Su Rong somewhat understood what He Chaoyan meant.
He keenly grasped the key point and asked in disbelief: "You mean, these people... these Miao people, would do this to the people of Yongchang Prefecture? But, what is their purpose?"
This is so weird, why did those Miao people do this
This was something Su Rong could not imagine or understand at all.
He Chaoyan was much calmer. He had stayed in Yongchang Prefecture with Song Xiangyu the longest and knew the most. He nodded solemnly and said, "That's the fact. The children and the old people you saw are all ordinary Han people. To the Miao people, these Han people are just ordinary chickens and ducks raised at home."
After drinking a sip of tea, He Chaoyan felt that she couldn't explain it clearly, so she simply said, "That is to say, the lives of these Han people in Yongchang Prefecture are controlled by these Miao people. If they are willing, they can let those people live. But if they need to, the lives of these Han people are at their disposal. Do you understand, Master?"
Therefore, Yongchang Prefecture must not be lost.
Otherwise, the people living nearby will become fish on the chopping board of others.
But Su Rong couldn't understand, he asked: "Why?"
What benefits will this bring to the Miao people
If you talk about the treatment of the people by princes and nobles, most of it was just exploiting their labor, making them do corvée labor, and forcing them to pay taxes.
Even though he was the deposed emperor, a notoriously incompetent ruler, he never did such a thing.
If he really did such a thing, he would be criticized and scolded. Although the deposed emperor had been criticized and scolded for many years, it was different.
Su Rong looked at him blankly, waiting for an answer.
Fortunately, He Chaoyan must have made up her mind to explain it to him clearly, so after Su Rong asked, He Chaoyan said directly: "I don't know why, I only know that it has something to do with the Miao people in the village. They need the blood of children, I don't know whether it is for raising Gu or for other purposes, anyway, they need it all the time. If there are not enough children here, they will go to nearby or even farther places to kidnap children, and then let these children serve them. And this kind of consumption is very life-consuming for ordinary people, so those old people you see are not old at all, but only in their thirties, and most of them can only live to this age."
Su Rong's head felt tight and he couldn't help but sneer. He simply couldn't understand how such a thing could happen.
But he saw all this with his own eyes, and even if he wanted to comfort himself that He Chaoyan was just talking nonsense, he couldn't do it.
Why are these Miao people so crazy? For Su Rong, who grew up with an orthodox Confucian education, this was too much of a shock, and it was tantamount to exceeding his entire life's cognition. He sat quietly for a long time before looking up at He Chaoyan: "Didn't the Mu Mansion know this?"
He Chaoyan suddenly laughed. This was indeed a funny thing. He looked at Su Rong and said, "Do you think the original Mu Mansion can handle it?"
In other words, even if they knew, would they come to take care of this matter
Mu Tong was cruel and he came to power illegitimately. In fact, Yunnan was not entirely controlled by him. It was divided into several factions, including Mu Tong, the imperial court, and the faction left behind by the old chieftain and controlled by Miss Mu San and the chieftain of Zhennan Prefecture.
It's like a three-legged tripod.
Among the three powers, Yongchang Prefecture, which was caught in the middle, could not take care of either side.
That's why they are so arrogant.
Seeing Su Rong lowering his eyes and saying nothing, He Chaoyan sighed and stopped asking questions. He just spoke with some melancholy and solemnity: "Master, why do we have to defeat these tough guys? It's because they are no longer limited to Yongchang Prefecture."
Su Rong looked up suddenly.
He Chaoyan said, "Think about it. In the past, they just treated the Han people in Yongchang Prefecture as their slaves and used them at will. In fact, let alone Mufu and Zhennan Prefecture, even if our court knew about this, it would not make a big fuss. You can see the reason. Those people are really not normal people. The things they have are too terrible. It is really not easy to defeat them. It cannot be said to be difficult, but it is simply impossible to accomplish. Therefore, if there is a choice, if they do not want to expand outward, for the peace of most people and for the soldiers, we would not be so determined. But the problem is that they do not know why they have begun to reach out. At least in the intelligence we received, there is very accurate news that these people are still kidnapping children outside."
Su Rong was so angry that he laughed.
Are these people really lawless? What on earth do they regard the laws of the court as?!
No wonder, no wonder the army, which was originally so powerful, stagnated here, no wonder Song Xiangyu's expression was like that when he arrived with muskets.
It turns out there is such a secret.
He understood and asked He Chaoyan: "If that's the case, is there anything else?"
He Chaoyan shook her head: "The rest is beyond our ability to find out. Even this was told to us by the Heihua Miao Village, otherwise we would know nothing."
Heihua Miao Village
Su Rong was stunned for a moment, thinking of the Heihua Miao Village that Song Xiangyu mentioned, and asked, "Is it the Miao village that had an internal conflict with Lijiang Village?"
His irritable mind, which had been irritated by what the other villages had done before, calmed down a bit. When he heard He Chaoyan's affirmative hum, he frowned and asked, "If that's the case, if there is a great witch in Lijiang Village, then... then there must be one here too, right? Then why don't we just let them fight it out on their own?"
He also understood why Song Xiangyu said that Heihua Miao Village took Mr. Cui to the mountain and Xiao Heng also went there.
If this is the case, then we must win over the Heihua Miao Village at all costs.
Seeing that Su Rong had calmed down, He Chaoyan stood up and prepared to continue on her way. She smiled and said, "This problem has not been solved yet. The Heihua Miao Village did have an internal conflict with the Lijiang Village, and the two villages are in a stalemate, but now... they may not really help us. After all, the remaining dozens of Miao villages all listen to the Lijiang Village. If the Heihua Miao Village goes against the Lijiang Village, it will actually offend the entire Miao village."