"Please get up quickly~" Hu Biao said quickly as he saw a group of men kneeling on the ground in front of him, claiming to be the surviving men from Lijiacun.
At the same time, his hands did not stop, and he led Yang Dongli and others behind him to help them up one by one.
He also made a promise: "Don't worry, fellow villagers, Tatars also have a head on their shoulders. If you chop it with a knife, you will die. If you die too much, you will be scared."
As long as we risk our lives to fight against them, we will surely get revenge and save our family members."
It was only after talking about this that Hu Biao discovered that there was another person in the crowd who was thin and had not yet raised a child with a hoe on his shoulder.
Suddenly, Hu Biao felt a little soft-hearted inexplicably. He really couldn't bring his children to fight to the death.
Say it again! The men can die and fight against the Tatars, but the children must survive and continue to thrive on such a land, making this nation strong again.
However, looking at the other party dressed in embarrassment, he did not forget to hold on to the handle of his hoe. The specific situation he encountered can be imagined with just a moment's thought.
In order to take care of the child's self-esteem, Hu Biao pondered for a while and then said:
"Oh, we have a little man here. I wonder how old he is this year and what his name is?"
"My name is Li Siping. I have just turned thirteen and two months old. Brother Hu Biao, I am not afraid of death. In order to avenge my parents and several brothers, I will fight the Tatars to the death."
After the doll opened his mouth, he answered like this, which was quite beyond Hu Biao's expectations.
Mainly because Hu Biao originally thought that because of severe malnutrition, this baby, with bones all over his body and a big head, must be in his teens at most.
As it turns out, according to the adult standards of the late Ming Dynasty, this child will be an adult in a few years.
After pondering for a while, Hu Biao said: "From now on, just stay with me and be a private soldier who delivers orders."
After hearing that sentence, Li Siping still didn't react. A man from Lijia Village next to him started kowtowing to the doll on the spot.
After helping Li Siping up, Hu Biao clearly heard the "gurgling" sounds coming from the stomachs of these people.
Fortunately, Hu Biao had already been mentally prepared for such a scene.
Because at least eight out of ten people who came to seek refuge with his 'brother Hu Biao' had their food either taken away from them or burned to death.
Many people have not had a bite to eat for more than a day.
Immediately, Hu Biao asked Old Snake to take these hungry people to the kitchen where Zhang Xiu Niang was to have a full meal first.
In the kitchen, Zhang Xiu Niang was already leading several women who had taken refuge, and they were busy working non-stop.
The rice, flour, grain and oil they had hoarded were taken out of the warehouse in bags and were consumed in alarming quantities...
****
In the following time, Hu Biao continued to be busy, almost as if he was too busy, and soon forgot about the above episode.
The main reason is that he was far from expecting it.
Following the eight lightly injured soldiers, riding the Tatar war horses provided by them, they were running around in the Loess Fort and the surrounding countryside.
After announcing that ‘Brother Hu Biao will lead everyone to save people and take revenge’.
Before and after, so many people came.
At first, he thought that it would be a pretty good result if fifty or sixty people came over and followed them to fight the Tatars and save people.
But in fact, they underestimated the deep-seated hatred for the Tatars in the hearts of the soldiers and civilians in Loess Fort.
It is true that life is getting harder day by day these days, but you can still survive; but after the Tatars came, family members were killed and taken away, and all the food they had to survive was robbed. Such hatred is simply irresolvable.
of.
They are numb because no one leads them to do anything.
Especially when the right time, place and people were in place, when he, through some mistakes, became quite famous as "Brother Hu Biao" and raised his arms.
The hatred that could only be suppressed suddenly spread like wildfire on the dry grassland.
Eventually, a prairie fire will ignite that will surprise those who started the fire.
In fact, when Li Siping and others from Lijia Village arrived, eighty or ninety people had already arrived at Suifengdun to pay their respects to him, brother Hu Biao.
And this is just the beginning. As time goes by, more and more people come to seek refuge, including men, women, old and young, with all kinds of professions and identities.
For example, an old man and two young men carry a big baggage on their backs.
After arriving and seeing Hu Biao, he quickly took a few steps forward and with a 'duang~' sound, he knelt down on the ground and faced Hu Biao with his hands clasped in fists.
With red eyes, he shouted:
"I have met brother Hu Biao, little old man, and I are a family of twelve, all of whom are craftsmen living outside Loess Fort. After being harmed by the Tatars yesterday, we are the only ones left now, our grandfather and grandson.
The hatred that broke up the family is irreconcilable, so I am sending these two useless grandsons to follow you to fight against the Tartars.
If they don't do something well, just follow the military law.
Although I am seventy-one years old, I am old and weak. Although I cannot go into battle to kill the enemy, I will repair my armor and make some simple weapons after I have been a craftsman for many years.
When we came here, our grandfather and grandson also brought tools, and we came here hoping that I, the old man, could stay and do my best here."
After hearing this, Hu Biao was naturally overjoyed.
They originally had a lot of armor, and a lot of it was captured from the Tatars after the First World War; but these armors were badly damaged in the battle, and they just needed to be repaired.
Immediately, he asked Fengrui to lead the family of three to dinner; and then he quickly took action, asking for people and materials, and finding ways to find them.
In short, before starting a fight with the Tatars, try to repair a suit of armor as much as possible.
But the family of three who knew how to repair their armor left with Fengrui.
Another dozen men with steel forks in their hands and bows and arrows on their backs stepped forward quickly, fell to their knees again, and shouted:
"I've met brother Hu Biao. We are hunters from the mountain village. After the village was plundered by the Tatars yesterday, most of our family members and fellow villagers were captured by the Tatars.
I only managed to escape with my life by relying on my familiarity with the surrounding terrain.
Now I hope to follow my brother in the fight against the Tatars. I believe that my archery skills are quite good and I can even risk my life when fighting the Tatars. I ask my brother to accept it."
Even amid the sound of horse hoofbeats, a dozen servants who were familiar to Hu Biao, together with twenty or thirty soldiers, arrived at Suifeng Dun.
Before Hu Biao could figure it out, he had seen these people before.
These people all knelt down on the ground and shouted: "I have seen brother Hu Biao. We are all servants of Wang Caoshou and Zhou Baihu, as well as some soldiers from the Loess Fort.
Although we escaped in Loess Fort, all our family members were killed or captured by the Tatars.
This hatred is irreconcilable. If we don't take revenge, how can we be considered as one people? I heard that my brother is righteous and wants to lead everyone to seek revenge against the Tatars.
I have never stopped honing my martial arts skills over the years, and I also consider myself to be proficient in bow and horse, and am willing to fight hard together with my brother~"
"Greetings to brother Hu Biao, we are the Liu family opera troupe, and we sang for you here a few days ago.
It's just that the Tatars are ruthless. Now that the Liu family's troupe has suffered a catastrophe, only a few old and weak people are left in front of us. We can't go into battle to kill the enemy, but we can also help you by beating drums and cheering.
I sincerely ask Brother Hu Biao to accept some of us~"
In short, among everyone who took refuge with Hu Biao, no matter whether they were military households or civilians; they were poor people who were extremely poor, or they were small landowners with a small family fortune.
After meeting the fierce Tatars, they did not receive any preferential treatment due to their status.
Everyone has a history of blood and tears, and a deep hatred with the Tatars that has not compromised at all; when they came to Suifengdun, they were even more determined to fight to the death.
So looking at these soldiers and civilians who may not look so powerful in appearance, Hu Biao had a vague intuition in his heart:
Perhaps these rookies on the battlefield, with a group of soldiers and civilians who looked like a ragtag group of soldiers, might really be able to create a miracle.
