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The Hu left, leaving behind a field of devastation.
The Hu corpses were buried in a pit.
The Hu horses were skinned and eaten.
It wasn't that they didn't want to save the horses, but those left were either dead or too gravely injured to heal under Han dynasty conditions. Better to give them a quick end.
Horse meat was far from delicious, especially in an era when spices were as costly as gold.
Fei Qian now realized that cooking horse meat produced a foul stench, like years of compacted fodder suddenly unearthed or the reek of stagnant, blackened water in a sunless ditch…
Boiled horse meat—plain boiled, with no chili, pepper, cinnamon, tangerine peel, or star anise, just water. The fibers were coarser and tougher than beef, like chewing thin wood. Beyond its roughness, it had the sour tang of unripe fruit. If Fei Qian hadn't seen it cut fresh from the carcass, he'd have thought it spoiled.
He forced down one bowl to show he was no different from his men, but declined a second helping. Eating more would be self-inflicted torment.
Besides the thirty-odd Hu corpses and the unpalatable horse meat, the Hu left another unwelcome gift.
During their circling volleys, over fifty men were injured to varying degrees. Twenty-some were hit in vital areas like the head or torso and died. The remaining thirty-odd, with lighter wounds, stayed in the rear to recover.
This toll seemed, perhaps, slightly better than the Hu's losses?
But consider: this was with shields and walls for cover, and the Hu could only attack from one direction, unable to circle the camp as they had with others, seeking weak points…
Only cavalry could defeat cavalry—not a camp. The Hu could strike or leave at will, and Fei Qian had no counter, at least not yet.
"We appear to have won, but in truth… we lost," Fei Qian told his men. "But tell the recruits we won."
The words were convoluted, but the meaning was clear.
Fortunately, the Southern Xiongnu clearly didn't want heavy losses either, so they withdrew. Otherwise, a prolonged fight would likely have ended in Fei Qian's defeat.
Thankfully, these Hu were poor—at least this group of Southern Xiongnu was.
Their poverty wasn't just in numbers but in weapons.
Fei Qian's gaze fell on the table. "Fortunately, the Hu are poor, or we'd have lost more."
On the table lay two arrows. One had white fletching, its feathers uniform and neatly trimmed, with a straight shaft and a sharp, triangular iron head glinting coldly. The other had mixed fletching, uneven and messy, with a thinner, shorter shaft and a pointed head bearing grind marks, as if repeatedly polished after rusting.
The white-fletched arrow was from the Hu's initial ranging shot; the mixed-fletched one was randomly taken from their later volleys.
Arrows were the most common yet critical consumable. Their weight and length affected accuracy and range. The white-fletched arrow matched Han military standards, but the mixed-fletched one was clearly substandard.
"Has anyone considered why the Hu repeatedly raid us Han? Why do the Southern Xiongnu or Eastern Qiang, once submitted, rebel again and again?" Fei Qian asked those in the tent.
Huang Cheng, raised in Jingxiang and facing the Hu for the first time, shook his head, clueless.
Fei Qian smiled faintly and looked at Ma Yan.
Ma Yan said gravely, "The Hu are savage and greedy, ignorant of propriety, worshiping only strength, cruel and bloodthirsty by nature."
Fei Qian nodded. This view, shared by most Han, matched the Hu's apparent traits.
Du Yuan glanced at Fei Qian, wanting to speak, but then looked at Ma Yan, hesitated, and stayed silent.
Since Du Yuan held back, Fei Qian didn't press, instead saying, "Bingzhou was once a land of both martial and literary prowess. 'Since the Han's rise, the six commanderies' noble sons were chosen for the Yulin and Qimen guards, selected for their strength and skill, producing many famed generals.' From the Qin-Zhao conflicts, Bingzhou adopted Xia governance, fortified with barbarian ropes, blending military and legalist strengths. Figures like Bingzhou's Huguan elder Linghu Mao, Dai Commandery's Feng Tang, and Taiyuan's Chang Hui were heroes of their time. At the Han's founding, Bingzhou had over a million households, nearly 100,000 county troops, three armories—Shangjun, Yuyang, and Beidi—and twelve salt ponds, including Dule and Kucha in Shangjun. With abundant water and grass, it was ideal for farming and herding. Yet now it lies in ruin—why?"
Fei Qian didn't wait for Huang Cheng or others to answer, knowing even Ma Yan, long in Bingzhou, likely hadn't studied its history enough to explain.
"Emperor Guangwu's revival used Youzhou, Jizhou, and Bingzhou cavalry to pacify the realm…" Fei Qian paused, then continued, "But pacifying the realm doesn't mean governing it… Guangwu had two empresses: Guo of Zhending and Yin of Nanyang…"
The men began to grasp his point.
Fei Qian went on:
"In Jianwu Year 6, Yunzhong and Wuyuan were moved to Changshan…"
"In Jianwu Year 9, Yanmen was moved to Taiyuan…"
"In Jianwu Year 10, Dingxiang was moved to Xihe…"
"In Jianwu Year 15, Yanmen, Dai, and Shanggu were moved to Juyong Pass…"
"In Jianwu Year 20, Wuyuan was moved to Hedong…"
"In Yongping Year 8, capital prisoners were sent to garrison Shuofang and Wuyuan…"
"In Yongping Year 16, more prisoners were sent to Shuofang and Dunhuang…"
The histories claimed this was to protect border counties from Hu raids and ensure civilian safety. But in reality? Moving productive border folk and replacing them with convicts—was this protecting the borders or abandoning them?
In Emperor Wu's time, Han cavalry trampled Yinshan, and the Hu trembled at their hoofbeats. Now they raid again—have the Hu grown stronger?