Three Kingdoms: Start by buying a governor.

Gongsun Zan stayed in Ba Commandery for a week, redeployed the defenses of each county, left some troops to garrison the area, and then led the main force back to report.

Before leaving, he specifically instructed the prefect: "Don't do anything underhanded, I may be back at any time."

The prefect nodded vigorously, as if he wanted to tear his heart out to show his loyalty.

...

Xu Huang's journey.

When he arrived in Shu County, the officials in Chengdu were even more swift in their response.

The city gates were wide open, water was sprinkled on the streets, and officials dressed in neat official robes stood at the city gate to welcome them.

Even the doors to the treasury were opened in advance, just waiting for him to come and take inventory.

A banner was hung at the city gate. Although it was hastily written on a strip of cloth and was crooked, it read "Welcome the King's Army" in large characters.

Xu Huang looked at the banner, his lips twitched, but he didn't say anything.

He took the account book and checked it against the official in charge of the treasury item by item, and there wasn't a single copper coin difference.

The official in charge of the treasury was an old clerk in his fifties with gray hair. He reported the numbers one by one, his voice trembling.

Xu Huang didn't make things difficult for him; after checking, he waved his hand.

"Alright, the accounts are clear, you did a good job."

The old official breathed a sigh of relief and almost collapsed to the ground.

Within a week, Xu Huang had firmly grasped control of Shu Commandery.

The people of Chengdu were initially worried that something might happen after the change of leadership, but they were relieved to find that the Han army had not committed any offenses and had not even disrupted the order of the vegetable market.

...

Things went more smoothly for Yu Jin and Qu Yi.

When the officials of Guanghan and Shujun saw that even Liu Yan had gone to Luoyang, they had no intention of resisting at all and surrendered without hesitation.

After the army entered the city, they did not commit any offenses.

After the soldiers entered the city, they didn't even touch the doors of the people's homes. The shops on the street remained open as usual, and the people didn't even need to close their doors.

The local officials were amazed when they saw them, saying they had never seen such disciplined soldiers in their lives.

The people were initially worried about the chaos of war, but they found that these soldiers were even more disciplined than the local officials, and they didn't even need to lock their doors. They felt incredibly reassured.

...

Qu Yi, on the other hand, directly took down several local strongmen who refused to submit to his rule, making an example of them as a warning to others.

Those local tyrants usually bullied and oppressed the people. When they heard that the Han army was coming, they even thought of closing their doors and resisting stubbornly.

As a result, Qu Yi led his elite assassins and sneaked into their manor that very night, dragging the man out of bed before he could even put on his clothes.

The next morning, the heads of several powerful figures were displayed at the city gate.

The entire prefecture and kingdom immediately became quiet.

Those who had originally wanted to wait and see immediately came running to surrender, not daring to even raise their heads.

In just half a month, the five counties and kingdoms previously controlled by Liu Yan were all smoothly taken over by the group without losing a single soldier or causing even the slightest disturbance.

Upon receiving reports of victory from all directions, Qi Jiguang sat in the governor's mansion in Mianzhu, beaming with joy.

...

With the core territory secured, Qi Jiguang didn't delay at all.

He immediately issued an order: all armies should converge at Mianzhu and march south to recover Jianwei Commandery, Jianwei State, and the four southern commanderies!

The army had assembled in Mianzhu, with banners covering the sky and ample supplies of provisions, siege equipment, and medicine.

At Qi Jiguang's command, they marched south in a grand procession.

Our first stop was Jianwei County.

As Qi Jiguang had predicted, when Prefect Ren Qi heard that the army had arrived, he immediately led all the civil and military officials of the prefecture thirty miles outside the city to welcome them, without even bothering to persuade them to surrender.

Ren Qi bowed deeply to Qi Jiguang, his face full of sincerity, and said:

"General Qi! This humble general has long awaited the arrival of His Highness the Prince of Yan's army! Liu Yan has established himself as a warlord in Shu, slaughtering powerful clans, and this humble general has long harbored resentment, but has had no opportunity to do so. Now that you have led your army here, General, this humble general is willing to lead the entire prefecture to submit and await your command!"

Qi Jiguang was overjoyed and immediately comforted him, praising him for being sensible and reasonable.

Ren Qi felt so comfortable after being praised that he straightened his back a bit.

They captured Jianwei County without bloodshed, and the army marched straight towards Jianwei's vassal state without even stopping.

...

The barbarian leaders and powerful clans of the vassal state of Jianwei were not so sensible.

Relying on the high mountains and dense forests, they refused to surrender and even cursed at the army from the city walls, acting extremely arrogantly and spewing out all sorts of offensive words.

"The Han army is nothing!"

"What is the Prince of Yan anyway?"

"Come and fight if you dare!"

"Han dog! Go back home!"

"I've been the king of this mountain for decades, who do you think you are?"

"Come and fight me if you dare! I'll chop your heads off and use them as chamber pots!"

Qi Jiguang stood at the front of the battle line, listening to the shouts and curses from the city wall, his expression unchanged.

He turned to the messenger beside him and said, "Catapults, prepare! Bombard! Archers, form ranks! Rain arrows upon the ground! Vanguard, prepare! Once the city gates are breached, charge straight in!"

The messenger was taken aback: "General Qi, shouldn't we try to persuade them to surrender first?"

Qi Jiguang glanced at him: "Do you think these people are the type that can be persuaded to surrender?"

The messenger glanced at the group of menacing barbarians on the city wall and shrank back.

"It doesn't look like it."

"That's right. Pass on the order."

At a command, dozens of catapults unleashed their power simultaneously.

The millstone-sized stones rained down on the city wall, creating deafening booms that made people's ears ring.

In no time, several large breaches were smashed into the sturdy city wall, with rubble flying everywhere and dust filling the air.

Immediately afterwards, tens of thousands of bows were fired simultaneously, the rain of arrows so dense that even sunlight could not penetrate.

The scene was like a dark cloud covering the sky, a massive, oppressive mass rushing towards the city walls.

The defenders on the city wall, who hadn't had time to run away, were shot down in large numbers in an instant, their screams echoing everywhere.

Qu Yi led his elite soldiers, carrying ladders, and charged up the mountain.

This group of men are experts at fighting tough battles; they can scale city walls as if they were on flat ground and move freely through a hail of arrows.

In less than half an hour, they stormed the city wall and opened the city gate.

"kill!!!"

The army surged in, the sounds of horses' hooves, shouts of battle, and clashing weapons filling the air.

In less than an hour, they had leveled the entire capital city of the Jianwei vassal state.

Those barbarian leaders and prominent families who spearheaded the resistance were all arrested.

Their family property was confiscated and confiscated, and all members of their clan were reduced to commoners without any leniency.

Several men tried to bribe the guards to escape, but after being caught, their sentences were extended, and they were sent to work on road construction and mining.

Standing on the city wall, Qi Jiguang looked at the mess on the ground and coldly said:

"If you refuse a toast, you'll have to drink a penalty cup."

After capturing the vassal state of Jianwei, the army continued south, heading straight for the four commanderies of Nanzhong.

...

The southern region is a remote and inaccessible place, far from the reach of the emperor, and has historically been a corner beyond the reach of the imperial court.

The area was inhabited by barbarian tribes and local powerful clans, who ruled the mountains like kings and were very wild.

The prefects sent by the imperial court were either sidelined, driven away, or killed outright.

They set their own rules, collect their own taxes, and fight their own wars; they're no different from independent kingdoms.

Upon hearing that the imperial army was coming, they not only refused to surrender, but also gathered tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers and set up an ambush in the valley, intending to give Qi Jiguang's army a taste of their power.