Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 181: Stop the War and Keep Kindness

Of course, both Liu Huai and Zhang Baiyu were smart people. After listening to Adianlun's words, how could they not understand that this guy regarded them as noble Jurchens?
The so-called complete sinicization was the only way out for ethnic minorities in the 12th century, and this was not an empty statement.

The Jurchens had already begun large-scale sinicization. For example, the current Jin Dynasty Emperor Wanyan Liang wrote poetry better than the average Confucian scholar. Another example is the previous emperor Wanyan Tan, who was murdered by Wanyan Liang. Before he went mad, he looked more like a scholar than a Hu emperor.

Hairstyles like shaved heads and braided hair are almost useless when out of the fishing, hunting and grazing environment, except for being ugly. Therefore, except for some older Jurchens, the new generation of Han people are dressing up more and more. Even if they have braids, they often do not shave their heads, but just comb their hair into two whips.

It was for this reason that Adianlun thought Liu Huai was a Jurchen because he said that he had been playing with good horses since he was a child and slept next to the stables.

Firstly, the Jurchens established their country on the basis of cavalry, and your descendants do have this habit.

Secondly, Adianlun really has no other way out, and he has to try his best to save the dying horse.

"Adianlun? Adian tribe?" Liu Huai sneered. He neither clarified nor inquired about the other party's identity. He simply said with a cold face: "Who are you, idiot? How dare you ask me to rescue you? What's your Meng'an's name? I must ask how he governs the people!"

Adianlun looked up in confusion, but quickly lowered his head: "Our Meng'an Mouke is long gone..."

Zhang Baiyu interjected, "He's actually a fugitive? He deserves to be killed!"

He said this for a reason.

Because the people organized according to the Meng'an Mouke system, whether they were Jurchens, Han, Xi, Bohai, or Khitans, were theoretically all military households. They were supported in peacetime, but in times of war they should be drafted into the battlefield to repay the country.

It is no big deal for ordinary people to be a fugitive, but it is a big taboo for Meng'an Mouke households.

Adianlun waved his hands repeatedly: "It's not that I want to be a runaway, but our Meng'an is completely gone."

"What do you mean it's all gone?"

"A few years ago, during the Kaishan Zhao Rebellion, Han'er rebelled, and almost all the Meng'an and Mouke households in Juzhou were wiped out. We escaped, but many of us starved to death. It was not easy to survive..."

Zhang Baiyu interrupted coldly, angrily scolding, "You always bully people, don't you deserve this?"

Adianlun was almost in tears, and he didn't think there was anything wrong with what he said: "Our hometown is in Linhuang Prefecture, and we usually live a good life. But more than ten years ago, the government inexplicably burned our house and trampled on our crops, saying that there are mountains of gold and silver waiting for us in the south. They forcibly moved our Adian tribe to Shandong, and hundreds of people died on the way. After arriving in Shandong, our Adian tribe was dispersed and organized into Meng'an Mouke households.

During this Meng'an period, over a thousand of us were driven to Juzhou. They allocated a piece of land and told us we would be military households. We were not given any cattle, horses, or sheep. They said the Juzhou governor would provide us with resettlement, but we waited a year and still nothing happened. After we finally got a good understanding of the soil conditions, the Kaishan Zhao Rebellion broke out again. All the Jurchens, regardless of gender or age, were killed by them!
I took some of my tribesmen and fled to the mountains, where I managed to escape. When the situation calmed down, we returned to the village and found that everyone who hadn't escaped had died, and all the houses we had built had been burned down."

At this point, Adianlun burst into tears. "Your Excellency, I dare not say that my Adian tribe has never had any disputes with the Han people, nor do I dare say that there haven't been one or two scumbags who have harmed the Han people. But my tribe, plus the Jurchen nations settled in the surrounding areas, are really just reclaiming wasteland and trying to survive. We didn't want to come to Shandong! Why did we end up like this?"

By the end, Zhang Baiyu and the other two knights were already looking at each other in dismay. But Liu Huai was even earlier; he had understood halfway through.

Such is the complexity of the situation in the North.

Class contradictions and ethnic contradictions exist in the North, and both are extremely intense.

For example, the Adianlun tribe in front of us lived well in Linhuang Prefecture, but the Jin government had to relocate them according to the method of entering the Central Plains. After relocation, they did not properly resettle them, but swept away all their original property, leaving the Adian tribe to suffer from hunger and cold.

Isn't this a typical example of class contradiction arising from a system of feudal class exploitation? On the other hand, where did the land used to settle the Adian tribe come from? Did it just fall from the sky?
Of course it was taken from the Han landlords and farmers!
The Jurchens plundered wealth and land. Isn’t this a standard ethnic conflict?
But the interesting thing is that no matter who sees the miserable situation of Adienlun who can only dig manure now, it is hard to say that the Adien tribe is the vested interest group in the intensified contradictions.

However, once war breaks out, these Meng'an Mouke households who have moved inland will be the first to be killed.

Of course, this is not to say that these Jurchens who migrated inland were all naive. In fact, with the Jin government taking sides, these people committed many crimes and even unscrupulous things, such as the recent deaths of Jiagu Shou and Shuhu Ali.

Rather, in such a complex situation, as a powerful figure holding the knife, Liu Huai, with a darker heart, could say that people are the root of all conflicts, and if they were killed, all conflicts would disappear. This was also the most worry-free and labor-saving method.

But how could all the people be killed? Don't you want people to farm? Don't you want people to trade? Don't you want people to work? Don't you want people to form an administrative team?

If we don’t kill them all, it means that all these problems will be put off, and social contradictions will still exist, waiting to erupt again one day.

And if we look at the whole world, and add some small conflicts such as the contradiction between rich and poor, the contradiction between north and south, and the contradiction between host and guest, then it is definitely not a problem that can be solved by killing.

The right way is to acknowledge these contradictions, ease these contradictions and resolve these contradictions.

Liu Huai quickly prepared himself mentally and pointed the tip of his knife at Adianlun: "What does all this rambling have to do with Nai Gong? Why don't you go find the prefect and the county magistrate? Didn't the court order you to be resettled?"

Adianlun kowtowed again: "After the Kaishan Zhao Rebellion, we, the Adian tribe, sought help from the county magistrate and even the prefect, but they said that all of our names had been removed from the household register and that we were no longer military households, leaving us to fend for ourselves."

Good guy, Liu Huai kept saying in his heart.

It is true that there are countermeasures for every policy from the top. The grassroots control of the Jin Dynasty is really eye-opening. Can military households be easily abandoned?
But think about it, it's time-consuming and laborious to gather the surviving Meng'an Mouke households, and we have to resettle them and find food for them. It's not as convenient and quick as just crossing them out from the household registration book.

Adianlun continued, "We have no other options but to find our own livelihoods. Some have become slaves in manors, some have gone up the mountain to become bandits, and some have said they were returning to Linhuang Prefecture, but have never returned. The situation in Juzhou is becoming increasingly chaotic, and I have no other options but to entrust myself to you, my noble companion, hoping I can offer some protection. I would be willing to sacrifice my entire family for slavery, and I hope you will take me in."

Liu Huai shook his head when he heard this.

How could I say I was desperate to join you at this time? I should just say I was so impressed by your valor that I was willing to follow you closely, through thick and thin.
Based on this sentence, if Liu Huai was really a noble Jurchen, he would have killed this guy immediately.

However, this also shows that this guy really acted on impulse and was not a servant of someone's family who came here to find out the truth.

Thinking of this, Liu Huai suddenly remembered something and pretended to be nonchalant and asked, "A few days ago, there was a man who came to me and wanted to be a riding slave. His name is Xiemao Zhanggu. Do you know him?"

Adianlun was certain, yet inexplicably panicked. "Of course I recognize him. He's a warrior from our tribe. He later became a mounted slave in Zhujiazhuang... Because he offended Master Zhu Sanye's only son, he was often whipped. I saw him a few days ago."

Liu Huai nodded slowly.

That's almost right.

At this point, Liu Huai looked at the sun in the west and lost the desire to continue. He pointed his knife at Adianlun and said, "I have important things to do. If you want to follow me, come along! I hope you can smell something after digging in the manure for so long."

(End of this chapter)