That's right. After completing the army's assembly calmly after spending more than twenty days, he deliberately chose to send troops south to attack the Wulian Han army on July 14th. Chen Can targeted the issue of Wulian autumn grain harvest.

This is also a choice that is too correct to be no longer correct. The number one in the seven counties of Jingke is Wu Lian, who ranks last in the population, money and grain. Zhang Zhi's brain was in the water and brain nerve cramps and expanded his army wildly, which not only seriously affected Wu Lian's grain production work, but also greatly increased his own grain consumption burden. If the autumn grain cannot be harvested and replenished, it will not take long, and the soldiers in the Ke County will not even need to take action. Even hungry can starve Zhang Zhi and Wu Lian Han army to death!

Well, according to common sense, this should be true.

Therefore, Chen Can chose to send troops on July 14th, and planned to take about ten days to drive the army to the city of Wulian, and then build a solid camp in deep ditches and high avenues to block the Wulian Han army in the city. At the same time, he issued an edict to the Wulian townships, so that the local tyrants who had firmly supported the troops of Jingke County before obeyed their orders and commands, and handed over the autumn grain harvested in early August to the county soldiers, so that the troops of Jingke County could eat from the enemy and completely crush the Wulian Han army's dream of collecting grain and supply!

Then, our Chen Can and the Prefect Chen didn't even have to attack the city. As long as we brought the soldiers of the Kyuke County to eat hot pot and sing songs in the camp, we could enjoy the peace of mind that the Han military rations were all gone. Zhang Zhi, who had been assuming the chariot, was captured in front of the Prefect Chen and offered prisoners and surrendered.

As for the legendary instant noodles issue, let’s not talk about whether this legend is a rumor. Even if Zhang Zhi really has any bullshit instant noodles, how long can it take for the Wulian Han army and the people in Wulian City to eat? Could it be that Zhang Zhi is a god who can call the wind and rain, sprinkle beans into soldiers, and create a lot of instant noodles out of thin air? Just think about it and know that it is impossible!

The plan was perfect and he was very cautious. In order to ensure that the rebellion was pacified and not restrained, Chen Can learned the lesson of underestimating the enemy in the last time, almost all the strength of Jingke County was organized and organized an army of nearly 2,000 people in 19 garrisons to launch this southern expedition. Among the 19 garrisons, five were the standing troops of the county seat of Qilan (including the defeated soldiers who fled back to Qilan), and the four garrisons were regular troops stationed in the main grain producing area of ​​Jingke (Zunyi). All of them were well-equipped, well-trained, and with a combat effectiveness far exceeding the elite troops of Wujiao's Han army.

According to common sense, this should be true.

The other ten county soldiers and garrisons also have extraordinary origins. Although they were only county soldiers drawn by Chen Can from the other four counties of Jingke, they were all the main forces of county soldiers trained in the battle with the nobles and soldiers of the Yi people. Any one team can compete with the core backbone of Wulian Han Army, and their overall strength has an overwhelming advantage.

Of course, if the physical changes caused by sufficient calories and salt to the Wulian Han Army were not considered, this should still be true.

After a lot of preparations, according to the original plan, on the morning of July 14th, Chen Can first arranged for Cao Luo, the sir to lead the remaining guards of Qilan, and then said goodbye to his wife and children. Then he led nearly two thousand soldiers of the sir to set off south, taking his confidant Liu Huan as the vanguard, and came towards Wu Lian with a fierce attack.

During his journey south, he inherited Zhuge Liang's strategic tradition of attacking the heart in the Nanzhong region, Chen Can also sent several envoys to go south early to contact the powerful people in Wulian, tempting to reduce and exempt half of the taxes, money and grain for Wulian, and persuaded Wulian, who had land, to obey his orders and commands, refused to pay money and grain taxes to Zhang Zhi, organized the people to collect autumn grain, and then paid the food tax directly to the soldiers of Jingke County to reduce his logistics burden, and also allowed the soldiers of Jingke County to be surrounded for a long time and would definitely not defend the Wulian Han army.

Then, after entering Wulian territory for five days, Chen Can was stunned to confirm the rumors he had heard before - the Han army actually exempted a lot of taxes to the Wulian people, and really allowed Wulian people to pay taxes with some worthless broken wood. Only then did he realize that because of Zhang Zhi's policy of light taxes and slimming taxes, Wulian's powerful tyrants not only no longer hated the Han army, but on the contrary, they also tended to support the Han army. This is not surprising, who doesn't want the taxes they bear to be lighter?

"Is Zhang Zhi's son crazy or stupid?"

Chen Can screamed with wide eyes, "I actually exempted children from tuition money, reduced half of the capitation tax to adult men and women, and exempted 20% of the land tax, and then allowed the people to use broken wood to pay 50% of the land tax! The tax tax and land tax were reduced so low that he and his rebel soldiers did not eat, drink or wear? I thought it was just a rumor, and this crazy child actually gave me realization!"

"If the heaven wants to die, it will make it crazy!" Bo Zengkai, the confidant leader who followed the army to fight, threw out a famous saying of Lao Tzu and sneered: "Zhang Zhi'er knew that he was going against the will of heaven. As long as Wu Zong people had a little rationality, he would definitely not support him and rebel. Therefore, he reduced taxes and exempted taxes at all costs, trying to win the hearts of the people, let Wu Zong people use it for him, and also gave him the opportunity to struggle dyingly."

"Little Master, I care about my head and tail." Chen Can cursed hatefully: "He is comfortable and happy to reduce taxes. In the end, I have to wipe his butt for him. After he did this, we really don't know how much we have to spend to collect money, grain and taxes as usual."

"Don't worry, the prefect." Zeng Kai comforted: "Zhang Zhi'er just announced his tax exemption law. Before we could implement it, we just need to quickly capture him and kill him, and then restore the old law."

Chen Can nodded helplessly, and after a little calculation, Chen Can made up his mind and said, "Go south as usual, and at the same time, he issued an edict to Wujiao's township to announce that Zhang Zhi's son had long been deprived of his official position. His official documents and laws were invalid. Wujiao's money, grain and taxes in various places were only reduced by half this year. Whoever refuses to pay half of the money, grain and taxes will be considered according to the law!"

Although Chen Can's order was for the long-term peace and stability of Wu Lian, he was destined to offend the powerful people in various villages of Wu Lian. In addition, when the soldiers of Wu Lian fled, they looted many Wu Lian villages and offended countless people along the way. Therefore, after the soldiers of Wu Lian continued to move south, the people of Wu Lian along the way not only did not carry pots and slurry to welcome the king's army, but also fled one after another, which resulted in the soldiers of Wu Lian on the way to the south that could not be replenished on the ground, and there was no civil servant to share the transportation pressure. At the same time, they basically became blind and deaf. It was difficult to collect useful information related to the Han army, and they could not know themselves and the enemy. The understanding of the Han army was basically the case with the county soldiers during the last southern expedition.

Fortunately, they were not strong enough, their troops were precious, and the tolerance rate of the war was pitifully small. Zhang Zhi and Wu Lian Han army did not dare to use any narrow mountain roads to make trouble in the field. Therefore, after ten days of difficult trek, nearly two thousand Kejun soldiers arrived at the city of Wu Lian, and still established a camp outside the city of Wu Lian, which was the easiest to advance to attack the city.

It was still at this time that Chen Can and the soldiers of the Jingke County realized how crazy the Han army had already carried out. Under the Wulian city, sharp bamboo thorns were densely packed, posing countless hidden dangers and threats to the soldiers and ants attached to the county; beside the moat that was dredged and deepened, the bamboo antlers and horses were solid and neat, blocking the soldiers of the Jingke County. On the Wulian city after repair and reinforcement, the flags were neat and swords and guns were like forests, and a famous Han army soldier stood like a mountain, ready to welcome the enemy's invasion at any time.

"It's hard to fight, and we attack head-on. Even if we have the hope of taking down the city, we don't know how much time it will take or how many soldiers will be killed or injured."

This was a consensus conclusion between Chen Can and Zeng Kai. Su Ding, who had been demoted to Qu General, was also quietly glad that the Han army was not prepared enough when he came to attack the city last time and did not make such perfect and sufficient preparations to defend the city.

"Prince, Zhang Zhi's rebels are well prepared and attacked head-only. Even if our army wins, there will be a lot of casualties. The best way is to attack the heart." Zeng Kai made a suggestion: "It is recommended that we send an eloquent envoy to the city with a letter to announce to Zhang Zhi'er and his followers your magnanimity and righteousness, and try our best to persuade Zhang Zhi'er to open the city and surrender. At the same time, we can also take the opportunity to understand the situation in the city and know ourselves and the enemy, so that our army can adapt to local conditions and adopt appropriate tactics to attack the city and break the enemy."

"Miao Ce." Chen Can nodded immediately, then asked the Chinese civil servants in the tent: "Who dares to enter the city to persuade them to surrender? Take the opportunity to peek at the enemy's situation?"

If he didn't understand Zhang Zhi's personality and temper, no one dared to take risks. Zeng Kai hesitated for a moment and then said, "Prince, since this idea is made by his subordinates, let me go."

"You?" Chen Can said, "Are you not afraid that Zhang Zhi would jump to the wall if he was anxious? It would be bad for you?"

"I am not afraid." Zeng Kai replied confidently: "I have learned about the situation from our soldiers who had not been constrained in the south. Although Zhang Zhi'er was driving a chariot and was walking against the sky, he was generally very lawful. County Prince Xue issued a reward for his head at the city, but he did not order the arrows to shoot. Moreover, we had treated his messenger well before, and I expected that he would also repay his favor and treat his subordinates with courtesy."

Considering that Zhang Zhi was kind to the family and remains of the county soldiers, and was eager to understand the situation in the city, Chen Can nodded and agreed to Zeng Kai's volunteering, and then wrote a letter of persuasion to surrender, asking Zeng Kai to take him out of the camp, take the white flag to call the city under Wulian City, loudly reveal his identity, and request to enter the city directly to meet Zhang Zhi.

After waiting for a while at the Wulian South Gate, the Han army soldiers opened a crack and told Zeng Kai that Zhang Zhi agreed to him enter the city to meet. However, after Zeng Kai plucked up the courage to walk into the Wulian South Gate, the Han army soldiers stopped him again, took out a black cloth and said, "Zeng Zhubo, I'm really sorry, our Zhang Mingting has an explanation that for our city defense and security, you must blind your eyes and then take you to the county temple to meet him."

Unexpectedly, Zhang Zhihui made this move. Zeng Kai, who wanted to take the opportunity to peek into the situation in the city, was inevitably disappointed. However, the person had already entered the city and his life was at his disposal. Zeng Kai could only pretend to be free and easy and let the Han army soldiers cover his eyes with black cloth, then got into the car prepared by the Han army soldiers for him, and rushed to Wulian County Temple in the dark to meet Zhang Zhi.

I don’t know how long I walked in the car. When the car finally stopped, Zeng Kai was first helped by the Han army soldiers and walked into Wulian County Temple. After hearing the gate of the county temple was closed, the black cloth on his eyes was finally untied by the Han army soldiers, allowing him to see clearly the internal situation of Wulian County Temple.

As Zeng Kai imagined, the famously poor Wulian County Temple was indeed short and small, and was full of old-fashioned--it was so poor that even the tiles on the eaves were missing. At the same time, the soldiers and servants in the yard were extremely unruly. In the sky and the sun was blue, and more than ten soldiers and servants were gathered together to sit on the ground and drink. Seeing their companions escorting Zeng Kai in, a soldier raised the wine bowl to the Han army soldiers who escorted Zeng Kai and greeted him: "Brother, come here to drink a few bowls?"

"If you have something to do, you can drink it yourself." The Han army soldiers who escorted Zeng Kai replied, and said, "Drink less, it's broad daylight. If you get drunk, you will get beaten."

"Can soldiers and servants drink with ease? Or drink openly in the county temple in broad daylight?"

Zeng Kai, who was meticulous, was surprised and quickly looked at the wine bowl in the hand of the Han soldier, and immediately found something wrong - the liquid in the bowl was clear and transparent, not like the rice wine that should have been turbid. Zeng Kai's smile immediately appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he thought to himself: "I'm afraid I'm drinking it for me on purpose, so that I can drink it as much as I can."

Although he noticed this detail, Zeng Kai did not say anything. He just allowed the Han army soldiers to lead the way through the hall and enter the backyard of Wulian County Temple. He was led to a room door. Zhang Zhi's personal soldiers who came up to greet him said, "Zeng Master Bo, please, please, we Zhang Mingting are waiting for you inside."

Then, after walking into the dark, narrow room with closed windows calmly, Zeng Kai, who had a keen sense of smell, immediately found that there was a faint smell of medicine in the room. He saw a young man in regular clothes sitting behind a desk, standing next to him a military general wearing two armored armor, and an old man in a low-level official uniform. On the desk in front of the young man, there were a lot of wine and food.

The opened door quickly closed, making the already dim room even more dim. The young man sitting behind the desk finally spoke and bowed and said, "Zeng Zhuo, the lower official is Zhang Zhi, the lower official is here. The lower official is busy with official duties and fails to go out to greet him. If there is any rudeness, please forgive me for your crime."

"You are polite to Ming Court." Zeng Kai bowed and returned the greeting and said with a smile: "I heard about Zhang Ming Court's reputation for a long time. Today I was lucky to see him with my own eyes. Zeng's trip is worth it."

"You are polite, you are the master of Bo." Zhang Zhi smiled reluctantly, and pointed to the military general next to him and said, "Zeng Zhubo, let me introduce you to you that this general is General Fu Gongfu, the general of the Han army, our Wulian army, General Fu Gongfu, and this elder is Mr. Zhang Jiuzhang, our Wulian warehouse cavalry. He is the same clan as his subordinate, and the lower officials respect him as his uncle."

Zeng Kai quickly saluted Fu Gong and Zhang Ju, and Zhang Ju returned the salutation politely. But Fu Gong said in a big way: "Zeng Master Bo, we know what you are here to persuade Chen Can to surrender? If this is the case, please don't have to speak. The military, civilian and officials in the city of Wu Lian have already made up their minds to live and die with Wu Lian. If the city is there, the city is there and the city is dead, and the city is dead, and the people will never surrender to you Wei people who shamelessly betrayed the Han Dynasty."

"General Fu is very pleased, but General Fu and Zhang Mingting, do you think about it carefully?"

Zeng Kaiqiang smiled and then showed off his eloquence. While taking out Chen Can's handwritten letter to Zhang Zhi, he talked endlessly to understand the reason and emotion, and tried his best to persuade Zhang Zhi, Fu Gong and others not to be chariots, hit rocks with eggs, and kidnap the Wulian soldiers and civilians to bury him. At the same time, he also tried his best to describe the various beautiful scenes after the Wulian Han army opened the city and surrendered, and urged Zhang Zhishun to respond to others and make the right choice.

Zeng Kai was secretly surprised. No matter how he said it was, it was only Fu Gong and Zhang Jiu who retorted, repeatedly expressing their attitude and never surrendered. Zhang Zhi never said a word. He also picked up the wine bowl in front of him and drank it in small mouthfuls several times, not knowing what he was thinking. Zeng Kai couldn't help but feel suspicious and said to himself: "Why didn't Zhang Zhi's son say anything? Also, how could there be a smell of medicine in this room?"

At this time, a sudden change occurred, and a voice suddenly came from outside the room, saying loudly: "You reported to the Ming court, the grain warehouse has just arrived. Because there is too much grain accumulation, it collapsed and broke the door of our grain warehouse."

"I understand." Zhang Zhi finally spoke, and said in a difficult voice: "In a while, I will let my uncle deal with it."

After saying that, Zhang Zhi opened his mouth and coughed, then quickly picked up the wine bowl in front of him to block his mouth, and then barely curbed his cough. Zhang Ju next to him also quickly apologized: "Ming court forgives the crime, because I am not in charge of the granary and did not strengthen the warehouse gate in time. I will deal with it later."

Zhang Zhi nodded with a bowl of mouth, then looked up at Fu Gong again. Fu Gong understood and hurriedly said: "Zeng Master Bo, don't say much. Our attitude is very clear, we just swear not to surrender! Please go back and tell Chen Can, just say something to be smart, and quickly retreat to Qilan. Otherwise, once our Han army goes out of the city to attack, he will definitely capture him alive!"

"Zeng Zhubo, I'm really sorry, please come back." Zhang Jiu also spoke, saying with a sound outside: "I have to hurry to deal with the granary. It's all because our Ming court is too generous. He exchanged a bucket of grain for the people with two packs of instant noodles. He collected too much grain and could not even hold it in the warehouse."

"You think this official is an idiot?" Zeng Kai almost laughed and said to himself: "Not to mention that you haven't had time to harvest autumn grain into the warehouse yet. Even if you have already collected the grain, don't trap such a ghost place. Can there be more grain to break the warehouse?"

He slandered his slander, but after Fu Gong and Zhang Ju repeatedly asked, Zeng Kai could only say goodbye and leave. As a result, just as before he came, he had just walked to the gate of Wulian County Temple, and the Han soldiers forced Zeng Kai to cover his eyes with black cloth, not allowing Zeng Kai to see the scene in the city. Zeng Kai also sneered in his heart and said in his heart: "I deliberately did not let me see the situation in the city. I am afraid I was worried that I would see the starving scene in Wulian City?"

This is true. After the county temple gate opened, he was supported by the Han soldiers and walked a few steps. Zeng Kai heard some women and children crying not far away, "June, give us some food, we are almost starving to death."

"Mr. Jun, I haven't eaten anything for a few days. Please give me some food."

"Mom, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I want to eat."

"Get out! Get out! Get out! Drive all these stinky people away!" This was the roar of the Han soldiers who escorted Zeng Kai.

…………

After Zhang Zhi sent Zeng Kai away, Fu Gong of course immediately asked Zhang Zhi: "Ming Court, how about it? Can you deceive Chen Can and lure him to launch a siege? "

"It is impossible. With the lessons of Su Ding's husband, Chen Can will never repeat the same mistake. My purpose of doing this is not to lure him to launch a siege in a hasty attack."

Zhang Zhi shook his head and said calmly: "The purpose of my doing this is to prevent Chen Can from using formal siege tactics to attack our weaknesses of insufficient crossbows and single weapons to defend the city. He is to induce him to choose the most favorable tactics of confrontation and food consumption. As long as he chooses this way, don't force us to fight offensive and attritional wars. We will have the opportunity to defeat the strong with the weak."
Chapter completed!