novelaction Chapter 443: Grassland Storm
Chapter 443: Grassland Storm
The division of the Xianbei people was like a timely rain, enriching the growing power of the Xiongnu.
Since Dun Chanyu ascended the throne, he has suffered a lot of hardships. Locust plagues and snow disasters have ravaged the Xiongnu tribes like demons, putting them in trouble.
This time when he went south, the most urgent thing in his mind was to win back the hearts of the people and consolidate his rule.
For the various Xiongnu tribes, a major war seemed to be the only way to obtain food and population resources and escape from the predicament.
To this end, the Xiongnu carefully dispatched multiple groups of people to conduct detailed assessments of Qin, Yan and Dingzhou.
Afterwards, under the magnificent royal tent on the vast grassland, Dun Chanyu summoned people from various tribes to discuss the plan of forming an alliance to attack the Zhou Dynasty.
The royal tent was spacious and tall, enough to accommodate twenty or thirty tribal leaders and their guards. Even with so many people gathered here, it did not seem crowded.
Dun Chanyu sat upright on the main seat, his eyes steady and deep as he slowly scanned the crowd below.
He slowly began to speak: "Leaders of all tribes, I sincerely thank you for your support for me.
I have gathered you all here today to address the food shortage problem facing various departments. Why don't you all speak freely and share what we can do? "
Dun Chanyu's voice echoed clearly in the royal tent, and everyone below could hear it clearly.
After the Tuoba tribe surrendered, Tuoba Youyou still sat firmly in the position of tribe elder.
Today, he came to the appointment on behalf of the Tuoba family.
Hearing Chanyu's words, Tuoba Youyou frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and then stood up and said, "Great Chanyu, according to our understanding, the current situation in Qin is complicated, and food and grass are running low.
After experiencing a great war, Yanzhou is also actively preparing for war and famine, and is equally difficult to deal with.
However, although Bingzhou also suffered a disaster last year, the losses from the locust plague were not great.
Moreover, Bingzhou is ruled by several major families such as Wang and Li, and the food reserves are relatively sufficient.
More importantly, Bingzhou is rich in resources. According to the Tuoba family, attacking Bingzhou is a viable strategy."
Tuoba Youyou's words were like a stone thrown into a calm lake, causing ripples in everyone's hearts and triggering a round of thinking.
Yi Yu, which has recently become famous and wealthy, and Weizhou, which is undergoing large-scale infrastructure construction, are said to be even more prosperous places, and are naturally also under everyone's consideration.
At this time, Yelu Qing slowly stood up, clasped his fists and said, "Great Chanyu, whether it is Bingzhou or Yanzhou, in my opinion, Daijun, Weizhou and other places are our best targets for attack."
After being deposed by the new Chanyu, Nalan Guifang's presence in the Xiongnu has always been low. However, their family has cooperated with Weizhou on many projects and has an extremely high status in Yi Yu.
If the Cui family is ranked first in Yi Yu, then the Lan family can be ranked second.
At this time, Lan Guifang stood up slightly and said with a worried look, "Dai County can be considered, but Weizhou is absolutely not an option.
I heard that Dingzhou has stationed as many as 300,000 troops in Weizhou, and the population is no less than 400,000. This is the main gateway for the supply of materials to the Yi people.
If we allow Weizhou to fall into turmoil, the grasslands will soon face the danger of running out of resources."
In the Xiongnu, the Nalan family was not the only one engaged in commercial activities, some tribes were also involved.
Yi Yu, in particular, has become astonishingly luxurious and prosperous since it became a free trade city.
Whether it was the unruly young masters of the Great Zhou or the dandy young men of the Hu families, they all bought land in Yi Yu and developed their power.
People on the grassland all knew that the spices shipped from Weizhou were indispensable treasures for the nobles.
Nowadays, meat from the grasslands is almost inedible without the spices from the Yi people. The most important thing is that these spices contain salt.
Although the Great Zhou Dynasty had extremely strict control over salt, salt, which was essential in spices, was undoubtedly a rare and precious commodity for people on the grasslands who had long suffered from salt shortages.
As soon as Lan Guifang finished speaking, Guli Zar, the Wise King of Dunzuo, showed displeasure and snorted coldly:
"Everyone knows that your Nalan Yilan is in Yi Yu. You are saying this because you don't want to cut off your path to wealth, do you?"
After hearing this, Grand Marshal Hu Yanyan felt quite dissatisfied.
His clan member Huyan Zhan developed smoothly in Yi Yu and brought a lot of good things to the Huyan family through business, including a considerable number of rifles.
Huyan Yan was quick-witted. He knew very well that if he attacked Weizhou, it would very likely cut off the source of spices, which would in turn affect the stability and combat effectiveness of the grassland.
Hearing what Gulizar said, he felt that he should help Lan Gui.
Hu Yanyan frowned slightly, stood up, saluted, and said, "What Zuo Xian Wang said is really unfair.
Our grassland has always been short of salt. Although there were salt sources in the past, most of them relied on the difficult sale of salt by horse caravans, and the quantity was far from enough to meet the needs of our grassland.
Nowadays, salt in spices not only satisfies our appetite, but more importantly, it is an indispensable part of our food preparation.
If we attack Yuzhou and cut off the grasslands from this important source of salt, how much fighting power do you think our warriors will have?"
As the Grand Marshal, Hu Yanyan held a high status in the Xiongnu, and Dun Chanyu also respected him a lot.
Many other tribal leaders who had benefited from Weizhou nodded in agreement after hearing what Hu Yanyan said.
In an instant, there was strong resistance in the king's tent to the proposal to attack Weizhou.
Seeing this, Dun quickly put on a smile and said, "We're all here today to discuss and form an alliance. Feel free to speak your mind. The Grand Marshal is absolutely right. If we run out of spices in the future because of attacking Weizhou, what will we do?"
When the people below heard what Dun Chanyu said, they naturally understood the deep meaning behind it. It was obvious that Chanyu tended to support Hu Yanyan's statement.
"Then I think we should take Bingzhou first. This is our best position for attack at the moment."
Yelu Qing spoke at the right time, cleverly easing the slightly tense atmosphere in the king's tent and preventing everyone from getting tired of each other.
"Since we have decided to attack Bingzhou, we need to make a detailed division of labor and determine where to launch the attack."
Dun Chanyu quickly took over the conversation, anxious to implement the matter as soon as possible.
This time, Dun Chanyu set up his royal tent in a place called Kaner.
To the south of this place lies a mountain ridge, and beyond it lies a place surrounded by mountains. During the cold winter, many Xiongnu people like to gather here, and they call this place Qingcheng.
The most crucial reason why he chose Kaner was that the route to attack Dai County was extremely convenient, so Dai County naturally became the Huns' first target of attack.
After going through the changes of many dynasties, the defensive fortifications of Dai County have long been built to be impregnable.
It would be difficult to capture this city without several months of effort.
More importantly, Dai County is adjacent to Weizhou. Once Dai County is attacked, Weizhou will inevitably send troops to provide assistance.
Huyan Yan was thoughtful and had already thought of these difficult problems.
After a brief thought, he offered a plan: "This time, we might as well split our forces into three groups. One group will attack Mayi, while the other will focus on taking Linhu. In my opinion, taking Linhu is not difficult. We just need to send a large force there."
Upon hearing this, Dun Chanyu hurriedly ordered his men to unfold a huge parchment scroll on which the terrain of each place was clearly painted with paint.
He leaned over and looked at it carefully, his eyes revealing concentration and thought.
Seeing this, Hu Yanyan continued, "After we capture Linhu, this place can be used as the temporary Chanyu's command post. To the west of Linhu is a large river blocking the way, and to the east, our army is besieging Mayi. The remaining troops can attack directly..."
As he spoke, he quickly walked to the side of Dun Chanyu and pointed his finger precisely at a location on the parchment scroll.
Everyone looked in the direction of his finger and saw two words clearly marked on the parchment - Shizhou!