The Rise of the Marquis

Chapter 65

Wang Jian looked down at the skinny man in front of him crying. His hands were tied, his hunting bow had been confiscated by the guards, his thick thumb looked like hyperosteogeny, and there was a thick callus on the side of his middle finger.

Wang Jian's first reaction was that this man wasn't lying, he was indeed a hunter, and he didn't look like an enemy spy.

So he condescendingly looked down at the trembling person in front of him: "Tell me what's going on, whoever slaughtered your village, convince me that you can live."

"Forgive me! Don't kill me! I know who did it, it's a group of lunatics." The other party said repeatedly.

"They hid in the mountains and would attack us whenever they had the chance. They would not let go of the old and the children. They are devoid of conscience!" the other party complained bitterly. The village heard that the soldiers from Ma Ling had been driven away by the army from the north.

At that time, some people were afraid of their retaliation, some fled to Heyin, some dragged their families along and did not want to leave, and some children were still young or too old and did not leave, and the result..."

After he finished speaking, the soldiers next to him were stunned. Although they didn't kill the people themselves, it was equivalent to killing the villagers who were slaughtered. So far, 300 people have been killed in all the villages discovered so far.

It sounds like those who slaughtered the people were bandits. There were Maling garrisons before and they didn't dare to attack the village at will. With the arrival of the Heyang army, the chaos of the war and the defeat of the Maling garrison gave them an opportunity. .

Several scouts who brought people over all lowered their heads.

Wang Jian was unmoved, and continued to ask coldly, "Why did they attack the village? Many valuables are still in the village, and some animals were killed and thrown together with people. They don't look like pure robbers."

"I don't know either."

"Drag him down and chop him up." Wang Jian ordered loudly.

The hunter was startled, knelt down with a thud, and kowtowed repeatedly: "My lord, spare my life, my lord, spare my life, I said everything!"

He kowtowed while begging for mercy, and Wang Jian raised his hand to temporarily stop the soldiers who came up to arrest him.

"They...they killed people, I...we are traitors! They are here to avenge... woo woo woo." The man began to cry, and then he continued to speak intermittently while crying.

According to his description, Wang Jian gradually understood the whole story.

It turned out that a few decades ago, probably during the generation of the grandfather of the current Lord Ma Ling, there were a large number of local residents here before Ma Ling sent troops to conquer Heyin. .

After Mu Sheng's grandfather led the army into Heyin, he encountered fierce resistance from the local people. First, they had to pay taxes to Ma Ling after the Ma Ling army came.

After that, although the local people were too small to defeat Ma Ling's army head-on, they still began to break up into pieces and attacked Ma Ling's army sporadically, causing them considerable losses.

Small and medium-scale fighting continued between the two sides, and the war lasted for more than two years.

Although there are not many aborigines in Heyin and the number of people who can be mobilized is limited, there are large swamps in the northeast, and the roads are rough and difficult, making it difficult for the Ma Ling army to march.

Moreover, the gods worshiped by the local people in the swamp are also helping them. As long as the supply convoy and soldiers of the Ma Ling Army pass through the swamp area, they will surely die. Soldiers kept their distance from the swamps and transported grain and grass around long distances.

Under the influence of various factors, although the local aborigines in Heyin were still unable to defeat the Maling army head-on, it also prevented them from continuing to advance.

However, the situation began to change after the beginning of the third year.

Ma Ling's army made no progress in military affairs, but Ma Linggong was a smart man at that time. He made full use of Ma Ling's advantages, since he had a large population and rich resources, so he began to use another strategy.

The Maling army began to avoid fighting, and sent a large number of troops to build a road that could easily take horses, carts and ox carts from Maling City to the hinterland of Heyin. It serves as a military fort, logistics base and strategic support to expand around and expel the locals.

In this way, the small group of attacks by the Heyin aborigines will no longer be effective.

Because the logistical problems of the Ma Ling army were solved, and they might be able to defeat the soldiers of Ma Ling, but there was nothing they could do about the strong settlements.The Maling army gradually relied on their advantages in architectural attainments, wide roads and forts to nibble away at the land of Heyin little by little, and actually controlled the fertile land except for the swamps.

Today's Heyin Town and Honghuagang Dazhai and other military fortresses and settlements were established at that time.

As time goes by, the living space of Heyin aborigines has been continuously compressed, and life and fighting have become more and more difficult. However, the gods they prayed to and worshiped seemed to have no way out of the swamp, and more and more people were beaten down by hunger and poverty. .

Under such circumstances, the local aborigines also split. Some people took a tough attitude and vowed not to give up until the blood is shed. They will fight to the death with the Maling people who invaded their homeland, even if everyone dies.

The other part felt that at this point they had no choice but to surrender to Ma Ling in exchange for a chance to survive. They just wanted to live, and they didn't want to be exiled in the swamp, and they had already killed half of their youth in order not to pay taxes. If you go down, everyone will die.If the price of living is to pay taxes to Maling City, then it is better to surrender.

The disagreement eventually sparked a small civil war, followed by a split.

Some of them surrendered to the Ma Ling army and became the guides, leading the Ma Ling army to find the compatriot settlement hidden on the edge of the swamp as a certificate of vote.

The other part of those who resisted to the death fled into the depths of the swamp after the raid and killing by the Ma Ling army and vowed revenge.

Those who finally surrendered have become the people of Heyin under the rule of Duke Maling, while the other people have been lurking in the swamp, and from time to time they will commit violent killings to avenge their ancestors.

Originally, the Maling people thought that after they were all driven into the swamp, those people would die out sooner or later, but it is unbelievable that 70 years later, there are still occasional aboriginal attacks everywhere.

It's just that when the Ma Ling garrison was there, they didn't dare to attack the village on a large scale.

But after the Heyang army came in, some of the Ma Ling army were killed and captured, and many of them ran away after hearing about the prestige of Heqinhou and the fiasco of Liangtingyi. As a result, no one protected the people. Those who hated found the opportunity and slaughtered the village, the "traitor" in their eyes.

After hearing these stories, the people around have mixed feelings. Everyone has their own position on this matter and it is difficult to tell right from wrong, but the matter is completely clear. It is the first time many people have heard about Heyin's past.

Wang Jian was calm. There were too many "deja vu" in human history. He was no longer surprised by it. Instead, he was interested in another thing: "You said that everyone who enters the swamp will disappear. Is it really just hearsay?"

(End of this chapter)