After listening to the envoy's report, there was no change on his face, but he was shocked in his heart.

He was weighing whether to move the tribe north or submit to the Han Dynasty.

Now that the Han has fulfilled his promise, the border army has withdrawn to Ningcheng, temporarily lifting the threat, if he does not pay tribute according to the requirements of the Han Dynasty, the Han border army will soon make a comeback, and at that time, his tribe will be wiped out.

He estimated that the limit of the Han border army's northward movement was within 800 miles north of Ningcheng, and at most within 1,000 miles, and if it was farther, it would be difficult to guarantee logistics.

If he did not pay tribute, his tribe must retreat north to a range of 1,000 miles as soon as possible, otherwise the border army of Dahanning City and the border army of Beiping on the right will be flanked left and right, and his tribe will be doomed.

If he paid tribute according to the requirements of the Great Han, it would seriously weaken the strength of the tribe and affect his prestige in the tribe.

However, the benefits of being a vassal to the Han are self-evident, just one of the mutual markets can promote the development of the tribe, and can get the protection of the Han Dynasty, will no longer be afraid of the threat of other tribes, and can use the assistance of the Han border army to absorb the central Xianbei departments, complete the unification of the central Xianbei, and even occupy part of the territory of the eastern Xianbei, and absorb some small tribes of the eastern Xianbei, and strengthen their own strength.

As for how much to weaken and how much benefit can be gained, it depends on his ability.

If all the central Xianbei tribes except the Murong tribe are incorporated and these tributes are paid, it is not much.

King Que Ju thought for a while, and decided to take a gamble, declare himself a vassal to the Han Dynasty, and develop with the help of the power of the Han Dynasty, otherwise he could only be an ordinary Xianbei tribe and do nothing.

Having made up his mind, a rare smile appeared on the face of the king of Queju, and he ordered the envoy: "This king agrees in principle to the request of the Great Han, but the amount of tribute is a bit too much; They have an old saying, ask for a price all over the sky, sit on the ground and pay back, you negotiate with the Han again, you can negotiate as much as you can, but if you can't do it, you agree to their demand. ”

"Yes, King!" The messenger replied respectfully.

The messenger arrived again, but Tian Feng did not budge and insisted on his request.

In the end, the Xianbei envoy could only accept it, and the two sides carefully communicated the details and signed an agreement, the content of which was completely drawn up in accordance with Tian Feng's requirements.

In order to deal with the imperial court, Tian Feng requested that the agreement not be open to the public for the time being, which the envoy gladly accepted, which could facilitate their integration of the central Xianbei departments and reduce the precautionary psychology of the eastern Xianbei.

The two sides agreed that this year's tribute must be delivered to Ningcheng before the first day of April, and then the next year's tribute must be paid in December every year; After the payment of the first batch of tribute, the agreement came into effect, and the two parties can carry out the mutual market, the location of the mutual market is Ningcheng, and the transaction is conducted once a quarter, and the transaction time is from the first day to the tenth day of the first month of each quarter.

For the variety and price of the traded materials, after the payment of tribute, the two sides will negotiate and determine.

The king was very satisfied with the agreement signed, and praised the envoy, especially for the temporary secrecy of the agreement, which would preserve his prestige among the tribe.

Then he began to prepare tribute, and began to attack the other tribes of Xianbei in central China, preparing to take all the Xianbei tribes outside Yuyang County by surprise.

The news that Danhan Mountain was occupied by the Han Dynasty had spread far away in the grassland, and even the Tuoba tribe and the Murong tribe in the north had learned about it, so frightened that they stopped their plans to go south.

Danhan Mountain is a symbol of honor of the Xianbei people, and its loss means that the powerful Xianbei alliance established by Tanshi Huai has come to an end.

The Xianbei tribes couldn't help but feel sad secretly.

The eastern Xianbei tribes are now in fear, and Youbeiping County and Liaoxi County have established a strong border army, and have incorporated all the Wuhuan tribes, and their strength is even stronger.

After they digest the territory and population of the Wuhuan tribes, they will definitely follow Ningcheng's strategy and continue to go north to fight the Xianbei people.

The cold weather in winter and the perennial dry climate affect not only the people of Dahan, but also the herdsmen of the northern grasslands. The rain is reduced, the pasture grass is withered, the number of cattle and sheep and other livestock in the same area of pasture is reduced, even in autumn the livestock is not as fat as before, the lack of forage in winter, the livestock are thin, the ability to resist the cold is greatly reduced, and the temperature is lower in winter year by year, and there are not a few livestock that freeze to death every year.

The Han border army strictly guarded the border, put an end to mutual markets and border trade, and even private transactions were prohibited, and after the Han border army was strong, they did not dare to go south to plunder.

And in order to avoid conflict with the Han army, they took the initiative to evacuate north, leaving some buffer zone, which in turn compressed the area of their pastures, you know, the further north, the lower the temperature, the worse the grazing and living conditions.

Many factors make life more difficult for the people of the grasslands.

King Helian and Budugen learned that Danhan Mountain was occupied and King Ke was beheaded, they were shocked in their hearts, and even shouted "luck", if they hadn't had a premonition, avoided its edge, and moved to the territory of Xianbei in the west in advance, then they would have been beheaded this time.

Now the border army of the Han Dynasty is pressing forward step by step, occupying the territory of the two counties of Yunzhong County, threatening their security from the south and east. If the Han border army attacks from both sides, it will be difficult for them to complete the build-up of troops in time, and before that, they will definitely suffer serious losses.

In order to alleviate the logistical pressure and facilitate the long-term war with the Xianbei people, the Han Dynasty did not arrange for the people to live on the newly recovered territory, but only arranged for the army to be stationed, which increased the difficulty of the Xianbei people's counterattack.

For the sake of their own interests, he had an emergency meeting with Lian, Budugen and others and held a consultation.

According to the advice of King Helian, their next goal is to continue to expand their territory to the west and take a defensive position in Yunzhong County.

All the herdsmen in Yunzhong County moved westward to widen the distance between them and the Han controlled areas, so as to avoid the herdsmen being attacked and causing serious losses; And adopt the strategy of the Great Han, stationing only troops in Yunzhong County as a buffer zone and battlefield with the Great Han.

The relationship between Helian and his three nephews is quite united, in recent years, they have been united with the outside world, and have obtained a lot of benefits, much stronger than before, which makes him confident, since he can't deal with the Han border army, he can only seize the territory of the Qiang and Huns, and rob their interests; He decided to wait until his strength grew before looking for trouble with the Han people, whose border was so long that it was impossible to have strong border troops stationed everywhere.

Budugen looks at the longer term, the Han people are either weakened, and when they are weak, the grassland tribes can dominate one side, and the Han can do nothing but defend step by step; Either the Han people rise, and after they rise, they will definitely come to take revenge, and they will definitely bring disaster to the grassland tribes and eliminate future troubles.

The Han people will not always be in a period of weakness, nor will they always be in a period of strength.

According to his ideas, Bu Dugen proposed a strategy of befriending the Han Dynasty, and it was best to be a vassal to the Han Dynasty and obtain the opportunity to exchange markets, so that both sides could benefit.

But now the king of Helian has swelled confidence and has the ambition to co-opt the Xianbei tribes, how can he be a vassal to the Han Dynasty? How is this worthy of his deceased father?

So Helian forcefully rejected Budugen's suggestion, which planted the seeds of division in their four divisions.