Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 227 Shaking Jingnan, Jiaozhou Responds

Yong'an.

Baidi City.

Liu Shan received the memorial submitted by Ma Bing.

After reading it, he was overjoyed and took out his own imperial seal to stamp and record it, giving the fake tribal leaders that Ma Bingcheng had worshipped a legitimate title.

He also wrote another letter, appointing Ma Bing as the Protector of Miao, ordering him to be stationed in Wuling to pacify the Miao people, and further ordering General Ma Zhong of Annan to send a thousand men to Wuling, under Ma Bing's command.

Subsequently, he summoned Chen Dao, Fu Kuang, Yan Yu and other important generals and ministers to the former palace of Baidi.

Chen Dao, Fu Kuang, Yan Yu, and the others were all delighted to receive Ma Bing's letter.

Meanwhile, Ma Bingxian successfully persuaded Sha Lie, the Miao king of Wuxi, to be moved by the might and virtue of the Han Dynasty and to become the Han's southern ally.

Then, in front of the Miao Panwang Temple, Sha Lie and Sha Lie cut their arms and wrists with Miao knives, dripped blood into a cup, and under the watchful eyes of nearly a hundred Miao leaders, the blood of the Han and Miao peoples successfully merged, just like the blood of Han Attendant Ma Liang and Miao King Sha Moke merged six years ago.

This meant that the alliance between Han and Miao had been promised by King Pan. The various tribes of the Five Streams had always believed in King Pan. In addition, the Han defeated Wu at Xicheng, beheaded Ma Zhong, and captured Sun Quan's generals Bu Zhi and Zhuge Jin. The old grudges between Miao and Wu were somewhat avenged. As a result, the leaders of the various tribes believed that the will of Heaven was with Han.

Ma Bingsui, holding the imperial insignia, swore an oath of allegiance with Miao King Shalie and dozens of chieftains in front of the Panwang Temple in Wuxi Miao Village, vowing to jointly attack Wu.

Furthermore, according to the size of the various Miao tribes, the emperor appointed the leaders of the various Yi tribes as generals, colonels, commanders, and other Han officials, and submitted a memorial to the emperor. As a result, the people of the Miao tribes were pleased with the Han.

Since the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling, the authority of the central government has declined, and local governance has become chaotic.

The imperial court had neither the ability nor the will to resume its policy of appeasement towards the southern ethnic minorities.

In addition, due to personal likes and dislikes, incompetence, greed, tyranny and ingratitude, local officials exploited the border tribes excessively and committed excessive killings, which aroused fierce resistance from the southern barbarians and the Baiyue people, just like the Qiang rebellion in the northwest region for a century.

Just as with the treatment of the Qiang people, the imperial court also adopted a bloody suppression policy against the uprisings of the Yue, Man, and Yi people in the south. This led to increasingly fierce and difficult-to-stop violent resistance from the barbarians and the Baiyue.

This policy of violent suppression not only made the barbarian tribes and the Baiyue people increasingly alienated from the Han Dynasty and resent the court, but also caused great harm to the Han people in the south who bordered the barbarian tribes and the Baiyue people.

There were even complaints among the common people: "It's one thing for the enemy to come, but for the officials to come and kill us."

The government troops that quelled the rebellion not only killed the barbarians and Baiyue people, but also harassed and killed the common people. As the saying goes, "the bandits come like combs, the soldiers come like fine hairpins, and the government troops come like shavings." The people of the south were more indignant at the government troops' harassment and killing than at the barbarian Baiyue rebels.

Although some local officials have tried to win over barbarians with kindness and trust, such appeasement was only the behavior of a very small number of local officials and could not be elevated to a major national policy.

In Jingzhou, after decades of development during the reigns of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling, mutual animosity between the Han and non-Han peoples had become ingrained.

Although Liu Biao was nominally the ruler of Jingzhou, he entered Yicheng alone and had no army of his own. Even his personal guards were brought by his wife, Lady Cai.

In essence, he was nothing more than an empty shell created by the powerful figures of Jingzhou.

The powerful figures of Jingzhou were merely using Liu Biao's claim of being a member of the Han imperial family to seek a separatist regime.

Therefore, even though Liu Biao intended to appease the various barbarian tribes and make them work for him, the powerful clans of Jingzhou, led by the Cai, Kuai, and Huang families, all opposed Liu Biao's appeasement policy.

It is said that the people of Jingzhou are barbarians and foreign tribes who fear power but do not cherish virtue. Only by violently suppressing them and ensuring that no descendants are left can Jingzhou be stable.

Liu Biao was helpless.

It wasn't until the late emperor became the ruler of Jingzhou and, relying on the army that won the Battle of Red Cliffs, dismantled the deeply entrenched power of the powerful clans such as the Kuai, Huang, Cai, and Zhang in Jingzhou, that he began to adopt a policy of appeasement and enticement towards the various ethnic groups in the mountains of western Hunan.

Under the late emperor's rule, the Han and Yi peoples of Jingzhou lived in peace for more than ten years, and the conflict between the Han and Yi peoples was finally alleviated.

Otherwise, why would Shamoke still be willing to serve the Han Dynasty to the death after the Han Dynasty had lost Jingzhou?

Therefore, when the Prime Minister was campaigning against the Southern Regions, Ma Su proposed the strategy of "winning hearts and minds is the best strategy, while attacking cities is the second best strategy."

This was not some remarkable innovation, but rather a direct copy of the Han Dynasty's high-scoring work in pacifying the various barbarian tribes in Jingzhou.

In contrast, what about the Sun family?

Since taking control of Jiangdong, he has long sent troops to suppress the Yue tribes.

For more than twenty years, in order to suppress the Shanyue rioters, almost all the famous generals of Eastern Wu were mobilized, and the war with the Shanyue never stopped.

After Sun Wu seized Jingzhou from the Han Dynasty, uprisings continued to occur within its territory.

Regardless of whether they were Han or non-Han, countless people were unwilling to accept Sun Quan's rule. Although they were suppressed, they grew back like leeks after being cut, never ceasing.

The Yi peoples of Jingzhou and the Yue peoples of Yangzhou were not much different in many ways.

However, the late emperor was able to pacify the various tribes of Jingzhou, while Sun Quan could not.

One reason is that the two sides have different backgrounds and experiences, which leads to different ideas about governing other ethnic groups.

When the late emperor was in Youzhou, several governors of Youzhou were able to pacify the Wuhuan and Xianbei peoples effectively. Hundreds of thousands of non-Han peoples were relocated to Youzhou, where they intermarried and lived together harmoniously with the Han people.

When the late emperor served as Sima under Gongsun Zan, he had over a thousand Wuhuan and other non-Han cavalrymen under his command.

What about the Sun family?
The reason Sun Jian was able to rise to prominence was that he had the good fortune to go to the northwest and quell a rebellion by the Qiang people. He was eventually promoted to the rank of Attendant Gentleman and joined the ranks of the gentry because of his merit in quelling the rebellion.

Therefore, the two sides have very different attitudes toward the ethnic minorities on the border.

Aside from differences in their experiences and ideologies, the difference lay in their reputations after becoming regional rulers.

After Sun Quan took control of Jiangdong, he brutally suppressed the opposition forces in Wu and Kuaiji with force.

At that time, Liu Yao, Xu Gong, Yan Baihu and others in Yangzhou had allied with the Yue people of Wu and Hui to resist the outsiders Sun family. As a result, countless people, whether Han or Yue, died at the hands of Sun family, and the people were filled with resentment.

The Yue people of the mountains were different from the Han people of Wu and Yue. They did not have the ambition to overthrow the world with the Sun family; all they had was hatred for the destruction of their families.

This resulted in the Sun family's attempt to appease the Yue tribes at an infinitely high cost, making it almost impossible. In the end, they could only give up and go down a dead end.

The late emperor's formidable prestige and the prestige of being a member of the Han imperial family at the beginning of the chaotic era made his appeasement policies extremely low in terms of trust. The barbarians feared his power and respected his virtue, and the Han people dared not act recklessly. As a result, the appeasement policies encountered very little resistance.

"Your Majesty, if it is truly as Minister Ma says, and all the counties in Jingnan rise up at the same time, Jiaozhou will also follow suit, and the western border of Wu will be in chaos. Wouldn't the people of Wu lose their composure and be unable to attend to one thing while dealing with another?"

Fu Kuang was overjoyed after reading Ma Bingzhi's letter.

"At that time, Jingnan and Jiaozhou will be in an uproar."

“Sun Quan was pressed by Cao Wei to the north, threatened by the Han Dynasty to the west, and faced with great chaos in the south. How could he not be defeated?”

Chen Dao also sighed:
"Unexpectedly, even though the Han Dynasty has lost Jingzhou for nearly six years, the people of Jingchu still cherish the old favors of the late emperor and their determination to revive the Han Dynasty remains unchanged."

"If we can win the hearts of the people of Jingchu, what is there to fear in Jingchu that we cannot conquer?"

"The restoration of our great Han Dynasty is as bright as the rising sun, and we can look forward to it in a few days."

Yan Yu, Zheng Pu, Zhang Gu, and the others all read the letter that Ma Bing presented to the emperor, and like Chen Dao and Fu Kuang, they repeatedly offered their congratulations.

According to Ma Bingzhi's letter, after he swore a blood oath with the various Yi people of Wuling, the Miao leaders, including Sha Lie, explained to him in detail the situation in western Hunan and southern Jingzhou.

It turns out that even after the Battle of Yiling, many people in the counties and prefectures of Jingnan still cared about the Han Dynasty.

Zhan Yan and Chen Feng fought against Wu, but were ultimately defeated and killed.

Wen Bu and Deng Kai, prominent figures from Zigui, gathered several thousand Yi soldiers from the Five Streams to rebel against Wu, but were also suppressed by Lu Xun.

Afterwards, powerful clans in Jingzhou continued to send people to contact the Wuxi Yi people, who were grateful for the might and virtue of the Han Dynasty, hoping to join forces with the Wuxi Yi to rebel against Wu and return to Han.

After making contact with the Wuxi Yi people, Fan Zhou, an official from Wuling, and his subordinate Xi Zhen raised troops at the same time.

Sun Quan then dispatched Pan Jun, who had previously served as the governor of Jingzhou for the Han Dynasty, to lead 5,000 troops to Wuling to attack.

However, at that time, the Wuxi Yi people were in internal strife due to the death of Miao King Shamoke, and their hearts were divided, so they could not send troops in time.

Fan Zhou was killed by Pan Jun.

The seven counties of Wuling that followed the uprising of Fan Zhou and Xi Zhen soon fell to the enemy.

Xi Zhen had no choice but to lead several hundred remaining soldiers up the mountain to avoid the enemy, and declared the heroic words, "I am a ghost of Han, not a subject of Wu."

He resisted Pan Jun on the mountain for more than a month, but when his food and arrows ran out, Xi Zhen committed suicide by drawing his sword. The Xi family was a powerful clan in Xiangyang. Xi Long, the infantry captain in charge of the First Division of the Imperial Guard of the Han Dynasty, came from their clan and was now in Chengdu, in charge of the Imperial Secretariat of the Han Dynasty.

After Xi Zhen's death, his younger brother Xi Hong was forced to flee to Eastern Wu.

If Sun Quan asks a question, he will certainly not answer.

After Xi Zhen died, she left behind a son, Xi Wen.

Pan Jun, who had already betrayed the Han and surrendered to Wu, in order to win over the Xi family and have them work for Wu, pointed to the sixteen or seventeen-year-old Xi Wen in public and praised him, saying:

This young man is a renowned scholar; he will become the leader of the council in Jingzhou.

He then instructed the Pan family members to befriend Xi Wen.

Xi Wen, having reached adulthood, was selected as the Chief Clerk of Wuling.

Three years ago, Xi Wen was ordered by Lu Xun to personally enter Wulingyuan to befriend and appease the Wuxi Yi people.

At that time, Sha Lie, who had just quelled the internal strife among the Yi people of Wuxi and regained the throne of the Miao King, thought that Xi Wen's father, Xi Zhen, had been loyal to the Han Dynasty and died for it, so he began to persuade Xi Wen in the opposite direction.

They wanted Xi and Wen to lead the Wuxi Yi tribes to overthrow the Wuling seven counties and return to Han rule.

However, this was rejected by Xi and Wen.

He said that since Han and Wu had already formed an alliance and were working together to attack Wei, even if the Wuxi Yi wanted to rebel against Wu with their entire prefecture, they would not receive a response from the Han Dynasty.

This goes against the national policy of the Han Dynasty.

It is impossible for Han and Wu to break their alliance for the sake of Wuling.

Seeing that he could not persuade them, Sha Lie temporarily abandoned his plan to rebel against Wu and instead feigned compliance with the Wu Kingdom in order to obtain salt and iron from them, forge armor and weapons, accumulate grain, and strengthen his own power.

However, at that time, Xi Wen's demeanor was not because he had forgotten his father's revenge, but because the alliance between Han and Wu prevented him from fulfilling his ambitions and avenging his father's death. For the sake of his family's survival, he had no choice but to submit to Wu.

Now that the alliance between Han and Wu has been broken, with the great victory at Xicheng and the Han army continuing its campaign against Wu with unstoppable momentum, it is worth trying to win over this Wuling official and Linyuan magistrate.

After Bu Zhi left Jingnan, the governor-general who was in charge of suppressing Jingnan for Sun Quan was named Jiang Mi.

He lacked the prestige and virtue of Bu Zhi, and was cruel and ungrateful in the four prefectures of Jingnan, committing countless killings and executions.

Therefore, even though the Wu people had seized Jingzhou for five years, there were still many virtuous and ambitious people in the four southern commanderies of Wuling, Lingling, Guiyang, and Changsha, who had been blessed by the late emperor and received his favor, who were dissatisfied with the rule of Sun Wu and wanted to return to the Han Dynasty.

Two years ago, Liao Qian of Xiangyang, who was of the same clan as Liao Hua, and Fei Yang of Jiangxia, who was of the same clan as Fei Yi, were appointed as Commandant of Lingling, in charge of the troops of Lingling Prefecture, and as Chief Clerk of Lingling, in charge of personnel appointments and removals of Lingling Prefecture.

The two secretly sent envoys to Wuxi, hoping to establish contact with the Han Dynasty through the Wuxi Yi people.

However, at that time, Sha Lie had already accepted Xi Wen's reassurance in order to conserve his energy.

Worried that the visitors might be sent by Sun Quan to test the Miao people's strength, Sha Lie, after understanding the intentions of Liao Qian and Fei Yang's envoys, directly drove them outside the mountain gate.

However, according to the envoys sent to Wuxi by Liao Qian and Fei Yang.

Over the past few years, they had secretly contacted Guiyang and Lingling in southern Jingzhou, as well as Cangwu, Linhe, and Yulin in northern Jiaozhou.

Hundreds of powerful local officials and local strongmen, dissatisfied with Sun Quan's brutal rule, could easily gather tens of thousands of followers to rebel against Wu and return to Han.

If the Wuxi Yi can establish contact with the Han Dynasty and persuade the Han Dynasty to send troops against Wu, then once the four commanderies of Jingnan and the three commanderies of Jiaozhou raise their flags, the two provinces of Jing and Jiao will surely not belong to Wu.

...

...

Guanzhong.

Bu Zhi, Zhuge Jin, and their group stayed at Wuzhangyuan for several days to rest before heading east, passing through Meiwu, Wugong, and Huaili.

When they arrived at Xiliu Camp, a military site famous for Zhou Yafu, half a month had passed since they left Xiegu Valley.

In just half a month, Bu Zhi and Zhuge Jin had their eyes opened wide. They saw many new things that they had never seen or heard of before, and they also saw the hard and soft power of the Han Dynasty from the people and things they met along the way.

First, they saw the "camp" where Liu Shan, the Han emperor, had lived for four or five months, which consisted of a few simple wooden huts.

Later, he heard from Long Xianglang that Liu Shan ate and lived with his soldiers, sharing their joys and sorrows. He also heard that Liu Shan wove countless blood-stained robes with the blood of fallen soldiers. Finally, on the day of returning to Chang'an and offering sacrifices to Heaven and ancestors, he wore a blood-stained robe to reward the three armies and win their hearts. The Han soldiers were exactly drawn to this.

When Bu Zhi and Zhuge Jin learned that the reason why the Han soldiers were so devoted to Liu Shan was not only because he could share weal and woe with his soldiers and use some tricks to win their hearts, but also because he was never stingy with rewards. In every battle, he would distribute the wealth and treasures captured from his own private treasury to his soldiers as compensation and encouragement.

Such a perfect match of interests and sentiments, such invincibility in battle, such overflowing martial virtue, such... it seems as if fate itself is truly on their side...

Bu Zhi has been tossing and turning and having trouble sleeping these past few days. Every time Liu Shan's image appears in his mind, his mood becomes more and more complicated.

Even today, he still remembers the cook whom Liu Shan wanted to be the imperial chef in the mansion where he was imprisoned in the western city.

Regardless of whether Liu Shan was putting on an act or not, all the qualities of wise rulers of the past were truly embodied in him.

As Bu Zhi's understanding of Liu Shan and the Shu Han dynasty deepened, his thoughts became increasingly chaotic.

The Han army camps around Wuzhangyuan have now become civilian settlements for tens of thousands of prisoners, with only two or three thousand Han soldiers managing tens of thousands of Cao Wei prisoners.

These prisoners were not destitute or starving. Although they looked somewhat thin, they were roughly no different from ordinary farmers. Compared to the military and civilian settlements of Wu, these prisoners were undoubtedly much better in spirit and in their work.

Starting from Wuzhangyuan, for a distance of two hundred li, the people of Shu had cultivated an endless expanse of fields.

In the fields, farmers look at each other from near and far.

Wherever there is water, there are bound to be people.

Wherever there are people, there is always land reclamation, tilling, and ditch construction.

Bu Zhi and Zhuge Jin did not understand at first. It was said that the population of Guanzhong was almost entirely wiped out, with bones exposed in the wild and no chickens crowing for miles around. Why could production here recover so quickly?
It was only later that we learned that after the Guanzhong region was pacified, Liu Shan formed an alliance with the Qiang and Hu peoples and relocated a large number of Hu people from Anding and Longyou to populate the population.

Within a few months, tens of thousands of people from Sichuan and Hanzhong migrated north to Guanzhong.

People at that time were attached to their homeland and were reluctant to move. Relocating people was always considered a bad policy that would cause public resentment. Therefore, Bu Zhi and Zhuge Jin had doubts.

The farmers here do not appear to be suffering or resentful; on the contrary, they have a high level of enthusiasm for work. What policies have the people of Shu implemented?
With doubts.

They walked and stopped intermittently.

They saw the curved plow.

They saw the dragon bone waterwheel.

When they saw farmers in the fields, five or six out of ten were using brand-new, durable iron hoes.

As they approached Chang'an, they came across a village on the banks of the Wei River, with rows of brand-new houses that could accommodate hundreds of families.

Later, I learned that this was a village called "Farm".

The residents of this village are mostly women, children, the elderly, and the infirm.

However, the mental state they displayed was quite different from the poorly clothed and malnourished farmers he knew.

Although they did not know what policies Liu Shan's Han regime had implemented, what they saw and heard told them that Guanzhong was getting on the right track at an unbelievable speed, which was a case of seeing the big picture from small details.

"Is this Chang'an?" Outside Xiliu Camp, Bu Zhi stopped at the Wei Riverbank, gazing eastward in a daze.

The enormous city, which had withstood more than four hundred years of trials and tribulations and was so huge, impressed and moved him.

Zhuge Jin also gazed into the distance, remaining silent.

Just then, a voice that was both familiar and somewhat unfamiliar suddenly rang in his ears: "Greetings, Uncle."

Zhuge Jin turned around and looked.

Who was Zhuge Qiao, the second son who was not adopted by his younger brother as his heir?
"My father is too busy with official duties to greet me from afar, so he has instructed his nephew to wait here respectfully." Zhuge Qiao bowed respectfully to his uncle.

(End of this chapter)