There are actually no living people in Jingzhou City, but in this town of seven to eight thousand people, only five or six hundred people survived.

When Bai Congxin found them, these people were running for their lives carrying large and small bags.

Bai Congxin originally wanted to call them back, but these people who were frightened by the rebels dared not stop. In the end, Bai Congxin could only order the soldiers to arrest them.

When Bai Congxin brought these crying Jingzhou people back, Zhang Zhao knew that there must be survivors here.

Because there were not many corpses in the northern part of Jingzhou City, and traces of cleaning could be seen, these people should have chosen to leave the city to escape after seeing soldiers coming down the Jinghe River.

"Well done, officials! Let us go!"

"We are all raised by our parents, can we have any sympathy at all?"

"What crime have I committed? Should I suffer the pain of these swords and soldiers? The last month there was a massacre of soldiers, killing dozens of my close relatives and looting all my property and food. What is there to gain from coming back today?"

Hundreds of people were driven back by Bai Congxin. As soon as they arrived at the north gate of Jingzhou, they burst into tears.

Just outside the north gate was the rushing Jing River. These people thought that Bai Congxin had kidnapped them just to kill them by the river.

As for why they were killed? Do you still need to ask? Of course they were killed to make preserved meat, and the river was just right for cleaning, so there was no need to dirty the ground.

Zhang Zhao did not go up to explain immediately, because explaining to them now was definitely not as important as immediately cleaning up the rotting corpses in Jingzhou City.

The temperature has been gradually rising in June. If we don't deal with it now, a major epidemic may begin.

Zhang Zhao also looked at the people who were crying and shouting. They had lived in Jingzhou City for a month or two and were probably infected with the disease.

Lady Han Qi was among the crowd, holding the two children in her arms tightly. Her trembling body, thin face, and eyes revealed a deep hatred for the soldiers with guns and knives in front of her.

Her family was originally from a large family in Jingzhou, with a family of poems and etiquette. Her husband was good at medicine and was highly appreciated by An Shuqian, the governor of Jiedu.

Mrs. Han Qi came from a medical family. She married in Shuzhong and moved to Jingzhou. The couple opened a medical clinic and recruited smart young people as apprentices. They became famous in Jingzhou and even the entire Kansai region.

Unfortunately, there was a war, her parents-in-law were killed, and her husband was kidnapped. Although she escaped with her two children with the help of several apprentices, she had just found a place to stay and was ready to wait for her husband to come back.

I knew that the rebels were coming again.

However, Lady Han Qi looked at it for a while and suddenly found that these 'thief soldiers' were a little different. They were cleaning up the corpses in the city on a large scale, and they were boiling soup by the river. The soldiers' faces were all covered with white cotton cloth. It looked like

Come on, there are some good healers here!

However, Mrs. Han Qi smelled it carefully and found that there seemed to be something wrong with the prescription. Several main ingredients were missing. She couldn't help but wonder, how could someone who knew how to cover the face with fine white cotton cloth be so ignorant of pharmacology?

Zhang Zhao sighed, feeling very unhappy. A total of more than 4,000 corpses were cleared out of Jingzhou City, and most of them had begun to rot.

A clear eye could see that the corpses were covered with knife and gun wounds, and almost all the women were naked. Many babies died tragically next to their naked mothers. Some husbands were hacked to death in front of the door, and their wives and daughters died naked on the beds in the house.

Many pregnant women could not escape death, and their babies had already begun to take shape in their rotting bodies.

There are also many people with mutilated corpses. They were not killed by the insurgents, but were eaten by wild dogs, wolves and even rats these days.

The soldiers of the Guiyi Army followed Zhang Zhao to move the corpses. Many of them were not happy at first, but later, when they saw the tragic situation in Jingzhou City, everyone was silent and felt heavy in their hearts.

"Lao Yan, Lao Bai, Nobu Chang'er, Lie Cheng'er, what do you think?"

Zhang Zhao asked the people who were following him. Yan Jin, Bai Congxin and others also knew that this was Zhang Zhao's habit of adding an inexplicable old character when addressing people.

Yan Jin shook his head, his face unmoved, "Since the middle and late Tang Dynasty, military discipline has been corrupted, and this has been achieved for hundreds of years. In fact, this is not only the case in the Central Plains, but also in Tubo. However, the general cannot control others, but he can definitely control the soldiers under his command.

"

Bai Congxin was even less volatile. He was a horse bandit and tortured and killed babies. Although pregnant women had never done this, he had heard a lot about it.

Uh! Maybe he hasn't committed such atrocities because babies and pregnant women don't appear in business.

But after following Zhang Zhao for five or six years, Bai Congxin was also influenced by Zhang Zhao, and his state of mind was very different from before.

"These thieves are so cruel that they are just a mob. Even if there are one or two fierce people, they will not be able to achieve anything. If Sikong marches eastward with benevolent and righteous soldiers, he will definitely win a complete victory!"

Murong Nobunaga clenched his fist bitterly, "Haier just discussed this matter with Brother Liecheng. The rebels have no humanity. When they get to the battle formation, I will definitely kill him every seven times he enters and seven times he leaves!"

"Yes! If we defeat those rebels, no one will be left alive!" Zhang Liecheng also said angrily. He was from the lowest background and could empathize with the people at the bottom.

Zhang Zhao nodded. At this time, Guo Tiance also rushed over. Zhang Zhao looked at everyone and said.

"Why should I strictly enforce military discipline? In view of this, I, the son of the rebel army, am a loyal soldier who never forgets his homeland. I will not kill indiscriminately or plunder, so that we can live like the rising sun in this chaotic and dark world.

As dazzling as the rising sun, let the world know our loyalty, bravery, benevolence and righteousness.

Tiance, you summon all the secretaries to write down today's tragic situation into a script and regulations, so that all the sons of the rebel army will know that soldiers protect their homes and countries and will never touch the blood of civilians on their hands.

When I return to the rebel army, I must not allow anything like this to happen to tarnish our century-old righteousness of returning to the country. Anyone who dares to commit this crime will be beheaded, no matter how close they are or what their position is!"

"I obey the order! I will definitely spread the word to the whole army, so that everyone knows Sikong's benevolence and righteousness!" Guo Tiance quickly accepted the order, and then went down to prepare.

After the body was cremated, it was almost dark, so the cooks in the Guiyi Army cooked thick corn porridge and baked biscuits.

Originally, everyone drank fish soup along the way. After all, we could save a little on military rations, and the fish caught in the river tasted pretty good when made into soup.

But when they arrived in Jingzhou, everyone saw such a tragic situation, especially after a body floated on the sand on both sides of the Jing River from time to time, everyone no longer wanted to drink fish soup.

Zhang Zhao simply had dozens of thin sheep slaughtered and cooked mutton soup.

After the aroma of the porridge and scones, especially the mutton soup, spread to the captured people in Jingzhou, these refugees, whose food stores had long been looted by the rebels, suddenly became unable to sit still.

They looked eagerly at the direction where the scent was coming from and kept twitching their noses. They didn't know what this group of soldiers wanted to do by catching them but not killing them, and then ignoring them now.

The two little heads in Lady Han Qi's arms were arched. A girl with a messy bun raised her thin face covered with black mud and looked pitifully at Lady Han Qi.

"Mom, Yu'er wants to eat cake!"

Hearing what the little girl said, the little boy on the side rubbed Madam Han Qi's chest with some fear, and suddenly said in a low voice: "Mom, Bao'er is hungry, and Bao'er also wants to eat cakes."

Mrs. Han Qi felt a surge of sadness and grievance, and a few more tears rolled out of her eyes that had already lost tears.

She hugged the two children and didn't know how to answer, so she could only sob quietly. Listening to her cry, the people in Jingzhou around her were also filled with sadness and sobbed together.

At this time, the meal was ready. Zhang Zhao personally brought a dustpan of cakes and asked the soldiers to take the cakes and rice porridge to the group of surviving Jingzhou people.

The people of Jingzhou who were lucky enough to escape with their lives looked at Zhang Zhao blankly. They crowded together tightly and trembled like quails. However, their eyes were not full of fear, but there was also a strong hatred hidden in their eyes.

Zhang Zhao placed the cakes and porridge in front of them, and then waved to a few old men who looked like leaders in the crowd.

"We have to go east to quell the chaos, and the military rations are not very sufficient. Let's give each person a bowl of porridge and a piece of cake."

As he spoke, Zhang Zhao paused. Originally, these people must not have a portion of mutton, but when Zhang Zhao looked at their skinny bodies and some young children who were almost starving, he suddenly felt extremely unbearable.

He turned back to Guo Tiance and said: "Ask the cooks to bring another bucket of mutton soup. The mutton should be stewed until it's mushy. Add a little more salt."

The crowd stared blankly at Zhang Zhao. They were prepared to kill him at the hands of his neck, but they did not expect that someone would give them something to eat. Everyone was doubtful, and no one dared to reply or move.

When Mrs. Han Qi heard that there was something to eat, she felt very sad because of the crying of the two children just now, so she gritted her teeth and stood up.

"Isn't this officer going to kill me? Isn't he going to let us have enough food so we can go on the road?"

Zhang Zhao was still fine, but Guo Tiance next to him was unhappy. He stepped forward, pointed a halberd at Lady Han Qi and said angrily.

"This lady is so dumb that she can't speak. The person in front of you is Sikong, the school inspector, and Duke Zhang in Hexi Festival. Duke Zhang took pity on you and gave you food. How dare you treat your kindness like a donkey's liver and lungs?"

Lady Han Qi smiled sadly after hearing this, "Then what this officer said, today we see officers and soldiers who don't kill people. If there are such officers and soldiers in the world, how can our families be destroyed?"

These words were a bit offensive. Zhang Zhao looked at this thin woman with sad eyes and looked like she was crazy. He wanted to scold her, but he thought that this woman might have had a close family member killed, so she went a little crazy.

Thinking of this, Zhang Zhao couldn't bear it anymore. He tried to soften his voice a little and said softly.

"We are the Guiyi army from Hexi, not the bandit army that looted Pizhou. We were ordered by the imperial court to deal with the traitors. Don't be suspicious and just eat in peace."

After saying that, Zhang Zhao did not stay any longer, but turned around to arrange the garrisoning of the army and other matters.

With the food in hand, Lady Han Qi and other Jingzhou people's faces finally became a little more angry. They wolfed down the food and started eating by the river.

Lady Han Qi broke the crispy Hu cake into small pieces, mixed it with mutton soup and corn porridge, and slowly fed her son and daughter. She was a little curious about the Hexi Jiedu in the distance and was Zhang Gong.

Is there really a benevolent and righteous teacher in this world who does not kill or plunder?

She thought for a while, then asked the old woman next to her to take care of her child, then stood up and walked towards Zhang Zhao amid the worried eyes of everyone.

Zhang Zhao was also preparing to eat something. At this time, he heard the guards yelling from behind. He turned around and saw that the crazy and thin little lady was stopped.

Zhang Zhaochong waved his hand to the guards, signaling them to let the woman come over. Fanshun, who was eating next to Zhang Zhao, quickly stood up and put his hand on the handle of the short knife at his waist.

Although the person who came was a woman and very thin, as Zhang Zhao's personal bodyguard, he still had to be vigilant.

"Slave, on behalf of the survivors of Jingzhou, thank Zhang Sikong for the meal!" Lady Han Qi said with a somewhat stiff expression.

Zhang Zhao smiled faintly and said, "This lady came here alone. She didn't just want to say thank you. If you have anything to say, you can just say it!"

Madam Han Qing nodded slightly awkwardly, but when she spoke, she seemed extremely confident, "I saw Sikong's doctor by the river, brewing medicine to prevent epidemics?"

"That's right! After a major disaster, there will be a major epidemic." Zhang Zhao nodded, "This lady also knows medical skills?"

Speaking of medical skills, Zhang Zhao suddenly gained some momentum when he saw this thin, dirty little lady, and her dirty face actually shone with pride, like a girl who had just laid an egg. Like a little hen.

"Slave, I understand a little bit, but Sikong is brewing Yupingfeng Powder? This is a prescription to prevent the invasion of wind evil, but it cannot prevent epidemics and viruses. Moreover, the proportion of this prescription is not yet mature. If you use it rashly, it will do more harm than good.

The Jade Ping Feng Powder, which is also Sikong, lacks the two medicinal ingredients of raw astragalus and honeysuckle, and the emperor, ministers and envoys mix them randomly. Since you know how to cover your mouth and nose with white cotton cloth to block external evils, how can you use such incomplete prescriptions?"

Ugh! Zhang Zhao turned around and looked at the medical doctors accompanying the army behind him. These "famous doctors" in Hexi were extremely embarrassed.

"Reporting to Sikong, there are indeed a few herbs missing, but these herbs are not available in Hexi, so we can only reduce the number by one or two."

Okay! Zhang Zhao doesn’t blame them at all. Zhang Zhao knows the medical level in Hexi, and he can’t even find a few people who can even identify the medicinal materials.

As for treating illnesses, well! Zhang Zhao never got sick, and even if he did, the monks from Dayun Temple would still be there.
To be continued...