Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 280 It's entirely their own fault for being weak and sickly; what does it have to do with me!

As the emperor, Liu Bian could not easily reveal his thoughts before the ministers of the Imperial Secretariat expressed their opinions. Even if they guessed his intentions, he still needed to maintain his imperial demeanor and pretend to be profound.

"If they want it, then give it to them."

After a moment's thought, Liu Bian made his decision.

Upon hearing this, Zhong Yao, who was standing to the side, suddenly looked up at the emperor, a hint of undisguised surprise flashing across his face, clearly quite taken aback by the decision.

"Hmm?" Liu Bian caught Zhong Yao's expression. Sitting on the couch, he raised an eyebrow and said with a hint of dissatisfaction, "Yuan Chang, what kind of look is that? Am I really that stingy?"

Zhong Yao nodded subconsciously.

Sitting on the couch, Liu Bian raised his foot and kicked Zhong Yao with a light kick. Zhong Yao dared not dodge and took the emperor's kick squarely, leaving a brown footprint on his black lower garment.

Zhong Yao gave a helpless bitter smile, bent down and patted the dust off his robes, explaining, "The country has always... well, disliked barbarians. Therefore, we all believe that the country will resolutely reject the request of the Bantun barbarians."

"Nonsense!" Liu Bian slammed his fist on the table and stood up angrily, "Since ancient times, the Chinese have been valued and the barbarians despised. I alone value the barbarians and despise the Chinese!"

I am wronged!
Just kidding, I've always liked barbarians, how could I possibly dislike them!

Lü Bu and Dong Zhuo, those two damned devils, slaughtered so many Xiongnu people, it's simply too much! They only left me with 180,000 Xiongnu old, weak, women and children!

And then there's Huangfu Song, that old killer. His army has killed a total of 80,000 Qiang and Hu rebels in Liangzhou, and these were all young and strong men!

In the end, he only left me with 31,000 young and strong prisoners, which is a complete waste of resources!

Upon hearing the emperor's words, Zhong Yao's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.

Liu Bian glared at Zhong Yao with a hint of threat in his eyes and said, "Yuan Chang, why aren't you as sad as I am? Do you have some objection to what I said?"

Ah yes, yes, yes, the nation values ​​barbarians while despising the Chinese!

The upbringing he received from childhood made Zhong Yao want to spit on that face and curse him as a "tyrant".

Recently, his elderly father, Zhong Di, left his old house in Changshe, Yingchuan, where he had lived in seclusion for more than 30 years, and came to Luoyang to live in his mansion, urging him to get married every day.

Zhong Di kept nagging Zhong Yao that he was thirty-five years old and still unmarried, without even a concubine. Zhong Yao's sister had specially arranged several beautiful maids for him, but he hadn't even touched them. This worried the Zhong family greatly.

Zhong Yao stated that if there were no offspring, there were no offspring; at worst, he could adopt a legitimate son from his younger brother Zhong Yan to join his lineage, which was not a problem.

Moreover, seeing the emperor's frivolous attitude, Zhong Yao felt even less inclined to marry and have children. If this were his son, he would tie the brat to a tree and whip him to death with a vine!
Jia Xu, who was always bold, stepped forward with a sinister smile and said, "Of the 180,000 Xiongnu old, weak, women and children, about 40,000 are still alive. Could it be that the iron mine in Anyi is expanding and therefore short of miners?"

Liu Bian, as if his tail had been stepped on, immediately blushed and glared at Jia Xu, saying, "Jia Wenhe, watch your words! What do you mean by 'approximately 40,000 are still alive'? I have rewarded all the eligible Xiongnu women under the age of 35 with meritorious soldiers, which means I have released more than 40,000 people!"

Zhong Yao stared blankly at the emperor, but couldn't help but blurt out, "What about the 100,000 elderly and infirm people?"

Liu Bian's eyes darted around for a moment, then he straightened his back and said righteously, "I don't know, and I don't want to know. I just want to teach people how to fish, not give them fish. I am helping them to be self-reliant!"

"It's not like I forced them to do hard labor! I didn't force them, so what does it have to do with me!" "It's entirely their own fault! It's entirely their own fault for being weak and sickly, so what does it have to do with me!"

In all honesty, Liu Bian genuinely intended to sustainably exploit the resources of the Xiongnu, but who knew that the Xiongnu would suddenly arrive at the better-equipped concentration camp to work as laborers... cough, to undergo labor reform, and instead, a large number of them would die due to the combined effects of high-intensity labor and acclimatization problems.

Otherwise, based on their original workload, they could have worked for at least another two years.

However, to get back to the main point, Liu Bian did have a certain degree of tolerance towards the Ba people.

“Even if they are not nominally granted the title of Marquis of Guiyi, are they not actually Marquises of Guiyi?” Liu Bian shook his head slightly and chuckled. “They are already the actual Marquises of Guiyi. An imperial edict and a golden seal are merely a way of bestowing upon them what they already possess.”

The Ba people were deeply Sinicized, and their lifestyle changed from fishing and hunting to farming as the main activity, supplemented by fishing and hunting. This can be seen from the seven surnames of the Ba people. This was a group whose names were even Sinicized, and they made great contributions to the founding of the Han Dynasty.

Without the knowledge of the Qinling Mountains' geography by the Ba people's leader Fan Mu and his ability to lead his people to clear the way for the army via the Chencang Pass, Han Xin would not have even had the opportunity to secretly cross the Chencang Pass, let alone have the Ba people repeatedly served as the vanguard during the later pacification of the Three Qin regions.

Therefore, after the Han Dynasty unified China, the Ba people were rewarded by Emperor Gaozu. The Ba people leader Fan Mu was repeatedly granted the title of Marquis, from Marquis of Jianzhang Township and Marquis of Cifu Township to Marquis of Dumian County. Furthermore, the seven Ba Yi clans were granted the preferential policy of tax exemption.

Therefore, the grateful Cong people would take up arms and accept the court's summons when the Han Dynasty needed them, sending out brave and strong warriors from their tribe to serve the court. They never rebelled during the entire Former Han period, and many Sinicized Cong people were even able to enter the political arena of the Han Dynasty and completely assimilate into Han people.

The Feng clan of Dangqu in Ba County were Han gentry who had been assimilated from the Cong people. They were highly valued during the reign of Emperor Xiao'an. Their patriarch, Feng Huan, served as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Magistrate of Jing County in Henan, Governor of Yuzhou, and Governor of Youzhou. He was known for his strict enforcement of the law. During his tenure as Governor of Youzhou, he also participated in the Northern Expedition against the Xiongnu. He was also a calligrapher skilled in clerical script and personally wrote "Desire to Eliminate Evil" as the family motto of the Feng clan of Dangqu.

His son, Feng Kun, was a famous general during the reign of Emperor Xiao Huan. He served as Minister of Justice twice and was later appointed Grand Master of Ceremonies. As General of Chariots and Cavalry, he led more than 100,000 soldiers to quell the rebellion of hundreds of thousands of Wuling barbarians in Jingnan, killing more than 4,000 and capturing more than 100,000.

Feng Kun's son, Feng Luan, is currently serving as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in the Ministry of Personnel. He has also accompanied Zhao Wen on his southward journey to Yizhou to persuade the Cong people to submit.

The repeated rebellions of the Ba people were ultimately due to the corruption of the imperial court. Since the Yongyuan era, the officials of Yizhou had been exploiting the Ba people too severely, thus forcing them to rebel time and again.

It was the court's fault, Liu Bian, the successor, admitted. However, the reason he was willing to grant Pu Hu, Du Hu, and Yuan Yue the title of Marquis of Guiyi Congyi was because he considered the Cong people's past gratitude and obedience to the court.

For Liu Bian, a people who remembered kindness and were skilled in warfare had value.

A person of value is worth Liu Bian's investment.

Therefore, Liu Bian made a vermilion annotation on Zhao Wen's memorial, writing, "Immediately lead the leaders of the various tribes of the Cong people to Luoyang to pay homage and receive the golden seal ceremony."

He naturally had no intention of luring people in to kill them; he simply wanted to show the Ba people the prosperity of Luoyang.

Wearing light and smooth silk clothes, eating delicious delicacies, sipping refreshing and sweet roasted tea, drinking mellow and fragrant wine, and being served by charming and alluring beauties.

This series of moves would be enough to make even Han Chinese from the border regions fall into this gentle embrace, let alone the Ba people who live in the mountains.
Having witnessed the prosperity of Luoyang and enjoyed a life of luxury, who would want to return to those towering mountains, risking being killed by wild beasts, and living a life of disheveled hair and unfastened robes?
Even monkeys who have served as stable boys once are obsessed with official positions and repeatedly accept amnesty; how much more so these Ba people?
Furthermore, were the Ba people, who were skilled in warfare, truly born with a knack for fighting?

Ultimately, it was the harsh environment that made it impossible for them to fill their stomachs with the grains they cultivated. They had to supplement their food resources through fishing and hunting, which is how they developed the strong physique that allowed them to fight wild beasts hand-to-hand.

Liu Bian put down his vermilion brush, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes.

Come on, being good at fighting is not as good as being good at singing and dancing. Give me a good performance of the "Bayu Dance"!
(2459 words)
(End of this chapter)