Jia Biao led his army to evacuate Lingqiu. The generals of the Han army were quite surprised, and Feng Yi was equally surprised. Listening to the doubts and discussions of the generals around him, Feng Yi pondered for a moment and said: "Continue to march!"
No matter whether Jia Biao really wants to withdraw or not, no matter what the enemy's plans are, the battle at Lingqiu must be fought by our side.
The army arrived near Lingqiu and looked up. Sure enough, the top of the city was empty. There was no flag. There was also a defender. Looking carefully, even the city gate below the city gate tower was wide open.
Feng Yi squinted his eyes and stared at the city for a long time before he returned his gaze and fell into deep thought.
It seems that Lu Fangjun did evacuate Lingqiu, but this makes no sense. There is no reason for Lu Fangjun to not even defend Lingqiu City, but to be scared away by his own side.
He pondered for a while, looked left and right, and said, "Zhao Kuang!"
"The general is here!" Zhao Kuang urged his horse to come out of the queue and stepped in to salute Feng Yi.
"You lead a group of cavalry and enter the city first to see if there is any ambush in the city!"
"General, I obey!" Zhao Kuang agreed, and just as he was about to turn his horse to leave, Geng Shu urged his horse forward and intervened, saying: "General, please allow me to accompany General Zhao."
"this……"
"General, the enemy's behavior is strange. If there is an ambush in the city, I can help General Zhao to break out of the encirclement!"
Feng Yi thought about it carefully, nodded, and reminded him sternly: "You two need to be more careful! If anything goes wrong, you need to leave the city immediately!"
"Here!" Geng Shu and Zhao Kuang both raised their hands in response.
There were also cavalry in the Western Expeditionary Army, but the number was not very large. Zhao Kuang led 500 cavalry, and Geng Shu led 200 cavalry. The total was less than 1,000 cavalry, and they slowly approached Lingqiu City ahead.
It was neither dark nor midnight, the sun was blazing, and the weather was hot. But when they approached Lingqiu City, Geng Shu, Zhao Kuang and others felt shuddering.
Through the open city gate, you can vaguely see the streets in the city, but in broad daylight, not even a single person can be seen on the streets. They are empty and empty. This is so abnormal.
Zhao Kuang turned to look at Geng Shu, and Geng Shu also looked at Zhao Kuang subconsciously. The two of them patted the war horse's neck in unison, asking the horse to walk slower.
Seven hundred cavalrymen, led by Geng Shu and Zhao Kuang, walked almost step by step to the gate of the south city of Lingqiu City.
The two men raised their eyes to look at the top of the city. There was no one and no sound. To be more precise, no one could be seen and no sound could be heard in the city, not even the crowing of cocks or the barking of dogs.
Zhao Kuang swallowed his saliva and muttered in a low voice: "This is really evil!" As he spoke, he asked in a low voice: "General Geng, what should we do now?"
"Enter!" Geng Shu said one word, then he picked up the reins, rode his horse, and walked into the city gate hole step by step. Zhao Kuang took a deep breath, plucked up the courage, and followed Geng Shu into the city.
Passing through the city gate, looking around, it was empty, nothing.
Geng Shu glanced around and found nothing. He raised his hand and pointed to the steps aside. Two Youzhou riders got off their horses and ran along the steps to the top of the city.
When I came to the top of the city wall and looked up, I could see clearly now that there were a lot of rolling logs and stones piled up on the top of the city wall, but there was no one there.
The two looked forward and back for a while, looked at each other, then lay down on the top of the city and shook their arms to Geng Shu below, indicating that there was indeed no one on the top of the city.
Zhao Kuang frowned and said: "General Geng, even if Jia Biao and his men evacuated Lingqiu City, but...but what about the people in the city? The spies didn't say that the people in the city also evacuated with them!
"
Geng Shu was now also a Zhang Er monk and was confused. He shook his head slowly, saying that he couldn't figure it out either. He waved forward and said, "Keep going!"
He took the lead and continued walking forward. After a short time, he entered the main street of the city and looked on both sides of the street. All the shops were closed.
Geng Shu rode his horse to the door of a shop, raised the tiger-headed halberd in his hand, and clicked on the door of the shop.
He didn't use any force, but the door slowly opened. Almost at the same time, there was a roar, and the cavalry present raised their crossbows one after another, and the crossbows were pointed at the door that slowly opened.
Geng Shu glanced at the people around him, then he jumped off his horse, holding his halberd, and walked into the shop step by step.
The inside of the store seemed to have been swept by a hurricane. It was a mess, with various objects scattered all over the floor, and there were a lot of weeds on the ground.
He raised his nose and took two hard breaths. He felt that the smell inside the store was strange, and there was a faint smell of stench. Zhao Kuang and others who followed Geng Shu in had covered their mouths and noses with sweat towels.
Geng Shu walked toward the back of the shop and arrived at the door of an inner room. He opened the door with his halberd. As the door opened, he looked inside and couldn't help but take two steps back.
It turned out that there were seven or eight corpses lying in the inner room. Judging from their body shape and hair, they were male and female, old and young. The blood stains on the men's clothes had turned dark brown, while the women had no clothes on them. They were obviously injured.
Killed after being insulted.
Because the corpse had been kept in the inner room for a long time, it had long since rotted and was infested with maggots and flies. As soon as the door was opened, a towering stench rushed towards him, almost knocking Geng Shu unconscious on the spot.
He took two steps back. At the same time, he waved the halberd in his hand forward and closed the door again.
He saw the situation in the inner room clearly. Zhao Kuang and others did not see it. People came forward one after another and asked in all directions: "What's wrong? What's in the house?"
A soldier wanted to open the door. Geng Shu raised one arm to cover his mouth and nose. He stretched his other arm to the side, blocked the soldier's path with his halberd, shook his head and said, "Don't open it!"
The soldiers looked at him with confusion, and Geng Shu said solemnly: "There are corpses inside. The time of death may be seven, eight days, or more than ten days. Maggots will rot and there may be epidemics!"
Hearing this, everyone present changed their colors and ran out one after another. The so-called epidemic was the plague. At that time, the plague was very terrible. It spread from one to ten, from ten to hundreds, and from hundreds to thousands. Once you contract the plague,
Nine times out of ten, someone will die.
Therefore, as soon as the epidemic is mentioned, people's expressions change when they hear it.
Geng Shu, Zhao Kuang and others hurriedly exited the store. Zhao Kuang tied the sweat towel on his face again and said to Geng Shu: "No wonder the smell in the city is weird. There is always a smell of stinking and mold. Could it be...
…All the people in the city are…”
At this point, he couldn't go on. Could it be that this huge Lingqiu City has now become a dead city? If so, it would make sense for Jia Biao to flee without fighting. They were also afraid of staying in the city.
, contracted the disease.
Geng Shu looked solemn. He pulled off the face towel wrapped around his neck and tied it firmly on his face. Then he strode to the next shop, pushed the door open and walked in. This shop is different from the previous one.
The situation was almost exactly the same. The inside had been rummaged around in a mess, and almost all valuable items had been looted. What was left were some wooden furniture, which was too large to be easily moved.
He pushed open the door to the inner room, and there were several corpses inside. They were also rotten, smelly, and full of maggots.
He checked five shops in a row, and it was the same in every shop. Only then did Geng Shu confirm that Lingqiu City had indeed been massacred, and all the people in the city had been killed.
He didn't know who did this. It might be Lu Fang's army, or it might be the Huns cavalry and Wuhuan cavalry who arrived at Lingqiu City before Lu Fang's army.
No matter who did it, whether it was Lu Fang's army, the Xiongnu cavalry, or the Wuhuan cavalry, none of them were innocent, and they were all the culprits of the massacre.
Geng Shu's chest and lungs were about to burst. He came out of the fifth shop, shouted suddenly, and slashed the halberd in his hand on the ground. Sparks exploded from the two bricks on the ground, and they were hit by his
The halberd split hard.
Zhao Kuang stepped forward and saw the tragic situation in Lingqiu City. He was also filled with indignation and grief. He patted Geng Shu on the shoulder and said in a hoarse voice: "General Geng, let's go back and report to the general!"
The enemy troops in Lingqiu City have indeed withdrawn, but this huge city has also turned into a dead city! It's so miserable, every house is filled with corpses, it's so miserable!
Geng Shu couldn't help but roar to the sky, pulled the reins of the war horse, jumped on the horse's back, waved to his soldiers, and exited Lingqiu City the same way.
When they arrived outside the city, everyone hurriedly ran back to their formation to report back to Feng Yi. Seeing that Geng Shu, Zhao Kuang and others had returned safely and unharmed, the Han soldiers all breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing Feng Yi, everyone dismounted one after another. Geng Shu was in a low mood, with his head lowered and silent. Feng Yi poked his head and looked at Geng Shu curiously for a moment, with a blank look on his face.
Geng Shu was in a high mood when he entered the city. Why did he become like this after leaving the city? He turned to look at Zhao Kuang and asked: "General Zhao, what happened?"
Zhao Kuang's face was extremely ugly. He raised his head to look at Feng Yi, then lowered his head and whispered: "Report to the general, Lingqiu... Lingqiu has become a dead city."
"What?" Feng Yi frowned.
Zhao Kuang whispered: "The people in the city have... been killed by the enemy troops a long time ago. The bodies of the people were thrown at home without anyone to take care of them. They are all rotting. There may be an epidemic in the city... There may be an epidemic in the city."
After hearing this, Feng Yi realized why everyone was so abnormal. He subconsciously shook the reins in his hands and said quietly: "It was Lu Fangjun who slaughtered all the people in the city?!"
Geng Shu raised his head and said fiercely: "It is also possible that the Huns and Wuhuan people did it! The people who were killed had been dead for no less than ten days. At the beginning, the Xiongnu and Wuhuan troops occupied Lingqiu first before Lu Fang's army!
"
Feng Yi took a deep breath, turned around and said: "Send the order, there may be an epidemic in the city, let the brothers collect mugwort leaves and realgar."
Mugwort leaves and realgar are both effective medicines for preventing diseases.
Boiling water with mugwort leaves and drinking it can enhance immunity to diseases. Burning realgar and producing smoke can also drive away diseases.
Of course, burning realgar is no child's play. There are certain requirements on how much realgar should be used and how long it should be burned. Otherwise, the realgar may kill people before it can dispel the disease.
Realgar, explained in modern chemistry, is arsenic tetrasulfide. When burned, a chemical reaction will occur, producing arsenic trioxide, which is arsenic. Although realgar is a traditional Chinese medicine, it can also produce highly toxic substances.
Since there were a large number of corpses hidden in the city and the corpses had been left there for a long time, Feng Yi did not dare to lead his army in hastily. He could only let the soldiers collect mugwort leaves and realgar first to prevent the epidemic.
Mugwort is easy to collect. It is a specialty in the north. It is everywhere. Realgar is an ore. It is too difficult to collect. You need to collect it from the people's homes in nearby villages. However, the villages in Lingqiu area have long been deserted and cannot be found at all.
living person.
Without realgar, the Han army had to use mugwort leaves in large quantities. The Han army soldiers set up pots outside the city and began to boil mugwort leaf water.
All the water in the water bags of the soldiers was poured out and replaced with moxa leaf water. Regardless of whether the soldiers were thirsty or not, in short, each person drank three large bowls first.
After all the busy work, it was already afternoon. Everything that needed to be prepared was prepared, and everything that needed to be taken precautions was taken. Feng Yi gave the order for the entire army to enter the city.
Just when the Han soldiers had already reached the city gate and were about to enter the city in batches, Geng Shu suddenly rushed his horse to Feng Yi and said in a hurry: "General, wait a minute! There may be a scam in the city.
