My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 509 At a loss what to do
Time soon came to May.

According to past practice, May was the time when nomadic peoples of the grasslands would gather in Longcheng and hold the Zhulin Conference under the organization of the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting.

Even if the Chanyu court was not in Munan, the Zhulin Conference should not have been cancelled.

——Just like last year, when Chanyu Ting had not returned from his western expedition, the Right Wise King Yizhixie was still in Longcheng, hosting a symbolic Zhulin Conference on his behalf.

But today, things are different.

Dragon City in May is as quiet as still water.

There are not as many leaders and warriors from various tribes gathering here at this time as in previous years.

There are some, but they are just the elderly members of the Luandi clan royal family who were left in Longcheng by Shanyu Ting as "retirement care", or they are distant relatives.

It should have been a time of celebration, but the various tribes were exhausted both physically and mentally, mobilizing their troops and marching back and forth across the grassland.

One moment it is Gaoque;
One moment it is in the clouds;
Then it was the area of ​​Mayi in the north of Dai, or the area of ​​Yuyang and Youbeiping in the north of Yan...

All the tribes were busy.

They were so busy that they had no time to pursue nomadic life and could only leave the cattle and sheep to the lonely, elderly, weak and immature teenagers in the tribe.

If nothing unexpected happens, after a year, there will be many more green hats on the grassland.

The vast majority of children born next year will be abandoned or even killed.

The cattle and sheep are not getting enough water and grass to eat, and they are not able to store enough fat. Many of them will not be able to survive this winter.

In the spring of next year, there will be many more ice sculptures on the grassland, even groups of ice sculptures...

But most people aren't worried.

Because in autumn, the main force of the Shanyu court will return from the western expedition.

The main force of the Chanyu court returning victoriously would certainly bring back a large number of cattle, sheep, livestock, food, cloth, and even craftsmen and women.

We just need to survive this year, and by next year the grassland will be back to normal.

Of course, Gaoque could not return to its former state when it was controlled by the Huns.

It is highly unlikely that Hexi will become the key route for the Xiongnu to control the Western Regions and the Hexi Corridor as it did in the past.

And Mu'nan will no longer be stable because of the loss of Gaoque.

On the other hand, the Han Dynasty's plans in the northwestern border area were progressing steadily.

The Hetao area in particular has become increasingly vibrant and energetic, with the new system being implemented for several consecutive months, which is not typical of the grassland.

"Aya~"

A hundred miles southwest of Bowang City, there is a not-so-big depression.

A few felt tents stood alone in the center of the depression.

Blue sky and white clouds, green grass and clear water, all you see is the peace between heaven and earth.

A long cry called out a young man from the felt tent.

The young man was wearing a Hu robe, had a short and stocky figure and rosy cheeks.

He opened the tent curtain and looked in the direction of the voice calling him. He saw the figure riding a horse towards him. The young man grinned slightly, and his dry lips cracked open.

The young man seemed unaware of it. He just instinctively licked his lips, which contained a little blood that flowed out from the crack, and then quickly walked forward.

"Ada~"

"Yanshi, Ada is back!"

After two soft calls, the young boy Aya trotted forward to greet them.

At the side of the felt tent, a woman straightened up in response, and a bright smile broke out on her face.

"Hey! Yo~"

"My Aya has gotten stronger."

Without waiting for the horse to stop, the man jumped off the horse and picked up Aya.

Then he smiled heartily and walked to the yurt.

At the same time, the woman and several slaves who were dressed in rags but all had smiles on their faces, had also come forward.

The man put Aya down from his arms, knelt on one knee, and held his chest with one hand.

The woman walked up with a bucket of water, dipped her fingers in the water, and gently flicked it on the man.

While talking, he kept mumbling something.

After a long while, the man stood up again, grinning and hugged the woman in his arms.

Afterwards, the family of three walked into the tent amidst joy and cheers, under the gentle and loving smiles of the slaves.

As for the slaves, they were all busy with their own things.

"Ada!"

"How is Bowang City? Is it big?"

"Is there a large tent of the Han Chanyu in the city?"

"Did Ah Da see the Han Chanyu?"

"Isn't he so majestic and powerful that he can knock down twenty... no, fifty warriors?!"

Aya was still childish, and her enthusiastic questioning only made the man chuckle.

He looked at the woman with a smile and then started talking nonsense.

"Hmm~"

"Bowang City is very big."

"Bigger than Dragon City!"

...

"In the city, there is no tent of the Han Chanyu, only the camp of the Han Right General."

"The right general is called Cheng Bushi."

"As for the Han Chanyu, he said he has no plans to come to Bowang City this year."

"When we get here, Ada will take Aya with him to see how many warriors the Han Chanyu can defeat."

After getting a satisfactory answer from her father, Aya smiled so hard that her teeth were showing.

Thinking back on the past six months and the achievements he had made in subjects such as horse riding and archery, he immediately wanted to pull his father out of the tent again to show him his progress.

The man tried to persuade Aya for a long time, using both coaxing and deceiving methods, before he finally managed to calm her down a little.

Then, the woman spoke.

"How about it?"

"Han people, are you going to send us a new leader, or should we let the Han people be the leader of our tribe?"

"And the Bowang City, can we really use cattle and sheep to exchange for Han people's goods?"

The woman asked with a little uneasiness and without expectation, which only made the man let out a long sigh of disappointment.

Recalling the changes that have taken place in the Hetao region over the past few months, especially the sharp contrast with the period before last year when it was ruled by the Xiongnu Chanyu Ting, the man could not help but feel a lot of emotion. The world regards the Hetao region as the fattest grassland with the warmest climate, the most abundant water and grass, and the most abundant water sources.

However, few people have noticed that it is precisely because this piece of fat meat is so fat that the nomadic people on this land are more warlike than those in other regions.

no way.

Just like in later generations, people from almost all countries wanted to go to the Minzhuta Kingdom and become glorious and beautiful people - on the grassland, almost every tribe hoped to gain a foothold in the fertile land of Hetao.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the various tribes in Hetao and the stability of the Hetao region, the Xiongnu Chanyu court also took a tacit attitude towards this and allowed the outside world to "surround Hetao with wolves".

Of course, this is not something that people can naturally see: external tribes are stationed around the Hetao area, and the various tribes in the Hetao area unite to resist the foreign enemies.

Instead, it was external tribes that, under the guise of "nomadism" and "passing through", were able to enter the Hetao region unhindered.

Then I find a good place and stay there.

The Hetao tribes obviously have no good solution to this phenomenon.

——That’s what nomadic people are like.

If you can’t survive, leave;
When you come to a good place, stop.

We have found a good feng shui location and decided to settle down there.

In this regard, the only thing other tribes could do was to use the default order of the grassland to expel them by force and occupy the fertile land they occupied.

As a result, the Hetao region, which is relatively rich in resources and should have been relatively prosperous, has become one of the most war-torn places on the grassland.

Every spring, scattered foreign tribes would set foot in Hetao from Hexi, Munan, and even Yunzhong.

In summer and autumn, these foreign "invading" tribes would conflict with the local tribes in Hetao.

After that, there will inevitably be a great war. Only the winner will be qualified to stay in Hetao, and the loser can only become a slave.

To use the later Li Tang Dynasty's famous Battle of Xiangji Temple as an analogy, whoever wins is a Hetao person, and whoever loses is an invader.

Therefore, the Hetao tribes, who did not have to worry about survival supplies and resource scrambles, had to worry about fighting with foreign tribes every summer and autumn under the connivance of the Chanyu court and the special open order of the grassland.

Furthermore, the "abundance of resources" in the Hetao region is only relative to other areas of the grassland.

This area is indeed rich in water and grass, but no matter how abundant it is, it is still water and grass, and herders still need to migrate.

This area is rich in water resources, but no matter how abundant they are, they are only streams and some branches of large rivers.

Considering the grassland's dependence on water resources, it is not an 'inexhaustible water resource', but just barely enough and not overly scarce.

When it really comes to a critical moment, we still have to fight for aquatic plants and water resources.

However, compared with other areas of the grassland, the frequency of "life-threatening moments" in the Hetao region is lower, and the intensity of the struggle between tribes for survival resources is also much lower.

For example, in Mubei, almost every tribe has to fight two or three battles a year to ensure that the grass and water resources are not robbed;
Once a war breaks out, it will be a fight to the death, and they will often wipe out entire tribes.

As for the tribe of Munan, if they have bad luck they only have to fight two battles, if they have good luck they only have to fight one battle, or they may not even have to fight at all.

When they fight, although they fight to the death, they will not fight to the last man, but stop when they reach the right time - whichever side feels that it can no longer win will admit defeat and turn around to bully other smaller tribes.

As for the Hetao region, in normal years, there is basically no need for the tribes within the Hetao to fight for pastures and water and grass.

Even when the pressure of survival was extremely high, the struggles between tribes were also extremely "civilized".

If possible, both sides would send out their best warriors to compete with each other in archery, wrestling, cavalry, etc.

As long as there are no tragic deaths or injuries during the competition, both sides will recognize the result of the competition as the result of the "struggle".

Compared with other areas of the grassland, the "fighting generals" style of resource competition in the Hetao region is obviously quite civilized.

But at this moment, looking at his wife and son looking at him with eager anticipation, the man did not miss that so-called "peaceful" time at all.

——Even in the most stable and prosperous years with the most abundant grass and water resources, wars have broken out in the Hetao region!

Whenever a war breaks out, the men in the tribe will mount their horses and follow the tribal leader to fight.

It’s good to come back alive.

If he died, it would be a neighbor who would bring his body back and take over his family, even his wife and children.

Who would want to end up like this?
Indeed, when you ask a Xiongnu man whether he is willing to die gloriously in battle and whether he is willing to let his comrades take over all his wealth, even his children and women, after his death, he will get a positive answer.

But not all nomadic people on the grassland approve of this practice.

But apart from this, there is simply no better way.

As a man, how can you defend your tribe if you don't fight bravely when it's in trouble?

If the tribe is gone, where will the small family come from?

And if he dies in the battle to defend the tribe, and if his wife and children are not taken care of by others, how can the orphan and widow survive surrounded by wolves on the grassland?
The reason why this set of values ​​is widely recognized on the grassland is simply because there is no other way and there is nothing we can do.

If there is a better way, no man would hope that after his death, his son would call someone else "dad" and his woman would tell others to do it harder and faster.

At this time, the man sitting in the felt tent was the same.

——Once upon a time, the man also thought that if he died in battle, his wife and children should be owned by others.

Only in this way can they survive.

but now?
Now, if someone asks the man: What if I die in battle?
What should I do if my wife and children are owned by someone else?
The man will certainly say: I died bravely in battle, shouldn’t my orphans and widow be taken care of by the country?

Who is so shameless as to even target the orphans and widows of martyrs? !

These words were what the man learned in Bowang City over the past few months.

The person who said this was an unknown Han soldier in Bowang City.

Naturally, the man didn't know what he had learned in Bowang City over the past few months, so he didn't know this Chinese phrase that sounded powerful but made people inexplicably yearn for it.

"From now on, there will be no more tribes."

"There is no leader anymore."

After a long period of thought, the man said something lightly, but it made the woman's face change drastically!
Just as she was about to burst into tears, she saw the man shaking his head and smiling bitterly, "From now on, we can no longer be called a tribe."

"It has to be called: County."

"The tribal head is no longer a headman, but a Han Chinese county magistrate."

"——It is said that it is an official position similar to that of a household official."

"Moreover, the county magistrates of the future will be different from the chieftains of the past - they cannot beat, scold, or even expel or execute their people at will."

"All punishments must be in accordance with the Han people's agreement. As long as it does not violate the Han people's laws, the county magistrate cannot punish the tribesmen at will."

"Well, in Chinese terms, it means the people."

Hearing this, the woman's expression eased a little, but she was even more confused.

"Han people's laws?"

"Is it different from the agreement on the grassland?"

Hearing this, the man's smile faded slightly, and his eyes looking at the woman were filled with anxiety about the unknown and helplessness about change.

"Han Chinese law stipulates that no one except government officials can kill people at will."

"You must not hurt others, or steal or rob others' things..."

(End of this chapter)