Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 255 Mass Funeral
Quyangmen Wengcheng, like a circle, protrudes from the south gate to the city, enclosing a large empty field.

At this time, in the empty field, Yang Chao's soldiers, including those minzhuang, were all lined up and standing here.

In front of them were the corpses of comrades-in-arms wrapped in white cloth and lying on the door panels.

In front of the corpses of these comrades-in-arms, there were coffins that still smelled of wood.

In front of the coffin, there were groups of sad women standing.

Yang Chao took two soldiers, and Song Lian, the historian of Haizhou, took a group of old people, standing among the remains of these soldiers and martyrs.

The two faced the living fighters head-on, and walked slowly from moving to west.

Song Lian was followed by famous and famous gentry in Haizhou. They followed Song Lian and walked slowly in front of the soldiers, stopping at every distance, and then bowed to the soldiers.

"We thank you warriors on behalf of the [-] people in Haizhou! Thank you warriors for saving our city! Thank you warriors for saving our people!"

Their thank you made these fighters flush like they had taken drugs. This is a kind of excitement of being extremely affirmed and highly satisfied with self-awareness!

Because they knew that their desperate fighting had paid off. They saved 10 people and saved the city.

They were confused before, they were afraid, they were confused because they didn't know the meaning of fighting here, they were afraid because they were afraid that they would die in vain, people have dignity, even a humble soldier would not want to be like a bird Like a cockroach, it died silently in a corner where no one knew.

Now that they are desperate, it is meaningful, and they are not dead, and they have been recognized, the entire city, and the gratitude of 10 people. An unprecedented feeling quietly rose in their hearts, suddenly but extremely strong , let them have a kind of intoxicating enjoyment.

In fact, they don't have such a concept in their hearts, and they don't know that this feeling is called honor!

Obviously, this kind of ceremonial thank you program was designed by Yang Chao, in order to stimulate the soldiers' sense of honor and tell them why they are fighting!

Of course, Yang Chao himself is also filled with a strong sense of honor, and he also has self-awareness:
"Yes, I saved this city, I saved 10 people in this city!"

In fact, there are not 10 people in Haizhou, and the registered population here is usually only about [-]. However, there was a serious hidden population situation in the Ming Dynasty. The servants and servants of those big families were not necessarily registered on the cheap registration, and even many fields were cultivated. The common people do not have household registration.

The reason is simple. In the Ming Dynasty, taxes were paid according to the number of acres and people. It was not until the Manchu Qing Dynasty that the policy of apportioning people into acres was adopted, and the head tax was abolished. The population registration skyrocketed on a large scale, and the population doubled in almost a few years. Well, the experts and scholars of later generations put this situation on the hat of the prosperous age. In fact, if they think about it with their dog brains, they should understand that unless they have the fecundity of cockroaches, how can China's population double in a few years?
Therefore, the population of Haizhou City must be more than that listed in the official yellow book. After the captive soldiers appeared nearby, many people in the nearby villages fled into the city, so the population here skyrocketed to around 10. This time After the food was unified, Song Lian basically had the specific number, so he didn't mean to claim 10 people, but the actual number.

However, Song Lian promised to bring Haizhou elders to thank these soldiers. Yang Chao was a little surprised. He was worried that Song Lian would not bow to these lowly military households due to the arrogance of literati. Now seeing the expression on Song Lian's face, Yang Chao felt Song Lian seemed to enjoy this act of thanking the soldiers on behalf of the people.

If you think about it carefully, you will find that even the Son of Heaven has a tradition of expressing his gratitude to the soldiers who have returned from the war. Of course, the Son of Heaven will comfort God and report to his ancestors by sacrificing to the Taimiao.

It's just that although Song Lian is sincerely thanking these soldiers now, he still doesn't care much about Yang Chao. Except that he just came down from the tower that day, after Song Lian saw Yang Chao again, he regained his literati's superior attitude .

Yang Chao didn't quite understand Song Lian's feelings, but he suddenly felt that Song Lian seemed to have a sense of self-preparation in front of him. Is it because a cowardly literati feels inferior to a brave general?In other words, a man who is weak by nature feels inferior to another man who is brave and strong!
Yang Chao didn't care much about Song Lian's mentality. Anyway, there were many literati in the Ming Dynasty who were both sensitive and inferior, and because of their sensitivity and inferiority, they often acted extraordinarily violently. This obviously proved that the mainstream culture of this society had already given birth to an extremely serious pathology. .

Yang Chao also followed Song Lian and walked slowly before the army, but he did not thank the soldiers on behalf of the people of Haizhou. He was not qualified to represent the people of Haizhou. Yang Chao just tied strips of white cloth on the soldiers' heads one by one. superior.

These soldiers are very cooperative, because they know that soon they will mourn the death of their comrades.

Yang Chao's [-] elite soldiers, and Haizhou's [-] strong men.

That's right, there are only 500 people left in Yang Chao, and more than 2000 Min Zhuang from Haizhou died, leaving only [-] people.

Most of them were casualties in the fierce battle the night before, and those martyrs lay quietly in front of the soldiers.

Thousands of people, it took two hours before Song Lian finished thanking them one by one, and Yang Chao also put filial piety belts on them one by one.

Then Yang Chao put on a filial belt for himself.

Song Lian and the elders even put on filial piety shirts.

Yang Chao had already reached the other side of the military column, and shouted loudly: "Soldiers, bury our brother!"

Just after shouting, in front of the coffin, the sad women knelt down and even collapsed to the ground one by one, in pain, and the sound of mourning and crying echoed in Wengcheng.

The soldiers who were standing in a row also immediately moved forward, walking forward to the brothers who were lying on the door panels one by one. A group of people worked together to slowly lift up the bodies of the brothers, walked slowly towards the coffin, and put the corpses wrapped in white cloth The body was put in, and then the door panel, to be precise, the coffin lid was raised to cover the coffin, and nailed with the nails next to it.

The mourning of the women continued, and the soldiers who nailed the coffin stood beside the coffin one by one with solemn faces.

Yang Chao also shouted in a mournful voice at this time: "Get up!"

Just after shouting, a group of musicians next to them blew the suona, and the sound of mourning and music sounded, and the suona players walked one by one to close the gate of Wengcheng.

The soldiers immediately lifted the coffin, followed the musicians' guidance one by one, and embarked on the road to see the martyrs off.

Starting from Quyangmen, the musicians were in front, followed by Yang Chao, Song Lian and other Haizhou elders, and behind them were the coffins carried by the soldiers.

The funeral procession lined up in a long queue, passed through the Nanguan City Gate, entered the South Main Street of Haizhou City, and walked straight along the street.

There were many people following on both sides of the street, and they were all spontaneous. Some threw white paper money to buy roads in front of them, and some just quietly followed the slow-moving team, silently seeing them off.

At the end of the long dragon, there were still those women who followed in pain, but these women were not spontaneous, they were recruited by the government, but they were all family members who had lost relatives, and those who had no relatives died in battle were not qualified to follow to mourn.

Yang Chao followed silently, and his heart felt sad and stirring. It is conceivable that the hearts of the soldiers who carried the coffin must be very heavy at this time.

After walking a hundred feet on the street, the musicians turned west to another street.

Keep going west, almost to the west of the city, and finally stop in front of a big temple.

Guandi Temple in the west of the city!
Yang Chao insisted on placing his brother who died in battle in the temple of the unparalleled official and lord. Song Lian agreed, but Miao Zhu dared not object.

And it's just a temporary placement. When Yang Chao goes back, he still wants to bring back the people he brought out, let them return to their roots and be buried in the ancestral graves in their hometown.

Every temple has a temple market, so there is often a large open space in front of ancient temples.

The funeral team carried the coffins of the martyrs over the tall white marble archway with the three characters of "Guandi Temple" written on them, and then placed them down in the square behind them one by one.

The government had already invited a group of monks here. They recited scriptures and fiddled with Buddhist musical instruments with mysterious tones to perform rituals.

The soldiers stood quietly in front, silently waiting for the monks to finish their rituals.

Only then did Yang Chao order the assembly.

More than 500 people gathered together, all wearing iron armor with bright red blood on it, and they never took it off even when holding the coffin.

At this time, the 500 people were very quiet, but just last night, some of them were on the verge of collapse.

After the bloody battle that night, it had a considerable impact on the psychology of many soldiers. Some were baptized by the tragic battlefield, and their spiritual will was sublimated to the level of the ancient Qi family army and Yue family army. Some were frightened by the blood, and deep terror broke out come out.

But now, after seeing off his brother, everyone is quiet in front of the solemn Guandi Temple.

Who is not afraid of death, the emperor is afraid of death, not to mention these poor military households.

Yang Chao doesn't blame them, let alone blame them, living the most miserable life in the world, being deeply discriminated against by the world, let them kill the enemy and serve the country?Why!The country gave them them, and they are the group of people who have the least reason to serve the country. Although they carry the word 'military household' on their backs, they are like slaves.

Those who should serve the country with their own bodies are the nobles who have been supported by the country for hundreds of years. They are the literati who are favored by those countries and respected by the people. Sometimes, they just used a few lines of poems that sighed about the disease-free and sick, even if they repaid the country's kindness.

These dignitaries, these elites, all count on the people at the bottom to kill the enemy and fight bloody battles for the country.

Power and duty are equal. Yang Chao knew that he brought these soldiers to the battlefield for his own ideals, which was unfair to them axiomatically.

So Yang Chao made a promise to his soldiers with a feeling of deep apology.

(End of this chapter)