People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 144 New Destiny
The end result was that the escape of the Wuhuan people became futile. The Yellow Turban cavalry squad that led the way, lightly armed and fast, soon caught up with the fleeing Wuhuan group. Faced with the threat of the Yellow Turbans' cold blades, the desperate Wuhuan people had to accept their fate of being captured.

It was not until the lightly armed infantry in the rear also hurriedly marched over that the Wuhuan tribes that were caught up in various places were slowly gathered together.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liaodong and Liaoxi were rather cold and harsh, and there were actually very few Han people living there. Most of them were nomadic peoples like the Wuhuan.

After the Yellow Turban army entered, they found countless Wuhuan tribes of various sizes. These tribes had a population of at least thousands or even hundreds, and as many as tens of thousands. It was these scattered Wuhuan tribes that eventually formed a military force like the Wuhuan Tuqi.

However, the main fighting force of the Wuhuan has now been completely destroyed by the Yellow Turbans. At least the Wuhuan people in western Liaoning have found it difficult to obtain military support.

The war was won a dozen days ago, and now the Yellow Turbans are merely here to reap the fruits of their victory.

The entire Wuhuan ethnic group in western Liaoning had a population of over 100,000. Although the Yellow Turbans acted very quickly, they were unable to control the entire population in the first place.

The news of the coming of the Han people frightened every Wuhuan tribe, and they had to leave their settlements and start migrating. This was also a behavioral pattern engraved in the blood of nomadic residents. Whenever faced with an unstoppable and powerful enemy, they would move to a safer place.

Some of these ethnic groups fled further north to the outside of the Great Wall. Although the winter in the northern plains was unbearable, no tribe dared to leave their fate to the Han people.

More ethnic groups went to Liaodong. Although Qiuliju's cavalry was completely wiped out in the previous battle, Su Puyan still retained his complete combat power, which naturally attracted more Wuhuan ethnic groups to defect there.

As a result, the Yellow Turbans spent more than a month and finally only controlled a population of 70,000 to 80,000, while the rest of the Wuhuan tribe almost all escaped.

But controlling the population is only the beginning. The real problem is how to establish long-term governance over this population. The Yellow Turbans are now troubled by this issue.

For more than a month, the Yellow Turbans temporarily took control of the situation in western Liaoning, so there was no need to maintain a large army. In the end, they only retained more than 5,000 troops to control the overall situation.

Just when they were about to stabilize the situation in western Liaoning, in the military tent, King Xu Chen and other Yellow Turban leaders including Lu Ping began to hold a meeting on the governance of western Liaoning.

"Wuhuan people make up the majority of Liaoxi's population. Even if our army can temporarily establish rule, it will be difficult to maintain stability unless our army can station a large army here for a long time. Otherwise, once we leave, Su Puyan will be able to take advantage of the situation and regain control. After all, they are all Wuhuan people, and we are Han people!"

When the meeting began, Lu Ping accurately assessed the current situation and realized that it would not be easy for the Yellow Turbans to govern this area.

Xu Chen and Wang Dang both nodded, fully agreeing with his judgment.

It is impossible to station troops on a large scale, as that would only distract the Yellow Turbans' energy, and Liaoxi would become a burden to the Yellow Turbans. It would be better not to take this territory.

Wang Dang was also a bit troubled: "Do we have to learn from the Han Dynasty and let their kings and leaders govern themselves, and just submit in name only? But this won't work either. Didn't the Wuhuan surrender and rebel again under the Han Dynasty, and surrender again after being sentenced?"

Xu Chen glanced at Wang Dang and nodded with some satisfaction. This rough guy was now able to think about these problems. His educational results were getting better and better.

He smiled and said, "Do you remember what I said? If you fight against the Han, things will be accomplished. If we want to stabilize Liaoxi, we must not let their ethnic groups govern themselves. We must let the Yellow Turbans take charge directly."

Wang Dang said: "But how can we manage this? Will the Wuhuan people be able to accept the rule of the Han people?"

Xu Chen pondered and said, "Of course it's not easy to do, but we have to do it. The way to deal with it is essentially the same as the Yellow Turbans before. What the Yellow Turbans have to do is to attack the herdsmen and rescue the slaves, and promote the ideas of our natural religion, replacing the ethnic narrative with a new narrative."

When Lu Ping heard this, he seemed to understand something. He suddenly remembered the new edition of the natural science textbook in his arms.

In the new edition of the textbook, the Mingshi chapter of the Natural History has changed, adding research on the microscopic world. In addition, historical content has also been added to the students' coursework.

Only by knowing history can we know where we come from, why today's society is like this, and learn from history to distinguish right from wrong.

In the historical narrative of natural science textbooks, the distinction between Chinese and barbarians is downplayed in terms of ethnicity. Instead, a broader concept is used to include all ethnic groups related to Eastern civilization. This is the history of the Great China.

"Master, are you talking about seeking common ground while assimilating differences?" Lu Ping quickly understood what Xu Chen meant, and he also realized why the history textbooks used a new narrative.

Xu Chen looked at him approvingly and nodded: "That's right, we must lead the Wuhuan people to overthrow their nobles and masters, let the vast majority of Wuhuan slaves live uprightly, allocate fields or cattle and sheep to them, and let them know who their enemies are and who their companions are."

After hearing this, not only Lu Ping came to his senses, but even Wang Dang suddenly realized it.

Even they, when facing the Wuhuan people, unconsciously used their inherent ethnic cognition to think about the problem, and forgot what the Yellow Turbans had always done.

Now that Xu Chen had mentioned this, they suddenly came to their senses. "Of course, the first thing to do is to settle the crimes of the Wuhuan. We need to find out which of the Wuhuan people should be held responsible for these crimes, and our judgment should be based on religious law, not revenge or vendetta."

After some discussion, the group quickly determined the direction, but the specific implementation was certainly not a casual matter.

In comparison, although the Han Dynasty's control over the country was unstable, it was indeed more convenient. However, the Yellow Turbans were destined not to learn from the Han Dynasty's practices.

The gap between ethnic groups is not so easy to eliminate, and the grievances between the two ethnic groups are even more difficult to clarify. However, whether based on the Yellow Turbans' need to govern Liaoxi for a long time or based on the concept of naturalism, they must do so.

However, the Yellow Turbans cannot put too much energy here. Xu Chen and Wang Dang may both stay here, and the Yellow Turbans need to place someone with sufficient capabilities here.

Xu Chen looked at Lu Ping and said, "I want you to take charge of the Liaoxi affairs. Do you have the confidence to do a good job?"

Lu Ping was stunned when he heard this, and then he pondered. He did not take on too much, but first put forward his own requirements: "I need at least 3,000 soldiers, another 300 Yellow Turbans as the garrison commanders and squad leaders in Liaoxi, and all the war horses seized this time. With these, I am confident that I can keep Liaoxi stable."

Hearing such a request, Xu Chen was not unhappy, but rather felt relieved.

The fact that Lu Ping could make such a request showed that he knew what was most important in western Liaoning.

After Lu Ping finished speaking, he was a little worried that he wanted too much, so he explained: "After we have these, Liaoxi will be the source of our cavalry in the future. After we have cavalry, I won't have to be constrained by Su Puyan from Liaodong."

Xu Chen nodded and agreed immediately.

Although 3,000 regular troops are a lot to be deployed here, they can be supported by the entire Liaoxi after all. From this perspective, Lu Ping is actually quite conservative.

It is not realistic to station troops on a large scale, so about 3,000 troops are appropriate.

Western Liaoning is a natural horse farm and is more suitable for large-scale training of cavalry. Lu Ping has his own army and can recruit the reformed Wuhuan warriors from Western Liaoning. It would not be too difficult for him to raise a cavalry for the Yellow Turbans.

In short, the Yellow Turbans' policy in western Liaoning was to reform the tribes, stabilize western Liaoning, build cavalry, and resist Su Puyan in the east.

Wang Dang had roughly figured out his thoughts at this time, but even he understood that it was not easy to do such a thing well. Without sufficient ability, it would be difficult to control the situation.

However, looking at Lu Ping's young and confident face, he nodded and said, "You are a capable boy, I can rest assured. Remember to take good care of your cavalry for me, otherwise if they are not able to withstand a fight in the future, I will ask you for an explanation."

Lu Ping laughed: "Don't worry, Marshal Wang, I will definitely live up to your trust."

Xu Chen gave his final words of advice: "I believe in your ability, but you must remember that the foundation of all this must be our transformation and liberation of the Wuhuan tribe. If this is not done well, everything else will be empty talk."

Lu Ping's expression suddenly became serious, and then he nodded in agreement.

The meeting quickly finalized the general plan. As for more specific things, Lu Ping needed to come back and make a corresponding report, which would then be implemented after Xu Chen reviewed and corrected it.

To stabilize western Liaoning is actually much more complicated than managing Yuyang and Youbeiping. It is also destined that this will not be accomplished in a short time. Both Lu Ping and Xu Chen are mentally prepared enough for this.

"Then, let's notify all the Wuhuan tribes to watch the execution tomorrow, starting with the trial of the war criminal Qiu Liju!"

After Xu Chen said this, the meeting ended, and this also determined the fate of Qiuliju and all the Wuhuan tribesmen in western Liaoning.

No matter they were former Wuhuan nobles or former Wuhuan slaves, their fates would undergo a radical change because of the arrival of the Yellow Turbans.

The Wuhuan people were not at all prepared to accept this drastic change in fate, but with the day when the Yellow Turbans escorted Qiuliju, the former Wuhuan king, to the wilderness, the gears of the general trend had already begun to turn, and they had no choice but to accept it.

The wind was howling above the wasteland, and many nearby Wuhuan people were crowded here.

They were all captured by the Yellow Turbans, and then accepted their resettlement and merged into several large tribes. The tribal people who were closer to the Yellow Turban military camps were all organized by the Yellow Turbans and moved to the wilderness.

Here they will witness the king of Wuhuan being judged by the leader of the Yellow Turbans.

(End of this chapter)