Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 291: The Way Out for the Hu People, the Human Trafficker Zhang Yu

In August, it is autumn, the sky is as blue as a mirror, hawks fly by with a roar, and the grasslands on the frontier are bleak.

The north wind blew past, and the grass and trees on the grassland swayed. A hare jumped out of a hole in the hill, stayed on the grass for a while, and then seemed to hear some sound, and suddenly kicked its hind legs to escape.

"Whoosh!"

When the hare was halfway along the way, a bone arrow flew through the air and hit the rabbit's neck. Bright red blood flowed out along the bone arrow. The rabbit's limbs twitched and it soon stopped breathing.

A burly Xianbei boy came quickly with powerful legs, picked up the rabbit he had shot dead, first pulled out the bone arrow, then put the rabbit carcass away and placed it together with the prey he had caught today.

"嘘嘚~"

But then a fast horse came galloping up the hill and asked the young man who was hunting in the grassland, "Chi Nu (wolf), how much did you hunt today?"

The Xianbei boy was not talkative, so he said in a muffled voice: "Three rabbits!"

The Xianbei knight on horseback laughed and said, "There are almost no animals left on this grassland that can run. You should change your hunting ground!"

"Someone from the tribe came and said that the higher-ups are looking for Zhuang'er, and the leader wants you to go back to the tribe." The Xianbei knight said, "I have to go inform the others now, Chi Nu, go back quickly, don't keep the leader waiting for too long."

"it is good!"

The Xianbei boy responded readily, hung the prey on the horse's head, and rode back on a horse that was too big to fit his body.

In the Qiulu tribe, the leader Duni was receiving a nobleman in luxurious clothes, and on the left and right of the nobleman were several armored Xiongnu warriors.

"Duni, are all your children here?"

Hu Yanle asked as he looked at the several Xianbei children lined up neatly in front of him.

Duni counted the people and looked at the parents outside the venue and said, "There are still seven or eight children who haven't arrived yet."

"Then wait a moment!"

Seeing that it was still early, Hu Yanle was not in a hurry and said.

"promise!"

The Qiulu tribe had just moved from the south of the desert to the frontier not long ago. The tribe had only a hundred tents and the population was not large. It had always been supervised by the Zuonan region. Hu Yanle was Zhang Yu's brother-in-law. Because he had done things reliably in the past, he was appointed by Zhang Yu as one of the leaders of the Boy Scouts. Now he was ordered to go to various tribes to select strong Hu men.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Duni asked, "Sir, why are you selecting young men today?"

Not only was Duni curious, but the surrounding Xianbei men and women were also curious. They had seen men being drafted to fight, but this was the first time they had seen men being selected. Many parents in the crowd looked worried, fearing that Hu Yanle had come with bad intentions.

As if sensing everyone's concerns, Hu Yanle raised his voice and said, "The reason why we are selecting young men today is because the emperor wants to select close attendants. Those who are selected as close attendants can go to the Han area to learn martial arts and study scriptures, and their food and clothing will be contracted by the government for a period of five years. At the end of the period, the government will select the young men to join the army as officials."

Hu Yanle continued, "During the five-year period, the government will allocate grain, salt and various accounts to subsidize each family. When the period is over, the children will be able to join the army or become officials and receive salaries."

Although Zhang Yu promoted the system of personal soldiers for the Chanyu, he used money and words to beautify his behavior in order to avoid resentment from the Hu people. After all, it was really ugly to rob people openly, and it would be much better to select close servants. In particular, if he promoted the benefits of being selected to the poor Hu people's parents, it would attract many people to cooperate willingly.

When everyone heard what Hu Yanle said, the crowd couldn't help but become noisy. It seemed that they were very interested in the selection of attendants and were not as averse as before.

The leader, Duni, was quite knowledgeable and asked carefully, "I heard that the Han emperors have eunuchs serving them. Do those who are selected as guards need to be circumcised?"

Hu Yanle emphasized: "The guards are employed by the emperor for their military prowess, which is different from eunuchs. And if they are circumcised, how can they fight for the emperor?"

Hearing this, Duni was relieved. Now he was concerned about Zhang Yu's selection of strong men. In addition to being the leader of the Qiulu tribe, his second son Tuozhen was also among the children of the right age. It was just that he was worried that Hu Yanle's behavior was not good, so he did not dare to let his second son Tuozhen come back.

Now that they knew the real situation, in order not to offend Hu Yanle, the Duni tribe quickly sent people to urge the children who had not arrived.

Soon, Chinu, who had been hunting on the grassland before, Duni's second son Tuozhen, and other children of school age in the tribe all arrived, totaling about fifteen people.

At Hu Yanle's command, several warriors began to select children, testing them in four areas: height, arm strength, riding and archery, and running.

"Off target!"

"Next!"

Seeing that another child missed the target in the thirty-step horse archery shot, Hu Yanle couldn't help but reveal a bit of disappointment in his eyes. He wanted to select at least three strong men from the Qiulu tribe.

"Chi Nu!"

As Chi Nu drove the horse, Hu Yanle saw him driving the big horse with his small body, and his eyes showed expectation. But Chi Nu came out with a bow, perhaps in a playful mood, or wanted to show off his riding skills, he actually did acrobatics on the horse, and while hiding beside the horse, he quickly shot an arrow, hitting the bull's eye.

"middle!"

"Pass!"

Seeing Chi Nu's performance, Hu Yanle couldn't help but show admiration and named him, "I want this boy!"

"I'm afraid we need to discuss this with Chi Nu's parents!" Duni said.

"Go and communicate with his parents. If you can make it, I will reward you with a sheepskin and give his family a sheepskin!" Hu Yanle said.

"I can't guarantee it, but I'd like to give it a try for you!" Duni said hesitantly.

Although there are many sheep on the grassland, the price of sheepskin is not cheap. There is no textile technology on the grassland, so most people use animal fur to make clothes and felt tents. Good sheepskin has a warming effect, and it is very expensive to make a robe with other fur.

In order to select three hundred strong men, Zhang Yu gave four hundred sheepskins as expenses. Every family whose strong man was selected as a guard would be rewarded with a sheepskin. Therefore, three hundred sheepskins were compensation for the parents, and one hundred of them were used as intermediary fees to reward leaders of small and medium-sized tribes like Duni.

After receiving the benefits from Hu Yanle, Duni tried to persuade Chi Nu's parents. However, Chi Nu's parents were indifferent to the benefits and were reluctant to let their eldest son leave.

"Chi Nu is still young. I'm afraid he won't be able to adapt if he goes to Han territory now."

The Xianbei woman, who had been exposed to the grassland sun for many years, had a red face. Due to her hard work, she looked like a woman in her early forties in her thirties. Now, looking at the silent Chi Nu, her face was full of worry.

"It's not about wandering around!"

Duni struggled to speak and said, "The noble said that I will be trained as a guard of the emperor for five years, and my food and clothing will be paid by the government, and I will also receive money and food subsidies every year."

As he spoke, Duni looked at Chinu's father and said, "The tribe is isolated and poor. If Chinu stays in the tribe, what else can he do except help you hunt and herd? Now he is going to the Han land as a close attendant. If he is favored by a noble, his future will naturally be bright!"

Chi Nu's father was also not good at speaking, and he said sullenly: "How can we trust the words of outsiders? If we trick Chi Nu into becoming a slave of the Han people, it will be worse than staying in the tribe."

Although Chi Nu's father was short-sighted, he hit the nail on the head. Zhang Yu was trying to trick the children of the Hu people into becoming slaves, but the trick was wrapped in a story and was unnoticeable.

"No!"

Duni said, "Your sister is the emperor's wife, and now she is working for the emperor. The emperor just summoned the leaders of various tribes in Pingcheng. Although I did not go there, I have been to Pingcheng. I heard that the emperor has 100,000 soldiers and millions of people. Now that I can serve the emperor closely, I will be able to enjoy wealth and honor!"

Chi Nu's father glanced at Duni and said, "Chief, if Tuo is really favored by a noble, would you be willing to give him up?"

Duni was speechless for a moment, but he reacted quickly and said, "My family property is too small, and it is already difficult to support my eldest and youngest sons. Now that Zhenru can serve you, why wouldn't I be willing? At least I don't have to worry about freezing to death!"

The grassland was too poor, and Zhang Yu could attract a large number of Hu people by offering them some small benefits and promotion opportunities.

While Chi Nu's parents were struggling, Chi Nu, who had been silent, said, "Father, mother, I want to be your servant."

"why?"

Chi Nu hesitated for a while and said, "Your Majesty has so many subordinates. I can't say that I will be rich as his servant, but at least I will have food to eat. And after I leave, you can support my younger brother and give him a subsidy every year. As for marrying a wife, you don't need to worry about it."

Although Chi Nu was young, he knew the prosperity of Han society because of the frequent exchanges between Han and Hu people. The last time a Han merchant came to the tribe, he used the beautiful Han utensils to marry beautiful girls in the tribe as concubines, which left an indelible psychological mark on the 11-year-old boy.

In fact, Chi Nu didn't know that if he became Zhang Yu's personal guard, he would lose the qualification to marry. Unless he retired from the personal guard at the appointed time or made great achievements, he would be eligible to marry and have children.

The reason why Zhang Yu made such a rule was essentially to castrate these Hu people's personal guards in disguised form, in order to avoid the inheritance of power and money as much as possible. He replaced one batch after another and maintained the iteration to prevent the emergence of powerful people.

"This~"

Seeing that Chi Nu was determined to flee to Han territory, the Xianbei woman cried while holding her child.

With the help of Duni, Hu Yanle recruited four strong men from the Qiulu tribe. Among them, in addition to Chinu, there were Duni's son Tuozhen and two other strong young men.

Hu Yanle made two copies of identity documents for the four teenagers according to the rules, one for the government and one for their parents. The documents have a special function. In addition to allowing parents to receive subsidies, they are also more important to prevent children from escaping back to the tribe.

After taking four children away from the Qiulu tribe, Hu Yanle went to other tribes and took away several or more children. Finally, he gathered a hundred strong Hu men and led the team to Pingcheng.

Kebi, Tuli and other Hu generals, who had the same duties as Hu Yanle, forced many children away from the Xianbei, Xiongnu and Wuhuan tribes. They gathered 300 children and went to Pingcheng to report to Zhang Yu.

After Zhang Yu found time to meet with the 300 boys, he led his troops southward with the 300 children, thinking that his mission of inspecting the northern border had been completed. On the way south, the children were confused and some wanted to go home, but because they were unfamiliar with the place and the knights' intimidation, they had no choice but to accept reality.

In order to maintain his own rule, Zhang Yu's methods became increasingly brutal, and he could even be called a human trafficker!
(End of this chapter)