Han official!

Chapter 181 Huo Qubing

After the bestowal of rewards was completed, Emperor Wu of Han announced a banquet. Guo Jie was about to leave when he suddenly heard Huo Qubing's voice: "Your Majesty, I have a request."

The hall fell silent immediately.

"speak."

"In this battle of Hexi, if it weren't for my uncle-in-law, General Guo Jie, holding back the enemy's main force on the flank, I would not have been able to achieve such results," Huo Qubing said loudly. "I humbly request Your Majesty to reward my uncle-in-law again."

Guo Jie was startled and was about to speak when Emperor Wu of Han laughed and said, "What a grateful Marquis of Champion! Guo Jie, you have taught him well."

"Your Majesty, I dare not accept such praise," Guo Jie quickly replied. "Qu Bing's success today is entirely due to Your Majesty's guidance and support."

Emperor Wu of Han waved his hand and said, "Fine, since the Marquis of Champion has spoken, I will reward you with another three hundred taels of gold and thirty bolts of brocade."

"Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty!" Guo Jie kowtowed again.

The banquet began, and the singing and dancing filled the air.

Guo Jie sat at the banquet, watching the officials and civil servants toasting each other, but he still felt uneasy.

He noticed that several pairs of eyes would occasionally sweep over him, with a hint of scrutiny and apprehension.

"Uncle," Huo Qubing walked over with a wine glass in his hand, "Why are you sitting alone?"

Guo Jie smiled and said, "I'm getting old, not like you young people."

Huo Qubing sat down beside him and whispered, "Uncle, is something you're worried about?"

Guo Jie shook his head, about to speak, when he suddenly heard a commotion.

A eunuch rushed in and whispered a few words in Emperor Wu's ear.

Emperor Wu of Han's expression immediately turned serious.

“My dear ministers,” Emperor Wu of Han stood up, “we have just received an urgent report that the Xiongnu Chanyu has sent an envoy to sue for peace.”

There was an uproar in the hall.

The bronze animal head in the Qilin Hall emitted wisps of incense, but it couldn't quell the restlessness throughout the hall.

As the Xiongnu delegation walked along, stepping on the brocade-like carpet, Guo Jie noticed that the leader was wearing a gold wolf ring on his left ear.

These were ornaments reserved for members of the Xiongnu royal family.

"The Great Chanyu's sincerity is evident here." The envoy, Hunxie Guduhou, placed one hand on his chest, while his attendants carried up five copper-inlaid wooden boxes.

The moment the box lid was opened, the soft light of the South China Sea Pearl and the cold brilliance of the Tianshan Jade Wall complemented each other, but Huo Qubing gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.

Ten years ago, during the siege of Mayi, the Xiongnu also used thirty cartloads of gold and silk to lull the Han army into a false sense of security.

Emperor Wu of Han picked up a sheepskin map and traced the outline of the Yin Mountains with his fingertips: "What does the Chanyu want?"

“A marriage alliance.” Hunxie Guduhou’s Chinese had a pastoral quality to it, “just like the queen who sent the Han dynasty’s moon to the grasslands back then.”

He suddenly turned to Huo Qubing, "I heard that the Marquis of Champion is still unmarried? Our Chanyu has a younger sister."

The crisp sound of the jade cup falling to the ground interrupted the conversation.

Huo Qubing abruptly stood up, the young general's shadow falling on the messenger's face: "Last spring, you slaughtered three villages in Longxi."

He unsheathed his sword and slammed it heavily on the table. The bloodstains on the scabbard, not yet wiped clean, gleamed black in the candlelight. "There are twenty-seven heads of Xiongnu centurions in here. Should we take them for a marriage alliance?"

"Qubing!" Wei Qing's low shout froze the air. Guo Jie saw that the Grand Marshal's right hand was pressed on Huo Qubing's lower back, a technique used in the army to subdue restless warhorses.

Hunxie Guduhou laughed, revealing his gold-inlaid canine teeth: "The Han emperor is wise and should know that the grasslands south of the Gobi Desert cannot fatten warhorses. If the border markets are opened, we will exchange three hundred stallions for them."

"What should we exchange?" Emperor Wu of Han suddenly asked, his twelve-tasseled jade ornaments swaying slightly in front of his forehead. "Or the craftsmen of my great Han Dynasty? Or the art of iron smelting?"

The envoy's smile froze on his face.

Only then did Guo Jie realize that the bottom of those wooden boxes filled with treasures was covered with a strange layer of black sand.

That is a type of refined iron ore unique to the Hexi Corridor.

“Your Majesty,” the Imperial Censor Zhang Tang, who had been silent until now, suddenly stepped forward, “I believe we should follow the precedent set by Emperor Wen and grant his request.”

"Your Majesty!" Huo Qubing broke free from Wei Qing's restraint. "Last month, when I pursued the Xiongnu to Juyan Lake, I saw them using our Han prisoners as archery targets!"

His voice echoed throughout the hall, and several civil officials hurriedly covered their ears with their sleeves.

Emperor Wu of Han raised his hand to stop the crowd, but his gaze fell on Guo Jie: "What does Marquis Zhi think?"

Guo Jie felt a cold sweat seep out of his back.

He noticed that half of a bamboo slip was sticking out of Zhang Tang's sleeve.

That was a copy of the memorial impeaching him for "privately keeping retainers" half a month ago.

"I heard that the Xiongnu envoy passed through Xiliu Camp on his way here." Guo Jie slowly rose, the jade pendant at his waist making a soft tinkling sound. "Did you see the pine and cypress trees that General Zhou Yafu planted back then?"

He walked up to Hunxie Guduhou, suddenly tore open the other's fur coat, revealing a wolf totem sewn on the inside. "Just like these stitches, the military flag of the Xiliu Camp back then was also dyed red with the blood of Xiongnu prisoners of war."

Amidst the uproar in the hall, Emperor Wu of Han's laughter was exceptionally clear: "Well done, Marquis of Zhi! Issue an edict to set up a football field at Ganquan Palace, and invite the envoy to watch the match in three days."

As he stepped down from the steps, his dark robe with dragon patterns swept across Huo Qubing's sword-wielding hand. "Champion Marquis, your sword should be stained with the blood of living people."

As Huo Qubing left the palace late at night, he stopped Guo Jie at the Sima Gate: "Uncle, why did you mention the Willow Camp today?"

The old general removed his pheasant-feather cap, letting the night wind scatter the white hair at his temples: "You weren't even born the year Zhou Yafu starved to death in prison."

He pointed to the Imperial Guards patrolling the palace walls, "but his blood still seeps into the cracks in the bricks of Weiyang Palace."

The young general looked in that direction and saw the moonlight shining on a dark red stain on the city wall.

When the drumbeats sounded, he suddenly remembered the wolf totem peeking out from under the fur coat of Hunxie Guduhou.

The embroidery thread resembling wolf eyes is clearly the most fashionable sparrow-head stitch in Chang'an.

The north wind of the desert swirled sand and gravel, which struck the iron armor with a soft crackling sound.

Guo Jie bent down and grabbed a handful of grass roots mixed with ice shards, looking at the dark red blood seeping from between his palm lines.

These are traces left by the Xiongnu cavalry who fed their warhorses with poisonous plants from saline-alkali land.

"The General has given the order!"

The messenger's voice was torn apart by the gale, and Wei Qing's central army banner was faintly visible ten miles away.

Guo Jie squinted and saw the black tide floating on the distant horizon, which was the elite of Yizhixie Chanyu's royal court.

As he turned around, the Dingjiang Sword at his waist struck the bronze tiger tally with a dull thud.

Three hundred armored chariots formed a procession in the open field, each chariot shaft tied with linen soaked in kerosene.

Young Captain Li Gan was adjusting the sight of his crossbow when Guo Jie suddenly grabbed his shoulder: "Change to armor-piercing arrows; the Xiongnu are wearing scale armor."

A hundred miles away, Huo Qubing reined in his horse and stopped. He removed his leather arm guards and let them drift southeast in the wind.

This is the signal for the all-out offensive agreed upon with Wei Qing.

Fifty thousand elite cavalrymen formed a goose-shaped formation behind him, and the soldiers at the front suddenly raised their iron shields, the sunlight reflecting off the shields with a dazzling silver light.

"Raise your spear!"

With Huo Qubing's roar, two-zhang-long spears pointed forward simultaneously, and the steel forest formed by the spearheads cast a ferocious shadow on the grassland.

When the Left Wise King's scouts saw this scene, their warhorses suddenly reared up.

These Akhal-Teke horses from the Western Regions were so frightened by the soaring murderous aura that they neighed incessantly.

As the water clock in Weiyang Palace struck noon, the first clap of thunder echoed across the northern grasslands.

It wasn't thunder from the heavens, but the roar of the Han army's crossbows firing in unison. Three thousand fire arrows streaked across the sky, igniting the leather shields of the Xiongnu vanguard into walls of fire.

Guo Jie saw dozens of blind horses rushing out of the sea of ​​fire, the bronze armor of the Xiongnu cavalrymen on their backs already melted red.

"Wu Gang chariot, advance!" Guo Jiejian pointed forward.

As the iron wheels rolled over the burning meadow, a long spear suddenly emerged from the gaps in the wagon formation.

The charging Xiongnu cavalry fell in droves like waves of wheat, the mournful cries of dying warhorses and the scraping of metal weaving together a hellish symphony.

Wei Qing's central army moved at this moment.

The heavily armored cavalry, like a black torrent, surged straight into the main camp of the Xiongnu chieftain through the gaps in the burning fire wall.

On the banner chariot of the Grand Marshal, twenty-eight cowhide war drums sounded simultaneously, the sound waves shaking the clouds.

Guo Jie saw from afar that Yi Zhixie's golden wolf-head banner began to move backward, and suddenly remembered that full moon night at the Ganquan Palace Cuju field.

The words Emperor Wu of Han uttered as he traced the sand table with his fingertips, "Strike its head and its tail will respond," are now becoming a reality amidst bloodshed and fire.

"Uncle! The Northwest!" Huo Qubing's shout pierced the battlefield. Guo Jie turned his head and saw the smoke and dust rising on the horizon; it was the reinforcements of the Left Wise King.

The young general's crimson battle robe had turned dark brown, and three Xiongnu nobles were strung on his lance, with the man in the foremost golden crown still twitching.

Guo Jie blew his bone whistle, and three thousand light cavalrymen who had been lying in ambush behind the sand dunes suddenly appeared.

These brave warriors from Longxi did not wear heavy armor, and each of them had five javelins hanging on each side of their saddles.

When the Xiongnu reinforcements came within a hundred paces, a sudden downpour of steel rained down from the sky.

The spearhead, an improvement on the one used by the Southern Yue people, can penetrate three layers of cowhide shields.

Wei Qing's heavy cavalry and Huo Qubing's light cavalry completed their encirclement at this time.

The black and red of the Han army intertwined on the golden grassland, forming a yin-yang symbol, while the Xiongnu cavalry trapped in the middle resembled grains of wheat stuck in a millstone.

Guo Jie saw a Xiongnu commander cut off his own left arm with his sword and use his blood to draw symbols on the golden statue used for sacrificial rites.

This was a shamanic ritual to invoke the spirits, but the only response he received was the sound of the Han army's crossbows being pulled.

As the sun set, Huo Qubing charged alone up Mount Langjuxu. His scale armor was tattered, revealing a deep arrow wound on his left shoulder that exposed bone, but he still held the banner high in his hand.

The mountain wind whipped up the tattered battle flag, and the young general suddenly burst into laughter, startling the crows that filled the mountain.

At his feet, surviving Han soldiers were chopping down pine trees with Xiongnu battle axes.

These timbers will be used to make the gates of a triumphant chariot, and the fragrance of pine resin will forever suppress the smell of blood and rust.

Seventy miles away at Wei Qing's main camp, Guo Jie was wrapping Li Gan's severed arm in cloth.

The young captain gritted his teeth: "General, my crossbow."

Guo Jie stuffed the blood-stained crossbow into his arms and turned to look south.

As dusk settles over Chang'an, the city should be brightly lit, and the bronze incense burner in Weiyang Palace should be releasing its fifth round of smoke.

A sandstorm carrying sparks swept across the battlefield, turning the setting sun crimson.

Yizhixie Chanyu's bronze chariot rolled over the corpses of his personal guards, and the seven heads of Han soldiers hanging on the chariot shaft collided repeatedly with the jolts.

Guo Jie drew his bow fully from three hundred paces away, but the arrow suddenly turned.

Three mad horses with fiery tails are charging towards the Han army's chariot formation.

"Intercept the horse!" The old general's roar was drowned out by the storm of metal.

Twenty Han soldiers, clutching long-handled axes, rolled into the dust, the dull thud of axes striking horse legs mingling with the sound of bones cracking.

As the last fiery horse collapsed in front of the chariot formation, Guo Jie saw that the pottery jar tied to its belly was hissing and smoking.

"boom!"

The deafening explosion hurled three armored vehicles into the air, sending poisoned caltrops flying in a fan shape.

Li Gan used his severed arm to protect his face, and heard the splattering sound of metal piercing flesh echoing all around him.

This was gunpowder made by a Xiongnu shaman using Han blacksmiths, mixed with the juice of hemlock from the grasslands.

Thirty miles away, Huo Qubing's red banner suddenly turned northwest.

The young general shook off his pursuers, and with his spear, he lifted the blood-stained Xiongnu wolf banner and planted it atop the sand dune.

Five Xiongnu archers emerged from the shadows, the goose feathers on their bone arrows gleaming blue in the twilight.

"Raise your shields!" The head of the personal guard, Zhao Ponu, shouted a beat late.

Three armor-piercing arrows pierced the neck of Huo Qubing's horse. As the warhorse neighed and knelt down, the young general took advantage of the momentum to roll into the sand pit and throw his lance, pinning the two archers together.

Just as the remaining Xiongnu were about to nock their arrows, the ground suddenly trembled violently.

Wei Qing's central army cavalry emerged like black dragons from the water, their hooves stirring up waves of sand that gleamed with a cold light.

This is the improved chain-armored cavalry of the Grand Marshal, where each warhorse is linked to the left and right sides with iron chains, forming a mobile steel wall.

"Qubing!" Wei Qing's Zhanlu sword cleaved through the last archer's scimitar, the blade sparking as it grazed the Xiongnu man's forehead.

Huo Qubing, however, stared at the cracks in his uncle's armor.

The slash mark on his chest was exactly the same as the one his uncle had used seven years ago to shield him from an assassin's attack.

Suddenly, the sound of a huqin (a type of reed pipe) rang out from the eastern battlefield.

Guo Jie wiped the blood from his brow bone and saw nine large white yak-tail banners rising from the Xiongnu ranks.

This is the signal for the "Blood Wolf Cavalry," the personal guards of the Chanyu, to go into battle.

These cavalrymen, wearing bronze wolf masks and with five throwing axes hanging from each side of their saddles, were the very culprits behind last year's massacre in Dai County.

"Repeating crossbow carts, advance!" Guo Jie waved his command flag.

Three hundred ballistae, improved from the Qin crossbow, were rolled out. Each giant crossbow, requiring six people to operate, had three-edged arrowheads that gleamed with a ghostly blue light.

When the Blood Wolf Riders entered their two-hundred-pace range, the roar of their crossbows shook down the remaining clouds on the horizon.

The first volley of nine hundred heavy arrows tore through the air, pinning the front-line Huns and their horses to pieces.

The second volley of crossbow bolts suddenly turned high into the sky, breaking apart into countless showers of iron at its highest point.

This is a mother-and-child arrow designed by Mohist craftsmen. The structure of the arrow containing an arrow makes the Xiongnu's leather shields useless.

The sound of horns came from the direction of the Chanyu's golden tent, and the surviving Xiongnu cavalry suddenly turned their horses around.

Huo Qubing spat out blood and was about to give chase when he saw Wei Qing raise his dripping Zhanlu sword: "Don't pursue a desperate enemy!"

The young general's protest was swept away by the night wind.

Guo Jie arrived on horseback, carrying the wolf-head helmet of the Blood Wolf Cavalry's centurion: "They are luring us into Death Valley; there is an ambush in the valley."

As if to confirm the old general's words, a green smoke suddenly rose from the northern horizon.

That was a signal from the Xiongnu shaman who burned wolf dung mixed with malachite, and it was also intelligence that the Han scouts risked their lives to retrieve.

Izhixie hid his last 30,000 cavalry in Death Valley, a valley filled with poisonous springs and quicksand.

"The General has ordered! Set up camp on the spot!" The messenger's voice trembled with relief, as if he had just survived a disaster.

Huo Qubing suddenly seized the corner flag, his crimson battle robe fluttering like a blood-red banner in the deepening night: "Those who can fight, follow me! We're going to intercept the water source!"

(End of this chapter)