Movie: Get Alpha Dog at the start

Chapter 1266 Don't Underestimate the Acting Skills of the Underclass

Qin Hao stared at the figure disappearing into the darkness and sighed heavily. It wasn't that he didn't want to help.

With only a little over four hundred men, the security regiment was extremely limited in resources. They had to carefully manage their ammunition and supplies. The fact that they could barely hold onto Bailuyuan and protect their fellow villagers from the slaughter by the Zhensong Army in this chaotic world was already the limit of their capabilities.

Rescuing Xi'an? It would be like moths to a flame. It would be using all the able-bodied men of Bailuyuan to fill the ironclad encirclement of 100,000 Zhen Song troops! It would be using the flesh and blood of the villagers to gamble on a hope so faint it was almost invisible. Bailuyuan could not afford the price, nor could it make such a decision.

Time slipped by painfully amidst the agonizing wait and the bloody defense.

In the blink of an eye, the Beginning of Summer has arrived. This should be a season of vibrant growth for all things, but outside Xi'an, war rages, and a desolate scene prevails.

On the city walls, the corpses of soldiers lay piled upon piles, the broken bricks stained a glaring dark brown by congealed blood. The defenders had suffered over half their casualties, forcing them to incorporate a large number of students from the city into the "student army" and send them to the battlefield. The cries of youth clashed with the chilling reality of death, weaving a brutal tapestry of human suffering on the city walls.

Even more fatally, the city's food reserves were already depleted, and ammunition consumption was enormous. In order to maintain the city's defenses, it was necessary to forcibly "collect" the grain stored by grain shops and wealthy households within the city. This action immediately caused grain prices to soar, public resentment to boil over, and the situation within the city to become increasingly critical.

The Zhen Song Army, besieging the city, was having an even harder time. Liu the Blind had originally planned a swift victory, but the Xi'an defenders stubbornly held them at the city walls. Months of relentless attacks had depleted their manpower and exhausted the army's logistics. While Xi'an still had some grain reserves to barely sustain them, the Zhen Song Army relied entirely on "grain requisition teams" plundering from surrounding counties and villages.

Zishui County has been exploited countless times, and all its resources have long been squeezed dry.

Like a gambler who had lost everything, Blind Liu sent out several more "grain requisition teams" the size of companies, swarming towards more distant villages like locusts. However, this still couldn't fill the bottomless pit of the 100,000-strong army.

Inside the military tent, Blind Liu paced anxiously, his lips cracked and blistered. He smashed several teacups and roared at the terrified quartermaster, his voice hoarse like a broken gong: "Grain! I need grain! Where are the men? Where is my grain?!"

The accompanying staff officer handed over the latest loss report, his facial muscles twitching as he cautiously reported: "Commander, the grain requisition teams in other directions have all made some gains, but... but the situation of the team sent to Bailuyuan is unclear."

"Unknown? What do you mean 'unknown'?!" Liu the Blind's one eye flashed with a fierce light as he suddenly grabbed the staff officer's collar.

The staff officer's voice trembled: "They...never came back! Starting from the first grain requisition team sent to Bailu Plain...there have been three platoons, almost a reinforced company, and after they went, there was no news of them! Not...not even a messenger returned! They were nowhere to be found, neither alive nor dead!"

"A whole company?!" Liu the Blind felt a pang of pain in his heart. At this critical juncture, the complete disappearance of an elite company was even more unacceptable to him than losing it directly in the siege!

"Damn it, could someone have planted an elite force in Bailu Plain?"

Liu the Blind gasped. All his troops were now engaged in the siege of Xi'an. If Bailuyuan really had such an elite force to cut off his retreat, the consequences would be unimaginable!

"Commander, how about... we send some spies in disguise as refugees to infiltrate and see what's going on?" the staff officer said cautiously.

Liu the Blind stroked his chin, his one eye flashing with a sinister light: "That's it! Pick a dozen or so clever soldiers and change that skin for me! Make it look convincing, or we'll all get wiped out again like idiots."

Soon, a dozen or so Zhen Song Army soldiers, who were of relatively good build but deliberately dressed in tattered and dirty clothes, were ordered to take off their uniforms, smear their faces with soot and mud, and each carry an empty broken bowl and a dog-beating stick. They looked like displaced and hungry disaster victims and carefully mingled into the flow of people fleeing famine towards Bailu Plain.

They begged their way along, following the map instructed by the General Staff, and headed straight for the heart of Bailu Plain, taking the route once taken by the Zhen Song Army's grain requisition team.

Their first stop was Xiagou Village, marked on the map. However, the scene before them left them bewildered and filled with immense unease.

The village was deathly silent. In the fading light of the setting sun, the houses remained intact, but the entire village was deserted; not a soul could be seen, not a dog barked, not a rooster crowed. Some doors and windows were tightly shut, others ajar, as if their owners had just hurriedly left. A few worthless items lay scattered along the village path, and there was no sign of any smoke rising from chimneys.

"Boss... this... this isn't right." One of the "disaster victims" lowered his voice and said to the squad leader, "Bailu Plain is supposed to be very rich, and Xiagou Village has quite a few people, so how come there's not a single person left?"

The squad leader was also terrified, but he forced himself to remain calm: "Don't be afraid! Maybe they've all hidden in the mountains? Or maybe they're afraid our grain requisition team has gone into hiding? Let's go, keep exploring! There are plenty of villages on this plateau, let's move on to the next one!"

Little did they know that the moment they stepped into the territory of Xiagou Village, they had already fallen into the sights of the security team's tightly controlled surveillance.

Laowu Village is located in a mountain valley about ten miles behind Xiagou Village. It is also a necessary passage to Shangbailuyuan. As early as when the scouts entered the territory of Bailuyuan, the entire Laowu Village began preparations.

"Folks!"

Chief Li, leaning on his cane, stood under the old locust tree in the village. His voice carried an undeniable authority as his eyes swept over the more than two hundred villagers gathered there: "Commander Bai sent word! Those damned Zhen Song Army sent scouts disguised as disaster victims. They've already passed Xia Gou Village and are heading towards our Lao Wu Village! They're here to probe our situation! If they find out we still have stored grain, waiting behind them will be an overwhelming army, ransacking homes, seizing grain, killing, and burning!"

A commotion immediately arose in the crowd, and fear was evident on everyone's face.

"What should we do, chieftain?"

"How about... we run away too?"

"Run? Where do you think you're going? Don't you want your home anymore?"

"Listen to me, everyone!" Chief Li slammed his cane down hard. "Commander Bai's idea is—act! Put on a show for them, a tragic drama of 'scorched earth and destitute homes'! Make them go back empty-handed to report the news! Only in this way can we save our lives and our food!"

He took a deep breath and shouted, "Listen up, everyone! All your livestock—chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep, horses, big or small—take them all to the west end of the village and give them to Brother Heiwa to take away! Not a single grain of grain is allowed to remain on the stove outside! Change into your most tattered clothes! Smear mud on your faces and bodies! If any woman or child has a good complexion, quickly go to the bottom of the stove and smear some ash on them! Are you sure your house is tidy? Make a mess of it! Firewood scattered all over the place! Break a few pots and pans! Put on the show of mourning! We want those damn spies to see that we are a thousand times, ten thousand times worse off than them! Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" the villagers replied in unison. Their lives and livelihoods were at stake, and no one dared to be negligent.

The village erupted in chaos, with the sounds of deliberately smashed earthenware pots and women practicing their hushed wailing.

With everything arranged, the entire old village was ready in an eerie state of "dilapidation," "desolation," and "weak signs of life."

Just then, the dozen or so "disaster victims" cautiously approached the entrance of Laowu Village.

What they saw made the fake disaster victims' hearts skip a beat. The village was more lively than Xiagou Village, but everyone they saw was emaciated and pale. Their clothes were tattered and patched, and many children were running around naked.

The village roads were littered with withered branches and fallen leaves, and several collapsed courtyard walls remained unattended. More importantly, the entire village was eerily quiet; there wasn't a sound of chickens crowing or dogs barking, not even a single animal in sight! Every house was empty under its eaves.

Chief Li had been waiting at the village entrance for a long time. Upon seeing this group of "fellow villagers," he immediately burst into tears and led several elders to greet them, weeping.

"Oh dear... God is blind... Fellow villagers... You also fled here from elsewhere? It's tragic... It's truly tragic!"

Chief Li's voice was hoarse and dry, tinged with tears, and he almost collapsed to the ground: "If you had come sooner, we could have helped you out. Now... we can't even survive ourselves!"

The scout squad leader suppressed his surprise and asked tentatively, "Old man, we came from the north and passed through that village up there, called Xiagou Village, right? How come... there's not a single person here?"

Chief Li slapped his thigh, as if his deepest wound had been touched, and burst into tears: "How could there be anyone left?! Those damned Zhen Song Army! They're utterly heartless! Waaah..."

He cried and cursed, spittle flying everywhere: "Those bandits! Wearing those dog skins and carrying guns, they came and demanded grain! Five thousand catties! God, are we supposed to risk our lives to collect it for them? The villagers of Xiagou couldn't collect enough... those beasts... they... they killed... they killed everyone in the village!"

He beat his chest and stamped his feet, sobbing uncontrollably: "From the ninety-nine-year-old to the toddlers who can just walk... even... even the babies on the kang (heated brick bed) who haven't even opened their eyes yet, they didn't spare them! It's tragic... so tragic... the whole village is empty... everyone is dead! Waaaaah... they didn't even care about the bodies, we had to go and collect them in the end!"

As Chief Li made his accusations, the surrounding villagers also burst into tears, a heartbreaking scene of grief.

Several women even fainted from crying, and were quickly revived by those around them who pinched their philtrum.

The spies were stunned by the heartbreaking accusations and the incredibly realistic atmosphere of the scene. Looking at these "disaster victims" who were even more like disaster victims than they were, and listening to their horrific experiences, they too felt a chill in their hearts.

"Then...then your village..." the scout asked, his voice trembling slightly.

Chief Li angrily wiped away imaginary tears and pointed to the desolate scene around him: "Just like Xiagou Village! Those corrupt officials and their soldiers have come again and again! They've looted everything edible! They've even plucked all the chicken feathers! Look, look!"

He pulled over a emaciated child with wide, staring eyes: "The child is so hungry he's barely clinging to life, he's even gnawed on grass roots and tree bark! They've already stripped our village bare! Not a drop of oil, not a grain of rice left! If we weren't so exhausted and hadn't run away without even a beggar's utensils, we would have fled long ago! Where else can we find a way to survive!"

At that moment, the surrounding villagers burst into even louder cries, and several of the "stronger" men clasped their hands in a gesture of supplication to the "disaster victims": "Fellow villagers, please have mercy, is there...is there any food? Just one bite, even half a bite...the child is dying..."

He was about to step forward and start rummaging through their tattered bundles.

This scene completely shattered the spies' psychological defenses.

Looking at these villagers who were even more "miserable" than themselves, listening to this accusation that couldn't be more reasonable, and combined with the terrifying sight of Xiagou Village being deserted—they believed it almost immediately! Bailuyuan was not a rich granary at all, but a living hell that had been repeatedly ravaged, thoroughly drained, and even where massacres had occurred by their Zhen Song Army's grain requisition teams!

Those missing grain requisition teams... A terrible thought flashed through the squad leader's mind: Could it be that these thugs robbed the money and grain and then ran away instead of going back to Xi'an to die?

This place is no place to linger! This Bailu Plain is dirt poor! What's the point of requisitioning grain? The squad leader forced out a smile that looked more like a grimace, said a few words of reassurance, and led his men away from Laowu Village in a hurry, as if they were being chased by evil spirits. They fled back towards the Zhensong Army camp in a sorry state without looking back.

As the villagers of Laowu Village watched the "disaster victims" flee in panic, many of them finally relaxed and revealed smiles of relief.

Chief Li breathed a long sigh of relief and muttered to himself, "That should have fooled them, right?"

The scouts stumbled back to Liu the Blind's camp, barely catching their breath, and began to embellish their accounts of what they had "seen" in Xiagou Village and Laowu Village. They particularly emphasized how impoverished Laowu Village was, how many villagers had starved to death, and the horrifying account of the "Zhensong Army's massacre of the village" that Chief Li tearfully recounted.

Inside the central command tent, Liu the Blind listened to his subordinates' vivid description, his anger burning ever brighter in his one eye. When he heard the words "massacre of the village," he could no longer contain himself and slammed his fist on the table with a loud bang!

"What utter nonsense!" Blind Liu was so angry he was practically spitting fire, veins bulging on his forehead like wriggling earthworms. "I sent them to collect grain, not to massacre a village! A bunch of good-for-nothing bastards!"

His chest heaved violently, a huge surge of anger at being fooled and panic from the hopelessness of having no supplies intertwined, making his single eye appear even more twisted and ferocious.

Those missing grain requisition teams didn't encounter any elite troops from Bailu Plain at all. Nine times out of ten, it was those few groups of ruffian platoon leaders who, after looting enough money and grain, ran away with their troops! They then pinned the blame on Liu the Blind and the entire Zhen Song Army, completely extinguishing his hopes of getting grain from Bailu Plain! They made a fool of him like a monkey!

"You bastards! You worthless bastards! Don't let me catch you! Otherwise I'll skin you alive!" Liu the Blind's roar shook the tent, terrifying the adjutants and staff inside into silence.

However, the harsh reality weighed heavily on Liu the Blind's heart like a cold, hard millstone: food! Food was what he needed most! With the army's food reserves dwindling, soldiers were complaining, and a mutiny was imminent. Xi'an remained like an unyielding, insurmountable obstacle…

An unprecedented sense of crisis weighed heavily on Liu the Blind's shoulders, causing him to consider retreating for the first time. (End of Chapter)