The laughter and commotion ended, and the meal was finished.
The wicked husband then asked, "You rushed over here in such a hurry, could it be just to freeload a meal and talk about a raise?"
Li Balang probably understood what a pay rise meant, so he quickly shook his head and said, "It was Le Ye and Tie Niu who sent back the message."
"The remaining Wei soldiers in the nine cities have all surrendered, numbering approximately thirty to forty thousand!"
"Now, the entire Hedong Commandery is under the jurisdiction of my Qin state."
Upon hearing this, the wicked man was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "What about the common people? What about the people of these nine cities?"
"Some people don't want to, but ultimately, most want to join the Qin state."
Li Balang chuckled and then said, "Those who don't want to join Qin have no choice. Le Ye gave them a choice: if they don't want to join Qin, then they should leave Hedong County."
"Having lived half my life here, how many people are willing to leave?"
"Furthermore, our plan to merge land tax with poll tax... heh."
The wicked man's face showed disbelief. This was done so easily?
"Could it be... that no one left?"
"Of course there are. Hedong Commandery borders Qin, and it became a battlefield every time there was a major battle. There must be people who harbor resentment."
According to the messages sent by Le Ye and his group, about 60,000 to 70,000 people left the entire Hedong County, while more than 300,000 remained.
The wicked man breathed a sigh of relief; that was more like it. If they had all stayed, he would have had to think things over carefully; perhaps he was also the chosen one.
Seeing him sigh, Li Balang mistakenly thought he was reluctant to part with the Wei people who had left, and quickly tried to comfort the wicked husband.
The wicked man shook his head and laughed, "If they're leaving, they're leaving, saving us the trouble."
"Oh?" Li Balang looked somewhat bewildered.
The wicked man explained, "We came here to make a fortune, but instead of making a fortune, we took a large amount of land and people."
"Not only has the pressure not been relieved, but it has actually increased. Those who leave will receive less land, while those who stay will receive more."
"But... what should we do next?"
As the wicked husband spoke, he fell into deep thought, and the matter left him confused.
Ultimately, he made a fortune, profiting from the land and the population.
In reality, the pressure on our food supplies has increased. Since it's now part of our own land, we can't keep exploiting it forever, can we?
Everyone must be treated equally!
Hedong County has a good geographical location, with a large amount of arable land, fertile soil, and good grain yield. However, after reducing the number of people to feed by 300,000, the remaining grain will not play a significant role.
According to the evil man's estimate, even if he were to die in the disaster, he could only evenly provide for 200,000 disaster victims.
After all... crops aren't something you can harvest immediately after planting.
This made him look worried.
Li Balang also fell into deep thought, following his husband's words, but soon his eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "General, why don't we continue to advance outwards?"
"Wei has flat terrain and its arable land is no less than ours, so why don't we continue the war?"
"Who knows... we might be able to destroy the Wei Kingdom in one battle."
Judging from the current situation, the Qin army is advancing rapidly, and the Wei state has been slow to react. It is unknown where the reinforcements have gone.
Seeing that the wicked husband was somewhat tempted, Li Balang quickly analyzed, "General, although the Wei reinforcements have not arrived, the more this is the case, the more it shows how much importance they attach to it."
"The reinforcements that have come this time must be the elite of Wei."
"If we can defeat them, will anyone in Wei be able to stop us?"
"We now have 150,000 troops available for battle. Apart from the negligible losses in the attack on Anyi City, we have also added tens of thousands of Wei soldiers."
"With nearly 200,000 troops and the Black Dragon Armored Army stationed there, no matter how elite they are, they will only be sent to their deaths if they come."
The wicked man's eyes gradually brightened; Li Balang's calculations were indeed correct.
He was always decisive, and immediately nodded and said, "In that case, let's send a message to Yue Ye and the others to meet in Pingyang."
Pingyang is located at the easternmost part of Hedong Commandery, adjacent to Chenliu Commandery, where the Wei Kingdom is located. The reinforcements sent by King Xi of Wei will inevitably pass through Pingyang before entering Hedong.
Now that Hedong is entirely in Qin's hands, to prevent the people of Wei who have just surrendered from becoming unstable and causing trouble.
Li Balang naturally understood the wicked husband's thoughts, and immediately stood up and said solemnly, "General, I'll go first to arrange the miscellaneous matters."
"Go ahead, but don't overwork yourself," the wicked husband reminded her.
......
The next morning.
The wicked man led three thousand Black Dragon Armored Soldiers away amidst the farewells of the people of Anyi City, heading to Pingyang to join the main army.
The messenger had already set off last night to avoid delaying the rendezvous time.
The Black Dragon Armored Army moved extremely fast, arriving in Pingyang City in just one and a half days.
The wicked man thought he must have arrived first, but he never expected that Le Ye and his three companions had already been waiting there with a large army.
"General, you've arrived."
The wicked man helped the group up and laughed, "You came with a large army, yet you're faster than the Black Dragon Armored Army?"
Upon hearing this, the four exchanged a smile.
Le Ye explained, "Pingyang is our last stop. When we received the general's message, we had just subdued Pingyang, so we waited here."
"I expected... that the general would come here!"
These words caused Li Balang to burst into laughter.
"Brother Le, have you seen through it all?"
"Haha, Brother Ba Liang, it was just a sudden inspiration."
The two immediately burst into laughter, leaving Erniu and Chun Ning completely bewildered.
The wicked husband said with exasperation, "You two... what am I supposed to say to you? When are you going to get a grip on your brains?"
The two scratched their heads awkwardly, secretly resolving that after their triumphant return, they would definitely find someone to teach them to read and write.
"Le Ye, now that you've seen through it all, why don't you make some preparations?" The wicked husband shifted his gaze to Le Ye, his eyes filled with scrutiny.
Le Ye smiled and said in a deep voice, "About 200,000 troops have been dispatched and are already in ambush at suitable locations. We are just waiting for Wei Wang Xi's reinforcements to arrive."
"Then I won't ask any more questions. Just have the Black Dragon Armored Army stationed in the city as bait." The wicked man didn't ask any more questions, giving Le Ye his full trust.
This really touched Le Ye.
......
On the other side.
On the chariot, Xu Jia asked, "General Sun Zheng, have you thought of a strategy to annihilate the Qin army?"
A hint of impatience flashed in Sun Zheng's eyes. He wished he could just take a knife and chop Xu Jia, who knew nothing but liked to point fingers.
However, this man was a trusted confidant of King Xi of Wei, and he dared not truly offend him, since his narrow-mindedness was known throughout the court.
"Let's send people from Pingyang to Hedong to gather information before making a decision," Sun Zheng offered a very pertinent suggestion.
However, Xu Jia was not satisfied and pretended to be stern, saying, "General Sun is a general appointed by the King. How can you not even have a plan and try to fob me off with this?"
Sun Zheng remained silent, ignoring Xu Jia, which infuriated Xu Jia, who secretly vowed never to give him an opportunity.
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