Han officials

Chapter 134: Thread Pulling Drama [4.5K]

"Xi Changli, this is Woju City!"

After passing through countless winding mountain roads, Xi Zhicai finally arrived at a plain.

Therefore, when the guide finished speaking, the breathless Xi Zhicai didn't even have time to rest and immediately looked up, and saw a small town with a sense of vicissitudes in its ruins appearing in the distance.

The city itself is built entirely of rammed earth, and its scale is modest. The walls are no more than ten feet high and appear less than a mile wide. The walls are jagged and uneven, with gaps often filled with wooden walls. Most interestingly, traces of a beacon tower remain in the southwest corner, a distinctly Central Plains style.

Seeing Xi Zhicai staring at that corner, the guide immediately explained, "This city was originally Hancheng. When Xuantu County was first established in the fourth year of Yuanfeng in the Western Han Dynasty (107 BC), craftsmen were ordered to build Woju City on the same site because of the fertile land."

Speaking of this, the guide's expression became a little complicated.

This man was called Wang Nan. He was originally a poor man from a village in the southern border of Goguryeo. He was lucky enough not to starve to death because Wei Muhua opened the granary to release grain. Later, he simply defected to Wei Muhua's group of pirates.

However, after Wei Muhua learned of Xi Zhicai's mission, he handed this man over to Xi Zhicai for command.

Although Wang Nan is now a Goguryeo person, his ancestors were actually the remnants of the Former Han Dynasty who lived in the former site of Xuanshou County.

After the fall of the Former Han Dynasty, Xuanzhao County was annexed by Goguryeo, and these Han people became slaves of a conquered nation.

After Emperor Guangwu established the Xin Dynasty, he did not ask for these Han remnants. Instead, he recognized Goguryeo's rule over them and appointed Gao Gong as the King of Goguryeo. As a result, these people simply integrated into Goguryeo and became part of the Dongyi outside the Great Wall.

However, when Wang Nan saw the Woju City again, he felt mixed emotions.

He now doesn't even know whether he is Han or Goguryeo.

At the same time, Xi Zhicai finally recovered after a short rest.

He even changed his appearance and took a walk around the city, and found that the customs here were very similar to those of Goguryeo.

So after leaving the city, he immediately asked Wang Nan about the origin of the ethnic group here.

Upon hearing this, Wang Nan immediately explained, "The Wokou people and the Wumok people have similar temperaments. They are both scattered tribes with no common leader. Therefore, after the Goguryeo people conquered this area, they only governed the various tribes in the eastern Wokou according to their custom."

Seeing Xi Zhicai frown, he quickly added, "However, the Wokou people have numerous tribes, distributed both north and south of the Gaema Mountains (Changbai Mountains). Especially after the eastern Wokou was conquered by Goguryeo, the northern Wokou tribes have been extremely hostile to Goguryeo, and friction has often occurred between the two countries over the past century."

After Wang Nan's explanation, Xi Zhicai realized that the Woju tribe was divided into north and south.

South Woju is also known as East Woju because it faces the sea to the east.

As for the northern Wokou tribes, they mainly lived in the area of Baishan and Heishui north of the Gaima Mountains.

Since most of them were forest tribes, Goguryeo sometimes referred to them as "barbarians in the forest".

It is precisely because of the existence of these Northern Woju tribes that Eastern Woju has not completely surrendered over the years.

It can be said that as long as the "barbarians in the forest" in the north exist, the tribes of East Woju will never be truly reconciled.

For example, recently many tribes in Dongwoju have been ready to make moves and have been secretly disobeying the orders from the inner city.

Hearing this, Xi Zhicai nodded slightly at first, but then frowned.

After all, what he wanted was not lip service but for the various tribes in East Woju to rise up and completely break away from Goguryeo's control, leaving the Goguryeo people with no way to retreat!

Thinking of this, Xi Zhicai quickly made up his mind.

……

The next day, along the coast of East Woju.

"Master Xi, I've found out that among all the towns in East Woju, the five leaders of Namuzi, Morigen, Daur, Akdon, and Manggus are the most restless. They have been in frequent conflict with the Goguryeo lord of Woju City."

Xi Zhicai was not moved at all when he heard this. Instead, he frowned slightly and asked, "How many people are there?"

"This... the largest one has over a thousand people, and the smallest one has hundreds, right?"

Seeing Xi Zhicai remained silent, Wang Nan couldn't help but ask, "Do you need me to contact these five leaders?"

Unexpectedly, Xi Zhicai shook his head without hesitation when he heard this.

"No need!"

Although he came here with the intention of inspiring the people of Woju, Xi Zhicai had no intention of communicating with these people.

Firstly, Xi Zhicai was worried about these Woju leaders. Who knew whether they were human or ghosts?

Secondly, Xi Zhicai was not prepared to use conventional means to split Goguryeo.

Indeed, using swords and food to lure the Wokou people into revolt is indeed the fastest way to achieve results.

However, in Xi Zhicai's opinion, this method is too superficial and also carries the risk of nurturing a tiger that will cause harm.

So this time he had no intention of showing up, but instead prepared invisible silk threads to perform a silk-pulling drama.

The highest level of puppet control is actually to make the puppet not feel that it is a puppet.

In this way, they can thoroughly implement Xi Zhicai's intentions without realizing it.

Of course, playing this way is a bit difficult, and most people really can't do it.

Fortunately, Xi Zhicai did not come alone this time. The presence of the five-way capture army gave him room to display his skills.

……

The next day, in the City Lord’s Mansion.

I saw Hachi, the lord of Woju City, walking back and forth in the hall with a frown on his face, looking anxious.

As a member of the royal family, Haci originally came to Woju City with the intention of enjoying himself.

However, he did not expect that the wind direction would suddenly change, and Woju City would become a dangerous place.

What frightened him the most was that a Han spy tried to bribe the general guarding the city gate yesterday.

If the guarding general was not his confidant, he might not even be able to keep his head in his head now.

Fortunately, the guy didn't sell him out. Instead, he had an idea and pretended to surrender, thus getting a lot of information about the Han army, which gave Hachi a chance to react.

I don’t know how much time had passed, but when Hachi was getting extremely anxious, he finally heard a burst of hurried footsteps outside. Upon hearing this, Hachi couldn’t wait to go and greet them.

"Tell me quickly, what's the situation?"

Although the scout was sweating and panting, he immediately reported: "The five tribes of Namuzi, Morigen, Daur, Akdon, and Manggus are indeed making unusual movements. They are constantly exchanging messages with each other and seem to be planning something."

"The Han army at Lelang, at the border, is also gathering. Judging by their banners, it appears there are over 5,000 men."

As soon as these words were spoken, Hachi sat back on the bed with a pale face.

"It's over~ It's over..."

You know, if the five tribes of Namuzi, Morigen, Daur, Akdon and Manggus were to recruit soldiers, they could mobilize about 5,000 people. If the Han army was added, the total number would be 10,000.

When Hachi thought about how he almost had an army of 10,000 at the gates and even had the city gates stolen, he felt a chill down his spine.

However, after a moment of silence, Ha Chi suddenly said with a distorted expression, "You forced me to do this!"

After saying this, Hachi left without hesitation, his eyes full of murderous intent.

That night, the five tribes of Namuzi, Morigen, Daur, Akdon and Manggus were attacked by Haci.

In order to kill the chicken to scare the monkey and intimidate the rest of the Wokou people, Hachi directly slaughtered all the villages of Namuzhi and Morigen, regardless of gender, age or status, and even burned the two settlements to ruins.

As for the Daur, Akdun, and Manggus tribes that came in the rear, although they had made preparations in advance, they also suffered heavy casualties. In the haste, only a few young and strong people escaped. As for the others, they followed the same fate as the first two tribes.

When this news spread, the entire East Woju region was in an uproar.

Yes, such bloody and cruel means did shock some people.

However, it also made many wavering Woju people make up their minds and rise up directly.

As for the surviving members of the Daur, Aktun, and Manggus tribes, driven by deep hatred, they became the most extreme radicals, and fought the Goguryeo people to the death. Unable to deal with Hachi, who was hiding in the city, the remnants of the Daur, Aktun, and Manggus tribes attacked every Goguryeo person who left the city.

And after these Goguryeo people were captured by them, they were all tortured to death.

When the Goguryeo people in Wokou knew that such a venomous enemy was still guarding the city, they were in a state of panic. The Goguryeo nobles who had previously lorded it over the various villages in East Wokou were also frightened and hid in their shells.

But even so, news of the massacre of Goguryeo settlements came from various places in East Wokou from time to time.

In the East Woju region, where undercurrents were originally surging, conflicts intensified to the point of war in a blink of an eye.

However, at this time, the Lelang Han army that frightened Hachi had stopped moving.

Only then did Hachi realize that he had been tricked by the Han people and had overreacted, but it was too late to say anything now.

After realizing this, Hachi did not dare to delay any longer and directly asked for help from the domestic city.

Although Gao Nanwu in Guonei City was in a state of panic at the moment, he was well aware of the importance of Dongwoju and still sent two thousand elite troops to quell the rebellion.

Regarding the difference between the rebel army and the regular army, Goguryeo was similar to the Han Dynasty.

Although the rebel forces in Dongwoju were brave, they lacked training, weapons and equipment, and even command awareness. They were just a mob and were quickly defeated by Haci's troops.

However, when the core of the Woju uprising army, including Manggus, was almost driven to despair by Hachi, three thousand Huibei rebels suddenly set out from Fuzu in the north, and along the way, they took with them a lot of rioters to besiege the Woju city.

As the control hub of Goguryeo in the eastern Woju region, the importance of Woju City is self-evident.

Therefore, no matter how unwilling Haci was, he had to lead his troops back to provide support immediately. Otherwise, even if he wiped out the Woju bandits such as Manggus, he would still be severely punished!
But what made Hachi so angry that he vomited blood was that when he returned to the army, the Xianbei Yicong left on horseback, as if they had gone out just to rob.

Even though Hachi killed many rioters who had not yet escaped to vent his anger, he could never let go of the resentment in his heart.

Because during this period, Manggus and other Wokou bandits had escaped.

Moreover, the remnants of the three Manggus tribes, which had just been severely damaged, soon seduced a group of people to make a comeback. After the experience of previous failure, they even became more cunning and difficult to deal with.

This time, even though Haci tried his best to prevent them from falling into the trap, he finally did not hesitate to use the treasury's money to bribe and divide these rebels, which once again forced Manggus and other bandits into a desperate situation.

Unfortunately, even though Hachi took precautions in advance, he was still restrained this time.

Because the troops stationed in Lelang County went west of Beishui and joined forces with the Xianbei Yicong to march towards Woju City, they had the intention of cutting off his retreat.

This made Hachi withdraw his troops in anger even though he gritted his teeth.

After a few rounds of fighting, the momentum of the Wokou rebels including Manggus finally grew stronger and stronger.

As for Haci's troops, their morale was greatly damaged due to several futile efforts, and they also suffered continuous casualties due to successive battles. With no way to advance or exit, they could only defend Woju City.

When the situation in East Woju developed to this point, Haci had actually given up control of the area outside the city.

……

June, the fifth year of Zhongping.

The Xiu Tuge Hu attacked and killed Zhang Yi, the governor of Bingzhou, and then joined forces with the left wing of the Southern Xiongnu and killed their Chanyu.

Soon after, the Southern Xiongnu rebelled, and the Yellow Turbans in Gepi, Runan, attacked and occupied counties.

At the same time, a wonderful drama was also being staged in Liaodong.

On Bingyin day, the husband rented a house in the city.

I saw Xi Zhicai, dressed in a plain blue shirt, standing in front of the window with his hands behind his back, and no one knew what he was planning.

Wang, who came to report, saw this and immediately walked closer carefully, his face full of awe.

After these few months, he finally understood what it meant to make things happen with just a flick of his hand.

Xi Zhicai only took action a few times, but he had already brought about earth-shaking changes in Dongwoju.

This ability to manipulate people's hearts and situations at will really made Wang Nan afraid from the bottom of his heart.

But thinking of Xi Zhicai's instructions, he still stepped forward and reported:

"Xi Changli, Daur, Akdon, and Manggus request an audience."

Xi Zhicai was not at all surprised when he heard this, and nodded slightly.

"Let them in!"

After all, even a fool could detect something fishy from the Han army's several deployments.

Daur, Akdun and Manggus were able to fight their way out of the various rebel forces, so they were naturally not fools. It was only a matter of time before they came to visit him.

However, Daur, Akdun and Manggus probably only saw the first layer.

This was indeed the case. As soon as the three entered the main hall, they bowed respectfully to Xi Zhicai.

The three of them had a good understanding of each other. They kept saying that they longed for the Chinese style and wanted to submit to the Han Dynasty, but they always talked about assistance.

It seemed as if they would not continue attacking Woju City unless the Han army provided assistance.

This ungrateful behavior immediately made Wang Nan angry.

However, Xi Zhicai was not affected at all. Instead of getting angry, he smiled and said, "I will convey your wishes truthfully, but..."

Xi Zhicai looked at the three of them helplessly and shook his head with a smile.

"There's one thing you might have misunderstood. Our dynasty has no intention of occupying Woju... Perhaps this place is fertile in your eyes, but for our dynasty... hehe~"

Although Xi Zhicai kept silent when he said this, his seemingly polite but contemptuous laughter immediately made Daur, Akdun and Manggus understand Xi Zhicai's surprise.

For a moment, anger subconsciously rose in the hearts of the three people, but they quickly restrained it.

Seeing this, Xi Zhicai first drank a sip of water slowly, and then said calmly: "I am only taking action this time to teach Goguryeo a lesson on the orders of the Lord. As for whether Woju City can be captured or whether it can be held after it is captured, I don't care. You can do whatever you want!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Daur, Akten and Manggus turned pale.

The three people who were trying to be clever earlier immediately lost their composure.

"Sir, we are truly devoted to you!"

"Yes, sir, the Goguryeo people are ambitious and we can't just let them go."

"If we can escape the enslavement of the Goguryeo people, the Wokou people will swear allegiance to the Celestial Empire until death!"

For a moment, the three burly men begged Xi Zhicai like children.

However, this time Xi Zhicai did not give the three of them any face.

Xi Zhicai suddenly said in a cold voice, "Woju people? Do you have the qualifications to represent the Xianbei people?"

Without waiting for the three to open their mouths to defend themselves, Xi Zhicai waved his hand and said, "Forget about allegiance! It won't be too late to discuss this once we've recaptured the Woju land!"

"see a visitor out!"

Following Xi Zhicai's order, Daur, Akdun and Manggus, who were worried about gains and losses, could only leave with bitter faces.

It can be predicted that after Xi Zhicai's efforts, Woju City will soon be captured by the rebels.

After all, if Dong Woju could not obtain the support of the Han people, it would have to worry about the counterattack of the Goguryeo people all the time.

Under such circumstances, it was not difficult for Xi Zhicai to control them.

In fact, the reason why Xi Zhicai recommended himself this time was mainly because he wanted to put into practice what he thought and learned.

Simply put, Dongwoju was just a test subject. After this actual combat, Zhicai was convinced that some of his ideas were correct...

(End of this chapter)