To the east of the Jiaolai River, later generations will be called the small Jiaodong Peninsula, many hilly areas, not suitable for large army to fight, especially not conducive to cavalry battle, fortunately, although the Jinzhou army has wolf cavalry, but it is mostly infantry, if it is engaged with the enemy, it is not dangerous that the wolf cavalry alone can not control the battlefield. And the number of wolf riders is small, and they are not afraid of being subject to the terrain. The Jinzhou army drove more than 1,000 rebels from Pingdu Dongcheng, all the way through Cui Zhao and Beidatian, and arrived at Wujiazhuang in the evening.

Peng Dazhu's scout cavalry had already dispersed, but it was not to prevent the cavalry from attacking, and there was no reason to guard against the cavalry - did Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng have cavalry under their command?

In fact, the main purpose of the reconnaissance cavalry was to find out whether there were rebel strongholds on the eastern route and whether there were villages and towns that had not yet been poisoned by the rebels, so that the Jinzhou army could obtain some food and grass supplies from these villages and towns. Unfortunately, the villages and towns seen along the way, like those seen when crossing the Jiaolai River before, were uninhabited and full of ruins, and there was no hope of getting food supplies on the march.

Until the camp in Wujiazhuang, the scouts found dozens of old and weak women and children in the village, and saw that there were soldiers and horses coming, those women and children were not like those mountain people in Changyi Mansion who were far away, but stood there fearlessly and looked at the Jinzhou army.

This made Shi Dayong and a cadre of generals very surprised, no matter where they went before, even if they were still under the rule of the imperial court, those people saw the military horses coming from afar, and they didn't dare to approach at all.

After arriving in Zhuangzi, Dayong brought a group of guards to inspect it, wondering how these people were not afraid of soldiers. After taking a closer look, I realized how these old and weak women and children were not afraid of soldiers? Rather, they were completely stunned, or numb, as could be seen from their empty eyes.

None of the dozens of old and weak women and children were fully clothed, and some of them were wearing tattered cotton clothes that were no longer called cotton clothes, and there was not a single piece of cotton wool in sight. More than half of them didn't even have a pair of pants, and they didn't know what kind of rotten cloth they were looking for.

The dozen or so women inside are not very young, because of the long years of work, there is no good complexion on their faces, all of them are yellow and thin, even the breasts on their chests are shriveled, and they can see that they have been hungry without food for a long time.

Seeing a general coming, the women and children subconsciously leaned up, but they surrounded seven or eight children who were also so thin that only bones remained, including men and women, the older ones were about seven or eight years old, and the younger ones were about three or four years old. Two other children were afraid that they would be held tightly in their arms, and they did not know whether they were asleep or hungry and had no strength, so they did not move.

The military disasters are especially natural disasters, Denglai this place in recent years is also smooth, not like the northwest like the annual disaster, although the people are also poor, but they can always fill their stomachs, and those who are more relaxed during the New Year's festival can also buy some fish and meat. Even in the event of a disaster, they can always save their lives if they are tightened and cut down on food and clothing, and no one will use knives and guns to rob them of the last bite to eat. But if there is a military disaster, it is the most unbearable tragedy in the world.

The tragic situation of these old and weak women and children in front of them can be seen at a glance that they have suffered from military disasters. I think that when the rebels come, burn, kill, and plunder, they will do all kinds of evil. Men are either killed or coerced, or become members of the rabble, or become military and civilian husbands, and most of them either become cannon fodder or die of exhaustion in a foreign land, becoming an unknown white skeleton in another country.

This is true for men, and the situation for women is even worse. Almost all the younger women have become tools for the rebels to vent, and the better ones can also give a mouthful of food and raise them in the camp to serve as military prostitutes, and the worse ones will be killed after rape, and I don't know how many women in this land of Denglai have become vain ghosts under the rebel swords, and even with many children who have lost their parents can no longer grow up, and I don't know how many crying babies have become ghosts on both sides of the road.

Dayong sighed deeply, his gaze swept over the faces of the women and children, and finally fell on the children who were obviously trembling, and his heart suddenly felt a pang of cramping—he clearly saw that the children were holding some grass balls in their hands, some of which had been bitten in half.

What a wickedness! This is all a sin done by Kong Youde!

The grief-stricken Dayong took two steps forward gently, and said to the women and children in a very harmonious voice: "You don't have to be afraid, we are officials and soldiers, and we will not hurt you when we come to quell the rebellion on the orders of the Son of Heaven." ”

Listening to his words, none of the women and children moved, and no one dared to speak to Dayong, they just stared blankly at the group of officers and soldiers who came from nowhere, and even the children stood there motionless.

Seeing this, Dayong turned around and instructed Guo Yidao: "Take some food for them." ”

Guo Yi hesitated a little, hesitated, and reminded in a low voice: "General, we don't have much to eat, we can only last another day, if we give it to them, what will the brothers do?" ”

"Obeying orders is, what are you talking about?" Dayong glanced at Guo Yi with some displeasure.

Guo Yi had no choice but to nod to the guards on the side, and the two guards hurriedly rushed to the back and took a bag of bread from the baggage camp that was coming.

Seeing that it was the bread he fetched, Guo Yi was stunned for a moment, but he didn't dare to say anything, and motioned to the guards to come forward and distribute the bread to these women and children.

Dayong saw that it was dough cakes, but he didn't react like Guo Yi, he knew that these dough cakes were the best food in the army now, and the portion was not much, Guo Yi was right, the food in the entire camp could only last through tomorrow. If we don't get supplies tomorrow, we will have to take those captives to survive the situation. Horses, Dayong is not ready to kill a horse, he is even mentally prepared to feed the horse with human flesh.

Without a war horse, there is no wolf to ride. Without the wolf cavalry, Dayong would not have much confidence in taking Dengzhou. Even with only two or three hundred heavy cavalry, Dayong was convinced that he could deal a heavy blow to the rebels at a critical time, and even crush the enemy in one go. The second battalion of the left and right battalions of the infantry army and the pro-soldier battalion are too short, although there is the old army of Jinzhou as the backbone, but after all, it has been less than a month since the integration of the army, and without the wolf cavalry to rely on, it is difficult for the infantry army to compete with the rebel brigade alone.

Since the transfer, Dayong has been quite eye-eyed by the cavalry under the Red Ancestor Dabi and Wu Sangui, which is a full 3,000 cavalry! I don't know where the strength of this ancestral family came from, Zu Dashou and the main force of the Liao army are not in Daling River, they can still make up a full 3,000 cavalry! If the ancestor family of Zhilu Dao still had such strength, I am afraid that Dayong would have already made a plot after the Jinzhou War! Where will they be allowed to make a comeback from their ancestral family and become a strong force under Gao Qiqian's subordinates to suppress themselves!

There is no regret medicine in the world, not to mention that God gave Dayong a very short time, and before he had time to rest after the Jinzhou War, he led the army south to offer prisoners, and the reward was not yet down, and the Son of Heaven issued an edict to let them go south urgently. After that, the situation got out of control step by step, and it was no longer possible for Dayong to reverse it by himself, what he could do now was to take Dengzhou as soon as possible to correct his name, otherwise, he was afraid that he would not be able to go back to Liaodong.

The whole army has to rely on wolf riding, how dare Dayong kill horses for food, even those who pull the cart and pull the horses can't kill, if they do, who will pull the boxes of gold and silver and the ordnance captured all the way for him!

I had no choice but to do what man and God were angry with!

The only thing that is reassuring is that the captives are all killable, but they are not innocent people

"This is the kindness of the general of my family to you, come on, take them all, one piece for each person."

The two guards were afraid that they really took pity on these women and children, and they did not bring a black and bitten nest, but brought a small amount of bread, and the two carefully distributed it there, but the women and children seemed to be afraid of them and did not dare to reach out to take it. Although their eyes had already become a little light, they still hesitated to come forward and take them. It seems that as long as they stretch out their hands, the knives of the officers and soldiers will cut down on their hands mercilessly.

Seeing that the women and children were afraid to take it, Dayong had no choice but to raise his voice and say to them: "The general said, we are the officers and soldiers, not those traitors, you can take these breads." You don't think for yourself, you have to think about the children behind you, the adults are hungry, they may be hungry. Look at your appearance, I'm afraid that it will be hard to stand, why bother to hold on, this will not be a bad person, these cakes, you will take it to satisfy your hunger temporarily, since this general is here, it is on behalf of the Son of Heaven to come, and you will not let you be hungry again, you will follow this general in the future, and the general's subordinates will be hungry again, and you will not suffer again!"

After listening to Dayong's words, the women and children looked at each other, and then they had the courage to step forward and take the bread from the hands of the guards. The women who were the first to get the bread did not shove it into their mouths, but turned to hand it to the children behind them. The children snatched the dough and stuffed it into their mouths desperately, gobbling it up, and choked on a few of them.

"Quick, give them the water bladder!"

Seeing that the children were choking, Dayong hurriedly ordered the guards to hand over the water bags. After taking a few sips of water, the children smoothed down the dough and swallowed it in large gulps.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"The court has finally come to save us, the court has finally come to save us, woo!"

Although the bread is not large, it is definitely much better than the weed dumplings that these women and children eat on a daily basis. With food in their stomachs, the women and children had the strength to speak, and they couldn't stop being grateful to Dayong, and when they spoke, they wept bitterly. In an instant, there was a cry, and the grievances and panic fears that had been felt for a long time were vented in an instant, the adults hugged the children and cried, the children hugged the adults and cried, and the relatives and guards were a little uncomfortable.

The cry attracted a group of generals behind, Jiang Wanli, Song Qing and others came in turn, and it was very uncomfortable to see these women and children struggling on the death line.

Dayong stayed for a moment, feeling that his eyes were a little moist, and it was inconvenient to show them in front of his subordinates, so he turned around and walked towards a broken wall, and after standing still, he looked at the Zhuangzi in front of him, which had been destroyed in the war.

After a while, Jiang Wanli and Song Qing also came over, Song Qing knew from Guo Yi that General Lu Dao wanted to take care of these women and children, so he couldn't help but come over to remind him, he was a little anxious and said: "General, there is no food in our camp, how can we help these people?" Besides, we still have to go to Dengzhou, how can these people go with us? If one is saved, there will be a gang behind it, and now there are dozens of women and children, what if there are more women and children behind? ”

Hearing Song Qing's worries, Dayong smiled bitterly and said: "Save one by one, leave them here, I can't bear it, and when I meet the people again, I will take them with me, well, they will all set off with the baggage, and it is not a big deal to fall behind, and then the imperial court will send personnel to settle them when Dengzhou is taken." ”

Hearing this arrangement, Song Qing sighed, knowing that General Lu Dao had made up his mind, he couldn't persuade him, he lowered his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly raised his head and asked, "Then what shall we give them to eat?" ”

What to eat? Dayong was stunned for a moment, closed his eyes and sighed softly: "Whatever we eat, they eat." After a pause, he opened his eyes, his cheeks twitched, and his face was sickly red, "and hide it from them, so that they don't know." ”

Jiang Wanli shook his head and said, "We can eat, how can the people eat?" Besides, there are children. ”

Dayong was silent for a long time, and Fang said to Jiang Song and the others: "Do you want to see them starve to death, or do you want them to live?" If we don't save them, they won't survive! In this world, I just want to live, which can be regarded as a white lie. ”

After speaking, he took care of himself and broke the wall, walked a few steps, and suddenly turned around and instructed Guo Yi, who was following behind: "You and set aside a little pasta in the camp for those children, we adults have done evil, but they can't." ”