Chapter 110: Prisoners

"We've taken over 280 Green Standard prisoners. Those dog-Tartars from the Han Banners, counting the wounded, come to more than 170. We've also seized several dozen runners and constables from the county yamen."

"Our own casualties aren't light either.

Killed and wounded together, I'm afraid it's close to a hundred. Once the dead are carried outside the city, find a place, burn the bodies, and bring the ashes to their families.

As for the wounded, have them treated. If a man truly can't be saved, give him a quick end — no point letting him suffer."

"The Green Standard's swords and spears have all been picked up.

As the Battalion Commander ordered, I had the firelocks used by those Han Banner Tartars gathered up — more than 200 in all. We collected as much powder and shot as we could, though there wasn't much.

We did get several dozen sets of padded armor. There's also a pile of discarded weapons in the Green Standard storehouse — scrap metal and junk, mostly.

My men are inventorying it all right now."

"The county yamen has been sealed. Troops are guarding the silver and grain in the storehouse. That County Magistrate hanged himself in the rear quarters."

"Song Erniu and the Jiang Yi brothers have taken men into the city to keep order. Don't worry, Battalion Commander — that Chen Mo already led his men out of the city. He won't dare cause trouble this time."

"Oh, right — Brother Ge Zheng took men west after that Tartar company captain. But I'd say there's little chance of catching him. The Tartars who escaped were all mounted, and Brother Ge and his men are on foot — how could they catch up? Should we send someone to call Brother Ge back?"

"......."

Tie Yi reported while Zhou Shixiang listened, and before long the two of them reached the east side of the city, where a dense sea of heads knelt on the ground. Taiping Army soldiers stood all around with swords and spears at the ready, and a line of archers was posted atop the city wall.

Some of the prisoners braved a glance around, then quickly lowered their heads again, for they saw Ming troops dragging corpses out through the city gate. The little queues on the corpses' heads made it easy to tell who those dead men were.

If they didn't want to end up as bodies hauled out on that cart, they could only kneel there obediently.

Li Fuguo had also been brought to the east side of the city. He knelt at the very front of the crowd, receiving no special treatment for his rank as Battalion Commander — kneeling on the ground just as obediently as the rest.

Seeing Tie Yi escorting Zhou Shixiang over, Qin Zhisheng and Shao Jiugong, who had just arrived, hurried forward to greet them. After the two men saluted, Zhou Shixiang instructed them: "Separate the prisoners."

"Separate them?" Shao Jiugong was taken aback. "How?"

Zhou Shixiang said coldly: "Banner troops with banner troops, camp troops with camp troops."

"Banner troops with banner troops, camp troops with camp troops?"

Shao Jiugong and Qin Zhisheng exchanged a glance, both understanding at once what the Battalion Commander meant to do, and hurried off to make arrangements.

Seeing that the Battalion Commander had nowhere to sit, Zhou Shixiang's personal guards fetched a chair. Zhou Shixiang sat down and watched Qin Zhisheng and Shao Jiugong divide the men.

"All of you, up! Banner troops stand here, camp troops stand there!"

Qin Zhisheng and Shao Jiugong worked quickly. Amid the Taiping Army's curses and shoving, the several hundred surrendered Qing soldiers were soon split into two groups — on one side the Han troops of the Bordered Blue Banner, on the other the Green Standard garrison from Gaoyao.

The banner troops and camp troops had no idea why the Taiping Army was separating them. Seeing the Taiping soldiers all around glaring at them like tigers, some began to mutter nervously and grow afraid.

Even Li Fuguo was uneasy. He braced himself and asked a Taiping squad leader nearby: "What is your army going to do?"

The squad leader only glared at him and told him nothing. The Taiping soldiers nearby looked at Li Fuguo with even greater hostility, and the heart of Battalion Commander Li, who had thought his life was mostly safe, began pounding wildly: Were the Ming troops going to kill their prisoners?

Just as Li Fuguo and the camp and banner troops were all on edge, someone suddenly shouted: "Give the Green Standard men the swords!" Then several dozen Taiping soldiers rushed over and threw the captured swords onto the open ground in front of the Green Standard troops.

Someone bellowed: "Green Standard! Pick up the swords!"

Pick up the swords?

Li Fuguo and the Green Standard troops looked at one another in bewilderment, staring blankly at the long swords on the ground, still dark with blood. None of them knew what the Ming troops were planning, so none dared pick one up.

While the Green Standard troops dared not touch the swords, the banner troops all turned pale. Some of the quicker-witted ones understood in an instant what the Ming troops meant for the Green Standard to do with those swords.

"Green Standard, pick up the swords! Now!"

Seeing the Green Standard troops not moving, Shao Jiugong spat, yanked up his sleeves, strode over, and dragged one camp soldier out. He shoved the man to the ground, planted a foot on his left hand, and roared: "Are you going to pick one up or not, you son of a bitch!"

"I'll pick one up! I'll pick one up! Sir, let go — let go!"

The Green Standard soldier was in such pain from Shao Jiugong's boot that he clenched his teeth, hastily grabbed a long sword with his right hand, and only when he had it did Shao Jiugong lift his foot and let him up.

Then Shao Jiugong glared savagely at the other Green Standard troops and cursed: "Do as he did — pick up the swords! Any man who doesn't, I'll cut his head off myself!"

Seeing Shao Jiugong's ferocious look, and glancing at the swords on the ground and their unlucky comrade, the Green Standard troops no longer dared refuse. They rushed forward and snatched up swords, and even Li Fuguo instinctively ran to the front and picked one up.

Sword in hand, he thought to himself that if the Ming troops really meant to kill their prisoners, he would fight them to the death no matter what. Then he reconsidered: if the Ming troops wanted to kill them, why give them swords?

That would be taking off your trousers to fart — a pointless extra step.

What were the Ming troops planning?

Li Fuguo was not the only one puzzled — the Green Standard troops were all baffled. But among the banner troops, many were already trembling at the knees.

Seeing that the Green Standard troops all had swords in hand, Shao Jiugong nodded with satisfaction, walked over to Zhou Shixiang, and asked for orders: "It's done. Awaiting the Battalion Commander's command."

Zhou Shixiang grunted, rose, and walked over to the Green Standard troops. Then he raised his voice and addressed them: "All subjects of our Great Ming are Han.

But these banner troops have betrayed their ancestors, willingly taken the enemy as their father, and served as the aliens' accomplices in slaughtering our Han people. They no longer deserve to be called Han — they all deserve to die!...

And you Green Standard men are no better — you aided the tyrant, and your hands are soaked in the blood of our Ming soldiers and people. You all deserve to die too!"

At these words, the banner troops and camp troops turned deathly pale. Li Fuguo clenched his jaw, ready to fight the Ming troops to the death the moment they moved.

But just as terror gripped them, the Ming commander spoke again: "Still, the Green Standard is not the same as the banner troops. In the eyes of the bannermen, you are still Han.

So I am unwilling to slaughter indiscriminately. Instead, I am giving you Green Standard men a chance — a chance to be Han again!..."

At this, Zhou Shixiang's tone shifted, and he turned to face the banner troops and said savagely: "Listen well, all you Green Standard men — one banner head buys one of your lives. If you want to live, get to it!"

The words had barely landed, and before the Green Standard side could even react, someone among the banner troops burst into wailing sobs and knelt on the ground, crying out to Zhou Shixiang: "General! This lowly one is Han! This lowly one is Han too!"