Tiger Guards

Chapter 550 Vanguard of the Eastern Expedition
Wuyuan County, Heyin City.

Zhao Yun led his troops slowly along the Qin Straight Road, despite the thick snow covering the road and its sides.

However, the north wind is strong in the border areas. No matter how thick the snow is, under the bright sunlight, the north wind blows fiercely, causing the snow to vaporize and become soft.

Spring comes late here, but the daytime temperatures are gradually rising and the ultraviolet radiation is quite strong, so the snow melts very quickly.

After all, besides grasslands, the border regions also include several deserts.

The vast desert area accelerated the melting of the snow.

Outside Heyin City, where the main force of the Xianbei royal court had originally encamped, Han army camps were now being set up again.

Zhao Yun led his troops to the city and that afternoon crossed the river by ice cart to attend a military conference in Wuyuan City.

Now, not only Zhao Yun's troops have arrived in the four commanderies of Yunzhong, but also the various Xiongnu tribes have begun to migrate to the four commanderies of Yunzhong after receiving Zhao Ji's orders, to be allocated new pastures and grazing lands.

Pastures are for grazing in spring and summer, while grasslands are for haymaking in autumn and for the tribe's animal herds to spend the winter.

Generally speaking, pastures are in the north and grasslands are in the south, with the animals migrating twice a year, in spring and autumn.

For the vast majority of elderly Xiongnu people, they will be returning to the familiar land of their ancestors... Compared to the cool summers of the four commanderies of Yunzhong, the summer temperatures of Taiyuan, Xihe, and Shangjun are ultimately quite hot for them.

When the herds of animals migrated from the four counties of Yunzhong into the interior, they were not adapted to the climate and were prone to disease outbreaks.

Although the winters in the interior are relatively warm, which is indeed something to cherish; however, with the Han army currently in power, it is naturally better to stay as far away as possible.

Not only did the various Xiongnu tribes begin to migrate north, but the remaining population of the Qiang people in the three commanderies also began to drive herds of animals and migrate towards the Shuofang area.

When Zhao Ji divided pastures and grasslands, he must have chosen to overlap, contrast, and separate the Xianbei, Xiongnu, various Qiang, and miscellaneous Hu peoples, just like coloring a grid, not allowing two identical color blocks to be neighbors.

Apart from these, the four commanderies of Yunzhong previously only had two standing troops: the General Who Sends the Xiongnu and the General Who Crosses the Liao River. There were no other standing field armies.

Zhao Ji is now rebuilding the fortification system at strategic locations in the four commanderies of Yunzhong, directly drawing troops from various Hu tribes. He is using the old methods, but with greater detail.

Ordinary military service was for guarding passes and fortifications, advanced military service was for patrol and hunting troops, and those who were higher could be selected for the volunteer army. Those who made meritorious contributions, were promoted and given official positions, and their families could move to the three prefectures of Beidi, Yanmen, or Taiyuan.

The meritorious Hu people should not be buried in the borderlands. Giving them the opportunity to move their families into the borderlands will naturally stimulate their fighting enthusiasm in the short term.

Re-dividing the grasslands and pastures of the four counties of Yunzhong was a complicated matter.

Currently, only Zhao Ji has the prestige to quickly and decisively distribute the tasks and suppress dissent from the various Xiongnu tribes.

The Xiongnu people have a tradition of greed and pioneering spirit, especially since they followed the Grand Marshal's staff to various places and their volunteer troops made great contributions.

This is also the source of the Xiongnu people's confidence to extort and demand more land; if someone else were in charge of this matter, the Xiongnu people would have stubbornly continued their extortion, and the person in charge would have lacked the courage to make decisive decisions.

Apart from Zhao Ji, no one else could grasp the right balance.

This kind of discretion is actually very scary. These people are afraid of provoking the Xiongnu to rebel... If the Xiongnu rebel against them, they will turn around and apologize to Zhao Ji and surrender. Who will Zhao Ji kill then?
Therefore, allowing others to allocate land, whether or not this discretion is granted, will not actually have any positive effect. Unless a ruthless official who is well-known is brought in, and the ruthless official is given authority to act freely.

As far as the Xiongnu people's survival wisdom is concerned, being tormented by cruel officials would make them behave.

The problem is that Zhao Ji lacks such cruel officials around him; at the same time, Zhao Ji does not want a cruel official to establish or possess a resume of dominating the land allocation of the four prefectures.

If you don't perform well with this resume, you'll sink into obscurity.

But if he does a good job, all the tribes in the four prefectures will have a special relationship with him, similar to a disciple-official relationship... Nomadic tribes also have their own social interactions, especially when it is profitable to band together.

Therefore, this matter can only be handled by Zhao Ji himself. What can be allocated now are the winter pastures for each tribe; as for the pastures, the vast grasslands north of Yinshan must be taken. Therefore, if each tribe wants to obtain the pastures, they must cooperate with Zhao Ji to launch an eastern expedition.

The able-bodied men of each tribe formed volunteer troops to cooperate with the main force of the Han army to clear the way, while the families of each tribe drove the herds of animals, moving and herding as they went.

They formed a huge nomadic group of three to four hundred thousand people, and gradually encroached eastward, just like combing hair, digging out the small tribes in the corners, and conquering these small tribes was as natural as water flowing into a channel.

The current challenge lies in deciding when to launch the Eastern Expedition.

Either before the Yellow River ice jam, while the river is frozen, the vanguard can attack the eastern part of Yunzhong, drive out the remnants of Budugen's forces, and make Budugen flee eastward to spread the news of the Han army's eastward expedition, like a crow calling out to its soul, so that the various tribes along the eastward expedition can prepare.

This also allowed the remnants of Budugen's army to continue spreading terrifying legends about the Han army, further demoralizing the various Hu tribes in the east.

If no action is taken before the ice jam, the eastern expedition will have to wait until the ice jam ends and boats can be used for ferrying and pontoon bridges can be built. This would still force Budugen's troops to run first and become the messengers of the Han army.

Just as Zhao Ji was in a dilemma, Zhao Yun arrived. Zhao Ji summoned Zhao Yun to Wuyuan City and handed him the Hebei war report and various military intelligence files.

Zhao Yun was exhausted from the march and had not eaten or drunk anything, so he had no appetite at the moment.

He carefully read the letters sent by Xianyu Fu, Tian Chou, and others, as well as the military intelligence reports sent by some county magistrates in Youzhou who were loyal to Gongsun Zan.

This year, Zhao Ji was in charge of protecting the country and opposing Yuan Shikai. When he withdrew, he killed a group of county magistrates in Hanoi who knew about the incident but failed to report it, and announced it to all prefectures and counties in the country through an imperial edict.

So the main army is still in Wuyuan and has not made any moves. However, some county magistrates in Youzhou who are loyal to Gongsun Zan and hold their ground, as well as some who have pretended to surrender to Yuan Shao, have sent military reports and sincerely repented in their reports.

After reading through these military documents and archives, Zhao Yun said, "Grand Marshal, before our army arrives, the Yuan family will surely retreat first."

Zhao Ji simply waved his hand, indicating, "Zilong, eat a couple of bites to fill your stomach first, then we can discuss matters later."

"Here."

Zhao Yun put the file away, picked up a piece of wheat cake and took a bite. It felt exceptionally soft and crumbly. Looking at the wheat cake again, he saw layers upon layers of it and a milky aroma.

As descendants of the Zhao family, lactose intolerance is relatively rare.

Zhao Ji had just picked up a piece of crispy, fermented wheat cake with butter and taken a bite when he said, "I also want to send troops to Yijing immediately to compete with Yuan's army of over 100,000. But the winter snow is about to melt, and our army's sleds are just for show."

After a pause, Zhao Ji continued, "I would like to ask Zilong to be my vanguard general, leading three thousand each of the Xianbei and Xiongnu loyalists, to join forces with our main force and form a cavalry of ten thousand. They will advance eastward first, providing distant support to the former general. If we can force the Yuan family to withdraw their troops, it will also fulfill the past friendship between Zilong and the former general."

"Yes, I will finally understand."

Zhao Yun agreed, though he had some doubts, but he accepted this decision which was full of goodwill towards him.

Immediately afterwards, Zhao Ji asked, "In Zilong's opinion, does the former general still possess the same lofty ambitions?"

"I have not seen the former general, so I cannot make a judgment."

"Yes, Zilong, if you receive a letter from the former general, please make a judgment for me."

"Don't dare."

Zhao Yun said this, but did not directly refuse.

If possible, he also hoped that Gongsun Zan would give up resistance and stop making meaningless struggles.

(End of this chapter)