The Lao獠

The Lao are, in the main, a separate branch of the Southern Man. From Hanzhong as far as Qiong and Zuo, among the streams and the valleys, they are found everywhere. In their customs many make no distinction of surnames, and they have no given names either, so the sons and daughters born to them are called only by the order of their birth. The men are called Amo and Aduan, the women Ayi and Adi and the like, all of them words of order in their own speech. When pleased they gather in crowds; when angered they kill one another, and even father and son or brother and brother put the knife in with their own hands. They seize and sell one another in turn, and do not spare their own kin. If one who has been sold cries out and will not submit, and runs off and hides, they have the buyer point him out and give chase, as if hunting down a runaway slave, and once he is caught they bind him. But a man who has once been bound submits as a base slave, and dares no longer call himself a free man. In their customs they fear ghosts and spirits, and honor above all unsanctioned sacrifices and shamans, so that a man who has sold off his brothers, his wife, and his children to the last will end by selling himself to make the offering. Now and then they raise up one chieftain as king, but he cannot rule those who live far off.

Jiangzuo and the Central Provinces held Ba and Shu by turns, but the Lao for the most part trusted to their steep country and would not submit. After Taizu had pacified Liangzhou and Yizhou, he ordered that they be soothed wherever they were, and those who lived mixed among the Hua people (華民) took up a fair share of tax and labor service. But their nature is violent and unruly, and they soon fell to stirring up trouble. Every year the prefectures and garrisons nearby were ordered to send out troops and strike them, and the people taken were made base slaves. This was called yaliao (壓獠). Afterward the traders who came and went made such people their stock as well, and from the houses of the high ministers down to those of the common people, many had Lao slaves.

In the third year of Emperor Gong of Wei the Lao of Mulong in Lingzhou rebelled, and by edict the kaifu Lu Teng struck and broke them, taking or beheading fifteen thousand men. In the second year of Baoding the Lao of Tieshan rebelled again and cut the river road with their raiding. Lu Teng attacked once more and took three of their forts, captured three thousand men, and received the surrender of thirty thousand settlements of their kind. The account is in the chapter on Teng.

In the third year of Tianhe the Lao of Hengleng in Liangzhou rebelled, and Zhao Wenbiao, chief clerk of the area command, went to strike them. The army halted at Bazhou, and Wenbiao wished to lead the host straight on. The officers said, "These Lao have held out in arms a long time, and their host is very strong. All who have struck them attacked from four sides, to divide their strength. If the great army now goes straight on and no surprise force is sent, it is to be feared that they will turn all their strength upon us, and we cannot win the victory." Wenbiao said, "In the past they could not be mastered, so now we must go forward by another way. If troops are sent from four sides, the roads by which the Lao might surrender or flee are cut off, and by reason they will lead one another to fight to the death. If we go by one road, I can show them both awe and kindness, and send men out to make things plain to them by reason. Those who do evil we strike; those who turn to good we soothe. Once good and evil are parted, the land is easy to order. In affairs there is a time to change. Why follow only the old ruts?" Wenbiao then made this purpose known throughout the army.

At that time there were settled Lao (熟獠) serving with the army, many of them close acquaintances of the Hengleng, and they reported the matter to them as it was. The Hengleng Lao gathered and took counsel together, and while they wavered Wenbiao's army had already reached their border. In the Lao country there were two roads from of old, one somewhat level, one very steep. Presently several chiefs of the wild Lao (生獠) came to see Wenbiao and said, "We fear the government army does not know the hills and streams. We ask to be your guides." Wenbiao said to them, "This road is broad and level. There is no need of guides. Go on ahead, and speak well to your sons and younger brothers." So he sent them away. Wenbiao said to his host, "Just now the Lao chiefs told me to go by the broad road. They must have set an ambush to waylay us. If we go by the steep road and come out where they do not look for us, the Lao host will scatter of itself." So he marshalled the troops and advanced by the steep road, opening the way wherever it was blocked. Climbing a height to look out, he did indeed see their ambush. The Lao, their plan gone awry, hurried away with their wives and children and fell back to hold the strong places. Wenbiao halted the army below Mount Dapeng and set ruin and fortune before them, and so they led one another in and surrendered. Wenbiao soothed them all and went on to collect their taxes, and none dared stir. Afterward Wenbiao was made governor of Pengzhou, and he won the goodwill of the Lao greatly.

At the beginning of Jiande, Li Hui became area commander of Liangzhou, and all the Lao came over and attached themselves to him. But their kinds spread and multiplied. They hold the rocks and ravines, keep to the woods and run over broken ground as though they trod level earth, and though troops were sent against them again and again they could not be struck to the end. Their nature, too, is without understanding, near to that of the birds and beasts. Among the several Yi (夷) they are the hardest of all to call in and cherish by right and duty.