In this Great Clearance Campaign, Ning Zhiyuan decided to divide his troops into two routes, one of which was to be personally led by him and marched eastward.

On the other hand, Xiao Zhijian, a confidant general, was the main general, and Meng Ping was the deputy general, heading west.

Unlike the expeditionary forces, which consisted entirely of cavalry, both armies were dominated by infantry, with few cavalry.

Because most of the soldiers who could ride horses had already been transferred to the expeditionary force, and the rest were ordinary infantry who could not cavalry.

Since it is a large army dominated by infantry, it is necessary to have a certain number of people to follow the army to transport war materials such as grain, grass, and baggage, and sometimes to do some hard work such as opening roads, digging ditches, cutting trees, and carrying them, so the people are indispensable.

In order to solve the problem of the shortage of people, under the order of the founder Chi Fei, most of the members of the Freemasonry Society were once again called up by the helmsmen of various places to serve as wartime people for the army.

In the end, a total of about 180,000 people were gathered, most of whom were young and strong people from peasant backgrounds.

In order to improve the enthusiasm of these members, Chi Fei did not let them work in vain, but gave them work money by the number of days. Those who do well are rewarded with additional rewards.

Now that the people have it, the next question is how to distribute the military forces.

Although Ning Zhiyuan had more than 300,000 horses on hand, Xinjing, as the capital of the Great Wei State, still needed to leave some troops to garrison, and he couldn't take them all away.

In addition, the court must also leave cronies to take care of it, so as to avoid unpredictable situations.

Therefore, Ning Zhiyuan simply left his second son Ning Yafeng and his confidant Zhang Wenxuan in Xinjing and let them supervise the government on their behalf.

He also left 50,000 horses to garrison Xinjing, under the full command of his second son Ning Yafeng.

After subtracting the 50,000 soldiers left behind in Xinjing, Ning Zhiyuan now has about 270,000 men and horses left in his hands, including more than 12,000 musketeers.

In terms of dividing the troops, Ning Zhiyuan directly divided the 270,000 regular soldiers and the 180,000 wartime civilians into two, and the total number of troops on each route was between 220,000 and 230,000, of which 130,000 to 140,000 were regular soldiers and about 90,000 were people.

After the distribution was completed, Ning Zhiyuan and Xiao Zhijian each led a large army and marched in the east and west directions at the same time.

As a confidant and staff, Chi Fei walked with his father-in-law Ning Zhiyuan.

The first place that the East Road army led by Ning Zhiyuan personally went to was Wanzhou City, which made Xie Yuheng and others sink into the sand.

Wanzhou City is the gateway city of Huainan Province, and once this city is lost, the invading enemy can drive straight into the entire Huainan region.

Huainan Province is only more than 600 miles away from Xinjing, which is an extremely important buffer zone.

Due to the important geographical location of Wanzhou, as soon as they heard that the Hu people were going to attack Wanzhou, Xie Yuheng and others hurriedly transferred troops to defend.

But at that time, Xie Yuheng and others never expected that the Hu people were only feints to attack Wanzhou, and the real target was Ganyang City on the other side.

What is even more unexpected is that after the Hu army led by the eldest prince Arobu took Ganyang, they did not immediately attack Xinjing, but buried them halfway, and arrested Xie Yuheng and others who were eager to return to Beijing to help. The more than 200,000 elite soldiers of the Wei army were crushed, making it the last straw that crushed the Xie family's hegemony.

Now the people of the Xie family, including An Guogong Xie Mingshun, have become prisoners of the Ning family, and are waiting to be punished.

On the other hand, on the Ning family's side, Ning Zhiyuan became the minister of supervision under the recommendation of the two princesses and a number of court ministers, and rightfully grasped the military and political power.

It stands to reason that in this case, Wanzhou, as the capital of the Great Wei Dynasty, should accept the orders of the imperial court and surrender to Kaicheng.

However, Wanzhou's commander Tian Yiguang did not do so.

Tian Yiguang ignored the orders of the imperial court, and even the envoys refused to leave, putting on an attitude of neither resisting nor cooperating.

Tian Yiguang, the commander of Wanzhou, is a local magistrate who was picked up by Xie Mingshun, the Duke of Anguo, and he did this, I don't know if he was thinking of the old master or having ulterior motives.

But no matter what the other party's purpose is, Ning Zhiyuan, who has just become the minister of the prison state, is in the right place, since Wanzhou does not listen to the order, he just uses it to kill chickens and monkeys.

When the army led by Ning Zhiyuan came to the outside of Wanzhou City, he saw that the city gate was closed and heavily guarded.

The city was full of Wei soldiers, all of whom were looking nervously at the Northwest Army below.

Ning Zhiyuan, who was riding on the horse, stared at it for a moment, and then sneered: "You like to pretend to be a ghost, right?" Okay, I'll see what kind of ghosts you are pretending.

Su Zihang, you go up and call the formation to see what the reaction is on the other side. ”

"Yes, Marshal." Under Chi Fei's recommendation, Su Zihang, who had rejoined the army, immediately rode his horse over.

Zhang Wu, who was also turned back into a general in the army by Chi Fei's personal guard, was very vigilant to observe the movements at the head of the city.

He was afraid that the archers at the head of the city would suddenly send arrows, and if this was the case, then Su Zihang, who stepped forward alone, would be in danger of his life.

Fortunately, what he was worried about did not happen, no arrows flew down from the city, and Su Zihang came to the city gate safe and sound.

"I am Su Zihang, a thousand households in the Northwest Battalion, and I am ordered by Ning Gong, the general of the Northwest and the Minister of Prison, to have a face-to-face conversation with your commander.

Where is Tian Yiguang, the commander of Wanzhou? Tell him to come out and meet me. Su Zihang said loudly in a loud voice.

After a while, someone on the top of the city finally stood up, and the other party bowed and said, "Xiaguan is Lu Gongming, the commander of the Wanzhou Guard, may I ask what Lord Su is doing?" ”

"The person I'm looking for is Tian Yiguang, the commander of Wanzhou, can you make the decision on his behalf?"

Lu Gongming smiled and said: "Lord Tian has been in poor health recently, and he can't see guests for the time being, so please don't be surprised."

If you have something to do, you can just instruct the lower officials, and the lower officials will definitely convey your words on your behalf. ”

"If I wanted to go into the city, would you open the gates?"

"Lord Su, now that the plague is rampant, the lower officials really don't dare to let people in easily, please forgive me."

"So, you don't want me to see Tian Yiguang and you don't want to open the city gate, right?"

"Please forgive me, the lower officials really can't be the master." Lu Gongming replied with an embarrassed face.

"Then there's nothing to say, take your leave." Su Zihang snorted coldly, turned around and left.

Lu Gongming watched him gradually walk away with some trepidation.

On the other side, after listening to Su Zihang's report, Ning Zhiyuan laughed instead of being angry, "Since someone doesn't want to eat a toast, then don't blame us for being polite."

Inform the whole army that today they will first set up camp outside the city and open fire to cook.

In addition, tonight everyone slept in their clothes, and their weapons were not to be left with them. Guard should be strengthened at night to prevent the enemy from sneaking up at night. ”

"Yes, Marshal." Su Zihang was ordered to leave.

After everyone else went down, Ning Zhiyuan said to his little son-in-law, "Ah Zhen, rest early tonight." Tomorrow morning, I will make a big siege of the city. ”

Chi Fei frowned and said, "Father-in-law, this Wanzhou City seems to be a little weird.

Even if Tian Yiguang was really a loyal to the Xie family, it was unlikely that others would be willing to accompany him to his death.

Wanzhou's move is incomprehensible. ”

"It's a bit suspicious, but no matter what their plot is, as long as I have a strong army, I am not afraid of any demons and monsters.

This Wanzhou, I have decided. ”

Just as Weng and his son-in-law were still discussing, a soldier suddenly came in outside and reported that there was a messenger outside the camp asking to see him.

Hearing that a messenger asked to see him, Ning Zhiyuan and Chi Fei looked at each other for a moment, and at the same time showed a knowing smile.

It turned out that the other side didn't want to talk about the conditions, but the people hadn't arrived yet.

……………………

In the tent, Ning Zhiyuan met with the visiting envoy.

And this messenger was not one, but four.

These four envoys represent the four major families of merchants, the Duan family, the Zhong family, and the Mi family, who have been in the Huainan area for many years.

As soon as the four of them saw Ning Zhiyuan, they immediately began to sing praises to him, and they almost didn't call him a reincarnated saint.

Ning Zhiyuan was the most annoyed by this, directly interrupted their flattery, and then asked with a golden sword: "I didn't expect that the four famous families in the Huainan region would send envoys over at the same time, it seems that it should not be a trivial matter."

I'm a person who likes to go straight, so if you have something to say, just say it. ”

After the four of them looked at each other, the envoy of the merchant said with a smile on his face as a representative: "The four of us unanimously believe that a great hero like Ning Gong, who is highly meritorious and virtuous, has unparalleled loyalty and righteousness, is the real lord of the Mandate of Heaven and the desire of all people.

As for Wanzhou's predicament, as long as Ning Gong is willing to agree to our request, it will naturally be solved.

Moreover, from the beginning on, the four of us are willing to fully support the succession of Duke Ning and make a decision as soon as possible. ”

"Oh, what is the request?" Ning Zhiyuan asked with interest.

"We only ask for two things, one is to ask Lord Ning Gong to forgive Lord Tian Yiguangtian for their mistakes and let him continue to serve as the commander of Wanzhou.

Tian Daren is loyal and dedicated to the country, as long as Ning Gong is willing to let him go, he promises that from now on, only Ning Gong will be the first to look forward to it, and there will be no two words.

Second, we heard that Ning Gong seems to be interested in re-measuring the land in the provinces south of the Yangtze River, and by the way, checking the hidden households.

This rumor made the people on the Huainan side panic and uneasy, thinking that the Northwest Army was going to forcibly take away their land.

Even in many places, there is a chaotic situation in which a large number of peasants sell their fertile land at a low price and move their families away.

Several of us believe that now that Jiangnan has just experienced war and plague, and at a time when its vitality is greatly damaged, the people really cannot withstand this kind of shock and turmoil.

Wangning Gong was sympathetic to the people and exempted the Huainan side from the inventory, so that the people could cultivate with peace of mind.

This is the second appeal of our families, please Ning Gong think about it. ”

"You mean, you want me to let Tian Yiguang go and let him continue to be the commander of Wanzhou?

In addition, I am exempted from the land inventory on the Huainan side, am I right? ”

"This is all for the sake of the people, and I hope that the public will understand one or two."

"What if I don't say yes?"

"That'...... Then things might be more troublesome.

Don't hide it from Ning Gong, there are many people in Huainan who have misheard, thinking that the Northwest Army wants to loot in the name of measuring land.

Therefore, many people spontaneously formed militia groups, ready to defend their hometowns with their flesh and blood.

Especially on the side of Wanzhou City, more than 200,000 people have joined the army, intending to defend to the end.

Although the Northwest Army under the command of Ning Gong is invincible, Ning Gong must think clearly that the other party is just a group of ordinary people.

Once the fight really starts, whether it is won or lost, such extremely unpleasant rumors as 'wantonly massacre of civilians' are likely to spread all over the world, and then it will be very damaging to Ning Gong's reputation.

Wangning Gong thought twice, thought twice. ”

Ning Zhiyuan squinted, and then laughed loudly: "I see, several family heads are really thinking about me, and I am really moved."

Well, I'm going to think about it, and I'll get back to you in two days. ”

"Then there is Lao Ninggong." Several envoys immediately saluted respectfully, and observed Ning Zhiyuan's expression, intentionally or unintentionally.

They had thought that these somewhat threatening words would make the world-famous Northwest General furious, but to their surprise, the other party's face did not show anger, but instead smiled heartily.

This strange reaction of the other party surprised and confused the four messengers.

Could it be that the Ning family's desire to re-measure the land is just a pretense? The real purpose is to force the various families in Jiangnan to show their loyalty and ask them to stand on the side of the Ning family?

With doubts in their hearts, several messengers left with complicated expressions.

After they left, Chi Fei, who was standing behind the screen and eavesdropping, slowly walked out, and then suddenly said: "No wonder Tian Yiguang dared to disobey the order, it turned out that he was involved with the four major families in Huainan." ”

Ning Zhiyuan said with a smile: "That's just right, save Lao Tzu and deal with them one by one."

Originally, I was worried that these pampered southern clans would be too cowardly to resist, but now I can finally rest assured. ”

The four messengers didn't know that Ning Zhiyuan was not acting, but was really happy.

Because Ning Zhiyuan and Chi Fei deliberately chose this time to carry out land inventory and hidden households in the southern provinces, they wanted to force those big families who had embezzled a large amount of state-owned land and exempted taxes through various means to rebel.

Only by forcing them to rebel can the Ning family move them openly.

This operation, in fact, to put it bluntly, is to eat big households.

The provinces south of the Yangtze River are the richest core hinterland of the Great Wei Dynasty, and more than forty percent of the country's grain and tax revenue come from the south of the Yangtze River.

It is precisely because Jiangnan is so rich that it is also the most densely populated area.

The entire Jiangnan has a total population of more than 12 million, accounting for about half of the total population of the Great Wei.

Although many people died due to the plague and war, the basic plate of tens of millions of people is definitely still there.

Now is the time of green and yellow, coupled with the plague and war, the food production in the whole of Jiangnan is almost completely at a standstill.

People are iron, and rice is steel. If this man wants to live, he must eat.

Perhaps for those families who have a large amount of grain in stock, the current situation is just a small problem of missing a few dishes.

But for the vast majority of ordinary people, who are already too hungry to eat the bark, this is a matter of life and death.

No matter how good the harvest is in the northwest and northeast, it is impossible to feed tens of millions of people in the south of the Yangtze River.

Don't look at the Ning family, not only gave the people free vaccination, but also sent troops to guide a large number of displaced people back to their hometowns to resume farming, as if they lacked nothing.

But in fact, the Ning family's grain stocks are almost at the bottom.

If this continues, the situation that has been stabilized with great difficulty will definitely cause turmoil due to the lack of food everywhere.

The biggest problem facing the Ning family now is how to get enough food to help the people and maintain local stability.

In order to solve this problem, Chi Fei suggested that all cavalry should be used to form an expeditionary force, go to the southern region where the Hu people were entrenched, and loot the Hu people's cattle, sheep and livestock back as supplementary food to feed the people.

But even if this matter goes well, it will take at least two or three months to see results.

The so-called distant water can't save the near fire, and judging from the current grain stocks of the Northwest Army, it won't last so long, and it is likely that it will run out of cooking in a month.

What should I do now?

Ning Zhiyuan, Chi Fei, Zhang Wenxuan and others thought for a long time, and finally came up with a way to harm others and benefit themselves: eat big households.

What is a big deal?

Of course, it refers to those wealthy families who have been entrenched in the local area for many years and have long been fattened and strong.

They are well-deserved big households, who want grain, money, and mines.

These powerful families have been in the local area for several generations, and most of them are very difficult local snakes, and wanting them to willingly take out the food stored at home to help the people is tantamount to seeking skin with the tiger.

Since the soft ones can't work, they can only come to the hard ones.

Force them to rebel first, and then destroy them with a great army.

In this way, the grain and family property accumulated by these powerful families for many years can be confiscated openly.

If you want to force them to rebel, you must hit them at the vital point.

As for the key point of these powerful families, it can be explained clearly in two words: land.

More than 200 years since the founding of the Great Wei Dynasty, it has long been commonplace for wealthy families in various places to use various methods to annex peasant land and encroach on state-owned land.

In the Jiangnan region, where the soil is fertile, the climate is warm and humid, and it can be harvested twice a year, or even three times a year, this phenomenon is particularly serious, and it has even reached the point where it cannot be suppressed.

In fact, the reasons for the demise of many dynasties in history may have been different, but the roots of this land annexation are often at their root.

The Maison took advantage of various factors such as natural disasters and unrest to swallow up a large amount of land for yeoman farmers, seriously damaging the local smallholder economy.

At the same time, these wealthy families have all kinds of tax avoidance methods, so many of the land under their rule do not need to pay land taxes at all.

Since the local government does not collect enough taxes, the country's economy will certainly continue to deteriorate.

To make up for this shortfall, the government had to impose heavier taxes on yeoman farmers.

As taxes continued to increase, the overwhelmed yeoman farmers were forced to sell their land to avoid taxes and forced labor.

This will not only speed up the annexation of land by the powerful families, but more and more yeoman farmers will have to become tenants or slaves of these powerful families in order to survive. This is the main reason why the recluse is created.

In this vicious circle, the imperial economy, which was becoming increasingly difficult to collect, gradually collapsed.

Not only could it not undertake major projects such as building water conservancy and strengthening border city defenses, but in the event of a serious natural disaster or a foreign invasion, it was normal for the entire dynasty to perish.

Ning Zhiyuan, as the new overlord of the Central Plains, of course, can't let these Jiangnan families continue to dig into the wall and damage the public and private as before.

He not only wants to cut off this vicious circle at the root, but also take the opportunity to eradicate a group of families that have become a climate.

And this is precisely the reason why Ning Zhiyuan wants to launch a large-scale land inventory and hidden household movement at this sensitive juncture.

For these wealthy families who have annexed and encroached on a large amount of land, and have made a lot of money as a result, the Ning family's move to re-measure the land in the whole territory of Jiangnan has undoubtedly hit their sore spot.

Because once the Ning family does this, not only will these families be forced to spit out the state-owned land that has been swallowed up, but also many self-owned fields that were originally exempted from tax by various means are likely to have to be re-taxed.

In this way, will they not be cut off from their wealth?

Because the families in the Jiangnan region have sufficient money and food, they have enough capital to raise a large number of private soldiers, so they are naturally stronger than the families in other regions.

Therefore, even a veteran like Xie Mingshun, the Duke of Anguo, who has a heavy army, does not dare to easily move these wealthy clans in Jiangnan without full certainty, lest they unite to rebel together.

It is precisely because of their fearlessness that the four major families of Shang, Duan, Zhong, and Mi in the Huainan region dared to collude with Tian Yiguang, the commander of Wanzhou, to negotiate conditions and make demands with the Ning family.

However, they never expected that Ning Zhiyuan, the general of the Northwest, was a bold bandit leader in his bones.

An Guogong Xie Mingshun didn't dare to offend these Jiangnan clans, but Ning Zhiyuan, the bandit leader, he dared, and this time he came for them.

Ning Zhiyuan deliberately divided his troops into two routes, all the way to the east and all the way to the west, just to exterminate a group of family members who had become a local stubborn disease as quickly as possible, and snatch all their grain and family property.

Ning Zhiyuan was not afraid that they would rebel, he was afraid that they would not rebel, so he would have no reason or excuse to move them.

Now that these families want to show that the chariot and horse are hard with him to the end, he can't ask for it.

Ning Zhiyuan thought for a while and asked, "Ah Zhen, do these families really have more than 200,000 horses in their hands?" ”

Chi Fei said with a smile: "If there are more than 200,000 people in a single place, then wouldn't the entire Jiangnan be a group of heroes and divided everywhere?"

Although the four families of Shang, Duan, Zhong, and Mi are the four richest families in Huainan, the private soldiers raised by each family are only a few thousand to about 10,000 at most.

If each of them has 10,000 people, if they are counted together, they are only 40,000 private soldiers.

The reason why the Xie family didn't dare to move them easily was not because they were afraid of some of the big families, but because they were afraid that the entire Jiangnan Hao clan would unite against him.

Originally, there were 50,000 regular soldiers in Wanzhou City, and now with these 40,000 private soldiers, there are about 90,000 defenders.

As for the other ordinary people who are composed of civilians and have no combat effectiveness, they are basically negligible.

The number of troops stationed in Wanzhou City now is probably this number. ”

"However, the mere 30,000 or 40,000 private soldiers have been boasted to be more than 200,000.

Sure enough, when it comes to bragging, there are really few who can compare to these Jiangnan clans.

I'm going to see if it's their stiff necks or my knives this time.

You want to talk to me about the conditions, right?

Okay, after Lao Tzu raids his house and exterminates his clan, let's see what they have to talk to me! As Ning Zhiyuan spoke, his eyes showed a fierce light and murderous intent emerged.

Looking at his father-in-law with a murderous face, Chi Fei knew that there was another large number of heads rolling to the ground.

But then again, it is a matter of time before we have to reclaim the encroached state land and the exempted land endowments by re-measuring the land.

Since you have to do it sooner or later, it's better to do it now.

First, you can recycle the encroached state-owned resources, and second, you can also eat large households and collect private grain, so why not?

If you want to blame, you can only blame those Jiangnan wealthy families who are greedy for profit and choose the wrong opponent to negotiate the conditions.