Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 9: Prime Minister
In stark contrast to the grim atmosphere on the front line, the main camp is quite cheerful.

"Hahaha... Xu Xiang had a great time killing people this time. Those barbarians were so arrogant before because they relied on their high mobility on horses. Let's see what he will do if he attacks me at close range this time!"

Ding Fu laughed and said, his cheeks and armor were still stained with blood, it seemed that he had just come down from the battlefield.

"Yeah, no wonder Prime Minister Xu asked us to show weakness. If these idiots didn't come over to me on their own, I really don't know what to do. They're like loaches and there's no way to catch them." Fu Kuan also laughed.

These generals of theirs are definitely the ones who have made the greatest contribution this time. It will be very easy for them to gain His Majesty's favor by coming to the rescue.

Fan Kuai and his gang must be so angry that their teeth must be falling out.

"You'd better not let your guard down. Maodun has already led the main force to retreat northward. If we let them escape, they will still become a serious threat to the Han Dynasty."

Chen Ping, who had been silent, spoke up. He and Liu Bang had similar ideas: to consume the Xiongnu's manpower as much as possible and make them unable to move south again.

"Well, what Qu Nihou said is absolutely right." Xu Zhen also agreed with Chen Ping's point of view. The reason why His Majesty has not returned yet is probably because he has gone to lead the troops to stop Maodun personally.

"Zhou Bo, Ding Fu, Fu Kuan, call all the generals to follow me to chase Maodun." After thinking for a moment, he decided to go there himself.

There is a high probability that Liu Bang is also there. As a subject, he has to understand the ways of the world.

"General, I will obey your orders." Everyone said in unison.

Now is the time to seek credit from His Majesty!
.........

Maodun quickly gathered the remaining soldiers nearby and planned to return to the grassland with his direct subordinates. The Han people would definitely not let him go easily, so he had to act quickly.

"Great Chanyu, probably all the troops we can gather are here."

Zuo Xian Wang rushed to Maodun and reported the current military strength.

"Well, how many?"

“Most of the troops of King Xiutu, King Kunxie and others are here. All together... there are more than 90,000 people.” said King Zuoxian.

The main and strong men of many large tribes were basically here, and many of the old and weak were captured and killed by the Han army.

As long as this strong team is still there, we can make a comeback!

"Hurry and get back to the grassland before the Han army catches up." Maodun grabbed the reins and planned to continue escaping.

Zuo Xian Wang followed the order, and then nearly 100,000 people galloped on horseback. Even though they were very tired, they did not dare to stop to rest.

These Han people are really terrible. It seems that there will be no more large-scale direct conflicts in the future.

At this time, the morale of the Huns was at its lowest point. Not only did they gain nothing from this trip to the Central Plains, but they also lost many people.

I'm afraid it will take years to recover.

"Don't run away, thief, leave your life behind!"

At this moment, loud and low horse hoof sounds came from the front, and a large number of fully armed cavalry appeared in front and swooped towards this side.

That’s right, the person coming was Xiahou Ying who had been lying in ambush for a long time!
"Meet the enemy!"

Seeing that the enemy had only more than a thousand cavalry, Maodun was no longer afraid. I can't deal with Xu Zhen's army of more than one hundred thousand, but can't you easily defeat him with just over a thousand people?

What he didn't expect was that this order completely ruined his final escape time.

Tens of thousands of Hun cavalry lined up in a row and rushed forward in a mighty force. The soldiers now had greater confidence and planned to vent their anger.

But it is obvious that this Han cavalry is not a soft persimmon.

These one thousand cavalrymen were formed by Guan Ying. They were the elite among the elite, with a very high rate of armor wearing, and even their horses were carefully selected good horses.

The Han army was unstoppable. They fought back and forth with tens of thousands of Xiongnu cavalry with one against ten.

Maodun was stunned. He didn't expect that this Han army was so brave and could actually hold them back.

The battle was extremely intense, and Xiahou Ying successfully held the Huns back, waiting for the arrival of the main army.

Soon, the familiar Han army banner appeared, and Liu Bang's thousands of elite troops arrived first and penetrated directly into the heart of the enemy.

The archers in the rear fired several volleys, and a large number of Hun cavalry fell off their horses and died. At this moment, the Huns were dragged into the quagmire of war and could not escape.

"Retreat immediately, don't fight to the end!" Maodun began to frantically issue orders to the various tribes. He knew that there were still hundreds of thousands of Han troops who had not arrived. When they arrived, he was afraid that they would all die here.

However, the Han army obviously did not give them any chance and continued to charge and fire volleys just to delay time.

"Damn it." Maodun saw the time passing by and knew that he could not delay any longer.

"Great Khan, you please escape first. As long as you are alive, there is hope for the Huns!" Zuo Xian Wang knelt down and begged, covered in blood. It seemed that they could not escape.

"There are no cowards in the Xiongnu! My fellow generals, listen to my orders and follow me to fight your way out of this bloody situation!" Maodun raised his sword and led his personal soldiers into the enemy camp to fight.

As a great overlord, he was also good at martial arts, riding and shooting, and he fought three times in the army.

Seeing the Great Chanyu joining the battle, the morale of the Xiongnu army was greatly boosted, their fighting power increased dramatically, and they actually managed to break through the blockade of the Han army.

But obviously, there was not enough time. Zhou Bo had already led the vanguard troops to attack, and the Han Dynasty's large flags appeared densely.

"All the generals, listen up and follow me to kill!" Ding Fu took the lead and rushed into the enemy camp with a big knife in hand as if he was in an empty space.

A large number of Han troops joined the battle, and the situation instantly became one-sided. Because of Xu Zhen's advance deployment, the Huns were surrounded.

"Chanyu, run away quickly!" King Xiutu also came to persuade Maodun to run away quickly, as it seemed that if he didn't leave now, he would have no chance.

This time, Maodun was silent for a moment without any pretense. He led several hundred personal soldiers and some ministers to break out of the encirclement and flee towards the vast grassland.

The Han army did not care and focused on besieging the main force of the Xiongnu. As more and more troops arrived, the Xiongnu Zuoxian King was forced to lead his people in surrender.

Although it was rumored that Jing Hou Xu Zhen was very bloodthirsty, the Han Dynasty Emperor Liu Bang had a good reputation and should have left him a way out.

With the surrender of the Xiongnu leaders, the "Siege of Baideng" also ushered in a complete victory. In this battle, the Han army annihilated tens of thousands of enemies and captured more than 200,000. The Xiongnu was severely damaged and almost all their strong men were lost. They could no longer launch large-scale attacks.

As soon as the war was over, Xu Zhen brought Zhou Bo, Chen Ping and others to the central army to meet Liu Bang.

"Your Majesty, I, Xu Zhen, pay my respects to you."

Liu Bang was obviously a little surprised to hear this self-proclaimed title, and immediately asked: "Why do you call yourself a "guilty minister"? You are the one who deserves the most merit in this battle."

Xu Zhen knew that a tall tree attracts the wind, and then he said respectfully: "I am just doing my duty. Your Majesty is the one who made the greatest contribution in this battle!"

"If Your Majesty had not led the troops to hold back Maodun despite the danger, our army would never have achieved such a victory. I just arrived in time, which is my duty as a general."

He was very sensible and pushed everything onto Liu Bang. He knew very well that his achievements were greater than his master's, and he could not take on such a prestigious job as repelling foreign enemies and guarding the border.

"Hahaha... Zifu is too modest. I underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly. Being trapped in Baideng has already been a burden to you all. How can I have the face to take credit for this?"

Liu Bang laughed and waved his hands. He was not shameless enough to do that.

"Your Majesty is also luring the enemy deep into our territory this time, otherwise how could we have achieved this..."

"That's enough. This is what has to happen. I won't take credit for it. History books will record it truthfully."

Liu Bang interrupted Xu Zhen and did not intend to take the credit.

"Yes..." Seeing this, Xu Zhen did not refute.

"Zi Fu, you have made such a great contribution. How should I reward you? You are now in the high position of Prime Minister." Liu Bang changed the subject, with a little confusion in his tone. He really wanted to reward him this time and had no intention of testing him.

"I only want beautiful women." Xu Zhen still made the same request.

"Of course. I will reward you with a hundred singing girls. In addition, I will promote you to be the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty."

"Prime Minister!?"

Xu Zhen was obviously startled.

----

"Zhen attacked Han Xin's army in Jinyang and defeated it. He captured Han Xin alive. He returned and led his troops to attack Pingcheng at night. He defeated the Hu cavalry at Baideng. Later, he joined Emperor Gaozu in attacking the Xiongnu and besieged them. Maodun barely escaped with his life. Emperor Gaozu was very pleased and promoted Zhen to Prime Minister." Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Marquis Jing

(End of this chapter)