There are almost no survivors in Wushan!
The struggle against the Qing Dynasty was brutal.
Not to mention the small Wushan, the neighboring province of Sichuan has experienced successive military disasters and massacres by the Qing army. The current population data reported by Li Guoying to the Qing court is only "18,090 ding".
There are only a hundred people left in Chengdu Prefecture.
In Guizhou and Yunnan in the southwest, several prefectures have become no man's land.
So Wang Wu knew that what the people said was the truth.
This area is already barren and has a small population. Since the Ming army has been operating here for more than ten years, the Wushan area has suffered a heavy population loss due to years of resistance to the Qing Dynasty and conquests.
Zhao Jinzhong, the sharp archer under Wang Wu, was a strong man who was raped by the Ming army.
To a certain extent, there is no essential difference between the various families in Kuidong and the warlords. It is a very common behavior to recruit young men.
There is no need to deny this, the difference lies in the severity.
In other words, some are persuaded to "mobilize", while others are directly arrested.
Without this, the Ming army would not be able to survive until now.
Not counting the Ming army and their family members who withdrew to the Wushan area, Wang Wu estimated that there were at most 10,000 to 20,000 local people left under the control of the Ming army.
This was one of the reasons why Wang Wu wavered and prepared to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.
Without people, there would be no replenishment of soldiers and no source of food.
No matter how determined the Ming army is, no matter how capable they are of fighting, they simply cannot survive without population replenishment.
Even without the Qing army fighting, as long as the siege lasts for a long time, the Ming army will collapse internally.
Kuidong is a dead place.
The fact that the King of Heaven is here cannot change the fact that this place is a dead place!
Using this as a base is simply nonsense.
Not to mention that its own conditions were not sufficient to support the long-term struggle against the Qing Dynasty, the Qing army's "clearing holes" action declared that the Ming army would be defeated.
With all the people dead and not even a whistleblower, how can we fight this war?
Therefore, Wang Wu doesn't want to continue to wait for death here, he wants to stand out!
Regardless of whether Liu Tichun can be rescued this time, he will break through.
As for the common people in front of him, Wang Wu did not blame them.
Firstly, I don’t hate them for being short-sighted, and secondly, I don’t hate them for being spineless.
They are ordinary people, ordinary people who just want to live a peaceful life.
National justice is very far away from them. The debate between Huayi and Huayi must have never been heard of, and they don't even care about clothes and other things.
It can be said that the Ming and Qing dynasties outside the mountains have nothing to do with them.
If the Ming army hadn't occupied Kuidong to resist the Qing Dynasty, they wouldn't even have known that Emperor Zhu's territory was occupied by outsiders!
Even if the Manchus had not entered the customs, they might have rebelled against the Ming Dynasty.
Because they also want to live.
The Ming Dynasty was already abandoned by the people.
It was not the Manchus who overthrew him, but the uprising army composed of thousands of peasants who were forced to exchange their children for food!
If he had not arrived in the 18th year of Yongli, but in the 15th year of Chongzhen, Wang Wu would have been one of the survivors who sounded the clarion call to attack the Ming Dynasty.
Just as the middle-aged civilian husband said, when the Ming army came, they farmed the land and paid for food. When the Qing army came, they farmed and paid for food. Neither the Ming army nor the Qing army would make their lives qualitatively change. They would still be cows. Be a horse.
If that's the case, why should they sacrifice themselves?
Why not let them live like dogs?
If they are traitors, then who are the tens of thousands of people in the north and south who grew pigtails under the rule of the Qing Dynasty?
Does this also include Wang Wu’s ancestors?
Thinking of this, Wang Wu couldn't help but laugh at himself.
Nothing is wrong, it’s this era that is wrong!
Some people choose to die standing, and some choose to live on their knees.
Life or death is a person's greatest freedom.
If even this was to be taken away, Wang Wu didn't know why he persisted in resisting the Qing Dynasty.
There is a saying that every family has its own scriptures that are difficult to recite. But now, why is it not the same?
Is it a country or a country?
Different people have different understandings.
Gentlemen and scholars believe that a country comes first and then a family, but ordinary people believe that a family comes first before a country.
The two views have always coexisted and were diametrically opposed.
If the country is gone, where will the home be?
If our home is gone, what country do we need?
After thousands of years of debate, there is still no answer.
Just look at the traces of your heart.
Wang Wu never frowned when he killed someone, and he never showed mercy, but he was not someone who talked about justice, nor was he someone who always shouted that you will die if you don't come with me.
He does not engage in moral kidnapping and respects all choices.
Since these civilian husbands believed that the Ming army who insisted on resisting had harmed them, if they could live peacefully under the rule of the Qing Dynasty without the Ming army, without having their families destroyed or their wives and children separated, then there was no need for Wang Wu to take them with him.
He has no time and will not talk to these people about the general trend of the world, about the righteousness of the family and the country, or even sensationalize the things that have happened in the past twenty years, thus arousing the sympathy of these people whose families have been ruined, and making them clamor like chicken blood. I want to follow his big sword Wang Wu and fight to the end with the Tatars, to avenge the death of their loved ones and so on.
He just ordered these civilians to be released and allowed them to go wherever they wanted.
Xu Lin found this order unacceptable and advised: "General, these people are hopeless. Let them go. They will definitely report to the Tatars when they come back!"
Gou Sheng and Blind Wansi also believed that these eggless civilians should be killed to prevent them from causing trouble to the Ming army.
Zhao Jinzhong said nothing, but his eyes clearly said that he did not agree to this.
No matter what these civilians think, they are all Wushan people and fellow villagers of Zhao Jinzhong.
There is only such a poor person left in the family. They are just working for the Tatars. It is not a capital crime.
Wang Wu himself would not kill these civilians. What is the difference between doing so and the Qing army?
What the Qing army did not do, Wang Wu led the Ming army to do it for the Qing army?
"Let the person go."
Wang Wu was not worried that letting these civilians go would cause trouble for their next actions, because these civilians were not flying scuds. How could they be able to notify the Manchurian soldiers in time as soon as the Ming army left.
By the time the nearby Manchurian soldiers received the news, the Ming army had already sneaked into Cizhulong.
This may be the only benefit that inconvenient communication brings to Wang Wu.
Looking back at the group of civilians who were happy because the Ming army was going to release them, Wang Wu suddenly said lightly: "Maybe it's not a good thing for them if I let them go."
"Um?"
Under Xu Lin's puzzled gaze, Wang Wu had already walked to the front of the assembled team.
Looking at the different faces looking at him, he didn't want to say anything, but after a moment of silence he still chose to speak up: "You have all heard what those people said. Maybe you have sympathy or hatred for those people in your hearts. There is contempt, there is chilling...
But what I want to say is that they are all poor people. There is nothing wrong with them wanting to live, and there is nothing wrong with us choosing to die!
Why do we choose to die?
Not because we are brave, not because we are fearless, but because we have an unyielding heart!
Remember, we don’t die for anyone, we die for ourselves! "
