Chapter 132 Manipulating Ganling Citizens (2/2)
”Then what's this?”
”Eh… That should be a farm warehouse.”
”And this?”
”That's an old village.”
”Are there still people residing in this village?”
”No, that village was abandoned years ago. Why did you ask?”
”Ho? That's interesting… Then what about…”
Thirty minutes after the marathon questioning, Tong let the locals leave and allowed the soldier to rest. However, his job had not finished yet.
In Tong's system map, the locations that Tong marked were densely populated which Tong suspected that they could be other potential bandits in hiding or they could be the kidnapped victims.
Tong combined the testimonies of the locals and his map information. Several buildings, which should not have that many people residing inside, contained hundreds of people.
The number in each location varied from fifty to two hundred.
He drew a new map and put it on the strategic table. After that, Tong summoned Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Zhang Xiu, Bo Cai, and Zhang Ji to his tent.
”Tomorrow at dawn. Zhang Liao, take all of your men and investigate this village. You are authorized to act upon your judgment if something is amiss. Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu, you two take 10,000 infantries and your cavalries. Like what we did today, surround this village and assist Zhang Liao!”
Tong pointed at a village in the new map. It was the village that one of the town local told him that it should have been deserted. Yet in Tong's map, there were over two thousand people residing in it. In addition, in one of the buildings in this village, Tong found Zhang Yan!
”Young master? We are raiding a village?” The generals were perplexed by Tong's order. First, Tong burned half of the city. Then he wanted to ransack a village?
”You're right. We're raiding this village. But you don't have to take it too hard. I've information that this village should be the bandits' hideout. This village is supposed to be an abandoned village, but my intel said that there are over 2,000 people living in here. That's the reason behind this operation.”
Everyone gazed at Tong in astonishment. Each of them had scout teams of their own, but none of them had this information. They did not know that Tong had this cheating map, so they thought that Tong's secret scouts were much more extraordinary than theirs.
”Remember, lock down the village before you start the raid. As for Gao Shun and Bo Cai, each of you takes your men and scout these marked targets. Report to me if you find out anything.”
…
Next morning, all cavalries and half of the infantries were dispatched to the surrounding area around Ganling District. Tong, Li Feihong, and Zhao Yun were the only commanding personals in the remaining army.
Because of the food shortage issues among the citizens, Tong distributed more food and water to the townsfolks. He also did not forget to advertise his army.
Tong visited the refugee camp outside of the wall. He stood on the high ground and spoke in a loud voice, so everyone could hear him.
”I'm Zhang Tong, son of the governor Zhang Jiao from Julu City. We came here to assist you after we heard that bandits had been occupying this city. I hope that you'll forgive me for the late rescue.”
”This morning, my spies have reported that they managed to locate the bandits' hideouts. We have sent our troops to deal with them at the moment. We hope that we can find the kidnapped people from this city in this operation as well.”
”I'll give you more reports again in the evening! Remember, we are here to help!”
”Also, I'm sorry that we have to burn the city. We want to make sure that all bandits are completely terminated for good. As I have told you before, I will compensate each of you one tael of gold and we will help you rebuild the city!”
In the ancient era where there was no communication device or social media, the government public announcement was the main source of the commoners' information.
In this difficult time, a simple encouragement by the government was enough to boost their morale. With the combination of the humane aid and the army, Ganling citizens were moved into tears.
The crowd bowed down and groveled to the ground as they were grateful for the rescue.
Tong whispered to Zhao Yun who was standing by Tong's side.
”Tell the soldiers, if you see anyone that looks sad, give that person a hug.”
”Sir?”
”Just do what I told you. See that old man over there? That old man that keeps looking down and cries? Go and give him a hug. Don't forget to whisper him that 'It's ok now. You're safe. We're here'.”
”Is it the same with the FBI script?”
”Yup! Go ahead and do it.”
”Yes, sir!”
Zhao Yun looked at the weeping elder in hesitation. His parents taught him to be respectful to the elders, but Tong ordered him to forget it and hug him. Hugging a senior without his permission was a disrespectful action no matter how he saw it.
Zhao Yun gulped and walked toward the elder, and gave him a hug.
”It's ok now. You're safe. We're here.”
The elder was surprised, but he did not resist. The encouragement lifted his mood a little, but he was still crying.
”My daughter. My daughter has been kidnapped by the thieves. Please help her.”
Zhao Yun was shocked for a moment. He glanced at Tong to look for a hint, which Tong just gave him a smile without saying anything.
Realized that he was scammed by Tong, the face of Zhao Yun paled. Since he could not rely on his master, he improvised by repeating the script.
”It's ok now. We're here. We'll help your daughter.”
The elder stopped crying, but he still clung on the teenager's clothes.
”Thank you! Thank you!”
Noticed that the elder was grateful to the army and his mood improved, Zhao Yun glanced back and forth between the elder and Tong. He was impressed that this disrespectful behavior could actually alleviate the sadness of someone.
Seeing that he did what Tong had told him to, he gave Zhao Yun a thumb up.
”Good job. Now tell every soldier to do what you did. But don't let the soldiers hug a widow or a grown woman. I don't want my army to be known as a pervert army.”
The corner of Zhao Yun lips twitched. Though he had a good impression on Tong, Zhao Yun could not help but felt that he was tricked. Still, he followed Tong's command and passed on the ”script” to other soldiers.
Within thirty minutes, a new phenomenon happened in the refugee camp. The soldiers hugged the refugees to calm them down, which caused the sad citizens to release their pending emotions through tears.
A few ugly women and unmarried senior women saw that the soldiers hugged the refugees to soothe the people. They pretended to cry to entice the soldiers into hugging them too.
Fortunately, Tong had warned the soldiers beforehand, so they ignored the crying women. Or else, soldiers would have fallen for their tricks and would have been forced to marry them.</if></your></your></your></your>