Chapter 561: The Best Time to Destroy the Xiongnu!

There was a reason why Ying Zheng chose to perform the Fengshan sacrifice after destroying the Xiongnu.

Historically, the Fengshan sacrifice was always chosen in a peaceful and prosperous age, after achieving a great cause, to sacrifice and report to the heavens and earth to show one’s prestige.

Was the current State of Qin a peaceful and prosperous age?

Not entirely!

The Central Plains were indeed peaceful, and the people lived and worked in peace, but on the borders of the empire, the war had not yet ceased.

Earlier, before the Mirage returned, the Xiongnu of the northern frontier had actually invaded the borders of Qin on a large scale, killing the people of the border cities and looting property, which made Ying Zheng extremely angry.

One must know that at that time, Qin had just destroyed Regarding Baiyue and was just showing the prestige of Qin. As a result, before the people of Qin could immerse themselves in the joy of destroying Regarding Baiyue for too long, the invasion of the Xiongnu was like a slap in the face to Qin.

"430" At that time, Ying Zheng made up his mind that he must destroy the Xiongnu.

Over the years, the Xiongnu, Donghu, Dayuezhi, and many other barbarians outside the borders had invaded the Central Plains from time to time, which could be considered a major hidden danger on the border.

Ying Zheng had made up his mind long ago that he swore to let the iron cavalry of Qin tread across the whole world and conquer the whole world. How could he allow these barbarians to invade the Central Plains?

And to put it another way, the Regarding Baiyue in the south had been destroyed; why were the Xiongnu in the north still alive?

Because the main general he appointed for the Regarding Baiyue war was Li Xin.

So for this war against the Xiongnu, Ying Zheng chose Meng Tian.

Meng Tian was also a young general with excellent ability.

Using Li Xin first and then Meng Tian—wasn't this Ying Zheng’s way of indirectly reducing the influence of the Wang clan?

Wang Xuan Jian and Wang Ben, father and son, had destroyed five states in the process of destroying the six states, and their achievements were excellent. Even though Wang Xuan Jian retired after the destruction of Chu, the influence of the Wang clan still existed.

Ying Zheng did not want to do the kind of thing where the birds are gone and the bow is hidden, nor did he want to treat the Wang clan as King King Zhaowang treated Bai Qi.

Compared to the Wang clan’s achievements being too high for the master, there were actually other ways to reduce the energy of the Wang clan in the army, which was to support other generals as much as possible. As long as there were several generals with equally excellent achievements in the army, the Wang clan would not be so conspicuous.

Facts proved that Ying Zheng’s idea was not wrong.

After Regarding Baiyue was destroyed, the influence of Li Xin and Tu Sui in the army rose straight up.

Before this, Li Xin was already a famous general of Qin. In the process of Qin destroying the six states, he repeatedly marched as a deputy general. This Regarding Baiyue war was also his first time serving as a main general. He had his own famous battle, and many people even compared him to Wang Ben.

After all, Wang Xuan Jian had retired. The only members of the Wang clan in the court were Wang Ben and Wang Li, father and son. Wang Li was just a young tiger and had not made any contributions for the time being, so it was not worth mentioning. The person with the most energy in the Wang clan was still Wang Ben.

The land of Regarding Baiyue, although not as vast as the Central Plains, nominally had three states. Li Xin destroyed Regarding Baiyue and helped Qin gain four new commanderies. In terms of merit, it could barely be compared to Wang Ben.

The influence of the Wang clan was reduced a lot because of the rise of Li Xin.

But this was not enough. Therefore, after this Xiongnu invasion, Ying Zheng appointed Meng Tian as a general, preparing to give Meng Tian a chance. At the same time, because he was worried that Meng Tian was inexperienced and could not deal with the Xiongnu, he specifically invited Li Mu to come out of the mountains.

Facts proved that Ying Zheng did the right thing.

Because the war situation between the Xiongnu and Qin exceeded his expectations.

After Li Mu, the old general of the State of Zhao who had once defeated the Xiongnu, came out, Meng Tian led the Qin army, but it was still only barely deadlocked with the Xiongnu.

Was Meng Tian’s ability insufficient?

No, Ying Zheng knew Meng Tian’s ability very well, not to mention that there was Li Mu helping on the side. It could only be said that the difficulty of the Xiongnu exceeded expectations.

Today, when Su Xuan proposed the "Fengshan sacrifice", although Ying Zheng was moved, he knew the priority of things. Even if he wanted to perform the Fengshan sacrifice, he had to wait until after the Xiongnu were destroyed.

If the Xiongnu were not destroyed, performing the Fengshan sacrifice rashly would just be forcibly whitewashing the peace.

"The Xiongnu!"

Su Xuan’s eyes also flickered when he heard Ying Zheng’s words.

In original history, from Qin to Han, the Xiongnu were always the biggest threat and the biggest enemy of the Central Plains. In original history, the Qin general Meng Tian defeated the Xiongnu and recovered the Hetao area, but this was only temporary. Meng Tian’s victory did not affect the national strength of the Xiongnu. When the Qin Dynasty perished and the Central Plains fell into chaos, the Xiongnu’s Modu Modu Chanyu rose, destroyed the Donghu and other foreign tribes, and the Xiongnu’s power reached an unprecedented level. In the early Han Dynasty, they even besieged the Han Emperor Liu Bang at Baideng, making Liu Bang almost die there.

For several generations afterward, there were other Xiongnu leaders with excellent abilities such as Laoshang Modu Chanyu and Junchen Modu Chanyu. Until the time of Emperor Wu of Han, the Xiongnu had always been a heart-and-gut problem for the Central Plains.

Later, although Emperor Wu of Han defeated the Xiongnu, the price paid was definitely not small, which could be called exhausting the military to the extreme.

'However, now, it is an excellent time to destroy the Xiongnu!'

Su Xuan thought secretly in his heart.

The current Xiongnu, although their power was still huge, actually had not reached the strength of the Xiongnu in the Han Dynasty in original history. All the opportunities lay in the period of Modu Modu Chanyu destroying the Donghu and annexing the Donghu, Dayuezhi, and many other forces, which made the Xiongnu’s power soar.

And the current Xiongnu were actually not as good as the Donghu.

However, in recent years, the Donghu had also been gradually declining, which could be considered a turning point.

Su Xuan naturally would not let history go in the original direction.

Therefore, this opportunity must be grasped.

Many thoughts flashed through his mind, and Su Xuan asked Ying Zheng: "Since I returned on the Mirage, I heard that the empire is at war with the Xiongnu. Can Your Majesty tell me about the current situation?"

Ying Zheng was slightly stunned when he heard Su Xuan’s words, and then he told Su Xuan about the direction of this war.

He first talked about the cause of this war.

At that time, Qin had just destroyed Regarding Baiyue, and the Xiongnu in the north perhaps determined that the Central Plains had just fought a war and were unable to use a large army. Therefore, they invaded the northern borders of Jiuyuan, Lord Yunzhong, Yanmen, and other places, looting property and slaughtering civilians on a large scale.

Ying Zheng learned of this and could not bear it, so he let Meng Tian send troops to meet the Xiongnu. At the same time, he invited Li Mu to come out and let Li Mu assist Meng Tian.

As a result, this war lasted for a long time, but the Qin army and the Xiongnu were deadlocked.