Hanhou

Steam was steaming in the large tent, and the aroma of wine permeated the air.

The flames rose, and the lamb was browned.Grease dripped into the fire, making explosive noises one after another.After the sound, the aroma exploded, filling the nostrils of everyone in the tent.

The slave in Caiyi is barefoot and tied with a silk belt, spinning and dancing on the animal skin.

More than a dozen Xiongnu nobles sat in the tent, with their fur robes open, poured spirits with their heads up, cut off the mutton with a small knife, dipped it in some salt, and chewed it in their mouths.Grease overflowed from the corners of his mouth and dripped down his beard, leaving patches of oil stains on his leather robe.

A Xiongnu chief was half-drunk, stabbed a knife in front of his body with his backhand, and dragged a slave in Caiyi.

Caiyi Nu fell forward and let out an exclamation.Realizing who was pulling him, he swallowed his voice quickly.Forcibly suppressing the fear in his heart, he obediently lay in the arms of the Huns, trembling his hands, ignoring the clenched wrists, carefully holding up the skin bag, and filling the bone wine vessel.

There was a burst of laughter in the tent, everyone pushed cups and changed glasses, the slaves in colorful clothes spun faster, their skirts fluttered like flowers blooming.

"it is good!"

King Aries and King Lou Fan sat side by side at the first place, each holding a female slave in their arms, and several others waited on them.

Every winter, the two would leave the nomadic pastures and lead their tribe to the southern foot of the Yin Mountain to escape the snowstorm.When the spring is warm and the flowers bloom, they will leave the snow-avoiding valley and continue to migrate by water and grass.

This year is different from previous years. Due to the continuous plague in the grassland, a large number of cattle and sheep died of illness, and the road to the south to plunder is also impassable. The life of the Xiongnu royal court is very difficult.

There was not much oil and water from other ministries, and the military minister Shanyu continued to put pressure on the Western Regions, forcing them to donate more grain, cattle and sheep.Taking advantage of the opening of border trade in the Han Dynasty to replenish a batch of grain, and then secretly dispatched cavalry to rob and kill the caravans walking on the grassland,

Not to mention the Western Regions and border trade, intercepting and killing caravans is purely fishing.After doing this more times, the caravans began to learn to be smart, and when the rangers went out to "hunt", the harvest was no longer as good as before, and they would often return empty-handed.

The food shortage in Longcheng was really too big, and the military minister Shan Yu finally sent people to Yinshan to put pressure on King Baiyang and King Loufan.

Since autumn, the royal court has sent envoys several times, taking away more than 30 cattle and sheep, and more than [-] carts of grain, salt and sugar, which are almost three times that of previous years.

Judging from the attitude of the military minister Shan Yu, the matter may not be over.

In a few days, I am afraid that people from Longcheng will come again, asking them to send more livestock to alleviate the food shortage in the headquarters.

Thinking of the cattle and sheep sent away, King Aries couldn't help feeling a pain in his flesh.He raised his head and drank all the spirits, threw away the wine vessel, and punched his legs with clenched fists, anger welling up along with the drunkenness.

King Lou Fan guessed his thoughts and was also upset. He pushed away the female slave in his arms and waved away the slave in Caiyi.Scanning under the tent, everyone noticed that the atmosphere was not right, they stopped talking and laughing one after another, put down their drinking vessels, and looked up at the two of them.

"We sent [-] cattle and sheep before, counting the time, the team should come back." King Lou Fan said, "Compared to the past, the number of cattle sent this year is nearly three times. If this continues, the tribe will be hollowed out."

Everyone nodded one after another, with dissatisfaction in their expressions.

King Aries and King Loufan have the most beautiful pastures, and their tribes have millions of cattle, sheep and horses.But this does not mean that their wealth is inexhaustible and inexhaustible.

Wang Ting wanted to go to 30 cattle and sheep in one go, and it seemed that he did not intend to stop.

If you keep silent and let the other party search, the wealth in your hands will definitely be discounted.Even if you don't go hungry, but you are used to the life before, no one is willing to tighten their belts to live.

"If it doesn't work, we might as well leave the camp and move." A Wanchang under the command of the Aries King suggested.

There is more than one place to avoid the wind and snow, and the worst is to migrate again.It is indeed difficult to face the wind and snow, and you have to bear considerable risks. It is better than being looted over and over again, watching the wealth shrink, and the grain and livestock gone forever.

More importantly, Wang Ting must be informed that some things can be changed once and for all, and cannot be repeated over and over again!

They both belong to the headquarters of the Huns, and their ancestors followed Modun and Lao Shangshan to fight in all directions. They are not comparable to slaves and barbarians from other tribes!It really pushed them into a hurry, and the result was definitely not what Wang Ting would like to see.

"Wait until the people who went to Longcheng come back." King Lou Fan said, suppressing everyone's voices, "In any case, Longcheng should not do anything wrong."

Although the crowd was dissatisfied, seeing that the Aries King was silent, it was not easy to speak out against it.

After the discussion was almost reached, everyone got up and left the big tent.When the cold wind blows outside the tent, most of the drunkenness disappeared, but the anger caused by Wang Ting did not extinguish, but burned more and more vigorously.

"If it weren't for the incompetence of Da Shanyu and Sijiao, who were defeated by the Han people and buried a hundred thousand strong soldiers, how could they be in today's trouble!" a Wanchang said angrily.

"Yi Zhixie pretends to be the number one warrior in the grassland!"

"When did the Han people become so powerful?"

"It's not surprising. Before Maodun Da Shanyu, the Qin people entered the grassland. At that time, no tribe was their opponent."

The Huns did not have official historians, and the history of the tribe was passed down by priests orally.

When Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, he felt that the barbarians were an eyesore, so Qin general Meng Tian was ordered to sweep the north, killing the grassland to the point of blood flowing into rivers.

The leaders of the various ministries were unwilling to lead their necks to be slaughtered, and once made a covenant with blood, and joined forces to fight against the Qin army.

This move is tantamount to sticking his neck under the knife, saving Qin Jun the trouble of finding people everywhere.

As a result, the organized army of 10,000+ was cut down by the Qin army, and no one was left behind.General Qin shook off the remaining blood on the knife, ordered his soldiers to pile up the severed heads of Hu Qi, and built Jingguan on the grassland.

Later, wherever the Qin army passed, the earth and rivers would be stained red with blood.Seeing the flag of the Qin army from a distance, and hearing the horn of the Qin army, the barbarian's scalp would go numb, and he wished he could spread his wings and run away.

If it weren't for Qin II's excessive death, Qin III would have been unable to turn the tide, causing the Central Plains to be full of wars and flags everywhere. It is hard to guarantee that the grassland tribes at that time would not advance westward and enter Europe decades earlier in order to save their lives.

When the Central Plains was initially settled, just in time for the rise of the Xiongnu, a talented and bold monarch like Mao Dun appeared.After the siege of Baideng, the Han Dynasty had to hide its strength and bide its time to accumulate strength.

But this does not mean that the Han Dynasty is not strong, the fact is quite the opposite.

The only one that can make the Xiongnu regarded as a strong enemy and never die is the Han Dynasty from beginning to end.Even the mighty Da Yuezhi was helpless when encountering these two behemoths, not to mention Wusun, Zahu and Xiyu who were kicked up and flattened.

The young Hun warriors may not understand, but the older Huns know very well that the tyranny of the Han army is by no means accidental.

In the pre-Qin period, the Central Plains was divided into different countries, large and small, and the vassal states bordering the grasslands were all bad.No matter Qin, Zhao, or Yan, if they pull out a strong army at will, they can beat the mighty Donghu to the ground.

Having dominated the grassland for decades, the young Xiongnu warriors forgot that the Han people in the south were never easy to mess with.If you dare to regard him as weak and deceitful, you will suffer bad luck sooner or later.

"Well, it's been snowing for several months, it's impossible for the Han people to enter the grassland, and Longcheng may not be able to do everything. After these days, after the beginning of spring, raise more cattle and sheep, and grab a few caravans, it will always make up for it. loss."

When the leaders of the various ministries were speaking, the old priest sat in the tent with his wooden stick in front of him, staring at the jumping flames, his face all stern.

He is already more than seventy years old. On the grassland, he should have gone to see the gods two or thirty years earlier.It was the honorable status of a priest that kept him alive, and made the warriors willing to guard him in front of his tent.

Since the tribe moved to the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain, the priest has never had a good night's sleep and woke up from dreams many times, as if the heavens were deliberately warning.But he couldn't figure it out. In the middle of winter, the wolves would not be chasing prey in the snowstorm. What risk would the tribe face?

Or did something happen to the warriors heading to Longcheng?

The priest didn't have a clue, and sat in the tent all night, his old face was full of dimples, and his figure became more and more stooped due to exhaustion.

Towards dawn, the sun rose high, and the north wind that had been howling all night finally weakened.As the snow gradually subsided, the herdsmen walked out of their tents one after another to check the sheep pens that had been strengthened in advance, clean up the snow in the pens, and drag out the frozen sheep slaves by the way.

An eagle chirped in the sky, and an elderly herdsman raised his head, put one hand on his forehead, looked up at the eagle passing through the clouds, and waved to several half-grown teenagers with a smile.

"Open the bow, whoever can shoot it will belong to him!"

The teenagers were eager to try, leaving aside the sheep slave who had been beaten to death, each took a bow and arrow, and aimed at the figure in the sky.

The eagle had a premonition of danger, fluttered its wings, and soon there was only a black spot left.

This distance can't even touch the eagle's feathers. The teenagers were unwilling to accept their bows, and they were sullen. They simply tied up a few slaves from the sheepfold, waved their whips, forced them to run in the snow, and jumped on their own. Horses, draw bows and shoot arrows, and start a chase.

Two hundred steps away from the camp, Wei Qing and Zhao Puonu were lying in the snow. They wore woolen clothes sandwiched with poultry down, wool inner shirts, and animal skin cloaks, which could effectively block the cold wind and snow, allowing them to observe the enemy's situation. Not to freeze.

After inspecting the specific area of ​​the Huns' camp, and roughly estimating the number of people in the camp through the number of tents, Wei Qing and Zhao Ponu each sent out a signal, leading the scouts to retreat carefully, away from the snow nest dug the night before.

Back at the camp in the forest, the two met Zhao Xingong and Sun Ao to exchange the information they got.After summarizing, it is recorded on a piece of thinned sheepskin.

"I don't know where Mr. Lang is now." Wei Qing rolled up the sheepskin and carefully packed it into a wooden cylinder.

"If there is no heavy snow, it should not be far from Gaoque. If it is stopped by the wind and snow, I'm afraid it's hard to say." Zhao Xin rubbed his hands, broke the hot steamed cakes, and handed them to Gongsun Ao and Zhao Puonu respectively.

After the two took it, they picked up two more crispy steamed buns, threw one to Wei Qing, put the other to his mouth, and bit off half of it in one bite.

"There has been no news about General Li and General Cao. The number of Huns exceeded expectations. It is by no means easy to win them all." Wei Qing continued.

"Don't make others ambitious." After eating the steamed cakes, Zhao Puonu gulped down two mouthfuls of water, put his arms around Wei Qing's shoulders, and said with a blink of an eye, "So what if there are too many, if we really fight, it's still..."

Before Zhao Puonu could finish speaking, there was a groaning sound above his head.

Looking at the prestige, all four of them were happy.

"Ajin, it's Ajin!"

After circling in mid-air for two weeks, the golden eagle flapped its wings and flew down, grabbed Wei Qing's shoulder, and rubbed his forehead affectionately.So far, besides Zhao Jia, Wei Qing is the only one who can get this kind of treatment.Including Zhao Ponu, not to mention being close, the golden eagle uncle is in a bad mood, and it is common for him to flap his wings.

He untied the wooden tube brought by the golden carving, took out the silk cloth from it, and looked at the contents, Wei Qing's eyes became brighter and brighter.

"Lang Jun has arrived at Gaoque!"

"really?"

"General Li and General Cao have also arrived, Gongsun Taifu and General Han have arrived in the west of Long County!"

"Great!"

The teenagers were all excited as they passed the silk cloth.

"Your Majesty said that the attack is scheduled for late at night tomorrow, and we will use the fire arrow as the name. Your and my mission is to sneak into the Huns camp and cause chaos as much as possible." Wei Qing clenched the silk cloth tightly. Very excited, "When the horn sounds, you and I will join forces with Lord Lang, cut off the camp on the east side, and leave all the Huns in the camp!"

"What about the rest?"

"I have Gongsun Taifu and several generals to do it."

Wei Qing suppressed his excitement, and said in a deep voice: "Success or failure depends on one action. We will strictly abide by the orders of the Lord. The order will be passed on today. The task of the Qianfeng Battalion is to block the camp on the east side. Anyone who dares to advance greedily and does not obey orders will be dealt with by military law." !"

After experiencing the test of the battlefield, the young man who came out of the border county has already become brave and decisive, and decisive in killing.

Whoever dares to underestimate them will suffer the consequences.

Especially the enemies of the Han Dynasty, nine times out of ten they would sacrifice their lives and use their heads to prove to the world that the so-called toughness and cruelty have never been based on age.