Chapter 406 Remaining Issues
Chapter 406 Remaining Issues
Tuoba Yan'an sent someone to deliver a letter to his eldest son, asking him to lead his people to surrender in Chishui City, and specifically emphasized that if they did not come, the Sui army would use force to purge them, and the Dangxiang Tuoba tribe would face a devastating disaster.
In the afternoon, Chang Sun Sheng came to Xiao Xia's tent again. He said worriedly, "I got a piece of news. Your Highness is planning to place the Tuoba tribe in the Central Plains?"
Xiao Xia nodded, "I do have this idea."
"Your Highness, this is like inviting a wolf into the house! The Yongjia Rebellion was caused by the Southern Xiongnu being settled in the Central Plains, including the Turkic Qimin Khan. Now they are fully grown and no longer take the Sui Dynasty seriously. Fengzhou has also been reluctant to return it to us. These are profound lessons that Your Highness must not be careless!"
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "The reason why I killed all the Xianbei nobles of Tuyuhun is that I don't want to be involved in such a thing again."
"What about the Tangut Tuoba tribe? How did Your Highness agree to settle them in the Central Plains?"
"General Changsun, don't worry. I promised to settle them in the Central Plains. I didn't mean to put them in one place. For example, I will spread them to dozens of counties. There are more than 10,000 of them scattered all over the world, and they are cut off from each other. How can they gather to rebel? It will only take a few years for them to be lost in the crowd and assimilated by Han people. Besides, most of them are the elderly, the weak, women and children, so General Changsun doesn't need to worry too much."
Chang Sun Sheng was stunned for a while and said, "If that's the case, it's not a big problem!"
Xiao Xia continued slowly, "The most taboo thing about settling the Hu people is not to disperse them, but to settle hundreds of thousands of them in one county without separating their leaders. As a result, they become an independent force within the country. So the best way is to kill the leaders and nobles and disperse the people to various places. The more dispersed the better. This is the long-term solution. It's like a handful of salt sprinkled in a glass of water. The water is very salty, but if you sprinkle the same handful of salt in a lake, it will have no effect at all."
"I understand the humble position!"
Chang Sun Sheng thought of something and asked in a low voice, "Does Your Highness not intend to let the noble leader of the Tuoba tribe go?"
Xiao Xia nodded slowly, "When it's time to be ruthless, you must not be soft-hearted!"
Chang Sun Sheng hesitated and said, "Your Highness, it depends on the specific ethnic group. Not every ethnic group is fierce and warlike. I am also a Xianbei. The ordinary people of the Xianbei are actually no different from the Han people. They all hope to live and work in peace and hope that their children will be safe.
The Xianbei people are not to be feared, but the leaders and nobles are. I have specially visited and found that the Tuoba people basically have no property and are cruelly exploited by the rulers. I beg Your Highness to treat the Tuoba people well. "
Xiao Xia nodded, "Dangxiang and Tuyuhun are different. I will treat the people well!"
The Tang Dynasty made several fatal mistakes in settling the Dangxiang people. First, it did not separate the Xianbei and Qiang people. The Qiang people had lived on the plateau for generations, so there was no need to relocate them. It only needed to relocate the Xianbei Tuoba tribe.
Second, instead of separating them, tens of thousands of Dangxiang people were concentrated in several counties such as Yuanzhou, Qingzhou, Yinzhou, and Yanzhou, which prevented the Dangxiang people from being assimilated into the Han people for hundreds of years.
The third mistake was also the most fatal one. The Tang Dynasty did not kill the nobles and leaders of the Dangxiang people, but continued to allow them to rule the Dangxiang people, which resulted in the Dangxiang people becoming a de facto independent nation.
After entering the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, these Dangxiang nobles began to seek an independent country and eventually established the Western Xia. All of this was caused by the Tang Dynasty's foolish arrangements.
So as a person of later generations, Xiao Xia learned his lesson and would never make the same mistake again. At the very least, he would kill all the Dangxiang nobles and leaders to avoid any future troubles.
Without nobles and leaders, more than 10,000 people of the Tangut Tuoba tribe would become fish on Xiao Xia's chopping board, and their fate would be decided by Xiao Xia.
Ten days later, Tuoba Buzheng, the eldest son of Tuoba Yan'an, arrived at Chishui City with thousands of Tuoba people.
Xiao Xia first took Tuoba Yan'an and his sons, as well as more than twenty noble leaders, plus their wives and children, totaling less than ninety people. Xiao Xia ordered Wang Junkuo to lead a thousand troops to send them to Chang'an.
In the big tent, Xiao Xia whispered to Wang Junkuo, "Drug them on the way, kill them all, regardless of gender, age or status, burn their bodies to ashes and bury them deep inside. Give copper coins and cloth to the brothers as rewards, and tell them to keep their mouths shut. Take the gold and treasures back to Hexi!"
Wang Junkuo nodded, "Don't worry, Your Highness. I will definitely get it done without any mistakes."
Xiao Xia patted his shoulder and said, "When you're done, lead the army back to Hexi."
"Follow the order!"
The chieftain and the nobles set off in more than 50 carts, which were loaded with their wealth. They were going to Chang'an to live a rich life and bid farewell to their nomadic life. Tens of thousands of Tuoba people reluctantly bid farewell to their chieftain. Without their chieftain, the Tuoba people fell into panic and did not know what fate they would face.
Xiao Xia first dealt with the property. He gave each household fifty sheep, twenty sheepskins and a cart as private property, and confiscated the rest of the cattle, sheep and sheepskins as public property.
As for luxury items such as gold, silver, jewelry, silk, cloth, and porcelain, they were all taken away by the nobles. The remaining people were very poor, and each household had only one or two strings of money at most. Xiao Xia did not confiscate the loose change, and even left their jars, cheese, and cow dung cakes to them.
A few days later, Wu Lian, the new governor of Heyuan County, took office with a dozen officials and the escort of a hundred soldiers.
Xiao Xia summoned the leaders and elders of the other seven Dangxiang Qiang tribes to discuss the matter. These tribes were generally very small, none of them had more than a thousand households, and each had only a few hundred herdsmen, so they were oppressed by the Tuoba tribe of three thousand households.
The seven small Qiang tribes were all trembling with fear, and tried their best to express their willingness to cooperate with and support the government's management and to become subjects of the Great Sui Dynasty.
Originally, Xiao Xia was going to let them set up a council of elders system, but at this moment, Xiao Xia was no longer interested in them. He knew very well that it was useless to say anything now. Without the protection of the Xianbei Tuoba tribe, these seven small Qiang tribes would sooner or later be annexed by other Qiang tribes.
Xiao Xia simply clarified the grazing range of each tribe and handed them over to Wu Lian, the new governor of Heyuan County, to deal with them.
Upon hearing that His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin was going to take all the Dangxiang people away, the general manager Wu Lian became anxious and hurriedly took the chief secretary and the county magistrate to find Xiao Xia.
The three of them said anxiously: "Your Highness, Chishui County is an empty city. Your Highness has taken all the people away. What should we do?"
Xiao Xia had not thought about this problem before, but now he realized that there is no one in Heyuan County. This is indeed a big problem.
"How did Xihai County solve this problem?" Xiao Xia asked.
Wu Lian smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, only the Xianbei people are gone in Fushi City, but there are still Han people and Qiang people in the city, and there are more than a thousand households of civilians, but there is not even a single household left in Chishui City."
At this time, Chang Sun Sheng next to him suggested: "Your Highness, now that we have sent the noble leader away, the problem of the Tangut Tuoba tribe has been basically solved. I have a solution."
"General Changsun, please speak!"
"I found that there are only 2,000 young and strong men among the more than 10,000 people, and the rest are old, weak, women and children. First, we can keep the young women, and then select a group of unmarried soldiers from our soldiers to stay, let them form families, and allocate land to them, 100 acres per household, and exempt them from taxes. This will result in more than 3,000 Han households.
Then, the remaining Tuoba people, the elderly, orphans and widows do not need to be taken away, and they can live in the city. The remaining 2,000 young and strong men who are willing to change their nationality to Han can stay, some of them can farm, and some can be herders, raising sheep for the government. Then more villages can be built, and finally the Dangxiang people who do not want to change their nationality can be taken away, and they do not need to be handed over to the court, and can be directly placed in the counties of Longyou and Hexi. Isn’t this the solution?"
Wu Lian and the other two were overjoyed and agreed with Chang Sun Sheng's plan. Women and the old and weak didn't matter, but two thousand young men would stay. Although Xiao Xia was a little reluctant, he still had to give face to Chang Sun Sheng, who had already asked him for mercy.
Well, since the Tangut nobles have been killed, ordinary people should not have any problems. Xiao Xia also felt that he did not need to be too picky.
"That's it!"
Xiao Xia immediately expressed his attitude, "I can leave a few days later. General Changsun will be responsible for selecting soldiers willing to stay from the 25,000 troops in Longyou. If necessary, I can arrange for the army to divide the land, collect stones, and build villages."
Chang Sun Sheng was overjoyed. He knew that His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu was giving him face by actually changing the plan that had already been decided.
He quickly bowed and saluted, "On behalf of the Tangut people, I thank Your Highness for his tolerance. I also thank Your Highness for his kindness!"
(End of this chapter)