Ma Chao has coveted Jizhou for a long time, how can he miss such an opportunity? At this time, Jizhou was in turmoil, the dragons were leaderless, and the people's hearts were scattered, so it was a good time to crusade against the Montenegrin thieves and buy the hearts of the people of Jizhou. After receiving the edict, Ma Chao immediately dispatched troops and ordered Chen Zhi to lead 10,000 Montenegrin troops to Jinyang to lead 5,000 Montenegrin troops to fight with Xu Huang, and Wang Shuang also brought 10,000 Xiliang elite soldiers to fight with the army, and ordered Cao to lead 3,000 descendants to prepare to rush to Huguan to replace Huang Zhong's 5,000 marksman battalion, a total of 30,000 elite soldiers to Jizhou.

In the past few months, Pang De, Fa Zheng and Han Sui have been victorious in the conquest of Xianbei, and a total of 100,000 troops from both sides have broken through the Tianshan Mountains and entered the hinterland of Xianbei, and the final decisive battle with the main force of Xianbei is imminent. So far, more than 500,000 livestock have been seized, nearly 200,000 strong prisoners, and more than 80,000 women of childbearing age.

Because of the capture of a large number of war horses, there were 5,000 Black Mountain cavalry trained by Chen Zhi himself, as well as 5,000 light cavalry upgraded from the Xiliang army, a total of 10,000 cavalry. Xu Huang's 5,000 Black Mountain Army was also upgraded from spearmen to sword and shield soldiers, plus the remaining 5,000 Xiliang Sword and Shield Soldiers, Huang Zhong's 5,000 Marksmen Battalion, and Chen Zhi's 5,000 Black Mountain Pikemen, this team can be said to be fully equipped.

As for the matter of sitting in Jinyang City, Ma Xiu and Li Yan are still responsible. In the past few months, Ma Chao has basically fulfilled his promise, and at this moment, the five thousand soldiers of the Shenwei Battalion have all started a family, and the wife is not a local woman from a good family, but a woman from a Han family who came with the homeless people. For this matter, Ma Chao spent 50 million yuan on just five baht, not counting other materials, and the handwriting is not small! Therefore, Ma Chao was also unwilling to let the newly married soldiers of the Shenwei Battalion go to Jizhou, and let Ma Xiu lead them to unite with Li Yan's 5,000 Black Mountain Army to defend Jinyang City!

The army set out from Jinyang City, passed through Huguan to replace Huang Zhong and went straight to Yecheng. Huangfu Song, who sat in Yecheng and Jizhou to temporarily represent the history of Jizhou, was not frustrated, Bing Cao was engaged in Kojiyi, and military Sima Pan Feng and other officials came out early. It is worth mentioning that Wang Fen conspired to abolish the emperor, many officials and families in Jizhou have participated, after the rectification of Huangfu Song, a hardcore loyal minister, many official positions in Jizhou are now vacant, and the families involved in this matter either fled or were exterminated by Huangfu Song with troops.

Still far away, Huang Fu Song and the others dismounted and bowed, and said loudly: "General Zuo Huang Fu Song has seen the hussar general, I haven't seen him for a few months, and the general's demeanor is better than in the past!" ”

Ma Chao hurriedly dismounted and returned the salute, hugged his fists and said: "General Huangfu is a famous general in the world and a pillar of the country, how can he give this great gift to the younger generation!" ”

Huangfu Song laughed, and couldn't help but praise: "Since last year, Luoyang has made a lot of achievements, subdued Montenegro, Yang Feng, Tao Sheng, relocated more than 200,000 displaced people to the Southern Xiongnu, pacified Shangjun and Hexi County, exterminated the Baibo thieves, governed and merged the state, and won a great victory over Xianbei. ”

Ma Chao shook his head and said: "The old general only said the general's merits, but he didn't see the general's faults!" The rebellion in Jizhou today is beyond the norm! The general was edicted to crusade against the Montenegrin thieves, but it was only because he was unwilling to lead the troops to kill the Black Mountain homeless people for a while, which led to Zhang Yan, Yu Poison and other stubborn people committing military disasters, so that the people of Jizhou were tragically poisoned, and they were often shaken up every time they thought about it! ”

"The general's love for the people can be learned from heaven and earth, don't be frustrated in Jizhou, I've seen a hussar general!"

"The last general, Lu Yi (Pan Feng), has seen the hussar general!"

Ma Chao laughed and said, "You don't have to be polite, don't be frustrated and don't come to General Pan, are you okay?" I have heard for a long time that the name of General Koji Yi is also like thunder, crusading against Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju, and there are many merits of General Koji! ”

Frustratedly, he said: "The general has come from afar, and we have already prepared a banquet, but how about inviting the general into the city to talk again?" ”

"That's exactly how it should be!" Ma Chao immediately ordered the 30,000-strong army to camp outside the city, with Wang Shuang and Chen Zhi in charge of military affairs, and he himself brought Dian Wei, Huang Zhong, and Xu Huang into the city for a banquet.

Along the way, Ma Chao couldn't help but sigh when he saw the prosperous scene of Yecheng, this kind of situation was only seen in Luoyang, and Jinyang City, which was also a state governor, was never as good as it. Jizhou is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, mainly including Hebei and Shandong in the later generations, this region is interlaced with rivers, the land is flat and fertile, belongs to the hinterland of the Central Plains, is the most economically and culturally developed area at that time. The state is mountainous, and it is close to the Southern Xiongnu and Qianghu, and the economy and population are far less than that of Jizhou.

After taking the seat, the two sides introduced each other, and after greetings, they got to the point. Huangfu Song hugged his fists and said: "The Black Mountain thieves are powerful, a month ago, Zhang Yan, Bai Huan and Yu Poison three leaders gathered more than 100,000 people from the Black Mountain Bandit Army to raid Jizhou, Zhending, Zhao State, Guangping, Handan, Wei County was broken successively, officials were killed, the treasury was plundered, the losses were extremely serious, and even Yecheng was besieged by the Black Mountain Army for several days. Although the Black Mountain bandit army has been repulsed, the bandit army is based in the valley in Taihang Mountain, and often comes out to rob the people of nearby counties, and there are still several counties that have not been recovered! I don't know what the champion Hou has planned! ”

Ma Chao frowned, to be honest, he was not willing to clean up Zhang Yan, Yu Poison and others at all. In history, this group of Black Mountain thieves brought countless troubles to Cao Ying and Yuan Shao, especially Yu Poison, and the Black Mountain Army almost broke through Yecheng and took Yuan Shao's family. Cao Ying's entrenchment in Yanzhou was also deeply affected, and he once sent the generals Le Jin, Zhang Liao and others to crusade against the Black Mountain thieves. But this gang of thieves is known as "millions", and after all, it is still a rabble that is difficult to form a climate, and was finally swallowed up by Cao Ying and Yuan Shao one by one.

But now that you have the heart to win Jizhou, you must first clean up the Black Mountain thieves, because this is a shortcut to buy the hearts of the people. Another purpose is to deal with the relationship with the Jizhou family, support him to win them over, and if he doesn't support it, he must find a way to destroy them as soon as possible, and he must not keep them to support Yuan Shao in seizing Jizhou in the future, otherwise even if he can win it now, he will not be able to hold it in the future, but will make wedding dresses for others in vain.

Ma Chao had already thought of his words in his heart, and said unhurriedly: "The general has some ideas, there are fifteen thousand Black Mountain troops under my command, and the predecessors of these people are the Black Mountain thieves under the command of Zheng Gu and others, and they know everything about the valley where the Black Mountain thieves inhabit in Taihang Mountain. There will be a Montenegrin army in hand, and it will be easy to destroy Zhang Yan and other rabble! What is lacking is a shortage of food and grass, and this matter will also bother the general Huangfu and frustrated! ”

Huangfu Song and Fu Zhu glanced at each other, and chuckled: "This matter is easy! There is a lot of money and grain accumulated by Wang Fen in the Yecheng Treasury, I don't know how much grain and grass the general needs? ”

Ma Chao was stunned for a moment, and said in his heart that these two people are really wealthy, if they don't knock on the bamboo pole well, they are really sorry for themselves, and after thinking about it, he said: "The Black Mountain thieves are powerful, and it will be difficult to calm down without half a year." There are 30,000 sergeants under the command of this general, according to the calculation of two Hu rice per person per month, 30,000 people in six months is 360,000 Hu, plus the expenses of prisoners, auxiliary soldiers, war horses, etc., how about 500,000 Hu grain and grass first? ”

Fu Zhi nodded and said, "Although the general can rest assured, although 500,000 grains and grass is not a small amount, I will definitely be able to prepare it completely!" General Bao has no worries! ”

Ma Chao stroked his palms and smiled: "It's really refreshing to be frustrated, in addition, the general also needs 300 million yuan in military salary, 300,000 catties of fine iron, and 10,000 pieces of cloth, this small amount is naturally not difficult for General Huangfu and Frustrated Don't drive!" On behalf of 30,000 soldiers, thank you two! Without giving the two of them a chance to refuse, he got up and gave a deep salute.

The corners of the two of their mouths twitched, and they hurriedly got up and returned the salute, frowning and saying, "The general already has enough grain and grass, why do you need such a huge amount of money, fine iron, and cloth!" The amount of these supplies is not too large or small, but it is not enough to raise all of them in a moment! ”

Ma Chao said: "This matter is not in a hurry, you can slowly collect from the counties, the generals will lead the troops to fight and fight for their lives, and the soldiers under their command will throw their heads and spill their blood while supporting their families, how can they have no monthly income to take?" The minimum monthly salary for ordinary soldiers under the command of this general is 1,000, and the highest can range from 3,000 to 5,000, in addition to the pension of the fallen soldiers, the settlement allowance of the disabled soldiers, and the meritorious ones will be rewarded, where is there no need for money? 300 million is not too much? As for the fine iron and cloth, it is natural to use it to repair weapons and armor and replace battle robes, but it is a pity that I am not poor and poor, and the population is small, otherwise how dare I dare to work for the two of them. ”

"I'm afraid this is a bit embarrassing! But I try to raise money for the general, how about I pay in monthly instalments? Frustrated Professor thought about it, and agreed ruthlessly.

"Don't say a word if you are frustrated, Ben will naturally rest assured!" Ma Chao's words of crying poor are not nonsense, although he made a fortune in the Xiongnu, Wuheng and Xianbei, but the money, food and materials needed to settle millions of displaced people are astronomical. To this end, he not only spent all the gold and silver and five baht, but also borrowed more than 5 million grains from the Taiyuan Wang family, the Hedong Wei family and dozens of small and medium-sized families in Bingzhou.

This is only the cost of food, and cultivating the fields requires not only labor, but also the purchase of production tools and cattle and horses, and other livestock. If it were someone else, even Dong Zhuo, who was currently the most powerful, would not have the ability, let alone the financially embarrassed imperial court.

And he was able to settle millions of displaced people also thanks to the collective tuntian system, which is equivalent to the state-owned enterprises in later generations, the government took back the land, and then provided food and shelter to organize the people to cultivate, he took the big head of the fruits of labor, and the people took the small head, in the final analysis, Ma Chao is a capitalist, a bully who exploits the people. But in times of turmoil, when people who have lost their land and homes are in danger of starving to death every day, this can ensure the lives of millions of people and provide them with a relatively safe environment, so exploitation is sometimes a good thing.

Ma Chao's doing this can be described as a huge benefit, don't look at him now that he is poor and white, as long as he can survive the autumn harvest, the materials he invested can immediately multiply several times. At that time, it will not only be easy to feed an army of more than 100,000 people, but also lay a solid foundation for next year, and at the same time create great social wealth. In this way, the problem of food and clothing for the people will be comprehensively solved in less than three years, and more labor force will be liberated to engage in other occupations, so as to achieve the goal of all-round development of social productive forces.

The tangible assets mentioned above, the benefits that can be seen, the intangible, and invisible ones are that he has a million die-hard fans and hundreds of thousands of slaves in the state. This is undoubtedly a huge, immeasurable wealth, the ancients have a simple surname, far less than the modern people so many fancy intestines, the virtue of a meal is still remembered for life, not to mention the grace of the whole family? Which of these displaced people who has been resettled is not grateful to him? Even many homeless families have portraits of Ma Chao, and almost all of them have become religious fanatics. Although the local people in Bingzhou are not as grateful to Ma Chao as these millions of displaced people, the fame he has achieved in Bingzhou is not comparable to that of ordinary state assassins and state pastors. (To be continued.) )