0p0 Chapter 165 Emperor Xuan of Han's Civil and Military Achievements 2.0
Chapter 165 Emperor Xuan of Han's Civil and Military Achievements 2.0
"The enmity between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu has a long history, which can be traced back to the time of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang. At that time, Modu Chanyu of the Xiongnu unified various nomadic peoples, enabling them to occupy an area nearly three times larger than that of the Han Dynasty."
"At that time, Liu Bang had a famous scene - the Siege of Baideng. For decades afterward, the two sides did not have any conflict, and a treaty was concluded in the middle through the marriage of a princess."
"This reminds me of what our teachers used to say about the Ming Dynasty: it lacked the marriage alliances of the Han Dynasty, the alliances of the Tang Dynasty, and the meager tributes of the Song Dynasty... Although this dynasty had its flaws, it was indeed quite strong-willed! Of course, Zhu Qizhen was an exception!"
Li Erfeng of the Tang Dynasty: ...Heh, there are no emperors in the Tang Dynasty who knock on the door!
Liu Zhuzhu of the Great Han Dynasty: Ha! There is no monarch in my Great Han Dynasty who skips court to refine elixirs!
Emperor Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Dynasty: ...If I don't say something, I seem out of place! Damn it! There was a Wanyan Gou in the Song Dynasty!
Zhu Bajie of the Ming Dynasty: ...Ha! Our Ming Dynasty is truly amazing!
……
"Speaking of which, the Han Dynasty continued like this until our pig era. The roles of offense and defense changed. With Wei Zifu's super dowry of two SSR generals—Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, the Xiongnu were driven from the south of the Gobi Desert all the way to the north of the Gobi Desert by these two."
"There is a poem that goes like this: 'Losing my Qilian Mountains has caused my livestock to cease breeding and my married women to lose their beauty.'"
"This poem shows how miserable the Xiongnu were living in the northern desert. From then on, they may have made it their ultimate dream to take back the southern desert from the Han Dynasty."
Even after achieving this, Emperor Wu of Han was still not satisfied. He still had a dream of completely suppressing the Xiongnu and preventing them from rising again. However, if he had looked back, he would have known that the country behind him was already in a state of utter devastation!
"Therefore, the Xiongnu and Emperor Wu of Han were in a delicate balance, and at the same time, they also set their sights on the Western Regions, which were sandwiched between them."
Emperor Wu of Han: Tell me, who are you on?
Hun: Tell me! Whom do you want to side with!
The kingdoms of the Western Regions: ...What does this have to do with me!
"Therefore, in order to win over the Wusun Kingdom in the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty married a princess to the king of Wusun, but unexpectedly, the king of Wusun was a man of eccentric mind."
"Not only did he marry a princess of the Han Dynasty, but he also married a princess of the Xiongnu, bestowing upon her the titles of Left/Right Lady, thus pleasing both sides and treating them equally!"
"Isn't this a peace between the Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty achieved right in his arms? Pfft! Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter!"
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: Damn it! This kid! He's infuriating me!
An old farmer from the Song Dynasty: Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter! This guy is really something! He gave away a princess for nothing!
A scion of a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: Aren't you afraid these two will fight?! What if a Han-Xiongnu conflict were to unfold in his place?! Hahaha!
……
"The Han princess suffered from acclimatization issues there, and she also had to devote some of her energy to competing for favor with the Xiongnu princess, so she died not long after. The Han Dynasty had no choice but to send another princess, Princess Jieyou."
"Then Princess Jieyou set off with the army. After arriving there, she was quite a ruthless woman. Her lifestyle included eating raw meat, riding horses and hunting, and she even learned their language."
"That's not all. After establishing good relations with the Wusun people, we also visited other countries in the Western Regions. This cultural export work was quite successful, making the countries in the Western Regions yearn for the Han Dynasty."
"Moreover, Princess Jieyou's children are also very capable; they will either become great generals or kings in the future. She is making great strides here, which has left that Xiongnu princess dumbfounded."
A young girl from the Song Dynasty, observing the drama: Wow! This girl is amazing! I'm dying of laughter!
A spoiled young master from the Tang Dynasty: He's ruthless! He's willing to do that kind of thing with them!
……
"Then, the Xiongnu princess realized that this was not going to work and that she had to quickly inform the Xiongnu people on his side. So she sent him a report, urging the Xiongnu people to come over as soon as possible!"
"As soon as the Xiongnu Chanyu received the princess's letter, he immediately sent troops to Wusun. On the other hand, when Princess Jieyou found out, she snorted twice and said, 'Are you bullying me because I didn't call my family? Just you wait and see.' So Princess Jieyou also began to call people to the Han Dynasty."
"Speaking of which, the Han Dynasty is determined to deal with the Xiongnu this time. They have dispatched a massive force of about 150,000 troops. The little Xiongnu are no match for them!"
"When the Xiongnu learned that the Han Dynasty had sent over 100,000 cavalry to fight them, they were visibly panicked! So they carried their cattle, sheep and other possessions and ran away first."
"But even if the monks can run away, the temple can't. The Han army pursued them in five routes. The first route, with 40,000 men, killed 19 Xiongnu (Zizhi Tongjian). The remaining four routes killed more than 1,000 enemies in total. This was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito!"
"This once again affirms the awesomeness of Huo Qubing, the chosen one, who was born with the position of the Xiongnu."
A scion of a prominent family in the Song Dynasty: Hahaha, this data is kind of funny!
A Ming Dynasty general: Huo Qubing was truly awesome! He thrashed the Xiongnu! Hahahaha!
Upon hearing this, Liu Che from another timeline burst into laughter, for the Xiongnu had always been a thorn in his side.
Unexpectedly, the Xiongnu were so easily defeated!
……
"Meanwhile, the Wusun troops and the troops led by Chang Hui of the Han Dynasty pursued the Xiongnu all the way to the Right Guli King's tribe, killing 39,000 enemies and capturing more than 700,000 cattle and sheep."
"Upon receiving the news, the Xiongnu Chanyu was furious! They had invaded his homeland! They had plundered all his assets! So he personally led 10,000 troops to seek revenge!"
"It's just that the Xiongnu were unlucky. While they were looking for someone to take revenge, a blizzard suddenly struck. The snow was almost two meters thick. They only brought more than 10,000 people, and about 9,000 of them were killed. Do you think they could still win?"
"However, many people in this world do not offer help in times of need, but rather kick someone when they are down. The Xiongnu suffered a crushing defeat, so they were no longer worth befriending. Thus, the Wusun Kingdom and other Western Regions kingdoms joined forces, taking advantage of the situation to kill the Xiongnu, and together they sent troops to kill about 10,000 Xiongnu."
"If I were a Xiongnu princess, I'd be furious! She called her family to deal with the Wusun Kingdom, but they ended up getting ganged up on and utterly defeated!"
A scion of a prominent family in the Song Dynasty: How tragic! They probably never imagined the losses would be so severe!
A spoiled brat from the Ming Dynasty: I managed to dodge that man named Huo Qubing, but I couldn't dodge Emperor Xuan of Han!
A romantic scholar from the Tang Dynasty: But speaking of which, isn't this all because of that Xiongnu princess?
A farming expert from the Song Dynasty: I wonder if the Xiongnu people should hate her! Good heavens, she summoned them and wiped them out!
……
"As the saying goes, when a wall falls, everyone pushes it down. The Han people also joined in to finish off the Xiongnu, killing several thousand more. Even though the Xiongnu were so unlucky, the natural disasters continued. Not only did most of their cattle and sheep freeze to death, but most of their people also did not survive."
"But even in this dire situation, the Xiongnu still refused to give up and desperately tried to find a way out. So they rallied together several Qiang tribal leaders and attacked Dunhuang and Shanshan, cutting off the Silk Road and also severing the Han Dynasty's communication with the Western Regions."
"After Emperor Xuan of Han learned of this, he sent a man named Yiqu Anguo to inspect these Qiang tribes and see which tribes were on the side of the Han Dynasty and which were on the side of the Xiongnu!"
"This has stumped Yiqu Anguo. Is he going to stand in his way with a big sword and ask, 'Are you going to join our Han Dynasty or not?!'"
"Upon arriving, Yiqu Anguo decided to assess their character. He first gathered all the Qiang leaders together, then identified those with shrewd faces and killed them all. His motto was: regardless of whether you previously sided with the Han or the Xiongnu, now you must support the Han!"
Big Han Liu Zhuzhu: !!!
A farming whiz from the Song Dynasty: His broadsword is supposed to be all about subduing people with force, huh? Hahahaha! This guy's not very bright!
A scion of a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: How decisive! Isn't he afraid of standing opposite the burly men?!
A storyteller from the Tang Dynasty: "The Xiongnu are so weak now, why would anyone want to cooperate with them?!"
……
"But the problem is that with Yiqu Anguo doing this, who would still side with the Han? They've all killed their own people, and the hatred level is skyrocketing!"
"So Yiqu Anguo's troops were soundly defeated by the Qiang people, and Yiqu Anguo himself was driven away. Who picked these guys?! This is incredible!"
Liu Xun of the Han Dynasty: Damn! ...? %! ...
Ming Dynasty onlookers: So the Han Dynasty gained another enemy?! They weren't necessarily on the Xiongnu's side originally! But then...hahahaha, this guy is truly a genius!
Zhu Baba of the Ming Dynasty: This guy is really a "talent"!
"Subsequently, although the various Qiang tribes gave Yiqu Anguo a sound beating, they were still very angry, so they began to attack the border cities of the Han Dynasty."
"When Emperor Xuan of Han heard this, he was greatly shocked. What was going on?! He immediately sent someone to find the old general Zhao Chongguo and asked him to recommend a great general."
"The old general Zhao Chongguo said: No one is more suitable than me! So the seventy-year-old general Zhao Chongguo led ten thousand soldiers directly to the expedition."
"After Zhao Chongguo arrived at the front line, he first treated his soldiers to good food and drink, while the Qiang people on the other side were completely bewildered. What's going on, brother? Why are you fighting here? Why aren't you attacking us? So the Qiang people often shouted outside the Han army's camp!"
"General Zhao just wouldn't show up, he kept eating and drinking! He even addressed the Qiang people: This time, the Han army will only kill those who have betrayed the Han army! But even if someone has fought against the Han army before, it's fine. Our great Han is magnanimous. As long as you kill your accomplice, you will be able to atone for your crimes, and all his property and wife will be yours!"
"That was a pretty ruthless tactic, wasn't it? Winning hearts and minds is the best strategy; we're disintegrating the enemy from within! Before long, some Qiang people did indeed come to join the Han army, saying that it was their Xianling troops who started it all, and that it had nothing to do with us!"
A farming expert from the Song Dynasty: Hahaha, experience really pays off! I'm dying of laughter!
A spoiled young master from the Tang Dynasty: Still shouting outside the Han army! Does he really want to get beaten up, hahaha!
A scion of a prominent family in the Ming Dynasty: The old general is over seventy years old but still vigorous!