Seven days later, Zhang Xiu appeared at Fancheng Ferry.
A group of Zhang Xiu's confidants came to greet him, as well as eight powerful Nanyang family heads who fully supported Zhang Xiu, including Deng Shu.
Jia Xu, Hu Cheer, Wei Yan, Xu Fu, Pang Degong, Huang Chengyan, as well as Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong from the Literary School, and Wang Shuang and Huo Jun from the Military School.
Zhang Xiu took the lead to get off the boat, followed by Deng Zhi, Bu Zhi, Gan Ning, Ji Ling, Qiao Rui, Liu Ye, Chen Wu, Ding Feng, and Yan Xiang. These were the important gains from the Eastern Expedition. Of course, Yan Xiang was Kidnapped.
"Ming Gong——!"
Seeing Zhang Xiu slowly walking down the boat, everyone bowed and bowed.
Looking at his trusted subordinates, a radiant smile appeared on his face, "You guys, stick to Nanyang and block the enemy outside the city. Thank you for your hard work."
Then, he introduced the people behind him one by one.
After getting off the boat and changing into a carriage, the crowd gathered around Zhang Xiu and returned to the general's mansion in Wancheng. When he stepped into the general's mansion, Zhang Xiu immediately let the drums beat to gather the generals.
Zhang Xiu sat in the middle with a stern expression, and sitting on the left and right were naturally all his confidants. The purpose of this gathering was very simple, that is, to solve the problem of Nanyang powerful people defecting to Cao Cao.
In order not to affect his judgment, Zhang Xiu did not let any Nanyang powerful people participate; because these powerful people are relatives of relatives, someone will definitely come out to plead for mercy.
When he came, Zhang Xiu had already figured out the outline of how to deal with this matter. He must take the most decisive and aggressive measures to get rid of these cancers in Nanyang from the root. He believed that the presence of other powerful people in Nanyang would hinder his decision-making, so he blocked Deng Shu and others from the door mercilessly.
All the soldiers in the hall looked solemn, waiting quietly for Zhang Xiu to speak.
Zhang Xiu said with a cold face: "When Cao Jun attacked Nanyang for the first time, the Nanyang heroes secretly contacted Cao Jun to find a way to survive. I burned the letters in front of all the heroes, but -" the volume increased several times, and his tone became more intense. His silence was cold and cold, "——These powerful men do not want to repent. This time when Cao Jun attacked, they actually provided food and fodder for Cao Jun, causing Nanyang to be in danger. The crime is unpardonable!"
As he spoke, Zhang Xiu looked sharply at the two knives and glanced at everyone present.
Zong Yu, Hu Ji and Deng Zhi felt a numbness in their scalps and chills in their hearts. Their Adam's apple rolled and they swallowed saliva, not daring to speak.
There was silence in the hall.
Jia Xu, Wei Yan and others all followed Zhang Xiu to survive. Naturally, they were both prosperous and devastated. They were as resentful as Zhang Xiu for these powerful behaviors, and naturally they would not speak out for them.
Liu Ye, Bu Zhi, and Yan Xiang have just joined Zhang Xiu's tent, so it is inconvenient to say more. Although they were all members of the gentry clan, they did not speak out to dissuade them. These gentry people did too much and even spared no effort to provide food and grass for Cao Cao. This was against the consensus of the gentry clan.
In order to ensure the eternal prosperity of the family, the nobles defaulted to hedging their bets. The forces that appointed these people knew this situation, but were unable to change it; for example, in the Zhuge family, Zhuge Jin was working for Soochow, while Zhuge Liang was working for Soochow. Shu Han serves; no matter which family finally wins and becomes the master of the world, it can ensure the continuation of the family's inheritance.
But the Nanyang nobles obviously didn't do this. They actually all bet on Cao Cao, and they naturally digested the consequences themselves.
"Anyone who colludes with Cao Jun this time -" Zhang Xiu's eyes revealed a cold murderous aura, "Behead!"
The word "Zhan" was like a cold knife, making Deng Zhi couldn't help but tremble.
He was glad that his family had made the right choice, otherwise, even the King of Heaven would not be able to save them this time.
Subsequently, Zhang Xiu ordered: "Let Ji Ling serve as the first group of the Shenniu Military Camp, and Hu Ji will be the assistant general. We will start immediately to capture the rebellious heroes with the Gan Military Camp. Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!"
Ji Ling did not expect that he would take over Hu Che'er's first infantry military camp. He was so excited that he went out and bowed to the ground and said, "General, I will obey your orders!"
Gan Ning came out and said: "The last general will obey your order!"
Then he said: "From now on, the army will form a military council, with Jia Xu and Liu Ye as the Senate Presidents, and Deng Zhi, Bu Zhi, and Yan Xiang as senators. In the future, the military council will have full power over march plans and how to fight the battle. After the regimental planning and war plan were developed, Chairman Jia and Chairman Liu signed it and sent it to me for review. If I sign, the plan will take effect immediately."
This was equivalent to handing over part of the military power, which made several members of the Military Council present look at each other in fear.
Jia Xu said: "My lord, if this is the case, our power is too great. Please think again, lord."
Others responded one after another: "Master, please think twice!"
Zhang Xiu smiled and said: "I, Zhang Xiu, don't trust the people I employ, and I don't trust the people I doubt. You boldly go ahead and do it. One month later, the whole army will march to Wuguan. You will study a specific plan for me to omit Yongzhou."
Everyone felt the heavy burden on their shoulders and bowed their waists to accept the order: "Here!"
At the same time, Zhang Xiu divided the original 25,000 cavalry into two groups; Wei Yan's Qinglong Cavalry Battalion increased to 12,000 people; Li Tong's Suzaku Cavalry Battalion increased to 12,000 people; Ji Ling commanded Shenniu Wu camp to replenish the lost soldiers; Gan Ning commanded the Feihu Military Camp to replenish the soldiers and keep the 15,000 men unchanged.
Let Hu Che'er form a thousand personal guards and select one thousand people from all the cavalry. He will serve as the captain of the personal guards.
This made Hu Cheer very happy. He was unwilling to serve as the commander. He felt that his ability was not that strong, and he was more willing to follow Zhang Xiu and protect his safety.
Qiao Rui was appointed as the captain of Diannong School, responsible for farming and planning the army's food and grass. Qiao Rui happily accepted the order.
After the appointment ended, the bad news about Nanyang Haoqiang began.
When Deng Shu learned about this expected result, he still couldn't accept it. After all, there were several families among these people who were related to them.
Ji Ling and Gan Ning ruthlessly began arresting and massacring those who were determined to defend the manor, and several others joined forces to fight against them. Gan Ning brought in a trebuchet, ruthlessly smashed the manor they built with rammed earth, and stormed in.
Some lucky heroes opened the manor early and ran to Wancheng to plead for mercy; but Zhang Xiu was nowhere to be seen, and no one was spared.
For a time, Nanyang was filled with blood.
Most of the powerful people in the thirty-six counties of Nanyang were executed. Large areas of land, hidden populations, and powerful private tribes all fell into Zhang Xiu's hands.
Zhang Xiu ordered Qiao Rui to measure the land, organize the hidden population of the powerful into field soldiers, and divide the land equally among these people. Invisibly, he began to equalize the land, and eliminated the powerful enclosure of land to build manors.
Those powerful people who supported Zhang Xiu were prepared to seize some land, but Zhang Xiu explicitly prohibited them from doing so: Anyone who dared to privately acquire land would be beheaded!
A word of "Zhan" dissuades those greedy people.
While Zhang Xiu was making every effort to rectify Nanyang, the Zou family also began to arrange Zhang Xiu's marriage.
Huang Chengyan already knew that Huang Yueying was in Zhang Xiu's house and acquiesced to the matter, but what was the big deal of letting his daughter stay in the man's house without any name or status?
So when Zou asked a matchmaker to arrange a marriage, Huang Chengyan agreed immediately.
Zou waited for Zhang Xiu to come back and asked him to get married immediately.
Now, Zhang Xiu is finally back.
