Great Han Empire

Chapter 85 Yanzhao Fengyun
The envoy of the Tuoba tribe was furious and left in a huff.

Li Hong sat by the table and smiled without saying a word.

Liu Tao walked up and down the room nervously, saying incessantly, "It's terrible, it's terrible, Tuoba Feng is coming."

Seeing Liu Tao's frightened expression, Li Hong couldn't help it, and said with a smile, "My lord, what do you think? Take all the people in the government office and the defenders of Macheng, and rush to Gaoliu immediately. .When I see the prefect, tell him the current situation of Macheng, and ask him for food. Once the food is ready, let the garrison of Macheng send it over. I will lead the army here to resist Tuobafeng, and I will pay off my merits."

Liu Tao raised his brows, his expression was very excited, and he said hastily: "Then it will be hard for Mr. Sima."

Li Hong watched Liu Tao and others leave outside the city.Seeing their figures gradually disappearing from sight, Li Hong smiled softly.

"Lei Zi, tell Hu Zi to take all the prisoners and enter the city immediately."

Lei Zi promised, beat the horse and left.

"Shouyan, where is the Tuoba man?" Li Hong asked Zheng Daoxin.

"In the posthouse."

"Bring him to me immediately."

Macheng is extremely quiet at night.

The fire in the Moon Burial Forest in the south of the city was still raging, and the flames rose into the sky from time to time, and the flames lit up the entire half of the sky.The scorching air shrouded Macheng, causing the temperature in the city to rise significantly, as if entering summer in advance, and the heat was unbearable.

"It would be great if there was a rain. It would be better like the heavy rain we encountered in the Sanggan River." Li Hong stood on the city wall, looking at the fire in the distance, and said very anxiously.

"My lord, do you still remember the big fire on Lulong Saimei Mountain?" Zheng Xin said with a smile, "Compared with this fire, it is much smaller."

"The Burial Moon Forest has a radius of more than ten miles, with large trees and dense forests. Of course, the fire is more powerful than the one in Meishan. Fortunately, the wind has not been strong these days, otherwise the fire is even more amazing. Such a large fire was burned to confuse the enemy. A forest can't be melted. It will rain soon."

Zheng Xin looked up at the sky, shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult to do what my lord wants."

Yushi hurried over.

"Tuoba Feng's special envoy has brought news."

"What did Tuoba Feng say?" Li Hong asked with concern.

"The cattle, sheep and horse grass are on the way, and they will be delivered tomorrow night."

"When will his large force cross the border?"

"I'll be there in four days."

Li Hong let out a long breath, and said with a relieved smile: "Cooperating secretly with the enemy is like being a thief. I'm in a panic, lest others find out. It's all right now, the big thing has been decided, it depends on Tuoba Feng's ability gone."

Knowing the treachery of the Han Kingdom, and the captives of the Tuoba tribe being burned to death in the Moon Burial Forest, Tuoba Feng was furious. Regardless of the persuasion of his subordinates, he personally led an army of [-] across the border and went straight to Macheng.

The Tuoba people surrounded the north and east gates of Macheng.Due to the forest fire in the direction of the south gate and west gate, it was difficult for troops to approach, so we had to send small troops to monitor and prevent the enemies in the city from fleeing.

Tuoba Feng took the north gate as the focus of his attack, set up an attack formation, and prepared to launch a strong attack the next day.

Looking at the densely packed tents below the city, the countless colorful battle flags, the orderly and mighty cavalry phalanx one after another, the loud roars that shook the sky, and the sound of horns, the soldiers on the city looked very ugly.

Li Hong pointed to the Tuoba people's demonstration army formation below the city, and said with a smile: "If the enemy attacks the city, how long can we defend?"

"One month is definitely not a problem." Wu Zhao said, "Macheng is located on the frontier. When the city was built, it was considered to prevent Hu people from invading. The city walls were all made of large stones. There are more than 5000 captives, and logically there is absolutely no possibility of being breached."

"Then why did you say that you can only keep it for a month?" Lu Huanyang asked puzzled.

"Tuoba Feng is smarter than ghosts. He pretended not to know that we captured more than 2000 enemies, and the food he sent was only enough to feed 3000 of us for a month. Now that more than 5000 people are fed, it's not bad to last for a month." Tian Zhong Touching his mustache, he shook his head and explained helplessly.

"Why didn't your lord make it clear when you asked him for supplies?" Huzi asked in surprise.

"I really didn't say that. According to the plan, they shouldn't exist. Tuoba Tao didn't understand me accepting the enemy's surrender. He thought that the existence of these people was very dangerous to us and a threat to the execution of the entire plan. He resolutely opposed my doing so. So Tuoba Feng really didn't know about these prisoners. If he knew, I'm afraid he wouldn't give us a single sheep." Li Hong explained unhurriedly: "However, under the circumstances at that time Come on, there is no reason to continue to kill. Now the number of frontier troops is insufficient, and it is still very good for us to recruit more soldiers."

"Do Fist and Tie Yue agree with my proposal?" Li Hong asked Hu Zi.

"Anyone is willing to survive. The trouble is that the more than 400 captives of the Wild Wolf Tribe cannot be killed or released. If it is really not necessary, kill them earlier and leave some food."

Li Hong shook his head, pointed at Heng Ji and Lu Huanyang and said, "Leave it to them. If you can't kill them, you must persuade them to surrender. It's really impossible. After a year or so, let them go when the situation stabilizes."

Beard smiled strangely, and said loudly: "My lord, this will bring us trouble. What's the big deal about killing hundreds of people."

"That's right. My lord, the cavalry captain Gongsun Zan once massacred more than 3000 people from the Ringling tribe of the Karasuma tribe in Liaodong, regardless of men, women, or children. If you kill them, you will save a lot of trouble." Yushi took a step forward, Said solemnly.

Li Hong looked at his subordinates, all of them looked disdainful, including Tian Zhong, who didn't understand.To them, killing hundreds of people is like killing a lamb.

"Not to kill." Li Hong said resolutely.

At night, Li Hong was awakened by bursts of thunder.

He jumped up happily, cheered, and shouted loudly: "Lei Zi, go up the city wall, let's go up the city wall and have a look."

Li Hong had just rushed out of the county government office with a few guards, when heavy rain had already fallen from the sky.

Xiaolan, who was in charge of patrolling at night, saw it from a distance on the city wall, and rushed to meet him.

"grown ups……"

"Let's see the rain. The fire seems to be smaller." Li Hong patted Xiaolan's shoulder affectionately, and walked to the edge of the city wall together to look at the Burning Moon Forest, which was still raging and burning.

"If it rains for two days in a row, the fire may be extinguished." Xiaolan said with a smile, "It's just that it's raining so heavily. I don't know if the Xianbei people can still attack the city?"

"They will definitely not attack." Li Hong said confidently.

"Really?" Xiaolan looked at him dubiously.

"It's an old friend, why are you still lying to me?" Li Hong laughed, put his arms around Xiaolan's shoulders, and suddenly exclaimed: "You seem to have grown taller."

This rain stopped and fell, sometimes big and sometimes small, for several days in a row, and it didn't mean to stop at all.

The fire in the Moon Burial Forest has been extinguished, and the smell of smoke and dust in the air has become weaker and weaker. The thick smoke, accompanied by rain and fog, permeates the sky above the forest, curling up like a fairyland.A huge piece was burned in the middle of the forest, almost accounting for more than half of the entire forest.

The Tuoba people did not attack as expected, they hid in the tent every day, quietly.Every day, there are only patrolling cavalry running around Macheng. They enter and exit the camp frequently, always on guard for the movements of the Han army.

There is no war in Macheng.

Li Hong talked with Fist and Tie Yue once, and the two were convinced, willing to bring ordinary caravan brothers from Dai County to join the frontier army.

More than 400 soldiers of the Yelang tribe did not listen to the Karasuma people at all, they looked down on the Bailu tribe very much.Heng Ji and Lu Huanyang were so angry that they almost killed them.After Li Hong knew the situation, he hurried to the prison camp.Standing in front of these captives, Li Hong didn't know what to say for a while.He suddenly remembered Murong Feng.Murong Feng's method of recruiting captives was simple and direct, and the effect was good, which left a deep impression on Li Hong.

"You have two ways out. One is to pull it out immediately and chop it up. The second is to follow me. You don't have to be slaves, but you have to work for me and be loyal to me." Li Hong roared loudly.

"Choose now."

The Xianbei captives were terrified.This time, the Han people were merciful and did not kill them. These Xianbei people have already seen the hope of survival.Originally they thought that the Han people would negotiate with their tribal leaders and exchange them for a fortune.Now it seems wrong, this powerful guy named Leopard simply wants to keep it for himself.Since there was no hope of returning home, he had no choice but to save his life first.These people are used to killing and being killed on the grasslands, their tribes are annexed, and they become prisoners of war and slaves.Many of them are actually soldiers of some small tribes. After their tribes were defeated, annexed, and plundered by the wolf tribe, they became the spoils of the victors, which is better called slaves.As long as they don't die, what kind of master they have is actually not very important to them.As long as we can survive, we will talk about the rest later.

The deterrent power of the leopard is much stronger than that of the Karasuma people.The Xianbei people wisely chose to follow the leopard.

Li Hong immediately summoned his subordinates to discuss the issue of reorganizing more than 2000 surrendered troops.The number of troops has expanded to 400, and the organizational system will naturally change.

Yushi and the others expressed their objections to Li Hong's recruitment of the Xianbei people to join the Han army. Although they did not explicitly express their objections, they were almost the same as their objections.Seeing his subordinates speak fiercely, and even burst into anger, Li Hong kept smiling and remained silent until everyone was tired, then he opened his mouth and said:
"Your hatred and distrust of the Hu people have a long history and are deeply rooted. There is nothing wrong with expressing your opposition to this matter, and I understand it."

"Maybe it's because I lost my memory. I've been in the Xianbei tribe since I can remember. I don't have any hatred or prejudice against them. Many of my friends are Xianbei people. Marshal Murong Feng, Iron Wolf, they are even My master. Even though they are enemies now, I still respect them and think of them often."

A beautiful figure in white clothes like snow suddenly flashed in Li Hong's mind, and he thought of Fengxue.

"Huzi, there were more than 200 Xianbei and Karasuma people in the team that brought the wooden stakes to Lulongsai. Now they are all distributed in your troops. Don't you get along very well?"

"Right now, there are more Xiongnu people, Xianbei people, and Karasuma people in the caravan of Fist and Tie Yue. Since everyone can recognize them, why can't they accept more than 400 people from the Wild Wolf tribe?"

Everyone looked at each other without making a sound.

"In the future, it will be a very troublesome thing for the prefect Liu Zheng and the governor Liu Yu to know that there are so many barbarians in the army." Yushi said cautiously.

Li Hong smiled and said nonchalantly: "We will talk about the future. If the prefect and the governor object, just give them a little money and let them go home. The same is true for you. I have already told you that in the future I will Submitting a letter to the higher authorities, you were all burned in the Moon Burial Forest, and you are no longer alive. If you have no way out, at least you can use another identity to find a way to make a living so that you will not be hunted down by the government. The rewards that the Great Han Kingdom should receive after contributing its efforts."

Fist and Tie Yue were very moved, thinking that this leopard was indeed a man, just as the rumors said.The two quickly knelt down and saluted Li Hong to express their gratitude.Li Hong hurriedly helped them up, and at the same time said to everyone: "I was a slave in Xianbei, and I came from a lowly background. I treat them with no distinction between high and low, and treat them equally. Everyone treats each other with sincerity and trusts each other. Of course, we can get along together. If If you really object, form another team of them, and I will lead them to be my personal guards."

Yushi, Wu Zhao, and Li Song who were strongly opposed heard Li Hong's words. Although they were very unhappy, they couldn't go too far, so they reluctantly agreed.

Huzi, Yan Wuwei immediately objected to organizing them into a personal guard, saying that it was too dangerous, and Li Hong's life would be over if something happened.Several people made a lot of noise, making Li Hong's head big.

Li Hong expanded the army into five songs, which were divided into front, back, left, and middle.There are 700 people in each song, and three villages are still led, and the number of people in each village has increased slightly compared with the past.Zheng Xin's scout station was expanded to 200 people, and Tian Zhong's guard station was expanded to 300 people.At Li Hong's insistence, more than 400 captives of the Wild Wolf Tribe organized into the Qinwei Tun, led by Li Hong himself.

Yushi, Wu Zhao, Li Song, Huzi, and Yan Wuwei are Wuqu military officers, Lei Zi, Xiaolan, wooden stakes, hammers, and fists are Wuqu false military officers.Tie Yue replaced Lei Zi as the head of Li Hong's bodyguard.

"Tomorrow, everyone will go out to the south gate and start combat training directly. Especially the troops we brought from Yuyang, many of them are infantry temporarily acting as cavalry, and we need to increase the amount of training."

Fist and Tie Yue were taken aback, and the latter asked strangely: "We don't have to defend the city anymore?"

"The task of defending the city is left to the Karasuma people." Li Hong said with a smile, "They can beat the Tuoba people into a panic and escape."

Fist and Tie Yue stared wide-eyed, looking at Li Hong in disbelief.

Is he really an idiot?

(End of this chapter)