Chapter 184: Golden Man for Heavenly Offering
Guanzhong, a ruin near Chang'an City.

More than a thousand people were digging here, and Zhong Yao was pacing back and forth in a tent.

Although Black Bear led 3,000 Guanzhong soldiers to Hedong, Zhong Yao would not be surprised at all if the other party suddenly came to him for tea.

As long as Hedong does not send Black Bear's head, it means that the Tiger Tooth Army stationed in Xinfeng and Tongguan can sweep Guanzhong again at any time under the leadership and command of Black Bear.

In this situation, we must be patient in dealing with many things and remain constant in the face of ever-changing circumstances.

For example, now, news came from Hedong that Black Bear raided the Xiongnu camp, defeated it, killed the Chanyu, and made all the Xiongnu surrender.

This was the first time since the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling that the Xiongnu tribe was attacked without any apparent reason.

After the victory, he stripped Yuan Tan's troops of their armor and ordered Yuan Tan to set out with light equipment; the armor was used to arm new cavalry units.

The latest news is that Black Bear has led his troops northward to attack the Xiongnu Pingyang Royal Court.

Zhong Yao felt even more embarrassed and wondered what actions the court and Cao Gong would take.

The guard outside the tent door coughed a few times and said, "Mingsir, the Chief Secretary is here."

"Please."

Zhong Yao walked towards his desk, knelt upright, and pretended to pick up the brush.

Seeing the tent door opened and Wei Ji walked in, Wei Ji looked unhappy.

He was extremely tired after traveling back from Fengling Ferry, and even more tired in his heart: "Lord Yuan Chang."

"What happened?"

"Yuan Tan has arrived, with more than 4,000 men and 5,000 horses, as well as more than 6,300 Xiongnu heads."

Wei Ji took out a bamboo slip with a clay seal and handed it over with both hands: "If we cannot win, there will be no men or women left in Hedong."

After saying that, Wei Ji knelt on the ground, his back bent, and the huge pressure crushed him.

If Black Bear was defeated, he could easily escape back to Guanzhong with the enemy's fast horses, but what about the people of Hedong?
How many people can survive when the Huns take revenge?

It would be fine for ordinary people, but I'm afraid there will be nothing left of the Wei family's four hundred years of foundation.

"There are more than 6,000 levels?"

Zhong Yao was amazed. It is not like the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the period of warlords in the late Han Dynasty. If you want to kill innocent people for credit, it will not be easy to gather 6,000 adult heads.

Half of the Hun mercenaries participating in the coalition were killed. If the Huns recovered from their anger and couldn't beat the people in Guanzhong, could they not beat the people in Hedong?

He understood Wei Ji's worries very well. In the eyes of the Huns, it was the people of Hedong who attracted the people of Guanzhong.

Wei Ji was not in the mood to talk for the time being, so Zhong Yao opened the clay seal and read the secret report from Anyi.

After reading the secret report, Zhong Yao could not help but take a deep breath and handed it to Wei Ji: "He issued a letter to Hedong to attack the Xiongnu."

Wei Ji took it with both hands half-believingly and quickly read the manifesto which consisted of only thirty or so words. What surprised him even more was one of the messages: Black Bear had fallen out with Qian Zhao.

Qian Zhao led the five thousand Wuhuan knights to retreat in big strides, as if if they ran any slower, they would be attacked by the black bear as it advanced against the Fen River.

How much war potential does Hedong have?

In Wei Ji's eyes, the only ones who could fight in Hedong were Wei Gu and Fan Xian with more than 3,000 men. The others could only defend the city and had no ability to fight in the field.

This manifesto to attack the Huns aroused the enthusiasm of Hedong. How many combat-capable troops could emerge?

This is not the pre-Qin period, nor the former Han period, nor the period of Emperors Huan and Ling. The young and strong people in Hedong lack training in legionary combat.

Although the 3,000 Guanzhong soldiers that Black Bear brought to Hedong had good overall qualities, they were unable to form a field army.

The Tiger Tooth Army remained in Guanzhong, and the Black Bear, which lacked core strength, could not mobilize troops from Hedong to form a decent army.

Therefore, the only purpose of this manifesto is to stabilize the situation in Hedong before Black Bear is defeated.

Zhong Yao thought about it and said, "Although the battle of Wenxi was a breach of agreement, more than 6,000 heads were beheaded. This is too shocking."

When they wiped out the ten tribes in Guanzhong before, not more than 6,000 people died, not even 3,000.

If we take action now, half of the Huns will be killed.

They continued to advance northwards, and once they reached the winter gathering area of ​​the Huns, they would kill even more people.

Seeing Wei Ji in deep thought, Zhong Yao also expressed his own opinion: "The speed of the unification of Guanzhong is beneficial to the stability of officials and people, but it is also disadvantageous because it is too fast. Black Tiger Teeth lacks prestige, and the changes in Hedong are enough to show their prestige."

Wei Ji nodded, helplessly saying, "What Lord Yuan Chang said is right, but if the war goes wrong, how innocent will the men and women of Hedong be?"

The two men looked at each other in silence and could only hope that the fighting on the front line would be more exciting and that they would destroy the Huns' motivation for revenge in the short term.

In their eyes, the only move to retreat was to order the Wuhuan knights to return to Dai County or to return to Yuan Xi's command.

Qian Zhao did not evacuate, and he was also caught off guard by the black bear.

Just as Black Bear had predicted before the war, Yuan Shang could lose Bingzhou, but he could not lose his important ally.

So at present, Qian Zhao can only cooperate with Black Bear and assist Black Bear in attacking the Huns.

Even if Qian Zhao did not trust Black Bear's battle plan, he could only try his best to cooperate and repatriate the biggest interference factor, the Wuhuan people.

Not only the Wuhuan people were a interference factor, but the previous Taiyuan County soldiers were also a interference factor.

The soldiers of Taiyuan County and the powerful men of Taiyuan were closely connected with the various Xiongnu tribes, so Qian Zhao did not dare to use the soldiers of Taiyuan anymore and could only order the tribes to stay put.

The only army he could barely trust was a new army he forcibly recruited, with no background and no good equipment.

So this 1,000-man army, which had just been stationed in Jiangyi for two days, once again headed north along the Fen River.

When Qian Zhao led the troops to march for two days and arrived near Baibo Valley, a scout came with a report: "General! The Zhenbei Army has broken through Pingyang City!" The scout reined in his horse and handed Qian Zhao a silk letter from an envoy who was accompanying the army on the front line: "The Chanyu Wang Ting fled to Lishi in the west river, and the Hei Zhenbei army is pursuing him!"

"Go and rest."

Qian Zhao waved his hand and opened the silk book to read.

Unexpectedly, there was another page of silk book inside the silk book, on which was a military order written by Black Bear to him: "I will head west to Lishi, and you will wipe out the various Hu people in the northeast of Taiyuan. There are 3,000 knights in Pingyang City, take this and receive them."

Qian Zhao had a complicated expression. He looked around and called his fellow villagers from Youzhou: "Bring me some writing brush and ink."

Behind the man's back, Qian Zhao picked up a pen and wrote an official document. After taking out the seal of the Bingzhou governor and stamping it, he made a mud seal on the spot and handed it to the other party: "Go to Tongguan to see Gan Xingba and open it in person."

The villager was a little confused, thinking that the letter was going to be sent to General Zhenbei, but he didn't expect that the letter bypassed General Zhenbei and was sent to Gan Ning instead.

I couldn't figure it out for a moment, and I was afraid that it would be a job that would get me killed, so I was a little hesitant.

Qian Zhao comforted him, saying, "Don't worry, this is a good thing."

"Yes, I will go right away."

“Bring more people with you, and don’t get too entangled with the people from Hedong.”

"Here."

The man immediately selected a dozen knights from his hometown in Youzhou and galloped away along the road.

Qian Zhao was still worried, so he drafted another identical document, sealed it, and gave it to another fellow villager, who went through Fenshui, out of Pi's house, and crossed the river at Longmen to go to Guanzhong.

Although this route is slow, as long as the official documents are delivered to Gan Ning, there is no need to worry about Hongnong County Magistrate Linghu Shao causing trouble.

Black Bear is planning to launch a siege against the Xiongnu tribes in Taiyuan, Hedong and Xihe. This will have a huge impact on the powerful and wealthy families in Taiyuan.

Without the external pressure from the Huns that squeezed their living environment, the powerful families’ subordinates would not be so easy to deal with.

The powerful families were not vassal kings or princes, and lacked the authority to enforce strict control over the people within their territories.

When the Huns invaded and occupied their survival resources, these powerful families stood up to unite their fellow villagers, gather the people from the periphery, enslave the people from the periphery, and form powerful groups whose purpose was to protect themselves.

As long as the Huns still exist, it will be difficult for ordinary people to break free from their status as a tribe.

As long as the Huns were still there, the troops would not dare to flee or rebel easily; for the sake of "public safety", the powerful would also execute some troops who colluded with the Huns.

If the external pressure from the Huns is lost, the powerful groups that are now gathered together will immediately explode and fall apart!
It’s only been a few years since the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty?
Few people of this generation are willing to serve as retainers or slaves... unless they are given adequate treatment.

But the powerful have no shortage of well-paid slaves; what they lack are serfs.

This is similar to Guanzhong, where the pressure of survival forced the vast majority of the people to become followers of the generals.

When life is bad and you can survive without these generals, do you think the lower-class soldiers will escape?
If the Zhenbei Army's victory news continues to be reported to the rear, Linghu Shao is very likely to launch a counterattack!
It was not Linghu Shao who betrayed Yuan Shang, but Yuan Shang who sold out the people of Bingzhou, that is, the people of Taiyuan, in order to win over allies!

Besides, considering what Wang Yun did, will the people of Guanzhong continue to send more troops?

If Linghu Shao does not rebel today, when more Guanzhong troops enter Taiyuan tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and wipe out all the powerful people in Taiyuan together, do you think Linghu Shao will rebel?
Since you are going to betray me, then betray me thoroughly!

Do it all at once!

After Qian Zhao issued the preventive order and authorization, he could only urge the troops to speed up their march.

Bingzhou can send out 50,000 troops, which is the maximum force on paper for defense.

But now, the governor Qian Zhao can only trust the one thousand new soldiers in his hands.

The Bingzhou soldiers and the Wuhuan volunteers from Youzhou were now unreliable forces.

If he is unlucky, the governor of Taiyuan County will be forced by powerful families to officially betray Hebei and raise troops to respond to the court of Xudu!
In order to preserve their wealth and status, the powerful people in Taiyuan will do everything they can.

So Qian Zhao was very busy and had no time to travel.

I just hope that the swift offensive of the Zhenbei Army can intimidate the governor of Taiyuan County and prevent him from acting rashly.

At worst, when faced with petitions from powerful people, he could abandon the city and flee with the official seal.

Prevent radical Taiyuan tyrants from gaining the title of unifying the county, so that these people can pull away the centrists and speculators, and then coerce the conservatives.

Black bears are also very busy, and there is no shortage of guides to lead the way.

The army has been dispersed, with more than 3,000 cavalry divided into seven groups, specifically to clear out the small tribes living in the mountains.

There were only more than 2,000 cavalrymen following him to pursue Wang Ting, but Wang Ting fled very quickly.

Along the way, they first discarded various daily utensils, bronze utensils, etc., followed by the elderly, herds of animals, and then women and children.

Taking over these and transporting them to the rear requires manpower and wastes time.

When they chased to Zishi County on the border of Taiyuan County and Xihe County, more than a thousand royal nobles and priests fled into Zishi County carrying golden men and sacrificial utensils for sacrifice.

The last 300 or so cavalrymen who were left outside the city did not resist for long before they fled in all directions, most of them heading northwest along the highway towards Lishi.

Lishi was once the seat of the Xiongnu royal court. After Yufuluo proclaimed himself Chanyu and Huochuquan succeeded to the throne, the royal court was forced to leave Lishi and move to Wangting.

If the Xiongnu kings and nobles in Lishi could obtain the golden man used for sacrifice, they would be able to become the new royal court!

The black bear chased all the way to Zishi County, where it stopped and waited for the decisive battle.

The Huns cannot lose the golden man they used for offering sacrifices to the sky, so Black Bear is ready to beat the Huns severely here, right under the noses of the people of Taiyuan.

The harder the beating, the less likely the people of Taiyuan will dare to make any small moves, and this will buy a lot of time.

(End of this chapter)