Daqin arrests alchemists, what does it matter to me as a qi refiner?

Seeing the sturdy man crying bitterly, dozens of refugees around him followed suit and begged Yang Ling to rescue his companions.

"Everyone, get up first!" Yang Ling stretched out his hand and pulled up the sturdy man and said, "Brother, tell us what happened."

The sturdy man choked up and said, "This morning, I led my brothers to beg for food everywhere. We finally met this official who gave us alms. We thought we had finally escaped this disaster, but who knew that the government sent soldiers to hunt down our group of refugees in the middle of the night. We finally escaped from the government, but we were still caught. Now we have no food to eat. Please take us in."

After listening to the sturdy man's narration, Yang Ling immediately understood that this group of refugees had secretly escaped while the government's army was resting, so after being caught, the government not only expelled them from the country, but also sent troops to hunt them down to prevent them from leaking military intelligence.

Thinking of this, Yang Ling quickly spoke to comfort them: "My fellow villagers, don't worry. Since you have surrendered to me, I will definitely protect your lives."

Yang Ling then said to Zhang Xian and Chen Qishan, "Pass the order down and have the soldiers prepare dry food and be on standby at any time."

Although Yang Ling was only a temporary commander, he was an official of the imperial court after all and held great power, so he had a high prestige in the army.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xian and Chen Qishan immediately dispersed to pass orders and ordered all troops to prepare.

In the woods not far away, five or six cavalry teams were hiding in the treetops, watching Yang Ling's movements vigilantly.

The leader was a young man in his thirties, with a sturdy build and handsome looks, but there was a cold look between his brows and his eyes were as sharp as a knife.

"Sir, this new commander is a kid who hasn't even fully grown his hair. I'm afraid he won't be able to accomplish anything." The deputy general standing next to him reminded in a low voice.

"The new commander's surname is Yang, and it is said that he was appointed by Emperor Taizu himself. He must have some connections." The young man said after pondering for a moment.

"Sir, do you want me to go and investigate thoroughly first?" suggested the deputy general.

The young man shook his head and refused: "Not for now."

Yang Ling led his soldiers to continue advancing along the trench. During this period, Yang Ling also considered that more troops should be stationed nearby to ensure that there would be no accidents.

However, considering the situation around Qingze Town, Yang Ling decided to follow the usual practice and disperse the troops to reduce risks.

Not long after Yang Ling led his troops forward, he suddenly saw several torches flickering in the wilderness ahead, and vaguely saw many human figures swaying.

"Stop advancing, line up to meet the enemy!"

Yang Ling immediately raised his sword and gave the order, then drew the sword at his waist and stepped forward.

As Yang Ling's order was given, all the soldiers immediately drew their weapons and formed a tight formation.

"How dare you, the thief, attack our soldiers! Why don't you just lay down your weapons and surrender!"

Yang Ling shouted: "Surrender your weapons and we will not kill you!"

Hearing Yang Ling's shout, there were sporadic shouts and curses from the other side: "Damn it, I didn't steal your wife, why don't you kill me?"

"You bastards, I'm killing you refugees to enforce justice, and you still dare to resist?"

Yang Ling was furious and shouted, "If you don't want to die, get out now!"

Yang Ling's shouting caused a commotion among the crowd on the opposite side. Many refugees turned around and fled in panic, soon disappearing in the vast wild grass.

Seeing the refugees retreat, Yang Ling put away his weapons and told everyone to return to the camp.

At this moment, Yang Ling suddenly saw many small black dots in the distance. He squinted his eyes and looked carefully. He saw that in the wilderness hundreds of meters away, dense groups of refugees were gathering. They were obviously frightened and wanted to seek shelter.

"Pass the order down, call all the archers over, aim and shoot at them!"

As Yang Ling's order was issued, the troops responsible for protecting the archers quickly adjusted their formation.

At this time, the refugees seemed to realize the danger and fled in a hurry, but in the barren land, they could not avoid the flying rain of arrows at all.

As the whistling sound of arrows breaking through the air rang out, screams broke out from the refugees, blood splattered, and dozens of people were shot and fell to the ground.

After being attacked, the refugees lay prone on the ground, dodging the locust-like arrows, and some even hid directly in the weeds.

As soon as the refugees hid in the weeds, they saw dozens of war horses charging towards them. The cavalrymen on horseback swung their iron-framed bows to deflect all the flying arrows.

The refugees had never seen such a scene before. They fled in panic. Some even fell to the ground but were still trampled to death. It was a tragic scene.

Looking at this tragic scene before him, Yang Ling felt a deep sense of sadness in his heart.

These refugees were originally innocent, but because of hunger and disease they were forced to join the government and became tools for the government to collect taxes.

After suffering a lot of hardships, they finally had the opportunity to escape the disaster area, but they were driven crazy by the cruel rule of the government. In the end, they did not hesitate to attack and hurt others, which led to the government hunting them down.

Looking at those refugees lying helplessly in a pool of blood, looking at those refugees with faces full of hatred and gritting their teeth to seek revenge on the government, Yang Ling's heart was filled with self-blame. This was his fault.

If it weren't for him, these refugees might have been able to survive the famine safely and find relief.

But now, not only are they unable to find relief, but they are instead falling into even greater pain.

This is like a bird trapped in a cage. Although it can flap its wings and fly high, it will never have the chance to soar into the sky.

Yang Ling took a deep breath, trying to suppress the guilt in his heart, and shouted: "All troops, listen to my order, follow me immediately and kill all the refugees."

Following Yang Ling's order, thousands of Tang soldiers immediately followed Yang Ling and rushed towards the refugees.

When the refugees saw that the soldiers were actually catching up with them, they were immediately terrified.

"Everyone, don't worry about anything else, just charge forward and don't make dumplings for the officers and soldiers!"

Someone shouted, but all the refugees gathered their courage, brandished their weapons and launched a fierce attack on the officers and soldiers.

"Kill!"

Thousands of refugees rushed forward like a tide, and the two sides soon engaged in a melee. Neither side gave in, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and corpses continued to fall to the ground.

Seeing this tragic situation, Yang Ling felt more and more guilty. He knew that these refugees were deceived by the government and became slaves, but he would not change his mind. He needed the refugees to fight for him and earn rewards.

Yang Ling tightly grasped the steel whip and roared as he rushed towards the refugees. Wherever he passed, people and horses fell to the ground, and refugees kept falling at his feet.

"Help, please save us"

The refugees cried and begged, but Yang Ling did not show any sympathy at all.

"Kill! Eliminate harm for the people and serve the country!"

Yang Ling raised his steel whip and hacked at the refugees around him. Thousands of Tang soldiers behind him also shouted and cheered, and their arrogance was extremely arrogant. Under the fierce attack of the officers and soldiers, the refugees gradually couldn't resist and began to retreat. They threw away their weapons unwillingly and fled.

Seeing this, Yang Ling did not pursue the enemy. After all, these refugees had been tortured to death by the government and had lost the faith to resist. Leaving them behind would not be a big deal and would easily cause dissatisfaction among the refugees.

Yang Ling reined in his horse and looked back at the refugees scattered all over the mountains. He sighed in his heart, "I hope they can understand the suffering they have endured today and turn over a new leaf from now on. Otherwise, the government will sooner or later wipe them out again."

"General, I will fight you!"

"I am willing to be the vanguard and wipe out these rebels!"

……

Yang Ling looked at his subordinates who were eager to try behind him, and he hesitated slightly.

He thought about it for a long time and felt that although he had made merit in eliminating the refugees, it went against his original intention. After all, these people were also the people of the Ming Dynasty and should not be massacred.

However, the evil acts of the refugees, such as crime, murder and looting, touched the softest string in his heart and made him unable to bring himself to take ruthless action.

Just as Yang Ling was hesitating, Han Shizhong's voice came from the side.

"General, I am willing to lead the cavalry as the vanguard to crush these rebels and bring peace and prosperity to the people in the countryside!"

Yang Ling was greatly encouraged by what he said. He turned his head and looked at Han Shizhong and asked, "Brother, if that's the case, then you will be the vanguard."

"I will obey your orders!"

Han Shizhong excitedly agreed, and then led 300 cavalrymen to chase the refugees, and all the refugees he met along the way were easily killed.

Yang Ling watched Han Shizhong lead his troops away, and then ordered: "Everyone, rest here for a while, and continue on your journey later."

"Yes!" Everyone agreed in unison and returned to their seats to rest.

Yang Ling sat on his warhorse and looked around at the soldiers around him. Looking at those soldiers who were exhausted, collapsed on the ground, with blood at the corners of their mouths, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotions in his heart.

Are these the well-trained elite soldiers? They are not afraid of sacrifice, life or death, they do not flinch in the face of the enemy and crush them with their absolute superior force.

After so many days of arduous training, there was finally some gain. Thinking of this, Yang Ling couldn't help but smile, and the guilt in his heart was alleviated a lot.

Just as Yang Ling was about to ask the soldiers to rest for a while, a deafening horn sounded suddenly from afar.

Hearing the horn sound, the Tang soldiers who were resting woke up one after another and looked up vigilantly at their surroundings.

Yang Ling also looked in the direction of the sound, and saw dark clouds rising faintly in the northwest sky, and then a few wisps of fiery red smoke rising into the sky, obviously the sound of artillery.

Seeing this huge army, Yang Ling couldn't help but frown and said, "Could it be the Jin army attacking? No, that's not right. The Jin army just arrived at Puzhou City yesterday. How could they attack the city today?"

Yang Ling was filled with doubts, and immediately urged his guards, "Send out scouts immediately to investigate and determine what kind of army this is."

Soon the scouts came back with the news, saying, "General, it's the Jin army, about 20,000 strong, about five or six miles away from us, and they are probably heading this way."

"What? Jin Army!" Yang Ling stood up in surprise.

He didn't expect that the Jin army would dare to take the initiative to attack. This was completely beyond his expectations. Did they forget the lesson from last time?
Yang Ling's eyes swept over the scattered refugees in the distance, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind. He figured out the key and couldn't help but sigh.

He knew that the reason why the Jin army chose to attack at this time was simply because they had just occupied Puzhou and their morale was high. They believed that with twice their own strength and weapons and equipment, they could easily break through the Tang army's defense.

"It seems that the Jin army is treating Puzhou as a soft persimmon. Do they really think they can take Puzhou easily?"

Yang Ling snorted in his heart, and a strong look of sarcasm appeared on his face.

The terrain in Puzhou area is complex to begin with, and with the addition of rain and snow during this period, the area was muddy and slippery, making walking extremely inconvenient. For infantry like the Jin army, it was simply a nightmare, so it was basically a pipe dream for the Jin army to take over Puzhou.

What's more, the city wall of Puzhou was extremely strong. According to the information he had, the city wall of Puzhou was four meters high, which was not much inferior to the city wall of the Tang army. It didn't even have bulky ladders such as battering rams, so it was simply wishful thinking for the Jin army to want to climb the city.

Thinking of this, Yang Ling relaxed and ordered the soldiers to continue resting.

Soon, Yang Ling and others heard the rumbling sound of iron hooves coming from afar.

"The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!"

When the refugees saw the dust flying in the distance, they screamed in panic. Many of them were so scared that they pissed their pants and ran away in a scramble.

Yang Ling hurriedly raised his sword and shouted on his horse: "Hold on! No retreat, anyone who retreats will be killed without mercy!"

Yang Ling's words exploded in everyone's ears like thunder. The refugees immediately stopped their retreat and stared blankly into the distance.

"drive!"

As several horses galloped towards them, the Jin army was finally within sight.

Yang Ling carefully looked at the enemy army opposite and found that there were more than 20,000 enemy troops in total. The front row was the Eight Banners Army, with about 700 to 800 people in each row. In front of them was the Mongolian cavalry, with about 3,000 people. Behind the Mongolian cavalry was the Eight Banners Army, with about 2,000 to 3,000 people. There were about 2,000 soldiers on horseback.

"Hahaha, these Han dogs are really as cowardly as mice. They are frightened by our bravery!"

"The Marshal's reputation and the powerful fighting power of our army have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. These Han dogs will naturally be terrified upon hearing the news."

……

When the Jin soldiers saw that the Tang army had stopped pursuing them, they could not help but feel delighted and showed off their might in front of the battle line.

They relied on their strong military force and familiarity with the geography, so they dared to take the initiative to attack. As long as they successfully captured Puzhou City, they could establish a defense line on the east side of Puzhou and firmly hold Puzhou City.

After seeing the performance of the Jin army, Yang Ling showed a mocking smile. These Jin soldiers were indeed the barbarians on the grassland. Not only did they lack tactical command experience, they also had no strategic vision at all. It was extremely stupid for them to take the initiative to attack under such circumstances.

The vanguard of the Jin army quickly approached within a hundred meters, and the two sides stared at each other.

When the Jin army's vanguard generals saw that the rebels had stopped chasing, they thought that they were frightened by their powerful fighting power and became even more arrogant. They shouted, "Listen up, you Han dogs! Put down your weapons and surrender immediately, otherwise don't blame me for being ruthless!"

"Bah, you Tartar, you still want us to surrender? Dream on!"

"That's right. My father and I will never surrender. You Tartar, you better clean your neck and prepare to die!"

"Grandpa, I would rather die standing than live on my knees. Come on, just come at me!" (End of this chapter)