As soon as Zhu Hansan and his party left the lobby, they saw the courtyard full of people standing in twos and threes.
"Sir, they are the children of the Ma family."
Xi Zhicai explained.
"Ma Chuang, a member of the Ma family, has met Lord Zhu. I have been ordered by my grandfather to bring a total of forty children from the clan to come to your tent to listen to your wishes."
In front of the crowd stood a sturdy young man who looked to be in his early twenties. As soon as this man saw Zhu Hansan coming out, he quickly stepped forward and introduced himself.
"Okay, I would like to thank the Ma family in advance for their support."
Looking at this group of young and strong men who were only in their twenties and thirties, Zhu Hansan smiled and said: "But this is not a time for joking. I have received news that the bandits who came to Huya Village in Taishan came down to rob the mountain last night, and even more so.
I have done something worse than a beast like massacre in the village. I am determined to destroy this group of bandits, and I ask for your help."
"Once your lord has an order, it is our duty to do so."
Ma Chuang replied calmly.
At this time, there was a sound of horse hoofbeats outside the Yamen. Everyone looked up and saw war horses being driven over. Zhu Hansan was puzzled and then learned from Xi Zhicai that it turned out that he was afraid that everyone would go there again.
It was a waste of time to pick up the horses outside the city, so in order to save time, Ma San and the others were asked to send the horses to the city first.
"Dear athletes of the Ma family, this is Yan Liang, the newly appointed commander of the cavalry squad. You will work under him from now on."
Zhu Hansan pulled Yan Liang over and introduced him to the children of the Ma family.
"A certain Yan Liang, I have met you all."
Yan Liang took a step forward, hugged everyone, and said hello, "This matter is urgent. It is when our cavalry is needed. I wonder if your riding skills are good enough?"
"Commander Yan is joking. I, Ma Jiaerlang, travel all over the country all the year round. Everyone's riding skills are learned from actual combat. Ask yourself whether you will lose to others."
Ma Chuang originally thought that he would be the leader of this cavalry team, but now it seems that Zhu Hansan does not want his Ma family to be in power, he just wants his Ma family to contribute.
He is a young man in his twenties, young and energetic, and his words will inevitably be a little arrogant.
"Okay, then Ma Chuang, you will be the deputy commander." Zhu Hansan heard the resentment in Ma Chuang's words and immediately gave him a deputy position.
"Thank you, sir!"
Ma Chuang was overjoyed when he heard this and accepted the order happily.
"Yan Liang, your troops are the vanguard. We rush to the place where the incident occurred to investigate the situation. We have the right to make decisions. I will lead a hundred county soldiers to support your troops and then rush to respond. Remember, the safety of the people is more important than anything else."
All, if there are those who are afraid of fighting and refuse to advance, military law will be engaged." Zhu Hansan thought about it, first gave an order to Yan Liang, then took out his jade pendant as a token and handed it to Xi Zhicai and ordered: "I have left.
During this period, the defense of the county town will be handed over to you and Zhang Liao, Zhicai. We must strictly guard it and don't fall into the bandits' plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain."
"I obey my orders!"
Xi Zhicai bowed and took the jade pendant.
"Special periods should be treated with special treatment. During this period, you have the right to call on any material personnel in the city. If you encounter anyone who is uncooperative, you will be punished for the crime of secretly collaborating with bandits. You will be imprisoned first and wait until I return with a great victory.
Process it again.”
Zhu Hansan didn't want another embarrassing incident of bandits entering the city. After thinking about it, he decided to give Xi Zhicai some rights, and then said pointedly.
"My subordinate understands."
Xi Zhicai was stunned when he heard this, and then figured out the key, secretly thinking, Your Excellency, you want to take this opportunity to eliminate other voices that oppose him in the city!
"Okay, only those who are determined are here. I can rest assured."
Zhu Hansan's face darkened. He suppressed the anger in his heart and ordered to Yan Liang: "Without further ado, Yan Liang, please take people out of the city quickly and go north first to look for traces of the bandits. I will make them regret doing this."
move."
"General, I obey!" Yan Liang's tiger body trembled, and the last trace of drunkenness disappeared from his face. He just pulled a war horse and turned directly onto the horse. He said loudly: "Boys of the Ma family, get on the horse and let us
Let’s go meet those bandits who don’t know the heights of the world first.”
"promise!"
The men of the Ma family were just slightly stunned. After seeing Ma Chuang get on the horse first, they all got on the horse in an orderly manner. They brought their own weapons, all of which were ring-head knives.
"Walk!"
Under the leadership of Yan Liang, the Forty Cavalry quickly left the street and left the city.
"It seems that we need to build the cavalry equipment first."
Seeing that his cavalry didn't even have a set of leather armor for self-defense, Zhu Han Sannuo muttered thoughtfully.
Now that the matter was urgent, Zhu Hansan did not dare to neglect. After getting a hundred county soldiers from Zhang Liao, he hurried out of the city and followed Yan Liang and others.
There is a village more than 30 miles northeast of Jing County, called Taoyuan Village. It has more than 40 households and more than 160 people. Taoyuan Village is as its name suggests. It is a quiet and elegant place with beautiful environment and no worries about the world.
The land, but now it has become a purgatory on earth.
Debris can be seen everywhere, with black smoke rising from ruins and broken walls. Even a dog in the village was hung on a beam and pillar, wearing tattered official uniforms, with the words "The fate of dog officials" written next to it.
As soon as Yan Liang brought the people here, he was stunned by the scene before him. He saw his eyes wide open, his teeth clenched, and the anger in his chest was indescribable, especially when he saw some young children being raped.
The intestines in the abdomen were taken out and burned with fire. There were still teeth marks on them, and the petite faces were twisted together in pain. This shows what kind of inhuman treatment these children suffered before they died.
"Damn it, are they still human? Are they still human?"
Now Yan Liang has only been out for a few years and has not been exposed to the cruel and dark world. He just feels that he is about to explode. He just wants to find those people immediately and kill them all to vent his anger.
Ma Chuang's performance was better than that of Yan Liang. When he was young, he followed his family's caravan and traveled all over the country. Not to mention the massacre of the village, he had seen even the incident of bandits gathering to storm the Yamen.
"Commander Yan, should we continue to pursue the bandits, or should we bury the people in this village first?"
When Ma Chuang saw Yan Liang yelling angrily, he shook his head slightly and asked.
"They are all dead. We can bury them later. Our top priority is to catch up with those bandits. We are going to make them pay with blood."
Yan Liang smiled solemnly and replied.
"Commander Yan, some people here have hidden compartments in their homes. If we go into the village and search carefully, we may be able to save some people who are hiding."
Ma Chuang hesitated for a moment and explained: "Commander Yan, look at this village after it was burned by fire. The black smoke will spread into the dark grid. If we don't search in time, this village will really be destroyed."
"
These days, there are constant natural and man-made disasters, but Jizhou is relatively better off. Most people have the habit of building hidden grids in their homes, in order to preserve some incense for their homes when the village is in danger.
"Those are just your guesses. If we didn't stop the bandits because of your guesses, neglected the military situation, and delayed the fighter plane, you and I will inevitably be punished by the adults."
Yan Liang was a little angry when he saw that Ma Chuang's opinion was contrary to his own.
"Before departure, your Excellency once told me that the safety of the people is the top priority in everything. Why did I neglect the military situation?"
Ma Chuang was so angry that he was about to explode, but then he thought of the two of them working together for the first time. He didn't know Yan Liang's temper and was afraid of offending the popular man in front of Zhu Hansan. In desperation, he had no choice but to explain patiently: "Commander Yan
, why don’t we send people into the village to investigate. If there are very few young and strong children who died tragically in the village, it means that there are still people in the village who have escaped this disaster, and then we can’t just ignore it."
"Okay, I will trust you for once. Come here, you and I will go into the village to search for the surviving people. We will pay you a stick of incense. When the time is up, I will continue to pursue the bandits."
Yan Liang has a hot temper, and his temper is even more irritable. Now that he is in charge of the cavalry for the first time, he doesn't want to get into trouble with Ma Chuang. In his opinion, these things are too small to be compared with encircling and suppressing bandits, but in order to take care of this Ma Chuang
For the sake of the young master's face, he still gave him time for a stick of incense.
"Thank you, sir. Brothers, follow me into the village to search for surviving people."
Ma Chuang quickly clasped his fists and thanked him. Since time was urgent, he said his thanks and led the people into the village.
After entering the village, the situation was roughly the same as Ma Chuang guessed. Most of the people who died tragically in the village were old and weak women and children. Although there were some young and strong children, the number was only about a hundred or so, so he concluded that there must be survivors in the village.
After the search by Ma Chuang and others, they found survivors in the secret rooms of some people's homes. Most of these people were children and teenagers.
"Ma Chuang, it's time."
Yan Liang, who was waiting impatiently outside the village, went into the village to find Ma Chuang and said urgently: "Hurry up and gather your troops and follow my general to pursue the bandits."
"Commander Yan, look, these are the surviving children in this village. We have found thirteen of them. I am sure that there are other survivors in the village. Please give me some more time, so that I can find all these children and send them to you.
After returning to Jingxian County, how about following the master to pursue the bandits?"
At this time, Ma Chuang was mortified, with two howling children under his arm, and he couldn't bear to plead.
"We are cavalry, swords in your hands. These things are not what we should do. Our top priority is to catch up with the bandits and destroy them. Don't you want to see a second scene like this?"
Yan Liang's words were quite cold-blooded, but they were not unreasonable. After hearing the words, Ma Chuang suddenly fell silent and stopped talking.
"Okay, seeing as you are acting like I, Yan Liang, are unkind, let's leave ten of us to continue searching in this village. The rest of us will mount our horses quickly and follow my general to continue the pursuit."
Ma Chuang couldn't bear it, and so could Yan Liang. However, compared to Ma Chuang's kindness as a woman, Yan Liang was more rational than him.
"Thank you, sir!" Ma Chuang's face showed joy after hearing this.