Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1322: Chapter 1275: Cong People Slaves

”Military Advisor Guo, if you lose, don’t bear a grudge against the Zhang Family.” Zhang Wei laughed and immediately prepared to send that Cong person who injured several of his subordinates during the capture to face off with Ruan Liangyu.

Speaking of which, there were always Cong people mixed with Liu Zhang. It’s known that the two leaders of the Cong people followed Zhang Lu, yet there were still many Cong people causing trouble for Zhang Lu and Zhang Wei. Even though Zhang Lu and Zhang Wei treated their followers among the Cong people very well, troublemakers always existed.

In the past, on the battlefield, they would get rid of those Cong people who didn’t follow their side on the spot. Although Zhang Lu treated the Cong people quite well, that was limited to those who followed him.

Additionally, in Hanzhong and the Sichuan and Shu regions, the mountainous terrain was excessive. It’s said that barren mountains and turbulent waters breed crafty people. Where there are many mountains, there are many barbarians. Even though many were once Han people, after trailing with the barbarians for a few generations, if not careful, they too become barbarians.

So those hiding in the mountains were troublesome for both Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang. They would drive them away if they could, kill them if they must, and ignore them as long as they didn’t cause trouble. However, once Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu started fighting, many barbarians jumped out to seize the advantage.

These barbarians were difficult to catch and troublesome to kill for Hanzhong and Sichuan-Shu. Their combat power in the mountainous terrain was formidable, and since many were originally Han people, their skills in weapon forging were not inferior. Truly dealing with them led to significant losses.

Fortunately, during the assaults of Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu, Zhang Wei came over to Liu Bei’s side and bought a scheme, which, after being embellished by Yano Pu, decisively led to peace talks with Liu Zhang.

To be honest, Liu Zhang was somewhat tired of fighting, and having gained an advantage and vented his anger, when Yano Pu tricked him a bit, Liu Zhang gave up. Hanzhong was indeed easy to defend and hard to attack, not easy to conquer. Despite Zhang Ren’s extraordinary abilities, he could not handle the Zhang Brothers.

Therefore, persuaded by Zhang Song, Wang Lei, and others, Liu Zhang felt he was wasting resources, so he privately negotiated peace with Zhang Lu. Then both sides continued to act like they were fighting, enticing the opposing barbarians to join them to take advantage of each other.

Just like when Zhang Ren led an army to attack Hanzhong, many barbarians who had bad relations with Zhang Lu jumped out to join the battle, with tens of thousands of barbarians coming spontaneously to take advantage. Similarly, when Zhang Lu fought Zhang Ren, a whole lot of barbarians came to help Zhang Lu seize the advantage.

Therefore, under the efforts of Zhang Ren and Zhang Lu’s enticement, a large group of barbarians originally hidden in the deep mountains slipped out, each pledging allegiance to the side they deemed favorable. Of course, the Cong people were the main force here, and this highly combative race was very numerous in the Hanzhong and Sichuan-Shu regions.

Then there wasn’t much left, Zhang Ren and Zhang Lu teamed up and used a trick to get rid of these unruly guys.

Tens of thousands of barbarians had no chance to escape and were all captured by both sides. Following this lead, many tribes hiding in the mountains, who occasionally came down to take advantage, were all caught.

Previously, whether catching or killing so many barbarians was always a problem. But now with Liu Bei as a big customer, Zhang Ren wrote a battle report for Liu Zhang, while Wu Yi counted the barbarians, preparing to sell them to Liu Bei. Raising them would waste food; killing them would go against the natural order. Selling them would all be military funds!

As for Zhang Wei, he had arranged everything early on, so it wasn’t an issue. They were bound batch by batch, loaded onto ships, and transported to Liu Bei. First, they sold more than thirty thousand of the difficult-to-manage young and strong, then see if they could negotiate the price. Although this was a cost-free trade, and it could eradicate internal troubles, earning some profit wasn’t bad either.

It’s also worth mentioning that these barbarians were brought down with drugs. Otherwise, they would have been difficult to deal with, especially as some of their leaders had reached Qi Refining to Gang. But unfortunately, they hadn’t reached the stage of Inner Qi Manifestation, so poisons could still bring them down, especially when they were caught completely off guard.

Zhang Ren and Zhang Lu felt that what they did was justified. To them, unless they were genuine followers, other barbarians with opportunistic intentions deserved to be swallowed. Moreover, after such a huge battle, getting some military funds in the end wasn’t bad.

Guo Jia had no particular feeling about Zhang Wei bringing so many young and strong men over this time. Could he say that this scheme was originally bought from him? As for whether this was a bit unscrupulous, Guo Jia didn’t care at all. After all, who let them be barbarians?

”There’s no grudge or no grudge.” Guo Jia said calmly, ”Yuliang, go and have a look, and Yunchang, assist him in case of any accident.”

”Yes!” The Personal Guard Squad Leader clasped his fists in a salute and said, as for Guan Yu, he nodded silently without saying much.

”Release that young man’s Inner Qi binding and tell him if he wins this battle, I won’t kill a single captive from his tribe.” Zhang Wei turned his head and said to the trusted aide who jumped down with him.

Zhang Jie clasped his fists and then jumped back onto the ship. Shortly, a young man in his late teens, wearing just a single layer of clothing, was brought out by Zhang Jie.

Once Zhang Jie released the young man’s Inner Qi binding, his eyes fiercely stared at Ruan Yuliang. The lives of their entire tribe rested on this battle.

Zhang Jie unlocked the chains on his hands, and the yellow-faced young man flexed his body slightly. Then, amidst the shocked gazes of all present, he lunged forward. However, he didn’t pounce in Ruan Yuliang’s direction, but towards Guo Jia.

At this moment, because Guo Jia had exchanged a few words with Ruan Yuliang, he was a few steps away from Guan Yu. The Cong young man sprang up suddenly and unexpectedly pounced on Guo Jia, catching everyone off guard...

Yet nothing went awry. At the instant the opponent pounced towards Guo Jia, Guan Yu casually swung his hand, and a blade light flashed. The Cong leader, desperately shielding himself, still spewed blood as he was flung back into the river. But before he could fall into the water, a green light caught him and casually tossed him in front of Guo Jia, creating a large pit on the riverbank where he landed.

”Oh, you actually dared to ambush me.” Guo Jia covered half of his face with a fan, crouched slightly, and with crescent-shaped eyes, looked at the opponent, revealing the smile on his face.

”Can’t stand not capturing alive!” The young man on the ground spat blood while glaring angrily at Guo Jia, his eyes practically shooting flames.

”You performed well earlier. Zhang Gongze, whatever wish you just promised him, make it happen.” Guo Jia said with a playful smile, looking up at Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei turned his head towards Zhang Jie, watching his lips move slightly, then turned to look at Guo Jia. ”You’re lucky to catch Military Advisor Guo’s eye. I’ll send all your surviving tribesmen over. How about it, Military Advisor Guo?”

”Alright, we’ll take all these people and give you a piece of advice: head west a bit more.” Guo Jia stood up, smiled faintly at Zhang Wei, ”You may not understand now, but after heading west, you’ll realize this piece of advice is more cost-effective than the strategy you bought from me earlier.”

Zhang Wei hesitated but, after hearing Guo Jia’s words, finally made up his mind, ”Alright, I won’t say more. I believe Military Advisor Guo wouldn’t deceive a small household like ours.”