"You'll have to rely on yourself from now on."

Early the next morning, after standing at the head of Pengzeyi City and watching Tu Sui's fleet sail eastward, the black man breathed a sigh of relief.

Last night, Peng Ze's surrender was true, when the Chu State had fallen and the Qin army was pressing, even though the local feudal monarch was either out of the dignity of the nobles, or knew that once the Qin people entered the city, they would lose everything and tried to resist to the end, but the local clan chief did not want to be martyred for the Chu State with Peng Zejun, so he decisively killed the monarch and surrendered.

In this way, Heifu captured this small town without a single soldier, which was a surprise.

Standing on the wall of the city at this moment, Heifu looked at the first trophy of his expedition.

Pengze City is located on a low hill two miles away from Penglize, its northwest gate faces the lake, the south is an open plain, the paddy fields are adjacent, and there is a small stream flowing through the east, and the stream is densely covered with bamboo forests.

And its city is rectangular, and Hefu himself walked around, and let Rang Wei record for himself, and found that the east and west walls were one hundred and fifty steps long, and the north and south walls were two hundred steps long, and they could turn around in a quarter of an hour.

The city was already small, and half of the territory in the city was occupied by Peng Zejun's mansion, and the remaining half was divided among the streets, workshops, and markets, which looked cramped and dirty. At this moment, the doors of every household are closed, and the Qin army on the street has five steps, one post, five steps and one sentry.

The city was inhabited mainly by nobles who were not engaged in production, vassals, and a small number of merchants and merchants. Most of the agricultural population lives in the inner lumen outside the city, and these settlements are scattered in the southern part of the city, covering an area no less than the city.

The Xu family, who surrendered yesterday, lived there, they had no city to shelter, and they did not want to be affected by the war and damage their own interests, so they only had the choice of surrender.

"My brother, do you know where the first place to control after the army captures a place?" Heifu taught his younger brother to be surprised as he walked along the wall.

"My brother once told me that only with enough food can we have enough soldiers, and the first place to be controlled should be the warehouse and the arsenal." After thinking about it, he answered Heifu's question correctly.

Peng Zeyi's warehouses and arsenals are all located in Peng Zejun's mansion, so the first thing Heifu did after entering the city was to let Dongmen Leopard lead people to guard the four city walls and city gates, prohibiting anyone from entering and leaving, and then ordered the five hundred lords to take people to raid this mansion.

Seeing that the hour was almost up, Heifu walked into Peng Zejun's mansion with a frightened short-range guard, and Li Xianguo had already searched this place, and came to report to Heifu:

"The arsenal and granary in the mansion are under control, and the arsenal is empty. I heard that Peng Zejun scattered weapons in his arsenal yesterday and called on everyone to resist, but he was assassinated by the Xu family, his private family members died, and the weapons distributed to the people were also taken away, and I am afraid that he will not come back. ”

"How many weapons did Peng Zejun probably distribute?" Heifu asked.

Lixian said: "There are no less than two hundred swords, halberds and spears!" ”

The people inside and outside the city combined, the population is about 4,000, which is a hidden danger, but at this time, the people's hearts are undecided, and it is not suitable to suddenly force them to hand over their weapons. How many? ”

"Five thousand stone millet and rice."

"It's only enough for 3,000 people to eat for a month."

Heifu groaned, according to the agreement, Tu Sui left Zhao Tuo to Heifu, he commanded several boats, and there was millet from Nanjun on board, about 10,000 stones, enough for Heifu and them to eat for two months. Heifu has asked people to assist Zhao Tuo in repairing the wharf, and when the wharf is repaired, the grain can be transported into the city. plus the Yizhong Cangyu, it can only allow them to last for three months. These are all uncooked grains, and there are fewer of them after scooping.

"In other words, in three months, if the war is not over, I will have to figure it out myself."

In addition to the granary and arsenal, Ji Ying was also ordered to count Peng Zejun's property, and came out and shook his head and said that this Fengjun was really poor.

He carried a small tripod and said with disgust: "Sima, you see, the ritual utensils are small, and the gold and silver utensils are scarce, not even much lacquerware, but there are even some pottery mixed with it!" Not to mention that compared with the rich Ejun, even some Yi doctors in Huainan can't compare......"

Indeed, Peng Zejun's mansion reveals a breath of poverty from the inside out, these nobles who came to Jiangxi to be feudal monarchs are not treated well by the king of Chu, and there are few households under him.

At this time, Xiao Tao also brought people to escort more than 100 ragged people over, and under the coercion of Qin Pawn, they all knelt in front of Heifu.

"Division...... Sima, these people are ...... Subordinate concubines. ”

"Are they all subordinate concubines belonging to Peng Zejun?"

Heifu glanced and found that there were not only empty-eyed men and women, but also a dozen or so children, who looked skinny.

There are slaves Qin Chu, Heifu is not uncommon in Nanjun, and he even bought a few at home to cook on the fire, so there will be no extra mercy at this moment.

But they went deep into Jiangxi alone, and these subordinate concubines who had lost their masters may become the first batch of people to be used by the Qin army......

So Heifu put his hands behind his back and said to the ministers with a straight face: "Are you subordinate to Peng Zejun for life?" ”

This area belongs to Southern Chu, and the Anlu accent should be understood, but the subordinate concubines looked at each other, and no one answered.

"General, we are Yangyue and Ganyue people, many of whom don't know Xia Yan and don't understand!"

"I see."

Heifu suddenly realized, no wonder this group of people is short, and there are many people with shaved hair and tattoos on their faces......

The Yue people are the most widely distributed ethnic group in the south, in addition to the Central Plains Yu Yue on the side of Huiji, that is, the descendants of the Yue King Goujian, there are many branches, the Central Plains people call Baiyue.

In Jiangxi, the Yue people mainly have two branches, Ganyue and Yangyue, both of which do not understand Xia Yin, and their language is not even a language family with ancient Chinese at all, but has the same origin as the Thai language of later generations.

"What's your name?" Heifu ordered the one-armed young man to come out.

"My name is Hatoju." The young man was dark-skinned, covered with dragon and snake tattoos, had a wooden plie around his neck, and his arms were missing from the elbow down, leaving only a hideous scar.

"Why did you say Xia Yan?" Hefu asked him.

"The villain's mother is a local Chu who married in the past."

Jiujue replied, "I used to be a free body and lived in Fanshui, so I can speak. ”

"You are a free man, why did you become Peng Zejun's subordinate later?"

Jiujue spat on the ground: "Last autumn, I came to Peng Lize with my clan to fish, but I was captured by Peng Zejun's apprentices, and I was caught back and put on wooden tongs and made a slave. ”

Hunting slaves is also a great pleasure for the feudal monarch of Jiangnan in Chu State.

Heifu asked: "Peng Zejun's subordinates, do you want to be old?" ”

"To die of old age, or to die of exhaustion, so I fled several times."

Hatori showed his back, but saw that it was covered with dried blood scabs, like cowpeas.

"I was not reconciled to this, so I tried to escape while working, Peng Zejun let the hound chase me, bit off my arm, and then took me back and beat me ......"

As he spoke, he shed tears, he was so badly injured that he was thrown in a straw pile to die, and finally survived, Jiujue gritted his teeth and said: "So the general defeated Peng Zejun, I laughed so happily!" ”

"Good."

Heifu nodded: "From today on, you will have a chance to regain your freedom, be my translator, have enough food to eat every month, and after half a year, I will be able to give you freedom, if you behave well, I will also give you money and silk, let you go home!" ”

The dove was overjoyed, after the wooden tongs around his neck were lifted, he saluted Heifu, although he was missing a hand, but he still fell to the ground, and kissed Heifu's shoe tip, maybe this is the habit of the Yue people?

Heifu asked him to get up and said: "Tell these hundred Yue subordinates in Yue for me that as long as they work for me, I will not abuse everyone, and after half a year, everyone will be able to regain their freedom!" ”

Jiujue repeated Heifu's words, the Yue people were stunned at first, and then they danced and cheered, they were supposed to be subordinate concubines for the rest of their lives, but they could be released after half a year, how could they not be happy? The originally gray eyes also had a little more brilliance.

Rather than their constant intention of escaping, it is better to give him hope and be a cow and horse for himself for half a year, and when he also completes the task and leaves Jiangxi, the Vietnamese people will also return to their homes, and they will be happy.

Heifu asked Jiujue to be the translator, and a chief was the supervisor, who was responsible for supervising this group of Yue people, and ordered Lixian to say: "Let the craftsmen hurry up to make a few stepping mills, and let these subordinate concubines cook rice for five hours a day, so that there will be no worry about running out of rice!" ”

Just after Heifu collected Peng Zejun's mansion, property, food, and subordinate concubines in full order, Dongmen Leopard, who was guarding the city outside, came to report to Heifu, saying that several people from the Xu clan, who were the first to surrender to the Qin army last night, came to see him......

"Probably to ask for credit."

Peng Zeyi is the foothold of Heifu, and in the next few months, his food operation will depend on here, if it is not good to enter, this place will become his retreat, so he must have a good relationship with the local clan chief, otherwise he will not be able to control the vast Lilu even if he controls the city.

Heifu smiled: "Let them come in, although I am only a few subordinates, but I still have the power to temporarily appoint a fake husband and a fake three elders!" ”