Slave Overlord

  In the slave pens, a man dying was as common as eating or shitting. Even if the dead man had once been somebody, the corpse of Slave 5914 was carried out and thrown away on the following morning without a word from the guards. The slaves fought each other; they didn't care. Anyway, every day more robust slave prisoners arrived from all over at prices that were hard to imagine.

  "Die if you must, there are plenty of people anyway. Fight if you want to fight, it's just a waste of energy, and besides, it saves the trouble of running away."

  The guards thought so.

  In the morning, when lining up for breakfast, Liu Ziguang stared with his bloodshot eyes, searching for 5914's followers in the queue. Those guys were originally flattering and bootlicking, pretending to be mighty, without any real skills. In the past, they had bullied Liu Ziguang many times while following 5914. Thinking of them, Liu Ziguang gritted his teeth with hatred.

  A few guys were crouching in the corner holding pancakes, when they suddenly discovered that the bloodthirsty devil from last night was standing in front of them. One of them plucked up the courage to ask: "9527, what do you want to do?"

  Liu Ziguang stretched out his hand: "Hand it over!" He was referring to the slave's breakfast in his hand - a piece of corn bread.

  In the slave team, the most valuable and worth fighting for is food. If you can't eat enough, your stomach won't be able to work well, and you'll be beaten by the overseer and guards. If you're injured, you'll have even less energy and be unable to get more food, creating a vicious cycle that will quickly lead to death. Therefore, slaves would rather endure beatings than give up their food.

  Among the few, a bolder one retreated while shouting at Liu Ziguang: "9527, don't think that just because you killed 5914 we're afraid of you. We'd rather die than give up our lives. If you have the guts, kill all of us!"

  Liu Ziguang was still immersed in the frenzy of killing, and when he heard such a loud response, he couldn't help but burst into rage, grabbing the person's collar and lifting him off the ground, slamming his neck against the nearby brick wall.

  "Bang, bang", the dull thud of impact was accompanied by a blood-curdling scream, and several more splatters of blood appeared on the brick wall. The remaining two people exchanged a glance, picked up the ceramic bowls used for drinking congee from the table, and smashed them against Liu Ziguang's head from behind. The bowl didn't shatter like a beer bottle would, but instead broke into fragments on Liu Ziguang's head without causing much harm, however it further enraged him.

  He left the person who had been knocked unconscious, turned around and coldly stared at the two guys who ambushed him. The two saw Liu Ziguang's eyes almost turn red, exuding a demonic icy chill and ferocity, making them even more frightened. Just as they were about to flee, they were kicked by Liu Ziguang with two vicious side kicks, sending them tumbling to the ground. Liu Ziguang used his coarse and hard fists, honed from years of mining, to make intimate contact with the faces of the two men, one after another. For a time, blood, snot, and tears flowed freely. Only when Liu Ziguang was tired from beating them did he pick up three half-eaten corn breads from the ground and walk away, swaying gently.

  The onlookers in the cafeteria let out a burst of boorish cheers and whistles, applauding for this newly-minted tyrant.

  From then on, Liu Ziguo formally entered the ranks of slave overlords, and several followers appeared around him. However, he never intentionally oppressed others, and sometimes even helped weak slaves. This may be due to his own sense of fairness and justice. His actions won over many slaves, after all, prisoners of war were not vicious criminals, and chivalrous spirit was appreciated in any era or group.

  The other slave tyrants temporarily got along with Liu Ziguang without incident, not provoking each other, only occasionally exchanging cold glances, as if two roosters ready to fight.

  There were only a few awkward encounters with Roman mercenary Antonius, but both sides were restrained and there was no major conflict.

  Even as a slave, in the eyes of the guards, they were still lowly like a dog and could not enjoy the privilege of not working. Gradually, the slaves found that the whips on their bodies were still cruel, but the random killings had basically been eliminated. According to a well-informed slave, he heard the guards discussing that the battles around them had ended, and there would be no new war prisoners for a while. The higher-ups had ordered that slaves could not be killed at will because they needed sufficient labor to mine minerals.

  Liu Ziguang's team was assigned to dig for ore beneath the ground, entering through tunnels and descending down stepped mine shafts that were as deep as thirty meters. Inside the mine there were different work areas for mining and selecting (hand-picking) ore, as well as lamp holes and air vents. Slaves at the bottom of the pit used iron axes and picks to chisel into the hard stone walls, bringing down the ore, which was then carried out on their backs. The mine was filled with dust, underground water seeped in, making it muddy, dark, exhausting, and quickly draining the slaves' physical strength. Every so often a batch of people would be replaced, taking turns going down into the pit to dig.

  Liu Ziguang had just come on shift, he climbed up along the wooden scaffolding, took off his woven willow protective hat, and greedily breathed in the fresh air outside. He had only taken two rough breaths when suddenly the sky shook and the earth trembled, as if a giant train had passed by, and the ground shook for a moment. Looking around, the slaves and guards were all knocked to the ground, their faces panicked. Then he looked at the entrance of the mine shaft that he had just climbed out of, and it was already flat ground. The expressions on the slaves' faces changed from panic to fear, the fear of being buried alive.

  There was an earthquake.

  There are still one hundred slaves in the mine!

  The guards were at a loss, these rough men who only knew how to wield whips and beat people faced such an unprecedented situation, they were already stunned.

  "Quickly get the equipment to rescue people!" Liu Ziguang was the first to wake up from shock.

  Earthquake, landslide, mine accident.

  Although the prisoners of war were enslaved, they still had family and hope to live on. Everyone looked forward to having a day to return home and reunite with their loved ones. They came from different camps and were once mortal enemies on the battlefield. Now, they ate in the same big pot, fought for food every day, and didn't have much friendship.

  "It would be better if a hundred people died, maybe we can have more food for dinner." Some people thought.

  "King Wong, who often bullied me, was buried alive, it's really an eye-opener for heaven." Some people thought.

  "It's all over now, and yet you're still trying to save a bird." A person said coldly.

  Seeing everyone hesitating, Liu Ziguang became anxious. The value of life was obviously more important to him, although he didn't have much feelings for the over 100 people underground, including his rival Anthony. He just couldn't tolerate hundreds of people being buried alive in front of him without lending a hand.

  "It's not buried yet, there's still hope! Dig quickly!" Liu Ziguang shouted, grabbing an iron shovel and rushing forward. The few slaves who usually followed him saw their master going up and also picked up tools and baskets to rush over and rescue people. Other slaves saw someone taking the lead and followed suit. Mongolian hundred officials, Zhamu, and several Mongolians around him looked at the master's eyes, held back their troops, and did not move. Zhamu's small eyes stared at Liu Ziguang's back as he dug into the mine for a while before signaling his men to follow and help.

  They dug with shovels, scooped up the earth and rocks that had been buried in the mine, and carried them away. After a while, the ground began to shake again, and the slaves dropped their tools and scattered once more, running to open spaces to crouch or lie down as the aftershocks came.

  "It's just an aftershock, don't be afraid, there won't be such a big commotion again." Liu Ziguang hastily comforted everyone, but the crowd still didn't dare to move forward, saying they were afraid of being buried alive.

  "Damn it, you bunch of bastards! Don't you have a conscience? If you were the ones buried inside, how would you feel? Who doesn't want to live and go home to see their parents, get married, raise cattle and farm?! If you don't go rescue them today, no one will come to rescue you tomorrow!" Liu Ziguang cursed angrily.

  Many people were moved, their hometowns, parents, wives and children, the warm kang, everything that was originally distant suddenly became so close, to go back, they had to survive first! Who doesn't have parents, who doesn't have a home? The crowd picked up their tools and silently continued digging.

  "Only five people can go down at a time, too many will trample the soil solid!" Liu Ziguang directed the slaves, while the guards were delighted to see the slaves take the initiative to rescue and didn't care even from a distance.

  With everyone having a leader, Liu Ziguang's command made the slaves' movements gradually become orderly. Digging soil, transporting soil, consolidating cave walls, hundreds of slaves outside the caves quickly excavated the mine shafts buried by the earthquake.

  The cave entrance slowly returned to its original state.

  Liu Ziguang was the first to dig in the cave, one iron scoop went down, a full scoop of mud poured into the basket, and then the people above pulled the soil up with ropes. As they worked, he caught sight out of the corner of his eye of an iron scoop moving faster than his own, scooping more soil, and when he turned to look, it was the sturdy Zha Muhe, sweat dripping down from his two Mongolian braids, his well-developed muscles almost deformed, covered in dust.

  The two of them exchanged a glance without saying a word, but both secretly quickened their pace in shoveling the earth.

  Two elderly men wielded their iron shovels like windmills, and the others quickened their pace, as if they were competing in a hole-digging contest.

  "These good-for-nothings, have they been injected with chicken blood or something? Normally they're not willing to exert themselves even when forced, but today they're working so fast, it's unbelievable." The guard who was sent to supervise the rescue efforts was taken aback by the scene before him.

  Several aftershocks occurred in succession, and the violent shaking compacted the soil in the cave. Fortunately, the cave wall had been reinforced, otherwise another batch of people would have been buried inside, and gradually some people began to lose hope.

  "It's been so long, several hours have passed, don't mention suffocating to death, it's scary to death." A porter slave was exhausted, sat on the ground with a thud, and didn't want to move anymore.

  "Liu Lao Da, the air vent on this side has been blocked." Another bad news came.

  "It's all over, this guy is definitely done for." Another exhausted man collapsed to the ground, like a pile of mud. He didn't move even when Liu Ziguang kicked him.

  The depressing mood spread like a plague, and the exhausted slaves lay scattered all over the ground.

  "Brother, it's probably hopeless now, several hours have passed, we've done our best as survivors, and that's all we can do for the guys inside." Zhamu said to Liu Ziguang, holding his shoulder, this was the first time he spoke to Liu Ziguang.

  "Bullshit! They're still alive! I must save them!" Disappointment mixed with violent rage struck Liu Ziguang's emotions, his rationality told him that everyone inside was already dead, but thinking of the entire hundred lives, he couldn't accept this reality. Seeing that no one else would listen, Liu Ziguang went down to the bottom of the pit alone and started digging desperately. He couldn't move the earth by himself, so he first dug a narrow passage downwards.

  Deep in the mine, a lone figure was dancing with an iron shovel. Outside, people slowly gathered around the entrance of the mine, silently watching Liu Ziguang's stubborn labor. Everyone's eyes were complex.

  Suddenly, Liu Ziguang dropped the iron shovel and lay down on the ground with one ear listening, "There's a sound! They're still alive." He shouted excitedly.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, rhythmic knocking sounds came from below the mine shaft.

  People on the mine rushed down to help Liu Ziguang dig, and with many hands, they soon dug through the space where the buried slaves were. A hole the size of a bowl appeared in front of everyone, and a dirty hand full of scars stretched out from inside, tightly grasping Liu Ziguang's hand!

  The first to be rescued was the Roman Antoni, who was still in good physical condition. He gave Liu Ziguang a fierce hug as soon as he emerged: "Thank God Almighty, I thought we were definitely going to die!"

  A thunderous cheer erupted from the mine shaft, hundreds of slaves excitedly threw their bamboo baskets into the air, and the deafening shouts shook the sky.

  To prevent the sunlight from dazzling their eyes, the slaves were covered with black cloth and carried out one by one. Some had died, many were severely dehydrated and unconscious, but more people survived. Every person who was carried out while still conscious was overwhelmed with gratitude, crying uncontrollably.

  The mine was deep, but the bottom was a horizontal tunnel. The hard stone wall protected everyone and did not bury them alive. The iron pipe ventilation pipe was still unblocked. Anthony and Black Duncan were at the bottom of the pit. They organized workers to use hand tools to desperately dig their way out, hoping to escape. However, the oxygen gradually became thinner, and people kept dying and fainting. The dark, narrow space could drive people crazy. They didn't dare hope that outsiders would make great efforts to rescue themselves, so they had to rely on their strong desire to survive and keep digging outward.

  As time went on, even the most optimistic Anthony lost faith. If Liu Ziguang hadn't coincidentally dug in the same direction as them and broken through, they might not have been able to hold on either.

  Every survivor who passed by Liu Ziguang cast grateful eyes on him.

  After the earthquake, the mine temporarily stopped work. The next morning, in the slaves' dining hall, when Liu Ziguang walked in with a clay bowl, he was surprised to find a large crowd of people standing in rows facing the gate, as if waiting for someone's arrival.

  As he walked in, all the personnel automatically lined up in two rows, forming a passageway leading to the food window. Everyone tapped their bowls with chopsticks in rhythm and gave Liu Ziguang a salute.

  Liu Ziguang walked along the human wall passage, as if reviewing thousands of troops, and the crowd emitted a low and harmonious voice: "952795279527", for a moment the atmosphere was solemn.