Chapter 908 Where to Go for Nomadism
In the hall of the backyard of the government office in Liuyang County, You Zhi, who had been in the south for almost two years, finally returned here. When he saw Luo Chong, he immediately bowed respectfully and was very happy.
When he was in the grassland before, because of his contribution to assisting the army in the expedition to Zhudao and providing a lot of information, Luo Chong had already recorded a merit for him and his title was promoted accordingly. Now that Zhudao has been taken by the Han tribe, his Jinwu Guards basically have nothing to do and are not as nervous as before. So this time he was summoned back by Luo Chong, there must be a new task for him, right?
You Zhi thought so and came to Luo Chong.
"You Zhi, the commander of the Jinwu Guards, greets the leader."
"I'm glad to be back. Come and sit down. It's been so long since we last met. Sit down and talk to me first." Luo Chong sat still, holding his hand lightly, motioning him to sit aside.
"Thank you, leader." You Zhi clasped his fists respectfully again, and then sat on the chair to the right of Luo Chong in the hall.
After Luo Chong's personal guards brought tea to the two of them, Luo Chong took a sip before speaking.
"You did a good job on Zhudao and the grassland before, which saved our tribe a lot of unnecessary losses. This is worthy of praise." Luo Chong praised him first, and then said again.
"Now Zhudao has all belonged to our Han tribe, the Xin tribe has also been destroyed, Maodun was shot to death, and his tribe either surrendered or died. The Jinwu Guard has no other important targets for the time being, so do you have any other ideas?"
You Zhi thought to himself that it was indeed the case. Now the Jinwu Guard is not very useful, so the leader must want to find him other work to do, but he certainly can't say this himself, otherwise what will happen? Take the initiative to ask the leader for an official position? If
the leader gives you an official position, it is your honor, but if the leader doesn't give it to you, but you take the initiative to ask for it, generally you will not have a good ending. Don't you see Yun Zhi from Ruyang County, who asked the leader for a county governor, what is he like now?
Anyway, as far as You Zhi knows, Yun Zhi is not doing very well.
So when Luo Chong asked him what he thought, he did not mention changing his position, but talked about his own work.
Then You Zhi said, "Chief, I think that although we now control the southwest of Honghu Lake in the grassland and the entire Zhudao Island, we cannot give up our vigilance against the grassland herdsmen tribes. Although Maodun and his forces are finished, we cannot guarantee that there will not be another Maodun.
The grassland tribes are good at riding and shooting, and have many horses. Although they are usually very scattered and not conspicuous, when they gather together, their power cannot be underestimated, just like the Maodun at the beginning of last year, who would have thought that he could gather tens of thousands of cavalrymen." "
Oh? Did you discover something again?" Luo Chong asked curiously.
Is it because of Maodun's demise that new forces on the grassland have come out to make trouble?
But this shouldn't be the case. Now half of the grassland's aquatic and grassy areas near Honghu Lake are controlled by the Han tribe. The hidden bridge from the grassland to Zhudao has been temporarily cut off by the Han tribe due to the engineering problems of the cross-sea bridge. Besides, Zhudao on the other side of the hidden bridge has now become Qiongzhou Island.
So a problem has arisen temporarily. There is only one Han tribe left on the entire grassland that can sell daily necessities to the herdsmen, especially white salt and metal utensils. Apart from the Han tribe, there is no other force that can sell them to them.
If the grassland tribe is still unwilling to obey, the Han tribe does not need to send troops at all. It can directly impose material sanctions and cut off their supply of white salt and metal. This alone is enough for them to bear.
Another problem is that most of the grassland tribes used bamboo arrows sold by the Xin tribe in the past. Now that the Xin tribe is gone, the Han tribe does not sell this kind of weapon material. It will be difficult for them to use cheap arrows in the future. They can only find materials to make them by themselves. This alone can greatly weaken the fighting power of the herdsmen.
So in this case, Luo Chong is very skeptical. Who else dares to make trouble under the eyes of the Han tribe? Are they not afraid of the sanctions of the Han tribe?
Hearing Luo Chong's question, You Zhi immediately explained.
"My Lord, since Maodun was defeated and died, the biggest forces on the grassland have become our Han tribe and the Suritu tribe that we have had contact with before. Suritu
is not a good guy. He took advantage of the fact that our Han tribe invited them to join the counterattack when Maodun attacked. He boasted everywhere on the grassland that he had a close relationship with our Han tribe and that they were as close as brothers and even fought together. He used this to threaten some small tribes to rely on him. From the beginning of last year to now, his tribe has expanded to a strength that is no less than that of Maodun last year. If he is willing, he should be able to gather about 40,000 cavalry.
And there is another important thing. He bought a lot of ironware from our Han tribe, but he didn't buy it himself. , but let those small tribes that depend on him come to buy in their own name.
Then this guy learned the cavalry tactics of our Han tribe, and now he makes stirrups and high-bridge saddles by himself, completely imitating the horse gear of our tribe, and in his power, this kind of horse gear is very popular, at least tens of thousands of them.
Even those small tribes under him who can't afford iron stirrups have learned to use ropes, wood, rattan and other things to make soft stirrups. Although
this person is still respectful to our tribe for the time being, he already has the ability to threaten our three counties of Honghu, and we can't take it lightly. "You Zhi first reported to Luo Chong the intelligence he had gathered during this period, and then solemnly reminded Luo Chong.
Luo Chong did not speak, his face showed no joy or sadness, he just nodded calmly, he had actually expected this, just like You Zhi said just now, Maodun is dead now, but there may be other Maodun on the grassland. As long
as the Han tribe still has interests on the grassland, as long as the Han tribe is still involved in the grassland, such things are inevitable.
Farming and nomadism, two completely different lifestyles, will eventually produce irreconcilable contradictions.
Luo Chong had thought about this problem more than once, and recalled the history of his previous life. Why did the nomadic peoples in the north repeatedly invade the farming peoples in the Central Plains? It is no exaggeration to say that this problem has continued from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the last feudal dynasty. What exactly caused the conflict between the two sides?
He thought about it carefully countless times, trying to find a permanent solution, but he still didn't think of it, because this is a fundamental lifestyle problem.
Their nomadic lifestyle made them unable to resist disasters, so even if it snowed heavily in winter, the snow buried the grass and the livestock lost their food, their livestock would starve to death in large numbers, or if the snow was even heavier, it would crush their tents and freeze all the livestock to death. This is not impossible.
Agricultural people grow crops to eat food, and they can save the uneaten food in normal times, and use it to survive the disaster years, but nomadic people can't do that.
They can't store food, and only living livestock can bring them a steady stream of dairy products. Some people may say that the Han tribe can store food, and nomads can also store more livestock.
But in fact, it is not the case. Food will not consume anything, at most it will take up a place and build a granary, but livestock are alive. The more livestock there are, the more feed they need to consume, but the area of the grassland is limited, and a piece of grassland is enough for those livestock to eat. You can't raise two more if you want. The extra ones have nothing to eat and will starve to death sooner or later.
Even in 2020, as long as there was a snowstorm on the northern grassland, the government would immediately send aid, find ways to send feed to the herders, and then let the slaughterhouses in various places collect more cattle and sheep in stock, so as to solve the winter pressure of the herders' livestock.
So in the final analysis, if the Han tribe wants to control the entire grassland, it must make plans to feed all the herders. It's okay when they are fine, but once there is a problem, the Han tribe must provide timely assistance like the modern government. As long as the herders are not starving to death, they will not risk their lives to rob.
To put it bluntly, it's still a matter of survival. As long as they can survive, they will definitely not become enemies.
Of course, this is not the best way. The best way is to keep absorbing nomadic tribes, just like this time to incorporate Maodun's tribe, continue to absorb them into the Han tribe, and then gradually assimilate them into farming peoples and change their living habits.
But even so, there will definitely always be people on the grassland, but as long as the number of nomadic tribes on the grassland is controlled within a certain range, the remaining people will have enough pasture and livestock, and generally no major conflicts will break out.
It would be very good to be able to maintain this state.
In addition, not only should the number of nomads on the grassland be controlled to ensure timely support when the nomads encounter difficulties, but also several obedient nomadic forces should be supported to let them join the Han tribe and become nomadic people of the Han tribe to manage the entire grassland for the Han tribe. In
a word, the Han tribe on the grassland must be there, because it can produce a large number of livestock, and this point cannot be lost. By purchasing livestock from nomadic tribes, their lives will be better. As long as there is no survival crisis, it will not cause trouble to the Han tribe.
This situation only needs to last for about a hundred years. After a hundred years, it is estimated that the Han tribe will even have machine guns, which are a killer weapon that can make nomadic people sing and dance. At that time, even if there are irreconcilable contradictions, the Han tribe will not have to worry about anything.
So Luo Chong will not worry about it at all.
He just said to You Zhi, "We do need to pay attention to Su Ritu, but we don't need to be too nervous. We can even invite him to our tribe next year to open his eyes and see if it is possible to subdue him directly.
If he is willing to submit to the Han tribe, then it's okay to let him grow stronger. Our Han tribe can give him a formal title and let him take charge of a grassland on our behalf, but these problems are not big.
What I want to tell you is that while the intelligence gathering work of the Jinwu Guard is not very busy now, I am going to arrange something else for you.
You are still the commander of the Jinwu Guard, but do you know what the Jinwu Guard's public function is besides collecting intelligence in secret?"
Publicly? Of course, it's Luo Chong's personal guard!
Why did the leader ask this? Is he going to be transferred back to be a guard?
This? It can't be true,
You Zhi suddenly thought uncertainly.
(End of this chapter)
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