Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 94: Surrender
Outside Hukoubao, the city gates were wide open.

Beiji Wu released Wan Yong, a member of the imperial family, and several of his personal guards. He also gifted them a carriage to transport the corpses and gave his brother, sister-in-law, and nephew a luxurious carriage so they could go to the capital and live a good life.

After Wan Yong left, Bei Jiwu looked at the camp tents that had not yet been completely dismantled in the distance.

"Even a small mosquito is still meat. We need to clean this place up and transport it back to the city to set up camp."

A nearby soldier replied, "Yes, Chieftain!"

Beijiwu led Yang Xiangyun and the other two to inspect the surrounding area.

This is the road leading to Gaoliuwei and Tongzhouwei. Farmers and grain from nearby villages have been conscripted by Li Laiyong's troops.

Some people remained in the camp, and these people gradually joined the mountain farmers' army.

Beijiwu looked at the corpse of a laborer by the roadside, whose cause of death was unknown but who had been dead for a day, and then at the three mounted cavalrymen beside him.

"I have already sought peace with the imperial court. The court should respect our strength and refrain from committing further bloodshed."

The petition to submit and plead guilty was written with the help of Yang Xiangyun, as Beiji Wu seemed to be illiterate and unable to write.

Now, Wen Chao's 50,000-strong army has been surrounded and annihilated by the Shan Nong army, and even Wen Chao's most capable general, Li Laiyong, has died for his country.

Yang Xiangyun felt much better. It wasn't that they were incompetent, but that Wen Chaojun was too useless.

"Chieftain, how many people surrendered this time?"

Beiji Wu casually said, "Of the 50,000 troops, more than 30,000 surrendered. The exact number hasn't been fully counted yet, but it should be around 30,000. There should be more than 10,000 infantry and archers. Nearly 5,000 cavalry surrendered. Two or three hundred heavy cavalry died, and seven or eight hundred surrendered."

The first few figures did not attract the attention of the three commanders, but when they heard that five thousand cavalrymen and seven or eight hundred heavy cavalrymen had surrendered, their expressions changed drastically.

"The Wanzhou cavalry surrendered too?"

Beijiwu watched the farmers working in the distance, dismantling their tents and carrying them back to Hukoubao like ants carrying food.

"Yes, I stormed into those iron-clad men and killed them for a few minutes. After more than two hundred people died, they all scattered and stopped fighting. Li Laiyong was already dead at that time, and they couldn't escape, so they all surrendered. It's only human nature."

Beijiwu did not have a proper understanding of the status of the Wanzhou Iron Cavalry and did not know what this elite force meant to the Wen Dynasty.

Gao Shimian, seeing that Beijiwu didn't understand these things, reminded him in a timely manner.

"Clan leader, the Wanzhou Iron Cavalry is an elite force personally trained by the emperor, totaling ten thousand men. It is the last trump card that the Wen Dynasty has used to conquer the world over the past few decades."

"The cost of those ten thousand iron cavalry is equivalent to that of a million-strong army. The Wanzhou iron cavalry will only be deployed at the most critical moment."

"Once the Wanzhou Iron Cavalry is mobilized, they will leave no grass behind and blood will flow endlessly. They will absolutely not leave a single survivor!"

"Rumor has it that ten million iron cavalry from ten million states can kill an army of one hundred thousand!"

In the minds of the people of Wen Kingdom, the Wanzhou Iron Cavalry was the Wen Dynasty's ultimate weapon, a legendary special forces unit commanded by the emperor.

Without a doubt, it is the strongest!
With these 10,000 iron cavalry, the million people of Luoyang dared not cause trouble. The surrounding counties and border troops knew very well that they would die if they rebelled, so they all obediently obeyed the orders.

The rest of the imperial army and its generals obeyed Emperor Wanye's orders precisely because of the existence of this core army.

Anyone who disagrees will be killed!
First, deploy both ragtag and regular troops. Only if these fail will the Wanzhou Iron Cavalry be deployed.

Emperor Wanye had already attached great importance to the Northern Wu, and the destruction of Wu by the Wen Dynasty was of paramount importance. However, even so, he still ran into a brick wall.

Not only did they suffer heavy losses and lose their most capable military genius, but the prestige of the Wanzhou Iron Cavalry was also destroyed.

The surrender of eight hundred iron cavalry was extremely heinous, more than ten times worse than the surrender of generals and commanders!
"I didn't find it particularly impressive," Beiji Wu replied casually, then added with concern, "Quite a few people surrendered this time. Apart from those like Lü Siming who actively betrayed us, the rest were captured passively."

"If you employ someone, trust them; if you don't trust someone, don't employ them. If the three of you want to go back, leave now."

"If you think this place is alright, I can let you continue to be commanders of a thousand households, and it will be a hereditary position. I will not let you fight against the Han people in the future. You can go on expeditions to the borderlands and guard a few thousand-household garrisons."

The three hesitated for a few seconds, and Zhu Xu said hesitantly, "The clan leader is wise and powerful, kind and benevolent, and is indeed a rare and great ruler. However, I have an elderly mother, wife and children at home..."

Beiji Wu smiled and said, "Then you should go back. I don't need many men for the war here. If you have nothing else to do, I can learn more about Wen Chao's magnanimity." Zhu Xu quickly bowed and said, "Thank you, sir!"

Beijiwu waved his hand, "Let's go now, we can still catch up with Wan Yong's carriage."

"Yes!" Zhu Xu said and rode away.

Beijiwu neither fired a sneak attack nor had anyone stop him.

If I wanted to kill him, I would have done so long ago.

Beijiwu looked at the other two, "Aren't you leaving?"

Yang Xiangyun sighed, "From the moment the general was shot, I knew that my family members were probably already dead."

Gao Shimian had similar thoughts, but was more open about them.

“I still have my son and relatives in Changchengtun, and some of my family members live in the city.”

Beijiwu smiled when he heard this.

"Alright, go back. You continue to guard the Great Wall Guard. Yang Xiangyun will guard Shikou Mountain. I won't make things difficult for you. I'll handle the army in the south."

The two replied in unison, "Yes, clan leader!"

Beijiwu led the two back to the city and distributed rewards to the garrison at Hukoubao.

The garrison at Hukoubao was replaced by the garrison of Beiyuanwei. A large number of craftsmen were driven to Beiyuanwei for resettlement, while laborers and porters set up camp in the city and cooked meals.

It was already evening when they returned to Beiyuanwei. Beijiwu led everyone back to the General's Office.

Shi Wenyuan followed Bei Jiwu, quickly reporting the news as they walked.

"My lord, the Tongzhou Commander Cen Tianrui and the Thousand-Household Commander Ma Weiming have surrendered. Several sons and generals of the Li Laiyong family have also surrendered. In addition, there are more than 3,000 people, including military supervisors, grain supervisors, military strategists, scribes, registrars, granary officials, translators, military doctors, veterinarians, and craftsmen."

"These people are mostly literate. Of the remaining 8,000 laborers and 20,000 daredevils, some are still fleeing within the county. We have already sent people to search for them."

Beijiwu said, "First, solve the problem of food and sleep. Ask the nearby villages to help with the resettlement. The manure and leftover horse meat and beef bones will be left for the local people. Order the nearby villages to build public toilets in the fields for people to use."

“There should be people in the army who specialize in dealing with these kinds of latrine issues. Call them out and let them work together. Those who work will be fed, and those who don’t will be half-fed.”

Shi Wenyuan respectfully replied, "As you command!"

Upon hearing this, Beiji Wu immediately said, "I have already sent people to negotiate peace with the court. Otherwise, if the war continues, there will be no peace. We need some time to develop slowly, train our troops, farm, and build houses."

"If the imperial court is sensible, it will naturally give me a respectable identity, and then we will no longer be rebels."

"I'm not afraid of those people in the south. Let's deal with the more than 100,000 people in the First Guard and Fourth Garrison first, so as to prevent the spread of the plague."

Ögedei shouted urgently, "We are not afraid of those cowardly Han people either!"

Beijiwu corrected him, saying, "Don't always say that Han people and non-Han people are the same. They speak the same language, live in the same places, eat the same food, and follow the same rules. They are all the same people."

"From now on, we will rename this place Shannong County. No matter who your parents are, as long as you are born in Shannong County, your child will be a Shannong person. If you don't want to, don't have children here."

Woko hurriedly said, "I definitely want to be a mountain farmer! I'll be a mountain farmer from now on!"

Some of the others were willing to become mountain farmers, while others were not.

No one objected to the peace talks.

First, whatever Arctic military says goes, and no one has the right to object.

Secondly, most of those who surrendered thought that their families would not be held accountable after the peace negotiations.

The peace negotiations also appeased a large number of surrendered soldiers. In addition, the surrendered soldiers were not killed, and they were given food, water, and shelter from the wind and rain, so they all settled down.

(End of this chapter)