With the autumn harvest last year and the summer harvest this year, the Datong Army kept its word and collected only regular taxes and cracked down on nobles, wealthy families and corrupt officials. It gradually won the hearts of the people.     With

the support of the people, those defeated soldiers and bandits had no room to move. They could only flee to other states or deep in the mountains and forests. They could no longer make a difference. On the night when

"Sir"

arrived in Taizhou, Fang Rui came to the door.

"What's the matter ?"

"Sir, I have a few close friends who want to join you."

"Martial Saint?"

"Two Martial Saints, four martial arts masters, and more than a dozen martial arts masters,"

Fang Rui said. He talked and laughed with great scholars, and his friends were naturally martial arts masters.

These people had contacted him secretly and wanted to surrender. First, the forces they were joining were not very good, at least they were much worse than Lin Jiang. Second, they were also afraid of fighting Lin Jiang on the battlefield. Lin Jiang had killed many martial saints, and he was already known as the martial saint killer.

For the sake of their lives, they thought about surrendering.

"What conditions do they want?"

"They don't want much, they don't seek wealth and glory, but they don't want to fight, they just want to enjoy their old age.

" "Have you made enough?"

"Uh, sir..."

"I'm just kidding. Wealth and glory are what everyone pursues. I never deny this. Didn't Tian Xiong and his men make a lot of money?"

Lin Jiang said. He never stopped his men from making money. Tian Xiong and his men are all rich now. Lin Jiang only cares about their means of making money, as long as it's not excessive. It's immoral to let others live the same as him and live an ascetic life. Self-discipline is required of oneself, not others.

"Sir, you have a broad mind. Fang Rui admires that."

"Let them come. But I also have requirements. Abiding by laws and regulations is not a high requirement, right?"

"That's a matter of course." "

It's not a high requirement to ask them to pacify the place."

"It's within our ability."

"Okay, I don't have any other requirements for now."

Lin Jiang nodded. There were more than a dozen Martial Saints in Southern Chen, and he had killed several of them. There weren't many left. It would be good to have a few more surrenders, which would reduce some pressure on the battlefield.

·······

"The territory of Chen State is 51 states, 16 states have been lost in the north, and 35 states are left. There are five emperors in the 35 states, and dozens of local powerful factions and warlords, so that the people are living in misery.

Now we have occupied six states, and we are the strongest in the south of Chen State, but this is still far from enough. The outside world says that I am a martial saint killer, but I want to be an emperor killer and kill all the remaining emperors."

Lin Jiang said to a group of senior officials. With the killing of King Tai and King Dai, there are already three emperors who died directly or indirectly at the hands of Lin Jiang. As for other princes, I don't know how many there are. Anyway, these people are no different from other nobles, and those who should be killed have been killed long ago.

And with the reduction of emperors, their power is also increasing. After all, there were many emperors in the past, and they could choose at will, and they could jump left and right. Anyway, they all begged them, but now it is different. With Lin Jiang, who wants to unify the world, and there are not many emperors, they are all united around them. There are two existing emperors, and now they nominally have more than ten states under their command.

"The King of Xuanzhou is in the north of Yunjiang River, far away from us, but the King of Jingzhou is in the west of Zhongzhou. We can go east along Yunjiang River. General, we are strong now, it's time to send troops."

"I have the same idea. This year we will take over Fenzhou, Yunzhou, Zhongzhou, and Jingzhou. Next year we will take over all the prefectures and counties north and south of Yunjiang River. At the latest, the year after next, we will take over all the remaining prefectures and counties, and then rest for three years before heading north to deal with the monsters."

"Sir, I heard that the monsters have begun to encroach on our human territory again?"

"Yes, the Great Wall Corps of the Immortal Kingdom suffered another great defeat this year, and the monsters have the power to move south again."

Lin Jiang nodded. The monsters occupied the sixteen states in the north of Chen State, and then stopped moving south. There are many reasons, including the monsters' own strength and the fact that they have made too many enemies.

Especially the Immortal Kingdom, although it was destroyed, the remaining strength is still very strong. The Great Wall Corps has been harassing the monsters with the help of mountains and the Great Wall, and the Qingjiang Corps has the support of the Zhou Dynasty, and its strength should not be underestimated.

In recent years, the main target of the monsters has been the Great Wall Legion. This year, the Great Wall Legion lost a battle with the monsters. The monsters have solved the hidden danger on one side and started to encroach on the territory of the State of Chen. The State of Chen was too weak and several counties had already fallen.

"Demons are always a big problem, sir. If we don't have enough martial arts masters, it may be difficult to defeat them,"

said Xie Yunfeng. Speaking of monsters, they are not sleepy. Their noble families have a deep hatred for monsters. They joined Lin Jiang's side because Lin Jiang was one of the few who openly wanted to expel monsters.

"Don't worry about this. After we unify the world, I can train a large number of martial arts saints within three years,"

said Lin Jiang. Among the students he taught in Qiyun Mountain, more than ten people have broken through to the innate level. Their martial arts talents are frighteningly high. There are

many people with such excellent talents, but they have not been discovered. After Lin Jiang unifies the world, he will teach them personally. At that time, with strong resources, there is no fear of not being able to pile up a few martial arts saints. Moreover, a large number of martial arts masters and martial arts grand masters can also break through quickly if he is willing to teach them.

······

In the 3869th year of the Xia calendar, the Xia

Datong Army sent out 200,000 troops from Taizhou, divided into two routes, one to attack Fenzhou and the other to attack Yunzhou. The northern route was led by Lin Jiang to attack Fenzhou, and the southern route was led by Qin Yong to attack Yunzhou. The two agreed to meet in Zhongzhou.

When King Jing learned of the Datong Army's actions, he issued an order to resist and summoned reinforcements from many states to gather in Fen and Yun states to resist the Datong Army's offensive.

Half a month after entering Fenzhou, Lin Jiang captured two counties in a row and stopped at the natural barrier of Hangu Pass in Fenzhou. All the troops from Fenzhou gathered here, including reinforcements from various states.

"Hangu Pass,"

Lin Jiang looked at the name of the pass. After thousands of years, Hangu Pass is still the same Hangu Pass, but the people of that time are no longer there.

"General, Hangu Pass is dangerous. Although the west side is gentler, you still have to be careful,"

Xie Yunfeng said to Lin Jiang. Hangu Pass is a continuous mountain range, but you have to look at the situation. If you fight from east to west, it will be a desperate situation. There are cliffs dozens of meters high near the pass, and if you fight from the west to the east, it will be a continuous gentle slope. Although it is also a dangerous place, it is not so exaggerated.

"It doesn't matter. Any natural danger must be guarded by people. If natural dangers are useful, there will be no change of dynasties in the world. Let's rest for three days and be careful of the enemy sneaking into the camp."

Lin Jiang nodded. There is nothing to be afraid of natural dangers. This concept did not exist in the era of cultivating immortals. The geographical environment cannot limit the actions of cultivators.

And for warriors, if they reach the level of martial saints, the restrictions of the geographical environment are also very weak. For example, the eastern side of Hangu Pass, the cliffs of dozens of meters, can be easily crossed by martial saints. Natural dangers deal with ordinary people. For

three days, Lin Jiang did not move, and the enemy did not dare to attack actively until Lin Jiang led the team out of the camp.

"There are mountains on both sides of Hangu Pass, and a narrow path in the middle. If you attack from the middle, you will definitely be attacked from both sides, so you have to attack from both sides. Xie Yunfeng, you are already a martial arts grandmaster, you should also lead a team to attack."

"Yes,"

Xie Yunfeng did not disobey. In the past two years with Lin Jiang, he has also asked Lin Jiang for advice. In addition, he has no shortage of resources, and his martial arts skills have advanced from martial arts grandmaster to martial arts grandmaster.

"Which side do you choose?"

"The left side."

"Okay, you take 3,000 elite soldiers, with martial artists above the innate level as the vanguard. Once you attack along the ridge, the soldiers and horses on other hills will definitely cut off your retreat, so the army will follow you continuously. If you encounter a martial saint, send a signal and I will rush over from the other side,"

said Lin Jiang. He didn't know whether the enemy army had a martial saint, so they were all chosen randomly. The two ridges were only a few hundred meters apart, and with Lin Jiang's light skills, he could reach them at will.

The two men agreed to lead a team to climb the mountain. From the beginning, the enemy army began to resist stubbornly, with all kinds of defensive weapons, such as rolling stones, burning fireballs, and arrows, and they tried their best to get down.

Lin Jiang was naturally not able to resist, but the others had to go up little by little with their shields. Lin Jiang used Qinggong to quickly break through the obstacles and cut down all the way.

The terrain of Hangu Pass restricted the attacking party's troops, and also restricted the defenders' troops. After all, the mountain was so big that a few thousand people would be full.

This became a war of attrition, to see who would be unable to hold on first. The lives of both sides were no longer valuable at this time, and people died every hour and every second.

An hour later, Lin Jiang killed his way to the pass, and the Datong army also occupied the mountain on one side, but the enemy was not defeated because of this, and they were still robbing, which completely turned into a battle for control.

"Where is the enemy's center? Find the center."

Lin Jiang knew that Datong had few soldiers and it was not worth it to continue wasting them. He hurried to find the enemy's center and had to use the decapitation tactic.