Section 106 Prisoners

The captured officers and men were held in several places, the wounded were all sent to the army and navy hospital in Mayuan, and the civilian and military officials who were screened were also held in the special concentration camp in Mayuan. As for the vast number of prisoners of war, most of them were waiting to be disposed of in temporary prisoner of war camps in Chengmai.

The prisoners were crowded in the camp, and the prisoners had been shaved and preliminarily purified. The armor and clothing on the body are all stripped of fine, and now they are all wearing "purification suits", the so-called purification suits are made of "recycled cloth", the quality is very poor, and the appearance of the "purification suit" is even more simple to the extreme, almost three holes in a pocket, so that the arms and head are exposed. Of course, there are no shoes and socks, just a pair of straw sandals per person. There are individual numbers on the chest and back consisting of English numerals and Arabic numerals.

Fortunately, it is summer in Hainan, and even if you are naked, you will not be cold and cold.

Don't let alone run away with such an outfit, even if you move a little farther, you will be immediately discovered.

The commander of the prisoner of war camp was Yuan Qiushi. This man had been acting as Oude's guard and deputy earlier, and had seen and listened to many of Wude's practices in dealing with prisoners and prisoners and laborers. Although his position in the labor camp was later replaced by Yanghe, he was still a familiar hand. And because they are young and strong, the newborn calf is not afraid of anything or taboo. Belongs to a category of people who are particularly cruel and ruthless to their enemies.

Wu De specially appointed this man to be the commander of the prisoner of war camp, and he himself had the intention of killing the soldiers. As soon as the purification was complete, he erected a gallows in the middle of the prisoner of war camp and posted the regulations.

Although the construction materials of the prisoner of war camp are only straw and bamboo poles, the straw huts are neatly arranged and have all kinds of facilities. The strictest regulations were imposed here, and the prisoners had to obey all the orders of the camp guards, and any disobedience would result in hanging. More than ten people were hanged a day for the first few days. Then suddenly no one was executed, and the entire camp was run according to the system.

At first, the food was poor, porridge with more water than rice, and the purpose was to keep the captives from overfeeding, to prevent them from making trouble, and to weaken their will to resist.

At this time, the captives, who were already visibly weakened, were forming a long line of more than a dozen and entering a wooden house one by one for interrogation.

The interrogation was carried out by personnel sent by the General Directorate of Political Protection, and the prisoners had been trained to be honest after a few days of life.

The content of the interrogation is nothing more than basic materials such as name, age, place of origin, family status, education level, who kind of subordinates they are, what year they joined the army, what kind of soldiers they were in, and what kind of weapons they used. Then there are the specific skills that the soldiers mastered: what they did before joining the army: whether they could be carpenters, blacksmiths or handicraftsmen.

Soldiers who had mastered the skills of the handicraft industry were grouped separately, and they were relieved of the hard labor of building roads and formed special labor battalions for specialized production. Yi Longwen proposed a plan, believing that it would be a waste to send prisoners who had mastered a certain skill to build roads, and that it would be better to organize them into special prisoner labor camps and engage in professional labor in the prisoner of war camps.

Through interrogation, Yi Longwen also cleared out all the people from Hainan Island who were captive. As a matter of policy, local prisoners were released on the spot. The other captives were blushing to see that the village warriors and Cao soldiers of Qiongzhou Mansion were gathered together, and then they received their personal belongings, and each local soldier also received a severance fee of one or two silver. Then he left freely one by one.

Many captives were associated with the reluctance of the local village warriors and Cao troops to contribute during the war, and they were the first to collapse when they retreated, and they felt more and more suspected of internal and external collusion. Although Tang Yunwen's department was a battalion soldier, the vast majority of his subordinates were locals, so his subordinates were all released. This made many captives have the idea that "Tang Yunwen and the thief are colluding".

This sentiment was reported to the secret agents scattered among the captives. Zhao Manxiong decided to take advantage of the situation and make a little discord. At least Tang Yunwen and his subordinates will not be trusted by the government in the future.

After Lü Yizhong was captured in the breakout, he was recognized by the Ming army captives, and then placed as an important prisoner in a temporary prisoner camp in Chengmai to wait for the first batch of transfers. In addition to him, there were captured staff. In addition to being captured in the breakthrough battle at Zuihou, the staff also had a number of people captured and killed in the camp and elsewhere. There were about twenty civilian prisoners sent to Ma Yuan by Zuihou.

The more than 20 captives were frightened and ran wildly for another day, and their legs and feet were so weak that they could not move, and many of them were slightly injured. Believing that if they were forced to walk, they might die on the road, and the officers who were about to be escorted to the Mayuan concentration camp picked out dozens of able-bodied ones and asked them to carry the palanquins for the staff, which were also captured, all the way to the horses. This immediately produced a great sense of disgust among the captured officers, and it was immediately claimed that the "sourers" were going to be thrown to death when carrying the sedan chair.

Of course, no one would dare to do this, and the knife players who are armed with the Devil's Head and are ready to slash people at any time are obviously happy to serve the new owner right away. Just a day before their departure, several officers were immediately dragged out and beheaded for "roaring and rudeness." The martial artists seem to be reckless and rude, but in fact, they are not rough at all, and they are all honest immediately.

The staff and officers were placed in the shack by a group of ten, after Lu Yizhong and the others were "purified", they returned to the house in embarrassment, everyone stared at each other one by one, Lu Yizhong was originally old, and he was an official, and he was still a staff member sent by the governor, and his status was above others, even after being captured, everyone still maintained a certain respect for him. Suddenly, like everyone else, his head was bare, his hair and a majestic beard were gone, as if he were ten years younger, and he had another pocket on his body. Although everyone didn't lose their voices, they still endured it one by one.

Only Qian Taichong said indignantly: "Sven sweeps the floor, Sven sweeps the floor"

Qian Taichong was also captured when he broke through, he was originally able to run away, but Chang Qingyun's horse was shot and died, Qian Taichong happened to pass by, and the horse was ridden away by others when he got off the horse to rescue, and he and Chang Qingyun were both taken prisoner.

When faced with the thief's bright bayonet, Qian Taichong pulled out his sword and wanted to kill himself, but several soldiers who wanted to arrest him saw that he wanted to kill himself, and for a while he actually put away the bayonet, as if to fulfill him. But Qian Taichong raised his sword several times, and every time he raised it to his throat, he remembered his parents, wife and children at home, and finally he still didn't die.

Seeing that he was still not dead after several lifts, several soldiers scolded him and knocked him off, tied him up and took him away.

Qian Taichong was ashamed and angry to death - before retreating, he thought that if he failed to break through, he would kill himself immediately and would not be humiliated. But when he really wanted to die, he didn't die, and was scolded several times by a few vulgar thief soldiers. This shame made his lips tremble. Looking at the corpses of men and horses everywhere along the road, discarded armor and weapons, and the officers and soldiers who discarded their armor were driven in strings. Qian Taichong suddenly rushed and fled eastward. He knew that he couldn't run away, and that there were thieves everywhere, and he just hoped that the thieves would kill him and make a death festival.

He was really captured, and after running out for more than ten steps, he fell to the ground because his arms were tied and he lost his balance, and when the soldiers were about to pull him up, Qian Taichong scolded him endlessly, just asking for a quick death.

But what he was waiting for was not a knife and gun that could make him martyrdom, but a horsewhip, and after being whipped seven or eight times with a horsewhip, he was so painful that he was finally forced to stand up and return to the ranks of the captives. This time, he was tied up with other captives and driven for more than ten miles under the whip and bayonet to Chengmai.

They didn't stay in Chengmai for many days and were transferred to Ma Yuan.

"This is the horse of Lingao County," the thief who came to accept the captives arrogantly said to them, "You have arrived at Lingao - only as captives"

This humiliation is nothing compared to the "purification" process that followed. Whether it was Qian Taichong, Lu Yizhong, or the other staff, they all had the imagination that the thieves still had a certain preferential treatment for them, the staff scholars, and that sending them in a sedan chair was a proof. They had expected to be treated with courtesy, bathed and dressed, and given a simple but comfortable place to live, about a small compound for the wealthy local family, and a temple for the poor. Some people even think that the thief will not only give them a very good life treatment, but maybe there will be beautiful girls to entertain them. They know that there are not many readers on the thief's side, and if they catch so many readers at one time, can they not be polite enough to make their own articles that are eager to seek talents?

As a result, instead of being courteous, he was greatly humiliated. When Qian Taichong staggered to the barracks, his heart fell like an ice cellar.

There was no such thing as a "courtyard of a wealthy local man" or a "temple house", but a rectangular wooden house, empty and lined with ten bunk beds with straw mats. Other than that, there is not a single piece of furniture.

Such a simple house, coupled with everything that happened to him, where did the other party have a little sign of treating him favorably

The captured staff members sat on the bed one by one with sad faces, their heads were all shaved bald, and they were wearing pocket-like clothes, and everyone's hearts were extremely depressed, and they didn't even bother to do the usual courtesy. Although Lu Yizhong's strange appearance caused a burst of laughter, everyone was soon enveloped in sadness again.

"Now that I have lived my life, I am lucky, what are you talking about." Chang Qingyun said in frustration. His original rhetoric was all gone.

"The thief humiliated us and other scholars like this," Qian Taichong said indignantly, "I'll wait for ......" for a while. What else can they do now? If you want to be martyred, you will commit suicide in Chengmai. Now he is a prisoner of others, and he can only be at the mercy of the other party.

Lu Yizhong won't even be able to speak, he is too old, and he can only gasp after the toss of purification. He lay on the bed and secretly regretted why he had the idea of "cutting down the army", and what he coveted the gifts of the generals and the spoils after the war, and promised Wang Zunde to be the "staff of the supervising army". I'm afraid that even a small life will be lost.

Compared with others, Lu Yizhong knew that his prospects were bleaker. He is the mastermind behind the fight against the Guangzhou station, which I am afraid the thieves have known for a long time. Such a large amount of property was destroyed, needless to say that the thief hated himself to the bone. Now that it falls into their hands, they must be torn to pieces.

Thinking of this, his teeth chattered and "gurgle" non-stop.

"Mr. Lu, are you having chills and fever?" Although Qian Taichong looked down on him, he was kind and asked a question.

"It's not...... The student was only slightly unwell. Just rest, rest, rest. Lu Yizhong finally replied.

"The thief doesn't know what to do with us?" Someone wondered.

"It would be a hypocrisy if we were not to do so—otherwise there would be no need to humiliate us so much; I probably won't want us to die, otherwise we will be beheaded in Chengmai. The students thought that the thieves wanted to take us as hostages and negotiate peace with the royal army. ”

"Sir has a point." Chang Qingyun listened to the reason, and his spirit improved a lot, "Wang Zhijun will definitely not ignore ......"

"According to the younger brother, it may not be" Qian Taichong said proudly, "He Zhentai's entire army collapsed in Chengmai, and the royal army may not be able to explain to the imperial court, where can I still take care of me?"

This time it hit everyone's hearts to the bottom. How do they live on such a day when they eat poorly, live badly, and are handed over every day to gather for a meeting? What made them even more unhappy was that as scholars, no matter how poor they were in the past, they could still receive a little attention from the people around them, but in the case of the thieves, the thieves only treated them as if they were other captives. This made them very unhappy.

"It's time to eat," someone shouted outside. According to the system, each barracks should have someone on duty to be responsible for receiving meals and doing things like hygiene. Once when it was Qian Taichong's turn, he regretted his cowardice, so he deliberately refused to do the work on duty, planning to "scold the thief and die" once the thief pursued him.

But the thief did not pursue it, and the result of Qian Taichong's refusal to fulfill his duty on duty was that no one went to receive food, and everyone was hungry for a day. Qian Taichong did not "scold the thief and die", but was complained by the people in the same barracks for a night.

They also resisted hygiene, which should be done by servants. But the result of the lack of sanitation was a terrible stench, and the thieves apparently did not care what the smell of the barracks was, until they were overwhelmed by the stench of feces and urine, and offered to clean it up.

"You have a good attitude, you are prisoners, not old women," said the thief officer in charge of the camp viciously, "it is a preferential treatment if I didn't drive you to build a road."

Sure enough, within a few days, they saw the officers in the barracks being driven out in groups in the morning, and returning one by one in the evening exhausted and covered with dust and dirt.

Qian Taichong was not afraid--he was born in a so-called farming and reading family, and his own family also worked in the fields, and he was able to endure hardships, but others were frightened by this threat. Most people think that the other party has not done anything too much, and there is no need to quarrel with the thief.

"What else do you pay attention to now in the prison of a thief? The prison of the government is even worse than here. A staff member who knew the name of the sentence said, "That's pitch black, and there's no bottom of it."

Chang Qingyun said: "I don't think the thief treats the prisoner favorably. ”

He was referring to a certain house in this prisoner-of-war camp, where the officers had never been driven out to build roads, and where they did not seem to eat and drink badly—they could often smell the smell of meat and fish.

"All of them live here under Tang Yunwen's subordinates." One of the staff members whispered.

This was part of Zhao Manxiong's divisive plan: under his arrangement, the captured officers in the soup department in the officers' concentration camp were isolated in solitary condition, and they were given more shelter and food—the officers were poorly fed, and they were only guaranteed to survive, after all, these people were to be released in the future. The guards were also very polite to them, and sometimes interrogated them alone for several hours. When he returned, the people around him did not look like they were being interrogated, but as if they had gone to eat, drink and have some fun.

"The thief has been in high school for three years, Tang Yunwen didn't even care about it, there must be a hidden secret" Chang Qingyun gritted his teeth and said, "If he could have been in time to suppress it, the thief had not yet succeeded, why would he have today's defeat?"

Everyone felt the same way, and they all became suspicious of Tang Yunwen -- some even suspected that Tang Yunwen's ability to get out before the whole army retreated was a trick in itself.

Lu Yizhong also came to the spirit: "He Zhen ordered the whole army to retreat that day, with the local army of Tangbu and Qiongzhou as the vanguard, this army was defeated in a battle, and there was a lot of strange things."

"The thief is an overseas barbarian, I am the master, he is the guest, but when the war starts, it is the host and the guest are transposed, my soldiers are passive everywhere, if there is no traitor in the inner guidance, how can the thief be so easy?"

"Yes, it's all traitors and bad things"

……

The impassioned discussion once again confirmed the truth that "the enemy is not terrible, and the bad thing is always the traitor". As for Tang Yunwen's betrayal of the country, it seems to have become an ironclad certainty.

Among them, some people feel that there is something unreasonable, but at this moment, everyone wants to find a reason for this big defeat that has nothing to do with them, and no one raised doubts, but searched for suspicious signs of Tang Yunwen's "betrayal of the country".

Qian Taichong did not doubt it, but he did not echo it. He felt that Tang Yunwen's traitorous statement was not so tough. Tang Yunwen is a military general, and it is possible that he accepted bribes from thieves and deliberately did not report them. It is very unlikely that he instructed his men to deliberately rout and disrupt the army. No matter how greedy Tang Yunwen is, he will never dare to use the method of cutting off his own army in exchange for money, and it is even more impossible for him to defect to the thief -- the imperial court's military generals are not appropriate, so should he be some overseas barbarian official? It doesn't make sense in common sense