strategic acumen and political skill.
Upon hearing the words of the Right Grand Commandant, he immediately understood the key point.
This prince, by amassing a powerful army beyond the Great Wall, posed a threat to certain individuals within the court.
"So, what can we get?" Qiangqu asked.
"Then this person is a thorn in the side of some people in the Han Dynasty. If we ask them for money, grain, salt, iron, weapons, and armor!"
"Wouldn't they agree even more readily?" the Right Grand Commandant coaxed.
"Hey!"
Qiangqu retorted angrily, "You're only realizing this now. We're already at the gates of Shanwu, and we've already suffered a defeat in our first battle."
"What I need is a strategy to defeat the enemy and breach the city walls, not your analysis!"
"What's the point of saying this now?"
"Even if the Han Dynasty gives us money, food, and weapons, who knows when that will be!"
"We still haven't received those tens of thousands of kilograms of salt and iron that were supposed to be delivered to us."
It turned out that Qiangqu had already received a report from the Left Grand Commandant.
Three thousand cavalrymen surrounded Ding Yuan and his party from Bingzhou at an abandoned city on the road from Luo County to Yanmen Pass.
However, despite launching several attacks in succession, Ding Yuan's thousand men held the city and resisted fiercely.
The Left Grand Commandant not only failed to capture him, but also suffered heavy losses of cavalry.
"Your Majesty, this is exactly the suggestion I wanted to give you!"
"Since we are not good at attacking cities, let's surround the city first and notify the Left Wise King to come quickly and keep them trapped for ten days or half a month."
"During this period, I will ride a fast horse to Bingzhou to report to the Han court."
"I'm sure there are many people watching this prince's movements. They've heard that he has so many troops, and they'll ask us to help them!"
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