Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3537 Flame and Blood

To the north of Xiangyang, Jingzhou, there was a bloody storm.

After Li Dian broke through the Meteoric Pass, although it was within Cao Ren's expectations, the speed was too fast after all...

Before the appearance of this weird guy, the Hussars, which war of the Han Dynasty was not measured in years?

Even when Yuan Shao gathered the troops of Jizhou to fight against the small Zang Hong, despite the absolute superiority in military strength, it still took them a year to finally conquer him.

Therefore, Cao Ren's work of clearing the fields in northern Jingzhou suddenly became tense.

From a strategic perspective, there was nothing wrong with Cao Ren's arrangements and measures.

Whether it is Danshui or Hanshui, they will converge at Danjiangkou. Danjiangkou is indeed the place where the strength of Jingzhou's navy can be best exerted, and it is also suitable as an important strategic node. If the advantage of Jingzhou's navy is used to defeat the coalition forces of Li Dian and Liao Hua in one fell swoop, then the entire Jingzhou will immediately be stabilized.

At that time, whether Cao Ren went up to the northern part of Jingzhou to assist Cao Cao, or turned south to Jiangling to fight against the Sichuan Army, he would be more at ease.

Of course, the risks are also huge.

Therefore, in order to fight this battle well, Cao Ren has sent people to Danjiangkou to urgently reinforce and expand the military camp.

However, Li Dian broke through Yunguan Pass too quickly, and it was unknown how long Niu Jin could hold out on the other side, so Cao Ren was forced to clear the fields in advance, rob or destroy villages along the Danjiang River, loot food and fodder, and capture able-bodied men to build defenses and dig trenches.

For a while, screams and cries were heard continuously in the southern part of Jingbei.

The wheat fields that had just been planted were ruthlessly trampled. The wheat seedlings that had not yet grown were broken off in large numbers and sank into the mud.

The necks of the captured young men were tied with the hemp ropes they usually used to bundle wheat. The rough hemp ropes cut the skin of these strong men, and blood dripped onto the ground, among the broken pottery jars and broken plows.

Someone hid in the cellar and was then discovered by Cao's army. Strange laughter and screams were heard together.

Some people also fled to the mountains and forests, abandoning all human order.

Nanxiang!

It was once the residence of emperors and was said to be full of nobility and a place where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered.

This place was indeed once beautiful and prosperous.

At that time, the southern countryside was rich in water and grass, with fields and paths crisscrossing, and it was stable and peaceful.

Everyone thought that such a life could accompany the Han Dynasty for thousands of years...

However, when misfortune struck, these people in Nanxiang realized that no nobility and no emperor could bless them or protect them.

At first, they tried to reason, then give in, and give as much as possible to Cao's army in exchange for a brief period of peace.

However, as the war intensified, Cao's troops demanded more and more frequently. They were angry, fearful and helpless. They wanted to escape, but they still could not.

Cao's soldiers used swords and guns to break open the barn door and robbed the people of Nanxiang of their last grain. Even the barn door with spider webs was carefully searched.

All usable items were collected.

They were either piled up on the open space for drying grain, waiting to be taken away by baggage carts, or stuffed into their arms and taken away.

The statue worshipped by the villagers in the village has now been pushed to the ground. The broken clay sculpture still has a stiff smile on its face, but the grass germs in the statue's belly have turned black and rotted.

"Mother……"

"Son!"

"Let me go!"

"…"

At this time, the farmers and laborers began to howl at the top of their lungs, but who would pay any attention to them?

Just like would a butcher care about the cries of cows and sheep before they die?

I just think it's too noisy.

An old farmer, howling in sorrow, would rather die than surrender, set fire to his own house, burning all his life savings and all his hopes.

In the firelight, the old farmer suddenly saw a painting on the adobe wall.

The strokes are very simple and the marks are not deep. They should be the graffiti of his grandson.

Yellow dog and haystack.

There is also a circle that I don’t know if it is the sun or the moon…

The old farmer lay down under the graffiti, howling with a mixture of anger and sadness at Cao's army outside the flames...

But the Cao army soldiers outside the flames didn't even take a second look or stop for a moment.

Trampling on fire and blood, bringing death and destruction.

…

…

Some Hu people like to hang some copper bells on the pommel of their war horses or on their weapons, tie a colorful ribbon on their swords, etc. In short, they just want to be different from others.

The Han soldiers had almost no such habit...

What?

Gan Ning?

That's a minority.

Most of the Han soldiers looked like they were cast from the same mold. The cold light reflected by their dark blue armor was like a blade cutting across the surface of a pottery jar, sharp and full of blood.

If we ignore the cruelty of war, the scene before us is undoubtedly a very beautiful picture.

There are green mountains in the distance and tender grass nearby.

The Han-style ring-handled sword was in its scabbard, striking regularly as the warhorse leaped.

The Qiang people's bone flutes and the arrows in their quivers seemed to have a resonant frequency when passing through the wind vents, emitting a brisk low hum.

The tassels on the recognition flags behind the messenger were entangled with each other, dancing their own unique dance.

The crimson battle robe on the left casts a continuous line of fire on the yellow earth.

The indigo horse robe on the right outlines a powerful athletic figure.

The dust columns raised by horse hooves looked like twelve golden steps in the morning light, leading to heaven at any time.

The shadows of the soldiers stretched out on the top of the plateau into flowing notes, playing a silent melody.

The Chinese military orders made clear sounds on the top of the plateau.

"Feng Shi——Turn——"

The chorus of Qiang language turned into a vague echo at the bottom of the ditch.

『hodog——nuog——』

At this moment, the majestic army was like the art of marching on the earth. Every soldier was both a carrier of civilization and a force to change the world. Finally, at the forbidden ditch of Tongguan, they completed the measurement of the three auxiliary areas of Guanzhong and bowed down before the horse of the Han Dynasty's General of Cavalry.

Fei Qian mobilized the Hu troops from the Longxi horse farm to come here in order to end the Han Dynasty, especially in the late Eastern Han Dynasty when the contradictions between the Hu and Han were acute, and tried to explore the possibility of national integration through military reform.

As the implementer of the military reform in Longxi, Jiang Jiong had to maintain the Han system and resolve the conflicts among the nomadic peoples. It was indeed quite hard and he encountered many problems. Now that Jiang Jiong came with problems, Fei Qian naturally needed to give Jiang Jiong guidance.

This is what you must do as a leader.

"My Lord... I have something to say..." Jiang Jiong lowered his head, "I don't know whether I should say it or not..."

Fei Qian smiled and handed over a bowl of hot tea, "Drink slowly and talk slowly."

Fei Qian prefers drinking tea to drinking wine.

Some people like to drink because they like it, while others like to drink because they like to see others drink under their tyranny...

The more people need to show off their power and majesty, the more likely they are to be insignificant people, fearing that others will look down on them.

Of course, Fei Qian didn't need to do so. He invited Jiang Jiong to have tea, but it was just that Fei Qian happened to be drinking tea when Jiang Jiong came.

However, as Jiang Jiong held the tea bowl and touched the warm carvings on it, he couldn't help but think of the snowy night when he first arrived in Longyou.

The Qiang people like to drink, and the Qiang leaders also like to force people to drink.

Whether it was to pour it into his subordinates or into Han officials who had just arrived in the local area like Jiang Jiong.

At that time, Dong Zhuo had not yet entered the capital, and the Western Qiang were still very powerful, so Jiang Jiong could only sit in the second seat. The first seat at the bonfire dinner was occupied by the old Qiang chieftain.

The mutton fat dripped onto the campfire and sizzled.

Bags of kumis were brought up one after another.

"Drink! If you don't drink, you're looking down on me!"

"Cheers! Cheers to our friendship!"

"Another bowl! How can a man say no? !"

Some wines become hotter the more you drink them, but this kind of wine becomes colder the more you drink it.

The snow swayed on the pine branches, and the bonfire could not drive away the coldness in my heart.

At that time, Jiang Jiong had just entered the officialdom, and he asked without knowing the depth of the matter: "What do you think of the laws of the Han Dynasty?"

The whole room burst into laughter, shaking off the snow on the pine branches.

The old Qiang chieftain held up a bone bowl inlaid with gold and silver and sneered: "My lord, do you know the rules of the grassland? The wolf cubs are willing to follow the strongest leader, not the words engraved on the stone..."

Recalling this scene, Jiang Jiong's hands trembled slightly. He lowered his head and told Fei Qian all the past and his previous confusions, and asked earnestly: "My lord, the Qiang people fear power but not virtue. If you use laws to suppress them, they will be afraid but don't know what to fear. If you use benevolence to move them, the Han officials will not stay for long... Although there is the example of the Southern Xiongnu, the Qiang people are different after all..."

Jiang Jiong looked up at Fei Qian, then bowed again, "The Qiang people are numerous and their tribes are scattered. They are definitely not comparable to the Southern Xiongnu... If there is no long-term plan, I am afraid that with the passage of time, the situation will change and it will be the same as before... I hope that the lord will give me some advice to pacify the Qiang and Hu people and protect Longxi for a hundred years of peace!"

After hearing what Jiang Jiong said, Fei Qian gestured slightly, asking Jiang Jiong to drink some tea to calm down a little.

The morale of the Southern Xiongnu was completely destroyed by the Han people.

From the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, the two sides fought and stopped fighting for two or three hundred years. The Han Dynasty turned a huge empire in the grasslands and deserts into a lone wolf that fled with its tail between its legs. The Southern Xiongnu was just a small wolf cub in the wolf pack. By the Three Kingdoms period, even though it still looked like a wolf, its tail had already begun to wag.

Under such circumstances, it was not difficult for the Southern Xiongnu to assimilate into the Han culture.

After all, in history, after the Three Kingdoms period, even the leader of the Southern Xiongnu took the initiative to take a Chinese name to express his admiration for the Han family and his Han bloodline.

But the Qiang people are a little different. There are many Eastern Qiang and Western Qiang people.

Another key point is that although the Qiang people have big leaders, old chieftains, and even alliance leaders like Beigong, they have never changed quantitatively to form a structure similar to the Xiongnu. This is a disadvantage for the Qiang people, but in a sense, it is also a disadvantage for the Han people to assimilate them.

Therefore, when dealing with the Huns, after the Huns' spiritual symbol, the so-called golden bloodline, was defeated, the Southern Huns were like wolves whose backbones had been broken, and they could not be ferocious anymore. However, it can be said that the Qiang people did not have the so-called "backbone" at all. Most of the Qiang people gathered together for the sake of profit, and then collapsed because of the profit.

And will this thing called interest never reappear because of the death of a person or the disintegration of a tribe?

Obviously that is impossible.

Nowadays, the Qiang people are obedient. On the one hand, it is because Beigong died not long ago, and even if they want to cause trouble, there is no leader. Another very important reason is that Fei Qian has brought benefits to the Qiang people.

In this way, the Qiang people will naturally not cause trouble. However, Fei Qian can give benefits, and so can others. What should the Qiang people do if Fei Qian or the officials sent to Western Qiang encounter problems in the future?

As for the education of the Southern Xiongnu, since most of them were in Yinshan at that time, it would be easy to get rid of them by concentrating them. However, the Western Qiang were so widely distributed and sparsely populated. Even if they wanted to educate them, how many educators would they need? How many years would it take?

These are the questions…

Fei Qian listened to the questions raised by Jiang Jiong. He did not feel disgusted because Jiang Jiong kept asking questions. Instead, he felt gratified.

Fei Qian did not respond to Jiang Jiong's question immediately, but took him to the top of Tongguan City.

At this moment, lights were lit on the Tongguan city wall, and smoke began to rise from the military camps on the loess plateau and the military sheds in the forbidden ditch.

The troops brought by Jiang Jiong seemed to become hazy in the twilight and the smoke from cooking fires, and mixed with other troops that were originally in the Tongguan Forbidden Canal.

Jiang Jiong watched and seemed to have some insights in his heart.

Fei Qian looked at the changes in Jiang Jiong's expression and felt quite satisfied.

This person is one of the legacies left by Li Ru.

Because he has Qiang ancestry, he is one of the more suitable candidates to manage and sort out the relationship between the Han and Qiang peoples and to establish long-term institutional institutions.

Having Qiang ancestry should not be a disadvantage for Jiang Jiong, but rather an advantage for him.

The Qiang people should have integrated into Han culture like the Southern Xiongnu people, instead of being isolated from it. Such integration could never be achieved simply by relying on violence.

It's very simple, because the Qiang people can escape.

Unlike the strict household registration control system in the Central Plains in later generations, the ancient household registration system was basically meaningless in such a vast and sparsely populated area. Not to mention the Qiang people, even ordinary Hu people could leave whenever they wanted, roll up their bedding and fold up their tents at any time. Where could they be found in the mountains and plains?

If we just use violence, these people will definitely run away!

When the Huns were brutal, didn’t a large number of Hu people flee to the Western Regions?

What Fei Qian wants are people, people who can produce, who can contribute to the Han Dynasty, and who are valuable, not those lands and pastures!

Look at the Xiongnu who dominated the desert. Their territory was large, wasn't it? But how much did they produce? They occupied a lot of grassland, didn't they? But how many core warriors did they have? If the core tribe was destroyed, the entire Xiongnu would collapse. When they wanted to escape, could they take the grassland left in the desert with them?

Therefore, the key is to retain people, like the Southern Xiongnu, and become a part of China, while not being able to alienate the main body of China.

"My lord..." Jiang Jiong looked at the military camp below Tongguan, "The mixed organization of the Han and the Hu people is also being implemented in Longyou... It does have some effect, but the Han and the Hu people have different customs after all. After a long time, the Han people will look for the Han people, and the Hu people will look for the Hu people..."

This is human nature, and it is not something that can be solved by simply mixing and pasting.

The mixed organization of Hu and Han people was not Fei Qian's original idea.

"Mixed Hu and Han, this is the first step..."

Fei Qian pointed to the military camp under Tongguan and said.

Jiang Jiong's eyes lit up, "Then... is there anything I can do? Please give me your instructions, my lord!"

Fei Qian smiled and nodded, "The Hu people value blood oaths, while the Han people value their ancestors... They seem different, but they are actually the same... Now, let's start with this point..."

"Blood oath, ancestors?" Jiang Jiong repeated.

Fei Qian nodded, "You might as well call it... a blood oath!"

The battle flags on the top of Tongguan City fluttered in the twilight, as if emitting a low singing that spanned a thousand years.

Fei Qian held onto the battlements of Tongguan, and his fingers touched the mottled marks on the battlements.

Traces of war.

These traces will gradually dull and disappear with the passage of time, but something will eventually remain.

Just like the miscellaneous Hu education that Fei Qian is promoting now.

It’s difficult, but you have to do it.

Fei Qian raised his head and looked into the distance.

The smoke rising from the forbidden ditch blends with the sunset glow, dyeing the entire plateau a red-gold color, making it look particularly beautiful.

"We will build an altar here tomorrow." Fei Qian suddenly spoke, pointing forward, "It's on the plateau in front..."

"Altar?" Jiang Jiong was stunned for a moment.

Fei Qian nodded, "This place has the water of the Tong, Wei, and Luo rivers, and the soil of Hedong, Longyou, Sichuan, and Heluo, which is enough to build an altar for the grand sacrifice..."

Jiang Jiong's heart was shocked.

That’s right!

The Han people value their ancestors, and the Qiang people value blood oaths, but there is one thing in common between the two, and that is sacrifice!

When Jiang Jiong was young, he also followed his father to participate in the Qiang people's White Horse Festival.

At that time, the Qiang people were very powerful and arrogant.

At the White Horse Festival at that time, the selected young man had to fight the wild wolf with a short blade!

The blood of the killed wolf will be smeared on the stone slab representing the White Horse God...

In a trance, Jiang Jiong suddenly felt that the sharpness in his lord's eyes at this moment overlapped with the look in the old chief's eyes when he raised the bloody blade.