Tao Qian saw the tear marks on Liu Bei's face, and thought Liu Bei was really worried about his illness, and what was his worry about giving him the position of Zhou Mu, but Liu Bei waited for two years and finally listened again. After Tao Qian’s words, his heart was surging, but Liu Bei resisted it.
Liu Bei didn't change his face, waved his hand again and again, and said: "Never, how can your subordinates, He De, dare to be in the position of shepherd in the state, please mention it again after a public holiday."
Tao Qian sighed and said: "Cao Cao's army is coming soon, and Tao is ill. If Xuan De Gong refuses to take the position of shepherd in the state, then the people in the city..."
Of course Liu Bei can’t accept Tao Qian’s concession now. Tao Qian’s health has improved. He can’t wait to take over the position of Zhou Mu, what other officials would think, what would Xuzhou’s military and civilians think, Liu Bei’s not too much. With a lot of capital, he must maintain his tall image in order to gather more people's hearts. Therefore, Liu Bei will not accept Tao Qian’s stamp now, unless Tao Qian is too sick to get up.
However, Liu Bei will not let go of such a great opportunity. He sternly said: "It is good for the lord to recuperate with peace of mind. Soldiers will come to the file and the water will cover the earth. The subordinates are willing to lead the troops to fight against Cao Cao. Absolutely unacceptable,"
Tao Qian wanted to give in again, but Liu Bei refused to give up. Tao Qian had no choice but to order Liu Bei to restrain the soldiers and horses of the whole prefecture and meet Cao Cao.
Returning to the mansion, Guan Yu asked incomprehensibly: "Big Brother, since Tao Qian once again gave up the position of Zhou Mu, why didn't Big Brother take advantage of the situation?"
Liu Bei shook his head and said, "It's not that simple. Besides, I have the military power now. Is there any difference between being a state shepherd or not?"
Having said that, Liu Bei really rushed to prepare for the war. The 30,000 horses who had been withdrawn from Langya were arranged to serve as city defense in Xuzhou City, and the soldiers who had been stationed in Xuzhou City were transferred out of the city, ten lizha away from the city. The next two camps will become horns with Xuzhou. Liu Bei can’t understand. With such a good opportunity, how could Liu Xin and Yuan Shao remain silent.
In such troubled times, if you want to obtain all aspects of information, you cannot do without the secret spy team, and maintaining the operation of the secret spy requires huge financial support. Liu Bei does not have so much money. In terms of collecting intelligence, he will not only send There is no other way besides going out for some scouts, riding outposts, and naturally there is no way to learn about the agreement between Liu Xin and Cao Cao.
In fact, even if he did not enter into this non-aggression verbal agreement with Cao Cao, Liu Xin would not take this opportunity to use troops against Cao Cao. This is not only because Liu Xin wants to take advantage of the two years to rest and recuperate, but also because of his current focus. Has been placed on the border of Liangzhou,
Liu Xin will not implement the policy of “being an insider first when you’re fighting foreigners” like someone in later generations. It’s good to be able to calm down the inside and focus on the outside world. But in Liu Xin’s view, between him and the princes The conflict can only be counted as the internal contradictions of the ethnic group, and there will be time to deal with it slowly in the future, and Liu Xin knows that the greatest threat to the Han nation comes from the vast grasslands, from the Huns in the Qin and Han Dynasties, to the later Xianbei, and later to the Khitan and Jurchen and Mongolia have always been a sharp sword hanging on the head of the Han people. If you can’t solve it completely, you don’t know when this sharp sword will fall.
The biggest advantage of the grassland tribes is that they grew up on horseback and are good at riding and shooting, and the cavalry is the most powerful unit of this era. There is no one. When Liu Xin first arrived in Jingzhou, due to the lack of horses, it was a last resort. , I only tried my best to study the tactics of using infantry against cavalry, and designed such effective weapons as horse-cutting swords, broad axes, and horse nails. However, all of these can only be used for passive defense against cavalry. The super mobility of the troops can only be sighed. Therefore, if you want to defeat the grassland tribe, the best way is to use the cavalry to deal with the cavalry.
When he was in Hejian, Liu Xin wanted to build a strong cavalry, and made great efforts to develop and produce stirrups, horseshoes, and sabers. However, he did not have enough horses. When he arrived in Xiangyang, the situation was still the same. After a few years of hard work, I have saved less than 30,000 horses, and there are many bad horses in it. Today, in the battle of Dong Zhuo in the Northern Expedition, the number of horses seized alone is up to 150,000, all of them are good horses in Xiliang. , Which makes it possible to expand the cavalry,
It’s not enough to have a good horse. You must have a good rider. At this time, the training center set up by Liu Xin in the western suburbs of Xiangyang showed its effect. In the past, although there was a lack of horses, Liu Xin did not relax for a moment. Even the ordinary infantry has a month or so to practice riding and shooting each year. Therefore, when enough horses are obtained, Liu Xin will soon be able to form the sixth army of pure cavalry, and will be the first to The cavalry of the Fifth Army has undergone various expansions,
If someone thinks that Liu Xin has more than 100,000 excellent war horses at once, like a nouveau riche who dares to fight back against the Huns in this unsuitable winter, then he would be wrong. Liu Xin was chosen. The use of soldiers against the Huns at this time is not a simple decision, but a deliberate decision.
It is early winter. Although there have been several snowfalls in the north, Liu Xin can be sure that these few snowfalls are not heavy, otherwise it is impossible for the Hun tribes to attack the border of Liangzhou, since the Hun cavalry can be on the snowy field. His cavalry would certainly be able to do so. Moreover, Liu Xin immediately made the decision to fight back when he heard that the Huns had invaded the side. It was precisely because he knew that in the spring of previous years, the Xiongnu and other nomads on the grasslands would commit a large-scale offense. He wants to beat the Xiongnu tribes this winter, beat them to pain, conquer, and fear them. In this way, by next spring, there will be far fewer tribes still daring to offend the border, and the people on the border of Liangzhou will be able to survive. On a relatively peaceful day, it will be more convenient for him to gather the hearts of Liangzhou and consolidate his rule in Liangzhou. As long as Liangzhou is stable, the next step in rebuilding the Western Regions Protectorate will be much easier.
Liu Xin has always paid attention to the collection of various aspects of intelligence, and has a relatively detailed understanding of the hydrogeography of the grassland. Even without the guide provided by Yang Biao, he would not worry that his cavalry would lose their way in the desert, although these cavalry were formed. It didn’t take long, but the application of a large number of sophisticated equipment such as stirrups, sabers, cavalry-specific protective gear and bows and arrows, can completely offset the advantages of the Huns who are good at riding and shooting.
In addition to sophisticated equipment, Liu Xin also attaches great importance to the application of cavalry tactics. In his memory, the most successful use of cavalry in the cold weapon era is no more than the Mongolian cavalry led by Genghis Khan. If Liu Xin does not copy the tactics of the Mongolian cavalry Come here, it is really unreasonable. After the formation of these cavalry, apart from practicing riding and shooting, they are practicing this long-distance outflank, roundabout, split and combined attack tactics.
With these points, what can Liu Xin worry about? What's more, his dispatch this time is not a decisive battle with a large force of the Huns, but is preparing to carry out a devastating blow to the camps of some Huns tribes. The Huns who only knew that looting Han people would never think that Han people full of benevolence and morality would one day looting their tribes, because they were prepared to be unprepared, Liu Xin naturally had no fear.
After the Southern Huns were annexed to the Han, they have been placed in the Hetao area by the court. Over the years, with the help of the Han, the Southern Huns have repeatedly defeated the Northern Huns and accepted a large number of descendants of the Northern Huns. Their strength has greatly increased. However, in this way, It also caused its tribal composition to be increasingly complex, internally unstable and difficult to control.
In the fifth year of Zhongping, a major rebellion took place within the Southern Huns. Yufro was no longer recognized as the Xiongnu Shanyu, and Xuboduhou was established as Shanyu. Xuboduhou was to appease Yufro. The tribe, let Yufro’s son Liu Bao be the king of Zuo Xian, but the power of the Yufro clan is strong, and Liu Bao gradually grasped the power of the Southern Huns. At the beginning of the year, Liu Bao led a hundred thousand Huns cavalry to attack In Guanzhong, he was defeated and almost the entire army was annihilated. Liu Bao himself escaped by hiding in the mud and pretending to be dead. Xu Bugu Duhou took the opportunity to regain control of the Huns and started a battle with Liu Bao. As a result, he was injured by Liu Shi and died. As a result, Yu Fu Luo was elected by the tribe again and became the Xiongnu Shan Yu again.
Liu Bao originally thought that as soon as the Xu Bugu Duhou died, it was his turn to take the position of the Xiongnu Shanyu. As a result, he lost the trust of his people because of his loss in the Central Plains, and Shanyu returned to his old position. In Dad’s hands, therefore, there was a secret rift between the father and son. Although Yuvro was very old, he saw all of this clearly. In order to consolidate his position, he appointed again after he returned to power. His younger brother Hu Chuquan was the King Youxian, and he fought against Liu Bao. However, after this, the entire Southern Huns finally stabilized temporarily.
Since the spring, 100,000 male Huns have participated in the war between Dong Zhuo and Liu Xin. That battle lasted more than half a year. As a result, fewer than a hundred of the 100,000 Huns fled back. Then, the Huns themselves broke out again. A civil war was fought for more than two months before and after, and it just calmed down.
Although the women of the Huns are very capable, they can not only herd horses and sheep, but can also ride and shoot arrows, and can share most of the work. However, the ten-month war has made the Huns' lives increasingly difficult, especially with the advent of winter. To make them more difficult,
In previous years, they would also raid the Han border, just like a routine. However, incidents of the Huns harassing the border usually occur in the spring, because it is more suitable for cavalry operations at that time, but this year, some tribes can’t wait, war Let them die, many males, cows, sheep and horses have also suffered heavy losses. If they can’t plunder some supplies from the Han people, many people in the tribe will not survive this winter.
This time it was a small tribe who invaded the border of Liangzhou. In total, only more than 800 cavalrymen were dispatched. Many of these cavalrymen were only half-old children. They took advantage of the dark night and quietly crossed the border, stepping on the ankle deep. Snow raided a small village on the border of Liangzhou,