After the emperor's imperial decree was passed down, Meng Xianrong was promoted to the chief military officer of Zhongsu Town, and Wen Hu, the assassin, was also promoted to guerrilla.
Most of the Shence Town troops stationed at Muling Pass will withdraw to Qingzhou, leaving only one battalion temporarily stationed at Muling Pass. Meng Xian will go to Qingdao to take over Zhongsu Town.
Wen Hu became the camp officer who stayed behind.
"Didn't we win the battle? Why do we still need to evacuate?" Wen Hu was a little surprised.
"That's because Bolo ran away. Now there will be no Tatars coming from this direction, and it's far away from the coast, so there's no need for our main force to stay here. Shence is stationed in Qingzhou, and Zhongsu is stationed in Qingdao. It's all for the sake of fighting.
prepare."
"Then I don't want to stay either. Why do I stay here without fighting?" Wen Hu complained.
"You boy, stay here well. Although I only give you one battalion, there are still local braves. You have nothing to do. Next, while you guard Muling Pass, you also have to clear out the surrounding mountainous areas. Those
Those who occupy the mountains as kings, those who hide in the mountains must be cleaned up and reorganized, those who dare to cause chaos must be exterminated, hungry people must be recruited, wasteland and farmland must be reclaimed, and the village brave militia must be trained during the slack period..."
Wen Hu's face was full of displeasure, "Mr. Meng, can you please let another brother stay?"
"I asked you to stay, but the saint appointed you and said that you can fight well. This is a compliment to you. Otherwise, you would only be the leader of the team when you came to Mulingguan, and you would never be promoted to guerrillas no matter how high you are."
"I have served as a battalion officer twice before."
"Do you still have the nerve to say that? Things can only happen once and not again. Don't think it's an honor. You can be promoted to battalion officer this time. That is unprecedented. I will go to Zhongsu Town right away. If you do it again in the future,
But no one can protect you."
"Headquarters Town, how about you take me to Zhongsu Town? You have to bring a few helpers, right? I'll go and be your standard battalion commander?"
Meng Xian patted Wen Hu. He really wanted to take this guy away. Although he liked to cause trouble, he was really fierce in fighting. It was a pity that the emperor appointed him to stay at Muling Pass.
"Work hard. If you can reach Heaven and let the saints know your name, you will have a bright future. Don't always think that you have nothing to do if you stay. You can work hard in any position. A general cannot just know how to charge and defend an area.
, training soldiers and horses is also very important.
Now you are not only a battalion officer in Shence Town, but also a guard at Muling Pass, and you are also the coach of the Muling Pass regiment. You have multiple positions, which shows how much the saint values you."
However, Wen Hu rolled his eyes and said, "Speaking of a thousand words and ten thousand, it means leading a battalion of people to guard these barren mountains and ridges, and then taking care of a group of hungry people and common people. What kind of important role is this?"
"Why don't you understand? How did we come to Shence Town back then? Wasn't it the Huzhou Rebels at the beginning? You are young now and your position is not high, but you have a piece of your own territory. This is someone else's territory.
Many generals and lieutenants don’t have it.
You should think carefully now about how to seize this opportunity.
If you have the ability, you can recruit refugees here, train rural soldiers, farm and defend, and if you can train up to 8,000 people by then, when there is a war ahead, you can be called to attack and fight one or two good battles.
, when the time comes, your defense will probably turn into a whole town,"
Meng Xian had to give this guy some guidance.
"How can such a good thing happen!"
"It all depends on people. It all depends on your ability. If you don't have the slightest confidence in yourself, just pretend I didn't say it. If you have some ambition, then you should work hard. There will definitely be difficulties, but think about when we were in Suijin Town, Huzhou
When we were doing justice, wasn’t the situation more difficult then? How many failures have we experienced? But has Mr. Kim ever been discouraged?”
"You have to work hard, persist, and work hard. I'm in Qingdao. If something happens, remember to come to me."
"They are all from Changxing, Huzhou. Don't disgrace us Jiangdong people!"
Wen Hu was so excited that he blushed and patted his chest, "That's why I, Wen Hu, stayed. Not only did I stay, I also insisted on doing something good."
"Remember what you said now, let's go!"
Meng Xian was leaving first with a group of servants. He had to go to Qingzhou to meet his old boss Jin Gongyu, then go to Laizhou to meet the saint, and then return to Qingdao to take over Zhongsu Town.
Before leaving, he had the preserved Tatar scalps packed into boxes.
Although nearly two thousand Tatars were killed in several battles at Muling Pass, not many heads were obtained, because the Tatars would try their best to snatch the heads back every time, and only a few were snatched away by the Ming army.
Most of those that were snatched back were just heads. Since it was already summer, it was difficult to preserve them. He originally planned to just cut off the left ear as a proof, but Meng Xian got angry when he saw the braids on the heads, and finally ordered that the heads should be cut off.
Cut off the entire Tartar scalp after the ears are attached. Such a complete scalp is easy to preserve and carry, especially the golden tail rat tail is still intact on it.
From a piece of scalp, you can basically tell at a glance that this is a real Tatar. After all, even the Ming soldiers or civilians who have shaved their heads often have scalps that are very different from those of Tatars who have had money rat tails for many years.
In addition to being easy to preserve and easy to identify, there is another reason why Meng Xian cut his scalp. He hates the Tatars’ order to shave their heads. Don’t you Tatars force the Han people in the Central Plains to shave their heads? Don’t you like to have braids? Now that I have killed you, I won’t let them.
You die and go away with your pigtails.
Let's see who is cruel.
"What to do with those prisoners?"
There are dozens of prisoners in Muling Pass, including a battalion of Tatars who attacked at night that day. Most of them were killed, and some were captured. They have been locked up these days, and some of them are hungry without a meal.
The already hungry skin and bones were left with only breath.
Meng Xian originally wanted to kill them to save trouble, but the emperor had an order and these Tatars were to be taken to Laizhou.
"Before departure, give them a good meal so that they don't starve to death on the road. Since Your Majesty keeps them useful, they can't die."
······
In the prisoner camp.
An auxiliary soldier of the Shence Army rang an iron bar. This was the sound of dinner being served. He used the iron bar as a bell.
Hearing the sound, the prisoners heard the sound and came.
Gu Kuang
Isha sat up weakly.
"Master, I will make porridge for you." Baoyi Abaidis was also very hungry, but he still took the initiative.
The flies were buzzing around, and Ishar tried to catch the neighbor's uncle Naman away, but the flies flew back a few times, then landed back and continued to bite Naman's wounds.
The strong bear-like Manchu leader urged Naman, but he was lying on the ground without moving. Several wounds were smelly, and some of them even had maggots crawling in them.
"Uncle, the porridge is here, wake up." Isha called. This neighbor took good care of him all the way from outside the customs to Shandong.
But Naman only gave a slight hum, indicating that he was still alive, but he couldn't sit still.
Many prisoners were already struggling to get the porridge.
Isha looked at Naman with some sadness. These days, they had still had some hope, thinking that King Bolo could break into the pass and everyone would be saved. But now King Bolo has evacuated. It is said that in
There was another battle with the Ming army in Yishui, and more than a thousand people died. Now they have gone directly to Jinan, completely abandoning them.
The prisoners were desperate.
Addis went to get porridge.
In the end, he was served thick porridge that could hold up chopsticks, and there were even some wild vegetables in it.
The skin of the captives, who had not eaten salt for several days, began to swell. They had no oil, no salt, no vegetables, so they could only survive on a little thin soup.
Suddenly seeing this different food, I was stunned.
Then several Shence auxiliary soldiers came over and threw a salted fish two fingers wide at everyone's feet.
Isha quickly picked it up, put it into his mouth and chewed it. Although it was dry wood and even sand, the long-lost salty taste made him feel comfortable all over, and even the wounds on his body did not seem to hurt that much.
But the coated Addis cried while holding the dried salted fish.
"Why are you howling in mourning? Be careful to attract punishment from the Ming army." Isha cursed angrily. Although this slave in uniform has always been loyal and diligent, and even saved his own life that night, you can hear him howling.
, he still cursed angrily.
Addis wiped his tears and said, "Master, the Ming army has given us such a good meal, I'm afraid this meal will be our meal on the road."
Isha was stunned.
"Master, all the prisoners in Ming Dynasty's death row are given a farewell meal before they are executed. It will be much better than eating in advance. After eating, they will be beheaded and go on the road. Are we also going to be executed and go on the road?"
Isha still had half a piece of dried salted fish stuffed in his mouth, but it suddenly tasted tasteless and no longer fragrant at all.
He couldn't help but think of his home village in Liaodong, outside the Pass, and his mother, brothers and sisters in the village. The family was still waiting for him to be rewarded for his meritorious services, waiting for him to bring the reward home, and waiting for him to snatch back the slaves, cattle and horses.
After his father was injured in a robbery, he was dragged on the bed for several years, which completely brought down the whole family. The family all hoped that he could turn things around for the family this time.
But now he is eating his last meal and is about to hit the road.
Thinking of this, fear struck and complete despair.
After all, Isha was just a teenager. At this moment, he no longer looked like he was trying to be mature. He burst into tears.
"Howling in mourning!"
A divine auxiliary soldier came over and whipped him directly. Addis quickly leaned on his master to protect him, "Don't hit my master, don't hit me."
He spoke Chinese or Shandong accent.
The auxiliary soldier was stunned for a moment and looked at the Tatar dragging his money tail, "Are you Han?"
Addis protected Isha, who was still breaking down and crying, and nodded to the auxiliary soldiers.
This made the auxiliary soldiers very confused and angry, "You are a Han, why are you still protecting this little Tatar?"
"He is my master."
"Fuck," the auxiliary soldier couldn't help but cursed, "what's your name, who are you, and why do you think the Tatars are your masters?"
Addis hesitated.
The auxiliary soldier couldn't help but kicked him over, "Say! If you don't tell me, I'll chop your Tatar master with a knife!"
"Don't chop, I said, I said, my name is Addis,"
"Chinese name!"
"Song Mingwu was originally a eunuch in Prince Lu's palace in Yanzhou. In the 15th year of Chongzhen, the Qing army defeated Yanzhou and was taken captive by his old master to Liaodong. This year he entered the customs with his young master..."
"Wait a minute, you said you were originally a eunuch in Prince Lu's palace?"
"I was originally a eunuch in the palace in Beijing, but later I was appointed as a servant in Prince Lu's Mansion in Yanzhou..."