Free Web NovelChapter 1252: Chapter 1222: Dealing with Defiance (Part 2)
Zu Ti commanded the soldiers to carry a copper gong and knock it everywhere, spreading this decree.
These soldiers had just experienced a fierce battle, their bodies filled with a bloody aura and pent-up frustration with nowhere to release. As they banged the gong loudly, they found that their inner suffocation was also being relieved. Mainly, the common folks in Jiangnan were quite interesting, smaller in stature compared to the Northern people. Some spoke in soft, delicate tones, even quarreling in a manner akin to coquetry.
However, others spoke as if with rolling stones in their mouths, fast and hard, turning their coquetry into arguments, which was quite amusing.
The local customs here were also different from the Northern Land. To entertain guests and during festivities, they would eat a kind of delicious rice cake, snowy white, adorned with a red date or other dried fruits in the center, and when steamed with billowing hot vapor, the fragrant scent of rice was intoxicating. A bite revealed a soft, glutinous sweetness that made you wish to swallow your tongue.
They had never tasted such delicate food before. When they swallowed it, it felt like their mother’s touch on their hair when they were young — soothing for both heart and stomach.
The soldiers, who had just witnessed the death of their comrades and had bloodstains in their eyes, cried as if it were raining, holding the rice cake and sobbing.
At first, the Southern people who spent plentiful white rice to make rice cakes for them were taken aback, fearing the soldiers might plunder valuables. But their fear vanished and was replaced with compassion.
The village’s women were cordoned off in the kitchen, while the young men stood at a distance. The elders served the food, which was wisdom passed down through generations of warfare.
When one soldier began crying, the others silently shed tears as well. Everyone bowed their heads, quietly eating.
An old woman sighed, raised her hand to touch a soldier’s head, looking at his youthful face, she asked, "You look even younger than my grandson, how old are you?"
The young soldier grinned and said, "I am fifteen, have served in the military for six years."
The old woman widened her mouth, "You joined the army at nine?"
The young soldier nodded proudly.
Nearby, a slightly older soldier exposed him, "Don’t listen to him. At nine, he wasn’t a soldier at all; he was a military slave."
Then he shared the young soldier’s remarkable story with the old woman, "At nine, he went out with his family to escape distress and got separated, then he was captured by Prince East Sea’s men to be sold as military provisions. Before he could be sold, war broke out, and he stayed in the army as a military slave. Within two years, Prince East Sea died, the army disbanded, and by chance, he followed the remaining soldiers under the Great General."
"He wasn’t yet fourteen, which meant he should have been dismissed, but he clung stubbornly, refusing to leave, insisting on staying in the army. So, he has stayed until now."
The young soldier boasted, "I have six years of military service."
"Yet he’s still just a young soldier, hahaha..."
The young soldier angrily replied, "That’s because I was previously in logistics. Now I’m on the frontline, and I’ve decapitated two enemy levels in this battle, I’ll be promoted when we return."
The old woman smiled kindly at them and softly asked, "Is the Great General good to you?"
"Yes!" The young soldier said: "I’ve never seen a General who treats his soldiers better than the Great General does."
"Not only is he good to us, he’s kind to the civilians as well." Remembering something, the young soldier took half a string of coins from his pouch, apologetically saying: "This was for our food today. We didn’t expect you to make such delicious rice cakes. I’m not sure if this money is enough?"
The villagers did not expect them to offer money and quickly declined, but the soldiers insisted on giving it, "This is a strict order from the army. If the Great General finds out we consumed the civilians’ food without paying, he’ll punish us."
He said: "The Great General stated that nobody’s money is blown in by the wind. Life is hard for civilians as well. Today, we passed by asking you to serve us meals. Tomorrow, another army will pass by asking for meals, and within a year, the army could eat up the civilians’ savings. Isn’t everyone in the army from among the civilians?"
"Thus, the army discipline must be strict. If we adhere to it, others will too. When another army passes through our hometown, they will treat our parents with the same respect. This is care for the elderly and young alike." The young soldier smiled sheepishly, "Though my parents are no longer in my hometown, I believe they’re the same elsewhere. With strict discipline among fellow soldiers, they won’t be disturbed by the army in foreign lands."
The old woman was moved to tears by this speech, she hugged the young soldier and praised, "Good child, good child..."
Then she and the old men returned to the village and brought more dishes to feed them.
