At the beginning of the first month of the lunar calendar, when Wushi Luo was running out to the Hexi grassland, Xiang Liang's uncle and nephew were still thousands of miles away in Shanyuting, Mobei.
Although it is bitterly cold in Mobei and the snow melts and falls, even the rivers deep in the grassland are gradually melting and flowing. The cattle, sheep and horses are also getting restless, fighting for their pairs, and you will know.
, spring has arrived.
These days are important days when the Xiongnu elders and minors gather in the court, offer cattle, sheep and horses, and perform sacrifices to heaven, the sun and the moon. It is also a critical moment to decide whether Maodun Shanyu will form an alliance with the "Chu Kingdom"!
The Xiongnu tribe came as promised, including 30,000 Xiongnu horsemen, as well as countless women and children slaves. They brought a large number of livestock and camped near Shan Yuting, with camels and felt tents surrounding a city.
In Felt City, Xiang Liang, who lost one of his ears due to the cold winter in order to go north from Beidi County to the Huns, is currently wrapped in a fur coat, recalling the ups and downs of his life.
When the Chu Kingdom fell, the Xiang family was severely damaged. His father and eldest brother were killed in battle. Although he escaped death, he was moved to Guanzhong. Fortunately, he took good care of himself and lived a comfortable life.
But it was useless to keep a low profile, as several brothers in the family caused trouble for him. A few years ago, Xiang Liang was implicated in the murder of his brother Xiang Mao, who was far away from the Prime Minister. He could have been acquitted by bribing the chief prosecutor, Si Ma Xin, but how could he get away with it?
Sima Xin, who has always been greedy for information, ignored his wife's brother Cao Jiu's request and took the case to death, raising Xiang Dao from murder to treason. The unlucky Xiang Liang was also sent to serve on the Great Wall...
For several years, Xiang Liang and his nephew Xiang Zhuangzhen lived a hard life. Fortunately, after the death of Emperor Qin Shihuang, Hu Hai arrested the Heifu gang members, and Beidi County underwent a major reshuffle. County Captain Zhang Han and many officials fled.
, the Great Wall was in chaos, and countless garrison soldiers fled. Xiang Liang also took the opportunity to escape with Xiang Zhuang.
Unfortunately, they did not escape far when they were captured by a group of horsemen. They thought they were going to die here, but unexpectedly it was a member of the Wushi Luo family who took them back to Jitoushan and treated them as guests.
Xiang Liang could have been hiding in a villa in Wushi, but when he heard the news from Guandong: Heifu broke with the imperial court, Xiang Ji raised troops in Huainan, and had recovered Chu, and the other five countries also took advantage of the situation, and the world was about to be in chaos.
…
"Great kindness! Ji'er is indeed my eldest grandson of the Xiang family, just like a great father!"
Overjoyed, Xiang Liang, unwilling to be left alone, made a bold request to Wu Shiluo:
Go north to the Xiongnu! Join forces with Hu to attack Qin!
"Your cousin has done a good job in restoring Chu and taking back the old soil in Huaibei. But compared to Northern Qin and Southern Qin, they are still small and weak. They need strong help."
While waiting for Maodun to be interviewed again, Xiang Liang murmured. In this small felt tent, only his nephew Xiang Zhuang was sitting in front of him holding his sword, quietly listening to Zhong's father's plan.
"So I want to follow Gongsun Yan's old wisdom and form an alliance with the Xiongnu!"
When Xiang Liang was young, he heard from a disciple of the Xiang family that more than a hundred years ago, during the reign of King Huiwen of Qin and King Huai of Chu, Gongsun Yan was the prime minister of Wei and organized the five kingdoms to join forces to attack Qin. To this end, he hooked up with Yi Qu
So when the five kingdoms were at war with Qin, Lord Yiqu suddenly launched an attack and defeated the Qin army at Libo...
It's a pity that Yiqu died soon after, and the six countries lost forever their good friend who could stab Qin in the back.
But now, due to a combination of circumstances, Xiang Liang has found a Xiongnu who is more powerful than Yiqu!
Although in terms of population alone, all the tribes of the Xiongnu combined may not have as many people as Yiqu. However, compared to Yiqu, which has been living on the side of the Central Plains for a long time, where customs have gradually become Chinese and settled in Yiqu, which is half farming and half pastoral, the Xiongnu appear to be more primitive and barbaric.
They migrated in pursuit of water and grass. They often farmed in the city walls and made a living by raising animals and hunting.
Xiang Liang once saw with his own eyes that a group of seven or eight-year-old children in the Xiongnu tribe were already riding sheep or ponies, using their bows to shoot birds and mice. The older ones began to climb on the backs of horses with their feet.
Follow the elders to the forests and grasslands to shoot foxes and rabbits to supplement food for the family.
The Xiongnu all gathered here, with tens of thousands of soldiers, capable of bending bows, and all of them were armored cavalry! Whenever the winter snow freezes too many livestock to death, or it is difficult to catch prey, the Huns will pass on the disaster of the group to their neighbors.
They go to war to invade neighboring countries, coming and going like the wind, and people flee after grabbing food.
They are simply a group of natural cavalry. It would be wonderful to use them to attack the Qin border fortress.
With such a plan in mind, Xiang Liang had no psychological burden of "colluding with foreigners".
Although Chu and Qin were both crowned states and were closely related by marriage for eighteen generations, they had an undying hatred ever since King Huai of Chu entered Qin and never returned.
The common people in Guizhou can forget, but the nobles cannot.
To the Xiang family, Qin is Qiu Yu, the Qin people are foreigners and invaders, and the Xiongnu are also foreigners, and have nothing to do with Chu. They are truly irrelevant.
And the enemy of my enemy is my friend!
Xiang Liang couldn't help but regret: "When Touman, the father of Maodun, was around, the Xiongnu were even more powerful. If the Yan State had made a plan to unite the Xiongnu with military force earlier, perhaps the Six Kingdoms would not have perished so quickly."
He said so much, but Xiang Zhuang across from him didn't say a word.
Because he can't speak anymore!
Xiang Zhuang suffered more than just whip marks on his face. His tongue was also cut off as early as when he was at the Great Wall. He was so angry that the Qin officials insulted his uncle and nephew and cursed him endlessly that he had his entire tongue cut off. Now he can only
Making garbled sounds in response…
At this time, the door of the felt tent was opened and the translator got in.
"Xiang Jun, the Great Chanyu wants to see you!"
Xiang Liang stood up, motioned to Xiang Zhuang to stay here, and said to him:
"If Ji'er leads the soldiers of the Six Kingdoms to attack Hangu Pass, we will lead the Xiongnu to break through the Great Wall and attack Shuofang, Beidi, and Shangjun. Qin will be attacked from both sides, and its destruction is imminent!"
"The hatred between the Xiang family and Qin, the hatred of the eldest father, the hatred of the elder brother, the hatred of you, and the hatred of Chu State!"
All these chains of hatred, all these humiliations.
"We will all come to an end within this year and a half!"
…
When Xiang Liang saw Mao Dun again, he was poured cold water on him by his words.
"The princes of each tribe still remember that many years ago, my father Touman fought with them for the land of Henan, but was defeated by the Qin army. The Xiongnu was almost destroyed, so they do not want to become their enemy."
Xiang Liang immediately asked the translator to help him translate: "Qin is no longer the Qin it was many years ago. Qin Shihuang died, the north and the south were divided into two, attacking each other, and more than 20 counties in the east rebelled. And the Huns are no longer what they used to be.
The Xiongnu, the Great Chanyu restored their strength. The most important thing is that this time, the Xiongnu has Chu as an ally! If Chu attacks the east of Qin, and the Xiongnu attacks the north of Qin, Qin will be destroyed!"
Mao Dun asked the female slave to pour wine for him. The wine bowl seemed to be made of bone: "What are the benefits to the Huns from helping Chu to attack Qin?"
When Xiang Liang went north, he often heard the Wushi guide talk about the legend of Mao Dun: Mao Dun was married to a black man when he was young, and Chen Ping alienated him and he had no choice but to run away. He sacrificed his wife and horses to join the Yueshi, and then killed Touman with his own hands and took the throne by force.
Taking the throne of the Great Chanyu, he returned to the grassland, killed his younger brother and stepmother, led the Xiongnu north to the desert to recuperate, annexed Dingling to the north, broke off with Donghu, and restored the strength of the Xiongnu...
But Xiang Liang didn't pay too much attention to it. No matter how smart the barbarians are, they are still barbarians. A group of bandits and greed are their common nature.
Therefore, Xiang Liang first explained to Mao Dun the wealth of the Central Plains. He described the endless silk and silk delicacies in Xianyang. Once the Xiongnu cooperated with the Chu army to capture it, they could plunder their goods as much as they wanted...
But Mao Dun was different from those Huns princes with shining eyes. He shook his head and said: "I am not interested in clothes, silk and food."
"The total population of the Xiongnu was not equal to that of a county in the Qin Dynasty. However, the reason why they survived a great defeat was that their food and clothing were different from that of the Qin people. They did not need to rely on China. They could go north to Mobei and slowly lick their wounds.
If I change my original customs and like the clothes and food of the Central Plains, and everyone else follows suit, then the Xiongnu will be like Aries, Loufan, and Linhu, who have lost their ancestral ways and regard themselves as Chinese."
"I once made clothes and trousers from the cotton wool obtained from the Qin Dynasty. I wore it and rode a horse in the weeds and thorns. The clothes and pants were torn and damaged to show that the cotton wool was not as strong as the Xiongnu's leather jackets. I brought the Central Plains merchants to China.
The delicious food that was trafficked was thrown away to show that it was not as convenient as the Huns' buttermilk..."
"This is to maintain the tradition of the Huns being able to attack and fight well, so as not to be eroded by the Central Plains artifacts and lose their spirit."
Maodun was very clear about the advantages of the Huns: only the bitter cold earth and lack of materials could breed extremely ferocious warriors, and for the Huns, taking by force was better than hard work!
So Xiang Liang changed his subject and began to describe the beauty and grandeur of the Xianyang palace. He felt that country bumpkins like the Huns might aspire to it.
But Mao Dun still sneered, pointing to the large tent with simple decoration in front of him and said: "The felt tent is very good. The Chinese emperor tried his best to build palaces and houses, which will inevitably exhaust his manpower."
"The Chinese people work hard to cultivate fields and cultivate mulberry trees just to obtain enough food and clothing, and to build cities to shelter them. Therefore, their people do not practice their offensive skills when they are in a hurry, but when they are relaxed, they are exhausted by the work, so they are weak.
, for example, the more than 100,000 immigrants in Henan still need to build a long wall to protect themselves."
"If I seize the cities in China, I will burn all their houses with fire, bulldoze the city walls, trample the fields into pastures, and let the children of the Huns practice bow fighting on them."
After listening to the translator's narration, Xiang Liang was a little surprised. He had no desire and no care, so what was Moton interested in?
"I'm interested in women from the Central Plains."
Modu said with a smile, and then raised the chin of the beautiful slave girl next to him.
"Tell this distinguished guest from Chu State, where are you from?"
"Shuofang..."
The slave girl was pitiful. In the Chinese dialect, she was a gift from Ushi to Moton.
But the next moment she said the wrong thing, her slender neck was cut open by Mo Dun!
The blood is redder than the wine in the wine bowl.
"That's not called Shuofang, it's called Henan."
Mao Dun corrected this mistake and asked people to carry the body away. Then he looked at Xiang Liang who turned a blind eye to this and said with a smile: "I am interested in taking back the land and pastures that originally belonged to the Huns."
He placed the wine bowl made of the bones of his father Touman Chanyu heavily on the table, his eyes like hungry wolves!
"I'm also very interested in revenge, cutting off the enemy's head, hollowing out the flesh and blood, drying it and making it into a wine vessel!"
…
Modun Shanyu finally overcame all opinions and agreed to form an alliance with Chu. A few days later, he led the huge Xiongnu tribe, driving ox carts and carrying felt tents, and began a long journey.
"Maodun's enemy is Heifu and his aide Chen Ping, aren't they?"
Xiang Liang felt more and more that the Huns were really Chu's natural friends. Not only did they want to regain Henan under the control of Northern Qin, but they also remembered the time when they were framed by Chen Ping's letter and almost killed by Touman Shanyu.
"Even if Heifu enters the Pass first, the Xiongnu in the north will be enough to become their formidable enemy. The Chu State can sit in the east of Guandong and unite the five countries to achieve a balance of power, and even drive Heifu back to the south!"
With this in mind, Xiang Liang looked ahead. Maodun Shanyu was in a good mood today, riding a bloody horse he got from the Western Regions, carrying his most beautiful Yan family. The two rode together, one horse leading the way.
Xiang Liang shook his head. This Yan family is the daughter of a northern tribe leader who was annexed by Maodun. It is said that she is the most beautiful flower in the entire Mobei grassland. When her veil is taken off, all the animals will stop breathing in surprise.
…
Although Xiang Liang has never seen it, one thing that is certain is that Mao Dun often boasted that the sweat-blooded horse and the Yan family were his two treasures.
"Modun really loves this Yan family!"
Xiang Liang thought so.
When he set out the next day, he discovered a problem.
Hurrying forward, Xiang Liang found Mao Dun, who was drinking with the beautiful Yan in his arms.
"Great Chanyu, we are not going south, but to the east?"
"Yes, we are walking in the direction where the sun rises."
Mao Dun smiled and said: "Because before attacking the Qin Dynasty and regaining Henan, I have to go to a place to resolve an old grudge on the grassland."
This is different from what was promised. Xiang Liang secretly thought that something was wrong: "I wonder where the great Chanyu wants to go?"
Mao Dun said: "In China's Yuyang, to the north of Shanggu, there is an abandoned land between the Donghu and the Xiongnu. The two tribes cannot live together. It is more than a thousand miles from the north to the south. It is called Outuo in the Xiongnu language. I want to go there to meet the Donghu.
Meet the king."
As for what he was doing when he went to the east to meet King Donghu, Xiang Liang did not get the answer from Mao Dun.
There was no way, his uncle and nephew were just like duckweeds, living under someone else's roof, and could not influence the Xiongnu's whereabouts, so they had no choice but to follow them.
For such a large tribe, only Maodun himself knew why he wanted to go to Outuo.
He held Yan's waist with one hand, kissed her earlobe gently, and spoke loving words, while stroking the mane on the neck of the horse with the other hand.
She and it were indeed his most beloved things.
But so what?
There was affection in his mouth, but his eyes were extremely cold!
