I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 311 The Truth
When these words were spoken, everyone around was stunned.

Zhu Houzhao looked at the group of people in Mongolian costumes on the ground, and suddenly turned to look at Huo Yu who was accompanying him. "General Huo, tell me, this is also the edge of your defense zone, how could such a thing happen?"

Huo Yu immediately bowed and said, "General, I was not aware of this. I failed to monitor the defense area. Please punish me..."

Zhu Houzhao did not comment on Huo Yu's answer. He looked at Su Xingdong and said, "General Su, you can also say something!"

"I have never been here and I don't know about this, but I think this is a great thing. When the general first arrived at Yuyutai Ridge, he captured more than 50 heads of the Northern Tartars. This is a rare great victory in recent years! It is all thanks to the general's great fortune!" Su Xingdong said hurriedly.

Zhu Houzhao was amused and burst into laughter, and Su Xingdong and Huo Yu also laughed along.

Don't be surprised that the loss of more than fifty heads of the Northern Tartars can be considered a major victory after several years.

The Ming Dynasty's military and officials attached great importance to heads, considering them the key to gaining honor and improving their status.

Starting from the Chenghua and Hongzhi reigns of the Ming Dynasty, the heads captured by the army in combat were divided into four categories according to the objects: the north - the Mongols, Liaodong - the Jurchens, the barbarians - the rebellious Tu Miao in the southwest, and the internal thieves - the rioters in the thirteen provinces of the Han area. In the Jiajing and early Wanli years, due to the Japanese invasion in the southeast, a separate standard for the heads of Japanese pirates was set. Different targets will have different reward standards, including silver rewards, promotions, etc.

After Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne, even though the inner treasury was in short supply, he still raised the reward for the head of the Northern Tartars to 50 taels of silver per head.

The Mongols also knew that the Ming army attached great importance to heads, so during battle they tried their best to bring back the bodies of their companions. If they failed, they would find ways to destroy them. In addition, the Mongols were highly mobile, so a head of a northern barbarian was extremely precious.

Normally speaking, if you want to obtain more than fifty heads of the Northern Tartars, you must at least fight a battle with the Mongols with at least a thousand people, and win the battle. Only the winner has the right and qualification to clean up the battlefield and cut off the heads.

And during this period when the Ming Dynasty was on the defensive, it was indeed a rare victory to obtain more than fifty heads of the northern barbarians at one time.

Everyone present understood what Su Xingdong meant. Although there were still many doubts about this matter, this was a big pie falling from the sky and it would be a waste not to eat it.

"Just now they said they were Ming people." Zhu Houzhao suddenly stopped laughing.

"Yes! We are Ming people! We are Ming people! Not Mongolians! General, please check it out!" The dozen or so people in Mongolian costumes shouted desperately.

Jiang Bin was already very excited by Su Xingdong's words. If he succeeded, he would get a lot of credit. So he looked at the group of people in Mongolian costumes and said, "Shut up, many Mongolians can speak Chinese."

Then he said to Zhu Houzhao: "General, I think they are just a group of Mongols who can speak Chinese. You can tell at a glance."

"Oh? How did you know that?" Zhu Houzhao asked curiously. Jiang Bin was not polite at all, and directly dragged someone out and began to explain to Zhu Houzhao.

In fact, there is no particularly obvious difference in appearance between the Mongols and the Ming people in the north, but their living habits make it easy to distinguish between the two.

Life on the grassland is much harder than in the Han area.

The Northern Barbarians often braid their hair, making it very smooth and you can tell the difference by just touching it.

In addition, ordinary Han people have a lot of lice in their hair, and long-term lice bites will cause thicker rashes on the scalp. However, because Mongolians have the habit of shaving their heads, they are not bitten by lice and do not have thickened rashes on their scalp.

Mongolians eat more meat and dairy products, which leads to serious tooth decay problems. Han Chinese are different. They mostly eat grains, so they have fewer tooth decay problems, but their teeth are more worn.
Zhu Houzhao carefully observed the dozen people being held captive, and indeed found similar characteristics in them.
"I really am a Ming person! General, please believe me!" The man who was dragged out shouted madly.

"You said you were a Ming person, but why do you have Mongolian clothes and hairstyle, and so many Mongolian features?" Zhu Houzhao asked coldly.

The man was stunned when he heard this, and said through gritted teeth: "I was a soldier of Huaian Guard ten years ago. Because my military land was taken away by my superiors, I couldn't survive, so I quietly ran to the grassland and surrendered to the Mongols to seek survival. A while ago, I couldn't stay with the Mongols anymore, so I stole a horse and ran thousands of miles back to Daming. I wanted to go home to take a look, but I was discovered by the border soldiers as soon as I got back to Daming. They directly locked me up in that beacon tower and locked me up with iron chains. I ate, drank, defecated and urinated in there on weekdays, but the food I was given was very little, just enough to keep me from starving to death."

"The people imprisoned in that beacon tower were all Ming people who had escaped from the grasslands. Some of them went to the grasslands on their own, and some were abducted by the Mongols. When we arrived in the Mongolian territory, we could only live like a Mongolian. Over time, we became like a Mongolian. However, we dared not forget our hometown, and we dared not forget that we were Ming people. We returned to the Ming Dynasty after going through untold hardships, and what greeted us was indeed endless imprisonment."

"Among those who escaped, those without obvious Mongolian features were chopped off and buried directly, while those of us with obvious Mongolian features were kept. Every ten days or half a month, someone would be dragged out and beheaded. I heard from the guards who were watching over us that those heads were taken away to report merits. They said that the people above were afraid of making it too obvious, so they didn't dare to report a big merit all at once, and they planned to accumulate small merits into a big one." The man said quickly.

After hearing what that person said, everyone turned their eyes to Su Xingdong and Huo Yu, knowing that this matter had something to do with them.
Su Xingdong and Huo Yu looked pale and were trying to remain calm.

"What else do you know?" Zhu Houzhao asked in a deep voice.

"I also heard the guards mention General Huo and General Su."

"How dare you, a thief, spit blood at me!" Su Xingdong got furious when he heard this, and drew his sword to chop at the man.
As a result, he was kicked hard by Jiang Jiangong who was prepared, and then he was controlled by the new army soldiers who rushed over.

Zhu Houzhao looked at the two people who were controlled with disappointment on his face, "So this is why Wanquan Youwei has always been able to capture the heads of Mongolians! This is so disappointing to this general!"

"General, please forgive me, General, please calm down!" Su Xingdong was already in tears.
(End of this chapter)