The Rise of History’s Most Powerful Empire

Chapter 52: Nanzheng

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Passed through Shiquan County all the way, rested in the county for a day, and headed to Chenggu County early the next morning.

The water flow around Chenggu County is convenient, and the main stream and two tributaries of the Han River flow within the county. The land is fertile and agriculture is developed. More than 20,000 people live in it. Although the county is small, it is a place with a large population.

Because its county is close to Nanzheng, it has a high political status. Many noble families settled here and took root here. The furthest ones probably originated in the pre-Qin period, and they are four to five hundred years old now.

But today, in this place where we usually live and work in peace and contentment without hearing about war, we have welcomed an army of soldiers.

Walking on the path in the middle of the fields outside the nearby village, Zhong Yu looked around from time to time and found that the grain was growing very well everywhere. It was certain that this year would be another good year.

It seems that it is not unreasonable that this place can support the population of two counties in a mere one county. You can tell just by looking at the fertility of the land here.

However, although the fertile fields are good, they are all the fields of the nobles. Although there is a lot of grain, they are all the food of the nobles. Most of the fertile fields here belong to noble families. It is usually used to rent to tenants, collect high taxes, and only leave farmers with barely enough food to avoid starvation. How stingy and harsh it is.

Along the way, I saw that all the villagers I saw were sallow and thin, with only a pack of skin and bones left in their bodies. They looked like candles in the wind at any time. They could fall down with a breeze, which made people feel pity for them.

And those nobles were indeed well-groomed, well-dressed, well-fed, in and out of servant scenes, riding horses and walking dogs, and looked like children of aristocratic families.

Comparing the two, what he did didn't seem so hateful. Although he confiscated the fertile land of the nobles, he also planned to give it to some of the farmers.

Moreover, although the tax collected was high, as high as 60%, it left four layers of food, enough for their family of three. If the wife at home is virtuous and can plant mulberry trees and spin cloth, the family can even have some surplus throughout the year. This is a day that can only be had in the peaceful years!

Chenggu County and Nanzheng County are not far apart. The county towns of the two counties are only more than thirty miles apart. With the terrain surrounded by plains, the two cities can see each other from a distance across the plains.

This was destined to prevent him from being able to do what he had done before. After capturing the county seat, the gentry and other county towns were still kept in the dark. I have enough time to slowly clean up the entire county, and then catch them by surprise.

Therefore, we can only decide quickly and capture the county seat first, leaving no one in Chenggu County to hold on.

Then he used ruthless means to kill all the hidden dangers in the county. Finally, leaving some people to stick to the county, he took the remaining troops to Nanzheng City and captured the entire Nanzheng before the news was revealed. county.

He moved forward quickly and quickly arrived at the county seat. All the pedestrians he encountered on the way were killed and thrown into the forest to cover up his whereabouts.

As expected, no trace of him was found at the gate of the county town. He was quickly raided by his own cavalry and hacked and killed. Soon the city would make its own assessment.

It's just a small county town. It can only house two to three thousand people. How long will it take to settle down

All the officials and nobles staying in the city were killed by their own troops. After a careful search, they withdrew their troops only after finding no one.

The whole process only took him an hour, and even the people around the county did not see the turmoil in the county, let alone Nanzheng City, which was thirty miles away.

After cleaning up the entire county, all the guards and soldiers were killed, and the aristocratic family and its servants were also killed by him.

Without worrying about internal trouble, he left two hundred of his men behind, which was presumably enough to hold out for a period of time against an army of no more than five thousand men.

Not to mention, there are not so many troops in the entire Hanzhong County. Even if there were, he was not far away from Chenggu County. He could rush back in an hour or two, and there would not be too much danger that would cut off his escape route.

He led the remaining 1,000 people and walked quickly out of the city gate, looking in the direction of Nanzheng County. Pedestrians on the way were killed on the spot and thrown into hidden places to cover their whereabouts.

Soon, two hours later, he arrived at the gate of Nanzheng County and hid in the woods at the gate of the county.

As the county seat of a county, Nanzheng County has 1,000 county soldiers guarding it. Although these county soldiers are poorly trained and have not experienced war, they can still be said to be the most elite force in a county.

It is not comparable to the defenders of the previous county seat. Just looking at the guarding situation at the city gate, their vigilance is much higher than that of the county seat.

As long as there are more than ten people holding weapons, they will be stopped dozens of steps away from the city gate. They must hand over their weapons or have someone give a guarantee before they can be allowed to enter the city.

If I imagine sending cavalry on a rampage like before, I'm afraid they will close the city gate, sound the alarm, and summon the army in the county and the servants of all the aristocratic families to defend the county together!

Then the only option is to follow the previous strategy of dressing up as a businessman, leading dozens of soldiers disguised as handymen, and hiding the weapons in the carriage.

When they get close to the city gate, they suddenly attack and kill the soldiers scattered at the city gate. Then the cavalry who had been prepared for a long time rushed in from behind, and everything was settled after that.

Such a series of actions made it difficult for him, not to mention the county soldiers, to react. This is just a piece of Nanzheng City, isn't it something that I can easily capture

Now that you have thought of a plan, follow it. Sure enough, the city gate guards were greedy in everything. When they saw their caravan of two or three cars, their eyes flashed, as if they saw big money waving to them.

Without too much scrutiny, he arrived at the city gate. Zhong Yu smiled and slowly approached the guard officer at the city gate. He stretched his hands into his arms and pretended to take out the money.

As expected, the officer was not too vigilant. He showed a satisfied smile on his face and praised in his heart that the businessman really knew how to do things and saved himself a lot of trouble.

I must be nice to him later, make things easier for him, and not be too embarrassed, just to see that he understands how to be a good person.

However, at this moment, an accident happened. He finally took out a dagger from his arms and inserted it into the officer's heart in full view of everyone.

With his stunned expression and eyes wide open, his majestic body fell down, covered in blood.

The surrounding soldiers seemed to have heard the signal and abandoned their disguises one after another. He turned around and took out his weapon from the carriage, and attacked the surrounding soldiers who were still stunned in place, unable to react to what was happening.

The war horn sounded at this moment, and the cavalry not far from the city gate rushed over quickly. In just ten minutes, they arrived at the city gate. He rushed in and killed the people in the city who were still far away and had no time to escape home.

At this moment, the entire Nanzheng County was plunged into a battlefield of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The entire city lost its original order and turned into a hell on earth, and everyone turned into evil ghosts.

The evil deep in his heart broke out, including Zhong Yu's soldiers, county soldiers in the city, some green-skinned rogues, and servants of the wealthy families in the city. An unprecedented battle began in such a small place, and countless civilians were affected.

(End of chapter)