When the morning sun rose the next day, calm had returned to the entire Zhongqiu City.
Only a few thin wisps of white smoke occasionally drifted out from the dark brick and wood remnants.
After nearly a day and night of melee, almost all the Han soldiers were very tired. Except for the soldiers on guard outside the city, they were all still resting.
However, in a courtyard in Zhongqiu City, bursts of women's cries could still be heard.
After hearing these sounds, Liu Yu's face darkened as he was passing by, and he asked the guard beside him.
"Have you given these women food?"
"I gave it to you a long time ago, biscuits and broth." the guard replied quickly.
"Did they freeze last night?" Liu Yu asked again.
"No, the bonfire never stopped, it was very warm!"
Hearing this, Liu Yu sneered.
"If that's the case, then they are crying about those big and small Jiehu?"
The guards around him nodded slightly.
Since the massacre last night, except for some powerful Han people who surrendered in time when the Han army first entered the city, the rest of Jiehu and his servants have been slaughtered.
After the death of these Jiehu, many women began to cry, just like when they were robbed in the past.
"Go and take a look. If anyone cries, cut off her food first and then whip her!"
For Liu Yu, these captured women are the most important resources, and they will all be married to soldiers in the future. Their cheap feelings towards the Jiehu people must be cut off as soon as possible, even for those Jiehu women. .
When the power of dominance is in the hands of men, women cannot play the role of "half the sky" and can only exist as male vassals.
Since the facts are so cruel, Liu Yu doesn't mind letting the cruelty come faster.
Because of the marching and fighting in the previous few days, Liu Yu had ordered the entire army to rest in Zhongqiu City for two days.
Until noon, except for the troops who went out to patrol and chase the defeated troops, the entire army stayed in Zhongqiu City.
Now the Jiehu in Zhongqiu City have been eliminated, and the only ones left are the Jiehu in Xiangguo and Handan in the south.
As long as the Han army heading north from Hanoi County and Yanzhou can move north as scheduled, they can join forces and attack Xiangguo City, the last Jiehu stronghold.
Liu Yu heard that the Jiehu people spent a year building Xiangguo City into an extremely strong city. Without several times the number of troops, they might not be able to annihilate them all.
Therefore, in Liu Yu's plan, the North Route Army led by himself arrived at the foot of Xiangguo City first, and then waited for the South Route Army to come and join them after they conquered Handan.
However, Liu Yu's idea came to nothing after two days.
When Liu Yu was preparing to lead his army to rest and set off, the guards led a group of Han cavalry.
"Your Majesty, General Zu from the south has sent someone!"
Liu Yu was a little surprised when he heard this.
"Coming from the south?"
This can't help but surprise Liu Yu. According to the time calculation, the southern route troops commanded by Zu Ti could only attack Handan at this time. If they sent a messenger, they would have to pass through Xiangguo.
If the weak messenger wants to avoid the Jiehu people's detection, he must take a long way, and it is impossible to go so fast.
"Bring it in!"
Soon, a haggard-looking cavalryman was brought in. It was obvious that he had hardly rested on the road.
"Your Majesty, the city of Handan has been destroyed, 20,000 Jiehu rebels have been beheaded, and the rest have been captured!"
The destruction of Handan City was within Liu Yu's expectation.
Although the cities in the Wei and Jin Dynasties were considered strong, they were still not effective in the face of the most powerful siege weapon, the trebuchet. It took half a month to destroy the city. For the Han army on the southern route with superior strength, Not a problem at all.
However, what the messenger said next made Liu Yu a little disappointed.
"Jie Hu of Xiang State was frightened when he heard the news, and now he has abandoned the city and fled!"
Liu Yu asked immediately.
"Abandoned the city and fled? Where did you flee?"
"It is said that they were heading west. There were nearly 100,000 Jiehu men and women in Xiang State. After burning down the city and treasury, they all fled westward."
"pity!"
Liu Yu couldn't help but sigh. If he had known this, he would have led his elite troops to the country of Xiang day and night.
In that case, even if there is no way to besiege Xiangguo, it will prevent Jiehu from escaping so calmly.
"Get the map!"
The guard immediately took out the map.
At this time, the other generals also gathered around.
"Going west from Xiangguo, after passing Xingguan and entering the Taihang Mountains, it will be like a fish entering the sea!"
Liu Yu couldn't help feeling regretful that just the last hundred miles of journey had caused these last Jiehu to escape.
"If there were 10,000 cavalry, they would have been able to block Jiehu's westward escape route long ago."
The other generals of the Han army also felt regretful, and many of them volunteered to pursue these Jiehu who had abandoned the city and fled.
However, the cavalryman Wu Xin on the side expressed his opposition.
"Your Majesty, we don't have many cavalry. Even if we divide our forces to pursue them, we may not be able to catch up. Moreover, once we enter Taihang, the cavalry has no advantage at all due to the rugged mountain roads. We may be ambushed!"
Hearing that Wu Xin did not recommend pursuit, Zhao Kun, the guard general on the other side, expressed dissatisfaction.
"Don't chase? Then just let these Jiehu run away?"
"The Jiehu in the three cities of Fangfang, Zhongqiu, and Handan combined may not be as numerous as the Jiehu in Xiangguo. If we just let them go, wouldn't we be giving them an advantage?"
Then some Han generals expressed the same idea.
As a native of Jizhou, Wu Xin was naturally more familiar with the steep mountain roads in Taihang and immediately started to defend himself.
"Our army has few cavalry. Even if we catch up, we will only be chasing down the old and weak. If Jiehu is not prepared, he may be in trouble."
Liu Yu couldn't help but nodded in agreement.
Today's Han army only has 2,000 cavalry, plus Yuwen Xianbei's more than 2,000 cavalry, the total is only 4,000.
It would be really dangerous for these four thousand cavalry to enter the Taihang Mountains and pursue tens of thousands of Jiehu.
"Then even if you are old and weak, you must kill those who deserve to be killed!"
A Han army general immediately retorted.
Wu Xin didn't care at all after hearing this, but said very relaxedly.
"Your Majesty, I will guess that these Jiehu people must have been in a hurry when they abandoned the city. Even if each person had a horse, the rations they carried could not last for a month. And tens of thousands of men and women entered the mountains at once, in this severe winter snow and cold weather. At that time, it was absolutely impossible to reach Bingzhou without a month."
The route of escaping from the Xiang Kingdom to the Xiongnu Han Kingdom was not a simple straight line. It had to be traveled along the valleys in the winding Taihang Mountains. Except for goats, no humans or horses could pass those towering mountains.
Just listen to Wu Xin continue to speak.
"Tens of thousands of Jienu men, women, and children walked on the mountain road for a month in the wind and snow. If they survived half of it, they would have been blessed by the gods."
After listening to Wu Xin's words, everyone knew that the escape route of these Jiehu people was very dangerous, but they still felt less comfortable in their hearts.
After all, if these Jiehu were besieged in Xiangguo City, they would all be killed, and half of them would still have to escape.
After hearing this, Liu Yu felt a little unwilling.
After thinking for a moment, he asked Wu Xin.
"After these Jiehu enter the Taihang Mountains, is there any way to hunt them down? Letting them go like this is really too easy for them."
Wu Xin thought for a while and said tentatively.
"Your Majesty, if there is a way, I have one, but I don't know how effective it will be?"
"But it doesn't matter!"
"Since the Second Emperor Huanling of the Han Dynasty, tens of thousands of fugitives and miscellaneous bandits have gathered in the Taihang Mountains. These people are all people who can adapt to the wind. As long as they can be lured and profited, they can harass the Jiehu passing by. It will definitely work wonders!”
Liu Yu knew that among these bandits in the Taihang Mountains, although some Wuhuan people had been won over by the Xiongnu and Jiehu, many of them still stayed in the mountains.
The thieves and bandits in the central part of the Taihang Mountains with a radius of 500 miles can kill and injure any Jiehu they encounter as long as they make good use of the geographical convenience.
"Okay, I'll leave this matter to you! As long as these Taihang Mountain thieves and bandits can bring Jiehu's head, they will all be given land and housing with good status!"
Now that the Jiehu people are leaving, for Liu Yu, the most important thing next is no longer to eliminate the tens of thousands of Jiehu who fled, but how to completely integrate the power of several states.
In this case, Liu Yu was not in a hurry and rushed to Xiangguo immediately. Anyway, the city of Xiangguo had basically turned into ruins.
While Liu Yu led his army southward, he sent people to summon the powerful families along the way to come and see him.
When the Han cavalry holding Jiehu's head high appeared in front of these powerful forts, these powerful families who had already been frightened out of their courage by Jiehu's ferocity were all surprised.
Naturally, he was happy that Jiehu was beaten away, and there were no longer those arrogant and cruel Jiehu who often came to blackmail him.
As for the reason for the surprise, these powerful people discovered that the "Qingzhou Han Army" that had driven away the "Xiongnu Han Army" was not even weak at all.
These Qingzhou Han troops not only asked them to help with food and grass, but also asked them to send their children to accompany them as retinues.
What is even more frightening is that after these powerful clans obeyed their orders, the Han knights threw some of the heads of Jiehu to them.
"We all fought hard to get the heads of these Jie slaves. Now that they are in your hands, you must take good care of them!"
"Keep it? How to keep it?"
These powerful families in Zhao County were all dumbfounded.
The Han knight looked impatient.
“It couldn’t be easier, just lime it all and then salt it!”
After hearing that it was kept in this way, those powerful men almost vomited.
"Then what?"
"In the end, they were all hung outside the door of their house, so that everyone would know that the peaceful days in Zhao County are due to us, the king's soldiers, killing the barbarians!"
After hearing this, these powerful men all complained secretly in their hearts.
They have always heard of people erecting monuments and monuments to promote their merits, but they have never heard of giving the heads of enemies to their subjects to promote their merits.
Many aristocratic families with heirlooms of poetry and calligraphy secretly thought that after these Qiu Ba from Qingzhou left, they would immediately throw such "filth" into the smelly ditch that disgraced their family tradition.
However, the subsequent words of those Han cavalry made all Zhaojun tycoons give up the idea.
"I can tell you that according to this order, only those with the heads of Jiehu hanging on their doors can be registered as state and county officials. Anyone who dares to destroy and discard them will be punished as a collaborator with the enemy!"
The reason why Liu Yu used these Jiehu heads to hang Zhaojun Haoqiang was not simply because he disgusted them.
It's because when Jie Hu ruled the Zhaojun area, these powerful families were all silent.
Now Liu Yu is taking this opportunity to show his authority, which can be regarded as the last role of these Jie slaves.
Since these powerful families were willing to bow down to Jie Hu in the past, now Jie Hu has been beheaded by the Han army and hangs it outside the door of each house. In the future, it will be difficult to be disobedient in the face of any demands from the Han army. .
After all, the swords of the Jienu people can kill people, and the swords of the Han army can even kill people.
However, for these powerful families, the thing that really touched their hearts in the words of these Han cavalry was not the matter of 'hanging Hu's head', but the last sentence of 'being registered as a soldier' '.
The powerful families in Zhao County have already heard about this so-called scholar status.
They know that in today's Eastern Han Dynasty, officials from Taiwan Province to prefectures and counties must be in the "official status".
In other words, if you want to be an official in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the first requirement is to be registered as a scholar.
If you don't have a scholar status, you will never be awarded an official position even if you are recommended by a state or county magistrate.
As long as you become a 'official', it means you will have an official position in the future!
Therefore, after these powerful families learned that these smelly Hulu heads had such an effect, they all actively hung them outside the gate.
Special personnel have also been arranged to take care of it. Be sure not to lose it, otherwise there will be no official left!
You must know that when Jiehu ruled this place, the officials he appointed were all scholars in the "Junzi Camp", and ordinary powerful people did not have many opportunities.
Liu Yu, who was marching towards Xiangguo, didn't know that the powerful people from Zhaojun's family were so obedient, not because they were frightened by the heads of Jiehu, but more because they wanted to get "being" in the future. Recommended' qualifications.
The journey from Zhongqiu to Xiangguo is only a short distance of a hundred miles.
However, Liu Yu led his army for three days before reaching Xiangguo.
By the time he arrived in Xiangguo, the number of more than 30,000 people who originally accompanied him had more than doubled.
In addition to the children and tribes sent by powerful families, there are also more poor people gathered along the way.
After Jie Hu's previous plunder, these ordinary people in Zhao County have basically been reduced to abject poverty, with nothing but their lives.
And if they want to survive, they can only follow Liu Yu's army heading south.
Now the only place with excess food to feed them is Yanzhou.
As for other states and counties in the Han Dynasty today, their treasury has almost no food left.
When winter turns to spring, Liu Yu may be financially bankrupt if he doesn't find a way to replenish the treasury.
When he saw that the descendants of powerful families who were accompanying him were all discussing the issue of "scholar status", Liu Yu had already thought of a good way to make money.
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