As soon as these words came out, the faces of the people below showed worried expressions. Gao Heng was telling the truth. If they leave the city now, depending on their physical condition, they will arrive at Zhennanguan on the 4th or 5th day, or the 6th or 7th day. Perhaps they were all miserable. These immigrants were tortured in the concentration camps for several months, lacking food and clothing. Each of the children had a bulging head and a bulging belly. The ribs on their chests were clearly visible. They were obviously suffering from severe malnutrition.
Young men and women are all pretty, with sallow complexions and thin bodies. They live a life of not having enough to eat every day, or even not having enough food to eat all day long. How can they have a healthy body? The middle-aged and elderly people are even more embarrassed. There has just been a riot, and everyone has exhausted almost all their physical strength. Now they have to stop and take a few breaths even if they walk a few steps. With such physical conditions, if they organize an escape now, they will definitely was overtaken by Annan's army.
It would be very easy for the Annan soldiers who arrived later to discover the anomaly in leaving the county. The defeated soldiers under Zheng Guang's command must have passed the news back. As long as the generals behind were not fools, they would definitely arrange for people to investigate the cities near Yuan County. By then, I can't hide the situation of leaving the county even if I want to.
But this brings up another problem. If they don't go to Zhennanguan, what should they do next?
The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, then asked: "General Gao, what you said makes sense. With our current situation, it is definitely not realistic to go to Zhennanguan, but if you can avoid the first grade of junior high school, you can't avoid the fifteenth grade. The situation here is Sooner or later they will be discovered. These Annan people dare not attack Zhennanguan. If they turn around and escape from the county, how should we respond? By then, tens of thousands of us men, women, and children will probably be driven out and killed by them."
The middle-aged man expressed everyone's worries, and everyone agreed. There was a buzz below the city tower. It was obvious that after everyone reacted, they realized that the situation was quite dangerous. They did not want to escape from the wolves and enter the tiger's mouth again. .
Gao Heng took a deep breath and said: "So we have to save ourselves. It is wise to seek help from others rather than ourselves. Now we are isolated and helpless. This county town is our last place to live. If we abandon the city, we will become theirs in the wild." A living target. If we hold on to the city, we still have a glimmer of hope."
"What? Hold on to the city?" "Just rely on us?" "How is this possible?" The crowd started to commotion. It was obvious that everyone was shocked by Gao Heng's words. It was only up to them, the overseas Chinese, who had never even been on the battlefield, to How can the expatriates who still don’t have enough to eat hold the county seat of Tuoxian? What's more, there are a large number of old, weak, women and children among them. Only a few young and strong people can be used to fight out of these 10,000 people, which seems not to be enough.
The middle-aged man asked again: "May I ask the general, how many reinforcements are there from the enemy?"
Gao Heng pondered for a moment and said, "No more than ten thousand."
Oops! Everyone took a breath. The Annan people really spent a lot of money. There are no more than 10,000 people. The total number of expats here is only 10,000. What should we do? Even if we gather all the young and strong people, there will be more than 1,000 at most. People, one thousand against ten thousand, civilians against regular troops, this is simply an impossible task.
Some people in the crowd began to cry. They knew that although they were temporarily rescued, if the enemy army arrived, it would be the end of them. The women hugged their children tightly. It didn't matter if they died. But what to do with the children? Those inhuman Annamites will definitely be eradicated.
"Save yourself! The only way to survive is to save yourself. In this troubled world, none of you can be relied on. If you don't want to die, you must try every means to save yourself!" A voice exploded in the air like a thunderbolt in the clear sky, and people cried suddenly. Then they all looked up at Gao Heng on the tower.
Gao Heng's eyes were firm, he glanced around the crowd and said: "Since I, Gao Heng, and the twenty brothers under my command are willing to risk their lives to come here, they have never thought of giving up. When I was in the army, I said I wanted to rescue them. Shangguan still thought that I was talking about these ten thousand people, but I never thought that this was nonsense. When I came, I had to do things well. At first, my brothers came here for the reward of silver and participated in the rescue. , you can get a reward of one hundred taels of silver."
Gao Heng paused and said: "I want to ask my brothers. The people have not been rescued yet. You have two ways to go now. Otherwise, take the 150 taels of silver reward you promised before and evacuate now. With your level, you can reach Zhennanguan in one day, and everything here has nothing to do with you. The second way is to stay, fight side by side with the expatriates, win, and get more silver rewards. You are all now It is already equivalent to a small banner of the Ming army. If the people below want to protect themselves, they must choose people to serve as soldiers, then you will be directly promoted to the general banner, and each of you will have dozens of people as subordinates."
Gao Heng added: "However, let's be honest, since it is a war, there will be casualties. I, Gao Heng, am not completely sure whether all twenty brothers can survive. If you are willing to follow me, please stay. If you don't want to, you can take the money and leave now, I, Gao Heng, will never force you."
As soon as Gao Heng finished speaking, a captain covered in blood stood up and said: "Boss, with all due respect, I originally participated in the plan to assassinate Zheng Guang just to win a bounty. Fifty taels is already enough for me. The huge wealth, now that we have invaded Tuo County, has increased by one hundred taels and one hundred and fifty taels of silver. I have never seen so much money in my life. I, I think, it is enough."
Five or six more people stood up and said, "Boss, we, we think the same way."
Gao Heng asked again: "Where are the remaining brothers? Are there any left?" No one answered.
Gao Heng nodded and said: "Thank you for your hard work on this journey. The money is in those boxes. Take it now, bring food and water, and set off. The mountain road is difficult and dangerous, so be careful."
These seven people gave Gao Heng a heavy fist, then walked aside and took the silver from the box.
Gao Heng shouted to the people below again: "Do you, any of you expatriates, want to leave?"
There was silence and no one answered. It wasn't that they didn't want to leave, but that they understood that among this group of people, only the young and middle-aged people could barely give it a try, and the remaining women, children and the elderly would not have time to leave even if they did. Young adults are their fathers, sons, and husbands. They cannot abandon their families and leave alone. They cannot pass the test of conscience. What's more, many people have a deep hatred against the Annan Army. If they hadn't caused trouble, how could their families have been destroyed?
"We won't leave, we won't leave!" "Stay and fight with them!" "I want to protect my family!"
The men below the city shouted to the top of the city.
Gao Heng patted the bricks at the crenel and said: "Well, since everyone is not leaving, please believe me. According to my judgment, it will be at least three to five days before the enemy discovers the situation in Yuan County and sends troops to fight. We must use these three to five days to recover our physical strength and conduct brief training on the one hand, and on the other hand to make city defense weapons and gather all the things we can use at hand. Since we are defending the city, it is related to everyone's life and death. Then we cannot distinguish between men, women, old and young, no matter who we are, we must do our part.”
Gao Heng clenched his fist and said: "Everyone, we have only one goal, to survive!"
"Please live! Please live! Please live!" The people's emotions were ignited by Gao Heng. They raised their hands and shouted loudly the word "Please live." They wanted to live so much. When the Annan people came to ransack their homes, they didn't. Resistance is to survive. When they were caught in the military camp, they did not resist and wanted to live. When many of them were tortured to death, the remaining people still did not resist and they still wanted to live.
But now, they have no way out. The Annan people are very vindictive. Once the soldiers press the border, a more tragic ending will be waiting for them. They may die if they advance, but they will definitely die if they retreat. In this case, everyone is gone. Superfluous choices, they must fight as hard as I can until the last drop of blood is shed for their families.
Gao Heng then announced three decrees. The first was to expel all prisoners of war and Annan people in Tuo County. They could go wherever they wanted, but they could no longer stay in the city, and nothing could be taken away, no matter gold or silver. The treasure is still food and water. Anyway, they can find various counties in Annan by walking a certain distance south or north, and they will not die of hunger.
The second is to select young and strong people among the expatriates and organize them into an army. Although their combat effectiveness may be very poor, no matter what, since it is a war, it is impossible to rush forward in a swarm. Everyone must have a clear division of labor. Organize into an army, put on the captured Annan army armor, and first temporarily arm them.
The third is that the remaining people cannot be idle. Everyone collects supplies as required. This time, Gao Heng will not fight in the wild with the enemy. He must make full use of the city's advantages to carry out defensive warfare. On the one hand, it requires the people to repair it. The city, Annan's border county can only be described as shabby, especially a county like Tuoxian with little sense of existence. It is necessary to demolish private houses and repair the city walls, and the city gate holes must be blocked to prevent the enemy from using artillery to collapse them. The city walls or city gates were blown open.
Women, children, and the elderly were to collect supplies. Everything that could be used to defend the city needed to be collected. In addition, although Gao Heng promised to let the Annan people go, the original craftsmen in the city were kept. Gao Heng promised to ensure their life safety and give them some compensation after the war was over to let them go. These people did not dare to resist. Able to obey orders.
At the same time, the original skilled craftsmen among the expatriates were also selected. Gao Heng gathered them together with the Annan craftsmen, told them that they had more urgent production tasks, and assigned them to work in the craftsmen's shops in the city.
After the division of labor, people took action quickly. The Annan people and prisoners were quickly driven out of the city. Although they were crying for their parents, after all, many people had spent their entire lives in the city. If they were driven out now, there would be nothing. To be sure, these people have directly become poor. Even if they go to other counties, they don't know how to live. But now, it's good to be able to leave. If those expatriates are liquidated, it will be troublesome.
Driven by the young men under Gao Heng's command and the expatriates, all these people had no choice but to leave the city. The city gate closed with a bang, and the world immediately became much cleaner. Now there are only the rescued expatriates left in the city. They immediately found an empty house as a shelter, then searched for food everywhere and gathered the food they could collect. Gao Heng told them that they didn’t know how long the battle would last, so Food cannot be wasted, especially since they have been hungry for a long time and cannot overeat for the first time. All food should be handed over to the army. It is best for the army to manage it uniformly and centralize the food into the county government treasury.
At this moment, all the overseas Chinese in the city share the same hatred. Everyone understands the importance of this battle. It is a matter of life and death, and no one is ambiguous.
Gao Heng asked Wu Rong to go to the craftsman's shop and simply drew a sketch and handed it to him, asking him to order the craftsmen to make a weapon according to the design of the sketch. Although Wu Rong didn't particularly understand it, he vaguely felt the usefulness of this weapon, so He did not dare to neglect and immediately went to arrange it.
Lu Tao took the old brothers who stayed behind to select young people. According to Gao Heng's idea, among the ten thousand people, the young people should select at least one thousand people. These one thousand people would be their main force to defend the city. The best age is between sixteen and thirty years old. Of course, men between the ages of thirty and fifty must also select a thousand people as support troops or reserve teams, responsible for rescuing the wounded and transporting equipment.
In addition to collecting supplies, the remaining people also had to prepare weapons for defending the city, such as making gold juice and gray bottles, demolishing houses, and collecting tiles and bricks as throwing weapons. They also had to sew clothes for the soldiers and boil water for cooking. Fortunately, there are several wells in the city, so drinking water is not a problem.
As the temporary headquarters of the county government, Gao Heng came to take the central command. Although the enemy's arrival time was estimated to be three to five days, Gao Heng actually only gave himself three days. In three days, initial results would be achieved. There is not much time left for him.
In the county government office, a middle-aged man was invited by Gao Heng and was sitting in the hall at the moment. This person was none other than the middle-aged man who had just led the riot in the camp. He was also the one who talked to Gao Heng outside the city. From his conversation, Gao Heng felt that this person was not simple. After asking about it, he found out that he was an expatriate. It is also his credit for cooperating with the frontal combat, so he was specially invited to talk about it.
The middle-aged man was completely different from his previous appearance. He washed up, found clean clothes in the house, put them on, and came to the county government office to wait for Gao Heng. As soon as Gao Heng came out of the back hall, he saw the middle-aged man. Upon closer inspection, he seemed to have the air of a scholar, and he did not look like a hunter, businessman, or farmer.
Gao Heng imitated the ancients and raised his hands and said, "May I ask your surname, sir?"
The middle-aged man turned around, took a step forward and returned the salute: "I don't dare. I, Cheng Zilong, have met the general."
