Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 740: Restoration of the Four Counties

In the sixth year of Jianxing, winter.

As the three states of Hebei were initially pacified, in order to prevent the remnants of Cao Wei from reviving, Zhuge Liang stayed in Yecheng to govern, responsible for pacifying the great families in Guandong and strengthening the Han Dynasty's control over the various families in Guandong.

During this period, Zhuge Liang issued three consecutive edicts, granting amnesty to the four states of Zhao, Ji, Bing and You. In the next five years, only half of the taxes and levies would be paid.

Secondly, Zhuge Liang moved 35,000 families of Wei's former ministers, including Xiahou Ba, Sima Shi, Chen Qun, and Gao Rou, to Guanzhong in the name of repairing Huiling, and exempted them from land rent for 15 years.

At the end of that period, the government encouraged the people of Hebei to migrate to Henan and Guanzhong, and provided them with food stipends for two years, with an additional 20 years exemption.

The first one is easy to understand, but the second one is to prevent Cao Wei from reviving and to uproot the power of the big families in the old Cao Wei country.

After all, families are different from households, and the number of 35,000 families is far greater than the number of households. Take the example of the Western Jin Dynasty's relocation of Shu people. After the fall of Shu Han, the Western Jin Dynasty relocated 30,000 families of former officials to Guanzhong and Hedong in order to prevent Shu Han from reviving.

Among them, the Xue family who followed Liu Bei into Shu had as many as 5,000 households including followers and common people. After a long period of development, the Hedong Xue family became famous.

Therefore, all 35,000 old clans of Cao Wei were large families with military power and scriptures. They could not only enrich the population of Guanzhong, but also resist the future southward migration of the Hu people.

The third point was to persuade the people of Hebei, which had a larger population, to move south to the Central Plains, in the hope of weakening the Hebei gentry by reducing the population.

Not only that, Zhuge Liang listened to the advice of Li Fu from Shu and persuaded the people from the Central Plains who had settled in Yi and Liang states to return to their original places of residence by exempting them from land rent and granting them land and houses.

Afterwards, after many consultations and negotiations between the Han and Xianbei, the two sides reached a temporary treaty.

The Han Dynasty established border markets on the borders of You and Bing states, gave 30,000 pieces of cloth and 100,000 dan of military rations to the Xianbei, and promised not to traffic the Xianbei people as slaves.

The Xianbei did not restrict the import of horses into the Central Plains, and promised to use the water control (now the Huihe River in Shuozhou) as the border, and give up the occupied cities of Yinguan, Mayi, Loufan, Banshi, Dai, and Yanmen. In order to repay the Han reward, Kebi Neng symbolically sent back 300 Han people.

On the issue of the Western Regions, because Zhuge Liang was determined not to give up the Western Regions, with the efforts of Tian Yu, the two sides temporarily put the Western Regions on hold and finally achieved the strategic goal of fighting in the East and the West.

Because of his contribution in peace talks, Zhuge Liang appointed Tian Yu as General of the Guards for the Xianbei and concurrently as Administrator of Yanmen, assisting Lu Xun in reorganizing the border defense of Bingzhou.

After the peace talks between the two countries, Liu Chan obtained Zhuge Liang's consent on the pretext of inspecting the border, and under the escort of Zhao Yun, he went north from Yecheng to inspect the border counties of Youzhou and Bingzhou, and sent people to persuade Sun Quan of Pingzhou to surrender.

At the same time, in order to build the Guanxi border defense, Huo Jun asked Sima Zhi to be responsible for building a new capital, while he led civil and military officials over the mountains to Gaonu (now Yan'an).

In the depths of winter, the wind on the northern Shaanxi Plateau was exceptionally cold, and coupled with the air conditioning, Huo Jun, who had lived in the south for many years, could not help but shiver.

Wrapping his cloak tightly around himself, Huo Jun stopped and looked at the abandoned city of Gaonu, frowning in deep thought.

Deng Zhi spread out an old map of Shangjun and said, "Prime Minister, the mountains in the north of Guanxi are crisscrossed, and the Hetao area is occupied by the Xianbei. If we want to build a barrier for Guanzhong, we should use Hengshan as the boundary and restore the counties of Shangjun."

When powerful nomadic peoples emerged on the grasslands, the dynasty with Guanzhong as its capital would build three lines of defense in the north for the purpose of protection and attack.

From north to south, there are three lines of defense: Yinshan, Hengshan, and northern Shaanxi. Before the Han and Tang dynasties drove the nomadic peoples north, there were only two lines, Hengshan and northern Shaanxi, so the Huns and Turks often attacked Guanzhong.

The territory of Guanxi taken over by the Southern Han Dynasty today only has part of the defense line in northern Shaanxi because of the Southern Xiongnu, Xianbei and Eastern Qiang. Hengshan has already fallen, and Hetao is even occupied by the Xianbei.

In order to safeguard the security of Guanzhong and to recover Hetao in the future, Huo Jun had to develop a practical military system and border defense system for Southern Han.

"It may not be easy to recover the old land north of the pass!"

Zhao Ang shook his head and said, "North of the pass are high mountains and steep ridges, where the Xiongnu, Qiang and Hu occupy. If we want to recover our territory, we must fight against the Hu people."

During the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, Liu Yuan and Helian Bobo were both from the Southern Xiongnu. Liu Yuan took advantage of the civil strife in the Western Jin Dynasty to establish the Xiongnu Han regime; Helian Bobo established the Huxia Dynasty with the help of the Xianbei and Xiongnu.

The reason why the two kingdoms were established, in addition to the outstanding abilities of their leaders, was also because the Southern Xiongnu had lived in northern Shaanxi and Hengshan all year round since they migrated from the south, and thus had a broad ruling base.

As for the Hengshan Qiang that appeared in northern Shaanxi during the Song-Xia confrontation period, they can be traced back to the Dong Qiang.

The term "Eastern Qiang" was used by the Eastern Han Dynasty to distinguish the Qiang people who migrated eastward to northern Shaanxi from the Western Qiang people in Longyou. Compared with the Western Qiang people, the Qiang people who migrated eastward were more assimilated to the Han culture and mainly engaged in agriculture. Because they lived in northern Shaanxi, the tribes were separated by mountains, forming different ethnic groups, and no unified regime was formed in history.

Therefore, if the Southern Han wanted to establish a border defense system and restore the two defense lines of northern Shaanxi and Hengshan, it had to consider how to deal with the Southern Xiongnu and the Eastern Qiang.

This treatment not only includes the military level, but also the political level. The Southern Han Dynasty cannot push the Xiongnu, Qiang and Erhu people to the Xianbei side.

Deng Zhi pondered for a moment and said, "The Xiongnu have a close relationship with the Han people. All the tribes have the surname Liu. It is better to divide them into five tribes and follow the strategy of the Central Han Dynasty to protect the border. It is better to conquer and suppress the Qiang people in the north of the pass, register them as households and bring them under the rule of the Han people."

Hearing this, Huo Jun pointed his whip at the northern Shaanxi plateau and asked, "North of the pass, there are mountains and rivers everywhere. If the Qiang people want to cause chaos, can we Han stop them?"

"Moreover, the Central Han Dynasty used the Xiongnu to protect the borders, waiting for the Xianbei to prosper. The Xiongnu could not resist and could only rely on the Han army. Now the Xiongnu soldiers are weak, not as good as the Xianbei Hu cavalry, and even less than our elite troops. Letting the Xiongnu to protect the borders is probably a waste of money and food."

If the Eastern Qiang were easy to deal with, they would not have survived the Song and Xia dynasties. The Eastern Qiang took advantage of the closed terrain of the Loess Plateau to avoid many wars. If the Southern Han wanted to wipe out the Eastern Qiang, they could refer to Hu Zongnan.

Huo Jun could only describe the plan of using the Huns to guard the border as a pipe dream. If the Huns had the ability to defend their homeland, they would not have been forced to flee south by the Xianbei.

It should be noted that the Southern Xiongnu were originally stationed in the Hetao area, and later moved their royal court to Meiji County. When the Xianbei rose to power, the Southern Xiongnu were forced to migrate south, and eventually settled in Xihe, Shangjun, and Taiyuan. They relied on the help of the Eastern Han Dynasty and occasionally rebelled against it.

As he spoke, Huo Jun said meaningfully, "To destroy the Hu people and defend the border, we need heavenly soldiers. The miscellaneous soldiers of the Hu people are not elite."

After being reprimanded by Huo Jun, Deng Zhi gave up his idea of ​​using Qiang and Hu to defend the border, and asked: "If the Eastern Qiang cannot be eradicated and the Xiongnu are not enough to use, what strategy should we use to defend the border?"

Huo Jun sorted out his thoughts and said, "When the Central Han Dynasty conquered the Northern Xiongnu, they used Han cavalry as the main force and Hu cavalry as the servants. We should follow the Central Han's strategy and turn the Qiang and Xiongnu tribes into servants, and use Han soldiers as the main army."

Although the Eastern Han Dynasty initiated the prelude to the migration of ethnic minorities, it does not mean that the Eastern Han Dynasty had no merits in terms of the migration of ethnic minorities.

In Huo Jun's eyes, the Eastern Han Dynasty made a bold attempt to solve the problem of nomadic peoples. Even its successful experience was once adopted by the Tang Dynasty, that is, the military system of the Han ruler and the Hu servant.

In the series of battles that the Eastern Han Dynasty fought against the Northern Xiongnu, the total number of troops was not as large as that of the Western Han Dynasty because the Eastern Han Dynasty mainly used the recruitment system. In order to gather soldiers to attack the north, the Eastern Han Dynasty drew cavalry from the Southern Xiongnu as vassal troops of the Han army.

Judging from the results, the Eastern Han Dynasty not only destroyed the Northern Xiongnu, but also mobilized the army at a lower cost than the Western Han Dynasty. The Eastern Han Dynasty also suffered from serious dependence syndrome, conquering the Qiang people to fight the Qiang people, conquering the Xiongnu to fight the Wuhuan, and eventually the ethnic minorities could not bear the oppression and rebelled one after another.

With the successful experience of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty learned from the success and failure of the Eastern Han Dynasty and was able to create a unique city-side system and hereditary governor states. The reason why the Tang Dynasty was able to conquer so far was that it relied on the governor states and constantly recruited Hu soldiers as vassal troops.

Huo Jun has few cards in his hand now, he must make the most of Qiang and Xiongnu to establish a border defense system that can defend Chang'an. He can even form an army that can attack Xianbei in the north by developing a border defense military system.

"Wei Zhang, make a rough note of this!"

On the hill, Huo Jun paced with his hands behind his back and said, "There are tens of thousands of Southern Xiongnu. Cao Cao once divided them into five groups and moved them to the border to serve. Today, the number of Southern Xiongnu has increased. East of Lishi, north of Fenshui, and around the Yellow River, most of them are Xiongnu."

"Now, for the sake of major events, the five tribes of the Xiongnu still need to be divided. Following the example of the Central Han, the Xiongnu will be divided into eight tribes, and nobles will be selected to be the leaders. They will change their Chinese surnames, send hostages, inherit the title from generation to generation, and be appointed as road commanders, and obey the orders of the county governors."

"The people of the Eastern Qiang tribe were scattered, and envoys were sent to recruit their leaders. Three thousand households were grouped into one circuit, and each tribe elected a circuit commander. Under the circuit commander was a tribal commander, who was inherited from generation to generation. Then they submitted household registers and maps, built city walls, changed their Chinese surnames, and sent hostages."

"The border counties follow the old system of Shaowu County, and restore the four counties of Beidi, Shang, Xihe, and Anding. A thousand households are used as military headquarters, and five thousand households are used as military towns. Farms are set up in dangerous places in the river valley to control the various Hu people. The two Hu people, Dongqiang and Xiongnu, do not pay taxes, but serve in the army and wait for the command of the county governor."

In addition to changing customs and habits, the Qiang and Hu tribes can also be made to assimilate with benefits. With the Han as a backer, the leaders can be made to inherit their tribes to ensure the inheritance of their family power in exchange for their loyalty to the Han.

The Eastern Han Dynasty used a somewhat crude method to govern the Southern Xiongnu, attempting to control the Xiongnu Chanyu and make the Southern Xiongnu obey the imperial court. In the early and middle periods, because the Chanyu was controlled by the Eastern Han Dynasty, the tribes were quite obedient; but in the middle and late periods, the interests of the middle-level Southern Xiongnu could not be guaranteed, and they could no longer be loyal to the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Learning from the lessons of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Huo Jun chose to use intensive means to control the Southern Xiongnu. He broke the tribe into pieces and divided it into tribes and circuits, with leaders at all levels inheriting the power from generation to generation.

As for relocating people to restore the border, it was because the terrain in northern Shaanxi was complex and there were many river valleys, and it was not enough to just use Hu soldiers to guard the border. In order to control the Hu people, it was necessary to maintain military deterrence in the border counties.

The prefecture and town system was a new system improved from the earlier Wei Suo system. In the past, Shaowu County governed the barbarians. In order to ensure military deterrence, Huo Jun used the Suo as the grassroots unit and the Wei as the upper-level unit, integrating the military and agriculture to help the Han Dynasty quickly stabilize the southwest of Jing.

(End of this chapter)