Outside the dwarf village, next to the remains of a tank that was blackened by flames, soldiers carrying weapons lined up in a loose formation, marching heavily.
They were almost approaching the front line, and the tank destroyed by the Tang Army was the best proof. But after seeing such a scene, they, who had never been on the battlefield, couldn't help but feel a little heavy.
The farmland next to the tank wreckage has been abandoned, and no one cares about the crops planted in the ground at this time. The civilians nervously looked at these soldiers meandering forward, with uneasiness written on their faces.
Troops pass by here almost all the time these days. The road is full of bomb craters, and there are no vehicles, tanks or other equipment. Therefore, the people who use this road are light infantry and driving ox carts and carriages.
It looks the same as the troops from decades ago.
The cattle in the village had been requisitioned and taken away, and the horses of several farmers had also been taken away. The troops passing by seemed to need everything.
Later, not only the cattle and horses, but also the grain in the village were confiscated: at first one-third was taken away, then half, and then only one-third was left.
Even when the villagers who stayed here were running out of food, passing troops still came to the door again and again, opening their mouths to confiscate military rations.
No matter how these poor farmers explain, the officers of those troops are unwilling to leave empty-handed. Now the villagers here don't have enough food to eat, but there are still officers coming to the door with orders.
In fact, these troops who came from afar have no choice, because they really have no food: they were originally expected to arrive at the front line in a few days, but now they have to walk hundreds of kilometers on their own legs, and the extra food they consume cannot be replenished.
.
Originally, they had to come here on their own due to lack of transportation capacity. If there was the ability to transport food to them, wouldn't it be better to transport them directly?
Therefore, these dwarf troops belonging to the 7th Group Army could only eat their way along the way, collect all the villages they encountered along the way, raise their own rations and rush to the front line.
But this made life difficult for the people along the way: they didn't have much food in store to begin with, and now they were forced to supply food for hundreds of thousands of troops, and food immediately became scarce.
In the village chief's yard, a dwarf officer looked at the old village chief and warned with an ugly face: "My soldiers were ordered to go to the front line, but our food has been eaten up. Our superiors asked us to collect food here.
Supplement...you'd better cooperate."
He had really suffered a lot along the way. Every person in charge in the village said there was no food, which really made him very angry.
In fact, he also knew that the troops ahead had already plundered all the food, and there really wasn't much left when it was his turn. But he had no choice. If he didn't squeeze these farmers, his soldiers would go hungry.
…
In comparison, it was better to starve the locals than to starve his soldiers, so he was used to scolding them with a cold face, because only in this way could he get a little bit of food from these unruly people.
Sure enough, the village elder looked embarrassed, spread his hands and explained: "Sir, we have provided a batch of food to the troops passing here before, but now we really have nothing to eat here."
"I don't care about that. If we don't have food, we will definitely not be able to fight the war. If you don't cooperate, I will have to let my soldiers find it on their own." The officer snorted and said with a rogue threat.
If the soldiers were left to "find" themselves, it would definitely cause chaos, and there might even be trouble in the end, so under normal circumstances the village chief would give in under threat.
But this time, the village elder had no intention of giving in: "Sir! We really have no food here. Soldiers pass by here every day, and every group of people comes to us for food. We really have no food."
"
He didn't want to do this, and he was also afraid of being robbed by these soldiers... But he really had no choice. The troops coming from ahead had already taken away all the food in his hands.
Seeing that the first move didn't work, the officer used the second move: "No? I think you think that humans are coming over, and you plan to surrender to the enemy and treason?"
Putting a big hat on him, people who are afraid of death will usually give in. Sure enough, after hearing these words, the village chief's face became much pale.
But the other party still had no intention of giving food, and just continued to plead with a cry: "What? Sir, you can't talk nonsense! We are all subjects of the Ice Empire, and there is absolutely no treason! We really gave the food
We have handed over everything, and now we can only eat one meal a day, the land is barren, and we don’t know what we will eat next year.”
The officer became even more angry when he heard this: "Next year? If you don't bring out the food today, I won't know what to eat tomorrow! You can still eat one meal a day, but we can't even eat one! Give me another 500 kilograms of food!"
You must give it no matter what!”
"Sir, please give us a way to survive..." The village chief begged, but he had no other choice but to continue like this.
The dwarf officer who was irritated by the crying felt that the village chief was teasing him, so he asked impatiently: "You gave it to others, but you didn't give it to me. What do you mean? Huh?"
"Sir, we are..." The village chief wanted to explain a few more words.
But his words were interrupted by the officer: "Come here! Search for me! Dig out all the food you can find! Take them all away!"
The soldiers who heard the order immediately took action. They broke into every house and rummaged through everything they thought could be called food: of course, they would not find gold coins, banknotes or other things.
Let it go.
Seeing the chaos, the village chief was still crying and begging: "Sir! You can't! We have no way to survive..."
The officer sneered: "No way to survive? Take all the young ones away! You see, I have found a way for you to leave! Become a soldier! Eat military pay and royal rations! How about that?"
Upon hearing this, the village chief did not dare to cry anymore and stood there not knowing what to do. Outside the yard there were still sounds of soldiers robbing, women crying and men pleading one after another.
Soon, a group of soldiers carried empty rice bags and collected copper coins and banknotes, and marched towards the next village with unfinished business.
On the horizon in the distance, you can still see the smoke that has not dispersed after the explosion of the artillery shells. There is another battlefield there, a completely different battlefield from this one.