Big man: I am the Champion Marquis!

Chapter 5 Different offensive and defensive forces
"In the art of war, the best is to conquer the whole country, the next best is to destroy the country; the best is to conquer the whole army, the next best is to destroy the army; the best is to conquer the whole brigade, the next best is to destroy the brigade; the best is to conquer the whole soldier, the next best is to destroy the soldier; the best is to conquer the whole squad, the next best is to destroy the squad. Therefore, to win every battle is not the best of the best; to defeat the enemy without fighting is the best of the best."

Liu Che glanced at Huo Xian and continued, "You have to remember that marching and fighting is never a trivial matter. Victory is not just about how many Huns you killed or how many heads you beheaded. You have to know why you are sending troops and what strategy you should achieve."

Seeing Huo Xian nod, Liu Che suddenly asked, "Tell me, why did I attack the Xiongnu several times?"

"Your Majesty, those are the Xiongnu!" Huo Xian said directly and neatly, "Let's not talk about other things first. The Xiongnu often harasses the border and plunders the people of the Han Dynasty. They deserve to die. If they become powerful, the people of the Han Dynasty will have difficulty living and working in peace."

The Siege of Baideng and the like were humiliations for the Han emperor and his ministers, and of course they required revenge.

But more importantly, of course, are the conflicts between nomadic peoples and agricultural civilizations. The powerful Xiongnu were born to have conflicts with the Han Dynasty, and it is no exaggeration to say that they would fight to the death.

Liu Che nodded slightly and asked, "Why did you attack the Xiongnu several times only after I came here?"

Before Emperor Wu of Han, the Han Dynasty was basically on the defensive when facing the Xiongnu, so there were also constant marriages of princesses. It was also common to see the Xiongnu going south to plunder, and even threatening Chang'an City several times.

Huo Xian said, "The country is strong, the cavalry is well trained, and naturally we have to teach the Xiongnu a lesson. Putting aside other things, if the horse government has 600,000 war horses, the court will be able to compete with the Xiongnu!"

Liu Che smiled quite happily. Huo Shan was indeed the son of Huo Qubing and he understood many things clearly.

Think about it, before the founding of the Han Dynasty, the horses pulling the emperor's carriage were not all of the same color, and many ministers could only use ox carts when going to court.

However, after the Emperor of the Han Dynasty rested and worked hard to govern the country, the Han Dynasty now had 600,000 war horses. With such a base number, Liu Che naturally dared to send troops to attack the Xiongnu several times.

Liu Che was somewhat proud and said, "I have used troops a lot in recent years. The general and the general have attacked the Xiongnu many times. I am quite pleased. Prince, what is the benefit of this battle of Longcheng?"

This refers to the Battle of Longcheng twenty years ago. This was also the first time that Wei Qing led his army to the north to attack the Huns, and then he became famous all over the world.

In fact, the Battle of Longcheng was an invasion of Shanggu County by the Huns, and Emperor Liu Che personally deployed four military camps.

General Wei Qing of the Chariots and Cavalry marched straight out of Shanggu, General Gongsun Ao of the Cavalry marched from Daijun, General Gongsun He of the Light Chariots marched from Yunzhong, and General Li Guang of the Valiant Cavalry marched from Yanmen.

The four generals each led 10,000 cavalry.

As a result, Gongsun Ao lost 7,000 cavalrymen and was sentenced to death, but later paid a ransom and was pardoned. Gongsun He gained nothing, neither merit nor fault. Li Guang's fate is hard to describe, not only was his entire army almost wiped out, but he himself was also captured.

Liu Ju replied, "Your Majesty, the Battle of Longcheng was our dynasty's first victory over the Xiongnu, and it is of extraordinary significance!"

The Han Dynasty had been bullied by the Xiongnu for more than 70 years since its founding. It was during the Battle of Longcheng that Wei Qing's army killed hundreds of Xiongnu soldiers. This was the first victory of the Han Dynasty over the Xiongnu, and its significance was naturally extraordinary.

Looking at Huo Xian and then at Liu Ju, Liu Che said earnestly, "It's not that I want to waste my military power, but if we don't fight, the people of Tianhan will have a hard time surviving!"

Liu Ju quickly spoke up and said, "Father, I am not against sending troops to the Xiongnu. In my opinion, attacking the Xiongnu is inevitable. I just think that using too many troops will make it difficult for the people to live and work in peace."

Here it comes again. Compared with Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, who loved to fight wars everywhere, Prince Liu Ju was indeed more conservative. He was not against war, but he was not willing to initiate war.

In particular, continuous wars were absolutely unacceptable in Liu Ju's view, but it was a pity that his father did not listen to the advice.

Liu Che snorted coldly, looked at his eldest son and said, "Oh? Then tell me, which battle should I not have fought in these years?" Liu Che has been on the throne for 32 years, but in the first six years of his reign, the power was in the hands of the Empress Dowager Dou Yifang. At that time, Liu Che was almost deposed, and he was mostly hiding his talents and indulging in secret travel and hunting.

However, even so, he also carried out some preparatory work and preliminary activities for external expansion, such as sending Zhang Qian to the Western Regions and sending Yan Zhu to conquer Minyue.

If you really count, Liu Che has launched sixteen large-scale wars, and the scale of each of these sixteen wars involved more than 10,000 troops, and four of them involved more than 100,000 troops.

These sixteen wars included eleven against the Xiongnu, and other enemies included the Minyue, Nanyue, Southwestern Yi, Western Qiang and Dongyue.

However, this is certainly not enough. Liu Che has already placed Korea, the Western Regions and other places on the chessboard. The Huns and the Southwestern Yi have not been completely conquered, so it is necessary to continue to send troops.

Liu Ju was suddenly speechless. He was against sending large-scale troops, but some wars seemed completely unavoidable.

"The Battle of Longcheng gave the Han Dynasty its first victory, and the soldiers and even the people had confidence in another victory over the Xiongnu!" Liu Che stood up, shaking his sleeves and said excitedly, "After that, the Xiongnu invaded Shanggu and Yuyang on a large scale, first breaking through Liaoxi and killing the governor of Liaoxi, and then defeating the Yuyang defender Han Anguo, looting more than 2,000 people. Do you think it would work if I didn't send troops?"

It was also during this time when the Xiongnu invaded the border that Wei Qing led his army to attack again. He first cut off the connection between the Xiongnu Baiyang King and Loufan King stationed in Henan and the Chanyu royal court, and then won the Hetao area again, built Shuofang City there, and established Shuofang County and Wuyuan County.

It was also after this battle that the direct threat of the Xiongnu cavalry to Chang'an was eliminated, and the Han Dynasty also established a forward base for further counterattacks against the Xiongnu.

"Which of my attacks on the Xiongnu was not carefully planned?" Liu Che waited for Liu Ju and asked loudly, "I defeated the Xiongnu twice in Dingxiang and won, severely damaging the main force of the Chanyu, greatly reducing the threat of the Xiongnu in the east to the border counties of Han, and making the Xiongnu in Hexi more isolated. Later, your cousin took advantage of the situation to conquer Hexi, and there were almost no Xiongnu invasions on the northwest border. I then reduced the garrison troops in Longxi, Beidi, and Shangjun by half, and the corvée burden on the people across the country was relieved."

Pointing at Liu Ju, Liu Che questioned, "Tell me, shouldn't I have fought this battle? By doing this, the people have not benefited?"

Seeing Liu Ju prostrating himself to plead guilty, Liu Che continued to question, "How important is the land west of the Yellow River? The Xiongnu lamented: Losing our Qilian Mountains has made our livestock unable to reproduce; losing our Yanzhi Mountains has made our wives lose face. It is not a good thing for our Tianhan to breed military horses in the west of the Yellow River?"

The Battle of Hexi can be regarded as one of Huo Qubing's highlight moments. The significance of capturing this strategic location was far greater than killing tens of thousands of Huns.

In the middle of the Hexi Corridor, there is the world's first military horse farm, which was later called Shandan Military Horse Farm. The first "factory director" was Huo Qubing. The cavalry of the Han Dynasty now has war horses that are not inferior to those of the Xiongnu.

"After the Battle of Hexi, I ordered Wei Huo to send troops to destroy the main force of the Xiongnu." Liu Che was excited and regretful. "After this battle, the Xiongnu fled far away, and there was no king's court south of the desert! Now everyone knows that the offensive and defensive situation is different. More than 90,000 Xiongnu were annihilated in two routes! If Qubing had not died early, I would have continued to send troops to completely destroy the Xiongnu! What, do you still think this is wrong?"

Huo Qubing's sudden death made Liu Che very sad. Not only did his student, who he had trained himself, die young, but also because of Huo Qubing's sudden death, he was forced to temporarily stop fighting against the Xiongnu.

Going deep into the grasslands and leading tens of thousands of troops, Liu Che only trusted Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. But a large army was obviously not enough, especially if he wanted to destroy the Xiongnu, he had to have two of the best generals to ensure the bottom line.

Seeing Liu Ju kneeling on the ground, Huo Xian quickly spoke up, "Your Majesty, now I understand what you said. Some time ago, I was still thinking about how to defeat the Xiongnu without deciding the outcome in one battle. Now, it turns out that fighting is a series of links, just like my cousin likes to play chess, which requires layout and traps."

Liu Che laughed angrily, pointing at Huo Xian and saying, "You don't speak when you should, and you talk too much when you shouldn't! Well, let me test you, how can I trap you in one thing after another!"

"Your Majesty, I think the Battle of Mobei can be called a decisive battle." Huo Xian said, "It's just that my uncle and grandpa's roundabout and maneuvering tactics, I still don't understand. Your Majesty, tell me about it."

As long as Huo Xian was willing to learn, and study how to fight the Huns, Liu Che would be happy.

Seeing Liu Che patiently teaching Huo Shan, Liu Ju breathed a sigh of relief. This little cousin was so smart and so crucial, just like his cousin back then!
I can’t let my cousin leave the palace, otherwise, given the situation today, he will definitely be scolded!

(End of this chapter)