The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

How could Ma Dingbian not hate Wu Sangui? If he had agreed to the Han's offer earlier, he would have been a commander of a garrison with five or six thousand soldiers, a hereditary position, and life would have been wonderful.

Now he has nothing and has committed such heinous acts that have angered both heaven and man. No power would want him. Even the Manchu Qing, which currently occupies the southeast, would have to think twice before taking him.

When all hope seems lost, the only option left is to fight to the death.

Under Ma Dingbian's orders, the soldiers walked out of the city one by one and assembled at the south gate. They looked like a huge, dense crowd, but in reality, the ranks were not even in a neat formation.

Some of the soldiers even had bulging eyes and unfriendly expressions, looking like living dead, with abnormal lines on their faces.

Only his own thousand elite cavalrymen, who had been guarding the general's residence, were still in relatively good spirits.

Zhou Peigong, who was two miles away, saw everything and, recalling the descriptions of the chaotic world in the book, couldn't help but sigh.

"His face was fierce yet fearful, his steps unsteady yet filled with malevolence; he must be so hungry he's resorting to cannibalism. It seems the people in the city are in grave danger!"

Zhao Wei, standing to the side, only felt a toothache. He had heard of bandits doing cannibalism, but that was only a dozen or so people. An army could have tens of thousands of people; how many people would they eat?

"Your Excellency, how should we fight this battle? Your army of 50,000 is numerous, but it lacks armor, firearms, and bows and arrows. If we fight to the death against these inhuman creatures, my army will suffer heavy casualties."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Peigong shook his head. Sometime during the day, he had already taken out a steamed bun, a white flour bun that officers ate.

"To deal with a starving beast, simply defend and do not attack; lure it with food when the time is right!"

"Leave the rear camp with three days' worth of rations, then make the remaining rations into steamed buns and place them all in front of the battle lines so these rebels can smell them and see if they want to eat or die."

"Zhao Weishang, take your three thousand cavalry and disperse forward, but do not get close. Continue to persuade Ma Dingbian to surrender, mainly to buy time, the longer the better!"

Zhou Peigong saw that Zhao Weishang, despite his low level of education, had managed to win battles and rise to the rank of general, which showed that he had some talent. He wanted to cultivate more talent for the Han Dynasty.

Upon receiving the order, Zhao Weishang immediately led three thousand cavalrymen out. Some of these cavalrymen wore iron-trimmed cotton armor, while the rest wore at least cotton armor.

His mere general was able to support three thousand armored cavalry, thanks to the Shandan Horse Ranch in the Hexi Corridor, where these warhorses were kept healthy and strong.

Zhou Peigong sent him with three thousand cavalry to persuade Ma Dingbian to surrender, which was meant to intimidate him. The three thousand cavalrymen were already boundless and their close proximity was terrifying.

As expected, Ma Dingbian was willing to speak properly this time.

"Zhao Weishang, what are you doing here? Are you here to help the Han army wipe out my former brother?"

Zhao Weishang arrived with only a hundred cavalrymen. He was about to reprimand them when he heard this, but then he remembered Zhou Peigong's words about stalling for time, so he immediately put on a smiling face.

"Exterminate? Who said we were going to exterminate you? It was Governor Zhou Peigong of the Great Han who sent me to appease you!"

"Don't you believe me? This bunch of rotten fish you brought can't even stand in formation properly. If we wanted to wipe you out, my cavalry could have easily crushed you all!"

Upon hearing the words "pacification," Mr. Ma Dingbian showed delight, then fell into deep thought, before shaking his head firmly.

"Brother Zhao, I, Ma Dingbian, was wrong to trust Wu Sangui's words. Now there's no turning back. No matter which emperor it is, they won't let me live. At most, a single breach of etiquette in front of the emperor will cost me my head!"

With such a sharp mind, how could he be fooled by Wu Sangui? It's all because of his insatiable greed. After grumbling for a moment, Zhao Wei rode forward and pulled out a wine flask.

"Brother, how about we have a good drink today?"

"There was no drugging, look!"

As Zhao Weishang spoke, he gulped down two mouthfuls of wine, then handed over the wine pot, the aroma of which was already emanating from it.

Ma Dingbian was from Wuwei and was a natural drinker. Because he hadn't had any alcohol for three days without food, he instinctively took the wine jug and gulped down several large mouthfuls.

"Hexi Shaodaozi, this liquor has power!"

After Ma Dingbian finished speaking, he took two more bites, then drew the sword from his waist and pointed it at Zhao Weishang.

"Brother Zhao, I know you're here to stall for time, but we're brothers after all. Let's drink this farewell toast and settle our score!"

"Don't hold back when you charge in!"

Uh!!! Zhao Weishang remained silent for a long time before looking at Ma Dingbian with a sincere expression.

"Stop talking nonsense. If things really come to this, just surrender. I, Zhao Weishang, will protect you with my life. Even starting as a lowly soldier is better than losing your life here!"

Just as Ma Dingbian was about to say something, Zhou Peigong's vanguard suddenly roared in unison, their voices shaking the loess soil.

"Hey, anyone hungry? Come on over and have some steamed buns!"

"Join the Han army and you'll have plenty to eat!"

"Each person will receive room and board, and will be paid one tael of silver per month!"

"The officers are all still in their original positions!"

The people Zhou Peigong arranged to shout were all men from Guanzhong around Xianyang, with accents that sounded like they were in the late stages of rhinitis. These men from the Northwest felt so familiar with them.

Crucially, there were also physical goods: three boxes of silver were placed 300 meters away from the Han army camp, and a whole row of white flour buns were laid out. Fortunately, they were all men from Guanzhong, and although the buns they made were not very pretty, they were quick and plentiful.

"We're doomed!!!" Upon hearing this, Ma Dingbian panicked and looked back at the thousand elite cavalrymen. His eyes darted around nervously.

"Zhao Weishang, you scoundrel, you dare to play dirty tricks on me! I'll kill you, you piece of trash!"

"Fire the arrows! Fire them now!"

These words were full of murderous intent, and Zhao Weishang almost turned his horse around and ran away without the slightest hesitation!

Actually, it didn't matter if they didn't run away, because those cavalrymen didn't have time to shoot arrows at all; they were all staring longingly at the three boxes of silver and the steaming white steamed buns.

Clang clang clang. With a clatter of weapons hitting the ground, thousands of hungry young men ran toward the big iron pot. There were too many people for Ma Dingbian to stop. If he dared to kill people to establish his authority, these people would probably kill him!

Didn't you see those generals did it on purpose?

As the men approached, a soldier handed them a steamed bun, which they eagerly began to eat.

Seeing everyone start eating, the guards shook the silver ingots in their hands and took the opportunity to interject.

"If any of you are under thirty years old, go to the back and collect one tael of silver as military pay. From now on, you will serve as soldiers in the Han army and receive rations. If you are over thirty, the government will provide you with land!"

Of these thousand people, no fewer than three hundred were young and strong. Almost all of them went to the back to collect their silver. After all that commotion, it was impossible to get them back to farming!

Seeing that the soldiers had all eaten steamed buns and some had even collected their pay, the officers and sergeants couldn't resist and started taking their men to eat steamed buns and collect their pay.

As for where these tens of thousands of taels of silver came from, they were naturally all looted by bandits from wealthy households. Zhou Peigong was only responsible for suppressing the bandits.