Chapter 1120: Becoming a Noble Family

Chapter 1120: Becoming a Noble Family

On April 24th, after a long journey of nearly half a month, the large group of people arrived in Shangdang and rested there for two days.

"Whose house is this?" When Guanqiu Lu arranged for the Dai Kingdom group to live in a manor, Mo Han looked up and asked.

"This is the manor of the Shangdang Liu family. On weekdays, there are only farmhands, servants and accountants here, and rarely any member of the Liu family comes here." Guanqiu Lu said.

Mo Han looked at it and smiled, "It's really magnificent. In the past, I saw the Pu Gu family's mansion in Xinping, which was bigger than my house, and I thought it was too big. Today, I saw the Liu family's mansion. It may not be as big as Pu Gu's, but the decoration is much better."

"General, have you ever thought about why the Pugu family is so rich?" Dai Gong and his entourage had already entered the manor. Guanqiu Lu and Mo Han simply chatted outside the courtyard. At this time, they heard Guanqiu Lu say, "It's not all about making money."

"My family also does business, so we know how much we can earn." Mo Han smiled and said, "The Pu Gu family is so rich, it's definitely not just because of their business."

Guanqiu Lu knew that Mo Han was a Han Chinese, so he already had the answer in his mind. He pointed to the farmland outside the Liu family manor and said, "During the reign of Emperor Hui of Jin, there were Jie, Wuhuan, Xiongnu and other tribes in Shangdang. At that time, they planted millet, beans, hemp and other crops. However, there were still tribal leaders, chiefs, and generals, each with their own tribes. Thirty years have passed, and the tribal leaders are still there, but the clan leaders are becoming increasingly rare. Most of them are attached to the Liu family and become the chiefs of the manor, the chief accountants and the chief of the family."

"Look at this hemp field. It must have been newly planted this spring. The craftsmanship must be good." Guanqiu Lu pulled Mo Han outside and said, "Look at the mountain over there. There used to be boundary markers to demarcate the pastures, but now they are gone."

Mo Han nodded slightly.

"These are all Liu family's pastures. We divided them among the subordinates and asked them to bring a group of people to graze."

"There's also the orchard over there. I forgot whose family it belonged to before. I saw that person two years ago. Last year, they went to war. The father and his two sons either died in battle or died of illness. The tribe had no one to rely on, so they were incorporated into the Liu family."

"In Wuxiang, where we passed by before, there were several valleys that belonged to the Ma family. After Ma Qiu went to Xiangyang, the land was taken away by the Liu family."

At this point, Guanqiu Lu looked at Mo Han and said, "The emperor trusts the Liu family, and the Liu family has become more prosperous with this trust. As the Pugu family is trusted by Madam Wang, how can they not become rich?"

Mo Han laughed out loud.

In a nutshell, the Shangdang Liu family gradually transformed from the "leader" elected by the Jie tribal alliance into a local powerful family.

This transformation is a joy for them.

Is the leader of a tribal alliance good? Yes, but not that good, because many small tribes have their own farmland, pastures, forests and tribesmen. They may pay some tribute to the leader of the alliance, but they will also keep some for themselves - the amount of tribute depends on the prestige and means of the leader.

But the local nobles are different.

Farmland, pastures, and forests were all owned by one family, and the people were all their servants and retainers. Even the former clan leaders and small tribal leaders gradually became retainers of the powerful families - in modern terms, they went from being "small shareholders" to "professional managers."

Can this be the same?

Many Wuhuan tribes in the early years disintegrated in this way, and the Guangning Wang family is a typical example.

The Pugu clan of Dai State was actually trying to become a powerful clan. This was very attractive to tribal leaders, as not only wealth was quickly concentrated in the hands of tribal leaders, but power was also greatly increased.

The Hu tribes that moved south to the Central Plains would eventually take this step, sooner or later.

From the perspective of the Shaoliang court, they were also happy to see this change, because the tribes that had become powerful families usually settled down and were difficult to relocate, making it easier for the court to control them.

Moreover, the tribal leaders who have become powerful are easier to deal with and are more likely to identify with the Central Plains on a cultural level.

Mo Han looked left and right, and the more he looked, the more he felt that the Shangdang Liu family was very similar to the once disintegrated Wuhuan tribe.

No, maybe it went a step further, because he heard the sound of reading books——

"What is that?" Mo Han asked, pointing at the dozen or so houses outside the manor.

"Liu's private school." Guanqiu Lu took a quick look and said, "They invited a few scholars from the Cui family of Tunliu, and their relatives from the Sun family of Taiyuan also had children come to teach Liu and a few nephews from other families."

"Foreign surname?"

"Liu always has to employ people, so shouldn't he give them some benefits?"

Mo Han was amazed when he heard this.

This Liu Runzhong behaves like a complete scholar from the Central Plains, with a manor, a loyal army, a private school, and a family background. If you take away his high nose and deep eyes, you can't tell that he is a Hu person.

However, it doesn't matter if he can't change it. After a few generations, due to foreign marriages, his direct descendants may have completely become Chinese in appearance, and the last traces will be erased.

At that time, it was just a Central Plains gentry with some remnants of Hu culture and some traditions of archery and horse riding.

While the two were talking, several riders came galloping from a distance and headed straight into a village outside the manor.

Two of them dismounted, took a gong and banged it, and soon a group of people came over.

After some negotiations, the group followed them.

Mo Han was a little confused.

Guanqiu Lu seemed to be thinking about something. He waved to an attendant and asked him to go and investigate.

After a while, the attendant came back and said, "Liu Huan, the son of Minister Liu, entered the government through family connections and was appointed Magistrate of Yidu and Yiling. He is recruiting his troops, with a limit of 1,000 men. He said they would settle there first and bring their families over after a while. The land they left behind would be handed over to the court, and after two years it would be reorganized and incorporated into the salary fields of officials in Shangdang County, and the court would send official slaves to cultivate the land."

"I see." Mo Han nodded.

This is another method used by the emperor of Daliang to control the Liu family and Shangdang, but it should be only a minor part of the many methods. However, it should not be underestimated as the situation becomes more and more serious.

Liu Runzhong had so many sons, scattered all over the place, it was hard to say whether they would be a family in the future. Each son took some people away, and it was unknown how many farmhands would be taken away. But in this matter, Liu Runzhong still had to thank the emperor, because he was really good to the Liu family. He gave you so many official positions, are you touched? If you are touched, why don't you work harder to fight for him?

It turns out that besides killing people, there are so many other methods, and so many ways to discipline people...

******
By the end of April, the weather in the Heluo area was sunny and the breeze was warm.

Tuoba Xianbei and his entourage arrived at the northern city of Heyang and crossed the pontoon bridge to Luoyang.

There was no trace of the navy on the river bank near Zhongyu City, only ships traveling between Hongnong, Henei, Henan, Ji, Xingyang, Puyang, and Dunqiu counties.

All traces of the war have long since disappeared.

The wheat fields on both sides of the river gradually turned golden, and wild flowers bloomed everywhere, competing for beauty.

The rural market was bustling with people. Farmers were selling fruits, vegetables, chickens and ducks everywhere. Waves of aroma came from the tavern at the entrance of the village.

When they saw the large group of Xianbei cavalry, the faces of the older people changed slightly, but the younger people stood on the side of the road pointing and talking, bursting into laughter from time to time.

With his mother's permission, Shi Yijian got off the carriage and rode a horse alone.

The Xianbei cavalry who were guarding him from afar saw the people of Liang laughing and subconsciously adjusted their hats on their foreheads to prevent people from seeing their bald scalps.

Some even lowered their heads, obviously embarrassed.

Shi Yijian snorted coldly, took off his riding cap, revealing the small braid on top of his head.

"Suotou!" Someone in the distance exclaimed, "It's really Suotou!"

Shi Yijian's face flushed red, and he was extremely angry.

But he didn't do anything. He had been used to suppressing his emotions since he was a child, and he had long been accustomed to suppressing all kinds of negative emotions in his heart. But he also hated the Central Plains even more. The people here were as annoying as the man on the throne in Luoyang.

I don’t know if you were like this when the Huns surrounded Luoyang?
I don’t even know if you dared to shout for your heads when the Duan tribe of the Xianbei were invited to Luoyang and plundered everywhere?

What a bunch of rascals. If I get the chance, I must teach them a lesson.

Thinking of this, he looked at the carriage diagonally behind him.

The mother was sitting in the car with her two bastards, rushing to Luoyang, where she was scolded by the man.

How ridiculous! Do people care about you?
Does a black-hearted man like Shao Ze really care about a woman? In his eyes, you may not be as important as a battalion of imperial guards.

Some time ago, someone advised him to improve his relationship with his mother and to get along with Shao Zexu together, and listed some reasons.

He deeply agreed with this, but his mother did not trust him, and even more sadly, he did not trust his mother either.

Things had come to this point, and Shi Yijian was furious, yet at the same time he felt an uncontrollable fear.

He even planned to escape.

There are still some loyal and brave people in the country, so it is possible that they ran away.

What would happen if he managed to escape to a certain tribe? Would there be a turning point? Shi Yijian was undecided, worried about being betrayed, and desperate to escape control. This tormenting emotion almost drove him crazy.

But he knew very well that as time went by, his heart was increasingly inclined to run away.

On the second day of May, the people of Dai arrived in Luoyang and were arranged to stay in Pan Garden in the east of the city.

That afternoon, a troop in shining armor escorted a carriage to Pan Garden.

A moment later, Yuan Zhen got off the carriage.

He looked around first, and when he saw his mother with a smile on her face, he rushed over without caring about the people around him.

Wang picked up her son with satisfaction.

It’s great that Li Zhen still thinks of her like this after being “kidnapped” to Central Plains for several years.

Tuoba Jing was held in the maid's arms, looking at his seven-year-old brother curiously, and for a moment, a smile appeared on his face.

When he was only three years old, he was conferred the title of Duke of Wuyuan County, and "inexplicably" had a group of officials and hundreds of royal soldiers under his command.

The tribe has reached more than 6,000 households and 30 to 40,000 people, and is still growing slowly.

Because his mother told him many incomprehensible miraculous deeds and prophecies, he became more mysterious among the Tuoba Xianbei people. Some ignorant people even believed that he would be the one to build the country.

The Wang family took advantage of the situation and merged the tribes of Wuyuan State into the "Dai Tribe". Tuoba Jing took "Dai" as his surname, so he was also known as "Dai Jing".

The girl A Liudun hid behind Wang, looking at her brother quietly and biting her fingers gently.

"Mother, His Majesty sent me to pick you up." Yuan Zhen said after letting go of his mother.

"Okay." Wang replied, gently touching her son's forehead.

(End of this chapter)