Chapter 24: Sweeping Away the Hun Barbarians

  (Thanks again to "Zhao Wu Xu 2014" and "Hu Ye Bu Huo" for their rewards.)

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  Whoa! Tannu threw the torch onto the high pile of debris, flames ignited the dry grass, dry grass burned debris, one by one fire heads rose, flames soared, thick smoke rolled.

  This is the seventh tribe conquered by Ma Hu's Hango troops in just one month.

  The Han Halberd, wielding the great Han halberd, shattering shackles and freeing the Han people, restoring my freedom, counterattacking with one strike. This is the name of the tribe newly established by Ma Xian with the Han people as the main body, and it serves as a rallying cry to attract the Han slaves who have escaped from neighboring tribes to join them. The escaped Han slaves will naturally provoke the anger and pursuit of the Huren in their own tribe, which in turn becomes the best excuse for the Han Halberd tribe to send troops to intervene.

  Since Ma Chao became the commander of the Han Dynasty, under the pretext of maintaining the interests of the Han people, he almost swept away the Wuhuan and Xianbei tribes in the Baidan area with a swift momentum of breaking one tribe every four days.

  Due to the proximity of White Horse County to Youbeiping and Yuyang, this area was a notorious place where the power of Gongsun Zan, the archenemy of the Xiongnu, converged. Therefore, neither the Wuhuan nor the Xianbei dared to move their stronger tribes here, lest they be slaughtered by the White Horse General. In this buffer zone between the Han court and the Hu people's power, all the resident tribes were small tribes with less than a thousand people. Gongsun Zan, this "cow knife", basically did not deign to chop these "small chickens".

  This way, it would be easier for Ma Hu. As the saying goes, "all things are difficult at the beginning", relying on these dozens of people, seven or eight bows, and hundreds of old and weak people, even if another Bone Force Department came, they couldn't afford it. And these small tribes around them can serve as whetstones to temper the newly-born Han Ge Department. Through continuous raids and annexations, achieve the goal of Ma Hu's military training, development and growth.

  No matter whether it was the Xiongnu, Donghu, Wuhuan or Xianbei, the development and growth of their tribes could not be separated from their plundering of the Han people. Without the supplement of a large number of Han people captured, relying solely on the natural reproduction of the nomadic tribes themselves, with their harsh natural environment and low birth rate, high mortality rate, it would take decades or even hundreds of years to give birth to a powerful tribe. In other words, the stronger the Hu people's tribe was, the more Han slaves they captured. It was precisely because of the hard work of Han male slaves and the hard childbirth of Han female slaves that a tribe was nurtured and strengthened, and after becoming powerful, it could invade the border towns, plundering people and property. Thus, an evil cycle was formed, sucking the blood of the Han nation and nurturing one wolf after another, thriving for thousands of years. For thousands of years, their names have been constantly changing: Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic, Khitan, Jurchen, Mongol... but in essence, they have never changed.

  Any tribe, regardless of size, has at least one-third or more composed of slaves, with Han slaves making up an absolute proportion. Without this, it is not enough to support a tribe. Therefore, every time Ma Xian conquered a tribe, he had a harvest that was both sad and joyful.

  In just one short month, the Hango Department already had over 3,000 Han and Hu slaves, with more than 200 cavalrymen and reserve cavalrymen. Unbeknownst to them, a new tribe of medium size, mainly composed of Hans, was quietly born on the White Birch Plain.

  Under the illumination of the raging flames, more than a hundred Han slaves who had escaped from their cages and were overjoyed at having survived the disaster formed a stark contrast with several hundred Xianbei women and children who were crying bitterly.

  More than 50 Han cavalrymen, led by Tangnu and Wuzhu, were divided into two teams on both sides to escort the Xianbei captives.

  Ma Xian led the cavalry at the forefront of the troops, with no excessive joy on his face. His eagle eyes scanned around, full of vigilance. This time he launched an attack, which was somewhat adventurous, having already crossed the Baitan River and passed through the wetlands (now the Luanhe River), approaching the Pinggang area. This area was where the Wuhuan people and the Xianbei people's spheres of influence intersected, and further north were the central Xianbei tribes' headquarters. Attacking the Xianbei tribe's settlements without any consideration would likely provoke a counterattack from the Xianbei cavalry. However, for Ma Xian, this risk had to be taken.

  It is now the best time for development. Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao in the south are fighting fiercely, and they don't have time to pay attention to things in the north. The Wuhuan and Xianbei people in the east and north have long been intimidated by Gongsun Zan and habitually avoid the White Horse General's military edge. Even if the main force of Youzhou army goes south now, competing with Jizhou army for dominance, the counties of Sanggan, Yuyang, and Youbeiping are empty, and the Hu people do not dare to easily spy on the south. In this way, a power vacuum has formed in the northeastern counties of Youzhou, and filling it at this time is just right.

  As soon as the news of Gongsun Zan's defeat arrived, the halo of "invincibility" on this White Horse General's head was shattered. The Hunnu people, who were best at taking advantage of the situation, would not let go of such a good opportunity. They will definitely send troops to test and gradually encroach on the land, pushing their power into the border counties, just like what the Xianbei and Wuhuan peoples did after Gongsun Zan's death.

  Ma Xian must seize this rare opportunity to expand his power and rescue more Han people. Every additional Han person means more strength, and this risk is worth taking. The reason for crossing the wet water and entering the territory of the Xianbei people is simple. The Wudang tribe in the Bai Dan area has been wiped out, and any further fighting would be against tribes with comparable or even stronger forces than the Goguryeo tribe. Given the current strength of the Han army, it's best to pick on softer targets. Therefore, Ma Xian turned his attention northward, and no matter whether it was the Wudang people or the Xianbei people, he would fight against these barbarians.

  For nearly a month now, the happiest sweeps have been made by Tongnu and Wujie's Han cavalry and reserve cavalry.

  Tangnu finally knew why Ma Hu could make such a high-difficulty dodge under his horse's belly that day. It turned out that there was a riding device - stirrups. Now Tangnu is also equipped with saddles, stirrups, and horseshoes, and his archery skills have improved dramatically. The Han cavalry he led also benefited from the help of new-style horse equipment, and their archery skills were greatly compensated and improved. These young and strong Hanguo people who had lived in the border areas for several years or even decades already had the strength to compete with the Uwan and Xianbei cavalry, known as the best riders in the world.

  To expand his forces, Ma Chao's recruitment targets were no longer limited to pure Han people. People of Hu blood could also join the army - Wu Chui was one such case. He was a young man in his early twenties, skilled in riding and archery, with excellent marksmanship. In the Han Gou department, he had the reputation of being the first arrow hand under the department commander.

  And the reserve cavalry is a Han civilian who has not yet passed the assessment of horse shooting techniques, but has some room for improvement. Let them become the entourage of regular cavalry, and after a period of time, with more training and actual combat, I believe that everyone can become a qualified Han cavalry. In a sense, this is also a kind of reserve system. After all, battles are consumable, without a good supplement mechanism, how can it become a truly strong army?

  What Han Gou lacks most at the moment is time, and what he worries about most is provoking a strong enemy. Ma Xun believes that as long as he has enough time, not too much, just half a year will do. He will expand the Han Gou cavalry to 500 riders, and in this way, the entire Han Gou tribe can stand firm on Baitan.

  It is often said that the more you worry about something, the more it will come. When the troops arrived at the wet water, a Han Ge You Ji came to report from 30 miles away: "Thirty miles northwest, a Xianbei cavalry was found, with about 300 riders, and they are attacking our troops."

  "Three hundred cavalry? Where did they come from?" Tan Nu and Wu Zui exchanged a glance, seeing the color of shock in each other's eyes.

  "It's Xianbei cavalry......" Ma Huan tapped his boots lightly with a leather whip, a faint smile on his face, but his eyes flashed with sharp edges.

  At the end of Han Dynasty, there was a saying "Wuwan's fine cavalry is the best in Youyan", but then comes another sentence "Xianbei's fine cavalry surpasses Wuwan".

  About more than ten years ago, in the sixth year of Lingdi Xiping, the Xianbei master Tan Shi Huai briefly unified the three branches of Xianbei and attacked the Han Dynasty's You and Bing states. The Han army dispatched Xia Yu, the protector of Wuhuan, Tian Yan, the breaking Xianbei middle general, and Zang Min, the Xiongnu middle general, each leading more than 10,000 Han and Hu (mainly Wuhuan cavalry) to separately depart from Gaoliu (now Shanxi Yanggao), Yunzhongjun (now Inner Mongolia Tuo Kui Tou northeast), and Yimenjun (now Shanxi Dai County northwest) to attack Xianbei. The Han army marched out of the border for more than 2,000 miles and had a great battle with Tan Shi Huai's tens of thousands of Xianbei cavalry, resulting in a crushing defeat for the Han army, leaving behind a trail of corpses for a thousand miles, shocking the imperial court.

  If it were not for the death of Tan Shi Huai, the Xianbei would have split into different factions, internal strife and contention, and their power would have rapidly declined. The Xianbei people would not have had to wait until a hundred years later during the Eastern Jin period to rise again, and the Five Barbarians' invasion of China would have occurred ahead of schedule.

  It was this battle that established the reputation of Xianbei cavalry as brave and skilled warriors, surpassing even the famous Wuhuan elite cavalry.

  What to do? Thirty miles, throw down the newly rescued Han civilians and Xianbei captives and spoils of war, Han cavalry quickly cross the river, swiftly retreat south on horseback, taking advantage of their mounted superiority, still having a chance to shake off the Xianbei pursuers. If not abandoned, the consequences will be worrying.

  Tang Nu and Wu Zui led a group of Han cavalrymen with their eyes fixed on their leader.

  Ma Xun's gaze swept over the faces of the Han people who were still unaware, and what he saw was a face full of joy at rebirth. Who could bear to turn this joyful face into despairing sorrow?

  "Wu Zui leads all the vanguard cavalry, escorting the Han civilians and captured enemies to cross the river back to camp. Tang Nu and all the regular cavalry, follow me to welcome the enemy!"

  Ma Hu finally made a decision, shaking the leopard bow in his hand, and with a clinking sound of the stirrups against the horse's belly, he shot off northwest like an arrow. Behind him, Tang Nu and twenty-four Han Ge riders followed closely without hesitation.

  Iron hooves rolling up dust, clanging like a bell, with no hesitation, fiercely confronting the enemy.

  Twenty-six versus three hundred, no matter how you look at it, it's a battle that can't be won. How can we fight?