"General!"
"I have always kept the General's teachings in mind, lurking next to Touman, and acting as an intermediary for Da Qin. I tried hard to persuade Touman to attack halfway across the border and complete the task assigned to me by the General."
"When Touman saw that the situation was bad and he led his men to escape, I followed Touman and looked for an opportunity to chop off his head, just to present it to the general."
Yi Hanxie knelt on the ground and talked about his contribution to Da Qin.
He glanced at the smiling Sujatha next to him, shuddered involuntarily, and added: "After I killed Touman, luckily the noble lady Sujatha arrived in time to help me deal with those kings. Only by guarding the court can we successfully bring Touman’s head back and present it to the general.”
Zhao Tuo glanced at the faces of Yi Hanxie and Su Jiasha.
These are the two secrets he buried beside Touman Shanyu.
Sun Tzu Wu said: There are five kinds of time: there is the time of cause, there is the time of internalization, there is the time of reaction, there is the time of death, and there is the time of life. The five rooms all rise together, but no one knows the way. This is called the divine discipline and the treasure of the human king.
Zhao Tuo controlled the enemy's high-level officials to serve as his own spies. This was an internal strategy among the five. Now that he used it, he has repeatedly accomplished extraordinary feats. Not only did he defeat the Xiongnu, but he even cut off Touman's head.
The State of Qin bestowed nobility with military merit, and those who had merit must be rewarded. Zhao Tuo would naturally not engulf these two people for their great achievements.
He glanced at Yi Hanxie, whose face was both worried and full of desire.
Zhao Tuo said calmly: "I said before that as long as you help me destroy Touman, you will be the new Xiongnu Chanyu. I am the general of Qin, so I will not break my promise to deceive you. I will give you some of the prisoners in the army. , let you gather the Huns on this grassland again."
"In the future, you will be the Chanyu of the Xiongnu in my Great Qin state, and guard the northern border of my Great Qin. How about that?"
After Li Shiqi translated it.
Yi Hanxie's face was full of ecstasy.
If it weren't for the two majestic personal guards guarding the general, he would have loved to pounce on him and kiss the general's toes.
He learned the etiquette of the Qin people, kowtowed on the ground and said: "I am willing, Yi Hanxie. In the future, I, Yi Hanxie, will definitely guard the Northern Territory for the Qin Dynasty and become the General's most loyal guard dog!"
After hearing what the translator said, Zhao Tuo frowned and corrected: "It's not me, it's the emperor!"
"Yes, yes, we Xiongnu will be the guard dogs of the Emperor of Qin and the general in the future, and we will never betray!"
Yi Hanxie showed a flattering smile, already extremely happy in her heart.
In addition to the psychological shadow left by Zhao Tuo on him, becoming the new Xiongnu Chanyu was not a reason that drove him to betray Touman.
Now that my wish has been fulfilled, even if it means being a dog for the Qin people, it is better than being like Touman and the two Guli kings, who have their heads in different places.
Seeing Yi Hanxie's surrender gesture, Zhao Tuo nodded with satisfaction.
Qin Shihuang has always disliked the enfeoffment system of the Zhou Dynasty, believing that it was the source of chaos in the world, and would also weaken the power of the monarch, making the central government less like the central government and the local governments less like local governments.
In addition, the emperor did not like the "barbarian uniforms, Rong Zhai Huang uniforms" among the five costumes of the Zhou Dynasty.
He thought that it didn't matter that the barbarians, Rongdi and Di were far away from the central government and lived in remote mountains and remote areas. Why couldn't they be governed by the Qin people and could only be treated as a tributary state?
What does paying tribute mean?
There is no such thing as direct rule.
Therefore, Da Qin did not need a tributary state, it only needed to defeat the other party and make it a tributary state.
The so-called vassal state refers to the "subordinate state" that was changed to avoid Liu Bang's taboo in the Han Dynasty.
It was an administrative division established by the central court to settle the surrendered barbarians. It kept its national name and customs unchanged, but it had to accept the rule of Qin officials, set up subordinate captains, and obeyed the central government's dispatch.
Zhao Tuo conquered Chu in the south and defeated Yu Yue. After the war, he was made a vassal state of Qin. Its monarch, King Wuyou of Yue, was demoted to the title of Lord of Yue and returned to the leadership of the Qin people.
Now that Zhao Tuo has defeated the Huns in the north, he is also preparing to deal with it according to this model.
With Yi Hanxie as the new Xiongnu Chanyu, he gathered the defeated Huns and formed a new Xiongnu under the management of Qin officials.
Let them graze on the grasslands under the Yin Mountains, provide cattle, sheep and horses for the Qin Dynasty, and at the same time take on the important task of guarding the northern border and protecting the remnants of the Huns in the north. This is the so-called use of Hu to control Hu.
Moreover, during the war, the Qin army could also draw cavalry from them to use as the rebel army.
However, barbarians should not be trusted easily, so Zhao Tuo naturally had to prepare some preventive measures. He planned to move some of the Yuezhi people to the foot of Yin Mountain and share the central grassland with Yihanxie's new Xiongnu.
The Xiongnu and the Yuezhi have always been at odds with each other, and the Yuezhi severely damaged the Huns in this war. It is basically impossible for the two parties to collude together, and they are just used to check and balance each other.
If one of the parties is dissatisfied with Da Qin, the other party will definitely not sit idly by and ignore it. Together with the Qin officials sent here to govern and the guarding border troops, a three-party surveillance situation is achieved.
"In this way, the northern border of Great Qin can be determined."
Zhao Tuo felt that his plan was good, and the emperor would probably agree with it.
After appeasing Yi Hanxie, Zhao Tuo asked him to go down and count the prisoners in the army, and recruit the captured Huns nobles to surrender.
Of course, he could only take away some of them. After all, when the Qin army was reorganizing, they had to take some of the prisoners back to Xianyang for a prisoner ceremony. The fate of those people might not be good.
After Yi Hanxie thanked her profusely, Zhao Tuo's eyes fell on Sujiasha.
"Do you know that Yi Hanxie is mine?"
Sugasha bowed and said: "When he mentioned the attack halfway across the river, I had some guesses. When the general sent a messenger to send a letter to Touman to prove Yihanxie's innocence, it was confirmed. Of course, The most important thing is that Touman’s head was bruised and bloody when he was crossing the river, which shows that this person was sent by the general.”
Zhao Tuo nodded.
He stared at the woman in front of him with a tall nose and big eyes, and asked: "Why didn't you take the opportunity to kill him? Yihanxie killed Touman. This is a great achievement. When you met him, you were completely You can kill him together and take all the credit. There will be people around you at the time, so no one can notice you doing this."
Sujatha said softly: "The general needs a new Xiongnu Chanyu. As for my contribution, I have enough."
Zhao Tuo fell silent, took a serious look at the woman in front of him, and sighed secretly in his heart.
Fortunately, Sujatha is a woman. If she were a man, Zhao Tuo probably wouldn't let her go.
Zhao Tuo praised: "Well done. This time you offered a clever strategy to defeat the Huns. You also personally led people to join us among the Huns. You brought the Huns' night attack plan. You killed King Zuogu Li of the Huns at the critical moment and defeated the Huns army. , and finally brought back Touman's head. Your merits should be crowned in this battle, and I will present them to the emperor on your behalf. You will receive the rewards you deserve."
Sugatha smiled slightly, bowed again and said, "My contribution is not worth mentioning. I only wish to accompany the general on the battlefield and open up territory for the Qin Dynasty."
There was light in her eyes, and she spoke in a high-pitched voice: "I have a plan to defeat the Yuezhi for the Qin Dynasty. I can help the general to defeat the Yuezhi and seize the land west of Hexi!"
Zhao Tuo was startled, and when he realized what he was doing, he didn't show the interest that Sujatha had imagined, but instead showed some lack of interest.
He shook his head and said: "Winter is coming. When the rivers freeze, our army's rear food routes will be cut off. I will not go on any more expeditions. I will lead the army back to the court so that the soldiers can have time to rest."
"As for the capture of Hexi, we should not consider it until next spring. The situation will be different by then, so we will discuss your strategy then. And..."
Speaking of this, Zhao Tuo said in a deep voice: "If we capture Hexi, I'm afraid we will have to send someone else in the future."
The light in Sugatha's eyes suddenly dimmed.
She lowered her head and said softly: "Yes, I understand."
Zhao Tuo nodded.
He didn't know whether Sugatha's eagerness to present the strategy for conquering Hexi just now was to continue to make meritorious deeds, or for some other purpose.
But Zhao Tuo's Northern Expedition was over.
In addition to the imminent cold winter, there are objective reasons that make the food supply unsustainable. The defeat of the Xiongnu and the death of Touman had achieved Zhao Tuo's purpose of the Northern Expedition.
Zhao Tuo, who came from later generations, knew very well that if the Xiongnu tribe was left alone, what ferocious beasts they would grow into in the future.
Therefore, he was always on tenterhooks, and the reason why he tried his best to promote the Northern Expedition in the court was to eliminate the Xiongnu first and nip this major problem in China in the cradle.
Now that Touman is dead, the Xiongnu have also been crippled and adopted as the watchdog of Qin. Zhao Tuo was naturally relieved, and he was no longer interested in continuing to fight on the battlefield and expand his territory.
Moreover, based on Zhao Tuo's military exploits in regaining Henan, defeating the Yueshi, and wiping out the Xiongnu, it was basically safe for him to be named Lunhou (Guanneihou) after returning to Xianyang.
Marquis Lun is a 19th-level title, and the next level up is the highest-ranking Marquis (Marquis Che).
Upgrading from level 19 to level 20 requires a lot of experience.
Even if Zhao Tuo destroyed the Yuezhi Royal Court and occupied Hexi, he probably wouldn't have enough merit to be promoted to a prince. Therefore, there was no need to continue to live alone, and it was better to share it with other generals.
However, these are not the real reasons why Zhao Tuo wants to return to Xianyang.
The reason why he wanted to end this war urgently was because of one person.
Under Sugatha's slightly disappointed gaze.
Zhao Tuo raised his head and looked outside the tent. A tall figure appeared in his mind.
"Emperor, Emperor, you took advantage of my absence to start building the palace again!"
