Chapter 594: Horses Trampling Youzhou to Test the Sword
“Boom boom boom!”
The earth-shaking sound of horse hooves, the stirred-up dust, countless cavalrymen roaring past, and large carts, and countless people were escorted out of Youzhou in groups, either actively or passively.
After the rise of the State of Yan, its relationship with the Han Dynasty became very delicate. Every year, the State of Yan would send envoys to pay tribute and offer specialties from Liaodong.
Every time an imperial decree was issued, he would find excuses to shirk his responsibility.
Moreover, the State of Yan also drove the native Hu people in Liaodong westwards and southwards in waves.
This resulted in more and more Hu people entering Bingzhou and Youzhou, and their numbers continued to spread westward.
How could this be tolerated by the man who had always been invincible?
As a result, the relationship between the two sides gradually became tense, and armed conflicts broke out one after another.
The relationship between the two sides was quite hostile, so it was certainly impossible for the imperial court to exile people to Liaodong again.
I adhere to the principle that if the mountain does not come to me, I will come to the mountain.
So the State of Yan moved south to Youzhou, and starting from the border, they emptied the population of each county one by one. They really emptied the population and carried it out as a national policy.
At first, ordinary people were very panicked, but later they just left it to fate.
Apart from being colder, Yan was an emerging regime and a small country at that. In terms of integrity and organization alone, it was superior to the current corrupt Han court.
But for the officials of Youzhou and the ministers of the Han court, this was naturally a shame.
But now the State of Yan, after moving south from the north of Liaodong and conquering Liaodong and occupying some counties in Youzhou, has become a very stable country combining nomadic and farming.
It would be very costly to conquer such a country, and several attempts had yielded poor results.
The frequent natural disasters in the country made the ministers and the emperor temporarily give up the idea of going to war with the State of Yan to establish a new country.
This is not just about enduring it directly. Since the conquest of the Huns, the Han court has never thought of enduring it. Now the ministers and the emperor are thinking about recovering in the future, and they must raze the State of Yan to the ground.
Among the countless galloping knights, a young general in armor ran to the banner and asked the heroic general urgently: "General, are we just going to leave like this? The Han court is currently experiencing civil unrest, the Taiping Dao has swept across Youzhou, and the Han court is short of troops. This is a good opportunity for us."
The general was riding on his horse. Seeing the young general's unfamiliar yet familiar face, he asked, "Are you from the He family?"
Upon hearing this, the young general clasped his fists and said loudly: "General, I am from the Murong clan of Xuanmen County."
"Xuanmen Murong Clan?!"
The general was very surprised.
There are not many Murong clan members in Yan State.
The ancestors of the Yan State were exiled to the area around the Daxianbei Mountain north of Liaodong, where there lived a Hu tribe called "Xianbei".
Not only were the ancestors of the Yan State exiled, but both the Liu royal family and other powerful families were expelled from the family tree, deprived of their surnames, and became wandering ghosts.
But how can a person not have a surname?
In ancient times, surnames were nothing more than official titles, fiefs, and bestowed names.
In the edict of exile, the emperor required them to use place names as their surnames, so that they and their descendants would always remember that they were descendants of exiled criminals.
Although it is humiliating, who dares to disobey the orders of the Han Emperor?
No one under the blue sky of the Han court can do it!
This resulted in the Han people in the Yan State having a large number of double surnames, and many of them were repeated, even overlapping with those of the Xianbei people.
Although there were not many people in the Murong clan, there were many branches, including even some Xianbei people who were sinicized.
However, the Murong family, who came from Xuanmen County, should be a lineage of exiled Taoist disciples. Their surname was taken from "慕二仪之道,承三光之容", which is unique in the Yan State where most people used official titles and place names as their surnames.
The Xuanmen Murong clan was a large family in the State of Yan. They had Confucian classics passed down from generation to generation, and most importantly, they had excellent medical skills. When they were first exiled to the Great Xianbei Mountain, this medical skill saved countless lives.
The young general was not surprised by the general's performance, and said with a fist: "It is Xuanmen Murong!"
Knowing the young general's identity, the general nodded slightly. He had a good relationship with the Murong family, so he said in a friendly manner: "The reason why we have to withdraw in time is because there is internal strife in the Han court.
On the surface, the chaos in the Han court seems to be an opportunity for us Great Yan, but in fact it is not the case. The strength of the Han court is far from being comparable to that of our Great Yan.
Before, he was just the emperor of the Han court. The emperor in Luoyang was worried that the local area would become too powerful, so he tied his own hands and feet.
Now that the Han court has relaxed these restrictions, its military strength will see a major explosion. Our Great Yan is still too conspicuous within the Han court.
Moreover, the internal situation of Great Yan is not stable. The strength of the Xianbei Hu people is growing rapidly, and geniuses are emerging one after another. Both Great Yan and the Han court have suffered a number of consecutive defeats.
And you know that there are serious conflicts in the country now, and we cannot support a large army to start a major war.
Now we will send this batch of 100,000 people into Dayan, and Dayan will have a population of more than one million. After the people are registered, we will concentrate on development for several years, and then stir up chaos and disputes in the Han court and consume the strength of the Han court.
In time, when the Han court is exhausted, there may be a chance for them to return to their homeland and wash away the shame of the past."
When General Murong heard this, he wanted to say something, but the general stopped him.
Today's young people grew up amidst the victory of Yan State over Han Dynasty, and have some contempt for this behemoth.
But the general knew how many outstanding people there were in the Han court, and he knew that it was not as simple as he had imagined. When Chen Fan served as the governor of Youzhou, he united the heroes of Youzhou and Southern Yan to defeat Northern Yan, thus halting Northern Yan's invincible momentum.
In recent years, a group of generals have risen in Youzhou, including the young people of the Gongsun family, the relatives of the Liu family, and many heroes, who should not be underestimated.
These people may not be considered much in the entire Han court, and the wealthy families in the border counties with a salary of two thousand stones are just bumpkins. But for the State of Yan, ten wealthy families in Luoyang combined are not as good as one wealthy family in the border counties.
The State of Yan was born out of hardship and difficulty. In order to survive, it integrated some customs of the Hu people, discarded many inappropriate and cumbersome rituals, focused on practical matters, and had abundant military force, much like the pioneering aristocrats in the early days of the Zhou Dynasty.
Only the wealthy families in the border counties could win their respect; those boastful scholars in Luoyang were nothing but their victims.
"No need to say more, look."
The general pointed to the distance, and the young general looked over and saw a little smoke in the distance. Ordinary people would not notice it at all, but he was born into a famous family after all, and his elders had taught him experience. He immediately shouted, "Enemy attack!"
The general was not in a hurry, but said calmly: "It is an enemy attack, and there are thousands of cavalry. Don't panic."
He slowly drew out his lance, a weapon he liked, and shouted loudly, "Men of Dayan, defend against the enemy!
Anyone who kills someone will be rewarded with gold and silver!"
"promise!"
Everyone cheered in unison!
————
The military strength of the Eastern Han Dynasty gives people a strange feeling. Its military strength is extremely strong, it has excellent generals and high-quality soldiers, as well as social recognition of its military achievements, but it often suffers defeats in foreign wars.
After research, the author concluded that this was a typical case of mutual restraint between the central and local governments, an inevitable result of the system, namely, the monarch involuntarily suspected the local princes, the local princes were afraid, and the resulting adverse consequences.
These factors led to the rise of powerful enemies around the Eastern Han Dynasty and the gradual separation of vassal areas. - "History of the Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty"
(End of this chapter)
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