Chapter 859: Hard Bones (12200 Supplement)

Two days later.

Although the resistance in Hemen County was extremely resolute, the city still fell.

The county magistrate set fire to the county office and perished within; not a single soul from his entire household survived.

The county office.

Amidst a ruin of pitch-black charcoal, wisps of blue smoke still rose.

Tang Xun, covered in blood, watched as one corpse after another was carried out of the county office and sighed, "Why bother?"

"It is nothing more than a desperate struggle; such foolishly loyal people are never lacking in any dynasty..."

"Replace them, and take the county officials, wealthy families, rich merchants, and landlords... pit-kill them all! Also, the temples and Taoist monasteries that assisted in defending the city... exterminate their lineages immediately; kill everyone, regardless of gender or age!" Aaron sneered.

"Yes! We cannot fight like this..."

"The military discipline of the Six Jia Divine Soldiers is perhaps a bit too good..."

An army of eighty thousand surrounded Daque Prefecture city, and one could faintly see the soldiers atop the walls clamoring in fear...

"Prime Minister, we absolutely cannot go on like this."

If it weren't for the fact that the Six Jia Divine Soldiers had no concept of morale, there might even have been deserters by now!

Of course, the most critical point was that the Prime Minister kept reinforcing them; the forty thousand ground troops had somehow grown to eighty thousand by now!

Following his order, countless Six Jia Divine Soldiers surged into the more conspicuous mansions and wealthy estates in the county, dragging the masters out one by one.

Even the temples and Taoist monasteries suffered the same fate.

Tang Xun said sternly, "Shuanghua Prefecture has five counties, and Xuzhou has six prefectures; that is over thirty counties. If we keep fighting like this, our fifty thousand men will be wiped out!"

Aaron looked on, a cold sneer appearing on his face: "The rebellion in the three southern prefectures... suspected to be instigated by the Three Teachings behind the scenes... so you want to play a big game with me? Since that is the case, pass down the order: no more city massacres!"

Once a certain threshold was passed, the subsequent cities became easier to attack.

"Not bad, not bad. With an average exchange ratio of one to five in city defense, this is truly not bad." Aaron was still quite satisfied with the combat power of the Six Jia Divine Soldiers.

But the Prime Minister liked them very much and was even preparing to use them as the main force to establish an Integrity Department, specifically responsible for reporting and handling corrupt officials.

But Tang Xun felt a subtle change.

Besides this, in such mansions, there were many songstresses, dancers, and even daughters of officials, all of them stunning beauties... but they didn't even glance at them.

Aaron yawned, appearing somewhat bored, and waved his hand to let Xiaoyu, who was digging a pit nearby, come back.

Tang Xun felt a toothache just thinking about the future sieges.

Daque Prefecture.

Just as they were discussing, a loud eagle cry suddenly rang out in the sky.

"Help!"

"This... can they all be killed?" Tang Xun was dumbfounded.

So, was massacring a city actually an act of mercy?

"According to my original idea... it was to incite the Three Teachings to continue crazily opposing me, attracting more opponents to join the resistance, and then slaughtering city by city... after going through it once like this, Xuzhou would be cleansed."

"The Prime Minister is not planning to withdraw the troops?" Tang Xun asked.

Although the reputation of massacring cities was terrible, the initial effect was truly good. Not to mention the Qing Dynasty, even the Western Chu Overlord Xiang Yu had committed many city massacres, and in the early stages, he was invincible and victorious in every battle.

'They can be killed...'

Conversely, the common people, who had almost no property or farmland, had already come to their senses and were even secretly looking forward to the Liang Army breaking through the prefecture city; after all, they had nothing left to lose, and things like verbal promises were far too fragile in the face of actual blades and spears...

That is, people are not machines after all, and their will cannot explode indefinitely.

Under the sweep of the Dragon Qi, no matter how many lonely ghosts and wild spirits there were, they could only be turned into powder!

"But if so, the Three Teachings will inevitably launch a crazy counterattack, and the subsequent cities will be harder to attack one after another..."

"To openly destroy families and exterminate lineages while still being so disciplined is truly rare..."

"Therefore... we should order a city massacre!"

After all, the Liang Army broke every city they encountered and caused heavy casualties, and they were particularly famous for destroying the entire households of wealthy and powerful families.

"In the land of Xuzhou, the influence of the established teachings is deep-rooted, and they can even incite the common people to rebel and oppose us... it is very difficult to pacify."

Aaron sighed: "Massacring the city now can intimidate the common people... and without the dependent commoners, the landlords and wealthy families are nothing. Breaking the city later will be easier. This is actually a bit of my mercy."

If it develops to the end, it might turn into the people not fearing death, so why use death to threaten them?

Tang Xun passed by a wealthy family's home and saw an old man being dragged out; the gold and pearls he held to bribe them scattered all over the ground, but it was useless. The Six Jia Divine Soldiers remained unmoved.

At this moment, the Prime Minister's previous words seemed to echo in his ears again, making Tang Xun shiver coldly.

"Mas... massacre the city?"

Aaron sneered and asked, "What are our battle losses?"

Tang Xun knew that such a blanket approach would inevitably cause collateral damage, but what could be done about it?

And Tang Xun gasped: "A mere county city, and the army lost twenty percent?"

First year of Kaiping.

"Reporting to the Prime Minister, we killed eight hundred enemies and lost over two thousand of our own..."

Every siege resulted in extremely tragic casualties, and there was always street fighting after the city was breached.

Ten thousand men attacking a city and suffering two thousand casualties was already very heavy.

Although many people were killed, they did not massacre the city in the end, so the deterrent power was insufficient; it was simply not enough to make those people afraid.

Aaron waved his hand.

"As long as one is willing to pick up the butcher's knife and is not afraid of bearing a bad name, how could they not be killed?"

A falcon landed with a letter tied to its leg.

The expression on Tang Xun's face was about to collapse.

Over the past year, the great war in Xuzhou had been continuous. Prefecture and county cities swore not to surrender, and the Liang Army was like a fool who wouldn't turn back until hitting the south wall, gnawing through them one by one.

Aaron smiled: "After killing them all, migrate refugees from other provinces, and directly distribute land, houses, tools, and grain to them... The Liang Army will immediately become the 'living Buddha' to ten thousand families!"

Tang Xun thought of how the Chancellor liked to use retired soldiers as yamen runners and for the Inspection Bureau, and this group was often completely different from the previous petty officials; not only were they very self-disciplined, but they also liked to report their colleagues for taking bribes, so they were deeply hated by those below, who all called them stubborn or blockheads.

This was also the last prefecture in Xuzhou.

Tang Xun shuddered, knowing that the Chancellor had chosen the path of tackling the difficult before the easy.

Aaron sighed, his eyes filled with pity: "But if we slaughter the city now, the cities behind will surely surrender at the first sight of us, and then it won't be possible to kill them all... It will be even more difficult to govern later... This is the difference between tackling the easy before the difficult and the difficult before the easy."

By now, the reputation of the Liang Army in Xuzhou was no different from that of evil ghosts.

"Naturally, we will not withdraw. There are fifty thousand troops in the south sufficient to suppress everything; at the very least, as long as Jinshi is not lost, that will suffice... This Chancellor intends to pacify Xuzhou within this year!"

October.

"No, spare me!"

"Long Gold Temple was burned down along with the mountain, the monk Xuxin died in battle... Meihua Jushi escaped..."

On the city wall, Zhang Haoran, who had reached the end of his rope, looked at the great army below and could not help but weep: "Why is it that in this world, warriors always run rampant, yet one can never find an enlightened ruler?"

(End of this chapter)