Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1355 Assimilation
What Yuan Xi did, in the words of later generations, was to find a guide.

He did not feel much psychological pressure about this, because for the Jin State and the Xianbei people, especially the Eastern Xianbei, it was not about destroying anyone, but a process of seeking common ground while reserving differences and finding the possibility of coexistence.

In fact, over the past few hundred years, the Xianbei people have always had a voice, which is to integrate and learn from the Han people, and even try to integrate.

This is because many of the Xianbei tribes were separated from the branches and vassals of the Xiongnu. They initially fought against the extremely powerful Xiongnu during the Western Han Dynasty. To this end, they used two methods: first, to strengthen themselves by military force, and second, to seek claims.

During this period, because they were suppressed by the Xiongnu, they had to find a backing that could support their theory of origin. So after looking through their few and incomplete historical records, the Xianbei put forward several arguments.

One is that they originated from Zhuanxu, the grandson of Emperor Huangdi; the second is that they originated from the Donghu; the third is that they originated from the Han people who fled from the north; and the fourth is that they originated from the Dongyi.

Almost all of these statements are related to the Han Chinese, and all of them have a basis in Chinese history books. The most mainstream statement is recorded in "Shiji Suoyin": "Xianbei is a different species of Donghu." "Book of the Later Han", "Records of the Three Kingdoms" and "Book of Jin" also adopted this statement.

The origin of the Donghu has been discussed by Chinese historians before. One view is that they originated from the Dongmeng Shuwei, descendants of Fuxi, while another view is that they were the remnants of the Shang Dynasty who stayed in the northeast when Jizi traveled to Korea.

Compared with the Xiongnu at that time, the weak Xianbei were not valued by the powerful Western Han Dynasty, and there was naturally no need to flatter them. Therefore, the statements in the history books of the Han Dynasty not only provided a basis for the Xianbei to establish a country and dynasty, but also deeply bound the Xianbei's original culture with China, so that all the Xianbei emperors in later generations were close to the Hanization of the Central Plains, otherwise they would be considered as forgetting their ancestors.

The Eastern Xianbei branch is the most stubborn diehards of the Xianbei mountain origin, which does not conflict with the origin of the Donghu, and even overlaps with it.

The Western Xianbei and Central Xianbei, because they were closer to the Xiongnu, had more integrated with Xiongnu culture, which was one of the reasons why the Eastern Xianbei looked down on them. In other words, the Eastern Xianbei were the one with the most guides among the three Xianbei tribes.

Among the Eastern Xianbei, many were seeking a status from the Central Plains. The previous Central Plains dynasty was actually somewhat resistant to this. After all, in the eyes of the orthodox Guanzhong gentry in the Central Plains, even Jiangdong was a barbarian land, not to mention the Hu people outside the pass.

However, Yuan Xi did not feel any psychological pressure at all. Not to mention that the Xianbei people in later generations were genetically confirmed to be related to the Han people, even if there was no relationship at all, he did not care. After all, the integration of Chinese people was a process of cultural integration promoting bloodline integration, not the latter. If he was obsessed with bloodline, he would be missing the point.

In addition, the results of genetic research on the Xianbei in later generations are also very interesting. The main populations of its several tribes were composed of C2b from the Donghu and O3 from the Han people. For example, Murong was O3a2c1 from Gansu, Yuwen was O3a2 from Shanxi, Yuchi was O3a1 from Shaanxi, and Helian was J1 from Inner Mongolia.

As for the genes of the Donghu, they originated from the Yan State in the Hebei region during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and were highly integrated with the current Youzhou. Therefore, from the perspective of historical origins, the records in history books can be said to reflect a considerable part of the historical truth.

China's historical records are not groundless, but are confirmed by a large number of records. This is completely different from the Western practice of making historical conclusions based on certain isolated evidence. Just like Yuan Xi's search for so-called guides, he was actually looking for those Xianbei people who were willing to return to their ancestral homeland, instead of following the Western practice of later generations of buying people with money and making unfounded fabrications.

He knew very well that using money to bribe people would only result in finding people who were opportunistic and had no moral bottom line. Just like Cao Cao who valued talent over morality, these people would sooner or later betray him for greater benefits.

So when Yuan Xi summoned the delegation from Eastern Xianbei this time, he found that most of them were respected elders of the tribe. He knew that small favors would hardly impress these people loyal to the tribe, so he decisively used a powerful weapon.

Cai Zhaoji.

Of course, there is also Yuan Xi himself.

Cai Yong compiled the Xiping Stone Classics and was called the Master by scholars all over the world. He was the leader among the great Confucian scholars of that time. In addition to his poetry and calligraphy, his daughter Cai Zhaoji was the only person to inherit his mantle. Naturally, her position in the hearts of scholars all over the world was very important.

In fact, what is not inferior to Cai Zhaoji is Yuan Xi’s background.

Apart from the fact that The Peacock Flies Southeast, written by Yuan Xi himself, was rated as the best long poem in the world and made his peers all over the world bow down to him sincerely, the influence of Yuan Xi's school of Confucian classics was truly terrifying.

In later generations, the three major factions of Confucian classics among the aristocratic families in the late Han Dynasty held almost all the discourse power, namely the Ma Rong faction, the Jian'an faction, and the Kong Rong faction.

Before Cai Yong, the most famous Confucian scholar in the late Han Dynasty was Ma Rong, who integrated the Confucian classics system. His student faction was almost the epitome of the celebrities of that era. The most famous was Lu Zhi, followed by Cui Yan, Zheng Xuan, Mao Jie and Hua Xin.

Except for Hua Xin, almost all members of this faction are in Yuan Xi's Yuan family.

The most important reason is the influence of Yuan Wei's branch. Yuan Wei's wife is the daughter of Ma Rong, and now Yuan Xi, as the head of the Yuan family, is in charge of one of the branches.

This is why Lu Zhi became Yuan Shao's military advisor, and why the Cui family behind Cui Yan secretly defected to Yuan Xi even though they were under Cao Cao, and why Bing Yuan and Guan Ning, two of the Three Dragons, defected to Yuan Xi. This is also why Ma Chao, who was born in the Fufeng Ma family, always tried to please everyone, imagining that the Yuan family would leave him a way out. In the final analysis, the whole world was actually a group of Ma Rong's disciples fighting in groups. In the late Han Dynasty, most of the time, it was just a group of relatives fighting for property, causing wars of varying sizes.

Kong Rong's faction consists of Kong Rong, Bian Rang, Yang Xiu, and Ni Heng. All of them are on Yuan Xi's side. Of course, most of them are nepotism among the female relatives.

Yuan Xi, with such powerful resources of Confucian classics and public opinion from the aristocratic families, plus the Taiping Dao at the grassroots level, was able to truly dig out the roots of Cao Wei, because in all areas, he and Cao Wei were in direct competition, and both of them had more than one advantage over Cao Wei.

The Jian'an faction of Cao Wei included Cai Yong and his daughter, the Seven Sages of the Jian'an Period, and Zhong Yao and his son.

Cai Yong was originally the teacher claimed by Cao Cao, but with Cai Zhaoji marrying Yuan Xi, Cao Wei could not get any benefit at all. The Seven Sages of the Jian'an Period were still young at this time, Zhong Yao became famous very late, and even learned calligraphy from Cai Zhaoji. His current reputation cannot compete with Lu Zhi, Cui Yan, Yang Xiu, Ni Heng and others.

The Yuan family had such a strong background that even though Yuan Xi did many things to suppress the gentry, he was still regarded as orthodox by the gentry all over the world. The reason was that his background was too strong.

Yuan Xi thought to himself what the right to speak was. This was the right to speak. Once he and Cai Zhaoji teamed up, no one in the world could resist them, including the extremely brilliant Jian'an faction in later generations. What's more, the Jian'an faction in this life had already been poached by Yuan Xi.

This is also the reason why even though Cao Pi has gathered a large number of Cao Wei celebrities, he is still unable to fight against Yuan Xi. Yuan Xi occupies the top ecological niche in all the commanding heights of public opinion. How can Cao Wei fight against him?

The benefits brought about by this can even be compared to what Liu Xie shouted on the abdication platform. This is also the reason why the people of Cao Wei changed their minds and the Eastern Xianbei also came to discuss the future of the tribe, because now in the hearts of most people, Yuan Xi has truly become the one destined by heaven.

This is also the reason why Yuan Xi felt that the battle for hegemony in the Central Plains had actually ended ahead of time. Both military force and righteousness were on his side. If he had not spent most of his energy assimilating the Xianbei, the Wei State would have died even faster.

Now he met with the Xianbei elders in the palace and said straight to the point: "I have heard about the Eastern Xianbei's affairs a long time ago, and I also know your thoughts and requests."

"If the two sides can reach an agreement, I will, in the name of the Son of Heaven, recognize that the Eastern Xianbei are a branch of the Chinese people and the orthodox Donghu people, with the Shang Dynasty as their origin. I will trace back to the roots of the tribe and get back to the original source."

After hearing this, the Eastern Xianbei elders all showed excited expressions, but there were also a few sober ones who spoke out: "Your Majesty is wise, we are grateful, but Your Majesty should need us to do something, right?"

"If it is beyond our ability or not accepted by the tribe, we will be in trouble."

Yuan Xi said calmly: "I'm afraid you are not referring to the Zhong Xianbei incident?"

"As you all know, I have always been a person who does not offend others unless they offend me. I was forced to fight back only because Kirby took the initiative to invade. Otherwise, why would I have to work so hard in Jicheng?"

"I know exactly what Kobe wants to do. Doesn't he want to find an origin for the Xianbei that is different from the Han people, and then integrate the Xianbei to fight against the Han people?"

"Let's not talk about whether his behavior is unfilial or not, but the ancestors of the Central Plains have a saying that everything in the world has its beginning and end. He doesn't even dare to acknowledge his true ancestor. Can we expect him to have a bottom line in the future?"

This touched the hearts of the elders, and many of them stood up to scold Kobineng for being ungrateful, but Yuan Xi knew that the main reason these people gave was that they looked down on Kobineng's background.

Yuan Xi sighed inwardly. What he looked down upon the most in the past were actually the incompetent people who relied on their status and family background. However, along the way, he had relied on his family background to succeed in many cases. If it weren't for his relationships with Yuan Kui and Yuan Shao, how could he have come to where he is today so easily?

Just like Kobinen who was born in a commoner family, he and he are quite similar. If they appear in the same camp, they will surely become very good friends. But the bad thing is that the other party's ambition is too big and directly threatens the existence of the Central Plains. If left unchecked, tens of millions of Han people will face a terrible future.

Therefore, in order to prevent such a tragic situation from happening, Yuan Xi could only take precautions for the future and nip the dangerous call in the bud. This was determined by the positions of both sides. The dominant ethnic group must maintain its strength and leadership. Giving up the advantage of strength is tantamount to handing the butcher knife into the hands of the enemy.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xi smiled and said to the elders in the hall: "The songs and dances of the Xianbei are very famous, and I like them very much too."

"I hope that the Xianbei can be integrated into the Han people in the future, and that we can all live and work in peace and contentment in the Central Plains. It is my greatest wish that you can continue to sing and dance."

(End of this chapter)