Chang Mao's worries are not unreasonable. Up to now, the more than 20,000 Yuan army prisoners have become their biggest problem that needs to be solved urgently.
Kill, you can't kill, keep it, it will be a waste of military rations. Send it back, because I'm afraid it will increase the combat effectiveness of Naha's headquarters in vain.
"Is there anyone willing to surrender?" Zhu Su asked Chang Maodao.
"There are some who are willing to surrender, but the number is not large. And even if there are one or two who are willing to surrender, we are worried that those people will fake the surrender." Chang Mao shrugged.
Zhu Su nodded. Indeed, now that Naha's main force has not been defeated, how can these people surrender sincerely? Even if there were prisoners who were Han Chinese from Liaodong, their ancestors had been under the rule of foreigners for several generations since the pre-Song Dynasty. In my heart, I no longer have a sense of belonging to a Han dynasty like the Ming Dynasty.
Even if they surrender due to the situation, when Naha comes out with his army, I think these people will definitely raise the flag "anyway" without any psychological burden.
But if it were to be returned to Naha directly, Zhu Su would feel at a loss deep in his heart. He had spent a lot of effort to design and deceive the customs, and finally captured so many prisoners. Could it be that he was just trying to transport these Liaodong Yuan troops out of Shanhaiguan to Naha?
Then what did you become? Naha sent his troop transport captain?
"Have you arranged for someone to repair the city wall?" After thinking about it, Zhu Su asked.
"Yes, Mr. Ru is already recruiting civilians to repair the city wall using the work-for-relief method used in Suzhou City in the past." The dog on the side answered. Zhu Su and his party planned to garrison the county seat, so the county wall must not be used. No more repairs. After all, after the Naha Police Department learned the news, it was very likely that they would send a partial force to try to attack the county where three Ming princes were stationed.
"In this case, Lord Ru doesn't need to recruit civilians to build the city." Zhu Su said. "Aren't these prisoners just idle? Let them repair the city wall. When the city wall is repaired, let them go back to find Naha."
"Even if it's worthless, we still have to find a way to squeeze out a few ounces of oil. Otherwise, wouldn't we be at a huge loss?"
"Let the prisoners build the city?" Everyone present was stunned. Zhu Di thought for a while and said: "Although this method works, the food and grass problem is still unresolved."
"If we continue to keep these prisoners, won't we also have to bear the problem of their food and grass?"
"In addition, we still have to allocate part of the food to help the victims. Where will this food come from?"
"Well..." A clever woman can't make a meal without rice. Zhu Su pinched his eyebrows with a headache, thought for a while and said: "Since ancient times, all resource issues have been nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. Now there is no way to increase revenue and can only start from reducing expenditure. Great efforts have been made from above.”
"Dog, here's the order, the army is short of food and grass, so the cost of prisoners in the camp has been reduced. The original two meals a day should be changed to one meal a day."
"Lao Wu." Just as Gou'er responded, Zhu Xi stepped out and asked, "Will speaking so bluntly cause the prisoners to riot?"
"Even if you want to give them less food, you should think of a decent excuse. How can you directly tell them that the army is short of food and grass and need to reduce their expenses? Could it be that, Fifth Brother, you are deliberately trying to provoke Are they using their grievances to find some people to come out and kill chickens to scare monkeys?"
Since ancient times, the management of prisoners has always deliberately stirred up some thorny resentments and then killed them, so that other prisoners in the camp would be obedient. That's why Zhu Ping asked this question. Zhu Su waved his hand and denied, "Hey, second brother, your fifth brother and I have always convinced people with virtue. How could we use such bloody, violent and abusive methods?"
"Don't worry, I have my own way to make these prisoners obedient." After saying that, he gave the dog a few more words. After hearing this, the dog nodded and went to do it himself.
…
The next day, a group of prisoners were escorted by King Wu's guards and went to the rocky mountains in the south of Changli County to mine bricks and stones. These prisoners had already had their weapons and armor confiscated, and they had been beaten up by the two brothers Zhu Su and Zhu Di. They had lost much of their temper at this time.
I also heard that His Highness the Fifth Prince promised to set them free as soon as the Changli City Wall was repaired. Each of these prisoners was even more excited. Their feet were tied obediently, and they traveled back and forth between Yanshan and the outside of Changli County. Stone builds walls.
In the evening, a group of prisoners returned to the prison camp out of breath. They were about to line up to receive today's portion of fried rice, but were informed by the Ming army who distributed the rice grains: According to the order of the King of Wu, starting today, the prison camp expenses will be reduced from the original The two meals a day were directly changed to one meal a day.
There's no dinner tonight!
"This... how could it not be possible! Today we have worked hard to cut the rocks and transport them to the city wall. The physical exertion is even greater than usual. Why do we usually have two meals, but today there is only one meal left? What is this? What's the point?" One of the prisoners said angrily.
To be fair, the treatment given to prisoners of the Ming army was quite comfortable. Except for a few Ming army generals who liked to kill prisoners (such as Chang Yuchun), most of the Ming army generals treated prisoners under Lao Zhu's repeated orders. A humanitarian policy was adopted.
Not only did the supply of food equal to that of the regular army, but those who were willing to join the Ming Guards to serve their crimes, the Ming army also adopted a policy of equal treatment and did not easily regard the surrendered troops as cannon fodder, etc., and were even willing to allocate land to these surrendered troops and give them military household’s identity. This also led to the fact that more than half of the millions of Ming troops were surrendered. Even many of the famous Ming generals today were surrendered by Lao Zhu from various forces.
This kind of gentle policy toward surrendering troops is also one of Lao Zhu's major political tactics. Under such a policy, from the Northern Yuan Dynasty to the generals of various forces who fought with Lao Zhu for hegemony in the past, they would not fight to the death with the Ming Dynasty: anyway, the Zhu family would not kill prisoners and surrender to the Ming Dynasty. There were so many people who later became marquises and prime ministers. It wouldn't be a shame if we surrendered when we couldn't defeat them.
Therefore, most of the Yuan Dynasty soldiers who were captured by the Ming Dynasty would not actively resist. After all, soldiers have to eat food, so where can they eat without eating? Whether this world belongs to the Yuan Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty, it actually doesn't matter to these low-level soldiers.
But now, the prince of the Ming Dynasty actually reduced their food and grass expenses, which made these prisoners a little dissatisfied. A few days ago, there were two handfuls of fried rice a day, but today there is only one handful left. Could it be that the Ming prince wants to starve us to death?
"Want to have an extra meal? That's easy." The Ming army soldier looked up and down at the prisoner who first expressed his dissatisfaction, and then said: "This brother looks like a Han... Could it be that his ancestors are also from China?" Descendants?"
"His Highness said, I, the Zhu family of the Ming Dynasty, became the emperor due to heaven's destiny. In essence, I became the patriarch of all the Chinese people. Since I have become the patriarch of China, there is no reason to let the descendants of the Chinese people suffer from hunger. "
"As long as you can prove that your ancestors were our Chinese subjects and not invaders of the Tartars, you will not only get an extra handful of fried rice, but also some more wild vegetables."
(End of chapter)
