Since they didn't have to ride horses, Mr. Shen and Miss Ye felt a lot more relaxed along the way.
However, correspondingly, the speed of traveling has also been much slower.
It wasn't until the eighth day of February that Shen Yi and his party arrived at Laizhou Prefecture. To be precise, it was Jiaozhou City, Laizhou Prefecture.
At this time, Jiaozhou had been occupied by Xue Wei, and it was occupied for a long time.
From the second half of last year until now, for almost half a year, Jiaozhou has been in Xue Wei's hands.
Before Shen Yi's carriage arrived at the foot of Jiaozhou City, Xue Wei led his troops out of the city and led a group of generals to greet Mr. Shen's arrival on both sides of the official road.
The generals of the Huai'an Army were already very familiar with this kind of thing, and they shouted "Meet Mr. Shen" in a neat manner.
Mr. Shen in the carriage looked at Ye Chan sitting beside him with a smile.
Miss Ye is a smart person after all. She understood immediately and said in a disgusting voice: "My husband is so majestic~"
Mr. Shen was satisfied and said with a smile: "No wonder so many people like to listen to flattery. This feeling is indeed good."
After saying this, he opened the curtain of the carriage and stepped out.
When he jumped out of the carriage, the smile on his face had completely disappeared and his face became serious.
"What are you doing with all this fanfare?"
Xue Wei stepped forward, clasped his fists at Shen Yi, and said with a smile: "Mr. Shen, my subordinates have been waiting for a long time."
Among the three generals, Xue Wei was born closest to Shen Yi, and he was the only one who sometimes smiled playfully in front of Shen Yi.
Mr. Shen patted him on the shoulder, then asked with his hands behind his back: "What's the situation in Laizhou now?"
"After Laizhou increased its troops last year, there were no more reinforcements from Qi people."
Xue Wei thought for a while and continued: "Last year, we fought as far as Ye County, their capital city, but were forced back by their reinforcements. In half a year, we have figured out their route."
"Now that the weather is getting warmer, I will be able to push back with your order, Mr. Shen."
Master Shen walked towards Jiaozhou City with his hands behind his back.
Xue Wei followed him obediently.
He walked around for a while and then asked: "What is the situation in Jiaozhou City now? Is it stable?"
"Very stable."
Xue Wei grinned: "The general will take care of all those Zhu Li masters."
"The remaining people are very honest and basically do whatever the general says."
"Now half a year later, Jiaozhou is still in our hands. The original panic has disappeared. Some people in the city sometimes come to give gifts to the general."
Xue Wei paused and continued: "There are also women to give away."
Master Shen glanced at him.
"You accepted it?"
Xue Wei scratched his head and said, "Most of them have not been collected, but there are some families who were very powerful in the city. The property they sent will be put away without rejection."
Mr. Shen stretched his muscles and asked, "Tell me, what's the truth?"
"Although the general knows a little about fighting, he has no experience in governing a city. If we want a state city like Jiaozhou City to have no problems, the best way is to stabilize the original big households and make them believe that the general will not Make things difficult for them.”
"In this way, they will spontaneously maintain order in the city."
Mr. Shen was quite surprised and let out a "tsk" sound.
"Not bad, there is progress."
Xue Wei chuckled and said, "But now that Mr. Shen is here, things are different."
"Those big business owners are more or less related to Master Zhu Li. Mr. Shen can take care of them all."
Mr. Shen laughed dumbly: "Why, you expect me to come and help you?"
Xue Wei quickly shook his head: "That's not what I meant, that's not what I meant..."
He scratched his head and said, "What I mean is that I may not be able to outsmart them with my cleverness, but now that you are here, Mr. Shen, no matter what monsters and monsters there are in Jiaozhou City, they will not be able to escape from your grasp."
"Tsk."
Mr. Shen shook his head and sighed: "In just one sentence, two idioms are used. If you Xue Da continues to study, you can pass the Jinshi examination."
Xue Wei smiled awkwardly.
"Mr. Shen, please don't make fun of your subordinates."
He carefully looked back at the carriage behind him and whispered: "Is...um...is the little lady following?"
Mr. Shen shook his head helplessly: "Who taught you these names?"
"My subordinates figured it out themselves."
He grinned and said: "My subordinates have prepared a residence for you and the young lady in the city a few days in advance. It is the residence of a Zhu Lizhen noble. It is no less generous than the Jiankang residence."
Mr. Shen shook his head slightly: "It's not easy to mention the word madam. If you let others hear it, and then spread it out, the impact will not be good, so don't shout it."
"What's the name..."
Shen Yi thought for a while and said, "Just call her girl."
Xue Wei quickly lowered his head and wrote it down.
While they were talking, everyone had already entered the city. General Xue took Shen Yi and his party to the door of the house, and finally saw Ye Chan. Xue Wei quickly stepped forward and saluted: "I have met Miss Ye."
Ye Chan quickly received a blessing.
"General Xue is welcome."
Xue Wei smiled: "Congratulations, girl, for entering Mr. Shen's house."
When Ye Chan heard this, her face turned red. She ignored Xue Wei and took Huan'er down to clean up the place for Shen Yi and herself.
Shen Yi, on the other hand, summoned all the senior generals of the Pioneer Army, including Xue Wei, to the main hall to speak.
In fact, there are not many people.
Including Xue Wei and Wan Zhong, there are less than ten people who can be called senior generals, and they can easily sit down in the main hall.
After Shen Yi took the main seat, these people took their seats one after another.
Mr. Shen looked around at the crowd, coughed slightly, and said, "The Pioneer Army has been fighting in Laizhou for several months. Today, I want to ask you some more specific information."
He looked at Xue Wei and asked: "How many surrendered soldiers of Northern Qi have been captured in the past few months?"
Xue Wei thought about it seriously and replied: "There is no detailed calculation, but if you add it all together, there will always be four to five thousand people."
"How to deal with it?"
Xue Wei did not answer, but looked at Wan Zhong.
Obviously, these "trivial" matters are not his responsibility.
Wan Zhong quickly lowered his head and said: "Mr. Shen, some of the captives, Zhu Li, were sent to Yanzhou and handed over to Master Zhang as coolies."
"another part…"
He coughed and continued: "The other part that was not obedient has been beheaded."
"Some of the Han captives were also sent to Yanzhou, and the other part were sent back to their hometowns according to Duke Shen's instructions."
Shen Yi nodded lightly, then looked at the generals and said softly: "Everyone, starting from today, there will be no more Qi troops surrendering."
"Whether they are Zhu Li or Han people, anyone who is willing to surrender can do so."
Having said this, Shen Yi thought for a while and added: "Of course, they are mainly Han prisoners."
"After all, Zhu Li is unlikely to sincerely help us fight back."
"If there are special circumstances, you can consider using Zhu Li as an exception."
Xue Wei blinked and did not react.
After a while, he turned his head stiffly and looked at Shen Yi: "Mr. Shen, what do you mean..."
"Can the prisoners be incorporated into the vanguard army?"
Shen Yi nodded first, and then said: "Temporarily join the Pioneer Army."
"To be precise, he should be incorporated into the Huai'an Army."
Xue Wei stood up suddenly, overjoyed.
"Mr. Shen!"
He yelled.
However, before he could continue speaking, Mr. Shen frowned and interrupted him: "The ugly words are ahead, there are more people, but the military rations provided by the higher-ups will not be much, you need to do it yourself."
Xue Wei patted his chest and said with a smile: "As long as Mr. Shen allows us to be more arrogant, food will not be a problem!"
Shen Yi did not answer, but continued.
"Now, the weather has gotten warmer."
He lowered his head, took a sip of hot tea, and said softly: "If nothing else happens, both the Left Army and the Right Army will start a new offensive in the near future."
"Here at the Pioneer Army, we can start making preparations."
"Conquer Laizhou Fucheng as soon as possible."
"Then, we will march eastward and take the Dengzhou capital."
When Xue Wei heard this, he couldn't help but swallowed hard.
Northern Qi's troops in Shandong now number more than 100,000.
In Laizhou Prefecture alone, there were more than 20,000 Qi troops, and even approaching 30,000.
If Dengzhou Prefecture is included, the number may be close to 50,000!
There are at least more than 40,000 people.
If Laizhou and Dengzhou can be defeated one by one, even if only two Han people out of ten Han people surrender.
The size of the vanguard army will also skyrocket!
What the Pioneer Army currently suffers from is its numbers.
General Xue looked at Shen Yi, suddenly rolled his eyes, and said: "Mr. Shen, if you don't get food by yourself..."
"Is it possible to recruit some strong men from Jiaozhou to join the army?"
His eyes were shining.
"Since this year, many local young men have taken the initiative to join the army!"
Mr. Shen was silent for a while, then stood up and walked out.
"Since there are Han people from the north taking the initiative to join us, it shows that we in Dachen are what the people want. This is a good thing."
"You can use them, but you have to pay attention to distinguish them and don't let too many spies of Qi people lurk in."
