Chapter 667: Military Control

"You are truly good people..." Lv Chang came out of the house, and the old man suddenly knelt before him.

"Please rise, old man, this must not be done." Lv Chang hurriedly helped the old man up and led him to the locust tree in front of the door.

Chang Wei also walked over at this time, and the three of them sat on the ground.

At this moment, he said: "Old man, these years, under the jurisdiction of the Han Family, how have you been living?"

The old man sighed.

The soldiers of Yanzhou entered the village, committed no offenses against them, helped them with their work, and gave them grain, which caused the old man's originally vigilant heart to relax.

He said: "How could it be? Tilling the land of the Rich Clan, suffering the bullying of the Rich Clan, we can only barely keep warm and fed."

"Compared to the commoners of Yanzhou, where every household has fields, taxes are only one-tenth, and the children can study to become officials, our place is far worse."

Having said this, the old man sighed again.

Hearing this, Chang Wei smiled and said: "The old man is actually quite knowledgeable about our Yanzhou."

"This was all said by Wang Wu. He was captured while fighting in Jiangbei, later took your travel money and fled back to the village, and told us these things."

"Oh? Then where is this Wang Wu now?" Chang Wei said, his interest piqued.

This was the effect brought about by their policy of treating captives well.

The captives who fled back would invisibly act as propaganda for Yanzhou.

"Not long after he returned, he was caught by the Rich Clan's soldiers. It is said he was sent to Dongping City and thrown into prison by the officials."

Following that, he said: "There were also some soldiers who fled back who incited some young and strong men to become bandits, often fighting with the Rich Clan's private soldiers. A while ago, it caused quite a bit of trouble, but it was still suppressed by the Rich Clan's private soldiers."

Seeming to realize that the word "incited" was inappropriate, his expression immediately tightened, and he looked at Lv Chang and Chang Wei with worry.

Chang Wei nodded.

He was aware of the trouble caused in the villages near Nan'an.

Because some of these Qi soldiers who fled back had already been bought off by Xu Ke's Four Courts.

They had been responsible for scouting intelligence at Nan'an, while at the same time doing their best to win over the nearby commoners to create conditions for them to move south.

The positions of the Forts at the Nan'an ferry were scouted by them, including some hidden Forts.

Otherwise, they would certainly have suffered more hardship during this river crossing.

After chatting with the old man for a while, Chang Wei and Lv Chang went to other villagers' homes to understand the situation.

He was not just doing it for idle chatter; more so, it was to gauge the hearts of the people in Qizhou.

To weigh their attitude toward the Han Family and the Rich Clan of Qizhou.

Since leaving this village, they went to three more villages.

In the evening, they returned to the Fortress.

Chang Wei gathered the commanders and had them discuss the public sentiment they had collected.

"Generally speaking, the lives of the commoners here are a bit more comfortable than the lives of the Yanzhou commoners back then. At that time, the Yanzhou Rich Clan collected eighty percent in rent and taxes, while here it is seventy percent," Qin Shan said.

Guan Tong nodded.

"So, regarding our arrival, although they are expectant, their main thought is still to wait and see; they are unwilling to step forward to support us."

"Not necessarily." Zhong Li suddenly spoke up, "In this subordinate's view, the commoners of Qizhou should be divided into three types. The first type is the Rich Clan and the commoners who depend on the Rich Clan. They are deeply hateful toward us. When we uprooted the Fortress, their resistance was very firm, and in the coming battles, they will also be the main enemies."

"The second type of commoner is the wealthy households in the village. Their lives were already quite good, and whether we come or not makes little difference to them, so their desire to support us is very low."

"The third type is the poor commoners who have become tenant farmers, as well as the refugees who have lost their land. They support us very much, and many have even proposed joining the army."

Chang Wei revealed a satisfied smile.

Zhong Li was meticulous and was often praised by Yan Wang at the Military Academy.

At present, Yan Wang was preparing to transfer Zhong Li away from the Cavalry, leaving only Chen Hu responsible for the Cavalry.

And let Zhong Li serve as the Military Scribe for the Prince's Personal Army.

Responsible for commanding all military orders and holding charge over the instruction of the soldiers.

Qin Shan and Guan Tong looked at each other and said self-deprecatingly, "We are rough men after all, only capable of the rough work of fighting."

Zhong Li shook his head, "You are simply not attentive; you only think about fighting your way through, and never think about what to do with the places you have conquered."

"Zhong Li is right." Chang Wei glared at the two of them, "After finishing off Qi, we still need to continue moving south. The further we go, the more manpower and resources it will take to transport grain and fodder, which is a serious burden on Yanzhou."

"And if we can win the support of the local commoners, this problem can be solved easily. Obtaining one shi of grain in a conquered place is worth ten shi of grain transported from Yanzhou."

"Furthermore, with the support of the commoners, everywhere we go is like returning home."

The commanders nodded one after another.

At this time, Chang Wei looked toward Zhong Li, "General Zhong, how do you think we should govern the occupied territories at present?"

Zhong Li thought for a moment and said: "Actually, at the Military Academy, His Highness spoke about this situation on the battlefield. We should take the poor commoners as the foundation and establish temporary governing institutions, such as village offices."

"At the same time, establish Village Soldiers to protect the offices and maintain order, keeping the wealthy households and the wavering commoners under the jurisdiction of these poor commoners; this way, there will be no trouble."

"Hahaha..." Chang Wei laughed. It was not just Yan Wang; he also liked Zhong Li very much.

This delicate work had to be done by Zhong Li, so he said: "General Zhong, how about this matter be handed over to you?"

"Yes, General." Zhong Li did not decline. Yan Wang had actually mentioned the matter of serving as Military Scribe to him as well.

In his view, this order would come down sooner or later.

And by comparison, in the army, besides Mo Yu and himself, there was indeed no one more suitable to serve in the position of Military Scribe.

Mo Yu was not very proficient in this area during the assessments held at the Military Academy, and his assessment results were very poor, so Yan Wang directly stopped considering him.

He truly became the only candidate.

With this matter settled, Chang Wei felt a sense of relief in his heart.

In fact, he did not want to take on the task of stabilizing the rear either.

After all, there were too many trivial matters involved in this.

With Zhong Li taking over, he could be a hands-off manager.

Next, they discussed for a while the matter of attacking Dongping City.

Once a war begins, it will not cease until one side finally falls.

Taking advantage of the fact that the reinforcements from Qi have not yet arrived, they must occupy Dongping City as quickly as possible.

Using Dongping City as a nail driven into the territory of Qi, they would then wait for an opportunity to act and wipe out the entire Qi in one fell swoop.

The next day, Zhong Li led three thousand soldiers to appear in the nearby villages, summoned the poor commoners of the villages to establish village offices, and had the Village Head and village chiefs responsible for the village offices lead the commoners in measuring the fields to officially distribute the land.

At the same time, he announced a tax policy of one-tenth.

Next, he selected six men from among his own soldiers to establish a county office, letting them be responsible for governing all the village offices and implementing military control over this territory.

Meanwhile, the Prince's Mansion's main army continued to head south.

In less than half a day, they arrived beneath the walls of Dongping City.

Just as with the attack on the three Fortresses, Chang Wei ordered the soldiers to dig tunnels under the cover of night, preparing to attack the city the next day.