Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 179 Sequelae

Before withdrawing his troops, Qiuliju met with the king's gate again, but he still did not agree to submit to the Han Dynasty.

He said to Wang Men, "Wang Qidu, you are not the envoy of the state, and Liu Bei is not the Protector of the Xiongnu. This matter should not be decided by you."

That's true. Although Qiuliju didn't call himself king, he was, after all, the leader of the largest tribe of the Wuhuan.

According to tradition, if Liu Bei wanted to discuss surrendering to him, he should have submitted a memorial to the court requesting that an envoy be sent and that the court first offer some rewards as a token of appreciation.

If you directly confirm your allegiance to Liu Bei, it's essentially the same as joining Liu Bei's cause.

Although Liu Bei's troops defeated Qiu Liju, Liu Bei's current prestige was not enough to make Qiu Liju submit.

Or rather... winning just one battle wasn't enough to instill fear in most of the Qiuliju tribe.

On his way to Yuyang County, Qiu Liju saw many people driving cattle and sheep south from Yuyang County. Most of them were slaves of the Zhang family.

Seeing this, Qiuliju seized some cattle and sheep as military rations, but did not go to Yuyang. Instead, he stationed himself on the banks of the Lu River between Changping and Yuyang.

In fact, he had been thinking about what Wang Men had said the whole way.

Now is indeed a time to make a choice.

The Han Dynasty remains powerful, and Liu Bei's forces have already demonstrated their strength; it is not advisable to confront the Han Dynasty head-on at this time.

Meanwhile, in Yuyang, Zhang's slaves were also flocking to Liu Bei in large numbers...

It seemed that the Zhang family couldn't solve the problem either, so Qiu Liju hesitated about whether to cooperate with Zhang Chun again.
The Zhang family was indeed powerful in the past. Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju had tens of thousands of servants and slaves, as well as salt, iron, copper, and other necessities for the Wuhuan people. Cooperation with Zhang Chun would have been mutually beneficial.

But now that the Zhang family has lost the copper and iron mines, their slaves and servants will likely be lost in large numbers due to Liu Bei's treacherous scheme, perhaps even faster than their own slaves...

Qiu Liju himself was born a slave, and he knew very well that Liu Bei's strategy was to reduce the number of slaves in the country and make all slaves "betray their masters for personal gain".

Although he didn't know this thing was called pyramid selling, he knew that in Youzhou, anyone of lowly status would eventually try to join Liu Bei.

Even if the slaves couldn't obtain cattle, sheep, and horses themselves, they could trick or incite others to give them up, or conspire to steal their master's cattle and sheep, or even murder their master...

Qiu Liju was not opposed to submitting to the Han Dynasty, but he was unwilling to submit to Liu Bei—Qiu Liju knew that Liu Bei did not allow his subordinates to use slaves to farm the land, but only allowed them to hire tenants.

But if a nobleman has no slaves, what kind of nobleman is he?
Hire tenants to farm?
Ha, don't the tenant farmers want to be granted land and become Han nobles?
Whether slaves or tenants, anyone with a bit of guts would try to lure people into stealing cattle, sheep, and horses...

This matter will only be resolved when there are no more sheep and horses to steal in the Hu region, or when Liu Bei's strategy is completely discontinued.

Without sheep and horses to steal, it means that the Wuhuan and Xianbei are gone. Without Hu, slaves, sheep and horses in the northern frontier, Liu Bei's strategy will no longer be effective!
Qiu Liju understood Liu Bei's intentions: he wanted to end the slave system and eliminate the barbarian tribes in the northern frontier!
If there were no slaves, wouldn't I just be a lonely person after submitting to the Han Dynasty?
Wouldn't that make them even more like sheep waiting to be slaughtered, their lives hanging by a thread?
At the same time, Liu Bei's strategy will offend many people... If he offends all the nobles in Youzhou, how long can Liu Bei be so arrogant?

We cannot simply submit to the Han Dynasty, or rather, we cannot submit to Liu Bei... Unless Liu Bei can defeat the entire Youzhou single-handedly, surrendering to Liu Bei will only mean taking a blow for him!

However, if they do not surrender to Liu Bei, they must cooperate with Zhang Chun, Gong Qichou, Liu Zheng, and all those who own slaves. Otherwise, their own slaves will continue to flee, and they will only become weaker and weaker. In the future, they may not even have the capital to surrender.

After much deliberation, Qiu Liju ordered his subordinates to supervise Tadun, and Tadun to monitor the various local leaders. He then ordered his troops to garrison at Xuwushan in Youbeiping, while he himself went to Yuyang.

When Wang Men reported back to Liu Bei, he was quite regretful. He could see Qiu Liju's hesitation and felt that he had missed out on a great achievement.

However, Liu Bei still credited Wang Men for his courage and willingness to take on responsibilities.

Liu Bei could understand. He didn't have enough prestige, he wasn't a close minister of the emperor, nor did he come from a powerful family, and he didn't have the fearsome reputation he had earned from numerous battles.

Furthermore, it's understandable that Qiu Liju was unwilling to submit, fearing that he, like Huangfu Song, would use those who pledged allegiance as cannon fodder.

In any case, at least Qiu Liju and Zhang Chun dared not cause a major disturbance at this time.

The biggest purpose of Guan Yu's victory was precisely this.

Of course, Liu Bei would not continue to attack Yuyang or venture beyond the Great Wall to attack the Wuhuan.

Yuyang is easily defended by the passes of Yanshan, making it difficult to attack. The Wuhuan settlements around Bailang Mountain are far away and difficult to locate. If we were to launch a long-distance expedition, even if we were capable of fighting, we would suffer heavy losses, and it would force Zhang Chun and Qiu Liju to join forces again.

With slaves constantly arriving with cattle, sheep, and horses, we will grow stronger, while Zhang Chunqiu and others will grow weaker, making further war unnecessary.

Xianyu Fu and Xu Rong earned merit for defeating Qiu Liju. Wang Men failed to persuade Qiu Liju, but his courage was commendable. All three of them received certificates of merit signed by Liu Bei.

Liu Bei divided the 1,800 Wuhuan soldiers recruited by Gong Qichou among three people, assigning each of them to command 1,000 Wuhuan soldiers and stationing them on the east, west, and north sides of Guangyang to await orders.

……

At this time, Liu Bei was busy dealing with the aftermath of his pyramid scheme. Everything has two sides. This pyramid scheme logic was indeed a powerful tool for dealing with Zhang Chun, Zhang Ju, and the Wuhuan and Xianbei, but this powerful tool could easily backfire on him.

The biggest side effect is that this will cause many "nobles" in the border regions to hate Liu Bei, including officials and powerful clans.

Because most of their slaves had run away with the sheep and horses.

Liu Bei had anticipated this. Whether in Guangyang or Ganling, in order to settle the common people and gain a base of support at the grassroots level, Liu Bei had cheated many powerful families, including top-tier families like the Cui family.

Most of these powerful clans didn't like Liu Bei to begin with. So what if they were hostile? Their population base was the most important thing. Only with enough people who wholeheartedly followed them could they have enough soldiers and logistical support.

Ultimately, all strategies rely on military deterrence. If one cannot maintain strong military power, even the best strategies will be violently defeated.

Since they had already chosen over 100,000 commoners willing to follow them, some friction with the powerful clans was inevitable in order to settle them; there was no other way.

Once they possess powerful military strength, those powerful clans that previously disliked them will naturally become completely obedient.

If there are still those who are truly disobedient, then just like the Cui family of Ganling, support collateral descendants like Cui Yan and Cui Lin.

But the aftereffects of pyramid schemes are not limited to this. There is another serious problem: pyramid schemes can make people unsettled, cause many to stop working, and lead many to take risks in their dreams of getting rich overnight.

To be honest, this is a scheme that will corrupt people's morals.

In May, nearly 20,000 people arrived on Liu Bei's side, along with a large number of cattle, sheep and horses.

There are nearly two thousand cattle, about a thousand horses, and the most numerous are sheep—there are definitely over one hundred thousand sheep…

After Liu Bei had more livestock, his cattle, sheep and horses began to be stolen, and the thieves were some of the farmers in the Xihe area.

In particular, not far north of Xiheting is Wuhuantun, which is one of the earliest Wuhuan tribes in Shanggu to submit to Liu Bei. Shi Ren is currently raising sheep there, and Qian Zhao is also helping to manage horses there.

The Wuhuan people in that area also engaged in pyramid schemes. After luring some relatives from the Shanggu Wuhuan tribe to come over, they enjoyed the benefits of the pyramid schemes and gained the trust of Qianzhao and Shiren.

Since they were all skilled shepherds and horse herders, and Liu Bei's side was short-handed, they helped Shi Ren herd sheep.

Of course, there are benefits to helping; they will also receive some sheep.

These days, sheep don't mate with human intervention; they mostly mate in autumn and winter and give birth in spring and summer. May, with its lush grass and abundant water, is the perfect time for lambs to be born and reproduce.

With more sheep, the actual number becomes uncertain, as new lambs are constantly being born.

Lambs can certainly be used in pyramid schemes.

These Wuhuan herdsmen didn't dare steal cattle and horses, but they kept hiding lambs, saying they were eaten by wolves, that they didn't have enough, or that they died while being grazed.

Of course, the number of cattle, sheep, and horses is limited, but there are simply too many sheep, and the area covered is too large. If there are a few lambs among them, no one will be able to spot them in a short period of time.

Then, the two shepherds introduced each other's family members, who then sent ten lambs to Liu Bei, and both sides were granted a rank of nobility.

They not only plundered Liu Bei's resources, but also his land and titles.

So much so that even the little kids in some shepherd families have been promoted to the rank of "bugeng" (a low-ranking official in the imperial court)...

Fortunately, Qian Zhao was meticulous and finally discovered the matter, but by then it was too late to do anything about it—there was no evidence to say that it was stolen. These shepherds already raised sheep, and in order to get them to help with the herding, they gave them some sheep from their own homes as payment. The lambs that they 'offered' must have had a clear origin.

Stealing a few lambs is a minor issue; that's human nature—people will seize any opportunity to fleece others, let alone directly stealing sheep.

But that's not all the bad stuff.

Many thieves from the Taihang Mountains came down the mountain to steal or rob horses. Most of these people used to be horse bandits, and stealing horses was originally their specialty.

Most of the thieves went to the territory of the Hu people, but a few still committed crimes in the territory of the Han people, such as Zhuojun.

Because Xihe was not on guard against them, some people even stole horses from the Xihe horse farm and came to present them to Liu Bei... This is really stupid, the horses from the Xihe horse farm all have branding marks.

Liu Bei was kind-hearted; he didn't take the man's life, but only made him do hard labor to atone for his sins.

But two days later, someone brought three horses as a tribute. This time, Zhang Fei was the one who received them. Liu Bei had his guards receive the cattle, sheep, and horses, as most of the guards were literate, which made it easier to record the details.

Upon seeing the three horses, Zhang Fei immediately beheaded the man—stealing three horses was a capital offense, especially since the man had stolen horses from Zhang Fei's own household…

If even Liu Bei and Zhang Fei's horses could be stolen, what about other people's?

(End of this chapter)