Chapter 368: Repelling the Huns by More Than 700 Miles
Yinshan Great Wall.
The ragged and numb-faced slaves were like emotionless robots, some moving bricks and some building walls.
The earth was shaking rhythmically, and in the distance, herds of cattle and sheep and fifty thousand cavalrymen were making a mighty noise. Most of them only raised their eyelids and looked into the distance for a moment, then continued to work on their tasks.
Whether the people coming were Xiongnu or Qin troops was none of their business, they were slaves, not human beings. It was the same whether they lived under Xiongnu rule or under Qin rule.
Their lives have long lost hope, and they work just to survive. They have little education and work hard all day long, so they don't think about difficult questions such as the meaning of life.
In their minds, they only hope that time can go faster and faster. When they get up in the morning, they look forward to lunch. When they work in the afternoon, they look forward to the sunset.
Their lips were not intact, either cracked or peeling. Their bodies were covered with traces of sunburn, frostbite, and whip marks, both new and old.
Qin Bing, the supervisor holding a whip, was delighted when he saw the big flag with the Chinese character "Qin" sticking up to the sky. Then he looked at the large group of white sheep in front of him. In Qin Bing's eyes, they were mutton skewers and shabu-shabu mutton!
The Great Wall is not just a blocking wall, but a powerful weapon for both offense and defense. It is a powerful weapon for agricultural civilization against nomadic civilization!
Meng Tian led 50,000 Qin troops through the Great Wall Pass, leaving three large sheep for the guards at the pass. After replenishing fresh water, dry food and other supplies, he continued his march and rushed back to Jiuyuan.
After resting in Jiuyuan for ten days, Meng Tian prepared for the Qin army in Jiuyuan to transport food and fodder to the Great Wall pass near Yinshan Mountain and build a garrison pass here.
After the order was given, he set out again with the 50,000 troops who had rested.
Ten days ago, Meng Tian did not pursue the victory due to lack of supplies and too much spoils. This time, Meng Tian made sufficient preparations, and he wanted to have a big fight!
The Xiongnu royal court is located in the royal tent which covers an area of 500 square meters.
The top of the big tent was more than ten feet above the ground, and the flames in the brazier could not reach the top even if they jumped up.
What was burning in the brazier was not wood, but dry cow dung, which made the air extremely smelly of animals. People from the Central Plains felt as if they were poisoned when they smelled it.
There were guards inside the big tent, which was divided into several tents by strong cloth. The tent at the front was also the largest one.
The king of the Xiongnu, Touman, who was respected as Chanyu, had a face full of flesh, and his upper body was naked, revealing his strong arms. The fat on his belly drooped slightly, and when he sat down, he felt like five tires.
The lower half of her body was covered with a dirty sheepskin skirt that had never been washed since she put it on. Her eyes were wide open and she looked extremely angry.
"The Qin people are indestructible! The iron armor they wear cannot be penetrated by even the sharpest arrows, and three layers of cowhide stacked together cannot match it. Their war horses also wear iron armor, the same as theirs!"
"Each of them is as good as the bravest warriors, able to draw a bow and shoot arrows on horseback without falling off!"
"Chanyu, Gaoque has been occupied by the Qin people. The cattle and sheep have been driven away, and the women and children have been killed. The Qin people have left no one behind!"
Four Xiongnu cavalrymen who had been in Gaoque City for many years and were brought to the king's tent by their tribal leaders were talking to each other.
They talked about how powerful and terrifying the Qin people were, how abominable the crimes they committed were, and how the Qin people took away their cattle and sheep, leaving them unable to survive.
After repeating the same words over and over again, Touman asked the guards to expel the four people, and turned to look at Xianlong who brought the four people over.
"Xianlong, my good brother, tell me in person, is this really the case? The Qin people's clothes cannot be penetrated by arrows. Every Qin man is like the most valiant warrior, able to shoot arrows while riding a horse."
Xianlong, the leader of the Xianlong tribe stationed in Gaoque City, is a middle-aged man with a yellow face and wounds on his face that have not yet healed.
"Chanyu, you are doubting me. You are doubting that Xianlong has deceived you! You are doubting Xianlong who has defended you against the Qin people for ten years! My tribe is gone, and you don't fight back for me, but you are doubting me!"
Blood was flowing out of the wound, and Xianlong jumped up from his seat, his yellow face instantly turning red. He yelled at the Chanyu, hysterically, releasing the madness he had suppressed all the way.
The tall, fat and strong Touman pounced on Xianlong like a mountain of flesh, grabbed his good brother's sheepskin coat and lifted him up.
With his feet off the ground and breathing with difficulty, Xianlong continued to curse, the madness in his eyes not diminishing at all. He looked as if he was overwhelmed and could not live any longer.
Bang!
Touman grabbed Xianlong's lapels and threw him to the ground. Xianlong was so dizzy that he temporarily lost his ability to speak!
Touman's hands never left Xianlong's clothes. He pressed Xianlong to the ground and moved his face close to him so that Xianlong could clearly see his expression - an expression of wanting to kill someone.
"My good brother, your tribe had 30,000 warriors, 30,000 men who could ride horses, but they were defeated by the Qin people so easily. Even though you were defeated, you only brought back 3,000 men and horses. Tell me that the 27,000 warriors were killed by the Qin people. 90% of the 30,000 people died in the battle. Tell me, when did your tribe become so brave?"
The Xiongnu people sitting around him all had doubtful and unbelieving expressions on their faces. These people were all leaders of large tribes, just like Xianlong.
More than 90% of the troops were killed or wounded. This was too outrageous. No warrior in any tribe could be so brave. In a war, if more than 30% of the troops were killed or wounded, they would have been defeated and fled. They had never seen a war with more than 90% of the troops dying.
They were sure that Xianlong was trying to preserve his strength and did not want to continue defending Gaoque, so he made up a reason to deceive Touman.
The Xiongnu was a tribal country, and the Chanyu, who was respected as the leader, had far less power than the emperor.
Some leaders of very large tribes did not even care about Touman, the Chanyu, and Touman had no way to deal with them. The Chanyu could only win over most of these leaders of large tribes and treat them as equals, but did not dare to treat them as his subjects.
Xianlong wiped the spit and blood off his face and laughed. He laughed so hard that Touman was filled with murderous intent and wanted to kill him with a scimitar!
But before long, Touman's murderous intent dissipated and his grip loosened.
Because Xianlong laughed and cried, and burst into tears.
Although the Xianlong tribe is not the most outstanding among the large tribes, it is definitely not the bottom one. Instead, it belongs to the upper-middle level and can be on good terms with Touman.
Xianlong, the leader of the Xianlong tribe, who usually cared a lot about his reputation among the leaders of other big tribes, was crying and gasping for breath in the king's tent today.
Touman began to believe what Xianlong's four cavalrymen said. The Huns were a nation that valued strength, and their tears would not bring sympathy, but only contempt.
If the Xianlong tribe had not encountered any serious problems, Xianlong would never cry in front of so many tribal leaders. This would make the tribal leaders think that the Xianlong tribe was weak and could be bullied, and they would gather together and attack the Xianlong tribe after the meeting.
The Huns were not united as one, but their tribes were just like the countries in the Central Plains, with their own wars and annexations.
Although Touman was the Chanyu and his tribe was the most powerful, he had no idea what to do when facing the alliance of more than a dozen large tribes.
Xianlong cried loudly and told the story in a halting manner about what had happened.
Fifty thousand Qin cavalrymen came along the Yinshan Mountains. On the way, Xianlong sent scouts to inquire about the situation and fought with the Qin scouts, but suffered more defeats than victories.
This was normal. After all, the Qin army had high-tech Qin crossbows, and small-scale fighting was extremely unreasonable. Many Hun scouts were shot off their horses by crossbows.
Not only that, the Huns' horsemanship, which they were proud of, did not give them an advantage in front of the Qin scouts.
The Xiongnu were better at horse riding as a whole than the Qin people, but individually, the Qin people were not much worse - there were always a few people who were born to ride horses, which means that the top horsemanship levels of both sides were similar.
As the saying goes, if you know yourself and your enemy, you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat.
Scouts who gather intelligence for the army are the most dangerous and important type of soldiers. Soldiers on both sides who can serve as scouts are the elite among the elite.
Whichever side has more powerful scouts can ensure that the army can take the initiative in probing and guerrilla warfare before the war, obtain more information, and lay the foundation for victory.
It was perfectly normal for a Qin scout to be able to shoot arrows while riding a horse. Xianlong thought of it as a scout-only skill, and never thought that all 50,000 Qin soldiers had it.
As for the armor, Xianlong was deceived by Meng Tian.
The Qin army scouts did not wear iron armor, but black clothes that Meng Tian had hurriedly made during the training of 50,000 cavalrymen.
When the Hun's arrows hit the black clothes, the Qin soldiers would bleed, be injured and fall off their horses.
Under the desperate interception of the Qin scouts, none of the Xiongnu scouts were able to get close to the Qin army. The Xiongnu scouts did not see the armor, so they naturally did not report it. Xianlong did not know that the 50,000 Qin soldiers were all wearing armor.
Looking from a distance, even if they were informed in advance, few people could tell the difference between the iron armor and the black clothes that were specially made to look almost the same as the iron armor.
Meng Tian used the deaths of dozens of scouts to conceal the information about Tiejia from Xianlong.
"The Qin army did not cross the Beihe River, but set up camp three miles away from the Beihe River, cooked meals, and rested. I was glad that the Qin army generals did not cross the river quickly, otherwise we would have had no choice but to move our entire family back if the Qin army approached us."
In direct combat, the Xiongnu had never been a match for the Qin army. In the time of the First Emperor, no country could face the fierce Qin army.
The Huns only relied on their superior horsemanship and strong harassment capabilities, and could only fight guerrilla warfare and not head-on battles.
"The Beihe River is wide, and the Qin army could not maneuver in the water when crossing it. So I led 25,000 men to rush over, stood by the water, and waited for them to tire themselves out, ready to strike a fatal blow while they were crossing the river.
"Before the battle, I sent people to ask the Qin army what they wanted, and they were all killed. I was so angry that I lost my mind, and so were my men. We grabbed our bows and arrows, ready to fight and pay with blood when the Qin army crossed the river, and we wanted all the Qin soldiers to die in the Beihe River.
"I have forgotten why the Qin army didn't cross the river earlier. Now I think they did it on purpose. They were afraid that we would run away! They wanted to kill all of my Xianlong tribe!
"When they were crossing the river, they were shot by arrows and deliberately fell into the water, pretending to fall off their horses, and continued to move forward with their horses in the water. When the first group of Qin soldiers emerged from the water, they were less than ten meters away from the shore!
"They rushed forward with swords raised, like evil spirits! All the Qin soldiers in the river drew their bows and arrows, but the force of the water seemed to be nothing, and could not disturb their bodies at all.
"My Xianlong tribesmen were shot by arrows and fell to the ground. They fought back, but the arrows could not penetrate the iron armor. When the Qin army emerged from the water, the men thought they were resurrected from the dead. They all lost their will to fight and turned around to flee.
"I was protected and fled back to the tribe. Together with the 5,000 men who stayed behind, we drove the cattle and sheep back. I did not burn down the houses and I left the women behind. I wanted to buy time to retreat. But the Qin army was like the most cunning wolf and soon bit us!
"We gave them all the cattle and sheep. Only three thousand people were left after being killed. The Xianlong tribe is gone. The Xianlong tribe is gone, gone. Hahahahahahahaha!"
Xianlong laughed loudly one time, so wildly and wantonly that he rolled on the ground with laughter, as if he had encountered the greatest joy in his life!
Meng Tian could have crossed the Beihe River earlier but didn't, not only because he had enough rest before the battle, but also because he exposed his weakness in crossing the river, so that the Xiongnu thought they could fight him and gathered their troops to wait by the river.
The camp was set up three miles away from Beihe because this distance was enough to ensure that the Huns standing on the other side could not see the armor.
If the Xiongnu wanted to cross the river to fight, the three-li distance would be enough for Meng Tian to rush to the Beihe River before the Xiongnu crossed the river. At that time , he would order all the Xiongnu to be shot to death in the water, just as these Xiongnu did.
The killing of the three Xiongnu envoys was also to prevent the information about the iron armor from being leaked. The Xiongnu who had seen the iron armor must die, and Meng Tian would not let them go back alive.
"Xianlong! Xianlong!"
Touman grabbed his arms and shouted loudly.
"It's gone, all gone. The women are gone, the cattle and sheep are gone, the Xianlong tribe is gone, it's gone, hahahahahahaha!"
Xianlong was shaking his body as agile as a monkey, swaying forward and backward, left and right, scratching his ears and cheeks, and shouting loudly with his face against Touman's.
"Chanyu, Xianlong has gone crazy."
The leader of the Helian tribe said, his face looked very unhappy, and he believed Xianlong.
He put himself in Xianlong's situation and was horrified to find that his fate would be the same as Xianlong's.
"Who is the general of the Qin army this time? He is more cunning than the most cunning fox!"
The leader of the Gailou tribe roared angrily. He was terrified and screamed to vent his fear.
"Find out what happened to the Xianlong tribe! Who is the leading general! If what Xianlong said is true..."
Touman pressed the crazy Xianlong to the ground and said in a deep voice:
"If you see the Qin army, retreat. I will not send troops."
Meng Tian sent out his troops.
Gaoque on the other side of the Beihe River was captured, and there was no trace of the Huns in Yangshan, north of Gaoque.
It rained for three consecutive days, but the blood on the ground could not be washed away.
In more than a month, Meng Tian pushed back the Huns over 700 miles at the cost of losing 3,000 cavalry.
He stepped on the stirrup, sat on the saddle, held the whip, and looked north. There was no satisfaction in his eyes, and he was still unwilling to give up.
He wanted to continue fighting, but he was unable to do so and the supply problem arose again.
The rations that the men and horses can carry are only enough for the 700 miles, so he must leave enough rations for the return trip.
A general should think about defeat before thinking about victory.
As Meng Tian, he can only go so far.
