Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 399 Suppressing the Starving People

As the surging crowd drew closer, Su Hongtu and his soldiers gripped their rifles tightly, their palms sweating. They were never afraid or ruthless when facing the enemy, but when confronted with a group of ragged, unarmed, starving people, they felt a pang of unease.

Su Hongtu, who also came from a poor family, knew the taste of hunger and cold. He saw that these starving people were simply blinded by hunger and did not intend to oppose the government. For them, having walked across most of Shandong to Dengzhou with little food and clothing, they were already at their limit and could starve to death at any moment. If they did not get some porridge here, they might die on the way to their next destination. A bowl of porridge could determine life and death. How could they remain calm?

Looking at the fervent and expectant eyes of the starving people ahead, Su Hongtu hesitated for a moment. Should he let them pass?

At this moment, one of the people running in the crowd lost their strength and fell to the ground. Before they could get up, they were trampled by the surging crowd behind them, letting out a shrill scream. It was clear that they would not survive.

The shouts startled Su Hongtu, making him realize he had been too soft-hearted. The soup kitchen only had a dozen or so pots, enough to serve a couple hundred people at a time. It was far from enough to meet the needs of nearly a thousand people. If they were allowed to rush in, very few would actually get any soup. Apart from the able-bodied, the elderly, women, and children would likely be pushed to the ground and trampled to death. In that case, the death toll would only be higher.

His eyes hardened, he raised his rifle, assumed a bayonet stance, and shouted to the soldiers, "We have fought against government troops, rebels, and mobs, and have never backed down. Now, facing a group of unarmed, starving people, are you afraid?"

The soldiers shouted back, "We're not afraid!"

Su Hongtu continued, "But they outnumber us by more than ten times. Aren't you afraid?"

The soldiers answered even louder: "We are not afraid!"

"Very good. You must remember, regardless of whether the starving people on the other side are armed or not, as long as they charge our ranks and the soup kitchens behind us, they are the enemy at this moment. Do not waver or hesitate!"

Like Su Hongtu, the soldiers assumed bayonet stances. They didn't fire because a gunshot wound had a much greater kill radius and power than a bayonet, and while a stab wound might not be fatal, a lead bullet wound, even if it didn't kill instantly, would lead to lead poisoning with current medical technology. The general's purpose in setting up these soup kitchens was ultimately to recruit these starving people to Qiongzhou to increase the population, not to massacre them. Minimizing casualties to deter the starving people was naturally the best approach.

The starving civilians at the forefront had already rushed up to the soldiers. Su Hongtu roared, "Kill!"

The soldiers shouted in unison, "Kill!" and raised their rifles, thrusting forward with all their might.

Dozens of bayonets plunged into the chests of the starving people. Their mouths gaped open, emitting painful screams. Only in the instant the cold blades pierced their bodies did they realize their mistake; they hadn't even gotten any porridge, and now they had lost their lives. After the bayonets were pulled out, the starving people collapsed limply, their blood staining the soil beneath them.

Dozens died in a single encounter, and the seemingly fierce flow of people came to a halt. The starving people ahead witnessed all this and became frightened. Were the soldiers really going to fight? They all slowed their pace. They were just trying to survive by getting some porridge, not to risk their lives.

But the starving people at the rear couldn't see what was happening ahead. They had only one thought in their minds: they couldn't let the people in front drink all the porridge; they had to grab a bowl to survive. Driven by this thought, the frenzied crowd pushed and shoved those in front, forcing those who stopped to run into bayonets—if they stopped, they would be pushed down and trampled to death.

Su Hongtu sighed and shouted, "Continue, stab!"

The soldiers roared and thrust their rifles forward again. The starving people were unarmed, without even a tree branch in their hands, and had no ability to resist. They were stabbed again, and dozens fell down.

The fear and the instinct for survival in the hearts of the starving people began to fight a battle between themselves and the world. Should they stop or rush forward one after another, paving the way to the soup kitchen with their lives?

Most of the starving people had no time to think; their eyes were only on the steaming pots. As the crowd grew denser, a platoon of soldiers could no longer hold them back. Many starving people circled around from both sides, and Su Hongtu and his soldiers could only watch helplessly. If they abandoned their formation to move to the sides to intercept these people, they would be trampled into mincemeat in an instant.

The cook at the porridge stall was terrified and dropped his spoon and bowl, running away. A messenger responsible for communications also hurriedly mounted his horse, wanting to return to Dengzhou to get reinforcements.

At this moment, a man rushed out from the crowd, pushed off with his feet, leaped high into the air, knocked the postman off his horse, and sat down on the horse himself. This man was none other than the man surnamed Ma, whom one of the starving people regarded as their spiritual leader.

He casually drew the saber hanging on the horse's waist, held it in one hand with the blade facing up and the back of the blade facing down, spurred the horse to charge into the crowd pouring into the soup kitchen, and then, from his elevated position, slashed down with the back of the blade.

Inside the soup kitchen, starving people who were scooping, ladlering, or holding the soup in their hands hadn't even gotten a bite when they were struck one after another by the back of a knife. Although it wasn't the blade, the force of the blow was so great that the already weak and powerless starving people collapsed instantly.

Some starving people, driven mad by desperation, tried to intercept the man, but his horsemanship was superb. He moved with perfect harmony with his horse, easily evading their attacks. He circled around them and continued to slash with the back of his blade. The starving people who were hit fell to the ground, howling in pain. The back of the blade felt like it was about to break their shoulder blades, and they couldn't even lift their hands.

While directing his soldiers to intercept the starving people head-on, Su Hongtu also noticed the man's actions in the soup kitchen. It seemed his purpose was the same as his own: to stabilize the situation and prevent a riot. This man, with his superb horsemanship, accomplished something that Su Hongtu and his dozens of infantrymen couldn't do, all by himself and his horse—a feat that commanded respect. If Su Hongtu turned back to maintain order in the soup kitchen, he would immediately be swallowed up by the surging crowd behind him.

The starving people, having suffered repeated setbacks, gradually calmed down, their momentum slowed, and no one rushed into the soup kitchen anymore. Slowly, the crowd in front of Su Hongtu slowed their pace until they came to a complete stop. Only a dozen or twenty starving people remained inside the soup kitchen, rolling and groaning on the ground; the rest dared not enter. Seeing this, Su Hongtu did not order any more assassinations, and the soldiers also stopped what they were doing, remaining on guard.