At this point, the three great leaders of the Southern Huns could only try their best to restrain their own units, as for the soldiers who had already defected to other tribes, they were completely powerless to manage.

As they marched south along the Yellow River, before they even entered Zuo Fengyi of Sili, the military forces of Chanyu Huchuquan, Left Virtuous King Liu Bao, and Right Virtuous King Liu Qubi had already dwindled from over a hundred thousand to over sixty thousand.

This means, on average, a third of their soldiers deserted, driving the three to madness. But they now understood they couldn’t turn back. They could only hope to keep their own units in check and not be held accountable when it came time to settle the scores.

As for other matters, they were utterly powerless to stop them. The three who once held sway over the Southern Huns had now completely lost their authority.

Instead, the power of the leaders of the various Southern Hun factions was constantly growing. Simply put, the more fiercely they plundered, the greater the power they gained. Conversely, those who used their brains and restrained their subordinates either faced rebellion and death or had greatly diminished strength.

This was a pitfall that Li Ru had likely foreseen as an inevitable outcome long ago. During this era, most Hu People had poor control over their own forces. Even Chen Xi, leading the elite of Mount Tai in conquering the Bohai Sea, couldn’t claim better control.

Back then, small-scale acts of looting occurred even in the Bohai Sea, illustrating the quality issues among the troops of the time. Fortunately, as Chen Xi continued to strictly enforce military discipline, and with Cao Cao, Sun Ce, and others following suit, the military discipline of the Han Dynasty’s army showed a marked improvement.

However, hearing the mutterings of Wei Yan, Sun Ce, Guan Ping, and others as they marched north was enough to indicate many problems. Even though they embraced Chen Xi’s military discipline, they still harbored the mindset of their previous barbaric military rules, so expecting military discipline from the Hu People was out of the question.

Eventually, when the various tribes of the Southern Huns discovered the north appeared to be truly empty, their leaders truly lost their minds.

What, we are commanded by the Emperor to move south, what’s wrong with taking some provisions here and there from you as we pass? We are acting on orders, if you don’t comply, you will die.

Ultimately, north of Sili, within the domain of the Southern Huns’ southward expansion, chaos reigned. Fortunately, those areas were still located in Bingzhou, and although Bingzhou’s main forces had left, Hu Zhao was still in Northern Bingzhou.

Unfortunately, Hu Zhao’s wisdom, though not inferior to the top sages in the world, couldn’t make up for a lack of troops and valiant generals. Even with Lyu Bu’s remaining might in Bingzhou, with insufficient soldiers, he could only barely hold on to the Four Commanderies of Wuyuan, Dingxiang, Yunzhong, and Yanmen, having no strength left to aid other counties.

As for Taiyuan County and Henei of Sili, they were stronghold regions of the aristocratic family; though unable to fully preserve them, they weren’t entirely overrun by the Southern Huns.

Only Shuofang, West River, and Shangjun, with neither valiant generals nor wise ministers, nor were they aristocratic strongholds, became utterly chaotic under the deluge of the Southern Huns.

Fortunately, when Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou left Sili, they waged a series of great battles in these three places at Li Ru’s request, stirring these once Han Qiang mixed-residence areas into complete turmoil.

Subsequently, when Cao Mengde took control of Yongliang, he relocated all the Han people there to Sili to ensure Sili’s population. Naturally, those places were primarily vacated for the Qiang People to occupy. Although some Han people remained, they were no more numerous than the Qiang People.

Yet, even so, these three commanderies still saw over ten thousand to twenty thousand people displaced, fleeing to Sili like refugees after being plundered by the Southern Huns.

Sima Yi, being among the first to learn of this information, specifically ordered people to pay attention to the Southern Huns’ southward movement, thus learning much about the north, but the more he examined these reports, the more he realized the mastermind’s schemes ran deep.

The Four Commanderies of Wuyuan, Dingxiang, Yunzhong, and Yanmen were collectively known as the Hetao Plain, a very fertile land. After Lyu Bu subdued all the dissenting Hu People there, Hu Zhao began settling people in.

Although Hu Zhao favored the Enlightenment Sect, he was clear on the primary versus the secondary. After occupying these four commanderies, Hu Zhao did educate Hu People, but he was more focused on relocating the impoverished Han people from Hexi, Shuofang, Shangjun, and the North to the Hetao lands for farming.

Offering more ruthless benefits than Liu Bei, many Han people were naturally attracted to these places. Of course, during this time, Xianbei, Qiang, Huns, Jie Clan, and other foreign clans also settled here. Yes, as a disciple of the Enlightenment Sect, one must treat everyone equally.

As a result, customs like language, scripts, systems, and habits were aligned with the Han Dynasty. After settling in Hu Zhao’s domain for two years, most Hu People thought it shameful to be considered Hu!

Sima Yi had little to say about this strategy. After all, Hu Zhao was his own teacher, frequently hosting workshops and welcoming any impoverished farmer to attend. However, since Hu Zhao "only knew" Chinese, the first criterion was the understanding of Chinese for those who flocked to his lectures.

This consequently led other unsteady counties in Bingzhou, with Han people fleeing either to Hu Zhao or heading to Sili where Cao Cao was.

Although Hu Zhao had few soldiers, the will left by Lyu Bu in the Four Commanderies of Dingxiang remained. Coupled with Hu Zhao being a renowned minister, a major assault by the Southern Huns would be too much for Hu Zhao, but a few tribes trying to take advantage would be wishful thinking.

Finally, the tribes that attempted to plunder the Four Commanderies of Dingxiang were all defeated by Hu Zhao. Sima Yi knew his teacher well; this seemingly harmless, gentle old tutor of the Enlightenment Sect, ignorant of military strategy and tactics.

In reality, Sima Yi clearly understood that Hu Zhao was a middle-aged man; his intelligence nearly a hundred, and his military strategy partly taught by Hu Zhao himself. The man merely groomed his beard deliberately like that, when in fact, he was a robust man!

Thus, Sima Yi could predict the Southern Huns’ marching route even blindly, because all roads to the east were blocked, leaving the Southern Huns no choice but to take the northern path through West River and Shangjun.

"The Han people in the entire West River and Shangjun are probably less than half of the Qiang people." Sima Yi murmured to himself.

Gazing at the ordinary people outside Chang’an City with their families, Sima Yi couldn’t help but shake his head. Cao Ang likely couldn’t hold back any longer—a gentle, kindhearted young man. To someone like him, Liu Xie’s potential movements weren’t as important as the ordinary people’s displacement.

"He will probably dispatch troops for a rescue mission." Sima Yi’s expression reflected a hint of silence, yet he couldn’t help but glance back at the Ministry of Works Office, feeling somewhat sentimental.