Chapter Twenty: Worse than Beasts

  What an opportunity! Now he is short of manpower, and these dozen young men are very tempting to him. What's more, all the wealth in the village is also a great temptation to him. Wealth and honor are sought in danger, isn't this an opportunity? Just as everyone was about to turn around and leave, Xiao Tianjian spoke up.

  "We can't give up! Brothers, you've all been bullied by the officials and soldiers before. Why are we in this situation now? Isn't it all because of the government's fault? If they hadn't forced everyone into a desperate situation, who would have turned to this life? We're all just poor people, we don't care about the wealthy Zhao family, but can you really just stand by and watch these bastards bully the common folk? And what's there to be afraid of from those scattered officials and soldiers? Not to mention the money and grain from the Zhao family, are they just going to let those bandits have it for free?" Xiao Tianjian loudly asked his men.

  As soon as he asked this, everyone suddenly became indignant and angrily said: "Of course not!"

  However, they soon realized that Xiao Tianjian seemed to be up to something, and everyone hesitated again. Zhao Erdui carefully said to Xiao Tianjian: "Hold on! We know you're a good person! But we have so many people, and we can't do anything about it! In my opinion, although these officials deserve to die, we can't help them either. Let's avoid this for now and talk about it later when we have more people!"

  Tie Tou gave Zhao Er Liu a disdainful glance, but didn't say anything. He just looked at Xiao Tian Jian with his eyes, and the others also closed their mouths, looking at Xiao Tian Jian with their eyes, waiting for Xiao Tian Jian to make a decision.

  "Zhao Er Liu! I think among us, you're the most afraid of death, aren't you?" Xiao Tian Jian narrowed his eyes and took a glance at Zhao Er Liu.

  Zhao Erdui's face turned bright red, after all, he was a man too. Men are most afraid of being looked down upon. Xiao Tianjian said that, which meant telling others that Zhao Erdui was a coward. If this label was stuck on his head, then from now on, he would not be able to mix in with these people!

  Then he puffed up his face, stiffened his neck and slapped his chest, shouting: "You can't say that about me! Although I, Zhao Erdui, may not be considered brave, but I'm not a coward either! For so long, when have I ever hidden behind others? When we came out of Liujiacun, wasn't I right behind you, Palm Panzi?! Let's all pat our conscience and say it out loud, am I, Zhao Erdui, a reliable guy or not?! You tell me, Palm Panzi! Whatever you want me to do, I won't fart without your permission!"

  Listening to Zhao Er's explanation, Xiao Tianjian nodded and said: "Alright! I know you're not a coward, since everyone is not a coward, we've encountered this matter today, so we can't just stand by and watch! Those who are brave will follow me to kill those damned officials and soldiers, rescue the remaining people in Zhaojia Fortress, and those who are cowards can throw away their weapons now and hide somewhere!"

  With Xiao Tianjian's provocation and Zhao Erdui's confession, no one wanted to be a coward, especially since everyone hated the government soldiers. No one wanted to pretend to be a fool at this moment, so the crowd shouted in unison: "We are willing to listen to the orders of the leader! Damn it! We'll also take revenge for the ordinary people!"

  Xiao Tianjian felt a bit of a thrill at having successfully manipulated the situation, and under his instigation, the morale of these people was finally boosted. Now it seems that their morale is at least usable!

  "Alright! So everyone listen to me, since we've run into this matter today, we can't just leave it like this. Otherwise, for the rest of our lives, we won't be able to have peace of mind!"

  The number of government soldiers is about the same as ours, and they are probably a group of defeated soldiers. We now have guns and knives, and there's no need to be afraid of them. With this period of training I've been drilling you for so long, it's time to see how our training has paid off! What kind of moral character do government soldiers have? You've seen them before, at most they're just a disorganized mob wearing government soldier uniforms. If not, why would the government soldiers always be defeated? As long as everyone follows my orders, taking them down is no problem!

  "Leave the car here for now, everyone grab your gear and follow me to Zhaojia Fortress, let's take down those scoundrels! We'll get back the money and grain they've stolen from us. Are you with me?" Xiao Tianjian shouted at the dozen or so people.

  Everyone heard this and didn't think much about it, then together followed Xiao Tianjian and loudly shouted: "Dare! Boss!"

  Xiao Tianjian wiped away a bead of sweat; these guys really knew how to make a smooth and loud shout for "boss"!

  Then a group of people hid the cart in a place, tied up the donkeys and mules, picked up their tools, and followed Xiao Tianjian in a column towards Zhaojia Fortress.

  From a distance, the crowd saw thick smoke billowing from the direction of Zhaojia Village. Although they couldn't see the situation inside the village, judging from the smoke, they knew that Zhaojia Village had been destroyed by these government soldiers. At this point, Xiao Tianjian gave an order and everyone quickened their pace.

  From the news brought back by Shi Rang, it can be seen that these officers and soldiers are obviously very slack. They should think that there are no enemies in this area, so they are so arrogant. They didn't even set up a sentry, which made things easier for them.

  Less than ten miles away, after they quickened their pace, in less than half a time, the group arrived at the outskirts of Zhaojia Village. Under Shi Rong's familiar lead, they bypassed the village from the west and approached the village under the cover of thickets.

  At this time, everyone heard the desperate and mournful cries of the village women, which made people's hearts tighten with anxiety, and they all became somewhat tense.

  Xiao Tian and Jian Ran were crouching under the earth ridge, while he and Shi Yang climbed up to the earth ridge together. Silently, they parted the shrubs in front of them, and through the branches that had just sprouted green, he saw the scene at the head of the village.

  Zhaojiabao was indeed a small village, with only twenty or thirty households in the entire village. Now, as one looked around, almost all the houses were engulfed in raging flames, with sparks rolling in the thick smoke, and the thick smoke billowing straight up to the sky. What was originally a peaceful little village had almost become a hell on earth.

  This village may indeed not be rich enough, with insufficient manpower, only building a short and thin wall, compared to other villages, it looks much thinner, which is also the reason why Feng Er Gou suggested coming here.

  However, at this time, Xiao Tianjian had already forgotten the purpose of their visit here, because the scene in front of him made him stare with wide eyes. A group of tattered soldiers were gathered outside the village head, and they were having a wild celebration. Young women were stripped naked and being pressed to the ground, being ravaged at will. On a large tree at the village head, a corpse was hung, its skin peeled off, its flesh blurred with blood. The road outside the village was littered with corpses, men, women, old and young, all beheaded, lying on the roadside, even including children who had not yet come of age.

  It can be seen that the villagers suffered a brutal massacre, and more than 30 corpses could be seen at a glance. What made Xiao Tianjian even angrier was that a beast soldier was holding a long gun, carrying a baby's corpse and laughing loudly. A young woman was crying hysterically, being pressed to the ground by one person, with her hands and feet tightly held down by two others.

  Having been in this world for so long, Xiao Tianjian had also seen countless tragedies, but he had never seen such a beastly act like today's.

  He really couldn't understand what deep hatred these officials and soldiers had with the villagers, to treat them like this. Even if there was a deep hatred, it didn't seem necessary to use such methods to deal with them!

  Shi Rong let out a soft sigh and couldn't bear to look anymore, saying quietly to Xiao Tianjian: "Just now when I came, I saw all these, these beasts are not human!"

  Today there are two updates, the first one is presented now, and the second update will be presented at noon! Please continue to support with red tickets, brothers!