In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 877 Happy to see the results

However, Tian Yu was happy to see Yang Zheng's ambitions come to fruition, and even quite admired them.

How can someone who has no ambition, no drive, and is content with enjoying a single victory end the chaos, overthrow the court, and unify the land?

Yang Zheng did not become arrogant or complacent after winning a victory; instead, he was full of ambition, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

"Now is indeed a good time to advance into Minnesota."

Tian Yu pondered for a moment and said, "The prolonged warfare has caused immense suffering to the people of Mingzhou and has also weakened the local rebel forces. If Commander Yang were to send troops to Mingzhou now, he could indeed easily take it over, but..."

Tian Yu frowned and said, "General Yang's soldiers have just gone through a major battle and are now exhausted, both physically and mentally. Is General Yang sure he wants to send troops to Mingzhou immediately?"

"Of course we won't send troops immediately!"

Yang Zheng shook his head and said, "I plan to rest in Youzhou for a while before sending troops to Mingzhou."

"Alright!"

Thus, the decision to send troops to Mingzhou was made.

However, before setting out, the army needed to rest and recuperate in Youzhou, and also had to deal with countless affairs within the territory.

It is worth mentioning that immediately after the Lu Family Manor was breached, the people of Youzhou Prefecture abandoned any idea of ​​putting up a last stand and chose to open the city gates and surrender, handing over the entire prefecture to the Yang Family Army.

Yang Zheng also moved his office from Lu Family Manor to Youzhou Prefecture. He sent people to Liangzhou to notify Wei Zijie to send officials to take over the various cities in Youzhou, while he handled various affairs in the prefectural government office.

The city of Youzhou quickly stabilized, and the lives of the people seemed unchanged; in fact, their lives even seemed to have improved somewhat.

Because the Yang family army was completely different from the army they had in mind; they not only did not rob and plunder, but they also did not rape women.

While not taking anything from the people, they would even take the initiative to provide food relief to the poor people in the prefectural city.

This alone was enough to win the favor of the people of the prefecture and gain their approval of Yang Zheng's rule.

after all……

The Lu family, who once ruled them, were more than willing to spare them any food aid than to harm them.

Compared to the Lu family, the Yang family army's act of distributing grain to relieve the people was nothing short of a bodhisattva's act of saving them from suffering.

"This King Yang is such a good man! He's even willing to give us food."

"Yes! King Yang is a million times better than that dog-like Lu family!"

"My children can finally have a full meal. Thank you, King Yang! Thank you, General Tian!"

"Thank you, King Yang!"

"..."

Yang Zheng, who had seized a million shi of grain from the Lu family, was very generous. With a wave of his hand, he took out 5 shi of grain and ordered his soldiers to distribute it to the poor people in the city. The people who received the grain were all grateful, and the whole city seemed to be filled with praise for Yang Zheng.

Meanwhile, inside the Lu family manor.

Xu Sanyang, who was once a serf of the Lu family, then a soldier of the Lu family, and is now a prisoner of war, sat casually under a tree, his eyes slightly bewildered.

In that fierce siege, Xu Sanyang did not die on the blood-soaked city walls, but was fortunate enough to survive and became one of the prisoners of the Yang family army.

While the Yang family army didn't cruelly massacre all of the more than 10,000 prisoners, they still had to be punished accordingly.

To prevent these young, strong, and energetic prisoners from causing trouble, the Yang family army divided the Lu family manor into five areas and settled the prisoners in these five areas. They also assigned 10,000 troops to guard them and assigned them a lot of miscellaneous tasks, such as washing clothes and cooking.

During his captivity, Xu Sanyang did nothing but wash clothes. To be fair, this job wasn't particularly strenuous; it was much easier than farming.

Xu Sanyang still couldn't help feeling lost, unsure of what his future would hold.

Will they be executed by the Yang family army, or will they be released by the Yang family army and then return to the serf life they had before, living like cattle and horses?

Whether it was the former or the latter, it made no difference to Xu Sanyang. Xu Sanyang was already tired of the life of a serf like a beast of burden. Alone and without any fear of death, he was not afraid of death. Therefore, whether the Yang family army executed him or let him go back, it was the same to Xu Sanyang.

On the contrary, the other prisoners around them lived in constant fear, terrified that the Yang family army would execute them.

Xu Sanyang could understand this. After all, not everyone is like him, without any attachments in this world. They have parents, wives and children, and young children to care for. Naturally, they are reluctant to leave this world.

"Three sheep".

At this moment, a figure sat down next to Xu Sanyang; it was Li Ming, who was familiar with Xu Sanyang.

Like Xu Sanyang, Li Ming was forcibly conscripted by the Lu family to join the manor's defense force. He was also fortunate enough to survive the war and became one of the prisoners of war of the Yang family army.

Despite being prisoners of war, Li Ming and Xu Sanyang had very different mindsets. Xu Sanyang, all alone, had no attachments and was able to maintain a calm and composed attitude even in the prisoner-of-war camp.

Because his wife was pregnant, Li Ming was constantly worried, fearing both that he would be executed by Yang's army and that his wife would be humiliated by them.

In short, Li Ming was very uneasy in the prisoner-of-war camp. He couldn't even sleep well at night, which resulted in very dark circles under his eyes. Even when he managed to fall asleep, he would keep calling out his wife's name, which made people feel sorry for him.

"Three sheep".

No sooner had he sat down than Li Ming asked with a worried expression, "How's my wife? Is she alright...?"

Before Li Ming could finish speaking, Xu Sanyang interrupted, "Don't worry! The Yang family army is very disciplined and won't do anything to hurt your wife."

Xu Sanyang had given Li Ming similar answers many, many times.

Because he was in a prisoner-of-war camp and unable to know what was happening outside, Li Ming was very worried about his wife's safety. He would ask her similar questions several times a day, and Xu Sanyang's answers would often bring him some comfort.

Of course, Xu Sanyang's words were not entirely meant to comfort Li Ming, but rather a judgment based on his limited understanding of the Yang family army.

After the Yang family army breached the Lu family manor that day, although they carried out a bloody massacre inside the manor, they killed only members of the Lu family and did not harm the serfs inside the manor in the slightest.