Reborn as Murong Fu: This Time I'm the Protagonist

Chapter 533: Birds of a feather

One man becomes an army.

In the blink of an eye, Xiao Feng slaughtered dozens of Song soldiers who were raiding the ravine. Not satisfied with that, he kicked the corpses of dozens more Song soldiers off the cliff one by one.

Xiao Feng shouted loudly, venting his resentment: Why am I a Khitan? Why did they kill my parents? You despicable Song people, you deserve to die!
Xiao Feng roared, like a wounded tiger. The scene of the officer trampling the child to death on horseback was like a steel knife stabbing into his heart again. The self-blame and anger of witnessing his parents' tragic death and being powerless to do anything about it were like a torn wound that bled again.

The Khitans on either side were rescued from the depths of hell by this man who descended from the sky like a god of death. They witnessed him slaughtering the Song soldiers like a demon, and while they were grateful, they watched the man howling in pain from afar, not daring to approach him.

"Wow wow..."

The baby in Xiao Feng's arms was startled and burst into tears.

Like hearing a bell in the quiet night, Xiao Feng's mind, clouded by anger, suddenly cleared, and large tears rolled down his cheeks.

The Khitan woman, whose child had just been trampled to death by Song soldiers, cautiously stepped forward and said to Xiao Feng in broken Chinese, "The child is hungry, let me feed him."

Xiao Feng asked in surprise, "You can speak Chinese?"

The Khitan woman cried out sadly, "My husband was Han Chinese and taught me. It's just a pity..."

Before she could finish speaking, she seemed to remember something and burst into tears.

An old man with a goatee stepped forward with a sigh and continued, "Her husband used to be a schoolteacher in our village. This afternoon, he was killed by Song soldiers who crossed the border. Just now, even her only child was trampled to death by those Song soldiers."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Feng felt a pang of pain in his heart: So, she too had had her entire family killed by the Song people? Why? Why did the Liao and Song people have to kill each other? Why are innocent people always the ones to suffer such undeserved calamities?
"Then thank you very much." Xiao Feng said, carefully handing the baby in his arms to the Khitan woman.

The woman had just lost her infant son. In her grief, her maternal instincts were at their peak. She gently took the baby, unbuttoned her clothes, and began to breastfeed.

Xiao Feng quickly turned his back to the old man and started chatting with him.

"May I ask your name, sir? Judging from your accent, you seem to be Han Chinese. Why are you dressed as a Khitan herdsman?"

The old man said, “My surname is Zeng. During the Five Dynasties period, the Central Plains were in turmoil and the world was in chaos. My ancestors moved here with the old and the young, and have lived in Yanyun for generations. It has been a hundred years now. There are many Han people like me in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. After more than a hundred years, there is no longer any distinction between Khitans and Han people.”

"May I ask your name, sir? With such superb martial arts skills, you must be a renowned hero in the martial world. When we return, we will surely erect a memorial tablet for you to be worshipped for generations to come."

Xiao Feng hurriedly replied, "My surname is Xiao, and my given name is Feng. I am just a passerby."

"We were able to escape today thanks to the strength of you, brave warrior. You are like our second parents to us. Please accept our bow."

As he spoke, led by the old man, the dozens of prisoners who had survived the ordeal knelt down in front of Xiao Feng.

Xiao Feng rushed forward, repeatedly saying he couldn't accept such help, and helped one up, while the other knelt down.

Finally, Xiao Feng had no choice but to clasp his hands in a fist and bow, saying, "Fellow villagers, please rise. I am being too kind."

So everyone stood up.

Old Master Zeng continued to ask, "Why did you come here alone at dusk with an infant, my benefactor? This place is extremely dangerous, with soldiers from both the Song and Liao dynasties frequently raiding for supplies. Alas, what kind of soldiers are they? They are even more ruthless than the most vicious bandits."

Xiao Feng said sadly, "This child's parents were murdered, and I found him. Now I plan to take this child to the north, find a place to stay, and raise him."

Old Man Zeng suggested, "Since that's the case, why don't you come with us to Yunzhou City tomorrow? Although you are highly skilled in martial arts, it's quite inconvenient for you to be carrying a child alone." At this moment, the baby, having finished its milk, was sleeping peacefully in the arms of the Khitan woman. The Khitan woman held the child in her arms, her face showing maternal tenderness, singing a lullaby that Xiao Feng couldn't understand, coaxing the child to sleep peacefully.

Xiao Feng felt a pang of sadness as he thought of his biological mother. Perhaps before today, his mother had also gently lulled him into a deep sleep, but in the blink of an eye, they were separated forever.

Thinking about how the baby was hungry and he had no way to help, Xiao Feng felt that what the old man said made sense, so he agreed.

Upon hearing this, the group of elderly and infirm were overjoyed and bowed in gratitude.

Xiao Feng led over a horse belonging to a Song cavalryman and said, "These are Song army horses, worth a lot of silver. You can take them and exchange them for money to rebuild your homes."

The old man quickly waved his hand and refused, saying, "These are all the spoils of war of our benefactor. We have received great kindness from our benefactor, how can we take anything from him?"

Xiao Feng said, "It's inconvenient for me to carry all these horses by myself. Besides, money is useless to me."

After a moment's thought, the old man said, "How about this, my benefactor, come back to the village with us to rest and get through the night. Tomorrow, I'll take some men into town to sell these horses and give the money to my benefactor."

Xiao Feng couldn't refuse, and after a moment's thought, he felt that what the other party said made sense. He did indeed need money for a reason, but he was penniless at the moment. If he didn't accept the money, he would have no choice but to steal from the government. However, he was in Liao territory and was unfamiliar with the area, so doing so would probably cause him trouble.

So Xiao Feng clasped his hands and said, "Then thank you very much, sir. It has been hard for you to make this trip for me. I only need half of the money from the sale. The rest will be given to you and the others to rebuild their homes."

So Xiao Feng followed Elder Zeng and the others back to their village. Looking around, he saw that most of the houses in the small village had been burned down. After the Song army had burned, killed, and looted, they had set several large fires. Fortunately, fearing that they would be surrounded if they ventured too far into Liao territory, they dared not linger and left a few houses unattended.

That night, Xiao Feng spent his first night in the north in the village.

The next day, the old man Zeng led several teenagers, a few horses, and some cattle and sheep into Yunzhou City to sell them.

Xiao Feng pondered where to take the child next.

Yesterday's events made him realize the many inconveniences of having a child with him. If it were any other infant, he might have simply found a good family to adopt him, and at most visit him from time to time. But the problem was that it was another version of himself from another time and space.

Xiao Feng felt a headache coming on. The baby, who was only a month old, couldn't even drink rice porridge. What would he do if he encountered a situation like yesterday again?
Xiao Feng thought for a moment: The best course of action now is to stay here for a year or two, and then head north after the child is a little older. As for the rest, we'll just have to see how things go as we go.

Having made up his mind, Xiao Feng was about to push open the door and go out when he heard a commotion at the village entrance, as if a conflict had broken out between the villagers and someone.

Xiao Feng was shocked: Could it be that the Song army is coming to raid our territory again?

He pushed the door open and went outside, but what he saw there stunned him.

A middle-aged man dressed as a minor official, accompanied by seven or eight constables and four or five soldiers, was seen searching the village extensively, stealing cattle and sheep. The few remaining villagers were arguing loudly with the group.

The old man pleaded in a low voice, while the woman and child wept loudly.

The minor official shouted, "I don't care about any of that nonsense. Of the eight neighboring villages, only your village has people, so the tax has to be collected from your village. Otherwise, how am I supposed to explain this to my superiors?"

Xiao Feng felt a surge of anger – these Liao soldiers were utterly shameless, just like the Song soldiers who bullied women and children and raided their fields.

The Khitan woman who had been breastfeeding clung to the official's leg, bursting into tears and sobbing as she recounted their ordeal.

Upon hearing this, the minor official's spirits lifted: "You were captured by the Song people, yet you've returned without cause. You must have been sent back by the Song people as spies. Arrest you all!"