Helan grassland.
General Zhao Tuo of the State of Qin stood on a small soil parcel and looked at the endless wilderness in the distance. He looked at the bowed cattle and sheep all over the ground and the Yueshi herdsmen grazing. He felt open-minded and grateful. Suddenly, I wanted to read a poem.
But Zhao Tuo still held back. The experience from later generations told him that reading poems when there is nothing to do is not a good habit.
He thought again of the emperor's edict he had just received, and whispered softly: "I can finally go back."
This sentence expressed the thoughts of countless Qin soldiers in the army.
It is now November of the twenty-eighth year of Qin Shi Huang, and almost a year has passed since they were recruited and left their hometown.
After nearly a month of messenger exchanges, their Northern Expedition army finally received a commendation from the emperor and an edict agreeing to lead the army.
With the emperor's edict, the Qin army could embark on their return home.
However, during this month, Zhao Tuo did not sit idle here, but used various actions to arrange things on the grassland.
First of all, the fire he set to lure Touman Chanyu to return for reinforcements burned for many days. During that time, the entire grassland was shrouded in black smoke. The blazing temperature and the flying ashes in the air made countless people see it. The color changes.
Fortunately, the terrain of the Yinshan grassland is special. The Beihe River in the south prevents the spread of the fire, and the large and small lakes in the east further limit the path for the flames to spread.
When the fire finally extinguished, it only burned about half of the Yinshan grassland, leaving a piece of wilderness for the nomadic people living here to survive.
The remaining Huns on the grassland were frightened out of their courage.
The Qin army burned down Mancheng, the head of the Xiongnu, and most of Shanyu's tens of thousands of tribesmen and hundreds of thousands of livestock grazing nearby were burned to death. Several Xiongnu tribes nearby were also burned to death. He was able to survive, but there were many casualties.
For the surviving Huns, the fire was scary enough, but the news that spread on the grassland afterwards was even more terrifying than the flames.
The Xiongnu who was appointed by heaven to support the plow Gutu Shanyu was actually captured and killed by the Qin army, and his head was revealed to the public.
Along with the Shan Yu's heads, there were also the heads of the Xiongnu princes such as Wu Luxu, king of Zuo Guli, Xubudang, king of right Guli, etc., almost killing all the high-ranking Xiongnu officials.
This was true at the upper level, and the Huns at the lower level also suffered heavy losses under the joint siege of the Qin army and the Yuezhi people. The number of people killed and captured reached more than 30,000.
Such a war result frightened and frightened the grassland people. Some of the Huns, led by Zuogudu Hou Huyanzhu who had a lucky escape, escaped to the desert north and fled this sad land.
The remaining Huns were recruited by the newly appointed Shanyu Yi Hanxie of the Qin people.
The cold winter is coming, and fleeing to the desolate Mobei is not a good choice at this time. The chances of survival for ordinary herders are too low.
It would be better to surrender to the Qin people. According to Yi Hanxie's propaganda, as long as they surrender to the Qin people, they can continue to graze on this grassland.
In the end, the number of Huns gathered by Yihanxie reached about 150,000, and there were hundreds of thousands of livestock.
It sounds like a lot, but in fact most of them are old and weak women and children who were originally left behind. In addition to some Huns sent back by the Qin army, the number of combatable soldiers is only about 30,000 to 40,000, which is about the same strength as the two Yuezhi who surrendered to the Qin army. .
"There are still some Xiongnu tribes near Longcheng in Mobei. Hu Yanzhao led his people to flee there. The name Xiongnu will probably continue to be used. This way, there will be one Xiongnu in the north and south of Yinshan Mountain, forming a situation of two Xiongnu in the north and south."
Zhao Tuo smiled lightly when he thought of this.
He didn't pay much attention to the escaped Northern Huns.
Now that Touman is dead, Maodun is young and still in Donghu as a hostage. Without the leadership of the hero, the three melons and two dates that were crippled in Mobei can't make any big waves.
Moreover, Yi Hanxie led the southern Huns to surrender to Qin. After being influenced by the culture of Zhuxia, these Huns would move farther and farther away from their compatriots in the north, and eventually become real vassals of the Qin people.
Zhao Tuo has even begun to figure out how to convert the Southern Xiongnu to Qin in order to achieve true control over them.
Marriage?
Naturally it is impossible.
However, the Xiongnu Chanyu and the sons of many nobles can be allowed to go to Xianyang to "study abroad" to learn Zhuxia culture, and use special "teaching materials" to brainwash them and promote their loyalty to the Qin Dynasty.
At the same time, the closed market was opened to the surrendered Southern Xiongnu, and commodities representing Zhuxia culture were used to penetrate into the lives of ordinary herdsmen.
In this way, both the upper and lower classes of the Southern Xiongnu were trapped and eroded by the influence of Zhu Xia culture. The economic and cultural gap between the northern and southern Xiongnu would become wider and wider.
It may even happen that the Southern Huns regard the Northern Huns as savages, and there will be no possibility of the two sides joining forces.
Of course, these are only Zhao Tuo's preliminary ideas.
The inspiration came from the historical practice of the Han Dynasty. After returning to the court, he would submit a letter to the emperor. At that time, many ministers in the court would discuss and complete the plan, which would naturally be better.
In addition to the Xiongnu, there were also two tribes of the Yuezhi who surrendered. Zhao Tuo also had a similar idea, using the power of culture to truly integrate these grassland peoples into the Qin State.
However, the main role of the Yuezhi people now is to form a mutual surveillance situation with Yihanxie's Southern Xiongnu.
In this month, Zhao Tuo redistributed the distribution of forces on the grassland.
The first was the Southern Xiongnu who surrendered to the Qin army. They were moved to the Taozhong Plain south of Beihe.
The Yinshan grassland they originally occupied was assigned to the Yuezhi of the Kushan tribe.
Although half of this grassland was burned by the fire, the population of Kushan is not large, just enough for them.
Two years later, this place was still a fertile and lush pasture, and the Marquis of Guishan was quite satisfied with it.
The purpose of Zhao Tuo's arrangement was to allow the Kushan Yueshi to stand between the northern and southern Xiongnu, which would not only prevent the northern and southern Xiongnu from communicating with each other. After the Qin army left, if Yi Hanxie wanted to defect and wanted to lead people north, he would have to pass the Guishan Yueshi level first.
In the same way, the Southern Xiongnu were arranged in the "Taozhong Plain", just sandwiched between the Kushan Yuezhi in the Yinshan Grassland and the Xiumi Yuezhi in the Helan Grassland, which could prevent the two Yuezhi from colluding with each other and monitor them at the same time. The movements of the two Yueshi.
Such a layout of Xiongnu and Yuezhi monitoring each other and checking and balancing each other can keep the situation in this area stable after the Qin army leaves.
In the future, when the emperor moved to the Qin people's borders and established counties here, the Qin people would be neighbors with these grassland peoples, and they would be able to achieve a three-party surveillance situation.
Zhao Tuo's move can be described as well-intentioned.
Only after doing all this can he leave this newly acquired territory with peace of mind, without worrying about rebellion after leaving.
There were footsteps behind me.
"General, Sugasha, the noble daughter of the Yuezhi, would like to see you."
The soldiers came to report, and Zhao Tuo said "Yes".
After a while, Sugatha walked over, bowed and said: "General, I have led people to capture the white deer."
"Oh? I really caught it."
Zhao Tuo nodded with satisfaction.
This woman really did not disappoint him.
This time the Qin army returned to Xianyang after a great victory. In addition to escorting a group of Xiongnu prisoners back to offer as prisoners, they also naturally had to present some specialties from the grasslands to the emperor to show off the Qin army's military prowess and at the same time let the emperor truly feel that he controlled this place. piece of land.
Wolf, white deer.
This is Zhao Tuo's choice. The green wolf is a prairie wolf. It can be seen everywhere on the grassland. It is not difficult to catch it.
White deer were very rare. Sugatha went out with tens of thousands of people and searched for several days before catching one.
With both the gray wolf and the white deer in hand, it was natural for him, Zhao Tuo, to go back.
Zhao Tuo turned his head and looked at Su Jiasha's face, which was obviously different from that of a Qin woman, and said with a smile: "You are going back to Xianyang with my army, are you afraid in your heart?"
Sujatha made many meritorious deeds in this war, and even captured Touman Chanyu. She can be called the number one meritorious figure below Zhao Tuo.
Coupled with her identity as a woman, her name was very eye-catching and aroused the emperor's curiosity.
Therefore, in the edict, the emperor specifically asked Sujiasha and other meritorious officials to return to Xianyang with the Qin army to have an audience, and he wanted to give a large reward.
Looking at Zhao Tuo's resolute face, Sujatha was slightly distracted.
Then she chuckled and said: "I have admired Da Qin since I was a child. Now that I can go to Xianyang, I am not too happy, so I won't be afraid. And... isn't there a general here?"
"I?"
Zhao Tuo was startled, then shook his head and said: "With or without me, you are the hero of this Northern Expedition, and the emperor will not treat you badly."
Zhao Tuo ignored Sujiasha's slightly disappointed look. He asked the short-term soldiers to recruit his subordinate Chang Shi, and then formally issued a military order.
"return after victory!"
(End of chapter)
