Chapter 264: My Own "Xiu Rongchuan"
"Kehe Dun, another group of herdsmen from the Six Towns have fled to our pasture."
Madam Feng (a female official with an open mind), while coaxing the boy in her arms, spoke to the beautiful young woman sitting on the blanket.
The person who was processing the letter was the ruler of the current grassland overlord Rouran people, the mother of the current Khan, Rouran Khan Dun, and the Northern Wei princess Yuan Juli.
After giving birth, Princess Shouyang became more charming and graceful like a married woman.
After dealing with all the letters, Yuan Juli took the child from Mrs. Feng's arms. She took out the baby canteen. The son in her arms finally waited for the time to eat, and opened his little mouth and took a bite.
Princess Shouyang held her son in her arms while Madam Feng stamped the letter with a golden seal and resealed it in the envelope. This was the latest order from the Rouran royal court and would be sent to all tribes early tomorrow morning.
During this period, Princess Shouyang gradually stabilized the situation with the help of her son in her arms.
With the assistance of Madam Feng, Yujiulü Brahmin, the most powerful one in the royal court, chose to submit to Princess Shouyang and her son. In addition, with the remaining influence of Su Ze at the grassland conference, Princess Shouyang gradually took control of the royal court.
Princess Shouyang is well aware of her advantages.
The books, craftsmen, and caravans she brought were the most important things for the grassland.
Princess Shouyang made full use of these advantages while secretly cultivating military forces loyal to her.
She opened a school in the royal court and recruited tutors for the Rouran Khan.
Now the Khan is still unable to speak, and these companions are actually hostages sent to the royal court by various tribes.
However, Princess Shouyang did not treat them as hostages. Instead, she asked the Confucian scholars she brought from the Central Plains to teach these companions to read and write.
As a member of the Xianbei royal family, Princess Shouyang knew best the power of sinicization.
Twenty years after Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, the Xianbei nobles who clamored to return to Pingcheng had even forgotten how to ride horses. They were immersed in the profound Han culture, and many culturally literate princes like the King of Qinghe emerged.
In just one winter, these companions began to speak the elegant Luoyang dialect, wear the clothes of the Central Plains, and take pride in using the etiquette of the Central Plains.
Taking advantage of this white disaster, Princess Shouyang set up a livestock house near the royal tent, allowing veterinarians to treat livestock for free and helping small and medium-sized tribes train veterinarians.
Advanced things such as the Central Plains' calendar and Buddhist scriptures were also spread through the Rouran royal court.
After drinking the milk, the Rouran Khan finally fell into a deep sleep.
The maid outside the tent carefully took the Khan, and Princess Shouyang continued to discuss matters with Madam Feng.
"Have those refugees from the six towns been settled?"
Madam Feng sighed and said:
"There are simply too many. Although the royal court had made preparations this year, the white disaster lasted too long, even into the lambing season. Our livestock also suffered heavy losses, and we were unable to accept too many refugees."
Princess Shouyang asked again:
"Has the caravan that went to Liangzhou to buy food returned?"
Mrs. Feng shook her head.
The grassland is really too big.
Although Princess Shouyang could send caravans to trade at the border due to her status as a princess of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the six towns that had the most contact with the Rouran were all poor people, and the trade route from the six towns to Pingcheng had been cut off since the disaster.
At the "reminder" of Madam Feng, Princess Shouyang did business with Liangzhou from the west, opened up a trade route to the Western Regions, and opened up a new trade route and source of income for the royal tent.
Princess Shouyang asked again:
"How's the recruitment going?"
Mrs. Feng said:
"General Su Jing (Calm Armored Cavalryman) has seen it all. Those who can escape to the grassland are all good soldiers. They have the same roots as the Rouran and can easily integrate into the life on the grassland."
If divided by ethnicity, the structure of the Six Garrisons is pyramid-shaped.
The top-level towns will be the Xianbei people and the Han noble families who merged with the Northern Wei high-level officials. The middle level will be the heroes and generals from various tribes absorbed by the Xianbei during its expansion. For example, the Yuwen family is from the Xianbei, the Heba family is from the Chile (Gaoche) tribe, and Gao Huan is Han.
These middle-level officials served as military commanders in the Six Garrisons. They were local bullies and would obey prestigious garrison commanders like Yang Jun, but would pretend to obey them while secretly disobeying those without prestige like Lou Poqiang. When they met a garrison commander like Yu Zhen, they would simply sideline him.
The largest population among the six towns, that is, the lowest class of people in the six towns, are actually grassland people.
These people were the ones that the Northern Wei Dynasty had continuously plundered from the grasslands since it established the Six Garrisons.
For example, when Tuoba Tao was in power, he attacked the grassland thirteen times and captured hundreds of thousands of people and livestock. Tuoba Tao expanded the territory by more than a thousand miles and finally made the Rouran "frightened and fled north, not daring to return south."
Before moving the capital to Luoyang, Emperor Xiaowen had organized several attacks on the Rouran in Pingcheng, and captured a large number of people and livestock.
It can be said that during the rise of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the northern grasslands served as a training base for novices and an ATM, providing population and logistical resources for the expansion of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
The early monarchs of the Northern Wei Dynasty would attack the Rouran people whenever they ran out of food, and would attack the Rouran people whenever they ran out of soldiers and horses.
Some of these soldiers were assimilated into the Xianbei people, or sinicized into the Han people.
Those who stayed in the Six Towns continued to maintain their living habits on the grassland.
They were the Rouran people and the Chi-Le (Gaoche) people.
After the white disaster, Madam Feng suggested that Princess Shouyang recruit soldiers from the disaster victims in the six towns and give them to Su Jing for training.
Although Yujiulu Brahmin was at the feet of Lady Feng, he had once had ambitions for the position of Khan, and was an outsider who could not be fully trusted.
The key for Princess Shouyang to secure her position as Kehadun is to have a cavalry unit in the royal tent that is completely loyal to her.
Even Princess Shouyang had to thank the snow disaster. If it weren't for it, where would she have recruited so many young and strong people without tribes?
This time, the white disaster was a devastating disaster for all the tribes on the grassland, and the Rouran and Gaoche people also suffered huge losses.
This is also a good thing for Princess Shouyang.
The various tribes on the grassland will focus more on survival, and for the time being no one will jump out to compete with her for the right of Khan.
At the same time, disputes related to ranches have increased.
According to Su Ze's design, all disputes regarding pastures must be submitted to the Grassland Conference for arbitration.
However, the grassland conference might only be held once a year, and frictions on the pasture occur all the time. Princess Shouyang keenly took on this "thankless" job and was responsible for mediating and settling disputes among various tribes.
Princess Shouyang maintained an objective and neutral attitude, established her prestige through several fair judgments, and won over some small and medium-sized tribes that were oppressed by large tribes.
A maid entered the tent and handed Princess Shouyang a wax ball representing urgent military intelligence.
After reading the note in the wax ball, Princess Shouyang stood there for a long time before handing the note to Madam Feng.
Princess Shouyang walked out of the tent, looked at the starry sky, gazed in the distance towards her homeland, and murmured, "It's just as he said, the six towns are in chaos."
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"The Six Towns will surely be in chaos!" Su Ze had already learned about the Six Towns uprising from the system. This judgment was purely "shoot the arrow first and draw the target later."
However, Su Ze still wanted to "predict" this fact, give the group a shot of prevention, and let everyone work together to think of how to deal with it.
Hearing Su Ze's judgment, Su Liang frowned, Su Chao looked used to it, and Wei Xiaokuan looked surprised.
"Not only will there be chaos, but the uprising in the six towns will happen in the next few months. Once it starts, it will sweep across the six towns and ignite the war in the entire northern border!"
Su Ze said firmly.
Su Chao was already used to it. Since Su Ze was studying in Luoyang, he often said these words in front of Li Daoyuan.
After returning from the northern expedition with Li Chong, he spread the "Six Garrisons Threat Theory" every day, and was certain that the Six Garrisons would definitely rebel.
It would be strange if my senior brother didn't mention the affairs of the Six Towns.
Wei Xiaokuan was young after all. Although he was a child prodigy, he had lived in Guanzhong since he was a child and knew nothing about the affairs of the Six Garrisons.
What surprised him was that Su Ze always gave him the impression of being a shrewd and calculating person. He was calm and resourceful, always making multiple preparations, and rarely making such a firm judgment on something.
And this time, Su Ze convened a meeting of his trusted aides to discuss the situation in the six towns thousands of miles away?
Wei Xiaokuan's thoughts were somewhat out of place.
Only Su Liang said:
"General, do you think this white disaster will cause the six towns to revolt?"
Su Ze nodded approvingly, and Su Liang asked seriously:
"Has the Six Towns really reached this point?"
Su Ze nodded.
In the historical timeline before he traveled through time, the Six Prefectures Uprising broke out two years later, in the fourth year of Zhengguang.
According to history textbooks, the cause of the Six Garrisons Uprising was that the Six Garrisons were marginalized by the Northern Wei court. The people of the Six Garrisons lost their opportunities for advancement and accumulated resentment. Coupled with the lack of timely disaster relief in years of disaster, this eventually led to the Six Garrisons Uprising.
In fact, the Six Towns Uprising has always been a simple matter of survival.
The people of the Six Garrisons revolted because they could no longer survive.
In the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time, two things happened before the Six Towns Uprising.
The first thing was that before the Six Garrisons Uprising, Anagui was welcomed back to the northern desert by the Rouran people. The Northern Wei Dynasty gave him various weapons, clothing, horses, camels, cattle, sheep, and 200,000 dan of millet, and 10,000 dan of farmland.
The Rouran people were the mortal enemies of the Six Garrisons. The Northern Wei court was very stingy with the Six Garrisons and very generous to the Rouran. This was the Northern Wei version of "rather give gifts to friendly nations than to domestic slaves" which chilled the hearts of the military and civilians of the Six Garrisons.
The second thing is that after Anagui got the food, he continued to plunder the Six Garrisons. The Northern Wei court sent Li Chong to pursue him, but after Li Chong's imperial guards had eaten up all the military rations in the Six Garrisons, they did not even leave the Great Wall, but returned directly to the court and reported the victory.
This mission failed and also consumed a large amount of supplies in the Six Garrisons. Li Chong's imperial guards killed innocent people in the Six Garrisons to claim credit, which caused bloody chaos.
But with Su Ze's participation, two things did not happen.
Anagui had been killed by Su Ze. Now the Rouran people were under the control of Princess Shouyang and did not invade the Six Garrisons.
But it was also because of Su Ze's participation that the Six Garrisons Rebellion, which had lasted for several years, ended with Li Chong's great victory in the expedition against the Rouran. The population of the Six Garrisons did not suffer huge losses in the continuous natural disasters and man-made disasters for several years as in history.
Before the White Disaster, the population of the Six Towns in this timeline was far greater than before Su Ze changed history.
Therefore, the food crisis caused by this white disaster was more serious than any other in history. The people of the Six Garrisons who could not afford to eat had no choice but to follow Po Liu Han Baling in rebellion.
Just like the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Chuang Wang Uprising in the late Ming Dynasty, before these uprisings, there was a sentence in the history books that "there was a great famine and people were eating each other." The common people rebelled because they could not survive.
Su Ze said:
"The last time I went to the Six Garrisons with the General of the Cavalry, the population of the Six Garrisons had exceeded one million. Even in years of good weather and good harvests, they still needed to transport supplies from Pingcheng to maintain their prosperity."
"There have been several disturbances in the imperial court this year, and unrest has continued in various places. The imperial court has deployed troops everywhere, and there is no extra food to support the six towns."
"And even if there were, the ruler in the court would not think of the Six Towns."
Su Cho also became serious now, and Wei Xiaokuan began to think along the lines of Su Ze. He soon came to a shocking conclusion - if the six towns were in chaos, the Wei Dynasty would be surrounded by enemies on all sides.
Su Liang said: "Once the six towns are in chaos, the situation in Guanzhong will undergo tremendous changes."
Wei Xiaokuan looked at the map and said:
"Jingzhou!"
Su Ze nodded and said:
"If the Six Towns are in chaos, the neighboring Lingzhou and Xiazhou will inevitably be in turmoil. If the refugees from the Six Towns move south and join forces with the bandits in Jingzhou, the situation of Grand Commander Xiao will be dangerous."
Su Ze's prediction was also based on history. Before Su Ze traveled through time, it took Xiao Baoyin several years to quell the rebellion in Guanzhong. The situation in Guanzhong was repeatedly tense. In addition to Xiao Baoyin's own idea of keeping the enemy at bay, the rebels in Guanzhong could always get blood support from the rebels from the six towns who went south when they were about to die. After a group of elite soldiers were killed, another group could be replenished.
The Six Garrisons are the best source of soldiers in this era, without a doubt.
Historically, Gao Huan established the Northern Qi Dynasty and Yuwen Tai established the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Their core team has always been the Six Garrisons Army, and the most capable ones were also the Six Garrisons Army.
Even Hou Jing, the great general of another world, whose core team that swept across Southern Liang was composed mainly of former members of the Six Garrisons.
The people of the Six Towns who survived the harsh environment in the northern border, survived the fighting with the Rouran and Gaoche people, and survived the two Six Towns Uprisings are the most powerful soldiers in the world.
Erzhu Rong was able to quickly become the leader of the number one military group that controlled the Northern Wei Dynasty from the chieftain of Xiurong tribe, also relying on his position as Xiurong, which allowed him to absorb the generals and soldiers of the Six Garrisons.
Su Ze also needs a "Xiu Rong" of his own.
With this "Xiu Rong", Su Ze was able to absorb the defeated generals and soldiers who moved south from the Six Garrisons, just like Erzhu Rong.
Once again, Su Ze was jealous of his sworn brother.
The Xiurong family, to which Erzhu Rong belonged, had been operating for a hundred years and was extremely wealthy, and all of it was controlled by Erzhu Rong.
Xiurong has soldiers, horses, money, and food, and the location is unique. This is the first stop for the Six Garrisons to move south. Erzhu Rong can sit at home and wait for the generals and soldiers to move south from the Six Garrisons.
Su Ze also needs his own "Xiu Rong". He also has prestige in the Six Towns. As long as he can raise the banner, people from the Six Towns will join him.
Su Ze looked at the map and found that the most suitable place for him to become "Xiu Rong" was Xiazhou.
Xiazhou was the place where Helian Bobo rose to power, where he governed the city and unified thousands of cities.
4k for monthly ticket at the beginning of the month
(End of this chapter)