My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 602 Amnesty
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the country was divided into three parts.

Ultimately, the Sima clan usurped the throne of Wei, and the Jin dynasty came to rule the country.

Then came the Five Barbarian Invasions, a period that later generations deeply regret.

—Xianbei, Xiongnu, Jie, Di, Qiang.

Some say the cause of the epic tragedy of the Five Barbarian Invasions was the War of the Eight Princes in the Western Jin Dynasty, while others say it was a series of historical coincidences.

However, Liu Rong was able to roughly conclude that the real reason for the Five Barbarian Invasions was that the Three Kingdoms period, which lasted for over a hundred years, not only exhausted the heroic spirit of the Chinese people, but also depleted the population and resources of Chinese civilization.

After Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, died, the world fell into chaos. Emperor Cao Mao of Wei was assassinated in the street, and the Sima clan was able to usurp the throne of Jin.

In just seventy years, the population of China dropped from 23 million at the end of Emperor Ling's reign to less than 8 million.

Eight million...

In later generations, any decent large city would have more than eight million people.

Such a sparse population naturally gave foreign tribes the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

As for the Wuhuan and Xianbei tribes, both were descendants of the Donghu and were exiled to the harsh lands by the Xiongnu. In historical records, why are the Xianbei people frequently seen, but the Wuhuan people are rarely seen?
This is because after the Donghu were destroyed, the Wuhuan and Xianbei tribes, who were exiled at the same time, took two completely different paths in the following hundreds of years.

The Wuhuan people, as the former royal family and nobles of the Donghu, still retain a considerable number of Donghu customs and cultural habits.

They would each raise a "destined dog," inseparable from it through thick and thin.

If one day, a dog born under a special name returns with its owner's hair or pieces of clothing, it means that its owner has met with misfortune, and the clan can use this as a means of 'determining whether someone is still alive'.

From their exile at the turn of the Qin and Han dynasties to the tripartite division of the empire at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, the Wuhuan people almost continuously promoted the integration with Chinese civilization for four hundred years.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the Wuhuan people became the most capable and loyal henchmen of the Marquis of Champion, following him across the grasslands.

Emperor Wu of Han established the Wuhuan Commandant position to guard the borders of the Han dynasty and defend against nomadic peoples from the grasslands.

Afterwards, the Wuhuan people began to move out of the deep mountains and gradually migrated to Liaodong, Yuyang and Shuofang counties in the interior of the country.

In this process, the Wuhuan people were inevitably divided into two parts.

Those who were more rational and closer to Chinese civilization migrated inland and integrated with Chinese civilization, becoming part of it and members of the "Wuheng Commandant" in various parts of the Han Dynasty.

The other group chose to stay in the border region.

This indirectly led to the Xianbei becoming a new force in the Greater Khingan Mountains region.

Originally, the Wuhuan and Xianbei tribes each occupied one mountain;
At the same time, because the two were respectively of Donghu noble and Donghu slave origins, they looked down on each other and thus restrained each other, preventing either from becoming too powerful.

However, after most of the Wuhuan people migrated south and integrated into Chinese civilization, the Xianbei people not only took over the Wuhuan Mountains left behind by the Wuhuan people, but also absorbed all the remaining Wuhuan people who stayed in the border areas.

For the next several centuries, the two sides stood on opposing sides and began a series of wars.

The Xianbei people, along with the remnants of the Wuhuan tribe beyond the Great Wall who had submitted to the Xianbei, were ordered by the declining Southern Xiongnu to launch continuous invasions against the Han Dynasty.

The Wuhuan people who migrated south were appointed by the Han emperor and given the title of "Han Wuhuan Commandant" to ward off the incursions of their poor relatives.

And so it went, generation after generation, until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

After hundreds of years of growth during the Han Dynasty, the Xianbei people were no longer the slave tribe that could only guard the Xianbei Mountains, but one of the most powerful forces on the grasslands that could rival or even be on par with the Xiongnu.

In contrast, the Wuhuan people—those who migrated south have long since been completely integrated into the Han Chinese, while those who remained in the border regions and submitted to the Xianbei have become the foreign ethnic groups whose 'Wuhuan' identity can still be identified.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, plunging the country into chaos.

Warlords rose up in various regions, but they generally shared a common hatred for foreign tribes and united against them.

The only exception was the Wuhuan people.

—General Gongsun Zan of the White Horse Army practically used the Wuhuan people from beyond the Great Wall as experience points to farm;

Therefore, when Yuan Shao attacked Gongsun Zan, the Wuhuan people spontaneously began to help Yuan Shao, not out of gratitude, but only to seek revenge against Gongsun Zan.

When Gongsun Zan was defeated and killed, Yuan Shao, acting on imperial orders, bestowed seals and ribbons upon three Wuhuan chieftains: Tadun, (Nan) Qiao Wang, and Hanlu Wang, all of whom were appointed as Chanyu (rulers of the Xiongnu).

In 200 AD, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu, and Yuan Shao soon died of illness.

In the tenth year of Jian'an (205 AD), Yuan Shao's son Yuan Shang and others fled to Liaoxi and sought refuge with Tadun.

In August of the twelfth year of Jian'an (207 AD), Cao Cao launched a distant expedition against the Wuhuan, and the two armies met at Bailang Mountain in Liucheng.

Cao Cao sent Zhang Liao to lead an army in a surprise attack, which resulted in a great defeat for the Wuhuan. The Wuhuan chieftain Tadun was killed in battle by Zhang Liao.

Thus, the Wuhuan were completely wiped out and ceased to exist as a people. The remnants either assimilated into the Han Chinese or merged into the Xianbei, and no longer identified themselves as 'Wuhuan'.

From their initial exile by the Xiongnu to the partial southward migration and submission during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, and their subsequent split after the Battle of Bailang Mountain, with each branch belonging to the Han and Xianbei respectively, the Wuhuan ultimately ended up with most of them assimilated into the Han Chinese and a small portion assimilated into the Xianbei.

The development of the Xianbei people, however, was quite different.

At the turn of the Qin and Han dynasties, they were exiled by the Xiongnu along with the Wuhuan people. By the time of Emperor Wu of Han, most of the Wuhuan people had submitted to the Han, but the Xianbei people firmly chose to stay.

Although the Xianbei and Wuhuan were both descendants of the Donghu, their origins and ways of thinking were completely different.

The Wuhuan people were born into the Donghu aristocracy; they had tasted the good days and also experienced the hardships of life.

However, the Xianbei people were originally slaves of the Donghu.

The Wuhuan people had never been slaves; they had only been exiled by the Xiongnu and had no idea what it was like to be a slave or be enslaved.

But the Xianbei people knew very well, and knew it all too well.

During the period when the Donghu dominated the grasslands, the Wuhuan people, who were Donghu nobles and even royalty, lived a life of extravagance and debauchery on the grasslands.

After the Donghu were destroyed, the Wuhuan people who were exiled by the Xiongnu were merely "exiled" and were simply trapped in the icy and snowy mountains of the Greater Khingan Range, enduring the hardships of life.

The pampered Wuhuan people could become dependent on the Han people and try to be their dogs in order to obtain better material conditions, a more comfortable life, and a warmer climate.

But the Xianbei people would not.

The Xianbei people, who were born into slavery, could accept all kinds of suffering, but they could not accept being enslaved again.

Therefore, when the Wuhuan people seized the opportunity to protect the support of Huo Qubing, the Marquis of Champion, and made him the vanguard and pawn of the Marquis of Champion on the grasslands, the Xianbei people did indeed quietly begin to encroach on the territory of the Wuhuan people.

After most of the Wuhuan people migrated south, the Xianbei people went even further and became the de facto rulers of the Greater Khingan Mountains region.

In the centuries that followed, although the Xianbei people also launched raids on the borders of the Han Dynasty under the orders and commands of the Xiongnu, this did not mean that the Xianbei people had returned to the enslavement of the Xiongnu.

The Xianbei people were willing to harass the Han people not because of orders from the Xiongnu Chanyu court, but because they could profit from doing so. Even if the Xiongnu Chanyu court hadn't said anything, the Xianbei people would have been willing and hoped to do so.

With the orders from the Chanyu court, the Xianbei people could act more recklessly, pretending that "I didn't want to do this, it was all the Xiongnu who forced me to," thus turning the Han people's anger towards the Xiongnu.

It was precisely under this seemingly subservient and dependent model of the Xiongnu, but in reality, it was through the Xiongnu's covert power that the Xianbei were able to grow into one of the most powerful forces on the grasslands, alongside the Xiongnu, Jie, Di, and Qiang peoples, during the Eastern Han Dynasty several hundred years later.

As a result, after the Jin Dynasty, the Five Barbarian Invasions occurred, and the Xianbei people became one of the Five Barbarians who briefly ruled over parts of the Central Plains of China.

Let’s get back to the present.

The Han dynasty is now only a little over sixty years old, from the time when the order of the grasslands was reshuffled at the turn of the Qin and Han dynasties, the Donghu were destroyed, the Xiongnu "ascended the throne", and the Wuhuan and Xianbei were exiled.

The 'historical opportunity' of the Marquis of Champion taking the Wuhuan people as his dogs, allowing the Xianbei to occupy the Wuhuan people's territory, has not yet arrived.

At this point in time, the Wuhuan and Xianbei people were no different from those who had been exiled by the Xiongnu Chanyu Modu sixty years earlier—each guarding the Wuhuan and Xianbei Mountains, eating ice and making mud in the icy and snowy landscape.

While struggling to make ends meet, they also had to pay tribute to the arrogant Xiongnu chieftain with horses and supplies, and if that wasn't enough, they had to use people to make up for it.

Under these circumstances, the Wuhuan and Xianbei tribes should not seem to be factors that Liu Rong should consider.

At least regarding the Korean Peninsula, these two tribes have absolutely no involvement.

Unfortunately, this was all just Liu Rong's wishful thinking.

Liu Rong originally thought that the Wuhuan and Xianbei people were only related to the Donghu, who had long since passed away, and the Xiongnu people of today, and had nothing to do with the Korean Peninsula.

Unexpectedly, in the past few decades, the Wuhuan and Xianbei people, who were trapped in the deep mountains and forests, have also found their own ways to survive.

Their exile by the Xiongnu prevented them from seeking help or development from the grasslands.
Their nomadic background and the fear stemming from their past subjugation by the Yan and Zhao peoples prevented them from engaging with Chinese civilization.

Therefore, they naturally began to make contact with the Korean Peninsula to the east and southeast, and even to conduct trade.

For the Wuhuan and Xianbei people, in the icy and snowy landscape of the Greater Khingan Mountains, only trade could guarantee their survival.

For the local residents of the Korean Peninsula, exchanging goods with these people living in the mountains is also a rare trade opportunity.

After all, Han Chinese caravans did not go everywhere.

Especially in places where the climate is not good or warm enough, it is even more difficult to see Han Chinese caravans.

Moreover, scarcity drives up value—the less Han merchants are present in a place, the more they will inflate the price of goods when they do appear.

Therefore, whether for the Wuhuan and Xianbei people living deep in the mountains and forests, or for the Zhenfan and Mahan people on the Korean Peninsula, the rare items in the hands of Han merchants were all luxury goods—good as they were, but too expensive.

On the contrary, both parties can get what they want at a price that satisfies each other.

For example, the Wuhuan and Xianbei people living deep in the mountains and forests could trade seafood and fish with the Zhenfan people;
The indigenous people of the Korean Peninsula, on the other hand, were able to obtain things from the mountains, such as cold-resistant horses, from the Wuhuan and Xianbei people.

—In particular, the unique natal dog of the Uhuan people was highly favored by the Korean nobility and became a cherished pet that has always been highly regarded on the Korean Peninsula.

In short, in just a few decades, the Wuhuan and Xianbei people, who lived in seclusion in the Greater Khingan Mountains, have formed close cultural and trade ties with various regimes and tribes on the Korean Peninsula.

Liu Rong was unsure just how tight the connection was.

But the problem is that it's unclear.

If he could figure it out, Liu Rong could deal with it accordingly—if the relationship was good, he would work together to deal with it or appease it together; if the relationship was only so-so, he would divide and win over the other side, and defeat them one by one.

However, the lack of clarity means that Liu Rong's plans for the Korean Peninsula can no longer be viewed as an independent whole, or as several independent local regimes or tribes.

Liu Rong needed to make several preparations based on the premise that a certain tribe had good relations with the Xianbei people, or that a certain regime had kinship ties with the Wuhuan people.

What troubled Liu Rong the most was that the cold weather on the Korean Peninsula had not yet been resolved, and now the Greater Khingan Mountains, which were even more difficult to deal with, had emerged.

The cold in the Greater Khingan Mountains is far more extreme than that on the Korean Peninsula!
If the Korean Peninsula is merely cold, and the Han soldiers find it unbearable, and a prolonged siege could lead to unforeseen changes;
The Greater Khingan Mountains were extremely cold, making it almost impossible for Han soldiers to survive, let alone carry out effective military strikes.

This makes things a bit tricky and troublesome.

What Liu Rong hated most was the feeling of being unable to defeat a weak opponent due to objective reasons such as terrain and climate.

Despite his dislike for her, Liu Rong still had no choice but to confront the situation.

"A few decades~"

"Wuhuan people, Xianbei people..."

"That shouldn't be the case, right?"

"Decades have passed; it's not like they've become so intertwined in honor and disgrace, colluding with each other..."

...

"At most, we can only engage in trade and exchange goods—and perhaps even form a marriage alliance."

"Especially the Xianbei people, they are probably unwilling to even form marriage alliances, for fear of being 'enslaved' by someone else again..."

As he pondered, Liu Rong's eyes slowly lowered, and his eyes, which were not exactly gleaming with golden light, slowly closed.

Liu Rong, who had been reclining on the couch deep in thought, closed his eyes and pretended to sleep to rest.

—One trouble after another, the Korean Peninsula is just one of them.

For example, Liu Rong is currently facing an extremely thorny problem.

amnesty.

A general amnesty was declared, and the people were granted land and titles. The elderly were given wine, meat, and cloth to celebrate the occasion.

why?
Because Empress Dowager Dou is about to celebrate her birthday.

Sixtieth birthday.

This shouldn't have been a headache or a difficult problem for Liu Rong.

It's a big birthday celebration~
Amnesty, huh?
There's a fixed procedure for everything. At most, Liu Rong would accompany Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace, drink a few cups of wine, and say a few nice words of blessing.

But the problem lies precisely in the seemingly ordinary and inconspicuous word "amnesty".

A general amnesty is an unconditional repudiation of anyone's guilt or responsibility, and the release of prisoners who have committed any crime.

This left Liu Rong feeling overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted.

(End of this chapter)