"Dead?" Standing on the open ground at the entrance to the village, the platoon leader frowned as he watched his soldiers carry the breathless, and in some cases stiff, bodies of women to a secluded spot for burial. "Were they killed by a woman with a rock?" he asked the squad leader who walked over.
The squad leader nodded, gave the platoon leader a cigarette, lit one for himself, and then snapped his lighter shut, exhaling a cloud of smoke: "Bashed to death with a stone. The flesh was a mess... hard to look at without feeling queasy."
"We don’t need to bother with that damned bastard anymore; our mission is to eliminate all the bandits we encounter," he said as he watched two soldiers, with the help of the locals, carry a body out of the village.
From within the raincoat wrapping the body, a dirt-covered arm dangled down, trembling slightly with the steps of the soldiers.
After a puff of smoke, the platoon leader seemed still somewhat agitated, turned his gaze away, and said to the squad leader, "The orders from above are clear, no prisoners, no need for trials, leave no... survivors! Every bandit, kill without discussion!"
"Understood! They’re no longer human, no different from wild beasts," the squad leader said with another drag of his cigarette, nodding. "These people don’t have any decent weapons, should we confiscate them?"
"No need," the platoon leader instructed. "Leave them for the villagers, tell them that troops will come later to collect these weapons, just have them keep them safe for now."
"Got it," the squad leader said with a slight nod, then noticed the platoon leader staring behind him. Turning around, he saw an old woman in tattered clothing approaching them.
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The old woman held out her hands, in her palms was a bloody silver ring: "Thank you for avenging my child, this is the only thing of value I have left...""We didn’t come for this," the platoon leader waved his hand, cigarette between his fingers. "You will live lives as people should, no more hunger, no more being bullied."
The woman stood there dumbfounded, unsure what to do. Her eyes were bone-dry, without any tears left to shed.
She just stared blankly at the two men in front of her, as if she couldn’t comprehend what they were saying.
"We’re late..." the squad leader pulled out a piece of bread from his pocket, stuffed it into the old woman’s hands, and closed her fingers over it. "I’ll go check over there."
After speaking, he saluted the platoon leader and without looking back, walked towards the few who were distributing food to the villagers who were about to starve to death.
"Ah... wuwuwu..." Finally, jolted back to reality, the old woman broke down weeping, feeling the agony that half a year of life had branded onto her.
She knelt on the ground, holding the bread and the blood-stained silver ring, crying uncontrollably, inconsolable by anyone who came by.
A few months earlier, her son had died, and just now, she had witnessed her daughter-in-law ravaged and killed by others.
Her young grandson had died of illness during the days when the Zheng Country military occupied Dongwan Island when the island was in chaos and all the doctors were conscripted by the military.
A family of four, who once could barely get by with a few acres of good farmland, had been shattered in just half a year.
How could she not cry? How could she not feel wronged? She didn’t know who these men were or why they had come. She just felt a pure hatred, wondering why these people only arrived after she had nothing left...
"Ah!" She cried out, like a cuckoo crying blood, disregarding everything. Her wailing led the other women of the village, who had been violated, to start lamenting as well.
The remaining men of the village began to weep too, the atmosphere growing even more oppressive, filled with sobs and increasingly loud cries of grief.
Some women, driven mad, chased after their men, scratching and beating; some skinny men knelt by their bodies in repentance and self-blame; even some picked up long knives, searching for the bodies of bandits.
The scene became chaotic until soldiers of the Zheng Country’s Navy intervened, and the villagers somewhat regained order. They had grown accustomed to fear, and so naturally felt awe towards the Navy soldiers. ŕÂꞐοＢƐʂ
...
Inside the city, the battalion commander sat with his legs crossed, hands interlocked around his knees, watching the Zheng Country official sitting beside him nervously.
The tension made the official’s forehead sweat. He cautiously wiped it off with his hand, swallowed hard, and continued to wait for these daunting figures who had stormed into the city to speak.
He had witnessed firsthand how ruthless they could be: the dozens of thugs he had meticulously bribed and recruited to protect him were effortlessly slaughtered by the people in front of him.
The "guards" at the gate barely had time to draw their swords before being riddled by unknown weapons, and a few brave souls who ran out to check were also unable to save their own lives.
Those who pleaded for mercy had their throats slit, and those who surrendered had their heads blown off with a single shot... Now, the City Lord’s Mansion was virtually indistinguishable from hell.
On the ground lay blood that had stopped spreading, dried and setting the scene for the corpses. Alongside the bodies were discarded long knives, new and old, scattered everywhere.
The matchlock muskets, which usually inspired fear with their power, didn’t even get the chance to fire and became mere decorations.
He still hadn’t regained his senses, not knowing how those fierce and evil-looking lead soldiers managed to climb over his city walls.
There were at least a dozen of Shireck’s muzzle-loading cannons on top! Although all the gunners had run off, the newly recruited soldiers should have fired a couple of shots to make some noise and give a warning, right?
"You might as well stop guessing, the 200 pieces of trash on the city walls are now holding their heads and squatting by the roadside waiting for interrogation," the 1st Battalion Commander finally spoke up, saying coldly.
"I, I don’t know, General...which country’s fierce..." the local official of Zheng Country stuttered, not knowing how to respond.
His words were soon interrupted by the 1st Battalion Commander, who felt he had no time to waste with such a piece of trash. Without waiting for the other party to finish, he spoke coldly, "Those who have never killed or wronged others will be sent to work in the mines, paying off debts for ten years, redeeming themselves in ten years."
With a light touch, he decided the fate of many people’s twenty years of labor, as if he was discussing a trifling matter.
As he spoke, his tone grew colder, chilling to the bone, "Those who have killed, those who have wronged others...there’s no avoiding leaving their heads behind."
Having said that, he turned to look at the Zheng Country official sitting to the side, the Lord of the City who was already shivering with fear, "Have you wronged anyone?"
The City Lord, in his fifties, was so frightened that he slipped right off his chair onto the floor, kneeling smoothly.
At almost the same moment, the authoritative Lord of the City on any other day began to wail miserably, banging his head on the ground, "General! I was compelled, I had no choice! I have an eighty-year-old mother bedridden at home, and children crying for food! Spare my life, General! Spare me this dog’s life!"
The disdain was clear on the 1st Battalion Commander’s face as he twitched his lips and shifted the position of his crossed legs, wary of getting his boots dirty. Unlike the ordinary soldiers, officers of the Great Tang Group above the battalion level wore long boots instead of high-topped leather shoes.
The adjutant standing next to him could hardly hold back his laughter, seeing the predicament; it was clear that the City Lord was well-practiced in begging for mercy. He probably had exercised it frequently and might even have "participated in actual combat."
"I’m asking you a question! Have you wronged anyone?" the 1st Battalion Commander said, looking down at the City Lord kneeling at his feet.
"It was others! It was the bandits outside the city! It has nothing to do with me! Nothing to do with me! I’m just the tax collector..." the City Lord hurried to absolve himself of any blame.
"That’s not for you to decide! Someone will interrogate you later, and whether you’re guilty depends on your previous conduct," the 1st Battalion Commander responded noncommittally.
"It’s really not my fault! I, I was just greedy, greedy for some money..." the City Lord continued to plead, "General! Spare my life! I am willing to offer all that I have improperly taken..."
"Don’t try to bribe me with money! I am not like you! If you really haven’t done anything too troubling, you can also choose not to die," the 1st Battalion Commander said in disgust, but he knew there were orders to spare the City Lord’s life so he could help deceive the authorities of Zheng Country.
So, he unwillingly showed the kneeling Lord of the City a way out, "Can you be a dog?"
"Yes! Yes, I can! I am your dog! Your dog!" the City Lord nodded rapidly, eagerly clinging to this last lifeline.
Seeing him like that, one could guess that if necessary, he could immediately start barking a few times to prove his loyalty as a dog.
"If you want to live, remember two things, I’ll only say them once!" the 1st Battalion Commander stood up, "First! Obey! Do the tasks you are given!"
"Certainly! Certainly!" the City Lord hurriedly nodded in agreement.
"Second!" the 1st Battalion Commander was already walking towards the exit, "You’re not my dog! You don’t deserve to be my dog! Someone will come to be your master, don’t give them a reason to kill you!"
"Yes! Yes, sir!" Knowing that at least for today he would not have to die, the City Lord once again kowtowed, watching as the commander of the 1st Battalion left.
Walking out the door, the 1st Battalion Commander looked at his adjutant, "When will the supply of goods be complete? When will the subsequent military troops come to take over? We need to hurry, to the next island!"
The adjutant nodded, "The arrival of subsequent troops on the island will take time... Our supplies also need replenishment. You may not expect it, but the things we’ve lost the most...are only food, candy, tents, and raincoats."
The 1st Battalion Commander paused in his stride, then nodded, "Push them! Make them as fast as possible."
"Alright," the adjutant nodded, "It’s good that we came."
"Yes, it’s good that we came," the 1st Battalion Commander nodded and walked away without looking back.
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