Sweep Yuan

Chapter 100 The Fire in People's Hearts Will Spread Like Wildfire

Shi Shan reined in his horse and stopped outside Hongxian City. His face was ashen as he stared at the corpses and wreckage of siege equipment scattered on the ground. He let the cold wind carry the stench of blood into his nostrils and ignored the rustling of snowflakes hitting his armor.

After the fierce skirmish that day, the Tatar cavalry's morale was crushed, and they dared not challenge the "Red Heart Battalion" scouts again.

It wasn't until they discovered that the "Red Heart Battalion" had sped up its march that the Tatar cavalry reluctantly came up to harass them, only to be seized by Li Wu and relentlessly pursued and attacked.

The Tatar cavalry were short-handed and hesitant, resulting in a surge in casualties. They quickly abandoned ten corpses and nine warhorses and fled in disarray.

After this battle, Ishiyama judged that the enemy was also aware of his intentions and would definitely intensify their attack on the city, so he decisively ordered his troops to speed up their march.

The closer they got to Hongxian city, the fewer people remained in the villages along the way, and two villages were even massacred.

After inquiring, they learned that the government troops had been conscripting men and seizing grain as soon as they arrived in Hong County, and those who dared to resist were slaughtered.

The Hongxian city defense repair project was personally supervised by Shi Shan. In addition to reinforcing the original city wall, defensive works such as moats, sheep and horse walls, and horse traps were added to the outer perimeter.

Although time was limited and these fortifications were still relatively crude, they still had a certain defensive capability and were no longer the flimsy "earthen walls" that could be taken down in one fell swoop.

The government troops, knowing that the city's garrison was insufficient and under pressure from the impending return of the two Red Turban armies, drove the surrounding civilians to fill the moats with their own flesh and blood to attack the city.

Shi Shan rushed as fast as he could, hoping to reach Hongxian City as soon as possible to threaten the rear of the government army, prevent them from launching a full-scale attack on the city, and give the defenders the confidence to hold on.

In the end, it was still a step too late.

Outside Hongxian County, the overturned ladders crashed onto the remaining ruins of the sheep and horse walls. Frozen, bluish-white corpses of civilians filled the trenches. Flocks of crows enjoyed the post-war feast. Even after being driven away, they only flew a little further before landing again to peck at the food.

A breach was forcibly torn in the south city wall, and the blood of the defending soldiers and the attacking civilians mingled together, freezing along the cracks in the city bricks, turning an eerie dark red under the snow.

"Third Brother! The Tartars only left the city at 9 AM. They can't move fast in this snowy weather. Let me lead some men to kill all these beasts!"

Li Wu emerged from the city and witnessed the tragic scene of families being destroyed and people dying; his face was filled with murderous intent.

After this battle, Hong County was severely weakened. Even after driving out the government troops, it would be difficult for it to serve as a rear base and provide security for Wuhe in the short term.

But now that things have come to this, the most urgent task is not to pursue the retreating government troops.

Shi Shan shook his head, rejecting Li Wu's request to send troops.

“The Tartars have withdrawn on their own initiative, leaving no obvious openings. Don’t pursue them. Send two squads to find Xue Xian, tell him about the situation here, and also inquire whether there are any Tartars in the east. The rest of you, come with me into the city.”

The Tartars launched a fierce attack on Hong County for several days, causing considerable losses. After the city fell yesterday afternoon, Shenbao was unable to control his soldiers and could only allow the government troops to burn, kill, and loot to restore morale. It wasn't until this morning, when he learned of Shulun Timur's defeat, that he allowed his troops to set fires and hastily retreat.

At this point, the city had become a living hell, filled with blood and flames.

The resilience (or numbness) of the people living in chaotic times is far beyond what people in peaceful times can imagine.

Some people are still grieving for their deceased loved ones, while many more are rummaging through food or robbing the weak of their food and possessions.

As soon as Shi Shan entered the city, he saw a man carrying a blood-stained cloth bag, hurriedly hiding in an alley; in a corner not far away, an eight or nine-year-old girl with red eyes was tearing a piece of suspiciously colored meat with bone in her mouth.

With the old social order destroyed and a new one yet to be established, the darkness of human nature will be amplified infinitely.

"Zhou Shier, Hu Dahai!"

"The general is here!"

"The Fifth Battalion patrols the east city, and the Seventh Battalion patrols the west city. Anyone who takes advantage of the chaos to loot or bully the weak shall be killed on the spot! If any orphaned children are willing to join the army, bring them back and entrust them to Tong Si'er's care."

"Leader!"

"Wu Liujin, take over the four gates. Chen Cheng, cook porridge in the East Market to provide relief to the disaster victims..."

After a series of orders were issued, Shishan disbanded two more village militia battalions. These men were worried about their families and had witnessed the tragic scene in the city. How could they stay any longer?

It would be better to let them go home and, while we're at it, organize the surviving residents of their respective neighborhoods to put out the remaining fires.

The city was not entirely without order. Forty or fifty people gathered in front of the granary, taking turns wearing water-soaked blankets and risking their lives to crawl into the still-burning granary to hook out sacks of grain that had not yet burned out.

Suddenly, a scream erupted from the crowd, and seven or eight charred corpses, entwined together, rolled out—the Tartars were massacring the city, and these people had fled in panic to the granary, unaware that the Tartars had sealed the gate and set it on fire before their retreat. Just as Shi Shan was wondering why these people had spontaneously started firefighting, Sun Wuben suddenly rushed out from a distant alleyway, heading straight for the old man directing the firefighting efforts, and punched him to the ground.

"Fang Zhongwen, why aren't you dead, you corrupt official! Did you let the Tartars into the city?"

Sun Wuben was covered in blood and cried as he beat people, while Fang Zhongwen just covered his head and huddled on the ground, without begging for mercy.

"Go and pull them over here."

Shi Shan instructed Chen Daye to bring Sun Wuben and Fang Zhongwen over.

"Governor, my entire family is dead! Waaah!"

Sun Wukong, a six-foot-tall man, cried like a child.

That's how chaotic times are; countless families are torn apart and lives are lost every day. Shi Shan raised his hand and put it on Sun Wuben's shoulder.

"Live well, kill the Tartars, and avenge them!"

Fang Zhongwen was dressed in a coarse cloth long gown, his gray hair was covered in dust, and his face, which was swollen with soot, was unusually calm. He straightened his clothes and began to recount his experiences.

"Before the government troops entered the city, I saw that the situation was not good and hid myself. It was Feng Dianshi who opened the city gates to let the government troops in."

Fang Zhongwen and Feng Yu were both veteran officials of Hong County. After Shi Shan occupied Hong County, although he retained the two men, he knew that they harbored evil intentions and took great precautions against them.

I thought that these two would definitely help Shenbao in recapturing Hong County and would withdraw with the government troops, but I didn't expect to see them again.

Where is Feng Yu?

"He's dead. He was killed by the Tartars."

Fang Zhongwen's expression was unusually calm. After speaking, he shouted to the people who were fighting the fire:

"The granary originally had 6,147 shi of grain, most of which has been burned. How many people can survive depends on how much grain we can get today."

He had intended to ask Shishan to leave some soldiers to guard the area, but then suddenly remembered that the man before him was not a muddle-headed and incompetent Tartar official; this was a trivial matter that didn't require his reminder. After instructing the people fighting the fire, he turned and said:

"Governor, please follow me."

Fang Zhongwen led Shishan to the main street in front of the county government office, squatted down and brushed away the snow, revealing a pool of blood.

“Feng Dianshi thought that welcoming the government troops into the city would absolve him of the crime of colluding with the rebels. But the Tartars wanted to kill people to establish their authority, and they didn’t care whether you were coerced or not. Right here, he was cut in half at the waist. Commander, please take a look, this is Feng Dianshi’s last words.”

Exterminate the serpent!

The handwriting is crooked like an earthworm, and the second character should be "虏" (lǔ, meaning captive). It was broken before it was finished, indicating that the writer suffered great pain before death, which is in stark contrast to Fang Zhongwen's calm and withered description.

"Does the garrison commander still remember whose house that is?"

The mansion that Fang Zhongwen pointed to belonged to the Huang family of Hong County, whose family was ranked after Liang Fan and whose lineage controlled the cloth business in Hong County. The family was prosperous and had many members, but now it had been turned into a sea of ​​fire.

"After the Tartars breached the city yesterday, they didn't sheath their swords. The Huang and Yang families were the ones who looted and killed the most. It's laughable that Huang Shiren had secretly sabotaged the garrison commander before, and after the city fell, he even captured a few righteous soldiers to try and prove his innocence."

Haha, I heard that the current prime minister, Toqto'a, ordered the capture and killing of Han people in Henan. The Tartars only think of us Han people as weeds on the ground, cutting us down whenever they want, regardless of whether you are innocent or not. They will rob and kill us all. Isn't that great!

Anyway, Han people are good at procreation; in a few years, several more wealthy families will 'grow' in the city, and we can rob and kill them again.

Shi Shan harbored deep prejudice against Fang Zhongwen and did not believe that this old fox would open his heart to him. Today, his rambling seemed to be a way of letting go of his pretense, but it was more like he was putting on an even thicker mask.

However, none of this matters.

After this battle, the Yuan court's popularity among the people of Hong County was completely ruined. His previous plans had not been in vain, and that was enough.

"How can such barbarians not be destroyed!"

(End of this chapter)