Chapter 187 Forced Interruption
At night, after a short sleep, I read the information about Taiyuan.

There is the information given by Qian Zhao before, which mainly contains information about the Xiongnu; there is also a part given by Cui Yan.

Cui Yan paid more attention to the influence among the literati, so he recommended Guo Huai from Yangqu to him.

The name of Taiyuan Guo family was not only well-known in the world, but Guo Huai was located in the north of Taiyuan near Yanmen County.

Black Bear had never been there, but he had heard that this was the passage that Liu Bang passed through when he was besieged and withdrew his troops. The reason why it was famous seemed to be that there were high mountains on the east and west sides, and a very wide and narrow plain passage in the middle.

Therefore, the Han army was worried about being attacked by the Huns when they retreated. After passing through this passage, the whole army was delighted and named the passage Xinkou, which is an alternative form of the character Xinkou.

This place is considered the northern gateway of Taiyuan. When the garrison troops and civilians from the Shuofang counties were withdrawn, they were settled in Yangqu around Xinkou and served as the skull base for the people of Taiyuan.

When they were young, Lü Bu and Zhang Yang migrated here with their families and fellow villagers; the one thousand men who were forcibly recruited by Qian Zhao also came from here.

This is a force independent of the natives of Taiyuan. Although this force is not very strong after the defeat of Lu Bu and Zhang Yang, it still has the power to protect itself.

It blocked the encroachment of the Xiongnu or the big families in Taiyuan, and also did not get defeated by the rebellious Hu people or bandits.

In the short term, he didn't want to have any conflicts or involvement with the powerful people and big families in Taiyuan. If he managed the three auxiliary areas well and accumulated strength, many things would become simpler in the future.

Putting down the information about Taiyuan, he picked up various information related to the Huns.

The three royal courts are now bloated, with a total of about 22,000 falls.

A tribe is a basic nomadic living and production unit with an average population of around 20 people, and sometimes a dozen or so.

If there are fewer, it will be detrimental to nomadic and gathering life, nor to self-protection.

However, these tribes now have a large number of new populations. The adult population of the Xiongnu is less than 100,000. Excluding the elderly, the disabled and women, there are less than 30,000 young and strong people in the tribe who can participate in the battle.

The rest of the population was made up of captured men and women, numbering over 100,000.

Those who were able to survive the Huns must be mostly young and middle-aged people, with perhaps some teenagers, but there were definitely no old people.

Normally, when tribes fight over hills, forests, and water sources, these manpower can be mobilized.

However, when faced with the rescue war launched by the Han army, this part of the population would become a burden to the Huns.

Apart from these two groups of population, the rest is a large number of children, at least 300,000.

This number is still the lowest estimate made by Black Bear. Nomadic children have an alarming mortality rate; however, after the three tribes of the Xiongnu royal court moved to Taiyuan and Pingyang, they quickly adapted to farming life and their lifestyle began to change drastically.

Therefore, the infant mortality rate is barely acceptable. As long as food is guaranteed and there is no large-scale disease, the population of the three Xiongnu tribes in the royal court will swell to 200,000 in another ten years, and the newcomers will be of golden age.

Women who fell into the hands of the Huns would continue to give birth to children as long as they were able to do so.

Now the Huns no longer need to pay taxes to the imperial court, so the population is recovering very quickly.

When the more than 100,000 men and women of this looting generation grow old and die, the three divisions of the royal court will be reborn from the ashes.

There are also the Huns in Xihe. Not to mention the four counties of Shuofang, the registered population of Xihe County and Shang County alone was 1.3 million when the population was counted three hundred years ago.

When the next census was conducted eighty years ago, the registered population was less than 50,000.

Three hundred years ago, the people of Xihe and Shangjun also lived a life of combining farming and nomadism; they were able to support so many people back then, but now that they fell into the hands of the Xiongnu, their population might be at least half a million, if not millions.

The Xiongnu were different from the Xianbei. They always wanted to farm and develop agriculture.

This does not include the four Shuofang counties, the areas occupied by the Xiongnu and Xianbei.

Therefore, the Xianbei and Xiongnu were much stronger than Black Bear imagined.

In his mind, due to the propaganda of self-media, he remembered the image of the Han Dynasty that perished because of its strength.

He also compared the court with many border troubles and exaggerated the power of the warlords of the Three Kingdoms.

But the more you learn about it, the more you realize how harsh the weather is.

Whether it was the various Hu tribes or the inland areas, even after they won the war, the profits often failed to keep up with the investment.

If there had been drought on the grasslands every year when the Mongols rose to power, Temujin would have had no choice but to flee from the famine and might have starved to death as a teenager.

After reading the information about the Huns, Black Bear let out a long breath and felt secretly lucky.

Now nearly half of the young and strong men of the three royal courts have been captured and killed. If the Western Xiongnu do not send troops to rescue, these three royal courts will be unable to escape even if they have wings.

If we wait another ten or twenty years, and if Liu Bao or Huochequan really reintegrates the three tribes and occupies Taiyuan, they will most likely become Liu Yuan and Li Keyong.

Fortunately, in history, after Cao Cao conquered Hebei, he insisted on fighting the Wuhuan. With the record of severely damaging the Wuhuan, he regained his dominance in the north.

Intimidated by this huge victory, Liang Xi, who was in charge of governing Bingzhou, dismantled the three bloated royal courts and moved the core nobles away, thus interrupting the opportunity for the Xiongnu to rise again.

At present, it is not difficult to attack the three tribes of Wang Ting, but the difficult ones are the Huns in Xihe and Shangjun.

These were the Xiutugu Xiongnu who surrendered and moved inland that year and were resettled, which was also the traditional right wing of the Xiongnu.

A long time ago, the Huns did not have three tribes, but a dual king system.

During the Warring States Period, the Xiongnu rose to power. The right wing of the Xiongnu captured Zhaowu City, drove out the Yuezhi people and expanded to the Western Regions. In order to curb the right wing, the Chanyu royal court annexed the Donghu and established the left wing on the Donghu territory.

This created opposition between the left and right tribes, and also established the original tradition that the Chanyu's brother would be the Right Wise King, and the Chanyu's son would be the Left Wise King.

In order to further curb the right wing, the Chanyu royal court supported the Wusun tribe, and later established the Ruju kingdom to manage the Western Regions separately.

When the Han and the Xiongnu came into full-scale confrontation, the royal court of the Chanyu established the post of Commander of Pu Tong to specifically squeeze manpower and material resources from all over the Western Regions.

However, under Huo Qubing's fierce attack, the right wing suffered heavy losses. In order to avoid being punished and killed by the Chanyu, the two core tribes of the right wing, Tuge and Hunxie, surrendered to Huo Qubing.

After moving inland, the Xiutu Xiongnu were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

During the Qiang Rebellion during the reign of Emperor Huan, the Xiutuge Xiongnu began to grow stronger and became the strongest among the Xiongnu tribes.

Traditionally speaking, the Xiutuge Xiongnu, like the main Xiongnu, were qualified to compete for the position of Chanyu.

The problem lies here. The three royal courts were severely damaged by themselves, and there is no one in the Xiongnu who can check and balance Xiu Tuge, either in name or in strength. So how sincere is Xiu Tuge Xiongnu to the golden man of the Shanyu royal court?

There are only two of these things. One is in the royal court of the Chanyu, and is now surrounded by the county town of Zishi. The other was originally in Ganquan Mountain in Yunyang, which was a sacred place for worship for the Xiongnu and Yiqiu, but was defeated and expelled by Qin Xiaogong.

After the golden man was snatched back by Huo Qubing, Emperor Wu of Han lived in Ganquan Palace and left the golden man in the palace, which was considered a return to its homeland.

After the turmoil, the golden man also disappeared.

For the Huns, the remaining golden man is like the imperial seal and the spiritual carrier of tribal heritage.

Just as Black Bear was thinking about whether the golden man offering sacrifices to heaven could attract the Xiongnu in the west, he heard someone walking quickly outside the tent: "General, the scouts report that the Xiongnu's left court is on fire!"

Black Bear put the information into the box, opened the door and asked, "What are the details?"

“It has not yet been clarified.”

The military officer cupped his hands and asked: "Are you ready for battle?"

"Well, I'll go investigate myself."

Immediately, a dozen personal soldiers walked out quickly with wooden clappers and went to the surrounding small camps and struck the wooden clappers.

No one was allowed to beat the drum at will at night. There was someone on guard in every tent and no one was allowed to sleep.

Urged by the sound of wooden clappers, the soldiers on night duty began to wake up the people around them.

It felt even colder at night, and although the soldiers and armed slaves were very reluctant, they still couldn't sleep well.

Although it cannot be said that they are in a daze, there are not many complaints or joy. There is a general perfunctory numbness.

But I didn’t dare to be really perfunctory, as it would cost me my life.

Therefore, overall, it looks a bit mechanical and dull, or it may be that it is really frozen.

At night, spare campfires were lit in various places, and the soldiers and armed servants who came out of the tents gathered around the campfires to roast and keep warm.

They all recovered and adapted quickly, wearing armor and leather cloaks to sleep, and after a little warming, they resumed their activities.

Black Bear put on his helmet and visor and was about to go out of the camp to investigate when a military officer came over quickly and said, "General, a young Xiongnu king has come to surrender. He claims to be from the court of the Left Army and calls himself Lan Tongli."

Behind the military officer were several soldiers escorting Lan Tongli over.

As soon as he arrived, Lan Tongli knelt down and bowed: "General, today the Left Xianwang Liu Bao summoned us and forced us to kill the men and women captured by various tribes, and also to slaughter many livestock. If we do not obey, we must be killed in court. I can't bear it, so I will gather my tribesmen at night, break the siege and come out to see you, I beg you to give me a way to live."

"So what kind of life do you want?"

"As long as it's a way to survive, I dare not say more. The general will make the decision."

Lan Tongli even kowtowed: "I heard that Qubei is enjoying the general's service. I dare not ask for anything more. I would like to lead my troops to be the general's vanguard."

"I can give you a chance to live. Now take your people back to your tribe, dismantle the tents, drive away the beasts, and meet up here."

Black Bear jumped onto the horse and looked back at Lan Tongli who was looking up: "I'll give you the chance. If you don't come, I'll go find you."

"Yes, I will go and gather the troops right away."

Regardless of Lan Tongli, Black Bear drove his horse out of the camp, with more than a hundred knights holding torches behind him. Cavalrymen from all over the camp who were interested in joining the battle rode out of the camp.

This camp was similar to the Hun camp, with only tents and no defensive fortifications such as fences or stockades.

The war has been going on for so long that there is no time to reorganize the army. We can just spread them out and use them.

It's like mercury pouring on the ground. Although it can penetrate every hole, it is also scattered densely.

But there is one good thing, as long as the team that Black Bear is in keeps winning, the other teams will still stick together and gather together after being disbanded.

The army is now accustomed to this typical nomadic fighting style, and the teams that have been deployed are also getting used to each other through battle.

We don't ask for these people to get along with each other or elect some wise and brave little leader. As long as they can tie down the various Hun tribes, they will be qualified.

Before midnight, Black Bear saw several groups of cavalrymen approaching him with sparse torches.

The horse was not moving very fast and seemed hesitant.

Seeing this, Black Bear slowed down his horse, raised his whip and pointed forward, and said to the dozen or so cavalrymen who gathered around him: "Tell them what I did to that little Xiongnu king, and tell them not to block the road! Go back and gather the troops first!"

"Here!"

A dozen cavalrymen shouted, and each led a few cavalrymen to quickly leave the team and gallop forward.

But Black Bear's troops were not marching fast. They were thirty miles away from the royal court, and he had to ensure that the cavalry still had enough horsepower to charge after arriving at the battlefield.

We don't need to charge three times in a row, but at least we need to have the horsepower to charge once.

In the left royal court, Liu Bao put on his armor and was surrounded by more than a hundred cavalrymen who came to the front of the attic.

He jumped down, pulled out the meteorite sword wrapped in the ruby ​​scabbard, and walked towards the attic.

Then calls were heard from the attic, and Liu Bao quickly strode out with a sword in hand. His armor and face were stained with blood, and the sword in his hand was also dripping with blood.

Using a piece of cloth he had cut off at random, Liu Bao wiped the blood off the blade, then he jumped on his horse, reined in his horse, turned around, pointed to the west, and waved his sword: "Follow me!"

The cavalrymen said nothing and turned their horses to follow.

In the attic, a maid was stabbed to death.

Liu Bao's concubine slumped in the corner of the warm kang, gasping for breath.

Then she came to her senses, quickly went downstairs to look for the maid's clothes, and began to change her clothes.

(End of this chapter)