Chapter 378 We are officers and soldiers, they are civilians
Those who surrounded the granary were all residents from the nearby area.
There was a woman in front who was shouting the loudest. She looked to be in her thirties, very thin, with high cheekbones.
She swung the hammer vigorously:
"Give me back my son...Give me back my son!"
She is Melina, Aguli's mother.
Melina, Aguli and a large group of other people are all from the Kuz tribe.
They live in the northwest near the grassland. Although they are also within the territory of Da Qi, they are somewhat different from the people in the Central Plains and have their own living customs.
They graze and farm, living in a semi-nomadic and semi-agricultural state, and have lived here for many generations.
I am used to the green grasslands in spring and summer, and also used to the snow in winter.
But not accustomed to war—
The northern Hu army never broke into Yuhan Pass.
But some time ago, a small group of Hu people suddenly came. They must have taken a detour from the small path on the northern slope.
They raided the places where they lived and either stole or destroyed their food.
Some people in the village fought desperately with the Hu people and mustered up the courage to kill a few of them, but the group of Hu people finally ran away.
In order to survive, they sent people to the south and north to buy food.
But the people who bought the food had not yet returned.
In the coldest winter, the fact that there is no food in stock is enough to force people into desperation.
At this time, when people heard that a large army was passing by, they became interested and wanted to steal the food.
But not everyone dares to do this, only a few dare to take the risk and give it a try.
Last night a few people came boldly.
Aguli, who was extremely hungry, couldn't help but follow.
With the first group of people, there will be a second group.
So more people came this morning.
Su Zhizhi, Kong Wu and Aguli heard some noise outside the tent, so they came out and went to the granary to see what was going on.
Aguli saw his mother, walked over quickly and shouted:
"Mother!"
When Melina heard her son's voice, her face, filled with nervousness, froze for a moment. Then she dropped the hammer in her hand and hugged her son.
"Aguli!"
"How are you? Where are you hurt?"
She found out her son had sneaked out last night, and later heard that he was arrested by the military camp. She was so excited that she took a hammer and fought with him.
That's how the Kuz people are. At worst, they'll just give it a try.
In the past, officials from the Central Plains would call them "troublemakers" when they passed by.
Melina pulled her son to look around and found that he was fine. Even the place where he was injured when he slipped in the snow the day before had been applied with medicine.
Aguli whispered in A Niang's ear:
"Mother, they gave me two bowls of porridge."
Mai Lina widened her eyes, looked at her son, then looked at the army opposite, and her arrogance suddenly subsided and she fell silent.
At this time, the other two Kuzi people who were resting in the military camp also followed Doctor Yu out.
He doesn't look like he's been tortured.
The Kuzi people's emotions calmed down a little, but the desire for food still flickered in their eyes.
One of the elders came out and asked the emotional tribesmen in front to put down their weapons.
Then he said in broken official language:
"My Lords, we are really out of food. Please be kind."
"We older people can go without food, but the children can't go hungry any longer..."
The generals of the army looked at each other in confusion.
Wu Yingniang and her men first maintained order outside the granary, while the other generals went into the tent to discuss for a while.
Yin Li: "Those who steal military rations will be executed! If we let these unruly people go today, someone else will dare to steal weapons and armor tomorrow!"
Murong Di disagreed:
"This action is likely to play into the hands of the Hu people. The Great Qi has just been established and people's hearts are unstable. It is not appropriate to confront the people on this matter."
Wei Dashuan sighed:
"Yin Li...you've never experienced the pain of hunger. If it weren't for that situation, no one would take such a risk."
Qin Xiao: "Giving them military rations to alleviate their emergency for a few days is fine, but if they continue to follow us, do we have to provide them with rations for the entire winter?"
While several people were arguing, Su Zhizhi walked in from outside and said to Murong Di.
"Brother, we have something to talk about."
Su Zhizhi was talking about "we".
The felt door curtain was opened, and there were many Da Qi soldiers standing outside, most of whom were from the Black Mountain Army.
Each of them held a small piece of dry bread and a bowl of multi-grain porridge that had been cooled by the wind.
This is the ration distributed in the morning.
Several villagers from the Black Mountain Bandit Mountain stood at the front of the Black Mountain Army, including Old Man Qin.
Old Man Qin usually seems to be in a carefree state, either sleeping with his mouth drooling or picking his ears.
He is old, but he doesn't look serious and is rarely serious.
But Old Man Qin had a stern face today. He said:
"We can eat less and give them some of our rations."
Old Xu looked nonchalant. "I don't need the little rations in the barracks. With my unique inner strength, I can easily kill a few more wolves for a snack. It's just a piece of cake, a piece of cake."
Someone from the Black Mountain Army standing behind them spoke up.
The soldier who spoke was a young general trained by Qin Xiao and Wei Dashuan from the Black Mountain Army.
The young general had a dark face, was not tall, and had a strong body. He spoke with a mixed accent of Lingnan and Qianzhong.
He was one of the refugees who fled from Qianzhong Road to Heifei Mountain during the chaos in Qianzhong in the seventh year of Zhaoqing, and later became a new villager in Liangmin Village.
Everyone in the village called him Zhang Niuzai, and now many people in the Black Mountain Army called him Captain Zhang.
Zhang Niuzai said, "Seven years ago, there was a riot in Qianzhong Road. The corrupt officials of the previous dynasty left us no chance of survival and didn't care whether we lived or died. We were lucky and escaped south to the Black Bandit Mountains. There we settled down, and we had farmland, food to eat, and clothes to wear."
"So many people died of starvation and fighting in Qianzhong Road back then, and my mother also died on the way to escape. We were lucky enough to survive, and the extra days we have lived here are all thanks to the bandits."
When Zhang Niuzai said the latter part, his voice was a little choked:
"We first learned Kung Fu in the village, not to venture into the martial arts world, but simply to protect ourselves and keep our livelihood. Later, Empress Wu... led us to resist the Mi Po people and saved Black Mountain Township. In the mountains, we learned to read and write, and learned things and principles that no one had ever told us before. We knew that to avoid hunger and cold, we needed good weather and good officials."
"We joined the Black Mountain Army and marched north to the capital to fight the Hu people, kill the corrupt officials, and watch Village Chief Hao ascend the throne. We don't seek military exploits or wealth and glory, we just want a court that won't bully us and a group of good officials who won't watch the people starve to death."
Zhang Niuzai broke the dry bread in his hand into two pieces and drank half a bowl of porridge in one breath:
“Before, they were soldiers and we were civilians, and they didn’t care whether we lived or died.
Now we are soldiers and they are civilians. I cannot watch them starve to death like my mother did. Every bite I eat is a bite for them.
Zhang Niuzai stuffed half of the bread into his mouth and put the other half into the remaining half bowl of porridge.
He wasn't the only one.
The other soldiers around him did the same thing.
Hundreds of people, hundreds of half-broken breads.
The cold wind blew into the tent, swirled around and then rushed out.
Everyone fell silent at this moment.
Su Zhizhi came out and said:
"I have a question."
Murong Di: "Zhizhi, go ahead."
Su Zhizhi: "We can't give military rations to civilians, because military rations are only for soldiers, right?"
"right."
"What if the people worked like soldiers? Like shoveling snow, collecting firewood..."
"Um?"
Qin Xiao: "What happens next?"
"After that, anything is possible."
“Perhaps after the Yuhan Pass is opened, their people will bring back food.”
"Perhaps the additional grain shipped from Lingnan will arrive soon and we can distribute it to them."
Su Zhizhi's eyes were blazing, and her fists were clenched tightly.
"If none of this has happened and they still want to follow us, then let them join the army and we can go together to rob the Hu people of their food!"
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