Just when Touman Shanyu led one hundred thousand cavalry, under the cover of darkness, they attacked the Qin army's camp.
Under the Yin Mountain, the sky is like a dome, covering the surrounding areas.
General Zhao Tuo of the State of Qin was sitting on a war horse, with dense cavalry behind him.
They faced the wild prairie night wind and looked at a black spot on the grassland in the distance.
Head to Manchester City.
This is the city that the Huns built with bricks and tiles after they went south to the Yinshan Mountains and demolished Gaoque and other Zhao state fortresses.
This city represents the hegemony of the Huns on the Yinshan grasslands and is the political center of Touman Chanyu on the grasslands. It has the same lofty status as the Huns Dragon City located in Mobei.
"That old boy Touman wanted to sneak attack our camp, but he didn't expect that the general came to steal his hometown. Hahaha, if he finds out about this later, I'm afraid he will be so angry that he vomits blood."
Chen Ping rode forward, looking ahead and laughing, his eyes full of excitement.
Zhao Tuo said calmly: "I don't know whether Touman vomited blood or not, but the Xiongnu will be over after this battle."
His eyes were fixed on the small stone city in the dark night in the distance, as well as the fuzzy little black dots outside the city.
It was a large, densely packed tent of herders.
These are Touman Chanyu's tribes, numbering in the tens of thousands.
Zhao Tuo closed his eyes and felt the direction of the wind.
God is really helping me.
He opened his eyes and said coldly: "Chen Changshi, ordered Guo Qing and Guishuang Jihou to attack, kill all the Xiongnu men, drive away their livestock and beasts, and... set fire to the prairie!"
At the end of the sentence, Zhao Tuo's eyes were full of coldness.
Chen Ping took the order and went down.
But after a while, Guishang Jihou, who was commanding the Yuezhi cavalry this time, came on horseback.
The leader of the Yuezhi people begged Zhao Tuo: "General, the grassland under the Yin Mountain is fertile and lush. It is an excellent land for livestock grazing, even compared with Helan. After the Xiongnu are eliminated, , Da Qin can breed horses here, there is no need to burn this place down."
The following translator immediately translated.
Zhao Tuo looked at Guishuang Xihou coldly.
Nomadic people live on the grassland, and the grassland is their home and the land they rely on for survival.
Therefore, the grassland people never use fire attacks when fighting, because grassland fires will not only burn the grassland, but also destroy the grassland ecological environment, reduce the livestock carrying capacity, and promote the degradation of the grassland.
Grassland fires are a real disaster for nomads.
Especially in autumn and winter, the vegetation is dry and lacks water. Once a fire is set off, it will really start a prairie fire and be out of control. Even in the era of advanced science and technology in later generations, it is very difficult to put out a grassland fire. There is nothing you can do, let alone in this classical era.
Therefore, Touman Chanyu attacked the Qin camp at night and never thought of setting fire to the camp because he was afraid of the uncontrollable spread of the fire.
But for Zhao Tuo, this is not a problem at all.
The Qin army was originally a people from the south. They ate grains and farmed mulberry trees, and had no need for grassland.
They came here under the orders of the emperor to conquer the territory of the former Zhao State. What they wanted was this land to complete the map on the Emperor's case.
After the fight, they will go home. As for what this land will become like and what it will be used for in the future, it doesn't really matter.
The Qin State wanted to breed horses and even immigrate to farm. The Helan land south of the river was enough to meet their needs. This Yinshan grassland was just an addition.
On the contrary, after burning it with fire, it can not only kill a large number of Xiongnu herdsmen, but also destroy the Xiongnu's lair, and also bring many benefits.
For example, he could easily scare the Yuezhi people who surrendered to Qin.
Zhao Tuo stared at the Marquis of Guishuang in front of him, his eyes full of indifference.
The Marquis of Guishuang trembled with his lips, feeling that the general looked at him as if he were looking at a dead man.
"Jihou, do you know that the grass on the original plain is something that wildfire cannot burn out and is regenerated by the spring breeze. Burn it out with a fire today, and when the spring rain falls next year, this place will become a green grassland again. This A little bit, do you understand?"
After the translator translated, the Marquis of Guishuang Ji bowed his head tremblingly and said: "I understand, what the general said is true!"
"Well, go ahead and don't waste time."
Zhao Tuo spoke calmly.
The Marquis of Guishuang was relieved and retreated with sweat on his head.
Chen Ping praised: "The general has done this. In the future, the Yuezhi people will not dare to rebel against our country, the Qin Dynasty. Once a war breaks out, if we start the fire, they will suffer heavy losses regardless of whether they win or lose. They must think carefully before doing anything." ”
Zhao Tuo's face was calm.
Burning grasslands has historically been a defensive method used by the Han people against the nomadic people in the north. Especially in the Ming Dynasty, it became a custom-made method to deal with the Mongols and was practiced almost every year.
The Ming Dynasty said, "Every time at the beginning of winter, the generals are ordered to lead their troops out to burn the grass, which is called 'burning the wilderness'. They take advantage of the wind and set fire to burn the weeds to kill the barbarians. In addition, they poison the water and grass in key places so that the captives will not dare to invade." A man will die if he drinks water, and a horse will die if he eats grass.”
Burning wasteland and poisoning were the Ming Dynasty's two-piece strategy for dealing with grasslands.
Zhao Tuo was not ruthless enough to poison him. It was too vicious, and the Ming army also had overturning cases from time to time, so it was better to just set fire to it, at least it would not cause any backlash to the Qin State.
To the south of Yinshan Mountain is Beihe, to the south of Beihe is Dahe, and further to the south is Kubuqi Desert. These three huge blocking zones make it impossible for the fire to reach Helan Mountain and the Qin mainland no matter how fierce it is.
Hundreds of miles away to the east is Yunzhong County of the Qin State. It is blocked by a large lake and the Yinshan Mountains. There is even the Great Wall of the old Zhao State across the border, so it is very safe.
The infantry of the Qin army camped near Beihe. If the fire went south, they could immediately cross the river through the boat division, so they were safe.
In this case, Zhao Tuo would choose to set fire to kill the barbarians.
Moreover, his arson was not entirely based on strategic considerations, but on tactics.
When a fire broke out in this area, Touman Shanyu must have lost his mind and hurriedly led his troops to return for reinforcements, running for dozens of miles.
This is the opportunity for the Qin army to defeat the enemy!
"The general said just now that wild fire will never burn out, but the spring breeze will blow again and again. If you think about it carefully, it is really interesting."
On the side, Chen Ping was still chewing on that weird five-character slang, lamenting that every word the general said was so profound and he learned a lot.
Zhao Tuo nodded and watched as the Qin cavalry and Yueshi cavalry charged towards the unsuspecting Touman City in the distance.
"The nomadic people on the grassland are like weeds that can't be burned out and grow again. If a tribe is wiped out, a new tribe will rise. If we want to completely eliminate the savagery in the north, we still have to rely on the Central Plains itself. Just be strong."
In the city of Touman, there were little lights of fire.
Zhao Tuo squinted his eyes and whispered: "But this fire is enough to win the peace of the north for Da Qin for decades. It is worth it."
…
The night is about to recede.
On the battlefield in the south, the sound of fighting is gradually fading.
The Qin army sprinkled a lot of caltrops outside the military camp, and dug horse pits and trenches as a means of defense.
The night attack launched by the Huns was even more miserable than the previous attack on the Qin Army's Queyue Formation.
A large number of horses broke their legs due to being trapped in the horse pit and fell, and they jumped around due to the iron caltrops. This disrupted the entire Huns' offensive rhythm and lost the suddenness of the sneak attack. The Qin army, which had been prepared for a long time, quickly made arrangements. Every defensive position was guarded watertight.
Touman Chanyu, who was in the rear, was unable to know the battle situation ahead due to the weather. He only knew that the Qin people had set up many traps to deal with the cavalry outside the camp. As for the status of the Qin army, he could not know.
So he decided to let the Huns dismount and charge into the camp, so that the horse traps and trenches dug by the Qin people would be of little use.
As long as the Xiongnu warriors are fast enough and rush into the Qin camp before the Qin army can react, they can still win a complete victory.
As the order was issued, all the Xiongnu warriors dismounted and wanted to rush into the Qin camp. However, they faced the Qin army's beryllium jungle.
Before the short spears and daggers in their hands could work, they were stabbed to death by Qin soldiers hiding behind Wugang's chariot.
Because of the darkness, the Huns in front were stabbed to death. The Huns behind did not know it yet, but they still fearlessly charged towards the Qin camp. As a result, every one who got up was killed. The scene was like fighting to send someone off. It was as big as a human head, but it shocked the Qin army in the camp.
"These Huns are so brave and brave, not afraid of death or injury!"
Wang Ling sighed in admiration, then stabbed out a spear, knocking down a Huns who rushed towards him screaming.
Xi Juan and Wang Sui also stabbed out with long weapons, and said with a smile: "Good barbarians, they are all here to kill people. Now after the battle, when you go back, you will be able to do nothing!"
However, this situation did not last long before Wuluxu, Xubutang and other Huns kings discovered it.
Each of them was so angry that their chests almost exploded. They shouted and began to withdraw their troops. At the same time, they ran towards Touman Shanyu to tell him face to face what the situation was.
"Da Shanyu, looking at the posture of the Qin people, I am afraid they have seen through your plan of pretending to surrender. They have laid so many traps, just waiting for us to jump in. This battle cannot be fought again!"
Wuluxu gritted his teeth.
Subdang also shouted: "Yes, this is a deadly night attack. If we continue the attack, all my people will die. This is completely a trap. I want to withdraw!"
Touman Chanyu's face was ashen, and the words of the two Guli kings were full of dissatisfaction. Not only the two of them, but probably all the nobles of the Huns, big and small, were full of resentment towards his plan.
"This is obviously a good strategy to defeat the Qin people. Why did it happen like this?"
"It must be Zhao Tuo. Damn Zhao Tuo has seen through my plan. Why is he so cunning?"
"I think he is a wolf, a cunning and cunning Qin Wolf!"
Touman Shanyu gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly.
However, before he could make a new decision, several Huns shouted.
"fire!"
"Fire!"
Touman Shanyu said angrily: "What fire? My heart is full of fire!"
However, when he turned back, his whole face was shocked.
Touman Shanyu murmured: "Fire..."
After checking the information, I found that starting from Zhu Di in the Ming Dynasty, people would be sent out every year to burn the grasslands and poison them. It was quite interesting.
Xu Youzhen: Emperor Taizong established his capital in Beijing to suppress the Northern rebels. The generals were sent out of the fortress in winter and the outposts were set on fire.
"Xuanfu Town Chronicle Volume 19": Send officers and soldiers to the places where the captives are infested, three to five hundred miles away, set fire to the wind and burn the weeds to exterminate the barbarian horses.
"Rizhilu": The soldiers guarding the border would go out to set fire to the fortress every autumn when the grass withered, which was called "burning wasteland".
(End of chapter)
