On the Jiaohe River side, after Ge Yu received Shen Bing's invitation, all his subordinates advised Ge Yu to find an excuse not to accept the invitation.
The reason is very simple. All his subordinates believed that Shen Bing had an evil intention to trick Ge Yu into being sent to his aunt to put him under house arrest or to kill him so that the Huns would surrender without a leader.
But Ge Yu replied:
"If Shen Bing wanted to do this, he could have done it when my uncle and I surrendered. Why bother?"
Without hesitation, he got into the carriage sent by Shen Bing alone.
In fact, this was Shen Bing's attempt to test Ge Yu's courage.
Before, Shen Bing knew that it was Ge Yu who caught the Qin army by surprise in the battle at Jiaohe, and he also knew that it was Ge Yu who provided advice to Xun Hao in Gu Shi's plan to lure the Qin army to attack.
Although this strategy was seen through by Shen Bing, it is rare for such brave and resourceful Xiongnu people to appear. Now that they have surrendered, Shen Bing naturally wants to make good use of it.
In fact, it is not difficult to take advantage of Ge Yu. Shen Bing just needs to wait for the opportunity.
Because Shen Bing knew that Maodun Shanyu would definitely "show" the surrender of Ge Yu and other 10,000 Xiongnu... Otherwise, wouldn't the Xiongnu generals be able to surrender to the Qin army with confidence in the future? How could the Xiongnu stabilize the morale of the army!
Sure enough, this "sign" came quickly.
When Ge Yu entered the tent, Shen Bing motioned for Ge Yu to sit down, and then said to Ge Yu:
"There is something. Shen Bing hopes that the captain will not be too sad..."
Ge Yu was startled for a moment, then he bit it and said with a pale face:
"But my family?"
Shen Bing nodded.
Ge Yu sighed and said:
"Ge Yu had already thought of it the moment he surrendered."
"I hope Shan Yu will not embarrass the families of other subordinates."
Ge Yu's reaction surprised Shen Bing.
But thinking about it, this is expected. As a captain of ten thousand men, it is not surprising that Ge Yu would think of this.
Shen Bing replied:
"I've never heard of the others..."
Ge Yu bowed his hands towards Shen Bing and said:
"That's very good. If the general has no other instructions, I will leave here!"
When Lai saw Ge Yu's attitude, he couldn't help but get angry and cursed:
"You're such a barbarian and don't know what's good or bad. The general tries to persuade you so nicely, but you're so rude."
"I, Da Qin, still owe you something, can't you wait?"
Ge Yu only smiled miserably and replied:
"The general has been kind to us, and we owe it to Da Qin."
"But these grudges and grudges are nothing more than interests."
"What do you think, General?"
Ge Yu said it directly, and it can be said that he understood it clearly.
For example, how could Shen Bing really care about the life and death of Ge Yu's family? He just hoped that Ge Yu could completely surrender to the Qin army and become enemies of the Huns.
When Shen Bing saw what Ge Yu said, he stopped being coy and replied:
"What the Chief of Ten Thousands said is true, it's just the word 'profit'."
"But Captain Ten Thousand, have you ever thought about where your 'benefits' will be in the future?"
Ge Yu replied:
"If the general wants Ge Yu to fight for Qin, it may not be difficult."
"But it is impossible for those cadres to be willing to fight for Qin..."
"If the general thinks so, my subordinates are afraid that the general will be disappointed."
Shen Bing understood what Ge Yu meant.
If the relationship between Ge Yu and the Xiongnu could not be turned back because their family members were killed, this was not the case for his subordinates.
Moreover, most of the troops who surrendered were "in Cao's camp but at heart in Han". At this time, they had to garrison Jiaohe just because they could not escape and to save their lives. If they were sent to fight the Xiongnu... Actually, let alone fight, they would just be given a chance to fight. horses, they will flee to the grassland.
This is not to say how loyal they are to Maodun.
In fact, there are many tribes among the Xiongnu who were conquered by the Xiongnu and surrendered, including the Donghu who were just merged into the Xiongnu not long ago, and there are hundreds of thousands of them.
The reason is that the Huns' living habits were very different from those of the Central Plains people and even those of the Western Regions, and it was difficult for them to have a sense of identity here.
This is the same reason as the Central Plains can fight back and forth and surrender to Qin, Mu and Chu, but once they say they want to surrender to the Xiongnu, it is more like "it is better to be broken than to be destroyed."
Shen Bing replied disapprovingly:
"Captain Ten Thousands, I'm afraid it's too early to speak!"
Ge Yu just replied calmly:
"Ge Yu asked himself that he couldn't do it."
"General, don't have too much hope, unless you can get the Chanyu to kill all his family members."
This is of course impossible.
The Huns who surrendered had 10,000 soldiers, and their family members numbered 40,000 to 50,000.
No matter how stupid Maodun is, he will not kill all 40,000 to 50,000 herdsmen in one go.
Therefore, Maodun Chanyu would only put all the blame on Ge Yu, saying that the other subordinates had surrendered under Ge Yu's orders, so that their crimes would not lead to death, and even welcomed his subordinates to return to the Huns.
Of course Shen Bing would not place his hopes on this.
However, this is not the only way to make the Huns surrender their troops. Shen Bing said:
"What if the Qin army defeated the Xiongnu and drove them out of the grassland?"
"At that time, the Captain and his subordinates will have nowhere to go back even if they want to... What will the Captain think?"
Ge Yu couldn't help but widen his eyes when he heard this.
What Shen Bing said makes sense.
In fact, the reason why the Xiongnu surrendered their troops was that they were "in the Cao camp but at the heart of the Han". In addition to living customs, they took it for granted that the grassland belonged to the Xiongnu.
So if you want to return to the grassland, you will naturally have to return to the embrace of the Huns.
But if even the grassland does not belong to the Xiongnu... what else can they think?
Ge Yu was stunned for a while and then laughed:
"General, do you think the Qin army can go deep into the grassland and defeat the Xiongnu?"
No wonder Ge Yu didn't believe it. Since ancient times, in the battles between the northern nomads and the southern farming peoples, the farming peoples had never penetrated into the grasslands on a large scale, or in other words, they did not have the ability to go deep into the grasslands to expel the nomads. It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the reverse occurred.
Shen Bing didn't want to say empty words, but he knew that in order to conquer the Huns' surrendered troops like Ge Yu, he had to extinguish the hope in their hearts.
Even if they can't be eradicated, they must be made aware that there is another possibility, rather than blindly and firmly wanting to return to the grassland.
Shen Bing replied:
"It's not that I think it's possible, but it's definitely possible."
"The Xiongnu have been doing evil in the Western Regions for many years, and all the countries dare to be angry but dare not speak out."
"If I take this opportunity to unite the countries in the Western Regions and join the Qin army to conquer the Xiongnu, what will the captain think?"
When Ge Yu heard this, his expression changed.
He knew that what Shen Bing said was completely possible.
Especially after the Qin army used 10,000 troops to expel the 100,000 Xiongnu troops from the Western Regions...
If the Qin army had 10,000 soldiers and could defeat 100,000 Xiongnu, then if there were 20,000 soldiers now, wouldn't it be possible to defeat 200,000 Xiongnu?
Therefore, no country in the Western Region dared to disobey the Qin army.
If the Qin Army uses this power to summon the Western Region Allied Forces to organize a cavalry army, and at the same time the main force of the Qin Army marches from the Hetao area...
With the two sides attacking each other one by one, where is the place for the Huns to stay?!
Thinking of this, Ge Yu understood that the Qin army was not just here to "do business" as they said.