"General, what should we do?"
In the military formation, the deputy officer frowned deeply and asked Lu Renjia, the vanguard general.
At this moment, Lu Renjia also regretted taking on the role of vanguard. He had been doing well with no major issues, but upon seeing the refugees before him, he finally realized that being a vanguard within the country was no easy task.
"Send people to drive them away. We are the army, not a relief agency!"
Lu Renjia glanced at the surrounding refugees and immediately gave the order.
"Yes, sir!" The deputy officer immediately led his men forward to shout.
"My fellow villagers, we are the army, not the local government. Please do not block our path and hinder the army's march! If you have any problems, please seek out the local officials or wait for the follow-up rescue teams!"
The deputy officer shouted several times with his men, but the refugees in front of them remained noisy and unwilling to leave.
"General! Please help us! We haven't eaten for two days!"
"The imperial army is also the army of our Yunyue Kingdom, isn't it? We are citizens of Yunyue Kingdom, how can you watch us die?"
"Oh dear, I pay so much tax every year, and now that I'm in trouble, the court won't even give me a bite to eat. What's the point of paying taxes to such a court?"
"..."
The deputy officer's mouth twitched, and he had to shout again, "We are just the vanguard, we do not carry enough provisions to provide relief to you. Please clear the passage quickly and do not obstruct us!"
"No, if you have the ability, kill us. Anyway, we'll starve to death, and we won't let you soldiers have an easy time!"
"Sir soldier, we don't know anything about fighting, we only know we need to eat! Sir soldier!"
"We can't walk anymore. The road is so wide, why should we make way for you who have eaten your fill? We won't."
"..."
The deputy officer became angry, "Damn it, you bunch of unruly commoners! I've been talking to you nicely, and you still won't listen? Do you have to wait for me to use a knife before you'll obey?"
Saying that, he drew the saber at his waist and held it tightly. Seeing this, the soldiers around him drew their weapons or pointed them at the refugees.
"You, you damned soldiers, what are you trying to do? The food you eat is grown by us. You can't be so ungrateful!"
"Exactly, is it great to be a soldier? Put down your knives if you dare, and let grandpa have a good meal and fight you!"
Facing the tendency of the official army to use force to drive them away, the refugees became frightened, but among the large number of refugees, there were always people instigating.
The deputy officer's face was angry, "Who? Which scoundrel dares to speak but not show their face? Hiding in the crowd with ulterior motives? Fellow villagers! You'd better not think too much, quickly retreat and clear the way, don't be used by villains!"
"The imperial army will arrive in a few days and will certainly not stand idly by. But if you continue to block the road, it will be obstructing military affairs! You can be charged with treason! Not only will you not receive relief, but your entire family will lose their heads!"
Hearing the deputy officer's words, the refugees became even more frightened. Even though there were tens of thousands of them, they did not dare to charge the vanguard army of only three thousand men.
Just as the refugees were slowly retreating, intending to give up and clear a path.
Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted, "Who knows when the imperial army will arrive? We'll starve to death anyway, so let's fight for it!"
As he shouted, he actually charged forward.
"Seeking death!"
The deputy officer's expression turned cold. Just as he was about to order someone to kill this person on the spot, he felt something was wrong, because it seemed there was more than one person with such courage?
"Not good! The enemy is mixed among the refugees!" The deputy officer exclaimed in his heart and quickly ordered someone to send the news to Lu Renjia, while he himself led a dozen soldiers to hold the front.
Sensing that they could not obstruct the imperial army by peaceful means, the King Liu's army no longer concealed themselves. First, a dozen people rushed forward, relying on their numbers and hidden daggers to kill those dozen people, and then threw the money and food they carried into the air.
Immediately after, they incited the refugees and, under their cover, charged towards the vanguard army.
"What! The enemy is mixed among the refugees? Damn it! Quickly! Form ranks!"
"Order someone to inform the front army of the situation!"
Lu Renjia immediately commanded and issued orders, feeling extremely angry in his heart.
These scoundrels, fellow countrymen, not only treated the common people poorly but also used their own countrymen as a shield and cannon fodder! Are they even human?
Following Lu Renjia's orders, the three thousand vanguard soldiers slowly contracted towards the center, changing from a shield formation to a circular one.
But how could King Liu's army give him this time? They directly shouted, "There are so many soldiers guarding there, it must be a food storage area! Charge! Kill!"
"Charge! Kill!"
The refugees, driven mad by hunger, saw someone taking the lead and followed suit without fear of making trouble.
The torrent-like attack hit the formation that had only half completed its circle, almost breaking through the military formation.
"General, we are surrounded on the right!"
"General, there are people on our left too!"
The vanguard army, whose circular formation was not yet complete, had its gaps greatly increased by this charge. There were people everywhere, and they could not defend at all.
"Damn it! I don't believe it, what can a bunch of peasants do to me! Raise my banner, concentrate the surrounding soldiers, and break through at one point! Fight our way out!"
Lu Renjia cursed and gripped his weapon tightly, regretting taking on the role of vanguard.
"Charge!"
Just as Lu Renjia was abandoning most of the vanguard army and planning to break out, he suddenly felt a tremor from the ground.
"What is this? Cavalry? That's great! Reinforcements are here! Quickly, tell the brothers, reinforcements are here!"
Lu Renjia's face lit up with joy, and he shouted eagerly.
The cavalry, their voices arriving before their presence, made the refugees a little more clear-headed. But at this point, it was no longer a matter of whether they wanted to stop or not.
The refugees in the front, hundreds or thousands of them who knew the truth, wanted to retreat but were pushed forward by the crowd, involuntarily moving forward and being forced to fight the official army.
And the soldiers of King Liu, mixed among the refugees, were like poisonous snakes, making it impossible to guard against. You would never know if the refugee in front of you was real or fake.
"General, the enemy seems to have reinforcements. What should we do? Retreat?"
"Do you think we can retreat in this situation? Quickly pass down the order, prioritize killing that vanguard general! We're almost there, hurry, hurry, hurry!"
Lu Renjia led his men to resist desperately, desperately holding on. Refugees, wave after wave, continuously charged. He no longer knew how many of his soldiers had died, he just persevered numbly, only hoping that the reinforcements would arrive sooner.
In just a short while, the cavalry, whose sound was heard but whose presence was not seen, had already pierced into the crowd of refugees.