Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors-Chapter 515 - 269: I Want Both Saints!_3

If it hadn’t been for Emperor Taizu of Sheng reclaiming this region two hundred years later, it’s likely that the "Northern people" and the "Southern people" would have become two completely different races.

But in this slice of history, none of that would happen.

Because General Han Fuyue, played by Zhao Haiping, was here!

He accomplished what neither the Qi Dynasty nor the fake Chu could.

The local magnates and powerful clans refuse to be governed? Refuse to pay their taxes properly?

Easy, the solution to this is the same as dealing with their refusal to honestly divide their land.

Kill!

Start with killing the chicken to scare the monkeys, kill one to warn a hundred, and if there are repeat offenses, then just keep on killing!

These magnates and clans indeed possessed some influence, but they differed fundamentally from the manorial lords who controlled certain regions during the final years of the Liang Dynasty.

After over a hundred years of rule by the Qi Dynasty, which constantly weakened local powers and strengthened the central government, these local magnates were no longer the same concept as those at the end of the Chu and Liang Dynasties. Faced with the Zhao Yi Army’s blades, they had no power to fight back.

Although such measures would create many obstacles for Zhao Haiping’s process of expanding territory, and a large number of powerful clans within the lands of the fake Chu regime had risen up in rebellion, so what?

The peasants supported them!

A large number of peasants were eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Zhao Yi Army to give them a piece of land, so they enthusiastically enlisted and even volunteered to transport military provisions to the front lines.

With this growth on one side and decline on the other, these magnates couldn’t stir up any trouble.

They had only two paths before them: either obey or die!

The magnates had ways to deal with the Qi Dynasty and fake Chu. They could bribe lower-level officials, collude with those officials, and jointly shift the burden of heavy taxation onto the peasants, as well as under-report their own land.

But they couldn’t do the same to General Han Fuyue.

Because the Zhao Yi Army at that moment was actually a military government controlled entirely by soldiers. And the ones responsible for dividing the land and collecting taxes were the grassroots military officers of the Zhao Yi Army.

What kind of troops were the Zhao Yi Army?

Freeze to death rather than demolish a house, starve rather than loot.

Historical records show that once when General Han Fuyue passed by a civilian’s house and noticed a piece of thatch missing from the roof of their new home, he inquired repeatedly. At first, the household said it had been blown off by the wind, but later General Han learned that it had been accidentally knocked off by a mounted soldier in too much haste.

General Han Fuyue immediately called for military punishment, but in the end, only administered a caning at the tearful pleading of the household.

Under such strict military law, if the soldiers bought firewood from a peasant and the peasant voluntarily wanted to charge two coins less, the soldiers would neither accept nor dare to accept.

With such an army taking charge of dividing land and collecting taxes, who would dare to accept a bribe from the magnates?

If they wouldn’t dare touch even a tile in the homes of the common people, how could they possibly collude with the magnates to exploit the local area?

Therefore, the Zhao Yi Army could accomplish what the Qi Dynasty and the fake Chu could not in the Northern Land.

The peasants of the Northern Land were all jubilant, almost welcoming the Zhao Yi Army with simple food and drink. As for the regions that had already been taken, the peasants were actively farming and enlisting, as they certainly did not wish for the Qi Dynasty or the Jin people to return and revert to the previous days of exploitation and oppression. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

The entire Northern Land was thus firmly under the control of the Zhao Yi Army, continuously digesting and enhancing the military force of the Zhao Yi Army.

And during this process, Zhao Haiping was also frequently in contact with envoys from the Jin Country and the Qi Dynasty.

Clearly, both Jin and Qi could not ignore this formidable force and began... to each harbor their own ulterior motives.

...

"My respects to General Han!"

The envoy from Jin Country bowed respectfully on the ground.

Dongping was originally the capital of the fake Chu, and after Zhao Haiping took Dongping, he naturally set up his camp there, stationed a great army, and allowed the Zhao Yi Army’s influence to continuously spread to the entire territory of the fake Chu.

And at this moment, the situation had reached a certain equilibrium.

The original situation was Jin-fake Chu-Qi, where the fake Chu was a puppet regime established by Jin, so apart from taking a beating, it served no other purpose.

But now, it was Jin-Zhao Yi Army-Qi.

The Zhao Yi Army lay between Jin and Qi, and their combat power far surpassed both Jin and Qi. Having been soundly thrashed by the Zhao Yi Army, the Jin people naturally didn’t dare to take them lightly, wishing to negotiate peace first, resolve internal conflicts wholeheartedly, and then make plans at leisure.

Both Jin and Qi wanted to direct the Zhao Yi Army’s military might towards one another. Neither wanted to take action themselves, to grapple with this tough bone.

Therefore, the envoy from Jin was so respectful, even more so than before the Emperor of the Qi Dynasty.

After all, he was facing General Han Fuyue, the military god who had routed the legions of Jin.

Zhao Haiping said indifferently, "What brings the Jin envoy here?"

The envoy from Jin Country replied submissively, "General Han, His Majesty of my country has sent me here to ask for peace. Years of warfare have left the commoners unable to survive. And now, the old lands of the Qi Dynasty taken by my country are mostly reclaimed by the General, and Jin and Qi have already agreed to peace and to no longer infringe upon each other. Why not halt the fighting, disarm, and return to farming?"

Zhao Haiping smiled slightly, "Of course, negotiations are possible. But for negotiations, some sincerity must first be shown. You’re not unaware of my Zhao Yi Army’s relationship with the Qi Dynasty. Hence, your peace agreement with Qi has nothing to do with me.

"To negotiate with the Zhao Yi Army, the terms need to be assessed anew."

Zhao Haiping’s stance was simple, that is to demand as much benefit as possible!

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