readytorunbook Chapter 694 Kebineng, the Xianbei Chief
Chapter 694 Kebineng, the Xianbei Chief
Although Sima Yi wanted to capture Gongsun Yuan and completely eliminate all the hidden dangers in Liaodong, Gongsun Yuan had already fled to Lelang County.
Lelang County is what is now the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. It is a mountainous and densely forested region with complex terrain. Gongsun Yuan was a local strongman, so going to Lelang was like a tiger returning to the mountains, with plenty of ways to hide.
On the contrary, Sima Yi was unfamiliar with the terrain. Leading his army to besiege Gongsun Yuan would be time-consuming and laborious, and there was no guarantee that he would be able to capture him. Sima Yi did not have that much time to waste with Gongsun Yuan, and it was not worth it either.
In business, you have to consider the return on investment. The same goes for war. If you lead tens of thousands of troops to besiege Gongsun Yuan's few thousand men, you will lose a lot if you win and even more if you lose. It would be better to use that force elsewhere and do something else.
Therefore, Sima Yi decided to hand Gongsun Yuan over to Gongsun Huang, letting the two brothers have their fun, while he himself would take care of the Xianbei leader Kebineng when he had the time.
The story of the Xianbei and their leader Kebineng is a long one.
As is well known, there was once a powerful empire on the grasslands called the Xiongnu. It was a vast and powerful empire, and at its peak, its cavalry force was even greater than that of the later Mongol Empire. Unfortunately, it encountered Emperor Wu of Han.
After Emperor Wu of Han defeated the Xiongnu, subsequent emperors continued to strike, eventually forcing the split Northern Xiongnu to migrate north and the Southern Xiongnu to migrate south. Today, the Xiongnu are barely surviving and have been essentially wiped out.
However, the grasslands vacated after the Xiongnu were destroyed were not abandoned, but were occupied by other nomadic tribes. The nomadic tribes that occupied parts of Liaodong and north of Yuyang Shanggu were called Wuhuan.
At its peak, the Wuhuan tribe numbered in the hundreds of thousands and frequently invaded the borders of the Han Dynasty, such as Yuyang and Shanggu, gradually becoming the overlords of the grasslands. Unfortunately, they encountered Cao Cao.
When Cao Cao campaigned against the Wuhuan, he killed their leader, Tadun, at Bailang Mountain. He then relocated the Wuhuan people to the interior, incorporating their able-bodied men into his army, and the Wuhuan were subsequently destroyed.
However, the territorial void left by the Wuhuan was filled by the Xianbei, and the former Wuhuan territory has now become the territory of the Xianbei leader Kebineng.
Kebineng was not only brave and decisive, but also fair in his judgments and incorruptible in his greed for wealth, and he enjoyed extremely high prestige among the various Xianbei tribes.
In life, everyone is bound to crave something. If not material possessions, one will inevitably crave other things, such as status or power.
Therefore, Kebineng was an ambitious man. On the surface, he submitted to Cao Wei and accepted Cao Pi's investiture, but in private, he kept invading the borders and disobeyed Cao Wei's orders. Moreover, he now had more than 100,000 cavalrymen under his command, becoming Cao Wei's second greatest threat after Liu Bei.
Now that Sima Yi has finally embarked on a campaign, it would be a waste if he only destroyed Liaodong and Goguryeo. Therefore, when he was recruiting soldiers in Youzhou, he discussed with Cui Lin, the governor of Youzhou, and Wang Xiong, the prefect of Zhuojun, that if the campaign against Liaodong went smoothly, they would go to Xianbei. If the campaign against Liaodong did not go smoothly, they would deal with it later.
To facilitate his actions, the governor of Zhuojun recommended an assassin named Han Long, who had secretly gone to the Xianbei to assassinate Kebineng before his expedition to Liaodong.
It is worth mentioning that in history, Wang Xiong succeeded Cui Lin as the governor of Youzhou. In the third year of Qinglong, he sent the assassin Han Long to infiltrate the Xianbei and successfully assassinated Kebineng. This led to the rapid split of the various Xianbei tribes and made a great contribution to the stability of the Cao Wei border. Until the fall of Cao Wei, the Xianbei never invaded the border.
Now that Sima Yi has arrived, Han Long has been brought online ahead of schedule, and whether he can successfully assassinate Kebineng is truly an unknown.
Regardless of whether he succeeds or not, Sima Yi is determined to launch a surprise attack on the Xianbei. It is winter now, the grasslands are covered in snow and the mountains are closed off, and all the Xianbei tribes are hibernating, making it the perfect time for a sneak attack.
Sima Yi patted Gongsun Huang on the shoulder and said, "I have already sent your uncle Gongsun Gong to the capital. From now on, Liaodong is your domain. Do a good job. I hope to hear the good news that you have captured Gongsun Yuan when I return from the Xianbei."
Gongsun Huang bowed and said, "General, rest assured, I will certainly not fail in my mission."
Although he and Gongsun Yuan were brothers, they had a direct conflict of interest. He had to capture Gongsun Yuan and hand him over to the court. As for brotherhood, he would consider it fulfilling his brotherhood by taking good care of Gongsun Yuan's wife and children. He really couldn't care less about anything else.
Sima Yi nodded in satisfaction and acted swiftly, gathering 10,000 cavalrymen, each with two horses, and leading the army out.
It is worth mentioning that Liaodong is surrounded by mountains on all sides, separated from the Xianbei grasslands by the Yanshan Mountains and the Greater Khingan Mountains, making it difficult to get through even in summer, let alone in winter.
But precisely because of this, Kebineng certainly didn't expect Sima Yi to launch a surprise attack from Liaodong. As long as he went there, the probability of a successful attack would increase by more than 50%.
So Sima Yi rode two horses each, carrying roasted soybeans on their backs, and followed a guide familiar with the terrain of Yanshan to cross the Yanshan Mountains and head straight for Kebineng's lair.
The Yanshan Mountains have a complex terrain, so it's impossible to ride a horse; you can only walk. As for the roasted soybeans, they can be used as horse feed or military rations. After all, in the desolate mountains and wilderness, how can you survive without food?
Under Sima Yi's leadership, a 10,000-strong elite army, abandoning their armor and covering themselves in various animal skins to ward off the cold, entered the Yanshan Mountains and braved the ice and snow to reach the grasslands.
Meanwhile, the assassin Han Long, who had set off earlier, disguised himself as a merchant and, with the help of a guide, also braved the ice and snow to successfully reach Kebineng's camp.
It is worth mentioning that although the Hu people liked to plunder the Central Plains, they were relatively friendly to merchants who went to the grasslands. This was because if they plundered these merchants, no merchants would dare to come to the grasslands in the future, and no one would dare to do such a self-destructive thing.
Therefore, Han Long successfully escorted the goods into the grassland and arrived at Kebineng's tribe. Hearing that a merchant was coming in winter, Kebineng, out of curiosity, personally went out of his tent to greet him and met Han Long, who was not yet thirty years old, outside the tent.
After learning Kebineng's identity from the Xianbei people, Han Long immediately ran forward, bowed, and said, "This humble subject, Cui Long, greets the chief."
He couldn't possibly use his real name when he came to assassinate someone; he would definitely use an alias. However, the surname Cui is somewhat problematic.
Kebineng frowned and said, "Cui Long, wasn't it always Cui Han who came before? What's your relationship with Cui Han?"
Although there were border conflicts between Cao Wei and the Xianbei, it did not affect their business dealings, which were essentially smuggling.
Smuggling is not something anyone can do; you need a family background. The Cui family has a very strong background. The Cui clan of Zhuojun is the largest clan in Youzhou, and Cui Lin, who comes from the Cui clan, is the governor of Youzhou. Can you believe how powerful that background is?
The person in charge of this trade route is Cui Han, a member of the Cui family, which is why Kebineng asked this question.
Han Long bowed and said, "My father is bedridden and unable to travel for the time being. He originally planned to come over next spring, but the court issued a new decree to seal off the border of Youzhou after the New Year and prohibit all trade with the grasslands. In addition, this batch of goods was transported from the puppet Han. Now, the detective team leader Luo Tong is investigating smuggling every day, and it has even affected Youzhou. My father was afraid that this batch of goods would be discovered by the detective team and affect the family, so he ordered me to deliver it ahead of schedule."
As the leader of the Xianbei, Kebineng had naturally heard the stories of the pseudo-Han merchant ships and the detective team, so he did not doubt them but rubbed his hands and laughed: "Damn detective team, they are too despicable. They even investigate your own people. Let me see what they brought me this time?"
After saying that, he walked to the front of the car, opened the trunk himself, and looked down to check. He found that the car was full of tea leaves. After pushing aside the tea leaves, he found that the car was actually full of clay pots. Burying the clay pots in the tea leaves had a good shock absorption effect and could prevent the clay pots from breaking to the greatest extent.
But Han Long, who had come all this way, was only selling tea and casserole dishes?