The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 171 Victory without arrogance, defeat without discouragement

When the snow on the ground was almost up to their ankles, there was no living thing to be seen outside. The Qin soldiers who should have been guarding the city walls were now huddled inside the city towers, burning fires to keep warm.

Inside the military camp in Wuwei County, a soldier trudged through the snow toward General Zhang Han's mansion.

He knocked on the gate of the general's mansion, and the gate was immediately opened.

The soldier was also invited into the general's mansion.

The general's mansion was warmed by a brazier, which kept out the sound of the wind.

Zhang Han looked at the letter. It was a message sent by Meng Tian from Yunzhong County, a thousand miles away. Modu had led three thousand cavalrymen away from the territory of the Donghu Xiongnu and had returned to his northern desert.

The messenger was from the north, drinking hot ginger soup from a bowl. He said, "Our general has another message to send."

Zhang Han said, "Speak."

"When Modu attacked the Donghu people's royal court on a snowy night, he often did unexpected things. We must be wary of Modu's unusual actions this time."

Zhang Han looked at the paper with a serious expression and bright eyes, and said, "Understood."

Zhang Han did not want to leave the Hexi Corridor; in fact, he wished he could send troops now, leading a cavalry unit to intercept Modu.

He had a vague feeling that this Modu Chanyu was more powerful than Touman Chanyu, and that this great Chanyu would become a hidden danger for the Qin Dynasty in the future.

But this snowy weather was definitely not the time for marching.

Even if Modu were incredibly brave and destroyed the Donghu royal court in late autumn, he still couldn't trek thousands of miles in the dead of winter to attack the Yuezhi king.

The Qin army couldn't move, and Maodun was even less able to move in the colder north.

Modu initially wanted to perform a sacrificial ceremony on the snow-capped peaks of the Qilian Mountains and then take over the Hexi Corridor, but he was stopped by the Qin army that time.

The Yuezhi people also have a tradition of worshipping the Qilian Mountains to the east.

Having spent many years mingling with people from the Western Regions and drinking with them, Chen Ping knew that the Yuezhi people worshipped the wolf king, and their Yuezhi king wore clothes with patterns of wolves devouring sheep.

Previously, Chen Ping still had doubts about Li You's words. Prince Fusu let General Zhang Han control the Hexi Corridor in order to obtain the entire Western Regions.
What was the point of conquering the Western Regions?
Until Chen Ping heard a legend that every royal family of the Yuezhi had countless gold artifacts, and that in the distant Altai Mountains, the birthplace of the Yuezhi people, there was Altai Mountain gold dust.

Legend has it that there is inexhaustible gold dust in that mountain.

Recently, Chen Ping observed the merchants from the Western Regions and indeed discovered a considerable amount of gold.

Therefore, Chen Ping now deeply understood Prince Fusu's good intentions. Even if Prince Fusu hadn't said anything, Chen Ping would still have taken that mountain of gold.

This winter, Chen Ping stayed at the foot of the Qilian Mountains, seemingly unconcerned about the conflicts outside.

It wasn't until the winter of this year passed, in the thirty-fourth year of the First Emperor's reign, that General Zhang Han's troops stationed in Wuwei County finally set out.

The warhorses' hooves pounded across the snow as they headed west.

The pasture grass had just turned green, and the Yuezhi people, dressed in heavy animal skins, were holding a sacrifice at Mazong Mountain. The Yuezhi king, wearing a crown, was devoutly worshipping the wolf king's head.

The beautiful gold artifacts used in the sacrificial rites gleamed dazzlingly in the sunlight.

In the midst of this sacrificial ceremony, a Yuezhi person hurriedly came to report.

After the Yuezhi man finished reporting, the rest of the Yuezhi people began to panic, as Modu Chanyu arrived with his cavalry.

Last winter, Modu destroyed the Donghu, and now he is leading his cavalry to seek revenge on the Yuezhi.

Just as the Yuezhi people were holding their sacrificial ceremony, Modu came to disrupt it, which enraged the Yuezhi king. He loudly commanded the crowd, and squads of Yuezhi cavalry gathered together, ready to fight Modu to the death.

An elderly man from the Yuezhi royal court was trying to persuade the Yuezhi king, but the king, burning with rage, knew that Modu was doing it on purpose, deliberately choosing to attack during the Yuezhi people's sacrificial season.

The Yuezhi king wanted to kill the horse thief who had once escaped right under his nose.

The warm spring breeze had not yet swept across the Hexi Corridor, nor reached Mazong Mountain. It was the dry season in this area, and warhorses trod across the shallows of the stream.

Modu's Xiongnu cavalry were charging toward the Yuezhi tribe, while Modu, with even more cavalry, followed closely behind.

The Xiongnu cavalry were about to reach Mazong Mountain, and the Yuezhi cavalry were already prepared at the foot of the mountain.

A whistling arrow pierced the sky as the Xiongnu charged towards the Yuezhi. The two armies clashed, and Modu, carrying the grudges of the past ten years, was determined to take everything back from the Yuezhi king.

At the foot of Mazong Mountain, the streams were stained red, and shouts of battle echoed endlessly.

The massacre lasted for two days, during which Modu nearly wiped out the Yuezhi people in the area.

This area was called Hexi by the Western Rong people, so this battle was another Hexi annihilation battle of Modu.

Maodun carried the head of the Yuezhi king, a fierce smile on his face. He wrapped the head up, as the Yuezhi people liked to use gold utensils as drinking vessels.

With a fierce smile on his face, Maodun said coldly in the Xiongnu language, "I will use the head of the Yuezhi king as a drinking vessel."

Upon hearing this, the surrounding Xiongnu people immediately cheered.

Although many Yuezhi people fled towards the Altai Mountains after this battle, Modu didn't care, as he could deal with them slowly later.

Having annihilated the Donghu and destroyed the Yuezhi king of Hexi, Modu Chanyu's fearsome reputation will surely resound throughout the Western Regions and the grasslands.

Maodun grabbed the hair from his head and tied it to the horse's neck, but then someone came to report.

Upon hearing this, Maodun quickly turned his head to the east, towards the Qilian Mountains, where the Qin army was approaching. He mounted his horse again, wiping the blood from his hands. He had almost forgotten that he had an old grudge against the Qin army.

The Qin army arrived too quickly; Modu's army was still cleaning up the battlefield and had not yet had time to rest.

The Qin army's crossbow bolts came whistling through the air, and the Xiongnu soldiers who had not yet mounted their horses fell one after another amidst the whistling of the arrows.

Zhang Han, wielding a long spear, charged into the camp at Mazong Mountain.

With their warhorses trampling over the corpses that had been rotting in the same spot for two days, the Qin army slaughtered all the remaining Xiongnu.

The Qin army in the northwest clashed with Modu's Xiongnu for the first time. The Qin cavalry charged in formation and crushed the scattered Xiongnu.

The enemy arrived too quickly, which was beyond Maodun's expectations. He had thought that with the weather still so cold, the Qin army would only be hiding in the city they had built.

Who would have thought they would come to kill us now?

Modu gritted his teeth and retreated northwards with the head of the Yuezhi king and the remaining cavalry.

When the killing stopped, Zhang Han looked at the battlefield again and realized that most of the corpses were not killed by the Qin army, but by the Xiongnu people who killed the Yuezhi people.

"General!"

A Qin soldier offered a reminder.

Zhang Han looked towards the north side of Mazong Mountain and saw a group of Xiongnu people leaving across the Baiyang River.

"General, should we give chase or not?"

Looking at the ravaged area below Mazong Mountain, Zhang Han said, "Send a team to follow them for a day. If the Xiongnu still haven't stopped by nightfall, return."

"Yes."

If the Xiongnu flee overnight, there's no need to pursue them. But if they dare to stop and set up camp, the Qin army will dare to chase them.

But Modu and his cavalry did not stop; they continued their northward flight until nightfall.

The Qin army won this battle, beheading more than two thousand Xiongnu people.

This battle by the Qin army showed the people of the Western Regions that from now on, the Western Regions would not only have the infamous reputation of Modu, but also the Qin army, which could deal with the Xiongnu.

Zhang Han ordered his soldiers to clear the area below Mazong Mountain, where they seized a considerable number of arrows, scimitars, and gold artifacts.

Li You explained, "When Maodun attacked Mazong Mountain, it was during the Yuezhi people's sacrificial season, and they would bring a lot of gold artifacts with them during their sacrifices."

The gold artifacts filled three whole carts, and there were also weapons scattered all over the ground; the haul after two days of trekking was quite substantial.

When fighting the Xiongnu, speed is crucial. Just like Meng Tian's overnight raid on the valley, your cavalry must be faster than the Xiongnu to surround and kill them.

Zhang Han understood Meng Tian's intentions more and more, and also understood why Meng Tian had raised a large number of warhorses at the foot of Helan Mountain.

In cavalry warfare, speed is paramount.

Modu Chanyu destroyed the Donghu and killed the Yuezhi king, relying on the speed of his cavalry.

After the Qin army cleaned up the battlefield, they also discovered a considerable number of people, mostly Yuezhi women and children hiding behind Mazong Mountain.

Zhang Han returned to the Hexi Corridor with the spoils of war. In this battle, he beheaded more than 2,000 Xiongnu people, obtained three cartloads of gold, 3,000 head of livestock, and captured 5,000 Yuezhi people.

The Qin army took away all the people, livestock, and valuables from Mazong Mountain, which will be transported back to the Hexi Corridor.

Although General Zhang Han failed to capture Modu in this battle, he still caused the Xiongnu to lose two thousand cavalrymen.

After withdrawing all his troops back to the Hexi Corridor, Zhang Han wrote a letter to Xianyang, reporting the course and outcome of the battle.

The letter left Wuwei County, passed through Wushaoling, entered Longxi County, and headed towards Xianyang.

At midday, Xianyang still had some warmth, but it was only the warmth of the sun. The snow on the rooftops had not yet melted, and an occasional gust of cold wind would make people shrink their necks in the cold.

After reading Zhang Han's letter, Fusu sat in the Prime Minister's residence and handed it to his teacher.

Li Si read the letter and wrote: "General Zhang Han, despite this great victory, still brings a lot of worries in his report."

Fusu said, "Shang Jun once said that a general who is not arrogant in victory and not discouraged in defeat is rare. He is the king's army. Zhang Han is such a general."

Li Si said, "I never expected that Maodun would actually kill the Yuezhi king and take his head with him."

Fierce, cruel, cunning, and vengeful... This is how the people of the Western Regions and the Xiongnu tribes described Maodun.

Zhang Han's concern in his letter stemmed from the rise of Modu. In just four years, Modu had become rampant in the north and even managed to invade the Western Regions, where he beheaded the Yuezhi king.

In addition, Zhang Han also received news that Modu Chanyu harbored resentment over the Qin army's preemptive capture of the Hexi Corridor.

The enmity between the Qin Dynasty and Modu Chanyu had already been established.

Moreover, Modu also gathered the remaining followers of Touman Chanyu from that time, because the Qin army had wiped them out in the Battle of Mobei, and the hatred had continued.

The Qin army and those Xiongnu leaders were already sworn enemies.

(End of this chapter)