Chapter 699: Anyone who openly offends a strong man will be punished no matter how far away he is!
Wei Qing likes to be cautious in fighting, that is, defeating the enemy with a majestic formation.
Relying on superior strength to crush the enemy is the most outstanding achievement of those who are good at fighting.
This is his style of play, so he is not used to Huo Qubing's blitzkrieg, which involves thousands of miles.
Especially at this moment, the strategic goal has been clearly achieved and the Hexi Corridor has been swept across.
It stands to reason that the army should be sent back to the court. The court will send additional soldiers and horses to garrison, divide and establish counties, arrange for officials to relocate the people, and so on.
But Huo Qubing didn't do that. Instead, he turned around and led his army straight to Rouge Mountain.
If you were a suspicious emperor, you would have to suspect that he had other ideas.
After all, the army is out there, and the generals who hold military power may be put on bright yellow clothes at any time because of the cold weather.
Wei Qing, who was slightly worried, quietly looked at Li Yunze.
Then I saw that the emperor didn't care about this, and stood on the hanging map with great interest, pointing to Yanzhi Mountain and saying, "The snow water of Qilian Mountain nourishes the Hexi Corridor. The water and grass here are rich, and the products are rich, which is very suitable for grazing."
Livestock. Moreover, caravans from all over the Silk Road pass through here. Whether it is looting or collecting tolls, they can make a lot of money. To describe it in one sentence, there is food and money. It is the right of the Huns.
Department, the most important core place.”
The Huns were essentially a tribal alliance, and their internal control was actually very fragile, and they relied entirely on force for suppression.
They did not have a capital, and the Chanyus had to constantly move around, so they naturally lacked control over local areas.
The larger the territory, the weaker the control.
In order to strengthen their control, the Huns launched the Three-Part World System.
The most powerful Chanyu, with his royal court as the basic base, is in the middle with a large group of vassal tribes.
On the left and right sides of the royal court, there are left and right wise kings respectively, who govern the vassal tribes of the left and right tribes.
This method intuitively increases the control strength by three times, which is also the origin of the three parts of the Huns.
In fact, the official name of the Right and Left Wise King should be the Left and Right Slaughtering King.
This is because Tuqi is a Xiongnu language, and its meaning is translated as virtuous, so the Han family calls them the virtuous kings of the left and right.
In order to strengthen the control, usually those who can control the wise king are the sons of the great Chanyu.
"The right side of the Xiongnu suffered such heavy losses, and there must be no chance to stand up." Wei Qing stepped forward and responded, "But looking at Huo Qubing's battle report, although they swept all the way, they did not encounter the main force of the right side of the Xiongnu..."
"Because they were fooled." Li Yunze said immediately, "The Huns are mainly herdsmen, which means they cannot gather together every day. After all, if they want to herd, they have to spread out over a huge territory. With this
Judging from the communication capabilities of the times, the right wing of the Huns should have just begun to gather at this moment. Where do you think they will gather their troops?"
Wei Qing almost subconsciously blurted out "Yanzhi Mountain!"
This was not just a matter of words, but because through the passing caravans and the investigation by Zhang Qian and others, we learned that the royal court of King Youxian of the Xiongnu was located at the foot of Yanzhi Mountain!
The entire Hexi Corridor has the most abundant water and grass, and the only place where caravans must pass is at the foot of Yanzhi Mountain.
How good is the grassland here?
The most famous and largest Shandan Racecourse in later generations is located here.
Of course, it is now the location of the royal court of King Youxian of the Xiongnu.
When they heard the news that the Han army was sweeping through the Hexi Corridor, they would inevitably gather tribes and herdsmen from all over the country and gather forces near the royal court of King Youxian to prepare for war with the Han army.
"That's right, it's in Yanzhi Mountain."
Li Yunze turned back to the desk and sat down, "This battle should last only a few days."
For those who don’t understand military affairs, or don’t know how to pretend to understand, they might as well have to say, “The Huns are good at attacking and harassing them, so why don’t they withdraw their troops and harass them?”
If someone really asked such words, then Li Yunze would never entrust him with military-related matters.
It's very simple. It's clear that it was a blitzkrieg. Huo Qubing, with all his cavalry, swept through the Hexi Corridor like a wind and a lingering cloud. He could travel two to three hundred miles a day. How could the Huns have time to evacuate the old camp.
The old camp of the Huns was their lifeblood.
The young herdsmen may be able to run away on horseback, but how can the old, weak, women and children in the old camp run away?
What to do with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of cattle, sheep and horses?
Without the old camp, there would be no food such as cheese and grain, no tents to provide shelter from the wind and rain, no shamans who were sick and dancing, no salt, no leather clothes, and all other necessities of life.
The horses may still be able to survive by eating grass, but what do the herdsmen eat?
Kill a horse?
Therefore, facing Huo Qubing's blitzkrieg, King Youxian had no time to run away with his huge royal court, and it was even less possible for him to abandon the tribe and go to find the Great Chanyu himself.
If he really dares to do this, the people around him will kill him first.
For the Huns who lacked time to respond, the only way was to gather as much strength as possible and fight the Han army to the death.
As long as the Han army can be defeated, all problems will be solved.
There has not been a large-scale war between the Han and Huns for more than ten years. Especially the right side of the Xiongnu has been really quiet for more than ten years, so it is not clear that the Han army has changed from what it used to be.
The fighting power of the Han army, enhanced by technology and ruthlessness, was enough to make the Huns despair.
"The Marquis of Changping."
The battle ahead at the foot of Yanzhi Mountain may have already begun, but it is a pity that there is no Internet in this era, so there is no way to watch the live broadcast. We can only wait for the memorial in more than ten days.
Li Yunze had nothing to do, so he started joking with Wei Qing, "Did you know that Yanzhi Mountain is also called Rouge Mountain?"
"Rouge? Is it the one used by women?"
"That's the rouge."
Li Yunze said with a smile on his face, "The Huns called Qilian Mountain Tianshen Mountain and Yanzhi Mountain Tianhou Mountain."
"Oh?" Wei Qing was also interested and asked curiously, "Is there any allusion to this?"
"Of course there is." Li Yunze said with a smile, "It is said that Yanzhi Mountain is rich in rouge and is the most important source of cosmetics for Xiongnu women."
"That's it." Wei Qing nodded, "I never thought there was such an allusion."
"When Wei Qing defeated the main force of King Youxian of the Huns, the Qilian Mountains with their lush pastures and the Yanzhi Mountains rich in rouge became the land of the Han family."
At this point, Li Yunze hummed leisurely, "If I lose Yanzhi Mountain, my women will lose their color. If I lose Qilian Mountain, my animals will not be able to rest!"
Thousands of miles away, at the foot of Yanzhi Mountain, is the most famous and largest Shandan Racecourse in later generations. On the vast and magnificent green grassland, two large cavalry groups are constantly approaching each other.
.
Huo Qubing's blitzkrieg indeed caught King Youxian off guard.
Although he sent envoys as much as possible to recruit various tribes to gather troops, the Han army came too quickly, crossing more than a thousand miles in six days to rush here.
At this time, the herdsmen and warriors from various tribes who gathered around King Youxian only totaled 50,000 to 60,000 people, which was almost the same as the strength of the Han army opposite.
If Yi Zhixie were here, he would really run away, even if he lost his old camp.
Because he had been on the shore of the Liao River and was severely taught how to behave by the Han army, and he knew very well the powerful fighting power of the Han army.
However, the right side of the Xiongnu had really not fought a battle with the Han army for more than ten years. On weekdays, most of the troops sent out were to show off their power in small countries in the Western Regions, so there was still some luck in their hearts.
Just like King Youxian at this time, he was the youngest son of Yi Zhixie. He even fantasized about defeating the main force of the Han army, but never gained supreme merit and prestige, thereby taking away the crown prince's position, which was King Zuoxian's.
Location.
King Youxian and Wei Qing were about the same age, and at least the number of people in their hands was about the same. Naturally, they were not willing to run away directly, and were determined to eliminate the weight of the Han army.
That is to say, the scale and area here are large enough to meet the collision of armies of this size on both sides.
Moreover, the terrain is also very suitable. The green grass in spring is perfect for fighting... and also suitable for burying people.
During outpost battles, the Huns habitually sent out troops to raid.
But what they didn't know was that the war horses the Han army rode were thoroughbred horses that had been bred for several generations, and their speed and endurance had been greatly improved.
Even though he was wearing horse armor, he still attacked at an extremely fast speed and directly caught up with the attacking Hun horsemen.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the Han army carried many pack horses, and the war horses that were only ridden on the battlefield preserved considerable physical strength along the way.
The Huns were caught off guard and suffered a heavy loss. They lost hundreds of horsemen before they fled back in embarrassment.
This incident had an even heavier blow to the morale of the Huns, because they were horrified to find that the Han army's horses could even run as fast as theirs even when wearing iron armor!
Even before the main force joined the battle, a shadow had already been cast on their hearts.
"Zhao Ponu!"
"The end is here!"
"Your troops attack from the left wing, defeat the enemy in front of them, then go straight behind them and capture them."
"Here!"
"Ignorant!"
"The end is here!"
"You attack from the right wing, defeat the enemy in front of them, and then go straight behind them to capture them."
"Here!"
"Peng Peng!"
"The end is here!"
"Follow my general's flag and march straight into the center of the army!"
"Here!"
"Lubord!"
"Li Gan!"
"..."
Although he is young, Huo Qubing has already established enough prestige for himself through his previous victories.
All the captains are willing to serve for him.
After making arrangements for the battlefield, Huo Qubing rode his horse back and forth in front of the formation.
He pulled out the sword given to him by Li Yunze himself and shouted loudly, "Everywhere the Han army goes, it is Han territory!"
All the soldiers raised their weapons and shouted in unison, "Everywhere the Han army goes, it is Han territory!"
Huo Qubing took a deep breath and shouted loudly again, "Anyone who openly offends a strong man will be punished no matter how far away he is!"
All the soldiers responded loudly, "Anyone who openly attacks a strong man will be killed no matter how far away!"
The shouts spread from Huo Qubing's headquarters to the surrounding areas. All the Han troops roared in unison, the sound was like thunder, the heaven and the earth were moved, and the Huns on the opposite side also changed their expressions!
Huo Qubing turned his horse's head and faced the Xiongnu army several miles away. He pointed the sword in his hand forward and made a loud explosion.