Chapter 458: The Hu Dare Not Ride South to Pasture Their Horses

"Liu Ji, headman of the Si River laborers, pays his respects to the superior officer!"

The big-bearded Liu Ji entered the camp tent and promptly prostrated himself before the Agricultural Colony Chief Clerk, a subordinate of the court's newly established "Shuofang Commandery Agricultural Colony Colonel," specifically responsible for managing the civilian laborers.

The Chief Clerk, who did know this big-bearded fellow fond of forming cliques, bragging, and making lewd jokes, looked up and sneered:

"These past few days, most of those who've come to see me have falsely claimed to have wives and children, seeking to evade agricultural colony duty. Could it be you're the same?"

These words effectively blocked what Liu Ji had been about to say.

It was already the end of the eighth month, the weather growing colder by the day. With the Beijia and Henan lands all occupied by the Qin army and the Xiongnu fled far away, this war was drawing to a close.

The frontier was vast and remote, unable to sustain so many people; half the troops were to be withdrawn. The one hundred fifty thousand civilian laborers conscripted at the start of the year to transport provisions had also completed their corvée service and should be preparing to head home.

However, a single paper decree from Xianyang threw them into great panic: the Emperor ordered that the civilian laborers be allocated land on the spot across the vast northern frontier. Those with families and wives, or those who were only sons needing to support their parents, were permitted to return to their native places after their service. Those without wives were to settle and garrison the land, with the authorities arranging for them to marry local Hu women!

Thus, aside from the professional soldiers, this newly conquered land would have its first batch of farmers.

This terrified many people. Although the Qin army had established "Shuofang" Commandery to govern the Beijia after seizing it, everything was still in its infancy. To the laborers from the prosperous heartlands of the Central Plains, this was a bitterly cold and harsh place. Even with the court's promises of land, Hu women, and even three years of tax exemption, none of it could match the allure of going home.

And so, those with wives and children rejoiced, packing their bags to leave, while the still-single laborers wore long, gloomy faces.

Among them, quite a few falsely claimed to have wives and children or to be only sons, attempting to slip through. But Qin, which placed the utmost importance on managing the household registration status of its military, also benefited from the spread of paper. When each man served, the officials of his commandery and county would copy his personal and family details onto a sheet of hemp paper. The village heads and labor headmen escorting them carried these documents and, upon reaching the service location, handed them over to the petty officers managing the corvée laborers.

Whether a man had a wife and children at home, or whether he was an only son — report your assigned squad and labor unit, and a single check would reveal the truth.

Once caught lying, what awaited these men was a charge of "dishonesty." They needn't be in a hurry to go home then; they could just stay and do hard labor locally to atone for their crime.

After that, no one dared try to slip through again, and could only regret not having arranged a marriage back in their hometowns earlier.

The Qin officials had no sympathy for these bachelors either. The army supervisor, Commandant of Justice Li Si, even remarked coldly:

"By the law of King Goujian of Yue, if a girl was not married by seventeen, her parents were guilty of a crime; if a man was not wed by twenty, his parents were guilty of a crime. Now His Majesty has unified all under heaven, yet the population is insufficient, while many errant youths go unmarried at thirty, loafing about everywhere. I had intended to propose restoring this law to rectify the customs east of the Passes. Let them stay on the frontier, lest they return home and stir up trouble!"

Liu Ji, a man of thirty-six or thirty-seven, had never married. By all reason, he too was supposed to stay, but he had another plan.

And so, Liu Ji slipped into character in a second. He prostrated himself before the Chief Clerk and, with tears and sobs, began telling his story.

He said he actually did have a wife, named Cao-shi, but they had separated before they could register the marriage with the authorities. Cao-shi had left him a son, named Liu Fei, who was just three years old this year. He had raised Liu Fei alone, enduring all manner of hardship. Because he had to perform corvée service, he could only leave the child in the care of his parents. If he were kept on the northern frontier for agricultural colony work, Liu Fei would become an orphan...

"If the superior officer does not believe me, please examine the copy of my travel permit and native place record; my son's name is on it. And the Chief Clerk's Scribe Xiao He of Pei County, Accessory Clerk Zhou Chang, and Jailer Ren Ao can all bear witness for me!"

Liu Ji was a local boss to begin with, and after becoming an official, he mixed well in both the underworld and legitimate circles. Half the county's officials were on friendly terms with him.

The Chief Clerk, half-believing and half-doubting, found the file. On Liu Ji's travel permit, besides his parents and brothers, there really was a "minor male, Fei."

The reason for only targeting bachelors was that forcibly breaking up families was, after all, not good. Even if men with families were kept beyond the frontier, they could not settle and garrison in peace. Seeing Liu Ji speak with such conviction, to the point where snot and tears were flowing, smeared all over his big beard, the Chief Clerk's heart softened. After confirming there were no errors, he removed Liu Ji from the list of those required to stay.

Liu Ji, profuse in his thanks, exited the camp tent. Instantly, he straightened his back and thought smugly:

"Thank goodness my father and mother were stubborn and insisted on seizing that illegitimate child back from Cao-shi and entering him into the Liu family register. Otherwise, your old man here would be drinking the cold wind in this bitter, frozen place!"

Liu Ji felt this was the second correct thing his old man, Liu Taigong, had done in all these years.

The first was that, back when Liu Ji was born, he hadn't been thrown into a ditch and drowned just because his looks didn't much resemble his father's.

After going to the river to wash his beard clean and swaggering back to camp with his belly out, he found the group he'd brought from Pei County consoling Zhou Bo...

Lu Wan and the other older men had all married and had children. Only Zhou Bo was young, not yet married, and furthermore, not an only son. He and the other ten men had no choice but to stay, farming and garrisoning the land. They feared they might never return to their hometown in this lifetime.

This clean-cut division left the laborers deeply distressed, but they were helpless. Qin was just that cold and unreasonable.

Zhou Bo was simple, resolute, honest, and loyal. He did not wallow in self-pity but instead smiled at his fellow townsmen:

"Back in Pei County, I'd still be weaving silkworm trays and playing the pipes for funeral dirges to scrape by. Here on the northern frontier, there's land to farm, three years of tax exemption, and I hear that after three full years, one can even be granted the noble rank of Gongshi! Looking at it this way, staying here isn't so bad."

As he spoke, he patted the bow in his hand.

Liu Ji, however, saw through his intention and laughed: "Zhou Bo is no man content to farm in peace. You're probably still thinking that when war breaks out with the Hu people again, you'll be conscripted into the army and shoot dead a couple of Hu to earn merit!"

Besides weaving silkworm trays and playing funeral dirges, Zhou Bo had another skill: he was tall and powerfully built, able to draw a stiff bow. He had originally wanted to join the county soldiers. Now, by a twist of fate, he was stuck on the frontier. As a laborer, he'd had no chance to draw his bow, but perhaps in the future, he could put his talents to full use!

Zhou Bo, seen through, was a bit embarrassed and said: "I've heard people say that the Commandant of Beidi Commandery was also a commoner back in the day. Relying on military merit, he's now become a minister, and might even have the chance to be enfeoffed as a marquis in the future! I, Zhou Bo, dare say my skills aren't bad; perhaps I can earn a little merit too..."

Their people of Pei County had been changing nationalities for the past two generations. Originally Song, then Wei, and finally Chu. When Qin conquered Pei County, there had been no major battle and not much slaughter, so their resentment toward Qin was not as strong as that of the people of Waihuang or Daliang. Men like Xiao He and Liu Ji serving as Qin officials felt no psychological burden whatsoever.

But Lu Wan and the others had no such ambitions. They all mocked Zhou Bo for being too naive. Liu Ji, however, stopped laughing. He cupped his hands toward Zhou Bo and said: "Zhou Bo has great aspirations. Liu Ji admires him."

Zhou Bo, though, suddenly said: "Brother Ji, you often speak of wanting to do great things. Why not stay and build achievements together?"

"Me?" Liu Ji pointed at the tip of his own nose and burst out laughing. After the laughter, however, he grew uncharacteristically serious.

"After roaming around outside for so many years, I've figured out one thing."

He turned his head to look at the brand-new Jiuyuan City behind him. Rebuilt from past ruins, it was the fruit of the laborers' two months of work, and it was also the first cornerstone the Qin army had laid on the grasslands beyond the frontier...

"A man does not leave his village, a tiger does not leave its mountain."

Liu Ji did not speak his heart in public. Only when he was alone with his good brother Lu Wan did he voice the truth he had grasped.

"My home is in Pei County, and my companions and fellow townsmen are in Pei County. Staying in Pei County, Liu Ji is a mountain tiger no one dares to mock, calling friends and gathering companions, setting out wine and singing loud — who doesn't fear me three parts? But if I leave Pei County, without my fellow townsmen as my strength, Liu Ji... is nothing at all!"

……

A thousand li west of Jiuyuan City, on the western foothills of the Helan Mountains, at the edge of the grasslands and the desert's rim, a group of Qin cavalry had trekked this far. Standing on a hill, before their eyes lay a lake reflecting the blue sky...

"This is the place."

Yiqu White Wolf's lips were parched and cracked. He opened a map and pointed at this lake between the great mountains and the desert: "The great lake at the grassland's end, the pearl at the desert's edge, spoken of by those captured Xiongnu."

Fu Zhi beside him, seeing the lake's clear, rippling blue waters, could not help but cheer, wanting to go drink his fill, but Yiqu White Wolf held him back.

"This is the Great Salt Lake (Jilantai Salt Lake). Like the Huama Pool, its water can cure meat straight away — it's undrinkable. We need to circle the lake and search for a river."

More than two months had passed since the great battle in the Henan lands. The various Qin armies had converged on the Hetao loop. Under Li Xin's command, they had once again dealt a heavy blow to the Touman Chanyu, sending him fleeing westward in haste.

Yiqu White Wolf's party had followed the Xiongnu's tracks here. At this great salt lake, they indeed found the chaotic hoofprints of the Xiongnu. The captives had been right; this was a necessary route on the Xiongnu's annual migration.

The group wished to continue the pursuit, but ahead lay a vast, endless desert. The supplies they had brought when leaving the Hetao loop were already insufficient. They could only establish a sentry post here, leaving a hundred cavalry to hunt and garrison, serving as the Qin army's westernmost outpost...

……

At the start of the ninth month, Yiqu White Wolf and his men returned to the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains and reported everything they had seen along the way to Junior Chief of the Multitudes Heifu.

"By General Li Xin's order, I, your subordinate officer, together with Fu Zhi and Gan Chong, led the three thousand cavalry of Beidi four hundred li west from Woye Ford to the Tangwen Pool, and saw not a single Xiongnu. Up to this point, south of the Yin Mountains, there is not one Xiongnu herder, not one felt tent!"

"It seems the Xiongnu have truly fled far away."

Heifu let out a long breath. After two years of planning and half a year of bitter fighting, they had finally achieved, ahead of schedule, what the Qin dynasty had historically accomplished: driving the Xiongnu back over seven hundred li!

The Xiongnu ended up even worse off than in history — their able-bodied men were either dead or captured, losing at least a third. Given their pitifully small population, they wouldn't recover in less than two generations.

The Xiongnu had suffered catastrophic losses, and Chanyu Touman's prestige was utterly destroyed — he couldn't possibly regroup in the short term. Yet Heifu still had one lingering worry.

Gongsun Bailu said, "What worries the General — could it be the Yuezhi, who have been ranging as far as the western foothills of the Helan Mountains!"

After the Xiongnu's collapse, the Yuezhi seized the chance to grab quite a few of their grazing lands. Their scouts had even reached the western foothills of the Helan Mountains, and they had sent envoys seeking to establish relations with Qin. After all, having just watched the Qin army sweep through the Xiongnu with terrifying combat prowess — if even the Xiongnu suffered such a crushing defeat, what chance did the Yuezhi have, with a population and territory smaller than theirs?

"No, not the Yuezhi."

Heifu looked at the letter Chen Ping had sent. That fellow hadn't been idle in Beidi Commandery — he had gone again to the Wushi Fort and, through Wushi merchants, obtained a good deal of intelligence on the Yuezhi.

Among it was the "news" that Modu had presented his beloved wife and prized horse to the King of the Yuezhi!

Modu — yes, Heifu had never once forgotten this infamous wolf's son of history!

A man who could be that ruthless to himself — how much more ruthless would he be to others? If this man was not eliminated, he would remain a thorn in Heifu's heart forever.

"That the barbarians dare not ride south to graze their horses — that is not enough. We must make it so that, for generations to come, their warriors dare not draw a bow in grievance!"

Heifu sent for Wushi Yan, the Commandery Hostel Chief Clerk, who had come to the Helan Mountains to garrison, recruit surrenders, and take in the Baiyang tribe and other groups.

The Commandery Hostel Chief Clerk was not Heifu's subordinate — he answered to the Commandery Governor and was also accountable to the Court Interpreter, the one among the Nine Ministers specifically responsible for foreign relations, dependent states, and minority administration. Wushi Yan had contributed greatly to winning over the Rong people of Huama Pond and gathering intelligence on the Xiongnu. The court had appointed him to this post both as a reward and to make the best use of his talents.

"Go and tell the Yuezhi envoys who have come to parley: if the Yuezhi wish to pay court to Qin, there are three conditions."

"First, the King of the Yuezhi must come in person to Xianyang to offer tribute. Second, they must permit Qin merchants to pass through the Hexi Corridor to the Western Regions and must not obstruct them in any way. Third…"

Heifu smiled. "Present the head of the Xiongnu brigand Modu!"

(End of chapter)