Warring States Odyssey

  The territory of Zhao is roughly divided into two parts. One part is the land from the time when Jin was divided among three families, mainly distributed in Shanxi and southern Hebei. The other part is the new land opened up after Zhao Wuling Wang's Hu clothing and archery reforms, including Zhongshan, Hulin, Loufan and other places. Now, the territory of Zhao is only half of its heyday, and most of the lost land was from the time when Jin was divided among three families, which was also the area with more population and relatively developed economy. Therefore, the loss of national strength in Zhao exceeds half of its heyday, and now the capital Handan has already become the first line of the Qin-Zhao battlefield.

  The distance from Pingwu to Handan is not far, and there are flat and wide roads all the way, so it's very convenient for marching. If you rush to hurry, you can arrive in one day with a fast horse. However, Li Mu's party doesn't need to rush at this time, so they don't have to be in a hurry, and they can slow down and rest for a day or two along the way.

  Because this area was originally the outskirts of Handan, the capital of Zhao State, there were many cities and towns, and the population was relatively dense. It was originally the most prosperous area of Zhao State, but after walking for a day, only to see that along the marching route, they were all in groups of refugees fleeing in distress, some in threes or fives, others in tens, with some wandering aimlessly along the highway, and others simply sitting on both sides of the highway. They were all shabbily dressed, pale and emaciated, with dull eyes, looking like walking corpses. Moreover, on both sides of the highway, one could see corpses lying motionless everywhere. Most of the dead were the old, weak, women and children.

  Originally, starting from this spring, the area near Handan suffered a severe drought, so by autumn, almost all crops had greatly reduced production, and many fields were left with nothing to harvest. Furthermore, with the Qin army pressing in on the borders, Zhao had to mobilize large amounts of grain and laborers to defend against them, resulting in widespread famine and unrest, with some areas even seeing scenes of people fighting over food. Moreover, there were numerous incidents of refugees banding together to rob wealthy households, plunging the entire state of Zhao into extreme instability.

  After seeing Li Mu's army, some people dodged to both sides of the road, while others boldly came forward to beg from the troops. Li Mu furrowed his brow, lightly sighed and said: "Disperse the refugees, we'll speed up our advance, striving to arrive in Handan as soon as possible."

  Li Yinghong said: "Father, we still have some grain, why don't we distribute it to these refugees?"

  Gao Yuan said on the side, "Ying Hong, listen to the general's orders. It's not that the general is unwilling to help these refugees, but the food we carry with us is really too little, and it's fundamentally insufficient to support so many refugees. Moreover, if we distribute food to a portion of the refugees, I'm afraid all the refugees will rush over and demand it. At that time, it will be very difficult for us to extricate ourselves."

  Li Yinghong was stunned for a moment, she also knew that Gao Yuan's words were all true. The food brought by her own army was simply not enough to relieve these refugees. But looking at their miserable appearance, she couldn't help but feel some compassion and said, "Can we really just ignore them like this?"

  "Miss, what Gao Yuan said is right. It's not that we don't want to help these disaster victims, but it's just that we are also powerless."

  At this time, Gao Yuan said: "General, I think it's better to leave a portion of the army behind and gather these refugees near our large camp to settle them down. This time we obtained nearly 500,000 stones of grain from the Qin army, which is enough to relieve 3-5 million refugees. Moreover, the areas of Fanwu and Lidian are sparsely populated, with barren land, which can be used for these refugees to settle down. We can also select soldiers from among the refugees to strengthen our forces."

  Li Mu also fell silent after hearing this.

  Just then, a shout for slaughter came from the front, mixed with cries of agony and the sound of arrows piercing the air. A large number of refugees rushed towards Li Mu's side like a tide. The soldiers led by Li Mu were all seasoned veterans, so they immediately formed a battle array without waiting for his order, ready to engage in combat.

  Behind the refugees, a Zhao army was pursuing and killing them. Chariots were racing, arrows were flying everywhere, countless refugees fell to the ground and died amidst the miserable cries. In an instant, corpses were scattered all over the field, and blood flowed like rivers.

  This change also shocked Gaoyuan and others, who did not expect that Zhao Jun would be chasing after the refugees. Therefore, they were all very angry.

  At this time, Li Mu's face changed greatly, and he shouted loudly: "Gao Yuan, Ying Hong, quickly, immediately stop this army from killing these refugees!"

  Li Yinghong had long been filled with righteous indignation, and upon hearing Li Mu's order, he immediately said: "Understood, Father." With that, he spurred his horse on, charging out of the formation first, while Gao Yuan led 500 cavalrymen in charging out of the formation as well.

  Li Yinghong took the lead, letting a group of refugees pass by, and charged towards this group of Zhao soldiers. His two swords danced out in unison, and all that could be seen was the flash of blood as two heads of Zhao soldiers were cut off by Li Yinghong. The other soldiers saw this and also gave up chasing the refugees, turning to raise their spears and charge towards Li Yinghong.

  At this time, Gao Yuan led the cavalry to rush over, and the soldiers on horseback killed them. The number of people in this army was not many, only three or four hundred, and there were only a dozen or so chariots. The quality of the troops could not be compared with that of Gao Yuan's cavalry, and they could not withstand the impact of the cavalry. As a result, more than 20 people were killed in an instant, and four or five chariots were overturned. Other soldiers saw how fierce this cavalry was and did not dare to fight again, retreating one after another. The refugees saw that there were troops protecting themselves, so they also stopped fleeing and gathered on both sides of the road to watch.

  At this moment, a war chariot drove up from the rear of the team. A man stood on the left side of the chariot, wearing a helmet and armor, holding a long spear. He was about 24 or 25 years old. He pointed at Li Yinghong with his long spear and said: "You are from which army, dare to kill my soldiers? Don't you want to live? Do you know who I am?"

  The plateau could see that this young man was a noble younger brother, but he also calmly stepped forward several steps, using the long spear in his hand to point at the young man and said: "I don't care who you are, but why do you wantonly slaughter innocent civilians."

  That young man sneered and said, "Killing a few ordinary people is nothing. What are you guys? You dare to interfere with my business. Report your name and see what you rely on."

  At this time, Li Mu had already driven his war chariot out of the formation and said: "Who are you? Why do you want to slaughter innocent civilians indiscriminately here?"

  Li Mu made his appearance, and the young man was also greatly surprised. He naturally knew Li Mu, but did not expect to meet him here. So, despite feeling resentful in his heart, he hastily dismounted from the chariot and knelt on one knee on the main road, saying: "I am Zhao Bin, subordinate of General Wu An."

  Li Mu nodded, although he did not know Zhao Bin, but he knew that Zhao Bin's father, Zhao Cong, was a high-ranking official of the Zhao state and also the second-in-command of the military after Li Mu. Currently serving as the Grand Marshal of Zhao, Zhao Cong was still Li Mu's superior in terms of position.

  But Zhao Cong was only in charge of the military affairs of Zhao State in name. However, all the elite soldiers of Zhao State were under Li Mu's command, so Zhao Cong, as a senior general, actually had no real power. In his heart, he naturally harbored deep resentment towards Li Mu, but Li Mu had achieved numerous victories and if not for being a member of the royal family of Zhao State, Zhao Cong would probably have lost his position as senior general long ago.

  Although Zhao Bin was also very dissatisfied with Li Mu in his heart, he and Li Mu's official positions were too far apart, so he could only honestly give Li Mu a salute.

  Li Mu said to Zhao Bin, who was kneeling in front of the carriage: "Zhao Bin, stand up and talk."

  Zhao Bin hastily stood up and said: "Thank you, sir."

  Li Mu Dao said: "Why did you bring people to kill these refugees."

  Zhao Binda said: "Report to the superior, it's not that I want to lead troops to kill these Jianmin. Just last night, a group of Jianmin raided my family's estate, looting food and property. That's why I led men in pursuit, searching for the culprits and recovering our lost grain and goods."

  Li Mu listened and also furrowed his brow, looking around at the refugees, saying: "Among you, was there someone who attacked General Zhao's estate last night?"

  Refugees on both sides of the army knelt down, saying: "Your Majesty is wise and discerning, we did not attack General Zhao's mansion." Several people crawled to the front of Li Mu's carriage and said: "Your Majesty, we were here yesterday and never went to General Zhao's mansion."

  Li Mu nodded and said to Zhao Bin, "Zhao Bin, did you see that among this group of refugees, there is no one who attacked your estate? But you are acting recklessly, indiscriminately killing innocent civilians without distinguishing between the true and false. This is really going too far. Now withdraw your troops and go back."

  Actually, last night was pitch black, Zhao Bin didn't see clearly either. How many refugees attacked his own manor and escaped to where, he just held back a belly full of fire. After dawn, he led his private army out of the manor, as long as they saw refugees, regardless of whether they were guilty or not, they slaughtered them indiscriminately.

  But Li Muo spoke, Zhao Bin's heart was very dissatisfied, and he didn't dare to confront Li Muo, so he could only reluctantly say: "Since the lord has spoken, this general will naturally obey, today we will just let go of these Jian people." He turned his head and said: "Let's go." After finishing speaking, he led the army away.

  After they all left, the refugees knelt down in front of Li Mu's carriage again, crying loudly and thanking Li Mu for his rescue. At the same time, they also begged Li Mu to save themselves, and the sound of their crying shook the sky, making people's hearts feel sour.

  Li Mu also sighed and said, "Fellow villagers and elderly, this time I was ordered to return to Handan, but I didn't bring much grain. If you don't have a place to go, just follow the highway and head to Fanwu to resettle and start anew. I will arrange for personnel to distribute food to you."

  The crowd of refugees heard this and also all knelt down to thank him.