Chapter 257: The Fourth Defeat (VI)
The Gao family was forcibly taken outside the mansion, trembling and afraid to move. The Han army they were facing defeated the Qing army and destroyed the Qing rule in Qingzhou. Thousands of people from the court died at the hands of the Han army, and the Gao family was unable to resist with their current strength.
"The governor has given the order, so we will tell you the truth. We know that someone in your Gao family wrote a letter to the Qing Dynasty, saying that if the Qing Dynasty fights back, you will be their accomplice."
The team leader's words made some of the Gao family's facial muscles twitch, as if they were whipped.
"The governor is a kind man. He said that it is normal for you to hate us, and the governor is unwilling to watch you die. After all, someone in your family is a soldier here. If we watch you die at the hands of the Qing army, we will be guilty. This time you all follow us and go to the state capital to avoid the Qing army. Now, take your luggage and follow us."
The Gao family was relieved to hear that the Han army was not going to kill everyone in the Gao family. However, the Gao family's fear of the Han army did not decrease. What if they were not going to kill them now, but to kill them after taking them away?
The Han army was too lazy to talk nonsense. With Gao Qi as their accomplice, they first separated the Gao family into groups of parents and brothers, and tied them up with ropes. Then they led this group of people to get their own bedding and clothes, and took them away in groups.
The Gao family cried loudly, but the Han army had guns in their hands. They just smashed a few things and let the Gao family know that they could not resist.
Seeing that the Han army had taken control of the situation, Master Gao made up his mind and shouted, "If you want to kill me, then do so. I will not leave. It is better to die in the hands of the government troops than in your hands."
The team leader couldn't help but frown after hearing this. Just as he was about to scold, he suddenly remembered the instructions he had received before. He took out the document and looked at it for a while, then asked loudly, "Who else doesn't want to leave?"
No one from the Gao family dared to say anything, only two families whispered that they did not want to leave. The captain asked the soldiers to untie several strong and agile men from the two families. Then he read the document, "We will take your women and children away. Don't worry, they will not die, nor will they be bullied. You people stay behind, and when you see the Qing army, someone will go out to hide. Whether you will die or not, you will know when the time comes."
After saying this, the captain felt that the job had been done, and forced the team consisting of most of the Gao family to retreat to a safe area, leaving Mr. Gao's family and several other men at Gao's house.
Gao Qi was a member of the Gao family after all, and he knew that the troops were not here to do evil. Seeing the Gao family members who stayed behind, he still felt sorry for them. After all, they were members of the Gao family, Gao Qi's relatives. So he went to try to persuade them. Unexpectedly, these people came and pushed Gao Qi. If the troops had not gone far, I'm afraid they would have beaten Gao Qi.
However, Master Gao stopped these people. He shouted at Gao Qi with an angry face: "Gao Qi, if you are still a member of the Gao family, follow those people quickly. Don't let them get hurt. If anything happens to them, I will not let you go even if I become a ghost!"
Seeing that he had no chance at all, Gao Qi sighed and left with the team.
The Gao family saw that everyone had left and quickly closed the door. Thinking that their family members might have been killed, several strong men couldn't help crying. The next day, they heard some noise in the village and secretly looked over. It turned out that the government troops had entered the village.
Everyone in the Gao family was very happy, thinking that their savior had arrived. But Master Gao ordered everyone not to go out or make any noise.
After hiding for a while, I heard someone kicking the door and someone shouting, "The door is locked from the inside. Climb over the wall and break the lock."
As a last resort, Mr. Gao had to ask someone to open the door. As soon as the lock was removed, the Qing army broke in. Without saying a word, they tied up all the people in the Gao family and then went straight to the granary.
A moment later, an officer rushed in, ignoring the Gao family, and asked how much food the army had found. Of course, there was not much food during the lean season.
The officer immediately ordered the Gao family to be brought over, cursing, "Where did you hide the food?"
Master Gao's face changed drastically, and he knew something was wrong. It seemed that the Han army was right, and that the government troops had lost the battle. Master Gao's son probably didn't understand, and tried to explain that the Gao family were all good people, and were willing to lead the government troops to fight against Huo Chong and other thieves.
Before he finished speaking, Mr. Gao's son was kicked several times. The pale-faced officer's eyes were as big as cow eyes, "I ask you, where did you hide the food?"
Mr. Gao's son tried to defend himself, "We didn't hide any grain."
The officer seemed experienced, and he gritted his teeth and shouted, "Hit him! Hit him hard! Beat him to death first!"
The government troops immediately rushed over, grabbed several people and started attacking them. Screams immediately .
Master Gao felt like he was in a nightmare. His mind could understand what was happening, but his heart was beating so fast that he felt dizzy. A strong thought was circling in Master Gao's mind: he was wrong. He should have thought that the government troops might be defeated. But he didn't expect to encounter a defeated army.
At this time, the people who stayed in the Gao family had been beaten to the point of bleeding from their mouths and noses. Unable to endure the torture, they began to ask for help from Mr. Gao, who had not been beaten.
Mr. Gao was heartbroken. It was indeed hard to accept that his family had suffered. However, what he could not accept even more was that his family property had been plundered. The government troops were right. The Gao family had indeed hidden a batch of grain, and it was a large batch of grain. The price of grain in the market was not low recently, and Mr. Gao planned to sell this batch of grain to make a profit. If the government troops found his location, he would never get a penny.
At this desperate moment, Master Gao shouted loudly: "Stop fighting, stop fighting. Aren't you government troops? Aren't you here to kill the bandits?"
This time, before the officer could say anything, the soldiers around him started to curse: "We are here to kill the bandits. If you don't give us food, do you want us to starve to death? If you want to starve our troops to death, don't you have any conscience?"
After scolding, the officer seemed to be still not satisfied, and he gave Mr. Gao several slaps in the face, which made Mr. Gao dizzy.
In this dizziness, Master Gao vaguely remembered something and shouted again: "You are the government troops, don't you have three major disciplines and eight points of attention? You have discipline! You have discipline!"
"Ah? What are you talking about, old man! What discipline, what attention! What nonsense!"
Being scolded like this, Master Gao finally remembered that the Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention were the rules for Huo Chong's men, and Master Gao was now facing the government troops.
Although he thought so, Master Gao still felt that it was wrong. Since the rebel army understood the three major disciplines and eight points of attention, how come the government army was worse than the rebel army!
Before Mr. Gao could think of what to say, he heard the man from the Gao family who was beaten finally shout in despair: "Stop, stop! I'll take you to get food."
This voice startled Master Gao, and he immediately shouted: "How dare you! How dare you bring outsiders..."
A flying blow hit Master Gao's head, causing it to shake. Blood spurted out of his mouth and nose, and he could no longer speak.
After a while, the government troops finally found food. Probably because there were not many women in the Gao family, the people did not expect the men in the Gao family to know how to cook. So they started cooking on their own.
After a while, a shout of "Greetings to the Marshal" was heard in the yard. Mr. Gao sat against the wall in the room where the Gao family was imprisoned, and some hope arose in his heart. If it was the Marshal who came, he would always be a reasonable person. Maybe he had some connection with the Gao family.
He struggled to stand up, ran to the window, and shouted outside: "Marshal, Marshal, help us! We are all good people! We are all good people!"
The door was opened, and the government soldiers led the Gao family out, pushing and shoving them to the main room. They saw a Qing army general wearing a yellow jacket sitting in the main seat that was originally occupied by Mr. Gao. Mr. Gao quickly knelt down to salute and introduced himself.
The general looked as if he had never heard of it before. He just looked at the Gao family with strange eyes, and nodded slightly with satisfaction. Master Gao felt that his eyes were like those of a hungry wolf, flashing something that made people shudder. He quickly lowered his head.
After a while, Master Gao heard the great general suddenly ask the people around him, "Have you ever had any dealings with this family...what's their name?
After hearing this, the officers and soldiers nearby quickly said that it seemed that they had some dealings with Mr. Gao's ancestors.
The general laughed and said, "In that case, take them to the ancestral temple to pay their respects first. It would be unreasonable not to go and pay respects to them if we embarrass them."
After hearing the order, the officers and soldiers carried Master Gao and his family and walked out. Master Gao was surprised and happy. Since the general said so, he probably didn't want to embarrass the Gao family any further.
Cheer up, Master Gao led the officers and soldiers to the ancestral hall. When they were almost at the door, the officers and soldiers did not enter, but turned around and dragged the Gao family around the ancestral hall.
"Masters, why don't you go in?"
The leader of the officers and soldiers responded, "No hurry. Let's see if there is an ambush first."
After walking around and seeing that there were not many people, the leading officer did not enter the ancestral hall. He just sighed and said, "Everyone, you are all good citizens. It is really hard for you to follow the government at this time."
Thinking of the food that was stolen, Mr. Gao felt as if his heart was broken. He was speechless. Then he heard the leading officer continue to say: "People say that if you help someone, you should help him till the end. If you send a Buddha to the west, you should send him to the west. Don't you agree?"
Master Gao shouted quickly: "Master, we really have nothing left in our house!"
The leading officer shook his head and sighed. Then he faced the Gao Family Ancestral Hall, clasped his hands together, and began to recite.
"Namo Amitabha. Dothagata. Dodiyata. Amitabha ...
The chanting sounded from the heart, and the infectiousness made Mr. Gao wonder if he had made a mistake. Perhaps the ancestors of these officers and soldiers really had some connection with the ancestors of the Gao family. If not, there would definitely not be such sincere chanting.
The scripture was not long, and it didn't take much time to read it three times. Putting down his folded hands, the leading soldier sighed, "Everyone, you are all good people. I also want you to understand that now the soldiers have no meat to eat and really don't have the strength to run. You also need to understand that if the soldiers can't survive, you can't survive either. This is all the instructions from above, and we are just following orders . When we all arrive at the territory of the southern court, we will definitely invite the monks to perform rituals."
"You...what are you going to do?" Master Gao sensed a huge danger.
The leading officer had put away the solemn look he had when he was chanting the sutra, and his face was full of ferocity. "We ask you to sacrifice our five internal organs so that we can have the strength to march! Go!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Master Gao felt a chill on his back and a burning sensation in his abdomen. He looked down and saw a bloody knife sticking out of his chest.
There were screams one after another. The soldiers had already attacked the Gao family. Mr. Gao was kicked hard from behind, and his body slipped off the knife. The huge pain made Mr. Gao scream halfway, and then his throat felt fishy and sweet, and something blocked his throat. He could no longer make a sound.
Falling to the ground, a voice seemed to come from a very far distance, "Hurry up and drain the blood, and cut the meat before it gets cold and hard!"
Enduring the pain of suffocation, the sound of chanting sutras rang out again from a seemingly faraway place, "Namo Amitabha. Dothagata. Dodiyata. Amritaputta. Amritaputta. Siddhamupta. Amritaputta..."
