Chapter 11 The Sixtieth Festival of the Long River Falls in the Fourth Year of the Great Han Dynasty (20 A.D.), the first month. New Year's Day, Youzhou, Jicheng.

The hussar general was overworked, fell ill, and was bedridden. On the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, Xiao Tianzi and the general Li Hong crossed the Juyong Pass with the Tiger Ben Feather Forest Camp and arrived at Jicheng.

That night, a group of generals such as Li Hong, Yushi, Yan Rou, Xian Yuyin, Wei Jun, and Lei Zi rushed to the Hussar General's Mansion to visit Xian Yufu.

"It's been 20 years......" Xian Yufu leaned on the couch, looked at the people sitting around, and was full of emotion,

"It has been twenty years since the people took us out of Youzhou together, and in the past twenty years, we have been fighting all the time, and we are still fighting on the battlefield to this day. I really want to know now, when will we be able to calm the world and sit at home in peace? ”

"It's difficult...... Li Hong put his hand on the brazier and rubbed it gently,

"Maybe three or five years, maybe we'll never get to that day." Everyone was silent, and the atmosphere in the room was a little sad and a little desolate.

"Since Junyi (Zhang He) reversed the situation in northern Xinjiang in the first battle of Liaodong, there is no big battle to fight in northern Xinjiang, and the army can immediately go south to fight." Jade asked suspiciously,

"Why is the general so pessimistic?"

"The imperial court has been restructured twice in a row within a year, doesn't this explain the problem?" Li Hong smiled bitterly and sighed softly,

"The people are suffering, the people are too bitter, we can't fight anymore, we have to recuperate with the people, we have to let the people see hope, and we have to let the people live a life of food and clothing."

"Today, the imperial court has hundreds of thousands of troops, as long as the general gives an order, we can sweep the world like a bamboo." Wei Jun pursed his lips disdainfully,

"General, you seem to take the rebels too seriously, and you seem to take the survival of the people too seriously."

"Hundreds of thousands of troops?" Li Hong shook his head,

"Does Northern Xinjiang still need to be heavily defended? Do you still want an army in Western Xinjiang? Does Gyeonggi still need a garrison? Where did I get the hundreds of thousands of troops to go south? ”

"Overwhelming?" Li Hong smiled helplessly,

"Back then, the Great Qin State had a million troops, and with the momentum of unifying the six countries, it was invincible in the world, what was the result? From the beginning of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising, to the disintegration of Daqin, it was only a short time. I'm afraid the First Emperor couldn't have dreamed that his country only had fifteen years of luck, right? ”

"Emperor Gaozu and the overlord of Western Chu competed for the world, and within five years, they were defeated repeatedly, who would have thought that the overlord of Western Chu, who had an army of 400,000 and had seven points of the world, would be wiped out in the next battle?"

"Wang Mang usurped the country, established a new dynasty, and was strong, with an army of 430,000 to attack Kunyang. Emperor Guangwu charged with only 3,000 men and horses, and completely annihilated the rebels in a battle, causing Wang Mang's new dynasty to collapse fifteen years later. ”

"Since ancient times, there have been many people who have won more with less, stronger with the weak, and those who lost in a war." Li Hong's expression was serious, and his eyes swept over everyone's faces one by one,

"We have won too many battles, from the Son of Heaven to the ordinary people, and we have forgotten the taste of defeat, and we have forgotten the bloody lessons of history. This is a precursor to our defeat, and this is an important reason why it is not appropriate to go south to quell the rebellion at present, and I do not want the great cause of the Han Dynasty to be buried in my hands. The generals had different expressions, some woke up in shock, some disagreed, and some slightly restrained some of the arrogance on their faces.

"The expedition to the northwest and the two frontiers cost an astonishing amount of money, and pushed the imperial court into a financial crisis, which is the reason for the continuous restructuring of the prime minister."

"There must be advantages and disadvantages to all restructuring, and it is difficult for us to get benefits from restructuring in the short term, and we can only see its disadvantages. Because the restructuring has directly harmed the interests of some people, the contradictions between the government and the opposition have suddenly intensified. This kind of contradiction will definitely affect the large army to go south to quell the rebellion, as long as there is a problem in any link, the counterinsurgency battle may fail, and the army may even be completely annihilated. If we are defeated, we need to spend more time recovering our vitality and restoring our morale and confidence; in comparison, we might as well fight steadily and steadily, wait until the policy of restructuring is fully implemented and achieve initial results, and when the contradictions between the government and the opposition gradually ease, and then we concentrate our forces on going south to quell the rebellion. ”

"When Emperor Guangwu fought Bashu, it took ten years before and after, why can't we wait? Do we have to choose this inopportune time to fight a battle that we are not sure of? ”

"Another issue is the stability of the two northwestern frontiers. The issue of the two frontiers in the northwest is very complex, and you cannot simply see it as a conquest by force. Conquest by force is only a temporary stability, and it is impossible for the frontier to be stable for a long time because of forced repression. The Qiang Rebellion in Western Xinjiang in the past 100 years has made the Han people miserable, isn't this lesson profound enough? We conquered the desert, but more than ten years later, the Xianbei people made a comeback, this lesson still makes you soberly understand the key to the prosperity of the Han Dynasty? ”

"The key to the prosperity of the Han Dynasty is not when we put down the rebellion in the south, but in the stability of the two northwestern frontiers."

"If we can't solve the foreign problem in the northwest and Xinjiang, even if we pacify the world, even if we temporarily stabilize the community, how many years can we maintain? The population of foreign nationalities is constantly growing, the strength of foreign nationalities is constantly increasing, and the living conditions of foreign nationalities are becoming more and more difficult. If the frontier is not stable, the society will fall into protracted turmoil. In the case of protracted social turmoil, can Dahan still have a day of ZTE? ”

"One of the important reasons why Emperor Guangwu was able to rejuvenate the Han Dynasty was due to the division of the Huns, if there was no submission to the Huhan Evil Shan Yu, and without the continued stability of the northern Xinjiang, it would be difficult for the Han Dynasty to recover in a few decades, let alone have the strength to expedition to the Western Regions. Emperor Guangwu's policy toward foreign nationalities and Emperor Guangwu's policy of recuperating with the people and quickly restoring national strength are all worthy of our reference and study. Li Hong sighed softly, looking intently at the hot charcoal fire in the brazier, with a deep sadness on his face,

"When you're not fighting, you should read more books. Especially history books, we must not only read, but also think about them, otherwise it will be in vain to read them. ”

"Now that the two northwestern frontiers have been basically pacified, only the rebellion in the south remains, so you want to fight, because there is only one thing left to fight in the south and still make war achievements. The wealthy gatekeepers, bureaucrats, and businessmen also wanted to fight, because only the land and wealth of the southern states and counties were left to plunder. The people also wanted to fight, because after the southern states and counties were recovered, there would be no war in the world, and they could live a stable life, and they could farm in peace without having to conquer a large number of conscripts year after year. ”

"But I don't want to fight, why? Because I can't afford to fail. I have been fighting for more than 20 years, hundreds of thousands of soldiers have died on the battlefield, and millions of people have died in the war. I don't want to fight a war for more than 20 years because of a defeat, let hundreds of thousands of soldiers fall on the battlefield, and let millions of people bury their bones in the wilderness. If you want to fight, you have to win, and you have to be absolutely sure, but I don't have absolute certainty to win this battle now. ”

"When will you be absolutely sure? The court is stable, the frontier is stable, the wealth is sufficient, the people can be fed and clothed, and the morale of hundreds of thousands of troops is like a rainbow. At that time, I will have absolute certainty of winning this battle, and I will lead the army to fight this battle, otherwise, I will never send troops, and I will never ignore the safety of the society and fight this battle with blind confidence and arrogance. The generals bowed their heads and were silent.

"The general ......has changed," Lei Zi suddenly whispered,

"You're no longer the great general you used to be."

"Yes, I've changed." Li Hong nodded and said,

"I am now burdened with the responsibility of ZTE, I want to protect the lives of more than 20 million people, and I cannot take the slightest risk to do anything that may cause damage to ZTE's great cause. I am a general of the Han Dynasty, and when I make any decision, I must first consider the safety of the society and the survival of the people, even if this decision may violate conscience and morality, and violate the way of using troops, but I will do it. I can't help it, and I don't dare not do it. If one day you sit in my place, maybe you will understand what I am thinking and doing. Xian Yufu covered his mouth and coughed a few times, and then said worriedly: "The general's words are in one word." At present, the most important thing for the Han is not to go south to quell the rebellion, but to stabilize the frontier. What do you have to do? ”

"We are all from Northern Xinjiang, and we have all fought in Northern Xinjiang for many years, and a few of you have been defending Northern Xinjiang for more than ten years......" Li Hong pointed to Xian Yuyin, Wei Jun and Lei Zi,

"Tell me, what method can be used to stabilize the northwest and northwest frontiers to the greatest extent, so as to solve the worries of the imperial court and help the imperial court devote all its energy to the two major matters of restoring national strength and going south to suppress the rebellion?" Several people looked at each other, and they all focused their eyes on Yan Rou.

Among the several generals from Youzhou, except for Xu Rong and Xian Yufu, even Yan Rou is the best at handling relations with foreign clans.

Li Hong recommended him as the general of Zhenbei and sat in Jinyang to defend the northern frontier, not because of Yan Rou's great military exploits, but because Yan Rou had a very good set of methods in handling foreign relations.

The year before last, the Han army successfully recovered Hexi, and Yan Rou made great contributions.

"Since Emperor Gaozu implemented the 'peace and affinity' policy against the Xiongnu, conquest and pacification have become the two main means of dealing with foreign relations in the Han Dynasty." Yan Rou said,

"At present, the conquest has achieved the goal of striking hard and suppressing the foreign tribes, and the next step is to use pacification methods."

"How to appease?" Wei Jun teased,

"And pro? Gift? Crowned king? Moving south? Yan Rou laughed at Wei Jun's ridicule,

"Moving in a large number of Hu tribes is indeed the solution to the problem, because the primary purpose of the Hu invasion is to survive, but moving a large number of Hu tribes into border counties will cause a series of problems, the most serious of which is the security of the border area. However, for hundreds of years, the most fundamental problem that prevented the Hu people from moving to the border counties was not the security of the frontier, but the incompatibility between the Han and the Hu people of various ethnic groups. ”

"The reason why we can't blend with each other is not only because of the hatred between the two sides, but also because there are too many differences in language, culture, customs and habits between the two sides."

"Take the most obvious example. The Xiongnu, Karasuma, Xianbei, Qiang and the countries of the Western Regions all have the custom of accepting step-marriages or remarriages, that is, 'when the father dies, the son and his stepmother, and the brother dies, he will take his wife and wife', which is related to the Hu people's animal husbandry for a living. For the Hu people, livestock is very easy to be separated as living property, and in order to ensure that there are no problems with the property and blood relationship of the clan, the women of the clan immediately become the living property of the patriarch, and it is natural for the children to inherit directly. But in the eyes of the Han people, this is **, an extremely barbaric custom, without humanity and morality, so they despise the Hu people extremely and resolutely refuse to intermarry with the Hu people. ”

"How did the imperial court deal with this matter? Let's take a look at the fate of the princesses of the past generations. ”

"After the peace between the Xiongnu and the Xiongnu in this dynasty, most of the clan women who married the Xiongnu Dadan Yu Wei Yu (Dadan Yu later) could not escape this fate, even if Wang Zhaojun, who took the initiative to marry Hu Han Xie Shan Yu, was no exception. After the death of Hu Han Evil Shan Yu, according to the marriage customs of the Xiongnu, Zhaojun wanted to be transferred to the son of Da Shan Yu as his wife, she thought that this was **, and had written to Emperor Xiaocheng to ask to return to his homeland, but Emperor Xiaocheng did not allow it, forcing her to follow the Hu customs, and she had no choice but to marry the eldest son of Hu Han Evil Shan Yu for the Yu clan. During the reign of Emperor Xiaowu, Xijun, the daughter of Liu Jian, the king of Jiangdu, married Kun Mo, the king of Wusun in the Western Regions, as a princess, and later Kun Mo wanted to marry Xi Jun to his grandson Cen Chen. The princess did not obey and wrote to Emperor Xiaowu, and Emperor Xiaowu ordered her to follow the marriage customs of Wusun. Xijun had no choice but to compromise and marry Kunmo's grandson. ”

"There is an emperor above the princess, and if you don't listen to it, you can't do it, but the ordinary people don't care, they don't want to. The mountain is high and the emperor is far away, and the emperor can't care about their marriage. Yan Rou spread out her hand and said helplessly,

"Han and Hu intermarriage is an important aspect of the integration of various ethnic groups, if they cannot intermarry, the relationship between the various ethnic groups cannot be harmonious, and this internal migration and mixed living will become a bad thing."

Second, there was a great flaw in the appeasement policy of the imperial court, which was also caused by the extreme contempt of the Han people for the Hu people. In the eyes of the imperial court, the relocation of the Hu people to the border counties is a kind of mercy and a kind of charity, so the imperial court treats the Hu people worse than the beggars, not to mention equality and fairness, not even the least respect. In the past, Lord Taifu Liu Yu treated the Hu people well and treated them as human beings, but what about Lord Gongsun? Gongsun treated them like a pack of dogs, and whenever he was unhappy, he would burn and kill and plunder. Gongsun was happy, but Hu was not happy, and the dog immediately became a wolf. ”

As a result, the imperial court's pacification policy had to be significantly adjusted. For example, intermarriage is allowed, but the Hu tribes must first change their own customs and follow the marriage customs of the Han people. The Hu people are now also the people of the Han Dynasty, and they must unconditionally obey the laws of the Han Dynasty and abandon those stereotypes and bad habits. For example, how can the injustice suffered by the Hu people be changed? The issue is complicated, but I think it is necessary to raise the status of the Hu people first. Liu Ming, the right virtuous king of the Huns, has outstanding military achievements, and is now the general of Duliao of the Han Dynasty, and can go to the imperial court as a secretary in the future, and Mustafa and Sai Feng can serve as the border county guards in the future, as well as kings such as Loulu, Arc Ding, Abandoning Shen, Shooting Yingtong, and Lu Huanyang, all of whom can be generals, and can lead the army to defend the territory for the Han Dynasty. ”

"To appease them is not to let them eat their stomachs, we must fully trust them, we must treat them fairly, we must give them the opportunity to make contributions to the Han Dynasty, and we must make them feel that they are Han people, only in this way can the Han and Hu quickly integrate, and the frontier can truly move towards stability." Jump to