I

When Weng Yingqi, Sun Kewang, and Lin Chengzong returned to Taiwu City with their belongings, food, and the princess, it was already the summer rice harvest season.

Jayaraman, the Tamil prince of Camme City, had already launched a rebellion. But this guy didn't dare to kill directly. Instead, he went to attack the northern villages and forced the Brahmins and Kshatriyas to cause trouble together.

The village nobles who had surrendered to Zhao Kuangyi were somewhat reluctant to rebel. After all, the new Han king did not interfere in the northern region. As long as he did not evade taxes too much, he was too lazy to come over to collect the taxes by force. The village nobles could embezzle more grain than before.

This is a good king, and the village nobles still support Zhao Kuangli.

Facing Jayaraman's military front, nobles from all over the country had to obey. On the other hand, those Shudras who worked part-time were very happy. They had no stable jobs and were temporarily recruited as soldiers. Although they were not given military pay, they at least had some rations every day.

In this way, the Tamil prince Jayaraman pulled out tens of thousands of troops. Due to the alarming momentum, the prince of another city in the north also led his troops to join the rebellion.

A quarter of the country's territory was occupied by these guys, and they encountered little resistance.

In the Mysore Kingdom to the west, the king personally led an army of 20,000 people to march through the mountain pass and quickly occupied a quarter of the country in the west. These guys had a good idea. The time when the army crossed the border coincided with the grain harvest season. It was obvious that they were here to grab grain!

"Your Majesty, please send troops quickly!" Peshra knelt down and cried.

Peshra was the prince of the western border city. He fled all the way to Taiwu City and begged Zhao Kuangli to send troops in tears.

Zhao Kuangluo asked: "You said that after the Mysore army occupied the city, in addition to looting the property, they also demolished the city walls?"

Peshra said: "They not only looted the goods and demolished the city walls, but also kidnapped the wives and daughters of the nobles!"

Peshra, a prince and aristocrat, originally had no intention of getting involved and only wanted to preserve his territory. The Mysore army passed around the city. When Peshra relaxed his vigilance, he suddenly came back and broke the city in one fell swoop. Peshra fled with a dozen noble knights, and his family were all captured.

Zhao Kuangluo asked the man what happened in detail and asked the man to go down and rest.

Wang Chongxi guessed: "The Mysore army obviously did not want to expand its territory in this way. It was purely here to plunder. Otherwise, it would not be possible to demolish the city wall in a hurry."

Ma Hui looked at the map in front of him. This map was very simple and was found at the Tanjore Palace: "According to the local nobles, the territory of Mysore has expanded three times in the past ten years. Now, the country Already surrounded by mountains on all sides, the entire country is a large basin. If they stop expanding, the terrain will be easy to defend and difficult to attack, and they will be very safe. If they continue to expand, they will fall into years of foreign wars. Unless the king of this country wants to separate us and The country of Madurai is completely destroyed, otherwise he will not annex new territories.”

Guan Xian said: "Then let them continue to rob, and we will quell the civil strife first."

"Yes, let's quell the civil strife first," Wang Chongxi said: "These people looted and killed along the way, and demolished city walls everywhere. No matter how cowardly the nobles in the western region of our country are, they will be forced to resist. The more fierce the Mysore army robs, the more local nobles will We are more and more interested in turning to the imperial court. The rebels in the north are willing to win over the nobles and coerce the local nobles to join the rebels. That is our innermost worry!"

Zhao Kuangluo asked: "What do the three generals think?"

Weng Yingqi said: "I agree with the two gentlemen that the civil strife in the north should be quelled first, and then the foreign enemies in the west should be dealt with."

Sun Kewang had a different view: "The rebellious nobles in the north are just a bunch of chickens and dogs. They haven't fought for many years, and they don't have many elite soldiers. Most of the soldiers are farmers recruited temporarily. And they have been in trouble for so long. They don’t dare to go south, and they have been causing harm to the place. On the other hand, the Mysore army in the west, this country has expanded its territory three times in more than ten years, and they are all veterans who have been on the battlefield."

After Weng Yingqi thought carefully, he said: "That's right. The rebellion in the north can be easily solved. At this time, we should deal with the strong enemy first. After we defeat the strong enemy, the rebel nobles in the north will probably die after hearing the news. There’s going to be internal strife.”

When Wang Chongxi heard what the two generals said, he began to understand it along this line of thinking, and added: "You can send envoys to contact the Mysore army and look scared. Tell them that we need to quell the civil strife first. Let them set a price for how much gold and silver they are willing to give to withdraw their troops."

"Wonderful!" Guan Xian said with a smile, "Knowing that we have to quell the civil strife first and blindly pay compensation and seek peace, the Mysore army will definitely become more arrogant. Without any precautions, we have secretly killed them, and we will definitely be able to take them off guard. !”

Ma Ju added: "We used kindness and power along the way to intimidate the local nobles, saying that the Mysore army would tear down the city walls and rob all the villages. Let the princes who escaped from the west come and speak out in person, and the nobles from all over the country would definitely join the army enthusiastically. etc. The local aristocratic army slowly kills, and the Mysore army will also focus on the aristocratic army. The Han army, on the other hand, will take a detour and go elsewhere to conduct a surprise attack in secret!"

…

"boom!"

Another wall of earth and stone was torn down, a large number of city residents fled, and the city was already riddled with holes.

More than two thousand people in the city were captured as slaves to transport the looted goods to the rear. At the mountain pass at the junction of the two countries, there were more slaves there. The goods robbed from all directions were transported to the mouth of the valley and stacked in a centralized manner, and then transported through the valley back to the country of Mysore.

The king of Mysore was named Doda Devaraja Wodeya. This person had an abnormal succession. Two years ago, his uncle the king died of illness, and this guy launched a coup to seize the throne.

In order to win over the Christian military nobles, he even converted to Christianity for a time. After he secured the throne, he attacked the Christian nobles and became Hindus again, gaining the support of the majority of Hindu nobles.

With good political skills and good military capabilities, this king is considered a powerful figure in India.

"That king from China wants to sue for peace?" Doda Wodeya asked with a smile.

The messenger, a Tamil nobleman, nodded and bowed: "Our Majesty said that he is willing to have eternal friendship with your country. The mountains between the two countries are natural boundary barriers. He has no intention to expand to the west, and your country has no intention to expand to the east. In this case , are there any conflicts between the two countries that cannot be resolved?"

Doda Wodeya laughed loudly: "Is he frightened by the rebel nobles? He wants to beg me to withdraw the troops quickly so that he can calm down and quell the rebellion."

The envoy said: "Please make a price. Our Majesty will try to satisfy you. All the treasures your country has captured can be transported away."

Doda Wodeya said: "If you want me to withdraw my troops, I want 200,000 suvarnas (nearly 3 tons) of gold. If the gold is not enough, I will use food and goods to offset it. Send me 50,000 suvarnas first." , the remaining ten years will be paid off. If you dare to default on your debts in any year, I will bring my troops to kill you again!"

The messenger looked embarrassed: "200,000 Suvarnas is too much, is 30,000 okay?"

"Do you regard me as a beggar?" Doda Wodeya sneered.

The envoy could only say: "I must go back and ask for your Majesty's instructions."

Doda Wodeya said: "Then you go and come back quickly."

After seeing off the envoy sent by Zhao Kuangluo, the king felt very happy and even thought of annexing Jin.

However, he can restrain himself, because if he cannot annex quickly, he may face invasion from other neighboring countries. The two countries in the rear, Kradi and Golconda, are not vegetarians either. They will poke holes in the country of Mysore whenever they get the opportunity.

After thinking carefully for a while, Doda Wodeya ordered: "Except for the king's personal guards, all other troops are sent out. The enemy city is already prepared. Don't attack the city anymore. Try to rob all the villages around!"

More than ten days later, Doda Wodeya received news that the nobles and princes of Jin were gathering troops.

These local nobles were frightened by the atrocities in Mysore. In order to protect their property, they followed Zhao Kuangyi's call one after another.

Doda Wodeya believed that he asked for too much gold, so he sent an envoy to initiate peace talks: "Tell the king from China that he can withdraw his troops if he wants me to, but he must give 100,000 Suvarna gold. This is my bottom line. Nothing less!”

At the same time, Doda Wodeya's army that had been sent out to rob was reunited, intending to destroy the aristocratic coalition here first.

Weng Yingqi's infantry and Sun Kewang's cavalry advanced dozens of miles along the river, then moved away from the river and prepared to retreat. He didn't bring much food, but he also left the cannon behind, and ordered village communities to provide food along the way. The farther they marched, the harder it became to raise food. Those villages were plundered by the enemy and extorted by their own king's army.

By next year, there will definitely be a famine in the western region of Jin, and we don’t know how many people will starve to death!

Sun Kewang's cavalry moved the fastest, and after a few days, they circled around Adul outside the mountain pass. This is a border town, and now it has become a material transfer station. All the goods stolen by the Mysore Kingdom are gathered here to be transported back.

Thick smoke rises outside the town every day, and the bodies of people who starve to death and slaves who die of exhaustion are moved outside the town and burned one after another.

About two thousand enemy troops were stationed here, all of them elite, responsible for guarding the property.

These guys don't even bother to set up camp.

In fact, their dispatch of troops was so smooth. The main force had already attacked, and this place was an absolutely safe rear area. They arrested the residents of the town and used them as slaves to transport supplies, while they themselves lived in the houses of the town. Some soldiers were also sent to patrol, but not to warn enemies, but to prevent slaves from rebelling or escaping.

Sun Kewang didn't even bother to cover his whereabouts. He rested for a while a few miles away and then headed straight to Adul Town under the guidance of his guide.

The guide was that Peshra, whose city was taken, his treasure emptied, and his wife and daughter robbed. Now he is full of anger and is absolutely loyal to Zhao Kuangyi. As long as he is not allowed to die, he will do anything.

In broad daylight, hundreds of cavalrymen trotted past. The slaves transporting goods along the way only looked at them blankly.

Every few hundred slaves were guarded by a small army. The army does not need to be large. A few soldiers can control hundreds of slaves. These slaves have no courage to resist.

The Mysore soldiers responsible for escorting the goods thought that their own cavalry was coming. When Sun Kewang ran past them, he realized something was wrong, but other than blowing the trumpet, he had no way to go back to town to report the news.

Most of the two thousand enemy troops stationed in the town were enjoying themselves in the town, and only a few hundred were actually doing anything.

In addition to the three hundred Han people who raised troops, there were more than a hundred noble cavalry who followed Sun Kewang and quickly rushed to the outside of the town.

In broad daylight, the enemy general didn't even wear armor and was drinking with a group of noble officers. Hearing the shouts of killing outside the town, they stood up drunkenly. When they were sure that the enemy was coming, they ran in panic to find their own soldiers.

The town was captured without losing a single soldier.

Sun Kewang said to Peshra: "You organized all the people here (enemy slaves) into an army and asked them to guard these goods. The rest of the nobles, follow the enemy's food road, and fight back with me!"

The food route of the Mysore army was cut off like this, and only a few hundred cavalrymen quickly pulled out one food transportation station after another.

The King of Mysore in front had just gathered his plundering troops and wanted to destroy the Jin's noble coalition.

"Your Majesty, there are enemies behind us, and the food transport channel along the river has been cut off!"

"How many enemies are there?"

"I don't know, it could be thousands or tens of thousands!"

"Nonsense, there must not be thousands, otherwise we would have been discovered long ago. Stop advancing, everyone will follow me and fight back!"

"..."

The spies responsible for observing the situation immediately went back to inform the coalition of nobles that the Jin army had won and the Mysore invaders had completely fled.

The local nobles were inexplicably excited and led their troops to chase after him.

After chasing him for dozens of miles, he was killed by the King of Mysore...