While Pang Gang was busy preparing for the army's expedition, Lu Xiangsheng also encountered trouble when he led 20,000 Xuan soldiers from Tongzhou to Zhuozhou.
When Lu Xiangsheng set out, the food and grass given to him by Gao Qiqian was only one thousand dan. One thousand stone and 160,000 catties of food and grass seemed like a lot, but in fact it was not enough. But based on the soldiers' daily consumption of two catties of food, two
An army of ten thousand consumes at least 40,000 kilograms of grain every day, and even the people eat horse chews. The amount of grain allocated by Gao Qiqian is not enough to feed the army for four days.
When Lu Xiangsheng reached the halfway point, the army was out of food. When Lu Xiangsheng urged Gao Qiqian to allocate food and grass, Gao Qiqian always used the words "there is no food in the army" to shirk it. In this way, Gao Qiqian continued to fight every day.
The well-fed and drunk man hung far behind Lu Xiangsheng, but Lu Xiangsheng was hungry while fighting a small group of Qing soldiers.
On May 11th, Lu Xiangsheng's troops arrived near Baoding. At this time, Lu Xiangsheng had no money, no food and grass. His letters to the Ministry of War were like nothing.
When he arrived in Qingyuan County, Lu Xiangsheng asked Qingyuan County to prepare food and grass, but they ignored him at all. For this reason, Lu Xiangsheng wrote a handwritten edict and sent it to Qingyuan County Magistrate, which said: "If there is another delay, the consequences will be severe."
The three armies were defeated due to hunger and should be dealt with according to military law!" Zuo, the magistrate of Qingyuan County, relied on the power of the commander-in-chief Gao Qiqian. Not only did he still ignore it, but he also instigated Gao Qiqian to write a letter reproaching Xiang Sheng, saying: "My father-in-law has stationed troops under the strong city.
If we don't advance or retreat, how will we be able to solve the big problems in the future?" Lu Xiangsheng led the hungry and exhausted soldiers to move to Zhending, hoping to get some relief. Unexpectedly, Zhang Qiping, the governor of Zhending, saw that Yang Sichang and Gao Qiqian were ostracizing him, and closed the city tightly.
The army was almost out of food. The soldiers could only eat one porridge a day, and sometimes they could not even eat one meal. They had to rely on grass roots, tree bark and very few grains to satisfy their hunger. At first, Zhang Qiping agreed to help.
One day's food, but Lu Xiangsheng sent officials to collect the food. From noon to dusk, he turned from the east gate to the south gate without opening the city gate. Words came from inside: "It is getting late, and there is only one thousand pieces of silver."
Two. No food." Then he lowered the silver from the top of the city.
But these days, even if you have money, you may not be able to buy food. Lu Xiangsheng got a thousand taels of silver but had nowhere to buy food. Some soldiers, with the tacit consent of the officers, divided into small groups at night, quietly left the camp and went to the countryside to forage forage. There appeared
Robbery and adultery. As a result, the people hated and feared the officers and soldiers more and more. Wherever the officers and soldiers went, the people fled cleaner and farther.
Because there was no food, people often went hungry and had a full meal. Deserters gradually appeared in the army. The 20,000-strong army went hungry while fighting Qing soldiers. Battle losses plus deserters arrived in Baoding.
When we entered the territory, the original army of 20,000 people when we first set off was reduced to less than 13,000 to 4,000 people.
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng began to despair, and people like Yang Sichang, relying on the emperor's favor, were pressing on him like a mountain. He wanted to fight, but he was hindered at every turn. Not only did the emperor not support him, but he was angry with him.
He was so angry that he was demoted several times with strict orders and was almost dismissed from his post. He was recalled to Beijing to await questioning. Now he is always on tenterhooks, fearing that he will suddenly receive an imperial edict and be dismissed from his post for questioning.
The opportunity to serve the country with loyalty on the battlefield suddenly came to nothing. He knew the emperor's temper. Who said that something like this would not happen? From this moment on, Lu Xiangsheng began to think about dying in battle.
Just as Lu Xiangsheng was in dire straits, Pang Gang was also rushing to Baoding. This time, the army led by Pang Gang had two infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, plus more than a thousand cavalry, personal troops and a two-man army.
There are more than 1,000 people in the baggage camp, with more than 16,000 men and horses.
On May 15th, Pang Gang's army had already entered Hejian Mansion. At this time, Hejian had been looted many times by the Tatars and had become empty. There were only a few people within a hundred miles. Everywhere could be seen at a glance.
The fields were starved to death, with bones scattered everywhere, and all kinds of dead people everywhere. The remaining people also had a pair of strange eyes open, which was a sign of being starved and dizzy. What everyone couldn't bear, there were also groups of people gathering in groups.
People from the team went to cut the flesh of the dead people and eat them. Abandoned dead babies could be seen everywhere.
When he first encountered such a thing, Pang Gang ordered to drive away the hungry people who were eating people. But then he saw too many such things and became numb. He is just a mortal, not a god who saves the suffering...
Hao Dayong rode his war horse at the front of the team. Looking at the dilapidated villages on both sides of the official road, he sighed and said to a general next to him: "Brother Wei, look at it, this Hejian Mansion can be regarded as the emperor."
Logically speaking, the ground under our feet, even if it is not as prosperous as Jiangnan, will not be so dilapidated, but look, what has it become now?"
The boss surnamed Wei also shook his head and said: "Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with the Ming Dynasty now? It's getting worse and worse. After thinking about it, it's better for us in Qingzhou. The people live and work in peace and contentment, although I don't dare to say that they don't close their doors at night.
, but at least the people can be fed and clothed, and there is still hope for this day, but if you look at the boundaries of Hebei, tsk tsk..."
The boss surnamed Wei stopped talking when he said this. Some words just need to be understood by both parties. There is no need to say it too thoroughly. Although everyone knows that sooner or later, their master will fall out with the court. This is already an open secret.
But after all, everyone is still using the banner of Ming Dynasty, right?
Having said this, seven or eight figures suddenly appeared on a hillside in front of them, running desperately towards the team.
The alert Hao Dayong quickly ordered: "Everyone be on alert!"
Following Hao Dayong's order, the team behind him immediately stopped. The dozens of infantry led by him had begun to load their rifles, ready to shoot at any time according to orders.
Soon, Hao Dayong saw clearly the figures that came to him. It turned out that they were seven or eight women in ragged clothes and unkempt hair. Behind them, there were dozens of people chasing after them.
A woman immediately shouted loudly: "Master, save us, they... they are going to eat us!"
Following the shouting, these women had already run in front of Hao Dayong, knelt down with a bang, and cried loudly: "Master Jun, save us, they are going to eat us!"
Hao Dayong looked at the dozens of people who were chasing after them with wooden sticks and other objects in their hands. Although they also looked dishonest, their expressions were fierce, and they didn't know what was going on.
It's not like he hasn't seen the tragedy of cannibalism along the way, but most of them eat dead people. This is the first time he has seen such things as eating living people. Hao Dayong was furious in his heart and pulled out his hindquarters.
With the long bow hanging on his back, he put the arrow on the bow and shot out.
With a "whoosh" sound, the slender crossbow penetrated the chest of the leading hungry man holding a wooden stick with a gleam of cold light. The hungry man fell to the ground immediately, and the sound of falling to the ground was as silent as a broken sack falling from a height.
two.
"Surround them all and don't let anyone go!" It seemed that Hao Dayong was really angry.
"Crash la la la..." Hundreds of sergeants immediately rushed forward to help the dozens of hungry people.
"Put down your weapons, otherwise you will not be shot!" As the sergeants shouted, dozens of hungry people threw their weapons to the ground. They raised their hands, and their horrified eyes flashed among the sergeants.
Pass.
The women who were rescued were stunned by the arrow shot by Hao Dayong. With a bang, they knelt down in front of Hao Dayong and kowtowed while crying: "Master, don't kill me, don't kill me!"
Hao Dayong sighed, looked at the commander next to him, dismounted and helped the leading woman up, saying softly, "Get up, we are officers and soldiers, not bandits, and we will not harm you."
After saying that, Hao Dayong looked at the women in front of him and found that they were all young people. There were no old people or children. But it is normal to think about it. In such a world, the people who are most likely to die are the old people and children, and only the strong ones.
Only young people can survive.
"This damn world!" Hao Dayong cursed in a low voice and looked at the boss surnamed Wei next to him. The boss surnamed Wei took out a hard object from the cloth bag around his waist and
A kettle was handed to the woman.
"This is a pie!"
A voice of surprise sounded among the women, and then several women screamed, and several people started to snatch the cake.
"stop!"
Seeing that the girls were about to fight each other for a piece of pie, a loud shout rang out, and a young general came over. The general came to the girls with a look on his face that said no.
The majesty he showed immediately intimidated the girls.
The person coming was Pang Gang. Pang Gang glared at Hao Dayong and asked, "Hao Dayong, what's going on? Why did the men and horses stop?"
When Hao Dayong saw the person coming, he quickly stood up and gave a military salute before saying: "Man Pangda, it's like this. When I came here from a humble position, I found these women being chased by these victims. It turned out that they were going to kill these people."
Several women were caught and eaten. When the humble official saw it..."
Hao Dayong told Pang Gang everything about the situation. After hearing this, Pang Gang stared at the women in front and asked, "Is that what happened?"
"Yes, Master, they are going to eat us!"
When several women saw that the young military commander was obviously older than the military commander just now, they immediately told everything. It turned out that they all fled from Hebei, and their families died along the way.
It was all gone, and they were the only ones left.
I didn't expect to meet these hungry people today. These hungry people who were dizzy from hunger immediately became evil and wanted to catch them all and eat them. It was also because they were lucky, so they ran away desperately and encountered Pang Gang's army, otherwise they would definitely be in trouble.
Escape from being eaten...
ps: Recommend a book, several names: Tongtian Official Road ISBN: 2210792