Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 140 Fellow villagers, I have avenged you!
On the banks of the Yan River.

"You are Abatai?"

Lin Dao sat on a small stool, holding a dagger in his hand, slicing meat from a roasted lamb leg.

Before him stood Abatai, covered in blood, with blood seeping from his mouth, nose, and ears, staring at him with red eyes.

Liu Sandao, whose eyes were also red, suddenly grabbed his braid and shouted, "The commander-in-chief is asking you a question!"

A bodyguard standing nearby whispered, "His ears seem to have been deafened."

Abatai, who sensed danger before the drone decapitation strike, fled on horseback.

Although he escaped the area where he would die instantly, the shockwave and sonic boom destroyed his hearing.

Lin Dao looked at the document.

"After examining the prisoners, it is indeed this person."

"His great seal and golden helmet are still there."

Lin Dao picked up a slice of mutton and put it in his mouth, carefully examining the person in front of him.

He was very burly, with a full beard.

His narrow eyes were bloodshot, and his cracked lips revealed large, yellow teeth.

With stubble on his scalp, Liu Sandao held a long braid in his hand.

This is the Jurchen commander who entered the pass this time.

“Tell him.”

“Tell us all the information you know about the Jurchens, and we can leave him a whole corpse.”

Immediately, a guard loudly relayed Lin Dao's meaning to him.

"Cough cough~~~"

Abatai struggled for a moment, his voice hoarse, "Give me some water."

This request is not unreasonable; the Yan River is right next door, so there is no shortage of water.

"Robbers came to my house, looting and slaughtering me." Lin Dao cut off a piece of mutton. "Want some water?"

"You are not qualified to drink the water here."

Abatai, staring at the lamb leg in his hand, closed his eyes and said, "Then kill it. There's nothing more to say."

Having served in the military for decades, I still have this much awareness.

"Sprinkle some more chili powder, the flavor isn't strong enough," Lin Dao instructed his personal guard before replying to Abatai, "With so much blood on your hands, how do you think it's appropriate for you to die?"

'Pooh! ’

Abatai opened his eyes and spat a mouthful of saliva onto the lamb leg.

"Kill them if you want! If you're so capable, bring those who are dead back to life!"

Wearing iron gloves, Liu Sandao punched him in the mouth, and blood gushed out mixed with teeth.

"I really don't have the ability to bring people back to life."

Lin Dao regretfully put down the lamb leg, stood up and looked down at him, "Treating you with their own methods is no problem."

"You must hate him a lot, right?" Lin Dao asked Liu Sandao.

"General~~~" Liu Sandao knelt on the ground and cried, "They are all beasts! They have almost wiped out all the Liao people."

"Killing men on sight, stabbing women indiscriminately, impaling three-year-old children at gunpoint, slashing open pregnant women's bellies for amusement—they're all beasts!"

Of the millions of Liao people, not even one in a hundred survived.

This was only the hatred of the Liao people; during each invasion of the pass, even more people were killed, resulting in countless tragedies.

Lin Dao knows history, and this is just the beginning.

If he hadn't come, there would have been many more.

"What's a real man crying about?"

Lin Dao casually advised, "If you have a grudge, take revenge. Why shed tears?"

He turned and walked towards the riverbank. "He's yours now."

"Thank you, Marshal!"

"Thank you, Commander!!"

"Thank you, Commander-in-Chief!!!"

Liu Sandao kowtowed repeatedly, his forehead bleeding from the impact.

After Lin Dao led his guards away, he drew his sword and kicked Abatai to the ground.

He pounced on Abatai, slashing him again and again...
"Father~ Mother~ Brother~ Sister-in-law~ Sister~ Brother~"

"Erhu~ Xiao Tang~ Uncle~ Master Chen~"

"Butcher Shao~ Master Zhou~ Blacksmith Wang~"

"Moon Maiden~ Xiu Niang~ Sister Cui~"

"Fellow villagers!"

"~~~"

"I've avenged you!!!"

Abatai's screams echoed the waves of the Yan River, rising and falling in an endless stream.

Lin Dao arrived at the riverbank, where hundreds of prisoners were gathered.

It's quite rare, considering a head is worth 150 taels of silver.

Although the price of a prisoner is equal to that of a head, guarding and escorting prisoners means less opportunity to pursue and kill them.

Lin Dao frowned slightly. "It's my fault. I didn't explain things clearly enough."

He instructed those around him, "Remember, when facing the Tartars in the future, only those of higher status can be detained for questioning. Ordinary Tartars should be dealt with directly, without taking them prisoner."

The guards first accepted the order, then asked what to do with the people in front of them.
"What should I do? You're asking me what to do?"

"You brought these people here, and now you're asking me what to do?"

"Why don't you take them back and keep them in your own homes?"

Lin Dao turned and left, leaving his guards looking at each other in bewilderment.

"How to do?"

"What else can we do but kill them all!"

Soldiers carrying long spears swarmed forward.

Screams, pleas for mercy, curses, weeping, splashing in water, and shouts of resistance filled the air.

As the riverbank gradually quieted down, the soldiers took out their hammers and began to finish off the fallen soldiers one by one.

"Don't use a hammer."

One of the guards shouted, "We'll keep their heads as a record of their service, and we'll even use them to build a scenic backdrop."

The soldiers put on their waist knives and began to cut off heads.

Lin Dao rode forward and arrived at the old Tartar camp outside Yanzhou City.

By this time, the main force of the Tartars had been wiped out, and those who had fled were no match for them. Even if the Ming army was incompetent, it could still defeat those scattered and disorganized soldiers.

The Mongol tribes had many servants and soldiers who could run fast. With several thousand people fleeing together, it is estimated that many of them were able to escape the pass.

At this time, most of the bondservants who remained in the old camp became prisoners.

Besides these, there were also camels, horses, mules, cattle, donkeys, and sheep that the Tartars had plundered along the way, as well as gold, silver, various jewels, antiques, and tens of thousands of men and women. "General."

The clerks stepped forward with their respective statistical booklets.

"More than 8,000 taels of gold were seized."

"More than 1.2 million taels of silver."

"The number of copper coins is countless, and it is difficult to complete the count at the moment."

"More than 20,000 camels, horses, mules, cattle, donkeys and sheep."

"Nearly 100,000 men and women."

Lin Dao took out his phone and calculated, "Eight thousand taels, that's three hundred thousand grams, or three hundred kilograms, and that's only a little bit."

The small amount of gold seized greatly disappointed Lin Dao.

In the modern world, the price of gold has skyrocketed, and it is very easy to sell.

Unfortunately, there are too few.

As for silver, "once the battle merits are tallied, the rewards will be distributed immediately."

"Those who want silver will be given it now. Those who are unwilling to exchange military merits for silver will have their names recorded and will be assigned land upon their return."

The number of Tartars captured in this battle, including those armored bondsers, exceeded ten thousand.

The calculation of military merits in Lindao is simple.

On the battlefield, anyone wearing armor, whether it's iron armor, leather armor, or cotton armor, is considered a soldier.

All soldiers are treated as genuine Tartars, and a reward of one hundred taels of silver is immediately issued, along with a military merit of fifty taels for five promotions, depending on the individual's choice.

These spoils alone are almost enough to cover the rewards and expenses.

Copper coins were not mentioned; they were taken back and used as military pay to increase the liquidity of small-denomination currencies.

"Slaughter all the injured large livestock and use them as an extra meal for everyone tonight."

The meat supplies provided by the forest trails are usually canned meat.

On my last trip to South Africa, I even managed to buy a large quantity of canned goods from many years ago, and they were very cheap.

Occasionally, they'd have extra meals, but it was always frozen meat or "zombie meat" or something similar.

Fresh meat raw materials like this are not unheard of, but they are extremely rare.

Let's get some more beer and celebrate our victory with food and drinks.

"Take all the large livestock that can still move back home after finding a veterinarian to take good care of them."

Large livestock play a significant role, especially cattle and horses.

Oxen can plow fields, and horses can be ridden and pull carts, so it's no wonder that in later generations, oxen and horses were used as a metaphor for working people, since they really could do the work.

Then there were the men and women the Tartars abducted along the way.

If you don't see any elderly people or children, they've all been slaughtered long ago.

The captured men will become bondservants, toiling in the fields until they die.

As for the women, their only function was to become tools for the Tartars to vent their frustrations and maids to do chores and serve them.

Lin Dao's gaze swept over the men squatting on the ground, and he was also angry at their lack of ambition.

They wouldn't even dare to risk their lives; biting off a Tartar's ear would be a good thing.

Shaking his head, Lin Dao walked past one tent after another.

He lifted the curtain and peered inside at the miserable state of the women. Lin Dao remained silent the whole way.

It's really too miserable.

Among them were peasant girls and daughters of officials from the city.

But once they fell into the hands of the Tartars, their fates were all the same.

Most of them would die miserably amidst the devastation along the way, without even the chance to be brought back to Liaodong.

Lin Dao stopped in his tracks, his brows furrowing slightly. "Back in the Jingkang era, Song Dynasty women must have suffered just as much."

At this moment, his anger towards the Ming imperial family and the court officials reached its peak.

"You enjoy the fruits of the people's blood and sweat, and this is how you repay them?"

"If we can't even protect the people, then living is just a waste of food!"

Lin Dao didn't continue reading; tens of thousands of women here all suffered the same fate.

He strode up to the group of men and took out his pistol.

The gun was pointed at a trembling man. "You, stand up."

The man stood up with trembling legs, his head bowed in fear, not daring to look at Lin Dao.

Lin Dao turned his head and instructed his personal guard, "Drag a servant over here."

Before long, the guards dragged over a bondservant who had been shaved and forced to wear foreign clothes, and threw him on the ground.

"You," Lin Dao gestured to the men, "kill him."

"Huh?" The boy looked up.

After understanding what he meant, he waved his hands repeatedly with a look of fear on his face, saying, "No, I can't do it~ I dare not~"

"boom!"

His shouts stopped abruptly, and he fell heavily to the ground.

Lin Dao pointed his gun at another man beside him. "You, kill him."

The man was so frightened that he couldn't even stand up; he lay half-reclined on the ground, trembling all over.

He couldn't even speak, let alone kill the bondservant.

'boom! '

The boy stopped shaking.

Lin Dao pointed his gun at the third man. "You, go and kill him."

Finally, I've met someone with courage.

The man struggled to his feet and pounced on the bound bodyclothes, punching and kicking it.

The men, who had been starving for a long time, had little strength and looked like they were being tickled.

Lin Dao gave him a single glance, and immediately a guard took off his waist knife and put it into the hands of a male soldier.

He was too emotionally agitated and lacked energy.

The knife stabbed for a long time, but all the wounds were superficial. The patient struggled and cried out in pain, his voice loud and clear.

"Never killed a chicken at home?"

"Slit their throats!"

"How stupid!"

The man was panting heavily, holding a knife in both hands and pressing it against the neck of the servant.

The screeching sound of sawing back and forth sent chills down your spine.

Once the servants were completely still, the men lay on the ground groaning in pain.

"My darling~ my son~ Daddy has avenged you~"

(End of this chapter)