Three Kingdoms: Ten Times Speed, Diao Chan Says I'm Too Fast

Hufro's words were harsh.

The word "training" is clearly inappropriate when applied to people.

The atmosphere in the tent suddenly plummeted to freezing point with Hufre's words.

Qiangqu Chanyu naturally understood the sarcasm in Yufuluo's words and looked at Yufuluo with great dissatisfaction: "Your brother has just returned home, and this is how you welcome him?"

"Is this something an older brother should say?"

Qiangqu Chanyu said with dissatisfaction, "As the future Chanyu of the Xiongnu, is this all you have, the demeanor of a woman?"

“Father…” Huchuquan immediately stood up and bowed to Qiangqu Chanyu with one hand on his chest, saying, “Please don’t blame my brother, Father. Of course, if it weren’t for me, my brother wouldn’t have ended up like this…”

Hu Chuquan glanced apologetically at his brother Yufuluo's empty trouser leg.

Yufuluo clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and looked at Huchuquan: "It's good that you can remember that I look like this because I was harmed by the water."

As he spoke, Yuvro used his hands to support himself as he stood up, and the soldiers guarding behind him immediately stepped forward to help him.

But he was pushed away by Hufro.

The eldest son of the mighty Xiongnu Chanyu, like a monster, hopped and skipped towards the outside of the tent.

Yufuluo, standing in front of the tent gate, turned his head to look at the crowd behind him and Huchuquan, and then disappeared in front of the tent gate.

"Hey......"

Qiangqu Chanyu sighed, waved to Huchuquan, and gestured for him to sit down: "Don't blame yourself too much."

"In war and struggle, people always die. It was a stroke of luck that your brother survived back then."

"At least, he's still alive."

"only......."

"It's just that I've developed some quirks over the years."

Hu Chuquan watched his brother's departing figure and nodded silently.

Huchuquan could understand why, as the eldest son of the Xiongnu Chanyu, he had to walk in such a shameful way.

“Father, His Highness the Prince of Liang has said more than once that he is sorry for what happened back then. As a result, many of the things His Highness the Prince of Liang sends every year are to compensate my brother,” Hu Chuquan said with his head down.

Qiangqu Chanyu nodded.

During these four years, Duan Yu provided significant assistance to the Southern Xiongnu.

If it weren't for Duan Yu, countless Southern Xiongnu people would have starved or frozen to death during those four years.

Every time Duan Yu sent supplies from Liangzhou, Qiangqu Gandan felt more and more that marrying his daughter to Duan Yu was a very wise choice.

Not to mention that the Southern Xiongnu are growing stronger and have already annexed the Northern Xiongnu.

It is foreseeable that if Duan Yu were to truly unify the Han Dynasty in the future...

Whether the Southern Xiongnu can return to their former glory or not, they will certainly be able to devour the current Xianbei as well.

"How is your older sister doing over there?"

After easing the tension, Qiangqu asked, "And what about my little grandson?"

Hu Chuquan nodded and said with a smile, "Everything is good, everything is good. My sister is doing very well now, and Xiao An has also grown up. He will definitely be a warrior in the future."

"Also, His Highness the Prince of Liang heard from my sister that Father's health is not as good as before, so he specially asked me to bring a lot of tonics and medicines from Chang'an. His Highness the Prince of Liang said that if Father ever gets tired, he should go to Chang'an, where the climate is suitable and he can take good care of his health."

"The Liang Prince's Palace is under construction. It's a very large place, and there's a lake where His Highness the Liang Prince fishes every day."

“Father can live there, and his older sister and Xiao An will stay with him.”

Qiangqu Chanyu nodded.

Years of hardship and constant warfare have taken a toll on my health; it's not what it used to be.

“Alright, after this war is over, even if you don’t stay in Chang’an for long, you should still go and see your sister,” Qiangqu said.

..............

A day later, the tens of thousands of Xiongnu troops gathered in Shoujiang City began to slowly assemble outside the city.

This time, Qiangqu Chanyu gathered almost all of the Xiongnu's combat-ready troops.

Without logistical concerns and with brand-new weapons and armor, the Xiongnu's fighting power is now vastly different from what it used to be.

A total of 50,000 troops.

Apart from the 10,000 cavalrymen of the Qiangqu tribe.

The remaining 20,000 troops were soldiers gathered from various tribes.

The most elite 10,000 royal cavalry were all equipped with weapons and armor sent by Duan Yu from Liangzhou.

Three thousand sets of armor.

One thousand sets of leather horse armor.

In the past, the Xiongnu mostly used bone arrows.

But now, almost half of them have been replaced with iron arrows.

The bows were all excellent longbows.

Among them were five hundred powerful crossbows.

These all came from Duan Yu's support from Liangzhou.

In the past two years, every time Jia Dong transported goods from Liangzhou to Bingzhou, he would send a batch of supplies to the Southern Xiongnu.

These weapons and equipment were accumulated over two years.

It took almost a whole day just to assemble 50,000 cavalrymen.

Moreover, all 50,000 of them were cavalry.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the more cavalry you have, the better.

If fighting on the grasslands, these 50,000 cavalry would certainly be formidable, but once they entered the Central Plains and Bingzhou, the cavalry could only be used for open field battles and encirclement warfare.

The Xiongnu were not good at attacking cities.

Hu Chuquan returned this time with two main tasks from Duan Yu.

The first task was to contain the Xianbei.

Although Qiangqu Chanyu did not understand why Duan Yu wanted to send a portion of his troops to contain the Xianbei, he could only listen to Duan Yu's words.

The second objective was to cross the Yin Mountains and enter Bingzhou, but not to conquer cities and seize territory.

They simply divided the cavalry into several groups and then severed the connections between the major cities of Bingzhou, especially between several prefectures and counties.

This was the main purpose of the Xiongnu's southward invasion.

If we don't attack the city, there won't be too many casualties.

In terms of open field battles, Qiangqu was quite confident in defeating the Xiongnu.

At this moment, tens of thousands of Xiongnu troops were slowly assembling.

Qiangqu Chanyu, along with Yufuluo and Huchuquan, were positioned at the very front of the army.

Qiangqu Chanyu was in front, with the brothers Yufuluo and Huchuquan on his left and right sides respectively behind him.

Because he only has one leg, walking is not very convenient for Huvro, but it doesn't affect him too much when riding a horse.

"Yufuluo, you will lead 20,000 cavalry to the east to contain the Xianbei."

Qiangqu Chanyu turned his head to look at Yufuluo behind him and said, "If the Xianbei do not make any moves, you can avoid fighting them. Once the Xianbei make any moves, you should lead 20,000 cavalry to contain them and then quickly send someone to report to me."

Yufuluo, riding behind Qiangqu Chanyu, nodded silently.

Subsequently, at the command of Qiangqu Chanyu, the 50,000-strong Xiongnu army split into two groups.

One group headed south towards the Yin Mountains, while the other, led by Fuluo, headed towards the Xianbei territory east of the northern grasslands.

............

Mid-March.

Hanzhong Commandery.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing) records: In the southwest there is the country of Ba and the country of Shu, whose people all live in stone chambers.

The roads in Sichuan are difficult to travel.

The earliest record of this land since its earliest recorded history is about the difficulty of traveling the roads to Sichuan.

King Huiwen of Qin wanted to attack Shu, so he falsely claimed to be giving away "golden ox dung gold". The King of Shu sent five strongmen to clear the way to welcome the ox, but the mountain collapsed and they died.

Sima Cuo's campaign against Shu required "a thousand miles of plank roads," but at that time the plank roads were rudimentary, mostly made by drilling holes in the mountains and inserting wood, and they would be destroyed by rain or snow.

The Qin bamboo slips from Yunmeng record that Chu people traveled to Shu via the Micang Road to sell lacquerware. They had to "carry baskets and climb vines, taking ten days to reach Hanzhong," and the mortality rate was as high as 30%.

The roads to Shu are difficult not only because the roads are hard to travel, but also because many cliffs and precipices are impassable.

Back then, the Qin Dynasty dispatched countless laborers to build the Golden Ox Road, which was how a road leading to Shu was finally opened up.

However, it becomes impossible to walk during the rainy season or winter.

Besides the difficulty for people to travel.

Transporting grain to Sichuan was also a huge challenge.

To wage war, you need soldiers; and to have soldiers, you need to feed them.

The Records of the Grand Historian, Treatise on the Balance of Power, states that transporting grain from Shu to Guanzhong "costs ten zhong for every zhong of grain delivered."

One bell is equivalent to 640 liters.

In other words, to transport one zhong of grain to Shu, ten zhong would be required.

To obtain one unit of food, one needs to transport eleven units to their destination before having one unit remaining.

Moreover, in addition to the difficult Shu roads, the passes in Shu are also easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The sheer cliffs, the perilous terrain, and the precipitous roads—these are the hallmarks of Jianmen Pass, the foremost pass in Sichuan.

At this time, a troop was slowly making its way from Nanzheng, the capital of Hanzhong Commandery.

Compared to when they set off from Shu County more than half a month ago, the number of members in the team has decreased significantly.

Moreover, everyone's face showed exhaustion and relief at surviving a disaster.

The Shu Commandery and the Hanzhong Commandery were separated only by the Guanghan Commandery.

Even so, Zhang Lu and his group, traveling light, had already been on their journey for more than half a month.

Moreover, dozens of people were killed or injured along the way.

Even Zhang Lu, sitting in the carriage, looked exhausted, showing none of the excitement and anticipation he had when he set off from Shu County.

Compared to everyone else in the team.

On the contrary, Duan Liuqing, who seemed weak, was in the best mental state.

"parking."

Inside the carriage, Zhang Lu, unable to bear the jolting any longer, shouted "Stop!" and then lifted the curtain of the carriage to look outside, asking somewhat impatiently, "How much longer until we arrive?"

The soldier leading the way quickly turned around and reported, "Sir, we will reach Xinzheng in about twenty or thirty li."

Upon hearing that there were still twenty or thirty li to go, Zhang Lu breathed a sigh of relief.

It’s finally here.

Zhang Lu turned his head to look around, and after seeing Duan Liuqing's figure, he said, "Qing'er, you must be tired from the journey. Come and rest in the carriage."

Duan Liuqing followed beside the carriage, then slowly shook her head and said, "My lord, our statuses are different. How can I ride in the same carriage as you? Thank you, my lord."

Zhang Lu shook his head helplessly and said, "You, why are you so stubborn? Why make things difficult for your weak body? Since you have come to Hanzhong with me, you will be mine sooner or later. Why care about these worldly formalities?"

"Alright, alright, I won't make things difficult for you anymore. Once we get there, I'll formally take you into my family."

"Thank you for your understanding, sir," Duan Liuqing said, bowing her head.

A smile gradually appeared in her beautiful eyes.

Upon arriving in Hanzhong...

................

P.S.: It's getting late. I spent the whole day with my boss, and now I'm having dinner with him again. There's more to come later.