Zhao Tingchen set off from Yanglongkeng Division with 2,000 Qing troops, and did not dare to go south, so he went directly to Kaizhou by trail. The first two days were better, even if they met the Miao people, these Miao people looked at the Qing army with great fear and did not dare to get closer.

Zhao Tingchen saw this. Daniel Zhang, the general of the department, said: "Admiral Zhang, you see that these Miao people now see my Qing officers and soldiers, like mice seeing cats, it seems that we have chosen this path correctly." After we arrived at Pingyuewei, we launched an attack from behind Guiyang, and we would definitely be able to catch Guo Li Ai off guard. ”

Daniel Zhang listened to Zhao Tingchen's words and said very disapprovingly: "Inspector Zhao should not be careless, although these Miao people look very afraid of us, but they look at us with hatred, we are in this dense forest. Still be careful. As for Guo Liai's matter, I don't think Governor Zhao has to worry, I estimate that the Xinjun King and Hong Jinglue in Kunming will definitely find a way to recapture Guiyang. ”

Zhao Tingchen saw that Daniel Zhang denied his strategy, and immediately said a little unhappy: "Kunming is so far away from Guiyang, it will take time for the king of Xinjun to take it back, and it can't be fast." "Daniel Zhang was recommended by Hong Chengqi and belonged to the Ming army after the Qing army entered the pass. He Zhao Tingchen defected to the Manchu Qing in Liaodong, not to mention him Daniel Zhang, even Hong Chengchu was just a later dog in his eyes, where can he compare his loyalty to the master of the Qing Dynasty. So Hong Chengchou was directly eliminated between words.

Daniel Zhang naturally knew Zhao Tingchen's thoughts, and did not answer. At this time, another Qing soldier came in and said: "Lord Governor, five of the scouts who went out to inquire about the military situation today have not returned, should we send more people to look for them?" ”

Zhao Tingchen said: "These soldiers must have secretly fled when they saw that the situation was not right for us now." There is no need to look for it, pass the order, and if anyone dares to escape while out on patrol in the future, their families will be killed. ”

Daniel Zhang also wanted to persuade Zhao Tingchen, but now that Zhao Tingchen had issued a military order, it was too late to say anything, so he had to keep silent. After the Qing soldiers went out, Daniel Zhang said: "Lord Inspector is hasty, I just said that the Miao people hate us very much, and now that the five people are missing, we should send someone to check." ”

Zhao Tingchen also reacted and said, "How did I forget about this." Then he sent people out to look for them, but in the end they were not found, and their bodies were not found. As a result, even Daniel Zhang suspected that the soldiers had fled.

After another two days, there were fewer and fewer Miao people to see along the way, and there were no Miao people in many villages, and there was no one in them. Zhao Tingchen came to Kaizhou with his army and found that the Miao people here were all gone. The whole Kaizhou was dead silent, there was no sound, and not even the poultry raised by the Miao people was left.

Looking at the silence in front of them, Zhao Tingchen and Daniel Zhang immediately felt that something was wrong, even if there were fewer Miao people, it was impossible for there to be no one in the entire Kaizhou City. Zhao Tingchen said to the Qing soldiers behind: "Go, go in and search, and see if anyone is alive." "As the Qing army entered Kaizhou, the chickens and dogs that the Qing army entered the city in the past jumped away, and only saw the Qing soldiers shuttling left and right in the city of Kaizhou. There was no other sound from the sound of the Qing army smashing and slamming open the door.

Looking at this strange scene in front of them, Zhao Tingchen and Daniel Zhang both looked at each other. Then the Qing soldiers came out one after another to report, but there was not a single figure in the entire Kaizhou city, and there was not a single grain.

No matter how strange they were, Zhao Tingchen and Daniel Zhang still chose to camp in Kaizhou for one night. The Qing army stayed in Kaizhou in fear, but nothing happened after one night. It's just that the dry food brought by the Qing army itself has been eaten, and now there is not a single grain in Kaizhou City, and there is no way for Zhao Tingchen and Daniel Zhang to let people go to the nearby mountains to find it.

As the Qing soldiers dispersed into the surrounding mountains, at this time, on Maogai Mountain outside Kaizhou City, thousands of Miao people gathered together, of which there were only about 200 men, and the others were children, old people and women. One person said to the leader: "Elder Fang, we handed over the stockade to the Qing soldiers like this, look at these villagers and elders of ours, where are they going?" The Qing soldiers were not necessarily as bad as the Han people said, they had never come to the mountains to rob us before. ”

Old Fang said: "Ma Nan, don't talk nonsense, when have you seen the Qing soldiers will give us benefits." Only this time General Daming is willing to make a deal with us and help us. Even if we don't look at how many Miao people the Qing army killed after coming to Guizhou, we can't help the Qing army. ”

Ma Nan said: "Could it be that just for the sake of a little favor from the Ming general, we have to hand over our homeland?" Fang Lao said: "It's not because of the favor of the Ming army, you may not know it, the Miao people who escaped from the Ganxi Division said that after the Qing army said that after the Qing army said the Ganxi Division, they killed all the Miao people there and robbed them of all their food." Many Miao people who resisted the Qing army were caught by the Qing army and hung themselves directly on trees. ”

Ma Nan said: "These are all sent by the Ming army, and we didn't see it, I think it was made up by the general of the Ming Dynasty who wanted us Miao people to help him fight the Qing army." ”

As everyone was talking, they saw that there were Qing troops at the bottom of the mountain and captured some Miao people in the mountain, about 30 people. These were Miao people who were unwilling to hide in the mountains, and they were escorted back to Kaizhou City by the Qing soldiers.

When Zhao Tingchen and Daniel Zhang heard that they had captured the fleeing Miao people, they immediately came out, and sure enough, they saw that more than thirty Miao people had been arrested. Zhao Tingchen walked over and said, "Can any of you tell me where the Miao people in Kaizhou have gone?" ”

At this time, there was a person in the crowd: "General, the Miao people have all hidden in the mountains." Zhao Tingchen frowned and said, "Why are they hiding in the mountains?" Where did it go? The man said: "Back to the general's words, there are rumors in the mountains that the Qing army is going to kill all the Miao people, so they hide in the mountains." ”

Zhao Tingchen was shocked, such rumors were very unfavorable to the Qing army. Zhao Tingchen said again: "Do you know who is spreading these rumors? The man said: "I don't know who it is, but everyone is passing it on." At this time, a guard behind Zhao Tingchen said: "You are talking nonsense, you obviously know the rumors but you say that you don't know who spread them, you obviously want to deceive the adults." As he spoke, he whipped the man.

The man immediately screamed: "General, I didn't lie, we didn't believe the rumors, so we didn't leave." We really don't know who's spreading the rumors. Zhao Tingchen and Daniel Zhang saw that the Miao people were whipped and rolled all over the ground, but still did not say who was spreading rumors, and they both looked at each other and said, "It seems that they really don't know." ”

Then let the soldiers take these Miao people down, and Zhao Tingchen and Daniel Zhang felt more and more strange why this idea was spread among the Miao people.

At this time, Ma Nan on the mountain said to Fang Lao: "Fang Lao, take a look, aren't those Miao people who were brought into the city okay?" It seems that the Ming army general is wrong, he is deceiving us. This is another person next to him: "The general of the Ming army didn't say that the Qing soldiers would kill all the Miao people, he just said that the Qing army killed a lot of us Miao people and wanted to find the Qing army with us to take revenge." ”

Ma Nan looked at the man and said angrily: "Ma Liang, what are you talking about, it seems that I am framing him." Look at the Miao people under the mountain, they went to the camp of the Qing army and had nothing to do, and now they have returned to Kaizhou City. Ma Liang was not to be outdone: "The general of the Ming Dynasty didn't say that we must help them, the matter of killing all the Miao people came from Tianbangtun, and their people saw the Qing soldiers killing the Miao people in Wujiang Pass." ”

Ma Nan said: "You are talking nonsense, and besides, the people of Tianbangtun colluded with the Han people, and they helped the Han people in Sichuan to speak, of course you have to say so." Ma Liang said: "No, what they are saying is that the Qing army killed the Miao people, and then cooked the Miao people to eat." ”

Ma Nan said: "Anyway, I don't believe it, the Manchurians have already conquered the whole world, will they do this?" Back then, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to get the world, but he didn't want preferential treatment for us Miao people. Can the Manchurians be more powerful than Zhu Yuanzhang? ”

Fang Lao said: "Okay, don't quarrel, when the Qing army is gone, we will find out when we go back." When Ma Nan and Ma Liang saw Fang Lao speak, the two glanced at each other angrily, and they separated and stopped talking.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Qing army really left Kaizhou and continued to rush to Pingyuewei. It was not until the Qing army had gone far away that Fang Lao sent people down the mountain to check the situation in Kaizhou City, and about an hour later, the people sent out came back, and they didn't come to speak urgently. He cried directly to Fang Lao: "Fang Lao, we are going to kill all those Qing soldiers with the Ming army, they are beasts." ”

At this time, Ma Nan came over and said, "What happened, what happened in Kaizhou City?" The man glanced at Ma Nan, because yesterday Ma Nan spoke to the Qing army, and said angrily: "You want to kill all our Miao people, you traitor." Ma Nan was shocked: "Ma Yang, don't talk nonsense, although Ma Liang and I both want to compete for the position of the owner of the village, we don't want to kill everyone." ”

At this time, Elder Fang also said: "Don't talk about those useless ones, tell me how is going in Kaizhou City now, where are the people who went back in the morning now?" Ma Yang was still very excited, and said, "They are all dead, and none of them are alive." Ma Liang hurriedly said: "How come?" There are more than 30 of them, and there has been no movement in Kaizhou City since they returned in the morning. ”

Ma Nan also said: "I don't believe it, I'll go and see." After speaking, he ran down the mountain, and Fang Lao hurriedly asked Ma Liang to follow him down the mountain to have a look. At this time, everyone else also heard that the people who returned to Kaizhou yesterday had died, and many young people ran down the mountain one after another.

Ma Nan ran wildly all the way and ran directly into Kaizhou. After asking where yesterday's people were, he didn't wait for Ma Liang to keep calling out to him. rushed directly to a courtyard, here is the person who came back with Mayang before, and told Manan that those Miao people were in the courtyard when they came back in the morning.

When Ma Nan rushed into the yard, before Ma Nan could catch his breath, he felt a churning in his stomach, and he knelt on the ground and vomited. Ma Liang, who rushed in from behind, didn't have time to check Ma Nan's situation, and he also squatted on the ground and vomited. The young people who came in one after another couldn't help but vomit on the ground, some people desperately climbed out of the yard, and no one from the Miao people outside came to lock them up, because no one wanted to approach the yard.

Seeing these young people vomiting in the yard, the Miao people outside just kept the women and children who wanted to come outside and didn't let them get close. Ma Liang seemed to want to vomit out all the things in his stomach, but now there was nothing in his stomach, just kept spitting out the acid water in his stomach.

finally waited for Ma Liang to come over, looked at the scene in front of him, and revealed deep fear. There are no corpses in front, only large and small skeletons. Those humanoid skeletons seemed to say that they were the Miao people who had returned to Kaizhou City in the morning. On one side of the courtyard were piles of the Miao man's clothes, and there were some flesh and hair with hair, which was already scattered.

At this time, Ma Nan asked Ma Liang weakly: "Are they the Miao people who returned to Kaizhou in the morning?" Ma Liang knew it in his heart, but he was still a little uncertain and said: "It should be, maybe they left with the Qing soldiers." "The people who entered the courtyard seemed to have no strength, as if their bones had lost their hardness and could not support the weight of their bodies.

Ma Liang looked at the pile of white bones in front of him, thinking about the Miao people who had happily returned to Kaizhou in the morning, who knew that in just one morning, it would become food in the mouths of the Qing soldiers. At this time, another person pointed the finger at Ma Nan and said, "Ma Nan, this is what you said that Qing soldiers will not kill, but fortunately we didn't listen to you." The other said: "Yes, it's good that Elder Fang didn't listen to you, otherwise we would be like them now, with only a pile of white bones left." ”

Ma Nan didn't dare to say anything now, thinking that if he really returned to Kaizhou with his fellow villagers and was blocked by the Qing soldiers in Kaizhou City, then he would be the intoxicating person of the whole village. At this time, Fang Lao Zhan walked in majestically, and it could be seen that although Fang Lao was an elderly person, he was still very angry when he saw this scene.

Ma Liang saw that Fang Lao was back, and said: "Fang Lao, it seems that the Miao people over there in Tianbang are not wrong, the Qing soldiers are simply inhumane, they want to kill all our Miao people." Ma Nan also said angrily at this time: "Elder Fang, let's go to the generals of the Ming army and fight the Qing army with them." ”

Fang Lao looked at Ma Nan and said, "Yes, these sins of the Qing army must be paid for by them with blood." You will set out tomorrow to find the Ming army. Can't let the Qing army get away. ”