Last time, it was mentioned that the Yellow Turban Army had captured the county seat of Ganling, and the main generals were discussing the issue of assisting the Han Dynasty in defending the city.

It is difficult to distinguish between those who participated in the defense of the city, whether they were willing or coerced.

The reputation of the Taiping Sect among the common people was very good, but there were still people who spontaneously resisted the Yellow Turban Army. This problem still comes down to information asymmetry, in layman's terms, that is, the common people do not have the eye of God, they listen to the government say that the Yellow Turban Army is very brutal, and the counties captured by the Yellow Turban Army have been slaughtered.

The common people do not believe the words of the government, and the credibility of the government has long been bankrupt. But the refugees who fled from other counties also said that the Yellow Turban Army had indeed killed many people, and those refugees said it conclusively, pointing to the oath of heaven, and the people could not believe it.

The people of Ganling County didn't know who these refugees were, but they knew that these refugees were also dressed in tatters, and they looked like they should be the same, so they believed it.

Of course, not all of them believe the words of the refugees, and there are still more clever people who find that although the refugees are dressed in tatters, the skin exposed by the ragged clothes is snow-white and pink, not at all like people who do manual work, but more like the skin of those fairy-like ladies in the Qinglou that they yearn for and are curious about. However, there are men and women in the refugees, is there a man in the Qinglou in the next county? But even if there were, it wouldn't be the majority of refugees, would it? There weren't many women among those refugees. And most of them are fat, are the rich people in the next county so heavy-minded?

So these clever people don't believe the nonsense of the refugees, but after all, there are too few knowledgeable people among the people at the bottom, and their dissent can't make a few waves.

So who are these refugees? They are certainly not birds in the green building, poverty limits the imagination of ordinary people. Those people were all big people with status and status in the counties. But in order to escape, many people chose to disguise, and some people did not disguise, but all the way to escape, their clothes were covered with dust and scars, and they couldn't see the original appearance clearly. So it's normal for people to not be able to tell the difference.

Originally, these people escaped not only now, when they first escaped, they all fled with the whole family. However, the women on the road were slow to move, and some selfish patriarchs simply threw the women and the old and weak as clothes on the side of the road. The selfish men also made the last contribution of the outcasts, so that the pursuers could continue to multiply. Therefore, the refugees who finally fled to Ganling County were the main figures and elites of each family.

In order to survive for themselves and to save their families from being slaughtered, the people responded to the call of the government and went up to the city to help defend the city. But more of them were coerced, although they were also afraid that the Yellow Turban Army would kill them after capturing Ganling County, but that was also after the Yellow Turban Army captured Ganling, if they went to the battlefield, it was likely that Ganling County had not yet fallen, and they would die first.

In the siege battle, many people did die. When these people die, they die. Later, after the officials and troops of the imperial court retreated, the remaining people also surrendered.

This is the first siege of the Yellow Turban Army, the county town captured before, those officials in the county town still don't know what's going on, the city gate was fraudulently opened, so there is no organization of the people in the city to defend the city, and there is no current problem.

Since it is difficult for the people defending the city to distinguish between voluntary and coerced, then they should be killed just like the officials in the city, this is the opinion of the old bureaucrats headed by Chen. They thought that they should set an example for those who came after them, so that the people in other places would know that they were afraid and not be bewitched by the Han Dynasty.

Zhang Liang was very opposed, so he was the first to stand up, but he couldn't say why, just because the basic composition of the Taiping Sect was these people, and if he killed the ordinary people in Ganling County, it would not have a good impact. But how the impact is not good, he can't say. It's just how he feels. So he was speechless when asked by Guo Xunqi.

Zhang Yantong was a senior general from the Taiping Sect, and seeing that the side of protecting the lives of the people was weak, he stood up to support Zhang Liang, adding: "If you kill the people defending the city, it is likely to affect the morale of the army." More than half of our army is from these people. ”

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The old bureaucratic faction was not made up of Feng Zhen as the spokesman, because Feng Zhen was the highest position among them, and if Feng Zhen was refuted to the point that he had nothing to say, then it would be difficult for the rest of them to say anything.

So Feng Yu didn't speak, but Ma Yun walked out and said, "This is a big fallacy. Half of our army are Taiping Sect members, but these people are not Taiping Sect members, so how can killing them affect the morale of the army? ”

Zhang Liang glared at Ma Yun angrily, and he was very annoyed that these old bureaucrats were so insistent on executing these ordinary people who had no impact on the overall situation. Don't they look down on the people? Why do you just hold on to it?

Ma Yun is not afraid of Zhang Liang's anger, although he is Zhang Liang's deputy, he is in charge of the original officers and soldiers of Ye County, and Zhang Liang is in charge of the Taiping sect in Ye County, called subordinates, but in fact, they do not belong to each other.

The old bureaucrats had very strong opinions on Zhang Jiao's insistence on killing the captured officials and big households, and they felt a little sad about the death of rabbits and foxes, so this time they wanted to take this opportunity to disgust and disgust the people of the Taiping sect, and also to suppress Zhang Jiao's prestige in the army.

Because Zhang Liang's views represent the views of the Taiping Sect and Zhang Jiao's views. As long as Zhang Jiao relented and looked at these people guarding the city, then his prestige in the Taiping Sect would definitely be hit.

Zhang Liang still couldn't bear to watch the people suffer, so he hurriedly said: "Not all of them are voluntary. ”

"General Zhang, how do you prove that they are not voluntary?" Liu Wei continued to embarrass Zhang Liang.

Zhang Liang was speechless, Zhang Yan felt that he had done his best.

Zhang Jiao saw that the Taiping Sect was completely dumbfounded, and his eyebrows were furrowed, but he couldn't help but draw conclusions.

It's just that just as the old bureaucrats were happily waiting for Zhang Jiao's order, Zhang Jiao vetoed the resolution to kill the people.

Zhang Jiao explained to the crowd very majestically: "You are right, it is difficult to distinguish whether the people are willing or not, but why are they voluntary? Has anyone thought about it? When Zhang Jiao said this, he paused for a moment, swept his eyes over the old bureaucrats, and replied himself: "Because they are not well informed, they do not understand the situation of our army, and they are instigated by thieves with evil intentions!" If they were all killed this time, the officials in other places would have even more reason to trick the people into going against the Heavenly Army! ”

(End of chapter)