Chapter Seven

  It's already June weather, and although the early summer sun isn't too harsh, it still gives people a scorching feeling. Dozens of brothers are hiding in a forest that Huang Yanwang's housekeeper must pass through on his way to Yuezhou, resting. Little warrior Zhou Hua looks very excited, his fists clenched tightly, as if he wants to strangle Huang Yanwang to death, his eyes red and about to spit fire. I turned my head and looked around, all the soldiers felt excited, including me and Ah Lun, because after all, this is our first war. Although it's just a small sneak attack, it affects whether we can develop smoothly in the future. So everyone knows that there can't be any mistakes in this battle.

  At this time, a soldier ran over panting: "Report to the squad leader, Huang Yanwang's family vegetable purchasing team has left Yueyang City and is expected to arrive here in about 2 hours. Report complete."

  We have adjusted their concept of time to modern 24-hour system in the past three months. At the same time, they no longer say what year it is, but uniformly use the year 1656. Although it was difficult to teach at first, under the questioning of the warriors, Zhou Lun had to say that it was a new calendar invented by the King of Yan for convenient timing and recording years. This only made these warriors extremely worship their grandfather.

  I stood up and returned a military salute to him, saying: "Comrade Li He, you've worked hard. Now go take a rest, we'll take care of the next battle."

  I turned around and said to Aron, "Aron, what do you think we should do? Should we kill those twenty or so people or just take them hostage? Let the soldiers have some fun?"

  "Those who can stay, stay. Those who cannot, die. A victorious regime is built on the blood of countless people. One general's achievement is another's bones withering away. I'm not in the mood for games either. My goal is to fully respect my opponents. If they don't cooperate... Hmph! I'll make them die a little faster."

  "Comrades, listen to me. Now everyone must pay attention and hide for a while. This is the time to test us. The time has come to avenge Zhou Hua and all the ordinary people who have been exploited by these wicked landlords in our country. Now each of you find a place to hide and wait for my order."

  The warriors roared in unison: "Yes, squad leader!" Then, according to their usual training level, they quickly disappeared behind the trees and hid in the woods.

  In the distance, a horse-drawn carriage procession was approaching. A cloud of yellow dust rose behind them. I covered my eyes with my hand and took a look, grumbling to myself, "Damn it, how could I forget to bring binoculars? Luckily, my eyesight is still decent." As I complained, I gave the order to the guards: "Li Lei, instruct the first squad led by Lei Teng and the fifth squad led by Li Keming to block the rear after the carriage procession passes. Also, call Wu Shuang, Zhou Hua, and Zeng Qing's second, third, and fourth squads to intercept from the front and sides. Remind them that if anyone lets an enemy escape, they'll have to come see me with their heads in hand."

  Li Lei listened to me and said in one breath: "Yes, I'll go right away. I'll go handle it now." After finishing speaking, he quickly ran out.

  The order had just been given, and the convoy was already quickly entering our ambush area. I signaled to the other troops with a secret signal to stay still, so as not to leak the information and fail to surround them successfully. If that happened, it would take a lot of effort to capture Huang Yanwang. The last vehicle finally entered the encirclement. I waved my arm, and Lei Ting, who had been waiting impatiently, rushed out with his comrades. Lei Ting held up his submachine gun and fired a burst at the slow-moving horses in front, and they fell down immediately. The horses behind had never experienced such a shock before, and they were not well-trained warhorses either. They all neighed loudly. The horse-drawn vehicle team was also shocked by this sudden attack, and the drivers jumped up in fright. After regaining their composure, the drivers quickly controlled their respective horses. However, the team had already fallen into disarray.

  One of them, who looked like a manager, came out and said: "May I ask where you are from? This is the vegetable-purchasing team of the Huang family in Jiuli Slope. You must have eaten leopard gallbladder to dare intercept the Huang family's carriage."

  Lei Ting stood in front, proudly saying: "Huang Ye? I think calling you Huang Sunzi is more suitable. Your grandfather, I'm here today specifically to rob your family's Huang Sunzi of his belongings."

  That official was also a worldly person, and seeing the strong tone of these people, he softened his tone and said: "Gentlemen, we are just the vegetable-buying team from Huang's house. There is really nothing good to loot on this cart. If you gentlemen insist on taking it away, that's fine, but please spare our lives."

  Zeng Qing, that little brat, stepped out and said: "Hmph, if we let you go, our brothers will just eat this little bit of food. At the very least, your family's Huang Ye should come up with some silver to take you back, what do you think, brothers?"

  The three classes of warriors responded in unison with a bandit's tone: "That's right. Grandpa really didn't take a liking to these dishes, if your family's Huang Sunzi thinks you're worthy, then have him bring out some silver and exchange them back for you."

  Those who looked like they were in charge of the forest glanced around. Seeing that there were only these people, their courage grew. Since kind words wouldn't work, they spoke fiercely: "I think you people have eaten bear hearts and leopard gall, daring to move earth on our master's birthday. Come, take them all down for me! We'll send them to the city of Yue and get a sum of silver. This time I'm in charge, don't tell Master Huang, we brothers will keep some silver to drink wine and visit brothels."

  Those family guards and courtyard servants heard that there was money to be made and got excited. They all rushed up for a few pieces of silver.

  At this moment, I whistled, and Allen and Lika led their teams out from both sides, charging like tigers down the mountain. The house guards had not expected such a large number of ambush troops. They immediately stopped in their tracks, standing awkwardly in the middle, frozen there.

  I stepped forward and looked at the man in charge with a cold eye: "I think you're the one who has eaten leopard gall. Dare to fight us. Comrades, take them all down for me."

  They were taken down with almost no effort because there were only a few guards and the rest were just household servants. Huang Yanwang had been rampant in this area for a long time, and no one dared to move him, so he was also relatively slack in this regard. It's like a dog that has been kept as a pet for a long time doesn't know how to guard the house anymore. A pampered cat also doesn't know how to catch mice.

  "I said to these captured people: 'Those of you who are willing to leave the Huang family, step forward.'"

  No one stood out, and everyone stood there silently.

  I stepped forward. I turned a few times in front of the tied-up house slaves and said to those who looked like warriors, "You must be the ones invited by Huang Yanwang."

  Those people turned their heads sideways and ignored me.

  I sneered in my heart and continued, "Why do you have to sacrifice your lives for the Huang family? Is it that Huang Yanwang is more important than our great Ming dynasty's mountains and rivers? Are you willing to be a watchdog for him for the rest of your life rather than making an effort for our great Ming and being a true person of our great Ming?"

  Those people obviously didn't know how I suddenly came up with that. Several of them exchanged glances, all lowering their heads to think about something.

  I turned around and said to the household servants, "To be honest with you, we came here today to overthrow Huang Yanwang. He has enjoyed his good fortune for long enough, and he has oppressed the common people for long enough. You have all helped him oppress the common people, haven't you? But think about it, you are no different from those common people who were oppressed by Huang Yanwang. At least they are still free men, but what about you? You are just slaves of the Huang family, like dogs. Wherever your master orders you to go, you have to go. Do you dare to resist?"

  It seems like I'm not getting through to you. He pointed at the official-looking person and said, "He should be an official, has he ever treated you as human beings? And yet someone like him can ride roughshod over your heads. Don't you even know what's going on? Is it that he was born superior to you? No, didn't Chen Sheng and Wu Guang of the Qin dynasty say, "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers born of noble blood?" Didn't our great Ming dynasty take power from the Mongols by force? And aren't we now being driven to a dead end by the Qing dogs? Wake up! If you've really come to your senses, then use something to kill this official for me.

  One of the family servants said, "This good fellow is right, I'm not doing it anymore. First, I'll kill this dog, and then I'll follow them to do it. If we don't succeed, in 18 years I'll still be a good fellow; if we succeed, who knows, maybe I can even become a noble or a high-ranking official. Damn it, at the Huang's house I've had enough of his bullying, now it's my turn to show off."

  He finished speaking and kicked the steward to the ground with one foot, and after a flurry of kicks, he squatted down. He said to the panting steward: "Steward Liu, you've been acting tyrannically for many years now. You've also made enough money." Saying this, he kicked the steward's head again. The several martial artists who heard my words seemed to have come to their senses and followed with a flurry of kicks. In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the steward was already taking in more air than he was letting out.

  I gave Lei Ting a hint. Lei Ting walked over and made a knife cut at the person in charge. Speaking of knife skills, Lei Ting is still not bad among us few people. His agility with his hands and feet is not under any killer from the East Factory.

  Those two martial artists and the house servant walked to the end of the road, where it was impossible to turn back, and came before me saying: "Your humble servants Wang Hu, Yi Tianxing, Huang De are willing to follow a good fellow to achieve something, please accept us."

  I looked at them with a stern expression and said, "You shouldn't call each other 'little' either. Just like them, you should all address each other as comrades. Because we are brothers who share the same goals and values, so we all call each other comrades. It's derived from the phrase 'sharing the same aspirations and principles'. But I want to tell you a few of you not to think about playing any tricks on me, otherwise you will end up worse than this Liu."

  "Alright, you three stay as you are. We'll fill in the rest of the personnel and disguise ourselves as the Huang family's vegetable-purchasing team to sneak in. When we reach the suspension bridge, you three will cut off the ropes. We'll carefully follow you along the way. You must hold on for 10 minutes; if we get too close to you, there's a risk of being discovered. This is a crucial moment, so be careful."

  "After I finished speaking, I called Lei Ting and Wu Shuang over and said: 'You two came together this time. We must succeed this time, so take your squad with him and go. Put the submachine gun on the table, if you can't hold on, then open fire. Do you understand? This time I represent all of us to express our gratitude to you.'"

  Lei Ting and Wu Shuang stood at attention, their feet together, and saluted me: "Please be assured, Captain. We guarantee that we will complete the task. It is our duty to do so, please don't be polite."

  After finishing, they turned around and prepared to leave. I called out to them: "Wait a minute, you two wait for me, I still have something to say to you." After they walked up in front of me, I leaned over close to their ears and said: "You must pay attention to those three people. If they make any unusual movements (I made a killing motion),..."

  They nodded and I turned around to leave. Zhou Lun had already gathered the other teams together, and I walked over to them, facing everyone and saying: "Today's performance makes me very happy, it shows that you have all grown into real warriors. And we also fired the first shot of battle. Now I announce a command, which is to promote Lei Ting as deputy platoon leader and Zeng Qing as acting deputy platoon leader. The new platoon leader will be recommended by the original platoon leader Lei Ting. Now everyone follows the previous arrangement, we follow behind the horse-drawn carriage team about 2 li away, when they are about to enter, we rush up and try to take down Huang Yanwang with one blow. Let's set off immediately." After finishing speaking, I made a waving motion with my hand and looked at the distant horse-drawn carriages following behind them.

  The Huang family's stockade is already in front of us. Lei Teng and Wu Shuang, holding the only submachine gun, walked at the forefront of the team. Someone on the stockade ahead shouted: "Huang De, you're back! Where's Liu Guan? Why isn't he here?"

  "Huang De shouted to the top: "The manager met an old friend in the city today and went to find Lezi in the kiln. He'll be back at sunset. He asked us to come back first. Hurry up and put down the drawbridge, let us in. The dishes are still waiting to be sent to the kitchen."

  The people upstairs heard it and also put their hearts down, saying: "Okay, okay. You wait a minute." After finishing the suspension bridge, he said, "Huang De, what dishes did you bring back? It's been a long time since we had a good meal."

  The suspension bridge slowly came down. Wang Hu rushed up first, drew out the knife from his waist, and with a "pa" sound, the rope was cut off under the strong gravity. The rope on this side also broke due to unstable force and was cut off by Yi Tianxing.

  The people above were suddenly stunned and shouted: "Wang Hu, Yi Tianxing, are you two crazy or what?"

  Huang De said: "Now we are who we are..."

  Lei Ting walked up and continued: "We are the People's Army, Huang Yanwang has been oppressing the people and doing all sorts of evil. Now we, the People's Army, will eliminate this scourge for the people."

  The people upstairs all started scolding, and the family guards and escorts rushed over with their weapons. Some of them cursed: "Look at this guy, he's so stupid and dared to be disrespectful to our Master Huang."

  Lei Ting swiftly directed everyone to push the horse carriage to the entrance and block it. Dozens of people rushed up. Lei Ting calmly commanded the limited personnel to resist their wave-like attacks. Finally, the voices from behind us were heard, and the addition of more than 60 people quickly changed the situation in our favor. The warriors at the front also lost their previous tension, and their usual combat skills were all brought into play. The warriors fought more bravely as the battle went on. The situation was turning in one direction, although Huang Yanwang's side had a slightly larger number of people, but after all, most of them were just household servants. They could deal with ordinary civilians, but when facing our strictly trained warriors, they were unable to cope. Except for those martial artists who guarded the courtyard and could barely resist, everyone else had been killed or captured. Huang Yanwang was now nowhere to be found.

  "I stepped forward facing them and shouted: 'Put down your weapons, the People's Army treats prisoners of war with kindness. As long as you do not resist, I guarantee that not a single hair on your body will be harmed.'"

  The martial artists of the protector saw that the situation was already over, and they all dropped their weapons. Our warriors rushed up to tie them up.

  I said to Huang De: "Take ten men and bring me Huang Yanwang, dead or alive."

  After a while, Huang De came over with a thin middle-aged man tied up.

  I looked him up and down, this unimpressive-looking man, and said: "So you're the Huang Yanwang that everyone's been talking about? He doesn't seem like much. Zhou Hua, bring a brother over to give him a beating."

  I turned to Huang De and said, "You've done a good job. Now take a few people with you and bring over everyone who rented land from Huang Yanwang, including those without land. Just bring over anyone within the boundaries of Huang Yanwang's land."

  After finishing, he said to Wang Hu: "Wang Hu, you and Tian Xing take 10 people to check first. Tie up all of Huang Yanwang's wives and sons, and go open the warehouse to see how much money is there."

  "After giving the orders, I told Zeng Qing: 'Now clean up the battlefield, drag all the bodies to the back and bury them, then gather in the main hall.'"

  After finishing, I took a look at Huang Yanwang's living room. A burst of crying and shouting came from outside, and Wang Hu walked in and said: "Ranking officer, Huang Yanwang's sixth concubine has been brought over. His original wife has already hanged herself in the room."

  I nodded and said: "Alright, bring them in."

  Looking at the six concubines walking in, each of them was crying and wailing, except for the last one who didn't say a word or cry, but just stood there coldly. I was surprised and said: "They all cried for your family's old master, how come you don't have any sorrowful feeling?"

  The woman looked at me coldly, then knelt down and said: "I thank the military officer for avenging my great humiliation. My heart's desire is fulfilled, and I have no more worries." After finishing speaking, she rushed towards the wall and hit it. A pool of blood splattered onto the pillar. Wang Hu hurried over to check the woman's breath and told me: "Squad leader, she's dead."

  I nodded and said: "Yes, give this woman a thick burial."

  After finishing speaking, I raised my head and looked at the other women who had been frightened into stopping their crying. I said to the soldiers below: "You go check, if these women are also extremely guilty, behead them together with me."

  After a while, several soldiers walked in and said: "Squad leader, we've investigated clearly." Pointing at the women, they said: "These women are also used to acting arbitrarily all the time."

  I coldly glanced at those women who were trembling with fear and said, "Alright, since it's clear now, let's drag them out and kill them first. This evening, we'll properly take care of that Huang Yan."

  Outside the door, there were several mournful cries and cheers from the people. I nodded and said: "Wang Hu, you have been staying at the Huang's house for a long time. Later, you and Tian Xing will bring a few people to call on Huang De together, go to each warehouse to take a look, and count the things. I want to see how much of the people's fat has been deceived by this Huang Yan Wang."

  Wang Huo gave a very standard military salute, nodded and replied: "Yes, Squad Leader, I guarantee that not a single needle will be left behind. All of them will be cleaned up for you without exception." After finishing speaking, he turned around and waved his hand at the several soldiers under his command, then walked away.