With the information provided by Lu and Zhen, and the confession of several arrested thieves, the actions of the thieves on the fifth floor of Liaocheng were basically clear. They were not as cruel and exaggerated as Lu Zhongkang said, but they also had their bloody and barbaric side.

The fifth relationship can be imagined and even understood that once these refugees who were suppressed at the bottom of society could hold the power of life and death against these once noble officials, what arises from their hearts is not only the joy of pursuing food, but also the pleasure of revenge.

Whether it is the Red Eyebrow or the Hebei uprising army, when the cavalry overthrows them, it is natural justice, just as the ancient poem says: Big rats and rats do not eat my millet! I am three years old and I am willing to take care of my daughter. My daughter is about to die, and I am in a happy place.

But after that, they completely exposed their limitations. If the powerful officials were big rats, digging holes in the ground and eating hard, the bandits were like locusts flying by the wind and harming thousands of miles away. They left their hometown, and thousands gathered together, flew over from a distance, no longer relying on production, nor the order of tax collection, and relying on the harvest after siege of cities and land as supplies. They ate all the edible crops and leaves unscrupulously, and then hurried to another place, thousands of miles away from the ground.

These former oppressed people have become cruel plunderers for the local people of Shouliang County.

"So, be sure to expel!"

The expulsion of the thieves on the fifth floor and the Five Schools who came to help them were the strategic goals set by the Fifth Reun for this battle at the military meeting before the war.

Little Genggeng-yan, who was transferred from Li Yang, had another war, but he was even more determined: "The county magistrate doesn't plan to wipe it out, once and for all?"

After all, Xiao Geng was young and a little naive. His uncle Geng Chun shook his head and said, "I can't kill them all, and after a few months, another group of neighboring counties emerged."

The fifth relationship can secure Wei land, but it cannot control the collapse of neighbor order, nor can it control the collapse of the sky and earth on the other side of the river. After Geng Chun came back for a walk, he knew the future situation, just like water flowing to a low place. The bandits will naturally come from unbeatable places to rich places, and flock to them.

Ma Yuan had another idea: "Maybe he could incorporate the defeat."

Unlike Geng's uncle and nephew, Ma Yuan, who has also been a thief, has certain sympathy for the refugees. After all, the main force under his command is composed of this group of people.

"At most, one or two thousand young and strong prisoners were recruited after the war, and more..."

The fifth relationship will be empty and its productivity is limited. After the Dahe diversion, Wei Chengshi never encountered a good harvest again and there was no extra grain to support people.

Wei Chengjun's granary was quite generous in winter, and after he put the big burden of Shouliang in the fifth reunion, he was already in a short position. In addition, he had to prepare for war with Chimei at any time, and he could only hold on until the summer harvest. He could not afford to have more than 10,000 mouths.

Unless... ask the powerful men who have donated food once to continue bleeding.

But in this difficult world, the landlords don’t have much extra grain, and the leeks cannot be cut too hard.

At least at present, whether to recruit bandits or rely on the powerful to "protect the country and safeguard the people" is the two absolutely impossible choices to coexist, and the fifth relationship must make a decision.

In Wei Cheng's time, he chose the former, but one time and another. In Shouliang, the fifth reunion decided to choose the latter, which had nothing to do with good or evil, and only had interests to care about.

"Have you heard of locusts evading the environment?"

Everyone shook their heads and said in the fifth reunion: "When I went to Xindu, the former team last year, I passed Wancheng. I heard the suggestion of a local sufu that there was a famous scholar in Wandi, named Zhuo Mao and named Zikang."

"During the Ping Dynasty of the previous dynasty, Zhuo Mao served as the magistrate of the Mi County in Henan. At that time, the world was full of locusts. More than 20 counties in Henan were all affected by it, but they were the only ones who did not enter the Mi County. The Supervisor reported to Zhuo Mao to say that the prefect did not believe it. Since he went to the county, he realized that it was indeed the case and regarded Zhuo Mao as a great sage."

Geng Chun was amazed, but Ma Yuan didn't believe it, and said, "It's probably a coincidence."

It’s a coincidence that God will do. The current goal of the fifth reunion is to achieve the situation of “locust avoiding the land”.

"In this battle, I have concentrated most of the troops of the two counties, and I will definitely fight the bandits such as the fifth floor, and beating them to the pain, and I will be able to remember them! The fight made them and even the bandits in Hebei feel disgusted when they heard about Wei, and they will walk around my jurisdiction and will never dare to offend them again!"

The water flows to the lower places, and the enemy moves to the rich places, but the fifth relationship is to build Wei Cheng and Shouliang into a highland where bandits pass by and avoid them, and a place of well-being in troubled times.

Everyone was convinced by the Fifth Reunion. This military meeting reached a consensus at the decision-making level. Only when the goal was set first can we discuss the methods we took to achieve it. It has to be said that although the Fifth Reunion was not very good at direct command, he did have one set after another when the temple counted.

Faced with everyone's request for battle, Di Wulun smiled and said, "Don't rush to attack. First use the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the wilderness, and consume the thief!"

...

The Fifth Reunion sent militias to pretend to be thieves several times and invaded them to find out the truth and reality. Therefore, he knew that because he was not aware of the restraint, the food he plundered when he destroyed the county town was far from enough for the army.

This is indeed the case. When the time came to the end of November, Zhang Wen, the coach of Qu on the fifth floor, began to regret why he summoned two friendly troops to help.

"Nothing to eat."

Looking at the empty granary in Liaocheng and the hungry eyes of his subordinates, Zhang Wen was secretly annoyed.

The men, women, old and weak thieves on the fifth floor were already tens of thousands. After killing the envoy sent by Di Wulun for a while, he felt that the opposite side would definitely fight with him, so he summoned the five schools, Wuban and two branches of the Wuban bandits, and invited them to come and control the Wei soldiers. If they could defeat Di Wulun, they could enter the wealthy and stable Weicheng County and live a life of eating and drinking.

But as friendly troops arrived, the food became tighter and the bandits almost completely relied on plunder to obtain food. They had to send people to the countryside to collect grain and predate every day, but the local people were poor, so how much surplus food could they have? So the fleeing people led to the bandits' hunger for months. In the winter, even wild vegetables could not be dug. Many people could even go to the fields to prey on field mice, rabbits, or cast nets by the cold river. For a fish, they could even draw blades to face each other and cause death.

When the fifth reunion gathered, he did not rush to attack and fight on the territory that Zhang Wen was familiar with. Instead, he stationed troops in various counties and joined forces to defend the fort barriers and prevent the enemy from eating, making him hungry.

What's even more terrible is that the fifth reunion hollowed out his original foundation and gathered a cavalry unit of hundreds of people, which was specially handed over to Commander Geng Yan. He came and went quickly, and was waiting for the bandits to try to attack a fort when they tried to attack a fort.

At present, another team of hundreds of people was attacked by Geng Yan when he was walking a little further, and Taihan was killed. The rest rushed back to Liaocheng.

Several times of grain collection were hit, which made Zhang Wen lose his patience.

"I'm afraid that the red eyebrows will be eaten without waiting for the river to freeze and come over!"

Chi Zhaoping on the other side did send people to swim from the downstream to meet the forces such as the fifth floor to plan together with Wei Cheng, but the Yellow River was frozen. However, Zhang Wen was afraid that he would be separated due to hunger.

"I can only take the initiative to fight a war."

Zhang Wen can gather tens of thousands of people, but he has some skills and insights. He knows that if he concentrates troops to attack, he will probably be in the fifth place. His soldiers are stationed near the county town and the fort to wait for his own attack!

He cursed secretly: "If I had known, I would have pretended to accept the pleadings and deceived the fifth republic of dozens of trucks of food first, and then turn against each other!"

...
Chapter completed!