The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 22 Bandits
Shao Yong, who was behind Jiang Han, was prepared. He gently released his finger, and with a "whoosh," the arrow shot out.

Before the man could reach Jiang Han, he fell to the ground with an arrow lodged in his face, blood slowly flowing down the shaft.

The others were startled by the sight before them and screamed.

Jiang Han glared coldly, impatiently pointing his knife at them, his tone stern:
"Shut up! Who are you people?! What are you doing in my house?"

Seeing the gleaming blade, one of them steeled himself and stepped forward, explaining tremblingly:
"Sir, we are farmers from Qingjian. Our family suffered a disaster and we fled here."

"I originally intended to go to Xi'an Prefecture to beg for food, but when I passed by and saw that there was no one here, I thought I would make it a place to stay."

Jiang Han nodded, then pointed to the corpse on the ground:
"Who is this person? Why is he charging at me with a knife?"

The men looked down at the corpse on the ground, stammering as if they were hiding something.

Just then, Jiang Han's nose twitched, and a fragrant aroma wafted over from the side.

Following the smell, one could see a pot of steaming meat soup simmering in a jar next to the fire, the aroma wafting from the pot.

Jiang Han looked at the ragged refugees with some surprise, a hint of astonishment flashing in his eyes: "These days, you can still afford meat?"

Jiang Han squatted down, approached the fire, and stuck the knife into the jar to stir it.

But as soon as you stir it, a bone slowly floats to the surface from the broth.

The bones were boiled until the skin and flesh were mushy, and they kept rolling around in the soup.

Upon seeing this scene, Jiang Han felt a sudden nausea and vomiting.

He abruptly threw down the knife, turned and ran to the wall, braced himself against it, and began to vomit violently.

One wave of acidic fluid surged up his throat, causing Jiang Han's body to tremble uncontrollably, as if he would only stop when he vomited everything up.

Since his transmigration, Jiang Han has seen many dead people, and he even personally chopped off Wu Zimian and smashed the head of a Mongol.

Jiang Han did not have a significant physiological reaction to these things.

But what he saw today completely broke through his mental defenses.

After a while, when Jiang Han finally recovered, Dong Erzhu came running over.

"Second Brother Han, we've investigated thoroughly. The man lying on the ground is one of Lu Tao's men from the Heavenly Wound Star, and the others are refugees he grabbed at random."

"That man originally intended to lead the refugees back to the village, but he ran into us instead."

Jiang Han straightened up, frowned, and asked:
"Who is this Lu Tao? I've never heard of him before."

Dong Erzhu quickly explained:

"They said they were bandits in this area, nicknamed 'Heavenly Wounded Star,' and had about a few hundred men under their command."

Jiang Han didn't take a mere few hundred bandits seriously, so he waved his hand:
"It's alright. Go find a place to settle these people in, I'll rest a bit more."

Seeing Jiang Han's distressed appearance, Dong Erzhu looked at him with concern:
"Second Brother Han, are you alright? It's just a bone. Our Commander-in-Chief has had his head chopped off before, what's a little bit of trouble?"

Jiang Han glared at Dong Erzhu and cursed:

"You fucking saw it, it's disgusting!"

Dong Erzhu scratched his head:
"Second Brother Han, it's just a bone. I heard they taste amazing when you gnaw on it."

But before he could finish speaking, Jiang Han kicked him in the butt.

"roll!"

Jiang Han didn't have time to settle scores with Zhu Zi. The nausea he had just suppressed surged up again, so he leaned against the courtyard wall and started dry heaving again.

Dong Erzhu scratched his head, wondering where he had said something wrong again.

"Hey Zhuzi, how did you make Qi Zong throw up again?"

Hei Zi shook his head, looked at Jiang Han who was retching incessantly by the wall, and sighed: "You said that when the Flag Commander was beheading the General, he didn't even blink, so why can't he stand seeing this?"

Shao Yong, standing to the side, asked with concern, "How much longer do you think Lord Jiang will vomit? Will something bad happen to him?"

Hei Zi pointed to a few huddled refugees trembling in a corner and said:

"Let's wait and see. First, we'll find a place to kick all these people out, and then we'll clean up the house. Otherwise, we won't have anywhere to sleep tonight."

After tidying up the courtyard and cave dwellings, the group moved in; Jiang Han and Zhu Zi shared one room, and Hei Zi and Shao Yong shared another.

As night fell, the courtyard fell silent. With nothing to do, the group gathered together to drink and chat.

On the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove), Hei Zi sipped his wine while watching Jiang Han.
"Boss Qi, what are your plans for the future? We can't just keep supporting so many people for nothing, can we?"

Jiang Han took a small sip with a look of pure bliss and glanced at Hei Zi:

"Plan? What plan?"

Hei Zi got impatient, put down his wine bowl, and began to berate Jiang Han:
"Of course it's food. We're currently living off our savings and have no income at all."

"Chief, you're really something else. You're so generous, you just stuff a piece of coarse cloth into the hands of anyone who's dressed too lightly."

Mentioning this, Hei Zi looked pained: "Even if we had a mountain of gold, we couldn't withstand your spending like this, Qi Zong."

Hei Zi counted off Jiang Han's accounts one by one on his fingers:
“I checked today, and we’ve almost finished eating all the grain we got from Liujiazhuang.”

"The silver obtained from Liujiazhuang and the silver seized from the Mongols were almost all exchanged for grain."

"The remaining food can only last for three months at most, and there are only a little over five thousand taels of silver left."

"I've already inquired, and the price of grain near Yan'an Prefecture has already skyrocketed, ten taels per shi, it's like robbery!"

Jiang Han listened for a long time, then looked at Hei Zi with a surprised expression:

"Hey Hey, I didn't realize you were such a logistics guy!"

"You're good at math too. Hei Zi, did you attend a private school when you were little?"

Dong Erzhu, standing beside him, was also surprised. After all these years, he had no idea that Hei Zi knew arithmetic.
"Hey, I never expected that you, who look so respectable, actually attended a private school when you were a kid?"

When the topic of childhood came up, the usually talkative Kuroko suddenly fell silent, took a big gulp of his drink, and looked bitter.
"A private school? Ha, I couldn't even afford to eat when I was a child, where would I get the money to go to a private school?"

He gave a bitter laugh, his eyes dimming, and, emboldened by the alcohol, slowly recounted his life story:
“My family was originally tenants of the Wang family in Yichuan County. During the Tianqi era, we suffered a severe drought and could not pay our taxes, so we borrowed fifteen taels of silver from the Wang family.”

"Later, there were years of natural disasters, and the family sold everything they could. When they realized they couldn't pay off their debts, the Wang family sent my parents to work in the mines making charcoal, while I was sold to an opera troupe."

He paused, then lowered his head to take a sip of his drink, before continuing:
"Later, I escaped from the opera troupe, hoping to go to the mine to rescue my parents."

He pointed to his dark face and looked at Jiang Han:
"Boss Qi, you all laugh at me for being dark-skinned, but do you know why I'm so dark?"

"Back then, in order to find my parents, I went to the mining area alone, covered myself in soot, and hid in the mine for a day and a night!"

"I only found out at the very end that my parents had died long ago, from exhaustion."

Hei Zi continued drinking his wine, his tone full of sarcasm:
"For just fifteen taels of silver, my Fang Hong family was ruined and we were all killed, while the landlord Wang family can afford to spend more than fifteen taels on a single meal!"

The people present fell silent, sipping their wine incessantly, unsure of what to say.

They all came from poor families, and in this desolate land of Shaanxi, everyone was striving to survive.

No matter how hard they struggled, they could not escape the fate of losing their families and lives.

Jiang Han patted Hei Zi on the shoulder, looking serious:
"Hey, you wait, I'll avenge you someday."

　Oh no, it got caught by the censors. I'll make some minor modifications.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)