Knock on the door

  Humans are the same species, even if skin color is different and appearance varies, innate intelligence gap is not large, no culture does not mean stupid.

  Those illiterate tribal leaders soon understood a fact under the Great Wall defense line, which was as strong as copper walls and iron walls. No matter how hard they tried, they could not defeat the Qin army that guarded the Great Wall alone. They had to unite to achieve their goal. Immediately, a large-scale liaison like wildfire spread rapidly on the vast grasslands north of the Great Wall.

  Not long after the fusion of the old and new plates, the grassland nationalities belonging to different plates, although they looked similar in the eyes of the Qin people in the Central Plains, actually had completely different languages, customs and habits, so this integration work progressed very unsmoothly.

  These diplomatic activities ultimately evolved into a farcical drama where everyone fought with swords to see who was stronger, and whoever had the bigger fist would win. Afterwards, following regional principles, tribes facing similar circumstances temporarily formed three major alliances: the Eastern Hu Alliance in the northeast, the Rouran Alliance in the northwest, and the Tiele Alliance north of the Yellow River Bend. The three parties agreed to simultaneously invade the wealthy Qin Empire from the south, and as for how to distribute the spoils of war, including women, it would depend on who was quicker and could grab more.

  The bustling and prosperous Xianyang North City is as usual, with people coming and going like a weaving loom on the streets. The largest North City in Xianyang City has a neat layout like a chessboard, with large and small shops standing side by side near the street.

  Brocades and embroideries from Ba-Shu, various precious spices and purple sandalwood from Lingnan, pearls, corals, gems, ivory, and rhinoceros horns from the southern wilderness. Fine horses and forged iron swords from Hebei, porcelain, lacquerware, bamboo and wooden utensils from Jiangnan, as well as Persian carpets and gold and silver wares with exotic flavors that have traveled thousands of miles through the Western Regions' Metropolitan Superintendent's Office. All kinds of precious goods that people can think of are all available here, without a doubt, Xianyang Beishi has gathered the wealth and treasures from all over the world.

  Although the Great Qin Empire showed a trend of decline, it was still sufficient to supply one city with the wealth of an entire country. The prosperity of Xianyang City was just a kind of distorted prosperity under the shadow of power.

  "Look! The beacons on the northern frontier have been lit."

  Just as the people of Xianyang were leisurely strolling and shopping in the streets, a heart-wrenching cry suddenly echoed through the streets, shattering the illusion of peace and prosperity.

  People's suspicious and curious eyes were cast towards the northern horizon, outside the magnificent city walls, a few wisps of what seemed to be thin smoke columns were slowly rising, like a straight-bodied cobra spitting out its letters with a hissing sound.

  "Save me! Run away quickly!"

  After being suppressed and silent like death, the people in Taipei burst out with a terrified cry from the bottom of their hearts. The crowd, which was mutually crowded and pushed, cried out unconsciously, like ants on a hot pot, and a sense of crisis that could not be alleviated was born.

  Not a single mistake, a wisp of smoke from Xianyang City in the north was not misfired, wolves on the northern grasslands, this time they really came.

  Large numbers of nomadic tribes gathered along the Great Wall, which had not yet completed internal integration and coordinated actions were extremely difficult. However, on the point of going south to loot, the big men who faced the same predicament of having no clothes or food did not have a single dissenting opinion.

  Recently, several ambitious leaders sent envoys to secretly negotiate and the entangled grassland cavalry divided into three routes as scheduled to launch a southern invasion.

  The Donghu people, located in the northeast, mainly attacked the Shanggu and Yuyang counties in Hebei Province, while the Rouran people on the west route approached Jincheng and Wuwei counties in Longyou, with a tendency to further develop towards Beidi County. The Iron Tiele army stationed in the middle route marched straight to the Hetao Plain and nearby Yanmen County. When more than 100,000 Hu cavalry broke through the Jiuyuan and Yunzhong counties on the Great Wall line, the Iron Tiele army's military strength pointed directly at Shangjun County, which guarded the second line of the Great Wall. If they succeeded in taking this place, they would be just a few hundred miles away from the imperial capital Chang'an of the Daqin Empire.

  Fighting to fill their bellies, the nomadic cavalry had an extremely strong desire for expansion. In contrast, their opponents, the Qin army, were in a very unfavorable situation.

  Although the Qin army stationed in Guanzhong area had a nominal strength of over 300,000 troops, most of these armies were garrisoned in the counties of Longxi and the passes of Hangu Pass and Wu Pass to the east, responsible for defending Xianyang with only over 60,000 troops.

  It must be admitted that before this, no one had ever thought that the nomadic cavalry of the north would have a day when they would lay siege to the city of Chang'an. When such an event, which was considered forever impossible, actually occurred, its impact on people's minds was even greater than the actual losses caused by the nomads' invasion.

  The news of the Hu people's southward migration spread, and the court of the Great Qin Empire was packed with civil and military officials who were shocked. The nobles whispered to each other, discussing the development of the situation.

  At this time, in the grand hall, hundreds of expensive candles made with dragon spittle fragrance were added, occasionally bursting into sparks, emitting a refreshing and soothing scent, but even this could not calm the anxious mood of the officials inside the grand hall.

  "I beg to report to Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, we should quickly appease those Xiongnu tribes and send envoys immediately to negotiate a peace treaty!"

  The minister who spoke up had a face as wrinkled as dried tangerine peel, and before he could finish speaking, he was immediately pushed away by a colleague who looked like a military general, who then said:

  "I beg to report to Your Majesty, issue an order to deploy troops! I will immediately gather the army to exterminate these stubborn and unyielding barbarians. We cannot kneel down and seek peace with those foreign dogs."

  At the sound, a pale and beardless minister next to him glanced at his colleague and said in a strange tone:

  "You are so eager for personal fame and achievements that you disregard the safety of His Majesty's dragon body, what is your true intention?"

  Several generals around him rushed up immediately and surrounded this brother, saying in unison:

  "Nonsense, you bunch of traitors and running dogs."

  "You are the treacherous officials who will bring His Majesty to a place of no return."

  "You old rascal, try to stir up trouble again and I'll punch you so hard your face will be covered in bruises!"

  Recently, the Shangjun Prefecture's General Bai Zhengzong, who had set off the beacon fire for help, was now fighting desperately in blood. He exerted himself to hold back the fierce advance of the Hu cavalry, with his heart fixed on the early arrival of reinforcements.

  Little did they know, the imperial court of the Great Qin Empire in the rear was in an uproar, with a chaotic scene that was no less than the usually prosperous North and South markets of Xianyang.

  This unfortunate Bai Zhengzong, who is standing at the forefront of the storm, is a grassroots general from a military background. He is neither a descendant of the old Qin aristocracy nor a scion of the six nations of Shandong's old nobility; for three generations, the Bai family has been tillers of the soil and plowers of the land. It is precisely because of this that no one in the imperial court cares about Bai Zhengzong's life or death, as the high-ranking officials are currently preoccupied with playing with factional strife and party infighting, those wicked and heretical games.

  In the memorial to the Emperor, Bai Zhengzong expressed that even though the Hu cavalry was numerous and fearless of death, he did not fear the enemy's bravery, but was distressed by the fact that there were too few soldiers available for use, making it difficult to sustain the situation for long.

  It is well known that the garrison of Shang Jun has only a little more than 30,000 people, and they are scattered along the Great Wall. What Bai Zhengzong said in his memorial about being short-handed is not an exaggeration.

  The cavalry of the great army was blocked by Shangjun and could not go south to drink horse water in Wei River, but the beacon fire north of Xianyang never disappeared for a day. However, on the court of the Great Qin Empire, the two factions of war and peace were pinching each other with joy, and no one cared about the situation on the front line. Even if these two factions fought with their tongues, what they cared about was not to eliminate the threat of the cavalry, but to take advantage of it to get rid of their own enemies. Don't look at these guys who are in high positions, with a pretentious appearance and full of righteousness and morality, claiming to be loyal ministers and martyrs, they are actually a group of insects that are only loyal to the tree of power.

  If switching to a different master can climb to a higher position, most people are not bothered with the reputation of being a traitor or something similar. So-called reputation and morality, for those who engage in politics professionally, are merely useless extra burdens and excellent tools for striking down others.

  The eighty-fourth emperor of the Qin dynasty was indeed a incompetent and foolish ruler, but this does not mean that after so many years as emperor, he still could not see what his ministers under him were thinking.

  At once, this famous muddle-headed emperor slammed his fist on the desk and scolded loudly:

  "You scoundrels, you dare to be so arrogant and insolent in the imperial court, have you ever considered me?"

  The ancients said, when the Son of Heaven is angry once, hundreds of thousands of corpses lie flat, and the whole world mourns.

  No matter how much the professional bureaucrats of the Great Qin Empire look down on this famous foolish and incompetent 84th Emperor of Qin, who is often played as a monkey by his subordinates. As long as he sits in this position for one day, he has the supreme authority to speak with finality, and casually speaking out can make many people move their homes.

  The emperor slammed his hand on the table, his face twisted in anger, and let out a stern warning. The previously noisy hall suddenly fell silent. Except for the heavy, muffled sound of breathing, not a single sound could be heard in the grand hall.

  The emperor's job is a lifelong system, and as long as he lives, he will be in office for as long as he can. If he unfortunately loses his job while still alive, then the rest of his life can probably be counted on one's fingers.

  In view of this, the emperor who was not very clever also clearly understood that losing this position would be equivalent to losing his life. Not for the sake of the people, but only for the sake of his own life, he tried to make a desperate effort to clear his mind and try to revive a dead horse as if it were alive. After careful consideration for half a day, the Great Qin Emperor, who was usually pale and unhealthy due to excessive indulgence in lust and taking large amounts of golden elixirs, finally opened his mouth with great difficulty.

  Qin Shi Huang's eighty-fourth generation raised his eyes and looked at the silent courtiers under the imperial steps, saying word by word.

  "General Yu, I order you to take the imperial seal and hurry to Shangjun overnight to negotiate with the Hu people and withdraw troops. Lang Zhongling Hu Guoke, I order you to quickly take the tiger tally to Longxi and other counties to mobilize troops to rescue Shangjun. Taifu Liu Xingye, I order you to take the imperial seal to Hangu Pass and Wu Pass, to deploy more troops to garrison Chang'an."

  Behind the scenes, the ministers exchanged glances, and it was unbelievable that the emperor could make a relatively reliable arrangement. However, even if they had objections, they would not dare to speak out at this moment. The group of ministers unanimously said:

  "Yes, your ministers obey."