The grassland, rich and beautiful Beihai Lake, is the home of the Rouran people, and it is also a barrier for their survival, relying on the unique geographical advantages of the North Lake, not only protecting tens of thousands of Rouran people, but also providing fertile soil, so that this half-pastoral and half-agricultural people, can survive under the eyes of the Turks and Tiele.

Rouran was a member of the Xianbei tribe who lived a nomadic life on the Mongolian plateau in the 5th and 6th centuries. In order to meet the needs of military conquest, they imitated the Northern Wei Dynasty, established military laws, set up battle arrays, reorganized the army, and established the Khan's court, so that Rouran quickly entered the early slavery stage from the tribal alliance, and later generations also called it the Rouran Khanate. The cavalry seemed to be "galloping in the wind, coming and going", forming a powerful force that shook the north of the desert.

In the heyday of Rouran, its power spread throughout the north and south of the desert, the territory of the north to the shore of Beihai (Baikal) Lake, the south to the southern foot of the Yin Mountain, the northeast to the Great Khing'an Mountains, and the Didou Yu border, the southeast and the West Lamulun River Kumoxi and Khitan as neighbors, the west as far as the Junggar Basin and the Ili River Basin, and once entered the Tarim Basin, so that the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains subordinate. In the process of Rouran's development, it gradually integrated other ethnic elements.

On the one hand, the Rouran rulers of this period continued to adopt the strategy of attacking and making friends in close quarters and far, uniting with Later Qin, Northern Yan, and Northern Liang to jointly deal with the Northern Wei; On the other hand, they constantly harassed and plundered the northern border of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The Northern Wei Dynasty adopted a "crusade" policy against Rouran in order to remove the threat from the north, unify the north and south of the desert, and plunder wealth. Therefore, in the past 80 years, there have been more than 20 southern disturbances by Rouran and northern attacks by the Northern Wei Dynasty.

But Rouran's strength was only temporary, and was eventually replaced by the Turks who were slaves of Rouran, and when Emperor Wen of Sui unified the world, the Turks also replaced the Rouran Khanate and became the king of the steppe.

Sigh law ~

On the endless grassland, herds of cattle, sheep and horses leisurely drink water by the lake, and white felt bags are dotted like stars on the vast grassland.

Suddenly, the cattle and sheep who were drinking water raised their heads and began to make anxious noises, and on the ground, with a muffled thunderous hoof, the whole grassland seemed to fall into turmoil.

The nearby herdsmen have changed color, this is a situation only with thousands of horses galloping, could it be that the damned Turks are calling again?

A large number of herdsmen took off their bows and arrows and quickly gathered, the desolate and tragic sound of the horn spread far away in the vast grassland, and hundreds of herdsmen nervously looked at the red flag slowly rising on the horizon in the distance, and the flying flag fluttered in the wind and gradually became obvious.

"This, this is the army of the Han people!" Although the herdsmen did not know the men, they were able to distinguish between them, and the banners of the Turks were generally totemic: "Go and inform the Great Khan!" ”

Seeing that it was the Han army, the herdsmen breathed a sigh of relief, but did not relax their vigilance, although it was the Han people, but it does not mean that the Han people will not attack them, in history, the Northern Wei Taiwu Emperor Tuoba Tao in the process of destroying Helian Xia, Northern Yan, and Northern Liang, seven times divided ways to attack Rouran. In 429, Tuoba Tao led his army to attack from the east and west, and Rouran was defeated. In this Northern Expedition, the Northern Wei Dynasty achieved great success, capturing nearly 300,000 Rouran troops, millions of war horses, and tens of thousands of livestock, which was not only a military blow to the Rouran Empire, but also a fatal economic blow. At this point, the Rouran Empire began to decline and decline, and under the military pressure of the Northern Wei Dynasty, it began to move

So far, Rouran has turned from prosperity to decline, although there was a revival. Soon, however, a struggle broke out between the nobles and the slaves. The Turkic tribes, which lived at the southern foot of the present-day Altai Mountains, became increasingly powerful.

The Turkic leader Territory Gate (Ili Khan) was rejected because of his marriage proposal to Rouran Khan, united with Gaocha, sent troops to attack Rouran, and Anapu committed suicide in defeat.

Luo Chen and others of the Rouran royal family fled to Northern Qi, and those who stayed in Mobei were also divided into two parts: the eastern remnants were mainly Tiehua; The rest of the people in the west supported Uncle Deng as the main body. In the east, Rouran was defeated by the Turks and defected to the Northern Qi Dynasty, and was settled in the area of Mayi. The following year, he rebelled against the Northern Qi and returned to Mobei. In 555, the Turkic Wooden Khan led his army to defeat the western Rouran, and Uncle Deng led thousands of remnants to defect to the Western Wei. However, under the coercion of the Turks, the Western Wei Dynasty handed over more than 3,000 people below Uncle Deng to the Turkic envoys, and killed them outside the Qingmen of Chang'an. The Rouran Khanate was destroyed, and the remnants were scattered, or assimilated by the Eastern and Western Wei, Northern Zhou, and Northern Qi, or annexed by the Turks, and the remnants were never heard from again.

It's just that no one would have thought that in the northeast of the North Sea, there is still a Rouran people alive today, or perhaps its strength is vulnerable, and the Turks have never taken it to heart.

The Rouran people know the history of grievances between Rouran and the Central Plains, so they are very wary of the Han people who suddenly appear here.

When the other party got closer, he found that this Han army was not very numerous, only more than 2,000 people at most, but they had a terrifying number of horses, five or even ten horsemen per person, no wonder there was such a big momentum.

The Han Chinese army slowly stopped a stone's throw away, and they did not attack, which made the herdsmen's vigilance relaxed.

At this time, a horse galloped to a place not far from the herdsmen, and said in fluent Turkic: "I am Xue Wanche, the general of the Great Sui, and I want to see your leader." ”

A mighty herdsman stepped forward and said in stiff Chinese: "Our men have gone to inform the Great Khan, and ask the general to wait for a while." ”

"Can you sell some food?" We can trade horses for warhorses. ”

Xue Wanche heard the other party's dialect of a literati who had read Sinology, so he changed back to Chinese, and after they completed the task, they were chased by the Turks frantically, although they got rid of the pursuers, but the 5,000 soldiers who came out were sharply reduced to more than 1,000 now.

"No problem, please wait a minute." The mighty herdsmen were the leaders of this area, and seeing that the Han army was very tired and looked like a dusty man, he was very kind to let them rest first, and he prepared food with the surrounding herdsmen.

In the distance, Xue Wanche dismounted with all the soldiers, and many people fell down directly and lay on the ground.

"We've been out for so long, and I don't know what happened to General Qin..."

Xue Huai sat next to Xue Wanche and said with a wry smile: "General Qin, they will definitely not be able to lose, even if they are defeated, it is the Turks who die, and there are hundreds of thousands of troops of Li Jingdu in Guannei Dao, no matter how powerful Jieli is, he can't beat our Great Sui." I'm worried about us now, and if we continue to fight like this, we brothers will probably all fall on the grassland. ”

Xue Wanche said with a smile: "Since the day you picked up your arms and became a soldier, everyone didn't think about dying of old age. ”

Xue Huai sighed, for more than half a month, he has annihilated countless small Turkic tribes, which is already a miracle, but the enemy has been injured by one thousand and eight hundred, even if there is a fierce general like Xue Wanche to lead, but the Turks have been encircled and suppressed after they became vigilant, even if these soldiers have the heart of death, but this army that has not been able to rest is also on the verge of collapse. In Xue Huai's opinion, it is already a great miracle that more than 1,000 people are still alive until now.

"It's just ......" After hesitating, Xue Huai looked at Xue Wanche: "Will the Rouran people agree?" ”

The surviving news of Rouran was learned from a Turkic tribal chieftain, and because of this, they fled all the way.

Xue Wanche nodded: "The Rouran people were defeated by their own slaves, and the royal family died completely, and their hatred of the Turks far exceeded their hatred of the Han people. They don't have many horses here, this is unusual, I think this is the Turkic restriction on them, the purpose, naturally I don't want Rouran to rise again, and in the steppe, without a war horse, it is equivalent to losing half a life. It can be seen that the Rouran people are not only unhappy, but also always under the sword of the Turks. Who would have thought of such a precarious day? If there is a way out, I believe that they are willing to find it even if it costs a lot, otherwise, they can only be swallowed up by the Turks or others, and thus completely annihilated in the long river of history! ”

In the difficult days, Xue Wanche grew rapidly.

"I hope so!" Xue Huai nodded, he looked into the distance, and saw that some herdsmen had already brought food to this side.

Xue Wanche selected the hard-working, tenacious Liaodong horses, and after ensuring that one person rode twice, he divided all the captured war horses, and planned to barter with the Rouran people to replenish military rations, arrows, and weapons!

But this Rouran leader couldn't be the master, so let Xue Wanche wait for their Great Khan to make a decision.

After a while, the sound of horses' hooves sounded again in the grassland, and a small number of Rouran cavalry rushed towards this side, which should be their troops.

Xue Wanche waved his hand, and the soldiers under his command quickly became vigilant.

"Rouran Chief Yu Hong, I have seen General Xue of the Great Sui." Yu Hong, who was about fifty years old and quite tall, made a soft salute to Xue Wanche.

"Does the chief know about the Great Sui?" Xue Wanche replied with a salute and looked at Yu Hong suspiciously. It's no wonder that he would ask this, after all, the Rouran Khanate has faded out of the world for too long, and Rouran is nested in the Beihai far away from the Central Plains, and he still thinks that the other party doesn't know about the Great Sui.

Yu Hong understood what Xue Wanche meant, and said with a wry smile: "Rouran is far away from the Central Plains, but she also knows what happened in the Central Plains from the Tiele people. I can't imagine that my Rouran Khanate is gone, the Northern Zhou, Northern Qi and Southern Dynasties are gone, and even the Sui Dynasty, which unified the Central Plains, has civil strife. ”

"The current rebellion of my Great Sui is a disease left by the Han Dynasty, and it is not a disaster of one dynasty!" Speaking of this, Xue Wanche said in a sonorous tone: "However, His Royal Highness the King of Qin of my family knows how to make good use of people, loves the people, is sympathetic to his subordinates, has elite soldiers and strong generals, and has a far-reaching and profound layout, and will definitely be able to dominate the world!" ”

"The King of Qin of your country is famous on the grassland, and now no one in the entire grassland does not know, and some of his deeds are also known below, and he is indeed a great hero with great wisdom." Yu Hong said with great reverence.

Yang Tong may not be welcomed in the Central Plains, but in the grassland where the strong are respected, even if the hostile Turks and Xue Yantuo mention Yang Dong's name, they must call the King of Great Sui and Qin in awe. The Rouran people, who had a grudge against the Turks, had no reason to be hostile.

"What the chief said is good, the twelve states of the Central Plains, I, the Great Sui, are in charge of three and a half states, monopolizing three points of the world, and with the unity of the military and the support of the army and the people, I will be able to win the entire north, and then sweep the Central Plains and end the troubled times." Xue Wanche said with great confidence, full of pride.

He is a general who is both civil and military, and he saw from the details that Rouran's living conditions were worrying, so he moved to accept it, since the other party admired Yang Tong, of course he would praise it, but Xue Wanche thought it was a fact.

Yu Hong nodded, "But I don't know why the general is here?" ”

"Don't hide it from the chief, this time we sent 60,000 troops to the Turks, Jieli has 100,000 troops and has no intention of victory, so there are 150,000 troops gathered in Yudu Jin Mountain, and I am ordered by General Qin Qiong to lead 5,000 soldiers to delay the Turkic reinforcements near Yu Du Jin Mountain! In the past half a month, we have killed countless enemies, but there are only so many of the 5,000 brothers left. Xue Wanche was a little sad in his words, but he quickly recovered and said: "However, we also succeeded in holding back the Turkic reinforcements, laying the foundation for General Qin Qiong's glorious victory of annihilating 100,000 Turkic soldiers. ”

"What a hero!" Yu Hong said movingly.

Xue Wanche took a big sip of wine and said: "Rouran was destroyed by the former forging slave Turks, not to mention, but also to take strict precautions against you Rouran, the current situation of the Rouran tribe is very dangerous, if you don't resist, sooner or later it will be annexed by the Turks or Tiele." I don't think the chief doesn't know, right? ”

Although Xue Wanche was asking a question, his gaze and tone staring at Yu Hong were full of affirmation.

"This ......" Yu Hong couldn't help but suffocate, looking at Xue Wanche's gaze, he could only smile bitterly: "General Xue is right, Rouran has indeed reached the point of life and death. Presumably, the generals also saw that our troops didn't have many war horses, right? ”

"Indeed it is! Why is that? Xue Wanche asked the doubts in his heart.

"Jieli Khan forcibly requisitioned 50,000 horses, 500,000 sheep, 50,000 cattle, and 50,000 catties of corn, which is equivalent to ninety percent of our materials! We don't know how to spend this winter. Yu Hong said worriedly.

"Oh?" Xue Wan's eyes flashed, and he looked at Yu Hong and said, "Is there a sentence that should not be asked?" ”

"General, please."

"As far as I know, Jieli Khan has made a certain promise to requisition the materials of other tribes, saying that he will compensate him afterwards, is it okay for you?"

Yu Hong sighed and said very worriedly: "He does have promises to others, but when he came to us, he didn't have half a promise. ”

"Jieli doesn't want you to live at all, now General Qin has annihilated Jieli's 100,000 army, and the area around Dujin Mountain has been destroyed by me, next, Jieli must take the opportunity of recuperation to annex some small tribes! And you are more special, it is estimated that you are not even qualified to be annexed, in my opinion, you simply reversed! ”

"My Rouran clan, with a population of less than 40,000, and now there are less than 6,000 warriors, how can it be reversed? I'm afraid ......"

"Six thousand is enough!"

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