Memoirs of the Heavenly Khan

Chapter 29: Make Xianbei Great Again

Mayi is famous for the fact that Qin general Meng Tian once raised horses and built a city here.

After the rise of the Tuoba clan, Mayi became an important town on the border of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Whether going north to attack the Rouran or going south to fight against various princes, Mayi was an important logistics base.

However, after the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital, this place encountered the same dilemma as Pingcheng!
Marginalized!
The Xianbei were military households, the Han people were farmers, and the Xiongnu, Chile and other ethnic groups also served in the army and raised horses. The order that once existed in the northern border had now begun to collapse.

"Farming, farming, is that what we men should do?"

She Digan and a group of leaders of the Hu tribe gathered in front of the gate of Mayi Shou and started shouting.

Li Shuang implemented the policy of converting pastoralism to agriculture near Mayi. It went smoothly at the beginning, but as time went on, the Hu people in many tribes became a little impatient.

However, even if they gathered together, they did not dare to rush in.

The entire Mayi military structure is now divided into three parts:

The Han tribe brought by Li Shuang,
The garrison troops in Mayi City,

As well as these Xianbei, Chile and other Hu military households.

Li Shuang's followers were naturally the most loyal. The garrison troops in Mayi City were also recruited by Li Shuang during his early offensive. The remaining military households were the most troublesome.

These military households have the largest number of people and the worst equipment, and are the key targets of support in the military-to-agricultural reform.

Looking at the well-equipped guards outside the Mayi City Defense Mansion, the Hu leaders were timid, and finally She Digan stood up.

"We want to see the Mayi Guard!"

"Wait, the master is meeting an honored guest!"

"We don't even have to wait to see Yuan Shen when we go to Pingcheng. How expensive can this distinguished guest be?"

She Digan was very disdainful and was about to step forward, but Gao Gao held a spear to his throat.

"Tell you to wait!"

At this time, a Hu leader came close to She Digan's ear.

"Brother Qianqiu, how dare he, a Han Chinese, do this to you? If I were you, I wouldn't tolerate it!"

She Digan confronted Gaoang fearlessly. He used all his strength and roared loudly.

"Just wait!"
-
In the room, in front of Li Shuang, sat a man with white hair and a youthful face.

After the ceremony, Li Shuang stood up and asked:
"Sir, has the God forgiven me?"

Liu Lingzhu nodded.

"As long as the Lord of the Army does not deceive the gods, the gods will forgive you."

"Then I'm relieved. I still have some things to do, so I'll take my leave now."

After saying that, Li Shuang left. Liu Lingzhu quickly reached under the table and found the silk book. It read:

I accepted a hundred taels of gold from Dugu Ru, and she asked me to kill Liu Lingzhu.

The gods have forgiven me today, so I will kill him tonight.

If the gods don’t forgive me today, I will kill him after tonight!
Liu Lingzhu's heart trembled, his hand loosened, and the silk book fell to the ground.

After calming down, the first thing he wanted to do was pack up his things and prepare to escape overnight.

Liu Lingzhu was cleaning up while cursing:

"You vicious Dugu Ru, if you can escape this disaster, wait and see how I will deal with you!"
-
After waiting for an hour, She Digan and others finally met Li Shuang.

The Northern Wei Dynasty implemented the equal-field system.

In the past, when the Northern Wei court distributed land to these military households, they always found various excuses to refuse.

Even if they were given land, they would rather leave it idle than plant crops on it.

Since there was no food left in the tribe, they went to Pingcheng to ask for it.

If they weren't given any, they would riot. These military households' ancestors all rose to prominence following the Tuoba clan and had made military achievements. Pingcheng officials didn't dare neglect them, and would always give them a little.

But now, these tribal leaders discovered that their three tricks against the Northern Wei court were completely useless against Li Shuang.

"Ma Yi Shou, you can't do this to us. Our ancestors fought alongside Emperor Taiwu in many battles, shed blood, and made great contributions."

"It's none of my business. It's not like you shed blood and sweat for me."

"You say that, are you showing no mercy at all? Aren't you afraid that we will sue you at the court and accuse you of mistreating meritorious officials?"

"Go ahead and sue me! If your complaint can get through Mayi, I'll give you ten carts of grain for free."

Everyone gasped. They had seen scoundrels before, but they had never seen anyone more scoundrel than them.

Finally, someone spoke out viciously.

"Ma Yi Shou, aren't you afraid that if we surrender to the True King, the court will punish you?"

Li Shuang burst out laughing.

"Do you know how to rebel?"

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Look at you, you guys have never rebelled!"

At this time, someone was very dissatisfied and retorted to Li Shuang.

"Have you ever rebelled?"

"When I rebelled, you were still herding sheep!"

Li Shuang was very contemptuous and asked everyone to sit down.

Everyone sat on the ground, surrounding Li Shuang in the center, and only heard the young man say:
"There are many kinds of rebellion. People like you who defected to Po Liu Han Baling belong to the lowest kind."

"Then tell me something more powerful?"

"If you want to sustain your rebellion, you must first find a suitable target, such as Pingcheng. Then, secretly stockpile food and fodder, prepare weapons, and seize Yuan Shen's territory while he's unprepared. Once you've captured Pingcheng, use it as a base to ally with the Rouran to the north and capture Yan, You, and other prefectures to the east. Then, with a single call, the righteous men of the Six Garrisons will gather, and the people of the land will follow. Then you can make the Xianbei great again."

After Li Shuang finished speaking, everyone looked envious.

"Okay, now tell me the key points of rebellion that I taught you?"

"Take Pingcheng, ally with the Rouran in the north, and take Youyan in the east, and make the Xianbei great again!"

Li Shuang's head popped up.

"Wrong, it's about stockpiling food and preparing weapons! Without these, you're going to bash open the gates of Pingcheng with your head!"

"But we don't have any food, fodder or weapons?"

"So, you must first farm here with me. Once you have food, sell it for money, and buy weapons, you can capture Pingcheng and make the Xianbei great again!"

Everyone nodded, Li Shuang waved his hand and took She Digan to the side room.

"You took my money and are still causing trouble for me, right?"

"How could that be? If I hadn't been your accomplice, they wouldn't have come with so few people. I've found out everything. It was a wizard named Liu Lingzhu who was secretly plotting, instigating them to come here and cause trouble."

"Liu Lingzhu?"

Li Shuang smiled coldly, but heard Shi Digan ask beside him:

"But what you just said about rebellion, is that true?"

"Those people out there are just stupid, so you can only fool them with 'making the Xianbei great again'. With a smart person like you, I can be honest. 'Making the Xianbei great again' is just an excuse. The real reason is to make money and get women. The reason we rebel is because those people in the Luoyang court are only concerned with their own enjoyment and don't give us money or women..."

She Digan nodded, his face full of agreement.

"Okay, we are all smart people, no need to say more, I will work with you from now on, even if Tuoba Tao comes back to life, it will not be of any use."

(End of this chapter)