After conquering Mingsha Pass, Cheng Yuan made use of the water conservancy in Zhe County to quickly contact Yang Tao's main force.
To be precise, he was contacting Wei Ci.
After Wei Ci received the letter, he thought for a moment and wrote a reply to Cheng Yuan.
The content of the letter was mostly about matters to take note of during the march, and it also contained some personal goods.
Although Jiang Pengji was born into an aristocratic family in this life, she suppressed the aristocratic families even more ruthlessly than in her previous life.
Regardless of whether one was a feudal lord or an emperor, one needed not only talent but also wealth to accomplish great things. How could one do it without money?
Sixty percent of the world's wealth was in the hands of the aristocratic families. If they did not take advantage of the chaos of war to attack the local tyrants and scrape off their fat, it would not be easy to make a move in the future. Once the world was at peace, the landowning households would use their resources to amass wealth again. It could be said that there would be no end of trouble in the future.
However, this was not a problem for Wei Ci.
He had followed Her Majesty for dozens of years in his previous life. He had seen with his own eyes that she had done countless evil deeds and dug countless traps for the gentry and commoners.
He didn't dare to say that he had learned the essence of the other party, but he still knew how to imitate them.
Don't be fooled by Wei Ci's good looks. When he becomes evil, he has the face of a human but the heart of a beast.
The goods he smuggled in would definitely teach Cheng Yuan a lesson.
Cheng Yuan and Qin Gong led the army and broke through the Mingsha Pass. Following the Taiqing River, they conquered several important military towns. The hinterland of Zhe County was open to them.
Before invading Zhe County, the two of them repeatedly ordered that the soldiers were not allowed to disturb the people. If anyone was found to be robbing the women, they would be punished according to military law.
Those who voluntarily reported would be rewarded with merits, but those who did not report would be punished.
Zhe County was the Xu family's territory, and the people's hearts were with the Xu family.
If outsiders harmed the local people, it would definitely cause them to retaliate and resist.
Jiang Pengji's training over the years was effective. Moreover, the Military Political Commissar was violently brainwashing them day after day. Who dared to commit crimes against the will of the people?
Our army won a great victory, but the soldiers were still in good order. This made Qin Gong sigh with emotion.
If all the soldiers in the world could be like them, how many tragedies would there be in the world?
Qin Gong's emotional words were accidentally heard by Cheng Yuan.
Cheng Yuan smiled and said, "Feng Jing, you're wrong. If all the soldiers in the world are like this, the casualties will only be greater."
Qin Gong was at a loss. Did Cheng Yuan say something wrong?
Cheng Yuan explained, "In a battle between vassals, if their forces are almost the same and their military strength is equal, it means that the war will drag on indefinitely because none of them can do anything to the other. Fighting a war not only required the soldiers to fight with their lives on the line, but also required the support of the common people in the rear. The longer it drags on, the more people will starve to death, and the more soldiers will die on the battlefield — in this way, won't there be more casualties? "
Qin Gong understood. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and smiled innocently.
Cheng Yuan felt his hands itch.
No wonder those military advisors liked to bully Liyun so much. It was addictive to bullying honest people.
The population density of Zhe County was much higher than that of a small place like Hejian County.
The more landowning households there were, the more wealth they would have.
When Cheng Yuan received Wei Ci's reply, he immediately understood what to do.
He didn't raise his butcher's knife against the landowning households, but he ordered a portion of his soldiers to break up and rob them under the guise of bandits.
Before Cheng Yuan led his troops to attack, Zhe County was considered a haven for the landowning households in troubled times. Every household had a rich heritage.
When the army invaded, most of the small landowning households planned to move away to avoid the disaster. This actually benefited these 'fake bandits'.
They didn't rob women or people, they only wanted wealth.
They took away all the neatly packed family wealth that they had painstakingly packed up.
Of course, they weren't too crazy. They didn't touch any of the jewelry on the women, but they couldn't let go of the accessories on the men.
The small landowning households were in a hurry to move and were robbed, but the middle-ranking landowning households were unhurried.
They didn't have anyone in their family who was an official, but their heritage was still passable. As soon as the new owner arrived, they surrendered to her without fear. But they didn't escape the evil hands. The 'bandits' still looted half of their property. To prevent them from suspecting, they even raised their butcher's knife to kill those who resisted.
Apart from these, the remaining landowning households and businesses were the landowning households that followed Xu Pei.
They were the most panicked.
Especially the families of Xu Pei's officials. If they fell into Jiang Pengji's hands, it was hard to guarantee that she wouldn't use them to threaten their relatives.
Xu Yanxiao welcomed her second 'great escape' under such circumstances.
She had just woken up that day. The courtyard was different from its usual deserted state. The servants were busy packing their luggage.
Xu Yanxiao's position in Xu Pei's residence was very awkward. A group of cousins treated her coldly, and the female elders ignored her.
She didn't care. Instead, she locked herself in the courtyard to observe mourning for her deceased mother, chanting and copying scriptures every day.
A few days ago, she faintly heard a few maids talking about the situation outside. It seemed that the enemy was about to attack again.
"Enemy? Which feudal lord? "
Xu Yanxiao subconsciously thought of Qin Gong. After not seeing him for a few months, she actually thought of him more than before.
Now she was all alone. Her closest blood relatives were gone. Only Qin Gong was somewhat familiar to her.
The maid stammered, "I think it's the one in Wanzhou."
Wanzhou?
That was the lord Liu Xi that Qin Gong served now?
Ripples appeared in Xu Yanxiao's calm heart. Her slightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed.
When she heard that the enemy had attacked, she subconsciously thought of the barbican from a few months ago. Her heart tightened, as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
However, Qin Gong's promise to her made her feel inexplicably at ease. All her hesitation and fear disappeared without a trace.
Now …
Where was he?
As usual, Xu Yanxiao finished copying the scriptures. She recited the contents of the scriptures and placed the scriptures in a copper basin to burn for her deceased mother.
With a creak, the courtyard gate opened. The first-grade maid assigned to her by Xu Bei's legal wife hurriedly said, "Miss Xiao, quickly …"
Xu Yanxiao lowered her eyes and asked, "What's wrong?"
The maid said, "The carriage and horses are already prepared outside. Why hasn't Miss Xiao …"
Xu Yanxiao raised her eyelids coldly and glanced at the unruly maid. The maid wasn't the least bit intimidated by her attitude. Instead, she grabbed her wrist.
Xu Yanxiao pulled her hand back. "Go and tell Auntie that I'll go over after I've packed my things."
The maid said, "Miss Xiao, what do you have to prepare? Right now, escaping with your life is more important. Money and jewels are all worldly possessions."
Xu Yanxiao laughed coldly and took the initiative to walk to the gate.
"Forget it. Let's go."
She was just an orphan girl living under someone else's roof. Even if the maid was rude to her, she couldn't say anything.
The maid was right. Apart from this person, what else did Xu Yanxiao have in this courtyard that belonged to her?
Since that was the case, what else did she have to prepare?
Xu Yanxiao seemed to be invisible. She didn't make a sound as she was shoved into the carriage. She kept her head lowered throughout the entire journey.
The carriage drove to the pier and Xu Yanxiao was once again arranged to enter the cabin of the large ship.
As she watched the pier disappear from her line of sight, she sighed silently. She lowered her head and recited the Rebirth Scriptures, as if doing so would calm her anxious and flustered heart. After traveling for about fifteen minutes, the frightened cries of the women could be heard from outside the cabin. Xu Yanxiao suddenly opened her eyes.
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