Chapter 419 Lessons from the Past

Author: Gongsun Wujiu

Chapter 419 Lessons from the Past

The emperor thought thoughtfully after hearing this, "General, do you mean divide and conquer?"

Huo Guangdao, "The Western Region is the Western Region of the Han Dynasty, not the Western Region of Yunyang Marquis!"

The emperor thought carefully and then said: "What does the general think of the generals in the Western Regions?"

When Huo Guang heard this, he understood that the emperor was asking about those generals in the Western Regions who could be won over.

Huo Guang said: "The Marquis of Xinyang is a clan member of the Han Dynasty, so he is naturally loyal to His Majesty..."

The emperor said: "Besides Xinyang Hou, who else can be used?"

Huo Guang said: "Zhenwu Jiedu envoy Geng Shu and Duzhi envoy Feng Fengshi are not close associates of Marquis Yunyang..."

After some thought, the emperor asked: "The general's intention is to strengthen the power of Zhenwu Jiedushi and Xinyanghou?"

Huo Guang did not answer directly when he heard this, but asked instead, "Why do you think Marquis Yunyang can control the Western Region Protectorate in Nuo Da?"

The emperor blurted out: "Of course it is wealth and people!"

Huo Guang agreed, "Your Majesty is wise. Marquis Yunyang can control the entire Western Region and pay dues to the countries in the Western Region, relying on Luntai's financial and material resources..."

"The reason why the four great military governors are willing to take orders from the Duhu Mansion is because they cannot do without Luntai's property..."

After listening to Huo Guang's words, the emperor understood clearly, "The general's intention is that if the four major military governors can be self-sufficient, the power of Yunyang Marquis will be divided among themselves..."

Huo Guang finally showed a smile on his face: "That's right!"

"If the four major festival envoys do not rely on Luntai's financial and material support, the Duhufu's control over the four major festival towns will also be reduced, so that the Western Region Dufu will be truly divided into five!"

"Isn't this the same as the former emperor's grace order?"

The emperor suddenly said: "What the general said is so important that we should strengthen the strength of Zhenwu and Anxi towns."

…

Just when the emperor and Huo Guang were discussing how to divide the Western Regions.

Wu Zheng led his troops and horses to Lueyang Di's lair.

The Di people are different from other barbarians. Like the Han people, they are a completely farming nation.

Moreover, their agricultural farming technology is not bad and is not much different from the Han people in many aspects.

It is precisely because of this that since the pre-Qin Dynasty, the Xia people have always treated the Di people quite favorably.

During the period of the first emperor, the Di people were incited by the Huns to launch a large-scale rebellion. After the first emperor put down the rebellion, he only moved some of the Di people into Jiuquan County.

Even fearing that the Di people would be oppressed by Han officials, thirteen Di roads were specially set up.

However, the former emperor's preferential treatment did not earn Di people's loyalty.

On the contrary, it made the Di people feel that the Han people were weak and could be bullied. Before this rebellion, the Di people had actually often taken the land of the Han people.

After this riot broke out, under the leadership of Lueyang Di and Baima Di, the Han people in Wudu and Longxi were almost wiped out.

More than 50,000 Han people died under the slaughter knives of the Di people.

Wu Zheng knew that he could not kill all the Di people, but Lueyang Di, the leader, could not let go.

…

In Lueyang Di Village, everyone has been extremely angry these days.

Many young people clamored to fight to the death with the Han people and avenge the tragic death of their leader Fu Geng.

"Great Elder, the Han people have gone too far to bully others. Are you asking the Great Elder to summon the young men of the clan to fight the Han people to the death?"

Fu Yu was encouraging the great elder Fu Yue to continue fighting against the Han army.

Fu Yue looked at the excited Fu Yu and said, "Fu Yu, do you know how big the Han Dynasty is and how many troops the Han people have?"

Fu Yu said: "Although the Han army is large, it is scattered in various places..."

"Although our Di people are not as good as the Han people, there are still hundreds of thousands of them..."

Fu Yue sighed: "Although we have many Di people, we are not the enemy of the Han army. This time, our 100,000 Di people are not the enemy of the thousands of Han soldiers..."

Fu Yu said disapprovingly: "Fighting openly and openly, our Di people are naturally not in the Han army's territory, but in these hills and mountains, why should we fear the Han people..."

"Besides, I don't need to actually defeat the Han people. As long as the Wudu Longxi continues to be in chaos, the Han people will naturally appease my Di people..."

Fu Yue shook his head and said: "The Han people today are different from the past. The commander of the Han army, Xinyang Hou, is a ruthless person... If I continue to fear that he will massacre all the captured people..."

Fu Yu looked around and said confidently: "There is no need to worry, Great Elder, a certain person has already contacted the noble people in Chang'an...

"The noble man said that if we continue to fight... we will surely make the emperor depose the Marquis of Xinyang!"

Fu Yue heard this and said doubtfully: "The Marquis of Xinyang is a clan member of the Han Dynasty. How could the emperor..."

Fu Yu chuckled. Just when he was about to continue talking, a scream suddenly came from outside the room.

"What's going on!"

The two of them were shocked and rushed out of the house immediately.

At this time, the Han army, led by Wu Zheng, had already entered the village.

"Everyone who is higher than the wheel will be slaughtered!"

Facing the Han army's attack, the people in the village were powerless to resist.

Fu Yu and Fu Yue were so jealous when they saw the scene in front of them.

However, both of them were forbearers and did not fight impulsively with the Han army. Instead, they retreated quietly, hoping to gather people from other villages to fight the Han army again after leaving this place.

Unfortunately, Wu Zheng, who had been paying attention to the situation in the village, suddenly noticed two people dressed in unusual ways.

He slowly drew his bow and shot the two men to the ground easily with two consecutive arrows.

After conquering this stronghold, Wu Zheng did not stop but continued to attack other Lueyangdi strongholds.

In just ten days, Wu Zheng destroyed all 28 villages of the Di people in Lueyang.

Every time he conquered a stronghold, Wu Zheng would first kill all the men in the stronghold who were taller than a wheel.

As for the women and children, they were all sent to Wudu City.

Tian Guangming initially clamored to impeach Wu Zheng.

Slowly, as more and more wealthy women came back to Wu Zhengyun, he gradually changed his attitude.

However, after this incident, Wu Zheng was also known as the "human massacre".

For decades after that, the Di people did not dare to compete with the Han people!

…

In October of the first year of Yuanfeng, Feng Fengshi and Han Feng sent petitions to immigrate to Yiwu and Liaodong one after another, and arrived in Chang'an one after another.

Later, the memorials from Shuofang Jiedushi and Anxi Jiedushi also arrived in Chang'an.

After receiving the memorial, the emperor ordered a meeting of ministers to be held.

This meeting was chaired by General Huo Guang, the Great Sima.

The content of the meeting was to firstly reward those who had meritorious service, and secondly to discuss how to deal with the rebellious Qiang and Di people.

After three days of deliberation, the court ministers, princes, and doctors finally reached an agreement.

"Your Majesty, this is the record of the meeting of ministers. Your Majesty, please take a closer look!"

Huo Guang organized the contents of the meeting and immediately entered the palace and handed them over to the emperor.

After reading the contents of the meeting, the emperor asked Huo Guang: "Is this Wu Zheng a personal guard of Marquis Yunyang?"

Huo Guang said: "Exactly!"

The emperor asked: "I want to remove this person from the reward list. What does the general think?"

Huo Guang bowed respectfully and said: "This is Your Majesty's right...but if Your Majesty does this, I'm afraid the world will not accept it..."

"The Law of Sima" says that "the reward for the army shall not exceed a month". We want the people to gain the benefits of doing good quickly..."

The emperor said: "Although Wu Zheng has great achievements, he also kills prisoners..."

Huo Guang said: "Since ancient times, great achievements have not been forgotten..."

The emperor heard this and nodded silently.

Although he was unwilling in his heart, he still decided to reward Wu Zheng normally after weighing the pros and cons.

In this battle, Wu Zheng fought for more than 2,000 miles and beheaded more than 6,000 people.

This does not include Wu Zheng's later liquidation of Lueyang Di. If these are included, Wu Zheng's beheading would have exceeded 30,000 levels.

Even if the six thousand level head is calculated, it is still two thousand levels higher than the Xiongnu.

According to the "rate of the first captive in the middle" of Han law, generally those who command the army to victory and kill two thousand heads can be granted the title of marquis.
To be continued...