To be honest, Liu Che was very excited when he looked at the Loop on the map.
Several times, I almost ordered the generals to be summoned, a royal military meeting was held, and the preparations for the Hetao Battle were deployed.
After all, the Huns made a mistake and transferred King Aries and his elite tribe away from Munan.
Such an opportunity can be said to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Once the war in the west is calmed down and the Aries tribe returns, it will be difficult to think about the Loop.
But Liu Che finally relied on reason and suppressed his impulse.
Because he knows it very well.
Although the main force of the Aries tribe marched westward, the Xiongnu's forces in Munan fell into an unprecedented period of weakness.
The Han army only had to make a good plan, mobilize the elites from all over the country, and choose an unexpected moment.
It can almost be said that the Loop can be recaptured easily.
The strength of the Kunxie and Xiutu tribes is simply not enough to defend the Hetao area.
Once the Hetao area is recaptured, the Han army will have a fulcrum to move out of the grasslands and even extend its tentacles to the Western Regions.
Open the map and you can easily see it.
The "ji"-shaped area in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, east of Helan Mountain, west of Luliang Mountain, south of Yinshan Mountain, and north of the Great Wall, is the most important strategic area in the entire northern China and even in Northeast Asia.
Whether it is the nomads in the north or the farming civilization in the south, in the long history, whoever controls this place has the strategic initiative, and whoever controls Asia can dominate the world and be invincible.
One thing that needs to be explained is that at this time, the Hetao area was not actually in the hands of the Huns.
To be precise, the Han and Hungarian sides divided the Hetao.
Most of the jurisdiction of Yunzhong County is part of the Hetao.
The current result is the product of the compromise between Han and Hungary after the Battle of Pingcheng.
After the Battle of Pingcheng, the Han army continued to fight, destroying and expelling the rebels including Chen Fen and Lu Wan, and therefore took advantage of the situation to capture Yunzhong County, which was under the control of Chen Fen and Lu Wan's rebels at that time.
Of course, the Xiongnu are not bad either. Their forces still remain in some warring areas. The vast area south of the Yellow River openly obeys the orders of Chang'an. However, secretly they are flirting with the Xiongnu. There are also many people who think that they are small bandits.
But when Liu Che's grandfather, Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, came to power, he no longer recognized this account.
Under the pretext of King Youxian, he attacked and killed Han officials and invaded Han territory. He launched the Henan Campaign and completely uprooted the Xiongnu forces within the Great Wall and those who were friendly with the Xiongnu.
From then on, the territory between the Han and Hungarians was basically demarcated and has not changed to this day.
Currently, the Han Dynasty controls about a quarter of the Hetao area, most of which is within the Great Wall or protected by the Great Wall Fortress.
But there are also some protruding parts exposed on the vast grassland.
For example, Mayi City is a city outside the scope of the Qin Great Wall.
Historically, Xiaozhu chose to set up an ambush in Mayi, and the military officials finally found out. This is also the reason.
Looking at the huge wooden maps hanging on the walls of Ganquan Palace's dormitory, Liu Che couldn't help but swallow his saliva.
Since King Wuling of Zhao, the Hetao has been an integral part of China.
Li Mu's army and Meng Tian's army successively represented the Xia and ruled the area, intimidating the barbarians on the grasslands so that they did not dare to go south to herd horses, let alone invade and harass the Han Dynasty.
Unfortunately, after the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, the Hetao area was captured by the Huns.
After the Battle of Pingcheng, taking advantage of the favorable situation for the Xiongnu at that time, the Han army forcibly recaptured Yunzhong County at the mouth of the Xiongnu. This alone is enough for Ruyin Wenhou Xia Houying to leave his name in history.
It is conceivable that if Xia Houying had been a little cowardly or timid, he would not have dared to kill Chen Fen and Lu Wan's rebels in front of the Huns.
Today's Han Dynasty will face extremely huge external threats.
Without the cover of Yunzhong County, the entire Great Wall defense line would have to retreat a hundred miles to build a new line of defense.
Even Jinyang and Taiyuan may become the front line.
Therefore, the people affectionately called Xiahou Ying the Duke of Teng. In the vast northern region, there are still many sacrifices and incense offerings to the Duke of Teng, which continued throughout the Han Dynasty.
With Xia Houying's example in front of them, the ministers and generals in the court naturally dreamed of being like Xia Houying, with a name that would go down in history and receive incense and sacrifice for eternity.
What's more, recovering the Hetao is of great significance.
It will definitely bring endless benefits to the family and oneself.
A conservative estimate is that as long as the Hetao is recaptured, at least a dozen new princes will be born in the Han Dynasty. At the same time, there will be more old princes who can use the achievements of this battle to increase their fiefdoms, authority and status.
It will also bless future generations.
With so many benefits, no wonder the courtiers and generals were so excited.
The peace faction and the appeasement faction were almost defeated.
If it were another person, he might have been kidnapped by the opinions of courtiers and public opinion and launched a campaign to recapture the Hetao.
Fortunately, Liu Che knew very well.
Capturing the Loop will only result in a tactical victory, a certain strategic advantage and the upper hand.
But it will definitely anger the Huns and make them share the same enemy and turn south. The war between Han and Huns is inevitable and will definitely break out in an all-round way.
From Xinhua to Hetao, from Youbeiping to Daibei, the entire Great Wall will be filled with flames of war.
If that's all, then that's it.
But the problem is that the current Han Dynasty and Han army do not have the ability to fight a decisive battle with the Huns and win them.
Therefore, rashly launching the Battle of Hetao will only lead to one result: the Han-Hungarian War will definitely turn into a war of attrition and a protracted war like in history. Without a tug-of-war of more than ten or twenty years, there will be no winner or loser at all.
Hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of Han troops would die in this long tug-of-war.
Once such a situation occurs, the Han Dynasty's economy and finances, as well as people's livelihood, will definitely be dragged down.
As for the Huns surrendering?
hehe……
Historically, after the Mayi Conspiracy, the Xiongnu experienced nine generations of Chanyus including Junchen, Yizhixie, Uwei, Erchanyu, and Yaohuli. Did any of them surrender?
Even after Uwe died and the Huns were in danger of losing three chanyus within five years, the Huns still chose to continue fighting.
Liu Che clearly remembered that during that difficult period in history, the Huns showed a more united monarch-subject relationship than the loyalty mentioned by Chinese Confucianism. After Chanyu came to the throne, Xiaozhu sent two groups of envoys to the Huns.
One group went to express condolences to Shan Yu, and the other group went to express condolences to King Youxian in an attempt to alienate the Xiongnu monarchs and ministers.
However, King Youxian of the Xiongnu at that time made a surprising decision. He sent all the Han envoys to Erchanyu.
This is an unimaginable and extremely special example among the Xiongnu, who had a tradition of betrayal and regicide.
The Huns during that period showed extremely high unity and loyalty.
Facing such an enemy, Liu Che knew that he had to either not fight or fight quickly.
The first battle will break the backbone of the Xiongnu, the second battle will be the decisive battle of Mobei, and the third battle will be to advance westward and cut off the connection between the Xiongnu and the Western Regions.
Then he tightened the rope and starved the Huns to death in Mubei.
Liu Che would not easily launch a war against the Huns if he could not destroy them in three battles. (~^~)
