bullyxtreme Chapter 414: The Open Scheme Has No Solution!
Chapter 414: The Open Scheme Has No Solution!
The more the Chanyu spoke, the more excited he became.
"So, General Xiang, don't you think this is a case of 'a loss may turn out to be a blessing in disguise'?" The Chanyu patted Xiang Liang on the shoulder and said loudly.
After hearing the Chanyu's analysis, Xiang Liang was also shocked.
From a strategic perspective, Xiang Liang had to admit that the Chanyu's "poisonous plan" had inadvertently worked, leaving a hidden danger for the Qin army.
"The Great Chanyu is wise."
Xiang Liang bowed in praise and then followed up, "Now that we have shed our burdens and preserved our core fighting force, how does the Chanyu plan to deal with the Qin army's advance?"
"War! All-out war!"
"Meng Tian thinks he's won just by crossing the Yin Mountains and capturing a forward outpost? He's dreaming!"
The Chanyu walked to the center of the tent and punched a pillar with a wolf head totem hanging on it. "This is the northern desert! It's an endless grassland!"
There are no city walls, no passes, only endless snow and boundless wilderness!
"Even if the Qin infantry had those strange skateboards, they could charge on flat ground. Could they possibly outlast our warhorses on the grasslands?"
Their horses, accustomed to the warmth of the south, would freeze to death in less than half a month in this frigid north!
The Chanyu turned to the guards outside the tent and shouted, "Someone! Bring the sheepskin roll!"
Several guards quickly presented a blank parchment scroll and a charcoal pencil.
Without any hesitation, Touman Chanyu wrote down a series of military orders on the parchment scrolls.
"Immediately dispatch the fastest messengers, carrying my wolf-headed golden sword, to the east and west respectively!"
As he wrote, the Chanyu issued the order: "Notify the Left and Right Wise Kings! Tell them that the main force of the Qin army has penetrated deep into the grasslands, attempting to annihilate the entire Xiongnu people!"
"Order all archers from the twelve tribes to immediately assemble at the royal court!"
Bring out all the grain and elite warhorses hidden deep in the mountains!
"This Chanyu will gather 200,000 desert cavalry to have a real showdown with the Qin army on this vast and boundless snowy grassland!"
I will let these 300,000 Qin soldiers bleed out bit by bit, until they all freeze to death on this land!
After writing the military order, the Chanyu handed the sheepskin scroll to the messenger.
"Use two horses in shifts, traveling day and night! Deliver the letter to the Left and Right Wise Kings as quickly as possible! Hurry!"
"Yes, Great Chanyu!"
The messenger took the parchment scroll and immediately rushed out of the tent, ready to deliver this order that concerned the life and death of the Xiongnu.
Watching the messenger's departing figure, Touman Chanyu took a deep breath, feeling that he had finally exhaled most of the anger in his chest.
He poured another bowl of mare's milk wine and walked up to Xiang Liang.
"General Xiang, my 200,000-strong army will be fully assembled in less than half a month!"
The Chanyu raised his wine bowl with a cold laugh, "Then I'll see what Meng Tian has to offer me to waste time on this vast grassland!"
Xiang Liang smiled knowingly and raised his teacup in lieu of wine: "Then I wish the Great Chanyu a resounding victory and that he may utterly bury the invincible myth of the Great Qin on this snowy northern plain."
The atmosphere inside the tent finally eased from the previous extreme panic and oppression.
Even Ji Dan, who had been trembling all the time, felt a glimmer of hope and quietly wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
If the war can be dragged into a protracted conflict, the Qin Dynasty's logistics will inevitably collapse; this is common knowledge among almost all military strategists.
however.
The Chanyu hadn't even had a chance to bring the bowl of mare's milk wine to his lips yet.
A flurry of sounds suddenly came from outside the royal tent.
"Oh no! Great Khan! Something terrible has happened! The sky is falling!"
The heavy felt curtain was violently slammed open by a great force.
A Xiongnu centurion responsible for patrolling the perimeter tumbled and crawled into the main tent.
"You insolent fool! Can't you see I, the Chanyu, am in the middle of a meeting?"
The Chanyu's newly improved mood was instantly ruined. He roared, "What do you mean the sky has fallen? Even if the Qin army were to attack, I, the Chanyu, would have troops to stop them! What kind of decorum is this, with your wailing and howling?"
"No...it's not the Qin army attacking..."
"They are...their men! Our men!" The centurion looked up, his face covered in tears.
"What do you mean, 'our people'? Explain yourself!" Xiang Liang's heart sank suddenly, and an extremely ominous premonition instantly gripped his heart.
The centurion shouted, "Great Chanyu! It's those 30,000 old, weak, sick, and disabled men you left in the Yinshan camp!"
"The Qin army...the Qin army didn't kill them at all!"
"They actually distributed dry rations to those 30,000-plus elderly, weak, women, and children! Each person only received three days' worth of food! And then..."
Then they dispatched iron cavalry, like herding sheep, to drive them all north! To the direction in which our various tribes retreated!
That's all!
The Chanyu's hand, holding the wine bowl, froze in mid-air.
Xiang Liang's eyes were filled with disbelief, as if he had seen a ghost.
"What...what did you say?"
The Chanyu repeated, "The Qin army... drove those 30,000 men back?"
"Yes, Great Chanyu!"
The centurion wailed, "The scouts can see it clearly from thirty miles away! It's overwhelming! More than 30,000 people, crying and shouting, dragging their families along, are frantically surging towards our tribal outposts along the way!"
They only have three days' worth of food!
Clang!
The Chanyu dropped the wine bowl in his hand, spilling the fragrant mare's milk wine all over the ground.
Just moments before, he had been smugly boasting to Xiang Liang that he had used the Qin army's benevolence to successfully get rid of the burden of 30,000 grain-consuming bundles, passing the buck to the Qin Dynasty—a brilliant plan that killed two birds with one stone.
But now!
"Poison...it's too poisonous!"
Xiang Liang was a master of military strategy; how could he not see through the ruthless plan behind this move?
Where is the benevolence and righteousness in this?
This is clearly a way of throwing the burden back at us!
"The Great Chanyu..."
Xiang Liang's voice trembled as he looked at Touman Chanyu, who was now completely petrified. "The Qin army... they're trying to completely dismantle us from within!"
"These 30,000-plus elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people are flocking back. If we accept them and give them food..."
Xiang Liang swallowed hard. "Our food supplies will be severely depleted! And rumors will spread that you're using them as human shields!"
"But……"
Ji Dan pondered, "What if we don't accept them? They are all Xiongnu people... What if we close the door, or... kill them..."
"If we kill them..."
Xiang Liang closed his eyes in despair. "Great Chanyu, your prestige on the grasslands is completely ruined."
"Among those old, weak, sick, and disabled, there are the parents of the tribal warriors, their wives, and their children!"
If you were to order the shooting of these 30,000 women and children of your own kind... which of the warriors from the twelve tribes would still be willing to risk their lives for you?
The two wise kings will be the first to lead their troops in rebellion and attack you on charges of cruelty and inhumanity!
Take them in!
It wastes food and damages reputation!
If the Xiongnu chieftain refused to take refuge in the tribe or even massacred its inhabitants, he would immediately lose the support of the people, and the grasslands would be completely divided into civil war.
This is an unsolvable dead end!
A perfectly blatant and overt conspiracy!