Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 893 The predicament of merging states
The banquet in Huang County ended peacefully without any accidents. This was all due to Bu Zhi's ability to coordinate and arrange things. Yuan Xi saw it in his eyes. People with talent can show it at a young age. You can't hide it, and no matter how many opportunities a mediocre person gives you, you can't grasp it.

A few days later, Zhang He, Zhang Liao and others led their troops northward. They first went to Jicheng to reorganize the army, then prepared to go to Beixin City, and finally to the border of Bingzhou to train troops in preparation for the attack on Bingzhou next year.

Regarding how to enter Bingzhou in the coming year, Yuan Xi and Zhuge Liang discussed and planned to use a slow-advance strategy, relying on Heishan and Beixin City as the logistics line, and gradually advance to establish camps and occupy all the passes in the direction of Bingzhou on the Eighth Route of Taihang in later generations. , open up the road and ensure the passage of the subsequent army.

After Yuan Xi arranged government appointments with Zhuge Liang, he took people on board. The fleet slowly sailed out of the Huangxian port, went all the way north, and walked around half of the Bohai Sea around the coastline, finally arriving at Yuyang Piaoliang. Yuyi Port.

When everyone was in Suijiang, Piaoyu County, they found that its prosperity was no less than that of Huang County. This surprised the accompanying girls, and even Yuan Xi wondered if he had gone to the wrong place.

You must know that when he developed Piaoyuyi two years ago, it was still a very small fishing village. Not only was the wharf very small, but there were not many ships entering and leaving except for troop carriers and not even cargo ships. But now he has not returned for nearly a year. However, they were shocked to find that this place had turned into a large-scale port. There was an endless stream of merchant ships carrying goods, and the size of the small town of Piaoyuyi had also expanded several times.

He smiled at Tian Yu who came to greet him: "It really makes me feel at ease when the state is doing things."

Tian Yuqian said: "This is all based on the lord's plan to build a seaport along the Korean Peninsula. Almost all materials and goods are transported from here, which requires a lot of ships and labor. People continue to come and settle, and the population of Piaoyuyi also changes from here." What was previously a few thousand people has grown to tens of thousands.”

Yuan Xi nodded slightly. Tens of thousands of people may not seem like many, but most of the residents in Piaoyuyi are craftsmen and workers. Over time, the industry and commerce here will definitely develop rapidly. Regardless of that era, the advantage of maritime transportation in stimulating the local economy is Incomparable to inland areas.

Just like war, land transportation and water transportation are completely different concepts. The loss of food and grass transportation for more than two thousand miles may reach 90%, while the opposite is true for water transportation. This also leads to the fact that almost all wars rely on water canals. for replenishment.

This was the bulk of the money spent during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. It was indeed a waste of people and money, and the disadvantages and benefits were debated endlessly by later generations. But it is undeniable that with the Han court garrison, the northern and southern Xiongnu were completely separated, and there was almost no communication for hundreds of years. It has become a completely different tribe.

The Eastern Han Dynasty not only abandoned the two Great Walls, but also gave the task of resisting the Northern Huns to the Southern Xiongnu, which re-established exchanges between the two sides. In addition, the Eastern Han Dynasty almost gave up its foreign policy, and the Southern Xiongnu began to have the idea of ​​​​merging with the Northern Xiongnu.

Yuan Xi is also facing this problem now. To say that he fought in the Bohai Sea, East China Sea, and even the Jianghuai area, he really deserves it, because in his territory, waterways have been completely formed from the lower reaches of the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and the Yangtze River to the outer sea. The system can rely on a huge fleet to quickly transport troops and food, so Cao Cao and Jiangdong did not dare to act rashly even if they had the intention.

At this point in time, Yuan Xi has to face this mess. The Han court has basically lost its deterrence against the southern Xiongnu and abandoned the two Great Walls. These are all headaches that Yuan Xi must solve when he takes Bingzhou. .

The Yellow River passes through the Hetao area. To the north of the Hetao area is the Qin Great Wall, to the east is the Zhaobei Great Wall based on the Yanshan Mountains, and to the west is the Yinshan Great Wall section built by Qin Shihuang to unify six countries.

To the north of the Yanshan Mountains in the Yinshan Mountains is an area called a desert by the Han Dynasty. It was also the place where Wei Qing and Huo Qubing fought the decisive battle with the Xiongnu during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Unlike the Northern Xiongnu who had always tended to pass southward, after a long period of subtle assimilation, the Southern Xiongnu in the Hetao Plain area was quite biased towards the Han Dynasty. Unfortunately, this policy of the Western Han Dynasty did not continue in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

But attacking Bingzhou is a big problem now. Not only is Yuan Xi unable to use waterways, but the Yellow River across the Hetao Plain has become an obstacle to him.

Not only that, because of the abandonment of the Great Wall, from the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a large number of Xianbei moved south to occupy territory in the Great Wall. In order to stop the Xianbei, the Eastern Han Dynasty came up with the idea of ​​moving the Qiang people to contain the Xianbei, but in practice, it became tolerant to the outside world. Xianbei suppressed the Qiang people internally, which led to the Qiang rebellion that lasted for nearly a hundred years and lost a large area of ​​Liangzhou, including the Ordos Plateau in later generations. It can only be said that the ethnic policy of the Eastern Han Dynasty was a mess.

There is 1.3 million square kilometers of Gobi Desert between Mobei and Monan, which naturally isolates the two sides. After the Han Dynasty occupied Monan, it has been building large-scale fortifications, namely the Wuyuan built by Guang Luxun Xu. The city outside the Great Wall is called Guanglu Fortress. It is said to be a fortress, but it is actually another Great Wall connected by fortresses, which has been built for thousands of miles.

The high-ranking cadres were still too slow in Bingzhou and did not realize the seriousness of the problem, so Yuan Xi rushed back to frighten and prevent the merger within the Southern Xiongnu.

Many people of later generations do not understand why the Han Dynasty repeatedly sent troops out of the Great Wall for expeditions. In fact, the Great Wall beyond the Great Wall could not stop the Xiongnu at all. Its main function was just to call the police. Because every time the Xiongnu invaded, they demolished the Great Wall and came in. Tens of thousands of people came in. It only takes a day for people to tear down the wall, but the scattered defenders cannot stop it at all.

If Yuan Xi does not control Bingzhou, the Hu people outside the Pass will cross the Yellow River and enter Bingzhou without any obstacles, or even take the Black Mountain Road via Youzhou. This is unacceptable to Yuan Xi. His territory will directly face war and plunder. .

The two largest battles in the Shu Kingdom, the Battle of Guan Yu Xiangfan and Liu Bei's Battle of Yiling, were fought on waterways, so they could gather much more troops. Unfortunately, they both failed, and the Shu Kingdom lost the ability to In the following decades, we never found such a good opportunity again in the water route.

This was also the case in the Three Kingdoms era in later generations. The Shu Kingdom looked at each troop dispatch as being small, but this was actually the limit, because all roads out of Qishan Mountain relied on mountain road transportation, which naturally limited the number of troops sent by the Shu Kingdom. On the contrary, Wei could wait for work near Chang'an, and had the Jingzhou water system as support. The price paid by both sides could not be agreed upon.

Therefore, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty responded by going out to the fortress for a decisive battle. After several battles, the Han court finally reached Mobei in 119 AD under Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. That is, the Battle of Mobei. The Xiongnu completely lost Monan and could only fight in Mobei. Hidden to survive.

Tian Yu was obviously well prepared for this question raised by Yuan Xi. After all, Yuan Xi had asked him to cooperate with Tian Feng in leading the plan to seize the Hetao Plain, and he had given it a lot of thought before.

He spoke out: "Hundreds of thousands of Southern Xiongnu must be properly resettled."

"It's not impossible to start a war directly, but the consequences are endless. If the people are dissatisfied, hundreds of thousands of rogues will be created. Whether they go to join the Northern Huns outside the Great Wall, or enter the Central Plains to become rogues, this is a war that cannot be extinguished in a short time. Chaos." Yuan Xi deeply agreed. The destructive power of hundreds of thousands of rogues on horseback was much more powerful than the Yellow Turban Rebellion. If he forced the Southern Huns to rebel, he would become a sinner in the world.

And if it is allowed to go outside the Great Wall, it will be a hidden danger of invading the Central Plains in the future, but it will not be easy to conquer it. The Han Dynasty has not done it for hundreds of years. Can Yuan Xi do it?
Tian Yu was well prepared for this. He said: "I also consulted Mr. Yuan Hao before and came up with several countermeasures, but I always felt that they were not very mature."

"It wasn't until I saw that the envoy was dividing the land in Qingzhou that I was inspired and felt that I could make changes based on the details."

Yuan Xi pondered: "Dividing land in the Hetao Plain?"

"I think the situation on both sides is still different. Qingzhou farmers can only farm, while Bingzhou Hetao Plain can not only cultivate but also graze."

"Because the agriculture in the Hetao Plain is not developed and is still mainly based on grazing, the wealth among the tribesmen is mostly calculated based on the number of cattle and sheep."

"These things are not like land. They are obviously private property of individuals. If they are redistributed, I am afraid that many people will resist it. They will also be afraid that their cattle and sheep will be distributed to others. In fear, it is easy to cause trouble. .”

Tian Yu smiled and said: "My lord is right, I saw the key right away."

“My idea was to exchange things for sheep, to exchange sheep for land.”

"In the final analysis, the Hetao Plain is still a place for growing grain. Grain planting is less affected by climate changes than livestock, and there will not be a bad situation where all cattle and sheep freeze to death overnight. Many herdsmen with few livestock will still tend to grow grain. .”

"If we open up fertile farmland and build water conservancy projects in the Hetao area, it will definitely attract many herdsmen to change their profession. Tools are very expensive there, and Youzhou can produce a large number of tools in exchange for their cattle and sheep."

"In this way, we can turn them into farmers farming in the city, giving them a deeper bond with the land. In this way, when outsiders invade, they will also rise up to resist."

"Previously, they were mainly grazing, and they would run away when outsiders came. Naturally, they were not reliable at all."

Yuan Xi was surprised and said, "I am especially surprised that Guo Rang could think of this."

"I never told you this, did you realize it on your own?"

Tian Yuqian said: "It's just that I grew up in a frontier fortress and understand their thoughts."

"And this also has the advantage of dividing the tribesmen and the big tribal leaders."

"The tribal leaders have many livestock and may be reluctant to give them up. The Hetao Plain is used as farmland, so they can only go to the Yinshan Mountains in the north to graze."

"When the time comes, whether the Northern Huns rob them or collude with them, we will have a buffer area to keep Waihu out of Yinshan."

Yuan Xi couldn't help but clapped his hands and exclaimed, "This is a very good plan to divorce."

"I think it's quite feasible. Let's go back and gather everyone to discuss it carefully and see how we can do this in an honest and fair name."

He thought in his heart that the name of the emperor was actually the most useful, but he obviously couldn't use it now, so he had to think of another way.

But this is also a matter of reaching the Hetao Plain. Previously, in the Yanmen area of ​​Wuyuan Yunzhong, there was a narrow strip of hundreds of miles connecting Dai County, which was the place Yuan Xi wanted to capture first.

Of course, following the practice of courtesy first and then fighting, Yuan Xi has invited the southern Xiongnu tribe to negotiate with Beixin City. Dozens of tribes there have also sent envoys to the post house one after another.

However, Yuan Xi was not prepared to meet them right away. There were many people who wanted to be open-mouthed, but Yuan Xi's idea was very simple. After they lived in Beixin City for a while, they would know which way was better.

(End of this chapter)