My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 728: Successful Administration of Shu
With Yong Kai being killed in the chaos, the rebel army completely collapsed in almost a cup of tea.

The rebels in Jianning County were originally raised up by the instigation and persuasion of Yong Kai alone, as well as the power of Yong Kai's family. Now that the main leaders of the rebellion have been destroyed, who can find a reason to continue fighting?

If it was the situation in the original history when Zhuge Liang came to the south to conquer more than ten years later, even if Yong Kai died, at least there was still Meng Huo who could fight for his own interests and for his continued separatist rule as a local emperor.

But in this life, the pacification of Nanzhong was advanced by fourteen years. Meng Huo was no longer a forty-year-old and prestigious barbarian king, but a tribal leader who was only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

The time difference of fourteen years is enough to change many things. If it were advanced that much time, Meng Huo's current personal prestige would not be able to support the situation. Once Yong Kai died, it would mean that no one in Nanzhong dared to resist Zhuge Liang anymore.

What's more, before Yong Kai, there were already two bloody lessons of Zhu Bao and Gao Ding.

Yong Kai was killed in the chaos at around three quarters after noon. By the end of noon, Gan Ning had already taken control of the battlefield and began to confiscate the weapons of the surrendered soldiers.

After another two hours of cleaning up the battlefield, all the organized enemy troops were captured before nightfall. There was no way to capture the remaining ones who had fled, and it would take several days.

Fortunately, Yong Kai's general E Huan, Meng Huo and several other deceived Yi generals also led their people to surrender. This way, it can ensure that the vast majority of the disorderly soldiers can be controlled.

After Meng Huo's weapons were confiscated, his hands were tied and he was brought before Zhuge Liang under the personal supervision of Gan Ning and Zhou Tai to be questioned by Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan and looked at Meng Huo while instructing Gan Ning: "Xingba, you divide the troops into half and take Yong Kai's head back to the siege camp first. If you can persuade Dianchi County to surrender tonight, that would be the best. If the enemy refuses to negotiate in the dark, we can talk about it tomorrow morning. Youping will be left here to watch."

Gan Ning accepted the order very straightforwardly, mounted his horse, and organized his troops to return to the camp.

This battlefield is more than 30 miles away from Dianchi County, and it will take until midnight to get back to the siege camp.

Gan Ning rushed back without stopping and immediately sent someone to take Yong Kai's head to the foot of the city to call for surrender.

However, the defenders on the city wall could not see clearly in the darkness and could not distinguish Yong Kai's head, so they thought it was a trick of Zhuge Liang. Yong Kai's son Yong Xi personally supervised the battle and ordered the archers to shoot arrows. The scolding warriors sent by Gan Ning to persuade him to surrender could only retreat with shields and wait until tomorrow.

On the other hand, after assigning Gan Ning's task, Zhuge Liang took his time to focus on beating Meng Huo.

He tapped Meng Huo's shoulders with his feather fan several times and said with compassion: "The imperial court imposes light taxes on the people in the south, only collecting tribute from special products, and no tax on land.

We have also specially opened a trading post, where government-run caravans will sell well salt, ironware, and Shu cloth to you, and they only ask you to buy some leather, tendons, glue, paint, medicinal materials and other items.

"We have done so much for you, why are you still not satisfied and are actually supporting Yong Kai's rebellion! Now that the young and strong men in the tribe have been captured by our army, are you willing to accept the reorganization of the court?"

Meng Huo had never met Zhuge Liang before, and this was the first time they met in such an occasion.

When he saw Zhuge Liang's appearance just now, he was still a little dazed. He didn't expect that such a handsome, upright and elegant man would speak with such a majestic and powerful voice, and his arguments were well-reasoned and progressive.

Meng Huo was not good at speaking, and was speechless for a moment. After holding it in for a long time, he subconsciously confessed his guilt out of shame:
"We barbarians have always been unwilling to be controlled by the Han government, and we were previously oppressed by officials who levied heavy taxes. We don't understand why the Grand Marshal and your Excellency changed their policies to be benevolent... They just wanted to govern their land as much as possible... Now they are willing to plead guilty! We were also deceived by Yong Kai!"

All Meng Huo said was to emphasize that the southern barbarians were uneducated. After the Han people adjusted their ruling strategy, they didn't understand the situation and didn't know whether they really made concessions or there was some other conspiracy.

But the southern barbarians also have some self-knowledge. They know that they cannot win by playing brain games with the Han people, so they decide to give up the game and just live their own lives behind closed doors.

On the other hand, based on their simple experience, they always felt that the so-called benevolent rule of the Han people was at most temporary, and might just be pretended or performed to win the hearts of the people.

It was believed that once the southern barbarians gave up their right to govern themselves, the Han people would set up itinerant officials and slowly infiltrate the country, and in the future they might even slowly retract the previous policies that benefited the people.

Of course, considering the last one or two points, Meng Huo, now a prisoner, has been disarmed and tied up, so he certainly wouldn't dare to say them out loud, and could only think about them in his mind.

Zhuge Liang knew what kind of person he was, so he certainly didn't have to expect Meng Huo to tell it himself. He could tell by just looking at his expression and observing his tone.

Zhuge Liang would not deliberately reveal everything, so as not to make both sides look bad. As long as the other party admitted his guilt and accepted the punishment, and he could establish the authority of the court, that was enough. Why would he tear his relationship apart completely?

So Zhuge Liang just admonished in front of the other captured generals and barbarian commanders, seemingly in a stern tone, but in fact he raised it high and put it down gently:
"You barbarians don't understand, so you think the government's benevolent policies are not benevolent policies? You are ignorant and shallow, and you have harmed the heroes of your tribe! As for worrying that the benevolent policies can't last, it's just a temporary deception. You are even more like a villain judging others! You should be punished more severely!"

Although Meng Huo was relatively dull, he suddenly understood after hearing the word "should have" in Zhuge Liang's last half of the sentence.

He should be punished, but that means he can atone for his sins by behaving well.

Meng Huo quickly seized the opportunity, kowtowed and confessed his guilt, while symbolically asking: "I am a distant and stupid person, but now I know that your Majesty is trustworthy, which is rare in ancient and modern times! I really regret it! Since your Majesty said that the court's benevolent policy can last forever, don't you know that we, the men of Nanzhong, serve in the court and our military pay will be paid in full without any deductions?"

When Meng Huo asked this question, there were two Yi generals who were being forced to kneel beside him. He couldn't help but sweat for him. He thought, Zhuge Lingjun has given him a chance to redeem himself, so why is he still bargaining?

But only Meng Huo himself knew that this attitude of bargaining would be beneficial to him rather than harmful.

Since Lord Zhuge is eager to publicize his trustworthiness in the south, the court will never change its orders overnight.

By asking this question, he was giving the other party a chance to prove his authority. How could Zhuge Liang blame him?

Only by asking those untrustworthy people who are not prepared to fulfill their promises or pay the military salaries in full, will they break down.

As expected, when Zhuge Liang heard this question, he just pretended to be angry and said, "You are such a shallow and despicable person! It is impossible for a summer insect to talk about ice! How can a general in charge of the army owe money?"

However, after Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he did not blame Meng Huo severely, but just left in anger.

That attitude was almost as free and easy as when Patriarch Bodhi knocked the monkey on the head three times and then walked away.

The other Yi generals were not frightened after hearing Zhuge Liang's warning. Instead, they were frightened by the vague scene Zhuge Liang described, "As long as there are people willing to serve in the army, they can be paid and rewarded in full." They regretted their previous stupidity, suspicion and short-sightedness, and were unwilling to believe those they should believe.

Zhuge Liang's plan to use the young and strong people in the south to supplement the military resources also subtly removed a major obstacle.

In a few days, he will be able to take advantage of the situation and first screen the surrendered prisoners, select the best of them, pick out those who are most suitable for conscription to the Northern Expedition, retrain them and rectify military discipline, and then gradually use them.

In Zhuge Liang's original conception, the barbarian population in the Nanzhong region was indeed too large compared to the local backward agricultural productivity.

There is too little arable land in Nanzhong, and too many mountains. The Nanman people originally did not master many mountain crop planting techniques that only Han people know, or they were isolated and backward, and no one introduced high-yield mountain crop seeds from Han areas. Therefore, no matter how Nanzhong can be developed in the future, and whether productivity has been improved, at least in the next one or two years, or even in three to five years, it will definitely not hurt to move part of the population out of Nanzhong.

Those who left could be directly recruited as soldiers by Liu Bei's camp, and the population left behind would be enough to provide the labor needed for farming and reclaiming wasteland.

After a few years, more advanced productivity was introduced here, whether it was the reclamation of hillside land, new fishing technology, double-season rice, the introduction of high-yield mountain crops such as yam, or cash crops such as tea. By then, the demand for local labor force would increase greatly, and if the population was insufficient, Han people could be moved in from the Han area to supplement it.

Moreover, by that time the world might have been at peace and the population would have re-entered a period of rapid growth. Moving the Han people here would also help ease the population pressure in Shu.

Shu was certainly not under population pressure now. After the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, even Yizhou, which was the least damaged, had a population that did not exceed the carrying capacity of the farmland. The Han counties in northern Yizhou had a total population of only about three million people, less than four million.

But in ten or twenty years, Yizhou might be the first to recover to a state of surplus population.

Zhuge Liang's withdrawal and replenishment not only created a time difference, but also changed the population structure of Nanzhong. Although it was a bit troublesome, it was all carefully planned.

In later Ming and Qing dynasties, the policy of converting native peoples into officials was completed by migrating a large number of Han people to the southwestern border.

Zhuge Liang now promoted this process subtly and naturally.

Of course, if we want to achieve ultimate success and completely naturalize the current Southwestern Yi region, it will definitely require long-term management.

……

Zhuge Liang reprimanded the captured and surrendered barbarian kings and Yi generals, and took the opportunity to publicize the court's conscription policy and the credibility of paying full salaries and rewards.

In just one night, the morale of the captives and surrendered soldiers was greatly reassured.

The next morning, Zhuge Liang left Zhang Ren to continue southward to search for the remnants of the Shijia Army that had fled yesterday morning, and let Zhou Tai lead half of the troops to escort the captives back to the siege camp in Dianchi County.

Before parting, Zhuge Liang also gave Zhang Ren several detailed instructions, requiring Zhang Ren to move south to take over Jianling and Shuangbai counties until he reached the banks of the Pu Shui (Red River).

In this operation, if the land route is difficult to travel or transportation is difficult, you can contact the friendly garrison troops in Qinzang County and ask the Qinzang County garrison to collect and provide boats and rafts.

As mentioned above, Lianran County and Dianchi County, which Zhuge Liang besieged at the end, were not connected to the Red River, but Qinzang County, which was located before that, was located along a tributary on the north bank of the Red River. From there, you could take a boat downstream and join the main stream of the Red River.

Shi Xie's lair is along the lower reaches of the Red River. As long as they can reach the bank of the Red River, gather troops, and then go downstream, they can completely kill Shi Xie.

Of course, even if Zhuge Liang annihilated Shi Xie's 20,000 reinforcements yesterday, he must have had reserve troops in Jiaozhi County, so it would be impossible to defeat Shi Xie by just relying on Zhang Ren and a few thousand people.

The task that Zhuge Liang gave to Zhang Ren was very measured. He only asked him to chase the remaining enemies and capture the defeated soldiers and prisoners. As long as he advanced to the bank of the Red River, he could switch to defense on the spot and wait for the rear army to gather before taking action together.

Zhang Ren was a cautious person by nature and had no objection to this arrangement, and he promised to strictly follow it.

After making arrangements for Zhang Ren, Zhuge Liang led Zhou Tai and slowly marched north. After walking for a morning, they returned to the siege camp in Dianchi County.

When Zhuge Liang arrived, Gan Ning had made a lot of new progress compared to the previous night, so when he saw Ling Jun returning to the camp, Gan Ning came to report his achievements with a gratified look on his face.

Before Zhuge Liang returned to his tent and sat down, Gan Ning took out several other human heads, which had been thinly pickled with salt, and put them in a wooden box, which he placed on the ground in front of Zhuge Liang.

"Who are these people?" Although Zhuge Liang had some guesses, he still decided to ask clearly.

Gan Ning boasted: "This head belongs to Yong Xi, the eldest son of Yong Kai. The others are also his nephews. Last night, because it was dark, the enemy could not distinguish and did not surrender immediately. These Yongs actually commanded the archers on the city wall to shoot arrows.

Fortunately, early this morning, after daybreak, I sent people to scold the enemy and persuade them to surrender. I also used a long pole to hold up Yong Kai's head, and asked several surrendered Yi generals to shout at them. I also showed signs of a strong attack and pushed all the ladders to the front of the formation.

The defenders in the city finally repented out of fear, and some generals shouted on the top of the city wall that they were willing to surrender. As a result, the sons and nephews of the Yong family fought with the troops who were wavering and willing to surrender, and chaos broke out.

Those sons and nephews of Yong Kai who were military supervisors were all killed by the rebels, and our army didn't get their hands dirty at all. I think this is a good thing, as it can destroy the rebels without having to do it myself."

Zhuge Liang listened, and his frown gradually relaxed. As expected, Gan Ning only made him wait for one night, and the next day he successfully persuaded Dianchi County to surrender.

As Yong Kai's core base during his lifetime, this place must be rectified and cleaned up. Zhuge Liang asked Gan Ning and Zhou Tai to thoroughly check the city. Three days later, Zhuge Liang himself would enter the city to inspect and rectify the situation and appease the people.

On the other hand, Zhang Ren also successfully pursued all the way south, from Dianchi County to Jianling County, and finally arrived at Shuangbai County on the bank of the Red River. Within a few days, he captured thousands of Jiaozhi County soldiers who had fled during the decisive battle of Dianchi Lake.

The war in Jianning County finally lasted until mid-February, and Gan Ning spent another month or two before completely taking over all the counties.

On the other hand, after Zhou Tai had stabilized the area around Dianchi County, he was assigned by Zhuge Liang to leave most of the captured prisoners behind, but also to take a small number of loyal and suitable southern barbarian soldiers with him to follow the main force of the Han army southward.

After receiving the order, Zhou Tai made a brief selection according to the requirements and selected 5,000 Nanman soldiers and 15,000 Han soldiers, a total of 20,000 people, to reinforce Zhang Ren.

In late February, Zhou Tai and Zhang Ren made all preparations and went down the Red River towards Longbian County, the capital of Jiaozhi County.

Shi Xie, who was in Longbian, certainly knew that something had happened upstream, but he had no choice and there was no way to escape.

They could only rely on the remaining weak troops after the great defeat to defend Longbian County, Bengu, and Jinchengshu County with all their strength.

However, this kind of resistance was obviously powerless to reverse the situation and only delayed the situation for a while.

The Han army arrived at Longbian County in early March and besieged the city for another month and a half. All siege weapons had to be made on the spot.

Finally, Zhou Tai captured Longbian County in early May, while Shi Xie was ambushed and sniped by Zhang Ren while trying to break out of the chaotic army, and was shot to death by stray crossbows.

After Shi Xie's death, Zhuge Liang spent more than a month dividing his troops to visit all the counties in Jiaozhi, adjusting official positions and publicizing his benevolent policies and treatment.

At this point, the four counties of Nanzhong and Jiaozhi County fell completely into the hands of Liu Bei's camp. Zhuge Liang also controlled the manpower and special products of the two places and made efficient use of them.

(End of this chapter)