The defenders of Beishui City and Kaicheng surrendered.

While the two sides were fighting fiercely, Chief Li Meng's act of shooting Hu in full public view had spread throughout the city like a plague.

Everyone knows Hu's sage, but compared with Li Meng's poison, he still shook the hearts of the defenders in the city.

Following the brave performance of Zhang Yi's army, less than half a day after the battle began, the city wall was breached. The news quickly spread throughout the city, and the last psychological defense line of the city defenders completely collapsed.

I have no intention of fighting anymore and I am unable to fight anymore.

Therefore, several generals under Li Meng, after only a few simple exchanges, resolutely united and led people to rush to the top of the city, kill several of Li Meng's personal guards, and capture them.

Then he opened the city gate and presented Li Meng to the Han army, asking for forgiveness.

When passing the bodies of Hu's mother and son, a general took out a piece of cloth and covered them with them.

When the other soldiers saw that the chief was in internal strife and had no one to command, they naturally dropped their weapons and gave up resistance.

Zhang Ni rushed into the city, expecting a hearty battle, but unexpectedly the enemies discarded their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.

Although I feel a little regretful, I am also quite lucky. After all, once the street fighting begins, casualties are inevitable.

An hour later, Li Meng was tied into a rice dumpling and brought to Zhou Mo.

His eyes were wide open, his nose was bruised and his face was swollen, and he looked unconvinced.

"If you hadn't forced that Hu family to die, how could my generals have rebelled against me? I still have three thousand soldiers in the city, and the food and grass can last for half a year. It is more than enough to defend a few thousand of yours."

"This plan of yours is so cruel!"

Zhou Mo said calmly: "You are overthinking. Just those rabble under your command, even without the Hu family, I will break the city within three days. You should be grateful to the Hu family. Her death alone saved the lives of three thousand people in your city."

Life."

Li Meng was furious. He broke away suddenly, like a beast bound by chains, and pounced on Zhou Mo: "Han dog! Hypocrisy! Disgusting! If I can exchange these three thousand lives for your head, in my eyes

You won’t even blink!”

"Push it down and chop it off." Zhou Mo said coldly without blinking.

Three thousand reduced soldiers are divided into two categories, each accounting for half.

The first type is mountain people who have been forcibly recruited from the local area in the past year or two. Most of them are local young people who still have mothers and wives at home.

The other type is the veteran soldiers who have followed Li Meng for many years, and they are complex in composition. Most of them are veteran soldiers who are unruly and difficult to control.

For the first category of people, all are on a voluntary basis. Those who want to return home will not be stopped, and each person will be given thirty kilograms of food as transportation. Among them, those who are physically strong and willing to continue serving the Han army will be incorporated into each battalion.

, reported his home address, and the Han army also sent someone to send 200 kilograms of grain to his home as a recruitment fee, and he was treated the same as the regular Han army.

For the second category of people, the principle of coercion is adopted. First, the old and weak are eliminated and used as laborers. Then their original organization is broken up and redistributed into more than ten villages, which are evenly organized into each battalion.

Not only was the salary cut in half, but an extremely strict system of joint sitting was adopted. If one person violated discipline, the whole village would be punished. If one person violated discipline, he would be directly punished with forced labor.

In short, he is inferior to others and not trusted. Zhou Mo calls it a probation period.

The discrimination system can be abolished only if you perform well in subsequent battles and gain military merit, or if after half a year of observation you are able to curb your wild nature and reach the level of prohibition.

Zhou Mo called it, becoming a regular employee.

Zhou Mo kept half of the huge amount of grain and grass hoarded in Beishui City for military use. The remaining half, except for the recruitment fees and travel expenses paid to people earlier, was all sent to Ma Su to distribute to the poor in the surrounding villages. To put it bluntly,

, is to win people’s hearts.

The young people returned to their hometowns one after another with food and were reunited with their parents and wives. They were extremely happy. They also heard that the Han army had done nothing to harm the people. Seeing that the people were hungry, they even distributed meat to them. Many people were dissatisfied with the Han army.

Once you have a good impression, at least you no longer have hatred.

Some young people who thought they were strong and whose families were poor, after returning to their hometowns, in order to earn generous military pay rewards from the Han army to supplement their families, they also gathered with their neighbors and voluntarily returned to Beishui to join Zhou Mo's army.

Army.

Zhou Mo also found a land with excellent Feng Shui in Shanyingba and built a large tomb for the Hu family and a small tomb for his son, who was buried on the side.

He also renovated Hu's old residence into an ancestral hall and made a painted clay statue of Hu holding a shuttle. He hired a painter to paint Hu's story on the walls around the ancestral hall.

From learning weaving in the Han Dynasty when he was young, to marrying into Nanzhong, spinning and weaving by himself, giving clothes and food to children, and teaching southern women to weave nunqi. Finally, he asked for an armistice at Beishui City and was killed by the evil chief.

Shoot.

People from Shanyingba and the surrounding areas came to worship one after another. When they saw the stories on the wall, they knew that these were all real events and there was nothing false about them. Everyone who heard them shed tears.

When Ma Su returned from delivering food, he saw the ancestral hall built by Zhou Mo. He praised it and sighed: This is the real plan to attack the heart. Although Su has many tricks, all of them combined may not be as good as the general's ancestral hall!

At Ma Di's suggestion, an official Hu's weaving workshop was set up in Beishui City, and army craftsmen were sent to repair the damaged looms in Hu's house as much as possible, so that they could be put into use immediately.

When the war ends in the future, resources will be mobilized from Shu, the scale will be expanded, and local women will be taught textile techniques. This is a story for another time.

After several days of repairs, Zhou Mo's army set off and continued westward along the mountain road to Qiongdu.

From Beishui to Qiongdu, it is less than 300 miles. If it were the plains of Sichuan, it would only take three days.

But in the Daliang Mountains, the mountain roads are winding and winding, making marching very difficult. Many roads have been uninhabited for a long time and are covered with thorns. It is necessary to open a road in front while advancing. The traveling speed is extremely slow, and the maximum can only be covered fifty or sixty miles a day.<

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A few days later, less than a hundred miles away from Qiong, news was finally received from the Huangyuan and Yanniu tribes in the north.

Communication in the mountains was extremely difficult, and it was even more troublesome when both armies were on the march. The messenger sent by Lang Lu was very familiar with the local environment and climbed several mountains before finally finding Zhou Mo's troops.

He reported that the Huang Yuan and Yanniu coalition forces had successfully captured Taideng County and were heading south along the Sun River to approach Suqi County. Suqi County is the north gate of Qiongdu, only a day's journey away.

Zhou Mo immediately convened a meeting with the generals. After analysis, it was found that this message was sent five days ago. Suqi County is too close to Qiongdu, and it is impossible for Qiongdu to send people north to defend. This battle is not easy to fight. Huang Yuan and the others are here

It was very likely that Su Qi was still fighting fiercely at that time.

Therefore, Zhou Mo ordered the entire army to speed up, hoping to rush to Qiongdu City as soon as possible to realize the planned north-south pincer attack and share the pressure of Huang Yuan and Yanniu Allied Forces.

Finally, on the evening of the next day, Zhou Mojun's vanguard rushed out of the mountain and entered the Sunshui Valley.

Looking around, there are no mountains blocking the view. It is vast and refreshing.

Especially looking to the north, you can see the huge Qionghai Lake, which is the second largest freshwater lake in Sichuan. Under the setting sun, it is sparkling with golden light and is extremely beautiful. The farmland around the lake is densely covered, which is quite similar to the scenery in Sichuan.

This is the only fertile land in the entire Daliang Mountains, forming a sharp contrast with the desolate mountainous areas passing through. It is no wonder that after Gaoding's death, all the barbarian tribes wanted to take this place as their own.

Looking far into the distance, in the north of Qionghai, you can see a city in the distance, surrounded by mountains and rivers, like a paradise.
Chapter completed!