Chapter 338: The Chanyu in Shanxi (Part 2) (Happy New Year!)

The battle to retake Shanwu City in Dingxiang was fought cleanly and efficiently. For the Youzhou army, it felt like using a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken… This was not only because Shanwu City fell in a single assault, but more importantly, the Youzhou army’s results were unexpectedly excellent. They actually managed to block several thousand Xiongnu cavalry from the various Xiutu tribes who had not yet scattered and fled, pinning them beneath the Great Wall south of Shahukou, west of Shanwu City. As a result, they took over a thousand heads and captured over a thousand prisoners.

To be perfectly honest, this was a far cry from their earlier worry that the Xiongnu would rout as soon as battle was joined, and scatter as soon as they routed, leaving no way to get a grip on them.

“My lord.”

In the afternoon, in the wilderness west of Shanwu City, beneath the White Horse Banner, Lou Gui watched the Xiongnu prisoners being escorted back and suddenly turned his head toward Gongsun Xun. “I have a plan that might break the Xiongnu’s current posture.”

“General!”

Before Gongsun Xun could reply, Tian Feng, who had personally returned from scouting the front lines far away, shouted from horseback in the distance. “I have just thought of a strategy to defeat the enemy. If it succeeds, it will surely make the Xiongnu feel the pain and not dare to cross the river lightly to harass Shanxi again.”

Beneath the canopy, Gongsun Xun could not help but laugh. “What a coincidence! I just thought of an old trick myself… Tell me, should the three of us each write a character on our palms and compare them?”

At these words, the steadier ones like Gao Shun and Zhao Yun remained composed, but the more restless ones like Wei Yue, Tian Yu, and Jing Ze could not help but chime in eagerly:

“My lord is in excellent spirits!”

“In my view, the two Commandants of the Household must see things much the same as our lord, as heroes do.”

“Does Master Wang carry a portable inkstone and paper pouch with him?”

“General, why resort to mystification?” Just then, Tian Yuanhao reined in his horse beneath the banner, looking somewhat impatient. “Isn’t it just imitating the stratagem of Mayi, luring the enemy deep? The tides of battle shift in an instant. We should be planning and designing the operation as early as possible, then carrying it out as quickly as we can, lest we miss our chance. Is this really the time for such games?”

The many officers and not a few civil scholars in the central army all looked somewhat abashed.

“Yuanhao, you are being a bit too demanding.” Seeing this, Gongsun Xun laughed repeatedly, not taking it to heart. “Military life is hurried, and war is a serious matter. Precisely because of that, we should have a little diversion after battle, to balance tension with relaxation… Don’t you agree?”

Tian Feng actually found himself unable to retort.

“However, since the plan is the same and has already been spoken aloud, there’s no need for games after all.” Lou Gui stepped forward to smooth things over. “Why don’t we return to Shanwu City immediately and set about making arrangements?”

Gongsun Xun first nodded slightly, then shook his head with a laugh. Before turning his horse to head back, he gave an order to Jing Ze: “Pass the word. This is our first victory since marching out of Shanxi. Let’s not make a fuss. Slaughter those pigs the elders of Pingcheng sent us earlier, along with the warhorses that died today, and find some clean okra. Tonight, we make dumplings!”

Jing Ze naturally assented, and the surrounding soldiers roared in cheers. Tian Feng, who had already turned back with Lou Gui, could not help but shake his head.

It must be said that many years ago, Lady Gongsun had vigorously promoted replacing wheat gruel with flour-based foods, and dumplings in particular had been ‘invented’ quite early on. Yet the results had always been very poor.

The reasons were, of course, many and varied, but the main problem was that traditional pottery was very difficult to heat quickly for proper boiling. However, with the advent of the iron wok, this situation was overturned almost immediately. A great variety of flour-based foods were rapidly spread and invented, and dumplings, as one of the main forces among them, quickly became a common food in the northern regions and even the Central Plains… Truly a common food — dumplings stuffed purely with wild greens were always very common, but ones stuffed with pork were very hard to come by.

Of course, Gongsun Xun’s decision to make dumplings this time was purely a bit of humor born of boredom, because the plan he, Lou Gui, and Tian Feng had was very simple: to ‘wrap dumplings.’

Before the battle at Shanwu, the three of them had concluded, based on the characteristics of the Xiongnu cavalry, that winning a battle would be easy but annihilating the enemy would be hard, and that the Xiongnu would be difficult to subdue as they repeatedly returned. However, after personally fighting a battle with the Xiongnu troops at the northernmost edge of the Datong Basin in Shanxi, and seeing some additional things with their own eyes on the battlefield, they instead reached the opposite conclusion — that the Youzhou army might well be able to inflict large-scale casualties on the Xiongnu, thereby intimidating them.

There were two reasons for this change.

One was the Great Wall, specifically the Inner Great Wall.

The so-called Inner Great Wall, as the name implies, is the Great Wall in the interior, walls that had already lost their border defense function. For example, those walls built between the Seven Warring States during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods — the Qi state’s wall in the Taishan region, the Zhao state’s wall built at Handan, the wall on the border between Han and Chu… These walls are famous in history, but after unification they were immediately abandoned, even becoming obstacles to transportation that had to be dismantled.

It was precisely because of this that Gongsun Xun and the others had previously overlooked and ignored this issue.

However, in this so-called Shanxi region, from west of Mount Taihang to the Yellow River, its Inner Great Wall was not only well-preserved, but its length and scale far exceeded those elsewhere. Moreover, due to the terrain, it still served the function of slowing down barbarian cavalry… Especially this section of the Great Wall built along the Lu Liang Mountains in western Shanxi, stretching for hundreds of miles, constructed along the mountain ridges. It was a ‘hodgepodge’ continuously built and linked together over a thousand years, starting from the Warring States period.

There was no helping it; this area had been the dividing line between Hu and Han since ancient times. To say nothing of other eras, before Emperor Wu of Han seized the Hetao region, how could he not have built a Great Wall here to defend against the Xiongnu?

In fact, the famous Yanmen Pass is not north of Pingcheng… The defensive system there is centered on Gaoliu Fortress. Yanmen Pass is at the very southern edge of Yanmen Commandery, which shows just how complex the Great Wall system in the Shanxi region is.

And today, it was precisely this Lu Liang Mountains Inner Great Wall in Shanxi, now manned by no one, that severely hindered the Xiongnu’s escape on the battlefield.

Gongsun Xun and the others also promptly realized the value of this abandoned Great Wall — if they could, as in today’s battle at Shanwu, initiate combat on the eastern side of the Inner Great Wall, then the Xiongnu would not find it so easy to flee!

As for the other reason, it was that the Xiongnu of the various Xiutu tribes before them were simply too poor!

Time quickly turned to evening. Shanwu City, emptied by war, had long since become a large military camp. Yet, because the city walls existed, it was ultimately more spacious and relaxed than a camp. Moreover, they had won a victory today after all. No matter how poor the Xiongnu were, they had contributed quite a few warhorses and battle merits. Coupled with the aroma of dumplings wafting through the air, quite a bit of laughter and cheer actually filled Shanwu City, and the atmosphere was truly not bad.

At this moment, in the main hall of the former commandery government office, the General of the Guards, Gongsun Xun, having already eaten a bowl of dumplings, was watching a middle-aged Xiongnu man across from him eat. The man’s face was swarthy, his build small and thin. Under the lamplight, his whole body was filthy, even stained with blood, and he actually did not know how to use chopsticks, instead scooping the dumplings out with his hands to eat.

This was already his fourth bowl of dumplings.

“Is it good?” Gongsun Xun watched for a moment, then suddenly spoke.

The Xiongnu man tried to reply upon hearing this, but was immediately choked by a dumpling in his throat, looking utterly discomfited for a moment.

“No matter, drink some hot soup.” Gongsun Xun was perfectly composed and unhurried.

Someone beside them immediately offered soup. The Xiongnu man drank several mouthfuls before barely recovering his breath. He then hurriedly left the low table and attempted to kneel to reply.

“Just sit back down, no rush.” Gongsun Xun remained unconcerned. “Is it good?”

“Delicious!” The Xiongnu man, his hands greasy and his expression cautious, immediately replied loudly without any hesitation when asked again.

“Good that it’s delicious.” Gongsun Xun chuckled lightly. “I could tell… What is your name? Who are you?”

“I am called Xubu Juzi. I am a chieftain of the various Xiutu tribes, with two to three thousand men under me… My grandfather was the Gudu Marquis of the Xiutu tribes two generations ago.”

“So you are even of Xiongnu noble stock?” Gongsun Xun found it increasingly amusing. “I was just about to ask you — your Han speech is so good, and your kneeling posture is not bad either, so why can’t you use chopsticks, and why does it seem you’ve never eaten dumplings before?”

“In reply to the Grand General.” The middle-aged Xiongnu chieftain steadied the wooden bowl before him and answered carefully. “We are the Xiutu tribes…”

“I know.” Gongsun Xun was unconcerned. “Xiutu, in the Han tongue, means the Goddess of the Earth Tribe. It is the most powerful tribe of the Xiongnu Right Section, and its chieftain has always held the post of Gudu Marquis of the Right Section… I was garrisoned at Yanmen for several years, how could I not know of you? Wasn’t this rebellion led by you? Your chieftain, Xubu Gudu Marquis, was even acclaimed as Chanyu… Yet for such a great tribe, and you a noble within it, how is it that you cannot even use chopsticks?”

Upon hearing this, Xubu Juzi grew even more cautious, seeming quite ashamed, though his dark face made it hard to tell. “In reply to the Grand General, although our Xiutu tribes are numerous and have many nobles, we live in the gaps between the harsh desert lands to the right of the royal court. Raising cattle, sheep, and horses is extremely difficult, so we have always been the poorest. Apart from rewards from the royal court, we only have some salt lakes that can produce a little profit…”

“So that’s how it is. Then this rebellion of yours, aside from being because the previous Chanyu was installed by the imperial court against your will, was more due to poverty and hardship?” Gongsun Xun suddenly understood. “I thought so… This Shanwu City has long been an empty city, with no real wealth to speak of. Yet when you fled today, you were clutching wooden utensils and pottery, unwilling to let go. It’s clear you’ve been poor to a certain degree.”

“That is exactly the meaning.” Xubu Juzi hurriedly continued. “Actually, regarding that matter back then, when the Han Colonel Protector of the Xiongnu arbitrarily killed and installed a Chanyu, the imperial court also punished him for his crime. How could we truly care or be unconvinced? If we were truly unconvinced because of that, why didn’t we rebel back then, and only rebelled after so many years? The truth is, in these past few years, that Chanyu Qiangqu not only cut off the rewards for our Right Section, but even when we painstakingly collected lake salt and handed it over to him, he wouldn’t help us sell it… Our Right Section there was stricken by poverty and hardship, and life had truly become unbearable! It was just at that time that the imperial court conscripted us to go south to suppress the rebellion. The royal court and the Left Section might have been fine, but for our Right Section alone, everyone worried that if we left our homeland, the women and children would all starve to death. So anger flared in our hearts, and in one breath we killed Qiangqu and acclaimed our own Gudu Marquis as Chanyu.”

“And then, deciding to go all the way, you joined forces with the Left Section and others to cross the river and plunder my Yanmen?” Gongsun Xun’s expression was a half-smile. “I know the origins of your Xiutu tribes, and I know why you rebelled… But do you know my origins?”

“I do!” Xubu Juzi grew even more nervous. “The fame of the White Horse General, we knew of it over a decade ago when we rode beyond the frontier with the previous Chanyu and General Zang. I was in the army that day too. My father died at that time. Later, the name of the White Horse Grand General came from the east at one moment, from the north the next, and from the west the next. How could I not know?”

“But you didn’t know that Yanmen is my territory?” Gongsun Xun suddenly cut him off, his expression turning cold and grim.

Xubu Juzi immediately dared not speak, only nodding with difficulty.

“Do you know now?” Gongsun Xun pressed coldly again.

“I know now.” Xubu Juzi was terrified.

“One is not blamed for what one does not know, and you indeed had reasons for your actions.” Gongsun Xun’s expression relaxed again into a mocking smile. “And ragged soldiers and poor wretches like you — I have no desire to fight you either. Although victory would be certain, winning would only net me a few horses, and casualties would be unavoidable.”

Xubu Juzi, in his bewilderment, grasped something, and could not help but grow agitated.

“The thousand or so captured this time, along with your warhorses, I will release them all together.” Gongsun Xun continued. “Go west and find your Chanyu. Tell him I have no intention of entangling with him, but he must not continue crossing the great river to harass my territory…”

“I will surely remember the Grand General’s kindness in my heart.” Xubu Juzi suppressed his agitation and asked carefully. “It’s just that I truly do not know which lands are the Grand General’s territory?”

“Do you know the Huanggan River in Yunzhong Commandery?” Gongsun Xun asked with some impatience.

"I understand." Xubu Jucì had now thoroughly grasped the other party's meaning.

"Though I have the will, I lack the strength to push further west. Taking the Huanggan River in Yunzhong Commandery as the boundary — Yunzhong, Dingxiang, and Yanmen to the east; Taiyuan, Shangdang, and Hedong to the south... none of these are places you can meddle in! Even to the west, you are forbidden to plunder Han people. And if they wish to come east, you are forbidden to stop them!"

"I will obey the Grand General in all things."

"It is not you obeying me — it is your Chanyu who must obey me..." Gongsun Xun pondered for a moment, then set a deadline. "I know you are scattered everywhere and hard to gather. Tell your Chanyu: I give you one month. If you are not gone cleanly by then, I will have no choice but to unleash a great slaughter west of Mount Taixing and east of the Dahe."

Xubu Jucì hastily agreed.

"Then be off!" Gongsun Xun, seeing this, could not help feeling somewhat listless. "For the next month, I will be at Pingcheng assembling the officials, troops, and great clans of the three commanderies of Yanmen, Dingxiang, and Yunzhong... If you seek me again, you must go to Pingcheng."

Xubu Jucì hurriedly rose to kowtow and take his leave, but heedless of the many warriors in the hall, he actually first lowered his head and grabbed the two now-cold dumplings from his bowl into his hand before kowtowing and departing... This drew a strange look from Yuwen Heita, who was escorting the man out.

Gongsun Xun, seeing this, also shook his head for a moment.

"My lord is so sincere." As soon as the man left, several scholars entered from a side door behind the hall, and among them Xi Zhong could not suppress a smile. "Listening from outside, I felt my lord was utterly sincere. This stratagem is certain to succeed."

"Zhicai reads too much into it. I was indeed utterly sincere." Gongsun Xun sighed. "Look at this man's attire — a complete Xiongnu savage. Yet listen to his accent and observe his bearing: he is clearly a genuine Han man from northern Shaanxi. And what he said is likely mostly the truth... The Xiongnu have always been rich on the left and poor on the right, and now with chaos on all sides, unable to sell their lake salt and cut off from the central court's rewards, this uprising is nine-tenths likely a genuine rebellion driven by desperation."

"But in the end, Hu and Han are distinct, and officials and bandits are clearly separate." Xi Zhong, uncharacteristically stern, offered counsel. "No matter how destitute they are, now they are Hu bandits crossing the river to cause chaos... My lord must not harbor excessive compassion."

Gongsun Xun shook his head even more. "I naturally understand that principle. When I spoke of sincerity... I meant that if they can truly restrain their greed and withdraw back west of the river as I instructed, would that not satisfy both sides perfectly? In these chaotic times, all are struggling to survive. If we truly view them as vassals of the Han, is this not also a case of the people's livelihood being fraught with hardship?"

"They are impoverished to this degree, and the General has deliberately left them a gap to slip through — how could they possibly restrain their greed?" Tian Feng spoke coldly from the side. "Clearly the General has schemed in every way to inflict maximum casualties. Why now lament the hardships of the people's livelihood?"

The hall fell silent as a grave. The General of the Guard, Gongsun Xun, was for a moment unable to reply.

After a long while, he finally forced a dry laugh: "Yuanhao is right. Setting aside the distinction between Hu and Han — who asked them to be Xiongnu while we are Han? Even if they might abide by the agreement out of fear of me while I am here, once I lead my troops south, how could even Xubu Guduhou possibly restrain his men from continuing to cross the border and plunder? I was being overly sentimental."

Only then did those in the tent collectively breathe a sigh of relief.

On the thirteenth day of the tenth month, the Xiongnu pretender Chanyu Xubu Guduhou, knowing he was no match for the Han army, accepted the terms brought by his distant clansman Xubu Jucì. He immediately led his main force, which had been ravaging Dingxiang, southward along the vertical stroke of the Yellow River's 几-shaped bend, gathering his scattered troops along the way. The Xiongnu raiders dispersed across various areas, fearing the tens of thousands of elite Han troops that had suddenly appeared, also hurriedly converged toward the Yellow River's banks.

On the fifteenth day of the tenth month, upon hearing that the General of the Guard Gongsun Xun had won a great victory over the Xiongnu at Shanwu and was expelling them from the territory, the Administrator of Yanmen, Han Zhuo, led the greater part of the commandery's officials, troops, and great clans north to Pingcheng to pay homage to the Grand Marshal Liu Yu and the General of the Guard Gongsun Xun.

By late in the tenth month, as the weather turned cold, Xubu Guduhou, having gathered the bulk of his forces by the Yellow River and preparing to cross, suddenly received an unexpected visitor in his tent.

"You want to cross the river and flee together with us?" Xubu Guduhou, though in his forties, looked as old as a man of sixty, his hair and beard graying. Upon hearing this, he furrowed his dark, wrinkled face. "Why?"

"Great Chanyu." The visitor, seated on a small camp stool in the tent, was quite direct. "Though you are Xiongnu and we are Han, our two families have lived as neighbors across the great river for over a hundred years and know each other thoroughly. Let us be frank... Are you crossing west to avoid the White Horse General at Pingcheng to the north?"

"All of Yanmen knows this," a tribal chieftain beside them remarked casually.

"I will not deceive you — we, the Zhang clan of Mayi, also wish to avoid the White Horse General." The speaker was the former Military Cao Scribe of Yanmen and patriarch of the Mayi Zhang clan, Zhang Ze, already past fifty. However, living a life of comfort and privilege, he appeared even younger than the Xiongnu Chanyu across from him.

"Why?" Xubu Guduhou was immediately intrigued. "Aren't you all Han? I recall your family was on good terms with him before. Wasn't the business of that Anli Trading Company — weren't you the ones who led them to us to buy furs and salt?"

"This time, the White Horse General has come to Bingzhou to strike south against another Grand General at court, Dong Zhuo." Zhang Ze was concise. "That is the former Inspector of Bingzhou... The Chanyu still remembers him, yes? These two men, just like you and Yufuluo, are contending for the Han court's Chanyu throne! They are irreconcilable. I have a young clansman who first followed the White Horse General but later defected to that man surnamed Dong... The Great Chanyu should also remember him, yes? That lad Zhang Liao — he even came here to recruit soldiers... This time he has truly enraged the White Horse General. We only wish to flee far away and dare not go to Pingcheng at all."

Xubu Guduhou and the many chieftains in the tent exchanged glances, then nodded repeatedly. They were not all deaf; they knew of Gongsun Xun's current strategy and Zhang Liao's affairs in the south.

Of course, not everyone agreed. For instance, that Xubu Jucì who had fled back said that the White Horse General was magnanimous and might not be angry... But his status was low and his words carried no weight; no one paid him any heed.

Soon, however, this pretender Chanyu also began shaking his head repeatedly.

"What does the Great Chanyu mean by this?" Zhang Ze, seeing this, could not help sneering. "Surely you are not still nursing grudges from our ancestors' feud centuries ago?"

"It is not that." Xubu Guduhou sighed. "The times are bad, and every family has its difficulties. We can be said to share the same affliction. But Old Zhang, it is not that I am unwilling to take your family in — it is that I dare not offend the White Horse General either. Otherwise, why would we all be gathered here preparing to cross the river and return to hide?"

"I know this puts the Great Chanyu in a difficult position. The White Horse General comes with overwhelming momentum and a great army — what if we provoke his wrath?" Zhang Ze lowered his head in distress. "But with the risk of our clan being exterminated before us, I still beg the Chanyu to show some kindness."

Chanyu Xubu Guduhou still shook his head.

"If the Great Chanyu permits us to take refuge together... my family has considerable assets. What if we give you the greater half, according to custom?" Zhang Ze said with difficulty.

A stir ran through those in the tent.

Yet Chanyu Xubu Guduhou still shook his head.

"What if I open the city gates and present the entire city of Mayi to the Great Chanyu?" Zhang Ze, after lowering his head for a long while, suddenly raised it to ask.

At this, the many Xiongnu nobles in the tent all changed color.

"Is the Zhang Patriarch joking?" After a long silence, Chanyu Xubu Guduhou finally laughed, panting heavily. "Or do you intend to emulate your ancestor and set an ambush for me?"

"Back then, my ancestor's Mayi stratagem required hundreds of thousands of Han troops. What do I have now to ambush the Great Chanyu with?" Zhang Ze answered with a sneer. "However, back then, my ancestor's Mayi stratagem used a single Mayi to lure the Xiongnu Great Chanyu — who then dominated the steppe and the Hetao — to come with a host of a hundred thousand. Now that you are impoverished to this degree, do not tell me you are not tempted! Great Chanyu, an opportunity missed is gone forever!"

The stir in the tent grew even greater.

"Zhang Patriarch, please step outside and wait a moment. We will discuss a course among ourselves," Chanyu Xubu Guduhou said hastily, waving his hand.

Zhang Ze gave a cold laugh, then rose directly, flicked his sleeves, and strode out.

—————— I am the dividing line for eating dumplings during the New Year —————

"When the Grand Ancestor campaigned against Dong, he passed through Yanmen. The Xiongnu and various mixed Hu tribes rose in revolt. Though he was victorious, their raiding was difficult to suppress, and the multitude considered it a problem. At that time, the Grand Ancestor fought and saw the border walls. Wishing to lure them, he then relaxed and returned, personally ordering the army to prepare a dumpling banquet. The officers and subordinates were astonished and puzzled, not understanding what he meant. Only Jingze, on his own authority, ordered his tent to be strictly prepared. Someone asked Jingze in surprise: 'What is the meaning of this?' Jingze replied: 'Dumplings — they wrap and enclose. Comparing them to the Xiongnu, they should be encircled and annihilated in the south.' Later, it indeed turned out as he said." — A New Account of the Tales of the World, Chapter on Quick Perception

PS: Thanks to the 31st patron, Yu Zhuang's Father; the 32nd patron, Wuxin Wuding; the 33rd patron, True Dragon's Explosive Flame... Thank you all for your support during the New Year. I wish everyone a happy New Year, even though I took leave for the holiday and haven't updated a single word... Also, Uncle Explosive Flame has been married for three years now, right? It truly feels like a dream.

The first half of this chapter was written at the Temple of Earth, the second half at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. More stylish than writing at a KTV, wouldn't you say?

(End of Chapter)