Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 411: Imprisoned and Still Rampant

Although the fighting was intense last night, only about 170 Jin soldiers were captured.

This does not mean that the Jin army's combat effectiveness had reached the point where it was defeated only after suffering two-thirds casualties, but that most of the surrendered Jin army were beaten to death by angry civilians.

Many heads had become rotten watermelons and could not even be checked, so they were only hastily recorded as merits.

These prisoners were detained at the dock and guarded by the navy. More than sixty of them died last night due to serious injuries and torture. By this morning, there were only a little over a hundred left.

As soon as the sky got light, these prisoners who had been cold and hungry all night were locked in a cart and paraded through the streets together with more than 50 soldiers who had aroused great public outrage.

"Captain, one hundred and sixty people are not enough on this cart!" said a sailor, scratching his head.

"You idiot! Aren't there seventeen carriages here?" Gong Erchuan pointed. "Push it in! If it can't fit vertically, try stuffing it horizontally! What? You still want to use an eight-man sedan to carry the gold thief to the execution ground?"

"Understood!" The Chaohu navy laughed strangely and filled the cart that could only accommodate three or four people.

"go!"

The people of Chao County knew that there might be a beheading in the near future, but they never expected that people would be so impatient. They started parading through the streets early the next morning. Although they were caught off guard, thousands of people still came to watch.

Many people were still wearing mourning clothes, holding the spirit tablets in their hands, crying and cursing on the street.

"You bastards! You deserve this day!"

"Cut them into pieces!"

"Yeah yeah... woo..."

These days, the people of Tianchao County have been badly bullied by the Jin army. Even the wealthy families who wanted to cooperate with the Jin army were tortured, not to mention the ordinary people.

Especially in the market town in the east of the city, because the county magistrate Hu Yu fought to the death, after Chao County was captured, Hu Yu's entire family was killed. The Jin army did not stop or did not want to stop and also turned the whole market town into a wasteland.

As the Jin troops returned to camp carrying the looted women and gold, those who hadn't participated in the looting but were on combat duty were enraged. In the following days, these Jin troops, often in groups of dozens, would blockade a market town, kicking down doors and collecting taxes from every household. Anyone who dared to speak nonsense would be slashed to death.

Initially, small households were taxed at ten taels, while large households were taxed at a hundred taels. Chao County was located on a major transportation route and relatively prosperous, so the people could still afford it. However, they could not withstand the repeated torture and looting, and large-scale massacres and looting began.

The people of Chao County have been living like this for dozens of days.

It's not that no one wanted to resist during that period, but the unorganized uprising was not even a riot. Not only was it easily suppressed, but it also implicated the neighbors.

The surrendered troops formed into a sign army included not only the Chaohu navy, but also more surrendered troops from surrounding prefectures and counties, who were not familiar with each other. Not to mention that above them were the sign army from the Central Plains watching them, and above them was the regular army of the Jin army from Meng'an.

If we give the army another two months, maybe we can really connect them, but now the time is too short.

They can't rely on the Song army, they can't rely on the Qian army, they can't rely on themselves, and they are under the pressure of being destroyed every day. It's easy to imagine what kind of life the people of Chao County have been living these days.

The greater the pressure, the greater the resistance once it is released.

Rotten eggs, gravel, and manure wrapped in leaves were thrown onto the cart as if they were free. If it weren't for the Chaohu navy soldiers who were maintaining order around them, these captives would never have made it to the place of execution.

"Hahaha! Even if grandpa dies, he is still a hero! Who do you think you are? You are like pigs and dogs, and you dare to bark in front of grandpa!" Li Yuanwei, who had a broken leg, cursed in the cart.

He was hit on the forehead by something, and blood was flowing down half of his face. He was squeezed to the side of the cart and stretched out his hand, pointing at the onlookers: "What are you angry about? Did grandpa sleep with your mother? Hahaha! Ah!!!"

Snapped!
The Song army guarding the side of the fenced carriage was too lazy to talk nonsense. They pulled out a long mace from their waist and broke Li Yuanwei's arm.

But Li Yuanwei knew he had no chance of survival, so he continued to shout and curse: "You Song dogs, don't think you can be arrogant forever just because you plotted against us! When the Jin army arrives, we'll crush you like a stinkbug! I'm waiting for you down there! Waiting for you!"

At the end, although Li Yuanwei was still curled up in the corner of the cart, he was like a hyena who found that the rotten meat was taken away by vultures, and he showed his bloody yellow teeth.

"Yes! Commander Li is right!"

"We should eat and play, that's enough!"

"Poor Song dogs of yours, even though you're proud for a while, you still have to come down and keep us company!"

Inside the carriage, the soldiers were crestfallen, while the Jin army remained in high spirits. Unable to retaliate against the hurled objects, they could only turn their words into sharp swords, angrily lashing out at the Song civilians.

The Song army guarding the carriages not only failed to stop the threat of the Jin army, but instead kept trying to stop the civilians who rushed up to fight. When the Jin army was thirsty, they would throw a few pots of water at them.

The parade lasted for a full hour. The Song army paraded the captives through all the main streets of Chao County, while the Jin army cursed everyone in Chao County. It was almost 9:00 PM when they finally arrived at the open space in front of the county government office.

This area has been raised with loess by the soldiers, and the leaders of the Jingnan Army are waiting on it.

Under the watchful eyes of countless people from Chao County, the captives were pulled out of the cart by the soldiers of the Jingnan Army, taken to a high platform for identification, and then beheaded one by one by the soldiers acting as executioners and displayed to the public.

As heads were chopped off one after another, the Jin army finally lost their temper. Some cried for mercy, while others shouted threats. However, both the Jingnan Army soldiers carrying out the executions and the officers sitting on the platform remained expressionless.

The onlookers were a little frightened after being angry and sad.

On the one hand, there were so many heads rolling and blood flowing like rivers that it was unacceptable. On the other hand, there was the threat posed by these Jin army captives.

Anyone who could understand what people were saying, combined with the experiences of the past few days, would know that if the Jin army broke into the city again, they would definitely not use a blunt knife to cut flesh like they did the first time. No one in the city would survive.

The people gathered here, on the one hand to watch the execution, but most importantly to listen to the guarantees made by several leading figures of the Jingnan Army on the platform.

Although it was unclear whether these guarantees could be fulfilled given the Song army's weak record, this army, under the banner of the Jingnan Campaign, seemed more reliable. A verbal guarantee was better than no guarantee at all, and at least it could give people peace of mind for a few days.

After all the Jin army's regular soldiers Lazi were chopped off, more than fifty signed soldiers were also pulled onto the platform. Although most of the signed soldiers had defected during the melee yesterday, how could they be forgiven for turning against their own side in the middle of a battle? How could such a good thing happen in the world?
Even in modern society, there is no such thing as turning oneself in after committing murder and completely escaping legal punishment.

It's okay to reduce your sentence as appropriate, but you've aided and abetted the evil, acted as an accomplice to the tiger, and done evil things without any conscience. Do you think you can wash yourself clean by saying that?
Go dream!

After giving the soldiers a night of peace yesterday, Lan Junhao and Gong Erchuan led the effort to gather evidence. This morning, over 4,000 soldiers were taken hostage and subsequently arrested by name. Among these fifty men, two had surrendered to the Jin commanders, a fact that truly opened Lan and Gong's eyes.

Traitors are more hateful than enemies. There is nothing more to say at this point. After the military judge read out the charges aloud, there were heads everywhere.

The last group of people to be dragged onto the platform were officers of the Jin Kingdom’s regular army.

Guo Feng, Li Yuanwei, one other Mouke, and three Puliyans, a total of six people sat slumped in a row.

These were die-hard loyalists of the Jin Dynasty. In order to prevent them from escaping, the Jingnan Army broke all their legs.

Liu Huai stood in front of the six men and said, "What else do you have to say? If you tell me the truth, I might spare your lives."

The only response he got was a few mouthfuls of bloody phlegm and a cold snort.

Even the toughest man could not withstand torture. However, Liu Huai dragged these captives out and paraded them through the streets not to torture them, but to declare the achievements of the Jingnan Army, so it didn't matter whether they surrendered or not.

"Cut him off." Liu Huai pointed at Pu Liyan, who was at the edge.

The long sword is like a colorful silk thread, and the hot blood is shed throughout the Spring and Autumn Period.

"What now?" Liu Huai asked the remaining five people indifferently.

"Song dogs! Just laugh! Just laugh!" A Jin army marching officer leaned forward and roared at the people below the earthen platform, his fierce eyes like a hungry wolf staring at a flock of fat sheep. "We have a hundred thousand troops around us. What can you, a few remnants of defeated soldiers, do? Within ten days, Chao County will be reduced to rubble!"

The marching Mouke struggled so hard that the soldiers behind him could hardly hold him back.

"Are you done?" Liu Huai remained calm and said, "Chop it off!"

The scolding stopped abruptly.

"Guo Feng, as the commander of an army, I shouldn't spare you no matter what. But someone has advised me to set an example for the rest of the Jin bandits. It's like buying a horse's bones for a thousand gold coins. I'll grant you a favor. You can remain silent, but surrender in public and you'll be spared."

Guo Feng raised his head, which had been lowered all the way, only at this moment. His braids were already loose, but his eyes were fixed on Liu Huai.

"From your accents, you seem to be from the north. If you want to rebel against the Great Jin, then so be it. Why are you colluding with the Southern dogs? Don't you know they're all a bunch of losers?" Guo Feng frowned and said, "You're a good man, and I'm not as good as you. I'm not as skilled as you, so I deserve this fate. But why are you working for Zhao Gou?"

"Why the hell are you talking so much?" The one who answered Guo Feng was a Jingnan soldier holding a broadsword behind him. This soldier was very young, with only a thin layer of hair around his mouth and a scar on his face that stretched from the corner of his right eye to his chin. "My father was whipped to death by the Jin bandits. My mother and sister were kidnapped and humiliated to death by the Jin bandits. I was conscripted into the army at the age of thirteen and lived a life worse than pigs and dogs. It was all because my father gave way to that Jin bandit Mouke and was slow to do so! We are not working for the Song government, but we are sworn enemies with you Jin bandits!"

"Little brat, you are unlucky! Even though the Great Jin has thousands of faults, it is trustworthy and is a dynasty that stands tall and upright. What is the Song dog? It is just a cowardly snake. It lives in a corner and does not make any effort to make progress. Do you think it is worthy of being called the orthodox government in the world? Pah!" Guo Feng was so angry that he could not express it in words.

"Hey, man, and all the brothers in the army, don't trust Song Gou."

"A defeated general still barks wildly..."

"Do you know how my entire family perished?" Guo Feng's roar silenced the crowd around him. "Twenty years ago, the Zhao Song Dynasty launched a northern expedition. I served in the army alongside Prince Liang (Wanyan Wushu). When that bastard Yue Pengju arrived in the Central Plains, my father and brothers rebelled as promised. But that bastard betrayed us and retreated!"

"What about a great nation, what about Marshal Yue? It's all bullshit! Afterwards, over a hundred members of my Guo family died. Only King Liang took pity on me and spared my life." Guo Feng glared at Liu Huai. "Tell me, how can we trust the Southern Dogs? How can we trust the Zhao Song officials?"

"Have you finished?" Liu Huai's face was as gloomy as water. "Do the rest of you have anything else to say?"

A lot of dirty talk.

"Cut them all down!"

Liang Zichu finally lost his patience and stepped forward, pushing aside the young soldier behind Guo Feng. He grabbed the broadsword and chopped off Guo Feng's head with one blow: "You filthy scoundrel, every wrong has its perpetrator. You suffered injustice at the hands of the Jin bandits, but instead of killing them, you come to our Chao County to wreak havoc. Do you think that makes any sense?"

"General, General...are there really 100,000 Jin thieves coming?" Sure enough, the people of Chaohu in the audience were most afraid of the news that the Jin army was coming.

"Not a hundred thousand, at most forty thousand." Liu Huai replied loudly: "To the north, there are ten thousand gold thieves from Luzhou, and to the south, thirty thousand gold thieves are coming from Hezhou."

As soon as these words were spoken, the tens of thousands of people watching were immediately in an uproar.

Only one thousand Jin soldiers turned Chao County into such a mess. If another 40,000 came, would there be any chance of survival?
"There's no way to escape," Liu Huai continued, speaking the truth. "Hanshan in the east, Yuxikou in the south, and Luzhou in the north have all fallen into the hands of the Jin thieves. Where can we escape to?"

"Captain, don't underestimate us. Chao County has a large army and strong walls. We will fight the Jin bandits to the end. Why are you running away?!"

Liu Huai glanced at the bearded man who was speaking in the audience and felt that he looked a little familiar. He must be a stooge.

"Fellow villagers! If we can capture Chao County, the Jin thieves will have nothing to eat!"

"By then, we won't have to kill them, the gold thieves will starve to death!"

"Three members of my family have died in just half a month! Three! This blood feud must be avenged!"

"The whole of Chao County is united as one. Why should we be afraid of those starving Jin thieves?"

There are quite a few people who ask for help.

People from all over the crowd stood up and spoke out loudly, quickly changing the topic from how to escape to how to defend.

Humans are social animals. Once a fanatical atmosphere is stirred up, individuals often cannot remain calm. Before long, at least the people in the square are gritting their teeth and determined to fight the invading enemy to the end.

Of course, this kind of emotion is actually useless after calming down, but it can set a good example for organizing manpower for County Magistrate Li Mengguang and the Lan family and other wealthy families in the city.

In the illusion of unity, as long as all the people in Chao County can be mobilized, that will be true unity.

"Kill the gold thief!"

It is not known whether it started from the Jingnan army, or whether the people of Chao County started shouting spontaneously, but the cry of killing the Jin thieves resounded throughout the county.

(End of this chapter)