Chapter 404: Ding Hebei

Zhang Wu, Yuan Shang finally left with Tian Feng, Ju Sue, Shen Pei and others. These were the talents that Yuan Shao finally left to him, and they were also the key to dealing with Lu Bu in the future. The Jizhou army had been defeated, Pingyuan fell, and now You The state was also defeated by Ma Chao. Although there were still many cities that were considered inferior to Yuan Shao, but there were no soldiers available, so why should they defend these cities?

"Lord, Hua Xiong is here to kill!" When Han Meng came to Yuan Shao, he looked at Yuan Shao who seemed to have aged countless times overnight. He felt a little sour in his heart for no reason. The overlord who once dominated Hebei and threatened the world now seemed to The group of people looked like they were dying, which made people sigh. Han Meng lowered his head and said, "Let's go quickly."

"Go?" Yuan Shao looked at Han Meng and suddenly smiled: "Where are you going?"

Yes, although it is not said to be surrounded on all sides, looking at Jizhou, after the Battle of Dongguang, Yuan Shao can no longer bring any troops, and he can't go anywhere except Qingzhou.

"I will protect my lord and fight to the death!" Han Meng gritted his teeth.

"You can't get out." Yuan Shao stood up slowly. There were shouts of killing outside the door, and the Guanzhong Army entered the city.

"You have been loyal to me by protecting me all the way. Now that I am at the end of my rope, you don't have to die in vain. Surrender. No one will blame you." Yuan Shao glanced at Han Meng. In the past, each of the four pillars of Hebei were top-notch generals, but now they are not. There is only one foolhardy Han Meng left, which is sad and deplorable!

Han Meng shook his head, said nothing, and just followed Yuan Shao silently.

There was not much defense left in Zhangwu City. Hua Xiong only fired two rounds of artillery fire and defeated Zhangwu.

"Are my clothes messy?" Yuan Shao glanced at Han Meng and asked Han Meng without forcing him. He just straightened his clothes.

"Not yet." Han Meng shook his head.

"That's good. Even if I die, I, the fourth and third prince of the Yuan family, should be magnanimous!" Yuan Shao straightened his clothes and armor for Han Meng, then turned around and went out: "Let's go, I want to see how Guan Zhongjun is doing." Elite!”

The two of them left the government office. Except for Yuan Shao's personal guards, the rest of the city's defenders had begun to ask for surrender. At this point, the soldiers had already lost their fighting spirit. Once the city gate was broken, the remaining Jizhou army's morale was also destroyed. They were broken together, but the chaos Yuan Shao imagined did not appear.

"Quickly, occupy the high ground. All Jizhou soldiers will be fine as long as they put down their weapons and surrender. Supervise the team to patrol the whole city and kill those who take advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos and those who violate military discipline and persecute the people."

After entering the city, the Guanzhong army did not loot in a chaotic manner like the previous princes' armies entering the city. Instead, they were quite orderly. After quickly occupying important places, the first thing they did was not to find Yuan Shao but to strictly enforce military discipline. The Jizhou soldiers who wanted to take advantage of the chaos to break into people's houses and steal some property were dragged out and killed directly.

There was no sense of confusion among the groups of Guanzhong soldiers. Yuan Shao couldn't help but sigh: "Today I know that your defeat in that battle was not unjust!"

In the Battle of Dongguang, the 50,000 Jizhou Army was defeated by the 20,000 Guanzhong Army who could not use firearms. From a quantitative point of view, this was incredible. After all, in this battle, the Guanzhong Army did not have many advantages in equipment, so why did it still lose? So miserable?

Just looking at the military discipline of the Guanzhong Army after the city was broken, we can see that no one was in chaos, but our own Jizhou Army began to rob people's property, and was instead dealt with by others. This alone is a judgment call.

"The general is incompetent!" Han Meng bowed.

"What does it have to do with you?" Yuan Shao sighed and said, Han Meng cannot be blamed for this, let alone Tian Feng. Under normal circumstances, Tian Feng's calculation is actually correct, but Guan Zhongjun is not considered normal. This is a gap in the military system. The most obvious thing that people can see is that the Guanzhong Army is well-trained and does not harm the people. But Yuan Shao knows how difficult it is to achieve this than anyone else!

It is an unwritten rule to let the soldiers indulge after breaking the city. They can't control it even if they want to, but the Guanzhong Army did it. This is obviously not the general's problem. Guanzhong's equipment is powerful, but the generals may not be as good as Jizhou. general.

Just as he was talking, he saw a general coming with his troops and horses, and surrounded Yuan Shao.

"I am Hua Xiong, the most powerful general in Xiliang!" Hua Xiong looked at Yuan Shao and said in a deep voice, "Are you Yuan Shao?"

"Number one in Xiliang?" Yuan Shao heard this and said proudly: "That's right."

"Let me go." Hua Xiong saw that Yuan Shao had no intention of resisting, so he was not embarrassed.

"Where to go?" Yuan Shao asked.

"Go see my lord." Hua Xiong frowned. Isn't this obvious?

"I, Yuan Shao, am the fourth generation and the third prince. Although I am defeated today, it is not because of Lu Bu. It is God's will. However, Lu Bu, a mere reckless man who wants to humiliate me, is delusional!" Yuan Shao snorted coldly and pulled out his sword.

Hua Xiong frowned and looked at him, without any intention of stopping him. He just looked at him and said, "What do you mean?"

He just went to see his lord. With his status as Yuan Shao, he might not be able to hold an official position. How about humiliating him? Where to start? Does my lord have so much free time?

"Although I died today, I did not die at the hands of Lu Bu!" Yuan Shao snorted coldly and cut himself with his sword.

Hua Xiong: "..."

Seeing Yuan Shao's proud expression until his death, Hua Xiong couldn't figure out what was going on in this man's mind.

"What about you?" Hua Xiong looked at Han Meng.

"I want to take my lord's body to Qingzhou!" Han Meng bowed to Hua Xiong and said, "Please give me permission, General."

"This matter needs to be decided by the lord." Hua Xiong frowned and thought for a while. He couldn't decide this matter. After all, Yuan Shao was a prince. Even if it was a corpse, Lu Bu would have to nod before he could let it go.

Han Meng didn't say anything. He knew that he couldn't take away Yuan Shao's body, so he could only wait for Lu Bu to express his stance. At the moment, he could only do the next best thing, hoping to collect Yuan Shao's body.

Hua Xiong did not stop him. After agreeing, he asked people to look at Han Meng while he quickly sent someone to inform Lu Bu of the result of the battle.

After Yuan Shao died, although there were still wealthy gentry from all over Hebei who opposed Lu Bu's move to take control of Jizhou, they were no longer able to resist. After Lu Bu confirmed the news of Yuan Shao's death, he did not stop Han Meng from taking away Yuan Shao's body. As for Han Meng, now It can't make any waves.

He quickly asked the imperial court to send the accumulated talents to serve as county magistrates in Jizhou and Youzhou. In fact, these arrangements had been made before. At the same time, people from all walks of life who entered Hebei were responsible for inspecting various places, because these officials entered Hebei for the first time. The thing is that the implementation of new taxes must be suppressed by force. Lu Bu was not in a hurry to seize the Central Plains after taking Hebei. He first established a stable foundation here before moving on to the next step.

Just like what Lu Bu said before leaving for the battle, you have to eat your food one bite at a time, don't be in a hurry.

All surrendered troops in Jizhou were sent to build railway tracks. Ma Jun had built a workshop specializing in smelting railway tracks in Hanoi during these days. After Lu Bu was initially appointed in Jizhou, he asked Xu Shu to temporarily serve as the governor of Jizhou, while he took Ma Jun and others with him. A group of craftsmen came to Quanzhou, where Lu Bu had originally planned to build the ship. The river here was wide and led directly to the Bohai Sea.

Lu Bu has always wanted to build five-element ships to control water rights, but there is no suitable land for Lu Bu to build ships in Guanzhong or Shu. Now that he has captured Jizhou, Lu Bu is naturally happy to win the land, but the most important thing is What's more, he can build ships here, and neither Jiangdong nor Cao Cao can interfere even if he wants to.

After he digests Jizhou, he can take a boat to break through the waves. Xuzhou, Qingzhou, Yangzhou, and Jingzhou will all fall within the range of his ship's cannon. By then, not only will the Central Plains be at his fingertips, but all the current defenses of Jingzhou and Jiangdong will be in front of Lu Bu. will lose its meaning of existence.

Therefore, for Lu Bu, winning here may be more meaningful than defeating Yuan Shao.

The early days of Jizhou's governance were not easy. The local powerful were extremely xenophobic and gathered the villagers to resist government orders. No matter how good the policies were, the people were more willing to listen to the local powerful and nobles.

Therefore, after the Guanzhong army occupied the city, various county magistrates encountered great obstacles in their administration. This place is different from Guanzhong. Lu Bu was able to implement administrative orders in Guanzhong. This was because the gentry in Guanzhong were purged by Dong Zhuo first, and then they had several enemies in Lu Bu's hands. After a purge, resistance was lost. However, although Jizhou experienced Han Fu and Yuan Shao in recent years, no one dared to attack the nobles. Therefore, the power of the nobles in Jizhou and even the Central Plains was much greater than that of Guanzhong. .

However, this matter did not bother Lu Bu. After Xu Shu asked Lu Bu for instructions, he invited officials from the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Civil Affairs to measure the land in each county and pay taxes on the land he owned. Those with less than ten acres of land at home could Tax exemption for three years, but only 10% tax after three years!

The surrendered troops from Jizhou accepted the instructions first and returned to their hometowns to publicize.

Don't look at it, it's only ten acres, but in the entire Jizhou, whether it's fertile land or thin land, those with less than ten acres account for the vast majority. 90% of households have less than ten acres of fertile land, so they can only work as tenant farmers for local powerful people.

In order to pay less taxes, some people directly merged their fields into the hands of powerful people. Xu Shu's tax-free policy directly separated the powerful people from ordinary people.

The next step is to target the powerful. After stabilizing the situation, the local government offices began to inspect the fields. The records of the past twenty years have been taken back. The people are also welcome to report the culprits. If the culprits are still there, they will be returned to the culprits. , if the owner is absent, the government office will redistribute the money.

Are there any unjust, false or wrongful convictions? There must be some, and there will be many, but this time they are targeting the powerful and aristocratic families in Jizhou, and all kinds of troops are sent out to assist the government office in taking back the world and checking household registrations.

In the following months, more than 3,000 Jizhou tycoons were killed just for resisting the imperial court, not to mention countless others who were imprisoned for their crimes. The toughness shown by the imperial court this time made Jizhou tycoons frightened. A small number of people smuggled across the Yellow River to Cao Cao. For such families, the imperial court would immediately block their property and take it back to the imperial court. This move aroused more people's dissatisfaction. In just three months, thirty people appeared. There were many rebellions, but they were quickly suppressed.

The only reason the imperial court dared to do this was because of its strong military power. Yuan Shao's 100,000-strong army was defeated by Hua Xiong's 10,000-strong army without any damage. Now Lu Bu's troops in Jizhou plus the troops surrendered by Jizhou totaled 200,000 in order to suppress Jizhou. Powerful.

The government offices' completely different attitudes towards the powerful and the common people also quickly divided the relationship between the powerful and the common people. They were no longer as harmonious as before. Instead, they were wary of each other and calculated against each other. By the third month, the common people basically no longer paid attention to the powerful and even took the initiative. They may not be right to help the court clean up the powerful, but this move did help the court quickly sort out Jizhou. When Cao Cao wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, facing the threats of Xu Rong and Gao Shun, he could only helplessly watch Lu Bu quickly integrate Jizhou...