diskusbooks Chapter 226 Meng Qian Meng Xue
Chapter 226 Meng Qian Meng Xue
After conveying the imperial will to the front line of Yingzhou, Wang Quan waited for several days in the government office of Shuozhou City, but there was no movement from the front line of Yingzhou. Instead, he received a joint official document from the King of Qin and Yang Ye, saying that the vanguard general Yang Yanzhao was seriously injured and had not recovered, and the front-line soldiers were injured and exhausted and needed to rest for a few more days.
Wang Quan was so angry that he smashed a blue and white porcelain teacup and cursed loudly! Although there are special cases where a general does not obey the orders of the emperor when he is away from home, you actually dare to disobey the emperor's will and be lazy and afraid of fighting?
Yang Yanzhao is seriously injured and has not recovered yet. What are you, the Song Dynasty God of War Zhao Defang and the Golden Sword Yang Invincible, doing?
"Pen and ink are at your service!"
After cursing for a while, Wang Quan wrote furiously. One secret letter was sent to the capital to complain to the emperor, and another secret letter was sent to Yingzhou City to threaten and urge war.
The three commanders on the front line found various excuses to not send troops to the daily secret letters from the military supervisor Wang Quan, delaying until the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. They estimated that another secret decree from the emperor in the capital would arrive, so the King of Qin Zhao Defang ordered: "Send troops to capture Yunzhou tomorrow, and the army will go to Yunzhou City to celebrate the New Year."
Yang Yanzhao, who had not yet recovered from his injuries, was stationed in Yingzhou with two thousand troops. Qin Wang Zhao Defang and Yang Ye, the invincible master of the golden sword, led twenty-six thousand elite troops, carrying well-prepared siege equipment and supplies, and headed straight for Yunzhou City, two hundred miles away.
Yunzhou has a steep terrain, the city walls are thick and tall, and there are as many as 6,000 defenders in the city. It was originally thought that it would be a tough battle.
Unexpectedly, the defenders of Yunzhou City did not fight to the death. After the siege lasted for two hours, Yunzhou City was broken, and the flags of the Song army were planted on the city wall, while the large force of the Liao army in the city had already withdrawn from the east gate and fled.
Yang Ye stood on the city wall, looking at the city that had long been looted by the Liao army, with ruins everywhere, black smoke everywhere, and the people wailing miserably in the streets and alleys. After thinking for a moment, he said to Qin Wang Zhao Defang beside him: "Your Majesty, the Liao army abandoned the city and fled, probably to preserve their strength, and also to lure the enemy deeper.
We will follow the original plan and rest in Yunzhou City without making any moves!"
The King of Qin nodded and said, "All the food and supplies in the city have been taken away by the Liao army. Inform the commander Pan Mei and the military supervisor Wang Quan that the food and supplies and other logistical materials must be delivered to Yunzhou City as soon as possible."
Most of the Khitans in Yunzhou followed the defeated Liao army and left. Those who were looted in the city were mostly Han people. These Han people who had been ruled by foreigners for many years were not surprised or excited when they saw the Song army, who were of the same origin and ethnicity. They did not resist, but just looked at these soldiers numbly, waiting for their fate.
Luo Li rode on her horse, looking at the ordinary Han people whose facial features were the same as those of the Song people, whose clothes were ragged and worn but had not been styled by foreign races. They had numb expressions and empty eyes, and they cried softly and suppressedly over the corpses of their loved ones.
Luo Li was filled with sighs and emotions!
The mountains and rivers were broken and the wind was blowing catkins, the life was ups and downs like duckweed in the rain, the country was weak, and the days of being reduced to colonization were not easy. After Shi Jingtang, who left a bad name for all ages, gave up the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the Han people whose ancestors had lived in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were also sold as sacrifices.
Under the rule of foreign races, they are the lowest class of untouchables. They do the most menial and tiring work, supporting the noble masters who are high above them, without human rights, dignity, or life protection. At the beginning, they will resist with anger, but after a long time, they will become numb and become the lowly "four-legged beasts" in the eyes of foreign races.
Two skinny figures on the roadside made Luo Li pull the reins of the horse involuntarily. A boy of about eight or nine years old, holding a girl of four or five years old in his arms, sat quietly on a stone pier on the roadside. The two children were thin and unkempt. The boy looked calmly at the Song army passing by, and the girl's eyes were full of fear and anxiety.
At their feet was the body of a man with a bloody wound on his chest. The dark red blood had stained a large irregular pattern on his gray cotton robe.
The dead man's eyes were wide open, looking at the sky, as if it was a silent accusation of dying with his eyes open.
The background of this picture is a burnt building. The smoke-blackened walls are standing stubbornly, and smoke is still coming out of the collapsed roof.
Luo Li got off the horse, walked to the two children who were cuddling together, squatted down, and asked softly: "Where is your home? Is this deceased your relative?"
The boy hugged the girl tighter, and the girl grabbed the boy's clothes tightly.
Looking at the strange and beautiful woman in front of him, he turned around and pointed at the burnt house, saying calmly: "Our home is gone." He then looked down at the dead body on the ground: "This is our father. He was stabbed to death by the Khitans."
Luo Li felt a pain in her heart, and was also a little curious, "You have lost your home, your father is dead, why don't you cry?"
"Dad said crying is useless." After a moment of silence, the boy added, "The Han people here may die at any time. My mother was killed by the Khitans last year. Dad didn't let us cry. He told us to find a way to stay alive and kill the Khitans to avenge my mother when we grow up."
Luo Li's heart felt like it was being plucked by a hand. The fate of the children here was even more miserable than the Palestinian children she had seen on TV in her previous life.
"If you want to avenge your family when you grow up, come with me!"
"Is there any food? My sister has been hungry for two days." The boy asked calmly.
"Yes! There's hot food for you to eat." Hong Gu, who was standing at the back, interrupted with red eyes.
The boy looked at Luo Li quietly for a while, and Luo Li also looked at him gently.
The boy finally nodded, "Okay! We'll go with you."
The government office in Yunzhou was also completely looted, but the Liao army was reluctant to burn the houses. Perhaps they thought they could still fight back?
When King Qin Zhao Defang saw Luo Li bringing back two children, he didn't ask anything, but smiled warmly at the two children who were holding hands tightly together.
Hong Gu had already gone to the kitchen to boil water and cook two packets of instant noodles. She opened a can of meat and put in half the can of pork.
When Hong Gu brought up two large bowls of fragrant pork instant noodles, the two children whose faces Luo Li had just washed turned their heads back at the same time, staring at the two bowls of noodles on the tray with bright eyes, their stomachs growling. They did not move, but just withdrew their gaze from the bowls and looked up at Luo Li.
Luo Li smiled, "Your hungry stomach is rebelling, and the growling protest is so loud? Go eat quickly!"
The two children were really hungry and cold. The little girl's hands were shaking as she held the chopsticks. She had not cried until now, but now her tears were falling into the bowl.
The boy put two pieces of meat into his sister's bowl and wiped her tears with his dirty sleeves. "Xue'er, don't cry. Try it. This meat is delicious."
"Brother, eat by yourself. There is plenty of meat in my bowl." The little girl, who had been silent the whole time, had a sweet and crisp childish voice.
The brother and sister wolfed down the big bowl of noodles, not even a drop of soup was left. The little girl named Xueer stroked her bloated belly and sighed like an adult, "Brother, I didn't expect that meat would be so delicious!"
Luo Li couldn't help but burst out laughing, and looked at Hong Gu lovingly as the little brother and sister ate noodles, with the corners of her lips curved up.
"Now that you're full and satisfied, tell me about your identities and experiences!" Luo Li said to the brother and sister while drinking hot tea.
The boy's name is Meng Qian and the girl's name is Meng Xue. Their father opened a small clinic in Yunzhou City with his ancestral medical skills.
Life should have been prosperous, but the Khitans set the status of the Han people as the lowest class of untouchables.
Not to mention the extortion of heavy taxes and levies, many of the arrogant Khitans who came to the clinic for medical treatment and medicine were arrogant and refused to pay a penny. Some even blackmailed people by claiming that the medicine was ineffective and had made people worse.
The Meng family clinic often had more expenses than income, and they could not even have enough food. Last year, a Khitan nobleman came to the clinic for treatment and broke into the backyard to make a fuss. When he saw Meng Qianniang hanging clothes in the backyard, he became beastly and bit her when he was trying to hurt her, so he drew his sword and killed her.
Doctor Meng rushed forward to fight desperately, but his leg was broken by the servant brought by the beast. Little Meng Qian rushed forward with a stick, but before he could hit anyone, he was kicked out hard and hit the wall, losing consciousness.
When he woke up, his mother was dead and his father's right leg was broken. His little sister, who was playing at the aunt's house next door when the accident happened, was holding his mother's body and crying heart-wrenchingly.
Last night, when the Liao army broke into the clinic, looted it, and set the house on fire, Doctor Meng, who was protecting his two children, just swore once before being stabbed to death by the brutal Liao army.
After Meng Qian finished his story, he clenched his fists tightly, his chest heaving violently. Although he tried hard not to cry, his teeth were broken and blood was flowing from the corners of his lips.
Little Meng Xue's tears were streaming down her face. She could no longer hold back her tears, but she just kept her mouth shut to prevent any sound from coming out.
Luo Li stretched out her arms and held the two children in her arms. This kind of pain could not be comforted by words, so she could only silently give them some comfort with her warmth.
Hong Gu, who looked cold but had a kind heart, kept wiping away her tears. Five-year-old Xue'er was the same age as her daughter, which made her motherly love overflow.