"Yes, it's the Jurchens..."
Zhao Luobo stared at the city gate, his face turned pale, his teeth chattering, and he uttered something unbelievable.
Ma Pang and others looked back together, and indeed saw the appearance of the soldiers in the middle of the queue coming behind them - some wore fur hats in the middle of summer, and some did not have hats, but had typical rat tails... either a single tail, or two tails on both sides... This is a typical Jurchen hairstyle.
In addition, many people were wearing tattered leather armor, holding messy flags, carrying bows and empty quivers.
But no matter what, there is no doubt that this is the Jurchens.
In fact, it was not just Zhao Luobo and Ma Pang who were all there, but the entire Xin Cao Sect that suddenly fell into a complete and strange silence.
Most people had no idea what was going on. The few who were smart, including those on the city gate who knew the situation, were all very surprised and fell into an eerie silence along with the rest of the people.
"It's the Jurchens! The Jurchens are attacking again!"
In the silence, Zhao Luobo suddenly roared, then urged the mule under his crotch to run forward along the street like crazy.
It was just past morning, and the streets were wide but not crowded, so the mule carried its master into the city without stepping on anyone.
A group of drivers and porters, all young men, only looked in the direction where Zhao Luobo was fleeing madly, but most of them turned back to look behind them... Over there, more and more Jurchens poured out from the doorway, but on both sides of the Jurchens there were also several rows of imperial camp soldiers, all of them wearing armor and holding sharp weapons, strictly supervising and accompanying them.
The scene was unmistakable; these were prisoners of war—soldiers from the imperial camp were escorting them.
According to the court bulletin, after the Battle of Huolu, the total number of prisoners of war reached 70,000 to 80,000, of which the so-called Jurchens, Bohais, Khitans, etc., numbered no less than 40,000. It is likely that tens of thousands of Jurchen and Real Tartar captives were paraded through the streets.
"Manager Han."
Just as most people stopped to look at the doorway, the fat horse touched the string of one hundred coins in his arms, sighed on the spot, and turned to a familiar shopkeeper on the side. "Please lend me your mule. I'll go chase Uncle Luobo to avoid any trouble... I'll feed you some hay in the afternoon and bring it to you."
"good……"
"Ride my mule. My mule is strong."
Just as Han responded, a slightly fat shopkeeper next to him got off the mule and handed the reins to Ma Pang. "Be careful with your words... Don't laugh at him. He experienced the Jingkang disaster and his family was destroyed... Those of us who are older are actually afraid... I almost wanted to run away just now."
Ma Pang responded, got on the mule and went in pursuit.
Since the morning, as always, the noise in Tokyo City has been getting louder and louder throughout the morning. According to common sense, this noise will reach its peak before noon and then fluctuate. But today, the noise in the city seems to have no end, but has been surging and rising, like a huge wave, with no end.
And everyone gradually found out - because of the siege ten years ago, the emperor had issued a special decree, ordering Jingsai Prince Yang Yi Zhong to return south ahead of schedule, gather the prisoners of war, and collect the spoils to parade through the streets for public display.
The only thing is that it might rain tomorrow, so I had no choice but to do it in advance.
At present, starting from Xincao Gate in the east of the city, tens of thousands of Jurchen, Khitan and Bohai captives, under the strict guard of imperial guards who were no less in number than themselves, were holding their tattered flags, wearing muddy leather armor, carrying bows without strings, scabbards without blades, and quivers without arrows, and then walking with their heads down through the east-west street in the middle of Tokyo City.
At the beginning, the reaction of the people in the city when they encountered this team was no different from the scene inside the city gate. A few were panicked and hysterical, but most were silent, worried and timid.
But as more and more captives entered the city and more and more clear messages came, the people along the way began to cheer, to shout, to drop their preparations for the day, and like their own children, they went up to the buildings and into the streets, shouting and screaming, spreading the news everywhere.
Before they reached the inner city, some people had already begun to try to attack the team and tried to bite and beat the prisoners, but they were stopped by the soldiers on both sides - the emperor had ordered that after today, these prisoners of war would be handed over to Western Liao one by one.
At the same time, the captives went from being numb at the beginning to fear, trembling, panic-stricken, and terrified.
They never thought that one day they would be afraid of these unarmed people.
As the captive group entered the inner city, more and more people heard the news and rushed along the Imperial Street. The scene became more chaotic and agitated. The soldiers in the imperial camp were almost unable to stop them, and there were even group conflicts between the people and the soldiers.
But soon, with an order from Prince Jingsai who presided over the ceremony, the soldiers regained order and respect... They began to take out the gold, silver, bronze and iron medals that had been prepared in advance, representing the enemy officers, and held them high on both sides of the street, one for every few people.
At the same time, the captives were required to throw away their flags, scabbards, quivers, and bows along the street, and even had to take off their tattered leather armor and stuffy leather hats, and walk out of the west gate naked.
This caused the entire scene to fall into a kind of manic cheering.
On both sides of the street, all the rooftops of the buildings were occupied. This was not only to provide a good view of the prisoners, but also to make it easier for the soldiers on both sides to throw stones and debris at the shirtless Jurchen prisoners.
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