Ch 4: Tianbao 3
“You lot, you lazy sods, hand over this year’s grain immediately!”
“Gentlemen, we truly have no grain left. The taxes increased this year, and all our grain was confiscated.”
“Humph, you give your grain to the Imperial Court, not to us. You’re asking for death. Hand over the grain, or I’ll cut you all down.”
“Sir found the grain.”
“Humph, you clearly have grain yet you dare say you don’t. I see you’re all asking for death.”
“Officer, we’re relying on this little bit of rations to get through the winter. The rest is seed for next year. If you take the seeds, how will we live next year?”
“I don’t care how you live. All I know is that if I don’t bring back enough grain today, I won’t live through the day.”
“Someone, bind all those young women and take them away.”
“Father, Mother, save me!”
“You beasts, let Erya go! I’ll fight you!”
Saying this, an Old Man rushed out with a hoe. Before he reached the girl, he was beheaded with a broadsword, his head flying off, blood splattering the girl. The girl was instantly terrified.
“Father,” a shrill scream rang out. A woman ran out; before she reached the corpse, she was knocked unconscious with a stick.
“Take her away.”
With the slaughter beginning, the village was filled with screams and smoke.
Bind all the women and take them away. Kill everyone else.
The others, upon receiving the order, raised their weapons, preparing for a great slaughter of the village.
At that moment, a figure appeared in the distance, galloping towards them. It was Tianbao.
Usually, the Tartars would only rob grain and valuables. They generally wouldn’t trouble the defenseless common people. At worst, they would take them north to be slaves. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a group of traitors. These people, when they were in the Great Ming Dynasty, couldn’t defeat the Tartars in battle, and internally they only knew how to oppress the common people. Now that they had surrendered to the Tartars, they bullied the common people even more cruelly than the Tartars. No wonder so many Han Chinese were ruled by millions of Tartars. These traitors were more hateful than the Tartars.
Seeing that only one person had come, the traitors relaxed. They sent only five men to subdue him.
In the blink of an eye, as the two groups met, Tianbao ducked under his horse’s neck, avoiding the attack. Then, he rose, spun, and killed the five men with one stroke of his blade. Afterward, he landed steadily back on his horse and continued charging forward. The remaining enemies were stunned; they had never seen such superb martial arts. Before they could react, Tianbao killed two or three more. The rest immediately rushed at him.
Only seven remained, and they were ordinary soldiers. How could they match Tianbao, the strongest Shaolin martial monk? In a few moves, he had dealt with most of them.
“Stop, or I’ll kill her.”
The leader, somehow, had appeared beside Erya, holding a blade to her neck.
Even with a blade at her throat, Erya remained in a daze, showing no reaction. Clearly, the death of her parents had shocked her, and she hadn’t yet recovered.
As a Han Chinese, you are even more cruel than the Tartars. You are unworthy of being human.
Let me go, or I’ll take you down with me in death.
Let him go, and I will let you leave.
Put down your blade first.
“Fine, I promise. I’ll throw my blade down, and you let her go.” Saying this, Tianbao threw his blade aside.
The bandit leader dragged Erya slowly to the horse, mounted it, and turned to strike Erya.
“Looking for death!”
Tianbao immediately kicked the blade’s hilt.
The blade flew into the bandit leader’s neck, killing him instantly.
“Humph, I wanted to spare you, yet you’re so ruthless. You brought this upon yourself.”
Seeing Tianbao kill so many soldiers, the remaining villagers were both awestruck and fearful.
Tianbao knew the mentality of the people of this era. So he said to the villagers, “My friends, these weren’t Imperial soldiers. They were soldiers who surrendered to the northern Tartars.”
“Tianbao, now that you’ve killed them, won’t the Tartars retaliate?”
“Villagers, don’t worry. If the Tartars return, I will lead you to drive them back. You saw how they kill without blinking. Even if you don’t resist, you’ll die. They won’t let us live, so let’s rise up against them.”
“Tianbao, how can we rebel against them? We have no weapons, no grain. We don’t know if we can even survive this winter.”
“Don’t worry, villagers. I just received guidance from Heaven. Heaven has given me a supply of grain and weapons. Enough to get us through this winter. To the north are the Tartars, and to the south is Shanhaiguan Pass. Even if we want to return to the Pass, the Imperial Court won’t allow it. So, let’s unite here and become a third power. They won’t let us live, so we must live well.”
“Good, we’ve already died once. What more can we hope for if we live?”
“Village Chief, first arrange for some people to collect the bodies of our friends. Then, call ten or so young men to come with me to get weapons and grain to distribute. We’re forming a team to protect everyone, to protect our villagers first, then we’ll consider other matters.”
Tianbao had the system place some grain in his bamboo hut. Seeing that over twenty people joined his group, he had the system purchase more than twenty flintlock guns and more than twenty broadswords.
“Everyone, you’ve received this grain and these weapons, from now on you will follow me. In this time of war and chaos, I can’t guarantee anything, but as long as I live, I will never let you starve.”
“You’ve already saved us once. Our entire village owes you our lives. Now you’ve brought out all this grain and these weapons. What can we say? We swear to repay you. From now on, we’ll call you Leader.”
“Starting tomorrow, I will train you to protect yourselves and our villagers. Now take this grain home and share it. This grain can also be used as seed. It’s still possible to plant at this time of year. In a few months, we’ll have more grain.”
“Leader, what kind of grain is this? We’ve never seen it before.”
“These are potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes. They were produced from the other side of the world, a gift from Heaven. They’ll grow in two or three months and their production is much greater than our previous grain. Tomorrow, I will take everyone to plant them and teach you how to eat them.”
From that day on, Tianbao trained the villagers day and night, sometimes secretly attacking Tartars or traitors. As for the Ming Army, as long as the Tartars didn’t attack, they wouldn’t dare leave their posts. They had already collected the summer harvest and didn’t care about the villagers anymore. Over a couple of months, Tianbao contacted several nearby villages. Some accepted his help and joined them. Others were unwilling to join and continued to muddle along. Tianbao didn’t force them; based on the principle of voluntariness, they would eventually join him. It wasn’t winter yet, and the Tartars weren’t short of grain. Their forces were also scattered, and Tianbao’s attacks were small-scale; most of the dead were traitors. So, they hadn’t paid much attention to it.
Three months passed. October was approaching, and the autumn harvest was near. Even with these small-scale actions, Tianbao had killed hundreds of traitors and dozens of Tartars. A few days ago, he even used a rifle to ambush and kill a Captain. Now the Tartars would surely go wild.
Now he has two hundred and seventy-five men, each equipped with a flintlock gun and a broadsword. The next battle will certainly be a tough one, but if they win, they will be able to maintain their position for a while.
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