Chapter 339: Ascending the Frontier Mountains in Early Winter

In early winter, the Lüliang mountain range was a scene of bleak desolation. Halting one’s horse on Mount Lüliang, all one could see beneath were withered, yellowed, fallen trees and countless overlapping ridges of black and white… The white was not snow, but frost. The northern section of the Lüliang range had always seen scant precipitation, yet the low temperatures and the abundance of vegetation were enough to produce a vast landscape of frost flowers. The black was not the mountain itself, but masses of dead branches and fallen leaves. This was not the later era of severe soil erosion; at this time, Mount Lüliang still possessed sufficient vegetation to cover the mountain slopes.

Of course, frost flowers were still only frost flowers. As the sun rose in the east, the eastern side of the entire Lüliang range began gradually to change color, and by noon it had turned into a thickly textured blackish-yellow.

“Why haven’t they finished crossing yet?” The Xubu Guduhou Chanyu, who had halted his horse on the tableland, finally withdrew his gaze from the mountain ridge, but then frowned as he looked down the slope.

“Great Chanyu, the valley mouth below is especially narrow,” the Xubu Jucì beside him hastily explained. “But the main thing is that we have far too many troops this time…”

“Right you are!” The Xubu Guduhou Chanyu came to his senses at once. “Fifty or sixty thousand troops… it must be the largest force we’ve had since crossing the river. If not for the White Horse General’s might and pressure, we probably couldn’t have gathered them in the first place.”

Hearing this, the Xubu Jucì could not help but look troubled again: “Great Chanyu, even with fifty or sixty thousand troops, I still feel this time we shouldn’t have come. You don’t know — when you sent me to Shanwu City before and gave me five or six thousand troops, we were routed by the White Horse General in a single encounter. Over a thousand dead, over a thousand captured, and less than two thousand escaped… The enemy troops are truly strong. Their officers all have iron armor, their soldiers all have leather armor. Besides spears, every man also carries a ring-pommel saber. They have powerful crossbows, large wagons, sturdy horses, sturdy men — not like us, eating wild greens all day… If things go badly and the White Horse General over in Pingcheng learns of this and leads his troops after us, what are we supposed to do?”

“You are right,” the Xubu Guduhou listened quietly until his distant clan cousin finished, then nodded in response. “Don’t think that just because we have fifty or sixty thousand and they have twenty thousand, I believe we could win a fight. And with so many mountains here, even if we grab Mayi and leave at once, we might still get caught from behind and lose several thousand men… But Jucì, tell me yourself — if we really retreat west of the river with nothing at all, won’t we still lose over a thousand people this winter anyway? Trading a few thousand extra lives for a city’s worth of goods and wealth — what’s not worth it? Besides, we’re not fools. That White Horse General has to go to Luoyang to deal with Chancellor Dong. At most he’ll chase us to the riverbank. Do you really think he’ll cross the river with us into that goat-dung wasteland west of the river? We’ll scatter and run, each group making rafts to cross the river at different points.”

The Xubu Jucì had nothing to say.

In truth, although the Xubu Jucì was so poor he had not eaten a bowl of dumplings in decades, he was after all of the Xiongnu noble bloodline that had lasted for centuries, and he was also a Xiongnu tribal chief commanding several thousand ‘able-bodied men.’ He understood certain things.

For instance, he knew very well that this time, coming to Mayi was not something the Great Chanyu Xubu Guduhou could refuse just because he did not want to come. Because a large-scale military operation like this was not something this ‘propped-up’ Chanyu could decide on his own.

Having lived within Han territory for a hundred years, under the protection and enfeoffment of the Han court, the Xiongnu’s ‘royal authority’ actually came from three sources: military strength, bloodline inheritance, and Han court enfeoffment… May one ask what Xubu Guduhou possessed? At best he barely held military strength — and even that was only barely. The other great tribes did not submit to him at all!

And now, with the subordinate chiefs all eager to come and plunder before leaving, what could this Great Chanyu do about it?

“Jucì!” The Xubu Jucì had fallen silent, but the Chanyu Xubu Guduhou could not help speaking again. “When all is said and done, it’s still because we are too poor… Do you think I don’t know that doing this will anger the White Horse General? Do you think I don’t know that our fifty or sixty thousand men are all for show? Ever since they killed the Qiangqu Chanyu and pushed me into rebellion, for all this time we’ve accomplished nothing at all. I have no choice either!”

The Xubu Jucì watched the excited, clamorous troops below the mountain and could not help but sigh.

“The four commanderies of Hetao to the north are good, with lush water and grass, but the population is sparse and there’s hardly any plunder to be had. And even if we wanted to graze there, we’d have to wait until next spring, and then we’d still have to contend with the Xianbei again.” Xubu Guduhou continued as if talking to himself. “Some people earlier said Taiyuan was rich — don’t I know Taiyuan is rich? But the passes there are so many, and the Han people there outnumber us by far. How could we get in? Even here in Yanmen, though we’ve been raiding back and forth for over half a year, their real big cities — the ones east of Wucheng, and Pingcheng — which one have we ever touched? Separated by these great mountains, after a thousand hardships we reach the city walls, and they’ve long since fortified the city and held fast. When we leave, they still chase after us and take a bite… This time, it really is just as Old Man Zhang said: a chance missed now may never come again!”

The Xubu Jucì was even more at a loss for words.

“Jucì!” Xubu Guduhou finally looked at his distant cousin and spoke earnestly. “Good or bad, let’s gamble one more time. Success or failure, at most two days after we reach the walls of Mayi, we’ll run… Once we get west of the river, next year we’ll cross the river to Hetao and graze in peace, and stop fighting the Han people. That way we’ll avoid bringing disaster on ourselves!”

The Xubu Jucì nodded repeatedly.

“Here’s what we’ll do. Since you’re worried about the White Horse General coming south, you’ll serve as flank cover,” Xubu Guduhou seized the moment to strike while the iron was hot. “I’ll give you another four thousand men, making five or six thousand in total… When we reach Wucheng, we’ll go south with Old Man Zhang to strike Mayi, and you’ll lead your troops around to the north of Wucheng to keep watch on any reinforcements from Pingcheng to the north… Count it as two days. If you really see someone coming, flee while sending word. If no one comes, you should also hurry back. We’ll meet by the Yellow River behind us, or just meet west of the river.”

The Xubu Jucì nodded helplessly, then reined his horse to leave the tableland. However, after riding a few paces, he turned back in the saddle and fixed his eyes on the Great Chanyu.

“Rest assured!” The Xubu Guduhou Chanyu sighed. “I’ll tell the chiefs — if we really seize goods, you get a double share!”

Only then did the Xubu Jucì nod repeatedly again and ride away.

And so it was that not until dusk did the fifty or sixty thousand troops the Xiongnu had gathered this time all finish passing through that narrow valley mouth.

It must be said that this valley mouth had no fame whatsoever in this era. In fact, because there was no border defense pressure, not even a stretch of wild Great Wall had been built there. But in another time and space, a thousand years later, because of the rise of the Western Xia and the Liao dynasty, a pass would be established here, called Pianguan. Together with Yanmen Pass south of Mayi and Ningwu Pass, it would be known as one of the Three Passes of Northern Jin, and would give birth to a great many tragic and heroic tales worthy of song and tears.

Of course, returning to the present, at this time Pianguan had not a single brick or stone, nor half a story. However, after the great Xiongnu army marched east for two more days, they came directly upon a stretch of border wall. And this border wall, which had been abandoned for a hundred years, still had a few high platforms in use at this moment. Seeing tens of thousands of Xiongnu swarming toward them, the men stationed there hastily lit beacon fires, then turned early and whipped their horses toward Wuzhou behind them (later Shuozhou’s Pinglu). In truth, these men were not proper garrison soldiers. They were guards specially dispatched by the local people of Wuzhou County in Yanmen, who were the first to bear the brunt after the great chaos in Bingzhou, precisely to prevent these Xiongnu from coming to plunder.

The great Xiongnu army paid absolutely no attention to the guards fleeing toward Wuzhou. Countless herdsmen carrying spears or bows and arrows labored like ants, leading their horses as they climbed the mountain ridges, moving en masse across a front dozens of li wide. They crossed the long-abandoned Great Wall, then mounted again and galloped at full speed, heading straight for Wuzhou, several li ahead.

Inside Wuzhou City, the county magistrate and several major clan heads had long since left the city for Pingcheng. The officials, prominent households, and able-bodied men left behind in the county, after shutting the city gates and climbing the walls with pounding hearts, could not help but stare in astonishment… It turned out that on the gentler slopes west of Wuzhou City, countless ragged Xiongnu troops were swarming down from the mountains. Yet they completely ignored Wuzhou, which lay right before them with its gates tightly shut. Instead, right beneath the city walls, they split into two. Several thousand cavalry headed north toward the Pingcheng road junction, while the rest of the main force, in an unbroken stream, raced with all their might across the winter fields, heading straight for Mayi (later the urban area of Shuozhou) to the southeast of Wuzhou.

And half a day later, not a single Xiongnu remained anywhere near Wuzhou City.

“What is the meaning of this?” On the city wall, the Assistant County Magistrate of Wuzhou was utterly baffled. “The beacon fires have been lit. Mayi and the other cities should have long been on guard… And General Wei is at Pingcheng with tens of thousands of troops… What are these Xiongnu thinking?”

“Maybe our Wuzhou city walls are too high?” On the wall under the setting sun, among the many men of Wuzhou, only one person answered their Assistant Magistrate’s question, and no one believed his nonsense.

Wuzhou’s walls were high, but Mayi even had a moat!

“Do not spare the horses’ strength!” In the twilight, Xubu Guduhou, standing on his horse, had already put on a ferocious expression. “If we’re late and the Zhang clan members change their minds, it will be difficult! From Wuzhou to Mayi is only fifty or sixty li. We’ve already traveled over twenty li. We’ll go another twenty-some li and rest ten li from the city! Then at dawn tomorrow, the entire army of tens of thousands will form ranks before the city. Those Zhang clan members will surely be terrified, and our chances of taking the city will be much greater!”

The Xiongnu nobles around him, holding torches, roared their assent, then turned one after another and headed southeast, clearly brimming with excitement.

“Where is Old Man Zhang?!” Seeing the various tribal chiefs disperse, Xubu Guduhou began shouting repeatedly. “Wasn’t it agreed we’d meet here? Didn’t you say you’d found it? Why haven’t I seen him?”

“What is the Great Chanyu so anxious about?” In the twilight, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind him. “I arrived while you were issuing orders…”

“Chief Zhang!” Xubu Guduhou immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but his tone remained stern. “I ask you, you must have known about the beacon fires at Wuzhou. Why didn’t you help remove them?”

“Great Chanyu.” Zhang Ze stepped under the torchlight and spoke with a serious expression. “If I had removed the beacon fires, might you not have plundered Wuzhou? And if you had plundered Wuzhou, would you still have risked coming to Mayi to receive our Zhang clan? Besides, if not for the beacon fires, how could we have made the herdsmen and commoners outside the city bring their grain and cattle and sheep inside? The wealth of Mayi is not something Wuzhou can compare to.”

Xubu Guduhou realized the point and laughed in spite of himself: “My thinking went astray. Do not be angry, Chief Zhang. Tomorrow we will still rely on you and your clansmen.”

“Setting that aside for now… Great Chanyu.” Zhang Ze’s expression was grave as he took another step forward. “We agreed beforehand — you may seize goods, but keep the killing to a minimum. Otherwise, not to mention that our Zhang clan could never return, you will also provoke General Wei’s wrath.”

“Rest assured, I will do my utmost,” Xubu Guduhou said with utter sincerity. “If we can avoid killing, we will avoid killing… In truth, with Hetao now vacant, and the White Horse General only claiming the land east of the Huanggan River in Yunzhong, the commanderies to the west like Wuyuan and Shuofang have lush water and grass. We are just planning to migrate there next year. Old Zhang, if you could persuade the people in the city to come with us, that would be even better!”

Zhang Ze stroked his beard, lost in thought.

And Xubu Guduhou did not press him. Instead, he amiably invited the other man to mount up and ride with him, to ponder the matter as they traveled… In truth, whether it was coercing these households and people to follow, or unleashing a great slaughter, or using these people as hostages to flee at leisure — once they actually entered the city, it would be the Xiongnu who had the final say. Only, tomorrow morning they would still need to rely on this Zhang Ze to open the city gates, so before then they could only handle him with care.

Leaving aside the trivial matters between Xubu Guduhou and Zhang Ze, for the main body of the Xiongnu, after several days of marching and an especially grueling night, they had finally arrived a little over ten li outside Mayi, the key fortified town in the heart of Yanmen Commandery. And according to plan, early the next morning they were to proceed to the outskirts of Mayi, form ranks, and make a show of force, using the posture of a great army of tens of thousands to intimidate the Zhang clan members inside the city and ensure they dared not hesitate.

According to the Han military texts, this was called ‘like fire and flowers’ — subduing the enemy’s troops without fighting.

Of course, the idea was that idea, but given the Xiongnu’s military appearance, they could probably only intimidate people with sheer numbers.

But no matter what, the Xiongnu at this moment should have been utterly exhausted. Yet for some unknown reason, at the road junctions, on the hillsides, in the fields, by the streams, on the tablelands — whether Xiongnu nobles or lowly Xiongnu herdsmen — most showed no intention of sleeping. Instead, they gathered around a few scattered campfires, laughing and chatting ceaselessly, from the wealth of Mayi to the riches of the Han people, and on to the past prosperity of the Xiongnu. They were clearly brimming with excitement.

Seeing this situation, Xubu Guduhou and some of the great nobles did in fact wish to stop it.

After all, even if the city gates opened smoothly tomorrow, there would still be street fighting to do.

And besides, no matter how rich Mayi was, with its population being what it was, how could its wealth be enough to divide among fifty or sixty thousand men? It would only be divided somewhat among the chiefs and nobles. How could it reach these lowly herdsmen? In truth, not only would these herdsmen get no share of the goods, but according to the Xiongnu nobles’ prior plans, if things went wrong at Mayi and that General Wei from Pingcheng moved swiftly, they might even have to detach a portion of the old and weak herdsmen to serve as decoys, covering the main force’s escape!

It was just that, a few days earlier, these nobles had just used the wealth of Mayi to spur these tribal followers to toil all the way here. How could they change their tune right before battle? So they could only pretend not to hear.

And so it was. Early the next morning, without the nobles needing to whip them, the Xiongnu, who had been excited for half the night and had only just fallen asleep, still utterly exhausted, rose of their own accord one after another to eat… This time it truly was not because of high awareness, but because the early winter wilderness of Yanmen was simply too cold!

The previous night they had never intended to cut firewood and set up camp, and this morning they rose in a flurry. The vast majority of lowly herdsmen merely choked down some already rock-hard, shapeless dried wild greens and steamed grains with a bit of unboiled water to stave off hunger. Those slightly wealthier might have some dairy products. As for the few who brought out extremely precious dried meat, they met with sympathetic looks from those around them… For an ordinary herdsman who was not a noble, the appearance of meat in his hands could only mean one thing: the most precious livestock in his household had died!

However, even among the nobles, though dried meat and dairy products were somewhat more plentiful, they were still so coarse as to be hard to swallow.

Xubu Guduhou personally handed Zhang Ze a piece of blackened dried meat and had someone bring over a jar of clear water drawn from a stream, but the latter simply could not eat it.

The Great Chanyu sighed, but did not press the matter. Instead, he began chewing with difficulty on his own.

It must be said that with the realm in chaos, economic order everywhere collapsed along with the collapse of political order. And the destruction of production by war was all-encompassing, making life hard everywhere.

Yet even though life was hard everywhere, the Han people at least had developed handicrafts and agriculture, and could form an internally circulating economic system within a single city or a large estate. But for the Xiongnu, whose economy had collapsed, who had lost all trade systems, and who had even suffered a famine, it was poverty on all fronts — utter destitution!

Why had Xubu Guduhou rebelled in the first place? To put it plainly, just like the Bobo bandits to the south in the same commandery (Xihe Commandery), they simply could not survive! There was war in Liangzhou to the west, and the court could not send support. Then a famine struck. The Bobo bandit leader Guo Tai had been with the Yellow Turbans and had experience in rebellion. He rose up first in Bobo Valley, then went south to the wealthy Hedong region to seek grain. Then the court ordered their Xiongnu to send troops south to provide relief. Everyone feared that if they went south, the women and children in the tribes would starve to death. So they gritted their teeth, killed the Chanyu, and rebelled themselves.

Earlier, Xubu Guduhou had kept emphasizing that they would go to Hetao once spring came. That was not just words to fool people. He truly wanted to go to that place the Han people had now voluntarily abandoned, to rest and recover… Only, he could not control his subordinates and repeatedly broke his word, which made him seem hypocritical.

After this one last job, he would play dead in Hetao! But if they broke the city today, then he absolutely must eat a bowl of noodles first!

After pondering for half the day, Xubu Guduhou, chewing laboriously on dried meat, once again secretly steeled his resolve… One must understand, two years ago when the Great Han realm was not yet in chaos and the lake salt from the tribes sold well, he too had been someone who could afford noodles at every meal!

Toss some mushrooms into an iron pot, boil the water, drop in the noodles, scoop them out, sprinkle on some lake salt produced by his own tribe, and add a little vinegar — more blissful than being an immortal!

But how, how had it come to this? Hadn't they lived perfectly well for over a hundred years?

Had there not been someone before him, Xubu Guduhou would have nearly shed tears.

"Great Chanyu." Zhang Ze, who had not slept all night and whose eyes were bloodshot, watched the other gnaw on dried meat and suddenly spoke. "Mayi City lies just ahead. You must promise me one more thing."

"Speak, Old Zhang," Xubu Guduhou replied, chewing with effort while hastily collecting himself to offer perfunctory attention. "Whatever you say today, I will certainly promise."

"On this trip to Mayi, although the County Magistrate and several other major clan leaders have all gone to Pingcheng, there are still some officials remaining in the city besides our Zhang clan… If the matter fails, you still cannot kill me!"

"If it truly fails, what use would killing you be? It would serve no purpose."

"If it truly fails, and General of the Guard still sends troops in pursuit, you still cannot kill me lightly… My clansman Zhang Liao is after all an official in Luoyang. If you truly kill me, you Xiongnu people will only suffer more deaths in the future!"

"Fine!" Xubu Guduhou tossed aside the dried meat, drank several mouthfuls of clear water, and then rose to speak. "Rest assured, I understand this principle… No more eating. Let us go beneath the walls of Mayi City! At noon we shall eat noodles at your home!"

Zhang Ze let out a long breath, yet his hands and feet trembled slightly. Only after a long while did he manage to stand firm.

Xubu Guduhou and the Xiongnu nobles gathered around him paid no mind… for anyone in such a position would be nervous at this moment.

Under the morning sunlight, the Xiongnu, bearing their exhaustion, hunger, and cold, began to mass together densely, gradually forming large military formations. Then, led by their respective chieftains, they continued advancing southeast along the passes and hillsides.

After rounding several gentle slopes and entering the Yanmen heartland basin where Mayi lay, the Xiongnu's field of vision suddenly opened wide! There, under the winter morning sun, Mayi City, situated on the alluvial plain at the uppermost reaches of the water, simply glittered and shone. And this glittering city lay just a few li ahead.

"No wonder the Han dynasty's Son of Heaven chose this place to lay his stratagem back then — hemmed in by mountains on the west, north, and south, with this terrain, once one arrives beneath the city walls, is it not like catching a turtle in a jar?" Xubu Guduhou remarked with a sigh from atop his horse, gazing into the distance.

"That's about enough," Zhang Ze, beside him on horseback, urged helplessly in a trembling voice. "Great Chanyu… I repeat, back then the Han Son of Heaven used several hundred thousand troops lying in ambush among these mountain ridges. Today, even if our Zhang clan wished to lay a stratagem, where would we find the soldiers?"

Xubu Guduhou gave a bitter laugh at these words, then pointed at the countless Xiongnu soldiers surging forward of their own accord before him and shook his head repeatedly: "In truth, even if there truly were an ambush behind these mountains, I could do nothing about it… The Xiongnu of today are nothing like the Xiongnu of several centuries ago. Let us go. I am still thinking of your family's noodles!"

With these words, this false Xiongnu Chanyu who 'commanded a host of one hundred thousand' actually spurred his warhorse and headed straight for Mayi City ahead.

Several li away, Gongsun Xun, who had been sitting atop the walls of Mayi City with keen interest, waiting for the Xiongnu army, watched the 'Xiongnu host' swarm forth from the northern hillsides with barely a few banners among them, and could not help but shake his head in repeated disappointment. He waited until several squads of extremely swift Xiongnu cavalry had reached a few hundred paces before the city and were beginning to eye the gate tower with its gleaming armor with alarm and suspicion. Only then did the General of the Guard, clad in fine armor from Pingguo, leaning on Xiang Yu's broken blade, and further draped in a silk surcoat and a black fur cloak, turn his head to look at Zhao Yun beside him and issue a soft command:

"Raise the banners!"

—————I am the line break for repeating an old trick—————

"Emperor Xiao Wu of Han devised the stratagem of Mayi, wishing to lure the Xiongnu, but wasted wealth and wearied his troops without catching sight of a single captive, let alone the face of the Chanyu! Thereafter, he pondered deeply the plans for the state altars and laid plans to restore the grand design of ten thousand years. Thus he raised a great host of several hundred thousand, sending Wei Qing and Huo Qubing to wield the troops. For over ten years before and after, they crossed the Western River, traversed the great desert, breached Tianyan, raided the royal court, pressed to the farthest limits of their lands, pursued the fleeing and chased the routed, sealed the rites at Mount Langjuxu, performed the Shan sacrifice at Guyan, and gazed upon the vast northern sea. They captured famous kings and nobles by the hundreds. From that time onward, the Xiongnu were shaken with terror. At the end of Han, the Grand Ancestor with twenty thousand troops again lured and struck at Mayi. This was because the circumstances of the times were not the same; they cannot be spoken of in the same breath." — From the *Dianlue*, Yan section, annotated by Pei Songzhi

PS: Thanks to the thirty-fourth supporter, Holy Light Flash… Actually it should be the thirty-second supporter… I'm all muddled… Drank a bit too much over the New Year… Extremely grateful.

And one more thing, I truly feel I need time to recover my previous update rhythm… The new group is 931557287, those interested can join.

(End of Chapter)