After the meeting, Liu Che specially asked Wei Shang and Yizong to stay behind.
Wei Shang is a man with extremely strong spiritual power.
Although, he is already over eighty years old.
But he is still energetic, walks like flying, and has a very strong aura when sitting together.
As one of the Four Gentlemen of Handan, Wei Shang has great reputation and prestige throughout the world.
Many of the rangers in Guanzhong are even fans of Wei Shang.
Liu Che looked at the gatekeeper of the northern part of the Han Dynasty attentively and said: "Meng Shugong, thank you for your hard work coming from afar. Since I came to the throne, I have always wanted to have a long talk with Meng Shugong. Unfortunately, I have been busy with all kinds of trivial matters and have not been able to do so."
I met with Duke Meng Shu. Today, Duke Meng Shu is coming. I should have a long talk with him. I have many things that I don’t understand about the Xiongnu, Yunzhong and the Great Wall. I also ask Duke Meng Shu to help me clear up my doubts.
!”
Today, when it comes to understanding the Xiongnu, Wei Shang said that he was second, but no one dared to say that he was first.
The eldest general in the Han Dynasty and the longest-serving veteran general in the county had never left Yunzhong County since Emperor Taizong Xiaowen came to the throne.
He personally experienced all the Han-Hungarian wars except the Battle of Pingcheng, and witnessed every detail of Han-Hungarian relations in the past thirty years.
The Huns laid down tens of thousands of corpses under Yunzhong City.
Dozens of high-level Xiongnu nobles, including a real official, were killed by Yunzhong soldiers and civilians.
The Huns even established a sacred shrine for Wei Shang in their country, believing that Wei Shang was a god and could not be offended or violated.
Before the rise of Li Guangzhi, Wei Shang was the most feared and feared Han general by the Huns.
At the same time, Wei Shang also had good personal relationships with some Xiongnu nobles.
Don't wonder why there is such a wonderful turn of events.
In fact, in history, the Huns would go out of their way to make friends with any Han generals they could not handle on their own.
From the beginning of infant feeding, to today's Wei Shang, later Li Guang, Cheng Bushi, Zhidu, Han Anguo, and even Wei Qing, Huo Qubing and Zhao Ponu, the Huns have done this from beginning to end.
This probably involves the simple steppe nomads worshiping heroes, but the greater possibility is that the Huns felt that only those they could not defeat were qualified to be friends with them.
To put it simply, it is shaking m.
But no matter what the situation is, Wei Shang can be regarded as the Xiongnu expert who knows the Xiongnu situation best among the Han ministers today.
There are many questions that I haven't asked Wei Shanglai in detail when I read the historical records.
After all, although Sima Qian, the author of Historical Records, was not a homebody, he had never been to the grasslands and had face-to-face communication with the Huns, especially the Huns' nobles.
Many things in the Historical Records were recorded by Sima Qian after listening to other people's descriptions.
When Wei Shang heard this, he bowed in front of his lap and said, "Your Majesty has a question, and I will tell you everything I know."
Liu Che nodded, smiled slightly and said: "Meng Shugong, please get up quickly..."
The attendants on the left and right also hurriedly stepped forward to help Wei Shang up.
Liu Che thought for a while and asked: "I heard that there were many tribes in the Xiongnu country. The chiefs of each tribe were called certain kings. The relationship between each tribe and the Shanyu seemed quite complicated. I once heard that a few years ago,
During the Xiongnu coup, the Chanyu killed his rightful king, exiled Zhongxing to Beihai, and established his son as the king of the sun. In addition, in the Xiongnu kingdom, in addition to the tribal leaders, there were also various petty kings and humble kings.
There are also great kings who do not have tribes. For example, in the past, there were Han officials who defected from the Huns and were crowned kings by the Chanyu, but did not allow them to have their own tribes. Please ask Duke Meng Shu to teach me!"
To deal with an enemy, you must not understand him.
As the saying goes, the person who knows you best must be your enemy.
If you don't even understand your enemy, how can you defeat him?
Do you want to be as obscene as the Manchus?
This is obviously impossible.
Therefore, since he ascended the throne, Liu Che has often consulted Shiquge's reports on previous envoys sent to the Huns, and also consulted a large number of reports about the Huns from border counties and localities.
However, due to current textual problems, Liu Che was unable to understand many things clearly in documents using bamboo slips as carriers. They were usually concise and concise, and he cherished words like gold.
Just like people of later generations, when looking at the biographies of the Huns in historical records, they can only see flowers in the fog, like a blind man touching an elephant, who can only get a partial glimpse of the Xiongnu Empire.
But what form did the Xiongnu political system take, what kind of system was it maintained, how did they manage their huge territory, and how did they control the tribes scattered across thousands of miles of grasslands.
How is his power structure and military system composed?
What is the relationship between the tribes within the Xiongnu? Who is a sworn enemy to whom, and who is a mortal feud with whom.
These problems are completely undescribed.
Even in today's Han Dynasty archives, there are very few records and descriptions of this.
Everyone usually talks about the various unusual aspects of the Xiongnu, and then briefly touches upon the political structure of the country.
It was not until the reign of Xiaozhu that the Han Dynasty faced this problem squarely and made a lot of efforts. By capturing and bribing the Xiongnu nobles, they finally figured out the structure and system of the Xiongnu pyramid.
But Liu Che really didn't know much about this.
I can only remember some hearsay content.
After Xia Yanzhi got married, Liu Che gained some new understanding of the Xiongnu through Xia Yanzhi and the slaves and maids she brought with her.
But these perceptions are still too broad.
After all, the status of women in the Xiongnu was not high to begin with, and they naturally did not know much, just some common sense of the royal court.
But the real power structure and organizational system are not something Xia Yanzhi and her dowry maids and slaves can understand.
Now, seeing Wei Shang, Liu Che naturally had to find out the structure and composition of the Huns.
Only by knowing this can we make targeted arrangements in future wars.
Wei Shang pondered for a moment, organized his words, and then bowed: "Reporting to Your Majesty, these things are complicated to talk about, but since Your Majesty wants to know, I am naturally willing to inform Your Majesty in detail!"
"First of all, your majesty asked me about the relationship between the Xiongnu tribes and Shan Yuting. This issue, I think, is necessary. I first explain to your majesty the rise of the Xiongnu!"
"Huh?" Liu Che nodded.
The rise of the Xiongnu is not a secret, everyone knows it. The collapse of the Qin Dynasty gave the Xiongnu a special prize.
Due to the huge strength of the domestic uprising army, Qin's army was almost vulnerable to a single blow.
Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's rebel army even shouted the slogan of entering Hangu and destroying the Qin court.
The panicked ruler of Qin, with Zhang Han as general, sent out 200,000 Lishan prisoners, armed them, and left Hangu Pass in the east to exterminate the rebel army. On the other hand, Qin Ting issued an urgent order to mobilize
Return to the Qin King's flagship stationed in Hetao, and the Great Wall Legion returns to defend the country.
After the Great Wall Army's callback, the Hetao became a piece of pie falling from the sky, making the Huns' mouths full of oil.
Not to mention the mountains and seas of military supplies and equipment left by the Qin State in the Hetao area.
Just the complete and mature city defense system and various handicraft workshops established by the Qin Dynasty in order to develop and defend the Hetao could make the Huns laugh in their dreams in the middle of the night.
Even if the Huns digested only one thousandth of Qin Dengfeng's bronze smelting technology, it would be enough for them to defeat the entire grassland.
Not to mention, the Qin people abandoned almost all their properties in Hetao at that time.
Many key workshops were left intact to the Huns.
Relying on the inheritance of the Qin people, the Huns were able to grow from a small tribe into an empire capable of conquering the grasslands and dominating East Asia in a short period of time.
But Wei Shang seems to have his own opinions?
Therefore, Liu Che sat down upright and listened carefully to the views of this Han Dynasty minister who had dealt with the Huns for more than thirty years and had an 'in-depth' exchange with the Huns almost every year.
Because Wei Shang is currently the only minister of the Han Dynasty who has personally experienced the changes and changes in the rule of the Xiongnu chanyus in the three generations from Maodun to the present.
It’s not that there is no one who understands the Xiongnu better than Wei Shang.
For example, famous diplomats of the previous generation such as Lou Jing and Lu Jia had a very detailed understanding of the world of Yi and Di.
In particular, Lou Jing had a face-to-face communication with Mao Dun and single-handedly promoted the Han-Hungarian peace policy. He had a certain personal relationship with Mao Dun and the old Shan Yu.
But they are all dead.
Even the Han Daandang brothers who ran back from the Huns and the Guiyi marquis who surrendered did not understand the Huns as well as Wei Shang.
Because Wei Shang was in Yunzhong County, he had to face the huge pressure from the Xiongnu Munan cluster on the opposite side at all times.
If Wei Shang did not have enough understanding of the Xiongnu, it would be impossible for Wei Shang to keep Yunzhong County as safe as a rock for thirty years.
In sharp contrast, Beidi County, a place with a large concentration of troops, fell to the Huns' cavalry twice in history.
Wei Shang paused and said, "How should I put it..."
"Your Majesty, you should have read the records of the exchanges between the Han envoys and the Huns during the Emperor Taizong's reign. I remember that in the tenth year of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen's reign, the Han envoys returned from the Huns and reported it to the Bank of China.
Answer!"
Liu Che nodded, it was indeed such a thing.
Wei Shangdao: "Then your Majesty should remember that the Bank of China once said: The Huns cannot be treated as one Han county."
Liu Che nodded, this was indeed clearly documented.
Wei Shang raised his head, looked at Liu Che, and asked: "The Bank of China said that when Lao Shang was first established, he followed his relatives and married the Huns, and then made plans for Lao Shang and plotted against my great Han Dynasty. At that time, Taizong Xiaowen
In the sixth year before the emperor's reign, the population of one county in China was only three to four hundred thousand!"
"If what Zhongxing said is true, why did the Xiongnu invade our territory with an army of 400,000 during the Battle of Pingcheng?" Wei Shang stood up and said, "The answer is that the population of the Xiongnu is indeed only 300,000 or 400,000. However,
The Huns began to count people and livestock when they were taught by Zhongxing. In other words, they only counted men!"
"The world often thinks that the barbarians in the north are all Xiongnu..." Wei Shang paused and said with some excitement: "This is especially true for the carnivores in the court. However, the old minister is in the clouds, fighting against the Xiongnu day and night. Naturally, he knows that on the other side,
Not all of them are Huns!"
"The so-called Kunxie King and Xiutu King of the Xiongnu are actually not Huns. The so-called Aries King and Loufan King are not Huns either. The real Xiongnu tribes are actually their left and right wise kings, left and right Guli kings, and left and right kings.
The generals, the left and right Guduhous, the soldiers commanded by the left and right Danghu, and the rest, whether they are Xiutu or Kunxie, are all lackeys of the Xiongnu, and belong to the Yi, Di and Zahu who joined Maodun's army after they raised their troops!"
Wei Shang's words were like a spiritual enlightenment, which allowed Liu Che to clear away the fog and suddenly understood many issues that he had not understood in three lifetimes.
That’s so!
Liu Che thought to himself.
He already roughly understood the organizational structure of the Huns.
It was probably an original version of the Eight Banners system similar to the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
The Eight Banners of Manchuria are the tribes directly under the left and right Xianwang, the left and right King Guli, the left and right generals, the left and right Guduhou, and the left and right Danghu.
Other tribes such as Xiutu and Kunxie are the Eight Banners of Mongolia.
The king of Xianbei, King Wuheng, and King Donghu who later surrendered were the newly attached troops and green battalions.
Only in this way can many problems be explained.
For example, Huo Qubing single-handedly persuaded the Xiutu tribe to surrender, and ordered King Kunxie to kill eight thousand of his people who were unwilling to surrender.
Such a miracle is simply a myth in history books.
Countless historians have broken their heads and still can't figure out why.
In the end, it can only be attributed to Huo Qubing's cheating. Kunxie and Xiutu fell under the aura of Huo Qubing's brain damage. They bowed to Huo Qubing as soon as they saw him, and their loyalty was instantaneous.
But looking at the history books, everyone can clearly see that Kunxie and Xiutu surrendered with all their hearts and knelt down to lick Huo Qubing. There was a prerequisite. Shanyu was angry with Kunxie, and the west where Xiutu lived was killed and plundered by the Han army.
Thousands of people want to call him to death.
The previous section describes in detail the Han army's killing and plundering of tens of thousands of people in that place: In the summer, General Hussar and his allies marched tens of thousands of horses out of Longxi, two thousand miles north, passed Juyan, and attacked the Qilian Mountains
, captured more than 30,000 Hu Shou captives, and more than 70 people below Xiao Wang.
This battle took place in the third year before the decisive battle in Mobei, after the battles of Huo Qubing, Yanzhi Mountain and Gaonan Mountain.
Huo Qubing's brilliant victories at Rouge Mountain and Gaonan Mountain did not make Shan Yu angry and call for execution.
On the contrary, the following two thousand-mile expedition, which was much less influential than the battles of Rouge Mountain and Gaonan Mountain and was fought almost the entire time, made Shanyu angry and wanted to kill two people who had a decisive position in his country.
Tribal leader.
If Yi Zhixie's head wasn't filled with water at that time, Huo Qubing must have stabbed the Huns' weak point, just like when he burned down Longcheng, the ancestral land of the Huns, in his first battle, making Yi Zhixie lose his mind in anger.
After all, the surrender of Xiutu and Kunxie directly caused the entire Hexi region of the Xiongnu to fall completely into the hands of the Han army.
"Losing me in the Qilian Mountains will deprive my animals of their ability to live; losing me in the Rouge Mountains will deprive my married women of color." This classic Huns elegiac song of later generations perfectly expresses the situation after the surrender of the Kunxie and Xiutu tribes.
The strategic dilemma faced by the Huns.
Qilian Mountain and Rouge Mountain were no longer owned by the Xiongnu.
This incident directly led to Yi Zhixie having to lead the main force of his royal court to fight Wei Qing and Huo Qubing in Mobei the next year. In the end, they were defeated and the Xiongnu almost fell into the disaster of annihilation!
The failure of the decisive battle in Mobei caused the Huns to lose most of their adult men, and nearly half of the entire upper-class nobility were killed or captured. Only the Shanyu and a small number of nobles were spared, and the royal family only escaped alive.
Then, the background of the more than 30,000 Huns killed and captured by Huo Qubing must be very important.
Just like the Manchu Qing Dynasty, no matter how many new soldiers died, Aisin Gioro would not feel bad.
But, if the entire Manchu Eight Banners were killed, how could the Mongolian Eight Banners, the new auxiliary troops, the Han Eight Banners, etc. who were watching the show still survive? (~^~)
ps: I checked countless information for this chapter, and then made up some of it myself.
There is no way. There are too few historical records about the Xiongnu. We can only make certain guesses and re-understand based on the existing historical records. Otherwise, many things cannot be explained clearly.
