"Behave yourself!"
"Hurry up!"
A group of Chu soldiers were escorted by the Han army, dejectedly walking towards the prisoner of war camp.
As the flood receded, more and more Chu soldiers were found and captured by the Han army.
In fact, when their general, Zuo Zongtang, ordered them to lay down their weapons and surrender to the Han army, the fate of the Chu army was already decided.
Compared to the Han army's attitude towards the foreigners, the Han army's attitude towards the Chu army was relatively good.
Except for those soldiers who were drowned by the flood, the Han army would not make things difficult for the remaining people who obediently put down their weapons and surrendered to the Han army.
"My lord, including the Chu army that surrendered in a large scale, we have captured more than 20,000 enemy soldiers. In addition, after the flood subsided, the soldiers collected more than 20,000 corpses nearby. The remaining Chu soldiers were either scattered and not found yet, or drowned in the flood!”
After the flood subsided, the entire Three Rivers Town looked like a mess. There were traces of yellow mud everywhere, and the roads were muddy. They were all footprints left by soldiers from both sides.
The soldiers who surrendered were like clay figurines, looking very miserable.
"I heard that you caught Zuo Zongtang. Where is he?”
Lin Yu took a look. There were too many prisoners of war. This temporary prisoner of war camp might not be able to hold them all!
"Zuo Zongtang is over there. My lord, do you want to see him?”
"Yes, bring me to take a look!"
Lin Yu had naturally heard of Zuo Zongtang.
Unlike the notorious Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang had a good reputation and was very honest.
However, these were not the most important things. The most important thing was that he had done many things for the Celestial Empire, especially carrying a coffin into battle. Under the watchful eyes of the foreign powers, he had recovered the western border of the Empire and preserved the territory of the Empire of one to two million square kilometers.
With this alone, he could be called a national hero!
Therefore, Lin Yu was quite interested in Zuo Zongtang.
……
In the prisoner of war camp, Zuo Zongtang was stripped of his armor. Then, like the other prisoners of war of the Chu army, he was forced to cut off his braids.
Because of the matter of cutting the braids, many of the Chu soldiers were very frightened and resistant. They even attacked the Han guards.
The Han army did not hold back against those who disobeyed orders or even dared to resist. They immediately pulled them out of the crowd and dealt with them according to the severity of the situation.
If they did not abide by the Han army's rules and did not cooperate with the Han army, their names would be remembered, and they would be punished physically or sent to the mines to work as coolies for a few years.
As for those who tried to resist, they were all shot dead by the Han army in front of the other prisoners of war!
Looking at the twitching corpses of their comrades, the remaining Chu captives immediately became more obedient.
They finally understood that as prisoners of the Han army, their fate was completely in the hands of the Han army.
If they did not follow the Han Army's instructions, they would really lose their lives!
Unlike the soldiers of the Chu army, Zuo Zongtang did not resist.
Even though his braids were cut off, he did not even make a sound. It was as if the braids did not exist!
Zuo Zongtang knew very well that the other party cut off their braids in order to completely break off their relationship with the Qing court.
After all, the imperial court would not leave behind any hair!
If they did not have braids, even if the Han army let them go back, the Qing court would not tolerate them.
If they dared to go back, the Qing army and local constables and bailiffs would definitely arrest them and hand them over as their own merits or behead them on the spot!
Since they couldn't go back, they had only one choice left, which was to stand on the Han army's side.
They could either join the Han army and fight against the Qing army with their lives on the line, or be an ordinary citizen under the rule of the Han army and grow their hair long. When the Qing army attacked in the future, they could shave their hair and join the Qing army!
However, no matter which choice they made, they couldn't go back in a short period of time. After all, hair couldn't grow out overnight!
If they did not return, the Qing court would definitely think that they had defected to the Han army. At that time, the Qing court would instead capture or even kill their relatives.
This cut off their path of retreat and forced them to join the Han army!
Therefore, this move of the Han army could not be said to be vicious!
However, even though he had seen through the Han Army's intentions, Zuo Zongtang did not show any signs of fighting or resisting.
He obediently followed the Han army's request and was escorted by the Han soldiers to a pool that had been disinfected with lime to bathe. He washed off the mud and stains on his body and then changed into a prison uniform with a large word 'prisoner' written on it.
Needless to say, the clothes of the Han army were quite soft. He did not know what material it was made of, but it felt completely different from the sackcloth clothes worn by the lower class people.
"No. 1231, name?"
After they changed into their clothes, the Han soldiers who had studied in the army were responsible for registering their names and giving them identity tags. They had them hang them on eye-catching spots in front of their chests so that the Han army's management personnel could easily understand their information.
This number represented their files. Their performance during their captivity would be recorded in a book. When their service period was over, the Han army would decide how to deal with them according to their performance during their captivity!
"Zuo Zongtang!"
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Xiangyin, Huguang."
"Age?"
“52！”
Hearing Zuo Zongtang's age, the Han soldier who was recording felt a little surprised and subconsciously looked up at him.
Most of the captured soldiers were around 20 to 30 years old. Very few were over 30 years old, and even fewer were over 50 years old.
So he felt that this guy might be different from ordinary soldiers. He might be a high-ranking official or something?
"Official position!"
"Crown Prince's Junior Guardian, Huang Ma Gui, Prime Minister, Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Second Class Kejing Earl, Second Class Official!”
The Han soldier in charge of recording was dumbfounded when he heard this long list of titles!
Had he caught a big fish?
……
When Lin Yu saw Zuo Zongtang, he was wearing prison clothes and standing in front of a thatched cottage on a small hill, looking at the camp of the Han army.
Around him, there was a company of Han soldiers guarding him, not allowing anyone to get close.
Apparently, after the Han soldiers learned of his identity, they paid special attention to him. In order to avoid any accidents, they locked him up alone.
This thatched cottage was his residence during this period of time.
As expected of Zuo Zongtang. He was captured, but he still had the leisure and elegance to spy on the enemy. This calm bearing was quite extraordinary.
This made Lin Yu even more interested in him!
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。