Dark clouds gradually piled up, and the bright sun that could occasionally shine through was soon completely covered.
As the sun disappeared, waves of breeze blew, dispersing the smell of blood from the tip of Zhang Chu's nose.
Zhang Chu held the spear in his hand, breathing heavily. His arms immediately felt sore, and he almost stopped holding the spear in his hand.
"Victory!"
"Long live!"
"Long live!"
Some remaining Han soldiers saw the Huns retreating like a tide and immediately cheered in victory.
Hearing the cheers of these Han soldiers, Zhang Chu did not cheer along.
Because this was not the first time that Zhang Chu had faced Hu Lu and won.
In the past month, Zhang Chu has fought five times outside the city. As for the number of times he defended the city, it happened every day.
"Zhang Achu, let's behead him quickly!"
A shout came, and Zhang Chu immediately ran out in two steps.
At this time, Zhang Chu, after a month of training, was already numb to going into battle to kill the enemy, and was even calmer than those concerned veterans.
His own brigade commander, Zhang Shou, even patted Zhang Chu on the shoulder and praised him as a good soldier who was born to fight with his life.
Zhang Chu is now very senior, and this kind of work of beheading is one of his responsibilities.
. . . . . .
"puff!"
After a crisp and crisp sound, a round human head left the torso and was lifted into Zhang Chu's hand.
The two Han soldiers who were following Zhang Chu immediately stepped forward and stripped off all the clothes, leather and armor from the headless corpse, leaving only a pool of white flesh.
"How long, look!"
Suddenly, one of his soldiers raised a hand in front of Zhang Chu and asked him to look at his palm.
Zhang Chu looked over after hearing this and saw a shining golden circle in the soldier's hand, which was about the size of two palms.
On the golden circle, there seems to be a bird, which is exactly coiled into a circle.
"What is this?"
Zhang Chu took the round pancake in his hand and looked at it carefully.
"What else can there be, you idiot? This is gold!"
Zhang Chu just took a look, and a big hand came out from behind him and snatched the golden circle into his hand.
Huang Zeng grabbed the golden circle in his hand, immediately bit the golden pancake with his teeth, then held it in front of Zhang Chu's eyes and said with a smile.
"Look, if it has a mark on it, it must be gold, and the quality is quite high!"
Sure enough, Zhang Chu clearly saw several clear teeth marks on the golden circle. He snatched the golden circle back and said incredulously.
"Gold, it turns out this is gold!"
Poor Zhang Chuzu has been living in poverty for several generations and has never seen gold in his entire life.
"Hey, Brother Zhang, this gold is of sufficient weight and good quality. As long as you don't make any noise, I will definitely be able to help you sell it at a good price!" Huang Zeng said mysteriously.
In this day and age, although gold and silver are valuable things that everyone knows, they cannot all be spent as money.
The real currency is copper coins. In addition, other silk, silk and cotton can also be equivalent to copper coins, and even physical objects such as salt can also be used as currency.
Only the value of gold and silver has deteriorated due to the war, so that ordinary people and refugees know that gold, silver, pearls and jade cannot be used to clothe the cold, and cannot be eaten when hungry.
However, the gold in Zhang Chu's hand was not only of good quality, but also of sufficient weight, making it quite valuable.
After hearing Huang Zeng's words, Zhang Chu immediately shook his head. Looking at the energy, it seemed that his head was about to shake off.
"Don't dare, don't dare! This will lead to beheading!"
Zhang Chu said with a horrified expression on his face, "That Wang Jiu was beaten half to death just for hiding a silver hairpin. If he was hiding gold, his head would not be saved."
When Zhang Chu said this to Huang Zeng, his eyes turned to the soldier who had just discovered this weird-looking golden circle. When the soldier saw this, his face was filled with embarrassment.
"Hey, you birdie, I just said it casually, but you still take it seriously, haha."
Huang Zeng immediately laughed twice, and then continued to lead his two soldiers forward to cut off the heads.
"Bah, you butterhead, if you just talk about it casually, I'll write Zhang upside down." Zhang Chu spat when he saw this.
At this time, the team leader, brigade commander and others who had been watching from far behind happened to see Zhang Chu and Zhang Chu sneaking around, and they raised their legs and were about to come here.
Zhang Chu turned around and happened to see this scene, and immediately shouted loudly.
"Team leader, I got one!"
At the same time, while Zhang Chu and others were clearing the battlefield, on the wall of Huai County behind them, Zu Ti, the general of the Han Dynasty to the West, looked at the Huns retreating again. There was a burst of joy on his face at first, and then he was filled with joy. There was a gloomy look.
"Although these barbarians are somewhat ferocious, when facing battle, they are far inferior to the Suwei army of Emperor Wu's dynasty."
Zu Ti slapped the crenellations of the city wall angrily and said with regret.
"It's just such clowns who have put millions of people in the Central Plains into dire straits. It's really hateful!"
Since the Xiongnu Huru arrived in Huai County, the continuous attack for a month has already made the defenders of Huai County no longer have the slightest fear of these Huai County.
Apart from their better equestrian skills and larger numbers, these Hulu were not in many ways stronger than the Han soldiers inside and outside Huai County.
Of course, if we talk about toughness, those Hun emperor's personal soldiers wearing red-painted iron armor are really tough and can be called 'Tiger Ben'.
However, in a siege like this, no matter how capable the Xiongnu emperor's personal soldiers were, they had to take great risks to attack the city wall. Only when the Han army was arrayed outside the city, could they be given some display. opportunities, but at that time, the Han army arrayed outside the city could also be supported by crossbows and arrows on the walls of Huai County. After casualties of some of the Huns emperor's personal soldiers, these well-armored Hulu rarely sent troops anymore. .
"What the general said is absolutely true. After this battle, the abilities of these Huns and barbarians are nothing more than this. If our army has abundant food and grass and a strong cavalry army, we can defeat the Huns with only 50,000 soldiers." The prisoner's lair!" Dong Zhao, the supervisor on the side, heard this and immediately said impassionedly.
"Yes, General, these Hulu have almost fully demonstrated their abilities in the past month. I'm afraid they will withdraw on their own within a few days. At that time, the General will be able to get more food and fodder from His Majesty." It would be extremely easy to march westward and recapture the entire Hanoi County, and it is not far off to restore the old capital."
Said a young general next to Zu Ti.
This young general is no older than a weakling, but he is wearing a gorgeous and fine armor. At first glance, he is not an ordinary military attache such as a supervisory general.
After hearing this, Zu Ti, the general of Zhengxi, was also in a good mood. He turned to the young general and said.
"The words of Qinghe County Duke are truly heroic. As a general, Zu Ti's ability to regain Hanoi County is already the limit of his talents."
"As for restoring the old capital, I'm afraid it won't be possible with Zu Ti's talent. Such a thing requires His Majesty to personally conquer Heluo!"
After hearing Zu Ti's remarks, Liu Xun, who was already the Duke of Qinghe County in the Han Dynasty, felt slightly in his heart, as if there was something inappropriate in what he just said.
"However, Zu feels that Duke Qinghe is your majesty's nephew and belongs to the clan, so he seems to be able to take on this important task."
After Zu Ti finished speaking, he looked at Liu Xun with a relaxed expression.
When Liu Xun heard this, he felt a little embarrassed and hurriedly changed the topic.
At this moment, a general in charge of supervising the formation outside the city hurried to the top of the city wall.
As soon as he saw Zu Ti, he immediately respectfully presented a shining golden circle with his hands.
"General, please look!"
When Zu Ti saw this, he took the strange golden circle into his hand and looked at it very curiously.
Next to him, Duke Liu Xun of Qinghe County and others also gathered around to watch.
"Gold?"
"Yes, it's gold!"
"General, what is this?"
"Looking at it, it looks like a crown!"
Several people had never seen this thing before, and they all started making random guesses.
Zu Ti looked at it for a long time and saw that the texture of the gold ornaments on it was very exquisite, unlike ordinary lowly Hulu.
However, the only flaw is that there are two clear tooth marks on the golden bird's head, or the eagle's head, which makes this exquisite gold jewelry not so perfect.
At this time, the supervisor Dong Zhao, who had just seen the thing in Zu Ti's hand, recognized it. He immediately pointed to the gold jewelry in Zu Ti's hand and said in a surprised tone.
"General, oh, congratulations to the last general, General, this is the golden crown used by the Hulu chiefs! It's like the seal and ribbon of the imperial court!"
After hearing the words of the supervisor Dong Zhao, everyone was happy. If this object was captured, the owner of the golden crown would definitely be beheaded.
When Zu Ti heard this, he felt happy, but he still wanted to make sure.
"Protector Dong, do you know this thing?"
Governor Dong Zhao heard this and said immediately.
"In order to see it more clearly, General, can you let the last general read it?"
After hearing this, Zu Ti handed the golden crown in his hand to Dong Zhao's hand.
After Dong Zhao looked at it for a while, he returned his hands to Zu Ti and said.
"That's right, General!"
"This thing is used by the powerful chieftains of Hulu. It is not just an ordinary powerful chieftain, at least it is the leader of Daluo."
"What's engraved on it is an eagle and a wolf. Well, it's a pity that there should have been a crown, but it may have been damaged long ago."
"This kind of golden crown with eagle ornaments is owned by the Daluo chief among the Qiang and Hu people in Henan area."
After hearing Dong Zhao's words, Zu Ti immediately became happy.
"I didn't expect Governor Dong to be so knowledgeable."
After hearing Zu Ti's praise, Dong Zhao quickly said modestly.
"General, you are so complimentary. I just accompanied the army back then. Oh, no, I followed the Central Jin Army to defeat the Qiang rebels in the pass, so I have seen such items."
"Qiang Hu? Aren't they from the Huns?" Liu Xun, the Duke of Qinghe next to him, asked curiously.
"For the information, Duke, the Qiang and Hu are the collective name for miscellaneous barbarians. Among them are the original Western Qiang, the later Xianbei, and even the Xiongnu who were included in the past. All of them are not clear at all. Now, These Qiang Hu who accompanied the Xiongnu Hulu to fight should be the remnants of other tribes of the Xiongnu, and they should also be regarded as Xiongnu Hulu."
"Hahaha, Dong Duhu said it well. No matter what kind of Qiang Hu or Hulu he is, if he comes to the Central Plains to cause trouble, he will all be Hulu." Liu Xun, the Duke of Qinghe, said with a smile.
"General, I have repeatedly won victories in defending the city, and I have this golden crown of eagle and wolf, so I can congratulate His Majesty!"
Yin Yi, who joined the army in Zhengxi, said next to him.
"Well, that's right. Then send someone quickly to present this thing to Your Majesty!"
Zu Ti nodded and continued.
"Mr. Qinghe, we both sign our names together, and we will also ask your Majesty for some food, grass and luggage!"
"If we can have enough food and grass for another half a year, we can restore the slaughtered wild kings and other places after the Hulu retreat."
Qinghe County Duke Liu Xun also nodded. As a member of the clan who came halfway, the purpose of his visit was naturally to help Zu Ti coordinate the relationship between the rear and various tribes.
=·=·=·=·=·=·
Yanzhou, Luzicheng.
In the temporary palace in the city, Wang Ze, the queen of the Han Dynasty, was holding a golden crown decorated with eagles and wolves in her hand, looking at it carefully.
After looking at it carefully for a while, Wang Ze felt a little bored and put down the golden crown with some disgust.
"I looked at this gold crown. The gold quality is good, but the workmanship is really crude. I really don't understand why Your Majesty values this thing so much?" Wang Ze asked in confusion.
After hearing this, Liu Yu laughed again and picked up the golden crown with eagle decoration to play with it.
"Haha, Shaoyi, do you know that this is the golden crown of the Qianghu chief?"
"So what, it's just a Qiang Hu, so what about the chief?" Wang Ze didn't have much interest in these Hu Lu Yi Di with various names. Now her biggest interest is thinking about how to give birth to a child. son.
“The Huns who dominated the northern grasslands and deserts at that time had golden crowns decorated with eagles, wolves, sheeps, and dragons. The rest of the chiefs, big and small, who were qualified to wear golden crowns were all close relatives of the Xiongnu Chanyu. The chieftain."
"I want to collect all the golden crowns of the Xiongnu and Hulu, and pass them on to my descendants in the future as a symbol of the strong martial virtues of the Han Dynasty!"
PS: The origin of the eagle-shaped gold crown
It was unearthed in 1972 from a Xiongnu tomb in Aruchaideng, Hangjin Banner, Yikezhao League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (now Ordos City), and is now in the collection of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. This gold crown ornament consists of a crown crown ornament and three strips. The crest of the crown is 73 cm high and weighs 192 grams. There is an eagle on the top of the crown, standing on a hemispherical crown. The body of the eagle is made of gold sheets and is hollow. Feather-like patterns are embossed on the body, making it look like it is about to fly. The eagle's head and neck are inlaid with two pieces of turquoise, and a lace gold piece is tied between the head and neck.
"This golden crown is not something that ordinary Qiang and Hu chiefs can have."
[Thanks to Brother Fanhuafan for the reward, and thank you all for your votes! 】
