Kai Fu Han

Chapter 439 Continue Westward
June thirteenth.

In the five states newly occupied by Jingdong East Road, the gentry and landlords who had been arrested before were not released. The farmers who were allocated the land successfully harvested the wheat in the field and put the grain into the warehouse. All the benefited people had a look on their faces. A satisfied smile appeared.

After several hearty meals, the hearts of the people in the newly occupied five states finally stabilized.

The summer tax payment work began to progress steadily. There were examples of landowners and gentry in the past. There were not many people who dared to resist. Even the families that were harmed obediently subscribed.

The roads in Hebei that were occupied by the Kingdom of Jin also appeared to be very calm. The rebels in these places had been completely wiped out. In this June, the land of Kyushu was unusually calm, and everyone was accumulating strength.

"In Qizhou and several states on the east side of Jingxi East Road, wealthy businessmen and gentry are losing money very quickly." Liu Xinbaohui reported.

"Has the direction of the loss been calculated?" Liu Xinqi asked.

"Most of them are heading west or south, and a few are heading north."

In other words, there is no one to the east.

"Without the support of these people, the size of the resistance army should have declined, right?" Liu Xinqi asked.

"Yes, the decline is very serious. As the news of Daming Mansion spread, many people gave up their thoughts of resisting, either fled south, or planned to accept us." Liu Xinbao said.

"Good thing." Liu Xinqi nodded.

In this way, the westward strategy can continue to be implemented. With the Yellow River and Jishui as barriers, the navy can help defend the western front. At that time, the army can deploy more troops to deal with the Jin Kingdom.

As for Southern Zhao, according to the news Zhao Nan sent back from Hangzhou, the Southern Zhao court's attitude towards the Xinghan League was still debated, and the tone had not been set.After the tone is set, it will take time to deploy troops and generals.

Therefore, we will not make defensive preparations for Nan Zhao for the time being.

The rare calm lasted until the end of June. Zizhou, Qingzhou, Weizhou, Yizhou and Mizhou had all stabilized. With the support of grain taxes from the newly occupied land, the field army's grain and grass pressure was also much reduced.

The garrison army took over the defense of all five states, and all ten regiments of field armies were vacated.

Liu Xinqi led five regiments and was stationed in Zichuan, and Liu Xinang led five regiments and was stationed in Xintai.

Liu Xinang ultimately failed to recapture Teng County before the summer harvest and did not send troops into Xuzhou.The reason for stationing in Xintai this time was in accordance with the decision of the general staff. They planned to attack Yanzhou first, and then use Xia County, Guofu County, Yanzhou as a base to attack in all directions to completely complete all the goals of the westward attack.

……

On June [-], the Northern Route Army led by Liu Xinqi officially set off from Zizhou and headed northwest, aiming for Zhangqiu.

At the same time, the Southern Route Army led by Liu Xinang set off from Xintai and headed for Surabaya.

On June 5000, the Northern Army arrived in Zhangqiu, with a total of [-] troops including the logistics troops.

On June 21, they attacked Zhangqiu, which was defended by 5000 people. The defenders' will to resist was very low. After the city gate was breached, they began to collapse on a large scale. They successfully entered Zhangqiu City that day.

On the same day, Liu Xinang led the South Route Army to strengthen the Sishui River and attack Sishui City. Sishui City resisted desperately, but Liu Xinang led the troops and killed nearly 3000 people before they were completely convinced.The field army itself also had a death record of 13 people, and more people were injured, more than 1000 people. They were all injuries caused by collisions and cold weapons in unprotected parts of the armor, and all of them received proper treatment.

After the Northern Route Army captured Zhangqiu, they continued southwest along the south bank of Jishui River and headed for Licheng.

The history is Guofu County in Qizhou, where the capital of Qizhou is located. It was also the capital before the puppet Qi Dynasty. It later became Jinan City. After the Jin Kingdom occupied it, it was renamed Jinan Prefecture.The Qizhou section of Jishui is called Beiqing River.

The upper reaches of Licheng in Jishui is Changqing County, where Liujiabao in Qizhou is located.

The closer Liu Xinqi gets to his hometown, the stranger he feels.

When he left Qizhou before, Liu Xinqi swore that he would come back and come back in an upright manner.But I didn't expect to return to my hometown so soon and in this way.

On June 24, the North Route Army marched to the city of Jinan.

The Puppet Qi Dynasty moved the capital away from Licheng, making the originally prosperous Licheng very desolate. The rich households and craftsmen in the city were all relocated, and even most of the middle class were forcibly removed. Moved to Daming Mansion.

Fortunately, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and the population of Licheng is still larger than that of other prefectures.According to Diting's intelligence, the entire city of Licheng has a population of more than 6.

Qizhou and Zizhou both belong to the Jingdong East Road. When the westward advance plan was stalled, Liu Xinqi arranged to stay in the west for several weeks to publicize various policies to benefit the people of the Han League. This can be seen when he attacked Zhangqiu before. It was still effective, and the resistance intensity of the Zhangqiu people was much reduced.

The gentry resisted the Xinghan League, but they could not resist in person. They would only recruit some cannon fodder, and these cannon fodder were the lowest common people.For the people at the bottom, no matter who rules, it makes little difference to them.I didn't know about the Xinghan League before, but now I know a little bit about it, so I naturally started to have my own thoughts, and no longer blindly followed the gentry.

This effect initially appeared in Zhangqiu and reached its climax in Licheng.

June 25.

Facing the spears and cannons of the Xinghan League, the "cannon fodder" turned around with their swords and beheaded the gentry representatives who were supervising the battle behind them. The Xinghan League entered Licheng without losing a single person.

Licheng, the capital of Qizhou and the former capital of the puppet Qi, was originally expected to be the most difficult to attack, but instead became the easiest city to attack since the implementation of the westward strategy.

"Qi moved the capital so completely that the wealthy people in Licheng were moved away, leaving only some officials and small businessmen, and their control over the city was much lower than before." Liu Xinbao said.

"You are right. The power of the puppet Qi comes from the gentry class. Without this class, the court's control over the people at the bottom will be very weak." Liu Xinqi nodded.

The imperial power does not go to the countryside.

This was a well-established principle in feudal society. The gentry and officials (rich people) who governed the cities and towns were moved away by the puppet Qi, and the people's lives became better and freer.

Due to the large population of Licheng, Liu Xinqi stayed here for one more day.

On June 27, after leaving a regiment to maintain order in Licheng, Liu Xinqi led his troops to advance upstream along Jishui again.

Arrive in Changqing County on the evening of June 28th.

The magistrate of Changqing County had already led all the county officials and respectable gentry and landlords to greet him outside the north gate.

Liu Xinqi stepped forward, helped up the Changqing County magistrate who was kneeling on the ground, and handed the big seal in his hand to the guard behind him:
"Dear fellow villagers, I, Liu Xinqi, am from Changqing, and I have returned home now. Don't worry, the Xinghan League is not a bandit, and will not rob your property, let alone murder. Please also please go back."

"I promise that as long as everyone abides by the law, the future will only be more prosperous."

(End of this chapter)