Chapter 40 5. Collect Henan and conquer the Xiongnu in the north

In the late Warring States Period, a nomadic people who were good at riding and shooting and extremely fierce - the Xiongnu had been active in northern China.For a long time, the Huns lived scattered in the area north of Yinshan Mountain.With the merger wars among the Huns, the Huns were gradually unified from a state of disunity, and their strength was greatly enhanced.But at this time, the Xiongnu did not dare to become enemies with the countries in the Central Plains.Therefore, at that time, the northern borders of Yan, Zhao, and Qin were relatively stable, and there were no large-scale conflicts with the Xiongnu.On the one hand, it was because the countries in the Central Plains were powerful, and the Huns did not dare to provoke them easily.On the other hand, it was also because the Huns were in a dangerous situation. They faced the Da Yuezhi in the west, the Donghu in the east, and the countries of the Central Plains in the south. There were powerful enemies on three sides, so they dared not act rashly.

With the beginning of the melee in the Central Plains, Yan, Zhao, Qin and other countries were busy with their respective conquests and had no time to look north, so the Huns took the opportunity to continuously harass the borders of the northern countries.When Qin Shihuang unified the Central Plains, the Xiongnu army also crossed the Yellow River and occupied a large area of ​​land south of Hetao, which was the so-called "Henan land" at that time. The existence of the Xiongnu has always been the confidant of this emerging empire.Qin Shihuang was an ambitious emperor, and he had long wanted to conquer the Huns.In 221 BC, when Qin Shihuang had just unified the six kingdoms, he deliberately struck while the iron was hot and subdued the Xiongnu in one fell swoop, but because of the firm opposition of Li Si and other ministers, Qin Shihuang also considered that the Central Plains had just been unified, and a lot of waste was waiting to be done, and it was obvious to stabilize the situation in the Central Plains It is more important than attacking the north rashly, so the matter of attacking the Huns in the north was shelved.

In 215 B.C., when Qin Shihuang was overwhelmed with state affairs, urgent reports came from Yunzhong, Jiuyuan and other counties in the north. , frontier residents suffered greatly.Just at this time, Lu Sheng, an alchemist who was appointed by Qin Shihuang to seek the medicine of immortality in the East China Sea, but returned without success, brought back a "Book of Records", which recorded a shocking secret: "Death of Qin Dynasty Hu Ye." This sentence made Qin Shihuang feel uncomfortable, he did not want to see the Great Qin Empire that he built with his own hands being destroyed by the barbarians.

In order to have a clearer understanding of the Xiongnu issue, Qin Shihuang decided to personally inspect Jiuyuan County in the north, accompanied by Li Si and Meng Tian.The scene of the inspection along the way is shocking. Due to the years of invasion by the Huns, it was a prosperous frontier town, but now it has become dilapidated. In order to avoid the capture of the Huns, women and men dare not even go out. There are only a few old people and children.Qin Shihuang was shocked by the devastated scene. He did not expect that the rampant Huns had reached such a level.If the Huns are allowed to continue to develop, then I don't know how much suffering the people of Daqin will have to suffer!It was this inspection that strengthened Qin Shihuang's determination to attack the Huns in the north.

In order to fundamentally solve the problem of the Huns disturbing the people, the only way to send troops to the north was to attack the Huns, Qin Shihuang thought.However, this incident aroused firm opposition from a group of ministers headed by Guowei Weiliao and Zuo Prime Minister Feng Jie.They believe that the most important thing is to rest with the people after a long war in the world, and the management of Henan should wait for a while.But Qin Shihuang was a vigorous and resolute king. His style was that once he made up his mind, he immediately put it into practice.Faced with the opposition of many ministers, Qin Shihuang remained unmoved.He also ordered Wei Liao and Feng Jie to retire, with Li Si, who supported the Northern Expedition, as Prime Minister of the Left, and Feng Quji as Prime Minister of the Right and State Captain.Qin Shihuang resisted all opinions, and the matter of the Northern Expedition to the Huns was finally finalized.

The matter of the Northern Expedition to the Huns has been finalized, but who will be appointed as the commander-in-chief?After thinking about it, Qin Shihuang decided that it must be Meng Tian.Meng Tian came from a famous family. His grandfather, Meng Ao, was a famous general of the Qin State, and his official rank was high. His father, Meng Wu, was a generation of valiant generals.The brothers Meng Tian and Meng Yi were therefore deeply loved by Qin Shihuang.In addition, Qin Shihuang chose Meng Tian for two reasons: first, Meng Tian was guarding the northern border for many years in his youth, and he was extremely familiar with the tactics of the Huns, which was lacking in those veterans who had fought in the Central Plains for many years; He is the general with the most offensive spirit and field combat ability in the Qin army. The other generals of the Qin Dynasty mostly fought fortified battles in the Central Plains, and did not have much experience in field battles with the Xiongnu on the grasslands in northern Saibei.Thinking of this, Qin Shihuang couldn't help showing a smile, because he firmly believed that his choice would never be wrong!

Qin Shihuang hurriedly invited Meng Tian into the palace to discuss how to solve the Xiongnu problem.As soon as Meng Tian entered the palace, Qin Shihuang said with a heartbroken voice: "General Meng, the Huns have repeatedly invaded the border of our Great Qin Dynasty, and the people are suffering greatly. I wonder if the general knows anything about the Huns?" Meng Tian bowed to Qin Shihuang and said: "Your Majesty, I once guarded the border and knew something about the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu are nomadic peoples and have always admired our Central Plains culture. They invaded for wealth, like sparrows foraging for food. Gather together, and disperse if there is no food, although it is extremely difficult to deal with, it is not impossible to deal with."

After hearing what Meng Tian said, Qin Shihuang smiled and said: "General Meng's analogy really makes people laugh. Hearing what the general said, he should have a good strategy to defend against the enemy in his heart. Let me hear it." Meng Tian said: "Your Majesty must know that Li Mu, the general of the Zhao Kingdom, once invented a special method to deal with the Xiongnu. Let me call it the 'Zhang Luo Catching Sparrow Method'. This method is extremely effective against the Xiongnu. According to this method To deal with the Xiongnu, the two strategies of all the people and clearing the country can be adopted. The main content is to move the people scattered on the border into a large village. In peacetime, the common people farmed as usual; in wartime, the young and strong accompanied the army to fight against the enemy, and the elderly, children and women were responsible for early warning and information transmission. When the Huns attacked, all livestock were driven into the village, and the mature crops were harvested in time, if it was too late to harvest According to this method, the Xiongnu will not be able to get timely supplies, so they will have to attack. In this way, our army can flexibly adopt war strategies according to the number of Huns, either defending to the death or encircling and annihilating.”

Hearing Meng Tian's words, Qin Shihuang laughed loudly and said: "General Meng is worthy of being my great Qin general. This method is very good. I have decided to appoint Aiqing as the commander in chief of the Northern Expedition to the Huns. I hope you will not disappoint my expectations!" After receiving the first emperor's order, Meng Tian hurriedly knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, it has always been my long-cherished wish to drive out the Huns, and I will definitely do my best to live up to your majesty's great trust!" After a long period of preparation, Meng Tian led an army of 300,000 troops, traveled day and night, and finally rushed to the border.After setting up the camp, the Qin army immediately entered a state of first-level combat readiness.While sending people to scout out the enemy's situation, Meng Tian went over mountains and ridges to inspect the terrain himself, and ordered people to strictly implement his "law of catching sparrows".

This time, the Huns still invaded aggressively as usual.They originally thought that there would be some gains. To the surprise of the Huns, the people on the border of Qin State were no longer scattered as before, but all gathered in a large village, and a road was built outside the village. Solid fortifications.There is nothing outside the village, so you can't return empty-handed, right?The Hun King thought to himself.He ordered his men to march towards the village.Suddenly, the sound of war drums and shouts shook the sky, and a well-trained Qin army rushed out from the village. Under the leadership of Meng Tian, ​​the brave soldiers of the Qin army killed the Huns and fled in all directions.In the first battle, the Qin army won a complete victory.

During the battle, Meng Tian judged the situation, ordered the Qin army and the people to stick to the village, and led the army to chase the fleeing Xiongnu army everywhere, adopting various defeating tactics, and killed the Huns so frightened that they never dared to go south again.In less than a few months, Meng Tian drove the Huns out of the south of the Yellow River Hetao, and successfully recovered the fertile Henan area occupied by the Huns for a long time.For a time, news of the Northern Expedition to the Xiongnu frequently spread to Xianyang. Qin Shi Huang Longyan was very happy, and he praised Meng Tian in front of his officials. The victories one after another greatly boosted the morale of the Qin army.Immediately afterwards, Meng Tian led his army across the Yellow River and took the initiative to attack.In the spring of 214 BC, Meng Tian fought several fierce battles with the Huns north of the Yellow River.In the battle, because the number of horses of the Qin army could not be compared with that of the Xiongnu army, Meng Tian adopted a combination of cavalry and chariot warfare, and also used the advanced offensive weapon at that time-the crossbow.The crossbow was a weapon unique to the Central Plains people at that time, but the Huns did not.The Qin army led the way with heavy chariots, which were tall and loaded with various crossbow arrows. They were fired densely like rain, and the arrows were like locusts. The Huns of a single arm could not defend at all; Charge out.Under the powerful offensive of the Qin army, the main force of the Xiongnu suffered heavy losses repeatedly.In the end, they were completely defeated by the army led by Meng Tian, ​​forcing the Huns to flee to the north for more than 700 li. Meng Tian fought against the Xiongnu in the north, killing the Xiongnu army and throwing away their helmets and armor, successfully regaining Henan in one fell swoop.After the victory of the Huns in the Northern Expedition, Qin Shihuang ordered Meng Tian to set up 44 counties along the Hetao area of ​​the Yellow River, which belonged to Jiuyuan County, as a stronghold to prevent the Huns from coming again.In 211 BC, Qin Shihuang sent more than 30,000 criminals to cultivate in Taohe and Yuzhong to develop the economy and strengthen the military reserve force.These measures have played a positive role in strengthening border defense. Meng Tian was a famous general in the short history of the Qin Dynasty. He was brave, invincible, courageous and resourceful.The Northern Expedition to the Huns not only made him famous, but also relieved a hidden danger that had plagued the Great Qin Empire for a long time. For a long time after that, the Huns never dared to commit crimes south.