harleyscars Page 36
Page 36
"At the time, I didn't know that he had sunk the fishing boat. But when we got to the county town, guess what he wanted to do? He wanted to sell my mother to a brothel! Luckily, I'm a good swimmer, so I jumped into the river and escaped. But when I got home, I found that this guy had also taken over my house. I escaped back to my parents' house to avoid disaster!"
"Kill him! Kill him!!!"
The crowd was filled with righteous indignation.
"My daughter!!!"
Just then, another family rushed over, carrying a corpse and crying, accusing another wealthy man of his crimes.
“My daughter had just gotten married, and he conscripted both my son-in-law and me for forced labor! Then, while we were gone and there were no men in the house, he forcibly broke into our home and raped my daughter. She was too ashamed to face her husband and hanged herself three days ago!”
An old man, weeping and pounding his knees, knelt before Suo Chao.
"Yesterday, my son-in-law and I were released by you, sir. My son-in-law has a fiery temper, so he rushed to the man's house to demand an explanation, but he was beaten to death by that rich man!"
"Why couldn't you have come sooner, hero! Even if he's dead now, my daughter and son-in-law will never come back!!!"
Listening to the villagers' tearful accusations, Suo Chao felt a mix of emotions. The soldiers under his command, responsible for carrying out the corvée labor, exchanged glances, unable to look the people in the eye.
Seeing Suo Chao's angry eyes, they gave a wry smile.
"Commander, the imperial court's meager military pay is only enough for officers and imperial guards to live decently. Our local troops don't have enough money at all, and there's nothing we can do about it."
“We were also conscripting laborers when these rich men bribed us to collect these people. We thought that we would collect them from whoever we wanted, and we would get paid anyway, so we did it. If everyone was as generous as Brother Liu Hong and would share the money they robbed, who would do such a despicable thing?”
Suo Chao gave a wry smile and stopped questioning his subordinates.
A careful investigation revealed that out of the twenty families, only fifteen managed to survive until the men returned. Three families were ruined by the local wealthy landowner, with their wives and daughters forced into prostitution or slavery. The men of two other families died at Liangshan Marsh, and they were also brutally abused by the landowner.
A deep sense of guilt welled up in Suo Chao's heart.
She didn't even dare to tell these indignant villagers that she was the former commander of the government troops. She truly had no idea that a small-scale war involving only a thousand people could bring such a heavy burden and disaster to the local people.
I simply signed and stamped a thin piece of paper conscripting laborers, but that paper, when pressed on the shoulders of individual people, became a mountain that their bodies simply could not bear.
I have read poems from previous dynasties, such as "The Officer of Shihao," but it was only after seeing these weeping people that I truly tasted the bitterness within them.
The Northern Song army was utterly corrupt.
For a moment, Suo Chao felt like his brain had crashed—I was taught from childhood to be loyal to the emperor and love the country, to help the weak and punish the strong, but why did my campaign against Liangshan in the name of patriotism cause such serious harm to the common people of the Song Dynasty?
If I am not wrong, the people are not wrong, and even the bandits who were strangled were not wrong, then who is wrong?!
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After Liangshan Marsh so frequently killed wealthy people to help the common folk, Liangshan's reputation soared once again.
Shi Wenbin, the magistrate of Yuncheng, was almost in tears. The dozen or so villages that Liu Hong and his Liangshan brothers attacked in the first wave were all villages under the jurisdiction of Yuncheng County.
In the past few days, he discovered that all the wealthy landowners in more than a dozen villages near the lake had been killed, and all their treasures and goods had been looted—do you know how much more work this will increase for me?
Having no other choice, he had to try to contact the relatives of these wealthy landowners and ask them to quickly bring some men over to these villages to restore order and at least ensure that the autumn taxes could be collected. In return, the mansions and land of the murdered landowners would all belong to them.
However, very few people agreed to this plan—"How the hell do I have any brains to become a landlord near the lair of the Great Sage Evil?"
Chapter 75: The Mind-Stealing Demon Zhu Tong on His Hunt
After much effort, Shi Wenbin, the magistrate of Yuncheng, finally managed to recruit five impoverished relatives of a local wealthy man. Driven by desperation by poverty, they dared to risk their lives to try and reclaim their ancestral property. Shi Wenbin rewarded them by recruiting ten able-bodied men for each of them in the county and exceptionally providing them with weapons for local militia. He then quickly sent them to the countryside to restore control of the village.
Not only that, he also dispatched Zhu Tong, the head of the cavalry patrol, and Lei Heng, the head of the infantry patrol, to lead one hundred cavalrymen and two hundred infantrymen to patrol the area near Liangshan Marsh to deter the bandits. He also put Zhu Tong in charge of the duties of the militia commander, who could command and mobilize all the militia and local braves in Yuncheng County.
The five new landlords quickly entered the five villages. Relying on the government's military force, they soon seized all the landlords' land and houses from the local people, and even injured many of them, making the people grit their teeth in hatred.
An arrogant rich man was even selecting the prettiest girl in the village and trying to force her into marriage, causing widespread resentment among the villagers.
I could have endured being a serf, but Liangshan gave us land and upheld justice. Why are people now trying to ride roughshod over me?!
Unable to bear it any longer, the villagers quickly rowed to Liangshan Marsh under cover of night and told the Great Sage of Chaos about the landlord and the soldiers. Liu Hong immediately said, "Don't be afraid, folks! We will definitely be able to resolve this matter."
Liu Hong stretched his limbs, then flew out of Liangshan with Li Cunxiao, using their aerial advantage to begin reconnaissance.
Soldiers can be roughly divided into three levels. There are no ranks; they are just level 1 unemployed civilians belonging to the militia and local militia. The 500 men under Huang An, the militia commander, were almost all militiamen, and their combat effectiveness was extremely poor.
Soldiers with professional ranks ranging from 1 to 4 are the backbone of all nations. The vast majority of the Xiang Army, as well as the Imperial Guards who were severely corrupt and decadent during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, belong to this rank. The biggest difference between the Imperial Guards and the Xiang Army today is that the Imperial Guards have better treatment and an extra layer of armor for protection.
Of course, Yue Fei and Liu Hong are exceptions. Normal people are generally at the warrior level, but Yue Fei and Liu Hong already had incredibly high attributes and were top-notch in their professions. With the addition of dragon blood and demonic enhancement, their combat power was naturally much higher.
Soldiers with 5-8 professional levels are officers, generals, or battle-hardened veterans of an army. It is said that the Kaifeng Imperial Guards, who fought alongside Emperor Taizu to conquer the land, were all level eight warriors, all at the same level as Suo Chao, only without the demonic bonus. They swept across the south, invincible!
However, whether these extraordinary figures from the Song Dynasty still exist in Kaifeng today is another question altogether.
Above that, level 12 is the maximum. Once you're above level 8, nobody will treat you like a soldier. Even if you're not famous throughout the Central Plains, you'll at least be renowned in the surrounding prefectures and counties. You'll be a top-tier expert, like Iron-Armed Zhou Tong, Lu Junyi (one of the three wonders of Hebei), and Lin Chong (the instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards).
Now, under Liu Hong's initial reorganization, Liangshan has eliminated some weaker individuals from the 100 infantrymen who started with him, the 300 workers sent by Chai Jin, and the 500 prisoners captured in Liangshan's great victory, so that they can work on the second line. Finally, the elite among them are selected to form 500 soldiers, known as the Liangshan Camp.
Of these 500 infantrymen, 300 were surrendered river guards from Daming Prefecture. Clad in leather armor, armed with long spears and shields, and carrying longbows and arrows, they would withstand close attacks with their spears and shields, and provide support with arrows from a distance.
These three hundred men were renamed Liangshanbo River Guard. They were at the level of a second or third elite garrison.
The other two hundred men, also clad in leather armor and carrying long spears and shields, but lacking archery skills, used the birch and yellow crossbows captured from the Jeju army as long-range weapons.
These two hundred men are Liangshan Giant Shield Crossbowmen. They are at the level of ordinary Xiang Army soldiers, which is 1-2.
Wu Song served as the commander of this Liangshan camp, Suo Chao served as the deputy commander, and Song Wan and other strong men selected from the brothers served as lower-ranking officers, such as captains and junior officers.
Besides the three hundred river guards and two hundred giant shield crossbowmen, Liu Zhuang also had two special units: Lu Fang and Guo Sheng's twenty armored guards, all clad in iron armor, wielding crossbows and large iron halberds, and all at level 3.
And Du Qian's twenty ogre monster infantry, all level 4, because an ogre is a level 4 monster once it reaches adulthood.
This was all of Liangshan's trump cards. It seemed quite powerful, but Liu Hong wasn't entirely confident about giving up Liangshan's unique geographical advantages and going ashore to fight three hundred government troops head-on.
The last time I was able to win was by taking advantage of the water terrain and burning the docks. If the two armies were to fight openly, I would have been defeated by Suo Chao's government troops in one round.
Now, the soldiers of Yuncheng County are not attacking the marshland, but only defending the villages, forcing me to leave the advantageous position of the marshland and fight a decisive battle in open ground. I must defeat them, otherwise everything I have done before will have been in vain.
Lei Heng's two hundred infantrymen were not formidable; at a glance, they were all ordinary level 1-2 infantrymen. They didn't even have leather armor, and carried spears, shields, and yellow birch crossbows as their ranged attack method.
The large number of local militia gathered were not so scary; they weren't even first-class warriors, just there to make up the numbers.
The most troublesome are Zhu Tong's hundred cavalrymen: these hundred men are extremely elite, all of them are level 3 or 4 elite cavalry! There are even some cavalry generals: this profession is a specialized upgraded version of warriors for mounted combat, all their skills are on horseback.
They were all clad in leather armor, wielding four-meter-long spears, and carrying sabers at their waists; they were a lightly armored shock cavalry unit.
In ancient times, these hundred light cavalrymen were equivalent to a hundred light armored vehicles, while heavy cavalrymen were equivalent to tanks, which made Liu Hong, who had never fought against cavalry before, a little nervous.
Zhu Tong's Blood-Red Heart-Stealing Demon appearance is even more terrifying. When Liu Hongfei was in the sky, hiding in the clouds to scout, he secretly took a look and discovered that this bearded man not only had a demon, but was actually an 8th-level monster.
【Zhu Tong】(Devil)
Level 8 (Level 8 Abomination) (Racial Trait: Prototype Level 9 Warlock)
Life 52, Psychic 81
Strength 16, Agility 16, Constitution 14
Intelligence 20, Perception 16, Charisma 16
[Racial Trait - Mind Control]: Gain 25 points of spell resistance (base 25), 8 Abomination level is equivalent to 9 Mind Warlock level, and additionally gain a large amount of illusion and mind control psionic energy.
Many monsters are different from humans. They are born outstanding and do not need much training. They can reach heights that ordinary people cannot reach after adulthood, just like elephants and blue whales in the real world. However, these monsters in the fantasy version are even more terrifying.
Li Cunxiao's Shatuo Blue Dragons were born with six dragon-level attributes, while Pan Jinlian was born with one fox-level attribute.
The same applies to Mind Flayers. Once a Mind Flayer reaches adulthood, it possesses eight levels of Aberration. Moreover, these eight levels are equivalent to an 8th-level Psionicist.
In other words, once a Mind Flayer reaches adulthood, he is at least an 8th-level Aberrant, a 9th-level Psionicist, capable of wielding fourth-circle Psionic powers! Furthermore, his magic resistance is terrifyingly high, even surpassing that of the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Although Liu Hong had also awakened his psychic abilities, he really didn't know how to continue cultivating them further. In addition, he had been practicing martial arts for the past year and a half, and was still only a level 1 psychic.
Liu Hong looked at Zhu Tong, secretly becoming wary.
Spellcasters are too troublesome. Suo Chao's strength is visible to the naked eye; it's simply a combination of physical strength and tactical skills.
However, Zhu Tong is a pure psychic, and a level nine spellcaster at that, which is extremely high! Even someone like Wang Lun, who is at a similar level, can pose a significant threat to targets with high magic resistance.
Who knows what terrifying psychic energy or supernatural psychic techniques are hidden beneath Zhu Tong's rather frail appearance?
Moreover, her close combat skills are not weak either. Like Suo Chao, she is one of the Eight Tiger Generals of Liangshan. Even if she is not good, she can't be that bad.
Chapter 76: Lei Heng, the Winged Tiger, and His Torture Whip (Bonus Chapter 1650)
For a moment, Liu Hong felt that Zhu Tong was really troublesome, but he had to fight him! Otherwise, Liangshan would only exist as a band of mountain bandits and would have no way to win the hearts of the people in the surrounding area. No matter how it developed in the future, it would just be a group of bandits who occupied the mountains and ruled as kings.
Zhu Tong also thought Liu Hong was really troublesome, but he had to defend it! Otherwise, the rural rule of Yuncheng County in this area would really be destroyed by this kid's method of distributing land to wealthy landowners. If taxes couldn't be collected, the state would blame them, and everyone would be doomed.
For a moment, both sides had no choice but to bite the bullet and proceed.
After careful consideration, Liu Hong concluded that the Liangshan army had only two major advantages over the government troops: the natural barrier of Liangshan's 800-li waterway, the advantage of its boats, and his and Li Cunxiao's aerial reconnaissance capabilities. Therefore, he could only focus on these two aspects.
After thinking about this, Liu Hong spread his golden wings for the second time to personally scout and survey the surrounding terrain, racking his brains about how to fight. He also had a detailed discussion with Wu Song, who was considered one of the more intelligent members of the team. He was busy for two days and two nights before he finally got a result.
On the third day, the Liangshan army mobilized once again. Liu Hong personally led four generals—Suo Chao, Li Cunxiao, Lü Fang, and Guo Sheng—along with two hundred crossbowmen wielding giant shields, and stormed into the village. The villagers welcomed the Liangshan army with food and drink, cheering as they watched Liu Hong slaughter all the thugs under the wealthy landowner's command and drag the newly arrived landowner out of his mansion like a dog.
"What, you have a problem with the Great Sage's land division? I said, this land belongs to all the villagers! What right do you have to take other people's land?"
Liu Hong glared menacingly at the new landlord, who turned pale and his legs went weak with fear.
"Kill him! Kill him!!!"
Seeing that someone was backing them up, the people who usually bowed their heads in submission to the tyranny of the government suddenly erupted into the fiercest and most bloodthirsty roars! Liu Hong didn't waste any words and quickly and swiftly shot him dead, drawing cheers from the crowd!
Liu Hong once again divided the land equally, but this time, he had several respected elders in the village form a village committee to manage the village and coordinate intelligence with him.
The Liangshan soldiers handled the problem extremely quickly. With the support of the people, they visited two villages in a single day, killed two wealthy landowners, and returned the land to the people.
Zhu Tong was also quick. Just as Liu Hong arrived at the second village, he led Lei Heng, along with a hundred cavalry and two hundred infantry, and charged straight at them! But before they even arrived, they were spotted by Li Cunxiao, who was flying in the sky conducting tense reconnaissance, and he quickly reported it.
Liu Hong dared not linger in battle. After killing the wealthy man, he immediately retreated, pursued relentlessly by Zhu Tong with a hundred light cavalry! Iron hooves trampled the reeds, and horses smashed through the reeds. Zhu Tong's red robe burned like fire in the summer dawn. He was determined to capture Liu Hong, who had escaped the natural barrier of Liangshan!
Liu Hong led two hundred men in a steady retreat, charging left and right through the reeds. A hundred warhorses neighed as they tore through the thin mist, steel spears whistled through the forest, startling flocks of crows into a chaotic dance in the sky, and damp sand and gravel splashed like rain under their iron hooves!
"shooting!!!"
At Liu Hong's command, the two hundred men stopped their retreat, forming a stable triangle with their shields and spears against the ground, creating a makeshift chevaux-de-frise. The sound of two hundred yellow birch crossbows vibrating simultaneously overwhelmed the horses' hooves, and the taut ox-tendon strings shattered the sky. Zhu Tong's light cavalry had just charged into the reeds when they crashed head-on into a death cloud forged of steel!
The first volley of crossbow bolts devoured the wheat like locusts, instantly turning the lead five warhorses into pincushions, sending them crashing into the gravel with their riders. Broken horseshoes swirled in the pool of blood. Splashes of blood danced in the reeds, but Zhu Tong alone raised his hand and conjured a psionic shield, freezing the thirty-odd crossbow bolts aimed at him in mid-air, thus avoiding being instantly killed by the sudden barrage.
"LOAD!!!"
Liu Hong nervously shouted out the second command. The two hundred crossbowmen stepped forward, bent over, and used the strength of their arms, shoulders, and waists to pull back the yellow birch crossbows, preparing for a second shot.
"So fast!"
Zhu Tong was secretly alarmed. They had just been retreating when, in the short time it took to turn a corner, the bandits had quickly deployed makeshift chevaux-de-frise with large shields and spears and launched their first volley of arrows. This was no ordinary level of bandits.
Damn it, have all the captured soldiers from Jeju and Daming surrendered?
However, the crossbows were slow to load, while Zhu Tong's light cavalry were extremely fast. Zhu Tong led ninety-five light cavalrymen, quickly leaving behind five corpses, and retreated to a point outside the range of the crossbow bolts, temporarily avoiding the enemy's attack.
Seeing that Zhu Tong had retreated, Liu Hong did not pursue him. Instead, he led two hundred soldiers to continue the retreat. Zhu Tong dared not advance rashly. He pursued from a distance while calling for Lei Heng's infantry to arrive. The two sides were in a state of retreat and pursuit.
Zhu Tong nervously observed the situation. She was quite adept at commanding cavalry. With one light cavalry charge after another, she flanked and outmaneuvered Liu Hong's two hundred crossbowmen, forcing them to turn away from their planned route and gradually be driven by Zhu Tong into the face of Lei Heng's infantry.
Zhu Tong and Lei Heng, one driving from the front and the other encircling from behind, relentlessly squeezed Liu Hong's living space.
Finally, on a flat area near Liangshan Marsh, Liu Hong was driven to a dead end by Zhu Tong's swift and swift light cavalry. He had no choice but to stop his retreat and face Zhu Tong and Lei Heng's garrison troops. A great battle was about to break out!
For a moment, the apricot-yellow turbans of the Liangshan warriors and the red lacquered robes of the government troops faced off across the distance. The warm wind tore at the apricot-yellow central banners of both armies; one side read "Acting on Behalf of Heaven," and the other "Head of Cavalry Patrol in Yuncheng."
Both sides, numbering five hundred, were extremely tense and fearful. They were sweating profusely as they watched each other. The sound of a young crossbowman's Adam's apple bobbing was clear in the deathly silence, like an icicle falling to the ground.
"Suo Chao! Lead the charge."
At Liu Hong's command, he dispatched the vanguard, Suo Chao, to lead the charge. A tall female general, two meters and four inches tall, wearing chainmail armor with brass beast-head hilts, riding the chestnut horse of Master Qian, wielding a gold-plated axe, and carrying an iron-rimmed bow at her waist, charged out of the Liangshan battle formation with imposing majesty and arrogance.
"This is the vanguard of Daming Prefecture! She was completely wiped out by Liangshan. I think this person is just a fraud. Sister, I'll go!"
Among the government troops, Lei Heng, the Winged Tiger, couldn't wait to rush out of the battlefield and fight on foot. She was two meters tall, only slightly shorter than Suo Chao, and her huge white swan wings on her back were quite frightening.
A black python skin belt cinched his waist, creating three inches of snow-white waves, while dark high boots accentuated his beautiful legs. The winged tiger Lei Heng wielded a broadsword with ferocious power in his right hand, while his left hand drew a nine-tailed leather whip. With a sudden lash, the nine tiger-tailed whips, inlaid with black gold barbs, lashed out like venomous dragons breaking through waves. As the whip tips twisted around his waist, nine explosive sounds erupted in succession!
Moreover, the head constable's belt was covered with various instruments of torture, such as meat hooks, daggers, and saws. The blood on the blades had not yet congealed, as if the miserable screams of the previous victim still lingered.
"So you're the vanguard? Surrender now! Let me have some fun with you in prison! Let you experience what it means to be in heaven!"
Lei Heng's beautiful face revealed a sickly smile as she extended her alluring tongue and gently licked the nine-tailed whip. Her ecstatic expression made it seem as if she were licking not a cruel whip, but her lover's jade stem.
Chapter 77: Suo Chao's Fearless Charge Makes Him the First Hero
"A mere constable, take this axe!"
Suo Chao roared like magma from her throat. She rode Qian Yuanwai's chestnut horse with the momentum of a city burning in the earth. When she swung her giant axe in a circle, the blade stirred up blood mist in the sunlight. Her blood-red cloak billowed like a torn sunset, splitting the entire battlefield into two trembling territories.