Three Kingdoms: Rebirth of Liu Bei, the Zhaolie

After a period of adjustment, the ten tribes of the Western Xianbei Tuoba gradually stabilized.

The Xianbei people, who originally belonged to the Tuoba tribe, gradually adapted to the new management model after being divided into ten tribes by Tuoba Lin, and became accustomed to obeying the Mohefu appointed by Tuoba Lin.

At this time, the leader of the ten Tuoba tribes, Mohefu, held a position equivalent to that of a "big man" in a small or medium-sized tribe, but he was more inclined towards military affairs.

The overall administrative affairs of the ten Tuoba tribes were still managed by Tuoba Lin.

Following Liu Bei's advice, Tuoba Lin proclaimed himself "Khan".

Khan means "ruler of a country" or "king".

Gradually, all the Xianbei people of the ten Tuoba tribes also began to call Tuoba Lin "Khan".

Because Tuoba Lin was busy with affairs, the position of Mohefu of the Tuoba main force was taken over by his son Tuoba Jiefen, who was in his twenties.

Thus, Tuoba Jiefen became a tribal military leader of roughly equal status to his nine uncles.

At Liu Bei's suggestion, Tuoba Lin adopted the military system of the Han Dynasty, with slight modifications:

Five men form a squad, with a squad leader in charge;

Ten men form a squad, with a squad leader in charge;

Fifty people form a team, with a team leader;

A garrison of one hundred men was established, with a centurion in charge.

A thousand men form a unit, with a commander of a thousand men;

An army of ten thousand men is formed, and a commander of ten thousand men is appointed.

It can be described as concise and clear.

The western Xianbei had a total of 24 settlements, each with nearly 10,000 people, totaling more than 200,000 people.

Excluding the elderly, women, and children, there were approximately 40,000 Xianbei cavalrymen who could serve as warriors and fight on the grasslands.

Liu Bei observed that Xianbei families typically consisted of four or five people.

Such a family needs fourteen or fifteen horses, four or five camels, a dozen or so cows, and hundreds of sheep to make a living.

In a Xianbei family, there would often be one, two, or even three strong men who could join the army and become cavalrymen.

In most cases, a family only needed to provide at least one cavalryman for the tribe. The rest of the able-bodied men were responsible for herding and supporting the family.

Some Xianbei people even learned from the Han people to cultivate food crops on the land. Of course, the vast majority of them made a living by herding livestock.

When it was time to go to war, the strong men of each Xianbei family would often take four or five warhorses with them to the battlefield.

Two or three of the horses were used for changing rides, while the rest were used to carry various military equipment, dried meat, and to provide mare's milk.

Whenever he charged into battle, he would ride the best of these four or five warhorses.

The Tuoba tribe comprised five settlements, totaling over 50,000 people, and had approximately 10,000 Xianbei cavalry. Among the various Xianbei tribes in the west, they were considered the most powerful.

Liu Bei suggested that Tuoba Lin select the three thousand most valiant cavalrymen from among the ten thousand Xianbei cavalrymen to form a personal guard to protect the camp and intimidate the other ten Tuoba tribes, so that they would not dare to act rashly. Therefore, they could be called the "personal guards under the camp", or simply the "camp army" or "camp army".

This was used to indicate that these elite troops were the personal guards specifically protecting the Khan's tent.

Finally, Tuoba Lin chose "Yazhang Army" as the designation for the personal guards protecting the Yazhang.

Of the 10,000 Xianbei cavalrymen of the Tuoba tribe, 3,000 were selected as the Yazhang Army, while the remaining 7,000 cavalrymen were divided equally among the ten tribes of the Tuoba, with each tribe receiving about 700 men.

Mohefu, the leader of the ten Tuoba tribes, was the commander of these seven hundred Xianbei cavalrymen. These seven hundred cavalrymen were divided into seven garrisons, each commanded by a centurion.

The Xianbei cavalry had long been engaged in open field battles, so they had a very sophisticated set of tactics and basically did not need Liu Bei's help in training them.

On the contrary, Liu Bei secretly learned a lot of field tactics for heavy and light cavalry from the Xianbei people.

Nomadic peoples are generally good at open-field battles, but not at siege warfare.

This is determined by their national characteristics.

Tuoba Lin trusted Liu Bei and others completely, and he did not shy away from showing his trust even when training troops.

After spending some time together, he came to believe that Liu Bei was a man of great talent and ability, so he asked Liu Bei to give advice on their cavalry training.

However, Liu Bei felt that the Xianbei cavalry tactics were very impressive, so he brought his twenty-eight elite cavalrymen, including Xu Wushan, and subjected them to rigorous daily training in accordance with the Xianbei cavalry's field combat methods.

Besides Liu Yu, Liu Gao, Jian Yong, and Zhang Fang, Liu Bei, Qian Zhao, Guan Yu, Dongye Ban, Xinyuan Jian, Zuo Zi, Zhang Ba, Wulu Dawang, Yang Feng, and others also joined the training camp to learn the Xianbei cavalry's charge tactics.

On this day, Tuoba Lin personally came to a remote wilderness area far from the tribe to train his three thousand elite troops.

Liu Bei, Qian Zhao, Guan Yu, and others, along with Xu Wushan's twenty-eight elite cavalrymen, trained the Xianbei cavalry in charge tactics.

Just then, they suddenly heard the thunderous sound of horses' hooves approaching from the east.

Everyone looked eastward and saw about sixty or seventy Xianbei cavalrymen galloping toward them from a few hundred meters away.

Gradually, it got closer and closer.

Only then did Liu Bei clearly see the group of Xianbei cavalry. He was covered in sweat, and his eyes revealed undisguised fear. He shouted in broken Han language:

"Lü Bu! Lü Bu! Lü Bu..."

"These Xianbei cavalrymen seem to be calling out Lü Bu's name?"

Liu Bei whispered to Qian Zhao.

Qian Zhao nodded and said:

"I also heard them calling for Lü Bu... But who is this Lü Bu?"

Just as Liu Bei was wondering why this group of Xianbei cavalry was in such a panic, he suddenly looked up and saw another group of cavalry, about a hundred riders, chasing after them from several hundred meters away.

As the pursuers drew closer, Liu Bei realized that the cavalrymen were all dressed as Han Chinese.

The hundred or so Han cavalrymen saw a group of several thousand Xianbei cavalrymen training at the edge of the woods in the distance. So they stopped their horses and stood still, circling around, seemingly debating whether to pursue them.

At this moment, Tuoba Jiefen also led more than a hundred Xianbei cavalrymen on horseback and blocked the group of sixty or seventy panicked Xianbei cavalrymen.

"Which tribe do you belong to?"

Tuoba Jiefen shouted a question.

Several cavalrymen said in a panic:

"We are cavalrymen under Lord Ritsu of the East..."

Tuoba Jiefen asked loudly:

"What brings you to our Tuoba tribe's ranch?"

The cavalrymen were terrified and started talking all at once:

"Lu Bu...we're being chased by Lu Bu..."

As they spoke, they all pointed to the group of Han Chinese cavalrymen not far away.

"Lu Bu..."

Tuoba Jiefen muttered to himself, following the direction the Xianbei cavalrymen were pointing, and looked towards the Han cavalrymen. "Follow me!"

"Yes."

The sixty-seven Xianbei cavalrymen under Rilü's command followed behind the one hundred Xianbei cavalrymen led by Tuoba Jiefen, galloping towards the group of Han cavalrymen.

Seeing this, Liu Bei also called Qian Zhao, Guan Yu, and others to follow.

As Liu Bei lived among the Xianbei for a long time, he gradually became able to understand some of their language.

At this moment, the group of Han cavalrymen were somewhat alarmed when they saw the Xianbei cavalrymen galloping towards them. However, the leader, with six or seven riders, did not retreat but instead advanced and rode over to meet them.

The two sides were about 30 or 40 meters apart, and each reined in their horses.

Liu Bei looked toward the leader of the group of Han cavalry.

The man appeared to be around twenty years old, riding steadily on his horse. He was tall and robust, extremely strong. Although he was not as tall as Guan Yu or Zhang Ba, who was nine feet tall, he was estimated to be about eight feet tall. He carried a halberd with the character "卜" in his hand and had a bow and arrows hanging on his horse. He looked exactly like a mighty warrior.

Looking at the man's face again, he had sword-like eyebrows that reached his temples, wide-open, bright and spirited eyes with a sharp gaze, exuding a majestic and domineering aura that inspired awe.

He is truly imposing and awe-inspiring!

Liu Bei thought to himself: This person must be the young Lü Bu.

All that could be heard was Tuoba Jiefen shouting:

"Are you Lü Bu, a Han Chinese?"

The leader of the Han cavalry responded loudly:

"Lu Bu of Jiuyuan, Wuyuan Commandery, Bingzhou, Han Dynasty, never changed his name or surname."

His voice was loud and clear, full of energy.

Tuoba Jiefen demanded:

Why did you pursue and kill the Xianbei cavalry?

Lu Bu said in a hard voice:

"Why don't you ask them first why they came to Han Dynasty cities to plunder and kill Han people!"

……

Lü Bu, courtesy name Fengxian, was a native of Jiuyuan in Wuyuan Commandery. He was appointed to Bing Province for his bravery and martial prowess.

—Records of the Three Kingdoms