Wei Ni

To the east is the Jieshi to view the sea.

Water and water, mountain island.

Earlier, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, had returned from his expedition against the Wuhuan and had rested his troops in the Jieshi Mountain area. While waiting for Gongsun Kang to kill Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi and the Liaodong Wuhuan Chanyu, Subuwan and send their heads off, he also climbed the Jieshi Mountain and left behind the immortal poem "Viewing the Sea".

He was also the fourth emperor to climb Mount Jieshi after Qin Shi Huang, Han Wudi and Hu Hai.

The three hundred white horse volunteers of Gongsun Yi, who were affiliated with Zhang Hu's army and had been stationed in Liaoxi in the early days, served as an outpost to monitor the sea route east of Yuguan.

Ding Mi, Lu Fan and their young followers who came here earlier also live here now.

Because the east side of Jieshi Mountain is the territory of Linyu County.

Gongsun Yi treated them very well.

Not only did he give them the largest house in the outpost and take over the daily chores such as fetching water and collecting firewood, he also generously used spare war horses to teach riding skills to the young soldiers who did not know how to ride.

Because after Baima Yicong returned to his hometown of Sanglingzhi after defeating the Xianbei, he received the reward for the Battle of Macheng, the cattle and horses sent by the commander of Juyongguan, and the official position granted by the imperial court.

All this was thanks to Xiahou Hui's advice to Emperor Cao Rui on their behalf.

In Gongsun Yi's words, it was Xiahou Hui who found a way out for them.

From now on, they will no longer have to worry about arousing the jealousy of county and prefecture officials because of their own troops, and they will have a better chance of reviving the reputation of Bai Ma Gongsun.

Such a great favor should be repaid with one’s life.

They are now just helping out with the trivial chores within their duties and are not worth mentioning.

Ding Mi couldn't refuse, so he accepted the good offer.

Thinking that Gongsun Yi had already been assigned to Xiahou Hui's army, it would be bad if he was too polite to him.

At most, he could privately mention it to Xiahou Hui, so that Gongsun Yi would have more opportunities to establish merit in battle, which would be considered as repaying the favor.

Moreover, in the past few days, he had talked to many of the White Horse Yicong.

In addition to having a general understanding of Bankaido, I also think that before the war against Liaodong begins, I can suggest Xiahou Hui to have an appetizer first.

It is the Xianbei settlement that is now lingering in the Changli County area.

Their leader was called Duan Rilujuan.

He was a small Xianbei and was sold to the leader of the Wuhuan tribe as a slave very early on.

It is said that once when the leaders of the Wuhuan tribes who had surrendered to the Wuhuan were gathering, their leader, Ku Ruguan, did not bring a spittoon with him, so he spat into Duan Rilujuan's mouth. Duan Rilujuan did not feel insulted, but swallowed it, and in accordance with tribal custom, he bowed to the sky to the west and prayed, "May the wisdom and fortune of my master be transferred into my stomach."

This action made the official feel that he was very well behaved.

When Yuyang County was hit by a white disaster, countless cattle and sheep froze to death, and all the tribes were suffering from famine, the official Ku Ru sent Duan Rilujuan to Liaoxi County and the old Liaodong vassal state to make a living because he was strong and obedient.

Well, it means taking people there to do some business without any capital, and then expanding the troops to accumulate strength.

It can be said that the official Ku Ru treated him as a general under his command.

After Duan Rilujuan arrived in Changli County, he first established his authority with his bravery, and then lured some scattered Hu people who lived on their own, gradually turning him into a small force of two or three hundred cavalry.

At that time, the State of Wei had already begun to trade on a large scale with Gongsun of Liaodong.

The main route was to take the sea route from Qingzhou, but due to the influence of sea news and winter, many caravans also took the sea route to enter Liaodong.

This gave Duan Rilujuan the opportunity to obtain supplies.

he is very smart.

There was no robbery or extortion of caravans.

Instead, whenever a caravan passed by, they would take the initiative to bring their tribesmen to guard along the way, and also prepare fodder for the livestock in advance.

This made the passing caravans very tactful and give him some money and supplies.

After all, reciprocity is the norm.

Merchants who travel abroad understand best that harmony brings wealth.

When Duan Rilujuan came with two or three hundred cavalrymen to show goodwill, no one was willing to drive them away, and no one was stingy with a few supplies and thus cause conflict or be targeted.

Therefore, in the past few years, Duan Rilujuan's small tribe has been expanding rapidly. So far, it has gathered more than 400 tribes and 600 to 700 soldiers.

All these situations were reported to Ding Mi by the Baima Yicong.

This also made Ding Mi feel that he must suggest Xiahou Hui to kill Duan Rilujuan.

A person who is patient enough to be a spittoon will surely achieve something in the future and will inevitably pose a threat to the border of Wei State!
The best way to deal with threats is to nip them in the bud.

The ignorant, poor and weak tribes of the barbarians are the "good neighbors" of the Central Plains Dynasty! If there is a chance, we will kill any capable and ambitious people who can accomplish something in the future!
Only in this way can we achieve long-term stability.

At least that's what Ding Mi felt in his heart.

Furthermore, killing Duan Rilujuan and dispersing all the small tribes he had gathered to various counties in Youzhou would also add households to the country.
How can things that benefit the country be bound by morality?
Ding Mi had already thought of a reason to persuade Xiahou Hui to kill Duan Rilujuan.

One is to attack the weak and ignorant.

The vassal states of Liaodong are now ownerless, so we cannot allow the Duan Rilu clan to develop at will, lest they bring disaster to the border of Wei.

The other reason was that Duan Rilujuan was in the way. It was not the road to be cleared before the Liaodong invasion, but Xiahou Hui's road in the imperial court.

Yes, the path to power.

Unlike Xiahou Hui who was fully focused on how to defeat Gongsun Yuan, Ding Mi’s consideration for the expedition to Liaodong was not about military conflict, but about how to “seek profit through military operations.”

This profit-making is not only for the government, but also for Xiahou Hui and himself.

As early as when Emperor Cao Rui asked Wang Xiong and Tian Yu to prepare for the expedition to Liaodong, Jiang Ji proposed that the expedition to Liaodong would be a matter of "gaining its people is not enough to benefit the country, and gaining its wealth is not enough to make it rich", and that it should not be a waste of countless manpower and financial resources to conquer it while the two countries of Shu and Wu still existed.

This rebuttal reason of "the cost outweighs the gain" is also the consensus of all the dignitaries in the court.

In fact, if Cao Rui had not forced the expedition to Liaodong in order to have his achievements recorded in history books in the future, the expedition would never have been carried out.

Therefore, Ding Mi had this point in mind and had been thinking about how to turn the attack on Liaodong into a "profitable" war for the court.

It's not to slap Jiang Ji in the face.

It was also not to shut up the nobles, so that when they talked about this war in the future, they would still think that Guanqiu Jian and Xiahou Hui were flattering Emperor Cao Rui and were ambitious and were doing evil to the emperor.

Instead, he wanted to gain a place for Xiahou Hui and himself in the court.

This seat does not mean a specific official position or military power, but the right to have a say in the planning of major military and national affairs!

If you have no hair on your mouth, you will not be able to do things well.

Rough words are not rough.

In the government, where seniority is the key and experience is particularly important, he and Xiahou Hui were both newcomers with no experience and no experience in politics, and had no chance to participate in the government's decisions.

Even if there is an opportunity, it will be ignored by everyone because they are too young.

Take Xiahou Hui for example.

When he proposed to use the emperor's disciples to ease the nine-rank official system and reform the scholar family, he reported it to the emperor Cao Rui secretly and privately, and it was Cao Rui who alone promoted the implementation of the policy.

Sometimes, young bureaucrats could not help but sigh that there were too many long-lived important officials in the State of Wei.

There are so many that young officials have no chance to display their talents.

And during the time that he followed Xiahou Hui, Ding Mi vaguely felt that he had a great ambition.

He didn't want to know what this ambition was, as they were already sharing weal and woe.

He just knew that Xiahou Hui was open-hearted and respected him.

Therefore, when there is an opportunity, he also wants to help Xiahou Hui change from moving up step by step to moving up in leaps and bounds, so that he can realize this ambition as soon as possible.

Because Xiahou Hui has the ability to realize his ambitions, and also has the ability to help him revive his family.

Therefore, he felt that how to attack Liaodong was a problem that Xiahou Hui, Guanqiu Jian and others should consider; what he needed to consider was how to manage and govern Liaodong, recover the northeastern part of Liaoxi County and the territory of Liaodong's vassal states after the war.

Military achievements are only the foundation of Xiahou Hui's foothold and just the icing on the cake.

Because they are the descendants of Qiao Pei heroes, they can gain a foothold in the army even without any achievements, such as Xiahou Mi and his son Xiahou Xian.

If he wanted to gain a foothold in the government and have a say, he needed to deal with the aftermath of the war and propose a plan that would benefit the country, so that the emperor Cao Rui and the officials in the government would think that Xiahou Hui had the ability to participate in the discussion of military and national affairs.

Of course, attacking and killing Duan Rilujuan can only be regarded as an appetizer.

Ding Mi still had a lot of thoughts about how to manage Liaodong, and he had to wait until Gongsun Yuan of Liaodong surrendered before he could implement it.

Therefore, he also used this appetizer as a test to see what Xiahou Hui was thinking, and as a reference to adjust his thoughts, so that Xiahou Hui would be willing to implement his ideas in the future.

As a staff member~
A strategy is not really good just because you think it is good, but only if it can be implemented.

In the evening three days later, Xiahou Hui, who had bid farewell to the prefect Fu Rong and came from the State of Guzhu, finally arrived at the foot of Jieshi Mountain.

That night, Gongsun Yi, the host, asked the cavalrymen to take out the meat they had hunted during their daily patrols, as well as the cold-resistant wine and drinks provided by the government, and set up a banquet.

Originally, Xiahou Hui claimed that there was no need to do so.

But Gongsun Yi joked that this was his last day as the commander here, and asked Xiahou Hui to let him be unrestrained for once.

The final result, of course, is that the bonfire illuminates the Jieshi Mountain and the laughter flows into the sea.

With everyone toasting and chatting, especially paying special attention to Xiahou Hui, Ding Mi did not find an opportunity to talk about business that night, so the next day, he invited Xiahou Hui to climb the mountain and view the sea together.

Xiahou Hui showed little interest.

What’s so beautiful about mountains and seas!

He did not have the interest in seeking immortals like the Qin Emperor and Han Emperor Wu, nor did he have the literary talent like Wei Emperor and Cao Cao. So why did he climb the Jieshi Mountain?
Are you missing Hu Hai, who lost his country?

Besides, he also had things to do.

When you arrive at the station here, you should also write a letter home to report your safety and inform them of the address for posting letters.

Calculating the time, his wife Wang Yuanji is about to give birth. If she wants to send a letter home by then, she won’t know where to ask the post office to deliver it.

But he couldn't beat Ding Mi.

"Let's go, Zhiquan. I have something to discuss in private." (End of this chapter)