Of the 20,000 people Danzhu led this time, half were cavalry.
In order to march quickly, they did not carry much food and grass.
But Danzhu has long been accustomed to fighting to support fighting.
He left 5,000 infantrymen to besiege Mao'er Mountain, and personally led 5,000 men and horses to surround Xichuan City, and then sent the remaining 10,000 cavalrymen out to plunder.
Xichuan Prefecture Muqing Xinyao had the same idea as Jin Feng, believing that even if the plateau people came to attack, it would take a long time, and it might even be delayed until next year.
But they were all wrong.
No matter when you fight, you fight for money.
The tribes on the plateau have been fighting for years. Although they have trained batches of brave soldiers, they have also consumed too much financial resources.
Moreover, similar to the early Qin period in Jin Feng's previous life, although Gadazampu conquered other tribes, the surviving nobles and common people of each tribe were still thinking about overthrowing Gadazampu and restoring the original tribes.
Gadazamp is now in urgent need of money and materials to rebuild his homeland, and he also needs to use external war to divert internal conflicts.
Not only did the Ninth Princess and Qing Xinyao want to start a war, but Gada was also thinking about Dakang for more than a day or two.
Doesn’t Gada Zamp know that the rumors about the Ninth Princess are false?
In fact, he knew that he was just trying to blackmail Da Kang and go along with the situation.
In order to increase the bargaining chip, Gadazamp began to gather troops near the border as early as half a year ago, preparing to use force to intimidate Dakang during negotiations.
The Ninth Princess sent people pretending to be bandits to kill the plateau messenger, which just gave Gada a reason to send troops.
As soon as the five days were up, troops were immediately sent to break through the border and attack Xichuan Prefecture.
Although Qing Xinyao was mentally prepared, he was still caught off guard.
We could only send Meng Tianhai to Mao'er Mountain to stop them, while starting to organize the surrounding people to retreat.
But time was too hasty, and many people were worried about the only belongings they had at home and were unwilling to go to Xichuan Fucheng to escape.
Those who were close to them were all captured as slaves by Gada's cavalry and transported back to the camp for imprisonment.
Those who were far away were slaughtered.
In half a month, Gada's 10,000 cavalrymen swept a thirty-mile radius with Xichuan City as the center, and plundered a large amount of food and property, enough to feed 20,000 people for a period of time.
With enough supplies, Gada was relieved.
At noon that day after the team was assembled, Gada sent people to the north gate of Xichuan Prefecture to call for battle.
Rather than scolding people, how could the plateau people who were still in the tribal era be able to scold the prosperous officials?
The scolding team sent by Qing Xinyao were all smart-tongued and loud-sounding people. Together with the iron speakers provided by Jin Feng, they scolded the plateau people sent by Gada until they couldn't hold their heads up.
When Gada saw that he could not be scolded, he directly ordered the attack on the city.
Soon, a dense crowd appeared in the open space to the north of Xichuan Fucheng.
But only 10% of them are plateau people, and the rest are all well-off people who were plundered from the surrounding areas.
This is also the method Gada usually uses when conquering various tribes.
When the attack on the city first began, the defenders were the most well-prepared and had the highest morale.
If you send people to attack directly, you will definitely suffer heavy losses.
Whenever this happened, Gada would order soldiers to plunder the people around the city, using the people to consume the supplies and morale of the defenders.
It was also a huge blow to the faith of the generals defending the city.
Qing Xinyao, who was standing on the city wall at this time, was so angry that he gritted his teeth.
Ninety percent of the crowd at the foot of the city were from well-off people, and Qing Xinyao even saw someone he knew in the front row.
This man's name is Zhou Youda, a squire from Linglong Town west of Xichuan City. His ancestors have served as county magistrates twice.
Zhou Youda himself is also extremely intelligent. He has read poetry and books since he was a child. He was admitted to the scholar examination at the age of fifteen and passed the imperial examination in his early twenties. He is a famous talent in Xichuan.
Coupled with his well-off family background, he is the perfect husband for many girls.
In the feudal period, even if a scholar had a reputation, he did not have to kneel in court.
The exam to be a scholar is also much more difficult than many modern people think. Many people have been studying for more than ten years and still fail to pass the exam.
As for winning the exam, it's even more difficult.
Many scholars never passed the examination until they died of old age.
In his early twenties, Zhou Youda passed the imperial examination. On this point alone, Zhou Youda definitely surpassed 99% of Dakang's peers.
If all goes well, Zhou Youda's achievements in this lifetime are likely to surpass those of his two ancestors who were county magistrates.
Although he is not an official yet, he is very famous in Xichuan.
Otherwise Qingxin Yao, the state minister, would not know about him.
A generation of talented people who were originally promising, were now walking like zombies, numbly walking towards the Xichuan city wall under the whips of the cavalry.
In fact, the Zhou family had already received the notice from Qing Xinyao, but Zhou Youda went out to visit friends half a month ago.
The old father who was in charge of the family was afraid that his son would not be able to find his family when he returned, so he did not evacuate immediately.
By the time Zhou Youda received the news and rushed home, it was already too late.
That day, Zhou Youda witnessed with his own eyes several young children being pierced through the stomach with spears and lifted up high by the cavalry as if they were playing a game.
Witnessed a cavalryman raping his wife, concubines and slaves in the yard.
Witnessed a cavalryman cutting off his father's head and kicking it against the courtyard wall...
At that moment, Zhou Youda felt like he was in hell.
No matter how cowardly a person is, he cannot bear such a blow.
Zhou Youda forgot about life and death and rushed towards the cavalry with a roar.
But how could he, a scholar, be a match for the battle-hardened cavalry?
Before he even got close, he stumbled, was hit on the head, and fainted.
Until he fainted, Zhou Youda didn't know who hit his head or what hit him.
When he woke up, he was dragged to the entrance of the village by the cavalry.
With him were other people in the village.
Recalling the previous scene, Zhou Youda's first thought after waking up was to fight the cavalry, but he was hugged tightly by his mother and his wife and concubines.
"Dar, your father and Jun'er are dead, and you are the only one left in the Zhou family. I'm begging you, no matter what, you have to live, and we can't let the Zhou family lose its incense!
"
During the feudal period, family inheritance was a concept ingrained in the bones of the people.
As a wealthy and distinguished family, the Zhou family has this concept even deeper.
During Zhou Youda's grandfather's time, there was a fire at home, and all the men were burned down until only his grandfather was left.
Because he was injured in the fire and worked hard all his life, he only gave birth to one child, Zhou Youda's father.
Zhou Youda's father was spoiled as a playboy since he was a child. After he got married and gave birth to Zhou Youda when he was a teenager, he contracted the disease due to visiting a brothel. Although he was optimistic in the end, he lost his fertility.
Having learned his own painful lesson, his father did not allow Zhou Youda to go to a brothel again. Starting at the age of sixteen, he married six wives and concubines in succession within a few years and gave birth to four sons and three daughters.
Seeing that the Zhou family is about to flourish and prosper.
But now, all his children have been killed by the cavalry.
The father was also killed.
He was the only seedling left in the Zhou family.
In order to continue the clan, Zhou Youda had no choice but to endure humiliation and survive.