It can be said that in Liu Xie’s view, using such rootless barbarians like the Southern Huns is much more reassuring to him than employing the Han generals of the Central Plains.

However, in Sima Yi’s perspective, this fundamentally isolates oneself from the world. Bringing the Southern Huns southward has never been a problem for the Han Dynasty, as the Southern Huns have always been submissive under the Han Dynasty, and serving as an auxiliary army posed no issue.

The problem lies in Liu Xie’s lack of control over the power of the Southern Huns. Liu Xie’s method of bringing the Southern Huns south is completely different from Yuan Shao’s approach of bringing the Northern Hu people southward back then.

Liu Xie issues an imperial edict and then waits passively for the Southern Huns to arrive in Chang’an and obediently follow his commands. In contrast, Yuan Shao used recruitment: either you come, or you die, and during that time, anyone daring to defy the Yuan Clan’s military discipline would be directly executed.

Liu Xie lacks such power; he only has one edict to call the Southern Huns south, an edict that grants them righteousness. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Sima Yi dares to bet that after receiving this edict, the Southern Hun Chanyu Huchuquan will definitely head south, but the manner in which they go will not be clean at all.

Looting and plundering along the way is almost inevitable. Even the hard work of Li Jue and Zhong Yao to rebuild Zhengguo Canal and the Six Auxiliary Canals will be destroyed again. Meanwhile, most of the main forces in Yongliang have been taken south by Cao Cao, leaving the north almost defenseless.

This complete lack of resistance will turn the edict-driven Southern Huns into outright bandits, committing all kinds of looting and plundering along the way.

The entire journey south could result in hundreds of thousands of civilians north of Chang’an perishing. By the time they reach Chang’an, Huchuquan, having understood the situation, will likely have little respect for Liu Xie. Although they may feign compliance out of respect for the strength of the Han Dynasty’s feudal lords, without benefits, they certainly won’t follow Liu Xie’s orders.

Of course, if it were only this, it would be fine. But the southward move of the Southern Huns is clearly a certain person’s scheme. In the battle between Han and Hu in the northern part of Youzhou, except for the Southern Huns and the Qiang people who are already being Han-ized under Ma Chao’s command, all other Hu tribes have been completely annihilated.

There’s nothing much to say about the Qiang people; they share ancestry with the Han people and have agreed to be Han-ized, so they can assimilate quickly.

Thus, the northern frontier of the Han Dynasty now only has one truly foreign group left, which is the Southern Huns. Although the Southern Huns have already submitted, they still retain some level of independence.

This independence makes no difference from total submission when the Han Dynasty is strong, but if the Han Dynasty ever declines, this independence will lead the Southern Huns to covet the Han Dynasty. Given the current state of the northern frontier, Sima Yi is absolutely convinced that the person behind this will not leave the Southern Huns in the north.

However, to eliminate the Southern Huns, the Han Dynasty currently lacks a justification. It must be noted that even during the previous Han-Hun war, the Northern Huns nearly enlisted all the Miscellaneous Hun tribes, but one tribe remained unmoved—that is, the Southern Huns. The hatred between the Northern and Southern Huns is irreconcilable.

As a result, after the defeat of the Northern Huns, the Southern Huns were, instead, preserved, leaving them as the only foreign tribe in the entire northern frontier. Sima Yi cannot believe that the person behind the scenes will have no designs on the Southern Huns.

So at the time, Sima Yi was guessing how the Southern Huns would meet their end. Before he could figure it out, Liu Xie issued an edict, summoning the Southern Huns to the court to fill the ranks of the West Garden and the Southern Army. Instantly, Sima Yi understood how this last group of Northern Hu would meet their end.

The Southern Huns, arriving under an imperial order, believing they hold righteousness, will inevitably loot and plunder. In the current state of Liu Cao Sunx, it doesn’t matter whether you come under imperial order or not; any foreign tribe daring to loot and plunder the Han Dynasty, after having already annihilated the entire Northern Hu, will be seen as nothing more than another hundred thousand slaves!

Such trifling Southern Huns are nothing; even if the entire population of over a million Southern Huns were replaced with Northern Huns, they would still face no road but death against this tripartite army. After one battle, the northern frontier would be pacified, leaving no hidden threats.

Thus, while Sima Yi and others admire the mastermind’s method of eliminating the turmoil of the northern frontier completely, they also lament Liu Xie’s act of burying his own kingdom.

Honestly, given the current situation, if Liu Xie doesn’t seek his own demise, and if Liu Bei honors his promise, even if Liu Xie cannot hold power, he can still peacefully remain emperor for a lifetime and then pass the throne to Liu Bei’s descendants, ensuring that the Han Dynasty’s realm remains the Han Dynasty’s realm.

But now that this edict to summon the Southern Huns has been issued, once the situation in the north unfolds, with the tripartite forces pacifying the Southern Huns, Liu Xie will likely be besieged by the aristocratic families under heaven and the Pure Stream scholars!

In an era where public opinion can be that destructive, whether Liu Xie’s position as emperor can be maintained is a question, and him being driven to suicide by public pressure is not impossible.

These methods are sinister and ruthless, offering no path of survival, completely pushing Liu Xie to a dead end, and the ultimate beneficiary is undoubtedly Liu Bei.

[I’m genuinely curious, if Liu Xie perishes, how would Liu Bei choose—would he refuse the throne, or accept the position of emperor after repeated attempts to decline?] A thought involuntarily crossed Sima Yi’s mind as he lowered his head, [If Liu Xie dies and Liu Bei becomes emperor, in some respect, it means I have won. I don’t believe Chen Zichuan and Zhuge Kongming cannot see the profit chain involved.]

As soon as this thought emerged, Sima Yi immediately suppressed it, but the idea seemed to deeply root itself in Sima Yi’s heart.

"It was not suggested by anyone, but rather it came to me," Liu Xie, with a hint of pride in his expression, even admired the sudden flash of inspiration he had.

Sima Yi was taken aback, and after a moment of silence, he asked, "May I ask where Your Majesty came up with this method?"

"In the study." Liu Xie replied with a touch of pride, emphasizing that this plan was entirely his own idea.

Seeing Liu Xie’s expression, Sima Yi was convinced he was not faking it. He couldn’t help but feel a bit troubled; if this plan was genuinely Liu Xie’s own idea, then it truly signals the end of Liu Xie’s vitality.

"Zhongda, do you not believe me? Come, come, take a look." Liu Xie, in high spirits, immediately called Sima Yi over to his side, and on the table was a map. It depicted the Battle of Mount Houtian, where the Southern Huns, upon receiving the order of the Son of Heaven of Han, cooperated in the attack against the Northern Huns.

"This is the map of the Battle of Tianshan. Where did Your Majesty find it?" Sima Yi recognized it immediately, but he saw nothing particularly notable about it.

"On the bookshelf," Liu Xie replied with a smile. "It was this map that inspired me, showing me that I am not without troops."

Sima Yi’s brow furrowed deeply. This all seemed like a coincidence, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Logically, even if Liu Xie had seen the Mount Houtian map, he would still find it hard to think of mobilizing the Southern Huns.

But ’hard’ doesn’t mean impossible, meaning there was still a possibility that Liu Xie came up with this plan after seeing the map on a whim.

"Since it was Your Majesty’s own consideration, then I have overthought it," Sima Yi reconsidered and even made an unconsciously gentle motion of smoothing the map, finally confirming that there was indeed no problem, [It seems the end is truly near.]

At this moment, Sima Yi inadvertently noticed a eunuch arranging books on a shelf, casually placing them without knowledge, an unmistakably illiterate eunuch. Sima Yi abruptly asked, "Your Majesty, what books have you been reading lately?"

"Books about the Southern Huns." Liu Xie answered naturally.

"I will also go and look at the related books," said Sima Yi, keeping his expression unchanged but inwardly sighing, [Such a brilliant tactic, if I hadn’t been in close contact with the Emperor, perhaps no one would realize that the Emperor has already been schemed against, though it remains unclear.]