"The commander and the general are not ordinary people; it is I who have been ignorant."
"The commander is indeed extraordinary. At his age, he is so skilled in military strategy and personnel management. One day, he will surely achieve great things. People like me can only feel most comfortable and happy serving under him." Fang Fengyi stared at his subordinates for a long time, but did not say what was in his heart. He was not a person who liked to praise those he respected, so he smiled and said, "After fighting for so long, everyone is tired. The enemy will not come back for a while. Except for the guards and sentries, all soldiers should go back and rest well."
On the opposite bank of the river, the Soviet army, which originally numbered in the hundreds of thousands, had lost a third of its forces, and every day entire platoons of soldiers deserted. The generals were helpless; the provisions they had prepared and stockpiled in the rear had now fallen into the hands of the Peace Army. Their hard-earned supplies had become enemy aid, and they themselves were without supplies. Soldiers subsisting on only two bowls of thin porridge a day—you couldn't expect them to fight with any more fighting spirit.
Soviet commander-in-chief Veben was a veteran of the army, extremely experienced and battle-hardened, but now he had to admit that his survival after so many battles was not due to his own prowess, but rather to his exceptionally good luck. Now, his good fortune seemed to have run out, and irreversible collapse lay before him. Yet the old man remained spirited, and his stubborn temper was even more pronounced than usual.
"It's impossible for me to surrender." Upon receiving the letter sent by Fang Fengyi, he tore it to shreds without even reading it. "Guards, take this envoy out and give him twenty lashes before letting him in to talk. If it weren't for the rule that envoys are not killed in battle, I would have cut off a thousand heads for him."
Although he sent the Peace Army's envoys back, he couldn't stop the rapid spread of rumors in the camp. Claims such as the Peace Army saying that one could return home safely simply by laying down their weapons spread throughout the camp almost overnight, thanks to the combined efforts of those who were interested and those who weren't. Desertion rates rose daily, and although officers executed more than ten captured soldiers and increased security, they couldn't stop it.
The weather grew colder day by day, and so did Wei Bian's heart. The army's grain reserves were like porridge, enough for only three days. Now, the only option was to take grain from the people.
"There's no other way." Since it was wartime, ensuring the army's supplies was the top priority, even though this would inevitably lead to looting of civilians. He had no other choice. The vanguard had to confront the Peace Army across the river, so he only ordered the rearguard to make their way to Danyuan for food. But by this time, the autumn harvest was long gone, and there was nothing left in the fields. To obtain food, they would have to collect it from the homes of the people.
"Open the door! Open the door!" Soldiers out of their commander's sight revealed their true colors, utterly routed before the Peace Army, yet swaggering arrogantly before the civilians. Such "magnificent" shouts would likely have been rendered useless if they were facing Peace Army soldiers.
"Sir..." The commoner timidly opened the door, but as soon as the latch was pulled open, the soldiers kicked the door open and slapped the old man who opened the door hard to the ground.
"Why did it take you so long to open the gate? Are you hiding something?" The old man struggling on the ground exclaimed, "It was getting dark, and I had already gone to bed. That's why I was late. Please forgive me, sir!"
The soldiers, torches in hand, looked around for a while. The earthen house was divided into two rooms, an inner and an outer one. There were some wild vegetables by the stove in the outer room, but no grain in sight. The soldiers dragged the old man over and said, "Where's the grain? Hand it over quickly! We need to protect you from the bandits of Yuzhou. You can't let us fight on empty stomachs!"
"Grain...where is there any grain left?" The old man looked like he was about to cry. "My wife and I are both too weak to work. We relied on our two sons to farm, but now both of them have been conscripted to serve the soldiers. The autumn harvest has been delayed. The soldiers have already taken all the remaining strength from our home. Now all that's left is this weed..."
"Stop pretending!"
The soldiers glared at him with eyes as black as cow eggs. They had no patience to listen to the old man's lament. His near-death experience at the Battle of Fenglin Ferry had taught him the importance of seizing the day. "Trying to fob me off with weeds? Are you treating me like an ox or a horse?"
The old man's panic was palpable. Having lived to his fifties or sixties in the war-torn southern border of the State of Su, he had naturally witnessed much chaos and knew the ruthlessness of these soldiers. He hurriedly knelt before the soldier, who was even younger than his son, and kowtowed, saying, "Sir, Heaven have mercy! There's truly no food left! If you don't believe me, you can ask the village head; our Li Family Village has not a single grain of food left..."
"Are you asking him?"
A vicious voice rang out, followed by a thud. A mangled, bloody head rolled a few times on the ground and came to the old man. The head's terrified expression and disbelieving gaze made the old man's scalp tingle, and he screamed, almost fainting.
"Village head Li Yude colluded with bandits in Yuzhou, secretly hoarded military rations, and plotted wicked schemes. He shall be executed on the spot." The vicious voice said coldly, and the old man trembling on the ground could not win his sympathy at all.
"Heavens...Heavens...What kind of law is this..." The old man reached out to cup the village chief's head, but dared not. If it weren't for the village chief dealing with the soldiers and officers passing through these past two days, Lijia Village would have been destroyed long ago. But now, the village chief could not protect the village either, and he himself was beheaded. How could the old man not be filled with anger and fear?
"This is military law, military law, do you understand, you old thief!" The icy voice kicked the old man away and shouted, "What are you all standing there for? Search! If you can't find any food, you'll go hungry tonight!"
The officer's cold shouts emboldened the soldiers, who stormed into the inner room, where the old woman's terrified cries echoed. The officer smiled contentedly in the darkness, picking up the severed head. He didn't want to kill too many people; with the village head's head, the villagers would dare not disobey him.
The tranquility of the night was shattered by the commotion. Every house was filled with the shouts of soldiers and the pleas of the people. The frantic barking of the startled dogs clearly reminded the soldiers of something, and soon the barking turned into whimpers. About half an hour later, the soldiers emerged carrying large and small bags.
Seeing his men return laden with spoils, the officer laughed heartily: "I knew this village was right next to the main road. Without provisions, how could these lowly people sleep so soundly? Those who passed by earlier were all brainless bastards. Just kill this village head, and even if we demanded these lowly people hand over their coffin money, they wouldn't dare refuse."
"That's right, that's right. With so much grain, you'll surely be promoted when you get back. We brothers will need your help then." The subordinates flattered him, stuffing small trinkets like gold rings and chains into the officer's hands. The officer casually pocketed them, but his tone turned serious: "You didn't touch anyone's daughter, did you?"
"The lord has given the order, how dare we brothers act recklessly? We haven't even touched the bottom of the youngest daughter, let alone the eldest daughter-in-law," one soldier said ambiguously, while the others laughed with ill intent.
“I didn’t touch her once, but I touched her a dozen times. I didn’t touch her buttocks, but I definitely touched her chest,” another soldier said, which made everyone laugh even more.
"Stop yelling, get back to camp!" the officer said with a laugh, then quickly reorganized the troops before leaving the unfortunate village.
Before long, the group of soldiers suddenly froze. Their camp area in front of them was all red, as if it were on fire.
"What's going on?" A talkative soldier frowned and asked, "Could it be that the bandits from Yuzhou broke through our army's camp on the riverbank and have come here?"
“Impossible. This place is over a hundred li from Fenglin Ferry. Even if the bandits from Yuzhou had wings, they couldn’t get here so quickly. Besides, if they came from there, they would definitely pass through here.” The officer drew his saber. They were here to “collect” provisions, so they carried only short weapons, with only a dozen or so soldiers carrying spears. “Either the army camp is on fire, or Liu Guang from Chen has attacked. There are only these two possibilities!”
"What should we do?" A soldier's question silenced everyone who had been speculating.
"Let's see how things develop. Everyone, form ranks and drop everything. If the enemy comes, we can escape faster." The officer felt no shame in saying the word "escape." The brutal fighting of the past few days had made everyone feel that being able to escape from death was an extraordinary feat.
“Sounds of killing… it’s the sound of killing…” A soldier’s teeth chattered, which made the already scattered thoughts of the crowd even more chaotic.
"What's there to be afraid of? We've been through piles of corpses, what's there to be afraid of?" The officer slapped him, but under the torchlight, his face was ashen. He didn't know what to do. If he ran away now, he would surely be court-martialed if the higher-ups investigated. If he returned to camp, he would likely face a massacre.
"Let's stay here and see how things go. If the camp can hold out, we'll go back. If it can't, as soon as we see our men retreating, we'll run for our lives!" The officer had no other choice but to continue giving the order to stay put.
However, his order to wait for the opportune moment was too presumptuous. The troops stationed there had just been transferred from the front lines at the River Gui, and their original strength was only about five thousand men. More than two thousand of them had been sent out overnight to plunder the local population, while the invading enemy was almost twice as numerous and had arrived extremely suddenly. The already defeated Soviet troops were simply unable to resist effectively. The enemy vanguard swept through the chaotic troops like a whirlwind, setting fires all over the camp. The soldiers in the camp had originally hoped that the troops who had gone out to plunder would return to provide support, but upon seeing the fires, these troops all adopted the strategy of standing still and observing. In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the Soviet troops in the camp had been almost completely wiped out.
"Run!" Seeing his own defeated soldiers retreating in disarray, the officer immediately ordered his men to flee. But the pursuing cavalry were incredibly fast, and their figures were quickly overtaken by the iron torrent of the raiding cavalry. As the cavalry continued their pursuit, all that remained on the ground were mangled, unrecognizable pieces of flesh.
"Bang! Bang!"
In the village that had just been plundered by Soviet troops, the sound of knocking on doors terrified the villagers once again. They had already heard the commotion outside—the shouts of men and the neighing of horses—proving that the incoming force was many times larger than the small group of Soviet soldiers they had encountered earlier.
"Don't be afraid, we're not thieves!" The man's words did little to reassure the people, but how could they dare not open the gate when the army ordered them to? They had been severely beaten for opening the gate a little late before, so this time they opened it much faster.
"Please come in, sir, please come in..." Suppressing the anger and hatred deep in their hearts, they began to greet the newcomers. In the torchlight or candlelight, the newcomers' uniforms were disheveled, and they really did not look like officers and soldiers of the Soviet Union.
"Sir, we won't go in. We only bothered you to ask if there's any more fodder. A person can go hungry for a night, but the horse can't be neglected." The soldier who had been standing in front of the old man's door grinned, his white teeth gleaming in the firelight.
"It's gone...it's gone..." The old man shrank back, afraid that he would be slapped again.
"Ah, then never mind, I'm sorry to disturb your rest, sir." The soldier bowed and was about to leave, not even stepping into the old man's house. But after a moment, he turned back and asked, "Sir, why is that family crying so much?"
Following his finger, the old man sighed and shook his head: "That's the village head's house. The village head died, so his family is crying..." He suddenly realized that he shouldn't have said so much to this soldier, so he quickly shut his mouth, and fear flashed in his eyes.
"I see, thank you, sir." The soldier, sensing the distrust in his expression, bowed again and left. Upon reaching the village entrance, several cavalrymen who had come out earlier were already waiting there.
"Didn't you find any fodder either?"
"The young soldier with a set of white teeth asked. Judging from his tone, he seemed to be the leader of this cavalry unit."
"No, this village has already been looted by corrupt officials from the State of Su. It turns out that it's not just our State of Chen that's like this; all the officials and soldiers in the country are the same."