These corpses were not only in tattered clothes, but also very thin and weak, but they were tall, and it seemed that these days had suddenly changed from having enough to eat to not having enough to eat. Several of the corpses were facing up to the sky, and if you looked past them with clairvoyance, you could see the obvious eastern faces of the corpses.

Shang Bing glanced back a few times, and was about to comfort the soldier a few words, when he suddenly heard Song Hu shout again: "Your Highness! The army of Samarkand is about to attack the city again! Your Highness, hurry down to the city! ”

Hearing Song Hu's shout, Shang Bing's guards seemed to be conditioned, and they were about to escort His Highness to the city.

But Shang Bing, who usually walked down the city with the guards obediently, pushed his guards away today and said loudly: "Go down after a while!" ”

"Your Highness, the city is in danger!" Song Hu was originally beckoning the soldiers and people to prepare for defense, but when he heard this, he hurriedly turned his head and said.

"I want to see how tyrannical Timur was today, and see how the Mongols used to attack the city back then!" Shang Bing said with some emotion.

"But......" "Nothing! The city is safe at this point, isn't it? Shang Bing interrupted.

Song Hu persuaded a few more words, but Shang Bing insisted on staying in the city, and he was helpless. However, he walked to the edge of the city, and in addition to paying attention to the movements of the enemy soldiers, he also began to stare at the cannons of Samarkand, and once he noticed that the cannons were pushing forward, even if Shang Bing still did not want to go down, he would forcibly take him down.

Shang Bing didn't know what Song Hu was thinking. He stood on the edge of the wall with his clairvoyance raised in his hands, and saw that the retreating people automatically moved out of the way, and another group of Samarkand soldiers came out of the camp and formed a formation beyond the range of the cannons at the head of the city.

Then, a scene rarely seen in ordinary warfare occurred: hundreds of men in various costumes and white hats, armed with leather whips in their hands, drove thousands of ragged men out of a camp and drove them in front of the soldiers, and then someone pointed to the city of Iwu.

The men hesitated and did not come forward, and were whipped with leather whips; Someone tried to resist and was immediately killed by a bow and arrow. A white hat walked up a dirt slope and shouted a few words, and a whole thousand people raised their spears and pressed towards them, and the thousands of ragged men could only walk towards Igo City while crying.

The thousand-man squad was still following behind, at a slow but steady pace, and as soon as the men in front slowed down, they would shoot mercilessly, staining the heads of their guns with blood.

The other Samarkand soldiers who had just formed themselves also lined up and followed behind.

Gradually, the men forced themselves into the city, approaching the moat, where a road had been filled. Most of them were crying, and a few shouted: "We are the people of the Great Song Dynasty......" "Help me, I don't want to die!" "Mother, I ...... pain" "Thief, open your eyes!" ……

Not only do they have oriental faces, but they also speak Chinese. Yes, they are the Han Chinese of the city of Zhuwei, who were captured by the soldiers of Samarkand, and were used as cannon fodder by the soldiers of Samarkand as cannon fodder for the siege of the city.

Looking at these people, who were being forced by the swords, guns, bows and arrows of Samarkand soldiers to move forward slowly and get closer and closer to the city, Shang Bing seemed to have seen faces that were numb, painful, or full of despair, all dressed as Han people. Among them, there are mothers who protect their children with their bodies, young men who support the elderly, innocent children who do not know that great disaster is coming, rich families who shiver in broken silk satin, farmers with numb expressions, and scholars in long robes...... The various characters who make up a nation have almost all appeared on this hellish battlefield, waiting for death to come.

Shang Bing, who was originally holding clairvoyance, slowly put his hand down. I saw that his face was pale, his expression became very hideous, and the wooden shell of the clairvoyant that he was clenched with his hands had cracks, but he himself was unaware of it.

These are his people! It was the people he had brought with him from the Central Plains! It's the people he's been on patrol with, and some of them have even been received! But now they were driven like cattle toward the city.

Song Hu's expression was also very ugly, but he had seen such a scene dozens of times, and although he was in a very bad mood, he ordered the soldiers to get ready.

Another soldier in the city began to cry, perhaps because he saw his fellow countryman, and it seemed to be blood that flowed out. But most of the soldiers were like Song Hu, although their faces showed sadness, their hands did not stop moving.

After a while, when these people walked about a hundred steps away from the city wall, Song Hu said loudly: "Release the arrow!" ”

"Stretch!" There was a stirring in Shang Bing's ears, a special sound made by the bowstring when the arrow was ejected. This voice was not unfamiliar to him, he had heard it almost every day since he came to the Northwest, but today it sounded as if his heart had been stirred.

"Stop! Stop! Shang Bing shouted as if he was crazy.

Hearing his shout, the soldier's hand paused, but immediately put a second arrow on the bowstring, and fired it with another "release" command.

In an instant, thousands of arrows flew into the sky like raindrops, drawing a semicircular arc in the air, accelerating their fall after crossing the apex, covering the people of the Ming Dynasty. In the decades that followed, this scene was a nightmare for all the soldiers who had participated in the siege. Within 100 paces, all the people were shot indiscriminately! Suddenly the fallen corpses were covered outside the moat, and blood flowed from the dying bodies, staining large expanses of dirt red; Blood flowed into the moat, staining the river into the Red Sea.

After witnessing this scene, the people who had not yet approached the moat immediately cried hoarsely and refused to advance; There were also those who had the courage to fight the Semu or the Samarkand soldiers who drove them before they died, but how could these unarmed civilians fight the beasts in heavy armor and armed with sharp blades? In the center of the battlefield, it suddenly became a Shura field; And the people, who were driven closer to the city wall again, were shot down by a flurry of arrows, and let out a dying cry!

"Lonely told you to stop! You dare to disobey Lone's order! Shang Bing shouted loudly at the soldiers.

"Your Highness!" Song Hu also had to shout loudly: "If you don't shoot them, let the Xilu rush to the city, and even let them climb to the top of the city, the city will not be able to hold it!" ”

"A few days ago, because some soldiers couldn't bear to shoot arrows, they rushed to the city and set up a ladder to attack the city! If it weren't for the soldiers' lives, the city would have been broken! ”

"Your Highness, this is not the time for a woman's kindness!"

However, "Why don't you understand the truth?" But for the first time, he really faced such a situation, and it was still difficult for him to accept the situation of his people being shot by his own soldiers.

His life was too easy. In the past, it was sealed in Xi'an, although it also led troops to fight, but it was just the Ming army rushing up, and the barbarians scattered or surrendered; After coming to the northwest, because both Shami Chagan and Mahamu had places to use him, they occupied Yiwu without much fighting, and since then they have been developing peacefully, and they have never seen such a cruel scene.

Song Hu saw that Shang Bing was quiet, and he couldn't comfort him, and commanded the soldiers to use the city's defense equipment to deal with the attack of the Semu people.

Shang Bing didn't know when he stood up again, staring blankly at the soldiers of Samarkand who were trying to climb the top of the city in front of him, and the Ming soldiers who were struggling to overthrow the ladder. Every time the ladder was overturned, a few Samarkand soldiers fell screaming, and if they were lucky enough to fall to the ground, they might still be able to survive; If you are unlucky, you will fall on someone else's head, and you will be reimbursed for two lives.

Shang Bing was stunned to see a cloud ladder erected not far from him, and several Samarkand soldiers were crawling along the cloud ladder towards the city. Because there were too many ladders to over, the soldiers defending the city did not knock down the ladder for a while, until someone was about to climb to the top of the city before they struggled to make the ladder crooked.

Is this the one who killed the lonely people just now? Shang Bing thought to himself that face that was very different from the Han people's appearance.

He was thinking about it when he suddenly heard a voice: "Your Highness, why are you still in the city!" Then he heard the voice and said, "What are you guards eating?" The ladders of the Xilu have been set up, and they still don't help His Highness down! If Your Highness is in danger, you should all be broken into pieces! ”

Song Hu was busy directing the defense of the city just now, and thought that Shang Bing had been protected by the guards, so he didn't care; It wasn't until he saw that the enemy's artillery was pushed to the front that he suddenly remembered his initial order, turned his head to look, and saw that Shang Bing was still at the head of the city.

Song Hu was suddenly frightened and lost his two souls and six spirits! In such a flustered battlefield, a stray arrow will not be noticed at all; If this stray arrow hits Shang Bing, he can only apologize with death, and maybe he will implicate his father and brother.

Song Hu didn't care about commanding the soldiers to fight, so he immediately ran over and yelled loudly.

After listening to Song Hu's words, the guards woke up like a dream. They had never experienced such a battlefield, and they were all stunned for a while, and they were hurriedly dragging Shang Bing down to the city.

As soon as Shang Bing left the city, Song Hu heard the roar of cannons. He secretly said that it was dangerous, and hurriedly ordered the cannons at the head of the city to fire back. At this time, there were fewer cannons in Yiwu City than Timur's, and the cannonballs looked much worse, so Song Hu waited until Samarkand fired the cannons, and he didn't open the cannons if Samarkand didn't open the cannons.

With a deafening sound, Shang Bing was taken out of the city in a daze and stuffed into a carriage to be sent back to the palace.

After getting into the carriage, Shang Bing came to his senses, but he didn't say anything, but let them take him back to the palace.

When he arrived at the palace, Shang Bing got out of the car and walked to his study, and at the same time instructed a little eunuch: "Hurry up and call the two princes." ”

Not long after, Gao Xiang, the right minister, hurriedly walked to Shang Bing's study, saw Shang Bing who was stunned on the chair, and hurriedly asked, "Your Highness, what's wrong with you?" Why did you summon your ministers in the palace? On weekdays, Shang Bing would patrol the city or comfort the wounded soldiers at this time to boost morale.

"Just then, I saw the soldiers of Samarkand, or according to the current call of the soldiers, the Western Prisoners, driving the people of the Ming Dynasty to rush forward and attack the city."

"Those are the people of the Ming Dynasty! It was the people I brought over from the Central Plains and begged the government to give it to me, and in this way, I was sent to death like pigs and dogs. Shang Bingyu said with a sad look.

"Your Highness will collect the bones for them in the future and avenge their hatred! In the future, all the soldiers of Samarkand who had driven the people of the Ming Dynasty were caught, and they were all dealt with in accordance with military law, and they were not allowed to surrender! Gao Xiang didn't see the situation in the city, and he couldn't empathize like Shang Bing, so he said.

He then said: "Husband, although the minister is a civil minister, he also understands that there must be no woman's kindness in war, and His Royal Highness is very sad to see his people killed, and the minister also understands, but he must not be soft-hearted at this moment. ”

"You understand what you say. It's a big deal that in the future, in order not to interfere with the command of the generals, he will no longer go to the city. But," Shang Bing said and stood up: "Seeing the faces of the Ming people who were driven away, and seeing other faces with different appearances, Gu suddenly understood why after the rebellion in Quanzhou, the local Yuan soldiers treated the Semu people so cruelly. ”

"They look very different from ours, and they have a different civilization, and they will never really surrender and become the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty or the people of peace. Therefore, the Ming must not trust them, and even if they are forced to appoint, they cannot relax their vigilance and let them control the power. ”

As he was talking, Song Sheng hurriedly came, bowed and asked, "What is the matter with Your Highness's summoning of ministers?" ”

"Originally, I just had something to say to you, but I had already finished talking to Gao Xiang at this time. But when I saw you coming, Lone remembered something to tell you. ”

"Your Highness, please." Song Sheng said busily.

"In the future, if you catch the Western Captives, if you want to surrender if you want to surrender, you must hold a head of your own in your hand!"

"Your Highness, I'm afraid this is not appropriate." Song Sheng has followed his father and brother to fight since he was a child, and it is not uncommon to do such a thing, but now that Daming is such a big country, it may not be appropriate for people to accept the name.

"If they are not allowed to do so, they will have a way out, and they may defect at any time, and they must be closed in order to accept surrender." Shang Bing said firmly.

"Yes, Your Highness." Song Sheng could only agree.

……

"In June of the sixth year of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, because he witnessed his people being brutally driven to attack the city by the Turkic people who looked very different from the Han people, and because of the enigmatic judgment of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the evil flower of racism (non-nationalism) took root in the heart of Zhu Shangbing, the second Qin king of the Ming Dynasty, and caused countless human tragedies in the following decades as it grew step by step."

———— "Historical Studies of the Ming Dynasty", Volume II, Chapter 2, Section 3: War with the Timurid Khanate