Chapter 619: The Xianbei Seeking Death
Zhuge Liang had seen those insane war machines, and he and Huang Yueying even participated in part of their construction.
The giant crossbow named Katyusha by Chen Xi is engraved with an etched mark, and can hit whatever it points to within the horizon.
Moreover, each giant crossbow arrow is engraved with an explosion mark. Even if one arrow does not explode, it can easily sink a small hill due to its speed.
It also contained a poison developed by Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo. It was colorless and odorless. Anyone who smelled it would have their hands and feet go weak, and only the best soldiers could stand.
It can be said that after a volley of crossbow arrows, only the elite troops can continue fighting on the battlefield.
Of course, the Han Dynasty is definitely equipped with an antidote for this kind of thing, so the two sides can directly create a numerical difference.
However, Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing did not produce much of this kind of thing. If it were not for the sake of fighting the Northern Huns , the two of them would not have been able to produce even this little bit.
…
With the rising of the real sun, the war has come to an end.
The casualties were not great, with only a little over 20,000 including the seriously injured. But because they were all elite troops, it was particularly heartbreaking.
After all, basically all of Goryeo's means were restrained, and the casualties only occurred in the last stand. This casualty has already made Guo Hao very distressed.
After all, even if a few thousand people were not killed but were only seriously injured, withdrawal from the war to encircle and suppress the Northern Huns was a foregone conclusion.
The casualties in other directions are all considered normal. There is no such thing as a war without casualties.
However, the main source of casualties was the areas under the charge of Zhang He and Gao Lan. Their abilities were indeed far from that of a qualified commander.
Guo Hao sighed, but still did not block the two men's path to becoming commanders. He just temporarily stripped them of their command positions, and each of them led a headquarters, while the rest of the troops were all handed over to Xue Rengui.
This can be considered a helpless compromise. For the sake of harmony within the Han Dynasty, each major state must cultivate some leading figures. It can also be considered as a way to appease them when they were under Yuan Shao.
Just like Tang Zhou and Zhou Cang, they must always be allowed to take the stage so that the people who were once Yellow Turbans can believe that the court will no longer pursue the past, which is a guarantee for them to feel at ease.
However, Yan Liang and Wen Chou did not have the talent to be a commander, so Gao Lan and Zhang He were the last candidates.
In addition, Yuan Shao had no famous people under his command. Instead of recruiting and training from the people, it would be better to hope that Zhang He and Gao Lan could go further.
If it is really not possible, we can only define them as generals, and hope that they can make great progress as officers.
"Damn it, Zhang Julu, is it you who did this?"
Guo Hao wanted to scold the two of them, but suddenly his expression changed and he looked at Zhang Jiao with annoyance.
Suddenly, a legion was attached to the national destiny, and the manifestation of destiny was directly a yellow turban. How could we not know what happened?
"Hmm?" Zhang Jue looked innocent, but then he smiled bitterly.
He also discovered what was happening. The Imperial Will that Guo Hao had originally intended to level up the Sun Knights was actually instilled into the Yellow Turban Warriors under the instinctive gathering of the Nine-Section Staff.
Well, or to distinguish them, you can call them golden-armored warriors.
Just like the relationship between the Xianzhen Camp and Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, the Feixiong Army and the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, they are legions that have stepped into a new realm.
After all, they are now a half-military soul level unit, and because of their foundation, they basically possess all the abilities of a normal military soul once they are promoted, except for the military soul's ultimate move.
But the Golden Armor Warriors and the Vanguard Death Squad are the same. Both legions do not need so-called ultimate moves.
Especially the Golden Armor Warrior, which is basically a super soldier that implements strength. No matter what the military soul skill is, the Golden Armor Warrior only needs a normal attack.
Back then, it was the Yellow Turban Warriors who blocked the Sun Cavalry's path to miracles, and now someone has blocked the Sun Cavalry's path to their military soul.
Guo Hao now wants to kill Zhang Jiao, even though they are all Han troops and are fighting for their country.
But doing this is just plain disgusting.
"Julu is willing to be disposed of by the general!" Zhang Jue smiled bitterly. The nine-section staff was something he had invented in the past in order to carry the will of the Yellow Turban Empire.
This yellow mud has fallen into my crotch, and nothing I say will be of any use.
"Go down and teach Tang Zhou a lesson!" Guo Hao took a deep breath, but ultimately did not get angry.
The promotion of Yellow Turban Warriors to Golden Armor Warriors can also be considered a good thing. At least those former Yellow Turbans can now feel completely at ease.
They were all fighting for their country, so how could they be divided against each other? Besides, this was also his mistake. He did not collect the imperial will at the first time, but instead cleaned up the battlefield and counted the losses first, which led to this mistake.
"Well, the opportunity has not come yet, so you can't force it!"
The episode on the battlefield could not affect the overall situation. With the official fall of the Goryeo royal city, Goryeo was officially destroyed, leaving only small cities and counties.
Guo Hao entrusted the matter to a local named Gao Xianzhi, which was also a test for Gao Xianzhi.
If they can settle the remaining areas of Goryeo before they finish dealing with the Northern Huns, then they can consider temporarily appointing him as the governor of Goryeo.
If that is not possible, then select from within the country to appease the remaining Goryeo people.
Goryeo had already been destroyed, so there was no need to kill all the remaining people. On the contrary, these people were still very important labor forces and would be used in the future development of the Northeast Plain.
As time passed, the three armies of the Han Dynasty had begun to take their positions.
Xu Rong was in charge of the western army, which was responsible for cutting off the Xiongnu's escape route to the west.
The central army was led by Guo Hao himself, who was responsible for dealing with the main force of the Huns and engaging in a decisive battle with them.
As for the army on the easternmost side, it was led by Han Shizhong, who led the Baima Yicong, Chixueqi, Yueqi, Tunqi, and Yuyang Tuqi cavalry to follow the rear, with the purpose of sweeping away the various tribes of the Northern Huns and directly compressing the Huns' living space to the minimum.
This is also the reason why they are all cavalry, to prevent themselves from being caught by the main force of the Northern Huns.
If it were infantry or something, the probability of outrunning the main force of the Northern Huns on the grassland would be too low.
The Han Dynasty was limited by the long supply lines and its progress was not fast. It could even be described as snail-like, after all, it was on the prairie.
In such a war, the value of counselors skyrocketed. Relying on its abundant manpower, the Han Dynasty managed to calculate the best supply gathering points.
After all, the two sides are old enemies, so the Han Dynasty still highly recognizes the capabilities of the Northern Huns.
Although everyone had the mysterious confidence that they could annihilate the Northern Huns, when the fight was about to start, no one knew what to do.
This kind of large-scale planning must be carried out layer by layer. Throughout history, the only person who can accomplish this kind of cross-regional operations is Li Jing, Duke of Weiguo.
The Han Dynasty now relies entirely on logistics to build semi-permanent fortifications at supply points to make preliminary preparations for building a city on the grassland in the future.
Putting aside the issue of logistics, 90% of the civil and military officials who went north came with the attitude of competing for short-term benefits.
In their view, as long as they won every war, then annihilating the Huns would be a matter of course.
As for another force on the grassland, the Hu people, neither side took them seriously. If they encountered anyone who refused to surrender, they would just kill them and that was it.
Although the number of millions of Hu people is quite intimidating, a hundred thousand reorganized Han troops are enough to force millions of Hu people to take a detour.
There are more than three million Han troops. All the Hu people on the grassland who heard the news were terrified.
During this era, the Han Dynasty never took these Hu people seriously. Once they got serious, all the Hu people would definitely run as far away as possible.
Of course, not all of them were cowardly Hu people. In the eastern part of Bingzhou, the Xianbei tribe could not suppress their inner restlessness.
In the eyes of the Xianbei tribes, the Han Dynasty had only been able to resist their invasion in the past by relying on its geographical advantages. Now that they had come to their territory, what did they have to fear?
What million-strong army? They didn’t believe that the Han Dynasty would bring so many people to the grassland.
The leader of the Yi tribe, Bu Yi, was originally very cautious. After all, the Eastern Xianbei to their east were destroyed in their last attack on Youzhou, so he was still somewhat afraid of the Han Dynasty.
But once they contacted the Western Xianbei, they no longer had any concerns.
In their view, the two forces combined had more than 300,000 elite troops, all of whom were cavalry. The Han army could never be their opponent, and they even planned to break through Yanmen Pass and head straight into the Central Plains.
"Report, we have found signs of Xianbei gathering in the north, and the initial estimate is that there are about 300,000 of them."
When the messenger reported the news to the central camp, everyone fell silent.
They never imagined that at this time, there would be someone who dared to challenge the Han Dynasty.
"Could it be that the Northern Huns are trying to use the Xianbei to test the strength of our army first?" Zhao Yun stood up and said as he saw that all the counselors were silent.
Amid the admiring eyes of the generals and the idiot-like looks from the counselors, Zhao Yun slowly sat down. He thought it was quite reasonable. Why did everyone look at him like that?
"Zilong, why don't you change into some armor? Sitting with you is detrimental to the style of our counselors!"
Fa Zheng couldn't suppress his desire to complain and stabbed Zhao Yun in the chest.
"Zilong, you should change into armor. If you keep going like this, you will be out of tune with us and the generals. You are too unique!"
Zhuge Liang smiled and continued to stab Zhao Yun in the chest.
After seeing that all the counselors, including Li Ru, nodded slightly, the Zhao Yun sank directly.
"Zilong, so you are really a civil servant?" Lu Lingqi whispered to Zhao Yun. He did not expect that Zhao Yun, a guy whose fighting ability was enough to compete with his father, was actually a civil servant.
Zhao Yun looked up at the kind-hearted Lu Bu, waved his hand silently, put away his Confucian robe, and put on his own tiger-head armor.
Finally, Chen Xi sighed helplessly and began to explain the meaning to the group of confused generals.
This was the first battle where the Han and the Huns made their stand clear. Regardless of who won or lost, it would greatly affect the subsequent war situation and was also an important signal to the Hu people on the grassland.
Without discussing the strategic level, the outcome of the first battle alone would greatly affect the situation between the Han and the Huns.
If the Northern Huns were defeated badly, it might lead to large numbers of Hu people on the grasslands defecting to the Han Dynasty.
Although the fighting power of these Hu people is very poor, the grassland is their territory after all, and we cannot ignore it.
Although both the Han and the Huns looked down on the mixed Hu people, both sides still attached great importance to these off-field factors.
Wasn’t it the victory at Longcheng that helped the Han Dynasty break the psychological oppression of the Huns?
If these mixed Hu people were to really awaken under the command of the Northern Huns, the strength of the Northern Huns would increase significantly, adding a few variables.
By the same token, if these Hu people turned to the Han Dynasty and hundreds of thousands of joint troops rushed over, the Northern Xiongnu would really not be able to distinguish them in a hurry.
Or if the Han Dynasty sent Hu people to invade the Xiongnu, it would be unbearable pain for the Northern Xiongnu.
Therefore, the first battle between the two sides will definitely be a clash between elite forces, and it is even possible that the first battle will be a small decisive battle.
Following Chen Xi's explanation, everyone understood the value of the first battle.
"In that case, why don't we deal with these Xianbei?" Zhuge Liang suddenly said.
When Guo Hao, who was sitting in the main seat, saw Zhuge Liang's initiative to volunteer, his eyes gleamed with brilliance.
"How many people are needed? How sure are you?"
"A small army with a 90% chance of success!" Zhuge Liang gave his answer after a little thought.
"In that case, you will be fully responsible for this battle, and General Zhang Liao will lead the troops to support you." Guo Hao nodded and agreed directly.
By the way, let Zhang Liao go to wear down his eternal faith.
After all, killing the Hu people is the obsession of these people with the belief that has been passed down through the ages. If the confrontation lasts too long, Zhang Liao may lose his mind. It would be a good idea to use the Xianbei to release Zhang Liao first.
"General, this is Bingzhou. How can we, the men of Bingzhou, lag behind others?" Lu Bu stood up and said.
"Well, Marquis Wen and General Gao Shun will also lead their troops to accompany us!" Guo Hao thought for a moment and said, "Well, if that's the case, we won't transfer any more troops."
"Kong Ming, I'll give you a hundred thousand wolf riders. You can definitely defeat the two invading Xianbei tribes!"
"100% sure!"
Zhuge Liang was very confident. If they, a group of second-generation people, with 100,000 imperial guards, could not defeat the Xianbei, they would all just commit suicide and stop wasting air in this world.
"Kong Ming, there is no need to leave any people alive in this battle. A sacrifice is necessary before the army goes to war. Let's use these 300,000 Xianbei Hu people to kick off our battle." Li Ru said coldly.
The Hu people are greedy for profit and not afraid of virtue, so it may be a good idea to suppress them with thunder and lightning.
Since the Northern Huns are able to remain patient, they will start with the Hu people.
"Using blood to make the Hu people on the grassland wake up is also a good idea." Jia Xu nodded approvingly.
"Good! Zichuan, what do you think?" Guo Jia and others also agreed, and finally turned their eyes to Chen Xi who was silent.
For something like killing everyone, it would be better for everyone to reach a consensus first.
Chen Xi nodded indifferently and voted in favor.
There are endless young and strong people dying in other people's families, but Chen Xi doesn't care at all. Let alone 300,000 , even if it is 3 million, Chen Xi won't even blink an eye.
To him, these are just figures on paper. He is not required to slaughter three million people personally.
