The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 1188: Unforgiven
Chapter 1188: Killing without mercy
“The purpose is to make Xiliang think that the number of troops stationed at Yecheng Pass is huge and they dare not attack Yecheng Pass easily. They also want Xiliang to think that Dazhou is continuously dispatching troops to Yecheng Pass…” Bai Qing said solemnly, “Since we know that General Cui Shanzhong is in charge, we must not slack off. Yecheng Pass is too important to both Dazhou and Xiliang. It can be said that it is a more important place for military strategists than Qiushan Pass. General Cui Shanzhong likes to play tricks, and we can also imitate him.”
“Aqi will take the remaining half of the troops away tomorrow, and General Yang will lead the other half. Ajue will lead Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi to set out again in two days, and then send the other half back. In this way, we can hold out until General Zhao Sheng leads the Zhao family army to Yecheng Pass!” Bai Qingyan looked at Bai Jinzhao, “By then, Xiaowu will set out with General Zhao to reinforce Ayu and Jinxiu.”
“When did my elder sister order General Zhao Sheng to lead the Zhao family army to come to our aid?!” Bai Jinzhao’s eyes lit up, “My elder sister is so amazing!”
“If this news spreads to the Xiliang people… and General Cui Shanzhong, our Great Zhou will have nearly 100,000 more troops for nothing!” Bai Qingyun held the bowl of porridge, “General Cui Shanzhong always has to think twice before confronting the Great Zhou. He may even be afraid that Yechengguan will have a steady stream of reinforcements, so he dare not attack Yechengguan head-on.”
“I looked through the records of several major battles fought by General Cui Shanzhong last night, and found that General Cui Shanzhong dared to use any means to win. Grandfather’s description of General Cui Shanzhong as ‘using any means necessary’ is very appropriate, but… I also found that General Cui Shanzhong would not confront the enemy army head-on unless it was absolutely necessary!” Bai Qingyan took the hot tea cup handed over by Wei Zhong and held it in his hand, “So, only if Yechengguan has a steady stream of reinforcements, General Cui Shanzhong will not take the risk of seizing Yechengguan first! But in this case… you must be very careful!”
“Don’t worry, elder sister!” Bai Qingqi was not afraid.
The next day, just as Bai Qingyan had expected, some people who had left Yechengguan returned and wanted to go back into the city, but they were driven away again. On that day… three people were killed at the city gate, and no one dared to break into Yechengguan anymore.
This also made the people in Yecheng Pass even more frightened, and they felt fortunate that they did not leave the city impulsively.
At noon that day, Bai Qingyan issued another order. Two days later, Yechengguan would check each household to see if they had not gone to the government office to register and change their household registration… Those who still hold Xiliang nationality would be expelled from Yechengguan.
Every street in Yecheng Pass is guarded by the Great Zhou army, who are re-processing the Great Zhou household registration for the people of Xiliang. Bai Qingyan’s order is that the household registration must be completed within two days, otherwise it will hinder the implementation of the new policy.
The army was fully staffed and worked very hard, even at night. By the afternoon of the third day, they had finally sorted out all the household registrations.
Afterwards, Bai Qingyun sent people to check every household. If there were still people who were hoping to get away with it and had not registered, they would be expelled from Yechengguan. If they dared to disobey… they would be punished by the Xiliang spies.
Such an iron-blooded approach has indeed produced results.
On the fourth day, the new laws of the Great Zhou were posted in Yechengguan. Someone was specially assigned to explain the new laws to the people of Yechengguan who had become citizens of the Great Zhou. Then someone else took the people to divide the land.
Not only did the Great Zhou exempt the people from taxes for three years, but relief grain would also be delivered later. Bai Qingyun told the people that he would never let the people of the Great Zhou go hungry.
When the people of Yechengguan saw that the Great Zhou was really serious about this, and… these were new laws that benefited the people, they immediately felt grateful to the Emperor of the Great Zhou, and were even more glad that they had not left the city and chose to become citizens of the Great Zhou.
Except for those officials with a good reputation, the rest of the officials in Yechengguan have also been replaced.
The fact that Great Zhou had made such a big move at Yecheng Pass meant that it would never give up Yecheng Pass. The people were also relieved. They were not afraid that after becoming citizens of Great Zhou today, they would have to become citizens of Xiliang again tomorrow, and might even be treated as spies by the Xiliang army.
Soon, the Great Zhou welcomed the first wave of refugees, including the people of Xiliang who had chosen to leave Yechengguan.
The people in other parts of Xiliang who were so hungry that they had to eat tree bark knelt outside the city. They all said that they had heard from the people who left Ye Chengguan that the Great Zhou army was kind and would not kill the people, and would also allow the people of Xiliang to become citizens of the Great Zhou. So they came to ask to enter the city… They only asked to save their lives and said they were willing to become citizens of the Great Zhou.
There were also mothers who were starving to the point of being unrecognizable, holding their dying children, kneeling outside the city and begging for food to save their children’s lives.
After receiving the news, Bai Qingyun followed Bai Qingyan’s previous instructions and first sent people to distribute a meal of food to each of the people outside the city. He also asked doctors to go out of the city to treat the dying people. Only then did he announce to the public… There is only one chance to become a citizen of the Great Zhou.
If they want to move into the city and obtain household registration in Da Zhou, and get a house allocated to them by the Da Zhou government, they need to obey the arrangements of Da Zhou. Moreover, the house and land are not given for free, and the food is not given for free either. They need to write an IOU to the government, and when the first crop of food is produced next year… they have to repay the government in the form of food or silver, for a period of 30 years, and there is interest every year. Naturally, the sooner the interest is paid off, the less it will be.
Now the Xiliang army is looting food everywhere, and the people have no way to survive. Now as long as they enter Yechengguan, they will have food to survive. The Great Zhou will also give them houses and land. Don’t even mention asking them to pay back in 30 years, they are willing to pay back for a lifetime!
When the people in the city heard the news, they suddenly realized that it was no wonder that the Great Zhou army did not allow the people who chose to leave Yechengguan to re-enter the city. It turned out that it was to make room for these refugees. They were also glad that they did not leave. They really did not expect that other places in Xiliang were now in such a difficult situation.
I heard the refugees begging to enter the city, saying that cannibalism had occurred where they came from, and they only wanted to stay alive, and asked the Great Zhou to take them in.
Soon, after Bai Qingjue led the second batch of Great Zhou soldiers out of the city, the Great Zhou soldiers inside Yecheng Pass also began to register the household registration of the refugees one by one. Moreover, the general guarding the city of the Great Zhou made it very clear that if there were any refugees who had left Yecheng Pass, they would not be allowed to enter the city. Otherwise… if they were found after entering the city, they would be treated as spies and killed without mercy!
With the example of the people from Xiliang in Yechengguan who were killed after leaving Yechengguan and trying to enter the city, no one would dare to break into the city gate without permission again.
Of course, there were also people from Xiliang whose families originally lived in Yechengguan and mixed in the team, claiming that they had escaped from other places.
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