This water (Sanggan River) valley with the Hengshan Mountains (the mountain range where Yanmen Pass is located) as the southern barrier has fertile soil, suitable for grazing and farming. It has always been a garrison area for the Central Plains Dynasty to control the Hetao Plain and deter the Mobei Plateau.
But now, it has become the biggest threat to Wei State's northern border.
The central Xianbei man Kebineng, who had always been unfriendly to Wei, had his center of rule on the north bank of the Sanggan River.
It is the county seat on the Sanggan tributary winding down from the Yinnan hills to the north: Pingcheng (today's Datong, Shanxi).
Baishan Mountain, east of Pingcheng, is where Liu Bang, Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty, was trapped.
Naturally, Kebi Neng set up his tribe here not because he wanted to admire the old glory of Maodun, the Xiongnu Chanyu.
It was for a smoother attack on the Central Plains Dynasty.
Just like Tan Shihuai's strategic intention of setting up the royal court in Danhan Mountain to better use troops against the border counties that merged with the two states.
However, Kebineng has always had the ambition to become the second Tanshihuai.
But he was only from Xianbei, a small species, and the only places he controlled were Daijun, Shanggu and other places outside the Great Wall.
If he wants to become a Chanyu who unifies Xianbei, he must first defeat Tanshihuai's direct bloodline, annex their tribes, occupy their pastures, and make all Xianbei tribal leaders think that he is the one capable of inheriting Tanshihuai's glory.
It just so happened that the descendants of Tanshihuai were very disappointing.
The position of Chanyu of Xianbei passed several times and finally fell to Budugen, the grandson of Tanshihuai.
However, his control area was limited to the area from Danhan Mountain to Pingcheng. No matter whether the Xianbei adults in the east or west, they did not obey his orders.
This allowed Kebi to see an opportunity.
For the sake of his ambition, he took the initiative to show his favor to Wei for a long, long time.
For example, during the reign of Wei Wu and Cao Cao, he took the initiative to pay tribute and even sent troops to help quell the rebellion.
After Cao Pi succeeded the Han Dynasty, he took the initiative to return more than 500 households of Han people from Daijun and more than a thousand households of Han people from Shanggu County who had fled to his own territory to the State of Wei, and used cattle and horses to trade with Cao Wei.
Of course, the purpose of his good intentions was to speed up the annexation of surrounding tribes.
For example, when Cao Zhang went north to conquer Wuhuan in Daijun, Kebi Neng pretended to come to the rescue and took the opportunity to kill Fuluohan, another Xianbei leader, annexed his tribe, and forced his son Xieguini to become attached to him.
Fu Luohan was the brother of Bu Dugen, who was still a Chanyu at that time.
This annexation greatly increased Kebi Neng's prestige on the grasslands, and also sounded the clarion call to attack Bu Dugen - he wanted to declare to other tribes that Bu Dugen was not worthy of inheriting the position of Xianbei Chanyu.
The war also went well.
He was brave and good at fighting, and he was successful in many military campaigns.
Bu Dugen, who lost countless people and pastures, became a bereaved dog. He turned to the Wei State for protection and became the Wei State's protector of Xianbei.
No longer qualified to inherit the position of Shan Yu.
But Bu Dugen is not worthy, which does not mean that Ke Bineng will be recognized as a Chanyu.
The law of the jungle follows the law of the jungle on the grassland. After the glory inherited by blood was destroyed, if Kebineng wanted to change his title from "tribe master" to "Xianbei Chanyu", he would have to reach the height of Tanshihuai in the past - attack the Central Plains Dynasty.
.
No matter how bad it is, the current Wei State has to use marriage in exchange for border peace.
Therefore, he set up his tribe's habitat in Pingcheng and began to frequently attack Wei's border counties.
However, he had been fighting against Wei for many years, but he had not gained much benefit.
On the contrary, Tian Yu, who was serving as the Wuhuan Colonel at that time, and Yanmen Prefect Qianzhao jointly marched together to win over the Xianbei tribes in other border counties, defeated Kebineng in the wild, and invaded Pingcheng.
It's just a pity.
With the Hetao Plain lost, Wei could not hold on to Pingcheng on the north bank of the Sanggan River.
Otherwise, we will repeat the mistakes of Baideng's dilemma.
At that time, Tian Yu was slandered by Wang Xiong, the governor of Youzhou, and was transferred to the post of governor of Runan. Kebineng, whose power was greatly reduced, took the opportunity to profess his vassalship to Wei again and accepted Cao Rui's canonization.
He also asked the prefect of Yanmen to take action, and had no choice but to postpone the plan to recover the counties in the northern part of Yanmen County.
Naturally, Ke Bineng surrendered and accepted the reward from the Wei State, but it was just a temporary expediency, in order to gain time to cultivate his health and consolidate his power. When the Wei State transferred part of the troops from Jizhou and Hedong to Guanzhong, they were restrained by the Han Dynasty. He once again had the idea of attacking Bingzhou.
Unlike before, he also secretly sent envoys to persuade Budugen.
After Bu Dugen annexed Wei, he would never be recognized as a Xianbei chanyu by other Xianbei leaders.
Therefore, he also changed his mentality - he wanted to become the future Shanyu's in-laws.
Kebineng used marriage as a temptation to persuade him to join forces. As long as Kebi could become a Xianbei chanyu, his status would also rise.
Moreover, now he has no one to protect him in Wei State.
Tian Yu, who judged the matter fairly, was transferred away and accepted the Yanmen prefect who was affiliated with his tribe. He also died of illness just now.
Bi Gui, the current governor of Bingzhou, is from Dongping, Yanzhou, and comes from a family of officials. He has always been wary of barbarians and does not know much about the affairs of border counties.
Bu Dugen, who felt that his future was in doubt, decided to defect after much thought.
I hope that I can work together with Kebi Neng to restore the old glory of Xianbei.
The route he chose to defect was not through Yanmen Pass, but from Loufan Pass into the Sanggan River Valley.
It went very smoothly too.
Bi Gui, who learned the news too late, had no choice but to take a detour from Yinguan County to intercept, but was ambushed by Ke Bineng who came to meet him and killed generals Su Shang and Dong Bi.
But what Kebi couldn't have expected was that Bu Dugen came to attach himself to him, which made Tuoba Liwei, who was holding Xianbei's head, feel fearful.
He was worried that Ke Bineng, who was already very powerful, would not rush to attack Wei after receiving the support of Tan Shihuai's descendants, but would instead go west to annex his tribe.
In recent years, Xianbei in the west has been in civil strife.
The various tribes that lost the control of the tribal masters have merged with the Xiongnu tribes living in the Hetao Plain. They are no longer separated from each other, and there is no force to resist Kebineng's annexation.
Therefore, he sent an envoy to Luoyang, hoping to use the sword of Wei to eliminate the danger.
Another reason is that he also has great ambitions.
It is not a far-fetched ambition to become a Xianbei Chanyu, but a down-to-earth ambition to become a Western Xianbei master.
For this goal, he is now leading his tribe to avoid the wars in the western tribes, relying on his father-in-law, Lord Dou Bin of the Luhui tribe, to survive and accumulate strength.
He also showed goodwill to the State of Wei all the year round and obtained materials and equipment through fair trade.
Coincidentally, now he also received Wei Guo's overtures.
The State of Wei sent him the head of his enemy, his eldest brother Bald Pigu.
He also informed the current leader of the Tufa tribe that his nephew Tufa Shouguan had defected from Guanzhong.
In this way, he saw the opportunity to become a master of Xianbei in the west.
As long as the Wei State cripples or destroys Kebi Neng, he can expand the tribe to the Sanggan River Valley.
Then, he can take the initiative to ask for orders from Wei State, claiming that he is willing to lead the army to clean up the country.
The Xianbei emergencies department originally came from his cable head part.
He believed that in this win-win situation, the Wei State would definitely be happy to see the results, and would generously support him with material rewards and provide appropriate financial assistance in transactions.
After all, too many tribes have defected from Wei recently.
Whether it was to maintain the stability of border counties or to re-establish prestige, Wei State needed new collaborators on the grassland.
Furthermore, his tribe is not very powerful now.
With a little support from the Wei State, there is no need to worry that he will become the second Kebineng.
Of course, his benefits are not limited to these.
From his residence (Dingxiang County) to the current location of Tufa Shouchan (Beidi County Fuping-Dingxi), he needs to cross the entire Hetao Plain. In other words, he can rely on the help of the Wei State to slowly move along the way.
All the Xianbei and Xiongnu tribes in the west were surrendered.
However, such ambitious hopes cannot happen overnight.
His top priority now is to strengthen his troops and wait for Kebineng and Budugen to be defeated by Wei, and then take the opportunity to gather the small tribes that have lost their support and occupy some pastures.
It would be even more ideal if he could allow Dugen's nephew and Fu Luohan's son Xie Guini to depend on him.
He can easily control the weak Xie Gui Ni; and he has the blood of Tan Shihuai, which can help him gain the reputation of commanding other tribes.
Thinking of this, Zhuma looked at Tuoba Liwei in the Sanggan River Valley and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
Now his strength is still too weak.
Even if you want to reap the benefits of being a fisherman, you have to hesitate again and again, for fear of being the fish in the pond.
Especially now that he is living under someone else's roof, all his thoughts and actions must be hidden from his father-in-law, Dou Bin, the leader of the Luhui tribe.
For example, he originally planned to personally lead his tribe to kill Hukou and ambush him! [Note 1]
Killing Hukou is the only way to enter Yunzhong County from Dingxiang County.
The last time Ke Bineng was defeated by Tian Yu and Qianzhao in Mayi City and fled, he chose to escape from Shahukou into Yunzhong County.
There will be no exception this time.
Because there is no tribe more powerful than Kebineng on the grasslands today, so he does not need to worry about being ambushed.
As for whether Wei can defeat him~~
That's no need to worry.
Kebineng's garrison, tribal troops and defense loopholes were all sold to the Wei State by him. If the Wei State could not be defeated now, the border counties where Cao Weiyou merged with the two states would have long since become the pastures of the Xianbei tribes!
The only thing that cannot be determined is whether it will be a big victory or a small victory.
However, he wanted to use the heads of Ke Bineng or Bu Dugen to make Wei's expedition a great victory in exchange for his tribe to gain greater support from Wei.
But he was worried that when his father-in-law Dou Bin found out, he would think that he had betrayed the ethnic group and was willing to serve as the eagle dog of Wei.
Then he united with other tribes and killed him as a traitor.
After all, Xianbei's internal disputes cannot blatantly collude with the Central Plains dynasty.
Alas~~
Living under someone else's roof has both advantages and disadvantages.
Involuntarily, Tuoba Liwei sighed again.
But after a moment, his eyes suddenly burned, and he found that he was obsessed.
Why should we worry about Dou Bin’s opinion?
If he gave Ke Bineng's head to the Wei State and then claimed that he was willing to go to Beidi County to kill the Bald Hair Tribe, wouldn't his own tribe be separated from the Luhui Tribe?
Moreover, if Ke Bineng dies, Wei will definitely regain the northern part of Yanmen County.
We will not allow our tribe to grow in the Sanggan River Valley.
But if he moved to Beidi County, the Wei State would choose to act as a barrier in the northern part of Guanzhong and support him with all his strength in order to have peace of mind when attacking the Han Dynasty.
According to legend, the tribes west of the Hetao Plain are weaker.
Otherwise, the bald part, which is weaker than myself, would not be able to survive to this day.
With the strength of his own tribe and the support of Wei State, it seems easier to conquer the Hetao Plain by fighting from west to east.——
[Note 1: Killing Hukou was renamed Killing Hukou in the Qing Dynasty. It was an important pass of the Zhao Great Wall during the Warring States Period (succeeded by the Later Qin Dynasty), and was also the west entrance of the "West Exit" in modern times.]
