Chapter 120 The Real Reason for the Six Towns Rebellion (4k)
After a burst of muffled thunder, the sky suddenly became gloomy.
Su Ze asked Yu Jin, "How did the Six Towns come about?"
Yu Jin has read a lot of information these days and knows the origins of the Six Towns at a glance. He said:
"Since the founding of the Wei Kingdom, we have set up many military towns on the border. The military towns command both soldiers and civilians, with great generals and good family members guarding the border, and the tribes that surrendered to the border were used to govern the country."
"Later, our Wei had several generations of wise rulers who worked hard to govern the country. The territory expanded and the border towns were changed into counties. After Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital, only the six northern towns remained in the world. From west to east, they are Woye, Huaishuo, Wuchuan, Fuming, Rouxuan, and Huaihuang. These six towns were dedicated to guarding the northern border and guarding against the Rouran, Gaoche, and Xiongnu tribes."
Yu Jin had just started to deal with the affairs of the Six Garrisons. This was his talent for learning. These days he had memorized the history and military geography of the Six Garrisons. He was indeed a famous general who had left his name in history.
Su Ze nodded and asked in return: "Since the Six Garrisons were established to guard against the Rouran, why did the imperial court lead the troops every time they went to the grasslands, with the Six Garrisons following them? Instead of directly distributing weapons and food to the soldiers and civilians of the Six Garrisons and letting them take the initiative to attack?"
This question stunned Yu Jin. Yes, why?
According to the records of the Taiwei Mansion, the most recent large-scale expedition against the Rouran was in the first year of the Zhengshi period (504 AD), at the beginning of the reign of the previous Emperor Xuanwu. At that time, the Rouran tribes gathered cavalry and invaded the Northern Wei border from six directions.
At that time, Emperor Xuanwu ordered Yuan Huai, an old general in the court, to be appointed as the envoy with special powers and the minister of the court, and led the imperial army to occupy the northern barbarians. However, the result of this battle was much ado about nothing. After the imperial army arrived at the Six Garrisons, the Rouran people had already fled back to the grassland.
Yuan Huai did not continue the pursuit, but took his troops to inspect the six towns and then returned to Luoyang.
After Su Ze's reminder, Yu Jin realized the problem. He said, "The court has indeed violated a major military taboo by doing this. The grasslands emphasize swiftness and ferocity in deploying troops. Their main purpose is to plunder, so they come and go like the wind. When the six towns are in danger and the news reaches Luoyang, the court will organize a large army to attack. By the time they reach the six towns, the enemy has already robbed everything and fled. It is better to let the six towns fight and pursue on their own."
It's not that there were no generals who knew how to fight during the reign of Emperor Xuanwu. Did those civil and military officials who had followed Emperor Xiaowen's reforms really not know how to fight?
Even Yu Jin could see the problem, but the court reached a consensus and no important official opposed such a strategy.
It can't be that the entire court is full of idiots, right?
Yu Jin didn't understand the reason, but Su Ze did. He smiled and said:
"Brother Yu, you are considering military issues, but the court is not only considering military issues, but more importantly political considerations."
The military is just a continuation of politics. After traveling through time, Su Ze has deeply understood this truth.
Su Ze continued, "Fourteen years ago, General Yuan returned to Luoyang and submitted several memorials to the late emperor. Among them, the suggestion to set up granaries in the six garrisons was praised by the late emperor. He ordered the six garrisons to set up granaries in the city and store grain in them on weekdays. The grain in the granaries could not be used without the imperial court's order."
Yu Jin asked, "Isn't this a good idea? We can set up a granary to provide food for the army during wars and to provide relief during years of famine."
Su Ze nodded and said, "It's not uncommon to set up warehouses in the six garrisons. Emperor Cao Cao of Wei often set up military warehouses on the front lines. But the reasons that Brother Yu gave for setting up warehouses in the six garrisons are superficial. In fact, they don't stand up to scrutiny. The reasons for setting up warehouses cannot be written in this high-sounding memorial."
Su Ze said: "Here we have to talk about the soldiers and civilians of the Six Garrisons. From top to bottom, each Garrison has a Garrison Commander, who are appointed by the court from Luoyang. In the past, most of them were the sons of important officials and nobles who wanted to establish their careers. However, after Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, most of the Garrison Commanders were losers in the officialdom struggle in Luoyang."
Yu Jin naturally felt the same way. He nodded and said, "I have a cousin who was originally the commander of the Yueqi Battalion. He was appointed as the commander of Huaihuang Town in this annual selection. Now our Yu family can only be granted such a position."
"Below the town commanders are the noble families and noble generals. Most of these families are the families that moved into the Six Garrisons when they were first established. They have been military commanders for generations, holding mid- to high-level military positions except for town commanders. Among them are Chinese families as well as Han noble families that later joined the army."
"Besides, that was the purpose of setting up the six garrisons back then. The six garrisons were to defend against border threats and to resettle the grassland population captured during the several northern expeditions."
"According to the records of the Taiwei Mansion, during the reign of Emperor Taiwu, there were thirteen expeditions against the Rouran. More than 30 Rouran tribes surrendered to Wei, and more than one million war horses were seized."
Yu Jin nodded. He was also very excited when he read these records. He wished he could return to Emperor Taiwu and gallop across the grassland.
Su Ze said: "Brother Yu, have you ever thought about this? There are at least three people in each tribe, and these 300,000 tribes have a population of one million. These people are all settled in the Six Garrisons. The Rouran, Gaoche, and Xiongnu surrendered tribes are already large in number, and they have become the largest group in the Six Garrisons."
"Among the six towns, except for Woye Town near the Hetao area, which has the conditions for military settlement and farming, other areas can only be used for grazing. Since the imperial court moved the capital to Luoyang, the imperial court has to transport grain north every year to feed the military and civilians."
"The town commanders and the good family generals are our own people, but these grassland surrendered tribes are not. They are hungry and full, and they don't even have enough food to eat. How can they be loyal to the Wei Dynasty? The granary is set up in the city to control the townspeople who graze outside the city with food."
"Can the imperial court give these six towns food and weapons and let them go out into the grasslands to chase the Rouran people? I'm afraid that if we give them food and weapons, they will also follow the Rouran people and flee far into the grasslands."
"So every time the Rouran invaded, the imperial court had to send troops from Luoyang, because the troops from the six garrisons could only be used as auxiliary, that is, they could only fight with favorable winds."
These were the thoughts that Su Ze sorted out after reading so much information from the Taiwei Mansion.
Why were the Six Garrisons so powerful after the uprising that the Northern Wei court could not defeat them even with all the troops in the country? It was because they were originally nomadic tribes settled on the border by the Northern Wei. In essence, they were no different from the Hu people settled in the border states by the Western Jin Dynasty.
When your country is strong, you can follow the "Three Tables and Five Bait" plan set up by Jia Yi, that is, set up surrendered Hu tribes on the border, use Hu people to defend against Hu people, and the Chinese can live in peace on the fertile land of the Central Plains.
The Eastern Han Dynasty, Western Jin Dynasty, Northern Wei Dynasty, and later Sui and Tang Dynasties actually all used this set of solutions to deal with the problem of Hu people on the border.
This plan is very ideal. It does not require Han soldiers to leave their hometowns to guard the border, and it also reduces the cost of maintaining troops for border defense.
But without exception, this plan eventually failed.
There was the Northwestern Qiang Rebellion in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Five Barbarians Invasion in the Western Jin Dynasty, the Six Garrisons Uprising in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the An-Shi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty.
The grassland tribes are the best place to spawn troops at any time in history, but if they are not handled properly, they will become the place where the barbarians invade and spawn troops.
However, when a dynasty is on the decline and cannot even handle the internal struggles among its own top leaders, it will be even less able to deal with the issues of the Hu and Han peoples in the border areas.
The seeds of these events that led to the decline of a prosperous era had actually been sown long ago.
Su Ze said: "Emperor Taiwu launched many expeditions during his reign, and each victory brought spoils and rewards. The Six Garrisons were located near the capital Pingcheng, so the emperor could visit the Six Garrisons at any time to solve their problems. At that time, the Six Garrisons naturally leaned towards the court." "But after the capital was moved to Luoyang, several expeditions to the grasslands were fruitless, and a large amount of money and food was wasted, so naturally there were no rewards and spoils. The court was far away from the Six Garrisons and could not see their suffering, so the gap between them naturally grew."
"In the court, there are also complaints about the requisition of food for the six towns. Since the previous emperor ascended the throne, he has launched many wars against the Southern Dynasty, and military food is also in short supply. The six towns are becoming more and more alienated from the court."
After Su Ze finished speaking, Yu Jin also fell silent.
These are what Su Ze has summarized and thought about in recent days. This also explains why the Six Garrisons, which were so powerful after the uprising and whose military virtues continued into the Sui and Tang dynasties, were so passive when facing the border threat from the Rouran.
It’s not that the Six Garrisons are too weak, but rather that the Six Garrisons are too strong. The imperial court wants to control the Six Garrisons and cannot give them too much food and weapons.
The Northern Wei Dynasty was founded by the Hu people. They had not learned much from the lesson of the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China, so they naturally understood the power of the Six Garrisons. Therefore, before Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital, every time there was a large-scale battle against the Rouran, the emperor personally led his troops to lead the army.
After Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital, the court always appointed prestigious generals to lead the imperial guards to fight. The Six Garrisons were never allowed to fight on their own. Warehouses were set up in the city and commanders were appointed to control the Six Garrisons, preventing them from launching counterattacks on their own without the help of the court. This prevented them from becoming stronger on the border and causing chaos after gaining autonomy.
Su Ze further thought about the cause of the Rebellion in the Six Garrisons. Historians of all dynasties concluded that it was because the Northern Wei court set up military prefectures in the Six Garrisons, cutting off the path of advancement for the heroes and generals of the Six Garrisons. These ambitious people then led the border residents of the Six Garrisons to rebel.
However, Su Ze, who experienced this era firsthand, understood that these conclusions were nothing but the imaginations of the civil servants from the scholar-official class.
The Confucian scholars who regarded advancement as the only goal in life took it for granted that the warriors of the Six Garrisons had the same goal. This was just like the historians who attributed the Yulin Rebellion to the severance of the warriors' official careers. It was just a wrong attribution that brought in their own values.
In fact, the Rebellion of the Six Towns was just caused by the border residents of the Six Towns who could not survive and were forced to make trouble in order to survive!
Could it be that when Chen Sheng and Wu Guang shouted "Wait for death, or die for the country?", they were also thinking of becoming officials of the Qin Dynasty?
When Yuan Huai suggested that Emperor Xuanwu set up a town granary in the city and concentrate grain in the granary, it was to strengthen control over the townspeople.
The granaries in the city naturally fell into the control of the town commanders and the noble generals. The townspeople who usually grazed outside the city had no access to the food in the granaries and had to endure exploitation from the upper classes.
After the defeat in the war against the Rouran, the court sent troops to the south and reduced support for the Six Garrisons. The Six Garrisons was a savage wilderness where people fought life and death for survival supplies. How could these people not be strong when they started to fight?
The most ironic thing is that in the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time, the fuse of the Six Towns Uprising was the famine in the Six Towns. The townspeople surrounded the town granary and demanded that the granary be opened for relief. After being rejected by the town commander, they killed the town commander and rebelled.
It has to be said that history played a huge joke on us. The warehouse system, which was originally used to control the Six Garrisons, eventually became the fuse that ignited the powder keg of the Six Garrisons.
The more Su Ze saw this information, the more desperate he felt.
At the beginning of his time travel, he naively believed that the Rebellion of the Six Garrisons could be resolved. For example, if he could gain power, he could change the Six Garrisons from military states into ordinary counties, thus providing a path for the military men in the Six Garrisons to rise.
But now Su Ze no longer thinks so. The Rebellion of the Six Towns was bound to break out. This was not the result of time travel, but the inevitability of history.
Not to mention that Su Ze was just a small Yulin captain, even if he was in the position of King of Qinghe, he could not solve the problem of the Six Garrisons.
Yu Jin understood what Su Ze said, and his doubts were answered, but a greater fear was buried in his heart.
He thought of the Yulin Rebellion that happened not long ago. If the same thing happened in the Six Garrisons, could the court still close its eyes and get away with it?
If the millions of border residents in the Six Garrisons rebelled, it would be even more terrifying than the invasion of the Rouran. Could Luoyang still get away with it this time?
Yu Jin didn't know the answer. At this time, a muffled thunder sounded. The air that had been suppressed for a long time finally became humid. Spring rain fell from the sky. In the dark sky, lightning flashed in the dark clouds, as if there was a dragon that could control thunder and lightning hidden in the dark clouds.
In the library of the Taiwei Mansion, Yu Jin and Su Ze sat facing each other for a long time but could not say a word.
In the next few days, Yu Jin would still come to the Taiwei Mansion, but he became much quieter. He no longer had the excitement he had when he was recruited by Li Chong. His enthusiasm for making achievements was gradually replaced by worries about the future situation.
Yu Jin silently memorized the maps of Hengzhou, Daizhou, and the six towns of Pingcheng, and carefully copied down the records of the court's previous military operations in the north.
Su Ze was captured by Li Chong and brought to the General's Mansion. Facing Li Chong, who was drinking with his chest exposed, Su Ze asked, "On behalf of the Imperial Guards, shall I accompany General Erzhu to participate in the hunting?"
Li Chong was already slightly tipsy. He nodded and said, "Erzhu Rong likes hunting in Xiurong. This time, King Jiangyang will also bring his entourage to participate in the hunting. King Jiangyang thinks that hunting alone is boring, so he asked the imperial guards to send several teams to participate. It can be regarded as a small competition."
"It's similar to the selection you participated in, except that you participated alone, but this time you will lead a team of 20 people."
"King Jiangyang has also set a prize. You will represent our Yulin Army and participate in this hunting event."
Compete in hunting with Erzhu Rong?
Thank you all for pointing out some errors in Feiniao. Sometimes there is too much information and I really can’t take it all into consideration.
The Northern and Southern Dynasties are so exciting that many historical materials should not only be read carefully, but also integrated with one's own thinking.
This chapter is a reflection on the Six Garrisons issue, a personal opinion.
Feiniao has always believed that there are no so-called sacred historical nodes in this world. The world will not change drastically when a certain node arrives. Everything in history is a continuity, and it is the intersection of the past and the future.
Therefore, a good historical novel should not only have this node, but also the information before this node, so that we can understand the causes and consequences of many policies.
Feiniao knows that sometimes it is unnecessary, which adds countless difficulties to writing.
However, since I have chosen history, I have no choice but to continue writing. I cannot fool everyone with the self-evident conclusions in textbooks.
Thank you all for your support. This chapter was not easy to write. Please give me your monthly vote.
(End of this chapter)