Since Xiao Min was relieved of his duties as the commander-in-chief of the campaign against Bian Jun and rushed to Lingnan Road, the eunuchs of the Supervisory Army and Lou Jingshan continued to lead their troops to pursue and suppress the remnants of Bian Chunliang in Daozhou.
This final battle, which seemed to have no suspense, did not go smoothly.
Because Bian Chunliang's hiding place could not be found for a long time, we could only use dispersed patrols to search for clues about Bian Jun.
Once, a patrol team of 300 people finally discovered traces of the activities of the remnants of Bian Army in a mountain. The patrol team did not dare to rush to alert the enemy. When they were about to turn back to report the news, they were discovered first by the vigilant remnants of Bian Army.
.
That day, not one of the three hundred soldiers came out of the mountain alive.
Three hundred soldiers suddenly disappeared out of thin air, and they didn't know what happened. However, under the cover and misleading of the local people, the imperial army still failed to capture Bian Chunliang. Instead, the patrol team suffered several ambushes one after another, and people were killed.
He was killed and all the horses were robbed.
It was obvious that some civilians were informing Bian Jun. However, the army captured some civilians for interrogation and received mixed reports of truth and falsehood. In addition, although the number of Bian Jun's remnants was small, they had the advantage of being able to flexibly move their hiding places.
The imperial army repeatedly fell short.
The anxious eunuch thought that Lou Jingshan was too soft-hearted - what was the use of scratching a few common people indifferently? All the unruly people in the nearby villages should be severely punished, so as to deter people's hearts!
This proposal was flatly rejected by Lou Jingshan. He kept Xiao Min's advice before leaving in mind and knew clearly that at this juncture he must not have a head-on conflict with the people, otherwise it would only drive the people's hearts to the opposite side of the court, and in turn encourage Bian Chunliang's trend.
, bringing immeasurable consequences.
With repeated pressure from the eunuchs of the supervisory army at the top of Loujing Mountain, they continued to search for Bian Chunliang's traces, and tried to persuade some people to act as internal agents - Bian Chunliang used the human heart as his support, so he might as well start from the human heart to open this small gap.
Those people who were persuaded began to slowly infiltrate into the nearby people who secretly delivered messages and transported food and supplies to Bian's army.
But if they want to gain the trust of the crowd and have the opportunity to know the detailed location of Bian Jun, it will take some time to operate. Lou Jingshan's expectation is one month - there is still half a month before New Year's Eve.
However, during this interval, a cold weather broke out in the army.
At first, there were only a few sick people, but as more and more soldiers got sick, there were problems with the supply of medicinal materials, and some soldiers who were not adapted to the humid climate in the south began to die.
The tragedy of the Yuezhou plague is still vivid in our minds, and fear quietly spreads among the army.
In addition, due to repeated defeats in the pursuit of Bian's army, the morale of the army was gradually declining. Especially as the New Year was approaching, the people had begun to prepare for celebrating New Year's Eve, and most of the soldiers had not visited home for several years. In these troubled times, they
We were not even sure whether our family members were still alive. It was the New Year's Day, so the atmosphere in the military camp was particularly solemn and depressing.
During the night, some sick soldiers began to cry softly. Experienced generals knew that this was not a good sign, so they strictly ordered to suppress such phenomena. Once anyone was found to have damaged morale, he would be severely punished.
Lou Jingshan saw this and tried his best to appease the soldiers, and personally ordered him to celebrate New Year's Eve with the soldiers. He made an exception for the army, which was already not very well-paid, to buy meat.
However, before New Year's Eve, a theory suddenly spread among the people and soon spread to the military.
There are rumors that Bian Chunliang is the reincarnation of the Buddha, who came to save the suffering of the people in the world, so he is immortal and cannot be killed by anyone - Bian Chunliang can survive a hundred battles, and even the plague cannot contaminate his body, so he is the best
evidence.
This statement has been widely recognized by the people. The people are becoming more and more restless, and the military is becoming more and more panicked.
To Lou Jingshan, this was pure nonsense from a well-intentioned person, but the ignorant soldiers who had been suppressed by the imperial power and theocracy for a long time believed it firmly, and some even began to reflect on their own sins.
Under such a accumulation of emotions, the incident finally broke out on New Year's Eve.
A group of more than ten people who drove a mule cart and were responsible for transporting meat and dried vegetables suddenly and without warning snatched the soldiers' swords while the soldiers were counting their numbers, and started a sudden killing spree.
Those ten or so people were all skilled in martial arts, and they struck out ruthlessly, leaving no escape route, and with the intention of sharing the same fate, causing more than a hundred casualties in the army.
At this time, the sky had darkened and the vision was dim. Some soldiers shouted in panic to report the news. After being passed down from word to mouth by everyone who was surrounded by grass and trees, the content of the shout gradually changed to: "...it's Bian Chunliang who is coming to kill!"
"Quick, meet the enemy!"
Some soldiers who were sick and sleeping were suddenly awakened and had no idea what was going on. When they saw their companions quickly getting up to get their swords, they immediately followed suit and rushed out of the camp in a panic as if they were sleepwalking.
"quick!"
Everyone began to gather in panic. Lou Jingshan had already investigated the situation and asked people to stop the spread of wrong news, but he soon discovered that the situation was showing signs of being out of control.
But at this moment, I don’t know who blew the horn to meet the enemy.
People's minds became increasingly nervous and alert, and because they did not receive clear instructions, collective actions became blind and chaotic.
The sky soon fell into complete darkness, and this darkness, which seemed to have some psychological implications, once again worsened the mood of the military.
The eunuch overseeing the army was alerted and walked out of the tent. He saw a group of soldiers gathering quickly with spears raised, so he ordered them all to be captured.
When the leading soldier was escorted to the eunuch who was supervising the army, he shouted in panic: "Kill the enemy! Bian Jun!"
He was obviously infected with the cold, his lips were pale and flaky, his cheeks were thin, and his expression was as if he was suffering from hysteria. The eunuch raised his hand and slapped him in the face: "You idiot who doesn't know how to live or die, where did you come from?"
Army? We are waiting for an army of 50,000 people. Let’s ask Bian Chunliang if he dares to come here!”
The soldier's head was buzzing from the slap, and he looked a little confused as if he had just woken up from a dream.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! He saw the oily-looking lips of the eunuch opening and closing, but could not hear what the other person was saying. He could only see that his face was white and beardless.
The expression on his face was ferocious and contemptuous, with contempt and disgust, as if he was looking at an out-of-control domestic animal.
"Deceive the crowd with your evil words and disturb the morale of the army! Drag him down and give him a hundred military sticks!" The eunuch who was supervising the army dropped this sentence and said boredly, "How does Lou Jingshan manage the army?" and turned to go back to his tent.
The guards in front of the tent opened the curtain for him, and for a moment, the guarded soldier smelled the aroma of wine and meat inside the tent.
This aroma that he had not smelled for a long time struck a nerve in the soldier's mind. He looked up at the tent in a daze, and saw that the table in the tent, which had been lit early, was filled with delicacies, and the white jade wine glasses were shining brightly.
The soldier who was tortured by the wind and cold and had no medicine to use suddenly felt a sharp pain rushing into his eyes, and tears suddenly welled up in his eyes.
"Why..."
He suddenly broke away from the two hands that were trying to drag him down to death with a cane, and suddenly rushed towards the eunuch.
His movements were too fast and sudden. Before anyone could react, he had already thrown the eunuch to the ground from behind, knelt on his back, held the eunuch's neck with one hand, and held the eunuch's neck with the other hand.
He punched the opponent's head hard and asked with red eyes crying: "Why?!"
The guard in front of the tent immediately drew his sword and stepped forward. The soldier was stabbed, but he still roared, beat and bit the eunuch. He looked like he was crazy. He dug his fingers into the eunuch's eyes and asked, "Why on earth?"
!”
This bloody scene stimulated other soldiers. They knew that they could not escape the death penalty of "disturbing the morale of the army." For a moment, they rushed forward like crazy and started fighting with the guards in front of the tent.
In the chaos, the eunuch who had one eye gouged out was lying on the ground, screaming and trying to climb back into the tent, but was stabbed through the back of the heart by a soldier with a knife.
Those soldiers knew that they were destined to die, so they completely lost their minds and screamed, killing everyone they met.
Chaos began to spread, and the cries of collapsed soldiers were heard in many camps. A human plague was spreading rapidly.
Chaos needs to be controlled, but the more controlled it is, the more counterproductive it is.
With the precedent of the murder of the eunuch who was in charge of the army, those soldiers who did not know the situation were unwilling to be questioned and resisted desperately.
Some people still shouted "Bian Chunliang is here to kill". The army that had lost its order and suppression even began to hear stampedes, cries and fights, like sharp knives, completely cutting off the last tight sanity in the minds of the soldiers.
string.
In this bloody night, some people began to be unable to distinguish between reality and dreams, and this illusory illusion happened to give them an outlet to vent.
Fear, despair, helplessness, confusion, resentment... They have too many emotions that need to be vented but have been suppressed.
Just think of it as a dream, kill it, die together, and you will be free!
Before this, these "crazy" soldiers had experienced too much. Many of them survived under Li Xian's extremely harsh military management methods, and later witnessed the occurrence of the Yuezhou Plague——
The man-made plague has been eliminated, but the plague in their hearts has never disappeared.
The deadly battle with the infected Bian Army shattered Xiao Min's understanding of the imperial court and left an indelible haze in the hearts of countless soldiers.
A frantic soldier knelt on the ground and slashed at a general who had fallen to the ground with one knife after another: "... It was you who ordered me to shoot those common people who were infected with the epidemic! Did you know that I was among those common people?
It’s time to marry my sister who is far away in Yuezhou!”
The soldier whose face was covered with blood cried and laughed: "Sister must have seen me too! She definitely wants me to save her... But I can't even collect her body!"
The night wind howled like the roar of the dead.
Fear of the rebel army, resentment of the court, dissatisfaction with military law, and accountability for one's own sins, a hopeless future, the cold eyes of the people, cold winds, defeats, foreign lands, festive seasons...all these are combined to form
A breeding ground for the plague in people's hearts.
Such a large-scale "human plague" that only appeared in the military can be traced in history books. It is frightening and has a clear and specific name - Yingxiao.
More and more soldiers began to fight each other. They either had grudges in the past but could not resolve them due to the suppression of military law, or they were jealous of the distribution of military honors, or there was no reason at all, they just wanted to protect themselves in this chaos.
, maybe he just wants to kill people to complete his blind catharsis and destruction.
"Commander... the camp has been blown up!" The experienced general's face turned pale, and he turned to Lou Jingshan, who was still trying to appease the soldiers: "There is no way back from blowing up the camp. They won't listen to anything. Commander, leave quickly! Hurry!"
In bombing camps, generals and commanders often become the targets of crazed soldiers' venting, and are regarded as the source of evil that causes all misfortunes and injustices.
Lou Jingshan looked at the scene in front of him in disbelief.
Bombing the camp... was a strange word he had only heard in rumors, but at this moment it appeared before him without any warning.
No, maybe it’s not without warning. People’s hearts will not burst out suddenly. A seed of this disaster has been planted for a long time. It has been watered by blood along the way and finally broke out of the ground. With a sinful attitude that cannot be tolerated in the world, it leads to
Destructive thunder and fire came, burning everything crazily.
"Coach, leave quickly!"
Amidst the urging sounds, Lou Jingshan rushed into the chaos without looking back.
There were tears of shame and determination in the eyes of the young general who had no hesitation.
He promised General Xiao to take care of these soldiers, but now...
No matter what, as a commander, there is no reason to abandon soldiers. Not all of these 50,000 soldiers want to destroy themselves... I should be able to save one by one!
The dark night shrouded in blood was extremely long.
When the first ray of skylight appeared, the sound of fighting became weaker.
This is not because the people's hearts have been appeased, but because the murdered people can no longer make a sound and the murderers are exhausted.
Instead, there were hopeless moans everywhere.
Countless corpses were piled up, and severed limbs and remains could be seen everywhere. Among them, there was a trace of a living person, squirming in the pile of corpses. From a distance, it looked like a sea of insects and ants that had been burned and trampled, exuding a fishy smell.
In just one night on New Year's Eve, most of the 50,000-strong army was killed or injured.
The young coach fell in the sea of corpses, looking at the gray sky, and realized for the first and last time the terrifying power of people's backlash.
And this backfire fire hardly stopped at all, and spread to the people in an instant.
More than half of the 50,000-strong army were killed or injured. Others escaped from the military camp. With no scruples of evil thoughts, they swung their butcher knives at the people and started killing and looting.
Most of them had lost their senses and were unable to gather in large groups to act. Instead, they carried crazy hostility. The people resisted angrily and even more hated the imperial court.
At this time, Bian Chunliang appeared.
He took his remaining 5,000 men and horses to quickly quell the turmoil for the people, and gathered some deserters. In addition, he also had the horses, food and grass in the military camp, and the people's hearts.
The people increasingly believed in the rumor that Bian Chunliang was the reincarnation of Buddha, and regarded the terrible camp roar that occurred among the imperial army as a divine punishment.
In Daozhou City, in an inconspicuous courtyard, Li Cong stood on the porch. After listening to the news brought back by his subordinates, he said: "Send a message back to Yizhou and tell the prince that everything goes well with the Daozhou plan."
Li Cong looked at the foggy sky outside the courtyard wall, and then ordered: "We can also start arranging another matter."
For Bian Chunliang, they had another generous gift from Prince Rong's Mansion.