Chapter 554: The Great Migration to Hebei (Part 2)

North of Miyun County in Tanzhou lies the governor’s office of Raozhou. Traveling north along the Luan River, one soon reaches vast plains. The peaks of the Yanshan Mountains in the distance appear as if finely carved, with a gentle slope extending down to the undulating hills at their feet. The hills are covered with dense forests—endless primeval woods that stretch as far as the eye can see. Outside the forests lie expansive grasslands, where green grasses thrive under the blue sky. Herds of cattle and sheep graze leisurely by the rivers, while shepherd boys lie by the water, daydreaming about their future.

It was a peaceful morning, but the tranquility was shattered by the sound of rapid horse hooves. The shepherd boy jumped up in fright, staring blankly into the distance. A group of cavalry was rushing toward them at lightning speed, crossing the river in an instant and heading northeast. The boy scratched the back of his head, wondering who these people were and why they were in such a hurry.

The cavalry came from Fanyang, carrying urgent messages to the Xixia tribes’ camp, located in the northeast of Raolezhou, near Tang Dynasty’s Yingzhou. At that time, the area around Li Yanchong’s camp was bustling. Thousands of tents stretched for miles. Today, Li Yanchong was hosting a distinguished guest from the Tang Dynasty—An Lushan, the military governor of Fanyang.

Inside a large cowhide tent that could hold hundreds of people, the air was filled with noise and steam. The strong scent of beef and mutton filled the tent. Two strong men were wrestling in the open space, with cheers rising in waves. Along one side of the tent, rows of low tables were set with mountains of meat, plenty of wine, and various seasonal fruits in large ceramic bowls.

Sheepskin was spread on the ground beside the tables, where dozens of hosts and guests sat, toasting and eating meat, chatting lively. Among them were Li Yanchong and An Lushan.

An Lushan had been away for nearly half a month. He had visited the surrounding areas, pacifying tribes such as the Khitans and Turks one by one. Now, it was time for the Xixia—this was the key to his northern expedition.

Li Yanchong, the Prince of Huaixin, was in his forties. He was tall and robust, with a large head and a thick beard. He spoke in a loud voice and was extremely generous when it came to drinking. Yet his eyes were small and often squinted, revealing a sly glint.

Li Yanchong held An Lushan in great respect, to the point of extreme subservience—local officials were considered inferior to his current ruler. Although Li Yanchong was a vassal of the Tang Dynasty, An Lushan was his true ruler. However, the Xi people, like the Khitans, were highly independent, and An Lushan was only their nominal ruler. His courtesy today stemmed from Li Yanchong knowing that An Lushan’s purpose in coming was to ask him to send troops for assistance.

Li Yanchong’s Xi tribe had 80,000 fierce warriors, each one a deadly combatant—this was his greatest asset. An Lushan wanted to borrow this most precious resource; how could Li Yanchong let him take it so easily?

Of course, Li Yanchong was willing to lend troops. He knew An Lushan was planning to rebel. Once An Lushan attacked the counties in Hebei, it would be the time for the Xi people to prosper—women, wealth, gold, and jewels were all things their tribe longed for. How could he give up such an opportunity? But negotiations were necessary, and An Lushan had to meet his most important condition.

“General An, I offer this cup of wine to you once again, thanking you for your special care over the years!”

Li Yanchong stood up and poured a full cup of goat milk wine for An Lushan. An Lushan had already drunk quite a bit; his pumpkin-like face was red as pig liver. He shook his head in refusal. “I won’t drink your wine. Unless you agree to lend troops, I won’t drink another drop of yours today.”

“Ah! It’s just lending troops, right? No problem! With General An here in person, how could I refuse? Let’s drink this cup first, then discuss lending troops.”

Li Yanchong narrowed his eyes, a sly look appearing in them. An Lushan seemed not to notice and chuckled. “Very well! I’ll drink this cup, then we can discuss business.”

Instead of taking Li Yanchong’s cup, he picked up his own and drank it in one gulp, then turned the cup upside down on the table to show it was empty.

“Good! Decisive.”

Li Yanchong waved, and two young, beautiful Xi girls came over to pour wine for An Lushan. Pointing at them, Li Yanchong said to An Lushan with a smile, “These two beauties are only sixteen and untouched. How about letting them serve you tonight?”

The two girls blushed and turned away. In the past, An Lushan’s lusty nature would have made him accept such an offer, but today he wasn’t in the mood. If he didn’t secure the Xi army soon, it would severely affect his plans to march south. At this moment, even the most beautiful girls were less important than 80,000 troops.

But false courtesy was still necessary. An Lushan laughed and said, “I appreciate Governor Li’s kindness. I’ll take the two women, but I’d be even happier if we could discuss borrowing troops.”
“Very well! Let’s talk about borrowing troops.”
Seeing that the time was right, Li Yanchong stopped delaying. He sat down, took a slow sip of wine, then smiled and said, “The commander has sent people several times to ask about borrowing troops. Of course, I’m willing, but there are many differing opinions within my clan. Just my willingness isn’t enough; I also need to persuade the elders. Alas! To be honest with you, it’s hard to satisfy everyone!”
An Lushan cursed inwardly. What nonsense about it being hard to satisfy everyone? After all these years, how could he not know that it was Li Yanchong who held the real power? He was just making excuses.
An Lushan didn’t say much more and directly asked, “Just tell me! What’s the highest demand from your clan?”
“Well…”
Li Yanchong thought for a moment, narrowed his eyes, and said, “We want 200,000 women from Chang’an.”
“That’s unacceptable!”
An Lushan’s expression darkened. 200,000 women from Chang’an—that was too much. He couldn’t do that. “Choose another city! Chang’an is the capital; it’s too difficult.”
An Lushan knew that the Xi people, like the Khitans, were extremely lustful. They usually went to war to plunder women. If they joined his forces, they would surely plunder along the way. And not only that—they even wanted Chang’an! If he gave them the women from Chang’an, he wouldn’t be able to remain emperor of Great Yan.
Seeing An Lushan refuse outright, Li Yanchong’s expression changed. He said coldly, “Commander An, my soldiers are willing to die for you. Aren’t you even willing to give them a woman?”
Thinking about borrowing troops, An Lushan’s tone softened again. “Won’t you have enough women after plundering along the way? How about something else? How about I give you one million guan?”
Money—of course, Li Yanchong wanted that too. But that could be plundered along the way, while women were more important, especially those from Chang’an, who were top-quality. He had been to Chang’an once and was utterly fascinated. Still, he shook his head. “Commander, you don’t understand! The women plundered along the way are just for fun. Can we really send them back to our tribe? We Xi people have 200,000 men. I plan to match each one with a Tang woman from Chang’an to bear children for us. Our population is too small; we need a large number of women.”
An Lushan still refused. “Chang’an is the capital; it’s too sensitive. If you choose another city, I’ll agree.”
“Very well!”
Li Yanchong then settled for less: “I want 300,000 women from Luoyang. This time, Commander An, you won’t have any problems, right?”

An Lushan was stunned for a moment. Luoyang? He had indeed forgotten—that place wasn’t viable either. He had only thought of ordinary prefectures and counties, never considering large cities like Luoyang and Chang’an.

Li Yanchong observed his expression carefully. Seeing the difficulty on An Lushan’s face, he knew he was refusing again, which filled him with anger. If Chang’an wasn’t given and Luoyang wasn’t given either, did he still expect his soldiers to risk their lives for him?

He deliberately stretched out his tone and said, “Commander, please think it over again! My 80,000 troops are all ready to die for you—something no one else can do. You don’t need to rush to decide. I’ll wait to hear from you tomorrow.”

Just as An Lushan was about to speak, his bodyguard behind him suddenly whispered, “Commander, it seems there’s urgent military news.”

An Lushan froze. Sure enough, there was a messenger from Fanyang at the entrance of the tent, looking extremely anxious. He then smiled at Li Yanchong and said, “Governor Li, please wait here. I’ll be back in a moment.”

An Lushan stepped out of the tent, frowning, and asked the messenger officer, “What’s happened? Why such panic?”

The officer stepped forward and handed over a letter. “Commander, this is a letter from Mr. Gao. There’s trouble in Hebei.”

“Trouble? What kind of trouble?”

An Lushan took the letter and tore it open quickly, scanning its contents in haste. He was shocked—the imperial court had been relocating large numbers of people to Hebei for over a dozen days already. This was serious. If the peasants left, who would grow food for his troops? He became anxious and wanted to issue orders, but he wasn’t familiar with the situation. His only option now was to rush back immediately to handle it, but the matter of borrowing troops from the Xianbei people was holding him back. This couldn’t be delayed any longer.

An Lushan gritted his teeth. Fine, he would agree to it for now and discuss it later. He quickly returned to the tent and sat down. Raising a cup of wine, he said to Li Yanchong, “Very well! Let’s drink this cup to seal the deal.”

Li Yanchong was stunned. An Lushan had actually agreed! He hurriedly confirmed, “Luoyang, 300,000 women.”

“That’s right. I agree to it.”

Li Yanchong was overjoyed and quickly raised his cup. “Then let’s make it official!”

The two clinked their cups and laughed together.

Three days later, An Lushan rushed back to Youzhou. Although he had already installed a new emperor and proclaimed himself Minister of State, none of the provinces and counties in the realm recognized him, turning his act of establishing an emperor into a mockery. He became somewhat disheartened. Though this puppet emperor would still be useful in the future, An Lushan no longer treated him favorably, locking him up in an empty royal mansion. The so-called imperial court became a mere shell, and those who had held positions as ministers and prime ministers reverted to their original statuses. Shi Siming, Gao Shang, Cai Xide, Li Huaixian, Zhang Zhongzhi, Li Guiren, and others all took off their official robes and once again became An Lushan’s generals and advisors. Even An Lushan himself no longer wanted to be Minister of State; he remained the King of Yan while also keeping his position as military governor of Fanyang.

In An Lushan’s command tent, he sat on his command chair, with a dozen of his trusted generals and advisors standing by. With a gloomy expression, he listened to Zhang Tongru, the intelligence chief, reporting on the migration efforts.

“The migration has been going on for half a month. In all the provinces and counties of Hebei Circuit, except for a few areas north of Youzhou, the rest are carrying out large-scale population transfers. The five provinces of Xiang, Wei, Bei, Ming, and Bo have the largest numbers of people moving, especially Xiangzhou, where the population has dropped by 70%. Preliminary estimates suggest that nearly four hundred thousand people have migrated to Hedong Circuit.”

“Damn it!”

An Lushan could no longer hold back. He picked up the inkstone on the table and smashed it violently onto the ground. ‘Bang!’ Shards of the inkstone flew everywhere. Four hundred thousand peasants—what did that mean? It meant nearly half of Hebei Circuit’s population had fled. If everyone left, who would support his army?

Furious, he shouted at his subordinates, “What are you all doing? Just standing there watching people run away? Why don’t you stop them? Speak! Why?”

Everyone lowered their heads. Although the fault lay with An Lushan himself—having issued strict orders that any movement of more than a hundred people required his order arrow, and a movement of a thousand soldiers required his golden token, while an army of ten thousand needed the Tiger Talisman—those who violated these rules faced the same consequence: those who deployed troops without authorization would be executed on the spot!

This was something known throughout the Fanyang army. Now, An Lushan himself refused to acknowledge it. Though everyone understood the situation, no one dared speak up. If they exposed the truth and angered An Lushan, everyone would suffer.

At that moment, advisor Gao Shang stepped forward and said, “My lord, please calm down. This matter is not that simple. If we act rashly, it could ruin your plans.”

An Lushan trusted Gao Shang the most. Hearing this, he gradually calmed down and said, “How is it not simple? Explain.”

“Commander, intercepting immigrants is simple. The key issue is that Guo Ziyi’s army of 100,000 is right at the border of Hebei. Once we start intercepting immigrants, Guo Ziyi’s troops will surely intervene. That will intensify the conflict and could lead to a major war. Since you’re not in Youzhou, if the situation worsens, we might suffer even greater losses, and it could also affect your grand plans.”
“Hmm!”
An Lushan let out a long sigh, his anger subsiding slightly. In truth, he understood that the real reason was the lack of his military orders—everyone dared to send troops only because Gao Shang was trying to find an excuse to blame him.
He nodded and said, “What the sir says makes sense too. I’m not yet ready to launch an uprising. If a real war breaks out, the situation could get out of control. But…”
At the word “but,” An Lushan’s voice turned stern again. He shouted at everyone, “The harvest is approaching, yet the farmers have all fled. What will we do about the harvest? I absolutely cannot allow Hebei to turn into a wasteland. From now on, not a single immigrant is allowed to leave. Even if it means confronting Guo Ziyi, we must act—we need to punish them as a warning to others!”
After saying that, he scanned the crowd before fixing his gaze on Shi Siming.
“Shi Siming, heed my orders!”
“Your subordinate is here!”
Shi Siming stepped forward, bowed, and clasped his fists. “Please give your orders, Commander.”
An Lushan took out a golden tiger talisman and slammed it on the table. He said viciously, “I’m giving you 30,000 troops to head to Jingxing. Kill 5,000 farmers and use their heads as a warning to those who flee!”