Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 311 305. Sweet Air

Yang Feng, who was over 40 years old, could easily figure out many things. For example, the cave masters around him had nothing to do and were planning something bad, and Meng Huo, the "King of Nanzhong" who came to power with the support of Zhu Rong, was thinking about how to weaken himself.

It can be said that these political struggles have been with him at all times since he took office in his twenties, and he can resolve them with ease without having to think.

But there are some problems that Yang Feng cannot solve with his insights and knowledge.

For example, how should Nanzhong deal with itself in the future?
Yang Feng had thought about this problem before, but he had not systematically summarized the problem at that time. But he knew that Meng Huo was playing with fire.

Regardless of race, everyone would hate Meng Huo's fickle behavior. Even when Meng Huo started his rebellion last year, Yang Feng was firmly opposed at first.

However, the crowd was so angry that Yang Feng himself could not stop it, so he just asked his fourth son to bring 3,000 people as a gesture of support. In fact, it was not his turn to go to the battlefield, and the Han army defeated Yong Kai and his three men and forced them to flee to Meng Huo's side.

Now that Yang Feng was ostracized by Meng Huo and risked his life to serve as a thug for the Han army, Yang Feng actually thought clearly about the problems that he had not fully understood before.

It is impossible for Nanzhong to continue to be as capricious as Meng Huo thought. It is even questionable whether it can continue to exist in its current form.

The combat capability of the Han army was too terrifying. In the past few days, Ma Su had mentioned to Yang Feng intentionally or unintentionally that they still had nearly 100,000 similar troops.

What does this mean? Yang Feng dared to challenge Meng Huo with only 30,000 young and strong "elites". The entire Nanzhong region has a total population of less than one million, and there are even fewer young and strong people who can fight.

Judging from the strength and efficiency of the Han army's crackdown on the Shanyue, if the Han army was really determined to stabilize Nanzhong once and for all, the performance of himself and others would not be much better than that of the Shanyue.

Therefore, Yang Feng’s idea was very simple. Since the Han people were still willing to accept him and others, why not just come out of the mountains, follow the policies of Jingzhou and enjoy the same life as the Han people?

The mountains themselves are relatively barren, and there are many miasma. The people in the south are not good at farming, so they can only make a living by relying on mountain products, game, and herbs to barter with the Han people or other ethnic groups in exchange for food.

This was also the reason why Meng Huo’s previous instigation of the Southern Barbarians was so effective, because they were really poor. Not only were they unable to produce those things, they were even so poor that they would not lose anything even if they died in the rebellion.

Yang Feng had a myriad of thoughts in his mind, but he had no idea that the direction of his thinking had been deliberately guided by someone.

After a few days, Yang Feng led his soldiers and the Han army into the mountains to wipe out the Shanyue twice. The harvest was quite rich. It seemed that more and more Shanyue people took the initiative to come out of the mountains and surrender because they had heard the policies of the Han army and the blockade and attacks of the Han army had become more and more fierce recently.

The Han army had no other choice but to use earth walls, fences, and traps to block the route of the Shanyue people down the mountain in a few fixed directions. At the same time, the Han army surrounded the gathering area of ​​the Shanyue people and slowly advanced.

Now the Shanyue people were surrounded by the Han army and had little food. The young and strong could go hungry for a while, but the old, weak, women and children would start to die if they went hungry for too long.

It was not realistic to go down the mountain to look for food. The Han army was waiting outside the forest. Many teams sent out by the settlements to look for food were like throwing meat buns at dogs, and none of them came back. In the end, the young and strong could not come back, and the remaining old and weak could only go down the mountain and surrender to the Han army.

As more and more Shanyue surrendered, there were also many people who were familiar with other settlements and willing to lead the Han army. As a result, the Han army's suppression of Shanyue became more and more successful. From a few months ago to now, nearly 300,000 Shanyue people have been gathered. It is estimated that less than half of this number of Shanyue remain in the mountains.

"Master Ma, how do you deal with these old and weak noble soldiers?"

Yang Feng couldn't help but feel curious when he saw the Han army sorting the surrendered Shanyue people into different categories and sending them to Jiaozhou and Jingzhou in batches.

If Yang Feng were to deal with them, he would definitely bury them alive or use them as cannon fodder. These old men and women couldn't work and had no value. Keeping them alive would be a sheer waste of food.

"Of course, they were sent to Jiaozhou along with their sons and daughters, just like ordinary people."

Ma Su was a little surprised. In his opinion, why did Yang Feng ask a very simple question again? However, Ma Su's mind turned and he immediately understood Yang Feng's idea. Ma Su had heard of this simple idea of ​​the survival of the fittest. It was not surprising to have such an idea in the wild land of South China.

"Since these people are willing to surrender, it means they trust the policies of our Han Dynasty. How can our Han Dynasty betray them? A man cannot stand without trust. If we go back on our word and kill them, not to mention how many people will lose their parents, our Han Dynasty has always ruled the world with benevolence and filial piety. If this is the case, how can we win the trust of the people?"

Ma Su was quite serious when he said this. Since the Han army said that if the Shanyue were willing to surrender, they would treat them as civilians, they would definitely implement it. After all, there is no allusion to swear an oath by Luoshui now, and everyone generally puts trust and loyalty first.

Yang Feng blushed slightly when he heard Ma Su's answer, feeling somewhat ashamed, because the more Ma Su said this, the more barbaric he seemed.

"Perhaps they will have such concerns, but it doesn't matter. As long as they live for a period of time, they will know that this is true. By then, every former Shanyue person will proudly stand up when they think that they are now descendants of Yanhuang."

Seeing Yang Feng's expression, Ma Su took advantage of the victory and said something meaningful, which made Yang Feng even more conflicted.

"Alas... If I were the king of Nanzhong, I would never confront the king's master, and I would definitely lead my brothers and sisters to live a better life."

In the evening, Yang Feng sat in the camp and drank wine in a depressed mood. If he had never seen a better life, it would be fine, but now the Han people showed them a better prospect, and Lord Ma even hinted to him that as long as Yang Feng was willing, they could become one of them at any time.

Unfortunately, Yang Feng knew that his words were not counted. He was just a cave master. At most, he would take nearly 100,000 people from his cave and surrender to the Han people. If Meng Huo knew about this, he would definitely come against him, or even join forces with other caves to hunt him down.

"Meng Huo...Meng Huo."

The arrogant image of Meng Huo became more and more obvious in Yang Feng's mind at this moment. In Yang Feng's mind, he had become a stumbling block that prevented the people of Nanzhong from living a better life.

The stumbling block should be removed.

(End of this chapter)