Li Zuoche is indeed good at calculating time, and his estimate is exactly the same, the main force of the Han army is indeed in the tenth day of December in Taiyuan County to complete the assembly, and then on December 11 set off to the north, it took six days to arrive at the small city of Guangwu in the south of Juzhu Mountain, and the next day over Juzhu Mountain, officially appeared on the battlefield of Yanmen, and also killed the main force of the Xiongnu by surprise.

This northern expedition also broke the record of the highest number of troops dispatched by the Han army since its formation, even if you do not count the people who were requisitioned in Hedong, Taiyuan and other places, the scale of the main force of the Han army has reached an astonishing more than 430,000! In addition, with the addition of the Han army in northern Xinjiang in Yanmen Dai County, the army dispatched from Yandi, the number of troops actually invested by the Han army to participate in the war reached 560,000, which also exceeded more than half of the total strength of the Han army!

This is not counting, the main force of the Han army can be said to be the elite this time, countless elite soldiers of the Han army who have not been disarmed and returned to the field for a long time, have re-picked up arms to join the Northern Expedition army, and more new generation forces of the Han army have participated in the war for the first time under the leadership of their predecessors, although these recruits lack actual combat experience, but they are better than in physical fitness, physical strength, and more aggressive! In terms of generals, Zhou Shu, the chief general of the Han army, who has been appointed as the captain of the Han Dynasty, once again put on the battlefield, not to mention, Long Ji, Zhong Liwu, Ding Ji, Zheng Bu, Li Shang and Guan Ying and other famous generals of the Han army also participated in the battle, and Zhu Jishi and Feng Zhonger, who were far away in Qi and Chudi, also led their troops to the north and joined the Northern Expeditionary Army together.

In addition to the imperial conquest, Xiang Kang also brought Zhang Liang, Chen Ping, Lou Jing, Kui Che and Shao Ping to the battlefield again, it can be said that most of the Han court followed Xiang Kang to the north to find the Xiongnu for a decisive battle.

During the period when the main force of the Han army crossed the Juzhu Mountain, Xiang Kang once again received a report from Nie Zheng, the defender of Ma Yi, confirming that the main force of the Xiongnu was still lured by Li Zuoche's troops on the battlefield of Bantianling, Xiang Kang was also overjoyed, clapped his hands and said: "Okay! Thanks to Guangwujun sacrificing his life to serve the country, and using a clever plan for me to contain the main force of the Huns in the battlefield of Bantianling, now we finally don't have to worry about the Huns barbarians slipping away in advance and can't find a chance for a decisive battle. ”

The book explains that the reason why Xiang Kang is so confident is that Li Zuoche, who has been in charge of northern Xinjiang for Xiang Kang for many years, has long discovered an Achilles heel of the Xiongnu - too poor strategic mobility! On the surface, it seems to be full of cavalry, if you want to fight, you can run, but this is only tactical mobility, in fact, the strategic mobility of the Xiongnu army is seriously restricted by their logistics system, every time you go out to fight, you must carry a large number of old and weak women and children, cattle, sheep and livestock, the overall mobility is even inferior to the infantry of the Han army, so this time the Hun army must be ruthless to give up their old and weak women and children, as well as cattle, sheep and livestock that are regarded as their lives, only with cavalry to flee, otherwise they must fight this decisive battle with the Han army!

By the way, the reason why Huo Qubing was able to sweep the Huns was because he found this Achilles heel of the Huns, and every time he fought, he first used meticulous scouts to find the old and weak cattle and sheep of the Huns, and first killed them, so that they had no way to provide rations and meat for the Hun army, and then calmly found the Hun army to start, or took the opportunity to force the Hun cavalry to fight a decisive battle with the Han army, so he won many battles and was invincible. Then after the unfortunate death of the military genius Huo Quai, the Xiongnu army gradually learned a lesson, and every time they fought in a battle, they took the lead in evacuating the old and weak cattle and sheep to the rear, making room to stretch the battle line, and then took the opportunity to go down the mountain on the logistics road of the Han army, which reversed the passive situation again.

To get back to the point, they are all Xiang Kang's confidants, Zhang Liang and Chen Ping have of course read Li Zuoche's report a long time ago and know the weaknesses of the Huns, so they don't feel that Xiang Kang is too confident. But Chen Ping still couldn't help but remind him, and said: "Your Majesty, we can't be too careless, if the Maodun barbarians know how to make trade-offs and choose to decisively give up their old and weak women and children, cattle and sheep baggage, there is still a chance to avoid the decisive battle with us and keep his main cavalry force." ”

Xiang Kang nodded, and also admitted that Mao Dun did have this way to escape the decisive battle, making it difficult for the Han army to achieve full success in this northern expedition. On the other side, Lou Jing, who is also familiar with the situation of the Huns, said: "Mao Dun can do this, but the Xiongnu's Zuo Xian King will definitely not agree, judging from the direction of the Xiongnu barbarians' march and the scale of the troops, the old and weak Huns who went south with the army this time must be the people of Zuo Xian Wang, and they must be the main subordinates of Zuo Xian Wang, if Mao Dun does this, his most important courtier, Zuo Xian Wang, will inevitably be greatly injured, so he will definitely resolutely oppose it." ”

Xiang Kang nodded again, and said with a wit: "Why don't you use this point to make some articles, so that the Xiongnu Zuoxian King can see the hope of saving his people, let him more resolutely oppose Mao Dun to give up the old and weak women and children, and also let Mao Dun not easily make up this decision." ”

"Your Majesty has really not changed at all, others have not moved their soldiers and horses, and the grain and grass go first, only Your Majesty has always been unmoved soldiers and horses, and the plan is the first." Chen Ping smiled and pointed out Xiang Kang's bad hobby, and said: "It is not very difficult to make a fuss about this, Your Majesty only needs to deceive for a while, and then send an envoy to contact the Maodun barbarians, saying that we can also solve the problem through negotiation with the Xiongnu when we go north this time, and then pretend to negotiate with the Xiongnu and make a false peace, and the first important minister of the Xiongnu, King Zuoxian, will definitely pull Maodun to stay, and win us time to prepare for a decisive battle." ”

Xiang Kang nodded, and then decisively ordered: "Go and give Nie Zheng an order, tell him to immediately send troops to rescue Li Zuoche, and then flee back to Mayi." Tomorrow, I will arrange for an envoy to go north to the Xiongnu to ask for negotiations, and say that as long as the Xiongnu barbarians let go of the road, let Li Zuoche and them withdraw to Mayi, and return all the land south of the Great Wall that they had occupied before, I will sign a non-aggression pact with him Maotun, and from then on they will become a brotherly country. ”

"Return all the land south of the Great Wall?" Chen Ping's eyebrows raised, and he gave Xiang Kang a thumbs up and said: "Your Majesty is smart, among all the lands south of the Great Wall that we have been invaded by the Huns, the Hetao area is the most important, and that piece of fat is now in the mouth of the second important minister of the Huns, King Youxian, he must be reluctant to spit it out obediently, and then the two important ministers of the Huns just don't want to have a suspicion and contradiction." ”

Xiang Kang smiled, and then urged Xu Ji next to him: "Quickly send someone to give Nie Zheng an order, and by the way, give an order to Captain Zhou, who commanded the front army, and ask him to arrange the army in advance to meet Nie Zheng's defeated soldiers, so that the Hun barbarians think that they just look like they have a lot of soldiers, but in fact their combat effectiveness is not very good." ”

According to Xiang Kang's order, around the time of the day Shen, Nie Zheng led 4,000 cavalry north, pretending to come to the rescue of Li Zuoche, who was besieged by the Xiongnu army, but of course this situation was quickly discovered by the Xiongnu army that had been rumored about, and after the situation was reported to Mao Dun, Mao Dun, who had ordered to stop attacking the mountain, only thought about it slightly, and soon ordered the Xiongnu to gradually lead 15,000 elite cavalry under the command of Wang to intercept it in the south, and by the way to test the specific combat effectiveness of the Han army from the south.

Then, in the early morning of the next day, Mao Dun summoned the Xiongnu nobles who were part-time generals and announced to them the astonishing news that the Han army had arrived in Mayi. Who will the Lord be? ”

"How many barbarian armies are coming, our scouts haven't had time to find out for the time being." Mao Dun said with a gloomy face: "But the number will definitely not be less than ours, because this time the commander of the army of the Central Plains barbarians is their emperor Xiang Kang!" ”

There was an uproar in the tent again, the Xiongnu nobles reacted differently, some were excited, thinking that this was an opportunity to hit the Han army hard, and some people were worried, worried that the main force of the Xiongnu could not do the main force of the Han army, and the most nervous of them was of course the Xiongnu Zuoxian King, who bore the brunt of a large number of people, and hurriedly asked Mao Dun: "Great Khan, then what should we do?" Is it hitting? Or withdraw? ”

"Of course Ben Khan wants to retreat quickly." Mao Dun replied very directly, and said: "Although the terrain in this area of Mayi is open, which is suitable for our cavalry to fight, but the barbarian army is too powerful this time, and once we take the risk of a decisive battle, we will definitely not dare to imagine the consequences." Therefore, for the sake of safety, Ben Khan wanted to withdraw his army to the north of the Great Wall, and then consider whether to fight a decisive battle with the barbarians of the Central Plains when he got there. ”

"What about our women and the old people and children?" King Zuo Xian hurriedly asked, "What should I do if there are so many cattle and sheep?" It would be easy for our cavalry to retreat north of the Wall, but they can't keep up with us. ”

The huge weakness of strategic maneuver seriously restrained Mao Dun's hands and feet at this moment, Mao Dun opened his mouth several times and wanted to say that he would give up decisively, but he knew that once he did this, King Zuo Xian would definitely not agree, and Mao Dun himself was reluctant to give up so many people and cattle and sheep, so Mao Dun was unprecedentedly hesitant, and did not answer Zuo Xianwang's question for a long time, and at the same time, he regretted his previous carelessness of the enemy, and for such a tactical goal of Li Zuoche's department, he pulled the vital logistics brigade to the Bantianling battlefield.

However, the right virtuous king of the Xiongnu was relaxed, and immediately said: "Great Khan, it's best not to take risks, the 300,000 troops here are our nation's soldiers, once the battle is unfavorable and the losses are too large, let's not talk about dealing with the barbarians in the Central Plains in the future, it is difficult to clean up the Yueshi country in the west." If the cattle and sheep are gone, we can raise them again, and we can regenerate when the people die, so it is better to retreat quickly, and how much can be saved! ”

"You say it easily!" King Zuo Xian took the case and roared: "It's not your people, of course you don't feel distressed!" But I feel distressed, among the 150,000 people, women account for more than half, most of them are young and strong women, and many of them are pregnant. ”

"But if our army is lost, how many years will it take to recover?" The right-sage king, who had nothing to do with himself, retorted with a sneer and said, "If we really lose all our troops, I'm afraid we won't even have a chance to recover at that time." ”

"Before we fight, you think our army will be lost?" King Zuo Xian was furious, and roared louder and louder, "You are still the right Xian King of our Huns, the army of the barbarians has just arrived in Mayi, and they are so frightened that they want to leave the women and the old man to flee for their lives, are you still considered a man on the grassland?" ”

"Shut up!" Mao Dun finally spoke, and said: "Don't quarrel, last night, I have sent the right general Wang to lead the troops south, to test the truth of the Central Plains army, and when he comes back to report the situation, and also wait for our scouts to find out the size of the Central Plains army, and then make a decision." ”

After making this decision, Mao Dun issued another order to let the Xiongnu army, which had been surrounded by mountains on all sides, lift the encirclement of Bantianling, concentrate its forces in the open terrain to the west of Bantianling, and at the same time divide heavy troops to protect the old and weak women and children, cattle, sheep and camel herds in the distance, and prevent the Han army from sending light cavalry to attack them. As a result, after the Hun army lifted the encirclement according to the order, the huge cheers of the Han soldiers immediately came from the half-day ridge, and Mao Dun listened to the cold snort, and said to himself: "Don't be too happy too early, just be too lazy to surround you for the time being, whether you can escape back alive depends on whether your main force can beat the main force of Ben Khan." ”

It was also a coincidence that at this time, the king of the Xiongnu who went south overnight last night also led the army back to the Xiongnu camp, and sent people early to say that they had won the victory, not only beating away the Han army Mayi defenders who tried to go north to rescue Li Zuoche, but also killing the new Han army that went north to reinforce the Mayi defenders, and seized a lot of weapons and flags. When Mao Dun heard the news, he simply led the Xiongnu nobles out of the camp to meet the triumphant division of the right general, and also learned about the specific situation of the new Han army.

Because of the victory, Mao Dun and others and the right general Wang met in the atmosphere of course very relaxed and happy, personally picked up the happy right general Wang, Mao Dun of course couldn't wait to ask about the battle, the right general Wang Ze's eyebrows fluttered loudly, exaggerated his victory several times and said, saying that he only launched three charges in the field battle, and then defeated the Han army's Mayi defenders, and then more easily defeated the Han army's follow-up reinforcements, beheading thousands.

After listening carefully to the battle, Mao Dun asked a few key questions to the right, and said, "How is the combat effectiveness of the newly arrived Central Plains barbarian army?" Is it up to the barbarian army in Yanmen? Also, did you catch any prisoners? ”

"Returning to the Great Khan, I captured a few prisoners and waited for them to be released." The right general Wang replied easily, and snorted coldly: "As for the newly arrived Central Plains barbarian army, one of our Hun warriors can beat the three of them, and it is not our opponent at all." The barbarian army of Ma Yi managed to block our two charges, and they were directly crushed by us just by looking at each other. ”

"What about their weaponry?" Mao Dun hurriedly asked, "Are there many iron knives and iron spears?" Is the arrow iron, or copper? ”

"There are not many iron knives and iron spears, probably only thirty percent, and the arrows are almost all copper." The right general replied truthfully, and said: "Great Khan, your subordinates know that you care about this issue, so when cleaning the battlefield, let our soldiers carefully divide the weapons and equipment into two piles, one is the weapons and equipment of the Mayi barbarian army, and the other is the weapons and equipment of the Central Plains barbarian army. ”

"Well done, take Ben Khan and see it."

As soon as Mao Dun heard the great joy, he hurriedly asked the right general Wang to lead him to check the weapons and equipment of the Han army, and the result was just as the right general Wang said, in the weapons and equipment of the Han army in the hinterland of the Central Plains, iron weapons did only account for about thirty percent, and the arrows were almost all bronze arrows left over from the Qin Dynasty, and the iron arrows were very pitiful, not to mention the armor, all of which were simple and rough leather armor, and there were only a few pieces of bronze armor.

Seeing this scene, of course, the eyes of several Hun nobles who fought in the main battle were shining, and King Zuo Xian couldn't wait to shout: "It's not better than us, this battle has to be fought, and we are sure to win the battle!" ”

Mao Dun pondered and remained silent, and said in his heart: "It is normal for the barbarian army in the hinterland of the Central Plains to be inferior to the frontier army in terms of weapons and equipment, if the new Central Plains army is equipped with such weapons and equipment, we have hope." But if the barbarian army deliberately shows weakness, lures us into a decisive battle, and only shows the real guy in the decisive battle, then we will definitely be in big trouble. ”

"You can't take risks, it's better to thoroughly find out the reality of the Central Plains army, and then decide whether to fight this decisive battle. Anyway, my army is cavalry, and even if I decide to retreat before the decisive battle, I still have time. ”

After making up his mind, Mao Dun immediately instructed Zang Di next to him: "King Donghulu, the prisoners captured by the king will be handed over to you, the more detailed the interrogation, the better, Ben Khan wants to know everything about the barbarian army in the Central Plains!" ”