Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1361 Confrontation
Kobe stood on the grassland hills, looking towards the endless mountains in the south. He raised his whip and pointed at the Great Wall on the mountain ridge, and said to everyone: "The great Central Plains is occupied by the Han people, and we, the people blessed by God, can only live in the open air on the grassland!"

"But the laws of nature are unpredictable. The Han people will not always be blessed by God. Now that the world is in chaos, it is a great opportunity for us to advance into the Central Plains and trample the Han people under our feet!"

"The prairie is our ancestral land, but the land of the Central Plains should not be monopolized by the Han people!"

"Are the millions of brave men of our grassland going to be blocked out by this wall for generations?"

This time he brought dozens of Xianbei tribe leaders with him and approached the Great Wall to show everyone his determination to enter the pass. These tribe leaders all supported Kobinen's war party, and now after hearing this, they all shouted out loud: "No!"

Kirby could raise his whip high, "What's that over there on the wall?"

Everyone shouted: "It's the despicable and weak Han people!"

"It's a Han dog!"

"They are the livestock killed by my Xianbei people!"

Kirby was able to wave his hand again, "Those over the wall are enemies!"

"Gentlemen, only by killing them all and enslaving them can we spread our Xianbei seeds all over this land!"

"The Jin State is now acting insidiously. Not only has it allowed its troops to sneak attack our hinterland, it has also changed the ancestral system of the Wuhuan and Xiongnu tribes, forcibly turning them into Han people. If this continues, sooner or later it will be our turn!"

"We have no way out. Are we willing to become slaves of the Han people?"

Everyone started yelling, "No!"

Kobe was able to pull out the people around him and said to everyone, "Everyone, this is Wuhuan's capable minister Di!"

"Ten years ago, the Wuhuan were once powerful, but they were bought by the Han people's wealth and became their dogs. They offered their tribe's cattle, horses and women to the Han people to flatter them. The Wuhuan kings all surrendered to the Jin State, which was a disgrace to their ancestors!"

"Of course, there are also people among the Wuhuan who see through the sinister intentions of the Jin State, and that is the capable minister Di!"

"He brought tens of thousands of tribesmen, risked his life to leave Wuhuan, and came to us for help. To rescue the Wuhuan people and save their future!"

"Although there were some conflicts among the Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes in previous generations, at this critical moment of life and death, all the Hu people should unite and fight against the Han people, our greatest enemy!"

When everyone heard this, they all responded. The capable minister Di also took the opportunity to shout, "Dear Xianbei brothers!"

"The Han people are too shameless. As long as they are here, we will be threatened for generations to come!"

"We are living a miserable life inside the Great Wall. The Han people have occupied the most fertile land. We Wuhuan can only graze cattle and sheep, and then exchange them for the necessities of life, and we are also exploited by them!"

"We have to give them twenty sheep in exchange for one iron pot. Is that fair?"

Everyone roared in unison, "Not fair!"

"It's so unfair!"

But some people were wondering, can we just exchange it for twenty heads?

The merchant caravans from the interior of the country traded with the Xianbei, and one wrought iron pot cost fifty cattle and sheep!
The reason why it is a wrought iron pot is that wrought iron cannot be reused to make weapons. The Jin State had extremely strict control over ironware in order to prevent the Xianbei from using ironware to cast armor and weapons.

When the two sides were fighting, the corpses of Jin soldiers were the main source of armor and weapons for the Xianbei people. Often when a Jin soldier died in battle, dozens or even hundreds of Xianbei cavalry would rush up to grab the body.

The Jin army naturally knew this, and often used it to set traps for the Xianbei people, resulting in the Xianbei people rarely succeeding and instead losing many lives.

For the very few who could snatch the corpse, their ancestral tombs would be smoking. In a small tribe, a set of armor would be considered a family heirloom. If presented to the patriarch, one would immediately become a celebrity in the tribe, and even be rewarded with hundreds of years of sheep and dozens of women.

Nowadays, there is not only a shortage of iron outside the Great Wall, but also a lack of smelting technology. Many people's arrows are made of stone and bone. Unless these arrows hit the areas not covered by armor, it is difficult to kill the Jin soldiers. This is the bloody lesson that Kobe has learned over the years at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.

This is also why the Hu people outside the Great Wall were eager to occupy the Central Plains. Not only did they have endless food, charming Han women, and countless rare toys, but more importantly, the Han people had countless technologies that made the Xianbei envious. This was the key to allowing the Xianbei to flourish!

But the Xianbei people were not fearless of death. On the one hand, they wanted weapons and women, and on the other hand, they could not afford the huge losses of fighting against the heavily armored soldiers of the Central Plains. So they could be allowed to plunder, but when it came to frontal combat, they began to back off.

But this would not work. The Xianbei could no longer wait. If the Central Plains were weak and had given up on the areas outside the Great Wall like the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Xianbei might have been able to wait for an opportunity. But now their opponent was the State of Jin, and behind it was the notorious ferocious tiger.

The State of Jin has almost unified the Central Plains in recent years. Kobe knows that the Emperor of Jin had great ambitions, otherwise he would never have set up the capital in Jicheng and personally presided over the affairs of Youzhou for so many years. This shows that the importance of the areas outside the Great Wall is even higher than that of Wei and Wu in his mind!
This made Kobe extremely frightened. It was extremely terrifying to become the opponent of Jin. Only in this position could he realize the horror of walking into the abyss and being doomed if he made a mistake. Now that Wu was destroyed and Wei was half-dead, if things continued like this, Xianbei would sooner or later become the next target of Jin's military operations.

Kobe could see that Jin was developing too fast, and the endless inventions were causing the gap between the two sides to gradually widen. The armor that the Xianbei people treasured was commonplace on the Jin side. The amount of steel used in the weapons and armor equipped by an elite soldier of the Jin army was an extremely terrifying number in the eyes of the Xianbei. Moreover, the other side could replenish damaged armor and weapons at any time. How could the war be fought if this continued?
In addition, the cold winter on the grassland in the past two years has made the environment in the north increasingly harsh, so Kobe can no longer bear it. He must strike with all his strength before the strength of both sides becomes irreparable, in order to win the future for Xianbei!
Kobe knew very well that before going to war, all the tribes must be tied to the chariots. Now that the Xianbei people had suffered a great defeat, their morale was not high. No one wanted to be the first to come forward and everyone wanted to wait and see. But this was not going to work. Facing the State of Jin, they had to gather everyone and launch a full-scale attack!
This is why he brought his loyal chief with him, because after returning, he would integrate the tribes and cleanse those tribes that were passive in response to the challenge and those who pretended to obey but actually disobeyed!
He sat up straight, drew out the long sword from the scabbard, raised it high, and shouted: "Everyone, I have heard that the Jin State is preparing to launch a war of genocide against us!"

"We Xianbei people are definitely not cowards waiting to die. We have lived on the grasslands for generations, but the Han people want to exterminate us. Can we just sit there and wait to die?"

Everyone yelled, “No!”

"Kill the Han dog!"

Kirby could yell, "Okay!"

"Today, we swear to fight the Han people with all our might to the death, and completely eliminate this cancer that threatens all of us Hu people, so that their descendants will be slaves for generations and work like slaves for us!"

Everyone was filled with excitement and indignation, and they were all rubbing their hands in anticipation, wishing they could immediately break into the interior and seize the Han people's kingdom.

Seeing that the time had come, Kobe dismounted with everyone else, swore an oath of blood, drank blood wine, and vowed to bet everything the tribe had, penetrate into the Central Plains, and defeat the Han people.

After everyone did all this, a rocket was ignited on the Great Wall in the distance and exploded in the sky, obviously discovering the whereabouts of Kobinen and his group.

Kirby saw it and said without hesitation: "Let's go!"

“We will be back!”

"When I come back next year, I will lead my people to completely defeat the Han people!"

After riding for half an hour, they encountered the large army that had been brought by the Xianbei, tens of thousands of the most powerful cavalry. This time they came here in late autumn for the purpose of demonstration, but their target was not the State of Jin, but the large and small tribes of the Eastern and Western Xianbei.

In recent years, Budugen and Suli of the Eastern and Western Xianbei have been supported by the State of Jin, and their conflicts with the Central Xianbei have become increasingly fierce. What Kobe can do now is to teach them a lesson and let the Eastern and Western Xianbei see the Central Xianbei's determination to fight to the death!
After that, the war quickly spread across the grassland. Many tribes in the border areas between the Eastern and Western Xianbei and the Central Xianbei were looted. Moreover, because the Central Xianbei were well prepared, the Eastern and Western Xianbei were unable to cope with it and could only retreat and hide temporarily.

After plundering a lot of people, cattle and sheep, the morale of the Zhong Xianbei became increasingly high. There was only one way to unite the Hu people, and that was to gain benefits through continuous plundering. This was the key to the Chanyu gaining prestige. Now, Kebinen, whose decisiveness and mobilization capabilities were far superior to Budugen and Suli, had taken the lead, united the hearts of the people of the tribe, and was ready for a full-scale war with the Jin State.

When the news reached Jicheng, Yuan Xi was discussing matters with Ju Shou, Yang Xiu and others. He laughed and said, "Can Kobe not attack us and attack Budugen and Suli instead?"

Ju Su said, "They lost more than 100,000 people in Youzhou the year before last. I'm afraid they have already had a trauma in their hearts. Before they are fully prepared, I'm afraid Kobe will not easily enter the country."

Yang Xiu said, "Kobineng's move is brilliant. The strong Xianbei will be the king. Now many tribes in the Central and Western Xianbei will probably go to Kobineng for support."

"If he can successfully integrate the major tribes within a year, he may launch a full-scale attack on Jin the year after."

Yuan Xi said: "I partially agree with De Zu's opinion."

"But I think the time for the decisive battle may be next year."

Yang Xiu hesitated and said, "Isn't it a bit hasty to prepare for next year? I'm afraid many places in Xianbei are not ready yet?"

"Let's put aside other things. Has he not yet cracked the tactics of several generals to harass the rear?"

Yuan Xi said aloud: "I guess he doesn't care anymore."

"Although women and children are the future of the tribe, he has already placed all his bets on the gambling table. Whether there is a future or not no longer depends on these women and children."

"He won the bet, so there are naturally a lot of women in the Central Plains who can be abducted."

Yang Xiu said, "But if you lose, you will have nothing."

Yuan Xi nodded and said, "That's right, the loser will lose everything, and the same is true for us."

Ju Shou and Yang Xiu remained silent. It was impossible for them not to feel pressured. Although the Xianbei had inferior weapons and armor, they were known to have a million soldiers under their command. Once these cavalrymen who came and went like the wind entered the Central Plains, it would be the most terrifying thing in hundreds of years.

Yuan Xi stood up and said, "Gather as many troops as possible. From now on, we must continue to launch pressure attacks on the Xianbei without stopping for even a day."

(End of this chapter)