Chapter 48

  "Today's dinner is settled, let's have an extra dish everyone."

  When Commander Yu finished speaking, Wei, the deputy commander, heard this and his hand trembled as he drew a picture of the old master. Suddenly, a sense of helplessness arose, and Fang said that this adult had spoken astonishing words again. Just imagine the expressions of those subordinates at the scene.

  There are at least several thousand dead horses on the ground, and with the hot weather, it's easy to spread disease. I've been thinking about this for half a day, so I said as much. Turning around, I saw the crowd of generals making a commotion like they were about to turn the world upside down.

  Just now, I saw the general standing in front of the shrine, speechless for a long time. Looking at the chaotic scene with corpses scattered all over the battlefield under the gloomy sky, he seemed to be deeply moved. Some of his subordinates came forward to comfort him, saying that as his subordinates they were willing to share his worries. But unexpectedly, this general stood there stupidly for half a day, and then said something that made everyone want to fall over, if there was a wall nearby it would be easy to knock against it... This old man's way of thinking is really... different from the others.

  It's hard to figure out what he's thinking, but it's not bad that he's showing a different side of himself. Just now, I was moved by his decision to respect the enemy and order the burial of their bodies to prevent disease, but now my emotions have turned into an inexplicable mix of laughter and tears. And then he spoke again.

  "Moreover, let the refugees handle the burial. Pass down the order that for each body buried, they can take a pound of horse meat from the central army. Although these corpses are those of our enemies, since they have proven their bravery and worth with their lives, we can also give them due respect." The generals all nodded in agreement.

  Horse meat may be a bit rough, but it's still meat after all. I believe those guys who haven't had a decent meal in days and are so hungry their eyes are turning green won't mind at all.

  The man's hands scooped up the horse meat stew with wild vegetables, which became a memorable meal for many people in their lifetime. However, he also inexplicably gained the reputation of being a cannibal.

  Due to the large number of wounded and sick, the troops rested for a day before continuing on their journey. Fortunately, with double the number of sentries and scouts dispatched, no signs of enemy approach were detected. Over the past three days, some other things have also happened.

  First, it was the little girl who hadn't been seen for many days. As soon as she appeared, she gave me a big "surprise". In order to practice her ideal kitchen, she "sneakily" ran into the military officer's special kitchen tent and made it her own experimental field. My subordinates were exhausted and complained bitterly, until they couldn't bear it anymore and collectively came to ask me to hurry up and save everyone's dinner. When those three or five rough cooks saw me, their pitiful expressions made my skin crawl, and I couldn't help but mutter to myself, "What does this have to do with me?"

  As a result, the culprit was blocked by me and scolded to tears. She showed me the blisters on her small hands, recounting how she had painstakingly worked hard to produce a charred and still-smoking outcome. Counting on her fingers, she enumerated the many things I owed her, but it was those who followed me to suffer who couldn't help but plead for mercy. In the end, I personally taught her how to make a sizzling hot stone-cooked meal, and only then did I let her off after granting her three more stories.

  Then, there was another incident of civilians gathering to ask for orders, and even some soldiers were mixed in. This led to the division of troops.

  Because the people who gathered to beg for their lives were densely surrounding the procession, it frightened the emperor and his entourage, thinking that another military coup had occurred. On one hand, they were on high alert, trying to calm down the crown prince; on the other hand, they urgently summoned me to inquire about the situation. Upon hearing that it was a collective petition and not a military coup, I also breathed a sigh of relief. However, the emperor's side is extremely sensitive, so I had to send my deputy general over to explain thoroughly. Moreover, although it was just a petition, if handled improperly, there was still a possibility of it turning into chaos. It wasn't until we arrived at the scene that we realized it was an accumulation of problems during this period all erupting at once.

  Originally, there were people who proposed to return to Guanzhong and called on the people to resist the enemy with provocative slogans, which I suppressed. But this time is different, originally it was a series of victories along the way, and a big victory was won, plus some guys had political purposes and exaggerated the war achievements too much, many people thought that the bandit army was not to be feared, even the strongest Yelü River was nothing but this, and suddenly their confidence surged, they voluntarily wanted to fight back to Chang'an, recover their hometown, and with instigation from some people, it became very fierce. The majority of the soldiers were from Guanzhong, and some were recruited from the refugees, who couldn't help but meet fellow villagers in the large group of refugees, learn about the suffering of their hometown, worry about their families who didn't escape, and the emotions that had been building up along the way burst out, adding fuel to the fire, and many responded.

  Although the majority of foreign soldiers may not agree, I still have an absolute advantage in terms of appeal within the military. After I and the prince took turns playing good cop and bad cop to persuade them, they eventually dispersed. Although these people are also commendable and understandable, their actions are not beneficial for the current situation. Simply suppressing them is not a solution, and problems will arise sooner or later. Moreover, there's the crime of disturbing the imperial carriage, which raises another issue regarding how to deal with the ringleaders.

  The one who was pushed to the forefront by everyone is someone I know, and even promoted, who is rare in being calm and composed. Although he is an old North Army veteran, he does not have the common arrogant and radical habits of the old North Army's aristocratic sons, nor is he a person who does not understand reason. He has many admirers among his subordinates, and when questioned, many people voluntarily took on the responsibility for him, which surprised me greatly. However, I had no choice but to resolutely suppress any signs of division within the army during this extraordinary period.

  He didn't make any excuses for himself, but instead took the blame and made it clear that everything was just a manifestation of the soldiers' homesickness. Although I didn't understand the reason, I saw a resolute expression in his eyes. It gave me some other ideas.

  I let the soldier take twenty men and shake the military heart, then ask him if he is willing to lead the army to cut off the rear, everyone thinks this is my disguised punishment, and it is also a relatively dignified treatment for real soldiers. Sure enough, he thanked me with gratitude for sparing his life, knowing that this departure may be mostly a dead end, but he can stay behind and has a heroic and selfless spirit.

  Everyone thought it was settled, but I suddenly made a shocking statement: "I have already petitioned the Emperor to appoint you as the rear guard of the enemy's tour, and you can choose 1,000 men to specifically investigate the situation in Guanzhong. The Emperor has specially granted the title 'Jingnan Army'". This caused a huge commotion, and he was also unbelievable. I actually made the fake become true.

  "This wasn't a sudden idea of mine, I had planned to use him to resolve some unstable factors. You all said you wanted to return to Chang'an, so go ahead and leave, these guys can't stay in the army with peace of mind anyway. But even if it seems like sending them to their deaths, we can't let them die that easily. I also said 'There are also captured warhorses, take them all away'."

  He again instructed, "In the enemy's rear, be cautious and remember: when the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy rests, we harass..." He imparted the 16-character essence of Comrade Mao's guerrilla warfare. Once more, he revealed that resolute and intense gaze of a general who knew his men. "...Guerrilla warfare values speed and agility, avoiding strength and attacking weakness, never engaging in a war of attrition." Wu Yu was speechless and bowed deeply once again.

  After hearing this, even among the onlookers who were originally just watching the excitement, many of those who still thought "it's common knowledge that this pass has already been occupied by the rebels, what can these few people do, aren't they just going to go and die?" quickly changed their attitude to one of solemnity and admiration. In an atmosphere filled with gratitude and respect, it was a relatively satisfactory resolution to the matter.

  Of course, if someone asks about it in the future, my explanation is that although there are many annoying people, I wouldn't go so far as to waste the lives of soldiers for personal reasons at the expense of the greater good of the country.

  In comparison, as we approached Shu, the terrain gradually rose, and the ravines and mountains increased, making the road increasingly rugged, forcing us to abandon some of the cumbersome baggage that was easily obstructing our path. We also lost some horses and carts, fortunately with only a few casualties, which is not worth mentioning.

  But when we arrived at San Chuan Kou Gu Zhai, a sudden message interrupted our journey. I don't know if it was the nth batch of palace people who escaped from Chang'an, bringing new news and a devastating disaster.

  Originally, Sun Xiaozhe and others were ordered to capture the imperial concubines, princes, and officials, as well as palace maids and eunuchs, and imprison them all. They then sent someone to report back to An Lushan. An Lushan was overjoyed and appointed Zhang Tongru as the defender of the Western Capital, while ordering Cui Guangyuan to be the prefect of Jingzhao. He also ordered An Zhongshu to lead troops to garrison in the imperial gardens, and issued a series of orders: first, if Tang officials were willing to surrender, they would be given official positions; second, to investigate the whereabouts of Yang Guifei's brothers and sisters; third, except for Chen Xiliang, Zhang Jun, and other brothers who had already surrendered, all imperial relatives in the capital, including princes, princesses, and those with imperial titles, were to be executed as a sacrifice to his son An Qingzong, who was killed in Chang'an at the beginning of the rebellion. As a result, more than ten days later, those captured imperial concubines, princes, and others, including the imperial horsemen, were all taken out of the city, paraded through the streets, and then led to the spirit tablet of An Qingzong's former residence in Chongren Alley, where they were beheaded one by one as a sacrifice. This was an act of extreme cruelty. Those who had been close to Yang Guozhong and Gao Lishi were also captured and killed, one by one. Even the family members of the princes and officials who had fled with the emperor were arrested and executed, including infants in swaddling clothes. Other performers from the Pear Garden Troupe, musicians from the Teaching Institute, as well as trained elephants and horses that had previously served the emperor, were all sent to Luoyang as rewards.

  The news spread and almost everyone was in a state of panic, with people wailing and crying out loud, filling the air with sorrow. Some weak individuals fainted from crying, leading to another chaotic scene.