When the sun rose more than ten feet high, the walls of Guzhichuan City were already filled with soldiers from the Ming army.
And the colorful flags embroidered with the Chinese character "明" are flying everywhere in Guzhichuan City.
Zhu Gaochi gently covered his nose with his left hand and slowly walked into the city gate.
The thick smell of blood, mixed with the burnt smell of burned houses, made people nauseous.
The general of the army, Wang Zheng, together with the forward officer Tang Xing, Xiao Chen and others, stood inside the city gate and greeted their commander respectfully.
"Where are the people in the city? Why is it so quiet, like a dead city?" Zhu Gaochi frowned and looked around.
Wang Changlian had previously suggested massacring the city himself, but he had made it clear that civilians who had not taken up arms could not be killed. What the Ming Dynasty wanted to conquer was the Ryukyu Kingdom, not to cross the ocean to oppress the local people.
Wang Zheng raised his fists and said, "Your Highness, before we attacked the city, these defenders had lost their humanity and killed all the people in the city."
"Why did they do this?" Zhu Gaochi was a little unconvinced.
How could any army do this to massacre its own people?
Even if the whole front is defeated, can you only blame yourself for being inferior to others in terms of skills, colluding with the people, and wanting to kill them?
"According to the captured defeated generals, they did not want the people to fall into our hands, so they sent them on their way in advance." Wang Zheng said in a deep voice.
Wang Zheng also felt contempt for the behavior of these defenders from the bottom of his heart.
The fear that the people would fall into the hands of the Ming army was just a high-sounding excuse. The real reason was that they were unable to resist under the attack of the Ming army's gunpowder arrows and already knew that they would inevitably die.
But I am not willing to die like this.
So he took the people of the whole city to bury him with him.
Shutting his mouth tightly, Zhu Gaochi let out a long breath: "With such behavior, they are no longer worthy of being called an army. They are bandits and beasts."
After a pause, he continued: "How many people were captured alive?"
"The captain of the first brigade under King Shannan, five or six squadron captains, and some recalcitrant soldiers, a total of about three hundred people." Wang Zheng replied hurriedly.
"Bring these people here and let me see them."
"Yes." Wang Zheng replied respectfully, then looked at the group of soldiers not far away, "Bring all the prisoners here."
Not long after, amid bursts of shouting, more than 300 prisoners were tied up and led over.
Buqi, who was walking at the front, was wearing tattered clothes, and the ropes on his body were tightly cut into his muscles, making it impossible for his arms to move at all.
The broom head on the top of the head has been scattered, and it is draped on the shoulders like a beggar.
Even so, his head was still raised high.
Seeing Zhu Gaochi, he twisted his neck, snorted and looked to the side.
"Kneel down." The soldier behind him shouted and kicked Buqi in the crook of the leg.
But I don't know whether it was because he lacked strength or because Buqi's legs were too strong.
He staggered, but still did not kneel down.
The soldier was very angry and raised his right foot to kick him again.
Zhu Gaochi waved his hand.
The soldier nodded and took a respectful step back.
"Are you the captain of the city's defenders?" Zhu Gaochi looked Buqi up and down and asked slowly.
"Hmph." Bu Qi snorted coldly, "Succeed as a king or lose as a bandit, you can kill or behead me as you please. If you want to ask me anything useful to you, that's just a daydream."
"Haha, I don't want to ask you anything related to the Ryukyu Kingdom. I just want to know who you are. Are you the captain of the garrison in this city?" Zhu Gaochi asked calmly without being angry.
"Yes." Buqi said disdainfully.
"That's fine." Zhu Gaochi nodded and asked slowly, "Why did you want to massacre the entire city's people?"
"The city is gone, but the people are left to farm for you? Is this really wishful thinking?" Looking at Zhu Gaochi, Bu Qi said coldly.
"Farming for us?" Zhu Gaochi was stunned.
The common people farmed just to survive for themselves. Why did he say they farmed for the army?
"Do you think our supplies need to come from local people?" Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but ask again.
"I don't care where your supplies come from. If the city is destroyed, the people will die. This is called living and dying with the city."
Zhu Gaochi's eyes were filled with surprise again.
"Isn't it what you defenders should insist on living and dying with the city? Why should you impose it on the people who have nothing to do with the world?"
Being questioned by Zhu Gaochi, Bu Qi rolled his eyes a few times and said, "As a family of soldiers and civilians, everyone should live and die together with the city."
"What a military and civilian family." Zhu Gaochi's face showed infinite disappointment, "You are going to deprive the military and civilian family of their lives? When you were drinking and eating meat, did you think about the military and civilian family and share a little with them?"
"This is our Ryukyu country's own business. It's useless to talk to you. If you want to kill or behead, don't waste your breath." Bu Qi was asked and couldn't answer the question at all. He had to raise his head again and turned to the side.
.
Perhaps, "rather die than surrender" at this time is his final dignity.
But all this, in the eyes of everyone, is not only ridiculous, but also extremely shameless.
Killing his own people, a dehumanizing act, came out of his mouth so confidently, as if everything was done for the sake of the people.
This is not a human being at all, this is an animal.
Wang Changlian walked up quietly behind him and whispered in Zhu Gaochi's ear: "Your Highness, this man is extremely ill and can no longer speak human words. It is better not to waste time with him and just kill him."
.”
It’s better to listen less to such dehumanizing rhetoric.
Zhu Gaochi nodded and waved his hand gently towards Wang Zheng: "Pull him down and kill him."
"Your Highness, there are more than 300 prisoners, have they all been killed?"
There is a rule in the Ming Dynasty's military regulations that prisoners cannot be tortured. Of these more than 300 prisoners, he would not dare to kill them all without the command of the commander.
Zhu Gaochi also knew very well about military regulations.
Killing these people is against the Ming Dynasty's military regulations, but if we don't kill them, these scum really don't deserve to continue to live in the world.
He froze in place for a moment, with a troubled expression on his face.
Xiao Chen saw this and hurriedly stepped forward and raised his fists towards Zhu Gaochi: "Your Highness, I have military regulations that prohibit the abuse of prisoners. Although these people have lost their humanity and are not worthy of being called human beings, they must be us
prisoners. If we kill them, we will be violating military regulations. If this matter is spread, it will also damage the reputation of our Ming army for strict discipline."
The army commander, Wang Zheng, looked at Xiao Chen in surprise.
Although this matter is against military regulations, if you don’t tell me and I don’t tell you, who will know about it?
As long as His Highness nods, these scum will be killed.
It would be better for you to say so solemnly in front of everyone that you cannot torture prisoners. Even if His Highness wants to kill him, you can't wipe out this face.
You guy, what are you going to do?
Wang Changlian next to Zhu Gaochi also looked incredulous.
In his impression, Xiao Chen would not even interrogate such a scumbag who tortured and killed people, but would just chop off his head.
What's happening now, using Ming Dynasty's military regulations to intercede on behalf of these scum?
Zhu Gaochi, who was hesitating, was awakened by Xiao Chen and made a decision in an instant.
He is now the commander-in-chief of the army, not the prince of the Ming Dynasty.
Since he is the commander-in-chief, he must abide by military regulations and lead by example. He hates these people extremely much in his heart, but as prisoners, they cannot kill them.
Even Du Shaoqin, who followed Xiao Chen and killed countless people, felt a little baffled.
Xiao Chen probably doesn't have such a bodhisattva heart.
"These people are prisoners and cannot be killed." Looking at Wang Zheng who was waiting for his order, Zhu Gaochi made his final decision.
"Okay, okay. I obey my orders." Wang Zheng responded helplessly, but he secretly blamed himself in his heart.
It's all my fault for talking too much. His Highness just said that Buqi should be dragged down and killed, and he directly carried out the order. How could there be such things?
I only blame myself for not having an opinion and being afraid of taking responsibility. I asked one more question and really let these scum escape with their lives.
That's all, on the way to escorting them, I was thinking of ways to kill them one by one.
Just as he was about to order people to temporarily imprison these prisoners, Xiao Chen spoke again.
"Two armies are facing each other. Only by knowing yourself and the other can you win every battle. This man is the captain of the first brigade under King Shannan. No one can compare with him in his understanding of King Shannan's army. And those three hundred people are basically the same.
They are all key military attachés of the First Battalion. The military information they say is crucial to our next battle. I want His Highness to hand these people over to Dongchang, so that Dongchang can dig out from their mouths what we need
information."
Looking at Zhu Gaochi, Xiao Chen said with a serious face.
It turns out that this guy wanted to kill these people himself. It made me worry in vain.
Wang Zheng smiled bitterly and shook his head.
He didn't believe that after being tortured in Dongchang, some of these people could survive.
Du Shaoqin, who was standing behind Zhu Gaochi, heard what Xiao Chen said and seemed to have seen Buqi, covered in blood, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing for mercy under the beating of his whip.
My heart was extremely excited, and I couldn't help rubbing my hands together, looking at Zhu Gaochi, waiting for the other person's answer.
After a moment of silence, Zhu Gaochi slowly spoke: "You are right, the information about the confrontation between the two armies is crucial. We know nothing about the Ryukyu army, and we can only find out from their mouths."
After saying that, he seemed to feel something was wrong, so he hurriedly added: "Remember, don't abuse them too much."
Xiao Chen chuckled: "Your Highness, don't you understand who I am? All I want is the information from their mouths. I can't do those cruel methods."
Before Zhu Gaochi could answer, Pioneer Officer Tang Xing, who had been silent all this time, couldn't help but grin.
Blow someone's head off alive, isn't this cruel?
Looking at Buqi who still held his head high, Tang Xing's eyes were filled with pity.