Chapter 236 The Difficulty of Mutual Trust
Shangjun, Yulin Pass.

The black bear sat on the wall of the barrier and enjoyed the breeze. As far as the eye could see, the mountains and fields were covered with dense forests.

Shangjun and Xihe are full of mountains and forests, as are Taiyuan and Hedong.

He still remembers clearly that there were various cypress trees near Wenxi County.

The types of forests we encountered along the way were similar, mostly pine and cypress.

The same is true of the primeval forest near Yulin Pass. The so-called Yulin border wall planted by the garrison troops... now looking at it, there is no difference from the primeval forest.

However, the Yulin barrier and border defense system have not been maintained over the years, and the tall elm forests have not been repaired, so there are many forest passages for the barbarians to travel through.

What surprised Black Bear was that there was also a Huns tribe stationed near Yulin for the winter, and it was the Youguli King's tribe.

The King of Youguli and his royal family are barely qualified to be called the royal court.

When the Xiongnu was at its peak, there were three or four more royal courts under the three royal courts, namely the Left and Right Guli Kings and the Ruju King.

The Huns were now also afraid that the Xianbei would invade the interior of the border, so they naturally took over the Han border defense line and stationed most of their troops at important border passages to control them.

This gave Black Bear a very strange feeling, and he couldn't help but think of the Three Kingdoms map in junior high school history, where the northwest part was very long and thin.

This continued to affect various Three Kingdoms games that I played later, and the entire game map was very weird.

While he was blowing the wind, Liu Bao also climbed up the barrier wall and looked to the north: "General Daqu, the Xianbei people know that my tribe is weak, and they may attack next year."

"Let them come, preferably together."

Black Bear looked at Liu Bao's profile and said, "It's been less than 20 years since the turmoil in the world. How come this county has declined to such a miserable state?"

Liu Bao remained silent and simply sat against the wall, with some vague answers in his mind.

Seeing Liu Bao's expression, Black Bear said, "In the past hundred years, the weather has been bad and droughts and floods have been unpredictable. That's why the Qiang people migrated east, the Xianbei migrated west, and the Xiongnu migrated south. Grain production in various parts of the Central Plains decreased, plagues spread, and the people were in dire straits. In terms of food, manpower, and armor and equipment, how could the Xiongnu move to Taiyuan for more than ten years even if the world was so corrupt?"

Liu Bao dared not say a word. Black Bear slowed down his tone and said, "You know I am not blaming you, nor am I blaming your uncle. You were attacked by the Qiang and Xianbei peoples, and you had no choice but to migrate south. I resent the scholars from all over the country, and I hate the court composed of them."

As he spoke, Black Bear took out a stack of official documents and threw them into Liu Bao's arms. Liu Bao opened it with confusion. It was a normal family asset investigation. The subject of the investigation was a man named Su Ze.

Liu Bao saw that although the other party was wealthy, he was still a poor man compared to him, the Chanyu.

He looked at Black Bear with a puzzled look, and Black Bear explained, "I have taken control of the three prefectures in Guanzhong, and many people have recommended Su Ze of Fufeng to me. They say that when Guanzhong was in chaos, this man fled to the north and settled down. Now he lives in seclusion in Taibai Mountain. It seems to me that his family has a history of more than 2,000 officials, but he is still poor and honest."

"Many people praised him highly and hoped that I could recruit and employ this hermit from Nanshan Mountain."

"The three commanders under my jurisdiction are sorting out the population registers under their jurisdiction in order to determine the corvée. And this Su Ze has a fortress and more than 700 slaves. He also has more than 500 horses in the Shanglin Garden."

“This is something I didn’t expect!”

Black Bear said this viciously, he was almost deceived by Duan Wei, Yang Qiu, Zhong Yao and others.

Perhaps they did not intend to deceive him, because in these people's minds, Sujiawu Fort and industry were the accumulation of more than ten generations of the Su family, which was reasonable.

After all, the fortress is not Su Ze’s alone, and so many soldiers, slaves and horse farms are not Su Ze’s property alone.

It was thanks to the fact that the various tribes in Guanzhong were brave enough and had strong suppressive power, otherwise famous families in Guanzhong like Su Ze would have been very likely to expand rapidly after Li Jue and Guo Si and form a powerful clan like Shen Pei in Hebei.

Liu Bao looked at the official document and wished he could eat Su Ze alive immediately.

He had no grudge against Su Ze. With such a small population and wealth, they were not worthy of Liu Bao's attention.

But such a small Su Ze caused such a big emotional reaction in the black bear.

This made Liu Bao panic, and he became more determined to lead his troops to escape.

But this kind of thing needs to be considered calmly, and the route must be explored thoroughly.

Given the age of himself and Black Bear, it would be very dangerous to move westward along the grassland trade route to the residence of King Riju and the Western Region Servant Commander's Mansion.

Even the Wusun, which was once one of the Xiongnu tribes, will not be able to escape the attack of the black bear in the future.

Therefore, we must investigate thoroughly and migrate tens of thousands of miles away!
As soon as the idea of ​​leading his troops to escape came into his mind, it was crushed by Liu Bao.

The various Hun tribes now do not submit to him. Without the strong support of Black Bear, he cannot hold his position as the Chanyu.

We still need to be patient until he grows up.

Liu Bao looked murderous: "How dare this man deceive the commander of the Great Canal? How despicable! Could he be Cao Cao's spy?"

"I'm not angry about this, but they clearly knew that I was disintegrating the troops of the generals in Guanzhong, but they still recommended Su Ze to me. This is to put Su Ze and me on the fire together. The matter is very complicated. They want to use Su Ze to knock a dog hole."

Black Bear sighed: "Guanzhong is unstable, as evidenced by this. So I don't want to be distracted by the management of the frontier, so I have to entrust everything to you."

If the three auxiliary commanders had not separately counted the adult population data in their respective jurisdictions, Su Ze would have almost gotten away with it.

Su Ze got away with it, and if he recruited Su Ze, it would be tantamount to acknowledging the Su family's behavior.

With the example of the Su family, many people can let go and merge their forces.

For example, wouldn’t this group of people be jealous of the people they rescued?
Black Bear was eager to return home, and he wanted to return to Guanzhong immediately, build a good car, and patrol all day like the sun god. He took turns to station in various counties, supervise from beginning to end, and completely destroy everything that existed in the past!
Liu Bao felt a little relieved, but when he looked down at the statistics of Su Ze's family assets and property, he felt that they were very eye-catching.

He knew that Black Bear was not a greedy person, and he could not tolerate Su Ze, who had only 700 servants and followers.

Liu Bao studied in Hedong when he was young. He was well aware of the strength and explosive power of these 700 servants.

There are so many people in the Su family, with servants from each family, and together they have the family property of more than 700 households.

If the Su family raises an army, it will be the clan members and in-laws who serve as the backbone, the servants and followers who serve as the grassroots, and they will quickly draw in the villagers as the bottom layer.

According to the family property calculated by the Su family, the Su family and their in-laws and fellow villagers alone can gather about 3,000 rebels.

The young and strong people in the surrounding counties are very likely to be instigated and coerced into rebellion.

But the problem is obvious. With the military capabilities demonstrated by Black Bear and his current military prestige...even if Su Ze was dragged out of Taibai Mountain and hung in front of the Su family ancestral hall, how many members of the Su family would dare to rebel?

So Black Bear dealt with the Su family. Once an order was passed to Guanzhong, the counties and prefectures could tear down the Su family in a short time.

The powerful and rebellious lords in Taiyuan and Hedong could be dismantled to strengthen Guanzhong, and the Su clan in Guanzhong could also be dismantled to strengthen the border defense.

People are looked down upon when they leave their hometown. A big family like the Su family was split into more than a dozen parts and settled in the mountain ravines in the border areas. The local half-Hu and half-Han natives would naturally teach the Su clan members how to start a new life.

If these Su clan members want to become local powerful people again, they must find a way to gain a firm foothold, use various methods to win over and suppress the surrounding indigenous families, and gain leadership.

Only in this way can one be considered a local powerful person. Only when one has intermarried with the surrounding powerful people for generations and has a very solid foundation, can one be considered to have truly established oneself.

During this period, if the family members have smooth careers, the family can be considered to have risen again.

Therefore, the local big families were demolished and moved to distant places, and most of the human race would perish.

If they continue to gather together and have a leader, ordinary members of the clan will also be trained and embark on official careers, thus ensuring that the family's influence will last forever.

In Liu Bao's eyes, the Su family was very fragile, yet it made Black Bear so angry.

And why do I have my current status?

He felt more and more that Black Bear would definitely attack him and the entire Shanyu family in the future.

Now that Black Bear can forcibly support him to be the Chanyu, can he support Huochequan’s son or grandson to be the Chanyu in the future?
In the future, will it be possible to push Black Bear's own child to the position of Chanyu?
Listening to the words of entrustment and authorization from Black Bear, Liu Bao fell into self-doubt, and his face was still angry, as if he was very dissatisfied with Su Ze and those who recommended Su Ze.

Seeing Liu Bao's expression, Black Bear just smiled and said, "After I retreat to Guanzhong, I will need to trouble the Chanyu to persuade the tribes in Hetao. I won't force you to do anything. The Chanyu can make the decision on his own."

"Yes, my king will do his best to mediate and persuade the Hetao tribes to surrender as soon as possible."

Liu Bao bowed solemnly and handed the relevant documents about Su Ze back to Hei Xiong.

"Well, I still have the same attitude. Don't force it. After the raid on the leaders of the Qiang tribes, although the Hetao tribes are a mixture of Han and Hu, they are wary of me. Mutual trust between the two sides is very fragile. We will open the border market in June next year. We will trade with them first to accumulate trust."

"Xiao Wang understands. He will not act hastily. Daqushuai can rest assured."

Liu Bao immediately added that according to the plan, border markets would be held in the three royal courts next year for a period of three months.

After three months of trade, it was time for the Huns to move to new pastures and prepare for the winter.

After seeing Liu Bao off, Ju Hu, who was with the army, came up.

He sat cross-legged near the black bear, took out a piece of dried meat, tore a bite, and chewed: "Although I am an ally and have known the general for a long time, I still feel that the general's actions are unpredictable. This new Chanyu may be even more difficult to adapt to."

Black Bear squinted at Ju Hu and said, "You mean Liu Bao doesn't want to believe me?"

"With the general by my side, the Chanyu dare not disbelieve, nor disobey."

Ju Hu lowered his voice and asked, "I wonder if the general has any plans for the candidate for the Left Wise King of the Xiongnu?"

Seeing Black Bear looking at him suspiciously, Ju Hu smiled calmly: "Since we can't trust him in the short term, why not select someone to serve as the Left Wise King to restrain Liu Bao. This will provoke internal opposition among the Xiongnu. In the future, the general will use his trusted men to lead the Right Wise King. Why worry about Liu Bao causing chaos?"

Black Bear just shook his head and smiled: "I promised him that I would not interfere in the selection of the Left Wise King. From now on, the Right Wise King will belong to me, and I have the Lieutenant General appointed by me to the Xiongnu. Why should I care about Liu Bao causing trouble? If he dares to cause trouble, I can suppress him."

After laughing, he looked at Ju Hu and said, "You wouldn't come to me to talk about such a trivial matter, would you?"

"Don't dare."

"When the foreign ministers came, they saw that Liu Bao looked gloomy and was pretending to be emotional. They were worried that this man might change, so they reminded the general."

As he spoke, Ju Hu handed over a stack of silk letters: "This is a new letter from my master. He wants to reach a marriage with the general as soon as possible so that the alliance will last forever."

Black Bear took the book and read it, and couldn't help raising his eyebrows: "He is really generous."

He married off his three younger sisters at once, bringing with them 200 maids and warriors as dowries.

Ju Hu just smiled shyly and said: "The general is a hero of the time. It is a blessing for the people of Hebei to form a brotherly alliance with him."

He narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance at Bei Feng: "With the general's help, Wuhuan and Xianbei will not dare to invade and cause chaos. The border is peaceful, and the general's contribution can be equivalent to tens of thousands of troops. Why shouldn't my lord do it?"

(End of this chapter)