Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 60: Painstaking Efforts to Peace the People (Part )
Mr. Zhou stamped his feet. He was used to bullying the people, so he didn't dare to wander around alone at this moment. He quickened his pace and chased after Li Xiu.

Several people followed the crowd and came to the West Market in the town.

This is where merchants usually gather and set up stalls. On the east side, farmers, hunters, fishermen and the like from the surrounding villages also buy and sell goods. On the west side, bulk goods are often sold. Because hundreds of stones of grain are traded, this west market is built very large.

At this time, the market had become a large empty space. A large number of burned sheds and collapsed wooden beams were piled up in a corner of the market. The surrounding area was full of broken walls and ruins. The walls of the few houses that had not collapsed were also black, as if they had suffered a fire a few days ago, but the fire was controlled within the West Market.

Only Li Xiu had sharp eyes and could clearly see in the morning light that there were more or less black and red bloodstains on the collapsed walls, the half-burned cloth tent, and even the blue bricks under his feet.

I don’t know how many people died.

Although Li Xiu had some guesses in his mind, it was nonsense to say that he was touched in any way.

To put it bluntly, Shandong has been in chaos since the time of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, and it has been going on for decades now, with countless people dying in the process.

Not to mention that after Wanyan Liang usurped the throne, he moved the capital to Bianliang, settled the Meng'an Mouke households, and assembled a large army to conquer the world.

Where do the money, grain, and land for these laborers come from? They are taken from ordinary people!
Without farmland, without young and strong people, there was no way to ensure spring plowing and autumn harvest, and naturally there would be no food. This dire situation had persisted throughout Hebei Province in the Central Plains for five or six years.

And now, in the two routes of Shandong, tens of thousands of people have become thieves! Tens of thousands of people have also become dried bones!

Compared with these human tragedies, what happened in Dayi Town was nothing in Li Xiu's opinion.

However, when Li Xiu saw the high platform on the northernmost side of the market, he was still stunned.

This platform was probably the place where large-scale sales took place in the past. It was more than half a person's height, a hundred steps long and more than thirty steps wide.

At this time, several soldiers in sharp armor were standing on the edge of the stage, and on the inside were several tables and chairs. The main seat was empty, and on the side was a middle-aged scholar who was looking for something among several piles of documents.

What immediately caught Li Xiu's attention was not only the flags fluttering in the wind with the words "expel the Tartars, restore China, establish rules and regulations, and save the people" written on all four sides, but also the tall young man standing in the center of the platform.

"After a day of dealing with you, you all know me, Liu Huai, Liu Dalang, so I won't waste any more words."

Liu Huai stood on the stage, flipping through the documents in his hand in the morning light, and said in a hoarse voice: "Is Deng Tongpen here? Where is Deng Dalang? Come over!"

"I'm coming! I'm coming!"

A middle-aged man wearing a white scarf and leaning on a crutch limped through the crowd and came to the front of the platform. He raised his head and looked at Liu Huai with pleading eyes.

"Deng Tongpen, the Jin thief Tang Kuohong who killed your father, brother and wife was killed by our army yesterday." As he said this, Liu Huai waved to the side and back of the stage, and two Song army soldiers pushed several dejected Jin army prisoners onto the stage.

"Who is this person? Point out who is involved!"

The middle-aged man named Deng Tongpen was just stunned. That night was a chaotic time and they were fleeing for their lives. It was already difficult for him to quickly recognize the leader of the Jin people, let alone recognize so many people.

But the next moment, Deng Tongpen realized what was happening. His enemy had died yesterday?! He was actually dead?! At this moment, the emotions that had been suppressed by his anger surged out. Deng Tongpen stood there in shock, his bloodshot eyes wide open, and tears as big as beans rolled down his face, unable to stop.

Liu Huai sighed. Although this kind of political performance of sentencing is more meaningful than maintaining justice, he has seen a lot of such things in the past two days. After feeling some empathy, it will naturally be frightening.

"Deng Dalang, these people are Tang Kuohong's men. They've killed people with him. You have to identify a few so I can punish them properly," Liu Huai crouched down and softly advised. Deng Tongpen opened his mouth wide, trying to speak, but an involuntary hoarse sound escaped his throat, and no words came out. He could only cover his mouth with one hand, letting the tears flow down the furrows of his face. He reached out his other hand tremblingly and randomly pointed at a few Jurchens with pigtails.

Liu Huai sighed again and waved back. A Song soldier holding a long sword stepped forward, kicked down the three men targeted by Deng Tongpen, and killed them one by one with his sword, and beheaded them for public display.

The remaining captives were trembling like sieves, but they dared not say a word, for fear of angering Liu Huai.

"Deng Dalang, please accept my condolences. We will try our best to sort out the lost property from your family, but you have to wait." Liu Huai consoled him again.

Deng Tongpen just nodded randomly, then covered his face and left.

Liu Huai flipped through the documents again. "Cheng Ada, has Cheng Ada from Dingzifang arrived? You're suing the man with the scar on his face and half an ear missing for killing your entire family, including your parents, brothers, and sisters-in-law, seven people in total, and also burning down your house. Is that correct? Is Cheng Ada here?"

There was a lot of noise from the audience, but no one responded.

"Quiet! Quiet! Is Cheng Ada here?! Cheng Ada!"

Liu Huai shouted a few times and just as he was about to turn over the next document, he heard a faint voice: "General, General, we are here."

Looking in the direction of the voice, I saw a petite girl of about thirteen or fourteen holding a two or three-year-old boy trying to squeeze out of the crowd and shouting loudly.

The boy had a white cloth wrapped around his head and his eyes were a little dull. In his arms, he was holding a small tablet.

The small girl, the small boy, and the small tablet, when added together, were still tiny, so it was no wonder that Liu Huai didn't notice it for a while.

"quiet!"

When Liu Huai roared for the third time, the scene finally calmed down a little.

"Young lady, are you Cheng Ada?"

"I'm not, he is." The girl held the boy a little higher, but it seemed that she really couldn't hold him anymore, so she just lifted him for a while and put him on the ground.

The boy named Cheng Ada was a little unsteady on his feet and hugged the girl's calf while shaking.

"My name is Xu Erya, and I'm originally from Jinan Prefecture. Five years ago, my father and uncle were conscripted as laborers, supposedly to build a palace for the Great Jin Emperor, and they never returned. Two years ago, my mother was pressed for tax by the tax collectors, and when she couldn't pay, she hanged herself. Later, Master Cheng was kind enough to adopt me as his adopted daughter."

Xu Erya seemed to know the rules of how to appeal to the Loyal Army, and she told her life story clearly, like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.

Liu Huai suddenly realized that Xu Erya was probably the Cheng family's child bride, and her husband was probably Cheng Ada, who was holding Xu Erya's calf, so the Cheng family did not let her change her surname.

But since they have not been formally married, Xu Erya's current status is between a daughter-in-law and a servant, and she is more like Cheng Ada's elder sister.

It was precisely because of this awkward identity that Xu Erya asked someone to write a petition in the name of Cheng Ada and submitted it.

(End of this chapter)