For example, among the endless rebels emerging in the Han Dynasty, who poses the greatest threat to the imperial court, the debate will definitely be fruitless. But when it comes to which rebel army in the Han Dynasty has the strongest combat effectiveness, there is no doubt that it is Xianbei.
Since the rise of Tanshihuai, they have taken full control of the Xiongnu's homeland, established the Xianbei legal system, subdued all tribal leaders in the territory, and truly unified Xianbei for the first time. Then he launched an army to attack the Han Dynasty. Tan Shihuai personally led the battle without any defeat, especially in the decisive battle between Han and Xian in the sixth year of Xiping. The imperial court used nearly 40,000 elite cavalry to outflank Xianbei in three ways, and Xianbei also faced it head-on with three ways. The enemy was completely annihilated, and all three groups were defeated, causing panic throughout the court.
So much so that in the third year of Guanghe's reign, Tan Shihuai attacked Goguryeo eastward, and Chen Chong and Liu Bei took advantage of his unpreparedness to attack Danhan Mountain and succeeded, but only captured a thousand people. It was hailed as the greatest victory of the Han Dynasty against Xianbei.
Although Tan Shihuai died of illness, no one in Xianbei was convinced, which led to endless wars in Xianbei. But even so, Xianbei's power continues to expand outwards in chaos, and will continue until they are completely integrated into the blood of China.
Tan Shihuai divided Xianbei into three parts during his lifetime: the east of Youbeiping County is the eastern Xianbei, the west of Youbeiping County is the central Xianbei, the east of Shanggu County is the central Xianbei, and the west of Shanggu County up to Dunhuang and Wusun is the western Xianbei. But seven years have passed, and Xianbei today is completely different.
It was his son Helian who should inherit Tanshihuai's great achievements. Dan Helian was captured by Liu Bei and Chen Chong, so his nephew Kuitou had to act as regent to assist his grandson Qianman. However, after Jianman turned fourteen, he started fighting for power with Kuitou. The two were at loggerheads, and each of his subordinates took the opportunity to become independent. Kuitou also left Danhan Mountain and moved to Pingcheng, where he wooed various tribes while expanding his power.
This year's severe drought has also affected Xianbei. In June, Xianbei already had a poor summer harvest, with thin horses and light barley. But the scale of the war in Bingzhou at the beginning of the year made the leader secretly frightened. Now the power under his command is not as good as one-third of Tan Shihuai's. After repeated calculations, he finally turned to assist Zhang Chun in plundering Youyan, which was quite fruitful.
But the recent news from Xihe made him confused. After the war, Qiangqu's son Yu Fuluo won a great victory and succeeded him as the new chanyu. However, Yanmen's defense was far more lax than before, and the defenders were actually in a terrible state. Half last year.
However, considering that both Chen Chong and Liu Bei were stationed in Bingzhou and were good generals who were familiar with Xianbei's tactics, the leader still suppressed the commotion and stayed in Pingcheng for a long time.
Time came to October. First, a caravan in Xihe heard the news that Chen Chong had resigned due to involvement in the case. Then, the slaves he bought revealed that there were many internal conflicts among the Xiongnu tribes. When the spies sent actually saw the princes at the top of Meiji City, Tou, Kuitou finally made up his mind and immediately led an army of 30,000 people to go south, aiming directly at Mayi.
It is said that Mayi is a city blessed by God. When the First Emperor was there, he sent troops to build a city in Wuzhou Fortress to resist the Xiongnu. However, whenever the city was about to be completed, the city collapsed in many places. The local sergeant was deeply discouraged. At this time, a green-maned wild horse ran repeatedly in the fort, forming a circle of its own. The local elders were quite weird and planned the city according to the hoof prints of horses. After the city was built, it did not collapse anymore, so the city was named Mayi.
Mayi is located in the Datong Basin, surrounded by mountains on three sides: Hongtao Mountain to the northwest, Guanchuan Mountain to the southwest, and Hengshan Mountain to the southeast. A bathing water gurgling in the south flows to the northeast, passes through Pingcheng, and then flows straight down to Jixian County and merges into the Bohai Sea. For Kuitou, who has already controlled Pingcheng, he only needs to capture Mayi. The rest of the Yanmen cities are blocked by mountains and can be defeated one by one.
As usual, Huchuquan did not dare to say that he had defeated Kuitou, but after holding on to the city and waiting for him to plunder, Kuitou could only leave in anger. It's just that today is different from the past. In order to collect tribute, the three Yanmen tribes have emptied their treasury and have no more food left. It is not easy for Huchuquan to barely survive this winter. How can they hold on to the war with the Xiongnu?
Before Kuitou encircled Mayi, Huchuquan quickly sent two envoys, one to ask for help from Yu Fuluo and the other to ask for help from Liu Bei. At the same time, he comforted the soldiers in the city and said: "I have sent envoys to ask for help. Before the war, Shanyu and I had a relationship. Promise, reinforcements will be sent to relieve the siege."
In fact, he had no idea at all, and he was also greatly frightened by Yuvrou's recent atrocities of plundering people and making them slaves. Liu Bei, who was known as the general who protected the Huns, actually had no contact with him. Even though he surrounded him at the foot of Longshan Mountain for nearly a month, he didn't even know what he looked like. At this moment, Huchuquan looked at the cavalry under the city in confusion. , but also in vain and speechless.
The world's cavalry is Xianbei's horse. After Tanshihuai unified Xianbei, he recruited Han craftsmen who had merged with him. The Han slaves who were craftsmen were also pardoned as civilians. They concentrated in one place to work, making swords, armors, farming tools and houses. In this process, he paid special attention to horse armor. He not only created a lighter and stronger saddle, but also created armor and riding equipment to arm the horse's whole body.
After Xianbei made the costumes, they had to select the best war horse equipment. Even so, the heavy weight of the costumes made it difficult for the horses to charge for a long time. Each costumed rider had to be equipped with two slave horses, and the horses usually carried armor. It is used on the horse, and then equipped on the war horse during battle. Only a few hundred cavalry can achieve the miraculous effect of the former army's evasion.
Since Xianbei captured Wusun and Liangzhou rebelled, Bingzhou horse breeds have become inferior to the Xianbei horses introduced from the Western Regions. Now that Xianbei has equipped a brand-new type of cavalry for this purpose, the Huns have no choice. Every time they lose in field battles, they can only retreat into the city and retreat again and again.
But Huchuquan can no longer retreat. He can fully imagine what his brother will do after withdrawing from Mayi. He can only hold on here until death.
Of course, the Xianbei army under the city didn't think that much. Kuitou set up his camp on Hongtao Mountain, where he had an unobstructed view of the situation in the city, while his younger brother Bu Dugen openly divided more than ten thousand troops and went south, crossed the bathing water, and stationed himself in the southwest corner of the city to prevent the Huns from defending the city. Fleeing can also prevent reinforcements from unknown locations.
To defend the city, you must defend the country. Even the Huns understood this truth after so many years in Huchuquan. But this time the leader came too quickly, and there were only 9,000 soldiers in the city. If he failed to fight, he would immediately fall. For safety reasons, he still stayed put. He only raised beacon smoke in the city, threatening Wuzhou, Qixian, and Guangwu Shangxian expressed the crisis in Mayi.
The white beacon smoke billowed like waves. Of course, what he saw was not only the reinforcements from the three counties. The Xianbei people below the city could see it more clearly. The leader smiled at his subordinates and said: "Huchuquan shows weakness like this. It seems that this southern expedition will definitely gain something." .”
The next day, the leaders of the three tribes gathered at Leitou Mountain, with a total of more than 25,000 people. Huyan King Yuledu was elected as the commander-in-chief without hesitation. He considered the situation and analyzed: "At this time, the enemy is outnumbered and we cannot waste the battle. Only by taking advantage of the favorable geographical location, resisting continuously, and forcing Xianbei to withdraw can we overcome the difficulty. "
The so-called geographical advantage refers to the Juzhu Mountain and Xiawu Mountain on the west side of the Taiyuan Basin. Two mountains separated Guangwu from Mayi. Yuledu wanted to rely on the mountains to harass the Xianbei flanks, but did not engage in a decisive battle with them. If the enemy wanted to fight to the death, the army would retreat to the mountains. If the enemy pursued them, the horse power in the mountains would be used again. If they don't open, they can set up an ambush in the mountains and annihilate them.
But the problem is that the idea is good, but the leader is not mediocre. News of the small team's attack on the camp reached Kuitou, who was hunting deer with his soldiers in the mountains.
He found four or five deer in a mountain lake, drawing water by the lake. Seeing that the hunter was happy, he was about to call his followers to block the elk's retreat in a roundabout way from a distance. The encirclement had not yet been completed, and the messenger happened to arrive to deliver the message. The grass in the mountain forest was dense, which was not conducive to the performance of the horses. The messenger was eager to go on the road, causing the horses' hooves to make frequent rustling sounds on the leaves. The elk heard the sound and scattered away, which only made the leader sigh with regret.
But after he heard the news, his regret suddenly disappeared and he became excited. Kuitou immediately went down from the mountain to convene his subordinates to discuss the matter and pass the news through the entire army. The young commander Mo Chen Kuling asked: "Since the Huns are harassing our army in the mountains, should our army go into the mountains to search and kill them?"
The leader shook his head in denial, and said with a smile on his face: "Why are we searching and killing? The Huns are already timid! By doing this, they clearly do not dare to fight with our army. Tell Bu Dugen that there will be more sentries on the south bank of Yushui. , just to prevent the Huns from attacking the camp. As I expected, they will definitely not dare to go out to fight."
At this point, he kept silent, but the rest of the words were understood by all the generals: the leader of the Yanmen Xiongnu is the Youxian King Huchuquan. Now that Huchuquan is trapped in the isolated city, he can see Yuledu leading the main force to wander outside. Retreat without a fight?
The answer is of course no. Although Budugen was harassed by Yuledu one after another, he still sat peacefully on the mountain. The soldiers still dug the fortress during the day and built the camp wall at night. The effect of the harassment by the Huns cavalry was also getting worse day by day.
Huchuquan watched the city for four days, and on the fifth day he finally couldn't hold it any longer. The raging beacon smoke rose again in Mayi City, but this time the beacon smoke was no longer billowing white waves, but mixed with gray and yellow colors. This was a signal to summon the army for battle.
When the leader saw the smoke, he couldn't help but laughed and said: "The Huns' children are so incompetent!"
