The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 151 If you can't beat them, join them!
North of the border town.

In the Ejina Torghut tribe, which was heavily guarded by the border troops.

The young leader suddenly sneezed quite loudly.

Unlike all the vast grasslands covered in ice and snow.

The environment in which their tribe now lives is surprisingly warm, like springtime.

The chief and his capable lieutenants are compiling statistics on the tribe's population, casualties, and property from the previous year.

Before the Lunar New Year, they joined forces with several nearby tribes and used a secret passage to raid Yongning County in Huaiqing Prefecture.

Not only did they fail to retrieve the dozens of large iron pots as they had hoped, but they also exposed the secret passage they had painstakingly dug.

In the end, thirty-three Battalions (warriors) also died in battle.

For a tribe with only about a hundred households, this is already a heavy loss.

Upon returning, the young chief quickly ordered the entire tribe to relocate to a secluded hot spring valley at the foot of a cliff.

The dense underground hot springs make the pasture in this valley grow very lushly.

The dozens of caves that were dug out were warm and cozy, which saved the lives of all the tribe members and livestock when the snow disaster struck the grassland.

The subordinate in charge of financial statistics is currently publishing the tribe's accounts from last year:

"We currently have 23,000 old lambs, 4,500 young lambs, 5,000 cattle, and horses."

How much will live livestock be worth after a snow disaster?

No one understands better than them!
But the young leader did not smile at these possessions; instead, his expression grew increasingly somber.

The subordinates looked at each other, puzzled.

Their leader, deeply troubled, posed a profound question:

"What will those greedy wolves in the northern desert do after spring arrives, knowing that our tribe's cattle, sheep, and horses are all alive and well?"

"Oh no, they'll definitely come and steal it!"

"What could be better than killing all of us men and old people and taking all the cattle, sheep and women for yourself?"

"They'll also soak their stinky feet in these hot springs!"

The young leader nodded, it seemed everyone had understood the principle of not flaunting wealth.

Suddenly, he laughed again:
"Before the snow disaster, I received a very reliable message. The Kashgar Khanate had completely occupied the Tumed tribe, and the royal descendants of the Western Mongols had been killed by the Uyghurs."

"Heavens! They were all killed? The Uyghurs and the Western Mongols have been fighting for decades without a clear victor. What kind of divine power did they gain this time?"

The leader sighed, looking in the direction of Jinzhou Pass:

"The Kashgar Khanate mobilized 80,000 archer cavalry to launch a holy war against the Han people. They only fought their way from Heping Pass to Jinzhou Pass."

After failing to capture Jinzhou Pass by force, they formed an alliance with the Tumed tribe of the Western Desert.

As a result, in the Battle of Jinzhou Pass, the Tumed tribe lost all its elite soldiers and the life of its Khan.

Without the alpha wolf and the able-bodied young wolves, how could the remaining old, weak, women, and children not be devoured?

"Ah! Forming an alliance first and then betraying us? The Uyghurs are indeed as cunning as foxes!"

"Oh dear! Did the Han people ever think of this day when they traded with them? These border troops only have their eyes on dealing with us!"

"That branch of the Western Mongols is descended from the Golden Family! I just don't understand why the Western Mongols would form an alliance when the Kashgar Khanate didn't have the strength to conquer the Central Plains?"

The leader was forced to continue revealing the intelligence he had gone to great lengths to obtain:
"During our migration to the Hot Spring Valley, we missed a lot of important news! We heard that the lower classes of the Han people were causing a great disturbance, killing officials and soldiers in several prefectures and counties. Those Hu merchants then relayed the news back to the Kashgar Khanate."

The subordinates were filled with doubt about the belated news. "The Han people have started a civil war? How chaotic is it? The Han emperor hasn't been deposed, has he?"

"Chief, who controls Heping Pass now? Is it because Jinzhou Pass is too strategically located, or because their garrison is too strong?"

Afterwards, his subordinates were astonished when they learned from their young leader about the formidable fighting power of the Jinzhou Pass army.

The final conclusion was: the fate of this Han Chinese dynasty is not yet over!
Those within the family know their own strength.

They even had a hard time snatching a few large iron pots from the border troops, so naturally they wouldn't easily cross the border again.

However, this did not prevent them from spreading the good news of the chaos in the Bei Kingdom throughout the entire Mongolian steppe.

The vast grasslands are never short of ambitious people who dare to dream and act.

Only by shifting the focus of these tribes to the fertile lands within the Great Wall can tribes of their size survive and thrive in the cracks.

However, all of these plans can only be carried out after the ice and snow melt.

They are surrounded by wolves on the outside and have a million refugees on the inside.

The imperial court, however, felt that the nation's fortunes were not dissipating fast enough.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month.

The old emperor issued an imperial edict to the other eight provincial administrations (provinces) where there were no peasant uprisings.

He stated, "This will temporarily burden our people for a year, eliminating the greatest threat to the hearts and minds of the displaced people."

This is an order to levy taxes on these provinces!
The "suppression levy" was the additional military pay paid to suppress peasant uprisings.

Another major action that ran parallel to the tax collection.

Within a month, the strongest soldiers must be selected from the local militias of these eight provinces to form an army of 800,000 to suppress the bandits.

If the number of personnel is insufficient, 30% can be recruited from the general public.
Ever since.

The people of the eight provincial administrations faced the dual pressures of tax collection and conscription.

The 800,000-strong army to suppress the bandits meant that each province had to contribute an average of 100,000 men.

The phenomenon of provincial governments and military units drawing salaries without working was already very serious.

Let alone 70% elite troops, we can't even muster 30%!
What else can the relevant officials do?
On the one hand, they used their power and money to pave the way, and on the other hand, they falsified the mission of the bandit suppression army and exaggerated the number of troops to deceive the imperial court out of its funds for the suppression.

On the other hand, efforts to recruit soldiers from the civilian population were intensified.

All men aged 14 to 40 are eligible for conscription into the militia.

For ordinary people.

Now, not only are they facing the imminent payment of two taels of silver per person for suppressing the rebellion, but the breadwinners of their families and their underage sons will also be sent to the battlefield.

And these displaced people who were wiped out already numbered over a million!
We can't win, we simply can't win. Going to the battlefield is just sending ourselves to our deaths!
What can ordinary people do?
Some people chose to flee with their families overnight.

Another group planned to go to the two capitals, East and West, where the refugee forces were currently the strongest.

If you can't beat them, join them!
Around the Lantern Festival.

Soon after, urgent military reports arrived in Shangdu from all over the country.

"Report! A bandit in Sichuan and Chongqing, calling himself the 'Nine Kings,' has gathered 100,000 displaced people to rise up in rebellion."

"Report! A martial monk from Huguang, after colluding with local military officials to forcibly assign the task of recruiting enough elite soldiers from the populace to temples, killed the officials, returned to secular life, and led an uprising of over 30,000 peasants."

"Hundreds of chieftains in Ningzhou have rebelled."

(End of this chapter)