At the foot of Guyan Mountain, the Xiongnu Dragon City.

The traces of the war, have disappeared without a trace, as if nothing had happened.

Only the Huns knew what price they paid for this war?

From the vast left-wing Mobei area south of Yuwushui, the Xiongnu originally had more than 100,000 herdsmen of dozens of large and small tribes living and nomadic here.

The war has decimated the population of the region!

It's just that the poor population of the Xiongnu makes it impossible for them to accurately grasp the number of losses.

But conservative estimates, at least more than half of it has been lost!

In addition to this, they lost almost seventy percent of their livestock, almost all of the accumulated wealth here, and almost all of the cavalry originally deployed here.

There are hundreds of nobles, including the Right Xian King, who were captured by the Han army.

And that's just direct losses in the war.

Because of the war, it also led to the division of the Xiongnu.

A force known as Tu Yu Shaman, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the war, rose up, and immediately after the Han army retreated, it took over Guyan Mountain and Langjuxu Mountain and almost the entire Mobei left flank area, and continued to infiltrate the tribes in the Yuwushui Valley.

By now, the number of Xiongnu herdsmen who believe in and respect this extravagant shaman may have exceeded 150,000!

Shamanism officially became a pole of Xiongnu power.

In contrast, the power of the original ruling class, the Xiongnu's royal family, the twin clans and the four major clans, has declined sharply.

The fiasco of the Western Expedition swept away Shan Yuhulugu's prestige.

The dissatisfaction and opponents within the four major clans and the twin clans quickly joined forces.

The power of the sages of the Western Regions increased rapidly.

quickly co-opted and united a large number of nobles, so that the power of this former loser began to occupy an advantage within the Xiongnu.

Hulu Gushan Yu then crossed Yuwu River to the north, entered Guyan Mountain, reached an agreement with Tu Yu Shaman, established an alliance, and relied on Shan Yu's position and Yu Wei to win over and unite other forces that were dissatisfied with the sages.

As a result, in the current Xiongnu country, there is a three-pole pattern of single Yu, day chasing king, and slaughtering luxury shaman.

Hulu Gu Shan Yu, although his prestige has been greatly reduced and his authority has shrunk, he is still Shan Yu after all, and he also has the support of tens of thousands of elites of the commander of Li Ling, the king of Jiankun, and the alliance with the Tu Lu Shaman, with the help of the influence of religion on the bottom, but he can also control the situation and suppress the pressure of the sages of the Western Regions.

And the sages were not in a hurry to ascend to the throne immediately.

There are even some rat throwers, afraid that the fox deer girl will break the jar and fall, so they don't dare to press too hard.

It's just to make some storms within the Xiongnu, win over those powerful nobles, and at the same time begin to prepare to show their talents.

And the newly rising Tu Yu shaman, although he holds the trump card of the Mu Yan clan, has a large number of fanatical believers and shamanic priests to follow.

However, his foundation is too shallow, and the power in his hands is too thin.

The main thing is that there is no army that can fight!

Therefore, it can only rely on the alliance with Hulugu to quietly develop and grow.

As a result, in the dragon city under this Guyan Mountain, an extremely strange phenomenon appeared.

Although Shan Yu brought the Wang Ting Dragon Banner back here.

But......

In the cities, however, there is a situation similar to that of China.

Shan Yu was guarded by his royal court, surrounded and protected the core that inhabited Dragon City, and occupied the main road leading to the four directions.

The rest of the area, and almost all of the pastures around Dragon City, were occupied by herdsmen and nobles who believed in and followed the shamans.

The envoys from the Western Regions shuttled between the two, connecting vertically and horizontally.

So much so that Su Wu, who had just arrived here, obviously found a problem.

"It seems that the internal problems of the Huns are more serious than ever......" he thought to himself, "I am afraid that there may be such a thing as the change of sand dunes at any time......"

Of course, he didn't know what was going on inside the Huns for the time being!

You can only rely on observation and make up the general situation.

"Han envoy please ......" A nobleman, leading Su Wu, walked to a dome in the core area of Dragon City, and arched his hand: "The king of the right school and the king of Ding Ling have set up a banquet to wait for the envoy......"

Su Wu let go of the thoughts in his heart, nodded at the comer, and then stepped into the vault.

As soon as he entered the vault, Su Wu found that the decorations and furnishings in it were very Han.

Around the dome, there are many screens, and there are many incense burners on the ground, and cigarettes linger in the dome, smelling very comfortable.

There are also bookshelves on both sides, and the shelves are full of bamboo slips.

His old friend, Li Ling, who is also his family's family friend, sat at the top and was talking to Wei Lu.

Seeing Su Wu, whether it was Li Ling or Wei Lu, they all looked a little embarrassed and ashamed.

"Brother Ziqing......"

"Brother Ziqing......"

The two got up, walked in front of Su Wu, and bowed with the etiquette of the past: "After many years of separation, my brother is a little haggard......

Su Wu smiled, grabbed the jie in his hand, and said, "The two virtuous brothers still have the same demeanor, which is enviable!" ”

Li Ling and Wei Lu listened, looked at each other, and both lowered their heads, not knowing how to answer their old friend's words.

Su Wu took his eyes and looked at these two old friends from the past carefully.

Especially Li Ling!

In Su Wu's memory, Li Ling and Li Shaoqing, from the very beginning, were the focus of the crowd, the pride of the sky like the stars holding the moon!

As the grandson of General Fei, Li Danghu's widow.

This young man of the Li family in Longxi, when he was very young, had already shown extraordinary talents!

When he was a teenager, he was elected to Jianzhang Palace and served as the supervisor of Jianzhang Palace!

This is the position of the Son of Heaven's Praetorian Guard, who is in real power.

The status is quite high, not inferior to the average two thousand stones.

However, when he was in his twenties, the Son of Heaven gave him 800 horsemen and ordered him to live in Yan to reconnoiter the Xiongnu.

Obviously, this is to cultivate and examine Li Ling's ability.

And the latter also lived up to expectations, led the troops deep into the hinterland of the Huns, crossed the private canal Bibi Sea, approached the Hun River, provoked the Huns, and retreated.

Therefore, the Son of Heaven Dayue, with Li Ling as the cavalry captain (this was his grandfather's position before he became a general), selected 5,000 Liangjiazi from Danyang to give him, and ordered Li Ling to set up military camps in Jiuquan and Zhangye to train these recruits, so that he could fight and practice locally.

Obviously, it was intended to train Li Ling in the direction of a new generation of Han army generals and future military leaders.

However......

In the first battle of Junji Mountain, Li Ling surrendered.

Now, he is wearing the clothes of the Hu people, with his shirt on the left side, and his hair is braided, and he appears in front of him.

Just seeing this, Su Wu already understood that the pride of the Han Empire, the grandson of General Fei, and the Junjie who flew out of Chengji County, Longxi County, had become the enemy of the Han family and the minister of the Huns!

Although, Su Wu understood that Li Ling's change may have his own reasons and grievances.

After all, his family, especially his old mother, who gave birth to him and raised him and educated him, was killed by the Son of Heaven.

However, Su Wu was still a little uncomfortable and regretful in his heart.

He even, in front of Li Ling, said, 'Shaoqing, do you remember Han Yannian under Junji Mountain?' 'The impulse.

However, he forcibly held back.

After all, Li Ling is an adult.

He has also made what he thinks is the right choice.

Although Su Wu didn't dare to agree, out of respect for his former friends, he didn't want to do that kind of stupid thing that was purely just a quick tongue.

However, Li Ling looked at Su Wu, especially in Su Wu's hand, the essence that even the yak hair had fallen off, and even the bamboo pole that had been smooth like jade, and his heart swelled with infinite guilt.

Shame, humiliation, self-blame, all kinds of emotions were tangled in his heart and poured into a sea.

After all, he was an aristocrat who had grown up with a pure Han education.

His father, grandfather and great-grandfather all had sweat and youth on the battlefield against the Xiongnu.

And today, he is committed to the Xiongnu, and even became the high-level of the Xiongnu Empire, Shan Yu's right-hand man.

Once, he could also use Wu Zixu to comfort himself.

He used himself to promote sinicization in the Xiongnu and spread Han poetry and books to anesthetize himself.

But now, when he saw his old friend Su Wu, he saw this old friend who was tortured, humiliated, coerced and lured by the Huns, exiled to Beihai, but still insisted on himself, loyal and unyielding, and the festival in his hands.

Li Ling's heart was the softest, and at the same time, his greatest horror, he finally broke the seal and drilled out from the bottom of his mind.

So, he remembered that night that year.

The wind under Junji Mountain blows on the hill.

His army ran out of ammunition and food, and only a few hundred men remained.

"If the breakthrough fails, I will not survive!" He, holding a blood-stained long knife, told the deputy general Han Yannian.

The latter, however, just laughed and didn't say anything.

The next day, the breakout failed.

In front of the Hun cavalry, he laid down his arms.

And the lieutenant general, who did not say a word, but only smiled silently and bitterly, took more than a hundred comrades and siblings and died in the canyon leading to the direction of the surrendered city.

Li Ling went to that battlefield to see.

Han Yannian's body fell in the rubble under a hillside.

His back was full of arrows, and a huge gap was made in his chest by the bronze collar of the Huns. But in his hand, he still held his weapon, a bronze spoke that had been dismantled from Wugang's car.

And he, as the general of the first army, as a general with five thousand elites, walked into the place of death, walked into the point of no return, but surrendered on his knees in front of the Huns, the enemy.

Surrender, it's nothing.

His grandfather was captured and surrendered by the Xiongnu many times, but in the end, through his own efforts, he fled back to the Han Dynasty, and then continued to lead the army to fight.

The Hun general Zhao Ponu and his father were also captured by the Huns, imprisoned for two years, and finally fled back to Chang'an, and the Son of Heaven did not punish the latter.

But......

Li Ling surrendered on his own initiative.

Moreover, his surrender killed countless people!

Not only his family, but many of his friends!

Such as...... His personal soldier, Chen Bule......

And the generals he sent back to report the good news...... And...... His year-old friend, the one who admired Sima Qian!

He also had his mother, wife, children, and retainers......

Thinking of this, Li Ling felt like a knife in his heart, and couldn't help but bite his lip and clench his fists.

He hates!

Hate yourself, why didn't you kill yourself in the first place!

If he commits suicide or dies bravely when the army is defeated, then his family, friends, generals, and retainers may not have to die.

He hated his pride and arrogance even more!

Because......

In the beginning, the Son of Heaven did not ask him to lead the army alone.

just let him take on the task of protecting the grain route and logistics for Li Guangli.

However, it was he who was unwilling to be a supporting role, and it was he who strongly requested and took the initiative to apply, asking to attack all the way alone.

The path he chose was also his own choice.

After encountering the main force of the Xiongnu, he chose to retreat in the direction of the surrendered city, rather than the road he came, which was also his judgment.

Maybe his choice was not wrong, or maybe his choice was right.

But......

Over the years, countless days and nights, he would stay awake on the bed, tossing and turning.

I always think of these things, and I always remember those people and things.

Wei Lu on the side, seeing Li Ling's expression, knew that Li Ling began to be entangled again, and hurriedly came out to enliven the atmosphere, and said to Su Wu: "Brother Ziqing is about to return to the country now, I and Shaoqing, we are both happy for my brother, I specially prepare thin wine today, practice for my brother, and hope that my brother will appreciate his face......"

Li Ling also reacted, laughed awkwardly, and said, "That's exactly ......."

But in his heart, he was still immersed in Fang Cai's emotions and did not come out.

Su Wu looked at it, nodded, and said, "The two virtuous brothers have a heart......

So at the invitation of the two, they sat down in the banquet.

Soon, there were slaves and brought all kinds of Xiongnu delicacies.

It is mainly barbecued meat, dairy products, and alcohol.

While eating, the three of them chatted about the past, but the atmosphere was very subtle.

Wei Lu tried hard to liven up the atmosphere, but to little avail.

And Li Ling kept his head down from beginning to end, drank silently, and occasionally said a few words.

Su Wu observed, smiling silently, coping with Wei Lu's various temptations.

This meal is more than an hour.

The three of them drank four or five catties of mare's milk wine, and they were all a little drunk.

Li Ling was even more steady, and his emotions after drinking were a little out of control.

He staggered with the wine bottle, walked up to Su Wu, and said, "I envy my brother...... Envy of your ......"

"My brother is going to return to China, and my parents, wife and children must be waiting at home to greet ......"

"The Son of Heaven and the courtiers, relatives and friends will also set up a banquet for the elder brother and prepare wine, and the corporal of the world will also respect the elder brother's style and temperance!"

"And I, Li Shaoqing......"

He laughed, his eyes reddening: "Born to be a person from another world...... Die as a ghost in a foreign land...... was sent to Hu clothes, the left side was chaotic, the ancestors were disgraced, and the world spurned...... Longxi Li is the laughing stock of the world because of me! ”

"My ancestor and my father, under the nine springs, I am afraid that there are blood and tears!"

"All this, I do it myself!" He covered his head, crouched down, and sobbed.

This life has been long for decades, but he has almost achieved nothing, and he is ashamed!

For Hanchen, he can't be loyal to his father, filial piety to his parents, and his comrades in Zhong'an.

On the contrary, he lost his teacher and humiliated the country, and surrendered to the enemy.

For the sake of being a minister, you can't assist a single minister, and you can make every effort to reorganize the country's prestige.

On the contrary, the Huns were defeated and retreated, and now they are even more in the prelude to splitting!

He didn't know what the value of his existence in this world was.

What else could he do to make his life more interesting?

Beside him, Wei Lu and Su Wu both looked at him.

But the two had very different ideas.

What Wei Lu was thinking about was how to comfort and win over Li Ling.

But what Su Wu looked at was a Li Ling who might be persuaded to return.

Of course, not right now.

But what about the future?

At the beginning, Lu Juan and Han Wangxin both surrendered to the Xiongnu, and they did something more terrible than Li Ling - to lead the way for the Xiongnu, provide intelligence, and even attack Hanse with the Xiongnu cavalry.

But......

Decades later, the descendants of Lu Juan and Han Wangxin all led their troops to righteousness.

Among them, among the descendants of Han Wangxin, there is a founder of the Han cavalry such as Gong Gaohou Han Jundang, and there is also a wise man like Han Yan who planned a strategy against the Xiongnu for the Son of Heaven!

Even now, Han Yan's brother Han Shuo is still active in the political arena.

And the descendants of Lu Juan also led their troops to return to the Han Dynasty during the first emperor and were named Yagu Hou.

Therefore, for the Han family, there is no one who cannot be forgiven.

As long as it is favorable, it is not too much to calculate.

After all, in the political arena, we never calculate the good and the bad, but only the gains and losses.

The only question is - the will and attitude of Li Ling himself.

Su Wu looked at Li Ling, silently pinched something in his hand, and then, while he was going to help Li Ling, he quietly stuffed it into his sleeve.

Li Ling naturally noticed it, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, and then quickly pretended to be fine, just looked at Su Wu and laughed, and said, "But it made my brother laugh!" ”