Chapter 58 3. Stubbornness Kills People

People in the Han Dynasty publicly scolded Wang Mang, that is to turn around.If you want to scold, you can only scold in your heart.Of course, just scolding your mother in your heart will not solve the problem.If you want to be responsible to the country and the people, you must write a letter and propose effective solutions. The person who wanted to write a letter to Wang Mang was Yan You, the commander of the Crusade Corps, who was stationed in Yuyang County at that time.It is believed that Yuyang County is also one of the hardest-hit areas, so Yan You is deeply touched by the Huns' military disaster.So, he wrote a long book and quickly spread it to the beautiful city of Chang'an.

Yan You's memorial is very long, but his point of view is very clear. It can be summarized as follows: First, Yan You believes that there are historical traces in the way of dealing with the Xiongnu.There are three kinds, one is from the Zhou Dynasty, one is from the Qin Dynasty, and the other is from the Han Dynasty. In the past, the Zhou Dynasty treated the invading Xiongnu only by driving them out of the country and returning to the dynasty.This method, as far as it goes, labors the people without hurting money, which is a medium strategy; later, the Qin Dynasty was willing to spend a lot of money to deal with the Xiongnu, and sent Meng Tian to lead an army of 300,000 to build the Great Wall and retreat the Xiongnu within 700 miles. outside.The results seemed brilliant, but the cost was so great that it almost exhausted the state's financial resources.This kind of strategy is not even a strategy.Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also spent a lot of money on dealing with the Huns. He chased the Huns for 30 years and finally scared the Huns.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty seemed to have excellent martial arts skills, but in the past 30 years, he used all his national power to launch wars, exhausted the country, and almost caused civil strife.This kind of strategy is only inferior.

So, what is the best strategy?General Yan You made a fool of himself and first analyzed the current military situation of the new government. Yan You believes that the country is currently suffering from drought and famine year after year, especially in the northwest.The so-called anti-foreign must be safe inside, and the internal problems have not been resolved, so 300,000 troops have been poured out, and it has not been assembled for a year.It is really not worthwhile to spend this cost to fight the Huns. The uneconomical areas include the following aspects: the troops who arrived at the front line first, have nothing to do, blow sand all day long, their morale is already low, and the food supply in the rear cannot be supplied.This is one of them.The food and grass in the major frontier fortresses are empty and must be transported from the country.The distant water cannot save the nearby fire, and the food is transported one way, and when it reaches the front, it is not enough for the soldiers to eat.This is the second.The northwest area is deserted, and cattle must be used to transport grain.Cows have to eat grass, and countless cows have died along the way. Even if there is more food, they cannot be sent to the front line.This is the third.

In addition, the difficulties faced by the Han Dynasty army include lack of water, super slow marching speed and so on.In short, it is very impractical to go to the Huns to fight in this way. Only a strategy that is truly practical and cost-effective is a good strategy.So, in Yan You's eyes, what is a conspiracy? Yan You believes that it is impossible for the troops to retreat now that the troops are dispatched.Therefore, Shangmou is not to wait for the entire army to be assembled before attacking, but to order the frontline vanguard to attack the Huns first.Then I can quickly move troops deep into the Huns and hit them hard.

It can be seen from the above that General Yan You has a good head and is a true pragmatist in war.However, when his report arrived in Chang'an, Wang Mang snorted with his nostrils full of pedantry, and dismissed General Yan You's memo disdainfully. Wang Mang still said the same thing: the army must be assembled before attacking the Xiongnu. As a result, the soldiers who had nothing to do at the front had to sit and chew on the wind and sand, while those on the road behind were rolling in the wind and dust and moving forward slowly at a snail-like speed.Under Wang Mang's repeated insistence, and through the joint efforts of the soldiers of the Han Dynasty, finally, more and more troops were gathered from the border counties.

However, the Han Dynasty was like a vicious snowball that got bigger and bigger and became more and more shameful. It escaped from Wang Mang's control and moved towards an unexpected situation. First of all, because more and more troops are assembled along the border, the border counties have to continue to provide food, and the pressure is increasing.However, the newly arrived troops were complicated and there were many robbers who took advantage of the opportunity. The border residents couldn't stand it and fled one after another. The frontier residents are running away, and the people in the counties in the rear are also running away.Wang Mang sent people from door to door to arrest young men and urge grain taxes.More and more people are unable to pay taxes.Forced to do nothing, many poor people in the Han Dynasty ran to the mountains, set up villages, and became robbers.

Wang Mang pushed the Han Dynasty to the cliff, and then pushed himself to the edge of the cliff. Just one step away, he fulfilled his nightmare. What made Wang Mang even more unexpected was that the two filial Chanyus he personally appointed were not filial at all.One day, Xiao Shanyu took advantage of Wang Mang's unprepared guards, pulled up his legs and ran wildly, and ran into the territory of the Xiongnu in one breath.Then, he didn't have time to catch his breath, so he went to Wuzhuliu Ruotan Shanyu to complain. After Xiao Shan ran away, the commanders of the Disgust Corps and Zhendi Corps secretly sent back a piece of reliable information.He said that after their unremitting efforts, they learned from the Huns captives that the person who planned the Huns' repeated invasion of Hanbian was none other than Xiao Shanyu's son who fled back home.

This news was like an iron palm hitting Wang Mang's chest.Where is your filial Chanyu son?He is not in the sky, but in Chang'an, which is right in front of us.Wang Mang detains Xiao Shanyu's son as a hostage.This is great, the hostage has become an undercover agent and the behind-the-scenes force of the war. Angry Wang Mang immediately called a meeting of all foreign envoys in Chang'an City.At the meeting, Xiao Shanyu's son was pushed out and beheaded.Wang Mang seemed to tell these foreign envoys that in my territory, if you want to survive, don't even think about playing tricks.

If you want to play tricks, Wang Mang is a peerless master.However, conspiracy cannot save his new dynasty, let alone his future.At this time, bad news kept coming.The barbarians in the Southwest were reversed; Goguryeo in North Korea was also reversed; and all the countries in the Western Regions were also reversed. Looking up at the world, Wang Mang has lost the hearts of the people inside and has no allies outside.Wang Mang is like standing on a precarious boulder on the edge of a cliff. The probability of him falling into the abyss is getting higher and higher. As everyone knows, the most terrifying thing in the world is not that you are in a difficult situation; it is that you are in a difficult situation and still don't know it.When we were all worried about the great Confucian man Wang Mang, Wang Mang was condescending and said confidently: "Whoever wants to rebel against me, I will make him a failure in his next life."

In order to prove that the barbarians are not to be feared, Wang Mang's soldiers divided into two groups, one to attack the Southwestern Barbarians, and the other to attack Goguryeo on the Korean Peninsula.The southwestern barbarians were too stubborn to take it down for a while; the leader of the Goguryeo rebels in the north was cut off, but the resistance was still quite fierce. By the way, the Southwestern Barbarians rebelled because they were dissatisfied with Wang Mang's lowering their titles; the Goguryeo rebelled because Wang Mang ordered them to go to the north to fight the Huns together, but they didn't listen, so they started arguing.

In this way, the whole world, from Korea in the east, to the Xiongnu in the north and the Western Regions in the north, and then to the barbarians in the southwest, was in chaos.The glorious foreign diplomatic relations established by the Han Dynasty for two hundred years were destroyed in Wang Mang's hands. The new dynasty has reached the most dangerous moment. At this time, General Yan You wrote again.He warned Wang Mang not to cause trouble and turn against the barbarians.The one who suffers in the end is still himself. Yan You's words were like the wind, Wang Mang listened to the left and spoke to the right.After leaving, Wang Mang told his frontline generals, "Don't be nervous. These barbarians will eventually swallow their own bitterness. If you don't believe me, just wait and see!" I really doubt whether Wang Mang's eyes were blocked by ghosts and gods.Otherwise, why does he always believe in his inner feelings, but is unwilling to face the crisis that is about to burn his brow? Back then, in the last years of the Qin Dynasty, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled, and the world was in turmoil.After the information was introduced to the palace, Qin Ershi won Hu Hai and beat him to death. He didn't believe it. He always thought it was false information, which was made up by others to scare him.Ever since, he took down and beheaded anyone who reported turmoil. In Wang Mang's body, I seem to see the shadow of Qin II winning Hu Hai.Before, the counties spread the information of the civil uprising to Chang'an, saying that the common people could not live on and were about to rebel, so he was very upset and wanted to kill the person who sent the information.When the informant saw that the situation was wrong, he would say that the uprisings were fake, and he would jump for joy. For such an excellent human race, I have reason to believe that Wang Mang's previous life was definitely not a python, but a hybrid of a python and an ostrich. Back then, when Qin II won Huhai's title as emperor, he was only in his early twenties, but he was a true nihilist.All day long, he said to his teacher Zhao Gao: "Life is like a dream, and it disappears suddenly. Should I enjoy myself in time?" Zhao Gao said, "Life is indeed short, and you should enjoy it as soon as possible. Just leave the hard work to me." Sure enough, Ying Huhai really handed over the power to Zhao Gao, and he died an ugly death. Compared with Ying Hu Hai, Wang Mang is not a nihilist, on the contrary, he is a Confucian realist.But to add, he's also a crazy retroist.He wants to learn from the ancient sages. In the eyes of those people, all barbarians are vulnerable.Ever since, when the world was in crisis, he looked confident, instead of paying attention to the battle situation on the front line, he concentrated on studying his deeds and etiquette of the ancients. You may have seen rotten people, but people like Wang Mang are the best of rotten people.Therefore, even if there are 10,000 Yan You, such an extremely corrupt academic master, it is still useless. Unexpectedly, when Wang Mang was hiding in the palace and gnawed on ancient books and studied ancient instruments, a news came in, which disrupted his battle plan against the Huns.This is not bad news, but it is not good news. The content is that the envoy of the Huns sent someone to say that Shan Yu wanted to make peace with the new dynasty. The Shanyu who proposed the marriage was not the Wu Zhuliu Ruotan Shanyu whom Wang Mang sent to fool him before, but the Xiao Shanyu he once made.Xiao Shanyu was a blessing in disguise. After he ran back to the Huns, Wu Zhuliu Ruodan Shanyu relegated him to a poor position.But not long after, Wuzhu Liuruodan Shanyu collapsed.After internal inspection by the Xiongnu, Xiao Shanyu was appointed as the new Shanyu. Xiao Shanyu was able to become the Great Shanyu of the Huns, thanks to a woman from the Han Dynasty.That person is Wang Zhaojun who was once married.After Wang Zhaojun married to the Huns, her thought of marriage was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it was passed on to her eldest daughter. Later, after the eldest daughter got married, it was passed on to her eldest son-in-law.And the one who supported Xiao Shanyu when he was the great Shanyu of the Xiongnu was Wang Zhaojun's eldest son-in-law, who was the capital of Yougu at that time. Wang Zhaojun's eldest son-in-law You Guduhou made a political deal with Xiao Shanyu.He said that he supported Xiao Shanyu as the Grand Chanyu, but the Grand Chanyu must make peace with the new dynasty.Xiao Shanyu agreed without even thinking about it.Therefore, after Xiao Shanyu became the Great Shan Yu of the Xiongnu, he sent someone to marry him. For Wang Mang, the Xiongnu want to get married, which is a great thing.Because he advocated war against the Huns, the people behind the front line were disturbed.So the Xiongnu proposed a marriage, which happened to give him a step down. However, the Xiongnu envoy told Wang Mang that Shanyu had a small request for the marriage, that is, to ask the new dynasty to send his son back to the country. When Wang Mang heard this, he was dumbfounded. Xiao Shanyu wanted a son, why didn't he take him with him when he fled back to the Huns?His son who was taken as a hostage was dragged out by Wang Mang long ago and beheaded. Where can you get a living person to send you?However, if there is no son to return to Shan Yu, if he still wants to continue the marriage, it will be suspended. Impulse is the devil, and Wang Mang regretted that it was too late.However, Wang Mang immediately had an idea.Want a son, right?no problem.As long as the negotiation is successful, anything is easy to say. Wang Mang's move is called flickering.However, if you can fool today, can you fool tomorrow?When Xiao Shanyu's son was beheaded, many foreign envoys were present. There is no impenetrable wall in the world, and Wang Mang knows this truth.However, Wang Mang decided to sign a marriage agreement before the wind penetrated the wall.Ever since, Wang Mang moved very quickly and sent a delegation to the Huns to negotiate.The original Huns envoys were delayed first and stayed in Chang'an. Wang Mang's delegation brought a large amount of gold and cloth as gifts to Xiao Shanyu.Then, they patted their chests and assured Shan Yu: "Your son Shan Yu is still alive, as long as we sign the agreement, we will send you back immediately." Xiao Shanyu seemed to have taken a reassurance, and signed the contract.Soon after the delegation returned home, Wang Mang ordered the withdrawal of troops.At this time, the Huns envoy finally returned home. In fact, before the Xiongnu returned home, they had found out that Xiao Shanyu's son had already been beheaded by Wang Mang.Ever since, after they returned to the Huns, they first told Xiao Shanyu the unfortunate news. When Xiao Shanyu heard it, he was like a dumb man who eats Coptis chinensis, unable to express his suffering.It was the second time that Wang Mang fooled him.Before, Wang Mang sent people to lure his three brothers into the territory of the Han Dynasty with a lot of money, and made him Xiao Shanyu no matter what happened.Now, he killed my son and tricked me into signing a marriage agreement. After thousands of years of time and space, I seemed to hear Xiao Shanyu's roar in the vast wilderness: Wang Mang, you big liar, I will never stop with you! It's not over, just keep playing!No matter each other, no matter right or wrong, one day, everyone will play along.