Civilians were cleaning the battlefield, and prisoners were being held in centralized custody everywhere.

There are still thousands of soldiers who have pursued and defeated the troops but have not yet returned. Calculated based on time, they are estimated to have chased them seven or eight miles away.

Ju Ming had taken off his Heavenly King Armor and was constantly receiving and processing various battle reports. He took the time to ask: "What are you thinking about?"

Zhao Yu, who was captured before the battle, was in a daze at first. After he recovered, he began to think deeply. He replied: "I was wondering how I could lose so quickly."

"Have you come up with any results?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhao Yu said: "In a battle involving tens of thousands of people, you must be cautious. It is rare for a commander to directly order the entire army to press forward without probing and dealing with it. If you dare to do this, you are only making it difficult for me to command the ministries. The entire army presses forward. If the battle is disrupted, the rebels and soldiers will be in chaos, and the officers and soldiers will be even more chaotic. When the officers and soldiers become chaotic and the departments are not connected smoothly, you will lead the cavalry and charge directly at our central army."

"What nonsense is there?" Ju Ming said amusedly, "From the previous attack on the mountain to the artillery battle in front of the formation, the morale of the officers and soldiers was low. When you changed the formation, there was chaos. How could I miss the opportunity? The fruit is already ripe. Does it make any difference whether you pick it standing up, sitting down, picking it up on a ladder, or even cutting down the tree before picking it?"

"That's right." Zhao Yu nodded.

Bai Sheng suddenly ran over happily: "Secretary Zheng (Zheng Hong) counted the baggage and seized sixty-seven sets of infantry armor!"

Zhu Ming was in a great mood: "Let him keep it properly until I can reward him according to his merits and give it to the generals of the army."

The foot armor of the Song Dynasty was composed of more than a thousand armor leaves. The heaviest one weighed 70 kilograms (for a spearman), and the lighter one weighed more than 40 kilograms (for a crossbowman).

Zhao Yu felt very uncomfortable. Those dozens of pairs of infantry armor were found by Huang Gai in the military staff warehouse in Chengdu. They were specially selected to be worn by strong men. Zhao Yu arranged them in the central army, preparing to go into battle at the critical moment as a surprise force. Determine the situation of the battle.

As a result, those heavily armored warriors who had high hopes were dispersed when faced with the cavalry charge led by Ju Ming himself!

He usually eats plenty of meat to sustain himself, but in the face of battle he did not cause any harm to the bandits.

Zhao Yu muttered to himself: "What can be done about a man who makes trouble and kills seven temples, and dies at the hands of others, and makes the world laugh? If benevolence and righteousness are not applied, the offensive and defensive momentum will be different."

Ju Ming said: "You also know that benevolence and righteousness are not shown?"

Zhao Yu smiled bitterly: "As a member of the clan, I have made great achievements in the past, and the officials promoted me to be the Minister of the Ministry of War. But Tong Guan said a few words casually, and I could only resign. If the clan is like this, what more can the people do? Officials The family was deceived by treacherous ministers, which led to today's disaster."

"He is so smart, who could be deceived?" Ju Ming said with disdain.

Zhao Yu remained silent.

The soldiers who pursued the defeated army returned one after another with prisoners in tow.

The next day, there will be rewards for merit. Fifty sets of infantry armor will be given to generals, big and small. The other seven will be given to soldiers who are brave in battle.

There are still ten platoons left to reward Li Bao's troops.

The official positions of rebel generals follow the Song Dynasty system.

Today there are only two rulers, namely Zhang Guangdao and Li Bao.

The commanders of each army are called the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief.

Each battalion commander is the commander and deputy commander.

The generals were very happy after receiving the armor. This thing can save their lives.

Especially for generals who already have chain armor, if they wear a suit of walking armor on top, they can easily kill them with two layers of protection.

Unfortunately, it's a bit heavy. The two layers of armor added together weigh a total of eighty or ninety kilograms, and the lighter one weighs sixty-seven kilograms.

Corpses were displayed in the wild, and the prisoners lined up to identify them.

If any neighbors recognize him, he will be cremated immediately on the spot.

During the Song and Song Dynasties, cremation was the most popular dynasty in ancient Chinese society.

The closer you get to the capital, the more common cremations are.

The popular areas of cremation in the Northern Song Dynasty were in Kaifeng and Hedong. The popular areas of cremation in the Southern Song Dynasty were in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Sichuan.

The reason is: there are so many people and so little space.

(There are exceptions. Cremation was also popular in the Song Dynasty in Lianghu, a vast and sparsely populated area.)

Among the archaeological tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty in Sichuan, more than 80% are cremation tombs!

One corpse after another was cremated, and the ashes were wrapped in the clothes of the deceased and taken back to their hometown by their fellow villagers for burial.

Most of these were trampled to death, and less than 15% were actually killed by the rebels.

Huang Gai, who ran away quickly, has been captured and can move relatively freely. Looking at the scene of the ashes being burned, he sighed: "This move by the Zhu Thief will surely end Sichuan!"

"How can such a talented person become a thief?" Zhao Yu shook his head repeatedly.

The two of them were defeated and must bear the responsibility for losing Sichuan.

Ju Ming did not intend to kill him, but sent him back to Tokyo to be dealt with by the Hun Jun. He would probably be removed from the list of supervisors, and would die in a foreign land from old age. What happened to the two of them would chill the hearts of more loyal ministers.

Gao Jingshan hid himself and did not dare to see anyone. He deliberately avoided Zhao Yu and Huang Gai. He could hide it for a while and try not to drag down the family.

The idea of ​​cremating the body and returning the ashes was proposed by Gao Jingshan. It can gain three major benefits:

First, prevent the occurrence of plague.

Second, calm the hearts of the captives.

Third, appease the people in Shu and spread the reputation of benevolence and righteousness.

The captives who were initially frightened quickly settled down after receiving the ashes of their compatriots, and did not even think about escaping.

Since they are allowed to take the ashes of their neighbors home, they will definitely not be killed and will be released.

Although they didn't have enough to eat every day, they worked very actively. The prisoners rushed to complete whatever tasks were assigned by the rebels, just to perform better and go home early.

Ju Ming rested for a few days and then led the entire army south.

After arriving in Mianzhou, all prisoners were immediately released and given a small amount of food to allow them to return home.

Li Bao led his troops back to the original route and attacked Hezhou and Quzhou again, blocking the retreat of the Kuizhou soldiers - those guys had already recaptured the entire territory of Bazhou.

Lin Chong and Bai Qi led the army south to capture Jianzhou (Jianyang), Ziyang, Zizhou (Zizhong), and Neijiang. The ultimate goal was to capture Fushunjian. It was a tax-rich area and there were a large number of salt wells in several surrounding states and counties.

Zhu Ming personally led the main force and headed straight for Chengdu!

…

On the outskirts of Huayang County, the ancestral home of the Wang family.

The old servant ran into the study: "Ms. sir, the children from all the families are back!"

Wang Zhongao asked: "How many are you coming back?"

"All those who survived came back, and they brought back some ashes," the old servant said in detail. "They were caught by the bandits, but they were not mistreated. They were able to receive food rations and return to their hometowns. It seems that the bandits were not indiscriminate murderers.

"

Wang Zhongao sat at his desk and sighed: "With this approach, the people in the prefectures and counties around Chengdu will no longer have any resistance. As long as the Zhu thieves do not exploit too much and levy slightly less taxes than the government, they will surely win the submission of the masses. It is really a clever method.

Sending rural soldiers back to their hometowns with their ashes is a hundred times better than training captives into soldiers!"

Wang Zhongao went out on crutches, and people kept greeting him respectfully.

Arriving at the threshing floor in the village, many villagers gathered in the middle of winter, and a group of soldier soldiers were telling their experiences.

"General Zhu is very majestic. He is wearing a pair of golden armor, just like the king of heaven in the temple," a young man said with great joy, seeming to have stepped out of the shadows. "General Zhu's horse is also a sacred horse. I was assigned as the queen at that time.

The army was sent to stop General Zhu's charge. Thousands of soldiers from the right army were frightened when they met General Zhu's hundreds of cavalry. How could I dare to stop them? I fled with Pao Ze, only regretting that my parents were gone.

I had two extra legs. I didn’t run very far when I heard a lot of people shouting from behind. When I turned around, I saw that the Chinese army’s flag had fallen down.”

Another young man said: "I am in the Chinese army. General Zhao asked us to form a formation and raise our guns. We are not fools. The rear army has collapsed. Can the Chinese army stop it? Even those heavily armored warriors dare not stop it.

Wearing dozens of kilograms of armor, they all ran faster than me. But I could clearly see that General Zhu was riding a yellow gelding. He rushed up the hill as if he was flying. The iron mace in his hand weighed several dozen kilograms, and his arms

The thick flagpole of the Chinese Army broke with just one hit with my mace!"

The villagers were amazed and admired the bravery of the red thieves. No wonder they dared to rebel.

Those soldiers who returned home also spoke more and more exaggeratedly.

Because the more powerful Zhu Ming is described, the more excusable their defeat is. It’s not that he is weak and can’t fight, but that General Zhu is too brave!

Another young man said: "General Zhu sent people to tell him that if he takes Sichuan, he will definitely not collect heavy taxes like the government. He will definitely not collect free money, nor will he collect money from the land, nor will he collect business money. That's why.

Even the wine and vinegar tax has been reduced back to five years ago, and he refuses to recognize the wine and vinegar tax imposed by the foolish emperor!"

"If you don't charge a lot of taxes, you'll live a good life!"

"General Zhu is a good thief."

"Not a good thief, but a good person."

"I don't know. Whether General Zhu means what he says or not, he might be deceiving us again."

"Why are you coaxing me? They sent all the ashes back, which is very benevolent and righteous. In previous years, the government forcibly recruited tea bearers. Those tea bearers died outside, and the government did not see the ashes brought back."

"..."

Wang Zhongao stood outside the threshing floor, listened quietly for a while, sighed and left silently.

It is a foregone conclusion that the Zhu Thief will take over Chengdu. I don't know whether it will be good or bad for the Wang family.

I am afraid that the imperial court will send troops to conquer all year round. In order to fight the war, the thieves will imitate the government and impose excessive taxes. At that time, they will only be more ruthless than the imperial court. They will rebel in order to survive, but there is no bottom line.

The prisoners returned home with their ashes, and the news quickly spread throughout various states and counties, and they also brought back news of the rebels' "benevolent government."

The so-called benevolent government is nothing more than collecting less taxes.
To be continued...