Chapter 319: A Pot of Broth
The Kenan Army marched westward, but they were not invincible. Instead, there was no one living for thousands of miles and dead bodies were everywhere.
There were basically no edible plants or animals on the road. Zhou Shuai and Mao Jiu were very confused. What on earth was going on in the capital?
"What on earth happened? This area around the capital is like hell on earth." Zhou Shuai said while sitting on his horse.
"We have been walking for a long time and haven't seen many living people! Where are these people?" Mao Jiu said.
"There's a town ahead. Let's find a local and ask them what's going on!" General Zhou said. Even though he was ruthless when it came to killing civilians on the battlefield, he couldn't stop them from using them as shields. But in normal times, General Zhou always had a sense of being a caring official.
"I'm afraid it will be another deserted town like the one we just saw!" said Mao Jiu.
"I don't know what it will be like in the capital. I guess..." Zhou Shuai couldn't continue.
There was a town called Shibalidian ahead. The army surrounded the town, but they discovered the people.
Zhou Shuai rode his horse up to these people, only to see that they had pale and expressionless faces, just like zombies in the movies.
Zhou Shuai asked an elder, "Father, are there only so many people in this town? Where are the others?"
The old man was stunned for a moment without saying anything. The soldier beside him scolded him, "My general is asking you a question!"
The old man regained consciousness after being scolded by the soldiers and said weakly, "To answer the general's question, those who died died, those who escaped escaped, and the rest were captured and taken to the capital."
"Then how did you survive? What did you eat?" Zhou Shuai asked.
"What to eat? Eat whatever you have. If you don't have anything to eat, you will starve to death!" the old man said lamented.
"Starve to death? How dare you deceive my general? You can still have meat to eat, but you say there is nothing to eat!" a soldier on the side scolded.
"Father-in-law, what's going on?" Zhou Shuai asked in a cold voice.
The old man turned around and looked at the pot of broth. He suddenly burst into tears. He cried very sadly. General Zhou waited until he had almost finished crying and said, "Don't cry, old man! If there is anything, I will take care of it for you!"
The old man bowed and said, "I really dare not deceive the general. The meat in the pot is my little grandson. He starved to death yesterday and died in my arms! But everyone has to survive! I had to take him out and let everyone eat him!" As the old man spoke, he began to cry again.
Zhou Shuai felt unhappy after hearing this. He glanced at the pot of broth and said, "Let's bury the meat! Give them some dry food and let's go!"
Upon hearing this, the old man immediately knelt down and cried loudly: "Thank you, General, for leaving my grandson an intact body! Thank you, General!" The old man kowtowed hard, and his forehead was red and swollen.
Zhou Shuai led his men away. A moment later, Mao Jiu caught up and said, "I asked others, and they told me that the Jianlu government can't collect taxes! They just rob any grain they can find, and arrest any people they can find! So..."
"I understand! I will write a letter to the prince and ask him to distribute the relief grain as soon as possible, otherwise there is no need to distribute it!" General Zhou also sighed.
Because Zhao Xiaofei colluded—er, no! Collaborated!—with the major martial arts sects, they launched terrorist attacks, preventing the Jianlu from collecting taxes and grain. The Jianlu were forced to rob, but with no one left to farm the land, it was worthwhile to rob the landlords. After the landlords were robbed, only the land enclosed by the Jianlu Eight Banners remained. They captured a large number of slaves to help them farm the land.
The food supply of the Jianlu now mainly comes from the crops grown in their own enclosures, and the remaining food has long been eaten.
The Jianlu and Han people were hostile to each other and distrusted each other. Whenever the Jianlu saw Han people, they feared they were assassins or suicide bombers sent by martial artists.
Even among the traitors and bootlickers, there were many hidden terrorists. Therefore, the Jianlu were completely distrustful of the Han people who had entered the Pass. Some generals simply killed Han people on sight to ensure their own safety.
So, in the current chaos of Hebei, Zhili, northern Shandong, and northern Henan, there's practically no one left. It's a situation where only one in ten people remain. It's like a thousand miles without a rooster crowing, with bones exposed in the wild. Not bones, but corpses. Even burning them won't be enough, and the wild dogs and wolves are well fed. They look at people with unnatural ferocity.
After a day's march, they finally arrived outside Chaoyang Gate, where they saw a hot air balloon rising above each gate for observation.
The Eight Banners of Jianlu sounded the alarm early, with horns sounding.
Shuai Zhou and Mao Jiu formed their battle formations and prepared to attack.
Zhou Shuai smiled and said, "The Jianlu horn is welcoming us!"
"If I break into the palace, I will capture Dorgon and cut him into pieces. Then I will capture the little emperor and send him to Nanjing!" said Mao Jiu.
"No hope! They probably left long ago. How could they want to stay in the capital now? Let's take off our hot air balloon and see if the Jianlu are heading out of Deshengmen!" said General Zhou.
General Zhou and his men also brought a few hot air balloons with them, so bombing was basically impossible. Unless absolutely necessary, they were mainly used for reconnaissance. It also depended on the weather!
The sky was cloudless and windless today. As soon as the Kenan Army's hot air balloon took off, it overshadowed the Jianlu Army's hot air balloon.
Both in size and height, it is much stronger than Jianlu's.
When the hot air balloon of the Kenan Army flew over the hot air balloon of the Jianlu Army, the sharp contrast was obvious. The Jianlu Army's hot air balloon was like a younger brother, more than eight times smaller than the Kenan Army's.
When the Kenan Army's hot air balloon flew above the Jianlu Army's hot air balloon, people immediately started shooting arrows from above.
The Jianlu hot air balloon fell at a speed visible to the naked eye and finally turned into a pile of flames.
The people on the hot air balloon sent flag signals and saw a large army moving north outside Deshengmen.
General Zhou put down his telescope and said to Mao Jiu, "We are few in number, so don't move! Just confront the Jianlu!"
"Yes!" Mao Jiu went down to make arrangements.
The eight banners of the Jianlu army in the city began to gather towards Chaoyang Gate, and a large group of cavalry also headed here.
In the Forbidden City, Dorgon looked back at the magnificent imperial city and sighed: "Don't you want the capital? Then I will leave the ruins to you!"
As soon as Dorgon rode out of the Forbidden City, he turned around and shouted, "Light the fire!"
At the Kenan Army camp, a messenger ran into the tent and shouted, "General, this is bad news! The Tartars have set the Forbidden City on fire!"
"Got it? Go down now!" Zhou Shuai said.
The messenger went down and Mao Jiu asked, "General Zhou, should we enter the city now to put out the fire?"
"It can't be saved! Dorgon just doesn't want to leave the Forbidden City to us. We only have 20,000 people. What can we do with it? Just burn it down!" General Zhou didn't feel sorry for it. He would just rebuild it when the time comes.
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