Chapter 22: The Road to Freedom

  At the beginning of the month, on the first day, a grand alliance appears, with a thunderous strike, and red fills the sky!! I'm filled with gratitude!! "Zhao Wu Xue 2014", reward support, not a single day is missed, deeply engraved in my heart! This week there will be two updates, to repay the enthusiastic support of two boxing friends.

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  The sky was dark, a bloodied and tattered corpse hung high on the horizontal branch of a large tree, swaying in the wind, the rope creaking loudly. Dusk, wilderness, solitary tree, hanging corpse, this scene... sent shivers down my spine.

  Under the big tree, fifty or sixty Han people who were escaped slaves stood dazed and stupidly, wearing tattered clothes and having dark faces.

  The hanging corpse, they were too familiar with it, that was their former master. This former high-ranking person who rode on them, treated them as cattle and drove them for a long time, at will abused the father and son, and recklessly tyrannized the women, finally died.

  The heavy mountains that had been weighing on their heads were lifted, they were free, liberated... But not a single Han slave's face showed a happy smile, looking around, all were anxious, heavy, disappointed, fearful, and tearless.

  They were just escaped slaves, and the only tribe that hunted them down was a single Bone Tribe. But after their master's death, the nature of things completely changed, and they became rebellious slaves. The tribes that hunted them down expanded to all the Wuhuan tribes. Their road back south will be ten times, a hundred times more difficult.

  Is there still a way out? Can I return to my hometown in this life?

  The old man Mujiji, who had lived in the Wusun tribe for nearly twenty years, knew that the Han dynasty's border guards would avoid provoking the Huns' revenge and raids by prohibiting them from passing through the borders, and such examples had occurred more than once over the decades.

  "What should we do, Uncle Mugiji?"

  When all the escaped slaves' eyes focused on Mugiji old man, Mugiji old man's eyes were cast on Mahan who was watching from the side.

  "Ma Yishi, our lives are all saved by your strength. According to the rules of the prairie, we are all your spoils of war. From this moment on, everyone's life belongs to you, and you are our new master." Muji old man looked around and asked loudly, "Everyone listen, from now on, Ma Yishi is our new master. The master is a fierce tiger from the Central Plains, and he must be able to take us back to the Central Plains, as he is the nemesis of the Wulan evil wolf."

  "Please take us back to our hometown, we are willing to work as oxen and horses to repay you."

  The escaped slaves were shouting and making a ruckus, but the behavior of Tongnu and the other young men, which had originally been what Mujiji was most worried about, left him with his jaw dropped in surprise - these young men were more decisive than many of the elderly and weak, directly going forward to kowtow and pay their respects, showing their sincere submission.

  In fact, Tan Nu and others were not convinced. The three of them held strong bows and wore fine armor and horse saddles provided by Ma Xian. They fought five battles with great difficulty and finally killed five Wuhuan people, but they themselves were injured. Ma Xian alone killed ten times as many Wuhuan people as this number, and even captured Guli alive, letting the head of this evil tribe personally taste the flavor of being dragged to death.

  How can one not be convinced by such bravery in a land beyond the Great Wall where courage is honored and military strength is supreme?

  Mu Gui old man, Tang Nu and others knelt down, the rest followed suit, a large piece of black crows fell to their knees.

  Ma Huan glanced at old man Mugiji, meeting a pair of ashamed and pleading turbid old eyes. Ma Huan smiled faintly, without an overreaction to the "moral handcuffs" behavior of old man Mugiji, which was actually what he wanted. However, his plan differed from what old man Mugiji sought.

  Ma Xiang sat upright on his horse, looking down at the crowd from a high vantage point. He spoke calmly and quietly, yet his voice echoed through the valley: "I have both good news and bad news to share with you. Which one do you want to hear first?"

  The escaped slaves looked at each other in dismay for a long time before hearing a faint voice say: "First listen to the good news..."

  Ma Xun smiled and glanced at Nian Nu, who blushed and lowered her head. Ma Xun nodded and said, "Alright, let's start with the good news. The good news is - you are no longer slaves, you are free. I am not, nor will I be your new master. From now on, you are no longer Han slaves, but Han people."

  "But master..."

  "I said I'm not your master."

  "Uh, Ma Yishi, we..."

  Ma Xun ignored him and continued, "Next, I'll give you some bad news - I'm indeed from the Central Plains, to be precise, from Hebei. However, unfortunately, I won't be able to return to the Central Plains for now, so I won't be able to help you."

  The scene was generally silent, Tanu's expression was painful, his fists were tightly clenched, and he showed hatred for his own incompetence; Muji old man painfully closed his eyes, two rows of turbid old tears rolled down the dust; Nianshu's delicate face hung with two rows of clear tears, sobbing softly.

  Gradually, all sorts of wailing sounds rose and fell, and everyone was in fear for their own uncertain tragic fate.

  Ma Xun looked on, shook his head, took a deep breath, and suddenly shouted: "You have been slaves for too long. Now that your bodies are free, why are your minds still enslaved? Why do you always put your fate in the hands of others? Why can't you save yourselves? The only ones who can save you are yourselves!"

  All the Han people were stunned and looked blankly at the man riding a white horse, at a loss for what to do.

  Ma Xiangyang lashed out with his whip and shouted loudly: "I ask you, how many Han slaves are there in the Bone Force Division?"

  Five hundred.

  "No, four hundred."

  "It was four hundred and seventy-three, after we escaped, there were still four hundred and sixteen people." The speaker was old man Mugui, who had been a slave for the longest time. Due to his profession, he had dealings with both Hu and Han people in the Bone Strength Department, so he knew the number of Han slaves in the department best.

  "How many strong and vigorous Wu Lan are left in the Bone Division now?"

  "At most... sixty or seventy people." The old man Muji thought for a moment and replied affirmatively.

  "If we launch a surprise attack on the unsuspecting Bone Tribe after dark, kill all the able-bodied men of Wuhuan, free all the Han slaves, and seize their grain, livestock, fodder, and wealth, we can overthrow our former masters who once rode roughshod over us and become the masters ourselves. When you become a new tribe with nearly a thousand followers, which of the surrounding weak Uwan tribes would dare to provoke you lightly?"

  Ma Hu's words were like a thunderclap, shaking the eardrums and stunning the old man Mu Gui into silence. The young men Tang Nu and others had their eyes shining brightly, while most of the Han people looked on in confusion and dismay.

  For thousands of years, countless Han slaves were kidnapped to this vast grassland. This fertile land in the north has changed hands many times: Donghu people, Xiongnu people, Xianbei people, Wuhuan people, came and went, left and returned. The only constant is that with blood, sweat, and even life, the slaves who made this land continue to change hands! More than 70% of them are Han slaves!

  These men are treated as oxen and dogs, women as "chickens" and "horses" slaves, most of them live in the worst cattle pens and stables, only a small number of artisans have the qualifications to live in broken felt tents. Eating sick and dead livestock meat and spoiled dry rations, their spirit and body suffer double torture, most of them do not live beyond middle age.

  The cruel living conditions made the slaves often harbor a heart of resistance. The most common form of resistance was sabotage: sheep were lost, horses became thin, cows produced less milk... Of course, the result of this sabotage was inevitably a severe beating. And the strongest form of resistance was running away.

  Escaping from slavery is a gamble with one's life, success means survival, failure means death - there is an unwritten rule on the grasslands that anyone who captures escaped slaves will be brutally executed.

  For thousands of years, under the rule of any tyrannical master, and facing whatever cruel punishment, the escape of Han slaves has never stopped. Some succeeded, but more failed.

  All Han slaves and escaped slaves have only one hope in this life: to return home. Even if they die, they do not want to be buried in a foreign land.

  But never, ever has there been a slave or group of slaves who have had the idea: Resist! Snatch the whip stained with blood and flesh, and fiercely lash it at that ugly face; Resist! For the wives, daughters, and sisters who have been humiliated; Resist! Take back everything that has been lost; Resist! Declare war on the masters who have treated them like livestock!

  This is just too crazy!

  Pomfret!

  A burst of flame lit up in the darkness, illuminating Ma Yuan's face as cold and stern as a rock.

  Ma Xiang held the torch high, the flames dancing wildly in the night wind, his voice echoing through the night sky: "I can help you with is to kill the Wuhuan people, and what you can do to help yourselves is also to kill the Wuhuan people. At this point, you have no choice but to either flee like dogs, only to be captured by the Wuhuan people from all sides and hanged, dragged to death, skinned, or boiled in oil... or stand up straight and fight to the death! Die standing! Die with your head facing south!"

  Tang Nu could no longer bear it, and suddenly jumped up, waving his arms and shouting: "Tang Nu will die standing!"

  The Han young and strong also shouted loudly: "Die standing! Face south!"

  Mu Gui old man stood up with the support of Nian Nu, took a deep breath and resolutely said: "Ma Yishi has nothing to do with us, but he is willing to sacrifice his life to help us. How can we still live in hiding and be like pigs and dogs? Please let Ma Yishi be the leader of our Han people and lead us to demand blood debt from the Wuhuan people!"

  Ma Huan threw the torch, which sank into the ground five feet deep. With a raise of his leopard-striped bow, he declared: "I'll settle this blood debt tonight!"

  A sound like a volcanic eruption echoed through the cold night sky: "Repay the debt of blood, tonight!"