Chapter 140 What kind of aristocratic family are you? They are nothing but livestock of my Li family!
After the negotiations broke down, Wu Wei and others knelt down and surrendered to avoid being stabbed in the neck.

The Wu family in the fort still wanted to resist, and their support was this sturdy fortress which was as big as a village.

Li Junmin acted quickly and tied the two wooden ladders together with ropes.

Everyone has witnessed the great power of the general. As long as the general climbs up the wall of the fort, the Wu family fort will be destroyed.

After the civilians were ready, the rebels sent out armored men, holding shields and braving the barrage of crossbows and longbows, to approach the wall of the fort. They set up a ladder for the general and held down the foot of the ladder to prevent the people in the fort from overturning the ladder.

"Don't worry, bro. We will be guarding the door until it's broken."

Li Lian shouted with murderous intent, and his longbowmen and crossbowmen were shooting arrows at the corner towers at the four corners of the fort to suppress the enemy's arrows.

These large forts were often built much more elaborately than those in the county towns. The entrances and exits were built with door walls similar to those in a city wall, blocking the main entrance to prevent the enemy from rushing in in large numbers and breaking down the door with battering rams.

Li Hao laughed, holding a knife in his left hand and a halberd in his right hand, and strode towards the wooden ladder.

Four or five armored soldiers holding shields stood in front of the general.

On a watchtower in the fortress, the fortress master Wu Zhi waved his arms, wishing he could run to the two corner towers and shoot arrows.

"Quick, shoot at thief Li. If you are late, everything will be over."

Compared with the military officials in the county, the private soldiers of the fortress owner are better equipped, with longbows, horn bows, and pointed bows, as well as a large number of crossbows and horn crossbows.

Normally, ordinary refugees and rebels could not withstand the arrows shot by the private soldiers of the fort, but the Li gang outside the fort were different. There were hundreds of armored soldiers, and the rest of the unarmored swordsmen only needed to hide far away and wait for the bandit leader, who could still kill the enemy even after being shot by ten arrows, to break into the fort.

Unfortunately, the archers of the Wu's fort were not very skilled, and they couldn't even shoot away the bandits who were holding the ladder for the bandit leader. Wu Zhi watched helplessly as the bandit leader, oh no, his great general of the universe, popped up from outside the fort wall and then climbed over.

At this moment, he finally recalled the horrific events that had been circulating in recent days, as well as the humiliation suffered by the Zhang family members who had resisted to the end after being captured by the general.

The private soldiers were just ordinary sword-wielding soldiers, with less than 20% of them wearing armor, and some of them didn't even have shields. Even if Wu's private soldiers attacked together, they would probably just save a few hundred mouths to feed.

What's more, the private soldiers did not want to die for the Wu family, so they rushed to surrender and led the way for the general to find the Wu clan members in the fortress.

"How dare you! It's not your turn to surrender. Put down your swords and spears and welcome the general into the fort!"

The fortress lord Wu Zhi ran down from the watchtower with his guards. He first majestically rebuked the private soldiers and servants who were about to surrender, then ran to the general and knelt down with a smile.

"My name is Zhi, and I am the commander of this fort. I am willing to surrender my entire fort to the general and never rebel again."

Wu Zhixian introduced himself to Wen Zou Zou, then turned around and put on a rather ferocious face, and ordered the tribesmen and servants in the castle to bring up the prepared gifts.

Li Hao ordered the surrendered soldiers to open the fort so that the rebel army could enter smoothly.

"This is a member of the Zhang family. Please make your decision, General." Wu Zhi stared at the general, as if waiting for praise.

The Zhang family members who fled to the Wu's Fort were actually tied up by Wu Zhi's men, waiting to be surrendered after the fort was breached.

The Zhang family members obviously did not expect that their own relatives had long been planning to capture them and hand them over to the rebels. They were all furious and their eyes were bloodshot.

If these Zhang clan members were untied at this moment, Wu Zhineng would be bitten to death.

This was not enough, another 28-year-old woman in a skirt was brought up.

"This is my daughter, Wu Xianying, who is willing to serve the general as his concubine."

Except for Wu Zhi's most beautiful daughter, the rest of the gifts that had been prepared earlier were also carried up by Wu's servants.

Seeing the rebel soldiers entering the fort one after another, the owner of the fort became anxious. He kept making various promises, and even promised to buy General Li the position of Leping County Magistrate, just asking the rebels to keep his fort and land.

"What kind of nobles are they? They are just the livestock of our Li family."

Li Lian was overjoyed when he came in. These animals raised by the gentry were white and fat. Although they were not good at work, they were still strong. If they were taken to the mountains of Leping County, they would be qualified livestock.

The rebel army was small, and if the Jin army attacked, they would need to hide in the Jingxing Pass and defend it. Therefore, after discussion, the three Lis decided to relocate the surplus population to Leping County and Zhan County.

It is now the beginning of March, and if we hurry up, we can still plant this year's crops.

Wu Zhi and the Wu clan members who surrounded him were quite desperate. Some of them who had given up sat on the ground, while those who had not given up were still kowtowing and begging for mercy.

Wu Zhi, the master of the fortress, fell particularly hard. His forehead was covered with sand, gravel and dirt, with a few traces of blood seeping out.

The rebels and everyone nearby all looked at the general.

Li Hao looked around and urged, "Why are you looking at me? It's the same as before. The nobles and their slaves and craftsmen will be sent to Leping and other counties. The dependents, tenants, and nearby military households will be divided into lands according to the number of people. Those who are willing to go with us will be taken away. Private soldiers, stored grain, and stored salt will all be confiscated."

In addition to normal residents and buildings in the fort, the nobles who owned the fort often stockpiled a considerable amount of grain and salt.

Food was only a small problem for the rebels, but salt was a big problem that could not be solved. There were salt wells and salt ponds around the rebels' territory, such as Hedong in Sizhou, Zhuojun in Jizhou, and Julu.

The salt consumed by the Han people in the central and southern parts of Bingzhou was generally Hedong well salt and pond salt, with the exception of Leping County.

Because Leping and the other counties are located at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, there is not only Bingzhou but also Taihang Mountain away from the salt lake in Hedong, and the cost of transporting salt is too high. Therefore, the people gathered by the rebel army all ate salt from Zhuojun and Julu Lake.

Li Hao had been thinking about whether he should find a few people among these noble families who could be controlled and let them go to Julu to buy salt under normal names.

Although the Cao and Sima families had been promoting the salt and iron monopoly, local aristocratic families had the means to make salt and smelt iron on their own. The private salt of the aristocratic families was not embezzled by officials, so the price was lower than that of official salt.

The surrendered soldiers were quickly divided up by the rebel army's squad leaders and sergeants and temporarily incorporated into the team. Then the rebel army teams began to quickly plunder the land, while Li Lian supervised everywhere.

He is ugly, and if he puts on some makeup he becomes ferocious. Most people dare not do anything to him.

Li Hao ordered his men to drag Wu Zhi to a room in a nearby residential building and asked, "Do you want to keep this fortress of yours?"

The rebel army was temporarily short of manpower and could only manage Leping County and Jingxing County, while expanding to Jinchang County in the north.

Li Hao planned to temporarily use Yuanshi County, Dongheng County and other places as military buffer zones, and then send people to occupy them after his troops were strong enough.

Therefore, this fort can be used to whet Wu Zhi's appetite so that he will go to Julu to buy salt for the rebel army.

"Think about it. General, just give me your orders. I will do it even if it costs me my life."

Wu Zhi, who was kneeling on the ground, understood that it was the General of the Universe who wanted him to do something, so he lowered his posture very low, and put his face on the general's boots to speak.

"You don't have to risk your life. You just need to go to Julu County and buy some illegal salt."

Although this matter is important, it is not very dangerous. Wu Zhi was so happy that his nose was running when he heard this.

Li Hao calmly pulled his foot back to prevent the man from dirtying the leather boots he had found with great difficulty.

"I will never forget your kindness, sir."

After the fort was saved, Wu Zhi switched back to more polite words.

The general kicked him twice and said, "If you say something like this again, I'll kick you once."

In order to highlight the difference between themselves and the lower class people, the gentry often put a lot of effort into their speech and clothing.

Li Hao has already ordered the abolition of various household registration distinctions among military households, regular households, protected households, and refugees in the rebel army's territory, and the people under his rule will not be differentiated according to their household registration.

The rebels must also crack down severely on such behavior that uses words and actions to distinguish identities.

"I listen to the general."

Wu Zhi's only advantage is his agility, which allows him to sing and recite poems to the rebel general in front of him while naked.

"You also need to survey the terrain, mark the distances between the cities in Julu, their locations, etc. You also need to know which major clans are near the cities in Julu, and how many fortresses, private soldiers, and hidden households they have."

Seeing that he was quite knowledgeable, Li Hao gave him a few more tasks.

The rebel army now has only dozens of horses, all of which are post horses from various counties and riding horses raised by large families. They can be dealt with by using salt and stone.

After collecting enough horses, the rebels will definitely form a large cavalry army. At that time, they will not be able to use salt and stone to deal with the war horses.

War horses are much more valuable than infantrymen. A 600-jin war horse needs 20 to 30 kilograms of food a day when in combat, with the ratio of fodder to grain being 70:30.

Six to nine kilograms of food a day is only one aspect of its pampering. A war horse weighing 600 kilograms needs to eat eight cents of salt every day. Eight cents weighs about 25 grams. The amount of salt intake of a war horse will double during continuous marching.

Therefore, after the cavalry unit is formed, one of Julu and Zhuo counties must be occupied. In order to reduce the source of salt for nearby enemy troops, it is best to occupy both counties.

Although it took little time to expropriate the land, there were not enough ox carts and handcarts to transport food and daily necessities. So Li Lian went first with more than 400 people and 630 people who surrendered in the fortress back to Jingxing County.

Li Hao will stay behind temporarily with 200 soldiers. Tomorrow Li Lian will lead another group to move all the food and supplies in the fort away.

Of course, Wu Xianying was left behind. When Li Lian left, he made a lot of eye contact, hinting to his elder brother to get intimate with the girl from the Wu family as soon as possible so that they could have children.

In the main hall of the Wu family in Wubao, the sixteen-year-old girl from a noble family met the general again.

This is a classical beauty with an oval face, thin eyebrows and big eyes. She is not shy standing in front of the general covered in blood. Her sneaky eyes fly around Li Hao, as if she is trying to find out the reason why the general is so brave.

"I have heard many times that the general fought against a hundred people alone and defeated Zhang's private soldiers and the soldiers from Jingxing. Today, after meeting the general, I know that all the previous rumors were nonsense. The general is just like me, with two shoulders to carry a head, not a monster with three heads and six arms."

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(End of this chapter)