Chapter Thirty-Six: Unexpected Harvest

  When sending off these women, the eyes of Xiao Tianjian's subordinates were different. Some sympathized, some envied, and others shook their heads in regret. Li Chuanzhu looked at these women, standing behind Xiao Tianjian, shaking his head slightly: "Pitiful! These women, even if they go back, will not have a good life. They were ruined by those scoundrels like Sha Erbao, and when they return, they will still be ostracized by others. Many people eventually hang themselves in despair, pitiful!"

  Xiao Tianjian's expression changed slightly after hearing this, Li Shouzhu's words were not wrong, it was already the late Ming dynasty, and the restrictions on men and women in the folk were very strict. He remembered that since the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi's Confucian teachings had been advocating that a woman's chastity was more important than her life. By the time of the Ming Dynasty, the shackles on women had reached a peak. If a man and a woman held hands, they would be considered to have lost their chastity. Women who were raped by bandits, even if they returned home, would inevitably suffer from gossip and persecution, and their lives would be very difficult.

  This can be seen from the new partners in Zhaojia Fort. After he rescued the men and women of Zhaojia Fort, those women were ravaged by the government soldiers. Some husbands felt that this matter made them ashamed, and they often beat or scolded their wives, even forcing them to die.

  Xiao Tianjian was quite displeased with this, after all he is a modern man, and his concept of chastity is relatively more relaxed compared to men of this era. Moreover, it's not the woman's fault in such matters. These men couldn't even protect their own women, they ran away with their tails between their legs, leaving their wives to be taken advantage of, and now they still have the nerve to blame their wives. This is something Xiao Tianjian truly can't stand.

  He then severely beat the two men who often forced their wives to death, and severely humiliated them, scolding them for not being able to protect their own women but instead forcing their own wives to death, which is simply despicable. It wasn't until later that such incidents subsided in his hometown, revealing how unfair this era was towards women, the weak.

  For these women, Xiao Tianjian was very sympathetic, but he also couldn't keep them around. At the moment, his strength was too weak and he couldn't provide any protection for them. As for their inquiry about his name, Xiao Tianjian didn't mind if people knew it; after all, he was an outsider, and even if the news spread, he wasn't afraid of the authorities implicating his family.

  Moreover, during this period of time, he has also become accustomed to the way things are done here. As long as one is a leader, no one does not give themselves a nickname. For example, people like Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai all gave themselves nicknames. Gao Yingxiang called himself Chuang Wang, Li Zicheng was known as Chuang Jiang, Zhang Xianzhong was nicknamed Ba Da Wang, and Luo Rucai simply borrowed the name of Cao Cao from the Three Kingdoms period. Even this dog turd Sha Er Bao also calls himself something like "Killing Heaven". It can be seen that giving oneself a nickname has already become a habit for leaders.

  Xiao Tianjian didn't have any objections to this matter, anyway he was doing a good deed. Later on, there would be a period of time when he would be active in the surrounding area, and giving himself some good reputation wouldn't be a bad thing. So he waved his hand to let these women get up and speak, opened his mouth, wanting to casually give himself a nickname, but for a moment, he couldn't think of a suitable name. Later, when he raised his hand and touched the two short axes at his waist, he casually said to them: "Since you asked my name, I'll tell you, it's no big deal. My name is Xiao Yifeng. You are all poor people, I won't harm ordinary people like you. Just remember my name! As for setting up a longevity tablet for me, let's just forget about it! Go back and live your lives well! Be more careful in the future! If you really can't make ends meet, you can come to join me too!"

  The women then repeatedly kowtowed to thank him, and only then did they take the money and grain given by Xiao Tianjian, step by step, and head back home.

  After sending away those women, Xiao Tianjian began to deal with the several meat tickets that were tied up in the rich man's house. As for tying up meat tickets, he didn't resist it either. After all, they were bandits, and this was their basic business as bandits. Without doing this, where would they get their money and food?

  Since he had obtained these meat tickets, it was only natural that they wouldn't be released for nothing. After interrogating them and investigating their families, Xiao Tianjian asked about the amount of money extorted by Sha Erbao in the past. He beckoned Shi Rang to come over, instructing him to bring Da Niu and Hu Zi, then mounted one of the horses seized from Sha Erbao's estate and set off to deliver a message to these people's families, informing them that their family members had changed hands and that the ransom could be halved. They were told to arrive at the Mountain God Temple within two days to pay the ransom.

  However, in the end, Xiao Tianjian detained a young man who refused to let go and had him taken away, treating him with good food and drink, and serving him well, without neglecting him.

  He was originally in the meat ticket, and unexpectedly found a scarce talent. This person was a traveling doctor named Lü Rongxuan, and this doctor was not even a local, speaking with a Henan accent. Xiao Tianjian learned from questioning him that he came from Henan, his family was from Ru Yang, Henan, but because he offended a local official, the official gave him the title of bandit, seized his property, and forced his parents to death. Lü Rongxuan was forced to leave his hometown, wandering around, relying on medicine to make a living, and eventually settled in a nearby village. However, when he went out to practice medicine some time ago, he was tied up by Sha Erbao's people and brought here, also because he was a doctor, he was locked in the villa.

  Xiao Tianjian was overjoyed after inquiring about the man's identity, it was as if he had been given a pillow while dozing off to sleep. He didn't know if it was his good luck that led him to bump into such a person, but he naturally wouldn't let him go. So, he immediately treated Lü Rongxuan with great courtesy and invited him into the house to be well taken care of.

  Lü Rongxuan sighed, knowing he couldn't leave after all. Although he didn't want to associate with these thugs, he thought Xiao Tianjian was a better person than Sha Erbao, especially in the way he treated those women who had been wronged by Sha Erbao. Lü Rongxuan felt that this bandit was actually a good guy, and since he himself had no family or attachments, he could only stay for now and see what happened later. And so, Xiao Tianjian suddenly became a doctor, which made him very happy for a while.

  "Put down the tray! Now that you've finished with all these things, what do you plan to do with these good-for-nothings?" Tie Tou asked Xiao Tian Jian as he finally walked over after finishing his work.

  Xiao Tianjian suddenly remembered that there were still some captives who had not been dealt with, so he pondered for a moment and ordered: "Go and bring me that Sha Erbao! I want to interrogate him personally!"

  Before long, Tie Tou brought the trembling and urine-soaked Sha Er Bao over and threw him in front of Xiao Tian Jian. Xiao Tian Jian took a look at this guy's appearance, only to see that he was now bruised and battered, with one nostril still bleeding, clearly having been beaten up by his subordinates earlier. He coldly sneered: "Sha, you didn't think it would end like this, did you?"

  Sha Er Bao is now nowhere near his former formidable self! He's kneeling on the ground, shivering with fear, repeatedly begging for mercy from Xiao Tian Jian, saying that this time it was all a misunderstanding, he didn't mean to offend Xiao Tian Jian's dignity, and asking Xiao Tian Jian to spare his life. He's willing to give up all his wealth to Xiao Tian Jian, just as long as he can keep his life.

  "You think you're so great! Can you still make decisions about these things? Now all of these things already belong to the Xiao family! No need for you to say give them to me!" Xiao Tianjian immediately burst out laughing, pointing at Sha Er Bao and scolding him.

  Sha Er Bao was bound by his arms, his head knocked against the ground like pounding garlic, and he said repeatedly: "I deserve to die, I deserve to die! I really didn't know that the person I tied up was one of your subordinates, Good Han. If I had known, even if you beat me to death, I wouldn't have dared to do so! It's all a misunderstanding, it's really all a misunderstanding! From now on, I won't dare again! Please, Good Han, spare my life this once!"

  "Spare you? What for? Just because you're here bullying the common people? You damn well have made a fool of us, the rulers. You don't dare to mess with the wealthy landlords, but only bully some poor ordinary people. Why should I spare you? Today, I'm not someone who didn't give you a chance. This morning, outside the village, I told you my identity. Did you ever think about the code of honor among us?"

  "You knew you had the wrong person, but you bullied me because I was outnumbered. Not only did you not let my people go, but you also brought them out to kill me. Now that you've been defeated, you're trying to appease me? Ha! How could I possibly let you off, you scoundrel? Come on, Iron Head, take this guy away and chop him up for dog food. It's a waste of grain to keep him around!" Xiao Tianjian had already figured out what kind of person this was and how he operated. He never intended to spare his life. The reason he interrogated him personally was just to satisfy his own sadistic pleasure in seeing his captive beg for mercy after being defeated.

  Sha Er Bao was immediately frightened and urinated in his pants, the ground was instantly wet, crying out: "Good Han Ye spare my life! I dare not! Next time I will absolutely not dare! It's me who has eyes but fails to recognize Mount Tai, please good Han Ye spare my life!"

  "Oh no! Good Han, good Han, you can't kill me! My brother-in-law is a great general under Gao Chongwang's command. If you kill me, my brother-in-law will definitely not let you off! And... and I am a man of East Li Fangtian, Li Yuanwai. If you kill me, Li Yuanwai will also not let you off!"

  This guy, in order to save his life, confessed everything, and later even started pulling connections to threaten Xiao Tianjian.

  Xiao Tianjian furrowed his brow, did this guy have such a background? Gao Chuang Wang didn't need to be said, he was definitely referring to Gao Yingxiang. Then who were Li Fangtian and Li Yuanwai?

  "Who is Li Fangtian? What's his background?" Xiao Tianjian turned his head to ask Feng Gouz behind him, as he was more familiar with this area and should know the answer.

  When Feng Gouzi heard this, he also furrowed his brow and immediately leaned in to explain to Xiao Tianjian: "This Li Fangtian is a big shot in the Quanyang area, known for having thousands of hectares of good land. His relatives are said to be high-ranking officials in the capital, and local officials don't dare to provoke him. He's considered the biggest bully in the Quanyang area. His estate is over 20 miles east, called Li Family Fortress. It's said that there are several hundred servants alone, and no one in the local area dares to provoke him. Even a few years ago, when thousands of rioters gathered, they couldn't take down his Li Family Fortress, and many lives were lost!"

  "Hah! What a big name you're dropping! Black and white, all in one go! Sha Er Bao, you're just a stick head, how could you possibly be Li Yuan Wai's person? I think you're just bluffing! As for Gao Chuang Wang, I do admire him, but how can his top general have such an incompetent nephew like you?" Xiao Tian Jian looked down at Sha Er Bao and asked.

  "Everything I said is true, I am indeed a subordinate of Li Yuanwai. He has some things that are inconvenient for him to do himself, so he lets me do them. If it weren't for his support, how could I have been so carefree here for so long? I didn't deceive you! And my cousin is indeed a high-ranking general under Gao Chongwang's command. In the past, he asked me to follow Gao Chongwang and work for him, but I refused because it was too far from home. This is absolutely true! You can't kill me!"

  I don't dare guarantee another update this afternoon, my back hurts so badly! I'll try my best! If I can't update, please forgive me! Brothers who still have red tickets in hand, don't waste them! Leave some for me! I need your support!