Han officials

Chapter 228 The Actress [12][3K]

With Qiuliju's death, the Wuhuan camp was essentially leaderless.

After all, Lou Ban, the son of Qiu Liju, is only eleven or twelve years old and is still a child, so he has no authority whatsoever.

Even though some Wuhuan leaders attempted to rally their followers in rebellion, none of them escaped the attack by Zhao Yun and his men.

Whenever they saw any sign that someone dared to gather in rebellion, the Han cavalry would swarm in like a pack of wolves.

Ten Han cavalry units, each with a strength of a thousand men, formed a vast net, firmly encircling the Wuhuan camp.

In this battle, Wei Zhe appeared to be fighting with fewer troops against more, but in reality, he only needed the Wuhuan warriors who dared to resist. In some areas, this resulted in a situation where the enemy had more troops than they had.

As dawn broke, the devastated Wuhuan camp fell almost entirely into the hands of the Han army.

Some of the remaining felt tents that had not yet been burned became the only shelter for the elderly and weak of the Wuhuan people.

……

Early morning, in Qiu Liju's command tent.

The central pillar supporting the tent is carved with a "horse head and dragon body" totem. The dragon scales are painted with ochre, and the horse's eyes are inlaid with obsidian, giving it a wild and primitive beauty.

After looking him up and down, Wei Zhe suddenly asked, "What does this mean?"

Upon hearing this, Tadun, who was standing in front of the tent, quickly explained, "Reporting to the general, this is our clan's ancestral god."

He then poured out all the Wuhuan legends he had heard from the shamans of his tribe.

In short, the Wuhuan people used white deer and white horses as totems, and over time, they evolved a creation myth of "the horse god transforming into a dragon." This is because the white horse symbolizes power and freedom, while the dragon represents water and celestial phenomena. Whenever the grasslands were dry, Wuhuan shamans believed that the horse god would transform into a dragon to bring rain and life to the land.

Tadun even stated that the Wuhuan people were descendants of white deer and white horses left on the grasslands.

Wei Zhe was not surprised at all by this, because the Xiongnu also had the saying "wolves and deer created the world".

The Han people believed that "gods should not be worshipped by those who are not of their kind, and people should not be worshipped by those who are not of their own kind," but the Hu people did not care about these things.

In contrast, he was wary of the Wuhuan people, a hybrid of nomadic traits and mountain tribe genes.

Of course, the Xianbei were the same, since both tribes originated from the Greater Khingan Mountains.

Seeing Wei Zhe deep in thought with a worried expression, Tadun dared not slack off in the slightest.

The reason was simple: Wei Zhe had just managed to keep Lou Ban behind.

You should know that Wei Zhe was Lou Ban's father's killer, but he didn't eliminate him completely.

In fact, Tadun originally intended to kill the boy while he was being captured, but he didn't expect to be unable to find him even after searching the entire camp.

When he was ordered to persuade the Wuhuan tribes around White Wolf Mountain to surrender, he learned that Lou Ban had already been captured by Zhao Yun.

However, Wei Zhe did not kill him. Instead, he ordered a Han cavalry unit to protect the tower and persuade the Wuhuan tribes scattered across the river valleys and plains to surrender. This extinguished Tadun's budding ambitions, and he dared not even entertain any wild thoughts when he was with Wei Zhe.

For some reason, he always felt that this "Heavenly General" seemed to have mind-reading abilities and could see through his thoughts.

……

Regardless of what Tadun was planning.

After subjugating many Wuhuan tribes near Bailang Mountain, Wei Zhe continued to lead his army in pursuit.

Upon hearing the news, Su Puyan, the leader of the Wuhuan tribe in Liaodong, immediately led more than a thousand households of his people to surrender.

There was no other way; he had the Liaozhou prefectures behind him, and even the Fuyu people had become the lackeys of the Han people.

Caught in the middle, the Liaodong Wuhuan had nowhere to escape, unless they were willing to flee to Wuhuan Mountain in the dead of winter to seek their deaths.

At this point, Wei Zhe had accepted the surrender of over 100,000 Wuhuan men and women, thus completing the first phase of his objective.

But things had developed to this point, and the news could no longer be kept secret.

The grasslands beyond the Great Wall had their own communication methods, and news of the Han army's expedition quickly spread across the grasslands.

Afternoon, the ruins of White Wolf City.

Looking at the vast expanse of Wuhuan tribes on the river valley plain, Protector of the Wuhuan, Liu Yi, couldn't help but ask:

"My lord, what should we do with these barbarians?"

To be honest, Liu Yi had never imagined that having too many spoils of war could be a problem.

However, Wei Zhe did not answer, but instead tested Zhao Yun who was standing to the side.

"Zilong, what do you think?"

Although Zhao Yun was unprepared, he thought for a moment and said methodically, "I think we can follow the example of Emperor Guangwu and divide these people into two groups. The Wuhuan tribes here can be divided into ten groups and moved to various counties in Youzhou. The Wuhuan Commandant's Office can then supervise them. As for the elite troops here, they can be incorporated into the government troops and the Wuhuan Cavalry can be re-established."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yi nodded slightly, agreeing that Zhao Yun's words made a lot of sense.

After all, the Wuhuan cavalry were renowned cavalrymen, and Emperor Guangwu relied heavily on their assistance in establishing the kingdom. It would be a waste not to use such a powerful force.

However, Wei Zhe shook his head in disappointment upon hearing this.

It seems that although Zhao Yun is brave and resourceful, he still lacks the maturity and experience of time.

Of course, Zhao Yun's method wasn't wrong, it was just a bit outdated.

It should be noted that when Emperor Guangwu established the Han Dynasty, he allowed the Wuhuan tribe to migrate to the border counties and graze. However, now that the Han Dynasty is about to perish, the Wuhuan people have not been assimilated by the Han people and have instead become a border threat to Youzhou.

It is clear that Emperor Guangwu's deal was not very worthwhile.

To allow the Han people of Youzhou to suffer so much for that "Wuhuan cavalry" is hardly the act of a wise man. Other warlords might have found it fascinating, but for Wei Zhe, who rose to power in the northern border regions, it held little appeal.

Here's a corny joke: the horsemanship of the Han people from Youzhou was actually no worse than that of the Wuhuan people, because they needed to survive.

However, it's not feasible to simply massacre all the Wuhuan tribes.

After all, the living space on the grassland is only so big, and there is no room for any waste.

Once the grasslands around Bailangshui and Laohahe are vacated, other nomadic tribes will soon occupy them.

It could be the Xianbei, the Fuyu, or even some unknown mixed nomadic tribes.

As long as there is water, grass, and sunshine, the Hu people will automatically emerge from the grasslands in successive generations.

Similarly, it wouldn't work to let these 100,000-plus Wuhuan people continue to graze in the White Wolf Mountains; otherwise, the battle would have been fought in vain.

Therefore, Wei Zhe actually had other plans for this group of surrendered Wuhuan tribes.

A moment later, Wei Zhe sent someone to summon Tadun and Su Puyan.

On the earthen slope, facing the biting cold wind, Wei Zhe said expressionlessly:
“I will give you one day to quickly check all the people in each tribe and leave behind all able-bodied men and women, as well as cattle and sheep.”

"What about the elderly, women, and children?" Tadun asked boldly.

Wei Zhe wasn't angry and said directly, "No need to worry. Zhang Chang, the Commandant of Liaodong Dependent State, is already on his way. The remaining people can go to Liaodong Dependent State for the winter, where they will have their own grain supply."

After all, the Liaodong vassal states were originally there to do this kind of work, and there were even more Hu people than Han people in the vassal states.

Upon hearing this, Su Puyan immediately flattered, "General, you are kind. However, these lowly people can eat some rice bran. There is no need to waste grain."

However, Wei Zhe was too lazy to listen to his nonsense and immediately waved his hand to send the two away.

The next day, under Zhang Chang's watchful eye, he saw over ten thousand Han cavalrymen, surrounded by twenty thousand Wuhuan men and women, driving cattle and sheep across the mountains and plains, heading west in a grand procession.

There was nothing he could do; he had only brought ten days' worth of provisions with him on this trip, and there was no supply route to speak of, nor did Wei Zhe intend to need one.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures!

The situation is urgent, and Wei Zhe has no choice but to traverse the grasslands beyond the Great Wall using the marching methods of the Hu people.

Otherwise, if the Han army had followed its traditional tactics, Wei Zhe would probably have had to annihilate the entire Youzhou region to win.

But now things are much better; Wei Zhe can lead his army on a journey, eating as they go.

Even if the captives' cattle and sheep are all eaten, he can still plunder supplies on the grasslands... just like the Hu people when they moved south.

……

In the third year of the Chuping era, on the Dingchou day of the second month of spring.

Saibei, Baitan City.

Similar to Bailang City, this place was also Baitan County established during the Former Han Dynasty, belonging to Yuyang Commandery, and was abandoned during the present dynasty.

However, as the seat of Baitan County, Baitan City was a strategic location outside the Great Wall, and therefore it was occupied by the Wuhuan of Shanggu.

As a result, the Shanggu Wuhuan, who were nomadic around the Ru River, gathered more than 9,000 households, making them the largest Wuhuan group among the three commanderies.

After all, the Wuhuan tribe lived by following the water and grass, so naturally the closer they were to Han territory, the better it was for them to thrive.

However, when the Wei army arrived, the place was deserted and in ruins. Judging from the few felt tents and scattered utensils left in the wilderness, the Wuhuan tribe had left in a great hurry.

On horseback, seeing the scene before him, Wei Zhe's face immediately darkened.

Damn it! His worst fears came true!

Historically, the nomadic tribes on the grasslands would run away if they couldn't win a fight, which was the most troublesome and annoying thing for the Han army.

Not long after Wei Zhe appeared, Yan Rou, the Protector of the Xianbei, rushed over.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Wuhuan chieftains Nanlou of Shanggu, Nalou of Shangjun, and Pufulu of Daijun all led their troops to retreat to Tanhan Mountain a few days ago and have now formed an alliance with the Xianbei. At present, the Hu people along the border of Daijun and Shanggu are launching a large-scale invasion, and it seems that they are moving south."

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhe gritted his teeth in fury.

"What a bunch of Wuhuan scoundrels! They are truly unworthy of being a high-ranking official!"

He only wiped out a branch of the Wuhuan people in Youbeiping, why is he so afraid?

Where is the spirit of the grassland men?

Where did the arrogance of the Wuhuan cavalry go?

He clearly has tens of thousands of archers under his command, so why doesn't Nanlou dare to fight him? Useless!
Wei Zhe hates actors who don't follow the script the most.

Damn it, I really want to kill them all!
Whether out of fear of death or caution, Nanlou made the decision that caused Wei Zhe the most distress.

Not long after, the latest news also came from the shogunate.

Perhaps influenced by Wei Zhe's expedition beyond the Great Wall, the Xianbei tribes north of Bingzhou also began to launch large-scale invasions ahead of schedule.

The southern territories of Zhongshan and Hejian were also suddenly subjected to fierce attacks by Yuan's army, and Taishi Ci's pressure increased sharply.

Clearly, the people in Ye City weren't fools either, and they didn't intend to let Wei Zhe defeat them one by one.

For a moment, gazing at the vast grasslands to the west, Wei Zhe couldn't help but fall into deep thought...
-
I was going to say "Happy Qingming Festival," but I think I'll pass.

I'm afraid of historical fiction being drastically altered into supernatural fiction, ^_^
However, everyone should be careful during the Qingming Festival!
I stayed up all night as instructed by the doctor. I'll get some sleep now, and the next chapter will be tonight.

(End of this chapter)