Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 225: Everything used to be normal

Wang Shijie brought a group of captives to the rear camp of the mountain stronghold.

Although it is called the rear camp of the mountain stronghold, it has actually left the combat range of the mountain stronghold and even left the hilly and mountainous area. In terms of distance, it is actually closer to the main stronghold.

Wang Shijie had just given the order to disperse the prisoners and had not yet had a moment to rest and find some well water to cool his left hand when he heard that someone was about to enter the camp.

Wang Shijie hurriedly took several personal guards to check the badge, but found that the person who came was Liu Huai's personal guard Chen Wenben.

In the battle to encircle Tu Danzhang a few days ago, although this guy made great contributions, he was also injured. He was hit hard on the face, not only did several of his back teeth fall out, but his mouth was also cut. However, he did not rest at this time, but became active again.

While checking the card, Wang Shijie said, "Brother Chen Liu, why don't you take a few days off? What's the password?"

Chen Wenben grinned, but the wound on his mouth twitched, and his face twisted. "When a man is striving for success, a minor injury is nothing to worry about. The command is: a good harvest of grain, and full granaries of pigs and sheep."

After checking the talisman, Wang Shijie smiled and said to Chen Wenben, "Now you really can't be held responsible for anything."

"Get lost," Chen Wenben cursed with a smile, then said, "I'm following the orders of the Commander-in-Chief to take people to check on the rescued soldiers."

Wang Shijie looked at the several tall men following behind Chen Wenben and asked curiously, "Who are these..."

"We are from Zhushui Village." The leader said anxiously without waiting for Chen Wenben to introduce himself, "Young Master, could you please let us meet those fellow villagers?"

With the military order, Wang Shijie naturally could not stop them. He just led a few people personally and prevented them from going anywhere else.

After walking a few steps, a group of auxiliary soldiers carrying hoes passed by. A man at the end of the team was talking to a logistics officer. He turned around and saw the leader. He was slightly startled and his eyes immediately turned red.

"Zhu Changshui, you bastard, I'm going to beat you to death!"

As he spoke, the man swung his hoe towards him.

This little slave girl! Wang Shijie was horrified and wanted to retreat, but his body couldn't keep up with his thoughts. He could only stare blankly at the wooden pole swinging towards his face.

Fortunately, he had a brave soldier like Chen Wenben by his side. He just gently took the hoe and snatched it from his hand: "What's wrong with you, hysterical man? Did Wang Shiwulang withhold your food and wages?"

The leader, Zhu Changshui, also reacted and pointed at the man, saying, "Zhao Ba, are you crazy?"

Zhao Ba grabbed the hoe twice, but found it motionless, as if cast in iron. However, after hearing Zhu Changshui's accusation, his eyes became even more bloodshot: "I'll beat you to death, you bastard!"

As he spoke, Zhao Bahe pounced on Zhu Changshui, knocked him to the ground, and started fighting with him.

"Stop it! Stop it!"

Wang Shijie just shouted a few words, but he saw only those auxiliary soldiers, plus the people from Zhushuizhuang led by Chen Wenben, also joined the battle with cursing. For a while, the smoke and dust rolled up and it was very lively.

Wang Shijie was simply caught up in the melee and was pushed to the ground. I don’t know which blind bastard took the opportunity to kick him in the butt during the fight.

As Wang Shijie was rolling and crawling, Chen Wenben grabbed his collar and pulled him out of the battle group.

"Come forward! Pull them apart!" Wang Shijie called out to the soldiers around him angrily, and at the same time secretly ordered in his heart that he must learn martial arts.

In fact, he didn't need to give any orders. More than a dozen soldiers had already rushed over, each grabbing the people who were fighting and pulling them up one by one, and then dividing them up and detaining them.

At this point, Zhao Ba, his face already bleeding from beatings, was still cursing: "Look at the evil your Zhu family has committed. You always say that in troubled times, we should unite as a village to help each other, and that Master Zhu Sanye is a fucking hero who can keep the area safe. But it's all bullshit just to trick us out of money and food!"

Zhu Changshui wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm mixed with blood, and said, "Zhao Ba, open your eyes and see who I am. I am the boatman Zhu Changshui! Not Zhu Tianshou, and certainly not Zhu Tianqi! What are you so angry about? Who am I angry at?!"

"All of you Zhus are no good, you are all bastards!"

"We were so blind that we became tenants for your Zhu family!"

"Why didn't you get struck to death by a thunderbolt?"

Before Zhao Ba could say anything, the other auxiliary soldiers who participated in the fight started shouting and cursing, and the people from Zhu Shuizhuang on the other side did not want to be outdone and cursed back.

Needless to say, tenants like Zhao Ba and the others were also full of grievances.

The Yishui River flows through Yishui County, so naturally there are many people who make a living on the water, including merchants, fishermen, and even smugglers. There are also many who become pirates.

Under such circumstances, Zhushuizhuang, built on the banks of Yishui River, would naturally focus all its energy on Yishui River.

What tenants, what exploitation, it has nothing to do with them!
Of course, Zhu Tianshou's ability to simultaneously control all five farms meant he had some close associates. However, in a shipbuilding situation, the ship owner naturally held immense prestige. At a crucial moment, he could summon seventy or eighty brave men to fight the pirates, and no one would bother him. Under these circumstances, Zhu Changshui, accused by the tenants, naturally felt somewhat wronged.

But who gave him the surname Zhu?
"Enough!" After rubbing his butt for a long time and finally understanding the whole thing from a few words, Wang Shijie finally shouted angrily: "Zhao Ba, since you have entered the military camp, received wages and ate food, you should obey military orders! Which military order can allow you to fight privately in the military camp? Drag you out and give each of you five military sticks!"

Seeing the young steward speak, no one dared to say anything. They immediately dragged those men away, pulled down their pants, used the gun barrels as military sticks, and hit them on the buttocks five times.

Auxiliary soldiers who had not participated in the brawl saluted from the sidelines: "Young Master, please don't be angry with Zhao Ba. His blind mother, in order not to drag him down during her escape, jumped into the Yishui River a few days ago while walking south on the official road... Alas... Although this is the way the world is, it is still a tragedy..."

At the end of his speech, the man sighed again.

Zhu Changshui was stunned for a moment and sighed, and several other farmers in Zhushui Village also fell silent.

"Let's go."

Wang Shijie was silent for a moment, and then led Zhu Changshui and others to the camp of the gathered troops.

Although the two-day war was brutal, the casualties among the regular troops on both sides were not too great, and the main casualties were among these signed troops.

Not only did the Wuxing Army not show mercy to them, but the Zhongyi Army would not risk letting them in and letting them in at the risk of their camp being breached. They could only expel them or even kill them.

Because no one can be sure whether there are dozens of fierce Jin soldiers mixed in the signed army.

Liu Huai could only wait until the Jin army was defeated, and then let the Loyal Army launch a decisive attack. After defeating the regular army, he could gather and identify these signed troops.

But if we do this, it would be a great achievement if we could save one-third of the signed troops.

Moreover, there is another problem. Almost all the ordinary people in Yishui County have fled. So where did the Jin army recruit so many signed soldiers?
Of course, they were the three people from Zhujiazhuang who did not retreat with Liu Huai.

There are five manors in one county, and they are naturally related to each other, especially a group of manors like Zhujiazhuang where the owner is one person. If you pick out two people at random, the relationship between them may be as bad as broken bones.

So when Zhu Changshui walked into the camp used to house the signing army, his eyes almost instantly turned red.

Nearly two hundred corpses were wrapped in straw mats and placed in a corner, forming a large area. Many people were crying bitterly in front of the corpses.

There were also many injured people, and the wailing and screaming sounds merged into one. Military doctors kept coming and going, and corpses were constantly carried out of the tents.

The vast majority of the surviving soldiers just sat on the ground blankly, with a dozen or so people sitting back to back together, as if they had lost their souls, staring blankly at the sky without saying a word.

"Ah!!! I..." Among the people from Zhu Shuizhuang who came, someone recognized the corpse that had just been carried out and ran over directly. He wanted to call out to the other party but burst into tears and grabbed the corpse's bloody hands tightly.

The people carrying the stretcher were also soldiers who had been rescued. Seeing this, they looked sad and stopped, letting the man cry loudly.

"Ashi, don't cry. At least your second uncle still has a body. It's considered a blessing..."

Someone nearby seemed to recognize these people and whispered advice.

Zhu Changshui also recognized his friend among the dazed soldiers and quickly stepped forward to support his shoulder, saying, "Duan Wu... you're still alive... That's great! You're still alive!"

Duan Wu was shaken a few times before he came to his senses. Seeing that it was Zhu Changshui, he shook his head and asked, "Who are you?"

"It's me, Ah Shui!" Zhu Changshui pointed at himself and said anxiously, "You...you don't recognize me? What's wrong with you?"

Someone nearby also came to their senses and sneered, "Zhu Twenty-Five, stop trying to fool Old Duan. A few days ago, the Jin thieves came and killed his parents, smashed his children to death, and pinned him down, forcing him to watch his wives being raped to death in turns. He's since become stupid."

Zhu Changshui was stunned for a moment: "Brother Hu..."

"Forget it. I'm not worthy of being your Zhu family's brother." Old Hu shook his head and stood up, but was stopped by Zhu Changshui again.

"Old Hu, I didn't harm you, why are you shouting at me to kill me!" Seeing that his good friend had become idiot and his old friend had cut off ties with him, Zhu Changshui became completely anxious.

"It's you who's ruined us. You Zhus always say you're the leaders, but now it's come to this. Aren't you the ones who've led us to our doom?" Old Hu continued with a sneer. "Usually, we collect the lion's share of rent and the lion's share of the catch. Take you, Zhu Ershiwu, for example. If I remember correctly, you also take 30% of the profits from your boat, right? Now that something's happened, you say it has nothing to do with your Zhus. You're burning firewood at the graves... you're just fooling around."

After saying that, Lao Hu rolled up his sleeves and turned away.

Zhu Changshui stood there in a daze for a long time again. Finally, after all the farmers in Zhushui Village who followed him dispersed to look for their relatives, he began to tremble violently all over.

"Zhu! Tian! Shou!" Three words popped out from between Zhu Changshui's teeth.

(End of this chapter)