Just as the North was developing step by step, news about the Qin army continued to spread to Maodun Shanyu.
Although the Huns had been expelled from the Central Plains by the Qin army, Maodun Shanyu was obsessed with the shame of Hetao.
That day he received a parchment roll, and when he opened it, he felt a big deal.
Ji Zhu, who was sitting by the fire, was gnawing lamb legs and asked curiously:
"Shanyu, but the Qin army came to attack?"
Maodun handed the parchment roll to Jizhu.
Ji Zhu expanded and saw several lines of Zhongyuan font written crookedly. Ji Zhu debated for a while before he understood the general idea...
In ancient times, the Huns had no writings, and most of their nobles and intelligence transmission used the Central Plains Zhao characters, which was one of the reasons why Maodun Shanyu could understand the Central Plains military books.
After reading it, Ji Zhu said:
"The Qin army was just connecting Hexi to do business. Why was the Shanyu so worried?"
Maodun Shanyu said with a "hum":
"The Qin army's move is not just to connect Hexi to do business."
"We are enemies of the Yuezhi, but the Qin army manages Hexi and sets up points to connect the road to the Yuezhi..."
"In addition, there are the Western Rong countries. If they form an alliance with the Qin army, they can attack our army from the west and south! And it is the Western Rong cavalry..."
Ji Zhu was shocked when he heard this and said:
"If this is the case, wouldn't Mo Nan have no place for us to stand?"
Maodun Shanyu said:
"So, we must not let the Qin army succeed."
Then Maodun Shanyu ordered:
"The command of the Right King, let him immediately dispatch troops to the Xirong and send envoys to the Yuezhi!"
The subordinates responded and issued an order.
Since withdrawing from Wuyuan, the Youxian King has led an army of 100,000 to the west.
On the one hand, this is to put pressure on Yuezhi so that it will not take advantage of the fire to rob Hexi. On the other hand, the Huns' soldiers and horses cannot be too concentrated... The result of concentration is that a large number of cattle, sheep and horses have nowhere to graz. It is not conducive to
Raid.
After receiving the order from Maodun Shanyu, Xunqi immediately ordered the troops to advance fifty miles towards the Yuezhi direction, and then sent an envoy to negotiate peace with Yuezhi.
This is actually just a carrot and a stick, putting pressure on it and showing goodwill. If you don’t agree to the peace agreement, the army will immediately launch an attack.
Maodun has already mastered his skills. He used this tactic to deal with the 36 countries in the Western Regions... This is actually the "union and alliance" of the Central Plains.
Maodun knew that if the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions united to fight against the Huns, the Huns would probably not be able to do anything.
Therefore, during the same period, they always negotiated with several of the countries and concentrated their troops to attack a country.
This tactic is so effective that by the time of the old Shang Shanyu, the Huns had basically controlled the Western Regions.
Of course, the power of the Huns in the Western Regions was not so strong at this time.
However, the Huns had defeated Yuezhi with more than 10,000 troops in Hexi before. At this time, the Right King brought another 100,000 troops to the city, and this power was self-evident.
Therefore, it was awesome for the Xiongnu envoy to meet the Yuezhi King. He did not discuss peace at all, but went to provoke troops to question the crime.
"Shanyu heard that the king was discussing with Qin envoys recently how to attack the Huns. I wonder if it was true?"
The Yuezhi King hurriedly denied:
"The envoy was joking. My Yuezhi had been fighting with Qin for many years, so how could he form an alliance with him?"
This is half true and half false.
The first half is real. The Yuezhi bordered the Qin State before, and there was inevitably friction between the two, so the Qin army and the Yuezhi can also be said to be old enemies.
The second half is fake. As soon as Li Yan arrived in Suzhou, he ordered an envoy to discuss peace with the Yuezhi and discuss the plan to destroy the Hungarians.
(Note: At this time, the Yuezhi had not moved west to Lanshi City, and its location is in Shazhou, that is, Dunhuang area)
But the Yuezhi King was still hesitating whether to agree.
The reason why King Yuezhi hesitated was that he knew that Qin and the Huns were both great powers that they could not afford to offend. If he promised this country, he would definitely offend that country. If he promised that country, he would annoy this country again.
Therefore, King Yuezhi was vague about Qin's envoy and planned to pass it perfunctorily.
The messenger only snorted and said:
"You must think clearly, the king."
"Although the Qin State has a strong military force, it is far away from the Central Plains and has difficulty in replenishing supplies."
"How to choose... I think the king understands it in his heart!"
When the Yuezhi King heard this, he thought this was correct.
Yuezhi retreated from Hexi all the way. He knew how far this section of the road was, and he also knew that there was no supply on the way... The Yuezhi had supplies before because they were nomadic peoples, and they just needed to drive cattle and sheep out along the way.
.
But if it were the Qin army that farmed and ate food, the army would have to travel to Shazhou for a long distance, how much food and grass should it bring?
So the Qin army had only more than 30,000 people at this time.
That's why the Qin army had to exchange silk for food, sheep, and cattle everywhere.
It is said that the Qin army also built water conservancy preparations for military farming in Suzhou...
When the Qin army was thinking of the military farming, King Yuezhi frowned.
The reason why Yuezhi had had a feud with the Qin army before was because of military farming.
To be precise, it was not because of military farming, but because Yuezhi was slavery and Qin army was half-slave and semi-feudal. Especially after Shang Yang's reform, it further improved the status of slaves and peasants and gave them meritorious service and rewarded them to become the best.
hope.
So the slaves of Yuezhi and even the people inevitably ran to Qin to live a farming life.
The Yuezhi King was once worried about how to stop this situation, so he had long had the idea of moving westward to avoid junction with Qin.
But this idea was not realistic before.
Because the Yuezhi took a step back and Qin State went further, the two countries were still bordering.
Therefore, when the Huns invaded south, Yuezhi thought that this was a blessing or not a disaster, because from then on, there was a Hun between Qin and Yuezhi.
Who would have thought that the Huns would be repelled by the Qin army so quickly, and the Qin army would become the neighbor of the Yuezhi again so quickly... The Yuezhi King felt so painful!
After thinking about it, King Yuezhi believed that he could only obey the opinions of the Huns.
Although he knew that the Huns were only forced to negotiate peace due to the current situation, the current situation was obvious:
The Qin army had more than 30,000, and most of them were infantry.
But the Huns had 100,000 cavalry...
So King Yuezhi stopped hesitating and said to the Hun envoy:
"What the messenger said is very much."
"Please send the messenger to Shanyu that I am willing to form an alliance with Shanyu."
He didn't want the Huns' envoy to give up, he said:
"Just that's it?"
"How could Shanyu believe what the king said is true?"
The Yuezhi King's face suddenly became very ugly:
"The envoy's intention is to take the prince as his qualifier?"
No wonder the Yuezhi King said this, this is a normal procedure for alliances.
However, this is a bit difficult because the Yuezhi King had only one prince at this time was counting on inheriting the throne. If he sent the Huns as a stake, it would be less different than destroying the country.
The Hun envoy seemed to know this, so he shook his head and denied it.
Then he stepped forward and lowered his voice and said this.
King Yuezhi nodded repeatedly to show his agreement.