Chapter 407

As long as you can take the enemy general's head and win the victory of the war, whether you have martial virtue or not is not important at all!

Feeling a chill coming from behind, Zang Ba used all his strength to flash to the side.

Unfortunately.

His efforts were ultimately in vain.

The short halberd thrown by Lu Bu, although it was just an ordinary short halberd, its lethality could not compare to the Fangtian Huaji.

But this short halberd, no matter how ordinary, came from Lu Bu's hand!

Through the blessing of Lu Bu's majestic strength, even an ordinary short halberd could explode with extremely strong combat power.

"Boom!"

The short halberd hit accurately.

It hit Zang Ba's shoulder exactly.

The intense pain swept through his entire body with lightning speed.

The pig-like roar also resounded through the sky.

"Boss!!!"

Beside Zang Ba, several main commanders of the Taishan bandits were suddenly anxious and sweating profusely.

"Surrender and you won't be killed."

"Otherwise, this general's Fangtian Huaji will be your final destination!"

Lu Bu's bell-like voice came from behind Zang Ba.

With the Red Hare horse as a mount, it was only a matter of time before Lu Bu caught up with Zang Ba and killed him.

However, Zang Ba had forty thousand Taishan bandits under his command after all.

So many strong laborers, if they were all gone, it would be an invisible loss.

Therefore.

Lu Bu and Zhao Yun had already discussed in advance to try to recruit the enemy generals if possible.

If they swore not to surrender, then send them to hell with one spear/halberd!

Blood flowed like a pillar.

Zang Ba's left arm was almost completely crippled under the damage of the short halberd.

But the intense pain actually promoted his thinking ability.

As a figure of great fame who had occupied northern Xuzhou for many years.

Zang Ba understood in his heart.

The reason he could always be a local snake here.

Besides his own ruthlessness and decisiveness.

A more important reason was because he hadn't encountered that kind of truly fierce character.

But the Lu Bu and Zhao Yun he encountered today.

No matter which one, they were not characters he could afford to provoke.

Let alone Gu Yi behind them.

Not surrendering was definitely a dead end.

At most, in a few minutes, after Lu Bu caught up, one halberd could take his life.

If he surrendered, although it was impossible to continue to be the local snake of northern Xuzhou,

But keeping a life shouldn't be a big problem.

In an instant.

The pros and cons of surrendering and not surrendering flashed quickly in Zang Ba's mind.

Subsequently, he threw away the weapon he was holding tightly in his right hand,

Turned his head and said to several Taishan bandit commanders:

"Brothers, follow me and surrender."

"With the ferocity of the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry and the Xiliang Iron Cavalry."

"If we don't surrender, I'm afraid none of us will be able to leave this place alive today."

Several Taishan bandit commanders were all confidants beside Zang Ba.

Zang Ba was able to serve as the local emperor in northern Xuzhou for many years, and these people could be said to have made great contributions.

At this moment, after a little thought, they all agreed to Zang Ba's surrender proposal.

After all.

No amount of glory and wealth is as important as a small life.

If they don't surrender again, I'm afraid none of them will be able to see tomorrow's sun smoothly.

"General Lu, please show mercy under the halberd."

"All of us Taishan bandits are willing to surrender!"

Zang Ba ordered the Taishan bandit soldiers near him to put down their weapons and show sincerity to Lu Bu.

Seeing this.

Lu Bu didn't make things difficult for them either.

After capturing Zang Ba and several Taishan bandit commanders, he led the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry to quickly collect all the captured soldiers on the battlefield.

In Lu Bu's eyes, these were all high-quality laborers!

Although the Great Han nominally possessed thirteen provinces.

But the population distribution of each province was extremely uneven.

For example, Nanyang Commandery, as the largest commandery in the world, had a population of up to two million at its peak!

What concept is this?

The entire Liangzhou, such a large piece of land added together.

The total population was only on par with Nanyang Commandery.

(PS: The data here refers to the population before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, that is, the late Han period, not the Three Kingdoms period.)

(The population of the Three Kingdoms period, especially in the late Three Kingdoms period, recorded in households, decreased several times compared to the late Han period.)

Compared to Liangzhou, Lu Bu's hometown, Bingzhou, was not much better.

Because the two major foreign tribes, the Southern Xiongnu and the Xianbei, took advantage of the Great Han's internal chaos from time to time to send troops into Bingzhou to burn, kill, and loot.

This led to extremely heavy population loss in Bingzhou.

And nowadays.

Whether it was Liangzhou or Bingzhou.

They were firmly in Gu Yi's hands.

Forcibly relocating the people not only wastes manpower and money but is also easy to lose the hearts of the people.

After all.

The era of the late Han is different from later generations.

Relocation in later generations is called demolition.

The resettlement fee given for demolition is generally not small.

There are even many people who became rich overnight through demolition.

But in the late Han era, forcibly relocating the people, there was no supply along the way, and they even had to pay extra taxes.

Therefore.

As long as the people were normal people, it was impossible for them to want to relocate from their hometown to other places.

In such an environment.

The population of Bingzhou and Liangzhou.

Can only be increased in the short term by plundering from the outside.

Or by exiling prisoners of war there.

In the form of settling down, to increase the population.

At this moment.

In Lu Bu's eyes.

These captured Taishan soldiers were not prisoners at all, but free laborers sent to the elders and fellow villagers of Bingzhou!

……