Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 85 Camp Prostitute
The origin of the Cao Army's uprising can be traced back to the second year of Qianfu.

At the time, a locust plague spread across the Tang Dynasty, "blowing from east to west, obscuring the sun and leaving the ground barren wherever it passed." Faced with a devastating locust plague across the northern part of the empire, civil and military officials deceived the emperor, claiming the locusts had simply gone on a starvation diet, "all clinging to thorns and perishing." Several prime ministers even congratulated the emperor, claiming it was a sign of divine intervention.

Faced with the situation of large-scale locust and drought spreading, some people cried to Cui Rao, the governor of Shanzhou. Unexpectedly, Cui Rao pointed to the leaves of trees in the government office and said, "There are still leaves here, how can there be a drought?" Then he beat up the people who asked for disaster relief and left it at that.

Of course, the officials in the court believed that the locust plague and drought were not the court's responsibility, and that you should just stay at home and starve to death. Why make trouble and cause trouble for the court?

For Wang Xianzhi, the leader of the Zhenyi Alliance, who had no worries about food and clothing, regardless of the old feud between the Zhenyi Alliance and the Tang court, the immediate problem was that the Zhenyi Alliance had so many businesses and so many brothers needed to eat. A locust and drought outbreak, with no relief from the imperial court, left the people displaced and starving, and trade routes blocked, leaving many Zhenyi Alliance members without a livelihood.

Initially, Wang Xianzhi attempted to provide relief by distributing porridge, but discovered that the aristocratic families were hoarding rice and driving up prices. Against this backdrop, even if the Zhenyi League's assets were sold out, the number of people who could be saved was quite limited.

It would be better to use the funds to build weapons and armor, and raise an army to cause chaos! As for food, we can just dig it out from the treasury and the mansions of the nobles.

During these three years, natural disasters occurred one after another. Some soldiers left the Cao Army and returned to their hometowns because the natural disasters in their hometowns had eased. They picked up the plow and hoe again and repaired the shattered homes.

But many more had completely lost their faith in the imperial court. They would rather die in battle than let the predators know the anger of the common people. As for the fact that the war would drag even more people into chaos, these ordinary people living at the bottom of society no longer considered it.

This kind of emotion was expressed by the Cao army after they defeated Wang Jian and marched north across the Dabie Mountains, when they passed through an area where people ate their own children and cooked with their own bones.

Wang Xianzhi's troops, suffering from a breakdown in military discipline, led to the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in Jiangling, while in Qizhou, over 30,000 rebel soldiers and their families died on the battlefield or were captured and ruthlessly slaughtered by government troops.

But in troubled times, more deaths always come from famine and plague than from war.

The Cao army attacked the houses of several aristocratic families, took away their gold and silk, and distributed food to the victims. These emaciated men, women, old and young, wept and knelt on the ground in gratitude, saying that if there was an afterlife, they would work like slaves for the righteous army.

Since the captured food and grains were mainly wheat, with only a small amount of rice and corn, and the rebels lacked time to make pasta for the victims, they could only cook the wheat into coarse and inedible porridge to help these poor people who didn't even have the strength to cook recover some strength.

This was enough to bring life back to the hungry people whose stomachs were filled with tree bark and Guanyin soil.

Not long ago, they were eating each other because of hunger, but now they were like a group of lambs kneeling to suckle, kneeling in front of the grass army, tears streaming down their faces.

In the eyes of these common people, the soldiers of the Cao Army were not the man-eating beasts portrayed in official propaganda, but living Bodhisattvas who were better than building seven-story pagodas.

They were actually the same group of people as the thugs who had massacred Jiangling. It was just that the scenes were different, and the actions they took were completely opposite in terms of good and evil.

"The imperial court has no money for disaster relief, but has money to suppress our army. And a large amount of grain can always be dug out from the manors of the aristocratic families. If this problem is not solved, the people who rise up in rebellion will never be killed." Zhu Wen said quite calmly.

He ordered that all captured nobles and their families, including adult men and the elderly, be executed, young women be made into camp prostitutes, and boys and children be handed over to the people for disposal. As for slaves and servants, all were released.

Shang Rang was a little hesitant: "Breaking bones among the nobles is like breaking tendons. Will this behavior provoke the wrath of some of the nobles who hold important positions?"

This logic is completely valid. The Cao army has survived until now, not only because of the constant natural disasters, but also because local officials are not very active in suppressing the bandits, procrastinating and allowing many to nurture the bandits for their own benefit. Even a renowned commander like Qi Kerang of the Taining Army was unable to exert his full strength due to the financial constraints of the vassal state.

During his previous trip to Mount Tai, Zhu Wen had met Qi Kerang's concubine, Madam Aqing, and had gained his trust. The Cao army would not attack Qi Kerang's family, as Qi Kerang and the Cao army were irreconcilable, and would certainly hunt them down at all costs.

Wang Xianzhi had considered this issue in the past, and when he captured aristocratic family, he spared their lives whenever possible, extorting some money and then releasing them. It is therefore lamentable that Wang's rebels killed the most people, but they were actually wealthy people from the same social class as Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao.

"The nobles are also divided into different levels. We're only dealing with small fry, how could they have such power?" Zhu Wen said unconcernedly. "And look at those noble ladies. When they heard they were going to be sent to be camp prostitutes, they cried and cried, but they still wanted to survive. Not a single one of them was like Sect Leader Liu Mengyan, who preferred death to humiliation."

They must feel that they are innocent, just enjoying a life of luxury and not doing anything bad, so why do they end up like this?

But in Zhu Wen's view, when their parents hoarded goods, watched the people starve to death on the road without providing relief, and built forts to defend themselves, they should not have any complaints about such a fate.

"These idiots, their hearts are evil, but they can't stay evil forever. They refused to donate their wealth to help the court eliminate us. They are so short-sighted that they deserve this fate. Isn't it their own fault?"

Everyone felt the same way and nodded in agreement.

After the military meeting, Huo Cun whispered to Zhu Wen, "Boss, those young ladies from the aristocratic families are all clean now. Would you like to pick a few good ones to try?"

When Huo Cun spoke of cleanliness, he didn't mean virginity, but rather whether or not the woman was sick. Huo Cun himself rarely touched camp prostitutes, and when he went to brothels, he usually just listened to music, out of fear of contracting syphilis.

But for ordinary warriors who came from humble backgrounds, tossing between life and death, they urgently need to vent their carnal desires to dilute the fear of dying at any time. As for the pain caused by the possible infection of diseases, they can hardly care about it.

"I don't like this." Zhu Wen said, "Go by yourself."

"That's right, Boss, you're such a decent person. If you play with them, they're clearly taking advantage of you! Not to mention Lady Duan and General Tian, ​​even Mr. Lan is no match for those vulgar women."

The whole army knew that Lan Suting was a woman, but calling her "sir" was a special way for the soldiers in the camp to show their respect for her.

"I have nothing to do with them, and why are they interested in me?"

"The boss is handsome, smart and brave. If a woman doesn't fall in love with him, she'd be a fool." Huo Cun started boasting again.

"You're talking nonsense," Zhu Wen said, unimpressed. "For example, if those women from the aristocratic families heard I was the one who sent them to be camp prostitutes, they would surely want to kill me and eat my flesh. Who says that women will necessarily like a man just because he has a good-looking face?"

Huo Cun was speechless for a moment and stopped talking awkwardly.

Zhu Wen stuffed a silver ingot into Huo Cun's hand and said, "I think you will definitely go. Here is this little money."

Even if noble ladies were forcibly conscripted into camp prostitutes, soldiers had to pay them to avoid them being quickly corrupted. This was a principle understood by both the government and the army.

If Sect Leader Liu Mengyan was afraid of death and was captured honestly, according to Zhu Wen's dislike for those who curry favor with the powerful, Sect Leader Liu would have to serve as a camp prostitute for the soldiers for a period of time before being redeemed by her clansmen.

Huo Cun couldn't help but burst into tears of gratitude and thanked him repeatedly.

The more beautiful and well-proportioned a prostitute was, the higher her price would be. The army hired professionals to assess the prostitutes. The prostitutes themselves would receive a small portion of the soldiers' money, and many prostitutes would save a small amount when they were released due to age and aging.

(End of this chapter)