Chapter 624: Citizens who can’t stay
Following Zhou Xu’s order, Bai Tu quickly found Shi Lei to complete the registration.
After understanding their king's orders, Shi Lei patiently explained to Bai Tu the rules and regulations of their Great Zhou army, as well as the training requirements. He didn't need to worry about what happened next.
Looking at Bai Tu's leaving back, Shi Lei frowned slightly.
He was not a fool. He knew that if he were to train the newly recruited soldiers, they would have to face a lot of trouble and conflicts might even break out.
On the other hand, if everything is left to Bai Tu to handle, it would save trouble and avoid most of the trouble, but the problem is, is it really a good idea to let such a group of soldiers who originally belonged to Weiguo stick together in their army?
Especially when their frontline forces are also very limited...
With this thought in mind, Shi Lei temporarily put down his work and went to meet their king.
"Shi Lei, I understand your concerns and I have considered them, but you don't need to worry about this issue in the short term."
"We have a common enemy with them at this stage, and that is the First Emperor Yan Sheng. They have nothing here except the 500-odd soldiers. Even if they want to take action, it will be after this battle is over."
"Besides, even if Bai Tu really has ulterior motives, what can he do? With the 500 soldiers he has?"
Zhou Xu undoubtedly acknowledged Bai Tu's personal abilities, and with proper training, Bai Tu would most likely grow into a top general in the future.
But fighting a war is not just about one person being awesome; the size of the army and the strength of the soldiers are also crucial.
To put it bluntly, with the 500 soldiers in Bai Tu's hands, if anyone dared to cause trouble, he would directly summon Da Gu and Er Gu over, and cooperate with the troops at hand to kill indiscriminately.
So from the perspective of military force, Zhou Xu was not particularly worried about the other party causing trouble.
Not to mention the war on the front line, they are now on the defensive, waiting for Yan Sheng to collapse due to internal strife.
In other words, they now have plenty of time to assimilate them.
Three more days passed. For Zhou Xu, everything that needed to be arranged had already been arranged. There was nothing for him to worry about at the moment. He just waited for Yan Sheng to make his move and respond to all changes with the same strategy.
During these three days, the biggest change in Huangsha City was that the citizens who had originally stayed indoors began to get restless one by one.
In this era, how much surplus food can ordinary citizens have at home? If they continue like this, they will starve themselves to death.
"We can't go on like this. We have to go out to work. Winter has just ended and we are out of food. Now it's spring ploughing time. If we don't go to work in the fields, we will all starve to death!"
In a dilapidated mud house in the city, an old man with rough skin and tanned skin slapped his thigh and stood up, but was grabbed by a young man who looked to be in his teens or twenties.
"Dad, there are soldiers from the Great Zhou outside right now. If you go out, you're looking for death!"
"Hasn't they been shouting these days? As long as we behave ourselves, they won't hurt us."
"You believe what they say?!"
The young man was speechless and felt that his father was a little too naive.
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the old man slapped his stupid son on the back of the head.
"Are you stupid? Is our broken door stronger than the city gate?"
“…”
Looking at his silly son who hadn't reacted yet, the old man was furious.
"They even blasted open the city gate, so why can't they open our broken door that can be easily broken by a kick?! The fact is that they haven't done anything in the past few days, otherwise, tell me which door in this city they can't open?!"
The old man made his words so clearly that the young man undoubtedly realized that he had just made a stupid mistake. For a moment, his face turned red and he stubbornly retorted to the old man.
"Then they are also enemies who invade us."
As soon as he finished speaking, the old man slapped him on the back of the head again.
"For ordinary people like us, it's good enough to have food to eat and to hang on to our lives. Why do you care who becomes the emperor? Does it matter to us who becomes the emperor?!"
Faced with his father's brutal remarks, which would have been considered as treason under normal circumstances and would have been dragged out and the entire family would have been executed if they had gotten to the ears of the officers and soldiers, the young man found that he was really powerless to refute at the moment.
In recent years, the emperor has only known how to fight wars. Not long after a break, he started fighting with the Wei State again.
But the Wei State was not to be trifled with. Later in the war, they began to recruit soldiers from house to house. Regardless of whether they were willing or not, basically all healthy men who reached a certain age were taken away to serve in the army.
Later, in order to hire Centaur mercenaries, the national treasury was almost emptied.
These ordinary people know very well how hard their lives have been in recent years.
Although it has not yet reached the point where people are complaining and living in misery, it is not far from it.
Now that his father had said what impact who became emperor would have on them, he was really powerless to refute. At the same time, he found that he didn't seem to care that much about this issue.
As he was speaking, the old man had already picked up the hoe. Seeing this, the young man made up his mind and simply picked up the hoe as well, ready to go out to work with his father.
Although he spoke fluently just now, the old man felt a little pressured when he walked out the door. However, he did not back down. After taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door and walked out.
As luck would have it, a patrol team just happened to come over.
The old man and the young man both stiffened when they noticed this.
During this time, the patrol team naturally noticed them and walked over while looking them up and down.
"What are you going to do?"
"To answer Master Bing, my father and I went out to farm."
The old man spoke carefully, and both the father and son had their hearts in their throats.
For ordinary people like them, soldiers and officers have always been people whom they cannot afford to offend.
Feeling their nervousness, the patrol team leader didn't take it to heart. After asking a simple question, he nodded.
"Go ahead."
After saying this, he continued his patrol mission without caring about the father and son who were still standing there.
“Is that all?”
The young man looked incredulous. The old man actually had the same idea as his silly son, but he did not show it.
The father and son walked all the way to the west gate and were stopped by the city defense troops.
"Please show some mercy, sir. These fields are outside the city. Now is the spring ploughing time. If we don't plough the land, we won't be able to harvest food later and we won't be able to live like this."
After saying this, the old man pulled his stupid son and made him kneel down in front of the soldiers who stopped them.
Seeing this, the two soldiers hurriedly helped the man up, with embarrassed expressions on their faces.
"Old man, we understand your difficulties, but the king has ordered that the city gates cannot be opened. Don't make things difficult for us. Go find some work in the city to make a living."
Hearing this, the old man's face turned miserable. At this time, what kind of work can they find? Just as he was about to kneel down again, a voice came from not far away.
"Old man, this city gate cannot be opened, but I can arrange for you to farm and live in our Great Zhou territory. I wonder if you are willing?"
(End of this chapter)
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