Han Shizu

Chapter 2160: Emperor Shizong Chapter 36: A Different Wanyan Tribe

Wanyan Shilu, the current Wanyan Jurchen minister and grandson of the first Songmo governor Wanyan Bahai, is a man of strong will, integrity and dignity, and is regarded as a wise man by his tribe.

Over the past half century, due to the Han Empire's massive development and operation, the social status of Northeast China has undergone drastic changes. The people who have felt the most deeply about this change are undoubtedly the Jurchen and Shiwei tribes, the "indigenous people" of the Northeast.

Especially the Shengnuzhen tribes north of the Yazik River (Songhua River), no one had more say than them. Their language, writing, habits, customs, and beliefs were all severely impacted, and the changes in the tribal organizational management structure and even the production and living methods were fundamental changes.

The original Wanyan tribe was not very prominent among the raw and cooked Jurchen tribes in the Yazik River basin. It relied on the Han Dynasty's Kaibao Northern Expedition and march into the northeast to carry out a speculative expansion.

But it was obviously not the right time. Caught between such huge monsters as Han and Liao, even the unified Jurchen tribes might not be able to achieve anything, let alone the Wanyan tribe.

As a result, the Wanyan tribe not only failed to chew a piece of fat meat from the Khitan's body in the northeast and absorb any nutrients, but also suffered heavy casualties and great damage to its strength under the counterattack of Liao army generals such as Yelu Xiu'ge.

When the Han Dynasty conquered the entire Northeast, not only was the coveted Huanglongfu land destroyed, becoming today's important border town of Liaodong Road, but even the clan lands in the Yazik River basin were occupied by the Andong Governor's Office, and later they had to make room for the development of Suihua Royal City.

Of course, after paying so much, the Wanyan tribe did not gain nothing. At least the title of Songmo Dudu was retained. Although it was an empty title, it also opened up a gap with other Jurchen tribes. At the same time, relying on previous performance, it also gained more trust from An Dong than other tribes, and gained a lot of benefits in the process of Qin Wang Liu Xu's integration of the Northeast.

When the Wanyan tribe was still under the rule of Wanyan Bahai and his son Wanyan Suike, it was actually in a state of recovering its strength. Of course, with Qin Wang Liu Xu's method of integrating the Andong Barbarians, it was impossible for him to watch these tribes accumulate silently.

Therefore, the Jurchen tribes, including the Wanyan tribe, also faced strong internal and external pressures and fierce confrontations in the process of recovery and development. The long-standing traditions and customs of the tribes became fragmented under the impact of the military and political power of Anton, which naturally violated the interests of the conservatives and triggered a fierce backlash.

The process of changing the customs and habits of the barbarians, registering the people and governing them according to Han laws could never be smooth sailing. Therefore, during the 20 years that Liu Xu ruled Andong, internal security wars broke out one after another, and repeated conflicts among the assimilated tribes were everywhere.

During that process, there are records of the An Dong army sending troops to quell the rebellion, but no one knows how many people died in the process. In short, the blood shed was enough to dye the Yazi River red. So much so that at the beginning of Liu Wenyuan's accession to the throne, An Dong experienced another backlash from the conservative forces of the barbarian tribe, which triggered his tougher and bloodier suppression.

It was also from the reign of Liu Wenyuan that the barbarians and ethnic minorities in the Northeast truly began to forget their old non-monarchical customs and habits and embrace the Han rule. Even if they had other ideas, they had to do so on the basis of sinicization.

In the process of sinicization, the Wanyan tribe progressed the fastest and most thoroughly, which led to the gradual gap in strength between the Wanyan tribe and other Jurchen tribes, making it the undisputed number one.

As for the first, it was after Wanyan Shilu became the patriarch. The past twenty years were a period when the fire of Wanyan tribe’s civilization burned vigorously, and it was also a process of rebirth for Wanyan tribe.

Since he was a teenager, Wanyan Shilu was sent to Suihua City by his father Suike as a hostage. While serving as a hostage, he also studied Han culture, etiquette, and systems in the official school of Andong. It was not until Wanyan Suike's death that Wanyan Shilu returned to the tribe and took on the heavy responsibility of being the clan leader.

Therefore, although Wanyan Shilu was of Jurchen ethnicity, ideologically he was a "Han Chinese" who was deeply influenced by Chinese studies. After becoming the head of the Wanyan tribe, he applied all he had learned to the development and transformation of the tribe.

It is worth mentioning that in the official history, Wanyan Shilu offended a large number of conservative forces because of his dogmatic governance reforms on the tribe, and he almost lost his life. The process was very difficult. But in this life, the conservative forces were crushed under the iron fist of Andong, and the Andong government also helped to do the difficult things, and Wanyan Shilu gained more fame and prestige because of his "good governance".

In less than 20 years, the old camp of the tribe was well governed, and even a "Wanyan City" was built. However, the seemingly prosperous Wanyan tribe also faced many problems. With the introduction of rye and the development of fishery and animal husbandry, at least half of the survival problems were solved, but the problem of "quality of life" became more and more serious.

All these problems stemmed from an obstacle that the Wanyan tribe had to overcome in order to achieve further development: the Kingdom of Andong.

Although deeply influenced by Sinology, Wanyan Shilu always had a "true female heart". While he was trying to develop and expand the Wanyan tribe, he was also trying to get rid of the influence of Andong. For these Jurchen tribes, the interference from the Andong royal court in all aspects was too heavy. In Wanyan Shilu's heart, he always had a heart that yearned for independence.

Wanyan Shilu's dissatisfaction with the rule of Andong Kingdom mainly focused on two aspects. One was that Andong exploited the Wanyan tribe too heavily. The people of the Wanyan tribe worked hard all year, and five to six out of ten would eventually fall into the hands of the Andong government through various means. The remaining money was obviously not enough to maintain a decent livelihood for the people.

When Liu Xu, the King of Qin, was still able to stop at the right time and knew how to adjust various policies in a timely manner. However, when Liu Wenyuan came to power, he basically left no room for maneuver. In addition to finance and taxation, it also included corvée labor. The population removed from the Wanyan part and the soldiers recruited were all like cutting into the backbone of the tribe. The King of Andong regarded the Jurchen tribe as slaves and used them like pigs and dogs. This harsh practice was really hard to make people willing to submit.

On the other hand, the current policy of assimilation and sinicization in the State of Andong has increasingly ignored the interests of the original tribal leaders. The preferential treatment once promised by the King of Qin is no longer guaranteed. The process and intensity of registering the people are getting bigger and faster. It is obvious that the government of Andong has been thinking about completely breaking up the tribal organization and directly ruling the people, bypassing the upper class of the tribe.

This kind of damage to their interests was difficult to accept, whether it was the old chiefs who were gradually declining or the new Jurchen nobles who had been baptized by Han culture. Opposition and even resistance were common.

Therefore, in the past decade, it can be clearly seen that tribal unrest under Anton's rule has become more frequent than before, and a notable feature is that the leaders are some old tribal chiefs.

In contrast, the common people were still indifferent to this. After all, even without Anton's extortion, their lives would not be much better. At the same time, if they could be selected into Anton's army, it would be a complete turnaround.

The treatment of the Anton army, at least in the Northeast region, is in accordance with the highest standards. This is extremely tempting to many lower-class Yi tribesmen. The Anton army is a mixture of Han and Yi people, but their loyalty is very high and their combat effectiveness is always maintained well. This trend is also what makes tribal chiefs and leaders increasingly worried.

Compared to others, Wanyan Shilu was more knowledgeable. He also insisted on promoting the in-depth sinicization and reform of the tribe, but he hoped that this change would be in the direction of benefiting their rule, rather than being completely wiped out by the Anton government, leaving nothing behind.
Of course, compared to those who rashly rebelled, Wanyan Shilu was much more patient. Under the powerful suppression of the Andong Kingdom, any direct confrontation would be a dead end.

The only one he could rely on was the imperial court of the Han Empire. However, Wanyan Shilu had also learned the principle of "don't interfere with close relatives". It would be a bad idea for him to use his status to sow discord between the imperial court of the Han Empire and the Kingdom of Andong.

Therefore, for a long time, Wanyan Shilu was very distressed. He could only try his best to maintain the tribal situation and deal with various levies from the Kingdom of Andong while silently waiting for the opportunity.

The turning point came during the reign of Emperor Kangzong, when Andong State grew stronger and its relationship with the imperial court became increasingly distant. When Liu Wenji ascended the throne, the atmosphere became even more tense. Wanyan Shilu could observe the friction, conflict and crime that occurred on the border between Andong and Liaodong Road.

When Zeng Hui was transferred to Liaodong, the series of policy measures he implemented against the military and civilians of Andong had a serious impact on Andong, and also made Wanyan Shilu realize that the relationship between Andong and the court was not so close, and that the court was also wary and defensive of Andong.
If this is the case, then there is a lot of room for maneuver. Wanyan Shilu deeply realized that if he wanted to overthrow the rule of Anton and get rid of Anton's slavery, it would be far from enough to rely on his own strength, and he must rely on the power of the central government of the Han Empire.

Of course, the idea is like this, and the reason is like this, but how to implement it is not so easy. If it was his grandfather Wanyan Bahai, he might be able to make a few calls in the court, but when it came to Wanyan Shilu, under the strong and powerful assimilation of Andong, the Wanyan tribe also had some understanding and influence on the Andong royal court.

So, in a rather frustrating and depressing atmosphere, Wanyan Shilu waited for another seven or eight years, until King Anton Liu Wenyuan's hair turned white and he himself was no longer young, before he finally glimpsed this opportunity that could be exploited.

At first, when Wanyan Shilu received the secret order from King Anton asking him to send his troops south to disturb the border and plunder, he was confused and frightened. He was not "good at" such things, and he dared not do it.

But after the first reaction, a voice hidden deep in his heart rose up. Isn't this the opportunity he has been pursuing but can't get? King Anton is blatantly trying to confront the court. Isn't such a move much easier than racking his brains to think about how to get rid of Anton with the help of the court?
However, Wanyan Shilu, who had been patient for many years, still did not dare to act rashly. He still needed to observe, assess, and confirm before making a decision. But before that, he still followed the inertia of the past few decades and sent his troops to plunder southward.

Of course, before setting off, he gave his subordinates some stern instructions: they could rob and make noise, but they were not allowed to kill Han people or invade towns. In short, they could just show their respect.

Later, Wanyan Shilu received news from the Han Dynasty that Emperor Liu Wenji had already embarked on a northern tour with 50,000 imperial guards. At the same time, he received a "hint" from Andong, asking the Wanyan tribe to attack Huanglongfu together with the rest of the Jurchens.

This was a rebellion, how could Wanyan Shilu be willing to do it? Most importantly, Wanyan Shilu, who believed he had ironclad evidence of the rebellion of King Anton, finally made a bold decision to report to the court and expose Liu Wenyuan.

Based on the information obtained, Wanyan Shilu analyzed that the confrontation between Emperor Liu Wenji and King of Andong Liu Wenyuan had already been exposed and would not be easily resolved.

His memorial was like adding fuel to the fire, making the situation even more heated. The only thing that worried Wanyan Shilu was that something went wrong during the secret mission to Youzhou, and he was found out and failed to control it, so he committed suicide.
(End of this chapter)