Chapter 29: Make the Xianbei Great Again

Ma Yi is famous because the Qin general Meng Tian once raised horses and built a city here.

After the Tuoba clan rose to power, Ma Yi became a vital border town of Northern Wei.

Whether marching north to campaign against the Rouran or south to fight the various warlords, Ma Yi was always an important logistical base.

However, after Northern Wei moved its capital, this place ran into the very same dilemma as Pingcheng!

Marginalization!

The Xianbei served as military households, the Han as farming households, and the Xiongnu, Tiele, and other peoples served in the army and herded horses—the old order of the northern frontier had already begun to crumble.

"Farming, farming—is that the sort of thing for us men to do?"

She Di Gan, leading a crowd of Hu Ren tribal chieftains, gathered before the gates of the Ma Yi Prefect and began to raise a ruckus.

Li Shuang had been pushing a policy of converting herding to farming in the area around Ma Yi. At first it went smoothly, but as time wore on, many of the tribal Hu Ren grew rather impatient.

Still, even when they gathered together, they did not dare actually charge inside.

The entire military structure of Ma Yi was now divided into three parts:

the Han buqu Li Shuang had brought with him,

the garrison troops within Ma Yi city,

and these Xianbei, Tiele, and other Hu Ren military households.

Li Shuang's buqu were naturally the most loyal; the garrison troops within Ma Yi had also been brought under his command during his earlier offensive; the remaining military households were the most troublesome of all.

These military households were the most numerous and the worst equipped, and were the key targets for the soldier-to-farmer reform.

Looking at the well-equipped guards outside the Ma Yi Prefect's residence, the Hu Ren chieftains hung back timidly, and in the end it was She Di Gan who stepped forward.

"We demand to see the Prefect of Ma Yi!"

"Wait—our lord is meeting an honored guest!"

"We don't even have to wait to see Yuan Shen in Pingcheng—how honored can this guest possibly be?"

She Di Gan was thoroughly disdainful and was about to step forward, but Gao Ang leveled a long spear at his throat.

"I said wait!"

At that moment, a Hu Ren chieftain sidled up to She Di Gan's ear.

"Brother Qianqiu, a Han man daring to treat you like that—if it were me, I couldn't swallow it!"

She Di Gan faced off against Gao Ang, utterly unafraid, and with all the strength in his body let out a great roar.

"Then we'll wait!"

Inside the room, seated before Li Shuang, was a man with the hair of a crane and the face of a child.

After a certain ceremony concluded, Li Shuang stood and asked:

"Mr., has the Heavenly Father forgiven me?"

Liu Lingzhu nodded.

"So long as the Army Lord has not deceived the Heavenly Father, the Heavenly Father will forgive you."

"Then I'm relieved. I still have some matters, so I'll take my leave first."

With that, Li Shuang departed. Liu Lingzhu hurriedly reached for the mechanism beneath the table and found the silk letter, on which was written—

"I took a hundred taels of gold from Dugu Ru—she wants me to kill Liu Lingzhu."

"The Heavenly Father forgave me today, so I'll kill him tonight."

"If the Heavenly Father did not forgive me today, then I'll wait until after tonight to kill him!"

Liu Lingzhu's heart gave a jolt; his grip loosened, and the silk letter dropped to the floor.

Once he had collected himself, his first instinct was to pack his things and prepare to flee that very night.

As Liu Lingzhu packed, he cursed:

"What a vicious creature, that Dugu Ru—if I survive this, just wait and see how I deal with you!"

After waiting for one shichen, She Di Gan and the others finally got to see Li Shuang.

Northern Wei implemented the Equal-Field System.

In the past, when the Northern Wei court allotted fields to these military households, they would always find all manner of excuses to wriggle out of it.

Even when the land was handed down, they would rather let it lie fallow than actually farm it.

When their tribes ran out of grain, they would go to Pingcheng to demand more.

If refused, they would make trouble.

The ancestors of these military households had all risen with the Tuoba clan and earned merit in battle. Officials in Pingcheng did not dare truly slight them, and would always toss them a few scraps.

But now, these tribal chieftains discovered that the three tricks they had always used on the Northern Wei court were utterly useless against Li Shuang.

"Prefect of Ma Yi, you can't treat us like this! Our ancestors followed Emperor Taiwu on campaigns north and south, shed blood, and earned great merit on horseback!"

"What does that have to do with me? It wasn't for me they bled and sweated."

"If you speak like that, you're leaving us no face at all. Aren't you afraid we'll report you to the court and accuse you of mistreating the descendants of meritorious officials?"

"Go ahead, report all you like. If your petition can get past Ma Yi, I'll give you ten carts of grain for free."

The crowd drew a sharp collective breath—they had seen scoundrels before, but never scoundrels more brazen than this.

At last, someone said it through gritted teeth.

"Prefect of Ma Yi, aren't you afraid we'll defect to the True King and the court will punish you for it?"

Li Shuang burst out laughing.

"Do you even know how to start a rebellion?"

The crowd glanced at one another, all shaking their heads.

"Just look at you lot—never staged a rebellion in your lives!"

At that moment, someone was deeply displeased and shot back at Li Shuang.

"You've staged a rebellion before?"

"When I was rebelling, you were still out herding sheep, damn it!"

Li Shuang looked utterly contemptuous and beckoned everyone to sit down.

They all sat on the ground, surrounding Li Shuang in the center, and listened as the young man said:

"Rebellions come in many kinds. The sort you lot pull—running off to join Han Baling—that's the lowest, most pathetic kind there is."

"Then tell us a better one?"

"If you want a rebellion that lasts, you have to pick the right target first—Take Pingcheng, for instance. Then, secretly stockpile grain and fodder, prepare weapons and armor, and while Yuan Shen isn't expecting it, seize it in one stroke. Once you've taken Take Pingcheng, use it as your base: to the north, befriend the Rouran; to the east, take Yan, You, and the other provinces. When the time comes, you raise your arms and shout, the warriors of the Six Garrisons rally like clouds, the common folk of the realm follow as if in homage—and you can make the Xianbei great again."

When Li Shuang finished, everyone wore a look of longing.

"Alright, now tell me the key points of rebellion that I taught you?"

"Take Take Pingcheng, befriend the Rouran to the north, seize You and Yan to the east, and make the Xianbei great again!"

Li Shuang flicked him right on the forehead.

"Wrong. It's stockpile grain and fodder, prepare weapons and armor! Without those, what are you going to use to bash open Take Pingcheng's gates—your head?"

"But we don't have any grain, fodder, weapons, or armor either?"

"So you'll have to farm the land here under me first. Once you have grain, sell it for cash, buy weapons and armor—only then can you storm Take Pingcheng and make the Xianbei great again!"

Everyone nodded. Li Shuang beckoned, and led She Di Gan off to a side room.

"You little punk took my money and then stirred up trouble for me, did you!"

"Not at all. If I hadn't acted as your inside man, General, they wouldn't have come with so few people. I got to the bottom of it—there's a sorcerer named Liu Lingzhu secretly playing dirty, egging them on to come make trouble at your place."

"Liu Lingzhu, is it?"

Li Shuang gave a cold smile, then heard She Di Gan beside him ask:

"But what you said earlier about rebelling—was that for real?"

"Those outsiders are all fools, so you can only use 'make the Xianbei great again' to string them along. For a smart one like you, I can speak plainly. What 'make the Xianbei great again'—that's just an excuse. Grabbing money and grabbing women, that's the real thing. Why do we rebel? Because those people in the Luoyang court only care about their own pleasures and won't give us money or women…"

She Di Gan nodded, his face full of agreement.

"Alright, we're all smart people here, no need to say more. From now on I'm with you. Even if Tuoba Tao came back from the dead, it wouldn't matter."