The city’s force was so useless they couldn’t be called soldiers, just a bunch of dogs the county raised to make their numbers.
Against the enemy forces, coming at them like wolves, these inexperienced farmers threw away their weapons and waved the white flag.
The county officials were even more yellow, slumping to their knees without even urging them.
Shangyong County and Fangling County’s magistrate were the weakest. The corrupt lifestyle they indulged poisoned their integrity, turning from humans with dignity into greedy retards.
He’d seen his fair share of county magistrates like these, all dirtying his eyes just by looking at them. So he had them killed on the spot no matter how the other official pleaded or begged.
He had an easy time placating the county city as well, which came at a nice surprise. ‘With county cities like these campaigning will be a breeze. Hanzhong will be mine.’
Shangyong and Fangling’s magistrates’ die hard loyalty left him assuming all countries were like this.
‘Without caution and vigilance, who knows how little progress I will make?’
‘I just knew there’s a greedy official out there. Not all are loyalists. Those two must’ve been the exception.’
With the county city silenced, he left 200 men to watch it.
While also killing any looters and other short minded fools bent on inciting chaos. Right now was his best chance in rooting out all these wastes.
He and the rest of his army went to rid the city of the clans. Without cleaning up the place, there was no way he could resume his campaign with an easy mind.
Besides, killing earned him ritches, fields, real estate, all to be bestowed upon his most loyal subjects.
It’d all go so well he’d not need fret about land tax for the next decades. All he had to do was kill a few clansmen and he’d have all the wealth they rose over centuries. He’d earn big.
They hardly put any resistance. These scholars were somewhat mighty with the pen and words than weapons.
Having never seen wars or battle, they never even realized how much danger they were in as the army surrounded them.
It was an easy job surrounding him and wiping them out.
Though the west side was quite big, with 20 clans around and more than 10,000 people. With so few soldiers, he’d need three days to kill ’em all.
Zhong Yu’s plan went into action, clearing one building after another.
While the soldiers, used to it by now, killed anyone on sight.
There was no mercy and cruelty galore, not sparing the oldest men or the youngest infants, all cut down and taken their heads outside.
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As the earth ran red, the night was filled with horrors and shrill cries. The place turned so sinister, no citizen approached it in months.
That was when the next county magistrate gave these buildings to retired veterans, bringing life to this cemetery. Only they could live in such a place of slaughter, having seen life and death on a daily basis.
After three days of spring cleaning, the Xicheng County stank of blood, the eerie mood turning creepy and frightening.
The dread of this massacre bore on the minds of the people so hard, they thought death would be a relief.
Zhong Yu stopped the purge. Why? There was nothing to kill here, all the clansmen were dead.
Having ten thousand heads on the side of the main street did wonders on the people’s will to resist. It promised them a cruel ending the likes they’d never witness, if they fought back.
Though the massacre came with perks too, food, armor and many stuff he looted from the clans.
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He got 200 filled carriages, sent them to the city’s warehouse and sealed them up.
By Zhong Yu’s calculation all that could raise him 10,000 strong army, with 1,000 armored soldiers, and feed for a whole year.
‘My plan was right after all. The clans are parasites. Look how much they amassed from just a county. So how much could they get from a region, a state or from even the entire nation?’
Even with the whole world as his enemy, as long as he cried out late Ming’s rebel leader Li Zicheng’s slogan ‘no levy, no taxes’, using the clans’ riches to fuel his army, he’d gain the masses’ favor even setting them against the clan system.
‘I refuse to believe those clans are so tough in the face of encirclement. If they are, then I really don’t mind dyeing the world red.’
In the words of the late great leader ‘killing a tyrant frees the land’, ‘get the majority’s favor to snuff the few.’. The same thing applies here.
‘I just have to copy Zhang Jiao, get the masses on my side and the peasants oppressed by the powerful clans will switch to my camp.’
‘I’ll let them understand they’re doing it for themselves. I’ll promise them a part of the fields and riches from the clans and they’re sure to fight to the last man.’
Those with nothing to live for did not care about their lives. ‘Those old people are precisely such people, having not even the next meal assured.’
‘Having such a power will earn me 99% of the people’s support while making the test 1%, the clans, understand that even poor yokels can destroy them.’
He earned 400 fortune from all that killing and Zhong Yu brought in new blood.
Along with the 800 soldiers he had, he now bolstered his army to 1,200.
He only left 200 behind, convinced the slaughter had gripped the hearts of these people in fear.
At the very least, they’d follow his orders for the next few years.
The data was enough to validate such a reason. Xicheng County had 50,000 people and now it was 10,000 short.
There was no way the rest would even dream of fighting back, not when a fifth of them just died.