After crossing the main road of the river, Zhao Tuo did not pursue the strategy of fighting with high numbers of troops and speed like what happened during Helan's battle.
Instead, he moved his cavalry and infantry armies in parallel and slowly advanced toward Beihe, clearing out the Xiongnu and Rong tribes in the Hetao along the way.
In the eyes of many people, General Zhao's slow actions gave the Huns time to react, which was a delay in the war.
Sima Liang and Wang Li even advised Zhao Tuo that they should send cavalry to go north quickly, cooperate with the boatmen who detoured to Beihe, quickly cross the river and seize the river bank to prepare for the subsequent large army to cross the river.
Otherwise, once the Huns react and defend along the river, it will be more difficult for the Qin army to cross the river, and they will have to pay a lot of casualties.
Zhao Tuo responded to these suggestions with a smile and only said that he would know when the time comes.
Sima Liang, Wang Li and others were confused, but due to the general's unbeatable record, they suppressed their doubts and concentrated on commanding the army on their way.
"Why didn't the general inform the generals of the plan?"
Chen Ping asked doubtfully.
Only a few of their close advisers knew about the general's plan, and no one under his command knew it clearly, so Wang Li and others came here with doubts to give advice.
Zhao Tuo glanced at Chen Ping and said, "It's useless to tell them, because whether our plan can be successful or not does not depend on here, but on Shanyu Wangting, the right general, and Yu Touman. This matter has no I am absolutely sure that if things change by then, informing them in advance will affect the thinking of the generals, so it is better to adapt to the situation."
"General, you really have good intentions."
Chen Ping nodded in praise, his eyes thoughtful.
Zhao Tuo looked calm.
In addition to the reasons for telling Chen Ping, the more important thing is that as the commander of an army, he does not need to express all his thoughts. Sometimes the more he speaks, the worse it is.
His plan is not guaranteed to succeed this time. If he informs his subordinates in advance and raises their expectations, if the result is unsatisfactory, his prestige will be greatly lost, and his subordinates will think that the general is nothing more than that, and even becomes a joke.
But if you pretend to be mysterious beforehand, even if the final result changes, there will be no side effects. On the contrary, the plan was successful, and the mysterious gesture he made in advance surprised his subordinates. They felt that the general had a strategy in mind and planned in advance, which was admirable.
This is something Zhao Tuo gradually realized after becoming a superior, and it is an advanced skill for leaders.
Zhao Tuo asked again: "How is the matter with our right general?"
A strange smile appeared on Chen Ping's face, and he lowered his head and said: "The right general of the Xiongnu is extremely cunning. During our night attack, he asked his cronies to wear his clothes and go north, while he himself fled west."
"What we captured is the fake right general of the Xiongnu. He has been identified by many Xiongnu prisoners. Now he has been killed in public, and the news has spread throughout the army. The few Huns who were selected to deliver the message should know it."
Zhao Tuo nodded and said: "That's very good. Cut off the ears of those Huns and let them bring my letter to Touman."
With that said, Zhao Tuo turned his head and looked north.
All the chess pieces have been laid out. Whether it can succeed or not depends on Touman's choice.
…
In Touman City, south of Yinshan Mountain.
Touman Shanyu looked at the right general Yi Hanxie who was dressed in ordinary herdsmen's attire and looked embarrassed. He was so angry that he hit him with the whip in his hand.
"Yi Hanxie, you idiot, this Shanyu asked you to patrol day and night to guard against the Qin army's sneak attack, but you thought it was nonsense, right? If you hadn't been drinking and having fun, ignoring what I said, you wouldn't even have sent anyone to patrol. Go out, how could the Qin people cross the river so easily?"
"Even if you have few men and can't stop the Qin people, and there are patrols to warn you, you will never be successfully attacked by the Qin people. Thousands of people will be lost. You idiot, it's all your fault!"
Touman Shanyu was furious and became angrier as he spoke. He hit him with a whip and cracked it.
Yi Hanxie hurriedly avoided Touman Chanyu's whipping, and screamed: "I sent my horse Li Tie to patrol the river, but this bastard was drunk and refused to go, so the Qin army succeeded in the sneak attack. Great Chanyu, this is not my fault!”
"You still dare to lie to me. It's your fault that we lost the river defense line and the tribe!"
Touman Shanyu didn't listen at all, and hit the right general on the chest with a whip, causing him to jump up and down in pain and scream.
Seeing that Yi Hanxie was beaten badly, he kept defending.
Wu Luxu, the Zuoguli king who was friends with him, couldn't help but said: "Da Shanyu, I think Yi Hanxie has always been cautious in doing things. He doesn't look like this kind of person. That Ma Lidan is also in the royal court, why not let him He came to confront us!"
"Confrontal, this horse-ploughman from Yema has ruined a big thing, and he dares to frame me, Da Shanyu, I want to confront him!" Yi Hanxie screamed.
Touman Shanyu put down his whip with a sullen face.
He just whipped the right general violently just to vent the anger in his heart. With his intelligence, he could still see that there was something fishy in it, so he sent someone to call Ma Lidiao.
When the two confronted each other, Ma Litian immediately revealed his secret.
The reason why he put all the blame on General You was because after he escaped, he heard that General You and other Huns nobles had been captured by the Qin army, so he returned to the court of Shan Yu with peace of mind. Who knew that Yi Hanxie He actually came back alive.
Feeling Touman Shanyu's fierce gaze, Yi Hanxie looked like he was going to eat him.
In order to save his life, Ma Litian could only bite the bullet and said: "Da Shanyu, I heard that the right general has been captured by the Qin army and became a prisoner of the Qin people. How could he escape unscathed in this situation?" The injured one returned to the royal court. I think he might have secretly surrendered to the Qin people and was sent back by Zhao Tuo to be a traitor!"
Yi Hanxie's eyelids twitched. He saw Touman Chanyu looking over coldly, as well as the suspicious looks of many Xiongnu nobles.
Yi Hanxie took a deep breath, and then yelled at Ma Lidan: "You bitch, I clearly sent you to patrol the river, but you were drunk and didn't go. This led to the Qin people crossing the river without anyone warning, so that My army was attacked by the Qin people, and it’s all your fault!”
"Now you dare to frame me in front of the Great Chanyu! Let me tell you, why I came back alive is because I changed clothes with my cronies and asked them to go north. I fled to the west, and the Qin army was killed by me. I was attracted by cronies and subordinates, so I escaped."
"You can run away with your horse, your plough, your horse, why can't I run away! You bitch, you dare to frame me falsely, I'm going to cut out your tongue!"
Yi Hanxie was furious and rushed towards Ma Lida.
The two were about to fight, Touman Chanyu snorted, and the guards of the royal court rushed forward and pushed both of them to the ground.
"Da Chanyu, this bitch falsely accused me, I'm going to kill him!"
Yi Hanxie shouted angrily.
Touman Shanyu stared at him coldly.
Zhao Tuo's treachery, the Qin army's scheming, and being deceived by the Qin people twice in a row made him wary. You must be careful about what Ma Lidi said.
"Yi Hanxie, where are your personal guards? Didn't any of them follow you out?"
Touman Shanyu asked coldly and found out various doubts.
Yi Hanxie's face turned red and he said, "Da Shanyu, do you really believe what this bitch says and doubt me?"
"At that time, the Qin army was chasing us everywhere. In order to escape, I changed into ordinary clothes and escaped. In addition, it was dark night and there was chaos everywhere. Naturally, I was separated from my guards. I thought about reporting to the Great Chanyu as soon as possible. Then I gave up the time to gather the remaining soldiers and ran towards the royal court with all my strength, Shanyu, you can't doubt me!"
Listening to Yi Hanxie's argument, Touman Shanyu looked at him coldly, and finally waved his hand and said: "Take him down first and lock him up."
"Great Chanyu, I have done great service for you! I have shed blood for you!"
Yi Hanxie screamed and was held down by the guards of the royal court.
The horse plowman next to him didn't run away either, and was taken down together.
Calm returned to the room, and all the nobles looked at each other.
Wu Luxu said carefully: "Da Chanyu, the right general is our Xiongnu warrior. He has always been brave and strong and will never surrender to the Qin people easily. Moreover, from the time when the Qin army crossed the river for a sneak attack to the right general's return, there was a gap between It didn't take long, even if the Qin people really caught him, they couldn't have surrendered him in such a short time and released him, I think he should be innocent."
Touman Shanyu glared at Wu Luxu coldly and said, "Zhao Tuo is too cunning and cunning, so we have to guard against him."
Hearing this, all the Xiongnu nobles thought of the Qin army's treachery and couldn't help but nod in agreement.
However, most of the nobles' suspicions about General You were dispelled by the next day.
Because Zhao Tuo once again sent an envoy to Touman Shanyu.
Perhaps because they were afraid that the Huns would kill the envoys, the envoys sent by the Qin army this time were several captured Huns.
Their right ears were cut off by the Qin people, and they were marked as slaves on their foreheads. They were asked to bring a letter from Qin's general Zhao Tuo to Touman Chanyu.
These Huns did not dare to escape and refuse the mission midway, because the Qin people threatened that if the Qin army defeated the Xiongnu and found that these people did not bring the letter, they would offer rewards and find them and give them the cruelest punishment.
They were marked by the Qin army and were very easy to recognize. They were so frightened by this warning that they naturally did not dare to disobey them and brought Zhao Tuo's letter to the royal court.
"What's written on it?"
Touman Shanyu held the silk letter and looked at his nobles with a confused expression.
The nobles looked at the strange Qin characters on the letter and shook their heads in confusion.
The Huns only had language but no writing, so Zhao Tuo's credit was Qin Wen, which they couldn't understand at all.
It was a naked humiliation to send a letter to Touman Chanyu that the Huns could not understand.
What made the Huns even more humiliated was that in addition to the letter written by Qin Wen, Zhao Tuo also thoughtfully sent a silk painting with the letter.
It seems that considering that they cannot understand the text, pictures are specially provided to explain.
In the middle of the painting is a mountain with grasslands and a river at its foot. Then there is a scene of a group of herdsmen wearing felt hats walking north in fear, and a group of armored Qin people crossing the river. There are also many herdsmen corpses lying on the ground. .
The Qin people in the painting are majestic and majestic, while the herdsmen are short, wretched, bow-legged, and full of naked ridicule and intimidation.
"Zhao Tuo, this little brat, are you demonstrating against me?"
"Damn it, I must kill him!"
Touman Chanyu threw the letter and the silk painting on the ground. Looking at the Huns with their ears cut off, he felt that his lungs were exploding with anger.
However, he was a hero after all. Seeing these Huns sent back by the Qin people, he suppressed his inner anger and asked them about the situation of the Qin army. By the way, he happened to ask about the right general.
"The general You captured by the Qin people was a fake. I heard he was disguised as one of General You's personal guards. The real General You changed his clothes and ran away at night."
"After the Qin people captured General You, they asked many people to identify him, but they all said it was not the case. In the end, the Qin people got angry and chopped off the head of the warrior pretending to be General You, and also passed the notice to all the prisoners in an attempt to intimidate us."
These Huns explained honestly.
Touman Shanyu was worried and ordered people to separate them and question them. In the end, the answers were the same, which showed that everything was true.
This is in line with the rhetoric of Yi Hanxie, the right general.
"This guy's ability to escape is quite good."
Touman Chanyu cursed.
After all, what Wu Luxu said made sense. The time it took for the Qin army to cross the river and defeat the Xiongnu before Yihanxie returned to the royal court was too short.
Such a short period of time made it difficult for them to believe that the brave and vigorous You Da among the Xiongnu would surrender to the Qin people and even act as a spy for the Qin people. This was almost impossible.
The reason Touman Shanyu took precautions was just in case. Now that these Huns are there to support General You's remarks, all Touman Shanyu's doubts are naturally dispelled.
"Bring Yi Hanxie here, I want to ask him about the situation of the Qin people."
After a while, Yi Hanxie was released.
When he walked to the door of the room, he saw Touman Chanyu sitting on the bed in the middle, and the Xiongnu and Yuezhi nobles on both sides, all staring at him.
Yi Hanxie felt his heart beating violently.
The scene of being tortured by Qin people using water torture came to his mind again.
The pain was excruciating, it was a torture no one could imagine, and he didn't want to endure it a second time in his life.
At the same time, what the man named Li Shiqi said to him in a seductive voice still sounded in his ears.
"If things are successful, the Xiongnu will become the dogs raised by our great Qin outside the Great Wall, and you, Yi Hanxie, will also become the dog king, a new Xiongnu Chanyu."
Torture and punishment, temptation of benefits.
Yi Hanxie took a deep breath and strode in.
