After deciding on the national policy of invading the Central Plains in the winter, Mao Dun, the founder of the Xiongnu hegemony, in addition to ordering the Xiongnu to go to various parts of the Xiongnu and let the various tribes of the Xiongnu gather at the designated time and place, also took time to summon Zang Di, who was named the king of Hulu East Hulu of the Xiongnu after surrendering, as well as Zang Quan, Zang Yan, Zhang Sheng, Ying Qi and other important civil and military ministers of the Yan State who surrendered with Zang Di, and asked them for their opinions on entering the Central Plains for their own reference.

Knowing that Mao Dun decided to send the main force of the Xiongnu to invade the Central Plains, Zang Di's father and son, Zhang Sheng and others, who had a deep hatred with the Han Dynasty, were of course overjoyed, and they couldn't wait to persuade Mao Dun to take the road of Zhangjiakou to enter Yandi and help them recapture Yanguo, and patted their chests to ensure that as long as Mao Dun led the troops into Yandi, they would immediately be able to organize a large number of old troops to lead the way for the Xiongnu.

It's a pity that the eloquent Mao Dun also has a certain understanding of the situation in the Central Plains, knowing that the population of Yandi is scarce, there is a shortage of money and grain, and the economic foundation is very weak, so even if it is defeated, he can't grab much things, so Mao Dun directly shook his head and refused, and said through the translation: "King Donghulu, Ben Khan knows very well that you are anxious to restore the country, but there is no way, our Xiongnu went south this time, the main purpose is to seize grain, salt and cloth, and solve the livelihood problem in the coming year. ”

"And." Mao Dun added: "Ben Khan also received a detailed report, the Central Plains Emperor Xiang Kang left heavy troops in Yandi after going north to Yandi, leaving heavy troops in Yandi to guard all dangers, preventing you from leading the way south to Yandi for Ben Khan, if our army directly enters Yandi, it will definitely be resisted by the Central Plains army, which is not conducive to our quick victory, seize the favorable terrain to meet the reinforcements of the Central Plains army, so this time to the south, we will not go to Yandi, to help you restore the country, we can only wait for later." ”

Seeing that Zang Di and the others looked disappointed, Mao Dun casually fed Zang Di a reassuring pill, and said: "But you don't have a chance to return to the country this winter, if our army goes well, the Emperor of the Central Plains will definitely send the Yandi garrison to reinforce the area we attacked, and then Ben Khan will go all out to eliminate the Yandi garrison of the Central Plains, and then you will have hope to restore the country to Yandi." ”

Seeing that Mao Dun's attitude was resolute, Zang Di and others, who betrayed the country and sought glory, did not dare to force it, Zang Di could only change his words and said: "Thank you Great Khan, since the Great Khan does not plan to enter the Yandi, then we will go south to the Central Plains this winter, and there are only three choices left, one is to enter the army in Dai County and Yanmen County, the second is to enter the army from Yunzhong Jiuyuan to Shang County, and the third is to take the Hetao area and directly enter the army in Guanzhong, but I don't know which way the Great Khan intends to take to enter the army?" ”

"Of course, we can't directly enter the Guanzhong, Guanzhong is the heart of the Central Plains people, and it is heavily guarded, and the road we must pass through Xiaoguan is dangerous, and it is extremely difficult to attack, and the hope of victory in Guanzhong is very small, and Ben Khan will not fight this kind of uncertain battle."

Mao Dun directly denied the choice of directly entering the military pass, and said: "Originally, it was most convenient for us to directly enter Yanmen and Daijun, and the road was also the closest, but the Central Plains people were also deployed there with heavy guards, and the guard was still Li Zuoche, the grandson of our old Xiongnu opponent Li Mu, who was a very difficult person to deal with, so I plan to directly enter the army from Yunzhong and Jiuyuan, I don't know what you think?" ”

The translator quickly translated Mao Dun's words into Chinese, and Zang Di, Zang Quan, Zang Yan, father and son also quickly glanced at each other, all of them hoped that Mao Dun would directly enter Yanmen and Daijun, which bordered Yandi, but they couldn't find an excuse to persuade them. Fortunately, Zhang Sheng still had some ink in his stomach, and he hurriedly said directly in Xiongnu: "Great Khan, you must not take this road to the south, this road is not only very difficult to walk, but may even be more dangerous than directly entering Xiaoguan." ”

"Why?" Mao Dun immediately asked, "Explain the reason, the more detailed the better." ”

"I don't know if the Great Khan knows the King of Zhao Wuling of the Central Plains Zhao State?"

Zhang Sheng didn't answer the rhetorical question, but to Zhang Sheng's surprise, Mao Dun actually said after a little recollection: "Remember, is it the king of Zhao Wuling who gave up the throne to his son, became the master father himself, and was finally starved to death by his son." ”

"The Great Khan is erudite, well-versed in ancient and modern, and his subordinates admire him." Zhang Sheng complimented him sincerely, and then said: "Although King Zhao Wuling ended up miserable, how high his military attainments are, you know what the Great Khan is." In fact, when King Zhao Wuling was alive, he had planned to directly enter the army from Jiuyuan and Yunzhong more than once, and after he abdicated, he also disguised himself and personally walked this road to explore the terrain and study whether it was suitable for entering the army, but after he personally walked this road, he completely died of this heart. ”

"Why?" Mao Dun hurriedly asked.

"Because this road doesn't work at all." Zhang Sheng hurriedly replied: "The terrain of this road is more mountains and forests and less plains, the north is wide and the south is narrow, and it is getting narrower and narrower from north to south, without any interspersed detours, on the contrary, the troops marching from south to north are getting wider and wider, and the space for interspersed detours is getting bigger and bigger, so the Great Khan, if you take this road, it will only be more difficult to fight the further south you go, but the Central Plains Emperor sent troops to counterattack, but the more north it is, the easier it is to fight." ”

After roughly introducing the situation of the Shangjun road, Zhang Sheng pointed to the map and explained in detail: "Great Khan, if you take this road to the south, you will first have to break through the Shangjun fortress heavily guarded by the Central Plains, and you will definitely be flanked by the Central Plains army from the three cities of Pingzhou, Yangzhou and Gaonu. Even if you can bypass the upper gunsai and go south, you must capture the skin to open the way south. This is not counting, even if we successfully take the skin, we can only take the narrow road of the Wuding River Valley to the south, and along the way we have to be resisted by the Central Plains army of Pingzhou, Yangzhou, Diaoyin, Luodu and Qiyuan, and then wait for us to break through these places, of course, the Central Plains people have already gathered heavy troops to meet us. ”

After listening carefully to Zhang Sheng's introduction, Mao Dun first nodded slowly, and then said decisively: "Then forget it, don't take this road, let's take the shortcut road of Yanmen and Daijun, this road is not only suitable for our cavalry to fight, but we are also very familiar with the road terrain, and it is suitable for our main force to go south." ”

Hearing Mao Dun's words, Zang Di's father and son, who had already learned some Xiongnu language, suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and after secretly praising Zhang Sheng's ability to fool, Zang Di hurriedly said: "Great Khan, how about taking the road of Daijun to enter the army?" Daijun is an important town in the northern Xinjiang of the Han Kingdom, with a lot of money, grain and materials, and the garrison is less than that of Yanmen, and it is easier to take it. ”

Mao Dun laughed directly and said: "Taking Daijun and opening the door to enter the Yandi is very beneficial to you, King of Donghulu, but the Taihang Mountain in the south is blocking the southward road of our Xiongnu army, how to solve this problem?" ”

Zang Di's old face turned red, and he hurriedly said: "Great Khan, Your Majesty admits that it is a little selfish to suggest that you directly enter Daijun, but the Han garrison in Daijun is really less than Yanmen, and it is much easier to attack." ”

"Does Ben Khan need to be afraid of the frontier garrison of the Central Plains?" Mao Dun sneered, and said: "Ben Khan is worried that the speed of the army is too slow, giving the Central Plains people the opportunity to gather troops to the north, if you hit Daijun first, and then Yanmen, it will definitely give the Central Plains people countless time to assemble the army, so the best way is to directly enter Yanmen, first find Li Zuoche's main force to fight a decisive battle, as long as Li Zuoche's main force is successfully killed, we can not only break the Central Plains people's army in the frontier, but also the rich and prosperous Taiyuan County of the Central Plains people will also have no danger to defend." ”

Seeing that Mao Dun refused to use the main force of the Xiongnu to create an opportunity for himself to restore the country, Zang Di had no choice but to change his words and said: "Great Khan Shengming, your subordinates admire, this is indeed the truth, we should fight Yanmen County first." ”

Mao Dun smiled and ordered: "You should hurry up and prepare, this southern expedition, the army you brought from the Central Plains King Donghulu will also participate, how to attack the city and build siege weapons, it is up to you." Behave well with Ben Khan, and you will be rewarded with your rewards. ”

After saying this, Mao Dun, who is very good at using soldiers, also quickly brewed a tactic of attacking the east and west, and decided to take a small force first, pretending to attack Daijun to lure the Han army to send reinforcements from Yanmen, and at the same time contain the Daijun garrison of the Han army, and then the main force suddenly went south to Yanmen, killing Li Zuoche's main force by surprise!

…………

It is still very coincidental, after Mao Dun decided the direction and route of the army this winter, in Chang'an City, the new capital of the Han Dynasty, Uncle Zhou, the captain of the Han Dynasty, also accurately predicted at the imperial meeting that the direction of the Xiongnu's most likely large-scale invasion should be the battlefield of Yanmen and Daijun - for Uncle Zhou, it is really not difficult to do this, Yandi people are short of food, even if the Xiongnu are defeated, they will not be able to get any oil and water, Xiaoguan and Shangjun are easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the main force of the Xiongnu is very small, and even if the prediction is wrong, The Han army is also very easy to deal with, and there will be no uncontrollable consequences. Only Yanmen and Daijun are the most dangerous, both money and grain and the gateway to Jindi, so they are naturally the easiest to become the targets of the Xiongnu.

Not only that, Uncle Zhou also guessed that Mao Dun would fight Yanmen first, and he also expected that Mao Dun would inevitably fight a blitzkrieg with a thunderous momentum, giving priority to annihilating Li Zuoche's main force, and then calmly dealing with the relatively weak Dai Jun and Yunzhong Han army. At the same time, Uncle Zhou also clearly pointed out that even if his prediction was wrong, the Xiongnu would not have much impact on Yunzhong and Daijun first, and as long as the Han court took precautions in advance and concentrated heavy troops to guard the main cities of Daixian, Banshi and Yunzhong, there was great hope of holding out until the main force of the Han army arrived to rescue.

Xiang Kang also recognized Uncle Zhou's analysis, and discussed countermeasures with Uncle Zhou in advance, and decided to let the Han army set off north in November and rushed to Taiyuan, where the palace was built, to assemble and marquis, so that the Xiongnu could quickly go north to find a decisive battle opportunity when the Xiongnu went south to Yanmen, and when the tactical premonition deviated, they could immediately cross the Taihang Mountains to reinforce Yandi, or go west to rescue Shangjun by leaving Shi.

In addition, Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou had to rack their brains to make careful arrangements to prevent the Huns from risking a raid on Xiaoguan or a sneak attack on Yandi, deploying heavy troops in advance to guard all dangers, and at the same time going to order Li Zuoche early, ordering him to take all kinds of precautions in advance, and not to be directly pushed by the wave of the Huns - although with Li Zuoche's ability, this possibility is almost non-existent.

After doing all this mental work, after the civil and military forces at the meeting were dispersed, Xiang Kang once again came to the blacksmith workshop temporarily built in the palace, drove away the absolute cronies, including Xu Ji, took off his shirt and personally built the stove to blow the wind, took out the bronze semi-finished products locked in the wooden box and burned them red, clamped them on the anvil and hammered them, and in the clanging sound, the first bronze stirrup of this era also gradually took shape on the anvil.

Cooling the stirrup with water and playing with this revolutionary harness that he had built himself, Xiang Kang's heart was extremely hesitant, and he couldn't help but talk to himself, saying: "It's not difficult to build at all, I just need to hand over this stirrup to the blacksmith in Chang'an, it won't take ten days to build tens of thousands, and now it's completely too late to hand it over to the cavalry for equipment training, but should I do this?" ”

"I can hand over the most reliable elite cavalry equipment, which can be taken back after the decisive battle, and I can issue a gag order to make my cavalry forget this kind of thing, but at least I have to equip thousands of cavalry with stirrups to form combat effectiveness, and thousands of cavalry will really be loyal to me and keep their mouths shut for the rest of their lives? As long as one of them is greedy for convenience and quietly imitates a stirrup, the stirrup technology may leak and spread to the grassland. ”

"In the era when there were no stirrups, our farming people were pressed by the nomads, but after the invention of the stirrup, the Han people's achievements in front of the nomads were lackluster, including the Tang Dynasty, they have always suffered from the invasion of the nomads, and only after the invention of the machine gun, the nomads will become good at singing and dancing."

"Even if this battle starts as I wish, I don't have any confidence that all the Hun bandits will be completely annihilated, there will definitely be countless Hun bandits who will flee back to the grassland, and even if the Huns' vitality is greatly damaged, the Xianbei bandits in the east, the Yueshi barbarians in the west, and the barbarians in the Western Regions are not something that I can completely eliminate in my life, once the stirrup technology spreads to them, the nightmare of the Han people may come early......."

Speaking of this, Xiang Kang gradually made up his mind, and slowly put the stirrup into the wooden box he prepared for it, locked it with his own hands, and said to himself: "You can't lose the watermelon for the sake of sesame seeds, this time, let's use the cavalry and infantry without stirrups, stirrups, or leave it to my children and grandchildren." I also have to tell them that they must not open this box until they have to, until it is a matter of life and death. ”

After locking the stirrups that appeared more than 200 years in advance, Xiang Kang personally wrote this line on the wooden box - my descendants, only when the country is about to die and the country will fall, can this box be opened. The founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, Xiang Kang. - Of course, later, in this box, a Gaoqiao saddle made by Xiang Kang himself was also installed, and the key was kept by Xiang Kang himself for life.

After putting down the brush, in addition to deciding to vigorously develop gunpowder technology, Xiang Kang couldn't help but smile slightly, and said secretly: "Fortunately, I haven't forgotten to study gunpowder weapons in the past few years, although the lethality of that thing is not as good as ordinary bows and arrows, but when used on Hun war horses who have never seen gunpowder, it will definitely still receive miraculous results." ”