Every family has its own scriptures that are difficult to recite. The biggest difficulty for the local people is not that they don’t have enough to eat, but that they are forced to work as informants.
In the water towns south of the Yangtze River, as long as there are no disasters and the landlords and county magistrates do not scrape the people's fat too hard, the people will not go hungry.
If the war only revolved around the battle for the city, the local people would not be so afraid.
However, so many soldiers guarding the city require an extremely large logistics organization to maintain, and most aspects of logistics need to be supported by the people.
It ranges from traveling across mountains and rivers, transporting supplies and supplies, to monitoring enemy movements, or even directly ambushing enemy troops.
Once the people are involved in the war, if the "enemy" wants to win the war, it must block the logistics, and it is inevitable that it will attack the local people.
Whether it is the local army or the imperial army going south, they are like tigers and wolves to the local people.
On the one hand, he was worried about being captured by the local army, and on the other hand, he was worried about being treated as a spy by the imperial army.
This painful situation, with a wolf in front and a tiger behind, left the people with no choice but to put down the life they had spent half their lives on and run away to avoid the war.
After learning about the difficulties faced by the local people, Qin Feng's expression gradually became serious.
It really goes along with the old saying, it's hard for the people to prosper and it's hard for the people to die. As long as there is a war, there is always a way to make the people miserable.
The people in the north were faced with the problem of food and clothing, while the people in the south were faced with heavy corvee labor.
Everyone has his own suffering.
There is only one way to fundamentally solve the suffering of the people, which is to end the war.
"Old sir, you get up first."
Seeing that the old village chief still couldn't kneel down, Liu Ming winked at the side, and the two accompanying soldiers directly stretched out their hands to pull the old village chief up from the ground.
Looking at the frightened old village chief, whose eyes were full of fear, Qin Feng couldn't help but sigh.
In order to reassure the old village chief, Qin Feng's tone was extremely gentle.
"Old sir, what you just said is only true in the neighborhood, or is it true in the entire Jiangnan?"
Now that the matter has come to this, the old village chief will naturally not hide anything anymore. He knows everything and says: "The little old man has never been to far away places. This is the case in all the villages I know."
Qin Feng nodded and was basically able to determine the general situation of the people in Jiangnan.
Combat troops account for at least 90% of the 50,000 garrison in Gusu City. This also means that to maintain the operation of this army, at least three to five times more logistics personnel are needed.
In other words, the people within hundreds of miles around Gusu City are in danger of being captured. Even the old, weak, women and children have to act as the eyes and ears of Gusu City.
Even if it is described as "if there is no production, all the people are soldiers", it is not an exaggeration at all.
Qin Feng couldn't help but secretly sigh. Taking a break from his busy schedule to go out and observe the people's sentiments was the most correct decision he made after arriving in the southern border.
The common people must choose a side. If they cannot get in touch with the court, they will have no choice but to cooperate with the southern army.
As a result, Qin Feng is very likely to fall into the ocean of "people's war".
and……
Qin Feng keenly realized that the key to this war was not how many cities were captured, nor how many enemy troops were defeated.
But it is aimed at the competition for the people in the southern border!
Whoever can get more support from the people, in other words, whoever can win the hearts of the people in the south, will have the last laugh.
Qin Feng reached out and patted the old village chief on the shoulder, and said seriously: "Tell the villagers that this war is only aimed at the wealthy families in the south."
"It has nothing to do with the poor people."
"Moreover, the local gentry and warlords have all been trapped in Gusu City. The villagers can just live their lives as usual. I guarantee my reputation that my soldiers will never get involved in the village."
Hearing this, the old village chief couldn't help but choked up. He had just stood up, but he knelt down again.
"My lord, is everything you said true? Do you really think that the imperial army has done nothing wrong?"
Before Qin Feng could answer, Liu Ming on the side intervened.
"Even if you don't believe in the imperial army, you should believe in King Qin."
"When there was a disaster in the south of the Yangtze River, countless hungry people went north, all to the northern border of Daliang. Do you know what a comfortable life they are living now?"
At first, Qin Feng didn't hold out any hope. After all, it was difficult for villagers in the mountains to get news from the outside world because their ears and eyes were closed.
The result was unexpected.
When the "Northern Territory" was mentioned, the old village chief seemed extremely excited. His eyes opened wide and seemed to shine brightly.
"Northern Territory? I know! I know too much!"
"I remember when the famine broke out, many people from neighboring villages fled. I thought that if I left, I would die without any chance of survival."
"As a result...someone came back to visit relatives years ago."
"The northern border is more than a thousand miles away from the south of the Yangtze River. Those villagers who fled are not wealthy families, but they are able to come back to visit relatives, which shows that they have become prosperous."
This is true, because the transportation is extremely inconvenient, coupled with the layers of restrictions at various checkpoints.
Not to mention visiting relatives out of state, even if the daughter gets married and marries in the same county, there is only a hundred miles between the south and the north, so it is extremely difficult to meet.
Ordinary people who have the ability to travel thousands of miles and return home to visit relatives have already become "prosperous".
Even Liu Ming was extremely proud when he mentioned the Northern Territory. He held his head high and said proudly: "Those hungry people who fled in the past are still ordinary people in the Northern Territory."
"But even ordinary people can earn more than ten taels of silver a year!"
What? !
The old village chief couldn't believe his ears. He opened his mouth wide in shock.
"Ten...twelve taels?!"
"Is it possible that the northern border is filled with gold? Otherwise, how could ordinary people earn ten taels?"
Liu Ming was extremely proud: "All of this is naturally attributed to King Qin's governance."
"In the northern border, catching young men has gradually become a thing of the past, and people don't even need to do corvee service."
The old village chief was completely confused and asked bewilderedly: "How can we protect the city if we don't do corvee work?"
Liu Ming pointed at himself and patiently explained: "I won't talk about it if it's far away, just take me as an example."
"I know nothing except fighting, so I quit production and became a professional soldier with a monthly salary of twenty taels."
"After one year, the salary alone is two hundred and forty taels of silver."
"Of course, ordinary soldiers do not have such a high salary, but it is still very easy to earn three to five taels of silver in a year."
"You know, this is just a man. If you include the income of his wife, children, and children, a household can have a surplus of ten taels of silver a year."
"In the north, if you want to join the army, the threshold is extremely high, but not everyone who wants to join the army can do so."
