Shu Chen

Chapter 218 Tuoba
Autumn and July.

Bingzhou, north of Yanmen County.

This Shui (Sanggan River) valley, with the Hengshan Mountains (the mountains where Yanmen Pass is located) as the southern barrier, has fertile soil and is suitable for grazing and farming.

But now, it has become the biggest threat to Wei State's northern border.

The central Xianbei master Ke Bineng, who has always been very unfriendly to the Wei State, has his ruling center on the north bank of the Sanggan River.

It is the county seat above the Sanggan tributary that winds down from the Yinnan hills in the north: Pingcheng (now Datong, Shanxi).

Baideng Mountain in the east of Pingcheng is the place where Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, was trapped.

Naturally, Kebineng set up the tribe here, not because he wanted to look up to the old glory of the Xiongnu Shanyu Modun.

But for a smoother attack on the Central Plains Dynasty.

Just like Tan Shihuai's strategic intention to set up the royal court in Danhan Mountain is to better use troops against the border counties of Youbin Prefecture.

However, Ke Bineng has always had the ambition to become the second Tan Shihuai.

But he was only from Xianbei, and the places he controlled were only Daijun, Shanggu and other places outside the Great Wall.

If he wanted to become the Shanyu who unified Xianbei, he had to defeat the direct blood of Tanshihuai, annex their tribe and occupy their pasture, so that all Xianbei tribe leaders believed that he was the one capable of inheriting the glory of Tanshihuai.

Coincidentally, the descendants of Tanshihuai are very disappointing.

The position of Xianbei Shanyu fell to Budugen, the grandson of Tanshihuai, after several twists and turns.

However, his control area was limited to the area from Tanhan Mountain to Pingcheng, and the Xianbei lords in the east and west did not follow his orders.

This allowed Kebi to see an opportunity.

For the ambition in his heart, for a long, long time, he took the initiative to show favor to Wei Guo.

For example, when Wei Wu Cao Cao, he took the initiative to pay tribute, and even sent troops to help counter the rebellion.

After Cao Pi replaced the Han Dynasty, he took the initiative to return more than 500 households of the Han Family Li Shu in Dai County and more than a thousand households of the Han Family Li Shu in Shanggu County who fled to his territory before, and traded with Cao Wei with cattle and horses.

Of course, the purpose of his goodwill is to speed up the annexation of the surrounding tribes.

For example, when Cao Zhang conquered Wuhuan in Dai County in the north, Ke Bineng pretended to rescue him, took the opportunity to kill Fu Luohan, another Xianbei leader, annexed his tribe, and forced his son Xie Guini to attach himself to him.

Fuluohan was the brother of Budugen who was Shanyu at that time.

This annexation greatly increased Kebineng's prestige on the grassland, and also sounded the clarion call to attack Budugen-he wanted to declare to other tribes that Budugen was not worthy of inheriting the position of Xianbei Shanyu.

The war is also going well.

He is brave and good at fighting, and he has been a great success in sending troops many times.

Bu Dugen, who had lost countless clansmen and pastures, became a bereaved dog, and turned to Wei State for protection, becoming Wei State's Baosai Xianbei Lord.

No longer eligible to inherit the position of Shan Yu.

But Budugen's unworthiness doesn't mean that Ke Bineng is recognized as Shanyu.

On the grassland, the law of the weak and the strong are followed. After the glory of blood inheritance is destroyed, Kebi can change his title from "Master of the Tribe" to "Xianbei Shanyu", and he has to reach the height of the old Tanshihuai - attack the Central Plains Dynasty .

No matter how bad it is, the current state of Wei has to use marriage in exchange for peace on the border.

For this reason, he set up the tribal habitat in Pingcheng, and began to frequently attack the border counties of Wei State.

It's just that he has been attacking Wei Guo for many years, but he didn't get any benefits.

On the contrary, Tian Yu, who served as the captain of Huwuhuan at that time, and Yanmen prefect Qianzhao once joined forces to win over the Xianbei tribes from other border counties, defeated Ke Bineng in the wild, and invaded Pingcheng.

Just a pity.

With the Hetao Plain already lost, the State of Wei could not stick to Pingcheng on the north bank of the Sangqian River.

Otherwise, it will repeat the mistakes of Biden's dilemma.

At that time, Tian Yu was slandered by Wang Xiong, the governor of Youzhou, and was transferred to be the prefect of Runan. Ke Bineng, whose power was greatly reduced, took the opportunity to become a minister of Wei State again and accepted Cao Rui's canonization.

The prefect of Yanmen was also called in, and the plan to recover the northern counties of Yanmen County had to be postponed.

Naturally, it was only a temporary expediency for Kebi to surrender and accept Wei's reward, in order to gain time to cultivate his health and consolidate his power.When the State of Wei transferred part of its troops from Jizhou and Hedong to Guanzhong and was restrained by the big man, he once again had the idea of ​​​​attacking Bingzhou.

Different from the past, he also secretly sent envoys to lobby Bu Dugen.

After Budugen was attached to Wei State, he could never be recognized as Xianbei Shanyu by other Xianbei leaders.

Therefore, he also changed his mentality - he wanted to become Shan Yu's in-laws in the future.

Ke Bi Neng used marriage as a temptation to persuade him to join forces. As long as Ke Bi can become Xianbei Chanyu, his status will also rise.

Besides, there is no one to protect him in Wei State now.

Tian Yu, who judged the matter impartially, was transferred away and was recruited by the prefect of Yanmen attached to his tribe, who had just died of illness.

The current governor of Bingzhou, Bi Gui, is a native of Dongping, Yanzhou, who was born in a family of officials and eunuchs. He has always been wary of the Hulu, and he doesn't know much about the affairs of the border county.

Bu Dugen, who felt that his future was worrying, chose to defect after thinking about it.

I hope that we can work together with Kebi to restore Xianbei's former glory.

The route he chose for his defection was not through Yanmen Pass, from Loufan Pass to Sangqian River Valley.

It went well too.

Bi Gui, who learned the news too late, had no choice but to take a detour from Yinguan County to intercept, but was ambushed by Ke Bineng, who came to meet him, and killed generals Su Shang and Dong Bi.

But what Kebi could not have imagined was that Budugen came to attach himself to him, which made Tuoba Liwei, who was at the head of Xianbeisuo, feel jealous.

He worried that Ke Bineng, who was already very powerful, won't be in a hurry to attack Wei after being supported by Tan Shihuai's descendants, but would go west to annex his tribe first.

In recent years, the Western Xianbei has long been in civil strife.

The various tribes that lost the restraint of the tribal adults have merged with the various tribes of the Huns living in the Hetao Plain, regardless of each other, and there is no force to resist Kebineng's annexation.

That's why he sent envoys to Luoyang, hoping to eliminate the danger with the sword of Wei Guo.

Another reason is that he also has great ambitions.

It's not the distant ambition of wanting to become Xianbei Shanyu, but down-to-earth, wanting to become the master of Xianbei in the west.

For this goal, he is now leading his clansmen to avoid the wars in various tribes in the west, and relying on his father-in-law, Master Dou Bin of the Luhui tribe, to preserve and accumulate strength.

He also showed goodwill to Wei Guo all the year round, and obtained supplies and supplies through fair trade.

Coincidentally, now he also welcomes Wei Guo's favor.

Wei Guo sent his enemy - the bald and lonely head of his elder brother.

Also informed the current head of the bald department, the news that his nephew bald Shoutian had defected from Guanzhong.

In this way, he saw the opportunity to become the master of Xianbei in the west.

As long as the State of Wei cripples or destroys Kebi Neng, he can expand the tribe to the Sanggan River Valley.

Then, he can take the initiative to ask Wei Guo for orders, claiming that he is willing to lead the army to clean up the door.

The Xianbei Burst Department originally came from his Suotou Department.

He believes that this kind of win-win situation, Wei Guo will definitely be happy to see it succeed, and will generously reward him with materials to support him, and give appropriate assistance in the transaction.

After all, there have been too many tribes who have defected from Wei Guo recently.

Whether it is to maintain the stability of the border county or to re-establish prestige, Wei State needs new partners on the grassland.

Furthermore, his tribe is not very powerful now.

With a little support from Wei Guo, there is no need to worry that he will become the second Ke Bineng.

Of course, his benefits are not limited to these.

From his residence (Dingxiang County) to the current location of Bald Shoutian (Fuping-Dingxi, Beidi County), it is necessary to cross the entire Hetao Plain.That is to say, he can rely on the help of the Wei State to gradually surrender all the western Xianbei and Huns along the way.

However, such grand expectations did not happen overnight.

His top priority now is to prepare his troops and wait for Ke Bineng and Bu Dugen to be defeated by the Wei State, and take the opportunity to gather the small tribes that have lost their support and invade some pastures.

It would be even more ideal if Budugen's nephew, Fuluohan's son Xie Guini could be attached to him.

Xieguini, who is weak, can be easily controlled by himself; and he has the blood of Tanshihuai, which can help him gain the name of commanding other tribes.

Thinking of this, Zhuma looked at Tuoba Liwei in the Sanggan River Valley, and couldn't help sighing in his heart.

Now his strength is still too weak.

He hesitated even if he wanted to reap the benefits of the fisherman, lest he would be affected by the fish in the pond.

Especially now that he is living under someone else's roof, all his thoughts and actions must be kept from his father-in-law, Dou Bin, the leader of the Luhui tribe.

For example, he originally planned to personally lead the clansmen to kill Hukou to ambush! 【Note 1】

Shahukou is the only place to pass through from Dingxiang County to Yunzhong County.

The last time Ke Bineng was defeated and fled by Tian Yu and Qianzhao in Mayi City, he chose to escape from Shahukou to Yunzhong County.

This time there will be no exception.

Because there is no tribe stronger than Ke Bi Neng on the grassland today, he doesn't have to worry about being ambushed.

As for whether Wei Guo can defeat him~~
That's nothing to worry about.

Ke Bineng's garrison, tribal forces, and defensive loopholes were all sold to Wei State by him. If Wei State could not be defeated, then Cao Weiyou and the border counties of the two prefectures had already become the pastures of Xianbei's ministries!

The only thing that cannot be determined is whether it is a big victory or a small victory.

Of course, he wanted to use Ke Bineng or Budugen's head to make Wei's expedition a big victory in exchange for greater support from Wei for his tribe.

But he was worried that his father-in-law, Dou Bin, would think that he had betrayed the ethnic group when he found out, and would be willing to serve as Wei's eagle dog.

Then unite with other tribes and destroy him as a traitor.

Xianbei's internal disputes, after all, cannot blatantly collude with the Central Plains Dynasty.

oh~~
There are advantages and disadvantages to living under the fence.

Involuntarily, Tuoba Liwei sighed again.

But after a while, his eyes suddenly burned, and he found himself obsessed.

Why worry about Dou Bin's opinion?
If he gave Ke Bineng's head to the state of Wei, and then claimed that he was willing to go to Beidi County to kill the bald tribe, wouldn't his own tribe break away from the Luhui tribe?

Moreover, if Ke Bineng died, the State of Wei would definitely recover the northern part of Yanmen County.

I will not allow my tribe to grow up in the Sanggan Valley.

But if he migrated to Beidi County, Wei Guo would also choose to act as a barrier in the northern part of Guanzhong to support himself in order to be at ease with the big Han attack.

According to legend, the tribes in the west of the Hetao Plain are weaker.

Otherwise, the bald part, which is weaker than myself, would not have survived to this day.

With the strength of our own tribe and the support of Wei State, it seems easier to conquer the Hetao Plain by fighting from west to east.——
[Note 1: Shahukou was renamed as Shahukou in the Qing Dynasty.During the Warring States period, it was an important pass of Zhao Great Wall (which was used later by the Qin Dynasty), and it was also the west entrance of the "West Pass" in modern times. 】

(End of this chapter)