Chapter 438 Maodun’s Choice

In the early summer desert, the entire grassland is as green as dyed, full of vitality. (--net.)

A group of yellow sheep were happily eating the tender grass by a small river, but even when enjoying the food, they did not relax their vigilance at all. From time to time, they would poke their heads out of the grass and scan the surroundings vigilantly. The surroundings seemed calm, but in fact they were hiding danger.

Suddenly, a faint sound suddenly came from the south.

The leading ram screamed, and the entire flock of sheep suddenly shook its four hooves and ran towards the north. However, before they could run out of two miles, more than a hundred cavalry had already chased after them from behind like wind and clouds. It was a group of Huns. The leading Huns were about ten years old, tall and strong, and very strong.

But seeing the Huns bent their bows with just one arrow, the head sheep who was still running a hundred steps away, fell to the ground. The flock of running desperately lost the lead of the head sheep. In panic, they immediately fled in all directions. The more than a hundred cavalry behind the Huns scattered and wrapped the flock, but calmly pulled the bow and shot them one by one.

In just a moment, more than twenty yellow sheep were hunted.

More than a hundred cavalry and Huns ran forward for more than ten miles with their prey. A cowhide tent appeared on the river beside the river beside the layers of the hundreds of cowhide tents. In the center of the layers of hundreds of cowhide tents was a round tent with a dome. More than a hundred cavalry and Huns wade through the shallow river and rushed straight towards the dome tent.

Amid the rapid footsteps, the Hun warriors guarding the dome tent did not stop them, but bowed to the leading young Huns. Obviously, the young man had a very good position among the Huns.

In a moment, the young man held the yellow sheep with one hand and walked into the dome tent with his head held high.

In the dome tent, the Xiongnu Chanyu Maodun was leaning against the brocade mat and napping. Two Xiongnu girls wearing animal skin robes were gently shaking their feather fan to drive away mosquitoes and flies for Maodun. Although it was only early summer at this time, the mosquitoes and flies on the grassland had already grown, which made people feel upset, especially Maodun was having problems in his heart at this time, and he was even more upset.--net.

Hearing the footsteps, Maodun opened his eyes slightly, and when he saw that it was his eldest son Ji Zhuo, he closed his eyes again.

"Father, my son has just beaten a yellow sheep, but it's so fat." Ji Zhu threw the yellow sheep weighing 100 kilograms on the ground, then hugged Mao Dun and said respectfully, "Why would we invite the military advisor to come and have a few cups together?"

Maodun rubbed his temples that were a little painful, nodded and said, "Okay, you go and invite the military advisor."

Ji Zhu took the order and left. Not long after, he led his uncle into Maodun's dome tent.

Maodun asked his uncle to sit down the left and right heads, and ordered the warriors to wash the yellow sheep and prepare for barbecue. Several young Huns had even presented several cans of Zhongyuan white wine.

After drinking a few cups of white wine with cooked beef, Maodun couldn't help but sigh.

Ji Zhu and Gongshu said that, and put down the wine cup in their hands at the same time. Of course, they knew why Maodun sighed, because at this time, a huge problem was plaguing Maodun, or it was plaguing the entire Huns' tribe. How Maodun chose would likely determine the fate of the Huns for hundreds of years in the future.

Thirteen years ago, the Huns lost the Jiuyuan Battle and lost Hetao. Maodun always wanted to make a comeback and regain the Hetao with abundant water and grass. Unfortunately, the Han Dynasty has strong national strength and Yuezhi and Hunxie. Xiu Tu is his minion. Although the Huns already had less than 400,000 soldiers who controlled the string, they still did not dare to act rashly.

However, not long ago, the opportunity that Maodun had always dreamed of finally came!

Han Xin, the king of the Central Plains South Korea, condemned the envoys to the desert and sent Maodun the information that the Huns urgently needed. Maodun then realized that at this time, the two overlords of the Central Plains, Chu and Han had already started a full war. In order to defeat King Xiang Zhuang of Chu, Han King Liu Bang almost allocated all the troops in the country, and there were only 100,000 Han troops left in Jiuyuan!

More than 100,000 Han troops, and also infantry troops, Maodun really doesn’t take it seriously!

As soon as the news spread, the entire Huns were suddenly excited. Although the cattle, sheep and horses had just passed the winter and the lack of animal power was not a good time to use troops, all the little Huns agreed that it was a good time to regain Hetao, so they all tried their best to encourage Maodun to summon the army and take the opportunity to seize the Hetao grassland. (--net.)

But at this moment, Uncle Gong said that he had put forward different opinions.

Before he knew it, Mao Dun's cold and faint gaze fell on Uncle Gong's face again and asked, "Military advisor, can't we really use troops to Hetao now?"

Uncle Gong sighed and said, "Shanyu, I have already said everything I should say."

Mao Dun shook the golden wine cup in his hand and said in a faint voice: "I want to listen to it again."

"Okay." Gongshu nodded helplessly, and then said, "The biggest advantage of the Huns compared to the Central Plains dynasty is that they have huge cavalry, while the biggest disadvantage is that they have too few people and have a large population in the Central Plains, which almost has an endless source of troops. Therefore, defeats once and twice are nothing to the Central Plains dynasty, but for the Huns, just one failure is enough to make the entire Huns tribe unable to recover!"

Maodun nodded silently. He knew that Gongshu said that there was no danger. The Huns now seemed powerful, but in fact they were all over the place. Donghu in the east did not completely surrender. Yuezhi in the west posed a great threat to the Huns with the protection of the Han Kingdom. The Han Kingdom in the south was also a major concern for the Huns.

In this case, once the Huns suffered decisive failure, the Han army might be out of reach. However, the Donghu and Yuezhi jackals would definitely swarm and chew the Huns to no end.

Gongshu said he paused and then analyzed: "The population advantage of the Central Plains dynasty over the Xiongnu is absolutely irreversible, because the grasslands cannot feed too much population, while the fertile Central Plains is enough to support hundreds of millions of people! Therefore, what the Shanyu should do is to ensure the advantages of the cavalry as much as possible, in order to form a strong military suppression on the Central Plains dynasty. Only in this way can the Xiongnu make up for the huge disadvantage of population and national strength by relying on military advantages. Only in this way can the Xiongnu compete with the Central Plains dynasty. Otherwise, the Xiongnu would not be the opponent of the Central Plains dynasty at all."

"So, my great Huns must regain Hetao." Ji Zhuo waved his big iron fist vigorously and said with great momentum, "Only by regaining Hetao can we feed more tribesmen. Only by supporting more tribesmen can we cultivate more Hun warriors. With more Hun warriors, we can form military suppression on the Central Plains dynasty."

"Otherwise," Uncle Gong waved his hand and said, "The strength of the cavalry is not just about the number, but also about whether the bows and arrows are excellent and whether the swords are sharp." After saying this, Uncle Gong said, "In the Battle of Hexi, the Battle of Jiuyuan and even the previous Battle of Baiyushankou, our Hun cavalry and the Han cavalry fought several times, and each time they attacked the few, but they still lost in the end. Have you ever thought about what is this for?"

Ji Zhu was the eldest son of Maodun Shanyu. According to the clan rules, he was named Zuo Xianwang after he became an adult.

Ji Zhu just became an adult and did not have a deep impression of the Han-Hungary War for more than ten years. He said disapprovingly: "The reason why our Great Huns were all defeated in the three Han-Hungary Wars more than ten years ago was not that the cavalry was ineffective, but because the Han army had a large number of infantry troops. Otherwise, how could the Han cavalry be the opponent of our Hun cavalry?"

"Zuo Xianwang, you only see the appearance." Gongshu said, waved his hand and said, "The reason why the Huns were defeated in the three Han-Hungary Wars more than ten years ago was not because the Han army had huge infantry to assist in the war, but because the Han army had extremely sharp bows, crossbows, swords and halberds. Although our Huns warriors were brave and good at fighting, their flesh and blood could not stop the puncture of sharp arrows and spears, so they were defeated."

After saying that, Gongshu said he got up and took off an iron-tied bow from the weapon stand in the big tent, and said, "Jiang Yu regarded this bow as a treasure, but in the Central Plains, this is just an iron-tied bow equipped by ordinary lieutenants! The cavalry bow used by our Huns warriors can only shoot at a distance of fifty steps, but the cavalry bow of the Han cavalry can shoot at a distance of two hundred steps!"

"Also, the feather arrows used by the Han cavalry were all geese-feather arrows with triangular iron clusters, while the Huns warriors used only reed rod arrows with bronze arrows. The bronze was soft and was not even enough to shoot through leather armor outside fifty steps. However, the geese-feather arrows with triangular iron clusters could shoot through our mounts at a hundred steps!"

"In addition, all the Han cavalry were equipped with sharp double-edged swords. I heard that the other overlord of the Central Plains, the cavalry of Chu State had even used a ring-headed sword that was sharper than a double-edged sword. But what about our Huns' warriors? They still use bronze daggers so far, and many warriors don't even have bronze daggers, so they can only use horse forks to fight."

"It is precisely because of the iron smelting of our Huns and the weapons manufacturing technology that the cavalry's advantage was lost. Therefore, the most urgent task is to take advantage of the melee between the countries in the Central Plains to enter Yan, Zhao and Han, and plunder the local craftsmen and population, rather than compete with the Han army for the Hetao grassland."

"As long as the population and craftsmen in Yan, Zhao and Han areas are captured back to the desert, I dare to assert that within ten years, the iron smelting and weapon manufacturing technology of our Huns will take a qualitative leap. At that time, our Huns' 400,000 iron cavalry will use excellent bows and sharp iron weapons, and the Central Plains cavalry will no longer be the opponent of our Huns' cavalry!"

"In this way, we don't need our Huns to send troops to rob them. The Central Plains dynasty will take the initiative to give up Hetao under the pressure of our Huns, and then shrink to the inner Great Wall, and use the Great Wall to resist the military attack of our Huns' iron cavalry. This is the highest level of military use mentioned in Sun Tzu's art of war - a soldier who defeats others without fighting!"

"Isn't this better than consuming a lot of manpower and material resources to seize Hetao from the Han army hundreds of times stronger?"

After a pause, Gongshu said at the end: "More importantly, once our Xiongnu sends troops, it will definitely affect the entire Central Plains pattern. The demise of the Han Kingdom is likely to be ahead of schedule, and the unification process of Chu Kingdom will also accelerate. In other words, the Chu Kingdom, which unified the Central Plains, will recover its vitality in a shorter time and instead use troops to the Xiongnu."
Chapter completed!