There were no roosters crowing for thousands of miles, and corpses were exposed in the wild. As expected, from Jingzhou down, the situation became worse and worse.
In the fields that should have been full of spring wheat, the immature wheat has been cut away.
The streets were in a mess. It was obviously not harvested by farmers, but harvested by rebel soldiers to use as fodder for cattle and horses.
Going down the river, the surrounding fields were like ghosts. Except for the tens of thousands of people from the Guiyi Army, no one was seen along the way.
When he arrived at Pizhou City, Zhang Zhao couldn't bear to enter the city given his current state of mind.
The city was completely silent. On the way into the city, countless people carrying simple packages were lying dead on the road.
Crows were flying in the sky, wild dogs were gnawing on the ground, and wild wolves had red eyes. They were no longer afraid of people and even dared to bark at people.
With a piece of meat in the corner of its mouth, the crow that was pecking raised its head from time to time. It squatted at the top of the city and looked at these outsiders with a look that made people feel a little careless.
Two wild dogs ran out of the city gate with one leg still intact, yelling at each other and intimidating each other.
"What a beast!" Murong Nobunaga, who was extremely angry, picked up his bow and arrows, and two arrows shot out like meteors. The two wild dogs were hit in the head by arrows, killing them almost simultaneously.
Bai Congxin also took out a few arrows from the Hulu and aimed them at the crows. The crows at the top of the city fell carelessly in response.
But no one cheered or praised, and everyone was immersed in a kind of sadness.
"Let's continue cleaning up the corpses today! We won't go to Pizhou City. Tiance, please have people put on protective clothing with tung oil and burn it directly."
Zhang Zhao numbly gave the order, and the Guiyi Army did not move quickly because they were burying corpses along the way.
Not only should they be buried, but a sign should also be put up to indicate the number of corpses, their gender, age, and location, where they were found, etc.
Finally, we have to recite sutras to achieve salvation. This is how we spent our time almost all the way.
However, Zhang Zhao still took some precautions. With the medical level of this era, if he really contracted the disease, the effect of drugs would be relatively limited.
So he transferred a hundred people from the party items in Yuanzhou and Huizhou, and also asked the unity soldiers and civilians in Weizhou to draw 30 people by lottery to be responsible for collecting the corpses.
The team collecting corpses ate, drank and rested separately from the main army to avoid being infected by the epidemic.
These things are actually very troublesome and do not meet the requirement of quick military speed, but apart from Zhang Zhao's unbearability, this is actually a very good way to unite people's morale.
Humans are creatures that are very affected by their surrounding environment. If they are in a rebellious army like He Chuan, even a kind person will turn into a cruel and murderous demon if they are coerced for a long time.
And in the atmosphere of the Guiyi Army, everything they did along the way was good and just things, subtly injecting soul into this Jundu.
At least now, everyone feels that as a soldier, he must not be a beast like this rebel.
From top to bottom, the Guiyi Army also hates and hates the rebels. Zhang Zhao believes that if the rebels appear in front of them now, without Zhang Zhao's mobilization, the soldiers will definitely pounce on them, and they will all fight bravely to destroy the demons in their hearts.
Kill them cleanly.
While the soldiers shared the same hatred of the enemy, Zhang Zhao's personal image was also established.
It is not enough to run an army with benevolence, because in this era, apart from those who were forcibly recruited, how many good men can be found in the army? Basically they are all thorns.
If you only talk about benevolence and righteousness, you will definitely be despised by the generals, so you also need power and prestige.
But Zhang Zhao does not lack power and prestige, so now adding benevolence and righteousness will be even more powerful.
As for the assassin, I also hope that the Shangguan can not only lead them to win the battle, seize a large amount of gold and silver, and give a lot of rewards, but also be a benevolent and righteous person, so that they can follow with confidence and not worry about being cheated or betrayed.
Finally, it was due to Zhang Zhao's worries. From the end of the Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, it was commonplace for warriors to subjugate their superiors and use coercion to rebel.
Originally, the Guiyi Army was isolated in Guasha and did not acquire this temperament. But now that they have returned to the country, there is no guarantee that they will not learn the same thing.
Zhang Zhao now understands Zhaolie Emperor Liu Bei a little bit. Liu Xuande came from a humble background. In order to gain capital in troubled times, he could only rely on benevolence and righteousness, and always go against his behavior to build up popularity, unite people's hearts, and recruit heroes who agree with his approach.
The same is true for Zhang Zhao now. If he wants to take a different path from that of the Five Dynasties, he can only go in the opposite direction from the warriors of the Five Dynasties.
Although those warriors who were accustomed to cruelty would think that he was out of his mind and would not regard Zhang Zhao as a person, it could separate Zhang Zhao's Guiyi Army from the evil deeds of the Five Generations of warriors.
After people have solved the problem of food and clothing, they generally still focus on spiritual pursuits, even if they are warriors who carry swords to kill people.
Therefore, the founding warriors of the past dynasties in Chinese history also liked to say that they followed a certain emperor to kill a certain person and help the world.
The path of spiritual pursuit designed by Zhang Zhao for the Guiyi Army is from returning to the country with loyalty, to punishing the people and fighting crimes, and finally to seeking peace for the whole world.
He wanted to turn these three demands into the demands of all the rebels.
After showing benevolence and righteousness along the way, Zhang Zhao led these soldiers for thousands of miles. At this point, even the Qingzhou Party Xiang Li Yanli's Department and the Wonju Party Xiang Li Zhongchao's Department were now able to be entrusted with important tasks.
Since there is no need to clean up the corpses in Pizhou City, but to burn them with fire, the matter is much simpler.
Zhang Zhao only needed to send sergeants to restrain the people around Chidao who were overtaken and killed when they tried to escape from the city, then dig a big pit and burn it directly.
Guo Tiance found a large wooden board, Zhang Zhao took out a short knife and carved word by word, "The tomb of the victims of Pizhou City in the year of Dingyou"!
The whole army stood in silence for a moment, and chanted the "Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's Original Vow Sutra" from a distance away from the common tomb, which was regarded as salvation.
....
Since Pizhou has become a dead city and was burned down by Zhang Zhao's order, we have no choice but to continue southward without stopping here. At this time, there are two roads from Pizhou to Chang'an.
If you go to the left, continue to follow the Jinghe River southward, pass Ganquan Mountain, reach Jingyang, and then go to Chang'an.
The right side does not take the waterway, but passes through Mating to Dahengguan and then to Qianzhou, and finally passes through Xianyang to Chang'an.
Zhang Zhao considered which way to go as he walked, but the army only passed Pizhou for a few miles. Murong Nobunaga and Li Cunhui, who were exploring the road ahead, encountered the rebels' scouting horses.
In fact, this was not Tan Ma, but a ranger sent by the town general Sun Xiaoguo to intercept and kill Weizhou Tan Ma.
They waited here for a long time but did not see a fast horse coming from Weizhou. Instead, they were approached by the Guiyi Army's scouting horse.
In the jungle beside the road, seven or eight tooth soldiers of the Changyi Army were getting some water, boiling it and making a bath of very dry and hard coarse grain cakes.
A captain with a long scar on his face spat angrily and shook a few times uncomfortably.
"Sun Xiaoguo, this thief slave, wanted my wife last time, but I refused to give it to him, even if I kill her with a knife!
If this dog slave is good for you, he will do it himself, and others will not even be able to drink the soup. If one day he makes me angry, I will shoot him an arrow in the battle formation and finish off this dog slave!"
"Sun Scar, I have heard you say this at least five times, and I have never seen you take action.
Do you think that Sun Xiaoguo doesn't know that you are dissatisfied? They just know that you are dissatisfied, and they deliberately want your mistress, and they even send you here to eat dry biscuits, while the others are sleeping with the mistress in Qianzhou."
The team deputy next to him curled his lips in dissatisfaction, "If you have the courage, we will find an opportunity to do it. If you don't have the courage, we will simply join Zhou Hu'er, General Zhou Shi, and we will always save money." Bad luck will follow you."
As soon as the team deputy said this, several stern-faced soldiers around him nodded in agreement, and some of the fierce soldiers looked at the team leader, Sun Scarzi, with something a little strange in their eyes.
Sun Scarzi was silent for a moment at first, and then his anger suddenly rose. He also knew that he had to be serious, otherwise his soldiers who killed old people would despise him and not follow him.
"Don't worry, if I go back to fight against Chang'an this time, I will definitely kill Sun Xiaoguo. When the time comes, we will return to Qianzhou, rob their gold and silver, and go up to Liangshan to live happily. We will wait for the imperial court to come and take refuge with us."
The team deputy and several soldiers quietly looked at each other and then nodded with some satisfaction.
However, Sun Scarzi, who had just finished speaking, had a look on his face because he heard several slight sounds of stepping on branches.
Sun Scarzi turned his head slightly and looked at a thin horse tied in the distance.
The skinny horse was still gnawing the tender grass on the ground leisurely. It was obvious that what was coming was not a ferocious beast. If it were a ferocious beast, the horse would definitely be frightened and uneasy.
‘Boom!’ came an extremely small sound, which was the sound of a bow and arrow shooting. Sun Scarzi quickly rolled the gourd, and it went out a lot in an instant.
The deputy next to him, who was a step slower than him, just wanted to stand up when an arrow missed and hit his face directly. The deputy screamed, covered his face and rolled around on the ground.
At this moment, the crackling sound of feet stepping on branches could be heard everywhere. After Sun Scarzi stood up, he took off the leather armor he was still wearing, turned around and ran towards the skinny horse, regardless of what was behind him. The roaring and fighting sounds of soldiers.
‘Boom!’ There was another bow sound, and Sun Scarzi quickly lowered his head, but the arrow was not aimed at him, but at the skinny horse that Sun Scarzi hoped to ride on to escape.
The skinny horse was hit by an arrow in its neck and jumped three feet high. However, it kept tugging at the reins tied to the tree and screamed in pain.
Just as Sun Scarzi was about to move, another arrow suddenly struck the grass in front of him, causing grass stems to fly.
"Tie them up! Take them back!"
Sun Scarzi then raised his head and looked around, and saw a dozen strong men in black night clothes flashing out from everywhere.
The four extremely young generals who spoke were holding stiff bows and looking at him with indifferent faces.
....
"The rebels have already set off from Qianzhou. According to what the scar-faced commander just said, their plan is to go straight to Chang'an. I'm afraid they have already reached outside Xianyang City or the West Wei Bridge." Yan Jin clicked on the map. "Yes," he said with some worry.
Chang'an itself is actually an undefended city, covering a large area. In recent decades, the city's defenses have been damaged by many swords and swords, making it impossible to defend.
All it relies on are the surrounding satellite cities and a few key bridge crossings. If these places are lost, Chang'an will be finished.
But Bai Congxin had a different opinion. He pointed to Huazhou and other places on the east side of the map.
"But the imperial envoy of Jinchang Army and Jingzhaoyin appointed by the imperial court has not arrived at all. The rebel army is tempted by looting Chang'an, and their morale is strong!
There are no less than ten thousand of them, about the same number as me, and 40% of them are the tooth soldiers of the Changyi Army and the Jingnan Army. If we pursue them fiercely, we may be counterattacked!"
Zhang Zhao knew what Bai Congxin meant and pursued him too hastily, making him the rebels' primary target.
The safest way is to continue down the Jinghe River and meet up with An Shenqi, the military commander of the Jinchang Army, and Zhao Zan, the military commander of the Huazhou Zhenguo Army, in Jingyang. The three parties will send troops, and the Guiyi Army only needs to fight to separate them.
Run credit.
However, Zhang Zhao had not yet expressed his stance. Murong Nobunaga, who had just captured Sun Scarzi and waited for his tongue to come back, shook his head first.
"We have been ordered by the imperial court to go to the pass to fight against thieves, and we are known as loyal and righteous teachers. If we cower in all directions, we will be looked down upon by all parties.
Moreover, what if An Shenqi relies on others to supply military supplies when we reach Jingyang, and if An Shenqi uses his identity as an angel to suppress us and let me take the main attack, what should we do?"
"Yes! Why don't we take it by surprise, break through Dahengguan, and seize Qianzhou? In this way, we can control our progress and retreat.
When approaching the rebels, we don't have to fight them immediately. We can hang behind them and make them hang like a ray of light on our backs.
Our army's tens of thousands of horses come and go like the wind. If they want to fight, I won't fight. If they want to go, we will pursue them. When their divisions and veterans are tired, we may be able to win in one battle!"
Fanshun thought for a while and agreed with Murong Nobunaga's opinion.
"Sikong, and there is an advantage for us to go to Qianzhou to attack the rebels' back!" Zhebu Jiashi chuckled.
"The rebels looted several states, and the wealth will be abundant. We harassed the rear, and all the gold and silver wealth will not be ours.
If we can defeat them, we will probably produce more armor and weapons than I have in Hexi in several years!"
Yes! Why did you forget this? The rebels are rich now! Zhang Zhao coughed.
"Tomorrow we will kill the captured bandits and sacrifice the banner. We will take the right road and go straight to Qianzhou!"