After Li Gande's rebels captured Shenglong Mansion and wanted to capture Zhao Hao's plan failed, they immediately led the army to move southwest. It was his most influential place and the most densely supported tribe. He originally wanted to occupy Shenglong Mansion and develop power based on it, but now this plan can only be second best.

However, the Song Dynasty could not sit idly by the rebels of Li Gande. After Hu Yanping rescued Zhao Hao, he immediately chased him in the direction of Li Gande's retreat. Compared with Zhao Hao, Hu Yanping was very experienced in the battle in Yuezhou. Jiaozhi was defeated by him at the beginning, and he knew that relying solely on the Song army would definitely not work. Therefore, in the army he brought this time, in addition to the 30,000 Song army, he also mobilized 50,000 troops composed of local natives in Jiaozhi from the rear. These natives may not be able to fight on the plains, but they were born soldiers in the jungle.

After the native army arrived, Hu Yanping immediately led an army of 80,000 to chase him. He had discovered the route of Li Gande's withdrawal, and the natives familiar with the jungle led the way. In the end, it took only four days for Hu Yanping to find Li Gande's retreating main force and immediately launched an attack.

Li Gande was prepared for the pursuit of the Song army, but he didn't expect Hu Yanping to move so quickly, and he didn't give him time to react. He was already surrounded by pursuers from the Song Dynasty. In this case, he could only fight and escape. He suffered a lot of casualties along the way and finally arrived at the native tribe in the southwest region.

After Zhao Yan destroyed Jiaozhi, he mainly destroyed the regular army under Li Rizun, and did not move the local tribal forces. After all, although these tribal forces are not very strong, they are numerous, and their relationships are inconsistent. It is impossible to completely eliminate them, unless he ordered an inhumane massacre. However, even so, the Song Dynasty would pay a huge price, which is really not worth it.

It is precisely because of the above reasons. Since the establishment of Yuezhou, it has adopted a default attitude towards tribal forces in the local areas. The laws of the Song Dynasty cannot convey these tribes. They naturally have their own tribal rules within them, just like independent kingdoms. Thanks to the fact that Yuezhou is too far from the core area of ​​the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty court tolerated their existence.

However, after years of development, Yuezhou has long been no longer the same as Jiaozhi, especially with the development of maritime trade. The economy of the eastern coastal area of ​​Yuezhou has also greatly improved. Many local forces have benefited from it and their living standards have been significantly improved. These benefiting tribes have gradually recognized the rule of the Song Dynasty, and the influence of the tribes in the local area has also decreased. On the contrary, the influence of the court has become increasingly greater. I believe that in no time, the tribes in these local areas will collapse.

However, compared with the eastern coastal areas, the western part of Yuezhou has been less affected, and most of the tribes are still the same as before. This also provides Li Gande with a place to move. Under his secret activities, many tribes in the west, especially in the southwest, have become supporters of Li Gande. This time, Li Gande rebelled, and most of his rebels were summoned from these tribes.

Originally, according to the Song Dynasty's policy towards local tribes in Yuezhou, the Song Dynasty's army generally did not use force against the tribes. After all, the impact of doing so was too great. This was also the reason why Li Gande had been running away southwest, because as long as he got there, he could directly break the rebels into pieces and return to his respective tribes, and he could also hide among these tribes. If the Song Dynasty army dared to attack these tribes, it would definitely cause a collective rebound of these tribes, thereby causing greater chaos.

Unfortunately, Li Gande underestimated the determination of the Song Dynasty this time. Before Hu Yanping led his army to quell the rebellion, he had already received a letter from Zhao Yan, asking him to destroy the remnants of Li Gande and other Jiaozhi at all costs. In addition, the tribal forces in Yuezhou have also affected the development of Yuezhou. They were not moved before because they had a great influence. However, in recent years, the Song Dynasty has divided these tribes. For example, the tribes in the coastal area have already been put into the arms of the Song Dynasty, and it is not difficult to solve the problem that only the tribes in the southwest are left.

It is precisely because of the above reasons that Hu Yanping's army kept biting Li Gande tightly. Even though the other party fled to the tribe group in the southwest and dispersed the rebels into pieces and dispersed them under the tribes, it seemed that they disappeared all of a sudden, but Hu Yanping still chased here and summoned the leaders of various tribes, hoping that they would hand over all those involved in the rebellion.

Regarding Hu Yanping's request, these tribes united and unanimously stated that the people in their tribe did not participate in any rebellion, let alone knew Li Gande. In their opinion, there were many people on their side, and as the saying goes, the law does not punish the masses. Although Hu Yanping's army is powerful, it is impossible to kill them all.

However, these tribes miscalculated this time. After being rejected by these tribes, Hu Yanping immediately tore off his originally kind face, raised his butcher's knife and killed these tribes. He destroyed ten large tribes in a row within ten days, and he had already investigated them in advance. These ten tribes were the largest tribes that secretly supported Li Gande. Half of the rebels under Li Gande came from these tribes.

After ten days of bloody massacre, countless heads rolled to the ground. In order to shock these Jiaozhi natives, Hu Yanping ordered his soldiers to pile up the heads into a high Jingguan. From a distance, he frightened the remaining tribes. After weighing the trade-offs, some timid tribes finally handed over the tribes who had participated in the rebellion. After all, compared to the destruction of the entire tribe, it was absolutely cost-effective to sacrifice some tribes to protect the others.

However, Hu Yanping was still dissatisfied with the performance of these tribes, because they were too slow to hand over the people, and he did not get any information about Li Gande. So a few days later, he led the army to slaughter several tribes again, and finally scared the remaining tribes to death. All the natives involved in the rebellion were quickly handed over, and many news about Li Gande was also confessed. With the help of these news, Hu Yanping quickly found Li Gande's traces and began to arrest him. Although no one was caught yet, no tribe dared to assist Li Gande. It is estimated that Li Gande would be arrested in no time.

Zhao Hao did not personally participate in the pursuit of Li Gande, but stayed in the rear. In fact, he really wanted to catch Li Gande, a guy who almost captured him, with his own hands. However, Xing Shu tried to persuade him not to take risks. In the end, he had to follow his advice and temporarily return to the deep water port to wait for news.

When Hu Yanping kept passing back the war report for this period, Zhao Hao finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had no objection to Hu Yanping's cold methods. Instead, he felt that he had finally avenged himself. However, he also gave Hu Yanping an order, that was, to capture Li Gande alive, and he insisted on seeing what this guy looked like. In addition, Zhao Hao also sorted out the situation in Yuezhou and reported it to the court truthfully.

However, what Zhao Hao did not expect was that the war report he sent to the court caused a great shock in the court. First of all, several censors expressed indignation at Hu Yanping's massacre in Yuezhou, believing that Hu Yanping was simply killing innocent people. Although those were natives, Yuezhou had become the territory of the Song Dynasty, so those natives were also considered Song people. However, Hu Yanping took advantage of the opportunity to quell the rebellion and massacre the people of the Song Dynasty. It was really cruel and unkind, so they suggested that the court arrest Hu Yanping and question the crime.

Never underestimate the energy of those censors. Although their official positions may not be high, they have great power. Even several husbands may be defeated by their impeachment. Sometimes even Zhao Yan will be impeached by censors. Of course, with his current status, the impeachment of these censors has no effect on him at all.

The reason why these censors impeached Hu Yanping cannot be said to be wrong. After all, influential to Confucianism, Hu Yanqing's large-scale massacre has violated the concept of "benevolence". Many scholars and officials were very disgusted with the large-scale massacre of the army. Therefore, with the participation of those censors, many officials also attracted the participation of them. They impeached Hu Yanping's practice. For a time, many people in the court asked to dismiss Hu Yanping and took him back to the capital for interrogation.

Zhao Yan had already received news about the impeachment of Hu Yanping in the court, so he naturally could not sit idly by. Therefore, under his promotion, the others led by Su Song also began to fight back. They mainly analyzed the local situation in Yuezhou and showed that Hu Yanping's approach could completely solve the problem of Yuezhou. Therefore, Hu Yanping not only did not have any mistakes, but also made great contributions. It was his approach that completely eliminated the possibility of rebellion in Yuezhou again.

The two forces above quarreled in the court, which made Empress Dowager Gao very embarrassed. She also knew that Hu Yanping was Zhao Yan's person. If Hu Yanping could be punished, it would definitely weaken Zhao Yan's influence in the army. But she also knew that if she did this, she would probably completely anger Zhao Yan. Then she and Zhao Yan might break up, which was something she didn't want to see. After all, Zhao Yan doesn't care about the affairs in the court, so that she could monopolize the power, but if Zhao Yan stood up and fought for power with her, she would not have lost it.

Empress Dowager Gao hesitated for a long time and could not think of a good solution. However, at this time someone suddenly made a wonderful suggestion to her, which made her feel suddenly enlightened. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!