History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 31 They Cheated
Wei Jing loved horses very much, so he only thought about them. He worried, "If a tiger roars, won't it scare our horses?"

"No wonder." Wei Mao's expression changed, and he immediately said to his companions, "Be careful, they're trying to cheat! If they pretend to hurt the cubs during the first two rounds of horse fighting, it will trigger the mother tiger's roar. And the ten horses that Changsun Wuzhuo prepared are all old horses. When I went over there just now, I was wondering why some of the horses had injuries. Now I understand. Those horses are likely warhorses that were culled by the Six Garrisons!"

The border town's warhorses have been through countless battles. Some of them are eliminated due to injuries, while others are due to insufficient stamina. Regardless of the reason, they will not be frightened by a few tiger roars.

But the docile and strong steed that Lu Baozhen prepared is another story.

He Rong: "Let's prepare in advance. Judging from the situation, A Mao's guess was right."

As the caged cart was pulled again, it headed towards the trench area where the first competition was to be held.

"They are truly despicable!"

"Yuan Heng is too wicked; he deserves to be beaten half to death."

He Rong sneered: "No, I think it was Xi Jiao's idea."

Wei Mao: "Maybe it wasn't Yuan Heng who insisted on coming, but Xi Jiao who instigated it. There's no time to hesitate, we need to change our strategy."

Lu Baozhen gritted her teeth in hatred: "Dogs and foxes, a bunch of shameless people! So many people like Xi Jiao, they're blind except for their eyes!"

After she finished cursing, she, Wei Mao, He Rong, and Mu Dai squatted in a circle and began to discuss the second battle strategy, while the others stood behind and listened.

Fortunately, no one saw Wei Yao's suddenly blushing cheeks. Wei Yao had been troubled by her shyness countless times. She quickly blew the cool breeze on her face to cool it down.

She said in annoyance: What are you feeling guilty about? Miss Lu didn't scold you! In this life, you and Xi Jiao are at most fellow disciples, and fellow disciples who dislike each other.

Now let's talk about the situation on the other side of the trench.

Everyone in Changsun Wuzhuo's group gathered around. Some wanted to see Yuan Heng's injuries, while the latter clutched his belt tightly.

Amid the commotion, Xi Jiao asked Changsun Wuzhuo, "The number of people over there hasn't changed, has it?"

The latter, watching from afar, was so amused that her eyes almost disappeared with laughter. Only when her friend asked did she finally come to her senses: "Don't worry, I know better than Lu Baozhen who she can invite."

Zhou Tai laughed in exasperation and chased the other person away: "Alright, go play with the tiger."

Then he and Xi Jiao walked aside and explained in detail: "Yesterday I had someone get more information from Lu Jiayi, confirming that there are fifteen of them in total, and all the horses are from the Lu family's pasture, and they are all docile. If the tiger-teasing trick succeeds and the tiger roars, they are bound to lose the three-round horse race!"

Xi Jiao: "Who knows the young tiger better than Yuan Heng? It will succeed."

Zhou Tai asked in bewilderment, "But tigers have a spirit. Yuan Heng teased the cubs and angered the mother tiger. What if the cubs don't obey him in the future?"

"If he remains untamed, I'm willing to buy him and give it a try."

what?
Zhou Tai was extremely impressed! He was the only one in the entire team who knew that Yuan Heng's temporary addition was secretly orchestrated by Xi Jiao. No wonder he always felt that it was just a duel, and that he could win with his own skills, so why resort to trickery and make the victory seem unfair?

It turns out that Xi Jiao had ulterior motives and wanted to seize this tiger cub.

Oh...poor Yuan Heng.

Now that everything was ready, Hai Yeren went over to call Lu Baozhen's team over.

While waiting, Zhou Tai saw Fei Ming standing among the servants gathered around the animal-cage cart. He reminded Xi Jiao, "You brought that slave Fei Ming here. Aren't you afraid that Wei Mao will still hold a grudge about the ranch incident? Wei Mao is a ruthless man who holds grudges."

“Wei Mao is a smart man. If he sees these two tigers, he might not participate in the horse riding competition. So what will he participate in?” Xi Jiao easily steered the conversation back to the martial arts competition.

But seeing his brow furrowed as he looked at the petite, slender figure among the approaching opponents, Xi Jiao chuckled, "You've been tricked. Their focus is on intellectual combat, not physical fighting." Zhou Tai didn't understand: "What?"

"They're cheating, did you see that? Sixteen, one extra."

Having the ability to cheat and daring to cheat are both skills!

The two sides finally faced each other with tense tension. Lu Baozhen and Changsun Wuzhuo were both serving as "commanders-in-chief" for the first time, and their eyes were filled with the word "war"!

There's no point in wasting time; the fighting has officially begun.

In the first round, horses are released to cross the trench. Both sides release three horses simultaneously, and each horse has only one chance to cross.

Six deep pits, each exuding the earthy smell, were lined up in a row, each two zhang long and one zhang wide. The starting point for the horses was also in a line, ten zhang away from the muddy ditch, enough for them to start running at full speed.

Yuan Heng's two servants, whips in hand, stood guard by the tiger cub's cage, bracing themselves and waiting for their young master's command. Inside the other cage, the tigress was restless, her large claws constantly lashing at the iron bars.

Changsun Wuzhuo's fox-like eyes curved into four arcs as he smiled and said to Lu Baozhen, "I won't compete with you today. You give the order for the first round."

Her teammates at the finish line had also crossed to the other side of the trench and were standing in position. Lu Baozhen knew she was going to lose this round, but she couldn't lose her spirit! She shouted loudly, "Release the horses!"

Yuan Heng hurriedly gave the order from beside the tiger cub's cage: "Draw it."

The two leather whips did not actually lash the tiger cubs, but the poor mother tiger could not see it clearly. Overwhelmed with love for her cubs, she immediately roared "Awooo!"

The three horses of the Lu family had just been freed from their reins when they were frightened and began to neigh, jump, and run around wildly.

In contrast, the three old horses in the eldest grandson's team were not only fearless, but also accelerated faster than usual. They've reached the trench!

Cross over.

Cross over.

Leap forward like a Pegasus!
"Li-li-li-li-li!" The three old horses finally raised their heads and neighed, proudly looking directly at the direction of the cage. They were used to being hit by arrows and frost; their former master had only taught them to fight, not to retreat!
Lu Baozhen clenched her fist in frustration and sarcastically said to Changsun Wuzhuo, "Have you laughed enough? Why don't you quickly pull your 'war chariot' to another location?"

"Haha, haha, yes, you're right, it's too early to laugh all that. Let's go, everyone!"

Feeling extremely accomplished, Yuan Heng lay back down. As the stretcher moved, he saw Wei Yao, and his joy turned to gloom. He called out to Xi Jiao, "Xi Jiao, Xi Jiao! What's that crybaby doing here? Isn't she a lowly member of the Wei tribe? She's just using the surname Wei to gild her own ego. What right does she have to be here? Quickly, get her out of here."

This is harsh, but it speaks to the truth. In Xianbei tribes, especially the larger ones, ordinary people were often composed of captives, with no blood relation to the clan that held power. For the tribespeople to survive and multiply, they had to rely on the clan; and for the clans to expand their farmland and pastures, they had to continue plundering people from various regions and ethnic groups.

When Pingcheng became the capital of the Great Wei Dynasty, there was an urgent need to increase the population, so various tribes brought their people to settle in this land. Later, in order to strengthen royal power, the imperial court implemented the equal-field system and decided to register the Xianbei people in the household register, thus freeing them from the control of the various tribes and changing their status to paying taxes in silk and grain to the state.

During the process of creating the household register, various strange and unusual Xianbei names were simplified, but the vast majority of people still used their tribe's name as their surname.

Two years ago, His Majesty issued an edict that all 118 Xianbei clans should change their surnames to single-character surnames. Families like the Wei Yao family, who had no farmland and lived in the city, naturally changed their surnames again, following the example of their tribe.

In other words, there are many people with the surname Wei in the Great Wei Dynasty, but only those like Wei Mao and Wei Jing, whose ancestors can be traced back to meritorious officials, are the true descendants of the Wei clan. If we were to be serious about this duel between the sons of powerful and wealthy families, Wei Yao would indeed not be qualified to participate.

Let me briefly explain the term "protected households". In the early Northern Wei Dynasty, the rent collection method was called "Nine-Rank Mixed System". This system divided households into nine ranks and collected silk cloth from them. Grain was also collected from time to time to serve as military rations. People could not survive and had to rely on aristocratic families to become tenants, servants, or slaves. These people were all called "protected households".

The advantage of being a patron household is that you are not subject to official duties, but the disadvantage is that you are treated like slaves by powerful and wealthy families.

As for the "equal-field system" promulgated by Emperor Xiaowen (the current emperor in the novel), it only applied to self-cultivating farmers, and not all commoners could be allocated farmland.

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(End of this chapter)