Chapter 179 It’s hard to escape even if you have wings

September 15th, on the outskirts of Anyi city.

Liu Qubei led more than a hundred Xiongnu knights to the temporary military camp. When he arrived, the morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the camp's carriages and luggage were all packed.

The Guanzhong knight team that is about to set off is taking the time to feed their horses.

More than 3,000 Guanzhong knights are here, and outside are Liu Qubei's scouts, blocking the exchange of information between the inside and the outside.

In the center of the camp, Cui Yan, wearing a red-collared armor, was gesturing back and forth on the map with a whip in his hand.

Black Bear sat on a portable stool and looked down. After marching fifty miles today, he would arrive at Wenxi County according to the plan and station on the south bank of the Sushui River.

Tomorrow, after making an oath of alliance with the Inspector of the Imperial Capital Yuan Tan and the Chanyu Huchuquan, we will march into Luoyang.

At least, that's what Yuan Tan said about the script he gave to Huchuquan.

Qian Zhao's scenario was to attack and capture the royal court nobles headed by Huochequan, force them to surrender, and then directly reorganize the Xiongnu mercenaries.

For the sake of efficiency, this reorganization process must be rough.

Liu Qubei also has his own script. Don’t Cui Yan and Huchequan have their own little scripts?

At this moment, Black Bear told Cui Yan his little script.

Liu Qubei left his guards waiting outside. He quickly walked to the chariot and bowed: "General Hei, Lord Cui, there has been no movement north of Anyi since nightfall."

Cui Yan pointed at the road between Anyi and Wenxi with his whip, and looked up at Black Bear: "As you wish, General. After nightfall, I will close the four gates of Anyi and order all counties to prepare troops to resist the enemy. At four o'clock tomorrow morning, I will send a thousand soldiers north to help in the battle!"

"We'll talk about what happens next later, let's just do what's in front of us first."

Black Bear rolled up the cowhide map, stood up and looked at Liu Qubei through the mask: "This is the first time we have dealt with each other. It is meaningless to say anything now. Let's discuss other things in detail after I capture Huochuquan."

"Yes, General, you are right. I dare not expect anything more."

Liu Qubei wore the armor and robes of a Han army general, and even his guards were equipped with the Han army's tube-sleeved armor, rather than the inlaid leather armor and nailed leather armor used by the elite Xiongnu.

"Then let's go."

Black Bear handed the map to a personal soldier, who tied the map with a rope and put it into a waterproof paint bucket. Black Bear turned around and climbed onto the chariot, then put on the helmet handed to him by another personal soldier.

The chariots were put into use, and more than thirty chariots provided by Hedong moved in a line.

There were no extra baggage wagons, and all the supplies and tents were carried by horses.

Cui Yan watched the Guanzhong knights set off. As he watched the horses' hooves heading north, his heartbeat quickened and his emotions gradually became excited.

Liu Qubei's rough face showed no emotion. When he was in his prime, he led his troops to rescue and support the emperor's eastward migration.

Having suffered a great loss at the hands of Li Jue, the Huya Army quickly integrated Guanzhong, which means that the Huya Army is definitely more powerful than Li Jue back then!
After so many years of chaos in Guanzhong, the average level of those who survived, especially the army, is definitely higher than that of the Huns.

For example, at this moment, only Liu Qubei's personal soldiers were generally seven feet tall, or close to seven feet tall.

And what about the Guanzhong knights in front of him?

If you are not seven feet two or three inches tall, you are not even qualified to be a subordinate or cannon fodder!

What shocked him even more was that the Guanzhong cavalry before him were mostly young and strong, with very few, if any, veterans over the age of 40.

Thanks to the great changes in Guanzhong, the morale of this army was even stronger.

The arsenals of the ten tribes in Guanzhong were confiscated, so that these more than 3,000 cavalrymen from Guanzhong were all well-armored, just like the legendary heavenly soldiers and royal army.

Good armor can indeed effectively deter the enemy.

Watching the teams of Guanzhong knights leave, Cui Yan asked, "How is the royal court doing?"

The royal court was in Pingyang, which was located between Taiyuan and Hedong.

Because the Southern Xiongnu royal court migrated and settled here, Pingyang became an actual separate region.

Also due to the large-scale migration of the Southern Xiongnu, there were almost no registered households in the counties of Taiyuan County.

Competition and conflict between farming and nomadism are inevitable.

The crops in the fields will not run away, and there is no need to set up fences to prevent the crops from escaping.

Cattle, sheep and other livestock are different. They will run around and love to damage crops in the fields.

For people who are used to nomadic life, it is difficult to overcome the laziness in their nature.

Productivity is very limited, and it is impossible to set up or build fences to block the herds of animals.

Just like the classic story of sheep eating people, Taiyuan's registered households and self-employed farmers have been eaten up over the years.

They could either surrender to the Xiongnu tribes, or become followers of local powerful families, or they could stick together and hold their ground.

This also led to the fact that Bingzhou, or the so-called county soldiers or Bingzhou soldiers from Taiyuan, were actually a coalition of powerful forces.

The various Xiongnu tribes frantically occupied land in the Taiyuan Basin, but the royal court did not gain any decisive advantage.

It’s just that the royal court controls sacrifices and cultural heritage, which is very important to the various Xiongnu tribes.

Each ministry would send people to the royal court to learn about various cultures, which was equivalent to an alternative living map.

If we catch these people, we can follow the clues.

Liu Qubei's younger brother is currently in the Pingyang Royal Court.

Cui Yan wanted to know the situation of Wang Ting, but Liu Qubei was helpless: "Huchuquan is on guard. Wang Ting has more than 3,000 cavalrymen, and my brother has only dozens of people. It is difficult for us to do anything. I am also afraid that the secret letter will leak the military information, so I dare not communicate with Wang Ting."

"It's better not to know. I'm just afraid of other variables."

Cui Yan sighed, and Liu Qubei asked: "Are they really going to attack the royal court?"

"If the royal court is in chaos, all the tribes will inevitably be in chaos. If hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses fight, Taiyuan and Hedong will be reduced to ruins."

Seeing Cui Yan's expression was a little cold, Liu Qubei immediately said: "Now the Xiongnu tribes are stable, not because of Huochuquan's ability, but because he can mediate disputes and unite the weak to check and balance the majority. The king's court was attacked, and most of the Xiongnu tribes no longer have checks and balances, which is not a blessing for us."

“I can’t change this.”

Cui Yan said, cupping his hands: "Black Tiger Fang once said that the ancestral tombs of Wei Huo have now become a grazing ground for the Xiongnu. If we continue to let it go, the land of Jin will belong to the Xiongnu. From now on, Guanzhong will be attacked from three sides, which is not a long-term solution." "Ah~!"

When Liu Qubei heard Cui Yan mention Wei Huo, he sighed and asked, "Who is your Right Wise King?"

"I will give it to you. If you want to be the Chanyu, I think Black Tiger Fang will help you."

As Cui Yan spoke, he glanced at the Xiongnu noble who had attached himself to the Liu family. Even though his ancestors had imperial blood, he was now a mixed-up person. With a rough, dark and yellow face and a pair of blue eyes, he didn't look like a descendant of the imperial family at all.

The fact that he was able to get close to the Liu family shows that Liu Qubei was at least a descendant of a branch of Chanyu Luanti.

It was also because of the migration south to Pingyang that the Xiongnu nobles began to change their surnames.

It seems that this way, it is easier to gain the favor of the big families in Hedong and Taiyuan.

Black Bear's troops were still moving slowly northward, with his chariot leading the way.

It is an armed formation march, so we have to stop and go frequently to ensure that there is sufficient horsepower at all times.

Around noon, we followed the highway to the south of Wenxi County.

On the south bank of the Sushui River, Black Bear stood on the car and looked at the county town four or five miles away. Soldiers were standing in line on the city with bright flags of various colors.

There was a wooden bridge in front of them. Wang Xiu, who had returned to Wenxi earlier, was now leading a corvée team of more than 300 people to level the land and build a warm and sturdy wooden building with logs.

On the other side of the river, there were more than a thousand corvée laborers working, building and consolidating an earthen platform for taking the oath.

Black Bear had sharp eyesight and saw some supervisors waving whips and beating the laborers.

Among the corvée laborers were men and women, as well as teenagers and elderly people who could barely carry a bamboo basket on their backs.

After looking at it for a while, the black bear felt a tingling sensation on his calves, as if his body's instinctive reaction had been awakened.

I couldn't help but smile, so I got out of the car and walked towards Wang Xiu: "Mr. Shuzhi, it seems that I came too early."

Wang Xiu apologized with a smile: "The general's military operations were so swift that we could not have predicted it."

"Haha, I want to see Yuan Sili."

Black Bear looked at the earth platform construction site on the other side of the river: "See you now. Tomorrow I will invite Shanyu to go hunting in Jishan."

Wang Xiu saw that he had a clear attitude, so he said, "Then I will go back to the city and ask for instructions from Yuan Sili."

"Mr. Thank you."

Black Bear watched Wang Xiu leave, and the corvée laborers at the south end of the wooden bridge also followed Wang Xiu and were sent to the earthen platform construction site.

Perhaps some unlucky men and women are buried beneath that earthen platform.

Subsequent cavalry teams arrived and began to divide up the camp areas, roads and set up tents on their own.

In Wenxi County, Yuan Tan, wearing a golden helmet and golden armor, looked at the Guanzhong knights who continued to pour into the camp. Seeing the Hun knights scouting the periphery, Yuan Tan's face turned very ugly.

He didn't expect that Black Bear would bring all three thousand cavalry directly, instead of one thousand cavalry in front and two thousand cavalry in the back.

Such a large team could no longer be concealed from the Huns.

Almost at the same time, the Chanyu's camp... although it was called a camp, there were only more than two thousand cavalrymen and more than two thousand servant infantrymen.

Huchuquan immediately drove his horse out of the camp and followed the enemy fortresses in Guanzhong for five or six miles upstream of the Sushui River.

His face looked grim. According to the agreement, the other party should have one thousand cavalry, but there were only two or three thousand... He was not surprised.

In a military alliance, the difference in the strength of the troops participating on both sides cannot be too great.

As of now, the Guanzhong soldiers are still at a disadvantage.

Conflicts occurred during the alliance, and the Huns were still the dominant side, but the advantage was not as great as expected.

At this moment, Huochequan was surrounded by 12,000 Xiongnu infantry and cavalry, so he had nothing to panic about.

I'm just dissatisfied with this small change at the moment, but I can understand it.

The black bear climbed up the wooden building and looked at the flat terrain near the earthen platform on the north bank. He squinted his eyes and came up with a brilliant idea.

He turned around and asked Li Feng who was accompanying him: "How much gold did we bring?"

"Five hundred gold. When we passed Anyi, the Wei and Fan families presented us with more than two hundred gold, more than fifty jade bi and other items, and three hundred pieces of brocade."

“It’s still not enough.”

After hearing what Li Feng said, Black Bear raised his hand and frowned. Cui Yan and Yuan Tan only spent three hundred gold, as well as some armor, silk and the like to bribe Liu Qubei.

His original plan was to capture Xiongnu nobles during hunting or alliance meetings, force them to surrender, select trustworthy ones among them to serve as servants and armed forces, and eliminate the others on the spot.

But this plan was not very good. After capturing the Xiongnu nobles, hundreds of their followers ran away, which was a problem.

After thinking it over, Black Bear said to Li Feng: "Organize the craftsmen to make tall tables, and make more than a dozen of them."

Although Li Feng was only responsible for military medical affairs, he had some experience after traveling around half the world with Black Bear.

He thought for a moment and asked, "Will the commander of the army tempt the Xiongnu with gold, jade, silk and brocade?"

"Well, the table must be tall, preferably taller than a person."

Black Bear frowned as he spoke, then raised his hand to indicate the general shape of the exhibition counter, which was an oversized table with a pyramid-shaped wooden tabletop.

The usage is also simple. Put gold, jade, and brocade on it to show the Huns what wealth is.

My own wealth is not shocking enough, so I can only start with the way of exhibition.

This is not enough, it would be better to involve Yuan Tan.

Li Feng nodded repeatedly as he listened, but he also had doubts: "General Qu, what if the Xiongnu mutinied?"

"If there is mutiny, then kill them."

Black Bear didn't think it was difficult: "Qian Zhao has already blocked the road to the north. There is a big river to the south and the Taihang Mountains to the east. The Xiongnu can't escape even if they have wings."

(End of this chapter)