Chapter 1362 - 1289: Aunt and Nephew
Tuoba Liuxiu knelt on the ground, holding onto Zhao Hanzhang’s leg and crying loudly, recounting in detail the events of the past month and feeling wronged, "The Han texts say that both parents love their children. I am also his son, why doesn’t he love me?"
Tuoba Liuxiu wiped away his tears with his rough sleeve and asked Zhao Hanzhang, full of tears, "Is it because of my fierce character that he dislikes me?"
Zhao Hanzhang said: "Perhaps you lack the bond of father and son. The bonds of this world are mysterious. He gave birth to you, which is one fate, but you don’t get along well, so it isn’t a good fate."
"He is your father. He believes that your life, your skills, and everything about you come from him, so he thinks the power of life and death over you is his alone." Seeing his look of disapproval, she asked, "Do you disagree with this view?"
Tuoba Liuxiu turned his head away, and after a moment said, "Although it’s unfilial to say so, I still have to say, I’m not his, at least not entirely his, I am also my mother’s!"
Zhao Hanzhang paced on the spot and spoke to Tuoba Liuxiu, "Liuxiu, you are your own person. Your parents gave birth to you, which is a mutual choice between you and your parents. You chose them as parents, and they chose you as a child. This is a type of bond, yet it is merely a bond."
"Since it is a bond, there are good bonds and bad bonds. It’s just unfortunate that the bond between you and your father is a bad bond."
Tuoba Liuxiu listened, bewildered, half understanding and half not, "So, Aunt, you mean that my backlash against my father isn’t a great sin, and that you also agree with my capture of my father?"
Zhao Hanzhang nodded.
Tuoba Liuxiu’s face shifted several times before he still asked, "And if I were to kill him..."
Zhao Hanzhang shook her head slightly at him and said, "Even if the bond between you and your father is a bad one, you cannot kill him, Liuxiu. In all things, one must be true to their conscience. He has already failed, so why press him further?"
Tuoba Liuxiu bowed his head and said, "If you send him back to Dai Country, I will have no place to stand in Dai Country. Please take pity on me and let me stay by your side as a guard to live out my days."
Zhao Hanzhang asked him, "You are the legitimate eldest son of the King of Dai. According to our Han tradition, the title should be inherited by the legitimate eldest. Have you ever thought about how you would govern Dai Country after inheriting it?"
Tuoba Liuxiu’s eyes shone, "I will obey the court, consolidate the Thirty-two Tribes, strengthen the military and soldiers, then march westward and northward, subduing all the tribes not yet under control, and dedicate them to Your Majesty."
Zhao Hanzhang: "Is there only expansion and no plan for governing the country and its people?"
Tuoba Liuxiu: "Of course there is. Make them breed more horses and more cattle and sheep, that should suffice."
Zhao Hanzhang said, "The military service in Dai Country is heavy. Every family has people serving in the army. Sometimes, there are even three generations of soldiers, separated into different armies. Occasionally, in inter-tribal conflicts, fathers and sons, or grandfathers and grandsons, might meet on the battlefield as enemies. Have you not thought about changing this?"
Tuoba Liuxiu: "This is just an exception. It’s because that tribe was conscripted, and later, during tribal migrations and army allocations, the tents happened to separate them into different countries, causing two or three generations in different camps... I’ll have them change it when I return, and place the whole family in one army."
Zhao Hanzhang: ...Is that the crux of the problem?
Tuoba Liuxiu glanced at Zhao Hanzhang’s face and said quietly, "Aunt, the Xianbei people have herded for generations, and become soldiers. We can’t farm, nor can we learn to. Only by being soldiers can we seize territory and ensure our descendants’ survival. I know you want me to reduce military service, but it’s not possible."
Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow, lowered her eyes in thought before asking, "What about the harsh laws of Dai Country?"
"That can be changed." Although Tuoba Liuxiu was fierce, he disliked his father’s practice of implicating families, "If one person commits a crime, only that person should be punished, not their family and neighbors."
Zhao Hanzhang leaned forward, staring at him, "What if I ask you to relinquish the power to govern the people?"
Tuoba Liuxiu opened his mouth in surprise and couldn’t respond immediately.
Zhao Hanzhang said, "You will still be the King of Dai. You will have military power, the responsibility to defend the borders, and expand territories, and participate in government affairs, but the governance of Dai Country will be administered by court-appointed officials, and the laws followed will be those of Hua Country."
Tuoba Liuxiu looked at Zhao Hanzhang, gazing directly into her eyes. Seeing only determination in her gaze, he knew this matter was unchangeable.
He pondered for a moment, then bowed his head and responded, "As you wish."
Zhao Hanzhang’s lips curved slightly, reaching out to help him up from the ground, seating him opposite her, "I have said, regardless of the ethnicity, all originate from the Yanhuang, thus all are people of Hua Country. I love you as I love the Han people, like my own children."
"The autonomous vassal state of Dai Country harms the people more than it benefits them. Otherwise, why would that peasant woman report the King of Dai? Don’t forget, although she’s from Xinping City, she’s also a person of Dai Country."
Zhao Hanzhang said, "You are a valiant general, yet you don’t know how to govern people. If everything follows the old ways, over time, to the people of Dai Country, you will one day become like your father."
The same, after falling into hardship, they will choose to betray you.
Tuoba Liuxiu’s body trembled, and he bowed down, "Please teach me, Your Majesty."
This time, he was much more sincere.
Tuoba Liuxiu was also very concerned about his father, so he asked, "Will Your Majesty execute him in the name of the court?"
Execute what, why does this child always think about executing Tuoba Yilu?
Zhao Hanzhang: "I plan to keep him as a guest in Luoyang for a long time."
As a hostage, Tuoba Liuxiu frowned, "I’m afraid the Thirty-two Tribes and the old ministers of Dai Country won’t be willing."
Zhao Hanzhang: "That depends on your abilities."
Tuoba Liuxiu was stunned, but then understood.
She had already handed him the power, and whether he could hold it depended on his abilities.
Tuoba Liuxiu was not foolish, and immediately said, "I ask for your assistance, Aunt."
Zhao Hanzhang nodded, "General Beigong and General Shi will both assist you, especially General Shi."
She said, "I plan to reassign Dai Country under Youzhou, and your Tuoba Clan will be granted the fiefdom of Dai, hereditary noble title, to manage the Xianbei on behalf of the court."
Tuoba Liuxiu asked, "Can’t Dai Country become a separate state?"
He didn’t want to work under Shi Le, that Shi Le... is very fierce.
Zhao Hanzhang said, "Dai Country is too small to form a state."
Tuoba Liuxiu’s eyes shifted, asking, "Your Majesty, what if I conquer the northern Qiang and Hu, as well as the northern Shengle?"
Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow, "We’ll see."
Though she hadn’t agreed, she hadn’t immediately opposed either, which meant it was feasible.
Tuoba Liuxiu, in high spirits, cupped his hands and said, "Rest assured, Aunt, I will surely expand the territory for you."
Zhao Hanzhang smiled slightly. The current locations of the Qiang and Hu are Ningxia, northern Shanxi, and southern Inner Mongolia, not quite territorial expansion, but still primarily tribal conflicts.
In terms of tribal conflict and governance, Xianbei people, also of a minority ethnicity, are more adept. Zhao Hanzhang originally intended to assign this task to Beigong Chun, but having an additional Tuoba Liuxiu wasn’t bad either.