Chapter 585: Recruiting the Farm Soldiers

After several farmers explained, Ma Su also roughly understood the situation.

Jiang Ji, the old man, did not dare to confront him head-on, so he simply built a new highway to disgust him. This change made Ma Su speechless, but he had to admit that this method was indeed very tricky.

The troops under Ma Su were basically all infantry, and they could not move back and forth like in the past. If Ma Su wanted to cut off the opponent's lifeline, he could only be nailed in a fixed place like a nail.

But the problem was that Luoyang Yin was Cao Wei's home court. Their bureaucratic system in Sizhou was still operating, and they kept drawing manpower from Sizhou to build new roads.

Because of this, Ma Su had to think of other ways, otherwise cutting off the logistics and food route of the Wei army would become nonsense.

"The old ones are still the best, Jiang Ji, you are really black-hearted." Ma Su shook his head and said to himself with a headache.

The most critical problem at the moment is that the manpower of Sizhou is still being used by Cao Wei. Unless Ma Su has the ability to quickly destroy all the garrisons in Sizhou, they can continue to provide blood transfusions to Jiang Ji.

But it is obvious that Ma Su does not have this ability. The lack of mobility makes it extremely difficult for Ma Su to cut off the food supply.

Just when Ma Su was having a headache, several garrison households carefully resigned to Ma Su.

"General Han, can we go back? If we don't go back, according to Wei law, it will bring disaster to our families..." The leading garrison household said tremblingly, constantly observing Ma Su's expression, for fear of angering the Han general.

"Baojia law... It is said that Han law is stricter than Wei law, why don't I feel it at all." Ma Su rolled his eyes, obviously knowing what the garrison households meant.

Baojia law was established in the Qin Dynasty and is generally applicable in wartime. Its main function is to limit the scope of activities of farmers. If any farmer escapes, all the farmers in the whole Jia will suffer.

In the former heart of the empire, the farmers near Luoyang had to be restrained by the Baojia system. How unwelcome Cao Wei must be at the grassroots level...

"You go back, don't let your family suffer." Ma Su shook his head and waved his hand to send away several farmers.

"This Cao Wei is really crazy. It has such strict restrictions on military settlements... Wait? Military settlements!"

Ma Su suddenly paused, and he suddenly grasped a key word.

Yes, since Cao Wei's Sizhou is basically full of military settlements, and it is so unpopular. If you operate it properly, can't you quickly incorporate this force of farmers?

You know, Ma Su led the Xuanfeng Battalion! Although they have poor mobility, they can basically be grassroots officers.

After all, when the Xuanfeng Battalion was first established, it considered the possibility of expanding the army behind enemy lines. Unexpectedly, the first time it was put into actual combat, there was an opportunity to experiment immediately.

With this thought, Ma Su suddenly turned around and looked at several farmers.

"By the way, fellow villagers, I heard that you are military farmers, so you shouldn't have corvée. But looking at you, I'm afraid it's normal for the government to share corvée, right?"

Ma Su suddenly asked this question, and several farmers hesitated. But soon one of them stood up and answered honestly.

"General Han, we really shouldn't have corvée, but... as you can see, in fact, we have not lacked the corvée we should have..."

If we want to say that Cao Wei had the worst life, it must be the farmers left by Cao Cao.

They all carried extremely heavy taxes, which once changed from 50% to 37%, and 70% was still the government's. Originally, the compensation for the heavy taxes was exemption from corvée, but as time went on, the officials in the local farmers felt that it was better to let them do nothing, so the corvée was still assigned.

As a result, the farmers had the same corvée as regular households, but their taxes were much higher. This made life difficult for the farmers, and many of them could hardly maintain food and clothing even in good years.

"Do you hate this bastard pseudo-Wei?" Seeing this, Ma Su felt relieved and immediately persuaded them.

"Of course we hate him, but we are just ordinary people, what's the use?" This time, several farmers spoke at the same time, all with helpless expressions.

They were not masochists, so how could they not be angry? It was just that they were limited by the Baojia system and the national strength of Cao Wei, so they could only endure it honestly.

"In that case, you might as well join the Han Dynasty." Ma Su nodded and quickly suggested to the farmers.

"I am the general of the cavalry of the Han Dynasty, and I am here to recover Guandong by the order of the emperor. As long as you are willing to help the Han army unify, after Sizhou is conquered, you can become regular civilians and no longer be oppressed by the pseudo-Wei!"

"What do you think?"

Ma Su's words were so persuasive that the farmers hesitated. Ma Su could tell from their expressions that they were tempted.

The lower class people have never lacked the power to resist, they just lacked a leader and direction.

After some hesitation, a young farmer finally made up his mind and spoke first.

"General Han, tell us what to do, how should we submit to the Han Dynasty!"

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At this time, Jiang Ji in Luoyang did not know that Ma Su had broken out and was planning to do something big behind him.

Of course, he had no energy to take care of this matter, as he was busy now.

Although Jiang Ji was a civil servant, he had followed Cao Cao to conquer the world and was considered a veteran. But after not participating in military affairs for many years, Jiang Ji found that everything had become very unfamiliar after he was in charge of the army again.

The Wei army under his command was not the fighting force of the Wei Wu era at all. The morale was low and the fighting will was weak. On the contrary, the Han army on the opposite side made Jiang Ji see the shadow of the former Cao army.

In just one month, the several lines of defense arranged by Jiang Ji on the front line were basically broken through. Deng Ai and Wu Ban even conquered the entire Beimang Mountain and watched Luoyang with a covetous eye.

In addition, Liu Yin also began to encircle Luoyang on the front, making Jiang Ji feel a little overwhelmed in Luoyang.

"Damn it! What good things did those bastards in Guanzhong do! They sent away all the elite soldiers of the Great Wei in ten years!" Jiang Ji hated Sima Yi so much that he wanted to go to Liaodong to strangle that old thief Sima immediately.

Look at the good things you see!

"Sima, we are in urgent need of help everywhere, and our troops are almost exhausted." Jiang Ji's generals saw the emergency letters from various places, and they were sweating profusely.

"The reinforcements from Yecheng were blocked by the fall of Henei, and they can only take a detour to Hulao Pass. They can't come to help in a short time. I'm afraid..."

"Ask Yanzhou for help!" Jiang Ji pondered for a while and made a quick decision.

"Yanzhou is the closest to Sizhou. Ask them for help, and the reinforcements will arrive in a few days!"