In the past month, Xijun has been experiencing two battles of peace and seven turmoils, but only one battle of joy and joy has remained in the mouths of the people, worth a stone's throw.
Jia He just relied on eight hundred old soldiers to fight back and forth north of Xijun. From the north of Panmaling, he drew a route that resembled the peaks of Taoist women's eyebrows. The crescent moon looked like a hook, but it was extremely dangerous.
In the eyes of the people, it was really a miracle that eight hundred old soldiers could wipe out all the horse thieves and bandits on the North Road. However, there were still many older people who would always sneer at it after dinner.
The reason is that the former West County magistrates always did not forget to build momentum for several months when they first arrived. No matter how many bandits and horse thieves were wiped out, they had to preach for a while. It seems that no matter whether they are dedicated or not, the people need to be grateful. It was not to do things for the people of Xijun, but to make Emperor Quan, who was far away in the imperial capital, hear about this matter. As a result, the three prairie fires held by the new official when he took office were originally a good thing, but they were mixed up by the previous governors and became a bit pretentious, which made many people despise it.
If you are not sincere, it is better not to do it.
However, many people living in the northern border of Xijun saw the tactics of the eight hundred old soldiers. They killed all the bandits along the way, leaving almost no one alive. On the contrary, this group of poor people, who had been bandits for a long time, felt a little more worried. The joy and excitement came, and although they didn't eat soybean soup and crouched down, there were still some people who brought home-made rice wine and food to reward the soldiers.
Yesterday, the army set up camp in the east of Xijun. It was just after noon today when more than a dozen people from the east of Xijun came to the door. They came in groups of twos and threes and waited at the gate of the camp. Some even carried their youngest sons on their backs. After arriving in the bamboo basket, I drove through dozens of miles of dark mountain roads to find the military camp, where I could reward the soldiers with my meager strength.
Jia He was sitting firmly in the central military tent, frowning and looking at the terrain, when he suddenly heard the noise of people outside the tent, his face was rather gloomy. After days of fighting, the eight hundred old soldiers under his command gradually became familiar with Captain Jia, so they all knew that this lean and handsome man with an unattractive appearance was most afraid of noise around him when he was pondering the terrain, so the camp was mostly silent, and Shao There is movement.
Although many old soldiers could not understand Jia He's behavior at first, no matter whether it was riding a horse by himself when he was on the road or flattering and groveling in front of the disciples of the Xian family, it could not be regarded as the actions of a general, but just because of the presence of eight hundred people. After a full circle to the north of Xijun, many soldiers looked at Jia He again, and they no longer looked down upon him with disdain. We must know that the total number of rogues and horse thieves in the northern border is definitely more than a few thousand. The eight hundred soldiers are training day and night. They are comparable to the elites of one party. But to deal with such a number of rogues and fleeing the rivers and lakes, it is obvious that they will fall steadily. At a disadvantage, the army led by Jia He fought through a smooth road from west to east like a broken bamboo.
First, they seized more than sixty or seventy horses from the group of defeated bandits outside Hulukou, and killed all the rest. Then they marched eastward and met most of the bandits in the north, about two to three thousand in total. They lured more than ten horses to lure them. The enemy was in the middle of the valley, and most of the remaining soldiers were hiding on the top of the valley. They used firewood, hay, and kerosene to bind the rocks. Another hundred people were selected to copy the rear, supplemented by hard bows to stop the enemy. In this battle, with less than a thousand people, all the rogue bandits were wiped out. Only a few people were seriously injured and survived, and were taken into custody by the army to be executed.
It was clear that there were only 800 soldiers, which could wipe out the large bandits in the entire northern border, but only cost less than 200 soldiers' lives. Most of them were planned and dispatched by Jiahe, which made the number of casualties extremely low.
There has been no war in the world for many years, but Jia He's desperate measures shocked all the veterans. His prestige has naturally increased, and his military morale has become increasingly stable.
"Who is making the noise outside the tent?" Jia He suppressed his annoyance. Hearing the commotion outside the village, which lasted a cup of tea, he couldn't bear his temper. He stood up, rushed outside the tent in three or two steps, and rushed towards a guard soldier. asked.
The old soldier smiled bitterly, cupped his hands and said, "General Jia doesn't know something. The people of Xijun have been suffering from the bandits for a long time. It is not to say that they are miserable. However, apart from taxes, they are inevitably short of money. After the bandits invade, almost every family has only one person. It was enough to barely maintain life, and now the commander pushed the bandits on the north road of Xijun. After hearing this news, many people in the east went to their own camps and sent some rice, wine and food to comfort the troops, which is why they seemed so noisy."
Jia He nodded and sighed softly, "I have never been to Xijun before. I only heard that it was adjacent to Chatang County and that it was as prosperous as the latter. I never thought that when I actually stepped into Xijun, I realized that the people were as if they were in a cauldron. It’s okay to have water and fire boiling your bones all day long, let me go and have a look, don’t neglect to guard the camp.”
The soldier took the order and left with his sword in hand.
Jia He really didn't expect that the people in Xijun were so poor. During the period of clearing up the northern border, the infantry stepped into a village. It was surrounded by lush forests, but there were few trees with intact bark. It was only after he inquired in person that he learned about the village. There was no food left, so if he was hungry, he would use tree bark to make a bowl of soup, which would barely satisfy his hunger.
Jia He took a sip of the soup made from the bark of the tree, and it was hard to stop feeling astringent and numb. Not to mention that it was difficult to fill his stomach with this soup, and it was not easy to swallow.
When he arrived outside the camp gate, Jia He saw more than ten people begging for help. He picked up the very light rice wine in his hands and signaled to the camp guards. More than ten people were all sallow and thin, and there were even two children crying in the basket behind two women.
"You have come all the way, why do you need to bring these drinks and food?" Jiahe dismissed the defenders, quickly took the rice wine, and said politely, "I don't know where they came from, and why they came to the camp. thing?"
When the old woman who took the lead heard this, she knew that the person in front of her was the leader of the army, so she was about to salute, but Jia He had a sharp eye and quickly held her in his arms. "Old man, there is no need to do this. If there are rogue bandits and horse thieves causing trouble, we will go and eliminate them ourselves." Yes, I have been receiving royal salary for many years, so this is what I should do, and I don’t need such great courtesy from the elderly."
After saying that, the old woman even shed tears and said that these dozen people came from Luohang City in the east of Xijun. The city was attacked by horse thieves all the year round, and the lord of Luohang City often used excuses to collect taxes, which made the whole city full of people. The common people were barely clothed and had no food to eat, and they often died of hunger everywhere. However, in the city lord's mansion, there was music and singing every night. If there was a girl from a good family who fell in love, she would usually only throw away a few copper coins and take her to the mansion.
The common people couldn't stand such humiliation. They originally wanted to go to the county governor's house to sue the city lord, but they didn't expect that all the official roads were blocked by the city lord's soldiers. The problem was that there was no way to go from heaven to earth, and I heard that there were soldiers from the government. Pushing against the bandits in the north, they came here specifically to find a way out.
After saying this, dozens of people around him were already crying.
Men choked with sobs, women wailed and children cried, one after another.
Jia He still had a calm expression on his face. He accepted all the dozens of people and objects in front of him, and with gentle words of advice, he asked several defenders around him to take everyone to get some food, and then he walked back to the camp.
His face was as green as a sword.
