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Do you know what was the most motivating thing in ancient wars?------ slaughtering cities?
In ancient times, the concept of the nation-state did not exist. For ordinary people, joining the army and fighting is not to defend their families and country, but to earn a living and change their social status.
In ancient feudal societies, the competition for resources often led to wars, resulting in innocent people being burned, killed and looted, and the slaughter of cities was the most cruel act. The victors on the battlefield become rulers, and the losers become criminals.
The best way to occupy territory is to slaughter cities. As cruel as it sounds, it has been seen many times throughout history. For example, during the Northern Song Dynasty, when the Jin Kingdom captured Bianjing, they massacred the men in the city, but the young women and skilled craftsmen were spared, and the reasons behind it are very realistic.
There are three reasons for this
First of all, women under the age of 20 left behind after the breach of the city were usually of low status and powerless to resist, and the soldiers were free to dispose of them at will. Even if there is occasional resistance, it can be easily subdued, and it is difficult to make waves.
Secondly, if a soldier finds a beautiful girl during the massacre, he can give it to his boss as a gift in exchange for a comfortable life in the army. For girls with strong and stubborn personalities, they will choose to train them and use them to spy on enemy intelligence, which is more valuable than killing.
Second, from a biological point of view, women have the key responsibility of reproduction, and most women under the age of 20 are fertile.
During the war, the state may be conscripted several times in a short period of time. If fighting rages are intense, large numbers of young men may be called up to the front, leading to a sharp decline in the population.
Some rulers and generals in ancient times believed that women were of great value and therefore may have chosen to preserve their lives when slaughtering cities, using them as tools for procreation.
Thirdly, and most tragically, these women under the age of 20 are conscripted into the army as "military prostitutes" and follow the soldiers into various places. Due to the fact that soldiers are generally young and have been stationed in barracks for a long time, there is a shortage of women, and the physical needs are high.
At the same time, the soldiers were easily exhausted by witnessing death and blood every day in the continuous fighting. Thus, after the victory, the generals not only gave the soldiers promotions and financial rewards, but also provided these women as a way to release stress.
Ten Diaries of Yangzhou
In the "Ten Diaries of Yangzhou" written by Wang Xiuchu at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he recorded the history of Yangzhou in detail as an eyewitness, providing valuable reference materials for future generations.
This book, which was banned in the Qing Dynasty, can now be seen again in the world, and it also allows us to truly uncover the original history of Yangzhou for ten days.
On April 25, 1645, Yangzhou was captured by the Qing army. Dordor ordered the army to slaughter the city, but stipulated that the sword should be sealed for ten days. However, on the first day of the Qing army's entry into the city, there was no mass killing. Because the soldiers were most concerned about plundering their property, other matters were put on hold for the time being.
In the beginning, the Qing army was relatively moderate, demanding money and property from house to house, and did not resort to violent means. When the people of the city saw the armed Qing soldiers knocking on the door and learned that they had come to ask for money, they handed over their belongings to save their lives.
After the Qing army got the property, they did not continue to kill people. For those who resolutely refuse to give, they use weapons to threaten and intimidate at most, but do not really take action.
As the Qing soldiers went door-to-door to loot the property of the people in Yangzhou, many soldiers found that the situation was not right. Yangzhou City has a population of one million, but as many as 100,000 Qing soldiers entered the city to loot. This means that on average, each Qing soldier can only loot about 10 people, and resources are limited.
As the looting slowed down, the Qing soldiers began to become greedy. They are no longer satisfied with polite demands, but turn to violent robbery. Those who failed to provide enough money became the swords of the Qing soldiers. The city of Yangzhou quickly became a robbery base for the Qing soldiers.
Qing soldiers broke into every house and threatened the people with knives to hand over their belongings. If you are slow or not enough, you will be killed. Soon, the belongings of Yangzhou City were looted, even the women's clothes and the children's silver jewelry. When there was no more money to grab, the Qing soldiers kidnapped the beautiful women in the city and killed men and children to prevent future troubles.
"Yangzhou Ten Diaries" recorded: "The women are long and neck-tied, tired like beads, step by step, covered in mud; The ground is full of babies, or lined with horses' hooves, or by human feet, the liver and brain are smeared on the ground, and the crying is full of wilderness. Walking through a ditch and a pool, piling up corpses and accumulating them, pillowing hands and feet, blood entering the water and blue ochre, turning into five colors, for the flat. ”
After 10 days of slaughter and plunder, the city of Yangzhou was reduced from a million to 200,000. A total of 800,000 Qing soldiers were killed, an average of about 8 people per person.
In general, although the girls survived the massacre, this does not mean that they were lucky. In reality, they simply escaped from under the butcher's knife and entered another hellish place, where they were tortured and deprived of their dignity. Although they are still alive, they remain as empty shells.
As modern people, we can only understand a small part of their lives through sporadic records in history books, and we cannot deeply experience their lives, nor can we imagine the hellish ordeal they experienced.