Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 758: Walking in the Northern Desert
As Kebi Neng fled in defeat and night fell on the plains, the Xianbei royal court fell into complete chaos. The Han cavalry was ordered to capture the old and weak Xianbei who had no time to escape, and to confiscate the cattle, sheep and horses in the royal court.

Many of the Han people took advantage of the situation to turn against the Han army and became the right-hand men of the Han cavalry in controlling the royal court. In addition, the Xianbei people who followed the army, such as Budugen and Helan Renshi, used their racial talents to lead their personal cavalry to recruit the fleeing Xianbei people to surrender.

As the night deepened, the temperature dropped suddenly and it became very cold.

Inside the tent, the Han army officers sat around the brazier, discussing the next situation.

Ding Feng held the warm ceramic cup and said with a smile: "We attacked Hu Ting and succeeded in one blow. Kebi Neng was defeated and fled. Now we have the distribution map of Xianbei, and we can pacify Shuofang!"

The map left by Kebi Neng helped the Southern Han solve a major problem. The Xianbei tribes were scattered across the vast Yinshan Mountains, often migrating and changing locations, making them difficult to find.

Due to the different social environment, it was difficult for the Central Plains dynasty to wipe out the Xianbei tribes. Now with the Shuo Shang map, the Xianbei tribes will be exposed to the Han army's vision, which will greatly save the Han army's time in searching for the Xianbei tribes.

Qian Zhao was not so optimistic and said, "According to the words of the surrendered Xianbei captives, Kebi Neng has fled far away to Daqing Mountain and will gather his people in the north of the mountain. Now Bingzhou Governor Wei Yan has left Pingcheng and occupied Baidao from the north, so he will most likely meet Kebi Neng."

"Wei Yan has 30,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry under his command. If they meet the people from the northern part of the mountain, it will not be difficult to defeat Ke Bineng." Ding Feng said.

Huo Jun stirred the firewood in the brazier and said, "Kebi Neng controls the north and south of the desert. If it weren't for the deep winter, he would probably move his court to the north of the desert to avoid our army. If we can't capture and kill him now, I'm afraid Kebi Neng will flee to the north of the desert or somewhere else."

"Although Ke Bineng was defeated, he had many subordinates. If he went north to the desert, he could still control the east and the west. At that time, the road was long and deep, and it would be difficult to catch up. Unless we had a long expedition to the north of the desert, we would not be able to defeat the bandits." Tian Yu said.

"Guo Rang is right!"

Huo Jun nodded and said, "I sent Wei Yan out of the border with the intention of blocking the northern route. Whether he can stop Ke Bineng from escaping to the desert to the north depends on Wei Yan's troops."

"What should our army do next?" Tian Yu asked.

After a moment's hesitation, Huo Jun said, "Now that we have the map in hand, we need to send scouts eastward overnight to find Pang Shiyuan's people and order them to attack the Xianbei people in Shaling, Yunzhong, and Leling. Also send a message to Lu Xun, ordering him to attack the Wuyuan and Shuofang tribes."

After a pause, Huo Jun said, "Our army will temporarily rest in Huting, and we will order the volunteers in the army to pacify the fleeing Hu people, wait to join forces with Pang Tong, and find out the news of Wei Yan's movements."

Qian Zhao hesitated for a moment and asked, "Prime Minister, there are many surrendered Hu people in the royal court now. I don't know how to govern the Xianbei?"

Huo Jun pondered for a long time and said, "Those who are captured will be treated as slaves and then distributed among the meritorious officers and soldiers; those who surrender will be incorporated into the tribes and guard the borders for the Han Dynasty."

"promise!"

The Xianbei's command center was destroyed by Huo Jun. With the opening of the Heavenly Eye, they had to contact the various armies as soon as possible and use a half-conquering and half-persuading strategy to resolve the Xianbei tribes south of the Yinshan Mountains, so as to avoid any more trouble.

After solving the problem of the Hu people south of the Yin Mountains, the Han Dynasty could relocate the surrendered Southern Xiongnu and Wuhuan to the border to serve as the Han Dynasty's border protection vassal army, living together with the surrendered Xianbei tribes.

During the Han Dynasty, not only the Southern Xiongnu and Qiang people submitted to the Han Dynasty, but also the Wuhuan in Youzhou area.

The submission of Wuhuan can be traced back to the period of Emperor Wu of Han. After the Battle of Mobei, the Xiongnu lost control of the northeast. Huo Qubing moved Wuhuan to the outside of the Great Wall of Youzhou, including Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi and other five counties, to spy on the Xiongnu's movements for the Han Dynasty.

After the fall of the Western Han Dynasty, the Wuhuan were subdued by the Northern Xiongnu, allowing them to invade and plunder Youzhou. In the late reign of Liu Xiu, the Wuhuan rebelled against the Northern Xiongnu, and under Liu Xiu's money diplomacy, they submitted to the Eastern Han Dynasty and moved from the outer frontier to the interior of Youzhou, assisting the Eastern Han Dynasty in suppressing rebellions.

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, as the central government weakened, Wuhuan, led by Tadun, rose again in western Liaoning. In order to win over Wuhuan to fight against Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao adopted a policy of marriage and appeasement.

After Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao in the north, he led his troops on an expedition beyond the Great Wall, defeated Tadun at Bailang Mountain, and relocated the Wuhuan people from various counties inland, breaking them up into several parts and absorbing them into the Wei army's cavalry system.

After the Southern Han Dynasty destroyed the Wei Dynasty, in addition to dividing the Southern Xiongnu into smaller groups, it also reestablished its rule over the Wuhuan. The combined population of the two tribes was no less than 300,000 or 400,000, distributed from Bingzhou to Youzhou. In this expedition against the Xianbei, many Wuhuan and Xiongnu cavalry were dispatched. At present, the population of the Central Plains was declining, and it was impossible to relocate people to the border. Even if forced to relocate, it was likely that environmental problems would cause people to flee inland.

Considering the current situation, the ethnic minorities living in the interior should be relocated to Hetao and the outer areas of the Great Wall. With a reasonable system, they can control the south of the desert for the Han Dynasty and solve the problem of Huization in the border areas. When the population grows in the future, it will not be difficult to relocate the Han people.

As the night deepened, Huo Jun chatted with everyone about some trivial matters, and then the generals left one after another. However, even though the generals left, it did not mean that Huo Jun could rest.

With the help of lamplight, Huo Jun wrote a report of victory to Chang'an, and then elaborated on the affairs of the Hu people on the border, proposed the necessity of restoring the Shuofang counties, and made relevant suggestions on how to establish rule in Hetao after restoring the county system.

At the end of the letter, Huo Jun worriedly pointed out that the system of using Hu people to guard the border would not last long and could only last for a few decades. If long-term stability was to be achieved, it was necessary to relocate people to the border, use Han people to control the Hetao area, and assimilate the Xianbei Hu people.

When the long article of hundreds of words was finished, Huo Jun's fingers holding the pen were already a little frozen.

"call!"

Huo Jun rubbed his palms and breathed out hot air to warm his fingers which had become less flexible.

Before going to bed, Huo Jun put on his cloak and walked out of the tent. The temperature outside the tent was several degrees colder than inside, and it was snowing. The snowflakes were blown by the wind and scattered on the lonely fields. After dawn, there would be endless white snow.

Seeing the soldiers on duty wearing armor, Huo Jun ordered his guards, "Go find blankets and distribute them to the soldiers on duty. And boil more hot water so that the soldiers can warm themselves up."

"promise!"

After stopping at the entrance of the tent for a while and seeing that Wang Ting was normal, Huo Jun tightened his clothes and went into the tent to rest.

The next morning, Huo Jun took control of the Xianbei royal court and tried to persuade the Xianbei people to surrender in the name of Budugen. He also sent scouts to contact Wei Yan and Pang Tong.

In just a few days, more than 10,000 men and women from Budugen's former tribes came to join him. Huo Jun sent out cavalry to attack the Xianbei tribes that refused to submit.

After escaping from the royal court, Kebi Neng hid in Yinshan Mountain and re-established the royal tent in the northern part of Yinshan Mountain. Within five days, he gathered tens of thousands of people.

Wei Yan was stationed in Baidao and was overjoyed when he heard the news about Kebi Neng's court. In order to establish merit, he rejected Jiang Ji's suggestion to wait for Huo Jun's troops, but instead informed Huo Jun and led the infantry and cavalry to attack Kebi Neng.

When Wei Yan was conquering Kebi Neng, Pang Tong's troops defeated the Chengle Xianbei, killed and captured more than 10,000 people, and went to the royal court to meet Huo Jun.

Upon learning that Wei Yan had learned about the news from the court of King Kebineng, Huo Jun led 6,000 elite cavalry to the north of the mountain to support the campaign launched by Wei Yan.

Before leaving, Huo Jun handed over the two counties of Yunzhong and Dingxiang to Pang Tong, asking him to control Budugen to establish a royal court and conquer the Xianbei tribes for the Han Dynasty.

At the same time, Lu Xun went to Xianyang as planned, contacted Pang Tong's troops, and followed Huo Jun's instructions to change his route westward, preparing to conquer the Xianbei entrenched in Shuofang and Wuyuan counties.

Wei Yan led his infantry and cavalry to advance for several days and encountered Kebineng in Tuidang City. Because there were more infantry than cavalry, Wei Yan divided the cavalry into two rows and placed the infantry in the middle, then started a brutal battle with the Xianbei.

On that day, because the elite levels of Kebineng's troops were uneven, they were no match for the Han army when they fought against Wei Yan, and could not break through the infantry phalanx.

Wei Yan took the opportunity to lead the cavalry into the battle. Under the cover of his personal guards, he rushed into the enemy camp, killed the leader of the central force Yu Zhugan, and defeated the Xianbei Hu cavalry.

Seeing Yu Zhugan dead in battle, Ke Bineng felt that the situation was not good, so he immediately left the battle and led more than 2,000 cavalrymen. Taking advantage of the fact that Wei Yan's troops had more infantry than cavalry, he broke through the Han army's obstruction and fled north.

(End of this chapter)