Seeing Yan Baihu's envoy coming out to surrender to him, even the pottery merchant was a little confused.
The fight was so fierce just now, why are you about to surrender all of a sudden?
Tao Yingze ignored him, he jumped to the side and said excitedly: "Look! Look! Tao's words are true! The so-called conquering the enemy's army without fighting is a good person! Although Yan Baihu is a thief, But they are also people who understand great etiquette and understand the general trend... It's a pity that they surrendered on their own... Brother, you really should have asked me to tell Yan Baihu to surrender just now. Wouldn't this create a story that will last forever? Brother, , you are really...too careful!"
The potter smiled helplessly.
It seems that regarding this incident, I did see things worse than Tao Ying.
When he was young, the strong man holding the white silk in his hands walked up to the pottery merchant. He raised his hands above his head and spoke loudly to the pottery merchant.
"I, Yan Yu, have come here to ask for Prince Taiping's surrender on the orders of my brother Yan Hu! There are eleven thousand and thirty-seven people in Baihu Village, and I would like to respect Master Taiping."
The pottery merchant looked Yan Yu up and down, and suddenly he felt enlightened.
It turns out that this man is Yan Baihu's younger brother.
"Your brother, Yan Baihu wants to surrender to me?"
Yan Yu replied respectfully: "Going back to Mr. Taiping, there are a total of ten thousand people in Baihu Village. They entered the grassland as a last resort due to the chaos in the world. They have been guarding the mountains for several years, just to prevent the arrival of the Ming Lord. Today, they are finally waiting for the victory." Mr. Taiping's arrival has made his long-cherished wish come true, and the whole village is overjoyed. My eldest brother's wish is that from now on, the entire Baihu Village will be willing to serve the prince without any hesitation."
Although the words are beautiful, they are somewhat whitewashed, and the idea of being able to protect one's master is pure nonsense... The fundamental reason is to follow the trend, seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.
Tao Shang touched his chin, narrowed his eyes in confusion, and said in a low voice: "You said that Yan Baihu has been waiting for the arrival of Lord Ming for many years?"
Yan Yu nodded heavily: "Yes!"
"Then why does he think that Tao is the master of Ming Dynasty?"
Yan Yu replied with a smile: "My brother Yan Hu is not as famous as Prince Taiping! But he can be regarded as a hero in the south of the Yangtze River. My brother is hailed as the King of Soochow. Looking at the entire Wu County, there are really people who can stand shoulder to shoulder with my brother." There are very few... But in today's noon battle, the soldiers and horses under the command of Prince Taiping were able to fight with Brother Wu's Prince De's troops. The tit-for-tat confrontation was as exciting as the ancient grandson Bin Bin fighting Pang Juan. The two sides are using various methods one after another, and they are constantly using strange things, which is dizzying for everyone to see. This is really a fierce battle that has been rare in the Jiangnan area for several years."
After saying this, not to mention the pottery merchant, even Xu Chu, Li Tong and others, even Tao Ying, wanted to vomit.
As for the brawl with fire and water poured on it at noon... there were zero deaths and zero injuries, and it was so dizzying? A fierce battle like no other!? Isn't this killing people?
The pottery merchant wished he could slap Yan Yu to death.
Did Yan Baihu deliberately let him disgust people?
I haven't been so murderous in a long time.
Yan Yu seemed unable to tell the difference between his eyebrows and his eyes, and he was still flattering him about this battle.
Tao Shang felt so ashamed that he stretched out his hand to stop Yan Yu's words and said: "Yan Baihu wants to surrender... That's fine. You go back and tell him to show his sincerity in surrender."
Yan Yu hurriedly said: "May I ask you, Master, what is sincerity?"
"Let your leader, Yan Zhai, lead his young men out of Baihu Village and surrender to me in person."
Although Yan Yu's flattering words didn't sit well with him, since the other party was willing to surrender, the pottery merchant was still more willing to accept it.
The current tax revenue and grain harvest in Jinling City are enough to support the pottery merchants to continue to expand their army, and after Wu County is brought over, the pottery merchants plan to reform and develop it in the same way as they developed Danyang County.
The two counties along the river account for a total of more than thirty county towns. If the reform is successful, taxation and grain harvest will be different from what they are now. Therefore, the pottery merchants will need more soldiers and horses to manage and defend the two counties.
The more than 10,000 people in Baihu Village, like the original Baibo Yellow Turban Army, should be old and young, strong and weak.
But even if it is a conservative estimate, it should not be difficult to extract 30% of the elite from them.
After all, they are all fierce bandits who gather in the mountains and forests all year round. Their overall combat effectiveness is definitely stronger than that of ordinary people. At least they don't need to be trained like new recruits after receiving them. They still have some combat effectiveness.
Although Tao Shang spoke directly, his request was reasonable, and Mr. Taiping's reputation as a gentleman was well-known in the world, so he would not deliberately be stern and stern to Bai Hu.
Yan Yu immediately nodded and agreed to him, and then returned to Baihu Village to report to his brother Yan Baihu.
After about an hour, the gate of Baihu Village opened again.
Yan Baihu, guarded by a group of cronies, led the crowd to personally surrender to the pottery merchant.
Yan Baihu has a thin face, a long beard and thick bags under his eyes. He looks somewhat like a treacherous master, but the most impressive thing is his dress and decoration.
The head of this animal is wrapped in a large red scarf, with a flower pinned to the side. It has a tiger skin skirt tied around its waist, and a large red cloak that can sweep the floor behind it.
This outfit is just like a copycat version of the reincarnation of the Monkey King, it’s so cool that you don’t need it.
As soon as he saw the pottery merchant, he saw Yan Baihu kneeling on one knee, shouting and clasping his fists at the pottery merchant, and respectfully said: "My lord, Yan Baihu, the king of virtue in Eastern Wu... has met your Majesty!"
"Pfft~!"
This voice immediately stunned the pottery merchant.
He looked around guiltily, then stepped forward and grabbed Yan Baihu, saying in a low voice: "Old boy, what did you call Tao just now?"
Yan Baihu affirmed righteously: "Call your Majesty."
"Nonsense!"
The potter frowned and said in a low voice: "How can you call me such a random name? I'm not familiar with you, surnamed Yan! It's easy for people to misunderstand you when you call me such a random name. You are deliberately trying to ruin Tao." Of?"
Yan Baihu obviously came prepared. He stood up with a smile and respectfully settled the account for the pottery merchant.
"Your Majesty, I am the highly anticipated King of Eastern Wu. Among all the generals sitting here, the last one must have the title of Four Towns and Four Expeditions. You will soon become the lord of me. If I were If I don't call you Lord, what should I call you? In terms of seniority, you deserve this title!"
After hearing these words, Tao Shang couldn't help but give him a thumbs up in his heart... To be able to talk nonsense so straightly, this bandit leader is really not an ordinary person who can mess around.
Yan Baihu seemed to have no feeling at all and introduced the thieves behind him to the pottery merchant with a smile.
He was the first to point out Yan and said: "This person, your Majesty must know him, right? He just came to ask for surrender on behalf of me. He is the younger brother of King De of Dongwu. He calls himself the King of Xia, and he also leads the minister's account." He is the first general in Zhennan! He is the most powerful general in Baihu Village. I really thought about it and gave him the title of General of Hussars... Second brother, why don’t you pay your respects to the Lord again soon?"
Yan Yu knelt down on one knee and said: "I have seen your Majesty, and I was rude just now. Please don't blame me."
The potter rolled his eyes.
Am I still a humble minister?
Yan Baihu ignored them and introduced to the pottery merchant one by one a group of bandit leaders in colorful clothes from Baihu Village who came out to surrender with him.
"This is the general in front of the palace of King De of Dongwu!"
"This is the Prime Minister of King Wu De of the East!"
"This is the heir apparent to King Dongwu De!"
"This is my princess!"
Seeing the "Princess De" who was tall, tall, thick, and dressed in linen and weighed at least 200 kilograms, saluting him, the pottery merchant tried his best to resist the urge to slap Yan Baihu on the ear.
He raised his fingers at Yan Baihu.
Yan Baihu walked over with a low eyebrow and a flattering smile on his face.
"What are your orders, Your Majesty?"
"Bai Hu, I want to ask you, are you here to surrender to Tao? Or are you here to acquire Tao? Why do I feel like you are not surrendering to me, but you are inciting me to rebel?... You Among the members of this team, all the officials from the three counties of Xuzhou plus Danyang County are grouped together, and there are not many talented people under your command who can just grab a big official."
Yan Baihu chuckled and said, "Aren't you just following the trend?"
The potter's face turned stern and he said angrily: "You're just following the trend! Change your names immediately! If Tao hears one more words... Tao will tie you all up and send them to the capital to be executed by the emperor." Nine tribes... Although the emperor can only give me a governor at most, but good luck is not enough, and I am a reliable person."
When Yan Baihu heard this, his face suddenly fell and he looked very reluctant.
"I understand..."
The potter raised his eyebrows.
"My subordinate understands."
…
…
Of course, the pottery merchant would not allow Yan Baihu to continue to retain the bullshit nickname of King De of Soochow.
Of course, the pottery merchant would not send him to Beijing to be executed.
The so-called King De of Soochow is nothing more than a foolish man shouting out of his own wishful thinking in the mountains and forests, but because of this, he cannot be condemned as a treasonous person.
Historically, there were not many people who collaborated with him in Jiangdong. Wang Lang, Liu Yao, etc. all had private cooperation with Yan Baihu.
After communicating with Yan Baihu afterwards, Tao Shang realized that Yan Baihu, apart from being stupid about being the King of Soochow, was also more or less a sensible person in other matters.
Yan Baihu also knew that he could not gather people in the mountains and forests forever. He had to choose a master with an official status to join him and cooperate, so that he could maintain stability for the rest of his life.
Of course, a scholar like Sheng Xian is not Cai like Yan Baihu.
In history, Yan Baihu initially chose to move closer to Sun Ce.
Unfortunately, Sun Ce did not accept him, but instead killed Yan Yu, the envoy sent by Yan Baihu to negotiate peace with him, which ultimately led to Yan Baihu's confrontation with him.
However, Sun Ce does have the strength and ability to sweep all military forces in Jiangdong.
But Tao Shang was different from Sun Ce in that he still focused on recruiting people to surrender.
Jiangnan is already short of population, and there is always hunting and killing. How much eugenics and education work can be done to replenish the population?
Life is not easy for anyone, so don’t be unreasonable and unforgiving.
Tao Shang led his troops to conquer Yan Baihu this time. Yan Baihu had already heard of Prince Taiping, especially the defeat of Yuan Shu, which was enough to make Yan Baihu's heart palpitate.
After the soldiers and horses of Jinling City arrived outside Baihu Village, Yan Baihu felt ready to surrender.
After all, Tao Shang was the agent of Liu Yao, who had great righteousness and was the governor of Yangzhou.
In addition, the soldiers and horses of Jinling City are now quite famous in the south of the Yangtze River. Looking at the counties in Jiangdong, there is almost no army that can compare with the Jinling Army of the pottery merchants.
The first time the Jinling Army arrived at Baihu Village, Yan Baihu wanted to open the gate of the village and surrender.
The problem is that the members of his team are too tough and it would be wrong not to discuss it with them.
Therefore, Yan Baihu and his subordinates such as the Crown Prince, the Prime Minister, the Princess, the King of Heroes, General Zhennan Zhendianbei, and other national figures did not appear immediately. Instead, they had a heated discussion in Baihu Village about whether to surrender to Tao Shang.
.
After a fierce quarrel among these high-level figures who were able to influence the world's situation, the final result was that all the cadres of King Soochow's team voted unanimously with a show of hands, and the whole country of Baihu Village decided to surrender to Tao Shangjun!
After chatting with Yan Baihu for a while, Tao Shang felt that this so-called "Emperor of Soochow" was neither smart nor stupid.
Overall, he is a relatively mediocre person.
No matter what Prince Yan thinks in his heart, a mediocre person is relatively easy to control, so there is no need to worry about him losing control.
Therefore, after Tao Shang considered all aspects thoroughly, he still accepted the surrender of Baihu Village.