Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 624 Dealing with Prisoners
In the dense forest, a cloud of black smoke soared upwards, gathering in the air without dispersing.Although Zhao Guirong's subordinates rescued the village, the village was not burned down, but nearly half of the houses were still burned, and black smoke continued to rise.Because they live in dense forests, most of these houses are built of wood or thatch, so once they catch fire, they will quickly be reduced to ashes.

"These lunatics!" Zhao Guirong personally participated in the fire fighting, and now his face seemed to be smeared with black charcoal. Afterwards, he sat on the ground as if he had collapsed. He only felt that fighting the fire was more difficult than fighting the war.In the past, others said that the Kyushu Army was a lunatic, but this time it was the Kyushu Army who called others a lunatic.

"General, the Second Infantry Battalion has brought back all the prisoners, apart from the Zheng family, there are also those hateful natives." A soldier ran to Zhao Guirong with small steps to report to Zhao Guirong.

"I didn't expect that the village that the first battalion had worked so hard to attack would drive them to the ambush circle of the second battalion." Zhao Guirong sighed a little.

After the second battalion fought the natives in the forest, they took a long detour to copy their back route, and as expected, stopped the retreating Zheng family troops and natives.

The officers and men of the Zheng family and the natives were downcast. As captives, they didn't know how the Kyushu Army would deal with them.Seeing the homeland they destroyed with their own hands, the natives were so regretful that their guts were green. They thought they would be able to escape by burning their villages, but the fact slapped them hard.

"This time we caught 1221 people, and some escaped into the forest and became stragglers. Because our strength was insufficient, we did not force ourselves to hunt them down in the forest." The battalion officer of the second battalion said to Zhao Guirong.

"Those escaped are not a problem, but we need to see how to deal with them." Zhao Guirong walked towards the group of prisoners.

The highest status among the captives was Zheng Hu and the head of the Tu nationality, and they were also confessed as leaders.The old patriarch now hates Zheng Hu to the bone: "Zheng Hu, you have introduced the devil into our village, I really mistrusted you."

Zheng Hu didn't argue much, he just said: "The Kyushu Army started to take control of Gaoping. Even if you don't contact them now, they will come over later. You have to admit that. At the beginning, whether it was the Mongols or the Ming people. When we were here, they plundered our food and silver, took our women as slaves, castrated our boys as eunuchs, and finally caused countless righteous men to rise up to resist. At that time, your village is willing to use your food, silver, women, and children Will you give it to the Kyushu Army?"

When the old patriarch heard Zheng Hu's words, the wrinkles on his face moved, but he couldn't refute.What Zheng Hu was talking about was the word-of-mouth rumors in the villages in this area. The Mongols and Ming people invaded the hinterland of Annan Kingdom twice, which indeed brought terror to the local area to a certain extent. shadow.

"Are you the patriarch of this village? And you, the leader of the Zheng family's army of about [-] people who fled from Lang Son?" Zhao Guirong walked up to the two of them and carefully scrutinized the two who had delayed him for three days. For a long time, the guy who caused him a lot of casualties.In fact, it is not just three days, but now it takes more time to rest and deal with the prisoners, and it will also scare the snakes, giving the defenders of Gaoping City time to prepare.

"You kill as you want, needless to say, every time the barbarians from the north will make a mess of our homeland." Zheng Hu said.

"I really want to kill you." Zhao Guirong narrowed his eyes. He had already started to kill, but he thought of the repeated instructions in the letter from the military leader Chu Yun to the Independent Corps not to slaughter cities and villages, so he held back his killing intention for now.

"You people are really asking for trouble. Our Nine Provinces Army has no intention of flattening your village. As long as you surrender and admit that we replace the Zheng family and the Mo family here, everything will live as before. Wouldn't it be beautiful? Why bother?" The resistance resulted in the destruction of our family, and also caused us huge losses." Zhao Guirong paced in front of the old patriarch, with a tone of resentment.

"Don't fool us. Once we surrender, you will increase taxes and rob gold, silver, treasures, women and children for various reasons." Zheng Hu sneered, "Mongols and Ming people used to be like this, otherwise 200 years The former Chief Secretary of Cochin will not be overthrown in 20 years."

The old patriarch looked at Zhao Guirong, wanting to hear his explanation.

"I don't know much about what happened 200 years ago, but with my meager knowledge, I also know that those who gain the Dao will be helped more than those who have lost the Dao. The failure of the Chief Secretary of Cochin in the past, according to what I heard before I came here, at that time In order to curry favor with their superiors and the emperor, officials of the Ming Dynasty tried their best to search for gold and silver treasures in the local area, and indulged soldiers to plunder women, which indeed caused great casualties to the local people." Zhao Guirong said, "But this time we went south to Annan Kingdom, and It was different when the Ming Dynasty went south 200 years ago."

"Hmph, it's all just rhetoric, you are all Han Chinese, what's the difference." Zheng Hu said.

"Your Annan Kingdom was under the jurisdiction of Jiaozhou more than 1000 years ago. Many Han people went south, and you dare to assert that you are not a descendant of Han people? I don't need to chat with you here. I just want to let you know that you will be obedient for the next month. Just stay in the village, we will leave an army to guard you, if you dare to act rashly again, don't blame us for really massacring the village." Zhao Guirong said.

The word Tucun made the old patriarch tremble.This is hundreds of thousands of lives.

"When we capture Gaoping City, all the villages and land will be exchanged with you. Although the Chief Secretary of Cochin will be re-established soon, it is different from the Chief Secretary of Cochin 200 years ago. We will treat this as an ordinary It should be treated by the province, not a tool to curry favor with the emperor." Zhao Guirong emphasized again, and stopped talking.

He still needs to find a place to house these prisoners, and then organize the army to attack Gaoping City.It is difficult to explain clearly to the natives, only to prove it to them with practical actions in the future.

The old patriarch saw that the officers of the Kyushu Army showed little interest in them, his eyes flickered, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

"Old man, you don't really believe the nonsense of the Kyushu Army, do you? Your son died at their hands." Zheng Hu reminded from the side.

Zhao Guirong's troops were delayed in the dense forest for a few days, and the local native people's meeting was held in Lang Son City.Tumin is not a contemptuous name given by the Kyushu Army to these ethnic groups distributed in the mountains and forests, but people in Shenglong City and other places in Annan Country call the ethnic minority tribes in this way, so it is regarded as a collective term.

This time the independent corps convened the local people in the Lang Son area. There were more than 40 village leaders invited to Lang Son, covering more than 2 local people.

(End of this chapter)