Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 1026 Dancing With Wolves
Today's Yecheng can be described as devastated.

Originally, this city was the capital of the Jie Kingdom, and it was built from the Shile period, and it was repeatedly built on the basis of the Wei and Jin Dynasties.Although the death of Shi Le and the domestic turmoil in Jie forced the suspension of the construction of various palaces and halls, in the few years when Shikan was separated from here, this place, especially Santai, was built into a strong military fortress.

Although a large-scale riot broke out in the city due to the unfavorable battle of Shikan, it only collapsed civilly. At least the city defense system with three as the core was still preserved.

It was the army of the southern bandit Xie Ai that really brought a devastating blow to the city.Last year, Ma Qiu withdrew his army due to his defeat in Yecheng due to his unfavorable battle. The southern thieves did a lot of damage to the city, burning everything that could be burned, and demolishing everything that could be demolished.

Because some heavy stones are not easy to damage, on the one hand, they are directly piled up in the surrounding water sources, rivers and other places, and on the other hand, they are allowed to be carried by powerful and disorderly people to build dock walls.

Even the majestic and majestic Three Terraces were severely damaged. Later, when Shi Hu personally led the army to Yecheng, the army could only sleep in the countryside. The unfavorable Ma Qiu directly killed him!

But the damage to the city itself is not the most serious. The most hateful thing for the southern thieves is the damage to the water sources around Yecheng.Almost all open-air wells were buried by earth and rocks, and under the ruins of earth and rocks, a large amount of human and animal manure, corpses and other filth were poured and filled.

This poisonous trick was nothing in autumn and winter, but after the warm spring, the surrounding water became bitter and undrinkable, and even a large-scale plague broke out in the army, completely abolishing thousands of soldiers of the Jie army And a larger number of cattle and horses.

The city can still be rebuilt after it is destroyed, it is nothing more than investing more manpower and materials. Yecheng was regarded by Shi Hu as a base of achievement.

However, the water source was destroyed, which made people helpless. Because Shihu refused to choose a place to rebuild Yecheng for fear of ruining his fortune, before building a large-scale city, he had to dig several open channels to draw water from Zhang, and then from Zhongshan, Julu, etc. The giant trees were cut down and transported here.

So even though several months have passed since the last battle, Ye City is still in a state of disorganized ruins.There are tens of thousands of troops stationed here in name, but in fact the real combat power is only the thousands of cavalry under the command of Ma Qiu, and the others are only laborers.

In addition, there are large and small dock walls in the countryside, and most of these dock walls are the thieves who took advantage of the situation earlier to swim and eat.The reason why they were not wiped out was actually because they planned to cultivate them first.Originally, Ma Qiu planned to wait until after autumn to harvest a crop, and gather enough people and goods to survive the winter.

But right now, there is a more urgent problem in front of us, that is, all kinds of strange omens that happened in the south.Ma Qiu is not a reckless man with no plans, especially when Shi Hu was defeated and returned to the country in the early years, he made great contributions in cleaning up all the forces in Hebei, otherwise Shi Hu would not have arranged him in Yecheng Stand alone and defend against the enemy in the south.

Although the large number of casualties of the scouts made the military situation in the south chaotic, Ma Qiu could more or less guess the intention of the southern bandits. It was nothing more than taking advantage of the convenient summer weather to gain another military exploit.After all, Ma Qiu himself has such an idea, but his activation time is scheduled to be winter.

So after noticing the strange situation in the south, Ma Qiu summoned the wandering forces around to investigate the details, and on the other hand sent someone to report to Xiangguo, asking Shihu for instructions, not daring to act arbitrarily.

Although the Southern Thieves used their huge goods to attract people's popularity, when it comes to real prestige, the country of Jie is actually better.In particular, although Paul is famous in the Southern Bandit Tricolor Order, it is difficult to distinguish the loyal from the traitor, so there are a lot of double-faced factions between the two places.

There are even many positions that are more biased towards the Jie Kingdom. Wang Ming has been extinct in Hebei for more than ten years. The so-called Wang Shi is nothing more than a strong dragon passing through in the eyes of many Hebei people.They may also accept Fangtou's banner order to win over, but they are more greedy for substantial profits, and they are unwilling to be the vanguard death squads of the war between the two countries.

Therefore, not long after Ma Qiu's summoning order was issued, many leaders of wandering forces arrived at the slave army camp on the outskirts of Yecheng.Some of these people are pawns who were lucky enough to rise up at a time, some are the remnants of Shi Kan's old generals, and of course the local tyrants from the surrounding villages are indispensable.

Facing Ma Qiu's inquiry, these people were not too nervous, and some people even said that they had a lot of contempt for the southerners: "The people of the southern captives don't learn bows and knives, and they used to be bullying all the time. The one who took advantage of it was that Shi Kan was too weak and incompetent. Now that the land of Hebei is ruled by the king of heaven, how dare they make such a fuss?"

"That's right. As soon as the Heavenly King's army moved, the southern captives withdrew and crossed the river one after another. Even Fangtou, Liyang and other places were temporarily left behind because of the water conservancy. Gan Qian sent scouts outside, because he was worried that he would be surrounded and killed by our Hebei heroes. If Jun Wanqi is here, and we and the villagers are wandering around in the wild to support him, how dare the southern captives have any big plans!"

Hearing these boring words, Ma Qiu didn't take it to heart, just snorted coldly and said: "There are things that you don't have to hide. Recently, most of my scouts have been hunted outside. What's the reason, I think everyone It is also clear to all. Although the people in Hebei are very strong, but the southern bandits have conspired against the public so far, which has greatly corrupted the world. Many traitors have been lured by profit and abandoned the idea of ​​loyalty. All of you have come here to ask you to tell the countryside that no matter who gets involved here, if the army destroys the door in the future, there will be no chickens or dogs left in the court!"

When everyone heard this, their faces changed slightly, and then they all stated that they had absolutely nothing to do with it, and many people expressed indignation: "The southern captives are just a group of courageous bandits. You abandoned your country and fled to barbarians. Fortunately, the first lord, the king of heaven, and the hero came out together so that we can rule the world again in Hebei. Now all the people come from the north, still relying on the number of people and the abundance of goods in an attempt to force the heroes. We also deeply hate this If the thief who has humiliated the local people has a slight match in power, he will go out with the envoy to drive out the thief!"

"I was used by the lord. Thousands of heroes are here to suppress the enemy. It is my duty to kill the enemy and eliminate evil. Why invite the power of the people."

It's not that Ma Qiu didn't think about repaying him in his own way at the beginning, but the problem is that the southern bandits hired murderers to surround and kill the scouts he sent because they were rich and powerful.

Even if he wanted to fight back, the only ones he could hunt and kill in the wild were those Hebei murderers, without harming the Southerners at all.And if they really want to retaliate so much, it will undoubtedly intensify the rift with these villagers.

In the past, when the Jie Kingdom ruled the north, it was difficult to eliminate the existence of these bandits and rioters. Now that the southerners directly provide them with goods in Hebei, they will naturally be more unscrupulous.

"Today, you are able to come to see me. It shows that you still have loyalty and righteousness. It is absolutely different from those rural traitors. Empty words are not rewards. Those traitors who murder the villagers can get the support of the southern bandits, but you abide by benevolence and righteousness but have to live in poverty. Live the day. The world is so unfair that even I, a bystander, resent it."

Ma Qiu continued to say in a deep voice: "Nowadays, our army's scouts are mostly hunted down. Even if the army is dispatched, we don't know where the traitors are hiding. If they attack Zhongliang by mistake, it will inevitably ruin the rural situation even more. Therefore, I would like to ask you to be your eyes and ears and inspect the countryside for a while. Where the traitors are, get their goods and use them, and then share them with you. It's not greedy for money, it's just unbearable injustice in the world!"

When everyone heard what Ma Qiu said, they were stunned for a moment, and then their hearts burst into ecstasy.What Ma Qiu said meant that he planned to carry out a purge of Hebei, especially the south of Yecheng, giving priority to cutting off the forces that were too involved with the Southerners, and gave them the right to choose.

This is equivalent to saying that with the help of Ma Qiu's power, they can quickly wipe out dissidents!

In fact, things like military and bandit cooperation have not never happened before, especially in the early days of Shi Zhao's growth. Shi Le himself has grown from bandits to both sides, and has grown to become the king of a country.

Of course, the people present may not have such great ambitions, but even if they are more inclined to the Jie country in their hearts, they all feel that the current state of confrontation between the North and the South is in their best interest.

Before that, Ma Qiu was annoyed that the scouts were hunted and killed, and everyone present also said that they had nothing to do with it, but in fact most of them were involved.After all, the scouts roamed the countryside without a fixed route, and it was easier for them, the forces that had a closer relationship with the Jie country, to know the traces of the Jie country's scouts.

Therefore, more than half of the scouts lost by Jie Kingdom in the recent period were contributed by them.It's rare for the southerners to be bold and generous, spending huge sums of money to buy the head of the scouts of the Jie country, and they can do it, if they don't do it, they will be really stupid.No matter which side you lean towards, strengthening yourself first is the top priority.

Now that Ma Qiu wants to fight back, they can use this opportunity to eliminate those potential opponents and gain a more powerful position.

And they are not worried that Ma Qiu will turn around and kill them, because it is obvious that the Nanren's strongholds in Hebei cannot be easily defeated. As long as this confrontation still exists, they have the value of their existence .Even if Ma Qiu's Jingqi is strong and strong, they don't need to rely on their strength, but the southerners need it!

So after weighing the pros and cons, everyone spoke up one after another, offering Ma Qiu a target to kill.Among them, the most frequently mentioned one is Xiang Jian from Hewu. Xiang Jian himself is an old gangster with high qualifications and great influence. There is a tendency for people to be spokespersons in this regard, and they often suppress others.

Regardless of whether it is due to its own interests and development prospects, or new and old grudges, there is no doubt that Xiangjian is a goal worth eradicating.Especially recently, Fangtou's goods have shown signs of being mobilized to Hewu. Once the wall of that dock is conquered, the income will be huge.

Hearing everyone's discussion, Ma Qiu just sneered.These gangsters may have the wisdom to make a living, but after all, they are limited to the pattern of vision, trying to use small things to make big things and have both ways.

But no matter whether it is him or the southerners, how could he allow them to wander outside for a long time? Right now, he is temporarily using them as eyes and ears, and when the initiative falls back to his own hands, how can he let these thieves be at the mercy of them!
He was defeated by Xie Ai in Ye City last year, and was almost beheaded by the lord to vent his anger, and now he is humiliated by this, with so many grievances, how could he be content to kill a mere village thief!

(End of this chapter)