Hu Baozong was so eager to perform his service that he did not leave any way for the rebels to survive. After entering the city, he ordered a brigade of armored soldiers to climb the city wall and slaughter all the defenders above.
The poor thieves had no way out and had completely sealed the east, south and north gates early. The gates were inaccessible. They wanted to jump over the wall, but as soon as they ran under the inner wall, they were hit by random arrows.
It wasn't until Li Chengzhi led his troops to surround them on all sides that he replaced his brigade of soldiers.
Li Song saw it with hot eyes, and originally wanted to lead his troops to help him, but as soon as he said the words, he was pushed back by Hu Baozong.
He said he had bad intentions, seeing that the thieves were already meat on the chopping block, but he came to take the credit...
Li Chengzhi looked very happy.
For him, this is of course a good thing. Whether it is Li Song or Hu Baozong, even if they make huge contributions, he, the coach, will definitely take the lion's share.
Besides, it is better for his generals to have a desire to win than to be timid against the enemy. What’s more, this is a battle in front of the battle, not a fight for credit afterwards, so he is naturally happy to see the results.
Li Chengzhi looked bored, thinking that nothing would happen to him, so he told Li Song and Hu Baozong a few words, and ran to sleep in a carriage outside the city.
It wasn't until the sky got bright that Li Song called him up.
"How is the battle going?" Li Chengzhi asked sleepily.
"Behead more than four hundred thieves and capture the rest!"
"Where are the casualties?"
Li Song replied: "Hu Baozong's black armored soldiers lost nearly a brigade..."
The casualty rate is almost one to one, which is similar to what Li Chengzhi originally estimated.
The team that can be sent by Liu Huiwang to hold on to the west route and use it as one of the retreats will not be much worse in terms of combat effectiveness. The only difference is in morale and military discipline.
This group of thieves, at least seven or eight out of ten, must be evil people with bloody hands and grave sins. Since they know that they will not survive even if they surrender, how can they not fight to the death to resist?
That's why he was unwilling to send white-armored soldiers to attack hard.
Of course, it doesn’t count as cheating Hu Baozong, after all, he has obtained real achievements. Moreover, Li Song asked for a fight many times, but Hu Baozong personally refused.
It can only be regarded as each taking what he needs...
"Colonel Hu sent Hu Xin to ask you to come over and see how the prisoners are treated!"
How else to deal with it?
According to Li Chengzhi's idea, all of them should be escorted back to Jingyang to farm, including civilians.
After the Anwu County was emptied, Li Chengzhi planned to build it into a bridgehead for the Eastern Campaign against Jingzhou. At that time, only combat soldiers and auxiliary troops would be left in the city, and at most there would be some civilians accompanying the army to transport baggage.
But I definitely have to take a look.
He has achieved such great achievements and is as arrogant as Hu Baozong. I don’t know how proud he is. He must be waiting for me to praise him.
Li Chengzhi nodded: "Then let's go!"
He got off the carriage, mounted his horse and entered the city.
Walking into the city gate, Li Chengzhi saw dead bodies lying on the ground everywhere, with splattered blood, separated heads, and detached limbs. From this, he knew how fierce the battle was.
Many houses are still smoking, and countless white-armored soldiers are using things like baskets and basins to pack snow to put out the fire.
There are also some people who are carrying corpses, as if they are going to be transported outside the city for burial.
But apart from soldiers, not a single civilian can be seen?
"Where are the people?" Li Chengzhi asked in surprise.
Shouldn't the city residents be forced to do things like putting out fires and cleaning up? Why are they all soldiers?
"They were all taken into custody by Lieutenant Hu... After we entered the city, we found out that all the men in the city were brought by Liu Huiwang from elsewhere. Except for the rebels, they were the auxiliary soldiers who were forcibly recruited. None of the civilians were common people... I'm afraid
There were repeated incidents, and Captain Hu tied them all up?"
Li Chengzhi asked suspiciously, "What about the woman and the boy? They can't move the dead body, but they can help clean it up, but there is not one of them on the street?"
Woman, child?
Li Song's eyes turned cold and he hesitated to say: "Before, they were all imprisoned by the rebels. After all the traitors were captured, Captain Hu moved them from the traitor camp to the county government..."
Li Chengzhi was a little suspicious.
What does it mean?
In this huge county, there is no normal family, and the men and women are all separated?
It's okay to say that the woman was probably used as a camp prostitute, but what's the purpose of locking up all the children?
Looking at Li Song's expression, it's clear that he didn't say everything, and his eyes were full of worry?
What are you worried about?
Women and children?
Li Chengzhi felt blessed, and suddenly thought of the scene he had seen outside Chaona City: disembowelment, removal of the heart, and sacrifice...
Li Song was obviously afraid that he would be stimulated and faint again...
His face turned cold and he ran away.
"Mr. Lang?" Li Song called out urgently and hurriedly chased after him...
……
There were five or six thousand thieves and civilians, and there was no such a large place to gather in the city, so Hu Baozong took all the prisoners outside the west city gate.
There were many people kneeling on the ground, old and young, but they were all men. They all cut with their hands behind their backs and tied them tightly.
In addition, there were five or six layers of armored soldiers all around, all holding spears and bows, looking at each other.
Further back, four to five hundred women and children sat paralyzed, all in ragged clothes and unkempt faces.
Some are sobbing, some are trembling, and some have empty eyes and numb expressions, like puppets.
Fortunately, they are all alive, at least they are not disemboweled corpses...
Li Chengzhi breathed a sigh of relief, pointed at the women and children, and asked in a cold voice: "Nvlu (camp prostitute)?"
Hu Baozong glanced at him worriedly and hesitated for a long time before saying: "It's also military rations!"
When he heard the word "military rations", he felt as if he had been punched in the face. Li Chengzhi felt his head buzzing, and his whole body felt as if he was frozen.
After capturing Li Wenzhong, the uncle and nephew once mentioned that if the war was unfavorable or the battle was defeated, Liu Huiwang would kill the defeated soldiers and their families who fled back as punishment, and then chop them into meat sauce and mix them into the rice.
He deceived the soldiers and said it was pork, beef and mutton.
Most of his subordinates are monks who are at the bottom of the society. Their lives are not as good as those of ordinary households. They have seen so many meaty meals in their lives that they can probably count them with two palms. How can they eat them? Some people have even discovered clues through their nails, hair, etc., but they just do it without knowing it and just follow it.
Li Chengzhi only thought that Liu Huiwang was just punishing generals and soldiers, and it was not a common phenomenon.
Looking at it now, it has become a common practice for the rebels to use ordinary people as military food?
Seeing that although Li Chengzhi was shaking with anger, his face and eyes were still normal, Li Song secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, you can tell if you think about it.
At first, Lang Jun only had nearly 10,000 people under his command, but how much effort was spent on food?
In the end, he had no choice but to melt down the Buddha statue in Zhaoxuan Temple at the risk of confiscating his family and exterminating his family.
Liu Huiwang claimed to have 200,000 troops. Even if he robbed two county towns, how long could the food he robbed be enough to feed these 200,000 people?
If you don’t eat people, how about eating dirt?
Li Song took a breath and reminded softly: "Mr. Lang?"
"Kill!" Li Chengzhi burst out two words.
The expressions of Hu Baozong and Li Song suddenly changed.
Could it be that what Li Chengzhi was talking about could be those women and children?