Yumen Pass is the only way to go to the Western Regions. There has been no war for many years, and it has almost changed from a border pass to a business pass. There are more tax officials than military officials in and outside the city.
General Shao Kejian came to Yumen Pass a few months ago to reorganize the garrison and repair the city wall. At the same time, he sent scouts from afar to monitor the movements of the Western Regions.
The last batch of Chu people returned from the Western Regions two months ago. After that, people from the Western Regions occasionally knocked on the gate, bringing a lot of chaotic news. No one has ever been to Huzhucheng again. The countries in the Western Regions are capricious, but only in The mouth is fierce, and he still respects the people of Chu.
One evening in the early summer, the scouts returned to the city to report that another group of people came from the Western Regions and asked to enter the city. They had special identities. It was said that they were all extremely Western princes and nobles. .
A total of more than 100 people, dressed in strange and gorgeous clothes, spoke a language that no one could understand. When they saw the generals of the Chu army after entering the city, they held a lot of jewelry in their hands. There was an interpreter in the team, claiming to be holding the jewelry. It is a king, and as long as Da Chu is willing to accept it, he is willing to give more jewels.
Shao Kejian asked the guests to put away their belongings, sent someone to take them into the post house in the city, and inquired about the news in detail as usual.
These people fled to the Western Regions two years ago, so they don't know the status of the tigers in the city, but I heard rumors that the soldiers in the city killed each other because of differences, and they were attacked by enemy troops. The only reason why Chanyu has not attacked the Western Regions is that he needs time to gather a large number of troops.
It is said that in the extreme west, from the grasslands in the north to the sea in the south, all of them have surrendered to the gods and ghosts, and will jointly form an army of up to one million people to annex Da Chu in one fell swoop, fulfilling the final wish of the gods and ghosts.
Shao Kejian wrote an official letter and sent it to the capital with an urgent letter. It is up to the imperial court to decide how to receive these fleeing guests.
In the next few days, several groups of refugees arrived, and the number became more and more numerous. There were aristocrats from the extreme west, as well as aborigines from the Western Regions. Some of them swore that they had passed by Huzhu City not long ago, and it was indeed an empty city. , Abandoned city, the city walls were torn down.
Half a month later, Shao Kejian received an order from the imperial court, asking him to investigate in detail, and the kings and their interpreters could be sent to live in the capital, while their entourage stayed at Yuguan Gate.
Shao Kejian was an obedient general, and he immediately followed his orders, planning to spend ten days to screen and then send the guests to the capital.
There has been no war in Yumenguan for decades. Even in the era of frequent wars between the Great Chu and the Xiongnu, it has not been affected. All the news that Shao Kejian has obtained shows that the Western Regions are unstable, but there is no war yet. Although the countries have Yi Xin, at most secretly flattered the powerful enemy in the extreme west, and did not dare to disrespect Da Chu.
Therefore, when another group of refugees arrived, the entire Yumen Pass, including Shao Kejian, did not pay much attention, and received them as usual and sent them to live in the post house.
Yumenguan is often visited by foreigners. The post house here is bigger than the capital, and it is built in the city, occupying a corner of the city and enough to accommodate thousands of people.
That night, the newly arrived refugees started to slaughter the princes and nobles who had fled here before. At the same time, they set fire to all parts of the city, trying to seize a city gate.
Shao Kejian was shocked when he heard the news. He personally led the soldiers to suppress it. After tossing for half the night, the situation finally calmed down, but the loss was irreparable. Dozens of distinguished guests were killed. They fled thousands of miles to Da Chu, but it turned out that the real end.
Most of the assassins were killed, leaving more than a dozen prisoners, shouting loudly, and the interpreter said frightened: "Zhengtianzi... God and ghosts are all people who have revenge, and who have revenge, will never be soft-hearted, and will never forgive. , Chu people... Great Chu will die..."
The assassins also handed over a few boxes with gold and silver jewels piled on top, and a few small boxes below them, which contained several human heads. To the Emperor of Chu.
Shao Kejian recognized one of them, and it was indeed the envoy sent by the imperial court to the Western Regions in winter.
In a fit of rage, Shao Kejian beheaded all the captives, and since then closed the city gates, no longer accepting guests from the Western Regions, and wrote urgent letters to the imperial court, hoping for support.
The Western Regions are no longer a barrier to the Great Chu, but an enemy.
Since the beginning of the spring, the Huns have returned to the north of Great Chu, and a large number of troops have stopped on the opposite side of Broken Iron City to negotiate with the Chu envoys repeatedly.
The Great Chu asked the Huns to follow the example and submit to the Great Chu, but they were categorically refused, and the two sides were deadlocked for several months without progress.
As the summer heats up, the Huns need to graze and cannot stay in one place for a long time. Da Chanyu decides to move eastward and threw a sentence to the Chu envoy: "Let's negotiate when Da Chu can stop the gods and ghosts."
He refused to admit that there was another Da Shanyu, so he only called him "God and Ghost".
The Chu army scouts followed the Huns from a distance, and found that they had indeed fled far northeast, and they were more and more scattered, going to different pastures. It seemed that they had no plans to fight this year.
When the Huns retreated, Yumen Pass was attacked by a sneak attack. The Ministry of War responded quickly and dispatched an army from Broken Iron City to support Yumen Pass.
It seems that the Western Regions have really abandoned the Great Chu and surrendered to the powerful enemy.
Several kings quietly sent letters, claiming that they were also forced to be helpless. The messenger of the god and ghost Da Chanyu had entered the Western Regions, ordering the countries to surrender immediately, those who hesitated to destroy their families, and those who did not surrender to slaughter the country.
The people of Chu have already withdrawn from the Western Regions, and the countries have no choice but to send troops and supplies to establish a coalition army to show their allegiance.
Based on the information from all parties and the strength of the countries in the Western Regions, the Ministry of War speculates that the gods and ghosts will send at most 100,000 troops, and the coalition forces in the Western Regions will be less than 150,000. Although it will not shake the Great Chu, the pressure on Yumen Pass is not. Small.
The Ministry of War suggested providing more support to Yumen Pass as soon as possible.
The emperor was hesitant, but Yumenguan sent urgent letters, and the Ministry of War was pressing hard. He didn't have much choice, so he approved it.
Why didn't the god and ghost Dachanyu directly attack Dachu from the north? Although the road is longer, it is relatively smooth.
The Ministry of War explained that the god and ghost Da Chanyu must have thought that Da Chu and the Xiongnu had joined forces and did not want to fight against both forces at the same time, so they only fought with the Da Chu family through the Western Regions.
Han Ruzi still had some doubts, but Yumen Pass was in an emergency and could not be ignored, so he dispatched 50,000 troops to support it, and several other troops were stationed at the pass, at the same distance from Yumen Pass in the west and Shenxiong Pass in the north, in case of emergency.
The war is really coming, Cui Hong's new official took office, determined to make a great contribution in this battle to redeem his title, so he went to Yumenguan to command.
Cui Hong was weak, and his family and the emperor did not want him to be affected, but Cui Hong insisted on his own opinion and wrote three times in detail about the importance of this battle and why he had to go to supervise the battle in person.
"The Great Chu showed the enemy's weakness, and even the countries in the Western Regions surrendered to foreign enemies. Although this battle was able to hold the Yumen Pass, it would not help the matter. Unless the army marched westward and defeated the enemy in one fell swoop, the Western Regions could not be restored."
Han Ruzi was persuaded.
Cui Hong rushed to Yumen Pass, called up a reserve army of 80,000 people, the main force was 40,000 southern troops, and attacked the Western Regions in the late summer and early autumn.
His plan was to take back the Western Regions without waiting for the army of the gods and ghosts to merge with the Western Regions coalition forces, and then decide according to the circumstances. It is better to turn the Western Regions into battlefields and ruins than to make it the enemy's territory.
After a great victory in the first battle, the countries in the Western Regions had no fighting spirit, and they all collapsed at the touch of a button. They all surrendered to the Chu army, and turned to lead the way to quickly pacify the countries.
The emperor remembered that Hujucheng and the soldiers in the city, Cui Hong did not forget, and sent a vanguard of 3,000 people to check the situation.
Hundreds of miles away from Huzhu City, this army encountered Da Chanyu's army. They did not know the details of each other and observed each other for two whole days. The Chu army attacked first, and the enemy attacked back. Much stronger, the two sides fought for a morning, each withdrew their troops and fell into a stalemate.
Cui Hong led an army to support him. He had to return to Da Chu before winter, so he was eager to defeat the enemy.
Han Ruzi could receive reports from the Western Regions every day. Although it was news of victory, he couldn't feel completely at ease. These news were a dozen days or even a month ago at the earliest. He wanted to know the current situation.
But he still had other things to do. The court finally took shape according to his ideas. Prime Minister Zhuo Ruhe took charge of the court again. Although he and the emperor were not of the same mind, they were relatively stable.
At the same time, the power of the censor station has been strengthened. Feng raised the position of Taishi to serve as an official, and the right patrol censor Qu Zixi was solely in charge of the supervisory post. He was very strict with officials. Word.
The General's Mansion became the emperor's direct yamen, and was responsible for training troops in various places. Most of the years passed, and it was quite effective.
Han Ruzi felt that the time was enough. In just one to three years, although Da Chu could not return to the peak period of Emperor Wu, it was enough to free up his hands to fight a battle.
But things don't always go as planned.
It was late autumn, the weather was getting colder, news came from outside the Great Wall, and the Iron Broken City scouts observed a large army in the west, like the Huns, probably the Huns who surrendered to the gods and ghosts.
Before the emperor and the court could react, more news came like snowflakes. The number of the army was beyond imagination.
Iron Shattered City sent troops to fight, and they were defeated.
Iron Shattered City was besieged and destroyed in one day.
The Iron Broken City defenders fled back to Guansai, and there was not much left.
Shenxiongguan was attacked.
…
In just ten days, the unexpected news turned into bad news.
This afternoon, two urgent official documents were sent to the emperor one after the other.
One came from Shenxiongguan. The situation was critical and the court needed immediate military support.
The other was from the Western Regions. At the time of writing this letter, Cui Hong still didn’t know the situation in the north. He happily declared that the Western Regions had been settled, the enemy army was destroyed, and the army was on its way back, and could reach Yumen Pass before winter.
Cui Hong's letter also reported a piece of good news. The tiger is still in the city, and he has sent people to check it out, or continue to defend the city, or bring back the Chu people in the city.
Han Ruzi finally understood that he was fooled, Cui Hong was fooled, and the entire Great Chu was fooled.
The god and ghost Da Chanyu is not only ferocious, but also treacherous. His knowledge of Da Chu is obviously far more than Da Chu's understanding of him.
Han Ruzi put down the official document. He has always attached great importance to the enemy of the West, but it turned out to be careless.
The eunuch Zhang Youcai hurried in, not knowing what the emperor was thinking, and exclaimed happily, "I'm born, Concubine Shu is born, she's a prince!"