Facing the three tightly bound Northern Barbarians, Xiao Ruxun sat in front of them with a smile and began to question them.
"General Tong, let's begin! Ask them why they are here first. "
Xiao Ruxun gave the order to Nurhaci. Nurhaci took the order and began to ask his people to question them.
Xiao Ruxun could not understand Jurchen or Mongolian. Anyway, it was just a series of exchanges in front of him. But he could see that the three Northern Barbarians were very afraid. From time to time, they showed a terrified expression and said something similar to begging for mercy.
Then Nurhachi exchanged a few words with his people, then turned to Xiao Ruxun and said, "Governor-General, these three people said that they are from the Tumut tribe and followed their king to the south. They were originally in the city of Datong, but now they have been arranged to eat here and spend the winter here to avoid the cold. There are also many people from the tribe who have been arranged to go to various cities to avoid the cold. They are all like this."
"They really don't think of themselves as outsiders!"
Xiao Ruxun frowned. "Continue to ask, how is Datong now? Is there still the Ming Dynasty Army guarding it?"
Then there was another round of chatter.
"Governor, they mean that Datong is still under the control of the Ming Dynasty Army and has not fallen!"
"Oh?!"
Xiao Ruxun suddenly became spirited. "Inspector Mei and Commander Ma are still guarding Datong? That's great! Quick, ask them how many people have gone south in total. "
Nurhaci continued to ask. After a while, Nurhaci said, "They said that the first ones were all strong men. The strongest ones will continue to follow their king south. They are all weaker, so they did not go south. Instead, they stayed here and waited for the old, weak, women, and children of their tribe to go south and live in the city. They have not arrived yet, but the plan is for the whole tribe to go south together."
"Ask them about the number of soldiers they have."
"About a hundred thousand in total."
"Are there any other tribes other than the Tumert tribe heading south to Datong?"
"They said that four other tribes have joined forces to head south. The other tribes are probably planning to head south to Datong. I'm not sure if they've arrived yet, but the Datong region belongs to the Tumet tribe. If the other tribes want to head south, they should continue heading south. It's not easy for the Great Wall to be unguarded, so they all want to come to the Han Land to avoid the bitter cold."
Xiao Ruxun nodded.
"This is a dove occupying a magpie's nest! Mr. Xu, what do you think? "
Xu Guangqi frowned and said, "If that's the case, there will probably be many more Northern Barbarians heading south. It's definitely not just the Tumut tribe. If the entire tribe is heading south, there will be at least hundreds of thousands of them. Are they planning to stay here and not leave?"
Xiao Ruxun recalled Talic's instructions.
"Their king probably wanted to leave, but they probably haven't received orders from their king for a long time, so they made the decision to head south. General Tong, ask them whose idea it was to head south?"
"Yes!"
Nurhachi ordered his men to ask, and they soon got the answer.
"They said that it was a decision made by a few tribal leaders who stayed behind in Datong."
Xiao Ruxun nodded and looked at Xu Guangqi.
"It's obvious that Talic is wise. He knows to rob and run, but I'm afraid that these people are unwilling to leave once they've had a comfortable life. They've lost their minds and are planning to use our land as a sanctuary to avoid the cold."
Xu Guangqi said angrily, "Ridiculous! How can the Northern Barbarians occupy a magpie's nest in the Huaxia Land?! "
"That's right. Seeing that hundreds of thousands of people are heading south, isn't that … perfect?"
Xiao Ruxun's words were filled with cold murderous intent. "Saves me the trouble of looking for them from afar."
"Governor, what do you mean?"
"Mr. Xu is new here. I'll treat you to dumplings with Northern Barbarians filling."
Xiao Ruxun grinned.
"General Tong, interrogate them about any cities where Northern Barbarians are stationed. Show them the map and let them identify them one by one. Then kill them."
"Yes!"
Nurhachi nodded in response.
Xiao Ruxun then left the military tent. Xu Guangqi followed closely. "Governor, what should we do next?"
"Let's go see the people who have been rescued and give them some food. When Commander Li arrives with his troops, send someone to escort them back to the south to seek refuge. We can't stay in Datong for the time being. It's very dangerous. Then we'll go to Datong and rescue Inspector Mei and Commander Ma. It's been two months. I don't know how they managed to survive."
Xu Guangqi nodded.
"That's good."
After that, Xiao Ruxun brought Xu Guangqi along to visit the rescued Hans. There were old and young among the group, men and women. Most of them were scantily clad and had emaciated faces. It was obvious that they had been severely enslaved. Xiao Ruxun asked some of the elderly about their lives these days with concern, and they would often sob as they recounted their tragic experiences.
After being captured, they were not killed. But now that they thought about it, it would have been better to be killed. They had to work for the Northern invaders, wash their clothes, and cook their meals, but their lives were precarious. Their loved ones could be killed at any time, and the young women were in even more danger. After being captured, they never came back, and when they did come back, they were mostly naked corpses covered with cuts and bruises.
In order to survive, most of the young women cut their own hair and blackened their faces to pretend to be men. But this way, they were often forced to do hard labor. They had to chop firewood to build more comfortable and warm wooden houses. They had to light fires to keep them warm. They were often beaten and scolded. If they weren't tired to death, they would be beaten to death. If they were discovered to be women, they would immediately be humiliated by a group of people.
There were basically no children alive. When Xiao Ruxun rescued them, out of the 18,673 people, only six boys and three girls around the age of five were alive. The survivors said that the first thing the Northern Barbarians did when they captured them was to kill all the children in front of them. These few children were protected by everyone with their lives.
Xiao Ruxun asked them if there was anything else they needed him to do. No matter what they said, they were grateful to Xiao Ruxun for saving them. Their only wish was to ask Xiao Ruxun to avenge their dead loved ones and children. Apart from that, they had no other requests.
Looking at these people with tattered clothes and emaciated faces, Xu Guangqi, who had never seen such a scene before, was so angry that he cursed behind his back. Xiao Ruxun, on the other hand, was calmer. He arranged for the soldiers to distribute the clothes they could find in the city to the refugees according to the order of children, elderly, women, and men. If there wasn't enough, they would use the clothes of the Northern Barbarians to make up for it. If there wasn't enough, they would use the army's spare uniforms to keep them warm.
Xu Guangqi had a deep sympathy for these people. Not only did he express his sympathy verbally, he also used his actions to show his sympathy and kindness. He helped distribute clothes and rations, trying his best to help everyone he could.
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