Volume 1: Chaotic World as a Bandit Chapter 54: Meat Shield

  The first exploratory attack ended in complete failure for Wang Tiandao and Xiao Tianjian, so Wang Tiandao gave up the idea of using cavalry to pull down the drawbridge. He waved his hand to let these horsemen retreat and rest, then ordered his men: "Go and bring those tenant farmers from Fanjia Fortress over here!"

  Before long, a group of Wang Tiandong's men brought over the more than 100 captured tenant farmers, driving them to the front of the formation.

  Wang Tianlong stood with his hands on his hips and shouted loudly at them: "You people listen to me, if you want to live, you must listen to my orders. Now I want each of you to carry a wooden stick and an earth bag, run outside the village, and throw these things into the moat to fill up a road for me. If anyone doesn't work hard, I'll cut him off!"

  "Someone, take these little brats to the side and watch them. Whoever dares not to listen, I'll slaughter his little brat! Get to work!"

  Xiao Tianjian finally understood why Wang Tiandong suddenly attacked these tenants and took them away when he first arrived. This move was indeed ruthless to the extreme, using these Fanjia Village tenants as cannon fodder, forcing them to fill the moat. Xiao Tianjian really hadn't expected this move.

  Wang Tiandong's move can be said to have gone too far, these tenants are all from Fanjia Village, forcing them to fill the moat, the strongmen in Fanjia Village don't know whether to fight or not, if they fight, they will be going against their usual practice of looking down on people, some of them can't bring themselves to do it, let alone these old wealthy families who usually rely on these tenants to farm for them, if they kill them all, who will farm for them in the future? But not fighting is also not an option, how can they just stand by and watch as these tenants are forced to fill up the moat?

  "This is enough to feed the people inside Fanjia Fortress for a while! Xiao Tianjian's heart chilled for a moment, then he waved his hand and ordered: "You all quickly bring your tools to cut down some trees, dismantle the doors, bed boards and everything to make large shields and ladders. Move fast! Don't just stand there idle! Zhao Erduo, go cut down a big tree and bring it back, we'll use it when we attack the gate! Everyone move faster!"

  His subordinates immediately shouted in unison: "Yes, boss!" Then they took action under the leadership of their squad leader.

  The response from these people startled Wang Tianlong and his men, Wang Tianlong turned around to look at Xiao Tianjian's subordinates and thought to himself: "Damn! It seems that this Xiao guy really has a good control over his subordinates!" These subordinates are not bad either, if only they could follow me!

  Thinking of this, Wang Tiandong couldn't help but glance at Xiao Tianjian with a hint of jealousy, but immediately shouted loudly: "You little ones, don't just stand there, go find something to carry the soil! Let those rascals inside see our prowess!"

  The village outside suddenly became lively again, with people going to find sacks and even bringing out the tattered quilts used by the tenant farmers, starting to dig soil and using these things to carry it. They also brought baskets and hampers to use for carrying soil, and some people went to fetch door planks and bed boards from the tenant farmers' homes, hastily assembling them into large shields to be used later in battle to deflect arrows and bullets. In short, anyone who could move was basically busy with something.

  And those tenant farmers, upon learning that they would be forced to fill the moat, were thrown into a panic once again, with adults crying and children wailing in a chaotic mess.

  Wang Tiandong's men rushed into the crowd, snatching away their children and herding them together to be watched. The mothers were beside themselves with grief, wanting to protect their children, while the children wailed loudly for their parents. The scene was utterly chaotic and pitiful.

  Xiao Tianjian couldn't bear to watch anymore, turned his head away, and silently cursed this Wang Tiandong for being a scoundrel. How could he treat these poor tenant farmers like this? Everyone is struggling to make ends meet, why must they be treated so cruelly? The most basic moral principles made it impossible for Xiao Tianjian to ignore this scene, which was probably the biggest difference between him and the ruler of this era.

  Hundreds of people were busy, and the speed was also very fast. This time, Wang Tiandong took advantage of Xiao Tianjian's better equipment for his knife shield hand to push Iron Head's class of knife shield hands forward, while also pushing those with shields under him forward, forcing these tenants to carry the wooden boards, earth bags and other objects they had prepared, and then, with a single order, forced them to start moving towards Fanjia Fortress.

  These tenant farmers, men and women, were crying while being forced to carry things on their shoulders. Some women couldn't carry the heavy loads, so they had to hold a basket of soil and follow along. Behind them, Wang Tianlong's men were using knives and guns to force them forward. Moreover, their children were still under Wang Tianlong's control, so even if they didn't want to, they could only cry out in sorrow as they walked step by step towards the ditch.

  This really caused a great commotion among the people of Fanjia Fortress, with some rushing back and forth on the wall, shouting and cursing loudly. However, as they watched these tenants approach step by step with their belongings, they did not fire their guns or shoot arrows, but only shouted and cursed in a state of panic and confusion.

  "Hey, big brothers up there, don't shoot arrows! We're fellow villagers, we'll meet again soon! We were forced to do this, please don't blame us, master! Don't shoot...!" Some of the tenants, although being forced to walk towards the ditch, still shouted in fear towards the manor, hoping that the people inside would show mercy and not shoot arrows or guns at them.

  Iron Head led the way with a sword and shield in hand, walking on both sides of the tenant farmers, holding up his shield to conceal his figure while also preventing these tenant farmers from escaping to either flank.

  They were getting closer and closer to the trench in a chaotic manner, while the arguing and cursing sounds from the village above grew louder. It was clear that the people inside the village had not expected that Zhang would be so ruthless as to use the tenants of Fanjia Village to fill the trench. Whether they should fight or not, for a moment, no one could make up their minds.

  But as the tenants approached, the quarrel on the wall grew louder, although it was unclear what they were saying, everyone understood what they were arguing about.

  In the end, the people inside the village steeled themselves and when the tenants approached to within thirty paces of the wall, the bowmen and gunners inside the village opened fire.

  Some bowmen emerged, facing the tenants and began to shoot arrows. Several fire spears also rang out, and a burst of smoke rose from the wall of the village.

  In an instant, the several tenants who were walking in front with earth bags on their backs suddenly had several clusters of blood mist rising from their bodies, and then these people let out shrill cries of agony, one after another falling to the ground.

  This caused those tenants to become even more frightened, some of whom were scared out of their wits and dropped the things they were carrying on their backs, turning around and running back.

  "Don't look back! Carry your stuff and keep moving forward for me! Don't run... damn it! Looking for death..."

  Right behind these tenants, one of Wang Tiandong's men was driving them forward while scolding them. When he saw that verbal threats were no longer effective, he raised his single-edged sword and with one slash, knocked down a tenant who had turned around to run back, causing blood to spurt out suddenly, frightening those tenants who had turned around to flee into stopping in their tracks again.

  Some of Wang Tiandong's armed men used their long spears to knock down two tenant farmers who were about to turn around and escape, forcing them to continue moving forward.

  The tenants' wailing and screaming filled the air, unable to move forward or backward, they were all crowded together in a chaotic mess.

  Xiao Tianjian finally couldn't take it anymore! Without even greeting Wang Tianglong, he angrily ordered: "Zhao Erdui, Feng Gouzzi, Li Shuangzhu! Stop dawdling! Have the brothers carry large shields up to provide cover for these people!"

  "Yes..." Xiao Tianjian's subordinates responded loudly, then put down the long guns in their hands, two people formed a group, carrying some makeshift shields made of door boards and rushed forward, blocking the front of these tenants. Some arrows were stuck on their wooden shields with a thud, which managed to block many people, but still some tenants were shot by bows and arrows and fell to the ground.

  "Don't just stand there! Hurry up and carry the stuff forward, we'll block the arrows for you! You're all live targets here! Quickly go throw the stuff into the trench...!" Li Ganju shouted while carrying a large wooden board to cover himself, as he yelled at the crying tenants, with him taking the lead, the others also joined in, urging these tenants to hurry up and run forward, and then quickly retreat after throwing away their belongings.

  After being covered by Xiao Tianjian, the arrows on top of Zhuangzi finally had a shelter, and there were fewer people who were shot or stabbed. The tenants heard Li Shuangzhu's shouting voice and knew that they could only do so, and they also felt some resentment in their hearts, thinking that the people above were too cruel to use such ruthless means against them. With fear in their hearts, they rushed forward again under the cover of these wooden shields.

  Xiao Tianjian walked up to Wang Tiandong and said, "Wang, this won't do. The tenant farmers will suffer too many casualties. Have your archers and gunners follow us and suppress the farmhands on the hill! It'll be faster that way, won't it?"

  Wang Tiandong still had a disdainful expression, thinking that Xiao Tianjian was too soft-hearted and gentle, simply doting on others. He waved his hand impatiently and said: "Anyway, they're not under my command, what's it to me? It's not time yet, let's talk about it later! Good steel is used for the blade, when the time comes to use them, I'll naturally let them go!"

  Xiao Tianjian looked at Wang Tiandong without a hint of sympathy, although he was annoyed and couldn't do anything about it. Who made him lack such long-range firepower? However, he still shouted forward: "Yan Zhongxi! You two with bows and arrows, shoot arrows for me, suppress the ones above, and protect these tenants!"

  Xiao Tianjian was tall and majestic, with a loud voice to match. In his anger, he let out a mighty roar that echoed far and wide, and amazingly, in the chaotic scene, everyone more or less heard him clearly.

  Those tenant farmers heard Xiao Tianjian's roar and felt a little grateful to him in their hearts. In order to survive, they had no choice but to quicken their pace and rush towards the ditch.

  Yan Chongxi heard and immediately called another archer, the two hid behind the door panels, quickly removed their bows, strung them and shot arrows at the wall of the village.

  Two people shot arrows, after all the firepower was very weak, and they didn't have time to aim accurately in the chaos, they just stuck their heads out and released the arrow, basically not hitting any target, but it still scared some of the guards on top, some guards hurriedly hid behind the wooden boards to avoid the arrows, which weakened the firepower on the wall.

  One by one, the tenants finally ran to the side of the trench and threw the things they were carrying into the trench. Then, they turned around and fled back in the direction they came from. Over a hundred people together threw things into the trench, and the quantity was not insignificant either. Soon after throwing their things away, the tenants all ran back.

  "Keep going! Don't stop! Keep carrying things forward, charge ahead! Whoever dares to slack off, I'll chop you all up!"

  A group of Wang Tiandong's men immediately took sticks and beat the fleeing tenants, forcing them to continue carrying things forward.

  The tenants, even if they were reluctant, had no choice but to follow their orders and start moving the second batch of things...

  It's about to drop off the new book list, if there are still brothers who haven't collected it, it will also be convenient for searching later, thank you!