The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 452: Ministry of War and Ministry of Rites

"The first thing, of course, is to keep this useless son in Luoyang so that he can find a wise teacher, master the classics, and serve the country."

"The second thing is about the Xianbei people."

"Your Majesty, you may not know that the Xianbei people have a great leader."

"This man was called Tuoba Liwei. He was known for his intelligence and wisdom even at a young age. After his father's death, he became the leader of the Xianbei Suotou tribe."

"In the 25th year of Jian'an, his power was very weak, so he attached himself to Dou Bin, the leader of the Moluhui tribe. Later, he and Dou Bin led an army to attack the Xianbei in the west. The army was defeated, and Dou Bin lost his horse and had to flee on foot. Tuoba Liwei sent someone to give him his own horse."

"After Dou Bin returned, he asked who had sent the fine horse, but Tuoba Liwei concealed the fact and refused to tell him. When Dou Bin later learned about it, he was very surprised and wanted to split the country in two to repay Dou Bin for saving his life, but Tuoba Liwei refused."

"So Dou Bin married his daughter to him and allowed him to lead his tribe to develop. Over the course of more than ten years, he implemented benevolent policies, influencing many people and making them all come to him."

"Ten years ago, Dou Bin was critically ill. Before he died, he told his sons to support Tuoba Liwei. However, his sons wanted to kill Tuoba. Tuoba killed his own wife first and announced the funeral to Dou Bin's two sons. When they came to attend the funeral, Tuoba took the opportunity to get rid of them."

"Then Tuoba conquered their tribe without a single drop of blood. All the leaders of the tribes showed him great respect. There were now 200,000 people in his tribe who could use bows and ride horses!!"

Liu Bao began to tell the story seriously.

Cao Mao narrowed his eyes. The Xianbei tribes today actually had a pretty good relationship with the Wei Dynasty. In name, they were still in a vassal relationship. Although they were not completely controlled like the Southern Xiongnu, they would still follow the Wei Dynasty when it sent troops.

When Sima Yi went to pacify Liaodong, he used Xianbei mercenaries, among whom was Murong Xianbei, who was rewarded with the title of King Shuaiyi for his meritorious service in defeating Gongsun Yuan.

The Eastern Xianbei successively formed the Murong, Yuwen, and Duan tribes, which occupied western Liaoning. There was also the Tuoba tribe mentioned by Liu Bao, which migrated south to Yunzhong. In the northwest, there were also the Tuoba and Qifu tribes.

Liu Bao said, "Not long ago, this Tuoba led his army south. At that time, the Right Xian King had not yet died, so he sent my uncle, the Right Guli King Pan Liuxi, to lead a large army in the north to resist the Tuoba Xianbei. Unexpectedly, the army was completely wiped out, and he and his five sons were killed by the Tuoba."

Liu Bao looked worried, which was a deliberate hint to Cao Mao that Tuoba was planning to move south.

But Cao Mao knew that the Tuoba tribe was not a threat at present, especially when Tuoba Liwei was still alive. Although he was a powerful leader, he had a problem: he lived too long.
Sima Anshi was unable to perform many of his later actions. He killed his most capable prince. After his death, the tribe of 200,000 people was dispersed.

Of course, Cao Mao did not look down on them.

The Hu people today are becoming more and more difficult to deal with. Due to years of exchanges, these Hu people have become more and more assimilated into the Han culture. The leaders of the Hu people have begun to read the Five Classics and the Book of Han, and they always have military strategies at hand. They no longer rely on the primitive model of simple cavalry looting.

Tuoba Liwei once said unconvincedly: "I have seen the Xiongnu and Tadun of previous dynasties. They were greedy for money and plundered the people on the border. Although they gained something, their casualties were not enough to compensate for it. Moreover, they attracted many enemies and made the people suffer. This is not a long-term strategy!"

Today's Hu leaders almost look down on their predecessors who only knew how to plunder. What they want is to "practice benevolent governance and compete for the world", which is a completely different nature.

Cao Mao nodded. "I know the man you're talking about, but he has no intention of opposing the Wei. He even wrote a letter expressing his desire for friendly relations with the Wei and his willingness to send his son to Luoyang."

Liu Bao's face turned dark.

He added, "Your Majesty, this man showed no mercy even to his own wife. He is a completely cruel villain. Your Majesty, please do not be deceived by such a person!"

Cao Mao glanced at him and said, "Your moral standards are quite high!"

Cao Mao asked, "What is the third thing?"

Liu Bao replied, "Right Xian Wang Liu Meng, he appears respectful to Your Majesty, but that's simply because he lacks strength and few people are willing to follow him."

"He disliked reading and forbade those around him to read the books of the sages. He often told people that he, the Right Sage King, had not acquired an inch of land and was unworthy of the title."

"No one agrees with him, so he can only accumulate strength in secret."

"If this person accumulates enough strength, he will definitely rebel!"

"Your Majesty must be on guard!"

There was no surprise on Cao Mao's face. In fact, the emperor's expression had not changed since Liu Bao came in, and he had always been inexplicably serious.

This made Liu Bao completely unable to understand the emperor's thoughts and ideas, and he only felt that they were unfathomable.

"I know these three things."

Cao Mao said this, then added seriously, "Emperor Taizu originally divided the Xiongnu into five tribes and ordered the commanders of each tribe to educate their people. Now it seems that among the five tribes, only the commander of the left tribe is the most dedicated."

Liu Bao hesitated for a moment, then said, "I will obey your orders and do my best."

"Alright, then please rest in Luoyang for a while." "I still need to discuss the matter you reported with many eunuchs."

"only!!"

Only after Liu Bao and his son left Taiji Hall did Pei Xiu come again to apologize.

"Your Majesty, I didn't know they would arrive so soon, and I was unable to greet them according to the proper procedures."

"Well, now that I've been punished, there's no need to discuss this further. Just sit down."

Cao Mao waved his hand and asked Pei Xiu to sit next to him.

Pei Xiu was fined his salary again, and he was afraid that he would become the first person in Wei to pay for work.

Cao Mao said seriously, "The Ministry of Rites shouldn't just educate people, they should also pay attention to the affairs of the barbarians. At this moment, Shu and Wu haven't been destroyed yet, so dealing with the barbarians doesn't require the Ministry of War. Your Ministry of Rites is more responsible."

"Take the Southern Xiongnu, for example. They're stationed in the county. They're called wise kings, but they're no different from county magistrates. They've been stationed there for so many years. Why haven't those in the temple, who clamor for enlightenment, thought about turning them into people like Jin Midi?"

There are a lot of Hu people in the north. The Xianbei tribe alone has 200,000 cavalrymen with bows and horses. After a long period of migration and communication, these Hu people are no longer just staying outside the Great Wall. Most of them have entered the territory of the Wei Dynasty. The Southern Xiongnu are in Bing, the Qiang are in Liang, and the Xianbei are the most widely distributed, and can be found in You, Bing, Yong, Ji, and Liang.

The problem of the Hu people reached its peak after the Rebellion of the Eight Princes. The powerful families ran away, and the common people at the bottom were the ones who suffered.

These Hu people were distributed throughout the north, with varying degrees of sinicization. The mixture of Hu and Han people caused great headaches for rulers of all dynasties.

By the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Hu-Han issue in the north was resolved, and many Hu tribes disappeared during the Sui and Tang dynasties.

If we don't look at the popular unofficial historical accounts, the person who made outstanding contributions to this issue should be Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba Hong.

He made Han culture the mainstream again in the Central Plains by changing surnames, customs, intermarriage, and studying classics. By the Sui and Tang dynasties, the former northern Hu people were no different from the Han people, and even the rulers had Hu blood.

However, Cao Wei did not do a very good job in education. First of all, the most criticized thing was the Liaodong incident.

Sima Yi attacked and killed too many Han people in Liaodong, which greatly increased the proportion of Hu people here, and even allowed Hu Feng to suppress Han Feng. In addition, in some areas of Yongliang, the harsh policies of the court forced the people to follow Hu Feng, and Deng Ai made a memorial on this.

Of course, when it came to the Jin Dynasty, it was no longer a question of whether it was qualified or not. The Jin Dynasty had such a reputation in later generations not only because their rise to power was too ugly, nor just because of regicide, but because it led to the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China.

You were able to launch an expedition to Liaodong in the last years of Cao Wei, so why are you so lame in your new empire?
But now Shu and Wu have not been pacified yet. Whether the government wants to deal with the Tuoba tribe, the Tufa tribe in the northwest, or the Southern Xiongnu, it is not the best time.

In fact, the best solution is to let the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War solve the problem together, but now the Ministry of War has more important things to do, so the Ministry of Rites can only take on more responsibilities.

When Pei Xiu heard the emperor's question, he fell into deep thought.

"Why do you think Emperor Taizu specifically appointed someone with the surname Liu to lead the various Xiongnu tribes?"

Pei Xiu then raised his head and said hesitantly, "It's not that I don't understand your majesty's thoughts, but I'm afraid I can't do this well."

"Oh?"

"Then please tell me what you think first."

"It's nothing more than a matter of changing customs and practices. Your Majesty, I'm afraid of causing rebellion."

Cao Mao laughed. "There's no need to be so afraid. The Ministry of War has important matters to attend to, but it's not impossible for them to be distracted occasionally. Just go ahead and handle them. If anything goes wrong, go find Chen Qian."

Pei Xiu immediately stood up, bowed deeply to the emperor again, and then hurried away.

After he left, Zhang Hua walked in and said, "Your Majesty, although Pei Jun is cautious, he is also arrogant. I'm afraid it won't be easy for him to handle such a matter."

"No problem. Pei Jun made a small mistake, but he's incredibly talented, and there's no doubt he'll do anything right. Do you think he truly didn't expect Liu Bao to arrive so quickly?"

Zhang Hua was stunned for a moment, "Did he do that on purpose?"

"Our Shangshu, even when he was in mourning, never made any mistakes in his work, let alone now?"

"He probably knew I wanted him to handle this matter a long time ago, and he did this on purpose, hoping I would choose someone else."

"Hahaha, it's not that easy to shirk responsibility."

(End of this chapter)