On the night of August 15th in the first year of Guangwu, a battle involving less than a thousand people took place.
Compared to a war involving hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops, its scale seems insignificant.
But this battle opened the prelude to the era of great strife. The situation in the northwest of Shanxi and even the entire continent also changed from this night.
After the order from the Northwest Governor's Office was conveyed, the soldiers and horses stationed in various guard posts in Tianshan County immediately took action.
Along the nearly 300-mile defense line, each guard station tried every means to search for traces of the Western Barbarians within its jurisdiction.
Not to mention, their search was indeed effective, but they discovered three more groups of spies in five days.
There is no doubt that these spies were all screwed up, but this also exposed a bigger problem.
When did the Western Barbarians start infiltrating? How many people did they send here? How many people have not been dug out yet?
So Luo Lun added an additional order, asking all the governors to continue searching closely, and added accountability clauses.
In addition, Beidi County served as the second line of defense, and Luo Lun also ordered the government offices and garrisons of all prefectures and counties to guard the area to prevent spies from the Western Barbarians from sneaking in and causing trouble.
Of course, at Luo Lun's request, Zhao Yanxun issued an edict to the Imperial Army, allowing them to move into Tianshan County.
Objectively speaking, what is happening now is not surprising at all.
The Western Barbarians sent people to sneak into Tianshan County, but more than half a year ago, Zhao Yanxun sent Jin Yiwei to the grassland.
Nowadays, there are Jin Yiwei people active in both the Western Barbarians and the Xiongnu hinterland, so the Jin Dynasty cannot blame them.
Rather than just taking some time off, only if you do it with real swords and guns can it be called a real big deal.
However, as September approached, the wars on the grasslands were decreasing. The Western Barbarians seemed to have reduced their attack intensity, giving the Xiongnu a chance to breathe.
This respite was really important to the Huns, and even more important to Yushan, who had just ascended to the throne of Shanyu.
But Yushan didn't know that the reason why the Western Man tribes ceased fighting was not because they yearned for peace, but because they were preparing for a more violent attack.
In early September, when the temperature began to drop, in a certain city in the Western Region, the kings of the various tribes of the Western Barbarians gathered here.
Although the Western Barbarians are a tribal alliance, they are not very loose internally because they are suppressed by three powerful tribes.
Among these three groups, Mu Liqing is the most powerful, and this alliance was convened by King Mu Liqing.
At this moment, the kings of various tribes were sitting around the hall, and a camel was roasting on the charcoal in the center of the hall.
Everyone was eating meat and listening to King Mu Liqing's speech.
After a meaningless preamble, King Mu Liqing picked up the knife and began to cut the meat on his plate.
At the same time, he said: "The harvests of the crops planted this year are very poor. The food harvested in the entire Western Region can feed up to 400,000 people!"
"Everyone, if we all add up, excluding the two million slaves, there are nearly six million people..."
Everyone present knew these circumstances, so they knew very well that the war could not be stopped unless their people were willing to starve to death.
"The food we store can last up to a year and a half, so we have to find more food!"
Chewing the oily camel meat, King Mu Liqing stroked his beard and then said: "Time is running out. We must adjust our strategy to have a chance to solve the problem of survival!"
Seeing that he had talked to so many people, someone finally couldn't help but asked: "Your Excellency, King Muliqing, if you have any ideas, just say it!"
At this moment, everyone was looking at King Mu Liqing.
"I think... we should give up attacking the Xiongnu and gather all our forces to go south to attack the Jin people!"
For a while, everyone was talking about it, and it was obvious that some people had opinions on this resolution.
Their tribal alliance is so large and loose that the exchange of information between each other is slow, so some people do not understand the specific situation of the Jin court.
Among them, the tribes on the northern front are the least known, simply because their sphere of influence does not border the Jin court.
I heard someone say: "His Majesty King Muliqing, you are fighting the Huns to rob cattle, sheep and horses, and occupy their grasslands...can't you feed the people?"
"Moreover, the Huns have suffered repeated defeats and are already a piece of meat. As long as we attack with all our strength, we can destroy them in less than half a year!"
Upon hearing this, King Muliqing glanced at the person next to him. This person was King Yikuoxi, who was in charge of all the tribes on the northern front.
As Zhao Yanxun expected, the interests within the Western Man tribe alliance were actually not consistent.
For example, King Mu Liqing's proposal to go south would cause the tribes in the north to suffer, just because their tribesmen were in the north, and the benefits of going south would go to the tribes in the south first.
"Don't make any noise, please listen to His Excellency King Muliqing first!" King Yikuoxi said while cutting the meat with a knife.
King Mu Liqing smiled and said: "I just ask you, how many people can the Huns feed if they occupy the grassland?"
"Can the grassland occupied by the Huns support 20,000 people?"
Although the Huns only have one million people today, their peak population was only around two million.
Standing up, King Mu Liqing said loudly: "Everyone, we have six million people. That grassland cannot feed us. Only the large land in the south and the mountains of food can keep us alive!"
Just now, some people questioned the tribes on the northern line, but in fact, the tribes on the middle line ruled by King Mu Liqing also had differences on whether to advance eastward or southward.
But after hearing what King Mu Liqing said, many people fell into deep thought.
The so-called deep thinking is actually a weighing of interests.
Gradually, some people began to talk, and King Mu Liqing did not stop him. He just waited for a while to hear people's opinions.
A few minutes later, when everyone was talking, Mu Liqing said loudly: "Everyone, I propose..."
Before King Muliqing could finish his words, King Yikuoxi on the side said: "I think it's time to concentrate our efforts southward, but the Huns in the east must also be on guard!"
"They have nearly 200,000 cavalry. What if we take away all the troops and go south, and they attack from behind?"
What King Yikuoxi said was a very objective fact, so everyone saw King Muliqing and waited for him to give an opinion.
"Your Majesty King Ikosi, what do you think we should do?"
"I think all the ministries on the northern line should assume the responsibility of prevention so that you can go south with peace of mind!"
With the prosperity of King Yikuosi, the kings on the northern front looked at each other and now they had a backbone.
The benefits of defeating the Xiongnu were all in sight, and they really didn't want to go south.
"King Jinan Pagoda, what do you think?" King Mu Liqing looked to the right.
As one of the three giants, King Jinanta has a strong voice, so his attitude is crucial.
"What King Yikuosi said makes sense, let him lead the army to guard our retreat!" King Jinanta said solemnly.
"Okay then, all units on the northern front will defend against the Huns, and the central and southern fronts will attack southward!"
After confirming this, King Mu Liqing continued: "From now on, the central and southern front lines must transport supplies to the south as soon as possible to support our southward attack!"
The principle of moving troops and horses before food and fodder is used is applicable no matter where it is.
After glancing at King Yikuoxi next to him, King Muliqing raised his glass and said loudly: "Everyone... we don't have much time. The Jin people in the south are extremely powerful, so we must unite!"
Everyone present raised their glasses, and then someone shouted: "Unity!"
