Chapter 319
The conflict between the Xiongnu and the Han over Shuofang Commandery ran deep.
Emperor Wu of Han had reclaimed this region after it was lost to Xiongnu invasions during the early years of the Han Dynasty.
Five commanderies were established under the name of the Shuofang Inspectorate, and hundreds of thousands of people lived densely packed in this area alone.
Taking advantage of the Xiongnu's weakened state, the Han had bolstered the inspectorate's defenses year after year.
But as if to mock those efforts, the resurgent Xiongnu chose this very place as their first target.
The raid was swift and fierce.
In an instant, three of the five commanderies in the Shuofang Inspectorate fell into Xiongnu hands.
Before the garrison could even form a proper defensive line, the massive Xiongnu army had already driven deep inside.
By the time the Shuofang Inspectorate grasped the situation and dispatched messengers to Chang'an, the crisis had already spiraled hopelessly out of control.
Just three days after Wang Mang received the initial report, devastating news followed: the Shuofang Inspectorate had completely fallen to the Xiongnu.
Estimated troop casualties alone exceeded twenty thousand.
The defensive line they had spent years fortifying was rendered worthless in an instant.
The shock triggered a cascade of panic.
With Shuofang utterly breached, there were few defensive lines left between the enemy and Chang'an.
"We need time to muster our forces."
Everyone in the imperial court said the same thing.
The Xiongnu's mobility was well known.
If they resolved to push straight down to Chang'an by the shortest route, there would be no time to gather an army.
Three hundred thousand troops meant nothing if they couldn't even assemble them to fight.
"Did these bastards read our intentions and strike first?"
"We have no choice but to assume so."
"Do we have an estimate on the enemy's numbers?"
"Nothing precise. We do know they have at least fifty thousand cavalry. Furthermore, we keep receiving reports that Semu People have been sighted alongside the Xiongnu tribe."
If Western nomads had joined the Xiongnu, fifty thousand was actually on the low end.
In the worst-case scenario, they might be facing over a hundred thousand highly trained elite cavalry.
If their numbers were closer to a hundred and fifty thousand, even mobilizing three hundred thousand troops wouldn't guarantee a victory.
Of course, given the utter lack of warning, it was highly unlikely they had managed to bring a hundred and fifty thousand men on a surprise attack.
At most, the forces currently pouring into the north wouldn't exceed a hundred thousand.
Still capable of rational judgment, Wang Mang actively sought the opinions of his generals.
"The barbarians' momentum is alarming. Give me a countermeasure."
"I beg your forgiveness for speaking so bluntly, but our first priority must be to escort the son of heaven south and muster our forces. Naturally, if the son of heaven and the Grand Tutor oversee this personally, the preparations will proceed much faster."
They had dressed it up with a reasonable excuse, but it ultimately amounted to abandoning the capital and running away.
Wang Mang nodded, his face contorted.
Given the sheer speed of the enemy's advance, falling back temporarily was nothing to be ashamed of.
He rationalized that it was the barbarians who lacked propriety by launching a surprise invasion without a formal declaration of war.
"If we muster our forces and meet the barbarians in a pitched battle, can we win?"
"Their goal is likely to inflict heavy losses and extort favorable terms. That is how they have always operated. Rather than fighting to the bitter end, they will probably employ hit-and-run tactics to demand food and supplies. They cannot sustain a long-range expedition indefinitely, and since it is impossible to completely annihilate them on horseback, finding a compromise is our only option."
"...So you're saying we have no choice but to settle this through negotiations? That we cannot bring judgment down upon these rebellious savages who ambushed us?"
"Eradicating them completely is impossible. However, we can certainly win a battle and inflict heavy damage."
If there was a silver lining, it was that they wouldn't need to embark on a distant expedition even after raising an army.
No matter how powerful the Han was, it couldn't afford to pour hundreds of thousands of men into a foreign campaign.
Doing so could bankrupt the nation, even if they won the war.
But when foreign invaders had already crossed into their homeland, the situation changed.
They could easily mobilize and sustain a defensive force of hundreds of thousands.
Therefore, the crucial objective was to inflict maximum damage on the enemy and extract reparations.
"Ensure that the barbarians who dared invade the Central Plains are so utterly crushed that they never entertain the thought again. For that, I am willing to swallow the humiliation of abandoning the capital."
Gritting his teeth, Wang Mang made his decision.
Persuading the son of heaven would require spouting plenty of honeyed words, but he could endure that much trouble to mount a comeback.
If they dawdled and were caught by the barbarians, the very survival of the imperial dynasty would be at stake.
'No, wait. Since it has come to this, perhaps...'
As Wang Mang headed to seek an audience with the son of heaven, a plan flashed through his mind.
A scheme so treasonous that even voicing it was forbidden.
An audacious thought: was there any rule stating that the title of the son of heaven had to belong to the Liu family?
*
"The subjugation of Bingzhou is complete. It was much easier than expected."
Bingzhou, also known as Shanxi, was a strategic region located near the northern peaks of the Five Sacred Mountains.
The early nations of the Central Plains had used this region as a base to form a border against the northern nomads.
During the Xiongnu's period of division, the Han had deliberately settled the Southern Xiongnu in parts of Bingzhou to keep the Northern Xiongnu in check.
Thanks to that, the massive nomadic army led by the new Grand Chanyu had penetrated Bingzhou with shocking ease.
Even the Great Wall running along the border between Bingzhou and the north proved to be little more than a minor inconvenience to them.
"What are our casualties?"
"Minimal. The Bingzhou defense forces are estimated to have lost over twenty thousand men, while our casualties don't even reach a thousand."
A cold blue light glinted from within a steel helmet forged in the shape of an eagle.
Even though he was a Semu from the West rather than a native of the Xiongnu tribe, the Xiongnu Shanyus acknowledged him as their supreme leader.
There was only one reason: his overwhelming strength and capabilities.
Though it had ended in defeat, the Shanyus had never forgotten the grand nomadic empire that was almost realized during Baghatur's era.
A Semu could be revered as a Shanyu entirely because Baghatur had absorbed all kinds of nomadic tribes when he pushed his way to Rome.
The current steppes were an open frontier where anyone with the strength and ability could rise to the apex.
The Grand Chanyu, Achilles, was the first man to reap the benefits of this environment.
A man who had been forced out of Rome by his circumstances was now, conversely, benefiting from a new set of circumstances.
"Requisition as many local supplies as possible and complete our resupply. We will push straight through Jizhou and into western Qingzhou."
"Pardon? We aren't heading south, but east?"
"Correct."
"If we drive straight into Chang'an right now, we could force the Central Plains to surrender. If we're lucky, we might even capture their Emperor."
"Impossible. They will have already tucked their tails and fled. No matter how fast I march to Chang'an, I would only find an empty nest. Doing so would only validate their cowardly decision to run."
The Shanyu advising Achilles asked again, his expression showing that he only half-understood.
"Still, wouldn't capturing their capital be highly symbolic?"
"It would. But I am looking slightly further into the future."
"I place my absolute faith in the Grand Chanyu's judgment. Entire army! Alter course! Our destination is western Qingzhou! Sweep away and plunder everything that blocks our path!"
The morale of the Xiongnu forces pierced the heavens.
Like a black typhoon, they tore through the lands of the Central Plains unopposed, never once slowing their gallop.
Achilles kept a sharp eye on how the Han's main forces would maneuver, constantly splitting and shifting his troops.
Reborn by his hand, the new Xiongnu army was fundamentally different from before.
Without a doubt, the greatest improvement lay in their equipment.
The Plate Armor Achilles had initially worn when he arrived had reached the end of its lifespan after over a decade of fierce battles.
No matter how meticulously he maintained it, only a tiny fraction of the armor was still usable today.
In truth, it was a miracle that even a portion of the helmet remained intact.
Overall, however, the equipment of the Xiongnu army had drastically improved.
Aside from the Composite Bows modeled after Roman designs, the quality of the weapons and armor wielded by their main cavalry was incomparable to the past.
This wasn't because Xiongnu smelting techniques had suddenly progressed by leaps and bounds.
Rather, most of these armaments had been smuggled in from Rome through Achilles.
Naturally, Rome hadn't handed over their highest-grade active-duty gear.
By current Roman standards, these weapons and armor were strictly low-tier.
Even so, they were more than enough to fully outfit Achilles's soldiers.
For the Han Dynasty, which hadn't fought the Xiongnu since Baghatur's time, this was a waking nightmare.
Armed only with outdated information on the Xiongnu tribe, they found the current combat power of their enemy literally incomprehensible.
"General! Pingyuan County has been breached!"
Cries of disbelief and horror echoed day after day.
"We can't stop them!"
Pingyuan County, Ge County, and Gaotang County were utterly crushed beneath the fierce hooves of the Xiongnu.
The unfolding devastation looked as though the gates of hell had been thrown open.
"The Northern Garrison Forces have been wiped out! We believe they were hit by the unit led personally by the enemy leader!"
The Commandery Administrator, head of the Pingyuan Commandery within the Qingzhou Inspectorate, witnessed the terrifying sight of the enemy easily tearing through their defensive lines.
At the forefront of the cavalry, who looked like the very avatars of death, rode a figure wearing an eagle-like helmet.
"So that is the new leader of the Xiongnu..."
Neither the men hastily shouting reports nor the officials drafting dispatches for Chang'an knew the leader's name.
The only piece of information they had was that he was a blue-eyed Semu.
Among the surviving generals and soldiers, not a single person had seen his bare face.
Being attacked here had caught them completely off guard.
They had, of course, received reports that Bingzhou had been shattered.
Thus, while they had mustered troops, they considered an attack on this specific location to be merely a vague, unlikely concern.
Everyone assumed the enemy would march south toward the son of heaven, and the Commandery Administrator had thought the same.
They believed Jizhou might be at risk, but who could have ever imagined they would strike as far as Qingzhou?
Right before his eyes, soldiers were trampled and blood fountained into the air.
Amidst agonizing death cries, the number of friendly troops dwindled at a visible rate.
"Why...? Weren't they just trying to loot and make a show of force? This is like..."
It was an advance that suggested trampling the Han was their very goal.
Before he could even utter the words, an arrow flew from out of nowhere and pierced the Commandery Administrator's throat.
Following his fall, the vast majority of the garrison was wiped out.
After Bingzhou, Qingzhou was trampled.
The shocking reality was that every major region bordering the north had fallen into barbarian hands.
Wang Mang, who had abandoned Chang'an and fled south, was now reduced to a coward who had emptied his capital in terror of an enemy that never even came.
Not since Emperor Gaozu of Han was forced to sign a humiliating peace treaty with the Xiongnu had they suffered such an indignity.
After utterly annihilating the last pockets of resistance in the Qingzhou Inspectorate, Achilles deliberately halted his advance and ordered his soldiers to rest, as if daring the Han to watch.
The entire Central Plains descended into a state of shock.
With the Xiongnu's rapid advance exceeding all expectations, Wang Mang found himself at a crossroads.
The massive army of hundreds of thousands currently rallying together was his only hope.
Consumed by the anxiety that there might be nowhere left to retreat, he once again recalled the letter sent by the Crown Princess of Rome.
'You will end up sending a reply anyway.'
That single line, which he had scoffed at and brushed aside, now surged back into his mind, suffocating his heart as if it were a premonition.