The nail of Xindu was finally removed, and Cao Liang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Taking Xindu completely changed the situation in Jizhou. According to the latest information, Sima's vanguard troops had already arrived in Yecheng. If they continued north, they would be able to arrive in Xindu in less than three days.

But now the loss of Xindu will inevitably make Sima Shi give up his intention to advance north. After the reinforcements arrived in Yecheng, they have stopped moving forward. After Sima Shi and Zhong Hui met, they will definitely discuss new offensive strategies, while the Bingzhou Army won a brief rest.

The continuous combat made the Bingzhou army relatively tired, especially when attacking Xindu. The four infantry battalions of the Bingzhou army were almost doing their best and never relaxed for a moment.

However, the result is still relatively ideal. If Xindu is not yet won, not only will the fatigue of the Bingzhou army be difficult to recover, but they will also face the attack of Sima army from inside and outside, and the situation will become more difficult and even face the risk of collapse.

Now with the fall of Xindu, the situation has become clearer. Without this fortress and stronghold, Sima Shi no longer dares to advance lightly, which undoubtedly leaves Cao Liang with a lot of time to clean up the mess.

Resetting the surrender of Xindu's troops and civilians is a top priority now. After being flooded, the entire Xindu almost became a vast ocean. Even after the flood, it almost became a abandoned city and no longer had the ability to resettle hundreds of thousands of refugees.

In order to strengthen the walls and clear the fields, during the retreat, Lu Zhao ordered the burning of most county towns and county towns. Only some small county towns that were abandoned in advance were preserved. However, after two years of abandonment, most of them were destroyed. In the entire northern part of Jizhou, there were no places where refugees could be placed.

This is the cruelty of war. Lu Zhao could die, but the mess he brought was uncontrollable. Hundreds of thousands of people had no place to live and had no food and clothing. It was really difficult to solve this problem.

And Cao Liang could not devote all his energy to the resettlement of refugees. After all, he would face a decisive battle with life and death. Sima's army had arrived in Yecheng, and both sides might start a war at any time. Cao Liang must focus all his attention on this decisive battle.

Including the main generals of each cavalry and infantry battalion, as well as Cao Liang's entire think tank, they must prepare seriously for this decisive battle and cannot be distracted by other matters.

But Cao Liang, the refugees in Xindu, could not ignore them. If they were still under Lu Zhao's rule, of course, Cao Liang would not have to worry about it. But now that Lu Zhao is dead, all the soldiers and civilians in Jizhou surrender to him. Naturally, Cao Liang could not ignore them or ignore them. Even if it was out of humanitarian principles, Cao Liang had to lend a helping hand. What's more, after these soldiers and civilians surrendered, they had become the people under his rule. Cao Liang would definitely not allow these people to die because of his own faults.

After thinking about it, Cao Liang decided to transfer Xiahou Xuan to Jizhou and let him deal with these refugees. After all, the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people is by no means a trivial matter, and it is related to Jizhou's people's livelihood and economy, so long-term planning must be made.

When dealing with civil affairs, Cao Liang felt that Xiahou Xuan should be the most suitable candidate. With him to do the aftermath, Cao Liang could really let go and make every effort to prepare for the decisive battle with Sima Shi.

After receiving Cao Liang's order, Xiahou Xuan flew to Xindu quickly.

Xindu is in a very bad situation at this moment. Although the flood has subsided, Xindu is in a low-lying area, and the accumulated water cannot be removed quickly. There are knee-deep water everywhere. Even in places without water, there is a large amount of silt, as if the Xindu area has become a swamp.

In order to ensure the survival of hundreds of thousands of people, Cao Liang had done his best to transport food to rescue the urgent needs, and even misappropriated the army's reserve grain to solve the urgent needs.

However, many people were drowned in this flood. As the temperature rose, these corpses that were swollen by water quickly rotted and smelled loudly. After a major disaster, there would be a major epidemic. If it was not dealt with, the epidemic would soon be rampant.

After Xiahou Xuan arrived in Xindu, he also felt the situation was severe. He immediately put forward three points to Cao Liang. First, send additional personnel to find and bury these bodies, and use lime water to clean them. People who have already had epidemics should be isolated, especially the Bingzhou army and these refugees should be isolated to ensure that the Bingzhou army's combatants are not affected.

Epidemics are never an enemy that cannot be overlooked. They cannot be seen or touched. However, even the most powerful army will lose its combat effectiveness when it encounters them and become a weak army.

The situation in Jizhou did not become favorable with the victory of the Battle of Xindu. On the contrary, with the arrival of Sima's army, the situation was even more serious than before.

The Bingzhou Army's current mission is to prepare for war, rather than to clean up the mess of Xindu. Therefore, Xiahou Xuan first proposed that Cao Liang, Bingzhou Army withdraw from Xindu. As for Xindu, Xiahou Xuan had another way.

Among the hundreds of thousands of Xindu surrendered, at least 60,000 to 70,000 were the original army, but after putting down their weapons, they became civilians. Xiahou Xuan decided to recruit 10,000 or 20,000 people from them to deal with various aftermath matters.

The second point is to continue to implement the evacuation plan that Cao Liang has ordered. Xindu’s current situation is no longer suitable for the people to live in. The city is flooded, the houses collapse, and the epidemic is rampant. So many people who continue to stay here can only increase the risk of death. Therefore, the pace of migration must be accelerated and these people are placed in other places.

The third point is the resettlement problem. The previous solid walls and clear fields of the Jizhou army caused a large number of cities in Jizhou to be deserted by wasteland. After these hundreds of thousands of people surrendered, it will become a major burden for the Bingzhou army. The food, clothing, housing and transportation of hundreds of thousands of people alone is a relatively big problem.

Not only during this period, there was also good news. After Lu Zhao's son Lu Xun surrendered, he took the initiative to expose a top-secret plan of Lu Zhao, that is, Lu Zhao had ordered the preparations to burn the Grain Deposit and the key places in the city, and even burned the capital of Xin, without any preparations to leave it to the Bingzhou Army.

Cao Liang and others were secretly surprised when they heard this. Originally, Lu Zhao had already been determined to break the tide. If Lu Zhao's conspiracy succeeded, not only would all the food and supplies in the capital be burned, but even the people and the army in the city would have a chance to escape. Many people would be buried in the fire. Lu Zhao's plan was really cruel and poisonous.
Chapter completed!