Memoirs of the Heavenly Khan

Chapter 18: Remember to be cautious

In winter, Liu Gui's caravan returned to Li Shuang's manor, bringing back five hundred crossbows and several carts of iron as promised.

Li Shuang immediately inspected these crossbows and found that the craftsmanship of these crossbows was quite good, with a range of more than two hundred steps and good accuracy.

The Hu people were good at shooting, but they mostly used bows rather than crossbows.

Crossbow manufacturing is an engineering skill, and most skilled craftsmen were Han Chinese. These craftsmen were also strictly monitored by the Northern Wei and Southern Liang courts.

The fact that Liu Gui was able to get so many crossbows at once shows that there were a large number of crossbow-making craftsmen in the Hu tribe he visited, and that they were not under the control of Pingcheng.

Li Shuang suddenly became curious, but Liu Gui hesitated and refused to explain the specific situation of this tribe.

Li Shuang couldn't force it anymore.

"In that case, get me another thousand crossbows. The commission will remain the same."

Liu Gui naturally wanted to do such a big business, but he was in a dilemma.

"The battles in Wuchuan and Huaishuo are currently going on with considerable difficulty. Yuan Yu, defending Yuncheng, dares not advance, his fear of the enemy evident. I'm afraid he will ultimately be no match for Han Baling. The tribes in the northern border are all worried, fearing an attack from the Six Garrisons and being annexed by other tribes also affiliated with the government army. In these circumstances, a few bags of gold are no longer enough to convince people to fight."

"Then what do they want?"

"They want to be protected!"

Li Shuang understood that what they wanted was a sense of security.

For example, in the early Northern Wei Dynasty, the tribes outside the Xianbei surrendered to the Xianbei, and those tribes were protected by the Xianbei and were able to ensure their survival.

That person naturally couldn't be Li Shuang, but Erzhu Rong.

Whether in terms of official position or reputation, Erzhu Rong, the Duke of Liang who had just conquered Sizhou, was the best candidate.

"Why don't they go find Yuan Shen?"

Liu Gui smiled awkwardly and shook his head helplessly.

"Yuan Shen is now guarding the major tribes in the northern border, even more fiercely than he is against the Six Garrisons. Many tribes have already seen that this King Guangyang is no pushover! They are just a small tribe, and if they surrender to Yuan Shen, they will probably be completely wiped out. As long as the military commander can settle this matter with the Duke of Liang, I believe those 1,000 crossbows can be obtained without spending a penny."

"Which small tribe?"

"Defeat the Liuhan tribe!"

Liu Gui looked at Li Shuang with some guilt, and the other party almost spit out water.

"The Po Liu Han from Po Liu Han Baling?"

Liu Gui nodded, looking innocent.
-
Li Shuang thought about it again and again, and finally told Erzhu Rong about this matter.

When Li Shuang found Erzhu Rong in Xiurong County and told him that the Po Liu Han tribe wanted to surrender, Erzhu Rong became very interested.

The Po Liuhan tribe originally belonged to the Xiongnu and was a major clan in Hexi, and had a deep relationship with the Erzhu clan.

Now Po Liu Han Baling has become a world-famous rebel. Most of the people in Po Liu Han's tribe have defected to him, and the situation of a few people is quite embarrassing.

"Second brother, what do you think about this matter? Is there any fraud?"

Li Shuang's worries were not unreasonable, but Erzhu Rong shook his head.

Erzhu Rong knew much more about the grievances and conflicts between these Hu tribes than Li Shuang, a Han Chinese.

"The Po Liu Han tribe was originally a large Xiongnu clan, and its internal structure was not monolithic. It's understandable that some in the tribe don't want to join Po Liu Han Baling in the rebellion. Tell Liu Gui that I agree."

Seeing that Erzhu Rong agreed, Li Shuang felt relieved. At least the thousand crossbows were stable.

"After they move south, where do you plan to place them, brother?"

Erzhu Rong took Li Shuang to the map and pointed with his finger.

Li Shuang was a little surprised!

"Mayi?" Li Shuang thought about it carefully. Although Erzhu Rong pointed casually, it was actually a very ingenious arrangement.

Mayi is an important border town and a strategic location connecting Hengzhou and Sizhou. It is currently controlled by Yuan Shen.

The tribe of Po Liuhan was settled near Mayi.

If they had any intention of rebelling, Erzhu Rong could take advantage of the situation to attack them and take Mayi back into his hands. From then on, Erzhu Rong had no worries.

If they really wanted to surrender, then as members of the rebel leader's clan, they could only rely on the Erzhu clan, with whom they had a deep relationship. If anything went wrong, they would become the Erzhu clan's backers.

Just at this moment, Erzhu Zhao hurried in with a serious expression.

He glanced at Li Shuang and reported:

"Zi Su and Po Yanyan, governors of Bingzhou, have rebelled. The imperial court has sent an edict ordering my uncle to march south to suppress them."

Erzhu Rong looked at the edict and knew that it was written by Yuan Yi, the current regent general of Luoyang.

"What else did General Wei say?"

"General Wei said that after Liu Teng's death, the situation in Luoyang has become delicate. Now Su and Po Yanyan are plotting rebellion, and some in the court want him to lead the army to suppress them. General Wei thinks there's something fishy going on and wants my uncle to resolve this matter as quickly as possible."

Ever since Yuan Yi and the eunuch Liu Teng jointly imprisoned Empress Dowager Hu a few years ago, the government of Luoyang fell into his hands.

But not long ago, Liu Teng died, and Yuan Yi was left without help in the harem.

Empress Dowager Hu, who was originally imprisoned, became more active. Yuan Yi felt the pressure and dared not leave Luoyang easily.

Yuan Yi was a big tree for Erzhu Rong in the Luoyang court. His fall would not benefit the Erzhu family at all.

"Reply to General Wei, I will prepare the troops and march south to fight."

After Erzhu Zhao left, Erzhu Rong looked at Li Shuang.

"Bingzhou is not like Sizhou. Suhe and Poyanyan have more soldiers and generals under their command. In this battle, I will go south with my brother. Third brother, I will give you 3,000 horses. You will lead the troops north to support Po Liuhan's tribe."

Erzhu Rong was worried that if he led his elite troops south, the tribes in the north would follow the Erzhu family's example and take the opportunity to move south and occupy Sizhou.

"Second brother, I understand."

Erzhu Rong looked at Li Shuang with some suspicion and confirmed it again.

"Be sure to be careful!"

"Do not worry!"

Li Shuang nodded heavily, then walked out at lightning speed to pick a horse!
Erzhu Rong looked at Li Shuang's back, feeling uneasy for some reason.

"This kid agreed so quickly, why am I so worried?"
-
A few days later.

Erzhu Rong, with his own 7,000 Khitan warriors and Yuan Tianmu's 3,000 elite troops, was on his way south when he suddenly realized something!
"Tianbao, have you figured out how to deal with Su and Po Yanyan?"

"No, I just figured out one thing. Why am I feeling so uneasy?"

"for what?"

Yuan Tianmu was a little confused, but saw Erzhu Rong's face change drastically.

"How could I have forgotten what my third brother used to do? Sending him to Mayi, a treasure trove, is like asking an old cat to watch over salted fish."

Yuan Tianmu chuckled.

"No way!"

After saying this, Yuan Tianmu was suddenly stunned for a moment, and he and Erzhu Rong looked at each other, and two words popped up in his mind.

Hard to say!

(End of this chapter)