Chapter 51: The Name of Loyalty and Righteousness, Shining Through Past and Present

Shuozhou.

Yu Jin walked into the room in a hurry; seeing She Di Gan, Hou Jing, and others were already inside, he unconsciously slowed his steps.

"Sijing, what is so urgent?"

Since Li Shuang had known Yu Jin, he had always maintained the demeanor of a scholar.

The style of the Wei and Jin dynasties: pure and void, guarding oneself.

When news of the victory at the Battle of Feishui arrived, Xie An was playing chess with someone; he glanced at it, then continued playing. After finishing, when others asked him, he only lightly said, "The young ones have thus defeated the enemy."

Of course, the fact that he later became so happy he forgot to put on his shoes is a story for later.

Overall, this temperament of remaining unruffled in the face of great events has always been what scholars like Yu Jin pursue.

But at this moment, Yu Jin possessed not a shred of such temperament, as if the sky had collapsed.

He held a dispatch from Luoyang in his hand, his eyes frantic, anxiously seeking Li Shuang's counsel.

"What is the Grand Commander doing? The three strategies for suppressing bandits he submitted—where is the suppression of bandits in them?"

Li Shuang heard this and instead asked a counter-question.

"Has the Son of Heaven approved it?"

Yu Jin suppressed his voice and said angrily:

"The Son of Heaven is young and may not understand the weight of the situation; but the entire court of dukes and ministers, do they not see the harm in these three strategies for suppressing bandits? How could no one stop it!"

So it has been approved!

Li Shuang relaxed, smiling as he said:

"Why must you be so anxious, Sijing? Since it is the will of the Son of Heaven, we shall simply follow it!"

"Which treacherous minister proposed such a policy that harms the nation and the people? The Grand Commander must be senile; how could he fail to perceive this villain's evil intentions?"

Hearing this, Li Shuang unconsciously coughed a few times.

Seeing Li Shuang's appearance, Yu Jin sensed something amiss; his voice rose several octaves, becoming sharp.

"Could it be that these three strategies for suppressing bandits are the work of the defender of Shuozhou?"

Li Shuang remained silent; in the room, She Di Gan and Hou Jing laughed out first!

"But why?"

The three strategies for suppressing bandits!

Strategy One: The Hengzhou army lacks grain; therefore, implement a policy across the entire region to change pastoralism to agriculture, to solidify military supplies.

Strategy Two: The Chidi tribe harbors treacherous intentions; they should be relocated beyond the Great Wall to prevent the unforeseen.

Strategy Three: Conscript the livestock and soldiers of the Hengzhou tribes to relieve the siege on Shuozhou.

Yu Jin had stayed in this northern border for such a long time and understood the situation here quite well. Hengzhou appeared calm on the surface, but within it brewed a quite terrifying undercurrent.

Whether marching an army or formulating a strategy, stillness is preferable to movement.

This first strategy appears to be a good one, but if it could be implemented, would we have had to wait until now? As for the second and third strategies, how they would ultimately be executed, he knew without thinking.

With these three strategies, are they not forcing these Hu Ren to rebel?

Li Shuang, however, did not care; he took Yu Jin's hand and sat down.

"Sijing, do not rush. What do you think of the Hu Ren in this northern border?"

Yu Jin thought for a moment; deeply influenced by Han culture, he wanted to find an elegant word to describe them, but he could not think of one.

Finally, he summarized them with the three most simple and plain words:

"Barbarians!"

When Yu Jin said this, She Di Gan and Hou Jing behind Li Shuang were not angry; instead, they nodded.

"They are crude, bloodthirsty, and ignorant; they are a pool of mud, while we are vibrant flowers."

Yu Jin looked at Li Shuang in surprise, only to see him speak passionately:

"But if there were not this pile of mud, this vibrant flower would wither, fade, and finally fall into the dust, becoming just like that mud."

"My Lord, well said!"

Hou Jing clapped his hands behind; She Di Gan paused for a moment, caught up, and joined in the clapping.

Yu Jin was too lazy to pay attention to these two and still felt some confusion.

"Forcing them to rebel, and then what?"

"If the court does not see the chaos engulfing this northern border, how will they know the preciousness of our loyalty and righteousness!"

Yu Jin's eyes widened instantly as he looked at Li Shuang, thinking:

You are playing this big?

Looking again at Hou Jing and She Di Gan, he found their reactions were flat, as if they were already used to it.

"But if we cannot control the situation in the end, what then?"

At present, only Han Baling of the Puluohan family is rebelling, with perhaps the addition of the Wu Chuan and Huaishuo garrisons. But with these three strategies, the entire northern border plus Guanzhong will likely ignite. At that time, it will truly be great chaos under heaven.

Li Shuang smiled and poured a cup of tea for Yu Jin.

"This is why you cannot understand the Grand Commander's profound meaning!"

Yu Jin raised his eyebrows; his voice was even hoarse.

"He has a profound meaning?"

"Naturally!"

"What profound meaning?"

"Even if chaos erupts, it is the decision of the young Emperor in Luoyang."

"..."

Li Shuang asked:

"Why do you say the Liuzhen had to rebel?"

"The court treats foreign enemies as kin, yet treats the Liuzhen as sworn foes, oppressing them even more harshly."

"That is only the pretext Han Baling used to raise his revolt. The true cause is that the decline of Take Pingcheng left it unable to meet the needs of the Liuzhen. The court refuses to admit it and only wants to suppress, and in the end the Liuzhen rose in swarms."

The shift from the Take Pingcheng model to the Luoyang model meant that the Northern Wei Emperor changed from a military alliance leader of the northern frontier tribes into the true overlord of the Northern Court.

In the Take Pingcheng era, Tuoba Tao and other Northern Wei imperial clans could lead the martial-merit families of the Liuzhen to raid the Rouran to the north and seize from Liu Song to the south, gaining enough wealth to satisfy everyone.

But after moving to Luoyang, the Emperor and the Yuanshi Sect kin were no longer willing to take the lead. The Rouran had grown poor, and the Southern Court could no longer be plundered. Those former martial-merit families of the Liuzhen became nothing but stinking beggars.

Especially when the luxurious lives of the Luoyang ministers were set against the poverty of their northern frontier relatives, it bred even greater resentment.

"The entire northern frontier is poor now. We at least have Take Pingcheng as support, but we're not doing much better. Han Baling and Yujuluanagui's side will only be worse off. Luoyang is unwilling to provide enough money and grain to satisfy the people of the Liuzhen and the Tiele of the eastern and western tribes, so this rebellion of the Liuzhen cannot be resolved."

"Han Baling and Yujuluanagui are both generals of an age. Sending Take Pingcheng's weak troops to strike at the fierce wolves and tigers of the Liuzhen will only end in utter defeat."

"Thus, we will send all these potential would-be rebels within Heng Prefecture's borders to Han Baling and Yujuluanagui. It may look as though we are strengthening their forces, but in reality we are eroding their foundations. The poorer they grow, the more they rebel; the more they rebel, the poorer they grow. So long as we rely on the Great Wall to the north and south, hold Take Pingcheng, and add a strategy of sowing division, they will eventually collapse without our needing to attack."

In the end, Li Shuang summarized:

"I, Da Ye Shuang, and the officers and men under my command, shall be the steadfast shield ever guarding atop the Great Wall, resisting the Liuzhen rebels and the Rouran horde. The name of loyalty and righteousness shall shine through the ages."

Once again, the room erupted in warm applause.

Yu Jin stumbled out of the house in a daze, glanced up at the sun in the sky, and found it blindingly harsh.

In his heart, Yu Jin kept turning it over:

Why?

Li Shuang's words were clearly treasonous, seditious talk — so why did I feel they made perfect sense!

Yang Kan and Gao Ang had just returned from drilling troops and, seeing Yu Jin in this lost-soul state, could not help but ask:

"Staff Officer, what's wrong with you? You look as if you've lost your soul."

Yu Jin stared at the two men before him and murmured:

"I feel like I've been tainted!"