The Red Mansions Across the Four Seas

Chapter 280 Vendura Covenant

After some research, a strategy to deal with the four major tribes was formulated.

This strategy is divided into three steps.

The first step is to be courteous before fighting, which is actually a war of public opinion.

The second is to impose economic punishment on the four tribes.Including economic sanctions and technology blockade.

The third step is military strikes.

At present, in terms of total military strength, the number of the four major tribes far exceeds Bu Kui's military strength, so this move is put at the end.

This is not only to gain time for preparation, but also to show weakness to the four tribes, so as to paralyze them.

After Yizhihua and the others came back, they stayed in the barracks and were not allowed to go out.It was announced to the outside world that a few of them went to the four major tribes as envoys and have not returned yet.It was wintersweet flowers scattered around and threw a few people on the grassland to feed the wolves.

The purpose is to occupy the moral high ground.

However, this alone is not enough.The most advantageous trump card is the "Covenant of Vendura".

The "Windula Covenant" was a covenant signed between the court and various tribes on the Wendula Grassland when the Dade Dynasty was first established more than 100 years ago.

The four major tribes in the South Windura Grassland and the Tatar tribes in the North Windura Grassland are all signatories to this covenant.

The main content of the covenant is: each tribe submits to the imperial court and recognizes them as obedient citizens of the Dade Dynasty.The Dade Dynasty family provided them with security protection and provided economic assistance to various steppe tribes.

When necessary, the imperial court has the right to establish a state and county system on the grassland, station troops on the grassland, send officials to govern, and collect taxes.

This article is the basis, and it is legally determined that the land and residents of the Wendula Grassland are owned by the Dade Dynasty.

The main obligations of the various tribes in the grassland are: the headmen will pay tribute to the emperor once every two years, and bear half of the imperial court’s military expenditure in Bukui. The headmen of each tribe must be canonized by the imperial court to obtain legal status and right of inheritance.

The "Vendula Covenant" was originally carved into several stone tablets, which were scattered around Bukui and the grassland.

To this day, the stele still stands in front of the Dusi Yamen.

On the sacred mountain near Wendula Mountain in the South Wendula Grassland, there is still such a stone tablet.

It's just that because of the age, basically no one pays attention to it.The stele has been covered by trees and weeds.

Even the tribes of various tribes today, few people know that there is such a thing as the "Covenant of Vendura".

After the signing of the covenant, due to the peace of the world, the imperial court reduced the army and did not station troops on the Wendula grassland.
At that time, the Wendula Grassland had just experienced war and was in urgent need of recuperation.Coupled with the financial constraints of the imperial court, the establishment of prefectures and counties, the dispatch of civil servants and the collection of taxes were not implemented.

Not only that, Emperor Taizu also decreed that the 20-year tribute obligation of each tribe and Bu Kui's garrison expenses were exempted.

However, some terms of the covenant were still implemented.

The imperial court's economic support clauses for the grassland tribes have been implemented.The sign of these clauses is that the imperial court gave the grassland tribes a certain quota of strategic materials such as iron, tea, spices, as well as trade convenience and technical support every year.

The sign of technical support is to allow inland craftsmen to enter and bring technology to the grassland.

In the first 20 years, the pilgrimage system and canonization system were also observed by the grassland tribes.

The reason for compliance is mainly driven by economic interests.

The imperial court was very generous with the rewards they went to worship. Every time they brought a little gift, they would get a reward far exceeding the value of the gift.

Therefore, at that time, although it was stipulated that pilgrimage was once every two years, these tribes went to pilgrimage almost every year in order to get more rewards from the court.

After 20 years, Emperor Taizu passed away, and the elders of the older generation gradually passed away, and the imperial court paid less and less attention to the Wendula Grassland.

The successive generals of Ningguta, either lacking foresight or limited energy, paid less and less attention to Bu Kui.They almost turned a blind eye to the various tribes in the Wendura grassland.As long as they don't come to cause trouble, I don't bother to talk to them.

At first, the main purpose of stationing troops in Bukui was to monitor and deter the Wendula grassland.However, as Bukui became a place of exile, Bukui's function gradually changed.Gradually it became a management organization for migrants.

And its main positioning—the function of monitoring and deterring the Wendura grassland—has gradually faded away.

In the past seven or eighty years, the various tribes on the Wendula grassland have almost forgotten that there is a covenant.

The pilgrimage system is useless, and no one goes to the imperial capital to worship.The heads of the various tribes alternated, but they counted as long as they grabbed it, and the procedure of canonization by the imperial court was not taken seriously at all.

Paying tribute and collecting taxes, they don't have this awareness at all.As for the establishment of prefectures and counties and imperial garrisons, it is even more out of the question.When Bu Kui's officers and soldiers arrived on the grassland, they dared to fight, let alone others?
Therefore, in the past seven or eighty years, except that the imperial court has been fulfilling its economic support for the grasslands, other clauses in the "Vendula Covenant" that are beneficial to the imperial court have never been implemented.

On the contrary, the court's terms of support for them have been unilaterally emphasized by them, and they have been regarded as a natural right of their own.

Yang Lin came in with a piece of paper in his hand.

"How about it, Yang Dianshi, have you figured it out?"

Jia Min asked.

Others were also very curious, wanting to know how much tribute the four major tribes owed the imperial court over the years.

"Hehe, Chief Min, I really don't know. I was shocked. If all these things are taken back, it will be a huge sum of money."

Then, Yang Lin began to settle accounts.

According to the provisions of the "Windura Covenant", the three tribes of Luosun, Khaki and Mailai are at the same level in terms of 70 years.Because of the large population and large size, the Tiefo tribe is another level, twice the number of other tribes.

For the Luosun and other three tribes, each tribe should pay 1000 taels of silver to the imperial court every year, 70 taels in 7 years, and 14 taels for the Tiefo tribe.

There are 70 pieces of mink fur, [-] pieces in [-] years, and [-] pieces of iron Buddha.

Fifty catties of deer antler, 70 catties in [-] years, and seven thousand catties of iron Buddha.

Twenty catties of ginseng, 70 catties in [-] years, and [-] catties of iron Buddha.

There are five pairs of Haidongqing, 70 pairs in 350 years, and [-] pairs of Tiefo.

I really don't know, I was shocked.There is such a huge number.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.

"The sum of 70 years is naturally large."

"How much money is owed to us, and so arrogant, is there any law in this world?"

Chen Yejun said angrily.

"Of course there are kingly laws, but why haven't they been used by him for so many years, they feel that there are no kingly laws."

"That's not counting. These leaders are all self-proclaimed by themselves. Which one has been canonized by the court? Therefore, these leaders are also illegal."

As Jia Min spoke, he stood up and paced back and forth in the room.

"There are two kinds of people in the world. One kind of person knows how to be grateful if you treat him well. The other kind of person, if you treat him kindly, he thinks he deserves it. Not only is he not grateful, but he thinks you owe him."

"The current leaders of the four major tribes are such people. Of course, although they are all rascals, they are still citizens of the Dade Empire. Therefore, we cannot easily beat them."

"However, it is only right and proper to kill people to pay for their lives and pay debts. Let's just ask him to pay back the money, isn't it embarrassing them?"

"If they want to renege on their debt, hum, don't blame us for being rude."

"Such a large amount of money, even if they sell the iron, they still can't get it out."

Zhao Dahai still knows a lot about the situation of the four major tribes.This sentence is also true.

Such a huge amount of wealth, no leader can get it.

"It doesn't matter if you don't have money, can you get other roofs? Grasslands, forests, livestock, population... If you dare to make trouble, you must be prepared to pay the price."

"They definitely won't be able to get the money. At that time, I'm afraid there will only be a battle."

Yang Lin seemed a little worried.

"If they really want to fight, we have no choice but to accompany them. However, at present, we only want money. As for the war, we need them to fight first."

"Our military strength...?"

Feng Kui said half a sentence, but everyone present understood what he meant.

At present, Bu Kui's troops are at a disadvantage.

Bu Kui's troops consisted of 300 men from the government corps, and the reorganized Yizhihua bandits and veterans from the original garrison yamen totaled about 800 men. Together, there were only [-] men.

The four major tribes in the South Wendura Grassland have more than 2 troops combined.Moreover, many of them are both soldiers and civilians, and they can go out to fight at any time as long as they need it.

It is precisely because of this huge advantage in military strength that Lameihua is so reckless in her actions, and the other leaders also support her in starting the war without thinking.

Jia Min didn't pay much attention to the military strength in Jia Min's hands.

"Our troops are a little less, but they are still enough to deal with them. Over the years, they have not suffered any hardships. This time, we will give them a military training class to let them know, what is it?" It's a war."

Jia Min returned to his seat and sat down, looking confident.

Feng Ziying and the others were not in a hurry, but Zhao Dahai and the others were uncertain.However, since Jia Min made his decision, they were powerless to change anything.I can only pray in my heart that my luck will be better.

"Chief of the Guards, have they found out all their undercover agents?"

"After our reconnaissance and the intelligence that Zhao's garrison will hand over to us, we have already found out. They can be arrested at any time."

"Tonight at nine o'clock, they will be arrested on time. Tomorrow, each tribe will send one back to spread the word that their leaders will come to Bukui to negotiate and study how to pay back the money."

"Yang Dianshi drafted a notice to write down the tribute owed to the court by the three major tribes, urging them to pay back the money and asking them to hand over the escaped people. Then Chief of Staff Feng organized soldiers to copy a hundred copies, and sent one tonight camp, go to Wendula Grassland to distribute the announcement. There is no need to post it, just throw it on the road, and I want to ask the people of those tribes to know what's going on?"

Over the years, although the tribal leaders have long stopped paying tribute to the imperial court, the behavior of collecting property from the tribe in the name of paying tribute to the imperial court has not stopped.

For decades, this has been the norm among chiefs.The money collected was naturally put into their own pockets.

As for the exiles who escaped, they were all enslaved by the upper echelon of the tribe. Ordinary tribesmen were not eligible for it.

The purpose of distributing announcements on the grassland is to let the followers know the truth and divide their relationship with the leader.

　感谢庞帝1987、1007书友、冷水鉴定完毕、高澳1987、a5s5、亡灵m魔君、小蜜蜂lxf、老徐79、冷星雨、和风细雨杨等书友的支持。

　　
　
(End of this chapter)