Silva led his horse and walked on the mountain path among the cliffs. The mountain path was steep and narrow, allowing only one person to pass through. Looking up from a distance, you can see the snow-capped top of Santa Barbara. Although the maximum temperature in the lower basin has risen to 28 degrees, here, the hillside of Santa Barbara is still a little cold.

After going up the mountain, Silva pressed the eighteen brass buttons on his chest, carefully looking for a place to sit on the bumpy mountain road, and also guarded against the sudden mountain wind. More than 10 minutes ago, a bad guy was overturned to the ground by the mountain wind and his horse because he was not too careful. Although the man was pulled by his companions, the war horse fell to the cliff and became the only infantry in the company.

In front of Sergeant Silva, there was a company of the Second Infantry Regiment. Most of them were Irish recruits, and behind them were six military policemen, and Sergeant Silva was their sergeant commander.

The purpose of this trip was part of the implementation of the "Safe Village Plan" by the Second Infantry Regiment and the most troublesome part. This Irish company was ordered to force the more than 300 villagers from the farthest mountain village outside the 38-kilometer range to within 10 kilometers of the regiment headquarters, which is the so-called "safe zone". The military police team led by Sergeant Silva was responsible for assisting in the migration process.

The small mountain village is located in the valley of endless wild fragrances behind the Santa Barbara Mountain. The company of the Second Regiment set off at 7 a.m. and after more than four hours of long journey, it finally passed the mountain pass and went down to this unknown small mountain village at noon.

During this period, one man lost his war horse and one soldier fell behind and disappeared. All Irish soldiers hoped that the missing companion would run back to the regiment headquarters, rather than to the hands of mountain citizens or rebels. The former would only be locked up by the gendarmerie for half a day, while the latter would mean being ruthlessly killed by the enemy.

Since the Desai Brigade's garrison was transferred to the northeast corner of Hruna, more than 30 soldiers have been killed one after another during the relocation of the "safe village". Although the angry soldiers later destroyed the village near the crime and shot and killed more than 300 villagers in a revenge, the lives of more than 30 companions could not be saved.

The mountain village in the Diedixiang Valley was surrounded by half-high stone walls. When Irish soldiers rode their horses into the village, screams and insults came from the quiet mountain village. Someone shot into the sky, and the gunshot immediately suppressed the noise of men and women.

Seeing that the Irish people had set up guard posts around the village, the gendarmerie where Sergeant Silva was also followed and entered the village. At this time, the villagers were driven out of the hut by a large number of soldiers and gathered in the open space in front of the church at the entrance of the village.

Five minutes later, 215 villagers, including their children, were all concentrated in front of the church square. Sergeant Silva ordered a military policeman who knew the Catalan language to walk to the steps of the church gate, take out a document, and read out the "Safe Village Construction Announcement" loudly. The announcement required all villagers to take an hour to pack up everything they could pack, including food, livestock, carriages, household items, clothing, etc., to arrive at the new village that had been arranged for the villagers before 8 o'clock tonight.

Before the announcement was read, there was an uproar in front of the church gate, some cursing, some were anxious, some were sighing, some were crying, and everyone was unwilling to give up on the mountain village where the ancestors lived for generations. But the soldiers ignored these things. At the company commander's instructions, they used a butt and bayonet to warn all villagers to return to the dilapidated thatched hut to clean up.

Several soldiers were baled with torches with thatch, and a bonfire would rise after one hour. When villagers left the mountain village, the bonfire would light the torches, which would ignite the thatched huts and burn the entire village. According to the occupation army decree issued by General Desai, abandoned villages should not be left to rebels. A house, a livestock, and a piece of food must be snatched and burned.

A few minutes later, several gunshots suddenly came from the direction of the guard post outside the village, and then, a dull sound of someone falling to the ground and the neighing of war horses. Soon, two Irish soldiers escorted a middle-aged man with injured legs. From the outside, they looked like a hunter in the mountains; behind them, another soldier was leading a war horse and walking towards the church.

The lieutenant company commander stepped forward and asked, "What happened?"

A middle-aged hunter with a soldier's finger wounded answered: "This man rode Cross's horse and tried to escape!"

The lieutenant frowned uneasyly. Cross was the missing Irish soldier in his company. Three minutes later, the lieutenant's inner anxiety was verified. Cross's body was found in the home of the escaped man.

Cross's upper body was tied to the cross nailed to the floor, his hands were tied up between the cross's cross by ropes, kneeling on the ground with a piece of rag in his mouth. The soldier was obviously abused before his death. His nose had been cut off and his ears were torn off. There were more than 30 wounds on his open chest, almost everywhere with fatal injuries. The internal organs flowed out of his stomach and blood flowed to the floor.

The lieutenant company commander felt endless sadness from his heart. He said to the military police sergeant beside him: "Set up a temporary court!"

Silva nodded and agreed.

All the villagers were re-summoned by the soldiers to the church square. A few meters away from everyone, the company commander, company deputy, and military police sergeant were sitting around a table. They would act as the trio of the court to decide the life and death of the prisoner. Behind the trio, two rows of soldiers with live ammunition on the left and right, ready to suppress the violent villagers at any time.

Before the murderer was escorted to the temporary court, the middle-aged hunter, who was punched and kicked by a soldier, was still arrogant. He refused to answer any questions, but it was no longer important. The three-person group quickly made a decision and agreed to execute the murderer. From several residents near the middle-aged hunter's house, 10 adult men between the ages of 16 and 40 were selected to accompany the middle-aged hunter to shoot the shot. The reason was that these people hid the rebels and failed to inform the occupying army. In addition, all villagers would also be punished 20 cattle and horses as compensation for the fallen soldiers.

As soon as the verdict was released, the murderer tied up by the rope seemed to panic. He struggled hard and loudly defended to the group of three, not for himself, but for the neighbors who affected Chiyu. He did not know why the impulse caused by his momentary patriotic enthusiasm actually brought unfortunate disaster to the neighbors.

Several women also rushed out of the crowd, knelt on the ground, crying and beating and scolding the hunters. They were all neighbors of the hunters' family. Among the 10 men who were about to be executed, there might be their husbands, brothers, or sons.

A team of soldiers raised their guns to meet them, isolated the women from middle-aged hunters with bayonets, and selected 10 male hostages from the villagers at the scene one by one. There were protests in the church square, and the villagers tried to stop the soldiers' actions, but when the lieutenant company commanded all the soldiers to raise their guns and prepare for shooting, the villagers compromised.

Under the persuasion of the village chief and several older villagers, everyone gave up the futile debate. The 300 unarmed villagers could only massacre one-sidedly when facing the fully armed 200 soldiers.

The lieutenant company commander asked the soldiers to take the murderer and the hostages away. In his heart, he hoped that the villagers would continue to be irrationally and excessively, so that he could bypass Sergeant Silva who was supervising the side and directly ordered to shoot at the crowd. The existence of the military police was to maintain the military discipline of the combat troops and prevent the former from venting anger, which led to unnecessary massacre of civilians.

The middle-aged hunter and 10 selected hostages were pushed to the stone wall behind the church by the executioner. After a rogue of guns, Sergeant Silva allowed the family of the deceased to come forward to collect the body.

At 2 pm, under the escort of soldiers, more than 300 villagers drove cattle, horses and carts, old and young, dragging a large amount of food, heavy households, and personal belongings on the road of no return. No one was willing to look back, because behind them, there was thick smoke, and the beautiful mountain village that once lived for generations was swallowed up by raging fire.

This kind of scene has been staged in more than 300 mountain villages. Under the threat of bayonets, nearly 80,000 villagers left their original places and migrated to the 30 "safe villages" designated by the French.

Like Diedixiang Village, the migration process inevitably led to the resistance of oppressed people. During this period, more than 900 villagers were beaten to death, either violently resisting relocation, killing occupying soldiers, or serving as hostages. The Desay Brigade also paid the price of 36 soldiers, including one officer and three non-commissioned officers.

Overall, due to the lack of effective cooperation of the guerrilla rebels, the villagers did not make large-scale and organized resistance in the face of the occupied troops with superior forces.

Thousands of Spanish defenders were trapped in the city of Hruna by the French army and did not dare to leave the city to support them. The guerrillas in the mountains were busy transporting various supplies to Hruna. In addition, the strict prior news blockade policy of the Desays brigade led to the guerrilla leaders mistakenly thinking that the French army was doing routine search operations and disagreed. After realizing the French's true intentions, it was too late, and 30 safe villages had been roughly completed.

The early migration stage of the entire "Safe Village" operation was only two or three, with attacks from guerrilla rebels, and the number of participants was less than 300, which could not have any substantial impact at all, and only added a merit to the French soldiers.

As tens of thousands of villagers moved to safe villages one after another, the "Safe Village Plan" entered the mid-term management stage. In 30 safe villages, strict household registration system, baojia system, and grain distribution system were uniformly implemented.

Every villager must make a record and file, verify and issue identity marks, and cannot move freely without the consent of the military police stationed in the village. When outsiders enter the village, they will conduct strict investigations. Once suspicious, they will be arrested immediately.

In addition, there are ten households in groups (40 to 50 people in each group), ten teams in one team, and the heads of each team, and together with several elders in the village, nine people from the safe village maintain the meeting, handle daily trivial matters in the safe village, and are supervised and guided by the military police and the village garrison. All kinds of weapons have been confiscated, and a few are limited to the use of the villagers' self-defense army.
Chapter completed!