mtl008 Chapter 573 Only women and petty men are difficult to deal with.
Chapter 573 Only women and petty men are difficult to deal with.
Everyone has their own expertise and special skills.
The brothers Ma Chao and Ma Dai were masters of leading cavalry charges. Ma Chao, in particular, was unmatched in cavalry raiding capabilities. His title of "Divine Might Heavenly General" was not self-proclaimed, but rather a term of endearment given to him by the foreign tribes he had defeated.
Ma Chao, having returned to the Qiang tribe, plundered several large and small Qiang tribes with almost no effort, seizing nearly 50,000 Qiang people, as well as grain, cattle, sheep, and other supplies. He then happily escorted them to the capital of Pulei to join Ma Su.
At the same time, Ma Dai led his army into the northern Xiongnu tribes. The northern grasslands were previously Xiongnu territory. Although the Xiongnu had been defeated and relocated by the Han Dynasty, a few tribes remained and multiplied, gradually merging with the Qiang, Di, and other ethnic groups.
Ma Dai led his army into the Xiongnu tribes, easily plundering tens of thousands of Xiongnu people and the cattle and sheep they needed. He also rescued thousands of Han Chinese civilians, both men and women, who had been abducted by the Xiongnu.
In the past few years, during the Central Plains War, Han Chinese civilians were forced to flee, and many of them fled into the grasslands and became prisoners of various nomadic tribes. Ma Dai rescued these people.
They then escorted the prisoners back to the capital of Pulei to meet Ma Chao. When Ma Chao saw that Ma Dai had also brought back a lot of Han Chinese people, he was so excited that he almost died of joy.
After this battle, Ma Chao's forces were divided into three groups: first, the tens of thousands of troops who followed him to the Western Regions; second, the tens of thousands of Qiang people who plundered with Ma Dai; and finally, the soldiers and civilians of the Pulei Kingdom, totaling more than 100,000 people.
It is worth mentioning that the Han Dynasty began to migrate to the Kingdom of Pulei from the time of Emperor Wu of Han. After hundreds of years, the original inhabitants of the Kingdom of Pulei have almost all died out. What remains now are mainly Han Chinese and mixed-race people, and there is not much difference in bloodline between them and the Han Chinese.
But after all, it's a mix of several different ethnic groups, so internal problems are likely to arise. Ma Chao can keep things under control for a short time, but what about later?
To maintain long-term stability and achieve a smooth integration, relying solely on Ma Chao's military force is not enough; other methods must be considered.
But this was Ma Su's responsibility. Ma Su took the reins without hesitation and divided the 100,000 troops into three classes. The Han people were the highest class. They were given priority in supplies and did not have to fight. They could just focus on having children. After the children were born, they would enjoy free education, which would be taught by Ma Su and Ma Cheng personally for the time being.
The Qiang-Hu allied forces were classified as the second class, entitled to education, intermarriage with Han people, and even the opportunity to obtain Han citizenship through military merit. The Qiang people did not object to this, as they had been suppressed by the Han people for thousands of years and were well aware of the Han people's strength and advancement. They dreamed of becoming part of the Han people and even treated captured Han civilians with the utmost courtesy, never treating them as prisoners. Under these circumstances, they were naturally willing to intermarry with the Han people and integrate into the Han society.
The soldiers and civilians of the Western Regions were classified as the third and lowest class, serving as cannon fodder on the battlefield. They were forbidden from intermarrying with the Han and Qiang peoples and temporarily did not enjoy any rights.
Although this approach was dangerous, Ma Su was not afraid. With Ma Chao, the mighty general, and his base of 100,000 Qiang and Hu tribesmen, how could the people and soldiers of the Western Regions possibly turn the world upside down?
Besides, the lowest level is only temporary. Once they break out of the Western Regions, invade Parthia, and capture Parthian soldiers and civilians, the status of the soldiers and civilians in the Western Regions will be raised, and they will begin to enjoy the power to enslave Parthian soldiers and civilians.
For this model to function, there is a prerequisite: Ma Chao needs to win battles continuously. As long as he wins, the system can continue to operate. However, if he loses, he may suffer a backlash.
But as I said before, Ma Su had confidence in Ma Chao. This was a man who could even make Cao Cao cut off his beard and abandon his robe. Dealing with a mere foreign tribe would be a piece of cake for him.
In short, faced with this complex situation involving multiple ethnic groups, Ma Su devised a three-step strategy: in the early stage, he relied on Ma Chao's prestige to suppress the enemy; in the middle stage, he relied on Ma Chao's victories to maintain control; and in the later stage, he would have to rely on the Han-Qiang allied forces. As long as the Han-Qiang allied forces produced more people, making the Han population exceed the total population of the other ethnic groups, all the problems that had been previously worried about would no longer be problems.
After formulating a strategy and arranging an organizational structure, Ma Chao led his massive, bloated army on another expedition. First, they went to the Kingdom of Pulei, and then, with the help of the soldiers and civilians of Pulei, they marched towards the Kingdom of Cheshi. They continued to advance and continue to encircle people. As they advanced, Ma Chao's army grew like a snowball, which put unprecedented pressure on Ma Su.
The larger the team, the more difficult it is to manage. Ma Su felt the pressure and, while rolling up his sleeves and going all out, he also tasted the sweetness of power for the first time, gradually becoming addicted to it.
Moreover, under such deadly pressure, Ma Su's potential was maximized, and he became more and more adept at his work.
With his help, Ma Chao's work became increasingly successful. He quickly crossed the Wakhan Corridor along the Silk Road and entered Parthia territory.
This brought about the devastating defeat of the Parthian Empire, one of the four great empires recognized in the world alongside the Han Dynasty. The Parthian Empire was routed by Ma Chao and fled in disarray. A portion of the Parthian Empire escaped into the Khyber Pass and into the territory of the Kushan Empire, where they defeated the Kushan Empire. The defeated Kushan Empire fled eastward along the Ganges River and ended up in the arms of Hao Zhao, the governor of Yijiang, in the south. This triggered a series of chain reactions.
This is something for later, let’s not mention it for now.
……
Gangneung City.
Although Guan Yinping was imprisoned by Liu Bei, her heroic act of wielding the Green Dragon Crescent Blade to kill her own brother spread throughout Jiangling City, causing the officials to sigh that she was indeed a tiger daughter of a military family, and that she was a tiger when she got angry.
This incident greatly embarrassed Guan Yu. As soon as his confinement ended, he announced the marriage between Xia Tong and Guan Yinping and sent people to Jiangdong to bring Xia Tong's parents and brothers over to discuss the marriage.
Xia Tong was not an orphan. He had two older brothers, an older sister, and a younger sister. His eldest brother stayed at home to farm, his second brother died young, his older sister was married, and his younger sister was still young. Including his uncles, cousins, and brother-in-law, he had a large family.
I wonder what the family's expression will be when they find out that Xia Tong married the daughter of the current Grand General.
Guan Yu was busy preparing for his daughter's wedding, while Guan Xing spent his days with his good brothers Liu Shan and Jiang Wei as usual. As for Zhang Bao, after returning from Wushan, his father dragged him away to train in horsemanship, and he was nowhere to be seen for several days.
That morning, Guan Xing didn't meet up with Liu Shan, Mi Wei, Jiang Wei, and the others as usual. The three of them got bored while waiting and came to find him on their own. They were stunned when they entered Guan Xing's tent and stared at him in astonishment, asking, "What happened? Did your wife beat you up?"
At this moment, Guan Xing had several scratches on his face and neck. Anyone with a little experience would know that they were scratched by a woman's fingernails. In the whole of Jiangling, apart from Sun Luyu and Guan Yinping, who would dare to do this to Guan Xing?
Guan Yinping can be ruled out first, as she doesn't scratch people; if she doesn't like someone, she'll just grab a knife and slash at them. Therefore, it's obvious who the murderer is.
Seeing that his mischievous friend had caught him out, Guan Xing gave up pretending and slapped his thigh, sighing, "Women and petty men are the most difficult to deal with in this world. Confucius was absolutely right."
Liu Shan and the others' gossip-loving instincts ignited quickly, and they instinctively moved closer, smiling broadly as they asked, "What's going on? Tell me quickly, let me have a laugh, or rather, let me help you analyze it."
Guan Xing said, "Last night, around 3 AM, we were sleeping soundly in bed when that silly woman suddenly got up and said she wanted to go chop bamboo. Isn't she crazy? It's the middle of the night, so I didn't agree. But she wouldn't give up and insisted on going. I got annoyed and cursed at her a few times. She said I didn't care about her and went back to her parents' house in the middle of the night. Before she left, she scratched my face all over, and I'm too ashamed to go out today. First Yinping, then Xiaohu, why are women so unreasonable?"
Liu Shan sighed in empathy, "It's really unreasonable. Why can't the bamboo be cut during the day? Why does it have to be cut in the middle of the night?"
Mi Wei frowned and pondered, "This matter is probably not as simple as you think. I reckon your wife might be pregnant."