With the disruption of transportation and the commandeering of much of the foodstuffs for the troops, obtaining food became the major problem of the people of Manchuria. Starvation stalked the cities. Mukden families were reduced to eating dung. So precious was this commodity that every horse wore a contraption under his tail resembling a large, crude dust pan to preserve even minute droppings. The very poor mixed mud with the dung, and after baking the concoction in the sun used it as food. Hawkers sold it on the streets. Just as the Mongols under Genghis Khan burned, looted and tortured when they invaded Cathay, so the modern Mongols have behaved in like manner. Some of the more decent among them were so outraged by these tactics that they deserted and joined the Nationalists. One, a Colonel, told how he had been ordered to round up bandits and drive them at bayonet point into villages. Here they were allowed to pillage, burn and rape to their hearts’ content. While this was being done, the Communists would remain hidden a short distance away. After the terror had subsided somewhat, when the village was reduced to a shambles and the inhabitants were all but insane, the Communists soldiers would rush in and shoot the bandits, ostensibly to rescue the villagers. This technique seldom failed to swell the Communist ranks. All who resisted conversion were, of course, subjected to more drastic treatment. Another ex-Communist told of teaching little boys of ten and twelve to use knives and pistols to murder members of their own families who refused to cooperate with the Reds. The child criminals became fugitives and were forced to join the guerrillas in the hills. Many of the well-to-do managed to get away, where, no one knew, but the poor, aged and helpless were not exempt from the senseless fury of the Mongol hordes. They were used at times as object lessons to demonstrate the pitiless power of the Red Terror. According to an eye witness, the hands of women and children were sometimes smashed with mallets and left dangling like raw hamburgers. These utterly miserable creatures wandered insanely through the streets, moaning pitifully and gradually dying from loss of blood, infection and unendurable pain.