When the group of people from Zitong County who had been driven by the Xiongnu came to Zhou Yi, they all knelt down in front of Zhou Yi under the leadership of an old man.
"Thank you, General, for saving your life!" they said while kowtowing heavily to Zhou Yi.
"Everyone, please get up quickly, please get up quickly!"
When they knelt down for the first time, Zhou Yi stood up and tried to help them up. However, the old man who was leading him was as stubborn as a cow. He was not willing to get up until he kowtowed three times to Zhou Yi. , the same goes for the people following the old man.
After getting up, the old man held Zhou Yi tightly with his rough, wrinkled hands, and quickly asked the name of the benefactor in front of him: "I wonder what the general calls him?"
"I am Yongzhou Prefect Tiance, General Pingnu, Marshal Zhou Yi."
"It was me who came too late and made the people suffer!"
This Zitong County is a county where the border between Youzhou and Yongzhou intersects. After Zhou Yi implemented the talent introduction plan throughout Yongzhou, many people in Zitong County heard that Yongzhou had good policies and could even work as corvees. The food was full, so many people from the county dragged their families and sneaked to the border of Yongzhou.
Before that, the old man Kang Fengnian, who was in charge, always thought that it must have been spread randomly by Yongzhou officials, but now that the old man saw Zhou Yi for the first time, he vaguely felt that the previous rumors might be true.
Zhou Yi also discovered from Kang Fengnian's conversation that the old man might have read some books and had some prestige in the county.
Kang Fengnian apologized to Zhou Yi again and said: "There are many children among us. If not for this, I would never have been dragged into the general's camp by the Xiongnu army!"
"This matter has already passed. We can only blame our Chen army for failing to protect the people. How can we put the blame on you!"
At this time, Qian Xiaohao came with a dozen military doctors and said to Zhou Yi: "Commander, the military doctors are here."
"Quick, quick, show these people the injuries on their bodies!"
"Besides, the food for the Huotou Army has been prepared!"
Zhou Yi was a little surprised that the Huotou Army, which he had just assigned, had already prepared rice.
"Oh? So fast! This fire-headed soldier deserves a commendation today!"
Qian Xiaohao touched his head and said with some embarrassment: "Come back to the commander-in-chief, when I saw the common people running towards our rear camp, I had already asked the Huotou Army to prepare rations for these common people in advance!"
Zhou Yi glanced at Qian Xiaohao with admiration and nodded happily.
Obviously Zhou Yi was very satisfied with Qian Xiaohao's ability to use his own initiative instead of just waiting for Zhou Yi's military orders.
Zhou Yi patted Qian Xiaohao's shoulder and praised him generously: "Good, good, good, Xiaohao, you are growing up very well!"
"Then arrange for the people to heal while having a meal!"
They didn't expect that General Zhou Yi would actually use the army's food to support ordinary people like them. Kang Fengnian and the thousands of people behind him were moved to tears after hearing this.
After cleaning the battlefield and collecting the bodies of his dead soldiers, Zhou Yi led the army and people towards Zitong County.
Zhan Mutie was newly defeated here, and the Xiongnu army he led had no intention of fighting. In addition, the Xiongnu army was only good at attacking but not good at defending, so they directly abandoned Zitong County and looked at Lingcheng.
In this way, Zhou Yi later captured Zitong County without spending a single soldier on attacking the city.
An Pinbai, the military commander of Youzhou, is also a twenty-five-year-old general, two years older than Zhou Yi in this world.
An Pinbai was born in a family of generals. He usually likes to wear white armor and white robes. Although his clothes are eye-catching, he is very low-key. He advocates being low-key in life and high-profile in doing things.
In order to consolidate An Pinbai's position in Youzhou, the family even helped him arrange a marriage with Jiang Yunyao, the daughter of Youzhou prefect Jiang Zichuan.
This time the Xiongnu, Qiang, and Di tribes invaded the Chen Kingdom. An Pinbo led 30,000 soldiers and horses from Youzhou headquarters and defeated the 50,000 Di tribesmen.
Now only the three counties of Zitong, Lingcheng and Xiasha are still in the enemy's hands, so An Pinbai decided to lead the army to capture Zitong County, which is close to Yongzhou. Then he can fight with the Yongzhou soldiers coming from behind. The counties have joined together.
Fortunately, An Pinbai was a step too late. If he had come to Zitong County before Zhou Yi, he would have encountered Zhan Mutie's 50,000-strong army first.
Just when An Pinbai led five thousand Youzhou soldiers and horses to attack the city, he was surprised to find that the banner of Zhouyi had been hung in Zitong County.
The banner of Zhouyi is very special. Below it is the character Zhou, and above it is a sickle and hammer embroidered.
An Pinbai immediately asked his men to ride slowly to the bottom of the city and asked: "I am Hu Jin, a hundred households under the command of General An Pinbai, the military envoy of Youzhou. The people on the city are soldiers under the command of Marshal Zhou Yi!"
Zhao Xiaomao, who was at the gate of Zitong County, heard the general's inquiry and immediately responded: "What evidence does the general have?"
Zhao Xiaomao did not let the soldiers on the city wall relax their vigilance, but asked the soldiers to be ready to attack at any time.
Although the other party can speak Chen Guo dialect, with the lessons learned from Wuwei Pass, Zhao Xiaomao and others naturally became extra cautious and careful under the guidance of Zhou Yi, for fear that the other party would be Huns dressed as Chen Guo soldiers again.
The centurion who came to report couldn't help but feel a little panicked when he saw the soldiers on the city wall holding their bows and crossbows, not relaxing at all.
"General, we are really Youzhou soldiers, and our General An is here too!"
Zhao Xiaomao couldn't make any decision after hearing this, and replied: "You guys wait a moment, I'll ask the commander to come and make a decision!"
When leaving to report to Zhou Yi, Zhao Xiaomao ordered: "If they make any move, shoot them directly!"
Before that, Zhou Yi was inspecting Zitong County accompanied by Kang Fengnian. When he learned that five thousand troops were approaching the city, Zhou Yi also expressed his affirmation of Zhao Xiaomao's handling of the matter.
But what makes Zhou Yi difficult now is how to verify the authenticity of the other party's identity.
Kang Fengnian, the old man next to him, saw Zhou Yi's difficulty and said: "To be honest with you, Commander-in-Chief, I have met General An Pingbo'an twice before. If the other party is really General An who came with his troops, I only need to fight with him." You’ll recognize it when you see it!”
"That's very good, that's very good! Xiao Mao, why don't you help Mr. Kang up the city wall!"
Zhou Yi is not worried about whether Kang Fengnian recognizes An Pinbai. As long as Kang Fengnian says "no", Zhou Yi will let his men shoot a rain of arrows mercilessly, turning all the opponents into hedgehogs.
As for whether it is unfair or not, then ask the King of Hell. Zhou Yi is only responsible for his own soldiers and horses, and the soldiers and horses of Youzhou are not Zhou Yi's subordinates!
