He still had to pursue the remaining escapees.
Liu Zi was helped into the Prince's Mansion. The streets were surrounded by the Imperial Guards, making the mansion completely impassable.
In just fifteen days, the Northern Xiongnu were destroyed!
The news of Ma Hong's conquest of three prefectures of the Northern Hu and Xiongnu spread instantly throughout the north and south of the Yangtze River, reaching even the capital, Tianjing.
Yelü Lili had already gathered 7,000 people to guard the area. Half a month ago, he cut off business with the Xie family merchants and then escorted all the people of the area to Luzhou Prefecture.
The official inexplicably received 100,000 people's donations, leaving him completely bewildered. What was the Crown Prince Yelü up to? Why not just surrender and become king? Why make such a fuss over a small port?
The surrounding prefectures readily accepted the people of Yifan, because they had received a hint from Tianjing (the capital) instructing them to accept these barbarians. The people of Yifan arrived in a foreign land, filled with panic. Only after Subage stepped in to maintain order did they manage to calm the crowds.
However, Subbag looked in the direction of Yifan with a hint of sorrow and pity on his face.
Your Highness the Crown Prince.
Si Xitong quickly sent Rengui to bring Liu Zi to the new Tianjing. After hearing that Liu Zi had led an army of 130,000 against the capital's guards and had lost, she surrendered unconditionally.
She greatly admired the old woman's courage and decided to bring Liu Zi to Tianjing so she could see her properly.
Of course, the main reason is that she needs to have someone who can command an army of 130,000 under her control to feel at ease.
Xie Lanzhi heard that Anshan Jun, who had been so arrogant in Huayin Kingdom, had committed suicide. He had the courage to commit suicide but not the courage to go with the old lady to resist the foreign enemy.
Xie Lanzhi was at a loss for words, and then she heard that Aqina had died.
She couldn't help but exclaim, "He must be Derrick Rose."
Now Ma Hong has begun to reorganize the three prefectures of the Northern Hu and Xiongnu. He originally thought that the Xiongnu army could not escape far, and once he found them, he would kill them all.
Unexpectedly, there were four nomadic peoples on the northern border of the Xiongnu: the Jue Kingdom, the Houya Kingdom, the Ximeng Kingdom, and the Qiang Kingdom.
The Northern Hu and Xiongnu army that fled numbered 70,000 and all went to these four countries, where they were protected.
Ma Hong's face immediately darkened. He suppressed his murderous intent and said, "Xie Ying, it seems that our Western Jin's war is not over yet; it seems to have only just begun!"
Xie Ying said, "These four countries occupy eight prefectures, and the old Silk Road that spans the outer regions was lost by the Great Jin Dynasty before."
Ma Hong turned his horse around and gazed intently at the foreign troops constantly moving through the woods on the border, warning them not to cross the border.
Finally, the two men abandoned their pursuit. The once-mighty million-strong army of the Northern Xiongnu was thus annihilated.
Even the Northern Hu and Xiongnu were reduced to a mere shell of their former selves.
Ma Hong began searching for Central Plains people from the Northern Hu and Xiongnu, especially scholars and soldiers, and temporarily appointed them to maintain order.
The people of the Central Plains who were treated well by the Northern Xiongnu felt that they were of the same ancestry as the people of the Western Jin Dynasty. They all expressed their loyalty to the Western Jin.
Ma Hong temporarily appointed people from the Central Plains to govern the Northern Hu and Xiongnu. Unexpectedly, these people managed to conduct a population census of all the towns and cities in the Northern Hu and Xiongnu within three days.
As expected, people from the Central Plains always stand out wherever they go.
Xie Ying was also speechless. The Northern Hu and Xiongnu themselves hadn't really done any statistics on the urban population, only made estimates. Yet these Central Plains people had counted the number of people in just three days.
Finally, she received a population statistic from a local official in the Central Plains: 250,000 Hu people, 3.35 million Northern Hu and Xiongnu, and a total of over 57 million Northern Hu and Xiongnu people remaining in the Central Plains.
Xie Ying confirmed that there were fifty million people in the Central Plains. She found it hard to believe; how could the Northern Hu and Xiongnu have only multiplied to three million people in a hundred years?
She had heard that the Xiongnu people numbered only 500,000 when they entered the Central Plains a hundred years ago. How come their numbers have only increased sixfold in a hundred years?
In fact, the Northern Xiongnu had already multiplied to a considerable population. Many initially refused to intermarry with the people of the Central Plains for fear of assimilation, but later, unable to resist the allure of agricultural civilization, many began secretly seeking marriage partners with the Central Plains. The Xiongnu also had a rule at the time: anyone caught intermarrying would be punished, either directly or exiled to the army.
Many people were thus afraid to intermarry with the people of the Central Plains. Later, the old Hu Xiongnu king allowed intermarriage between the two ethnic groups, but implicit discrimination still existed. Intermarriage was not very common. Only at that time did Aqina's territory see a large number of generals and people intermarrying with the people of the Central Plains. Hanzhou, which was once ruled by Aqina, was the place with the most intermarriages and the largest influx of people. Even the Artu family was a force that intermarried between the two ethnic groups.
The Artu family was originally just a small tribe that was not valued at all. It was only because Aqina found him, valued him, and nurtured him that the Artu family is where it is today.
This is why Artur was so loyal to Achina. Because the surname Achina was bestowed upon him by Achina.
Intermarriage in Hanzhou increased the Hu-Xiongnu population by 1.8 million in just twenty years. It can be said that half of the Northern Hu-Xiongnu population was brought about by Aqina.
Now, the Western Jin Dynasty, as the hegemon of the Central Plains, has regained control of the Northern Xiongnu.
The people of the Central Plains, who were once under the control of the Northern Hu and Xiongnu, suddenly became masters of their own destiny and no longer had to suffer at the hands of the Hu and Xiongnu.
However, Si Xitong ordered the Northern Hu Xiongnu army to remain in place, not to disturb the people, and to maintain order.
Ma Hong did nothing to the Hu and Xiongnu people; as long as they didn't attack the capital's guards, he pretended not to see it.
Xie Ying trained day and night, and another ten days passed in the ten-day period.
Liu Zi was sent to Tianjing and received by Si Xitong. Both were supreme rulers of the great nation, and they met. One was a young, rising emperor, and the other was an elderly empress dowager in her twilight years.
Neither the old nor the young man said anything. Finally, Liu Zi took the initiative to bow, indicating her submission.
Si Xitong promised the old man that she would not lay a finger on the Xiongnu. Furthermore, she would later support the Xiongnu to become her own people.
Liu Zi left with the words, "Then I'll be watching closely."
Si Xitong replied to her: "Please take good care of yourself, old lady, and live to see the day I achieve my goal!"
When the Xiongnu people heard that the Empress Dowager had been captured and taken to Tianjing to be worshipped, many mourned that she wouldn't live to see the next day. Unexpectedly, the Western Jin emperor granted her a city as his own for her retirement. This city was Ancheng, located next to Lincheng.
Being close to Bingzhou, it was considered an excellent location by merchants.
The Xiongnu people were overjoyed to hear that the Empress Dowager was still alive. Furthermore, Ma Hong only ordered them to farm; aside from building and repairing roads, their lives were essentially no different from usual. Ironically, because the nobles had either died or fled, the land they left behind was now available for everyone to cultivate.
Because the Imperial Guard ordered them to wait until spring to sow seeds, and the amount to be sown was divided into four parts and six parts. That's right, the Imperial Guard got six parts, and they got four parts.
In fact, when the Imperial Guards wanted 60%, they repeatedly asked Ma Hong if they were asking for too much.
When Ma Hong told his men that the Northern Hu and Xiongnu nobles had lent less than 20% of their land to the people, and that they had to pay a deposit to continue farming, the imperial guards were dumbfounded.
They've only enjoyed a few years of good life, and they've almost forgotten how they were oppressed before.
By the time they realized it, even 40% was enough to make the Xiongnu people grateful; who wouldn't be willing? Besides, many of them were from the Central Plains.
It was probably because there were too many people from the Central Plains among the Hu and Xiongnu that they could not be allocated land for the time being. The land could only be taken over by the capital guards and temporarily rented to them.
Xie Shangguang then delivered another thousand artillery shells and ten thousand bags of new fertilizer.
Xie Ying happily went to greet her: "You've come at the perfect time!"
Xie Shangguang said with envy and jealousy, "I envy you so much. Now the whole of Tianjing is talking about your and General Ma's heroic deeds. I believe you will be promoted several ranks soon."
Xie Ying touched her head somewhat shyly: "I am deeply grateful for the appreciation of His Majesty and General Ma."
The two Xie generals chatting were quite conspicuous.
Ma Hong went to the back of the military camp and met with the secret agents.
The secret agent handed him a secret decree.
Ma Hong unfolded it and read: "After pacifying the region, we will intimidate the Northern Region and force them to submit!"
To quell the unrest.
A note from the author:
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Chapter 231 The Final Battle
With the Northern Hu and Xiongnu temporarily pacified, the court officials began to eagerly address the issue and proposed the concept of urban-rural integration.
The concept of urban and rural areas here refers to placing the northern Hu and Xiongnu peoples in areas with larger populations in the Central Plains, allowing for the integration of their cultures and customs in all aspects. This would take a long time. However, everyone was clearly very experienced. They drew on the methods of the founding emperors to civilize the subjugated Hu and Xiongnu peoples.
In fact, the assimilation of the Northern Hu and Xiongnu was more extensive than that of the Northern Regions. If it weren't for cultural affinity, it would have been extremely difficult for Ma Hong to conquer the Northern Hu and Xiongnu within half a month.
Just like an old man in a prefecture who casually uttered a few words and caused tens of thousands of people to die. They, on the other hand, fled to foreign lands with their entire families.
The surrender faction, led by Liu Zi, clearly shared a common cultural understanding, which is why Ma Hong captured Jingzhou so quickly. Naturally, there was far less resistance.
In this battle, Yizhou Prefecture annihilated 30,000 Xiongnu soldiers, Hanzhou Prefecture annihilated 80,000, and Jingzhou Prefecture only annihilated 8,000 Xiongnu soldiers. In total, 118,000 enemy soldiers were killed.
The remaining 70,000 people, organized and disciplined, fled to other regions. Later, Ma Hong discovered that the person who took those 70,000 people was Aba's cousin, Qiushan Jun.
Aba was detained by Xieji, so it was impossible for him to run to the Northern Xiongnu.
Faced with the requests of the ministers to go north, Si Xitong dispatched Li Ling and Wu Qiu to specially promote Xie Guang to the position of Commander of the Capital Guard and send him north to be in charge of recruitment.
Xie Guang never expected to be valued by someone other than a marshal in his lifetime. Without a word, he led his wife north to Jingzhou Prefecture. It seemed he intended to settle down there.
The Xie clan members also found opportunities for development and requested permission to head north to reclaim wasteland. The ministers of the new Tianjing (Beijing) stepped forward to stop the Xie clan from going north and causing them trouble.
They had finally managed to suppress the Xie family to the margins in Tianjing, and they couldn't allow the Xie family to expand their power again, otherwise another Huang Mang might emerge.
No one ever imagined that Xie Lanzhi would betray the Western Jin Dynasty, except for the Xie family, who had to be wary.
Si Xitong was aware of the ministers' concerns, but she was even more worried about abandoning the Xie family to the seaside than about the inland regions. If the Xie family's expansionist ambitions were not met, they would inevitably set their sights on the Yue Kingdom.
In reality, even if she suppresses the Xie family, the Xie family cannot develop. It's just that she needs the Xie family to develop now, and she must firmly pull the Xie family into her own rules.
Si Xitong agreed to Xie Changwang and his men's request to go to the north to maintain order and relieve the pressure on the Beijing garrison.
The ministers found it unbelievable, believing it was not a decision His Majesty would make.
Wu Qiu did not object. Unlike other ministers, he did not rely on suppression to achieve results. He adopted a more nuanced approach.
His Majesty's current actions are entirely in line with his expectations. The northern Xiongnu people are still largely uncivilized, and they need someone like Xie, who uses equally forceful methods, to step forward. This is evident from the 40,000 Xiongnu soldiers Rengui recruited. These Xiongnu soldiers are cowardly and disloyal. Only by subduing them will they willingly accept your assimilation.
If the task of naturalization were entrusted to other ministers, it might not be completed even in a hundred years.
Wu Qiu stood up to support Si Xitong's decision: "I believe that the Xie family is indeed suitable to guard the north and defend against foreign invasion."
Upon hearing this, the ministers glared at Wu Qiu with uncontrollable rage: "Minister Wu, this is absolutely unacceptable. Are you still speaking for the Xie family as if you were a mere advisor?"
This is clearly a mockery of Wu Qiu for being used to being a dog.
Wu Qiu was not angry. Instead, he explained gently, "My lords, the reason we were able to pacify the north was because of our military force. If it weren't for our military force, the Empress Dowager of the Northern Hu would not have been able to come to Tianjing."
"If those shameless Huns could be tamed with just a few words, why would Your Majesty need to send General Ma on a northern expedition? Wouldn't it be enough to persuade them with reason and win them over with love?"
"But is it really feasible?"
Wu Qiu countered with another question. The ministers were all accusing him of sophistry, which was clearly not the same thing. Now he should stand with them to guard against the Xie clan and prevent their power from becoming too great and jeopardizing the interests of the Western Jin Dynasty.
Wu Qiu then asked them again, "In your opinion, are the Xie family and we not officials of the same dynasty? Or not even of the same clan?"
"That's why they are so wary and prejudiced, viewing them with the same aversion they would show to outsiders?"