In the fifth year of Yuanfeng in 76 BC, at the end of April, there was only a crescent moon in the sky of the Western Regions.Qu Litun's long name is Zhang Xiaoyan, one eye is big and the other eye is small, as for why it is called small eye instead of big eye, it is unknown.At this moment, Zhang Xiaoyan bent over and slowly moved on the canal plough wall, aiming at the beacon located in the northwest corner of the city.Zhang Xiaoyan didn't light the fire, didn't dare to straighten up, and didn't forget to tell his subordinates behind him: "The eagle shooter doesn't know where to hide outside the city, keep his body down." ”In the past 40 days, there have been three or four robes that were not careful enough, only showed their heads, and suddenly lost their lives.In the faint moonlight, Zhang Xiaoyan could see that the beacon was full of chaotic arrows, which were left behind by the first wave of attacks by the Huns.Qu Plough City is not so easy to fight, in addition to the two hundred Han army Tun Tian soldiers, there are more than 1,000 Qu Plough people.The lord of Quli City had previously surrendered the Han army, knowing that the Huns would definitely have no good fruit to eat after entering the city, and their resistance attitude was more resolute than that of the Han army.And the ordinary people of the canal plough are more fun, not because of how deep their feelings for the Han people are in just half a year, but because they still remember the incident of Ren Hong's "overnight success" last year, thinking that there are gods helping the Han army.Coupled with the intimidation of the city lord of the ditch plough that "the Huns will slaughter the ditch plough when they enter the city", the ditch plough people actively assisted Zhang Xiaoyan to defend the palace, and the ditch plough was not lost.After a failed attempt to attack the canal plow, the Huns changed their tactics.In all, they came more than 6,000 horsemen, belonging to three tribes.One of them, 2,000 horsemen, camped outside the city to monitor the ditch plow, and the other two 4,000 horsemen rushed towards the Iron Gate Pass, cooperating with the siege of the king of Rizhu on the other side.The battle has been going on for more than 40 days, and it is impossible to know how many dead and wounded the iron gate has and how much food is left, and the ditch plows are unknown.But every day, Zhang Xiaoyan had to light the beacon fire in accordance with the rules of the Han army.More than ten miles away, they couldn't rely on the Fengsui category to tell Pao Ze the detailed enemy situation, and could only use the faint fire light visible to the naked eye to convey a signal: "I'm still here!"
”The Iron Gate Pass will also respond, and the two lonely cities are separated by thousands of enemy troops, watching each other and cheering each other up.But today, when the beacon of the canal plough ignited the flames, the iron gate did not react."
Tun Chang, is it not the iron gate" The officials behind him were a little anxious, the relationship between the iron gate and the canal plow was like lips and teeth, the iron gate attracted all the hatred of the Huns, once it collapsed, the next thing to be besieged was the canal plow.Zhang Xiaoyan pretended to be calm, sat in the beacon, broke the naan in his hand and sent it to his mouth: "Don't worry, it may also be that the accumulated salary has run out, the iron gate is not as good as the canal plow, we have a warehouse full of grain and firewood, but the iron gate, I am afraid that the firewood and grain are about to run out." ”The positioning of the two cities was completely different, with the canal plough regarded as the center and granary of the Han army in the northern province, while the iron gate was a fortress.As Zhang Xiaoyan expected, after a while, the beacon fire on the side of the Iron Gate Pass was still lit, but the fire was a little weak, I don't know what was burned, whether it was clothes, or corpses?
It didn't take long for it to be extinguished.Zhang Xiaoyan knew that the situation in Tiemen was definitely getting worse and worse, but the fastest reinforcements would not arrive until twenty or thirty days later."
Tun Chief, there's a fire again!"
At this time, the waiting soldiers pointed to the distance to report the news, and everyone hurriedly looked out, but saw a spectacular scene: two miles away from the Xiongnu camp on the west side of the Iron Gate Pass, a long snake composed of torches was slowly coming out of the camp, and there were 2,000 horsemen."
Do you think the iron gate is difficult to beat, and you want to attack the canal plow?"
Zhang Xiaoyan was very nervous, and let people beat the war drums, so that the officials went to the city to prepare for the enemy.But the Huns did not go south to plow, but went west at the fork in the road, farther and farther away, and after a few hours, completely disappeared into the darkness of the night.At least half of the Huns besieging Tiemen Pass from the west retreated to the west, so that the pressure on Tiemen Pass would be greatly reduced.While being overjoyed, Zhang Xiaoyan couldn't help but look at the officials: "What happened in the west?"
”The corpses of more than 1,000 Qiuzi people were scattered outside the city, and the smell of decay was unpleasant, attracting groups of wild wolves and crows and vultures, and Luntai City was unable to stay in it for a short time.After settling the wounded into its Qiancheng, Ren Hong and the others moved to Wulei City, dozens of miles north of Luntai, as a base.General Wusun sent 1,000 people to Qiuzi and it to eat, while the other 1,000 people were nomadic in the vicinity to guard against the westward advance of the Huns.For the Usun people, the war is over.But the right general didn't know that although the main force of Wusun had withdrawn, and the rest of the people would never go east for half a mile, they still became the cards played by Ren Hong."
The men and horses of the Xiongnu besieging Tiemen withdrew two thousand horsemen, and traveled thirty miles west to guard against Wusun?"
When Han Dangdang, who went to the front to investigate, brought back the news, Sun Million felt incredible."
General Wusun sent an envoy over to explain to the Xiongnu that Wusun was only to take revenge on Qiuzi, not to be an enemy of the Xiongnu, why" "It's very simple. ”Ren Hong said with a smile: "If a wolf suddenly rushes to the village and eats your sheep, and then lies in the sheepfold, saying that he is full, sleep and leave, and never disturb the master, can you believe it and sleep peacefully?"
”"Naturally, I can't, although I won't be able to drive this wolf away for a while, I have to send someone to watch outside the door.Therefore, no matter what Wusun planned, out of prudence, the Xiongnu had to send troops to be on guard. ”This is the role of strategic deterrence, and it is also the reason why Ren Hongli persuaded General Wusun to lead his troops to stay near Wulei and Luntai to "protect Princess Yaoguang".In this way, it does not violate the promise of the right general to the fat king, but also can essentially deter the Huns, and something can be born out of nothing."
But that's not enough, it can only help relieve a little pressure on the iron gate."
At this moment, Liu Yaoguang came, and also brought the chief translator who was sent to the east by General You, and he had just returned from there.This envoy is a Wumu Zen man in Central Asia, who was captured by Wusun and became a slave, and was later rescued by Princess Xie Wu and released as a free man, fluent in Xiongnu, Wusun and Chinese, and became a translator, and was also a member of the princess Xie Wu faction.This time, the chief translator went to meet the Xiongnu kings who besieged the iron gate of the canal, and in addition to bringing the explanation of "peace" for the fat king and the right general, he also responded to Ren Hongzhi's request to find out the truth for him."
The Xiongnu have learned about the matter of Qiuzi and Luntai from the servant Duwei, and the king of the right valley led by him is very angry.However, they also took a long detour to reach the canal plow, and there were not many soldiers, more than 6,000 horsemen, so they didn't want to completely turn their faces with Wusun, so they let me come back, and asked Wusun to withdraw from Qiuzi and Luntai immediately. ”Ren Hong cherished this information very much: "Sure enough, is it the King of the Right Valley who personally sent troops?"
”The right valley Liwang is one of the hexagonal kings of the Xiongnu, which is equivalent to the second-in-command of the right land, and his status is second only to the right Xian king.The right valley Liwang stationed in the north of the Tianshan Mountains, near Urumqi in later generations, the strength is strong, more than 40,000 troops, and tens of thousands of people who control the strings under his command.However, this time, it seems that the king of Yougu Liwang only brought a small number of people, of course, it may also be that the rest of the troops are cruising in the middle reaches of the Peacock River, protecting the road to the right land after retreating from the mountain country, and beware of the arrival of Han reinforcements.The translator continued to tell Ren Hong what he knew: "When I arrived, the king of Yougu Li personally led his troops to watch the canal plow, and it was the king of Yiwu and the king of Puyin who besieged the Tiemen Pass from the west. ”The grazing land of these two kings was in the territory of Hami City in the later generations, like the stars holding the moon, surrounding the court of Youxian Wang located in the Balikun grassland, which is equivalent to the subordinate of Youxian Wang.They often sent people south to cut off Loulan Road, and last year it was the subordinates of King Puyin who attacked Xi Chongguo.No weaker than the powerful King of the Right Valley, King Yiwu and King Puyin, as vassals of the King of Youxian, probably pulled the men of the entire tribe up, and only got together 4,000 horses.Because he is not the descendant of the right valley king, he was also arranged to gnaw the hard bones of the iron gate, and the elite of the right valley king was watching the play in the canal plow?
Ren Hong felt that things were starting to get interesting."
It seems that the Huns are not monolithic!"
Using Wusun to deter the Huns is just an appetizer, and his real plan can begin.Ren Hong asked people to prepare a pen and inkstone, and he planned to write a letter, a letter to the king of Yougu Li and the king of Rizhu, the sage Shan."
But I want this letter to fall into the hands of King Yiwu and King Puyin, the two cronies of the Right Virtuous King."
The second tip in Ren Hong's heart is the discord plan.However, although the Xiongnu were deeply influenced by the Han Dynasty and used Han in the national documents of various countries, were there any people who could understand Chinese characters around the two little kings of Yiwu and Puyin?
Wusun Yichang replied: "Yes, King Puyin often carries a Han official who is subordinate to Youxian Wang, and his Chinese name" The translator thought carefully for a while before he remembered: "By the way, his name is Wu Zongnian!"
”Ren Hong's pen froze all of a sudden.PS: I went out to eat at night, and there are only two shifts today.