Chapter 32 Chapter 32 The Huns Rise

Eight years of turmoil made the Central Plains extremely exhausted.No, long before Chen Sheng and Wu Guang raised their troops, the people were already in dire straits.It is precisely because of this that the common people will rebel. "The world" is prosperous and strong, and the borders will be safe and sound, but once the world is exhausted, external forces will take the opportunity to enter.In addition to the Tianxia that the people of the Central Plains think of, there is "Tianxia", and the pressure comes from this place. The north is another world, where there lived a nation called the Huns.Their language belongs to the Altaic language family, one of the Turkish or Mongolian language families.As for the race and body type, the details are unknown.They are nomadic horsemen, and they move frequently, so it is very difficult to study the descendants of the Huns.

"Historical Records" records the following words: The Xiongnu, the Miao descendants of their ancestor Xiahou clan. The Xiahou clan is the clan of the Xia Dynasty founded by Yu.If Xia was a dynasty of the Han nationality, his last descendant, the Xiongnu, should also be of the Han nationality, but this ancient genealogy should be regarded as a legend.As far as race is concerned, it can be regarded as Scythian, at least influenced by Scythian culture - this kind of statement is more credible. The head of the Xiongnu was titled "Shan Yu", and his wife, the concubine, was called "Yanshi".

At the same time as Qin Shihuang, the Xiongnu Shanyu was a character named Touman.In the heyday of the Qin Dynasty, the reason why the Xiongnu were oppressed can be described as the natural result of the political mechanics of the various ethnic groups at that time. During the Warring States Period, countries in the Warring States Period built defense walls on their borders in order to defend against the invasion of ethnic groups outside the Great Wall, such as the Huns.After the completion of the unification, the first emperor repaired and strengthened the original defense wall, and completed the Great Wall from Lintao (Gansu) to Liaodong, which was more than 10,000 miles long.This is the famous "Great Wall".

In the Warring States Period and the Qin and Han Dynasties, "one mile" was approximately equal to four hundred meters, and ten thousand miles was equivalent to four thousand kilometers.The Great Wall we see today is 2,400 kilometers from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan.But this is a relic of the late Ming Dynasty.The Great Wall built by the First Emperor made a great detour to the north, covered the Yellow River and far beyond Shanhaiguan, and went straight to the vicinity of Fushun today.Therefore, it can be roughly calculated as "thousand miles". While building the Great Wall, the First Emperor gave General Meng Tian an army of 300,000 troops, ordering him to drive the people outside the Great Wall to the north, and thus obtained the current Ordos area.

On this point, "Historical Records" has the following records: It was time for Meng Tian to vibrate the Xiongnu. After Touman Shanyu was driven from Ordos to the north by General Meng Tian, ​​he was surrounded by two powerful countries, Donghu in the east and Yuezhi in the west, and was in a state of near occlusion. Due to the death of the first emperor, the pressure on Qin from the south finally eased, and the Huns were able to breathe a sigh of relief.The rebellion at the end of Qin Dynasty almost disbanded the garrison troops of Qin State (mainly composed of criminals), so the Xiongnu had the opportunity to cross the Yellow River and return to the long-awaited hometown of Ordos.

Although this is an excellent opportunity for national revival, the aging Touman Shanyu has no ability to guide.The prosperous career of the Huns was completed in the hands of his son. Touman's son is named Modun.At the beginning, Mao Dun was established as the prince, but his father Touman later favored another Yan family, so he took the son born to this woman as his successor.The father's behavior can be described as quite confused. Not only was Mao Dun abolished as a prince, but he was also sent as a hostage to the Yuezhi Kingdom, which was opposed to the Huns.Regarding the Yuezhi, there are also different opinions. It seems that the theory that the Yuezhi belongs to the same Scythian family as the Xiongnu is correct.In the past, the Yuezhi was believed to have lived in a place relatively west. It is said that they had entered the Ordos area from this time on, overlapping with the Xiongnu's circle of influence.

In short, the hostage is used as a "guarantee" for the non-aggression of the two parties.If one party violates the agreement, the hostage will be killed.Touman Shanyu sent his son Maodun to the Yuezhi as a hostage, but launched a surprise attack on the Yuezhi.Such an approach is undoubtedly asking the other party to kill the son who is a hostage. And Mao Dun is definitely not someone who will wait to be killed in vain.He stole a horse that he had coveted for a long time and was considered to be the number one horse in the Yuezhi Kingdom, and fled back to the Xiongnu camp at full speed.

"You kid is quite brave!" Only then did Touman Shanyu realize his son's bravery, so he made him a general with ten thousand horses.But the position of prince has been given to the son of the concubine, which is irreversible. watch it!I will become Shan Yu by my own strength!Mao Dun made this decision at this time. He made something called "Ming Di", also known as "Sound Arrow", and used it to train his subordinates' riding and shooting skills.Riding and archery was originally a special skill of the Huns, but he strived for perfection even more. "What I shoot with Mingdi, you must shoot like me. Anyone who violates this order must be executed!"

When hunting, once he shot a fox, the fox would be hit by many arrows.When shooting a rabbit, the rabbit will definitely be shot by his subordinates and become like a hedgehog.Anyone who did not follow the archery would be beheaded on the spot by him. Then he drew his bow fully and shot his mount.This is the famous horse he often brags to his subordinates.At this time, several subordinates hesitated for a while and did not release their arrows in time, and they were beheaded by Mao Dun on the spot. After that, he used his beloved wife as a target and shot Ming Di.The arrow sounded and hit the heart of Maodun's beloved wife.All of a sudden, the subordinates hurriedly drew their bows and shot arrows.

The two subordinates couldn't bear it and didn't shoot the arrow.Without saying a word, Mao Dun ran up to the two men, drew his sword and killed them.Since then, no one has dared to disobey his orders. Soon, his father, Touman Shanyu, led a group of officials to hold a hunting.Mao Dun, who led his subordinates to accompany him, shot his father with an arrow during the hunt. Of course Touman Chanyu fell down after receiving countless arrows. After that, Mo Dun killed his stepmother, half brother and ministers who disobeyed him one by one. Modu thus seized the Chanyu position. Such a terrible person became the leader of the Xiongnu in this way, and at this time the Central Plains was in a state of chaos after the death of the first emperor.Mao Dun Shanyu attacked Donghu in the east, killed his king and plundered the people and livestock.Then, he launched an attack on the Yuezhi, driving them far away.

After conquering the east and the west, the Xiongnu army led by Mao Dun Shanyu went south like a storm, and soon regained the land of Ordos occupied by the Qin general Meng Tian.The Xiongnu then appeared in front of the Han who finally defeated Xiang Yu and completed the unification of China. After taking the throne, Liu Bang, in order to hope that his new empire would last forever, used Qin, who had died in a few decades, as a "negative teaching material". Blindly imitating Qin's style of work will certainly not make the new empire last long.Large-scale fortifications such as the Great Wall and Afang Palace, large-scale military operations such as the Mengtian Northern Expedition-everything that Qin has done must not be repeated. Although the Han Dynasty had decided to make Chang'an the imperial capital, even the city walls of the capital could not be completed in Liu Bang's lifetime.Nothing is forced, and all measures must be taken with a second thought—they take such a passive attitude. In contrast, the Huns in the north, led by such a courageous man as Mao Dun Shanyu, adopted a positive attitude. In the year when Han Xin was demoted from King Chu to Marquis of Huaiyin, Han Wangxin made a memorial. Han Wangxin is often confused with Han Xin, but they are actually completely different characters.Most of the names of people in this era were single names, so cases of the same surname and the same name abound.In order to make the distinction clear, the person whose descendants of the King of Han's family were named the King of Han is generally called Han Wangxin. The content of Han Wangxin’s memorial is as follows: ——Although Jinyang has been designated as the capital of Han, this place is far away from the Xiongnu, so it is planned to move the capital to Mayi. Please check whether it is feasible. The fan screen of Han was originally set up to defend against the Huns, and if it is too far away from the Huns, it will lose the meaning of setting up.Jinyang is the present Taiyuan City, and Mayi is present-day Shuo County, about 170 kilometers to the north. Since Han Wangxin's request was quite reasonable, of course Liu Bang immediately adjudicated it. In the autumn of the following year, Mao Dun Shanyu led the Xiongnu army to go south to surround Han Wangxin in Mayi.Han Wangxin surrendered at Kaesong, rebelled against the Han and surrendered to the Xiongnu. It seems to be an extremely simple rebellion incident, but in fact, the course of it is extremely tortuous.During the period of siege, Han Wangxin of course sent envoys to the encirclement army many times, which was not uncommon in the war at that time.When Liu Bang and Xiang Yu fought, the military envoys of the two sides also communicated frequently with each other. But Liu Bang became suspicious of the envoys between Han Wangxin and the Huns. Liu Bang, who was born in a rascal, has always had a sense of inferiority and jealousy towards people from a famous family.The same is true for Han Wangxin.This is the root cause of suspicion. ——Do you have two minds? Liu Bang sent envoys to Mayi and questioned him like this. This incident shocked Han Wangxin greatly.Han Xin, who has the same surname as him, suffered an accident only last year.Han Xin, who was named the King of Chu, was shackled and humiliated in every possible way because of the suspicion of rebellion. Although there was no evidence of rebellion, he was demoted to the rank of Marquis.Speaking of which, Han Xin was still the one who saved Liu Bang.In the final stage of the fight for the world, if Han Xin hadn't joined Liu Bang's camp, maybe the Han Empire would not have appeared at all. ——Even Han Xin, who has established such a great honor, cannot escape the humiliation of being arrested, so what will Liu Bang do to me? Thinking of this, Han Wangxin didn't have any confidence at all.He used to be a member of the Han army camp, and later returned to Xiang Yu for a period of time, and finally returned to Liu Bang's command. His experience can be described as quite complicated. ——The Emperor has doubts about me.If this continues, once the emperor is displeased, his head may fall to the ground at any time. Instead of this, it is better... With this idea, Han Wangxin rebelled under the banner of the Huns, and joined forces with the Huns to go south to attack Taiyuan. After Liu Bang heard the news of Han Wangxin's rebellion, he immediately decided to conquer himself.Although "never force" is his purpose, this is a major issue in consolidating the domestic system, and he must personally lead the crusade army to sweep it. Before this, the Han army had never had the experience of confronting the Huns.Therefore, it is natural to not be familiar with their combat methods. The Xiongnu army led by Mao Dun Shanyu turned around and fled as soon as they came into contact with the Han army in Jinyang City.The Han army was convinced that they were defeated and left.As described in the following passage in "Historical Records", the Han people's unbreakable concept of the Xiongnu is: (Character of the Huns) Profit advances, unfavorable retreats, fled without shame, where profit lies, ignorance of etiquette... Therefore, the Han army believed that the opponent fled in a hurry because he knew he was powerless to be an enemy of the Han. The Han army didn't know that this was a trap, so they chased after him.It was the severe winter season. The death of the dead refers to twelve or three. Compared with the Xiongnu, the Han soldiers who were not used to the cold climate and had insufficient cold protection equipment were all distressed by frostbite. After regaining Jinyang, Liu Bang sent people to Daigu to investigate the situation of Maodun Shanyu's army stationed there.Because Mao Dun hid the elite soldiers and good horses in a clever way, the unsuspecting scouts came back and reported: "The Daigu Huns camp only has old, weak and thin horses. If you launch an attack at this time, you will undoubtedly win." It was not just one or two people who made such reports.In order to obtain correct information, personnel from different intelligence units were sent, and the results were the same. "Okay, let's attack!" Liu Bang is going to lead an army of 320,000 to attack. "Please wait!" At this time, a man walked out from the group of officials and knelt down in front of Liu Bang. Liu Bang glanced at this person.This is a subordinate named Liu Jing who went to the Xiongnu as an envoy and returned not long ago.He is an official envoy not a spy. "I have been to the Xiongnu Mushe, and I also saw that there are old, weak and disabled soldiers. They also brought me to the north, and I rarely saw young elite soldiers in the northern bases..." "You don't need to report this, I already knew it. That's why I launched an attack. What do you mean by waiting a while?" Liu Bang said rather unhappy. "However, I feel that there seems to be something strange. Why did they take me to the bases in the north? Looking back now, it seems that this is to mislead me and make me think that the Xiongnu is vulnerable. I think they did this because The most important thing is to ask the ministers to suggest an attack when they come back. On the other hand, they set up an ambush in an attempt to annihilate our army in one fell swoop. Therefore, I boldly suggest that we should not attack at this moment." Liu Jing repeatedly kowtowed and played. "You are obsessed with the argument that you can't attack!" Liu Bang's voice was full of sarcasm, contempt and anger. Liu Jing is just an envoy.In addition to him, more than a dozen full-time espionage personnel were sent to the Huns camp for reconnaissance, and their reports were all: "The Huns are vulnerable, and they should send troops to attack immediately!" The Xiongnu have reached the point of being vulnerable, this is an iron fact.In order to avoid being beaten, they bought the Han envoy and asked him to come back and make a claim that they cannot attack, right?Liu Bang explained it this way.So he turned around and ordered to the guard: "Tie up this tongue-in-cheek and put him in prison!" "Why...why did you do this to me?" Liu Jing raised his head in bewilderment.He saw Liu Bang's angry expression. "You think you can stop the Han army from attacking with your perfect tongue, the Xiongnu Shanyu is too overestimating you!" After Liu Bang finished speaking, he went into the inner room.