"How did you do this?" Liu Chan looked at Ma Jian and Guan Xing, who had won the battle, but his eyes were full of confusion.

Before leaving, the two had only taken 5,000 soldiers and horses with them, but now they have swelled to more than 8,000......

This is still the result of encountering Zhu Bao's resistance when attacking the county of Qiqi and Lan, and it took more than 500 troops to take it.

However, they don't look good at this time.

Ma Yan, who usually pays great attention to his image, is full of blood and mud spots on his armor at this time, as well as all kinds of stains that can no longer be seen as prototypes.

And Guan Xing, who originally had an elegant temperament, took off his helmet and shook his head at this time, and two insects could pop out of his hair, and his head seemed to be about to form an independent ecological environment......

Even with this appearance, they were almost the best among the crowd, almost half of the "soldiers" were in tatters, and some even wore only animal skins around their buttocks.

These people all have yellow faces and thin muscles, and they look like they are malnourished all year round.

Liu Chan is very familiar with this scene, what kind of victory is this, isn't this the escape of the homeless?

Ma Jian reluctantly gave up his hand, and said in a weak voice: "Prince, can you allow our army to be fed...... Tell the prince in detail again? ”

Liu Chan: "...... Come! Prepare the food! ”

……

Ma Tan, Guan Xing, and Ma Zhong, who emerged in the battle of Qiqi, showed off in the strange eyes of Liu Chan, Zhuge Liang and the generals for nearly half an hour before they stopped with a round belly under Liu Chan's persuasion.

Liu Chan felt that if he didn't open his mouth again, they might be able to eat and vomit......

He looked at the three people who looked happy at this time, as if they had nothing else to ask for, and asked again, "How did you do this?" ”

However, Comrade Ma Tan's answer seemed to be a bit incorrect: "Prince, you are really poor......

When he said this, he seemed to have mixed feelings, his eyes were full of tears, and he remembered the magical and unbearable battle experience of himself and others all the way.

At first, their war went very smoothly, and after capturing Yanxian, the army opened warehouses to obtain grain, help the poor, and confiscate unscrupulous large households and poor people, and soon established a good reputation for the Han army in the local area.

However, Ma Tan and Guan Xing at that time never thought that it was this good reputation that made them become no different from homeless people later......

After the county was stabilized, Ma Tan and the others marched all the way to the southeast, and they rushed straight to Zhiqilan in high spirits.

Here they met the first and will be the last battle.

Jilan is the only place with a large plain landform in the entire Qiqi County, and it is naturally the main grain producing area of Qiqi County.

When Zhu Bao learned that the Han army had arrived and the county was lost, he would transfer almost all the troops that could be brought in—in fact, more than 2,000 people, all of whom gathered in Jilan to defend it.

Except for Jilan, there were no strategic points worth attacking nearby, and Ma Tan and Guan Xing, who were unable to use tactics to mobilize the enemy, fell into a confrontation with the defenders.

The route into the Yakuza was too dangerous, and the Lei Gong Cannon could not transport it at all, so they could only cut down trees on the spot, make simple ladders, and rush cars.

After persuasion to surrender to no avail, the helpless Ma Tan and Guan Xing launched a strong attack.

Fortunately, the defense of Lancheng is not solid, the defenders are poorly equipped and lack training, and Zhu Bao does not know what to feint and attack, and the changes of Qizheng.

On the first day of the siege, he narrowly managed to take a gate.

Only three days later, under the onslaught of the well-equipped Han army, the defenders were demoralized and had little intention of fighting again.

Zhu Bao, who felt that the situation was not good, had to use his biggest "hole card" at this time - ask the wizard to do it.

Nanzhong generally believes in the theory of ghosts and gods, and the impoverished Qiqi County is the most of them, I don't know if it is living in this place for a long time, as a county Taishou Zhu Bao is also very worshipful of wizards and ghosts.

The sorcerer in the city immediately asked Zhu Bao to kill nine defender soldiers in the middle of the night to sacrifice to the ghosts and gods, and then spend half the night.

At dawn, he sent a messenger to tell Zhu Bao that the soldiers defending the city were now invulnerable, and they could go out of the city and annihilate the Han army in one fell swoop.

Zhu Bao really believed it.

The magic is that not only Zhu Bao believed it, but even those defender soldiers believed it.

The city gate was wide open, and many soldiers who were still wearing fart curtains and sticks on their heads came out with inferior machetes and bamboo guns, screaming and screaming.

And then, there is no then......

Although they believed it, the bows, crossbows, knives and spears in the hands of the Han army didn't seem to believe it.

After the first group of dead defenders fell, the other defenders who found that the witchcraft did not work immediately knelt, and they knelt very decisively, having lost their last spiritual sustenance.

When the army entered the city, Zhu Bao was already dead...... He was stabbed to death by the wizard he trusted.

The sorcerer cut off Zhu Bao's head and offered it to Ma Tan, and said that if he hadn't deceived Zhu Bao, the Han army might have to pay more casualties to take Helan, and begged for his life to be spared.

Ma Tan and Guan Xing were speechless when they heard this, everyone believed in the wizard's tricks, but only he himself who presided over the practice did not believe it.

Liu Chan was also speechless when he heard it, this thing sounded familiar to him, and it seemed that there was a "capable person" who did something similar hundreds of years later.

Successfully won Helan and Zhu Bao's death, which almost means that Qiqi County has been taken, and Ma Tan and the others happily continued to copy the "Yanxian model", at this time they did not realize the seriousness of the problem.

confiscated the Zhu family, opened a warehouse to alleviate poverty, and gathered the hearts of the people.

It's just that there are more poor households in this county...... According to the standards of the Han army, almost all ordinary people are poor households.

However, Comrade Ma Jian still adhered to the principles set before and resolutely completed the tasks assigned by the prince and the military advisor.

After the Battle of Jilan, the prestige of the Han army among the ordinary people almost reached its peak, and countless people came to help the Han army completely pacify the Qiqi.

Ma Tan was overjoyed, and those who came did not refuse, and they were all incorporated into the army.

Seeing that the army was growing stronger day by day, and even larger than when he came, Comrade Ma Jian suddenly felt a sense of accomplishment.

After waiting for Jilan to stabilize, they once again led a large army to pacify all parts of the city.

However, after that, Ma Jian and Guan Xing's nightmare journey began.

And Lan is the richest place in Qiqi County, and it can't reach a small county in Shudi, and the place after that can be imagined......

Moreover, the temple is small and the demon is windy, and the pool is shallow and the king is eight.

The poorer the place, the more chaotic it is to compete for limited resources.

There are five famous forces in the name of the mountain, including Long, Fu, Yin, Dong, and Wang, and there are even more small forces that occupy the mountain.

In order to maintain their relatively superior lives, these forces are almost without exception oppressing the people, regardless of Han Yi, all of them suffer from it.

Ma Tan led the army and began to fight all disobedience.

The Han army was like a bamboo, crushing these forces, which made Ma Jian further swell, and continued to absorb the young men who came to join the army.

Just fighting, Guan Xing, who was more delicate, found a hidden danger - there was not enough food and grass.

The grain road is difficult and dangerous, and there is no waterway, so the efficiency of transporting grain from Ba County to Qiqi is extremely low.

Previously, they had been relying on the grain stocks of Yanxian and Jilan, but they also had to take on the task of poverty alleviation, and the grain stocks in the two places were soon stretched.

And Ma Yan, who was tired of fighting local tyrants and landlords, soon discovered an astonishing fact that the landlord's family in Qiqi County did not have much surplus food......

So much so that he later very much hoped to meet hard bones, then he would be able to justifiably raid his home, and every small force that fell in despair could make Comrade Ma Jian uncomfortable for a whole day.

It's just that the invincible posture of the Han army, the hard bones are naturally fighting less and less.

The young people who came to join were basically joined because of the Han army's poverty alleviation policy and their ability to eat enough.

If the poverty alleviation policy is stopped at this time, or if the large households that are willing to surrender are forcibly plundered, then all previous efforts will be in vain, and the contradictions will inevitably intensify again.

The king and the crown prince want a stable Nanzhong, not burn and loot and leave.

On the issue of suffering the people or suffering themselves, Ma Jian and Guan Xing discussed for a long time, and finally chose the latter.

So much so that later they had to start alleviating the poor with their own military rations...... After the difficult purging of Qiqi County, their Han army, which was originally brightly armoured, also completely became a homeless people fleeing the famine.

All the way to the west, no wild animal wants to survive wherever it passes, and the toad can chew the bones together with the skin and roast......

After listening to Ma Tan's words, Liu Chan and Zhuge Liang were silent for a long time, and after glancing at each other, they both understood each other's meaning.

Nanzhong must carry out great reform and development!

After discussing for a long time, Liu Chan sent a message to all over the country, preparing to bring all the Han surnames and barbarian leaders who had been on the stage to Dianchi to hold the first Nanzhong Congress.

At the beginning of July, when representatives from all over the country arrived in front of Dianchi Lake one after another, Lao Liu, who received the war report, also arrived.

The content of the letter is very short, but the general meaning is actually just one sentence.

After discussing all the big and small matters in Nanzhong, the prince Liu Chan and the military advisor Zhuge Liang discussed, there was no indecision, such as a widow coming in person.

(End of chapter)