Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 147 Harmonizing Han and Rong, I, the Emperor, will personally undertake this task.

The first court assembly in Chang'an has concluded.

The Prime Minister received three imperial decrees and the title of Marquis of Wugong.

In this way, the defeat at Jieting was definitively established.

Although the Prime Minister has made mistakes, these mistakes are far from enough to offset his great achievements. As the saying goes, a minor flaw cannot obscure the brilliance of the bright moon.

Ma Su disobeyed orders, deserted in the face of battle, and went into hiding out of fear of punishment. Although the defeat at Jieting did not harm the country, and although his brother Ma Liang had rendered meritorious service to the country, and although it was during a time of great celebration in the old capital, and although ministers pleaded for his life, he was still beheaded as a warning.

Now that national laws and military orders are clearly defined, anyone who wants to violate national laws and military orders, or anyone who wants to desert in the face of battle, must carefully consider their own worth.

The officials left the palace.

Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, and all the other generals left.

One is to prepare for the emperor's upcoming grand feast for the three armies.

Secondly, troops were dispatched to Yaoguan, southeast of Chang'an, to support Wang Ping, who had just been promoted from a subordinate general to the General Who Subdues Bandits in the Battle of Jieting, and was further promoted to the General Who Pacifies the North of the Great Han Dynasty for his merit in leading the army to capture Chang'an and capturing Wei generals Guanqiu Jian and Xiahou Ru.

Fei Yi, Yang Yi, Chen Zhen, Hu Ji and other important officials of the government were all waiting outside the gate.

Before long, the emperor and the prime minister came out one after the other.

The officials bowed in respect.

The emperor nodded slightly in acknowledgment, and continued speaking to the prime minister as he walked slowly:
"Prime Minister, our Great Han has now acquired half of Longyou, and has also gained the assistance of seven or eight thousand cavalry from the Qiang, Di, and Xiongnu tribes."

"However, among these Qiang and Di chieftains, only Marquis Guiyi Yang Tiao stabilized the Qiang tribe, and Marquis Baishuiting Lei Ze pacified the Di tribe. They were truly loyal to the Han Dynasty and worked together to defeat the rebels."

"The Wei bandits occupied You and Bing provinces, and the pseudo-Wei Xu Miao, though isolated from the east, also seized Liang province."

"The Wuhuan, Xianbei, Qiang, Di, and Xiongnu peoples all colluded with the puppet Wei dynasty to rebel."

"Judging from the Battle of Xinfeng, the Wei invaders' Youbing Hu cavalry and Tiger and Leopard cavalry were more elite and brave than the Qiang, Di, and Xiongnu Hu cavalry led by Yang Tiao, Yang Qianwan, Lei Ze, and Liu Bao."

"Whether it is to recover Liang and Long in the future, or to fight a major battle with the pseudo-Wei in the Central Plains, without a truly elite cavalry force under the control of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty will inevitably lose the initiative."

"Take Liangzhou, for example. It is a vast area of ​​two thousand miles, but it has neither people nor waterways. It is impossible to recover it by infantry alone."

"It not only consumes a lot of money, grain and manpower, but also risks having its supply lines cut off by the Wei cavalry at any time."

"Therefore, the most urgent task is to reconcile the Han and Rong tribes, to unite the various Hu tribes, to gain the full support of the Qiang, Di, and Xiongnu tribes, to vigorously promote horse administration, and to train elite cavalry."

"If within three to five years, our Han Dynasty can possess ten thousand elite cavalry, then we will surely be able to conquer the world and be invincible."

The Prime Minister showed neither the slightest worry about Ma Su's conviction and execution, nor the slightest smugness at receiving the Emperor's three decrees; he simply nodded earnestly.
"Your Majesty's wise consideration is profound, and I am overjoyed."

"Since my victory, I have frequently interacted with the various Qiang and Di tribes, and consulted with General Zhao and the generals in the army to discuss the essentials of implementing the horse administration policy."

"However, in my opinion, the horse administration will ultimately be difficult to implement. The most critical issue is that the Qiang and Di tribes are by nature unruly and can only be restrained. The laws and regulations of the Han dynasty and the military regulations are difficult to enforce."

"If they cannot be restrained, they will be like a pile of loose sand, unfit for any great task."

"Not only that, if they disobey orders and plunder in all directions, it will damage the prestige of our great Han Dynasty."

Liu Shan asked, "Isn't there any way to make the Qiang, Di, Rong, and Di tribes serve our Han Dynasty?"

The Prime Minister frowned slightly, then shook his head:
"Your Majesty knows that you made a vow with the Marquis of Guiyi at the Wei River, and you also know that since Your Majesty personally led the expedition, you have always cherished the desire to unite the Han and the Rong tribes."

"However, if we want the Rong and Di tribes to submit to us and be willing to follow the orders of the horse administration and send horses and soldiers to fight, we cannot do so without a benevolent policy."

"As for obeying the orders and laws of the Han army, it takes years or even decades of effort to achieve that."

"The Wei regime has been building its cavalry for two or three decades. Our Han dynasty is currently pacifying the various barbarian tribes, aiming to use barbarians to control barbarians and cavalry to defeat cavalry. It is truly a long and arduous task."

Liu Shan helped the Prime Minister down the ninety-nine stone steps of Qin Zhangtai, stopped, and looked at the Prime Minister:

"Prime Minister, we must obey the orders of the Han army and abide by the laws and regulations. We must rely on you to govern the troops."

"However, I do have a method to get the Qiang and Di tribes to willingly submit to the Han Dynasty's horse administration and train horses and soldiers for the Han Dynasty. I don't know if it is feasible, and I would like to ask the Prime Minister for his advice."

Upon hearing the emperor's words, Fei Yi, Yang Yi, Chen Zhen, and other important officials who had followed the emperor and the prime minister down from Qinzhangtai all stopped, looked at each other, and then turned their gazes toward the emperor.

The prime minister also looked intently into the emperor's eyes:
"Your Majesty's will is what I will wholeheartedly consider."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shan replied naturally:

"I will personally ensure harmony between the Han and the Rong peoples."

"Prime Minister, Marquis Guiyi was the first to raise an army in righteousness and has rendered great service to the country. I have recently been thinking about whether it would be possible to betroth Marquis Guiyi's daughter or a member of his clan to him as a concubine?"

After speaking for a short while, the emperor of the Han Dynasty looked eastward toward Luoyang and began to daydream.

Give the Han Dynasty three to five years to produce high-bridged saddles, double stirrups, and horseshoes. Combined with the thousands of elite cavalry offered by his father-in-law, they will surely give Cao Rui a shocking experience of being ahead of his time in terms of equipment.

After all, Guanzhong had been fully recovered, Longyou was half at peace, and there were indeed cavalrymen at hand who could be used for their own purposes, so there was no need to hide anything anymore.

Once the Han dynasty captures any two of the three commanderies of Tongguan, Yaoguan, and Shangyong, it will have the initiative to launch a military campaign against Cao Wei.

Whether we go to Hedong, Bingzhou, or Nanyang and Yuzhou, a truly elite cavalry force will be of great use.

As for his initial idea of ​​hiding the treasures and saving them for the final battle when he first transmigrated, he had completely abandoned it.

Since Guanzhong has won consecutive victories, there is no need to maintain this winning streak and keep any backup plans.

If they win again, it will be clear that the world's power lies with Han, not Wei. Once the Xianbei and Wuhuan are defeated under the iron hooves of the Han, would they still be willing to be Cao Wei's dogs?

This strategic decisive battle in Guanzhong laid the foundation for the restoration of the Han Dynasty.

When the second strategic decisive battle arrives in the future, it will be, and will inevitably be, a fateful battle in which the Han and Wei dynasties will be on opposite sides of the offensive and defensive posture.

Start gathering whatever trump cards you have.

Reveal all your cards.

The current tripartite division of the world is nothing more than the four battles of Guandu, Chibi, Hanzhong, and Yiling.

In the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao was stronger than Cao Cao; in the Battle of Red Cliffs, Cao Cao was stronger than Cao Cao; in the Battle of Hanzhong, Wei was stronger than Han; and in the Battle of Yiling, Han was stronger than Wu.

These are all examples of the strong losing to the weak, and the powerful side ruining a winning hand.

While the Han emperor was lost in thought and his mind wandered, the prime minister and other important officials, including Dong Yun, Chen Zhen, Fei Yi, and Guo Youzhi, were all astonished and unable to control themselves.

“Your Majesty, the Book of Rites says, ‘Barbarians are not allowed to enter China…’” Dong Yun, the Chamberlain, interrupted the emperor’s reverie and replied solemnly. Since the emperor’s northern expedition, he had rarely had the opportunity to refute the emperor.

"What?" Liu Shan snapped out of his daze. His thoughts had been so scattered that he had momentarily forgotten what he had just said.

Dong Yun, the chief official of the inner court, dared to speak frankly: "Your Majesty, the Book of Rites says that barbarians should not enter China."

"When Princess Xijun was married off to Wusun, it was no different from the marriage of a daughter of the Han Dynasty."

"Although the Xiongnu Chanyu repeatedly sought to marry Han princesses, there was no precedent for the Han emperor to marry a Rong or Di woman as a concubine."

Liu Shan paused upon hearing this, and after a moment said:

"Why was Princess Xijun married off to Wusun during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu?"

Upon hearing this, Dong Yun, Fei Yi, and the other officials all fell silent for a moment.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the Xiongnu were rampant, while Wusun was a powerful state in the Western Regions with more than 100,000 archers. Located to the west of the Xiongnu, Wusun proposed the idea of ​​"destroying the Xiongnu together with Wusun, thus severing the Xiongnu's right arm".

Emperor Xiaowu then sent Princess Xijun to Wusun for a marriage alliance; she became known as Princess Wusun.

In other words, the princess's marriage to a foreign ruler was a strategic decision with multiple political and military objectives during the reign of Emperor Wu. Liu Shan, noticing Dong Yun's troubled expression, said:

Princess Xijun married far away to Wusun, thus severing one of the Xiongnu's arms.

"The Han Dynasty later expanded its territory by thousands of miles. The so-called Yanran Inscription, the horses drinking from the vast sea, the extension of the country's arms, and the display of the Han's martial might all began from this point."

"Today, I have married a woman from the Qiang and Di tribes, setting a precedent for the Han emperor to marry a woman from a barbarian tribe. Is this not a necessary sacrifice for the restoration of the Han dynasty?"

Upon hearing the emperor's words, Dong Yun, Fei Yi, Chen Zhen, and others were so speechless that they could hardly utter a word.

Some people, like Guo Youzhi and Chen Zhen, even coincidentally, suddenly thought of some of the things that happened in Wugongwu that day.

Your Majesty is now in the prime of life, and your harem is full of concubines, yet you have not yet fathered a son. It is indeed time to select more palace women for Your Majesty to increase the imperial lineage, rectify public opinion, and appease the people.

But... does she have to be a daughter of the Qiang or Di people?
Does Your Majesty have a special fondness for barbarians?

Rumors have recently circulated that the daughter of Marquis Guiyi, Yang Tiao, did indeed attend a ceremony near Chang'an.

Has His Majesty already met her once, and is so captivated by her that he cannot forget her and thinks of her constantly?

Dong Shizhong looked at the Prime Minister, and seeing that the Prime Minister remained silent, he pondered for a moment and then offered his advice again:
"But Your Majesty..."

"The Qiang and Di are ultimately not of our kind."

“If the emperor were to marry a woman from the Qiang and Di tribes, wouldn’t the Qiang and Di tribes become the rulers and fathers of the Han?”
"I believe this action is a violation of the laws of our ancestors and is certainly not in accordance with propriety."

After saying this, Dong Yun shook his head repeatedly.

Guo Youzhi, Yang Yi, Chen Zhen, and others all nodded slightly in agreement.

Yes, not only are the barbarians and the Chinese different, but the Chinese have always been superior to all the barbarians!
The Han emperor represented the Chinese nation, while the Qiang and Di were ultimately barbarians. How could the Chinese nation allow barbarians to become its "father-in-law"?
This is complete chaos!

Liu Shan shook his head directly, his expression stern and serious:
"Laws are for protecting the land."

"Since we are not protecting the land of our ancestors, why should we be bound by the laws of our ancestors?"

"If one can uphold the ancestral laws but not the ancestral lands, versus slightly altering the ancestral laws but still upholding the ancestral lands, which is better, which is worse, and which is more important?"
"Which is more important: upholding the old system of the Han Dynasty but failing to protect its people, or slightly altering the ancestral laws but being able to protect the people of the Han Dynasty?"
"Although Guanzhong has been recovered, the land cannot be fully utilized and the people cannot exert their full strength."

“If we do not move the Qiang and Di people of Longyou to Guanzhong to cultivate land and strengthen the border for the Han Dynasty, what benefit will it bring to the country if the Han Dynasty takes Guanzhong?”
"But if we move the Qiang and Di people to Guanzhong, the powerful and wealthy Han people in Guanzhong will definitely have many conflicts with the Qiang and Di. How can I persuade the Han people in Guanzhong to temporarily abandon the distinction between the Chinese and the barbarians and accept the Rong and Di peoples into Guanzhong to strengthen the border?"

"Only if I start with myself, and I can change the ancestral laws and marry a woman from the Rong and Di tribes as my concubine, what else can they say?"

At this point, all the civil and military officials present fell silent in thought.

Liu Shan paused for a moment before looking around at his ministers and saying:

"My lords, I and the Marquis of Guiyi once swore an oath by the Wei River that the people of Han and Qiang would be intertwined and inseparable. This oath is no empty promise."

How can this oath be fulfilled?
"I believe that only when blood ties are compatible and cultural customs are mutually reinforcing can this be achieved."

"Moreover... Attendant Dong, gentlemen, my betrothal to a Qiang and Di woman is not only a necessary sacrifice for the restoration of the Han dynasty."

"Furthermore, we hope that after the restoration, we can continue the great achievements of Emperor Wu of Han in opening up a thousand miles of land and fleeing the Xiongnu, so that the virtue of the Han Dynasty can extend to the four barbarians, and that we can govern the six directions, so that the mighty Han Dynasty can awe the eight directions."

At this point, none of the ministers, including the prime minister, could utter a single word in their defense.

If we cannot protect the ancestral land, what is the point of merely adhering to the ancestral laws?
Dong Yun finally looked at the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister smiled and nodded affirmatively.
Things that defy common sense are what ordinary people fear.

"Incompetent doctors are afraid to prescribe strong medicines and potent remedies."

"The imperial aura of Guanzhong has not yet been restored, and the power of the nation has not yet been raised. Without the spirit of thunder and lightning, it is impossible to accomplish the feat of establishing heaven and earth."

"Your Majesty has been vigorous and determined to seek change and survival."

"For the sake of the king's cause, minor matters are abandoned; for the sake of the state, laws are changed."

“This sentiment is very earnest, and this intention is very firm. Even Emperor Gaozu Xiaowu could not refute it, so I firmly believe it is acceptable.”

"As for your argument that the laws of our ancestors cannot be changed and that we should not hire barbarians, I firmly believe that this is not the case."

"In the past, when King Wuling of Zhao wanted to adopt the Hu clothing and cavalry archery, the court and the public were in an uproar."

"Gongzi Cheng, Zhao Wen, and other noble relatives and important officials all knelt before the palace gates and wept as they remonstrated."

However, King Wuling of Zhao overruled the objections of the majority and addressed his ministers, saying:
"Clothing is for practical use, and ritual is for practical affairs."

“Our country is now threatened by the powerful states of Qi and Yan to the east and the tyrannical Qin to the west. Without cavalry and archery skills, how can we defend our territory?”

"He then donned Hu clothing, mounted a fine horse, and personally trained riders in archery and horsemanship, and subsequently achieved great success."

"In nine years, we defeated the Linhu and Loufan tribes and expanded our territory by a thousand miles."

"In ten years, the Great Wall was built from Dai and below Yinshan Mountain, and Yunzhong, Yanmen and Dai prefectures were established."

"By the time of his son, King Huiwen, he was still able to lead hundreds of thousands of armored soldiers, thousands of chariots, and tens of thousands of cavalry to contend with the powerful Qin."

"If we had adhered strictly to ancestral rules, how could the weak Zhao state have created such a great achievement?"

"A fierce tiger lies behind; the traveler may abandon his gold and jade."

"When the house was destroyed by fire, the filial son also gave up his ancestral property."

"As Your Majesty has said, although Guanzhong has been recovered, the land cannot be fully utilized and the people cannot exert their full strength."

"If we can use this opportunity to acquire tens of thousands of Qiang and Di people to serve as border guards and farmland for the country, it will surely save our Han Dynasty countless grain and fodder."

"If we could acquire several thousand more elite cavalrymen from the Marquis of Guiyi to serve the Han Dynasty, and have them follow the military orders and laws of the Han Dynasty, we would surely be able to train an elite cavalry force that is even more elite than the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry of the pseudo-Wei Dynasty within three to five years."

Upon hearing that even the Prime Minister agreed with His Majesty's actions and words, the other officials were speechless.

Upon hearing this and seeing the situation, Liu Shan felt a sense of relief and sighed.

Just as he had expected, in the end, it was his father, the prime minister, who stood up to support his "decision against the ancestors."

This also shows that while the vast majority of people in the Han Dynasty were blinded by victory, the Prime Minister remained absolutely clear-headed, realizing that the Han Dynasty was still weak and the Wei Kingdom was still powerful.

When a small country is fighting against a large country, it dares not make a single wrong move.

The Prime Minister has always been a pragmatist. In order to restore the Han Dynasty, he will do anything that is in line with ethics, morality and national righteousness.

Otherwise, he would not have accepted the southern barbarians into the court to serve as officials after the southern expedition, despite the opposition of his ministers who said, "Those who are not of our race must have different hearts." Nor would he have taken the initiative to unite with the Xianbei and Qiang tribes to launch an offensive against Cao Wei before the northern expedition.

Let's not even talk about the southern barbarians.

Without the assistance of the Qiang and Di tribes, who had only recently submitted to the Han Dynasty, it would be uncertain whether the Han Dynasty could have successfully recaptured Guanzhong and returned to the old capital.

After all, without several thousand light cavalry from the outer barbarians, the supply route could not possibly have passed through Anding to Chang'an. Therefore, it was impossible for the Prime Minister to have acted as Sima Yi expected, crossing Chang'an and the Ba River all the way to Xinfeng, while Sima Yi was still far behind Chang'an.

As for marrying a barbarian woman and disrupting ancestral laws and Confucian rites... could it be more unbearable than recognizing Sun Quan as emperor and having two emperors coexisting?
The primary contradiction now is to restore the Han dynasty and expel the traitor Cao Cao. Other contradictions, such as the conflict between the Han and non-Han peoples and factional disputes, are secondary.

The Prime Minister clearly sees who our friends are and who our enemies are.

Making as many friends as possible and as few enemies as possible is an eternal and irrefutable truth in the struggle.

For the sake of this world... I'll make a sacrifice!

Guo Youzhi suddenly asked, "Your Majesty, the southern barbarians have been subjugated for several years and have contributed greatly to the Han Dynasty's northern expedition. Now that Your Majesty has betrothed the daughter of the Marquis of Guiyi, what should be done about the southern barbarians?"

Liu Shan pondered carefully: "Since I wish to make the virtue of the Han Dynasty extend to all barbarians and its power shake the eight directions, if there are beautiful women in the south, it would not be unreasonable to marry one of them."

(End of this chapter)