Shanyu Tadun was the nephew of the tribal leader Qiuliju.
During his lifetime, Qiu Liju was the leader of the Wuhuan in Liaoxi. He won over the governor of Zhongshan, Zhang Chun, to rebel against the Eastern Han Dynasty. He invaded the four states of Qing, Xu, You and Ji, killing officials and civilians. When he died, he thought his son Louban was too young, so he let his nephew Tadun take charge of the three kings' tribes.
A nephew refers to a close relative of the family. When the head of the family dies and the biological children are still young, they are often entrusted to manage the family, just like Lu Xun took over the Lu family from his nephew Lu Ji.
The so-called tribal lord system was widely spread among the northern nomadic peoples, especially the Wuhuan and Xianbei, and was a system of eight tribal lords with a strong patriarchal color.
It determined the scope of pastoralists' activities by "dividing them into parts and categorizing them into groups". It was first popularized by the Wuhuan of the Donghu system, and then it was also adopted within the Xianbei, who were of the same system.
The word "Adult" was the name used by the Central Plains dynasty to address the tribal leaders (elders) of the Wuhuan, Xianbei and other tribes. "The tribal leader was called Adult, and the head of a town was called Xiaoshuai."
The earliest tribal leaders were elected, but with the establishment of private ownership in the Eastern Han Dynasty, tribal leaders began to become hereditary.
Although the tribes under this structure had a small number of slaves, they had already left the primitive society and entered a hierarchical society. Of course, this was incomparable to the feudal centralized system that had existed for thousands of years during the Qin and Han dynasties.
Therefore, since the Han Dynasty, as the Xiongnu were completely broken up into the Northern Xiongnu outside the Great Wall and the Southern Xiongnu inside the Great Wall, the Wuhuan and Xianbei people inside the Great Wall wisely chose to surrender, and basically obeyed the requirements of the Han Dynasty.
It was not until Emperor Ling of Han lost his way and the Han Dynasty was in danger that the most powerful Southern Xiongnu began to plot evil first, and the Wuhuan and Xianbei also began to make their own plans.
Having said that, these foreign tribes, known as the Hu people, still chose to rely on one of the Central Plains princes, who were all very capable in fighting.
The Southern Xiongnu secretly colluded with Gongsun Zan, while the Wuhuan and Xianbei, who had a feud with the Southern Xiongnu, defected to Yuan Shao.
After the Battle of Yijing, the Southern Xiongnu lost the gamble. Now after the death of Yufuluo, a new Khan, Huochuquan, was appointed and there has been no news about them for a while.
As for the Wuhuan and Xianbei, they wanted to reap the fruits of victory. Of course, they did not dare to show their greed too much, so they sat together secretly to discuss how to gain the biggest possible share of benefits.
As the most powerful of the Wuhuan forces, Chanyu Tadun was plotting an alliance with the Yuan family on the one hand, and plundering the border areas of the Han Dynasty on the other hand, but his plans had already been seen through by Yan Rou and Xianyu Fu.
While the two of them were secretly on guard at this time, they were also trying to please the Wuhuan envoys, telling them the disadvantages of marrying into the Yuan family.
The Wuhuan envoy was also a shrewd and capable person in Wuhuan, so he would not easily trust the two. He said proudly, "Don't worry, the two of you. Although this matter is requested by the adults, the decision is still in the hands of the Yuan family."
"If the head of the family, Yuan Benchu, can agree, then there is no reason for you to regret it."
The Wuhuan envoy sneered in his heart. Yan Rou and Xian Yu Fu seemed to speak fairly, but everyone knew that they were both Liu Yu's followers. Now they were singing the same tune. How could he not understand the trick?
Xian Yufu heard this and said, "Since you have already made up your mind, I won't say much."
"I heard that Youzhou Governor Yuan Shijun is returning to Youzhou from Xuzhou by sea, and he will most likely come to Yuyang then."
"Should we pay our respects together to show our intention to befriend the Yuan family?"
After hearing this, the Wuhuan envoy said, "Let me think about this matter and give you a reply in a few days."
Yan Rou and Xian Yu Fu sent the Wuhuan envoys away and returned to the house. Yan Rou said, "The Wuhuan want to abandon us and eat alone."
"They want to befriend Yuan Shang. They think that even though Yuan Xi is the governor of Youzhou, he can't do anything to them. But we are different. Yuyang is already in his control."
Xian Yu Fu nodded and said, "It is not a good thing for us that Wuhuan and Yuan Shang are on good terms. The Yuan family is a fierce tiger and will not tolerate any sand in their eyes. If we do not express our stance, he might attack us."
"This is a ruthless person. Since he became famous, he dares to offend anyone. Let's not run into him without opening our eyes."
Yan Rou nodded in agreement, feeling quite troubled by this. "That fierce tiger was quite dissatisfied with the Southern Xiongnu and even killed Liu Bao. Logically speaking, he shouldn't be too harsh on us."
"But I'm afraid he doesn't like all foreigners. What if we try to make friends with him but end up getting rejected?"
Xian Yu Fu said: "That's why we should prepare for a rainy day. The Wuhuan have all gone to Yecheng to propose marriage, and we are already behind."
"Fortunately, under the command of the fierce tiger, there are two lines that can be opened."
Yan Rou heard this and said, "I understand. One is Liu He, the son of our sponsor, Marquis Liu."
"But we need to be extremely careful when contacting him privately. Although he is the son of Marquis Liu and is now working under Xiong Hu, there is no doubt that there is some rift between Yuan and Marquis Liu."
"Xiong Hu is probably just using Liu He to gain fame. If our private friendship with Liu He is exposed, it will make him suspicious and harm him."
Yan Rou's worries were not without reason. Before the Battle of Yijing, Gongsun Zan had actually lost control of Youzhou, because all of Liu Yu's former subordinates took the opportunity to revolt and their power was extremely powerful.
Yan Rou, Xianyu Fu, Xianyu Yin, Qi Zhou and others were all capable generals. They blocked Zou Dan, a general under Gongsun Zan who was going to rescue Yijing, and killed more than 4,000 people. As a result, during the Battle of Yijing, Gongsun Zan's side only had the Black Mountain Army to help.
This group of people who have close ties with Liu He has become a force that cannot be underestimated. If they want to join the Yuan family, they must be cautious to avoid being suspected of forming a clique and having ulterior motives.
Xian Yufu heard this and said, "That's true, so I plan to find someone who is highly valued by Xionghu first."
"Tian Yu Tian Guorang."
"I heard that he has made many contributions in Xuzhou and Guangling. He should have become a powerful assistant to Xionghu."
After hearing this, Yan Rou said worriedly, "I know you are good friends with Tian Yu, but he was a subordinate of Gongsun Zan in the past. Now he has joined the Yuan family. Is there any risk involved?"
Xian Yufu thought for a moment and said, "Tian Yu has always been loyal, and we have to test the waters."
"Just in case, I'll send the book to him on my own first."
After hearing this, Yan Rou could only nod helplessly.
In the past few days, Yuan Xi and others left Piaoyu and headed north to Quanzhou City.
Quanzhou was a famous city in Yuyang County of Youzhou, rich in salt and iron. It was located in Tongzhou, Hebei in later generations.
The more famous Quanzhou City in Fujian was located in Yangzhou at that time and was called Dong'an City. It was not renamed Quanzhou until the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui.
Yuan Xi led the crowd on a horseback inspection of Quanzhou City and found that there were rivers and streams everywhere.
In this era, the water systems around cities were extremely abundant, especially Quanzhou City, which had many tributaries. No wonder it became the starting point of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
The abundant water resources not only ensured a good harvest of local grain, but also promoted businesses such as iron smelting, thus expanding the size of the city.
Yuan Xi arranged for nearly a hundred blacksmith apprentices to stay in Quanzhou, and asked Liu He to arrange the appointment and dismissal of officials in the city, only allowing them to come to him if they were unsure about anything.
It's not that Yuan Xi completely trusted Liu He, but by doing so, Liu He would not dare to act in a personal way and would only try to balance the forces of all parties.
As the saying goes, trust people when you employ them, and don't employ people if you don't trust them. This is actually just an act of openly expressing one's attitude and position.
No one can be trusted unconditionally, Liu He is no exception. Even Zhen Mi, Cai Zhaoji and others, Yuan Xi would not trust them 100%, not even himself.
It's not that Yuan Xi didn't believe in the intentions of Zhen Mi and others, but he didn't believe in their ability to withstand malicious intent, such as being caught and coerced.
Just as Yuan Xi had no doubt that Liu He should be loyal to him at present, but the political assets left by Liu Yu were so huge that Liu Yu's subordinates in Youzhou were a force that could not be ignored. If they joined hands to support Liu He, or even used tough measures to force him to take power, the situation in Youzhou would inevitably be in chaos.
Yuan Xi has never hesitated to take the worst-case scenario as a premise, consider future situations, and make decisions in advance.
He has an advance psychological expectation. If he can consider the worst possible scenario before making a decision, and this scenario is within his tolerance limit, then the decision he makes will most likely not make him regret it.
Otherwise, if he cannot bear the consequences of failure, he will not make this decision.
Yuan Xi knows that he is not omnipotent and cannot control everything in the world, so he forces himself to face the worst possible situations.
What if your most trusted subordinates rebel?
What if your wife and children are captured by the enemy?
What if you are ambushed by the enemy and have to escape alone?
What if I have to go against my conscience in order to win?
It's not that he is being hard on himself, but in this era where everything is at stake and there can only be one winner in the end, no matter how absurd the matter is, it may become a reality.
This kind of boring question, similar to the one in later life where one has to ask oneself who to save when one's wife or child falls into the water, may be a waste of trouble for ordinary people, because they may never encounter such a dilemma in their entire lives.
But those in power must force themselves to face it, because they have to make choices at all times, and their every move affects the life and death of thousands of people.
Just like Liu Bei's defeat at Changbanpo in later generations, he insisted on taking hundreds of thousands of civilians with him, and was thus caught up by Cao's army. Liu Bei's army was almost wiped out, and his wife and children were also captured.
Just like the Yanzhou Rebellion in later generations, when Lu Bu and Cao Cao attacked each other, both sides were out of food. Cao Cao used Cheng Yu's dried meat to hold on, but Lu Bu was unable to make a corresponding move, and finally ran out of food and had to retreat.
Just like in later generations, after Guan Yu was defeated in Maicheng, Liu Bei knew that turning against the Wu Kingdom would be beneficial to Cao Wei, but he still chose to avenge Guan Yu.
Although it is said that the winner takes all, everyone has different bottom lines and choices. The final result will not necessarily be won by one side being more moral.
In troubled times, some people strictly adhere to their bottom line, some have a very low bottom line, and some have no bottom line at all. Everything is possible.
What made Yuan Xi sigh was that the one with the least bottom line in later generations became the final winner.
If this is the only way to become a winner, would you choose to go down it?
Yuan Xi kept his answer deep in his heart. He didn't want to use the answer he chose when faced with a difficult decision one day.
The key to a dilemma is not which choice people make, after all, either choice will leave people with regrets, but to enable people to make a choice they can accept in the shortest time when they are at a crossroads.
It is precisely because of this that Yuan Xi took great pains to consider various possibilities in order to prevent himself from facing an unacceptable cruel situation.
He said to Tian Yu beside him, "You said Xian Yu Fu was in the city, and sent you a letter to ask you to meet him?"