After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Wei Xiong felt utterly humiliated—how would the historians write about him in the future?

Would they pin the cause of this father-and-son bloodshed on strategists like them? Would later generations think they were useless, that they couldn’t even dissuade such great evil?

Most crucial of all, how were they supposed to defend themselves—that they had actually chosen such a man to assist, and assisted him for so many years?

Ji Dan, however, didn’t care that much about his posthumous reputation. He asked Wei Xiong, "Between Ping City and Xinping City, who do you think will win?"

"Is that even a question? Naturally, Ping City."

Xinping City was just a small city, and Tuoba Liuxiu’s power wasn’t great, while Tuoba Yilu controlled the entire Xianbei Clan’s military strength.

Ji Dan shook his head. "Not necessarily. Don’t forget, Zhao Hanzhang in Luoyang has been secretly funding Xinping City all along, and cares quite a bit about this nephew. Luoyang has the Qianli Voice-Transmission treasure; military orders can reach Bingzhou in an instant. If Beigong Chun were to send troops to aid him..."

In truth, they were underestimating Tuoba Liuxiu. In history, even without Zhao Hanzhang’s assistance, he still killed the younger brother and father who came to attack him.

All the more so now that he had Zhao Hanzhang as a faint, looming support behind him.

Ji Dan was hinting that Wei Xiong should make a new choice.

Wei Xiong’s face darkened, and he refused outright. "A father and son turning on each other is already a great evil. If I help the son rebel against the father, that’s even more against Heaven’s order. No!"

At this point a thought stirred in Wei Xiong’s heart. "Perhaps we could try the opposite—go and persuade the Eldest Prince. As long as he takes one step back, presents himself bound and begging forgiveness..."

"That’s impossible," Ji Dan said. "Leaving aside the matter of the Great King using his carriage procession to humiliate the Eldest Prince, don’t forget, Lady Jujube just died in battle protecting him."

Wei Xiong fell silent.

"Besides, do you really think the Great King would let him go just because the Eldest Prince humbles himself and begs forgiveness?" Ji Dan said softly, "The Great King is old, while the Eldest Prince is in his prime. His martial skill and strategic mind are both outstanding. The Great King is afraid of him. The Xianbei... their shifts of power are more brutal than in the Central Plains."

Leaving Wei Jin aside for now, there has not yet been a case where father and son kill each other over the throne, but was Emperor Wu of Han wrongfully killing the Crown Prince merely because he listened to slander?

Or rather, why did he not question the Crown Prince in person, but instead chose to believe the slander straight away?

Because he was old, and the Crown Prince was young; he feared the Crown Prince would usurp him and take his place.

If even the Han Kingdom, famed for its ritual propriety, was like this, how much more so the Xianbei who had not been civilized?

For the chieftain’s seat, fathers killing sons and brothers slaughtering one another are common occurrences—naturally, there are also sons killing fathers, and even wives killing husbands.

Indeed, Xianbei women, due to custom, can stand in for their husbands or sons in wielding power, and can even directly replace their husbands and sons, so their internal struggles are only more savage.

Under such conditions, never mind that Tuoba Yilu has another son—even if he didn’t, he would still choose to kill any son who posed a threat to him, then adopt an heir instead.

His core principle is: don’t insist on continuing the bloodline, just make sure he enjoys himself while alive.

Having followed Tuoba Yilu for many years, Ji Dan had long since seen through the Xianbei Tribe.

Wei Xiong was lost.

Seeing him staring blankly, Ji Dan lowered his voice. "Besides those two paths, there’s one more."

The veins on Wei Xiong’s forehead twitched slightly as his gaze slowly settled on Ji Dan’s face.

Ji Dan met his eyes in silence and said softly, "In Dai Country there are over thirty thousand households of Han people, the Di Clan, and the lower-tier Xianbei. They live in constant fear, endangered by the possibility of being annihilated at any time for violating the laws. You assist in military administration—you should know how many people in the past two years have silently fled conscription with their whole families, and how many have killed themselves as a family to cover one person’s escape. Where do you think they all ran to?"

"You..." Wei Xiong’s voice was harsh and strained. "When did you start thinking along these lines?"

Ji Dan said, "From the day the Great King had the Third Prince sit in his carriage, pretend to be him and parade through the streets to trick the Eldest Prince into kneeling."

Wei Xiong didn’t believe him. "You could decide that quickly to take so many people away?"

Ji Dan spoke in a low voice. "Of course not. You should know, Zhao Hanzhang’s covert network is everywhere. They contacted me three years ago."

Three years ago, the great war with the Xiongnu hadn’t even begun; back then, the Xiongnu Kingdom was still calling itself king and dominating all.

Wei Xiong said, "So when you strongly urged the Great King to send troops to aid Great Jin back then, it was also because..."

Ji Dan said, "Although they did give me a little money, I didn’t do it for the money. I’m a Jin person, a Han person, and I’ve always remembered that."

Wei Xiong was left speechless.

Ji Dan pressed him, "You’d better give me an answer about what you think. From the looks of it, the Great King definitely won’t depart tomorrow. Whether this trip to Luoyang will even happen is uncertain. If he really sends out troops, we must quickly formulate a response."

Wei Xiong held his forehead in thought, and after a long while he asked, "Are you certain you can take all those thirty thousand households with you?"

"I’m certain. That’s their guarantee to me. The people will directly migrate to the Taiyuan, Jinyang, and Pingyang regions—some can even go to the Luoyang area."

Right now, every place is short of people. Let alone thirty thousand households—even if thirty hundred thousand households were handed to Zhao Hanzhang, she could still arrange them properly.

Though, in the world today there simply aren’t three hundred thousand free households for her to arrange.

Wei Xiong ground his teeth. "All right!"

Ji Dan was overjoyed. Wei Xiong was Tuoba Yilu’s Left Guard General; with his consent, the chances of success were much greater.

Wei Xiong said, "Let’s go back and discuss. This matter must be planned with great care."

Ji Dan nodded repeatedly.