Liu Xiang stayed in Jixian for three days, and the rear army arrived with food, grass and baggage.
This time he transported 20,000 shi of grain, and he will continue to transport it in the future. Liu Xiang plans to store 200,000 shi of grain in Jixian County to provide relief to the victims of the Guangyang disaster and to cope with the consumption of the army's attack.
Zou Jing's entire army was wiped out, and Zhuo County's troops were empty. It was a good opportunity to attack the city and seize territory.
Before dispatching troops, there are still some hidden dangers that need to be dealt with, and the first one to bear the brunt is the Yellow Turban Army.
A total of 12,000 Yellow Turban troops surrendered in Jixian County. Due to many battles, the young and middle-aged soldiers were seriously injured, and fewer than 6,000 were able to fight. The rest were old, weak, women and children.
Yan Gang visited for many days and found out that the person who ordered cannibalism was Cheng Zhiyuan's deputy general named Zhao Gui. He had more than 3,000 subordinates, many of whom committed cannibalism. The other ministries did not participate.
Then there is no need to hesitate. Liu Xiang ordered: "Let them dig a pit in the tomb area in the north of the city, tune a crossbowman and a soldier, and monitor the outside. Once the pit is dug, the execution will be carried out on the spot. If there is resistance, they will be shot.
kill.
After the execution, let the people in the city see it and tell them that these yellow scarves eat people, so they must be executed.
If the people have any grievances, they can come and file a complaint, and the Anping Army will seek justice for them."
Yan Gang received the military symbols and arrows and took his Tiqi troops to the Shesheng camp and the Hujun camp to mobilize troops. He also sent the Zhao Gui Department of the Yellow Turban Army to the north of the city to carry out the execution.
Liu Xiang didn't go because he was afraid that he would be soft-hearted.
After dealing with those cannibals, the remaining Yellow Turbans will be selected in batches, the Taiping Taoists will be selected, demoted to slaves, and sent to various mines;
Nearly 5,000 old, weak, women and children were laid off and left to work in Jixian County, which was regarded as a work-for-relief program;
There were more than 3,000 young men left, who were recruited as civilian husbands to transport food, grass and baggage for the army. After the battle, they were taken to the fields together with the old and young people of the Yellow Turban Army who stayed in Jixian County.
The captured soldiers and horses of Zhuojun, 1,500 people, are doing hard work in Jixian, repairing the city defenses and dredging the moat. Their fighting will makes Liu Xiang a little afraid, and he does not dare to take them with him in the army. What should he do if they make trouble in Zhuojun?
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More than 4,000 civilian men recruited by Zou Jing in Guangyang were captured. These men were transformed into civilian men of the Anping Army. Liu Xiang made an agreement with them that after the battle, he would send them back to their hometowns to divide their fields.
As soon as the magic weapon of dividing the land was sacrificed, the mental outlook of these people immediately changed. At least they had hope and no longer looked lifeless.
Guangyang County has been in turmoil since the Yellow Turban Uprising in early spring. The original population of nearly 300,000 people is now probably less than 100,000. Especially in the countryside, the fields are barren, the houses are vacant, and there are almost no people inhabited. They are really bandits.
The disasters caused by military disasters are more serious than the disasters of water and fire. For the people, it is a devastating disaster.
That is to say, there are still some residents in a few county towns who are so hungry that they are skin and bones and close to death.
For Liu Xiang, there is no obstacle to conquering Guangyang County. As long as he captures Anci County and Guangyang County, he can capture the entire Guangyang County. There is no difficulty.
The difficulty is how to resume production and feed the remaining people. The fields in Guangyang County have been abandoned for a year, and there is no harvest this season. The people have no food in their hands, and they can only wait to die without anyone to help them.
Liu Xiang had to raise them for at least a year.
But what should we do next season? There are not many young people left in Guangyang County, only a bunch of old and weak women and children are left. If they are expected to farm, they may not be able to support themselves, so Liu Xiang has to find a way out for them.
Then there is the problem of fields. A large number of fields are abandoned and are about to become wasteland. It will take several years and a lot of effort to cultivate the wasteland into fertile land again.
After all, it is still a problem of insufficient population. This is an era of low productivity, and farming requires a lot of labor.
Zhuojun has a large population, with more than 600,000 people. However, Zhuojun is not overpopulated and cannot make up for the labor gap of more than 100,000 people.
There is really a shortage of people in Youzhou. Liu Xiang feels that there are a lot of people in Qingzhou and Jizhou, so he has to think of a way to get some people. If he doesn't take some action, his ideas will not be clear.
Liu Xiang has a lot of ideas, but things have to be done one by one.
Right now, I have to focus on the war.
Liu Xiang had been planning this war for several months, and now that it was time to reap the rewards, he couldn't afford to neglect it. He understands this truth.
On July 27, Liu Xiang led his troops to force Anci to surrender. Only 8,000 hungry people remained in the city, and they were moved to Jixian County.
The rear army was ordered to lead 10,000 militiamen to garrison in Jixian County, transport baggage, hoard grain and grass, and protect the grain road from Lu County to Jundu County.
He ordered Yang Gao to send troops to the capital, pretending to attack Juyong Pass, involving the troops of Shanggu County, and creating a fighting opportunity for Yan Rou.
Yan Rou was ordered to wait for an opportunity to march into Juyong County, attack Juyong Pass with the right army, and open up the road into Shanggu County.
On July 28, Liu Xiang led 16,000 regular soldiers, 5,000 militiamen, and 7,000 civilians. He crossed the river and sent troops to Guangyang County.
Guangyang County is close to Zhuo County and was a food road node when Zou Jing entered the army. The situation was better than other counties. It could get some relief and tens of thousands of people gathered. However, all the young and strong people were transferred by Zou Jing, and Liu Xiang's army
When we arrived, we encountered little resistance.
Carrying the burden of tens of thousands of old, weak, women and children, Liu Xiang was also helpless. He couldn't just ignore it, right? But he couldn't always use military rations to supplement the burden. This was not a solution and would not last long.
Yuyang did hoard some grain, but it was all useful. He needed to raise soldiers and horses, raise craftsmen, recruit civilians, and prepare for famine and war.
No matter how you calculate it, it's never enough.
We still have to count on the food from Zhuojun, and we must capture Zhuojun as soon as possible, not until winter, let alone next year.
Five hundred regular soldiers and one thousand militiamen were left behind and ordered to guard the grain road. The army did not stop here. The troops entered Zhuo County and went straight to Liangxiang County.
Liangxiang is located more than fifty miles southwest of Guangyang County, on the north bank of Shengshui. The entire territory is plain, which is quite suitable for land reclamation.
It's a pity that there are few people.
As soon as the army arrived, the county magistrate of Liangxiang obediently surrendered to Kaicheng. After taking over the city defense, Liu Xiang ignored others and went straight to the treasury.
Liangxiang County has less than 3,000 shi of grain in stock.
He had no choice but to take his soldiers and horses to borrow grain from large households in the county. He chopped off a dozen heads and searched the mansions of powerful landlords in Liangxiang County, but only raised 10,000 shi of grain.
Just enough to feed the victims for a month.
One thousand regular soldiers and one thousand militiamen were left behind to transport some grain back to Guangyang County for emergency response, and to guard the grain road and the retreat route.
The army rested for a night and continued to march towards Zhuo County. Zhuo County is more than eighty miles away from Liangxiang and is the county seat of Zhuo County.
Under the leadership of the local guide, we crossed Shengshui and walked south for a day, avoiding the muddy road section at the junction of Yuanshui and Taoshui. We crossed Taoshui again the next day, turned eastward, and arrived at Zhuoxian at noon.
Set up camp ten miles from the east gate of the county.
Liu Xiang took Su Wei to visit the city. Zhuoxian County was later known as Zhuozhou, and was known as the best state in the world. It was adjacent to Taihang Mountain in the west and Yanshan Mountain in the north. The city was nine miles in circumference. The city wall was more than three feet high and had four gates.
Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor tore Chiyou apart in his chariot and abandoned some of his corpses in Zhuodi. In order to avoid Chiyou's evil, when the ancient city was being built, the west gate was recessed, forming a shape with an inward fold in the northeast and a bulge in the southwest. The city is commonly known as a "concave" city.
Because it looks like a lying cow, it is also called "Cow City".
More than a hundred steps west of the city, Taoshui flows from south to north, and turns eastward three miles north of the city. Taoshui is a tributary of Juma River. It turns eastward in Zhuoxian County, joins Yuanshui, and continues eastward to merge with Yangxiang River.
Holy water flows eastward into the sea.
More than 20 miles northwest of Zhuoxian County, there is a small town in Xixiang, which is a fiefdom of the Hou Kingdom. It is at an angle with Zhuoxian County and relies on each other.
Liu Xiang was worried that this city was not easy to fight.