Tiger Guards

Chapter 541: Use barbarians to control barbarians
Significant changes at various points in a war can affect other points, and these points can influence and oscillate with each other, causing rapid changes in the overall situation of the war.

The difference between a great general throughout history and an ordinary good general lies here: a great general throughout history is better able to perceive and accurately judge the trend of change; the 'big data' they construct in their minds has a higher accuracy rate.

Therefore, they can often achieve twice the result with half the effort, attacking a single node, and simultaneously disrupting and attacking to change the overall rhythm of the war and gain the initiative.

Zhao Ji may not be considered a great general throughout history, but he achieved a similar effect.

After the main force of the Han army, which had emerged from the Yulin Pass, successively defeated the central Xianbei group led by Budugen, and then inflicted a major defeat on the main force of the royal court gathered by the new king Qianman, the news spread to the three prefectures within the pass, which also accelerated the disintegration of the Qiang resistance camp.

The Qiang resistance camp collapsed even faster than Zhao Ji's central army swept through the three inner prefectures.

Although Zhao Jizhong led his army out of Yulin Pass and was unable to participate in the campaign to sweep through the three prefectures, the Qiang people had well-developed camp construction techniques and traditions in their large and small settlements, so it would objectively take a lot of time to defeat them one by one.

However, the annihilation of the main force of the Xianbei royal court and this huge change in the external environment led the Qiang people to surrender in droves... Since the Qiang people migrated eastward, they have been very adept at surrendering.

The Qiang people, who were not good at surrendering, had long been filtered out by Duan Jiong.

The outcome of the battle in the four commanderies of Shuofang affected the three commanderies within the Great Wall. The smooth progress in the three commanderies within the Great Wall also allowed them to allocate troops to support the four commanderies outside the Great Wall.

As time went on, Xu Huang opened up the northern battlefield of Beidi Commandery to the northwest, while Zhao Yun marched out of Yulin Pass to aid the battlefield of Wuyuan.

Zhao Ji remained firmly seated in Wuyuan County, directing his troops like a whirlwind to systematically conquer the surrounding Xianbei settlements from the inside out.

Not only did the Qiang people in the three inner prefectures lose their will to resist, but the Xianbei people also became despondent, and the men, women, and children in the settlements everywhere lost the courage to resist or flee.

Even though all the Xianbei men were selected and taken away, it did not arouse any decent resistance.

Such organized massacres of able-bodied men after defeat were not unexpected or cruel events for the Xianbei people.

When they were powerful, they could slaughter and annex smaller tribes. Now that the situation has reversed and they have foreseen their fate, they really can't muster the courage. Having thought of the worst possible fate, the Xianbei tribe still chose to surrender.

Even with the worst-case scenario in mind, the Han army only conscripted men, and it was rumored that Han army doctors would also treat wounded Xianbei soldiers, so the Xianbei tribes remained calm after surrendering.

The elite Xianbei men who were forcibly conscripted were selected, and Zhao Ji began to build his own Xianbei cavalry slave army.

In terms of closeness, his closest companions were his initial cavalrymen, followed by his Tiger Warriors. As his career grew, the loyalty of the Xiongnu followers who had migrated to the Pingyang Marquisate became even stronger.

On some levels, the Xianbei people, who were once again suppressed by the Xiongnu, would possess a higher level of loyalty than the Xiongnu followers.

This is very difficult to handle. Now that the army has gathered, many groups have not yet reacted, and there is no relevant influence to feed back into Zhao Ji's army.

Therefore, it is necessary to seize this brief window of opportunity and set about building a sizable group of Xianbei cavalry slaves who would be directly dependent on him.

Aside from protecting these Xianbei people, all other ethnic groups and organizations would be in a position of persecuting and oppressing them.

The internal checks and balances naturally led to dissatisfaction among veteran generals.

However, Zhao Ji didn't have any powerful figures under his command. Even Xu Huang and Jia Xu had small bases and were easily satisfied.

The other Tiger Legion members... haven't been able to develop independently; their current territory is enough to house their cronies and henchmen.

From beginning to end, Zhao Ji personally killed so many people and incorporated a Xianbei cavalry force of 10,000 into his personal army. The only group that opposed this was the Xiongnu.

Once the reorganization is complete, the Xiongnu will be dissatisfied, and this Xianbei personal army alone will be able to suppress most of the rebellious Xiongnu kings' forces. Xiongnu nobles at the thousand-household level will no longer be able to influence the balance of power. Suppressing the rebellious Xiongnu will not provoke discontent among other heroes or border regions.

The Xiongnu people's discontent stemmed from two sources: first, the Xianbei people seized the Xiongnu people's official careers, preventing the Xiongnu from monopolizing the path to officialdom through the righteous path; second, the grasslands and pastures of the inner three commanderies and the outer four commanderies were redistributed.

Last year, when dividing the Xiongnu people into thousand-household units and allocating grasslands and pastures, Zhao Ji took a step back, sacrificing and ignoring the interests of the approximately 20,000 Qiang people in the Qiang city of Hedong.

Therefore, in subsequent battles, no decent volunteer troops were recruited from the Qiang people.

He didn't want to provoke the Xiongnu. Now that there were so many Qiang, Xianbei and other mixed Hu people whose origins were unclear under his rule, he naturally wanted to break the Xiongnu's monopoly on official careers.

To prevent the corruption and decadence of the powerful Han families in the border regions, the monopolized business channels could still be given to the Xiongnu nobles, allowing them to become the first batch of Shanxi merchants to go global.

Thus, after winning the decisive battle, Zhao Ji took charge of Wuyuan County and, together with Zhang Liao, selected young and strong Xianbei men who had been escorted from various places. He then selected suitable soldiers from among them and trained his own Xianbei cavalry.

Those selected, along with their families, will naturally receive the same military household treatment as the Tiger Step Army, and will also be given priority when grasslands and pastures are allocated next year.

By directly bestowing favors upon the soldiers themselves, their loyalty can naturally be obtained.

Good pastures and ranches are coveted by everyone; without Zhao Ji's protection, these cavalrymen and their families will lose everything and will also be subject to targeted suppression and slaughter.

Only tangible benefits can win people's hearts and minds.

As usual, Zhang Liao finished training his troops and dragged his tired body back to his warm tent.

Most of the guards who always accompanied him had changed. Although they were still from the same hometown, not all people from the same hometown were the same.

The original personal guards were either killed or wounded and were transferred back to Jinyang for medical treatment. More than half of the three hundred personal cavalrymen died in battle in order to win him a meritorious victory over the Xianbei king.

Although he risked his life to pursue and successfully killed Qian Man.

But now, whenever Zhang Liao closes his eyes, he remembers the faces of his fellow villagers and friends, and he doesn't even know whether he should return to his hometown or how he should face their families after returning.

These people were said to be his fellow villagers and followers, but they were all partners who followed him to Guanzhong and Guandong, and they had a deep bond with each other.

Without these people, Zhang Liao felt as if most of his strength had been drained away.

He could only feel a little better when he was training and tormenting the Xianbei cavalrymen every day.

Now, he is terrified of being alone.

Inside the tent, two Xianbei noblewomen warmed his bed, but Zhang Liao showed no interest. He waved to them, and the two girls turned back to look at him with every step, reluctant to leave.

Although their fathers and brothers had died in battle, they were powerless to resist Zhang Wenyuan, the Han general who had killed the new king Qianman. Following a hero was the romance of the grasslands.

After they left, Zhang Liao ate a few bites of dinner, then lay down on the couch and fell into a deep sleep without even taking off his armor.

He was afraid that if he tossed and turned for even a little while, he would lose this precious sleepiness.

He wasn't comfortable in his sleep.

(End of this chapter)