The nine hundred and seventy-ninth section prepares for war (2)
Of course we can’t fight this year.∑.∑
Because the main force of the Xiongnu did not march westward this year.
Based on the information currently available, especially the information provided by the extremely powerful traitor.
The Xiongnu did not go on a western expedition this year, mainly because they had too much food in Dawan last year.
This is understandable.
The Huns were a people on horseback.
It can even be said that they spent most of their time on horseback from birth to death.
Eat hundreds of thousands of slaves at once, especially hundreds of thousands of women of childbearing age.
This posed a huge challenge to the gastrointestinal function of the Hun Empire.
Even slaves need resources to support them.
Although the Huns regarded everything as tools and property, they had no compassion or mercy at all.
However, even Chinese people cherish their farm tools.
If it breaks, it needs to be repaired. If it breaks, you will feel bad.
Not to mention slaves, a property that is slightly more advanced and expensive than tools.
After working so hard to get it back, you can't just watch them starve to death, right?
Cheese and meat are not allowed to slaves.
Then a few cheese by-products and bones must be thrown away to fill the stomachs of the slaves so that they have the strength to help herd and work, right?
Not to mention, there are so many female slaves of the right age.
Although female slaves are slaves.
However, the children they had with Xiongnu men were the Xiongnu’s own species.
Tiger poison does not even eat its seeds.
He will take care of his own children, even if they are extremely evil people.
And these all require massive resources.
But the problem is that the Huns lost too many livestock in the Battle of Mayi.
The Han army captured millions of livestock alone.
And the number of livestock that were scattered and dead was probably not less than that captured by the Han army.
To the Xiongnu, the loss of so many livestock was almost equivalent to the loss of a major grain-producing area in China.
Without the milk of cattle, sheep and horses, the Xiongnu Empire would almost suffer from famine.
Although there are many resources looted from Dawan.
However, no matter how much food is stolen, it will be finished one day.
So, for now, the engine of the Hun Empire suddenly lost its power.
Fortunately, the Huns are human beings.
If you are a human being, you know how to be flexible and how to trade.
Therefore, the market trade at the foot of the Great Wall is now unprecedentedly prosperous.
The Huns took a lot of looted gold and silver, like gluttons, and frantically purchased a large amount of Han Dynasty grain, cloth, and even everything they could buy.
From the beginning of summer in April to now, it is just one month.
The Han Dynasty sold to the Huns half a million stones of corn and wheat products, more than 100,000 bolts of cloth and silk, and thousands of stones of salt.
This was something that the Han Dynasty government could control and collect statistics on.
As for those merchants who secretly risked their lives and smuggled Chinese rice, wheat, silk, salt, iron, and even weapons to the Xiongnu, driven by profits, they cannot even be counted.
The relationship between the Han and the Huns resulted in a situation that made Liu Che and the entire Han monarchs and ministers dumbfounded. Although the Han monarchs and ministers had decided to go to war against the Xiongnu, various war preparations were carried out in an orderly manner.
But the Han-Hungarian trade reached its peak.
Trade with the Xiongnu was only through formal channels.
The Han Dynasty obtained tens of thousands of gold from the Xiongnu!
In addition, there are thousands of silver products.
The Spanish colonists worked hard in the Americas, committing murder, arson, and robbery. However, the fruits of their labor were sucked away like a sponge by the Ming Dynasty. This story seems to be happening in this world before the Christian era.
Liu Che even had no doubt that if this kind of trade momentum between Han and Hungary continued for another three to five years, maybe the Han Dynasty would be able to rely on Han-Hungarian trade to complete the gold reserves necessary for the gold standard reform.
However, both Liu Che and the ministers of the Han family knew that this situation could not be maintained!
In fact, even the Han Dynasty did not want to fight this war until now.
The Huns will definitely fight!
Once the Huns take a breath and get over the impact of the failure in the Battle of Mayi, then war will definitely break out.
Therefore, in a sense, Liu Che was planning the Battle of Hetao and the Battle of Hexi.
It is actually a war of self-defense.
For the needs of national defense and to protect the mountains and rivers of the Han family from being trampled by the hooves of the Huns' cavalry.
The Han family must regain Hetao, occupy Yinshan Mountain, and then move forward out of Hexi.
Only in this way can we keep the enemy out of the country and protect the lives and property of our people and subjects.
With the ministers of the Shaofu and the eunuchs and attendants, Liu Che turned a corner and entered Shiqu Pavilion.
At this moment, Shiqu Pavilion has been commandeered by the generals and princes.
The officials of the Taishi Department had no choice but to work in the East Alley of Shiqu Pavilion.
The main building was occupied by sand tables and groups of officers.
"Your Majesty!" Seeing the emperor's arrival, the generals and officers in Shiqu Pavilion who were discussing strategies and deducing the battle situation straightened their backs and saluted with a military salute.
"Your Majesty, no courtesy!" Liu Che held up the Emperor's Sword and returned the military salute.
As the supreme commander of the three armed forces and the supreme master of this country.
After the Battle of Mayi, Liu Che announced the abolition of the kneeling ceremony for soldiers on the pretext that "a brave warrior is a worthy minister of the country".
Even when facing the king, soldiers only need to salute.
Except in the court hall, "No one in armor will kneel down to worship"!
This incident caused a little stir, and then disappeared without a trace.
the reason is simple.
At this time, the minister worships the king, and the king also worships the minister.
Their status is fairly equal.
The emperor's labor and capital changed the subject's worship of the monarch, and the monarch's respect for the minister, to the subject's respect for the monarch, and the monarch's respect for his ministers. In essence, there is no change.
What's more, Zhou Yafu insisted on discipline and refused to worship Taizong, which was admired by the world.
This shows that, at least in the Han Dynasty, kneeling and worshiping are just a kind of etiquette, not the order of feudal society and the foundation of the country.
Even the emperors of the Liu family in the past dynasties used "free worship" as an honor and bestowed it on the three elders.
Regarding the emperor's order, the scholar-bureaucrats and some even thought that this should be the case.
Worship you, this is the honor of a scholar-bureaucrat.
Qiu Ba people die!
However, this policy allowed Liu Che to completely win over the morale of the army and let even a small pawn know that their ruler was very kind to them.
As for the generals, they have completely returned home.
Can a boss who respects and treats his employees well and takes them out to have fun from time to time cannot be unpopular?
"Your Majesty, I have made preliminary plans for the Gaoque battle deployment!" Li Ji, the Marquis of Qu Zhou, and Han Daidang, the Marquis of Gong Gao, stepped forward hand in hand and saluted respectfully.
"Thank you for your hard work, sir!" Liu Che was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "Please give a lecture for me!"
"No!" Han Daidang lowered his head slightly, smiled and invited Liu Che to a huge sand table.
After the strategic objectives of the Battle of Gaoque were deployed, the Han generals Liehou and Wuyuan students took the map and intelligence of Gaoque and conducted repeated deductions.
As of today, I have basically understood the geography of the Hetao before Gaoque.
Everyone in the palace, even Liu Che, the eunuch beside the emperor, had more or less understood the strategic situation of the Han and Hungarian countries near Gaoque.
Li Ji took several young officers with his baton, stood in front of the sand table, and introduced to Liu Che: "Your Majesty, this is the current Xiongnu troop garrison near Gaoque!"
He placed his baton on Yangshan Mountain in the southeast of Hetao: "The Huns are stationed near Gaoque Fortress with all the troops of the Luhou tribe!"
"According to intelligence and investigation, the Luhou tribe brought all the old, weak, women and children to Gaoque. According to spies' reports, at least in the Yangshan area, more than 14,000 dome huts and at least 200,000 cattle and sheep were found!"
"I speculate that the Lu Hou tribe can mobilize up to 30,000 combat troops in Gaoque!"
"Among them, there are more than 15,000 people from his headquarters, and more than 3,000 riders from his subordinate Hu Zhe tribe. On his flanks, there are Xiutu, the commander of Shanyu's close ministers, named Zhangqu, and Hunxie and other tribes in the garrison.
Yu Qi!"
Liu Che listened to Li Ji's interpretation and nodded.
As the spies and envoys of the Han family went deep into the hinterland of the Huns, they conducted investigations into the hinterland of the Huns under the banner of tracing and rescuing the captured Han people.
The Han Dynasty also learned more and more about the Xiongnu.
Now, the Han family has understood clearly, what is the foundation of the huge nomadic dynasty of the Xiongnu Empire?
It’s Qionglu!
The Huns lived together in Qionglu units.
A dome house is a big family.
There were twenty or thirty slaves, men, women, old and young, living together in the larger ones, and seven or eight slaves in the smaller ones were huddled together.
Therefore, later historical records said: Xiongnu father and son lived in the same Qionglu.
But the historical records forgot to tell future generations that the Huns did not just live in the same hut.
In fact, the Xiongnu Empire also counted its population based on Qionglu.
A Qionglu is a city.
Dozens or hundreds of villages form a clan.
More than a dozen large and small clans constitute a tribe.
According to the tradition of the Xiongnu, a settlement must have an adult man who is ready to listen to Shan Yuting's orders at any time and accompany the army on expeditions.
When Liu Che and the Han Dynasty monarchs and ministers understood this,
The power of the Xiongnu Empire, in the minds of Liu Che and his generals and ministers, has been reversed from their previous estimates.
Previously, the Han Dynasty had always believed that the total population of the Xiongnu was about 500,000 young men.
This is estimated based on the data disclosed by the Bank of China that year.
However, it turns out that the Bank of China theory deceived the Han Dynasty.
In fact, the number of adult males in the Xiongnu was at least half as high as what the Bank of China said!
Therefore, the current population of the Huns was initially estimated.
This figure has more than doubled from what the Han Dynasty thought and estimated before, about two million!
The Xiongnu Empire, even if only counting its own population.
The total number should be between five million and six million.
If the vassal and ruling Western Kingdoms are included, its total population should be close to 10 million!
Although, it is still less than one-fifth of the Han Dynasty.
But such a base is enough to pose a serious threat to the Han Dynasty!
And these brand-new data also proved many of the questions Liu Che had always wondered about.
Historically, Huo Qubing and Wei Qing had nearly 200,000 beheadings in their career.
The number of prisoners was twice the number of beheadings.
If we include the losses in battles in which no heads were taken on the battlefield or the Han army failed.
When the Xiongnu conquered the country in Yuanshuo, the total battle losses should have been more than 1.5 million young men.
During the Han-Hungarian War, the number of Han households registered in history was reduced by half.
Of course the Huns will lose more.
At least, the Huns lost two-thirds of their traditional pastures during the war.
But according to history books, the Huns were still able to fight back and resist.
Suppose the total population of the Xiongnu is no more than one county or one country of the Han Dynasty.
Then, this bug cannot be explained.
Moreover, from a practical perspective, the pastures and wetlands currently controlled by the Huns were enough to support a population of tens of millions.
And after such a huge Hun Empire surfaced.
This stimulated the generals and princes of the Han family, making them eager to fight and their blood boiling. If the Xiongnu had only two million people and no more than 500,000 young men, there wouldn't be much gain from attacking them.
However, when the total population of the Xiongnu reached about ten million, and the number of young people exceeded one million.
The oil and water in this war suddenly increased.
Now, this cake is quite big.
It is enough for everyone to take a bite, and it can also distribute a lot of oil and water to one's cronies and confidants.
Of course, the Xiongnu's strength and difficulty also increased as a result.
This is also the reason why the Han Dynasty did not choose to start a war this year.
The Huns are still too strong now.
If the main force does not leave and starts a war rashly, the losses may be huge.
In today's world, wars are fought on materials, resources and population.
Of course the Huns could not afford to lose their population.
But the Han Dynasty also couldn't accept a large population loss ratio.
Especially the young ones.
Nowadays, a young man in his prime can raise at least three children.
In other words, the death of one young adult is equivalent to the loss of three future adults.
Given China's current population size, one million casualties would be enough to push the population into negative growth.
Yes, for the Han Dynasty.
Now, we must not only consider the outcome of the war, but also try to avoid losing too many soldiers.
Not to mention millions of casualties.
A war with 100,000 casualties is enough to break the muscles and bones.
So how to solve this problem?
Liu Che raised his head and looked at Dahonglu Gongsun Kunxie with a smile: "Dahonglu, how is your contact with King Hunxie and King Xiutu going?"
What if, in the Hexi area, that is, the Hunxie tribe and the Xiutu tribe behind Hetao could switch sides, even if they just remained neutral.
Then, the pressure on the Han family's Hetao battle will suddenly be reduced by more than half!
At least, on paper, the Huns could immediately lose 30,000 combatable troops.
Although the combat capabilities of the Hunxie and Xiutu tribes are still a joke.
Even the Huns themselves didn't think highly of them.
However, for the Han Dynasty, being able to lose 30,000 enemies is a matter worthy of celebration no matter what.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have sent my minister He to take charge of the recruitment and surrender in the Yunzhong area... It's just..." Gongsun Kunxie lowered his head and said: "The price offered by King Hunxie and King Xiutu is too high!"
"What price are they offering?" Liu Che asked.
On this issue, price is not the key.
Sincerity and attitude are the key! (To be continued.)
