Chapter 407: The Zeal of the Convert

"Peace talks with Wei?"

Wei Ao had initially agreed with Fang Wang, opposing the overhasty enthronement of Liu Ying as emperor. He had hoped to leave Longyou room to maneuver, advance or retreat. Unfortunately, at the time Wei Ao could not even decide matters for the Wei clan itself, which allowed his uncle, bent on contending for the realm, to make a colossal blunder.

Now, after the Battle of Zhouyuan, old Wei Cui had died of rage and illness. Wei Ao finally became the true master of Longyou. For the past half year and more, he had been stabilizing things internally, licking his wounds.

Wei Ao was not like Gongsun Shu. His ambition was not so great that he had to become Emperor just to scratch the itch. Deep in his heart, the thought had even stirred of negotiating peace with Diwu Lun to secure favorable terms for Longyou.

But at the Battle of Zhouyuan, over a thousand riders from Longyou's good families had fallen in battle. Nearly every household had to hang mourning cloth. The blood feud ran too deep. If they yielded so easily now, the discontent within would likely overturn Wei Ao's still-insecure rule.

Now, hearing Fang Wang propose this, he could not help but be greatly startled and suspicious. "What does the master mean by this?"

"Because after last year's decisive battle, Longyou is broken-boned and sinew-torn, temporarily powerless to march east." Fang Wang knew the weaknesses of the Longyou faction very well. Though they nominally held all of Liang Province, what Wei Ao actually controlled was no more than four commanderies — Anding, Tianshui, Longxi, and Jincheng — whose combined population fell short of a million.

And at the Battle of Zhouyuan, not only had a thousand precious good-family riders been thrown away, but nearly ten thousand retainers and troops of the Longyou magnates had been wiped out or captured.

As for Longyou's military strength, by a conservative estimate of forcibly conscripting one man per five households, they could only scrape together forty thousand. To lose a quarter of that in one stroke — the damage is imaginable.

"Look at Diwu Lun in contrast. Now holding Sili, plus the other commanderies and counties, his population already exceeds ten million…"

And if he also takes Hebei, You and Ji provinces, then he will hold one of the three parts of the realm.

What a despairing comparison. Even though Diwu Lun's energies are focused on managing Hebei, the forces left to guard Bing Province and Guanzhong still outnumber Longyou's entire national army, and they have an endless stream of laborers and supplies from the Guanzhong and Henei regions to aid them.

With this reality bloodily laid bare before him, Wei Ao felt some distress, and only said: "So the master believes that for Longyou to fight Wei is no different from an egg striking a rock? And thus it is better to surrender?"

"Peace talks are not surrender." Fang Wang raised his head. "The inchworm bends to seek extension; the dragon and serpent hibernate to preserve their bodies. Peace talks are so that later, there will be a chance for the weak to overcome the strong!"

At times, Fang Wang envied his rival Feng Yan, because Diwu Lun was now the strongest power under Heaven. For the strong, any move is correct; they have countless choices — which to strike first, which later. Even if they misstep, there is enormous room for error. Unless one is Wang Mang, a sudden collapse is unlikely.

But the weak's game is different. It is truly like treading on thin ice, like standing at the edge of an abyss! As an advisor, Fang Wang could only hold his game piece with trepidation, pacing and looking around the map, searching for the key to victory.

Fang Wang had rushed back and forth between Longyou and Shu, nearly going bald from worry, and in the end had thought of only one way to give Longyou a chance to turn the tables.

"With the terrain of the Western Provinces, attacking is insufficient, but defending is more than enough. If the sons of the six commanderies fight to the death, Diwu Lun could spend years without pacifying them. It is more profitable to take Hebei and Ji Province, which is why he sets Longyou aside and marches east. That being so, he surely would not wish to see Longyou and Shu join hands. The Wei Duke should send an envoy to secretly visit the King of Wei, making clear that the Wei clan is not the same as the Han Emperor. At the right time, we can hand over Liu Ying and Liu Xin, change our banners, and follow Wei. If not, then we will turn south and throw in with Gongsun!"

"Though Gongsun Shu is far inferior to Diwu Lun, he holds the wealth of Yizhou. In the present contest between Wei and Shu, the balance rests with the Wei Duke. If the Wei Duke casts his lot to the right, Diwu Lun wins; if to the left, Gongsun grows strong."

"In this way, using Shu to check Wei, and Wei to check Shu, we can buy three to five years of time, enough for Longyou to recover its vitality."

Wei Ao understood. "The master wishes me to feign compliance, to sleep on brushwood and taste gall?"

"Exactly! If the troops of Yue could swallow Wu, how much more so the heroes of Long?" Fang Wang continued: "However, Goujian also had ten years to gather and ten years to instruct. What is invincible lies in oneself; what is conquerable lies in the enemy. Vertical-horizontal checks and balances are not the key; what matters is still one's own strength."

On how to restore Longyou's strength, Fang Wang offered Wei Ao two suggestions.

"First, the four commanderies of Hexi now merely pay nominal respect to Liu Ying; they are not loyal to the Wei Duke. Moreover, the Governor of Wuwei, Dou You, is the younger cousin of the Wei State's important minister, Dou Rong. Since the Wei army has already occupied Xin Qinzhong, to prevent collusion, you must immediately dispatch trusted men with troops to replace Dou You!"

The governors and commandants of Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang must also be replaced one after another, lest Diwu Lun beat them to it by winning those men over, thus encircling Longyou. This would let the Wei clan's orders flow unhindered throughout Liang Province.

Fang Wang said: "Although the four Hexi commanderies are vast in land and sparse in people, their water and grass suit livestock. In Han times, each pasture kept thirty to forty thousand horses. Last year's great battle nearly exhausted the horses of Longyou's riders. Long horses are good on hills, Liang horses excel on the plains. For future eastern incursions to raid Guanzhong, we will still rely on the great horses of Hexi."

"Second, we must make good use of the dependent-state Qiang and Hu of Liang Province!"

To the Confucian scholars east of the passes, the Qiang and Hu were distant frontier savages. But to the people of Liang Province, the Qiang, Hu, and Di peoples had long ago become their neighbors, intermingled, each within the other.

Since entering the Han, surrendered Qiang and Hu had often been settled in suitable grazing lands in the border commanderies. For example, in the time of Emperor Jing of Han, the Yan-species Qiang chieftain Liu He requested to lead his people into the passes to submit. The court accepted his request and moved his tribe to Longxi Commandery.

By the time of Emperor Wu of Han, as they counterattacked the Xiongnu and opened up vast lands, Xiongnu lesser kings surrendered by the dozen, their followers numbering in the tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand. Dependent states were thus established to manage them. Now, under Wei Ao's rule, Anding, Tianshui, Longxi, and even Jincheng all had dependent-state divisions. Aside from the Xiutu and Hunye Xiongnu, most were Qiang tribes.

These people were the main source for the Changshui and Hu Cavalry Colonels among the Han Dynasty's Northern Army's Eight Colonels. The dependent-state Qiang and Hu cavalry were essentially the Han Dynasty's mercenaries. Whenever they fought the Xiongnu or Western Qiang, these troops were often summoned. Especially in Emperor Wu's later years, after several failed distant expeditions against the Xiongnu and catastrophic losses in troops and horses, they used armies mixing convict youths, infantry, good-family sons, and dependent-state Qiang and Hu cavalry to campaign in the Western Regions.

"However, since the end of Wang Mang's reign, excessive conscription on the frontier made the dependent states suffer unbearably. Their kings and marquises colluded one after another with outside Qiang and outside Hu to rebel!"

That "Hu-Han" emperor, Lu Fang, sprang from the Anding dependent state. Now, Longyou was beset by troubles within and without. Diwu Lun had sealed off their way out, and the internal Qiang and Hu dependent states were also restless. The Western Qiang raided the borders; the Western Sea Commandery had long been lost, and many counties under Jincheng had fallen to the barbarians.

"This is the poison within Longyou's body. Yet, in the time of Emperor Xuan of Han, it took the famous general Zhao Chongguo rallying the full strength of the Three Adjuncts, Long, and Liang just to barely quell the Qiang rebellion. This shows it is not easy to suppress them by force; we can only soothe and win them over."

Fang Wang had grounds for saying this. The Qiang and Hu who had entered the passes were inevitably becoming sinicized. Some chieftains' speech, food, and drink were no different from those of the Central Plains people; some could even read. And having lived alongside them for so long, the people of Liang Province — already fierce in custom and brimming with martial vigor — had also begun to be barbarized. They loved sitting on Hu stools, eating Hu flatbread, and their methods of warfare were converging with those of the Qiang and Hu…

Many heroes of the Western Provinces often traveled in Qiang lands, befriending chieftains. Some, with fewer scruples, even married Qiang women through alliances, creating tangled, complex relationships. If Wei Ao showed sincerity and promised to lead the Qiang and Hu cavalry to plunder the rich Guanzhong region in the future, perhaps he really could make them serve Longyou!

"Only thus can the poison be channeled outward!"

Fang Wang said: "Marshal Huo combined Qiang and Hu troops with the sons of the six commanderies into one army, ranging freely across the great desert. Emperor Wu used the Changshui and Hu Cavalry to suppress the rebellion of Crown Prince Li; they swept all before them. If the Wei Duke can seize the fine horses of the four Hexi commanderies, and also gain the allegiance of the Qiang and Hu elite, then within three to five years, he can restore his strength."

"I have seen that even the women of the Liang Province Qiang and Hu can wield halberds and thrust with spears, string bows and carry arrows on their backs — how much more so their fierce men? In the future, with a little reorganization and training, to send them against the war-forgetting people of the east would be like tigers and wolves against a flock of sheep. Victory would be certain!"

…

In Xuyan County, Beidi Commandery, Bing Province, two men were also discussing the use of dependent-state cavalry — the fact that Qiang, Hu, and people of the Central States lived intermingled in the border commanderies was a reality formed imperceptibly over centuries. No one could sidestep this issue.

Last year, Zhang Chun had heroically resisted the Hu-Han at his own fortified manor and received a reward. He was appointed by Diwu Lun as Governor of Beidi. Today, he hosted a banquet in Xuyan County for the General of Chariots and Cavalry, Geng Yan, who had come here while inspecting troops westward. At the meal, they ate fine local Tan sheep. Zhang Chun picked at it slowly with his chopsticks; Geng Yan, lacking such leisurely refinement, simply gnawed at a bone in his hands.

When he learned that the cavalry Geng Yan was training in Shang Commandery recruited only Bing Province fugitives whose families had been destroyed by the Xiongnu, and did not absorb the mixed Hu of Shang Commandery's dependent state, Zhang Chun immediately thought him far too young and inexperienced.

"As early as the Chu-Han contention, the Han army made much use of Di Commandery riders and Loufan generals. Since the Han, Bing Province has held not only registered households, but also descendants of the former Yiqu, Linhu, and other tribes. When the Xiongnu entered and dwelt in the lands south of the river bend, they raided the fortress-protecting Man and Yi of Shang Commandery, killing and plundering the people. Those tribes also suffered deeply from it. Later, when they aided Emperor Wu in striking the Hu, they contributed much effort."

As for the later use of dependent-state cavalry in the Han-Xiongnu wars, there was no need to elaborate; Zhang Chun trusted that Geng Yan also knew.

"A warhorse's feed for one month equals a soldier's grain for an entire year. The expense is enormous. With Hetao already lost, we cannot keep too many warhorses. It would be better to use the mixed Hu of Shang and Xihe commanderies. They usually bring their own horses, and their diet and skills are the same as the Xiongnu's. If we grant them sturdy armor and padded coats, strong bows and sharp arrows, let them serve as the fine cavalry of the border commanderies. When there is difficult terrain, use them to meet it; on open ground and through passes, use light chariots and skilled crossbowmen to control it. The two armies support each other, each using its strengths. This is the art of total security."

Geng Yan only shook his head. The reason he did not make large-scale use of the dependent-state mixed Hu came down to three words: they couldn't be trusted!

His gaze drifted outside to a young officer standing guard, whose features somewhat resembled his own. This was Geng Yan's youngest brother, Geng Guang, barely sixteen years old. After the capture of Taiyuan, Shanggu had made contact with the King of Wei. Their father, Geng Kuang, formally broke away from the Northern Han and pledged allegiance to the King of Wei, and also sent Geng Guang to court. But the King of Wei already had one of Geng Yan's brothers by his side, and Geng Guang wished to follow his elder brother closely, so he had come to the frontier to serve as a cavalry attendant.

Geng Yan and his brother had grown up in You Province. Beyond the Shanggu frontier were large numbers of Wuhuan tribes who had been pastured nearby since the time of Emperor Wu of Han. Some had also moved inside the passes to serve as dependent-state cavalry. Geng Yan remembered that in his youth, his family had a Wuhuan horse-slave who taught his brother to ride and shoot. He had seemed quite loyal and earnest.

Then one day, this horse-slave took the young Geng Guang out hunting — and did not return! The slave openly abducted the young master, intending to leave the pass and hand him over to the Xiongnu's Left Worthy Prince in exchange for wealth and rank. This incident shocked the Geng family. It was Geng Yan who spurred his horse and gave chase with light riders, intercepting the Wuhuan slave before he could leave the pass, and personally shot him dead, rescuing his brother.

Geng Yan still remembered, as he drew his bow and pointed it at the Wuhuan slave, struck by an arrow and dying, the man's eyes — once so gentle — were filled entirely with hatred and untamed defiance!

It was like a wolfhound you thought was tamed suddenly turning its head and biting you savagely. So all its usual docility had been an act!

"If they are not of our kind, their hearts must be different."

Geng Yan swallowed a piece of mutton and stated his reason simply.

Zhang Chun, however, shook his head and let out a mirthless laugh. "Not necessarily. Sometimes, it is precisely these 'not of our kind' who are more loyal than the people of the Central States."

The most typical example was the Jin clan, equal in fame to his own Zhang family in Han times. That Jin Midi was originally of the Xiongnu Xiutu royal line. Mother and son were captured and brought to the Han court as horse slaves. Yet when Jin Midi grew up, he became the most trusted, solitary loyal minister of Emperor Wu — thwarting assassinations, receiving the testamentary edict, his line loyal for generations.

And the many Hu generals under Huo Qubing — four of those enfeoffed as marquises, Gao Bushi, Pu Duo, Fu Luzhi, and Yi Jixuan, were all surrendered Hu people. And the famous Zhao Ponu also defected to the Han from Xiongnu territory; he very likely had Hu blood as well. Yet for the Han, he broke Loulan, campaigned beyond the passes multiple times, and after being captured by the Xiongnu, did not forget the Great Han, and after a few years stubbornly escaped back.

The loyalty and valor of these Hu generals were not inferior to Han generals. Even Emperor Wu praised them as "warriors of the Xunyu."

"And there was Yiqu Anguo, the Imperial Household Grandee under Emperor Xuan. Though this man was descended from frontier mixed Hu and shared ancestry with the Qiang, when it came to slaughtering the Qiang of Jincheng, none was more zealous."

Zhang Chun was older and had seen too many examples. Some Hu people and Hu generals newly converted to the Han identified with and loved the Great Han even more than their own established scholar-official families, displaying an even more devout, more fanatical devotion.

By the same logic, certain men who defected from Han territory to the Xiongnu — such as Zhonghang Yue — treated their mother kingdom with even greater venom and cruelty than ordinary barbarians did!

Such convert's zeal certainly exists, yet Geng Yan believed that the circumstances of Han times would be difficult to repeat now.

"Those men could be loyal only because they saw Han as mighty and the Xiongnu as weakening, and so they clung to the strong and abandoned the weak."

"But the nature of the Rong and Di peoples is this: when strong, they are sure to plunder and raid; when weak, they grovel in submission, heedless of grace or righteousness — such is their inborn character. The once-mighty Han is now torn apart, its border fortifications empty — precisely the moment for the Qiang and Hu to seize the chance to raid and ravage. Even if you absorb such men into the army, they will follow whoever offers the most gain."

The Dependent State cavalry were pure mercenaries who fought for pay. Lu Fang's army also had large numbers of them in service, because they could follow the Xiongnu in plundering. Geng Yan did not have that many spoils to offer them. What he needed were displaced border people who shared a blood-deep hatred with the Xiongnu — not a bunch of lordly soldiers who would refuse to draw their bows unless paid in gold and silk before battle, ready to mutiny and defect at any moment!

"The Dependent State cavalry will certainly be used in the future."

Having finished his mutton, Geng Yan rose and said, "But the King of Wei once spoke a saying: to forge iron, one's own body must be hard! Rather than relying too heavily on the Dependent State's barbarian horsemen, it would be better to first train an elite force drawn from the men of Bing Province and New Qin — then strike the Xiongnu and Hu-Han who enter the border, win a fearsome reputation, and thereby overawe the borderland Qiang and Hu by force of arms, making them willingly submit to the strong!"

It was an attitude diametrically opposed to that of Wei Ao and Fang Wang. Zhang Chun nodded — Geng Yan's words indeed had their logic. The two were about to resume their discussion of autumn border defenses when they heard the drumbeats of the border alarm sounding outside!

When the two men walked out of the official residence, they saw that on the King Zhao of Qin Long Wall north of Xuyan County, the beacon fires had already been lit, their smoke columns rising high.

The smoke signals had come from both east and west — from New Qin in the west, and from Shang Commandery and Xihe in the east. This was another large-scale invasion!

Zhang Chun sighed, "The Xiongnu and Hu-Han have come indeed."

Raids into the borderlands to harvest grain and captives every summer and autumn — this would become the daily reality of the frontier. With the Central Plain in chaos, wicked neighbors loved to exploit the gap. Once the autumn horses grew fat, if they could seize some more grain and slaves to take back to the steppe, their winter would be secure.

"Yes — they have come again."

Geng Yan donned his armor, mounted his horse, and put on his helmet. He looked back at the Bing Province light cavalry he had trained over these past three or four months. Their numbers were not large, but every last one of them shared a blood-deep hatred with the Xiongnu, and their eyes blazed with the will to fight!

"But this time, the crops of Bing Province are a tough stalk!"