Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 446: Xiongnu: There is a spy among us

At the end of December, it had been two months since Liu Bei led his army to Jinyang. During this period, he vigorously disciplined the wealthy families in Yanmen County, Taiyuan County, and Shangdang County, and demolished many private fortresses that had been built by annexing land.

These noble families in the border counties often had dealings with the Xiongnu and Xianbei, selling ironware, bows and crossbows in exchange for cattle, sheep and horses, which they then resold to the Central Plains.

As the governor of Bingzhou, although Mao Jie secretly found out that many clans were involved in this matter, he did not dare to force them too much for fear of causing turmoil in the state and county. He could only select a few weaker families to attack in order to hit Du Tian.

The rest of them reported to the Emperor and asked His Majesty to make the decision.

When Liu Bei arrived in Jinyang, he forced some powerful families to stay as guests in the temporary palace. The Han army quickly attacked the fortress and within two months, they wiped out 37 local powerful families based on the verified crimes, and also cracked down on several aristocratic families.

For a time, all the officials and scholars from all over Bingzhou lowered their hands and feet, and spoke in a timid manner.

This time, Bingzhou finally felt the fear of the Jizhou nobles. The emperor made good use of the power of thunder and lightning to destroy everything, and used tremendous pressure to annihilate everything.

Don't think about secretly violating the law and trading salt and iron with the Hu people. Once it is verified, Your Majesty will destroy them if he says so.

Could those miscellaneous troops alone defeat the central army that had repeatedly defeated the local princes and made outstanding military achievements at the risk of their lives in the campaign to restore the Han Dynasty?

A charge of a hundred men was enough to defeat thousands of troops. With the support of Lu Bu returning to Yanmen, and the suppression by Zhang Liao, the governor of Shangjun, and Li Dian, the governor of Xihe, the counties were not able to cause any disturbance at all.

The Han army attacked everywhere to eliminate the powerful, causing the Southern Xiongnu kings who were originally preparing to rebel to become hesitant. They contacted the Xianbei in the north of Bingzhou while watching Jinyang.

They were a little confused about the Han emperor's intentions. It was no wonder that the emperor came to Bingzhou to strike at the powerful on such a large scale.

After all, the officials of Bingzhou had not obeyed the imperial decrees for a long time, and the officials and the nobles had formed cliques with each other, and no one except the emperor could suppress them.

From this point of view, it doesn't seem like they are targeting the Huns. If they send troops to attack counties and prefectures everywhere, wouldn't they be asking for trouble?

After the kings discussed again, they decided to wait for a while to see if there would be any changes in the Han Dynasty. They ordered the herdsmen of each tribe to harvest fodder and hand it over so that they could survive the gradually cold winter.

As a result, at the end of December in the third year of Jianxing, a Han envoy came on horseback to the Xiongnu royal court with the emperor's edict, loudly announcing that the Han emperor ordered the Xiongnu kings to set out for Jinyang to pay homage in the first month of the next year.

If the extension is not given, it will be considered as disobedience, and the Han Dynasty will definitely send heavenly soldiers to the royal court to punish the Xiongnu kings.

The emperor has spoken; do not say that he did not warn you.

After the announcement, the Han envoy rode his horse with his head held high and his chest puffed out, and inspected the Xiongnu Zuoguo City. He saw many Xiongnu people who were short and stout, with prominent cheekbones, thick beards, and disheveled hair.

Unlike the Xiongnu in Hedong, who had started to tie their hair with black scarves, these northern Xiongnu still dressed in a rather barbarian style, wearing loose robes, fur coats, fur hats on their heads, and belts around their waists to keep them warm.

After reading this, the Han envoy smiled toward the sky, whipped his horse whip vigorously, bowed to the Xiongnu kings, and left. More than ten riders followed closely behind him, roaring away.

"This man is truly heroic and a brave warrior. If he were a member of the Northern Hu, I would have him serve in my camp." Although the Xiongnu King Zuoguli was shocked by the forced summons of the Han emperor, he could not help but admire the Han envoy standing so proudly.

This is how the nomadic people of the grasslands are. They fight for cattle and sheep livestock and rich water and grass for survival, and they are willing to use all immoral means just to survive.

But seeing people who are not afraid of life and death and have strong wills will also make them very happy. Being able to tame such warriors is like taming a wild horse, which is more exciting than drinking goat milk wine and marrying a woman.

"What is the name of this Han envoy? If he comes to Xiongnu again in the future, I will definitely hold a banquet with my noble ladies to entertain him." The slightly fat King Zuoguli stroked his beard and said with a smile to the guards on his left and right.

A Xiongnu translator with a thick moustache and a small tuft of hard beard beside him immediately saluted and said, "This Han envoy claims to be a descendant of Xiahou Ying, Xiahou Dun of Qiao County, Yuzhou."

"So his name is Xiahou Dun..." Prince Zuo Guli muttered to himself thoughtfully.

"The Han envoys came here with ill intentions. Liu Xuande wants to repeat his old tricks and trick the kings of our tribes into going to Jinyang so that he can capture all the Xiongnu in one fell swoop. Why does the King of Zuo Guli have to focus on the Han envoys?"

"You should think of ways with us to force the Han Dynasty to make peace with the Xiongnu."

When King Zuo Riju heard that King Zuo Guli was still thinking about finding out the name of the Han envoy, his eyes darkened and even his tone was filled with accusation.

After these words were spoken, King Zuoguli's expression instantly turned cold, and all the kings present vaguely felt that the situation was tense.

After King Youguli opposed sending troops and was captured, King Zuoguli was too slow in blocking the city gate, causing several of his household servants to escape from Zuoguo City. They were most likely to go to Jinyang to report the rebellion of the Huns to the Han emperor.

From then on, King Zuo Rizhu had a lot of dissatisfaction with King Zuo Guli.

"I hope the kings will stop fighting for now. The emperor of Han has come prepared and has specially chosen the end of the year to summon us. We should go to Jinyang City in the first month of next year. If we go, we will stay in Jinyang. If we don't go, we want to let the war horses and pack horses of the Xiongnu tribes starve for a whole winter, and when their legs are shaking, the Han army will attack us."

"The Han people are indeed cunning people."

It was King Youwen Yudi who spoke to dissuade the two men. At this moment, he frowned, thinking about the timing chosen by the Han Dynasty. For the Xiongnu, who were grazing cattle, sheep and horses to fatten up for the winter, this was a blow to their vital points.

There is still more than a month of bitter cold days ahead, and the herders are all trying to resist the cold winter and prepare for grazing, milking, and cheese-making in the spring of next year. They also want their sheep to give birth to healthy lambs in early spring. According to the Xiongnu customs, in the first month of the year, all the elders and children gather at the court of the Chanyu to offer sacrifices to the gods.

If the Han army attacked in the first month of the year, the Xiongnu tribes would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

Even if humans and animals acted together to resist the main force of the Han army, they could easily be defeated by the Han army.

The reason is that spring is a period of scarcity of water and grass and dispersion. The tribes must disperse to look for water and grass so that cattle, sheep and other livestock can eat more grass, drink melted snow water, restore their bodies to be strong and meaty, and produce milk.

The herders also need to understand the surrounding environment in advance, such as weather changes, the actual conditions of the grasslands in early spring, changes in the location of each household's pastures, as well as diseases and wild animal conditions. They must understand them clearly before they can drive the cattle, sheep and horses to graze.

Under such circumstances, who would still have the heart to fight against the Han army?
It was obvious that someone had informed the Han court of everything about the Xiongnu, putting them in a dilemma.

They usually raid in autumn, when sheep and horses are at their fattest, and in the first month of the year when they are weak.

But the Han emperor only gave two choices: either to submit obediently or to bite the bullet and choose to fight the Han army.

"Difficult, difficult, difficult!"

Thinking of the pros and cons, the kings of the Xiongnu tribes all looked worried.

(End of this chapter)