Chapter 1069: The Hidden Forces Behind History

"You’re not really going to make me do this alone, are you?" Zhang Fei said with a bitter smile.

"If you want to become a famous general, this is a path you must take, no matter how difficult it is. Don’t you want to help Lord Xuande restore the Han Dynasty?" Chen Xi stared at Zhang Fei. "You are Zhang Yide, the man who fears neither heaven nor earth!"

Zhang Fei smiled bitterly but didn’t respond. He was all too aware of his own capabilities, which made him cautious. The upcoming campaign against the northern nomads next year would be a brutal war, and if he were made commander, the responsibility on his shoulders would be immense. The nomads of the northern border would be fighting for their very survival!

Although many lords in the Central Plains held the nomads in contempt, the truth was that when you had enough numbers, quantity could become quality. The heavy snowfall this year had delayed the nomadic invasions, but it also worsened the food shortages they already faced.

By the time spring arrived next year, the nomads would be as desperate as starving wolves on the plains, needing no further reasons to attack. They might even launch their invasion before the snow had fully melted.

After all, they had two arms and a head just like anyone else. Once pushed to the brink of starvation, the nomads would lose all fear, and the combat strength they could unleash in that moment of desperation would be terrifying.

At this point, providing grain to the nomads and inciting infighting among them would be the best strategy. But the snow in the north had been far worse than Chen Xi expected, and the roads were entirely blocked. Even on the plains, it was impossible to navigate. Several of the scouts Jia Xu had sent out had lost their lives in the snowfields, unable to tell day from night or find their bearings.

This was the first time Chen Xi truly understood the concept of a blizzard. In the northern borderlands, the snow was so thick that you couldn’t tell day from night. No matter when you looked up, the sky was a dull gray, with icy snowflakes constantly drifting down. Even when it wasn’t snowing, the wind would carry icy shards from distant lands, endlessly. The entire region north of Youzhou was shrouded in this ceaseless snowfall.

Jia Xu had told Chen Xi that, based on his experience, this blizzard would likely claim the lives of over a hundred thousand nomads, either frozen or starved to death. However, after the new year, there would undoubtedly be a massive invasion to the south.

Unlike small raids, this snow-induced invasion would be near suicidal desperation. Even if the nomads knew they would lose, they would still fight tooth and nail—either to secure enough supplies or to reduce their population to a level that their resources could sustain.

It was a ruthless and bloody strategy, but this was how the nomads of the northern border had survived countless crises and avoided extinction. In such brutal conditions, their combat power would reach new heights, or rather, the threat of annihilation would numb their fear.

When Jia Xu first explained this to Chen Xi, his initial reaction wasn’t shock or fear. Even if the nomads launched a collective invasion of the south, Liu Bei’s forces could hold them back. If necessary, they could halt all internal development and muster enough military power to crush any nomadic invasion.

Chen Xi’s first reaction was to wonder if anything like this had happened at this point in history. If not, what could have caused this climate shift? This wasn’t something he could have influenced personally. He briefly considered the possibility that it was a side effect of a spiritual talent, but he quickly ruled that out.

It was entirely possible that this northern nomad invasion had indeed happened in history. As Chen Xi thought about it, he suddenly recalled a difference between the maps of the Three Kingdoms period and those from the end of the Han Dynasty. In the Three Kingdoms map, Bingzhou in the north extended only a hundred miles from Chang’an. But on the Han Dynasty map, Bingzhou included the Hetao Plain.

In other words, by the Three Kingdoms period, Bingzhou had effectively been lost. Chang’an, the capital, was just a hundred miles away from the nomads' frontline. This also explained why, despite being farther from Yuan Shao, Cao Cao decided to move Emperor Liu Xie to Chenliu, closer to Yuan Shao’s forces—it was because the nomads had already pushed close to Chang’an by then.

Looking at the timeline, it seemed to match up. Not long after this, Ju Yi led a battle against the Xiongnu and Xianbei west of Ye City. When Chen Xi thought about the location of Ye City, he was startled. This meant that by that time, the nomads had already penetrated deep into Han territory.

As Chen Xi put the pieces together, he realized something deeply unsettling: by the beginning of next year, the nomads, whom he had always considered insignificant, would push their frontlines dangerously close to the capital in Yongzhou.

This was nothing short of terrifying. While it was true that Bingzhou had been ravaged by Yuan Shao and Lü Bu had never returned to defend it, it was hard to believe the nomads could push this far. It seemed unnatural.

Of course, Chen Xi wasn’t someone who denied historical facts. On the contrary, he was very clever. If such an event could happen, it meant that the nomads had displayed combat power far beyond expectations. Otherwise, they couldn’t have pushed the frontlines all the way to within a hundred miles of Yongzhou. The only explanation was that the frontier soldiers of Bingzhou had been utterly defeated.

At the same time, Chen Xi began to speculate about the true combat power of the northern enemies. He even started to piece together which tribes might be coordinating and leading this massive invasion.

No, at this point, it would be inappropriate to refer to them as mere barbarians. After all, this was once an empire—a kingdom of the steppes that had fought against the Han Empire for over two hundred years and had clashed with it as recently as thirty years ago. This was the legacy of the Northern Xiongnu!

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