Mysteries of the Great Zhou Dynasty

Chapter 99 Khitan Deserters
The village chief straightened up with difficulty and replied righteously, "We are the Crane Army of the Great Zhou Kingdom. However, three years ago, an epidemic broke out in the army. Later, the army doctor diagnosed it as leprosy. To eradicate it, we had to burn all the corpses, patients, and used equipment. That's why we were expelled from the army! We once fought for our country, shed our blood, and some of our brothers even sacrificed their lives for the country! You can't treat us like this!"

The village chief was very immersed in his role, and even shed a few tears when he got emotional.

Yan Mingzhang coldly watched his performance. When he'd had enough, he slammed his teacup down, shattering it upon impact: "Still lying! They've already confessed. You're not the Zhou army at all; you're the Khitan army! Believe me or not, I'll kill you all right now, treating you as Khitan spies!"

Yan Mingzhang ripped the white cloth off the human skin boots and pointed to the pattern on them, saying, "The human skin boots we found in your house have a pattern on them that is a Khitan totem! You still want to deny it! Besides, I heard you speaking in Khitan in the village, and you still dare to deny it?"

The village chief gritted his teeth, trying to determine the credibility of Yan Mingzhang's words.

"Smack!" A loud noise came from the next cell. "I'll teach you to lie! I'll beat you to death!"

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah—" The inhuman screams of prisoners came from the next cell, and then silence followed after the last sound.

A voice was heard whispering, "Bring a mat, roll it up, and throw it in the mass grave..."

The village chief shuddered and collapsed to the ground, his face ashen. "My lord... my lord... I didn't mean to hide it! Yes, yes, yes, we are the Khitan army! We were just farmers on the border, but we were conscripted and became Khitan soldiers. We speak good Mandarin, so when we fled, we took off the clothes of the Great Zhou soldiers on the battlefield and pretended to be the Great Zhou Crane Army."

Yan Mingzhang's expression hardened: "You also deceived the villagers of Niujia Village in this way?"

The village chief nodded dejectedly: "We were afraid of being burned to death, so we found a chance to escape. We fled all the way, and in the end, only 103 of us remained. But how could deserters return home? So... we couldn't go any further when we reached Niujia Village. It was freezing cold, we had no food, and everyone was sick, so we took shelter in a cave nearby. Later, the villagers found us, and after negotiations, they agreed to let us stay nearby, allowed us to cultivate the wasteland, and even gave us food to help us get through the winter."

Rong Wanyin was even more furious: "They were so good to you, so why did you kill them?"

The village chief became agitated: "...The villagers of Niujia Village have much more fertile land, they have houses and homes, so why are we forced to hide in caves like rats? We work hard but produce very little food and suffer from hunger and cold! We are clearly stronger than them; they are nothing but the elderly, the weak, women, and children! This world should be a world for the strong!"

Yan Mingzhang gritted his teeth in anger. These people were blinded by greed, unable to see the kindness in others. He coldly asked, "So you killed them?"

The village chief calmed down and quickly denied it, saying, "No! They were just unwell and died of leprosy! We felt bad about it, so we buried them in that cave."

Rong Wanyin was furious: "So, they should thank you then?!"

Although Yan Mingzhang was also angry, he was more restrained than Rong Wanyin: "How did they get sick? How could so many people get sick at the same time?" The village chief rolled his eyes and remained silent.

Yan Mingzhang said calmly, "It seems you don't want this opportunity..."

The village chief licked his dry lips and continued, “I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you. At first, we kept to ourselves, but gradually, we started fighting over land, and even arguing over a wild rabbit. We discussed it and decided to retaliate. We bought some blankets from town, used them to wipe ourselves, and then gave them to the villagers as an apology. These villagers were mostly elderly people, women, and children, and soon those who used the blankets contracted leprosy. The villagers then realized what was happening and wanted to burn us all alive. But we were all former soldiers, and although they outnumbered us, they were all old, weak, and disabled. We killed them all with almost no effort. You all know about hiding the bodies afterwards… Sir, it really was them who wanted to kill us first; we were just defending ourselves!”

Yan Mingzhang ignored his excuses and asked, "What about those human skin boots and drums?"

The village chief wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, still feeling a bit horrified as he recalled it: "Those were done by A-Wu. Before joining the army, A-Wu was a shoemaker who always liked to make shoes and such. After we killed everyone, A-Wu seemed a little out of his mind. He laughed and said that as long as the skin was peeled off from the thigh, it could be made into a very good pair of boots. He stopped us from collecting the bodies, and we were exhausted that night, so we didn't collect the bodies and let him be. Unexpectedly, he didn't sleep all night and skinned all the corpses."

Rong Wanyin asked in surprise, "Then you're not going to do anything about him?"

The village chief looked fearful: "That madman is capable of anything when he goes crazy. How dare we control him? He's already done it, so who can hold him accountable? We can only let him be. After that, he just stayed in his house tinkering with human skins, making boots and drums. He was acting strangely."

Yan Mingzhang stood up and tore off another piece of white cloth, revealing the female corpse at a glance: "Then what about this female corpse?"

The village chief's face hardened, and he roared like a madman. He then knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly to the female corpse: "How could she be here! Tree God, Tree God, don't kill me! It was our great disrespect, it was our fault!"

The village chief kept muttering to himself, seemingly insane, though it was unclear whether he was truly mad or feigning it. Unable to get any information out of the village chief, Yan Mingzhang had no choice but to have Changfeng take the man back and bring A-Wu over.

Just as Yan Mingzhang covered the female corpse and the human skin boots with a white cloth, A-Wu was brought in. His eyes were vacant, he was humming a little tune, and a smile played on his lips, seemingly in a good mood. A-Wu grinned, making his already distorted features even more terrifying.

Yan Mingzhang waved his hand in front of A Wu's eyes: "A Wu, do you have anything to say about the 163 people killed in Niujia Village?"

A-Wu lowered his voice and said to Yan Mingzhang, "You'd better not interfere; this is for your own good!"

Rong Wanyin recalled that when she first met A Wu, he said the same thing: "Should we interfere?"

“Then I’ll just get killed!” A-Wu replied casually, a sinister smile creeping across his face.