Chapter 1414: 1415Hungry Soldiers
The soldiers of Qin were lining up in a long line to receive their food, but seeing that there was nothing left to eat in the place where food was provided to them.
The cooking soldiers were also embarrassed. They were ordered to make porridge for the hungry soldiers, but even with a lot of water, the rice was still not enough.
A soldier can only eat a spoonful of so-called rice porridge that is almost the same as water, plus a piece of hard bullet-proof bread, and vegetable leaves with unknown names collected nearby, which is their lunch.
Even though it was so difficult, they still could only eat two meals a day because Qin's food was not enough.
Two consecutive years of war have affected Qin's grain cultivation. The grain harvested in Shu last year was all transferred to the front line and left in places such as Xiajuan, Dongqing and Xishan.
In a sense, those grains can be said to have contributed to the enemy: they became spoils of war for the Tang Empire, and were then distributed to the hungry people in Chu and Shu.
Now that it's cold spring, it's Qin's turn to be out of business and unable to provide enough food for the soldiers.
The remaining troops of the Qin army in Shu can still survive by robbing civilians, while the Qin army near Daxiguan in the north can only resign themselves to their fate.
There is no other way. There is not much food left in the Qin State. How can there be any extra to continue to support the front line? In the past, the conscripted soldiers were scattered all over the place, but now they are gathered together. Where can it be so easy to feed them?
"Where is there enough food here? I have to walk dozens of miles a day, how can I eat just this little food? Give me more, please? Please give me one more bite." Beside the big pot of porridge, a man looked at A veteran of about 50 years old begged bitterly.
He was really hungry. There was nothing to eat here a few days ago. He only ate one meal a day, which was later divided into two meals of gruel. Everyone was complaining.
“Yes, we have been eating just this much for several days. Are we here to work for the country and not even given a full meal?” The young soldiers behind the veteran also complained dissatisfiedly.
Now many people have heard about how quickly people die on the front line, and the wounded soldiers who returned from the front line unable to control their mouths.
It is no secret among the new recruits how ferocious the Tang people are. Everyone was prepared to die and came here to fight for the country, but in the end, even before they went to the front line, they were not even given anything to stutter.
“Don’t embarrass us, we have nothing to do... We only have so little rice from above, so we can only make a little porridge.” The leader of the cooking team who was responsible for distributing food was also helpless, spreading his hands and saying in a dumbfounded voice.
How dare he withhold food? Aren’t the officers above only giving that much? Looking at the porridge, which was almost as little as boiling water, he, the cooking squad leader, had no choice.
"Did you eat it secretly?" Another soldier in the distance who was hungry and irritable began to shout. He could only eat a little bit of bread and porridge in the past few days, and he was already starving. Now he saw the person receiving the meal. The team stopped moving, and they immediately became annoyed.
Who would have known that his unconscionable words directly triggered the crowd in the queue. I don’t know who heard it wrong or what, but someone immediately started shouting loudly: "What? How dare they eat such a small amount of food secretly? Beat them to death!"
“Beat them to death!” The angry team immediately became chaotic, and the guards on duty panicked. Where had they seen such a scene before?
They who are on guard duty now only have rifles in their hands, because the submachine guns have long been taken away and sent to the front line. By the time a few nearby soldiers took off their rifles and pulled the bolts to suppress these chaotic lunatics, everyone was already fighting together.
"Stop! Stop!" Some panicked Qin soldiers yelled loudly, but they did not dare to do anything to the army that was already fighting with each other - just kidding, if you get involved, you might really be beaten to death.
Finally, the news reached the officers’ camp. I don’t know if they heard the shouts or if someone went to report the news. In short, several officers ran over in a hurry.
The officers who arrived pulled out the pistols from their waists and fired a shot into the sky. Then they realized that the situation seemed to be getting even more out of control.
"They opened fire! They killed people without giving them food! Kill them!" Another hungry rebel soldier yelled with red eyes and rushed towards the direction of the gunfire.
"Kill them! Beat them to death!" The soldiers who didn't know what was going on were hungry and couldn't care less at this moment, so they rushed forward. The crowd became even more chaotic, and the scene was completely out of control at this time.
The officer was startled, and then quickly ordered the guards standing beside him to open fire. The guards raised their rifles and fired at the crowd, causing a commotion among the crowd.
But then, the rebel soldiers became even more crazy after seeing the blood. For these soldiers who had been hungry for several days, starving to death was also death, so it was better to grab some food.
The angry crowd instantly engulfed the officer who fired the shot and the guard. At the porridge stall and shed, several people from the cooking class had been beaten to death by the swarming crowd.
When the cooking squad leader was beaten, he spit out a mouthful of **** rice porridge, which suddenly made the crowd around him even more angry.
These people in the cooking class did sneak in a few extra bites. They were also hungry, so naturally they had to take advantage of their duties to feed themselves first...
Normally it doesn't matter if they do this, but now it has become damning evidence for them. The leader of the cooking class was beaten until he vomited blood, but no matter how much he begged for mercy, he was surrounded and beaten continuously.
At first, he begged for mercy, but then he was just wailing, and then he even stopped shouting. In fact, when this man's body was found later, he was no different than mincemeat.
The officer who fired the gun was beaten to a pulp by the angry crowd after he ran out of bullets. All the Qin soldiers who were ordered to shoot also died in the commotion.
The soldiers of the Qin Army, whose eyes were red from the killing, rushed into the granary in their barracks in one breath. They hoped to have a full meal before thinking about other things.
But when they discovered that there was almost nothing to eat in the granary of the barracks, they quickly calmed down.
Despair spread among these soldiers, and then they found that their commanders and soldiers on duty had been beaten to death by them, and dozens of them were also killed in the fight.
The problem has not been solved, they still have no food. And another new question is, who should they turn to to get food now?