Chapter 48 Chapter Forty-Eight

From the day he went to meet the Queen after the Monan War, he has endured the scorching eyes of the princess time and time again.A man of his age is as sensitive to the eyes of the opposite sex as his cousin.However, Huo Qubing, who lived under the aura of his uncle's achievements since he was a child, clearly realized that at least for now, he must not express anything to the princess. "Princess! Forgive me." Huo Qubing gently put away the sword and Yuyan, hid them in his bag, and returned to the desk, he quickly sank into the thoughts of surrender. "It's the emperor's foresight." Huo Qubing pondered over the emperor's oral order repeatedly, and was surprised that the emperor was far away in the capital, but he had a clear understanding of the situation on the front line.Indeed, standing behind King Hunxie were the Xiongnu Shanyu and various tribes. Therefore, any peace talks or surrenders by him had to be guarded against, and a strong military force was necessary to be prepared.

Gao Bushi, who had just been conferred the title of Marquis Yiguan, went back to the camp downstream of Ruoshui after the celebration ceremony.Before leaving, he had repeatedly told him to keep an eye on King Xiutu's army that was hiding in Heli Valley.Now it seems that the army from Piaohou Zhao Puonu has to be placed in the upper reaches of the Qiang Valley River.right!You have to place Huiquhou Puduo's army and the troops handed over to him by Gongsun Ao in front of them, forming a three-sided attack, so that surrender is safe. Huo Qubing raised his head, looked at the waning moon in the western sky, and shouted to the outside: "Come here! Chuan Conghou, Huiquhou and Zhonglang came to discuss matters."

In the col, a rooster crowed, breaking the silence of dawn. No one expected that things would change subtly at the crowing of the rooster. On the second day after Huo Qubing sent away the imperial envoy and deployed his troops, King Hunxie sent envoys to bring the head of King Xiutu. "Your Majesty has killed King Xiutu last night and captured King Xiutu's crown prince, Jin Yuelin. He is always ready for the arrival of the general," said the envoy. "Go down and rest." Huo Qubing immediately called for Pu Duo and Li Hua to discuss the countermeasures. Pu Duo said: "It seems that King Hunxie really surrendered this time."

Li Hua said: "In the past few months, under the fierce pursuit of our Han army, King Hunxie has been under heavy pressure from Shanyu and King Xiutu. Killing King Xiutu at least showed his determination to surrender to Han." "What you said is very reasonable." Huo Qubing stared at the head in front of him, "However, in ancient and modern battles, there are many cases of using bitter tricks to confuse the enemy. Therefore, the general thought that our army should remain unchanged in response to all changes, and told King Hunxie, Three days later, he was surrendered on the banks of the Qiang Valley."

In September, with the ice and snow of the Qilian Mountains freezing, the Qianggu River entered its dry season. The water in the river was much smaller than in the short summer, but it was very clear.If he hadn't experienced the frightening ghosts and weeping gods in Hexi, and hadn't witnessed the tragic scene, who would believe that this clear river was once dyed red by the blood of Han and Xiongnu athletes?Who would have thought that there were hundreds of corpses lying on this yellow ground? Everything seems to have passed, and what is displayed in front of our eyes is a uniform banner of the Han Dynasty, reflecting the bright sunshine under the autumn wind.Although the Huns who surrendered had not had time to change their costumes, their helmets were the same as those of the Han army. Only the eyes under the helmets showed that their bodies still had the blood of the Huns.

King Hunxie led his Bi Xiaowang, Danghu and Pengping to stand at the front of the team, waiting for Huo Qubing's arrival. King Hunxie was very pleased. When King Xiutu was killed and Jin Yuexun was captured, Jin Lun, Jin Yuexue's brother, stood with Jiang Jun.Not only did he secretly report the whereabouts of his father and elder brother, but he also personally bound the golden rod and sent it to his camp. This made his demeanor less of a hindrance. Just after three quarters in the afternoon, Huo Qubing led the officers above the military marquis and came out of the Han army camp. On the left was Pu Duo, and on the right was Li Hua. Huo Qubing was wearing black armor with a jade belt around his waist. The youthful face reflects the extra spirit.

King Hunxie, who was standing opposite, found that Huo Qubing had an extra guard with a gun for him.But he didn't think too much, maybe it was the need of Junwei! Look at the Han army camp again, all of them have put on brand new battle clothes. There are two flags in front of a square formation, with a huge "Han" character written on one side and a "Huo" character written on the other side, dividing the entire team into a neat chessboard. A youthful figure stood upright, with the heads of war horses raised high.This scene made King Hunxie express his sincere admiration from the bottom of his heart.

The place of surrender was chosen in an open area twenty feet away from their respective army formations. King Hunxie came in front of Huo Qubing, performed the etiquette of a big man, solemnly but dullly said: "This king leads all his subordinates to help the little king and the household, and from today onwards, he will submit to the big man and never rebel." After saying that, he sent King Hunxie The official seal and flag were presented to Huo Qubing with both hands. However, just as King Hunxie raised his hand in the air, there was a sound of "whoosh", and a sharp arrow was shot from the Huns' camp, which pierced the back of King Hunxie's hand, causing blood to profuse immediately.King Hunxie yelled "There are assassins", and almost at the same time, he heard a voice cursing: "You wait for robbers, invade our land, destroy my race, kill my father and king, if you don't avenge this revenge, what will you do?" Time! Kill!"

King Hunxie heard in a daze that it was the voice of Prince Xiutu Jin Lun. He knew that he had been deceived, and Jin Lun used his hand to remove the obstacle that prevented him from going to the crown prince. The Hun army on the opposite side immediately became restless.Some stood there hesitantly, and some had already followed behind Jin Lun to attack the Han army.Huo Qubing hurriedly said to his servants: "Protect the prince and go back to the camp." After speaking, he took the spear, flew on the horse, and shot Pi Xiaowang who was on the way.The two confronted for less than a round, Huo Qubing stabbed him off the horse, and was captured by the rushing Han army.

At this time, the sound of killing was loud in the valley on the left, and Gao Bushi, who was in ambush in the dense forest, led an army to overwhelm him. The quiet Qiang Valley River could no longer flow smoothly to the north, and the heads of the rebels who had been chopped off by the Han army flowed down the river, forming clusters of dark red blood eddies in the spray. The Xiongnu rebels showed the tenacity and madness of the trapped beast at the moment when the ratio of troops was very different.Perhaps when they followed Xiutu Prince Jin Lun to make the last fight, they had already given up the idea of ​​survival.Facing more and more Han troops, they showed no fear.After a captain of the Xiongnu chopped down several Han soldiers in a row, the blade was broken by bones one by one. In desperation, he hugged a leader of the Han army and rolled into the Qiang Valley River from the high slope; The commander of the Xiongnu stabbed an oncoming Han army, panted, climbed up the hillside, and ran to the edge of the dense forest, but was nailed to a tree by the random arrows behind him, and the blood flowed down the pine branches, drop by drop. The ground flows into the soil under the feet.

The hatred between the two tribes burned the ground under their feet. Jin Lun and his subordinates not only raised the knife of revenge to the Han people, but also to the women of the Hunxie tribe. They tore the women's fur robes , grabbed the breast that had raised the descendants of the Huns with one hand, and stabbed it down... However, before he could turn around from the wild laughter, he was pierced through the abdomen by the Han army behind him... Huo Qubing had already returned to his commander-in-chief position after killing King Hunxie and his prisoner Jin Yuexun a bloody path into the Han camp.Standing on a high slope, he calmly observed the situation on the battlefield, and kept asking the officer in charge to wave the flag in his hand to issue instructions to the Han army. According to the order, Zhao Ponu quickly escorted the Huns who had surrendered to leave the Qianggu River and retreat towards Lufu City. Pu Duo led his subordinates to concentrate on suppressing the rebels who remained in the valley. By noon, the Xiongnu rebels were gradually exhausted, Jin Lun readjusted his troops, left some soldiers behind, and led most of the troops to flee downstream towards the weak water. After walking a few miles, he was blocked by Gao Buzhi. Looking at the Han army rushing down from the slopes on both sides of the river, and hearing the earth-shattering shouts of killing, Jin Lun knew that he had been ambushed by Huo Qubing, and rushed to the battle. After a few rounds, Gao Bushi took the head. Gao Bushi raised the head, reined in the horse's head, and shouted at the Hun rebels fleeing in all directions: "Here is the head of Jin Lun. Those who surrender to the Han will survive, and those who resist will perish." The centurions and thousand commanders of the rebel army, seeing that the situation was over, put down their weapons. When the setting sun gradually fell into the embrace of Qilian Mountain, the killing sounds dissipated and the valley became silent. Huo Qubing walked to the hillside, met Gao Bushi and Pu Duo in the river where the war was still smoldering, and looked at the corpses left in the river beach and in the river water—this was the last scene of the Battle of Hexi. Li Hua told Huo Qubing, "After this battle, more than 8,000 people were beheaded." "How many troops are there now?" "It's called one hundred thousand." "The number of people is not the most important thing. The important thing is that Hexi will return to Dahan from now on." Looking up, the setting sun has disappeared behind Qilian Mountain at some point, leaving only a faint peripheral light for the bloody Qianggu River. The Xiongnu army finally retreated on the eve of Zhang Qian's army arriving outside the Great Wall in Youbeiping. But the remnants of the war are still scorching his heart: corpses that have not had time to clean up, military flags that have been incompletely burned by the flames of war, bursts of gunpowder smoke and choking smell, pieces of burnt grass The finally bare land is presented in front of Zhang Qian's eyes. Even the war horse that Zhang Qian was sitting on was touched by the tragedy in front of him. He lowered his head and kissed the scorching land on his lips, raised his head and looked into the distance, and let out a long mournful cry from his throat. Oh!It must have seen the childish body in the pool of blood.The Hun's knife cut off his face, leaving only half of his head, with a looming hateful eye. Animals know the cruelty of war, let alone Zhang Qian?He couldn't bear to keep his eyes on the face that couldn't bear to read, and urged his mount to walk forward, and saw the figure of General Li Guang's son, Sima Li Gan. From the battle robe he was wearing with Zhengchen, from that sweaty face, from the blood splattered on the horse's bridle, one could imagine how tragic the just-concluded fight was.Zhang Qian's heart was suddenly covered with a sense of guilt: the official came late. "Where's the old general?" Zhang Qian got off his horse and took a step forward to grab Li Gan's hand, "The officer is late." Li Gan's eyes were red, he suppressed his complicated emotions and said, "I'm sending Guan Qiang to the foot of the Great Wall." "What happened to Guan Qiang?" "Alas!" Li Gan sighed, "If Guan Qiang hadn't blocked the arrows of the Xiongnu, he wouldn't be the one lying in the tomb now." Zhang Qian understood that he could only blame himself for his dereliction of duty in his heart. Zhang Qian now thinks of what happened on the way of leading the army this time, and it is still a bitter dream.Not to mention that on the way of chasing Li Guang's troops, he was constantly harassed by a small group of Xiongnu troops, which greatly prolonged the marching journey. The worst thing was that the heavy rain that fell for five days in a row blocked his cavalry at the Great Wall. In the mountains to the north.When his cavalry arrived, Li Guangjun was besieged by King Zuo Tuqi's army and suffered heavy casualties. "The failure of this battle is due to the lower officials." Zhang Qian faced the sky and beat his chest. "The general should go see his father." Regarding Zhang Qian's mistake, Li Gan said nothing.Do you complain?hate it?But who should I hate?He is well aware of the friendship between Zhang Qian and his father, but this is the life of three thousand children after all! They turned the horse's head and walked back for about five miles. From a distance, they saw a tomb rising up on the leeward side of the hillside. Li Guang's back was frozen by the morning sun under the vast blue sky.Black armor, silver hair and beard, and brown war robe wrapped a desolate, tall body.Perhaps because of too much grief, his back looks a little bent. They walked slowly to the tomb on the edge—that was the place where Guan Qiang lay to rest. Guan Qiang followed Li Guang all the way from Qilang to Zhonglang. His tomb was much taller than that of ordinary soldiers. "Nephew! This old man sent you here." Li Guang's choked up voice was filled with deep sorrow, "I can't bear to let you lie outside the Great Wall far away from home!" This voice broke Zhang Qian's heart. He no longer cared about his identity, and knelt down in front of Li Guang: "Old General, this officer is late, and this officer is guilty!" Li Guang then knelt beside Zhang Qian and said, "General Zhang is here to send off my nephew, you can rest in peace." Li Guang's words drifted between heaven and earth with the wind of May: "I know! Your home is in Chang'an, and your heart is in Chang'an. I wanted to take you back, but I couldn't. Since ancient times, generals have died on the battlefield and buried their bones in green hills. If I take you back alone, what will happen to these soldiers who have been sleeping outside the Great Wall?" think?" "With you here, brothers won't feel alone, you know?" "With you standing here, the nightmare of the Huns will never end. You are a section of the Great Wall!" "You can sleep here with peace of mind, the old man of your manor will send someone to take care of it. The old man of your ancestor's tomb will often go to pay homage to it." Li Guang finally couldn't control his emotions, and burst into tears: "Nephew! It's the old man who hurt you! If the old man didn't take you to Youbeiping, you could live a peaceful life. If the old man doesn't agree with you Going out with the army for the second time will not let you die in Huangsha. Nephew, old man... hey cough cough..." "I'm gone, my father still needs to mourn." Li Gan comforted him from the side. The cries echoed on the Great Wall—the mountains were crying, the grasslands were crying... And every cry is like a sharp knife, piercing Zhang Qian's heart.Yes, if it weren't for my own failure to march, the battle on the Eastern Front would never have been so tragic! Li Guang looked at Zhang Qian with resentment: "The matter has come to this, what's the use of crying, the general, what's the benefit of crying! Does the general know? It's the lives of three thousand young men! Just like that..." "The lower official must report his crime of dereliction of duty to the emperor, and the death of the lower official will comfort the dead souls of the children in Guanzhong." "Confused!" Li Guang stood up, brushed the dust off his knees and said, "Three thousand disciples have already died, so does the general want to make another three thousand and one?" "Old general...lower officer..." "Go back to camp and talk." The war horse carried two generals, also carried yesterday's story, and carried two desolate hearts. Speaking of it, Li Guang was impatient. When he waited for Zhang Qian to arrive, he had to lead 4,000 men and horses to cross the Great Wall first.Before leaving, the emperor personally explained that the battle would be fought outside the Great Wall, and he had no reason to violate the emperor's will.When the army was four hundred miles out of the fortress, it was ambushed by King Zuo Tuqi.Forty thousand Huns surrounded four thousand Han troops. What was that like?The mountains and plains are full of dark Huns who can't see the edge, and all the roads to break through are blocked. The purpose of the Huns is very clear, which is to quickly defeat the fighting spirit of the Han army with their strong troops. Faced with terrified faces, Li Guang understood that if the morale of the army is not stabilized, the consequences will be disastrous.He looked at Li Gan beside him, and immediately realized that only by letting his son rush into the enemy's line can he arouse the fighting spirit of the Han army and get rid of the haze of cowardice. "Li dare to listen!" Li Guang shouted hoarsely. "The end will be here." "I command you to lead a troop of cavalry and charge into the enemy's formation." Li Guang pointed to the southeast, almost gritted his teeth and said, "Did you see that? If you go to the southeast, there must be a general of the Huns standing under the banner. The Huns' position, our army's morale will definitely be boosted." "No." Li Ganle turned his horse's head and was about to leave, but Li Guang shouted behind him: "Son! It's a matter of life and death, are you afraid?" Li Gan shook his head: "Afraid? So the general is still the parachutist?" He put on his belt and yelled to the cavalry behind him: "Follow me." Then he held up his big sword, urged his mount, and slashed left and right with the big sword, and saw the Huns cavalry fell off their horses one after another.Li Gan charged all the way, as if entering no man's land.When they returned to Li Guang's side again, their faces and bodies were covered with the blood of Hun soldiers.Li Gan held a head of a Hun family in his hand, threw it under the horse, and wiped his sweat. Li Guang climbed up the high slope and shouted to the generals of the Han army: "Did you see that? As long as our army works together, the Xiongnu will be defeated. Four hundred miles to the south is the Great Wall, and within the Great Wall are my elders. Are our parents and fellow villagers?" "cannot!" The arrogance of Li Guang's father and son not only quickly stabilized the mood of the Han army, but also swelled into a kind of confidence that the brave will win when they meet on a narrow road.Li Guang said to Guan Zhonglang, "The Xiongnu's intention is to disperse our army and divide and annihilate them. They ordered all the ministries to form a circular formation with the swords facing outward. As long as our army is not dispersed, we can wait for reinforcements to arrive." "Promise!" Guan Qiang stood beside Li Guang and waved the flag. The Han army quickly gathered and formed a circular defensive formation.The strong crossbow army is deployed on the periphery to deal with the enemy's attack; the second team is the cavalry to meet the invading enemy when the arrows are exhausted; the third team is the infantry to cover the retreat of the army. All this immediately caught the attention of King Zuo Tuqi. He looked at Hu Han Hunya beside him and asked, "Is Li Guang preparing to resist?" Ability, intent to stand firm and wait for reinforcements, as long as our army leads with a strong crossbow and the cavalry follows, the enemy's formation will be destroyed by itself." "Okay! Just follow the general and order our army to shoot all the arrows and not give the enemy a chance to breathe." In an instant, the arrows poured down on the Han army's position like heavy rain, and the Han army fell to the ground in pieces.In less than two hours, more than half of the Han army was killed or injured.Hearing the screams of those young lives when they were shot by arrows, and watching his subordinates die one by one in the rain of arrows from the Huns, Li Guang's stern face twitched violently, and Li Gan couldn't help but burst into tears. "Father! Fight back! Otherwise, our army will be finished!" "No!" Li Guang shook his head resolutely, "Our army doesn't have many arrows, and we must not shoot them unless it is absolutely necessary." "Is it just to watch the soldiers die?" Li Guang's face was ashen, he ignored Li Gan, and looked straight ahead, closely watching the changes in the enemy's situation. At this moment, the Xiongnu's arrows and crossbows stopped firing.The cavalry quickly passed the crossbowmen and rushed to the Han army's position. Who is the leader?Isn't that Hu Han Hunya who drove General Han Anguo to death?This old opponent has never left the Eastern Front.At this moment, there must be a strong desire to do meritorious service in his heart, right?it is good!The old man will let you bury your bones in the desert today! Li Guang calmly raised the rhubarb bow that used to shoot tigers, pulled the bow string fully, held his breath, and flew out with an arrow, impartial, and hit Huhan Qingya's throat, and a stream of blood spurted out from Huhan Qingya's mouth , turned over and fell off the horse. Losing a general before the battle, the Huns were in a state of confusion. The crossbowmen of the Han army took the opportunity to launch a counterattack. More than a thousand sharp arrows were shot at the cavalry of the Huns almost at the same time. The Huns retreated after dropping hundreds of corpses... The tense muscles on Li Guang's face finally appeared vaguely alive. Standing in the afterglow of the evening sun, he squinted and looked at King Zuo Tuqi's military camp on the opposite hill.The setting sun painted a deep orange on his wind-carved face, on his shoulders covered with dust, and on the blood-stained armor, everything seemed to be frozen in the halo of the setting sun.The corpses of the disciples under his feet brought down the general's heavy tears, and the hasty retreat of the Huns left a contemptuous and arrogant smile at the corner of his mouth. This made Li Gan and Guan Qiang very worried.Guan Qiang handed over a bag of water: "Uncle! Drink some water to quench your thirst!" Li Guang pushed away the water bag, still staring at the opposite mountain without saying a word, as if he wanted to swallow a mountain into his belly.He joined the army since he was a child and spent his entire life as a soldier. He lacks the poetry of Sima Xiangru, but he does not lack the emotions of a general, a father, and an elder.In the land under my feet, how many bones of the children of Longxi have been left behind, and how many ghosts of relatives from my hometown have wandered: The bloodshed in Yanmen in the fifth year of Yuanguang... In the sixth year of Yuanshuo, the Monan Yanyun... You Beiping defended against the enemy in the second year of Yuanshou... Some of these soldiers were brought out from his hometown back then, some came here for fame, and some were recruited from Longxi according to the imperial edict.Everyone cares about the same love for parents, children, and hometown, but what did I give them?Those who have followed clan brother Li Cai are now at least military marquis or village chief.And besides leaving them in the lonely fortress of the desert, all he gave them was the cold moon at the border, iron clothes on their bodies, and rough grains, what else? Let the old man stay with you for a while longer!Li Guang thought to himself.But the crisis came in this peaceful moment.A stream of arrows flew towards Li Guang through the dusk.Guan Qiang keenly caught the sound of rubbing against the wind, he rushed forward and pushed Li Guang away, but the flying arrow pierced through his broad chest... Guan Qiang fell down beside Li Guang.Li Guang held Guan Qiang in his arms, and called out tearfully, "Nephew! Nephew..." Guan Qiang opened his radiant eyes, and a vague voice came from his throat: "The big man can live without Guan Qiang, but... no... can't live without..." "Nephew! It's the old man who hurt you!" Now, when Li Guang and Zhang Qian talked about everything that happened just now, they still couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain in their hearts. "He is kind to the old man! In the Yanmen battle in the fifth year of Yuanguang, the old man lost a thousand people and was redeemed as a commoner. He was the one who took the old man to Lantian Manor! Later, the emperor showed mercy and reappointed the old man as the right-hand man. The prefect of Beiping, since then, he has been following this old man, not wanting to..." "Originally, before the expedition, the old man asked him to return to Lantian. Since Guanmen was in his generation, the number of people was scarce, and the old man was worried that he would be sorry for the old general Guanying. But he didn't want to leave the old man. Who knows that this time he won't return. way." "Fortunately, his death caused our army to fight against the enemy. The next day, we fought desperately with 2,000 troops against the Huns' 10,000 troops. Just as the general arrived, the Huns retreated into the desert. No matter how much meritorious deeds I have done, I don’t want to end in a single battle. There are only a thousand people in my army. Sigh... I really don’t know how to face the emperor..." "Father, don't think too much, the emperor will definitely reward you for your merit!" Seeing his father's preoccupied appearance, Li Gan felt very uncomfortable. Zhang Qian nodded: "The old general fought the enemy with four thousand soldiers and tens of thousands, and finally drove the Xiongnu back. The soldiers worked hard and spilled blood on the battlefield. The credit is due to the big man. If the battle fails, the blame is on the lower officials. The official will play the Ming court and ask for punishment." Li Guang sighed: "What do you and I personally advance or retreat? But three thousand children are left here, and the old man feels heartbroken when he thinks about it!" Whether it was because of the lack of food and grass, or because of the mountain and rain, Zhang Qian felt that it was superfluous to say anything now.Looking back at the 3,000 tombs on the hillside behind him, Zhang Qian said to himself in his heart: "You are a man, and you are ashamed of these soldiers who have been buried in the frontier fortress. You should bear all the responsibilities that should be borne by you."