Chapter 195 Parting ways
Standing on the top of Jinyang City, Qian Zhao was gazing at the road outside the city.

Another cavalry unit of the Zhenbei Army returned from looting, each unit of a hundred cavalrymen riding slowly.

There was a team of a thousand men, and behind this team of a thousand men was a densely packed group of countless beasts.

The rescued men and women, and the Hun women drove away the beasts, while the wounded soldiers, women, and teenage girls who were unable to move pulled the carts.

The wounded were mainly transporting money, gems and the like, while the other vehicles were filled with children of all kinds.

Following the huge herd of beasts was another thousand-man team, which was even larger and mixed with about seven or eight hundred newly armed servant knights.

Qian Zhao had never thought that a war could be fought like Black Bear.

Three thousand knights arrived in Hedong, and their military strength grew as the battle went on.

But this has seriously violated the bottom line of the Xiongnu, Taiyuan and Hedong big families and powerful families.

If we can rescue the population enslaved by the Huns and transform them into servants, we can also rescue the population enslaved by the powerful families.

This is a fundamental contradiction that cannot be alleviated.

Some other things also proved that the Zhenbei Army was going against the path expected by the powerful families.

First, the fact that he turned against the Huns on the spot meant that Black Bear could no longer be bound by rules and regulations.

The false surrender of the Left Tribe, whether it was Black Bear pretending to surrender to trick various small tribes of the Left Tribe into coming and killing them together, or whether the Left Tribe really wanted to cooperate with the Right Tribe to cause chaos, in short, it fully demonstrated the cunning and cruelty of Black Bear.

Then they went around Jiuze to the north to attack the right side, which was a big circle; but the right side did not attack the black bear from the south of Jiuze which was closer.

This shows that the right troop really wanted to take a long detour to attack the black bear, and the two sides coincided with each other, so the right troop that set out first had the conditions to set an ambush.

Unfortunately, the ambush on the right was exposed, and the tactical effect of surprise attack and pincer attack was not achieved. Instead, due to the dispersion of troops, the local battlefield was at a great disadvantage, which led to a major defeat.

Liu Qubei, who was in charge of negotiating the surrender of the right wing, has already fled and dared not come back. Liu Qubei's confession will become meaningless in the future, as no one can explain these things clearly.

Just like Wang's collusion with the Huns, the confession was provided by the Huns nobles. Naturally, the confessions of the Huns nobles who fell into Black Bear's hands could not convince the public.

What's more, these nobles have already been executed, making those confessions a joke.

No matter how funny it was, Black Bear still surrounded Wang's fortress with his troops, and after breaking it, he killed Wang Yun's three clans.

The original plan was to kill nine clans, but after Qian Zhao’s persuasion, the plan was changed to three clans.

How are these three tribes defined?
The definition given by the black bear is very simple, there are three tribes: the father's tribe, the mother's tribe, and the wife's tribe.

Wang Yun’s paternal clan, that is, the male descendants of Wang Yun’s father and brothers, were all within the scope of the killing; the maternal clan was also simple, killing Wang Yun’s mother’s brothers and male descendants; the same was true for Wang Yun’s wife’s clan, killing the brothers and male descendants of Wang Yun’s wife.

This blow was too brutal.

What was even more tragic was that the Wang family's property was confiscated, and although the vast majority of the other members of the Wang family were spared, all their wealth, followers, slaves, and tools were confiscated.

This is no longer just touching the bottom line of the big family, but rather punching once and then punching again and again.

Black Bear's definition of the three tribes made Qian Zhao lose his composure. When he heard about the subsequent treatment of the family assets and clan property, he ridiculed in public: "If the Wang family's land can be taken away, should it also be taken to Guanzhong?"

The black bear responded by sending someone to get a few bags of salt and then going to various fields of the Wang family to pretend to sprinkle salt as a curse.

Qian Zhao did not dare to stay and set out for Jinyang that night.

He returned the horses that Black Bear had lent them and led the Yangqu thousand-man team on foot.

While walking, they encountered two groups of Zhenbei troops who were out looting.

From time to time, Black Bear and Lu Bu would rush past Qian Zhao along the road, and Qian Zhao could only pretend not to see them.

Just one day after arriving in Jinyang, Qian Zhao saw this newly returned looting team.

The black bear horses were so fast and had great endurance that after the right wing was annihilated, the miscellaneous Hu tribes in the north of Jinyang and south of Yanmen could no longer escape.

Heavy snow has begun to fall in the north of Yanmen and Daijun.

The tribes in various places no longer have room to migrate or maneuver.

After so many years, many people have forgotten how to deal with the Han army's winter looting.

Some people can think of these solutions, but the cost is too high.

If the Han army had not come, they would have abandoned their established camps, fodder and grain, and driven their herds of beasts to a more distant place to avoid the war.

Wouldn't that be a waste of people and livestock?
Over the years, the Hu people who moved to the interior have forgotten how their ancestors marched and trudged through hardships to avoid the sharp edge of the Han army.

The three branches of the royal court had been destroyed, and the various Hu tribes in the north of Jinyang had lost the courage to unite in resistance.

Except for a small number of tribes that migrated decisively, the rest were within the range of looting by the Zhenbei Army.

Qian Zhao watched the looting troop of the Zhenbei Army slowly moving southward, leaving a clear layer of animal excrement on the road.

He couldn't help but let out a long sigh, and when he turned around he inadvertently saw soldiers gathering in the camp in the city and packing their luggage.

Linghu Chao and several other people rode up on horseback and climbed onto the city wall. "Sir, the soldiers from Wuyuan, Yunzhong, and Shuofang have mutinied!"

The four Shuofang counties moved inland and were resettled near Yangqu and Xinmen. Among them, Dingxiang County had the least population of only more than 200 households, while the number of households that moved back from other counties generally reached 700 to 800 households.

Therefore, the thousand-man team forcibly recruited from Yangqu was divided into three parts. They were called the Four Counties of Shuofang, but they had already migrated inland for three generations.

Due to the gap between them and the local people, the immigrants from these four counties intermarried and became one.

Qian Zhao looked out from the city wall and saw that his guards were no longer able to suppress the soldiers in the camp.

He frowned. Ever since he failed to save Wang and clashed with the black bear, he had ordered the Taiyuan County soldiers to be recalled. It would take about four or five days for the county soldiers to return. However, the powerful families in Taiyuan shared weal and woe and had already begun to mobilize and arm their troops, but they did not dare to pull them out, fearing that they would be attacked by the Zhenbei Army in the wild.

They were in great need of nominations, but Qian Zhao had the nominations in his hands. He could grant them official positions and military ranks, and they would instantly become the army of Taiyuan and Bingzhou.

If the Zhenbei Army dared to attack these people, it would be tantamount to breaking the alliance.

So Qian Zhao held the official seal tightly, waiting for these people to make greater concessions, such as registering their troops.

The purpose is not to seize control of the tribe, but to gain control of the population data of the big families.

If there is a large-scale war in the future, precise mobilization will be possible.

Qian Zhao looked at the camp in the distance, thought for a moment and sighed: "They are the same people as Hei Zhenbei. Forcing them to stay will definitely lead to trouble. I will go and ask them why they want to leave suddenly."

Jinyang was a large and fortified city, but at this moment many of the houses in the city had collapsed and were abandoned, and it was no longer prosperous.

Linghu Chao and others wanted to persuade him but found it difficult to say it out loud, so they followed Qian Zhao down the city wall.

We arrived at the military camp by horseback. The military camp in the city could accommodate 3,000 people.

The camp is spacious, and more than a thousand people have formed a battle formation, intending to break through by force.

The guards, numbering more than a hundred men, dared not to stop the attack, so they opened the gate and lined up on the side.

Qian Zhao arrived and asked an old soldier in the camp, "Why did you violate military discipline and cause chaos?"

The old soldier who was elected leaned on his iron halberd, but did not step forward. He raised his chin and said to the horseman: "Most of our ancestors were from the five schools of the Northern Army. They followed Lord Dou in Yanran and made meritorious deeds. Later, they were settled in the four counties of Shuofang and stationed there. After Lord Dou, the court forgot about us. When the Xianbei became powerful, we fled to the frontier, which was not welcomed by our county."

"It's not us who failed the court, it's the court that failed first."

Upon hearing these outrageous words, Qian Zhao was furious. Then he saw the old soldier raising his hand and pulling more than a hundred strong bows pointing at Qian Zhao.

The old soldier glanced at the guards who were leading the attack and said, "We all know that you have great ambitions, but we would rather follow Hei Zhenbei to punish the barbarians and avenge our ancestors."

"What we want, the envoy cannot give us."

"What the envoy can give us is beyond our ability to bear. Why don't we part ways and pursue our own futures?"

Qian Zhao nodded slowly after hearing this, and when he saw the strong bow pointing at him was put down, he spoke: "As far as I know, Hei Zhenbei has no intention of staying in Taiyuan."

"Most of our ancestors came from the six counties. They were able to guard the frontiers, migrate to Yangqu, and naturally move to Guanzhong."

The old soldier said with a fake smile: "We have been guarding the border for generations and fighting against the Hu people. I never thought that in the blink of an eye, there would be 200,000 Xiongnu in Taiyuan. Is it because we failed to guard the border, or is it because the traitor has entered the court?"

Qian Zhao just sighed, his face aged three points in an instant, and he waved his hand weakly.

The guards holding spears raised their spears again, and the mutinous soldiers in the camp, first the old soldiers, then more than half of the young men, and finally the three centuries of old soldiers, retreated in echelons, taking turns to cover the rear.

At this moment, there were fine snowflakes floating around Mount Wutai.

Black Bear reined in his horse and stood at an abandoned camp of mixed barbarians. The sheds, fodder, grains that could not be taken away, and houses had all been burned down.

There were also about 200 men and women nailed to death on the roadside, naked, and most of them had tall skeletons and thin bodies.

The black bear found a piece of wood, took out a quill pen, wrote the military order, and stood nearby.

He immediately led Lü Bu and chased after him along the mountain ravine on horseback, but after chasing for more than fifty miles, they discovered his trail.

After chasing for another twenty miles, they saw the Zaohu tribe migrating to the northeast to escape.

He rode his horse to the highest point nearby, sat on a rock, and watched Lu Bu riding his horse back and forth to attack the enemy's temporary camp.

The mountains are steep and the valleys are connected from end to end.

Lu Bu was remotely controlled to chase and kill, and Gao Shun's ten-man team and Yuan Shu's six-man team also participated in the interception.

It took some extra time to drive the cattle and horses out of the mountains before dark.

These cattle and horses are familiar with the mountain roads and hardly need to be driven. They will return to their previous camps on their own before dark.

When we got out of the valley, we saw a troop of 500 cavalrymen gathered in the camp, who had gathered the dead bodies and were preparing to burn them.

During this period, cavalry fought cavalry, and black bears fought black bears.

"General!"

A dozen military officers were waiting outside the camp, bypassing the herd to meet the black bear.

"There are more than 300 human heads in this ravine. Pick them up tomorrow. There are also some other supplies. Once we are done cleaning up, we will retreat south."

After thinking for a while, Black Bear said, "There are still some children scattered in the valley. We will find as many as we can tomorrow. Don't stay any longer. We will break camp the day after tomorrow morning."

The commander of the five hundred soldiers was a little reluctant: "General, we haven't captured anything yet."

"That's it. Liu Bao should be here soon."

After saying this, the black bear pulled the reins, walked around them and the temporary camp, and went further away.

The piles of corpses in the abandoned camp behind him were set on fire, and the cavalry gathered upwind and began to select sick and weak cattle and sheep for slaughter.

At night, the black bear slept in an abandoned barrier.

He commanded Gao Shun's team of ten people to carry wood and light a huge bonfire.

Drinking alone, thinking about the next strategy to break the deadlock.

(End of this chapter)