Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 652: Turmoil in the Wei Court
AD 226, spring, Luoyang.

It has been nearly two years since Cao Pi passed away and Cao Rui ascended the throne. During these two years, under Cao Rui's governance, the internal environment of Cao Wei has tended to be stable. In addition, there were no natural disasters, and last year the agricultural harvest in all the prefectures and counties of Cao Wei was great, which made Cao Rui happy for a few days.

But while the internal situation was gradually stabilizing, Cao Rui was troubled by Kebineng on the border.

After Kebi Neng signed an alliance with the Han Dynasty, with the help of Deng Zhi, he began to destroy the anti-Kebi Neng alliance led by Cao Wei.

The anti-Kebi Neng alliance, namely Qian Zhao and Tian Yu, based on the situation in the northern border, united the hostile forces of Kebi Neng through diplomatic means, including Budugen, Putou, Xieguini, and Yanmen Wuhuan King Tong.

Although their individual forces were not as numerous as Kebi Neng's, their combined forces, with Cao Wei as the central organizer, meant that their forces were not much less than Kebi Neng's. It was only because of the dispersed population that they were not as strong as Kebi Neng.

After Deng Zhi understood the situation in southern Mobei, he proposed to Kebi Neng the military strategy of disintegrating the alliance instead of simply using war.

After careful consideration, Deng Zhi suggested that Kebi Neng marry the weakest Budugen, promise him pastureland, and then give him a high position.

The reason why Deng Zhi suggested Kebi Neng to induce Budugen to rebel was that Budugen's army had only more than 10,000 households and was not very powerful. More importantly, Budugen had a close relationship with Xieguini.

Xieguini's father was Fuluohan. Fuluohan was Budugen's middle brother, and Kuitou was Budugen's eldest brother, so Budugen and Xieguini were uncle and nephew. Before, Xieguini rebelled against Kebineng, and it was Budugen who persuaded him.

As for the relationship between Budugen and Tan Shihuai?

Budugen was the grandson of Tan Shihuai, and his elder brother Kuitou was the third Chanyu of Xianbei. The first Chanyu Tan Shihuai died, and the second Chanyu was Helian. Helian was shot to death by the people of Beidi County with a crossbow when he was conquering Beidi County in the south. Because Helian's son Qianman was young, Helian's elder brother Kuitou was chosen as Chanyu.

But as Qianman grew up, in order to regain his position as Chanyu, he used the troops left by his father to fight against Kuitou. Although Qianman eventually killed Kuitou, Fuluohan and Budugen joined forces to kill Qianman again.

Due to long-term internal strife, the Xianbei eventually split. The Western Xianbei, which belonged to the lineage of Helian and Qianman, were at odds with the Central and Eastern Xianbei and thus rebelled against the Xianbei.

Afterwards, Kebi Neng's tribe rose to prominence. When they were in the Wuhuan of Dai County, they took the opportunity to kill Fuluo Han, annex his tribe, and support his son Xieguini to take the throne. From then on, Kebi Neng began to rise in the south of the desert.

After carefully analyzing the complicated relationship between the Xianbei tribes, Deng Zhi believed that Budugen could either return to Wei or surrender to the grasslands again. Xie surrendered to Wei before returning to Ni, and he could also surrender to Kebi Neng again.

Therefore, Deng Zhi formulated a strategy for Kebi Neng to split the alliance, that is, to first win over Budugen to serve him, and then find an opportunity to revolt against Xieguini, and then to resolve the Xianbei tribes through force. As soon as this plan came out, Kebi Neng immediately agreed.

During Lu Xun's raid on Longyou, Kebi Neng sent someone to secretly contact Budugen. Using the fact that they were both Xianbei as an introduction, he expressed his willingness to marry Budugen and to hand over the position of Lord of the West to him.

Budugen hesitated for a while, but finally, after Kebi Neng's repeated persuasion, he decided to lead his troops back to the grassland.

When Cao Wei learned that Budugen had led his troops back to the city, the governor of Bingzhou immediately sent General Su Shang and General Dong Bi to hunt down Budugen's troops. The Wei army caught up with Budugen in Loufan, Yanmen County, but unexpectedly encountered Kebi Neng, who was leading his troops south. The two sides fought a fierce battle in Loufan, and General Su Shang and General Dong Bi were killed, and the Wei army was almost wiped out.

After the deaths of Generals Su and Dong, Kebi Neng took advantage of the situation and led his troops to plunder Bingzhou and kill soldiers and officials. It was not until Qian Zhao and Tian Yu joined forces with the Wuhuan of Yanmen and threatened to attack Chengle that Kebi Neng withdrew his troops and led his troops back to the south of the desert.

In fact, Cao Rui did not approve of the action of Bingzhou Governor Bi Gui sending troops to pursue Budugen. After Cao Rui learned that Bi Gui had sent troops, he told his attendants that Budugen and Kebineng would never truly unite, and that leading troops to pursue them would only make them more united.

Therefore, Cao Rui urgently issued an imperial edict to stop Bi Gui from sending troops. However, by the time the edict reached Taiyuan, the armies of Su Shang and Dong Bi had already been defeated. Ke Bineng and Bu Dugen joined forces to plunder the counties of Bingzhou, causing a stir in the northern border of Wei.

Luoyang Palace, Yi Hall.

Emperor Cao Rui of Wei sat high in the Mingtang, while all the civil and military officials of Wei knelt at the table to discuss the military and political affairs of Wei.

Chen Qun held a tablet in his hand and said in a memorial: "Your Majesty, Kebi Neng killed Governor Yan and then joined forces with the pirates. Now he has formed an alliance with Budugen, plundered the counties of Bingzhou, and annihilated the border troops. The northern border is shaken and uneasy. We should not appease Kebi Neng anymore, but take the initiative to use troops to deter the barbarians in the south of the desert!"

"Chen Situ, the Xianbei barbarians should not be underestimated. Kebineng has 100,000 cavalrymen and occupies the counties of Hetao. We are sending troops hastily, not to mention the long food supply route. The barbarians are unpredictable in their migration. If we exhaust our troops to pursue them from afar, we may be defeated by the barbarians. At the end of the Han Dynasty, 30,000 elite cavalrymen were defeated when they went out of the border. This is a lesson we should learn from!"

Wei Zhen stood up to object, saying: "The most important thing at the moment is to guard against the pirates. According to reports from the scouts in the south, the pirates have been collecting supplies, building large boats, and recruiting strong men to join the army. This is a great threat!"

After the Han-Xiongnu War, one thing was proved. At the peak of the two countries, the Han people were always stronger than the Hu people. Unless the nomadic peoples adopted the Chinese military system, they would inevitably be inferior to the farming peoples in a head-on confrontation.

Therefore, what the armies of farming nations fear most, or what troubles them the most, is that nomadic nations do not engage in direct combat with them, but instead make good use of their own mobility and vast strategic depth to drag down or outflank the armies of farming nations.

Chen Qun hoped that Cao Wei would take the initiative to attack the Xianbei, while Wei Zhen was worried that taking the initiative to attack the Xianbei would put the Wei army in a passive position. Once they were deeply involved in the war in the north, the Southern Han would take the opportunity to attack the north, and they would be attacked from both sides. Chen Qun frowned and said, "There are many Hu bandits in Bingzhou, including Wuhuan, Xiongnu, and Xianbei. If we ignore the border affairs now, Xie Guini will be afraid. If Ke Bineng orders people to ally with them in the south again, I am afraid that they will imitate Budugen's rebellion."

Kebi Neng's power was a headache for Cao Wei. Cao Wei was able to intimidate the various ethnic minorities in the northern border not because of its inherent prestige, but because of the reputation established by Cao Cao and his son Cao Zhang through their conquests of the Wuhuan in Liaodong and Dai County.

Once Cao Wei loses the ability to rule the northern border, the barbarians on the border will inevitably be ready to make a move, or wait for an opportunity to rebel. For example, Xie Guini will probably respond to Kebi Neng's rebellion again under Kebi Neng's temptation!
Just as Chen Qun said, Cao Wei now needs to use military power to intimidate the barbarians again to prevent them from following Bu Dugen's example and surrendering to Kebineng.

Cao Rui raised his hand to signal the two of them not to say more, and said: "Situ's words should not be pondered. The Hu people first killed Yan Jun, and then joined forces with the pirates. Their troops have repeatedly invaded the northern border. If we don't use troops now, I'm afraid it will scare the leaders of the tribes!"

"Your Majesty~"

Wei Zhen wanted to say something but was interrupted by Cao Rui.

"But we should be prepared for what Wei Qing said. The barbarians are unpredictable in their movements. If we exhaust our troops to pursue them over a long distance, the mountains and rivers are dangerous, and it will be difficult to transport supplies in secret."

Cao Rui said in a deep voice: "Ke Bineng is now very powerful, and I think he is complacent. We can order Xie Guini to pretend to surrender and lead Ke Bineng south to Bingzhou. Send troops from the central army to assist and join the county troops to fight against the Xianbei!"

Ke Bineng was too reckless, which made it impossible for Cao Wei to ignore it. However, how to manage it, or how to conquer it, also requires skills.

It has been said before that the advantage of the Xianbei is their strong mobility, but if the nomadic people can be lured south to Bingzhou, it will be of great benefit to Cao Wei's military operations.

"May I ask Your Majesty, who should we choose to fight against the enemy?" Chen Qun asked.

Cao Rui thought for a long time and said, "Let General Zhang He lead 10,000 troops into Bingzhou. If Ke Bineng fails in his plan, Zhang He will lead his troops back south and not be allowed to cross the border easily. In order to appease Xie Guini, he should be canonized as the King of Guiyi!"

"promise!"

After finishing the affairs of Bingzhou, Cao Rui asked, "Is there anything you have not reported yet?"

The ministers remained silent, indicating that they had no more memorials to submit.

Seeing that there was no memorial, Cao Rui wanted to get up and leave the bed. However, just as Cao Rui was about to leave the court, Wei Shilang rushed into the palace to report.

"Your Majesty, there is a new memorial from the Secretariat concerning the great changes in Longyou!" said the assistant minister.

"Great changes in Longyou?"

Cao Rui's heart sank, and he asked, "But did Ma Chao defeat Guo Huai?"

"No!"

The assistant minister submitted the memorial, saying: "Lu Xun took advantage of the confrontation between Ma Chao and Guo Liangzhou to sneak across Longyou from Yinping and attack Tianshui, Guangwei, and Nan'an counties. Jincheng prefect Jiang Jiong surrendered to the bandits and cut off Ma Chao's food supply, leaving the Liang army without food."

"After hearing the news, Ma Chao led his troops back to his country. Because the families of his soldiers were captured by Lu Xun, his soldiers surrendered. Ma Chao wanted to go north to Qiang, but he was intercepted and killed by Wei Yan on the way, and was defeated and killed. Now the six counties in Longyou are all owned by the pirates, and Ma Chao's cousin Ma Dai surrendered to Liangzhou."

"what?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the civil and military officials of Cao Wei in the hall seemed to be in an uproar.

They never expected that Ma Chao, who had dominated Guanlong, would be defeated so quickly. Previously, there was news of a confrontation between Guo and Ma, but in just over ten days, Lu Xun not only killed Ma Chao, but also seized all six counties in Longyou.

Cao Rui's face was extremely heavy, and he clasped the armrests tightly with both hands, wishing he could crush them.

At the beginning of his reign, he and Liu Ye had formulated a strategy for pacifying the world. The plan was to pacify Longyou first, then conquer the Han Dynasty in the south, and try to restore the territory to the heyday of Cao Cao. However, Ma Chao's rapid defeat declared his previous strategy aborted.

(End of this chapter)