Chapter Fifty-One: The Wind Will Rise

  Wang Shan entered the military tent, which was actually just a thatched shed made of bamboo mats used for drying grain. On top of it, there was a large hole to prevent the fire inside from burning down the entire tent. Looking at the bonfire, Zheng Cheng felt slightly relieved and reported everything in detail to Wang Shan. Everything else was basically true, except for one thing - he said that he had planned his escape carefully and led his subordinates to kill the enemy guards before making a run for it under the cover of night.

  Wang Shan still didn't understand his brother-in-law. He knew there must be some deception, but he didn't expose it and instead asked about Xu Jiu's true situation. However, this time Zheng Cheng's words were different from the escaped soldier's, claiming that Xu Jiu's troops had over a thousand men, with excellent equipment, fierce and fearless, advancing and retreating in an orderly manner, familiar with battle formations, but generally comparable to regular government troops. He suggested that Wang Shan immediately relocate. The latter listened without comment, ordering him to rest well, and as for the relocation, it needed to be carefully considered.

  Honestly, Wang Shan was half-believing and half-doubting his younger brother-in-law's words. He believed it because his strongest troops had been defeated; he doubted it because his younger brother-in-law was unreliable and always lied. If Xu Jiu really had over a thousand men, with excellent equipment and training, and considering today's battle situation, then it would be better to retreat. He'd rather go crash into Zhang Shu Ye than provoke Xu Jiu. If what he said was true, it wouldn't be worth it for him to have finally gathered these tens of thousands of people and fled to the border of Shandong and Hebei, only to fight against the government army again. At a loss for what to do, he was deep in thought when he heard a commotion outside, which made him unhappy. He called in his guards to ask about it, saying that someone had tried to escape but had been caught and brought back.

  "Kill!" Wang Shan ordered without hesitation. "As many as there are, kill them all!" The guards took their orders and left, soon returning to report that over a dozen people had been executed.

  After a while, still undecided whether to go or not, another commotion broke out outside. Wang Shan was furious and, without waiting for him to summon them, the subordinates who had suggested avoiding Xu Jiufeng's sharp edge rushed in to report that hundreds of people had collectively escaped, and only 20 were caught after sending someone to chase them.

  "Kill! Behead them and display their heads!" Wang Shan yelled, jumping up and down. This group of village men, kill them all the better!

  "Brother, there must be something fishy about this matter, let's..."

  "There's a bird that's flown away, kill it and talk about it later!" Wang Shan shouted crazily. His subordinates were afraid and didn't dare to speak, so they retreated and went out. Before long, they ran back in a flustered manner and loudly reported: "Brother, it has escaped again..."

  "Bandit!" Before he could finish, Wang Shan drew his waist knife like a madman and rushed out. This military camp of Wang Shan's couldn't be considered a proper military camp to begin with. There were no tents, and the better-off ones only had a broken mat to avoid exposure. Most people simply slept on the ground. Without any discipline, thirty or fifty men would gather in one place, lying about haphazardly with their weapons in their arms. Seeing him holding his knife with a ferocious expression, they all got up, silent as cicadas in winter.

  Looking towards the northwest corner of the big camp, Wang Shan hurried over in large strides. From a distance, he saw hundreds of people gathered together, also not knowing what was going on. Rushing forward, he kicked aside the surrounding soldiers and went inside to take a look. Several dozen people, old and young, were kneeling on the ground, ceaselessly kowtowing and wailing, begging for mercy. The man holding the big knife, who should have been carrying out the execution, looked at each other in dismay, unable to bring himself to do it.

  "You bunch of gluttons! Still standing there like fools, kill!" Wang Shan waved the steel knife in his hand and roared angrily.

  "Spare our lives, Leader Wang! We are all law-abiding farmers and have never done anything that goes against heaven or reason." An old man, who looked to be over 60 years old, crawled in front of Wang Shan and kowtowed until his head was bloody.

  "The old master is doing this evil and unjust thing!" As soon as the words fell, the steel knife in his hand chopped down fiercely! The old man let out a mournful cry, the steel knife chopping into his shoulder and embedding itself in the bone! The surrounding onlookers were shocked pale-faced, turning their heads away, unable to bear watching.

  A man in his thirties crawled out of the ground, rolled and crawled over, and rushed over to hug the old man tightly, wailing loudly. He also knocked his head against Wang Shan several times, tears streaming down his face, saying: "Please spare my life, Grandpa! Please spare my life!"

  Wang Shan was furious and unstoppable, with one foot on the old man's shoulder, he exerted great force to pull out his knife and chopped down with a single slash! The crowd let out a collective cry of shock, watching in horror as the old man's skull was split open, falling to the ground convulsing uncontrollably.

  "Father!" The man hugged the old father and wailed loudly. All the onlookers were moved, they all had fathers and mothers who raised them, but the leader was a bit...

  Among the onlookers, there was a man who clenched his fists and glared angrily. When he saw the old man being killed, the man only held the corpse and wept bitterly, without any thought of resistance. Unable to contain his anger, he was about to take action when he was tightly pulled back by someone beside him, a short and stout figure with a flat nose and small eyes.

  Two men stared at each other, and then heard a miserable cry. Turning their heads to look, the man who was holding the corpse and crying also fell into the pool of blood... Wang Shang ordered his soldiers to behead all those who had escaped, anyone who disobeyed would die! Dozens of long and short knives fell one after another, and the five short men quickly pulled their companions aside.

  "Brother, what are you doing?! Wait for me to go up, and I'll just give that beast three to five punches and kill it!"

  "Silence! Have you forgotten the responsibility on your shoulders?" The thin little man's small eyes shot out a sharp light, and after looking around to see that no one was paying attention, he said in a low voice "I'll go out now. Half an hour later, you will follow the plan with the other brothers. If this succeeds, we will both be heavily rewarded!" The other person fell silent for a moment, then nodded heavily.

  "Remember! Don't be impulsive, or you'll harm both others and yourself!" The thin man warned again before releasing his grip.

  "Brother, be careful in all things, see Xu..." He said half a sentence and knew he had misspoken, so he quickly shut his mouth. The thin man glared at him fiercely and turned to walk westward.

  At this time, many people's attention was drawn to Wang Shan, it was a good opportunity to slip away. The thin little man walked slowly and tried not to attract anyone's attention. In fact, with his appearance and figure, it was hard for people to notice him. Before long, he arrived at the edge of the camp, and escape was imminent. Just as he was rejoicing, he suddenly heard someone shouting from behind: "Halt!"

  My heart skipped a beat, I secretly cursed my luck, and hid my hands in my sleeves, tightly gripping the twin blades. Just wait for the person behind me to approach, then I'll stab them to death with one knife! As the footsteps drew closer and closer, I quietly drew out the knife without leaving any trace, ready to turn around and strike!

  "Aren't you tired of living? One person runs and gets caught, let's run together if we're going to run!"

  He turned his head to look, and behind him stood five or six people, looking around nervously. This appearance, one glance and you could tell they had a guilty conscience, yet they wanted to run? But he himself couldn't explain the situation, time was pressing, and the thin man didn't pay attention to him, took out his hands and turned to leave. Just as he took a step, his shoulder was grabbed: "I told you all..."

  "Let go!" With a swift movement, he slid out like a loach, and the thin little man took several arrow-steps to retreat, leaping over the barrier. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the night, leaving those men staring with their eyes wide open, taking half a day to come back to their senses.

  .....................

  Work is late, second shift! The third shift will arrive soon!