Author: Gongsun Wujiu

In October of the fourth year of Taishi, Guo Kai was awarded the title of Marquis of Hailing for his role in beheading King Huyan, with a town of 600 households. He still served as the captain of the Western Regions Guards School.

Hanjiang also used the merits of breaking Jiaohe, collecting A'e, and Pu Lei to feudalize Yanghou, with 500 households in the city.

When the two men were awarded the title of Marquis, Chang'an's edict to reward Zhang Yue also arrived in Luntai.

"The Hulu drove away the king, and the king of Ou escaped, invaded the Han Dynasty, and killed hundreds of our officials..."

"Wei Yue, the commander of the camp,... used the troops from the Western Regions... to destroy the sun and chase the king, the king of Ou Tuo... to raise his banner to the Tianshan Mountains. He made a great contribution to the Ming Dynasty and spread his power thousands of miles away."

"After hearing the news, all the states in the north and south were in a state of shock. The twelve states including Yanqi, Dongxi, Qimi, A'e, etc. all competed to pay homage to the guests... They have been honored as ministers for many generations."

"The more you make great achievements and secure the security of the Western Regions, the greater your reward. "Sima Fa" says, 'The military reward should not exceed the month'...,

"A reward of a hundred catties of gold will benefit six hundred households. I will move Zhenwei Zhonglang to serve as the prime minister of the country, and make Chijie in charge of the countries in the Western Regions and the conquests..."

Zhang Yue bowed in the direction of Chang'an and said, "I would like to express my gratitude to Your Majesty for His grace. I wish Your Majesty a long life!"

Although Zhang Yue was promoted to Zhenwei Zhonglang General, he did not feel much joy in his heart.

After seeing off the envoy from Chang'an, he still worked step by step to improve the strength of the Han army in the Western Regions.

If history does not change, then an earth-shaking event will happen the year after next, in the third year of Zhenghe.

Since returning to this era, although he has changed many small things, the general trend of historical development has not changed.

This time he didn't want to passively accept it anymore, and he couldn't afford the price of this important event.

This incident happened in the upcoming three-year campaign of Li Guangli's three campaigns against the Xiongnu.

As for the witchcraft disaster, it may be a big deal for Chang'an, but Zhang Yue doesn't care too much.

If Zhang Yue remembers correctly, the reason why Li Guangli conquered the Huns three times should be that the Huns invaded Wuyuan and Jiuquan that year and plundered and killed the border people.

The defenders of Wuyuan and Jiuquan went out to fight the Huns, but they did not expect that the combat effectiveness of the Huns' cavalry trained by Wei Lu and Li Ling would be greatly improved.

The Han army in both counties was defeated miserably by the new Xiongnu army, and the captains who led the army were all killed in battle.

This incident made the emperor furious, and ordered Li Guang to lead 70,000 people out of Wuyuan to attack the Xiongnu. Shang Qiucheng, the imperial censor, led more than 30,000 people out of Xihe, and Hou Mangtong (Ma Tong) led 40,000 people out of Jiuquan to conquer again.

Xiongnu.

Originally, nothing major would happen if we sent out troops normally, and even if we were defeated, we wouldn't suffer too much loss.

It is a pity that before Li Guangli sent troops, Prime Minister Liu Quyou paid a farewell party to Li Guangli.

The two were sons and daughters. When the witchcraft disaster broke out the previous year, the prince Liu Ju was falsely accused and committed suicide, but no new prince was established.

Li Guangli wanted to take the opportunity to make Liu Kun, the king of Changyi, the son of his sister Mrs. Li, the crown prince.

As a result, he asked Liu Quya to write to the emperor and request that Liu Kun, the king of Changyi, be made the crown prince.

Originally, there was nothing wrong with this plan. After Liu Quya submitted a letter, the emperor indeed intended to make Liu Kun, the king of Changyi, the crown prince.

But at the critical moment, the insider ordered Guo Ran to suddenly inform the wife of Prime Minister Liu Quyou under the instruction of the Guandong Group. He was dissatisfied with the emperor and wished the emperor an early death.

At the same time, he secretly informed Liu Quya and Li Guangli to use witchcraft together, hoping that Liu Kun, the Ai King of Changyi, would become emperor in the future.

At this time, the emperor, who had just experienced the disaster of witchcraft, was at the most suspicious stage.

Therefore, without thinking, he ordered Ting Wei, who was in charge of justice, to investigate.

In the end, Liu Quyou was sentenced to be beheaded in half for the crime of treason and immorality, and his body was carried in a cart and paraded through the streets.

Liu Qumao's wife and children were beheaded in Huayang Street, Chang'an. Li Guangli's wife and children were also arrested and imprisoned.

Li Guangli, who was commanding the army to fight against the Huns, heard the news that his wife and children at home were arrested and imprisoned for witchcraft. He was like a thunderbolt. He was worried, scared, and at a loss as to what to do.

The official Hu Yafu persuaded him to surrender to the Huns.

Li Guangli thought that if he surrendered to the Huns, the death of his wife, children, and children would be accelerated, and the situation would be even worse. It was better to make atonement for his sins, and maybe there would be a glimmer of hope.

Therefore, they did not base their efforts on the actual situation, did not understand the military situation of both sides, and did not take into account the strategies and tactics. They took the lives of tens of thousands of Han family members as bets and marched blindly in the hope of luck. Then they marched northward and penetrated deep into the Xiongnu until they reached the Zhiju River.

In the end, they repeated the same mistakes, winning first and then losing, and the entire 70,000 Han army's elite cavalry were wiped out.

After this battle, the Han army soon had no cavalry regiment capable of fighting the Xiongnu.

The emperor's authority was also greatly affected by everyone. Under the pressure of the powerful people in Guandong, the emperor had to issue the "Luntai Edict".

Implementing comprehensive contraction, not only the entire Western Region, but also the Korean Peninsula, and later Jilin and Hainan Island were all abandoned.

It was not until twenty years later that the Han army returned to the Western Regions.

Zhang Yue thought he could ignore other matters, but the 70,000 Han cavalry in Li Guangli's hands must be preserved.

He planned to launch an attack on the Xiongnu first in the second year of Zhenghe and trigger the Han-Hungarian war in advance.

However, the risk of triggering the Han-Hungarian War in advance is also very high. If one mistake is made, not only Li Guangli will not be able to escape the same mistake.

Zhang Yue's more than ten years of development in the Western Regions may also be in vain.

But Zhang Yue had to fight to the death. If Li Guangli was allowed to defeat, the outcome of the Western Region without Chang'an's support would not be much better.

It is difficult to resist the Xiongnu by relying solely on the strength of the Han army in the Western Regions.

As for the countries in the Western Regions, no matter how many of them are now following the advice of the Han Dynasty, these are all based on the strength of the Han army.

Once the Han Dynasty was at a disadvantage in a confrontation with the Xiongnu, these countries would most likely fall to the Xiongnu.

When Zhang Yue thought about this, he felt that time was running out.

…

In November of the fourth year of Taishi, Pan Hong, who was sent to Dawan as an envoy, finally returned to Luntai.

This time it went smoothly, and he actually brought back more than 70 stallions from Dawan!

"Tsk tsk tsk!"

"Is this the Dawan horse that is said to be stronger than the Wusun Tianma? It is indeed extremely majestic..."

"No wonder His Majesty ordered the General of the Second Division to expedition to Dawan twice for this horse..."

Several officers were talking excitedly around the Dawan horse brought back by Pan Hong.

Zhang Yue also came over with someone at this time.

"Greetings to the Lord!"

"Thank you for your hard work, gentlemen..."

Zhang Yue first bowed to Pan Hong and his party.

Then he asked Pan Hong about the customs and customs he encountered in his profession.

Pan Hong did not go into details, but simply introduced what he saw along the way.

When Zhang Yue heard this, he understood that Pan Hong obviously had something important to report to him alone.

Zhang Yue then sent everyone away calmly.

"Pan Jun, what's wrong with this trip?"

Pan Hong shook his head when he heard this, "There is nothing wrong with your trip, but there is one thing that needs to be reported to you!"

Zhang Yue looked solemn and said, "Pan Jun, please speak!"

"Your Majesty, my subordinates visited the Kangju people in Dawan and there seemed to be something strange..."
Chapter completed!