Not only Kebineng was frightened by the momentum of the armored cavalry, but all the other Hu people were the same.
On the city wall on the south side of Dai County, a group of Xianbei, Wuhuan and Xiongnu leaders lined up and stood about ten feet behind the emperor, witnessing the entire process of the armored cavalry marching from west to east, changing formation and turning back, speeding up the charge.
Two thousand armored cavalrymen were divided into twenty teams of one hundred cavalrymen each and galloped past. When they passed by the Hu army formation, the Hu people in the front row were even frightened and retreated slightly, unable to maintain their formation.
After the armored cavalry galloped past, the armies of the Xianbei, Wuhuan and Xiongnu tribes were reviewed next.
After the Xianbei Budugen and Suli tribes passed through the south of the city in a chaotic formation, Cao Rui took a quick look and became bored. He stood up and looked at Man Chong sideways, saying calmly:
"General Man, you will continue to preside over the ceremony. I will go back to rest first."
"As you command." Man Chong bowed and said, "Farewell, Your Majesty."
The rest of the officials and the Hu leaders also saluted.
Man Chong had been with the emperor for nearly two years and knew a little about the emperor's temper.
At the beginning of this year, the 50,000-man central army had already been reviewed once at Mobei. The emperor had already watched all the military exercises, including marching and battle formations.
The emperor was interested in watching the Yulin Left Army, the Zhongling Army Camp, and the Five Colonel Camps passing under the city of Dai County. Even Man Chong himself did not think that the chaotic Hu army formations were worth watching.
In other words, this review was originally prepared for the Xianbei, Wuhuan, Xiongnu and other Hu people. Your Majesty once said that the Hu people fear power but not virtue, and they need to be forced by force and threatened by power before they can be used by the Wei Dynasty.
Judging from the faces of the Hu leaders today, this goal has obviously been achieved. Just now, after His Majesty had seen Budugen and Suli's troops and left, the two were stared at by everyone and felt so ashamed that they lowered their heads even lower.
……
After the review, the leaders of each tribe received silk rewards from Man Chong, although the rewards were a bit hot to handle.
The next day, a total of 39,000 infantry and cavalry outside Dai County continued to march northeast under the order of the Emperor of Wei.
They passed through Dangcheng, Zhuolu and Juyong counties, and then through Junduxing to Changping County in Yan County. It was a journey of 500 li and took ten days to reach the destination.
It was already early April when we arrived in Changping.
The two majestic and continuous mountain ranges, Taihang Mountains and Yanshan Mountains, separate the plains from the outside world in Hebei Province.
When Cao Rui led his army to Duxing and arrived in Changping, he clearly felt the huge difference in climate between the two places. It was still cold in Juyong, Shanggu County, but the noon sun in Changping was bright enough to make people sweat slightly.
If we really look at it, Ji County is actually the location of the capital of later generations. However, at the beginning of the Wei Dynasty, although it was the seat of Yan County, it could not be compared with big cities like Yecheng and Luoyang, and even less important cities like Chenliu and Wancheng could not catch up.
But at this moment, Ji County became the gathering place for the Wei army to attack Liaodong.
The emperor brought with him 39,000 infantry and cavalry.
The infantry from Hebei did not need to go through a long detour to the border of Bingzhou, and arrived at Xiahou Xian's place in Ji County early. The soldiers from Wei County and Guangping County in the south had just arrived, and the soldiers from Zhongshan, Hejian, Bohai, Fanyang and other counties had been training for more than a month.
On the third day of April, outside the west gate of Changping City, Youzhou Governor Liu Ye, Anbei General Xiahou Xian, and Yanjun Prefect Deng Jun were waiting here. Officials of all ranks stood solemnly on both sides of the road, and many young people and children were selected to welcome them with food, wine and meat.
Wen Qin arrived first, followed by 18,000 light cavalrymen from various Hu tribes. The huge team of nearly 30,000 cavalrymen bypassed Changping and headed straight for the camp set up in the northeast of Ji County.
The emperor's ten thousand cavalry and Tian Yu's three thousand infantry followed behind, heading towards Changping City.
"Your Majesty, we are here to pay our respects!" Seeing the emperor approaching, Liu Ye, Xiahou Xian and Deng Jun all paid their respects with great ceremony.
Cao Rui dismounted and walked to Liu Ye, raising his hand to help him up first: "Mr. Liu, I miss you so much. I haven't seen you for three years!"
Liu Ye himself was also quite emotional. After being helped up by the emperor, he bowed and replied: "When I was ordered to tour You and Bing, I never thought that I would stay in Youzhou for nearly three years."
Cao Rui smiled and asked, "Does Liu Qing know everything about the local conditions and people of Youzhou?"
Liu Ye nodded: "I went to Liaodong first and then returned. Although I dare not say that I have been to every place in Youzhou, I have walked the Lulong Road from Wuzhong, Lulong Pass, Pinggang, and Liucheng, and the coastal road from Wuzhong, Tuyin, Yangle, and Jieshi more than twice!"
Cao Rui patted Liu Ye on the shoulder and said, "Liu Qing is valued by me for his wisdom and strategy. He is measured and diligent in governing the country. He is truly a good minister."
Liu Ye bowed slightly and said, "How can I deserve your majesty's praise? I am truly ashamed."
Cao Rui said: "I am attacking Liaodong this time, and I want to borrow Liu Qing's wisdom."
After that, Cao Rui said in front of all the ministers who were accompanying him: "Liu Qing, listen to my order!"
Liu Ye had been in office in Youzhou for three years. When he learned that the emperor was going to Youzhou to attack Liaodong, he already had many speculations in his mind, but he never expected that the emperor's appointment would come so soon!
Before Xiahou Xian and Deng Jun, who were paying homage with Liu Ye, had time to stand up, Liu Ye knelt down again.
Cao Rui said slowly: "Liu Ye, the governor of Youzhou, is wise and decisive, and governs with moderation. He is truly my confidant and a talent for the country. I will immediately promote him to the rank of General Du Liao, and let him accompany my army to Liaodong!" Liu Ye had been in the political arena for most of his life, and he had rich experience in dealing with such occasions. At the moment when the emperor exchanged his three years of hard work for a reward, he did not hesitate at all, and directly kowtowed and responded loudly: "Your Majesty, I, Liu Ye, thank you for your grace!"
The people behind Cao Rui looked at Liu Ye with either envy or admiration, and no one showed the slightest dissatisfaction.
This is also related to the political tradition during the Han and Wei dynasties.
On the road to promotion, almost all civil officials in the imperial court would serve one or several terms as an official outside the capital.
The top positions among them were the governors of various inland states and the prefects of large counties such as Henei, Chenliu, Nanyang, and Yingchuan.
However, Liu Ye's appointment as the governor of Youzhou and Sima Fu's appointment as the governor of Liangzhou, both of which were "bitter and cold" border counties, gave them a sense of "hard work".
Among those who can serve as officials in Henan, how many people would be willing to stay in Youzhou?
After Liu Ye thanked him and stood up, Cao Rui helped Xiahou Xian up:
"My General Anbei has done a good job in Youzhou for the past year and a half. You will be accompanying me on this expedition. Your skills will be of great use in Liaodong!"
Xiahou Xian also saluted and said, "I am training soldiers for your majesty in Youzhou. I am ready to follow your majesty to destroy the Gongsun rebels!"
Cao Rui nodded: "Very good!"
After a few words with Deng Jun, the governor of Yan County, Liu Ye stood aside and waved with a smile. Four neatly dressed children around ten years old, dressed like Confucian scholars, came forward with cooking utensils in their hands.
Cao Rui glanced at Liu Ye and asked with a smile, "What kind of drama are you playing for me, Liu Qing? Food and drink?"
Liu Ye bowed and smiled, "Mencius said, 'We should bring food and drink to welcome the king's army.' When the people of Changping heard that Your Majesty was coming with a large army, they offered local food and drink to Your Majesty."
Cao Rui nodded slightly and walked in front of the four children: "Wheat rice, meat soup, vegetable soup..."
Walking to the rightmost child, Cao Rui picked up something from the ceramic bowl on the tray in his hand and exclaimed in amazement: "This is a chestnut!"
The ten-year-old boy was not afraid and answered loudly: "Your Majesty, these are chestnuts picked from my home."
Cao Rui was not shy. He peeled one open with his hands, took a small bite and tasted it. He smiled and said, "Oh? Did you pick it at home?"
"Tell me, what is your name? Have you ever been to school?"
The child took a half step back, squatted down and placed the tray on the ground, then knelt down and bowed: "My name is Hutuchi, and I started studying at the county middle school last spring."
Cao Rui raised his eyebrows when he heard this non-Han name: "Please stand up. You entered school last spring, which means you have been in school for a year? What have you learned in school?"
Hutuchi stood up and bowed: "The teacher only taught us the book "The Analects of Confucius" and made us recite it every day in the school. He didn't teach us anything else."
"Well," Cao Rui continued, "The Analects is a very good book. Hutuchi, let me ask you, which chapter have you learned in school?"
Hutuchi replied in a clear voice: "I have learned Yan Yuan's twelfth level."
Cao Rui chuckled and said, "Then I ask you, 'ruler is ruler, minister is minister, father is father, son is son', how did the teacher teach you?"
Hutuchi bit his lip and thought, glancing at Liu Ye, then stammered:
"The king should protect his people, and the subjects should be loyal to the king. The father should love his son, and the son should respect his father. Everyone is born with his own position, and he should restrain himself with "ritual".
Cao Rui knew that this was a political show staged by Liu Ye to welcome him, but he still admired it from the bottom of his heart.
Liu Ye combined these three elements simultaneously and presented them to himself, the Emperor of Wei: the people had enough food and drink, the children were educated, and the Hu people were naturalized.
In terms of both imagination and political sensitivity, this was something Cao Rui had never seen before in recent years.
There are always some people in this world who are gifted by nature, and even something as simple as flattery can touch people's hearts without causing them any bad feelings.
There is no doubt that Liu Ye is one of the best.
Cao Rui smiled and clapped his hands: "Liu Qing, you are very thoughtful! Tell me, what are the origins of these four children?"
Liu Ye cupped his hands and replied, "The one in front of your majesty is Hutuchi, a Dingling. The three children here are Han, Wuhuan, and Xianbei."
"After I took office in the second year of Taihe, I started to establish a county school in Yan County, where Han and Hu people lived together, to educate children. They learned the ways of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism."
"As your majesty has seen, these Dingling, Wuhuan, and Xianbei children can speak Chinese and recognize Chinese characters, just like the Han people."
Cao Rui nodded and said, "The barbarians who enter China are Chinese. Liu Qing, this is a good policy among good policies. Each of them will be rewarded with a piece of silk."
"Go into the city. I have come from afar for Liaodong's military affairs. I need to discuss this with you." (End of this chapter)
