Chapter 702: How about traveling thousands of miles to beat me? That’s crazy!
The so-called Juyanze is similar to Lop Nur.
It is the final gathering place of snow water from mountain ranges such as Weishui and Blackwater (Ejina River).
In this era before large-scale artificial interception and construction of reservoirs, and the population did not consume much water, the lake here was wide and rippling, with fat fish swimming under the clear water, and the lake was a paradise for various birds.
For the Han troops who had just stepped out of the desert, there was no place more suitable for rest than a clear lake like this.
"General!"
While Huo Qubing was sitting by the fire roasting the bird, Captain Tanma came forward and reported, "After asking the Huns guides, I learned that you can reach Jiaolede City by going upstream along the river that flows into this lake."
Jiaolede City is where the royal court of King Hunxie is located. During the previous battle at the foot of Rouge Mountain, King Hunxie did not participate in the battle because his base was relatively far away.
After his troops learned the news, they hurried north to look for King Youxian.
It may be unfamiliar to talk about Jiaolede City, but you will know the name of the county that was established after it was recaptured by the Han army. It was later renamed Jiuquan.
"oh?"
Huo Qubing, who was roasting the bird, nodded, "I see. If I had known earlier, I could have walked along the river."
"You arrange your manpower to build a wooden boat and go south along the river to deliver letters."
"Here."
It is necessary to send a messenger to deliver a message to the imperial court, otherwise tens of thousands of troops will be missing and unnecessary trouble will be caused.
Of course, if he had not found a waterway to send the message, Huo Qubing would not have sent the messenger at all.
After all, crossing the vast sea is a very fatal thing.
"General."
Captain Tanma hadn't finished his words yet, "This place has been inspected and the water source has not been poisoned or polluted."
Poisoning and contaminating water sources was a way in history that the Huns came up with to stop the Han army's blitzkrieg deep into the desert when they were beaten all over their heads by the Han army.
It means throwing dead cows and sheep into lakes to pollute water sources and cause plague.
However, at this time, the Han army had not penetrated deeply into the prairie for many years, and Huo Qubing's surprise attack was so fast that he had no time or expectation.
The reason Captain Tanma said this was because Li Yunze reminded him of this matter before setting off for the expedition.
"This place is so huge." Huo Qubing smiled. "How many cattle and sheep must be thrown in if you want to pollute the water source? Are the Huns willing to do so?"
This was not a good thing to say, so Lieutenant Tanma could only apologize.
Huo Qubing, who was in good spirits, waved his hand and signaled Colonel Tanma to go and do some business.
His mood was indeed very high at this time, because going out to lead troops to fight gave him a refreshing feeling of traveling in the vast sea and sky.
He prefers this kind of life to enjoying the glory and wealth in Chang'an City.
Huo Qubing lived in the Marquis Mansion since he was born, and his uncle took care of him and his standard of living was very high.
Later, he gained the attention of the emperor and became a top yamen. Of course, he lived a beautiful life with fine clothes and fine food.
But unlike those yamen who were accustomed to this kind of life and were even unwilling to leave Chang'an City, Huo Qubing preferred to spend his days galloping around outside and swallowing thousands of miles like a tiger.
When a large army goes out on a campaign, not all of them are military sergeants.
There were also clerks, doctors, carpenters and blacksmiths, veterinarians, cooks, and even people who did divination and read the stars.
Star reading is a very important skill. In the era before satellite navigation, identifying directions almost all relied on the sun and stars.
Lieutenant Tanma found the carpenters and blacksmiths in the logistics camp, summoned a group of helpers, found some poplar trees on the shore of the lake, cut them down, and built a shared sailing and oar boat.
The boat is not big and can only accommodate a few people.
That night, the Han army lit countless bonfires along the huge lake, chatting and eating cooked food.
Deliciousness is out of the question. The only condiments carried by the army, besides salt and sugar, are pickles.
Simply relying on fire grilling without the aid of a large amount of oil and seasonings, the so-called barbecue taste will naturally not be very good.
However, the Han soldiers did not care, because at least they could eat hot food and drink a pot of hot water mixed with sugar.
Compared with the terrible experience of crossing the vast sea before, this is undoubtedly delicious.
Of course, as an army in the cold weapon era, an army of this size will have a devastating impact on the local ecological environment no matter where it is stationed.
The Han army only stayed here for one night. More than 20,000 elite cavalry of the Han army almost wiped out the poplar trees and other trees around Yanze. All kinds of water birds on the river bank were even more destroyed.
They are so stupid that they are not afraid of people, and most of them become honored guests on the grill.
Fortunately, the fish in the water were lucky. Except for the sand sculptures that stayed close to the shore and didn't know how to hide, most of them hid in the depths of the water and escaped.
After one night, the shore was in a mess. Tens of thousands of humans and even more horses left abandoned objects everywhere, and the smell was overwhelming.
The Han army left Juyanze and continued to move rapidly northwest.
In more than ten days, we once again traveled two thousand miles to the northwest and arrived at the green grassland at the foot of Barkol Mountain, a branch of the North Tianshan Mountains, which is five thousand miles away from Chang'an City.
The fact that the Huns spanned thousands of miles was not just talk.
Even though the Barkol Mountain Grassland is almost on the horizon from Chang'an City, in fact, the Jinshan Mountains further north is also the activity range of the right side of the Xiongnu.
King Youxian, who had abandoned his royal court, ran all the way and came here, and finally took a breather.
He knew very clearly that he had lost the royal court, the Hexi Corridor, so many tribes and warriors, and even many kings of various tribes had been killed.
Suffering such a tragic failure, once the news reaches the Great Chanyu, he will definitely not get any good fruits.
Although he is Yi Zhixie's son, Yi Zhixie is not the only son. In order to appease the anger of the nobles in various ministries, it is very likely that everything will be stripped away and he will become a waste.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! So after the shocked King Youxian got a chance to breathe, he immediately sent envoys to all directions to mobilize all the tribes under King Youxian's command.
Get up and prepare to launch a counterattack against the Han army.
Suddenly, from the Qilian Mountains to the Tianshan Mountains, to the North Tianshan Mountains and even to the Jinshan Mountains, nomadic tribes were mobilized one after another, riding horses and driving cattle and sheep to guard the old camp's oxcarts, tents, old and weak women and children.
Gathered vigorously towards Barkol.
This is the case with nomadic tribes. People and things travel together, and wherever they go, the whole tribe moves together.
Even the small city-states controlled by the Huns in the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains (Beiting Protectorate), which were closer, had various numbers of soldiers recruited.
There are as many as a thousand people and as few as a hundred or ten people.
With the gathering of a large number of human resources, King Youxian, who had been psychologically affected by Huo Qubing before, finally calmed down a little.
"Your Majesty."
In the re-established royal tent, a person in charge reported to King Youxian, "As of yesterday, nearly 200,000 people from various tribes gathered near the royal court..."
The Huns didn't understand statistics, so the numbers they mentioned were just rough estimates.
Of course, the so-called 200,000 people here are the population of all tribes, including men, women, old and children. The number of young and strong herdsmen who can really go into battle, according to a high ratio, is 20,000 to 30,000?
Obviously, King Youxian was very dissatisfied with this number. He immediately stated, "Notify all tribes to make a big deal!"
The so-called Dafa refers to the mobilization of all people.
As the saying goes, the enemy is turned into an army, and everyone from teenagers to gray-haired old men will go to the battlefield.
Basically, this kind of thing would only be done during the war to subjugate the country.
It was obvious that King Youxian had been driven into panic.
The tribal nobles in the king's tent were obviously a little dissatisfied.
After all, King Youxian's own tribe was almost completely lost. At this time, when he launched a big attack, the only ones who sent troops were Dingkou of their tribe.
The tribal nobles of the Huns were basically slave owners, and the herdsmen, including their families, were all the property of the slave owners.
Now King Youxian wants to risk most of their property as soon as he opens his mouth. Naturally, some people are dissatisfied.
Just like if someone in the future generations mortgages your house for money and then buys lottery tickets to try, of course you will be angry.
Everyone's eyes were all turned to the person first on the left.
This man is the Hunxie King, a powerful tribe on the right side of the Xiongnu.
In the right part of the Xiongnu, apart from the Wangting tribe directly under King Youxian, the most powerful ones are King Hunxie and King Xiutu, and most of the other tribes are dependent on these two tribes.
At this time, King Xiutu had died in the battle at the foot of Rouge Mountain, and almost all of Xiutu's troops were wiped out. They were either killed or captured.
When King Youxian also lost his royal court, King Hunxie almost became the backbone of the right side of the Xiongnu.
King Hunxie also lived up to expectations and said, "Your Majesty, Han'er's dispatch of troops this time is indeed unexpected. However, they are not good at nomadic herding, so they will naturally go back after the war. We only need to recover the lost territory, there is no need to make a big attack."
.”
Faced with the opposition of King Hunxie, King Youxian was very angry, but there was nothing he could do.
The Huns are very particular about relying on strength to speak their minds.
When King Youxian came to replace Luo Gubi, the previous King Youxian, it was Yi Zhixie who came personally with tens of thousands of troops. At that time, it was natural for him to do whatever he said.
But now, most of the troops and horses that Yi Zhixie left for him were lost, and even the royal court was lost. Naturally, he no longer had the strength to speak.
If they weren't worried about Yi Zhixie, it's hard to say that these leaders would want to destroy him, a loser who failed in the war.
Also due to lack of strength, the Wusun and Hujie people, the vassal tribes that were obviously very close to here, simply did not come this time.
King Youxian had no choice but to respond in the face of King Hunxie's opposition.
After all, he also knew that if he gave an order forcefully, he would most likely be ignored, and by then he would have completely lost his prestige.
At this moment, he could only hope that the Han army would return quickly so that he could return to the Hexi Corridor to clean up the mess and regain the lost strength.
As for the saying that the Han army would pursue them all the way here, King Youxian absolutely did not believe it.
It's thousands of miles away, and it has to pass through the vast sea along the way. The Han army is crazy to go so far to attack itself.
‘I didn’t steal the emperor’s wife from the Han family, what’s the matter?’