The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 422 The Cunning Han Army

Bashu, thousands of miles away.

Xuzhou.

The Bo people, who were once invincible, have suffered two consecutive defeats at the hands of the Han people.

The enemy's troop numbers are less than a third of theirs!

Dozens of noble lords in the Bo people's mountain village couldn't help but plead for their sons and nephews:
“Chief, it’s not that the boys aren’t working hard or brave enough. Those Han people have learned their lesson and are now as slippery as eels.”

"Yes! If it's about bare-handed combat or archery accuracy, which one of the guys from our mountain stronghold isn't a master?"

If anyone is to blame, it's those Han Chinese who don't play by the rules, causing them so much suffering.

Take the first formal battle as an example.

The bandits had only climbed two mountains when they encountered two groups of wild boars fighting.

There were more than twenty plump wild boars of all sizes right in front of us.

Life in the Bo people's mountain villages is easier in the summer and autumn, but winter is the hardest, and they can only eat meat a few times a month.

The leader's younger brother immediately shouted that he would catch these pigs and let the boys have a good meal so that they would have the strength to fight the Han people.

The results of it.

The eight hundred-odd people in the mountain stronghold who were the strongest, most skilled, and had eaten the most meat were experiencing nausea and vomiting in their stomachs after finishing their meal.

I vomited and had diarrhea, and eventually my vision became double.

He stumbled and fell to the back of the line.

Without their strongest fighting force, these eight hundred-plus men charged into battle and were at a disadvantage in their first formal encounter with the Han people.

In the end, it ended with 3,100 people killed and more than 2,300 captured alive.

After returning to the mountain village.

The Bo people then realized what was happening.

Those two groups of wild boars fighting are definitely suspicious!

At the beginning.

They thought the wild boar had accidentally eaten poisonous mushrooms, as its symptoms resembled those of someone who had eaten poisonous mushrooms.

But how could there be poisonous mushrooms in the mountains on such a cold day?

It must have been some kind of poison that the Han people injected into these two wild boar herds!

We learned our lesson from the first time.

After two days of reorganization, the women of the village prepared dry rations for the young men who were coming down the mountain to take with them.

I repeatedly reminded them not to eat random things while traveling.

But what they didn't expect was that the Han people had absolutely no sense of martial virtue.

This time, they dug many traps on the mountain path.

If you accidentally fall in, your legs will immediately be tightly entangled in the knotted rope inside the trap.

They're all from the same clan; who could stand by and watch someone die?
However, the traps and mechanisms the other side designed were quite ingenious, with narrow and deep entrances.

Without digging a hole and cutting the rope, you simply can't pull your leg out by brute force.

The Han army seized the opportunity to launch an offensive against them.

The Bo people developed a psychological aversion to the mountain paths, which were fraught with traps.

The consequence of being timid and hesitant was that more than two thousand people were captured again.

Thinking of the two major losses they had suffered, the Bo chieftain gritted his teeth and uttered a vicious threat:

"Don't let me catch their wicked general. If I do, we'll definitely drag him back to the village and set him on fire! The Han people love to say that things shouldn't happen more than three times. This time, I, the chief, will personally lead the team."

He was going to rescue his captured tribesmen, including his own brother.

The crowd below cheered.

"The leader is mighty!"

"The leader is mighty!"

The Bo people believe in the supremacy of the strong.

Since this leader took the throne at the age of twenty-two, dozens of young men have challenged his strength over the past eight years, but none have succeeded.

At thirty, he's at the peak of his physical abilities. Having him personally lead the team is naturally much more reliable than the previous two times.

The leader goes out first, followed by scouts.

Shortly after.

The scouts brought back news:
"The Han army mobilized 20,000 men!"

"The leader is a female general!"

Upon hearing these two pieces of news, the noble lords of the Bo people were in an uproar:
"Have all the men in the Han army generals died? How could they let a woman ride on their necks and defecate!"

"I saw the female general's face. She, she, is as beautiful as a fairy."

The scout couldn't help but swallow hard at the thought of that stunningly beautiful face.

The valiant Bo chieftain, upon hearing of the beautiful woman, could no longer remain seated.

He laughed loudly, looking up at the sky:
"Excellent! Not only will I dampen the morale of those Han soldiers, but I will also seize their female general and bring her back to the stronghold to be my wife!"

"A beauty deserves a warrior. Our leader is the bravest warrior among the eighteen mountain strongholds of the Bo people. It is her greatest blessing to have you as her wife."

"The Han people are willing to let a celestial beauty go out to fight and kill. If you, the leader, marry her, wouldn't you be giving her the most peaceful way to live?"

"Hehe, maybe she's one of the concubines of that Han emperor! Wasn't that Han emperor from the Northwest? It's normal for a girl raised in a military household to have some fancy skills!"

"Tsk tsk, if you, Chief, were to cuckold the Han emperor, it would be an utter disgrace to his ancestors."

Zhao Muyun was unaware that the enemy was preparing to make him a living turtle.

Inside the camp, looking at the maps of the three provincial administrations in the southwest, he pointed to the Sichuan-Chongqing provincial administration and asked his son-in-law:

"After we take this place, could you be appointed as the Provincial Governor of Sichuan?"

These past few days, Emperor Qianwu has been thinking most about what kind of capable ministers should be appointed to manage the newly conquered empire.

What is needed here is a provincial governor who combines military and political power, someone who is knowledgeable in both leading troops into battle and understanding people's livelihood and the economy.

But where does the imperial court have so many talented people to employ?

He didn't want to use civil officials on these newly recovered territories.

Among military generals, there is no shortage of those who specialize in land reclamation and leading troops into battle.

But they're all a bunch of killers.

He was genuinely afraid that leaving these people here would escalate the conflict with the mountain people.

After much thought, I decided that my own son-in-law was the best option.

Therefore, this question arises.

Gan Mingfu scratched his head.

He hadn't expected his father-in-law to use him in this way.

The princes-in-law of the previous dynasty almost never held any real power.

During the Yongtai reign.

He felt that he, as the prince consort, was like a mule.

He was being whipped from behind by his father-in-law's small leather whip.

Every day when I open my eyes, I have to work.

Can we disobey the imperial decree?

He's not stupid!

I had no choice but to bite the bullet and say:
"Your Majesty, although I have no experience in governing the people of this region, I believe that some of the regulations governing the local indigenous people in the Guanxi Garrison can serve as a reference."

Zhao Muyun was even more pleased with this son-in-law, rewarding him with a plate of pastries and a cup of tea, as if he were about to have a long talk:

"Tell me properly, how does the Guanzhong Garrison manage those foreign tribes?"

"To sum it up, I have two points: First, completely subdue and frighten the opponent, leaving them utterly defenseless, ideally inspiring fear at the mere mention of their name. Second, allow them to benefit to some extent."

We will use our own controlled resources to trade with them for their most productive goods.

But which tribes should we cooperate with? What are the criteria for selecting these tribes? What are the frequency and quantity of cooperation? What are the specific prices?

We can't let them eat too well, but we also can't let them lose all hope.

In practice, this means winning over those who are obedient and suppressing those who are rebellious.

(End of this chapter)