Chapter Seventy Riot

  It's finally been strongly recommended across the entire site... it wasn't easy. Fifteen decided to make a comeback, with two updates every day this week as a thank you to my brothers. The first update is at noon, and there will be another one tonight.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Brother!" Liu Da rushed over, disregarding the bloodstains, and hugged Liu Er tightly, sobbing uncontrollably. "You always listen to me every day, why can't you just listen to me this one time?"

  Liu Er struggled to lift his eyelids, and from his constantly bleeding mouth, he forced out one last sentence: "Big... big brother... I won't have to be a lonely ghost in a foreign land..." A pair of dark, withered hands dug deep into the mud, then gradually relaxed, no longer moving.

  "Brother, brother......" Liu was overcome with grief, tears streaming down his face, and nearly fainted.

  At this time, the Meat Tumor Golden Soldier was still shouting loudly: "Did you all see that? It's not that I didn't give him a chance, but he didn't seize it! However, I, Tu Tu, am a magnanimous person, and I can give all of you the same opportunity. Whoever wants to go home, back to your non-existent country, can leave. The rules are the same as before: count to ten breaths, run into the forest, and you'll be free; if you're still outside the forest after ten breaths, you can also be free - dead people are the freest. How about it? Will you bet?"

  A dead silence, with no one speaking.

  Tu Tu, the meaty Jin soldier, jumped onto a grain cart, waving his large bow and shouting hoarsely: "You southerners without balls, don't you have one with a backbone? Look back, that's your last home; look ahead, that's my great Jin dynasty's boundless territory. The ground beneath your feet is the last border of the Song Dynasty. Once you cross this Yi River, you'll be slaves and livestock of my great Jin Dynasty for this life, the next life, and all eternity."

  Tu Tu held his head high, the large bow in his hand slowly drew a semicircle towards the crowd, and finally ended his speech with one sentence: "Once you cross this river, you are either alive as people of my Great Jin country; or dead as ghosts of my Great Jin country."

  When the interpreter finished translating this last sentence, he suddenly knelt down and kowtowed to the captives, then pushed through the crowd with force, swung his sleeves and ran towards the forest.

  Everyone was stunned.

  That white-faced scholar's expression was agitated: "Zhang Toutou, don't you see? Our old country, our home, is enough to make people lose their way and return."

  "Unfortunately, he didn't make it to the woods - this is a trap, no one can run fifty yards in ten breaths. These golden dogs are just intentionally luring people to escape and killing them for fun."

  The white-robed scholar fell silent, the fists clenched in his sleeves crackling with rage. He suddenly raised his head and stared straight at Zhang Li, just as he was about to speak... But Zhang Li seemed to know what he wanted to say, and firmly shook his head: "My duty is to ensure the safety of the adults, anything that could potentially bring danger to them, I will not do."

  In the sigh of the white-robed scholar. The bowstring vibrated, the arrow pierced through the air, and penetrated the chest of that Song Dynasty interpreter. The interpreter's hands were spread apart, and he fell forward. The distance he ran was less than thirty zhang.

  Tu Tu relaxedly lowered his longbow, gazing at the captives like a hungry wolf eyeing a flock of sheep. Then he bellowed again with flying spittle, but this time no one translated, and people's faces were filled with confusion.

  Tutu was very angry, and he turned around to shout a few sentences at the other Jurchen soldiers. One of them hesitated for a moment, then rode out on horseback, came over to the grain cart, said a few words to Tutu, and then loudly translated what Tutu had said.

  Judging from the appearance and accent of this golden soldier, he should be a Khitan. Because Liao and Song share borders, there are also trade exchanges between the two countries, so some people in Liao still understand a little bit of Central Plains language. Of course, the pronunciation is not flattering, it's no better than that interpreter just now, can only say that it's barely audible.

  At this time, Tu-tu was pointing with the tip of his bow at two young captives not far away. They were tall and wore brown straight-sewn short shirts, had bandages on their legs, and wore many-pleated shoes. He said viciously: "You two are staring at what? Not convinced? You can also run! Look at you two southern barbarians, your heads aren't small, maybe you can escape within ten breaths... How about it, don't you want to try? That's why I say that none of you southerners have any guts... Heh heh, you two come over and let me feel if you have any balls underneath..." The surrounding Jin soldiers burst into loud laughter.

  Those two young captives looked at each other, their pupils jumping with uncontrollable anger. One of them, a sturdy young man with a slightly shorter stature, rough features, and extremely developed cheek muscles, said to his companion: "Ah Xing, I can't take it anymore. You dragged me from Kaiyuan Prefecture all the way north, running thousands of miles, pretending to be captured and infiltrating this prisoner-of-war camp. Every day we eat dog food and push heavy carts, and now we have to suffer such great humiliation... Did we come here with full bellies to suffer?"

  That tall and sturdy young man named Ah Xing said in a low voice: "Yuan Qing, I don't want to endure it either! But let's not forget the purpose of our trip here. If we don't behead several important leaders of the Golden Dogs, we'll have no face to return and see Cao Da Dang Jia and Er Dang Jia, and even less so to report back to Kai De Fu Yan Zong Da Ren..."

  Yuan Qing snorted: "If you ask me, Cao Da and Er Dangjia are too timid. We started the uprising from Lianghuai, marched north to support the emperor, and brought thousands of troops on this long journey. Not even a glimpse of the enemy's face was seen, yet we have to turn our backs and retreat. What a joke..."

  Ah Xing shook his head helplessly: "The imperial court has no grain, what can be done? The hundreds of thousands of people in the loyalist army are all crowded into one prefectural city, even if there is a granary, it's not enough to eat!"

  "A bunch of rubbish, tens of thousands of troops." Yuan Qing sneered, "You're not unaware of what kind of people they are. They just carry a shovel and dare to call themselves righteous soldiers, all of them are just making up numbers and eating for free. I can take down thirty of such people by myself. In my opinion, among these tens of thousands of troops, less than ten thousand can actually be of use."

  Two people lowered their heads and whispered to each other, directly ignoring Tú Tú.

  Tu Tu burst into a rage, took out an arrow, drew his bow and aimed at the two of them, gritting his teeth: "You have two choices. Either you both run away immediately, within ten breaths, run into the forest, and I won't kill you; or take off your pants, let me check, and I also won't kill you. Quick! Which one do you choose?"

  A Xing and Yuan Qing exchanged a cold glance, their eyes locking in a brief, intense stare before they rapidly fired off a series of questions and answers.

  "How's it going? Can you still take it?"

  "Shut up! Do it!"

  "Then we didn't come here for nothing? I thought at least we'd take down a centurion..."

  "That lump-headed guy is at least a captain of ten, and a real Jurchen minor leader. If we can get his head, with this 'ringed leader', the trip won't be in vain."

  "Alright, the long tumor is yours, the rest are mine."

  "It's settled, let's get started!"

  Two men let out a loud roar, like unchained tigers, and swiftly charged towards the grain cart beside the Jin soldiers.

  It was unthinkable that among these southerners, who were as docile as sheep, someone would rise up in resistance. The nearby Jin soldiers were stunned and reacted slowly. It wasn't until the two men rushed to within a dozen or so steps that the Jin soldiers came to their senses, angrily shouting and drawing their swords and clubs.

  The first to make a move was TuTu. This wasn't strange, he had already been ready to shoot, as long as he aimed at the target and loosened his fingers, it would be done.

  Tú tú's goal is A Xīng, and similarly, A Xīng's goal is also him.

  Whoosh! The bowstring vibrated violently, and the arrow shot towards Ah Xing's face like a poisonous snake——Ah Xing, who was sprinting at full speed, rotated his toes and shifted his body sideways, while his right hand swiftly reached forward to grab, and incredibly managed to snatch the sharp arrow that had just grazed past him.

  Tú's eyes bulged out a few more inches, at least stunned for a second, and then he hastily drew the second arrow.

  At this time, Ah Xing had already rushed to within ten steps of Tutu on the grain cart.

  A Xing, sprinting at high speed, kicked a protruding mound of earth by the roadside with one foot. The mound shattered and dust flew everywhere. And A Xing, using the force from that kick, leaped high into the air, his height even surpassing that of TuTu on the grain cart.

  Tú Tú's ox eyes had already shown a frightened expression, the arrow was already in place, and he was drawing his bow to shoot...

  Ah-ching's body bent like a bow in mid-air, his right hand raised high, grasping the arrow with an inverted grip, like an eagle swooping down on a rabbit, and shot down like lightning - almost at the same time, Tutu's arrow also flew out.

  The arrow flew past Ah Xing's cheek, bringing out a thread of blood. The sharp arrow in Ah Xing's hand deeply pierced Tutu's shoulder and neck.

  A Xing didn't care whether the other party understood or not, and whispered close to Tu Tu's ear: "I have a third option - kill you!"

  He finished speaking, reached out to remove the waist knife from Tu Tu, suddenly pulled out the arrow, Tu Tu let out a miserable cry, the large bow in his hand fell to the ground with a thud, and fresh blood spurted out of his shoulder like a fountain, his body falling off the grain cart.

  Just as Ah-Ching killed Tutu with a flash of lightning, Yuan Qing pounced on the Jin soldier who was acting as an interpreter like a hungry tiger devouring its prey. The two rolled around on the ground several times before Yuan Qing pinned the Jin soldier beneath him, one hand holding down his arms and the other fist punching his face repeatedly. One punch, two punches, three punches... seven or eight punches later, the Jin soldier who had been beaten until he was bleeding from all seven apertures finally stopped struggling.

  When Yuan Qing stood up from the enemy, he had already added a single-handed large axe in his hand. He immediately jumped onto the horseback, turned the horse's head, made two circles on the spot, and suddenly clamped the horse's abdomen, rushing forward.

  At this time, several Jin soldiers who had just reacted were rushing over on horseback, but they were swept away by the swift and fierce Yuanqing's left and right swings, all beheaded under their horses.

  This sudden change of events took a long time to tell, but the whole process was less than half a minute. The captives were suddenly thrown into chaos.

  Ah Xing stood proudly on the grain cart, drew out his curved knife, and with a flick of his wrist, threw away the scabbard. Then, holding up the gleaming curved knife high, he shouted: "Brothers of Song Country, we have already killed several golden dogs, the great army of Jin Country will not let us off. Rather than waiting for death with our hands tied, let's make a desperate struggle, come on!"

  The captives looked at each other, their eyes filled with fear, hesitation and indecision.

  On the other hand, Jin Jun's escort team finally discovered that something was wrong here and quickly gathered more than 20 riders to surround Yuan Qing, who was swinging a big axe to kill the Jin soldiers. Along the way, any prisoners who blocked the road were beheaded by the Jin soldiers. For a time, the ground was bloody, and the scene was chaotic.

  At this time, the white-faced scholar saw that things were going badly and, disregarding Zhang Li's attempts to stop him, quickly ran to the side of the grain cart, flipped his body up onto it, and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Ah Xing.

  Just as Ah Xing looked over in surprise, the white-faced scholar swung his sleeves and shouted loudly - it was hard to imagine that such a refined and elegant Confucian would have such a loud voice: "You are all my people of Great Song, this land is the last territory of our Great Song. You were born here, grew up here, and will be buried here in the end, generation after generation, circulating repeatedly, this is the root of our Han family's thousand-year-old legacy. Are you willing to become the cattle and horses of the Golden Horde, suffer humiliation and mistreatment, and finally be buried in a foreign land, with your souls unable to return home?"

  "Look ahead!" The white-faced scholar's hair and beard were all standing on end, his finger pointing north. "That river is the Yi River, one water divides yin and yang. Standing here, you are still human, once you cross the river, you will be slaves of the Jin people. Do you want to be human or beasts?"

  "I will be human!" A childish voice came over.

  Leaning against the grain cart, he stood guard and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a familiar boy's figure. Zhang Li's mouth slightly curved upwards as he nodded at the boy called Aji, then picked up the large bow and arrow that had fallen to the ground. As soon as he held the bow and arrow in his hand, Zhang Li's entire body suddenly emitted an air of sharpness.

  "We want to be human, we don't want to go to America and be treated like oxen!"

  "Just like that brother just now, I'd rather die on Song soil."

  "Now no one limits our time anymore, let's run into the forest, let's run into the mountains!"

  These thirty thousand captives were like a scoop of water poured into a boiling pot of oil, instantly bursting open.

  Riot, it has begun.