The next day, the wounded soldiers in the camp took the ox carts of the civilians to a military town called Wuqi Town in the southwest of Luzhou City. There were about 40 to 50 wounded soldiers in the army. People kept dying on the way, so they could only dig a pit and bury them hastily. Most of the wounded could only rely on the civilians to take care of them. There was only one person in the army who was called a doctor. He held a low-ranking official position of a clerk. He might have done some copying work in normal times, but he turned into a doctor to treat the wounded during the war. No matter how good his medical skills were, he could not take care of so many people.
A town is a military stronghold at the county level, usually guarded by a town commander and troops. But when Guo Shao arrived at Wuqi Town, he was immediately stunned by the scene before him. This was a town
There is a memorial archway on the loess road, with the words "Wuqi Town" written on it. This is probably the building with the most traces of human civilization here. Behind the memorial archway, the dilapidated and collapsed earth wall has already shown signs of weathering, with holes everywhere, so the simple city gate is just a decoration, and there are no soldiers standing guard. From a distance, there are many low and dilapidated houses in the city, some are thatched huts, which are probably similar to shacks; it is called a town, but it looks like a village.
When we entered the town, all we saw along the way were old and weak women. There were almost no young and strong men. There were also ragged and disabled old men begging.
The person who came out to hand over the official documents was a fat man who claimed to be the town commander named Li Desheng, but he did not look like a military commander at all. Li Desheng was forced to disperse the wounded soldiers to various houses and forced them to order that each wounded soldier should be provided with food and people to take care of their lives by ten households in the surrounding area in turn.
Of course, Guo Shao lived with Yang Luo, and the other wounded soldiers also lived in groups with people they knew.
After settling down, they realized that Guo Shao and others were right in thinking that this place looked like a village. In addition to the name Wuqi Town, it also had another nickname, Widow Village, because there were only a few types of people in Wuqi Town: the old, the weak, the sick, the disabled, and widows.
The states under the jurisdiction of the Hedong Zhaoyi Military Jiedushi were responsible for resisting the harassment from the Northern Han Khitan for a long time, and they have always been a human barrier in the north of the Central Plains Dynasty. There were frequent wars here, and there were many casualties. Some soldiers died or became disabled, and their families who relied on military pay for survival lost their source of livelihood, and the Luzhou Staff Office was unable to continue to support them; so those people would be forcibly moved out of the military stronghold, and another place and some land would be allocated for them to make a living. Wuqi Town was one of such places.
The poor arable land, backward economy, famine, banditry and war were rampant, and most of the immigrants were not strong enough to work, so people lived a very difficult life. Even so, the military government still did not miss the opportunity to transfer some burdens to these suffering people. One of the burdens was to take care of the wounded soldiers, and the military government did not even transfer a grain of food.
Next to where Guo Shao lived was a thatched hut, where lived a helpless old woman, blind and skinny, who survived on charity from the townspeople. Not long after I arrived, I heard about her story: her husband and three sons had died on the battlefield, her daughter was captured by the Khitans and tortured to death in a haystack when they marched south, and now the only one left in the family was this old woman, half buried in the ground.
Living is so painful. Guo Shao and others heard the old woman's howling every day.
Luo Mengzi couldn't bear to see such a tragedy, and often saved part of his food rations for the blind old woman. Yang Biao occasionally complained and cursed: What's the point of living? Once you close your eyes, everything will be gone. What's the point of living
But this guy is a bad mouth. Guo Shao has never heard a good word from him in such a long time. But Yang Biao would also throw away half a cake if he said something unpleasant. Guo Shao thought that the goodness of a person should not be judged by what he said but by what he did.
The three of them spent every day together, and their relationship became even better than when they were in Tokyo. After a while, they decided to call each other brothers.
Luo Mengzi suggested that Guo Shao be the eldest brother. Guo Shao was the youngest among the three, so he immediately declined, saying: Brother Yang is much older than me, how can I be called the eldest brother
Luo Mengzi said without hesitation: We are not born of the same parents, so we are judged by our abilities, not by our ages. In the play, Liu Xuande is younger than Guan Gong, but he is still the elder brother.
Guo Shao pondered for a long time, and glanced at Yang Biao's face casually. Yang Biao said with a straight face: Luo Er's words are rough but true, we have to judge by ability.
Brother Yang is really convinced. Luo Mengzi said with a playful smile, "When we were in Tokyo, the big brother was one level older than you. Brother Yang, don't you think that you are a big boss and can't let go of your face?"
This guy really keeps bringing up things that are not related to the topic. Guo Yang has not mentioned the previous conflicts for a long time, but Luo Mengzi just starts talking about it.
Yang Biao snorted: If Yang is someone who doesn't obey, he won't call me "big brother" even if a knife is placed on my neck.
After hearing this, Guo Shao thought there was no point in talking any more. Talking too much would just be pretentious. He immediately made a decision: Okay, then I will reluctantly be the eldest brother, and from now on we will share the good and the bad together.
Big brother, big brother, second brother, third brother
Guo Shao stretched out his hand and raised it in the air. Yang and Luo looked at each other and also stretched out their hands in confusion. Guo Shao then clapped his hands vigorously: I am for everyone, and everyone is for me.
Luo Mengzi chuckled for a while. Yang Biao still had no smile on his face, and after a while he said: That day, the general surnamed Zhao came to the military camp to commend big brother, saying that he should be appointed as a commander; the commander of the Palace Front Division, Zhang Yongde, seemed to admire big brother very much, and spoke for you twice. He also holds the power of all the troops in the Palace Front Division. It seems that big brother will be promoted directly to commander. Big brother, although he can convince the people with his extraordinary feat of killing Zhang Yuanhui in battle, it is easy for his foundation to be unstable if he is promoted too quickly. In the future, it may not be enough to rely on the support of two brothers to command 500 people. I have an idea. There are forty or fifty wounded soldiers in Wuqi Town, and there should be twenty or thirty who can recover their combat effectiveness after their injuries. These people have been disrupted and their subordinates do not know their generals, and they have nowhere to rely on; why don’t you take this opportunity to let them join the army
Guo Shao nodded repeatedly after listening to this: Second brother, what you said makes sense. After all, he was a general who had served as a captain, so what he said is very pertinent.
Yang Biao added: "We came from Gaoping, and all these wounded soldiers were in the same camp. General Zhao was loud that night, saying that you shot Zhang Yuanhui to death with one arrow, and the emperor personally commended you. I'm afraid the whole camp heard it. Although the wounded soldiers don't know us, you can win their hearts with just this prestige."
Guo Shao thought for a while and said: Zuo You, the clerk and military doctor, has the list of soldiers. If it is not in Zuo You's hands, it must be in the hands of the town commander. Let's do two things first. First, get the military list, and second, gain the support of the town commander.
The three of them discussed and decided to act immediately. Yang Biao went to find Zuo You, while Luo Mengzi helped Guo Shao visit the town commander Li Desheng.