Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 447 Everything is ready
On the eleventh day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Jianxing (201), the imperial court was exchanging letters with the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu kept pretending to be deaf and dumb, using the excuse of grazing cattle and sheep as an excuse, and made all kinds of excuses to avoid coming to Jinyang City.

General Zhang Liao, General Lü Bu, Governor of Xihe, Li Dian, Governor of Yanmen, Qian Zhao, and Governor of Bingzhou, Mao Jie, all submitted letters to the emperor.

He said: "Hundreds of years ago, the Xiongnu tribes lived in the wilderness of the northern desert. Whenever it was extremely cold, the land would freeze and crack, the grass and trees would fall, and some herdsmen would freeze to death on the grassland. It was heartbreaking to hear about this. The Han people were kind and caring, and could not bear to see the Xiongnu people exposed to the wilderness, so they sent another letter to the Chanyu, asking him to relocate to several counties in Bingzhou."

"The Xiongnu have received the favors of the Han Dynasty for a long time, but the tribal kings have been robbing each other and relying on force to gain dominance without any thought of repaying. Since your Majesty's restoration, you have dominated the world, opened up the light of the sun and the moon, and exercised your discretion. Your grace is different from that of all other tribes, and you have granted the barbarians the opportunity to enter the Imperial College. The Han Dynasty has prospered to this point, but there has never been such benevolence and generosity. However, the Xiongnu kings still have the hearts of beasts and are unable to express gratitude."

"The Book of Changes says: All things need thunder to resolve. If there is no thunder when there should be thunder, it is because the sun is weak. Now the fog is not removed, then the effect will be gone. The net of heaven is vast and wide, and nothing can escape it. Thunder is the command, killing when there should be life. When the crossbow is drawn and the blade is drawn, the thunder will sound."

"All the ministers raise their swords to their palms, hoping to capture the Xiongnu kings and bring them to justice at the steps."

Seeing that the officials of Bingzhou were eager to fight, Liu Bei did not stop them. Instead, he asked his ministers to report the necessity of attacking the Huns.

He openly hesitated to confuse the Huns, but secretly mobilized the cavalry to the north and arrived at Yuanping County, Yanmen Commandery.

At this time, all the officials in Luoyang and Guanzhong said that the pro-Han Khan of the Xiongnu, Huchuquan, had surrendered to the Han Dynasty long ago, and the Xiongnu kings had repeatedly summoned him but he refused to go, so they regarded him as a rebel and should be attacked.

So Liu Bei immediately issued an edict to all states and barbarian leaders throughout the world, saying that this was not a war to annihilate the Huns, but a war to suppress rebellion. Anyone from outside the Great Wall who dared to send troops to participate would be an enemy of the Han Dynasty.

Even if he escapes thousands of miles away, the Han people will pursue him and chop off his head.

When the murderous warning from the Han Dynasty reached the tents of Budugen and Kebi Neng of the Xianbei, many Xianbei leaders who had clamored to respond to the Xiongnu kings' attack on Han territory were immediately silenced.

They also wanted to use this to threaten the Han Dynasty. If they did not give the "annual gifts" year after year, they would unite the Xianbei tribes with the Wuhuan and Xiongnu to invade the Han territory. They could also let the tribes form a grassland alliance to counter the increasingly powerful Han Dynasty.

At that time, these annual gifts could be distributed from top to bottom to the leaders of each tribe, so that herders in various places could better resist cold natural disasters. The Khan who proposed this strategy could also gain the love of the herders and it would be easier for him to unify the south of the desert.

Seeing the harsh words of the Han family, and looking at the seal of the emperor on the edict, the Han staff who understood the interests involved all frowned and said, "The edict of the emperor has been delivered, representing the face of the Han family. If the Khan tears up this edict, it is no different from killing the Han envoy holding the imperial seal. It is a statement of fighting to the death with the Han Dynasty."

"Now that the Gongyang School is prevalent in Luoyang, the Han people will surely unite and stockpile food and military equipment in order to defeat the Hu and avenge the humiliation."

After these words were spoken, no Xianbei people dared to speak out.

With the strength of the Han Dynasty, it might not be possible to send troops to the grassland to sweep across the southern desert, but if they just attack a single tribe, they will be unable to defeat anyone.

Apart from anything else, the gathering of the Youzhou cavalry, who are familiar with the grasslands, would be enough to cause everyone's pastures to suffer from poor harvests.

Moreover, they not only have to guard against attacks from the Han army, but also have to be on guard against attacks from their neighbors. They may have to learn from the same thing as the Northern Huns and migrate westward to avoid disaster.

After weighing the pros and cons, Budugen and Kebi Neng both chose to keep their troops in place and turned a blind eye to the Xiongnu's request for help. Saving the Xiongnu was also for their own benefit, not to sacrifice themselves for the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu were not their enemies, so why bother fighting so hard?

……

On the 25th day of the first lunar month, the Secretariat, under the order of the Son of Heaven, formally issued a military order to attack the Xiongnu. Gongsun Zan and Ma Teng led 3,675 Qiang cavalry from Ding'an County and merged with the infantry of Duan Wei stationed in Fuping County of Beidi County. They then swept the northern part of Beidi County, captured Shuofang County, and annihilated the Han clan's Guduhou tribe and the six kings of the Xiongnu.

Zhang Liao, who was stationed in Shangjun, led Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, and Yan Yan with 4,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and more than 10,000 auxiliary soldiers, 400 Wugang chariots, and 200 crossbow carts. They went north from Fushi to Baitu County, and then went straight to the Xiongnu royal court Zuoguo City along the mountains.

Li Dian of Xihe County led Xiahou Yuan and Cao Chun with 3,000 infantrymen, 3,000 Hedong Xiongnu cavalry, 6,000 auxiliary soldiers, and more than 600 Wugang chariots. They went north along the river from Lin County to wipe out the troops of the Xihe Xiongnu Zuo and You Zhanjiang Wang, until they arrived at Shanan in Yunzhong County.

Lu Bu led 7,592 infantry and cavalry troops from Yinguan in Yanmen County to attack and destroy the Xiongnu tribe in Dingxiang County. He then took advantage of the situation to recover the Xihe counties and subdue the Xiongnu.

Yanmen prefect Qian Zhao continued to stay in Yinguan to dispatch food and fodder for the army.

General Guan Yu led more than 10,000 infantry, 4,000 Youzhou cavalry, and 20,000 auxiliary soldiers to Juyang in Shanggu County. Ju Su and Guo Tu also followed the army as military staff. Xin Ping stayed in Guangyang County, while Tian Yu, the acting governor of Yuyang, and Cao Hong, the acting governor of Youbeiping, stayed where they were to guard against the Wuhuan in the three counties.

Yan Rou, the commander of the Wuhuan army, also led 3,000 Youzhou cavalrymen to stay near Yuyang County.

After receiving the imperial edict, Shanggushi Prefect Liu Ye and Daijunshi Prefect Bu Zhi immediately ordered each county to open the government storehouses and move the stored logs and stones to the top of the city walls to guard against sudden attacks from the Xianbei people in the north.

After arranging everything in Jinyang, Liu Bei left Crown Prince Liu Yong in Jinyang to be taken care of by Mao Jie, Fa Zheng and others, and also left Dian Wei and Xu Chu with more than a thousand people in the temporary palace.

He smiled and rejected all the letters of dissuasion from his ministers, and took with him Zhao Yun, Huang Quan, Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun, Chen Dao, Wu Yi, Ran Shu and other generals and captains, and led the Huben Cavalry, the Xiandeng Camp and the Shengshe Camp of the central army, totaling 12,000 combat soldiers and 20,000 auxiliary soldiers from Taiyuan County to the north of Yanmen.

He prepared to attack the Xiongnu tribes near Dingxiang together with Lu Bu, and then take Yunzhong and Wuyuan counties with Li Dian, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Chun and others, cut off the Xiongnu's escape route outside the Great Wall, and control the Xianbei Budugen so that he could not look west.

At the same time, he ordered Xun Yu to send envoys to the Xianbei tribes in Hexi to persuade them to return to Han. The Xianbei in Hexi had been fighting for water, grass and pastures for several years, and especially heard that the Tuoba clan in the east was defeated by other tribes, so they asked the Han for protection.

At this time, Bu Dugen must be allowed to be in a state of confusion everywhere, so that he cannot integrate the Xianbei in the west.

Otherwise, if this beast had followed the example of the Xiongnu Chanyu Maodun, and heard that the Han emperor had led his army to Yunzhong County, he would have brought all the Western Xianbei to Bingzhou, and then this battle would have been difficult to fight.

"There are too many bad guests from our Han neighborhood, and we can't entertain them all at once!"

Liu Bei looked at the propped-up map and couldn't help laughing.

(End of this chapter)