Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 116 What the People Want

Beiji Wu Mingming just wanted to live a low-key life and be a local tyrant in the county.

However, the battle reports in his hand and the map on the table told Beijiwu that he had now occupied most of Jinzhou.

"This place used to be called Bingzhou. I roughly occupied Dai County, Dingxiang County, Yanmen County, and half of Taiyuan County."

After a moment of contemplation, Beijiwu felt extremely agitated.

"Could it be a scheme? Could it be that last time they came begging and pretended to surrender, and after giving them things they thought I was easy to bully, they lied to me and said that the others surrendered as well?"

"What if they gang up on me again after I get there?"

Some things he couldn't figure out even after thinking about them for two or three days. Beijiwu couldn't understand why the people from the south were making trouble for him, even though he hadn't provoked them during the New Year.

"I have a feeling something's fishy. It's one thing if one or two of these people surrender, but if they all surrender, does that mean they don't care about their families?"

It was incredibly difficult to persuade Yang Xiangyun and Niu Zhifu to surrender before, but now they've all said they're surrendering. Only an idiot would believe that!

Yanmen Pass is no ordinary pass; it is a top-tier pass, consistently ranking among the top five most famous passes in the world.

This place is not one place, but two passes, two symmetrical mountain peaks to the east and west, which are collectively known as Yanmen Pass.

With two passes, four entrances, and eighteen strategic points, how could one simply surrender?
The more I thought about it, the more abnormal it seemed. Not only Yanmen Pass in Daizhou, but also the soldiers, civilians and people in the surrounding area surrendered.

During the Chinese New Year, Arctic Martial Arts University had no intention of doing this kind of thing.

Not long after, five men walked in.

These are the five civil officials under Beiji Wu. They are all surrendered men, selected by Beiji Wu from among the centurions, banner chiefs, and people in the city. They are all literate and capable of obeying orders.

Several hundred people were initially selected, but those who were disobedient have been removed, and only the capable ones have been retained.

The imperial examination system was too slow. Now, the North Pole Military Academy is just throwing a handful of sand into a sieve, and whoever makes no mistakes gets selected.

"Your servant greets Your Majesty! May Your Majesty live ten thousand years!"

Five people, young and old, knelt down together and kowtowed to Arctic Martial.

Bei Jiwu was in a bad mood and said with a very bad expression, "Shi Wenyuan, go to Yanmen Pass and see how things are there. I gave them a lot of food and supplies. Have they been distributed?"

Shi Wenyuan immediately replied respectfully, "Your subject obeys the decree!"

Beijiwu was even more annoyed. "I never intended to fight those people at Yanmen Pass. Why did they surrender? Go and see if there's a trap."

From beginning to end, Arctic Martial Arts planned to develop gradually and never thought of conquering the world.

They always knew when to stop, but their territory kept getting bigger and bigger.

Shi Wenyuan immediately replied, "Reporting to Master, it should not be a feigned surrender. This servant went to Yanmen Pass these past few days and found that everyone in the city is grateful for Master's kindness."

"Especially recently, with the snowstorm making the mountain roads difficult to traverse, the Wen Dynasty's army couldn't arrive in time to provide assistance. Moreover, the reason so many people surrendered at once was mostly because the Wen Dynasty emperor massacred Han people in Qin and Jin, causing divine wrath and popular resentment!"

"The people of Qin and Jin are now waiting for the Mountain Farmer Clan's army to reclaim their land! If our lord sends troops now, he will surely conquer Qin and Jin! At that time, conquering the world will be a piece of cake!!"

Arctic Warrior retorted, "What nonsense are you spouting? There are at least several million people in those two places. How can we possibly feed them with our meager food supply? Won't people starve to the point of cannibalism?!"

Shi Wenyuan dared not say more, and kowtowed, saying, "This servant misspoke! I beg your forgiveness, Master..."

Beijiwu was still in a bad mood. "Fine, since they've pledged allegiance to me, I'm afraid I'll lose the people's support if I don't accept them. Go ask how many people surrendered this time, including all the soldiers and civilians, every single one of them."

“What those officers and soldiers say is not credible. They will definitely make up more to embezzle military pay, food and silver. Take a thousand men and go to Daizhou and Xinzhou to ask them.”

Shi Wenyuan breathed a sigh of relief and said respectfully, "Yes! This servant thanks Master for his great kindness!"

Arctic Wu doesn't kill indiscriminately. He's very easy to talk to in many ways, and it's okay to offer opinions or say the wrong thing. The only exception is when someone does something against his orders; otherwise, they'll be killed.

When it's time to reason, they will reason; but when they feel the other party is deliberately causing trouble, Arctic Martial will stop reasoning.

Those who cause trouble will surely be dealt with.

Everyone was wearing cotton-padded clothes and trousers, and wool cloaks, all gifts from the Arctic Warriors.

The families were also allocated houses and land, and like military officials, civil officials could inherit their land as long as their sons and sons-in-law were successful.

Even if you make a mistake, it won't lead to the execution of your entire family; for most things, it's just a demotion.

Shannong County has its own order, which can be clearly felt, unlike the Wen Dynasty emperor who could kill whomever he wanted.

A middle-aged scholar kneeling on the ground raised his head.

“Master, my family lives in Lanzhou, which is adjacent to Xinzhou and Daizhou. According to a letter from my family, people in many parts of Jinzhou are suffering. Previously, a large number of refugees tried to come to Shannong County from Yanmen County to seek refuge, but they were all shot and killed by the Crown Prince and the Prince of Jin. The garrison of Yanmen County slaughtered tens of thousands of refugees.”

"At present, Lanzhou, Xinzhou and Daizhou probably have less than 50,000 people. The people are terrified of the Southern Dynasty's soldiers, who are like tigers. They are just waiting for the Shan Nong Army to come south and save them from their suffering!"

Arctic Martial Arts University never expected that there would be only 50,000 people left in the three states.

The reason I didn't want to take over this place before was because I knew there was both drought and snow disaster outside, and every household had no surplus food.

The estimated population of the three states is over 300,000. Sending troops there would mean they would have to eat their own food and also oversee the defense. In the past, they had lost everything they had done in charity work.

Moreover, the three states are full of passes and garrisons, with at least tens of thousands of troops stationed there, and the food and pay for these troops are a burden.

Arctic Martial couldn't help but ask, "Only 50,000 people? Are they all dead?"

Yun Yong cried out in anguish, “To prevent starving people from fleeing, the Southern Dynasty emperor ordered the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin to shoot and kill refugees leaving the territory. He also imposed heavy taxes on the local people to fund his campaign against our Shannong County. The people are suffering terribly. Then, before the New Year, a heavy snow fell, and they have yet to receive any relief from the court. Countless houses have been blown away by the snow, and frozen corpses are everywhere. It is a truly tragic sight.” “This old servant begs his master to save the people of Lanzhou!”

Yun Yong kowtowed to the ground, sincerely pleading with the Arctic Martial Army to send troops to rescue people.

Beijiwu frowned and pondered for a second before quickly making a decision.

They simply didn't want to clash with the Southern Dynasty, nor did they want to blindly expand their territory, but since they had already rebelled, they had no intention of being afraid of the Wen Dynasty.

"Take a thousand men to gather the people, and transport some frozen mutton and coal over there. If they really can't survive there, have them all come and settle down. If the area outside the pass is gone, so be it. Take care of the people first."

Yun Yong replied, "Your subject obeys the decree!"

Arctic Wu still doesn't want those territories, especially since the food supply for hundreds of passes is a huge problem.

Transporting grain up the mountain is not a matter of walking a few steps, nor is it something that can be done in a day or two.

It's just a matter of cooking a few more meals at home, but if you're 200 miles away, then sending food and providing support and reinforcements back and forth becomes extremely troublesome.

There haven't been many cold days since the New Year. Now the snow is melting, and the snow on the mountain melts during the day and freezes at night, making it extremely difficult to transport grain.

With insufficient population, we cannot occupy such a large territory and simply cannot defend it.

Beiji Wu was still afraid of being ambushed, so he said, "Have all the passes and garrisons, including Yanmen Pass, withdraw their troops. There's no need to defend them anymore. I'm not afraid of them attacking!"

Everyone hesitated for a moment, but quickly replied in unison, "Your servant obeys the decree!"

Thanks to Arctic Martial's miraculous manipulation, China's first pass was abandoned...

The two passes, four gates, and eighteen ridges of Yanmen County, along with more than a dozen garrisons including Lanzhou and Xinzhou, were all used to prevent rebellions, northern nomadic tribes, and invasions by Arctic warriors.

Now that the Arctic Army doesn't need to defend itself or worry about others rebelling, it naturally doesn't need to station troops and consume food.

The military defense pressure in Shannong County is very low. The guard posts, large and small, are defended by only a few people, while most of them are resting and farming.

The first line of defense in the south was held by the Northern Army, who even refused to accept the Yanmen Pass, intending to have the imperial court send troops to guard it and continue to maintain relative peace.

Almost everyone outside is dead. If we drive them out, no one will farm or develop the land. It's better to bring the remaining survivors here to continue farming, disaster relief, iron and copper smelting, and other businesses.

After everyone else had left, Beiji Wu was about to go home to sleep when Mu Chuanliang strode in and knelt on the wool mat on the ground.

"Master! This servant has learned something from Yanmen Pass and has come to report it to you!"

Beijiwu asked helplessly, "What is it?"

Mu Chuanliang raised his head, his expression extremely solemn.

"Reporting to the master, according to the garrison commander of Yanmen Pass, the emperor of the Southern Dynasty has been training siege chariots called shield carts since last year, and has also ordered the training of crossbowmen, who are specifically used to approach the city under a rain of arrows, and then fire crossbow bolts through small holes in the carts to assassinate the generals on the city walls and in front of the battle lines."

"The Southern Dynasty has prepared a thousand crossbows at Yanmen Pass and has been having several generals train their men in sniping techniques. It's clear they intend to harm you, Master!"

Arctic Martial was deep in thought about this matter.

“I expected this. They can’t beat me fair and square, so they’ll resort to these underhanded tactics.”

"Take all those shield carts and crossbows to Shiling Pass, and send Niu Zhifu and the recently surrendered Yanmen Pass garrison commander there to defend the city!"

Beiji Wu was tired of fighting, so he decided to let his subordinates fight instead of running around in the rear, which would save him the trouble of fighting.

Mu Chuanliang felt this matter was very important and immediately replied, "Yes, Master! This servant is willing to transport provisions for the logistics and the soldiers at the front!"

Beijiwu casually said, "We can use the local grain. We can gather the grain from the nearby garrisons and have the wealthy households in the city bring it out. We can also write a note for them to come and collect it, which will save us the trouble of carrying grain when we move."

Mu Chuanliang replied, "Yes! This servant obeys the decree!"

Arctic Martial wanted to correct these people's way of addressing them, but then thought better of it.

Relying on the people is not enough at present. If we want to grow bigger and stronger, we must rely on our subordinates to do things.

No one was a colleague or partner to me, including the mother of my child and the original mountain farmers of Beitian Village. None of them were partners.

They were all spoils of war, defeated and subjugated, and a master-servant relationship naturally existed between them. Calling them slaves is a bit harsh, but calling them lackeys is certainly not wrong.

Someone like Mu Chuanliang, who has sold his wife and has always been dependent on the Shan Nong clan, can't expect to gain a foothold in the current group system if he doesn't acknowledge himself as a slave.

Beijiwu suddenly felt that his Shannong Group was a bit too eccentric.

"It's not so noticeable when there are few people, but if the territory becomes large, there will definitely be a lot of trouble."

"I need to establish a hierarchical system as soon as possible, and clearly define what everyone's job is, otherwise things will definitely get chaotic."

“Those who call themselves slaves have sold their personality and dignity. It’s fine to treat them as one of our own. Those who should be granted fiefdoms should be granted fiefdoms.”

"Military power and political power must be separated. Generals should have real power and salaries, but they should also have something to do. They cannot enjoy themselves in their base areas. They should come over regularly to participate in government affairs, and leave when the time is up."

"Civil officials must have a reputation and status, and are not allowed to go out."

Beijiwu decided to be a good leader of the group, and whether or not he became emperor didn't matter, since he already was.

The mountain farmers also lack a base of support, so they must create one themselves.

(End of this chapter)