Chapter 37 Chapter Thirty-Third

Li Ling looked back, my God!I saw a mass of Hun cavalry coming from all around... "Sima Qian, are you blaming me?" "I don't dare, I just want to say a few words of justice."... Li Ling led five thousand Jingchu warriors to Junji Mountain according to the deployment of Emperor Wu. After marching for more than a month, they finally reached their destination.The task assigned by Emperor Wu was to spy on the situation of the Xiongnu. They were about to return after their investigation, when they suddenly heard a thunderous sound coming from ahead. After a while, they saw banners covering the sun and flying dust. A large group of cavalry came galloping.

Li Ling's eyes lit up, and he thought to himself, I'm looking for you, so he ordered the soldiers to set up camp and prepare for a big battle.When the enemy approached, he realized that it was the main force of 30,000 soldiers led by Shan Yu and Rollhou of the Xiongnu, so Li Ling ordered the baggage carts to be lined up as a defensive formation, and the cavalry and archers were ready. The Xiongnu rushed over in a dense manner, shouting loudly, Li Ling ordered to shoot arrows, and all arrows were fired, and the Xiongnu fell from their horses one after another.Then the drums and trumpets sounded together, and Li Ling led the infantry to charge forward with swords and halberds in their hands, and started a fierce battle with the Huns.The Huns suffered heavy casualties.Shan Yu was shocked when he saw this, he hurriedly rang the gong to withdraw his troops and retreated to a mountain to take shelter temporarily, and sent someone to mobilize troops.

Li Ling finally caught up with the opportunity to confront Shan Yu directly, so he was not willing to let him go, so he ordered to pursue him, and at the same time sent people to Li Guangli for reinforcements.Just when Shan Yu was about to be captured, he suddenly shouted loudly, Li Ling looked back, oh my god!I saw black cavalry of the Huns coming all around. It turned out that the Huns had transferred tens of thousands of cavalry. Li Ling had no choice but to retreat and fight at the same time. After eight days of bloody battle with the enemy, he retreated to a valley less than a hundred miles away from Juyanhai.Li Ling saw that most of the soldiers were dead and wounded, and that the half a million arrows had been used up. He looked forward to reinforcements, but there was no sign of reinforcements. The soldiers were starving, sitting on the ground panting.

But before they could catch their breath, the enemy launched an attack again. Li Ling led his troops to retreat while fighting, and the soldiers came to report: "General, the rear has been blocked by the enemy." Li Ling furrowed his brows tightly and shouted: "Soldiers, we have run out of arrows and food, and reinforcements are coming. Let's break through together. If you can get out, report a letter to the emperor." "Li Ling surrender." "You are surrounded." The Xiongnu soldiers surrounded the valley from both sides of the narrow road with shouts, and Li Ling's soldiers were hacked and killed countless times...

Li Ling, who was sweating profusely, was still slashing and killing the horse with a knife, when suddenly he yelled "ah", fell off the horse clutching his arms... "Live!" "Live!" Thousands of Xiongnu soldiers pushed towards the injured Li Ling... In the morning, Sima Qian came to the palace as usual. He always came earlier, and he still waited in the side hall.There were already several people inside, and Sima Qian heard them discussing: "I heard that Li Ling surrendered, and the emperor is already furious." "Yeah, yeah, I didn't expect that."

Ah, Li Ling surrendered, and Sima Qian was surprised. After a while, Ren An came. Ren An had just returned from the expedition, and Sima Qian asked him for details. Ren An said: "General Li Ling cannot be entirely blamed for this matter. He faced the Xiongnu Shanyu's 80,000 cavalry with 5,000 infantry. They have fought bloody battles for eight days, and the Xiongnu have died and injured more than 10,000... What's more, he has no reinforcements. .” Ren An whispered again: "Besides, the emperor put his mother and wife in prison again. Think about it, Li Ling knows, can you figure it out?"

The two were talking in a low voice, and came in again. Some officials who were waiting for the early court stopped talking. From the beginning of the early dynasty, all civil and military officials stood by His Highness. "The emperor ascends to the palace." Emperor Wu ascended to the palace and took his seat with an angry face. "Long live the emperor, long live, long live!!" "Free of courtesy." Emperor Wu sat down with a serious face, and then said: "Xuan Chen Bule." "Bring music." Chen Bule was a soldier who followed the Han army led by Li Ling to go deep into the enemy's hinterland for two thousand miles. After completing the mission successfully, he returned to report the military situation to Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu was very happy and appointed him as a palace guard.

Chen Bule was escorted to kneel in front of the hall. "Chen Bule, are you guilty?" "My Majesty, I really don't know that General Li ... no ... Li Ling ... will rebel, I really don't know." "You are deceiving the emperor, pull me down." "It's wrong." Chen Bule was executed by the angry emperor. Emperor Wu still sat with an angry expression on his face. A minister played: "Your Majesty, Li Ling's surrender really insults my moral integrity and is unbearable." Another said: "Your Majesty, Li Ling has failed His Majesty's trust and violated the expectations of the imperial court. It is really treasonous."

An old minister also echoed: "Li Ling's surrender will discredit the Li clan and humiliate the Han court. Fortunately, General Li Guangli has honored the court. Otherwise, I would not have been ridiculed." "Severely punish Li Ling." "Chop all over the house." Emperor Wu's face improved a little when he heard this, and suddenly saw Sima Qian coming out of the queue: "I want to report to the Holy Majesty, I don't know if I should say a few words or not." Emperor Wu knew Sima Qian's character well, and wondered if he, who had always advocated loyalty and integrity, would speak for Li Ling?

"speak." Sima Qian then said: "Li Ling surrendered, it was unrighteous, but why did he surrender? He had only 5,000 men and horses and was not a cavalry, but let him go straight into the enemy's hinterland alone. He was surrounded by 80,000 cavalry and fought bloody for eight days. , why there was no reinforcements to rescue them, why did some people refuse to save them! Why did Li Ling put his mother and wife in prison after he was captured..." "Sima Qian, are you blaming me?" "I dare not, I just want to say a few words of justice." Emperor Wu was furious: "To be fair, could it be that I was unfair? Could it be that I used my troops improperly? You obviously put the responsibility for Li Ling's surrender on my head. You..."

"Your Majesty, I just said why some people stood still and didn't go to rescue him?" "Sima Qian, you are so bold. The last time I sent General Li Guangli to attack Dawan Kingdom, you said it was an unjust war. Now you justify Li Ling's surrender. You... you... come here, give him Hold on." Immediately, two soldiers came up, pulled Sima Qian and left. "Back the court!" The furious emperor walked away in a huff. All the officials walked out of the hall talking in low voices...