Most of the veterans here were born in Pei County in the Yangtze River Valley, and many of them only fought from Guandong to Guanzhong in this life, and then returned to Guandong from Guanzhong, and never set foot in the land north of the Yellow River in their lives, let alone the land of Yanzhao in the north, or even the Mobei grassland, the base camp of the Xiongnu;

Even if he was well-informed such as Zhang Liang, Han Xin, Xiao He and others, he only heard the name of the Xiongnu in his life, but he never really dealt with the Xiongnu.

The emperor's question stopped everyone present, and the hall suddenly fell silent.

It seemed that this would be a lengthy discussion, and several small yellow men who were good at observing words and colors took advantage of this gap to cloth the bronze cases in front of everyone with lacquer ear cups filled with hot tea.

Everyone stared at the ear cup and was silent for a long time, but it was Zhang Ao, the king of Xinzhao, who took the lead in speaking,

"Chen followed his father in Zhao for many years, although he had never been in close contact with the Huns, but because of the border, he was always prepared and knew a little about them.

The Xiongnu are also an ancient tribe, and the legend can be traced back to the Xia Hou clan in ancient times, and it can also be regarded as a remnant of the Xia Dynasty.

Later generations have various names for them, such as Shanrong Youzhi, 猃狁 (xiǎn yǔn) Youzhi, and meat porridge. ”

"What? It was actually a remnant of the Xia Dynasty? So, they're human, not half-human, half-beast or anything like that? Fan Xu interjected.

"It's people, it's people." Zhang Cang whispered to him, "You listen patiently." ”

Zhang Ao glanced at Fan Xu and continued,

"What the general said is very true, the Huns are also people, but they grew up in the vast grasslands north of Yinshan, and lived by hunting and herding, living in pursuit of water and grass, living without a fixed place, and migrating from time to time."

"Don't have a fixed home? So, they don't have a city, and they don't have a fortress? ”

"Yes." Zhang Ao nodded and said loudly,

"We Han people live in houses and pavilions, while the Huns live in felt tents, which can be built and dismantled at any time and anywhere.

There is an old servant in my family, who has been taken captive by the Huns for several years, and according to him, he has seen Shan Yu's felt tent from afar, which is really huge and friendless, and it is as magnificent as the hall house of the rich Han family.

But even if the felt tent is huge, it can be dismantled with only two sticks of incense, and it is very convenient to roll the felt on the back of a horse or a hunchback.

Wherever the water and grass were more abundant in the prairie, they drove cattle, sheep, horses, and camels and moved their families. ”

Everyone listened to him speak eloquently, and couldn't help but look up at the hall they were in, but they saw carved beams and painted columns, eight dimensions and nine corners, tall and majestic.

Everyone tried their best to imagine the same size of yurt, suddenly standing in the desert thousands of miles away in the wind and grass, and suddenly completely disappeared, and the flexibility of the Huns in their hearts increased their understanding.

"Eh, cows, sheep, horses, and camels, these are only four animals, what is one of the five animals?" Fan Xu suddenly interjected again.

"Sheep can be divided into goats and sheep, and these are the two animals." Zhang Cang stretched out two fingers slowly,

"Goats produce a lot of milk and are easy to feed, and sheep produce a lot of wool, both of which are essential livestock for grassland life."

Everyone suddenly realized, and Liu Ji played with the jade in his hand, his eyes were erratic, but what he thought in his heart was that such a scattered enemy, there was not even a fixed stronghold, if our Han army wanted to take the initiative to attack, it would be tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack in the vast grassland.

Unless, we can send some spies deep into the court of the Xiongnu to get first-hand information on their movements.

***

Xiao He has been busy preparing for the county plan in recent days, and Yu Minsheng is most concerned about it, and he is busy asking,

"So, don't they farm, what do they usually eat?"

"They do farm, but the arable land is only distributed in the border with our Han, and most of the farmers are robbed Han Chinese. For example, my old servant was taken away to farm the land.

The daily diet of the Xiongnu people was mainly based on animal meat and dairy products, wearing leather, sleeping in felt fur, and the demand for food was not much. ”

Dried meat and dried milk are the most hungry, and Han Xin, who listened quietly, didn't say a word, and planned to stay out of the matter, but he reflexively calculated it in his mind, which shows that when the Huns marched and fought, they probably didn't need to carry a large amount of supplies like the Han people.

The grassland is sparsely populated, as far as the eye can see, and the horses are really galloping, how can the reserve military supplies of the Han army be supplied?

Liu Ji stared at Zhang Ao for a long time, half admiring, half regretful and said,

"If your father were still alive, he would have said something else.

Among you people, Zhang Cang is one who has really learned the power of the Huns, you are still young, although you are talking on paper and hearsay, but you are half of it.

Liu Jing dared to offer advice, and he knew more or less half-understood, and he was half of it.

There is also an old man who is familiar with the inside story, but it is Yan Wang Zang Di, but unfortunately he can't come when he is sick, cough. ”

The hall is silent, all feel a little tricky, the battle pays attention to knowing oneself and knowing the other, and now a group of brave and fierce generals, but like blindfolded night walking.

Lu Pheasant listened attentively, and pouted lightly unconsciously, these Huns were very similar to the Turkic people who were close to the Tang Dynasty nine hundred years later, as if they had the same root and origin.

And against the Turks, she has too much experience.

***

Zhang Liang asked,

"What language do they speak? Is there a court? How is the official etiquette system set up? ”

Zhang Ao shook his head, saying that he didn't know, Zhang Cang took the question with a wry smile,

"The Xiongnu did not have writing, and everything big and small relied on word of mouth.

They are loosely formed, and on weekdays, small tribes are in charge of their own affairs, I only know that the biggest leader of the Xiongnu is called Shan Yu, and there are left and right generals at the lower level.

That is only in the royal court, which is equivalent to our court, and the left and right kings and generals are similar to our vassal states.

Seven years ago, Mao Dunshan killed his father and became independent, and cleared out the old enemies within the royal court, and then destroyed Donghu and attacked the Yue clan, and unified all the departments of the grassland, which was unstoppable, and I believe everyone had heard of it. ”

"This Mao Dun Shan Yu, at a young age, acts so viciously and unethically, can the Hun people still respect him as Shan Yu?"

The great Confucian uncle Sun Tong couldn't help but ask, in the Central Plains culture, killing the father is a perverse crime.

"The Huns are noble and strong, cheap and weak, and whoever can lead them to victory in the war is a great hero.

The crime of killing one's father is not as serious as it is in their eyes. ”

Everyone looked at each other, and felt incomprehensible about the etiquette and morality followed by the Huns, and Shusun Tong shook his head again and again, muttering in his mouth, "It's really Yidi, Yidi!" ”

Liu Ji asked puzzled,

"I remember that more than ten years ago, the First Emperor sent General Meng Tian to expel the Huns from Henan, why have they frequently invaded the border in recent years?"

Zhang Cang thought for a while, as if he hesitated, but Liu Jing said word by word,

"Back to Your Majesty, there are two reasons for this.

First, in the past two years, the climate in Mobei has been abnormal, although it is warmer than before, but there will be sudden heavy snowstorms from time to time in the beginning of spring, and the snow depth is often several feet.

The Huns were caught off guard, their livestock starved and froze to death, and when they had a famine, they would go south to rob.

Sometimes three or five families gathered, gathered together a dozen men, small groups of criminals, and sometimes under the leadership of the kings, hundreds of horsemen plundered. ”

The emperor's side of the Lu pheasant slightly bowed, this is right, she remembered that Taishi Gong wrote, the Xiongnu tribe "wide with the livestock, because of shooting birds and beasts for a living", "urgent people practice war to invade", when the life is good, they will live in peace, once in an emergency, they will invade and plunder.

"As for this second point," Liu Jing also eased up and secretly glanced at the emperor's face,

To put it irreverently, Meng Tian only drove the Huns farther away, and they rode their horses like the wind and went freely on the grassland.

We have been fighting here for eight years, and we have no time to take care of the border, so the Huns will slowly encroach on and recover Henan, and now the forces may be approaching Jinyang, and our Han Shi is facing a north-south confrontation.

The minister dared to predict that the Xiongnu continued to commit border looting, and I am afraid that it will be the norm in the future. ”