Today's Yecheng can be described as devastated.

Originally, this city was used as the capital of the kingdom of Qian, and it was built from the Shile period, and it was repeatedly built on the basis of the Wei and Jin dynasties. Although the death of Shile and the civil strife in Karma forced the construction of various palaces and palaces to be suspended, in the years when Shikan was seized here, it also built this place, especially Santai, into a strong military fortress.

Although a large-scale riot broke out in the city due to the unfavorable battle of Shikan, it only collapsed civilly, and at least the foundation of the city defense system with three stations as the core was still retained.

What really brought a devastating blow to this city was the army of the southern thief Xie Ai. Last year, Ma Qiu withdrew due to the defeat in Yecheng due to the unfavorable battle, and the southern thieves carried out a lot of damage to the city, burning everything that could be burned and everything that could be demolished.

Some bulky stones are not easy to destroy, on the one hand, they are directly filled in the surrounding water sources, rivers and other places, and on the other hand, they are carried and picked up by the powerful and chaotic people to build dock walls.

Even the majestic Santai was seriously damaged, and later when Shi Hu personally led the army to Yecheng, the army could only sleep in the suburbs, which made Shi Hu, who had a deep affection for Yecheng, angry, and almost killed Ma Qiu, who was unfavorable in battle!

But the destruction of the city itself is not the most serious, and the most hateful thing about the southern thieves is the destruction of the water sources around Yecheng. Almost all the open wells were buried by earth and rock, and under the rubble, a large amount of human and animal feces, corpses and other filth were watered and landfilled.

This poisonous plan was nothing in autumn and winter, but after the spring floor heating, the surrounding water became bitter and undrinkable, and even a plague of considerable scale broke out in the army, which completely abolished the thousands of soldiers and more cattle and horses of the army.

The city can be rebuilt after it is destroyed, it is nothing more than to invest more manpower and materials, Yecheng is regarded as a meritorious base by Shi Hu, and when he withdrew to Xiangguo last year, he ordered that the city must be built in good condition, and a number of henchmen were stationed here.

However, the destruction of the water source made people helpless, because Shi Hu was afraid of ruining the gas and refused to choose a place to rebuild Yecheng, so before the large-scale construction of the city, it was necessary to dig several nullahs to bring Zhangshui, and then cut down giant trees from Zhongshan, Julu and other places to transfer here.

So even though it's been months since the last big battle, Yecheng is still in a state of chaos and ruins. There are tens of thousands of troops nominally stationed here, but in fact, the real combat strength is only the thousands of cavalry commanded by Ma Qiu, and the others are only hard labor.

In addition, there are large and small dock walls in the suburbs, and most of these dock walls are eaten by thieves who took advantage of the situation earlier. The reason why it was not exterminated was actually because it was intended to be cultivated first. Originally, Ma Qiu was going to wait until the autumn to harvest a stubble, and gather people and goods enough for winter.

But now, a more pressing problem is in front of us, and that is the anomenies that are happening in the south. Ma Qiu is not a brave and unscrupulous man, especially in the early years when Shi Hu was defeated and returned to China, he made great contributions in the process of cleaning up all forces in Hebei, otherwise Shi Hu would not have arranged him to be in Yecheng alone to defend the enemy in the south.

Although the large number of casualties among the scouts made the military situation in the south chaotic, Ma Qiu could more or less guess the intention of the southern thieves, which was nothing more than taking advantage of the convenient summer weather to hunt for another military feat. After all, Ma Qiu himself has such an idea, but his launch time is scheduled to be winter.

Therefore, after perceiving the anomaly in the south, Ma Qiu on the one hand summoned and contacted the surrounding wandering forces to investigate the details, and on the other hand, he sent people to report to Xiangguo quickly, asking Shi Hu to give instructions, and did not dare to be arbitrary.

Although the southern thieves invite people to buy with huge goods, if it comes to real prestige, it is actually better in the country of Qian. In particular, although Paul was in the crowd, it was difficult to distinguish between loyalty and treachery, so there was a lot of duplicity between the two places.

There are even many positions that are more inclined to the kingdom of Qian, and the king's order has been extinct in Hebei for more than ten years, and the so-called Wang Shi is nothing more than a strong dragon in transit in the eyes of many Hebei people. They may also accept the fetters of the fangtou's banner orders, but more often they are greedy for profit and unwilling to be the precursor death squad of the war between the two countries.

Therefore, not long after Ma Qiu's summoning order was issued, many scattered power leaders also arrived at the slave army camp located on the outskirts of Yecheng. Some of these people are lucky pawns, some are the remnants of Shikan's old generals, and of course, the surrounding local tyrants are indispensable.

In the face of Ma Qiu's inquiry, these people did not have too much nervousness, and there were even many people who had a lot of contempt for the Nanren: "The people of the Nanyu do not practice bows and knives, and they have been bullying in the past, but they are just too weak and incompetent." Now that the land of Hebei is under the control of the Heavenly King, what kind of madness do they dare to make? ”

"Yes, as soon as the army of the Heavenly King was moved, the southern captives retreated to cross the river, and even Fangtou, Liyang and other places were only due to water conservancy, and the back road was worry-free before they were temporarily stayed. Since he ruled the town, he didn't even dare to sneak out the scouts, because he was worried that he would be surrounded and killed by my Hebei heroes. So that Jun Wanqi is here, and there are villagers such as us wandering in the wilderness to respond, and the southern captives dare to have any big plans! ”

When Ma Qiu heard these boring words, he didn't take it to heart, but just snorted coldly and said: "There is no need to hide some things, recently, most of the scouts in my department have been hunted outside." I think you all know why. Although the people of Hebei are many strong, but the southern thieves have plotted against the public, but the world has been greatly corrupted, and many traitors have been tempted by profits, abandoning the idea of loyalty and righteousness, and they want to kill me with a blade for the thief. I have summoned you here today to ask you to tell the countryside, no matter who is involved here, the army will destroy the door in the coming day, and there will be no chickens and dogs left in the court! ”

When everyone heard this, their faces changed slightly, and then they all said that they had absolutely nothing to do with it, and there was no shortage of people who were indignant: "Nanyu is just a group of gutless bandits, in the early years, Liu thief suddenly abandoned the king and abandoned the country and fled to raze the land. Now that they are coming from the north, they are still trying to suppress the heroes with the crowd and the abundance of goods, and we also hate such thieves who have humiliated the country, and if the power is slightly matched, they will go out with the envoy to chase the thief! ”

"I am used by the Lord, and all the heroes are here, and it is my duty to kill the enemy and eliminate evil, so why invite the people."

Ma Qiu didn't think about treating others in his own way at first, but the problem was that the southern thief was rich and rich, and hired murderers to besiege and kill the scouts he sent.

Even if he wants to fight back, the only thing he can hunt and kill in the wild is those Hebei murderers without harming the southerners. And if you really want to retaliate so much, it will undoubtedly exacerbate the rift with these villagers.

In previous years, when the country unified the north, it was difficult to put an end to the existence of these bandits and chaos, but now that there are southerners in Hebei who directly provide them with material support, they will naturally be more unscrupulous.

"When you can come to see me today, it can be seen that you still have the idea of loyalty, which is by no means different from those traitors in the countryside. Empty words are hard to reward, those traitors who plot to kill the villagers can be funded by the southern thieves, and you abide by benevolence and righteousness but have to live a hard life. The world is so unjust that even me, a bystander, is resentful. ”

Ma Qiu continued to say in a deep voice: "Now that most of our army scouts are hunted, even if the army is dispatched, I don't know where the traitors are hiding, if they attack Zhongliang by mistake, it will inevitably ruin the nostalgia even more." Therefore, I would like to ask you to be your eyes and ears for a while, to examine the places where the traitors are in the country, and to obtain their goods and goods, and then to share them with you. It's not that he's greedy for money, it's just that he can't bear the injustice of the world! ”

When everyone heard Ma Qiu say this, they were stunned for a moment, and then their hearts welled up with ecstasy. What Ma Qiu meant by this was that he planned to carry out a purge of Hebei, especially south of Yecheng, giving priority to cutting off the forces that were too involved with the southerners, and giving them the right to choose.

This is equivalent to saying that they can use the power of Ma Qiu to sweep away dissidents happily!

In fact, similar things about military and bandit cooperation have not been unheard of before, especially in the early stage of Shi Zhao's growth, Shi Le himself has grown from the bandits in the cracks to become the king of a country.

Of course, everyone present may not have such great ambitions, but even if they are more inclined to the country in their hearts, they all feel that the current state of confrontation between the north and the south is the most beneficial to them.

Previously, Ma Qiu was angry that the scout was hunted, and everyone present said that it was not involved in the matter, but in fact, most of them were involved. After all, the scouts roam the countryside and do not have a fixed haunting route at all, and these forces that are more closely related to the country of Qiang are more convenient to know the traces of the scouts of the country.

Therefore, most of the scouts lost by the kingdom in the recent period were contributed by them. It is rare that the southerners are bold and generous, and spend a huge amount of money to buy the head of the scout of the country of Qian, and they can do it, if they don't do it, it will be really stupid. No matter which side you lean on, strengthening yourself first is the top priority.

Now that Ma Qiu wants to return the color, they can use this opportunity to eliminate those potential opponents and gain a more left-right position.

And they weren't worried that Ma Qiu would turn around and kill them, because it was clear that the Nanren's several strongholds in Hebei could not be easily defeated, and as long as this state of confrontation still existed, there was value in their existence. Even if Ma Qiu's elite cavalry is strong, he doesn't have to rely on their strength, but the southerners need it!

So after weighing the pros and cons a little, everyone spoke up one after another, providing Ma Qiu with a target for killing. Among them, the most frequently mentioned is Xiang Jian of Hewu, Xiang Jian himself is an old bandit, with high qualifications and great power, and he is in the best state of operation under the wings of the southerners, and there is a tendency to become the spokesperson of the southerners in this regard, and there are many suppression of others.

Whether it is out of its own interests and development prospects, or new and old grudges, there is no doubt that thrift is a very worthy goal. Especially recently, there are many signs of collecting goods from Fangtou to Hewu, and once the dock wall is overcome, the income will be rich.

Hearing everyone's discussions, Ma Qiu just sneered. These bandits may not lack the wisdom to make a living, but after all, they are limited to the pattern of vision, and they try to seek big things with small things.

But whether it is him or the southerners, how can they allow them to wander away for a long time, now he is temporarily using his people as his eyes and ears, and when the initiative falls back into his hands, how can he be at the mercy of these thieves!

Last year, he was defeated by Xie Ai in Yecheng, and was almost beheaded by the Lord to vent his anger, and now he has been humiliated again, and there are many grievances, how can he be willing to be satisfied with killing a mere thief!