Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 599: General Zhen Wei
"Seek the highest and obtain the middle" can be said to be the best portrayal of the State of Chu in the eighth year of the Chu calendar.
Originally, Bai Tu wanted to completely destroy the Wei navy, fully mobilize the Chaohai Peninsula and the tribes in the north that were enslaved by the Wei clan, and at the same time use the advantage of sea transport to capture Yecheng by surprise and play the signboard of "Chu An Wei Hou"...
However, in reality it was obviously not that successful!
Among the three goals, only the first one was completed to a high degree - the Wei navy was indeed defeated and even the shipyards were mostly "cleaned up", and the Chu State achieved complete control over the Bohai Sea.
As for the other two goals, with the current achievements of the Enlightenment Department, it would not be difficult to mobilize foreign tribes to besiege the Wei State, which they were already gnashing their teeth against.
However... the degree of infiltration of the Ministry of Enlightenment is not high enough among the high-level leaders of each tribe, and there is no guarantee of complete control. In order to avoid causing pure ethnic conflicts and causing unnecessary innocent casualties, Bai Tu did not take this step.
It was a worthy death to fight bravely against the Wei clan in pursuit of one's own liberation, but it was too unfair to fight to the death with the Han people in the north just to vent one's anger...
Whether it is the Peninsula, the Three Han, Buyeo, Goguryeo in the north, Xianbei and Wuhuan in the east, the level of civilization is lower than Bai Tu expected, and it is still pure slavery.
In order to mobilize these forces safely, it is necessary to either "enlighten" more tribal leaders or pull up the tribal bottoms, just like the overseas indigenous people. In short, the slave-owning leaders cannot be allowed to "act recklessly". Otherwise, what is launched is just an invasion by the northern barbarians, which is not enough to cause trouble.
Now the powerful families of Wei State have no time to take care of themselves, and many of these tribes have fallen into civil strife.
After all, after the direct "foreign enemies" disappeared, the guys who talked about Chu Xue all the time were very annoying in the eyes of the slave owners.
The State of Chu naturally stands on the side of the supporters of Chu School. It does not need to send troops directly, but only needs some generals and equipment. The current situation is pretty good.
However, before the integration is truly completed, the Chu State will not actually use this potential power.
In addition, in terms of the landing battle, there was no hope of capturing Yecheng, but for the State of Chu, capturing Nanpi, an important town in the north, was already commendable enough.
The strong walls of Nanpi, combined with the powerful artillery of Chu State already on the wall, as well as the blood transfusions from Bohai Port and Yanci Port, made it difficult for Wei State to pull out this "nail" that had already been driven in, even if the southern soldiers were not good at fighting in the north, especially in the north in winter!
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the State of Chu officially announced that Marquis An Wei would take office in Nanpi, and... Yu Jin was also "sent" back to Jinling at this time.
"The foreign minister will be punished and will meet the King of Chu."
As expected, Yu Jin only surrendered on the battlefield but did not take refuge.
Moreover, even if he surrendered... ...such a general who had an obvious Cao Wei label and even had his family in Yecheng, Bai Tu would not dare to use him even if he just said he would surrender without any evidence.
So after Yu Jin arrived in Jinling, Bai Tu only met him symbolically.
"General Yu, excuse me. Previously in Nanpi, you surrendered to Chu at the right time, which reduced the casualties of soldiers on both sides. What crime have you committed?"
"I have failed to repay the king's kindness, and I have failed to protect the border and the people. I do not deserve the praise from the king of Chu."
From the title, it can be seen that Yu Jin still regards himself as a minister of Wei.
“I know about your kindness to the King of Wei. You are not very good at defending the border, but as for pacifying the people… If I fail to pacify the people, it is my fault for not surrendering earlier.” Bai Tu was neither humble nor polite.
After all, he also knew that it was obviously impossible to completely subdue Yu Jin just by capturing him.
As expected...Yu Jin just wanted Bai Tu to allow him to "retire and return home" in recognition of his role in reducing the casualties of the Chu army.
"Well, although it did not change the situation of the war, General Yu's final order was indeed full of humanistic care. The previous resistance to the heavenly soldiers was just for their own masters..."
Bai Tu did not refuse this, but...
"General Yu wants to retire in Nanjing, which is not impossible, but there are also procedures for retirement..."
Although Xiahou Yuan might help a little, Bai Tu was still very considerate. He appointed Yu Jin as the General of Zhen Wei without requiring him to lead troops and granted him the rank of General Ji.
Since he had come to Jinling, Yu Jin could choose not to accept the salary, but his official position would definitely be forcibly granted to him, and... the news would be spread to Nanpi.
In this way, Nanpi theoretically became the place where "Marquis of An Wei" Cao Pi and "General Zhen Wei" Yu Jin were defending, but in reality Yu Jin would not leave Jinling, and Cao Pi was just a mascot with a little autonomy and initiative.
Although everyone knows that the so-called Marquis of An Wei is just a puppet of the State of Chu, in addition to the nominal convenience, it also gives the northern gentry an opportunity to re-align themselves.
The aristocratic families who were originally worried that the Chu State and the southern gentry would excessively squeeze the living environment of the northern gentry after moving north now had another consideration besides "sticking together to defend".
Of course, this only applies to the "conservative" part of the aristocratic families. As for those who have already transformed into "aristocratic families", they cannot be subdued by any gentle means.
However, the method of destruction is also very particular. It could be the external iron fist of the Chu State, or the internal strife among the northern gentry. As far as Bai Tu knows, after this Battle of Bohai and the subsequent battles around Bohai, the emerging aristocratic forces in the north suffered extremely serious trauma!
Take the Xun family of Yingchuan for example. Xun Yu had always been firmly on the side of the Wei Kingdom, or rather the King of Wei, and tried his best to suppress the aristocratic factions within the Xun family. However, under the strategy of raising wolves by the Wei court, the Xun family inevitably split into some radical elements... or even a large part!
Originally, because the aristocratic factions "grabbed the meat" too quickly, the original aristocratic family factions naturally shrank rapidly. However, after the Battle of Bohai, this situation was reversed.
The aristocratic factions nowadays are much more aggressive than those in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. They have no tacit understanding with other aristocratic families, or even the aristocratic factions they were originally from. Especially after the crazy expansion in the past two years, the aristocratic factions have shown their claws and teeth...
At the same time, the Battle of Bohai also caused changes within the northern gentry, and the aristocratic factions began to be suppressed.
For example, the Xun family's suppression was done by relying on the power of the Wei court and starting to get closer to the King of Wei. Some aristocratic families also began to contact the Chu State privately and combined with the power of the Chu State to suppress the aristocratic families!
This is exactly what the Chu State wanted to achieve - to identify the "enemy" more accurately. In this way, not only would the number of enemies be reduced, but the "digestion" of the Wei State would also be faster and smoother in the future.
Although Yu Jin was helpless about Bai Tu's reward, he had no choice but to refuse. The only thing he could refuse was to not receive the salary, so... he moved in with Xiahou Yuan.
When the weather completely entered the depths of winter in the twelfth lunar month, Nanpi in the Bohai Sea also became quiet, and Baitu ... or the focus of the whole world, was concentrated on Longxi!
