The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 142: The True Lord’s Kindness
The prisoners were relieved to have saved their lives.

Didn't they lower the gold price just to save their lives? As long as they could save their lives, they would do anything.

It's okay to be a fake gold thief or a labor camp prisoner.

Life is the most important thing!

Eight hundred prisoners quickly pledged their loyalty and searched the woods frantically. Every now and then, someone would pick up an arrow from the bushes and shout excitedly, "My lord, I found an arrow."

"My lord, I found a knife in the bushes."

"This is General Wang Hong's helmet."

"Hey, there's a leather shield here."

With this group of people working hard to help, the battlefield cleanup work was much faster. After a while, the rebels picked up all the arrows that had been shot, and also picked up a lot of arrows from the pseudo-Jin thieves.

This actually provided the rebel army with a large wave of arrows.

Madam Guan Er was quite happy. There was a shortage of feathers in the Jiaodong area, and most of the rebel arrows had no tail feathers. However, this wave of arrows that they picked up all had tail feathers, and many of them had iron tipped arrows, which were much better than the rebel arrows.

Some soldiers also picked up the armor of the pseudo-Jin thieves, including leather armor and paper armor, but no iron armor.

While paper armor offers decent defense, it's not durable, typically becoming unusable after a few battles. Those who find it can only shake their heads, but still take it home, like those elderly men and women who collect waste paper in modern society, their faces brimming with the joy of having made a small profit, but not much.

The battlefield has been cleared...

The rebel army escorted the prisoners back to Jiaoshui County.

According to the plan, these prisoners were to be sent to the Zhaoyuan gold mine to increase mineral mining efforts.

However, all the rebel forces have now been pulled to the eastern front, distributed along the defense line of Laizhou City, Jiaoshui County, and Jimo County.

If the eight hundred prisoners were thrown into Zhaoyuan County in the rear, these guys would cause trouble.

Madam Gong Er was feeling somewhat embarrassed. She walked over to Yue Wenxuan and whispered, "Master, I want to protect these prisoners, but I don't dare to send troops to the Zhaoyuan gold mine to guard them. I'm also worried about not sending troops to guard them. What should I do?"

Yue Wenxuan said, "Then don't rush to send them to Zhaoyuan. Let's place them in Jiaoshui County and build the labor camp next to the main rebel camp. Let the main force keep an eye on them. By the way, let them see how the main rebel force will fight the Jin bandits in the upcoming battle. As long as they see with their own eyes that the rebels have stopped the Jin bandits, they should surrender wholeheartedly."

Madam Gong Er understood instantly that the rebels had not yet used their firearms.

Firearms will only be used on the battlefield when the real gold thieves arrive.

If we had won that battle, the prisoners would have been greatly shocked and would no longer dare to resist, and we could have allowed them to go mining without any worries.

But if that battle cannot be won, then everything is over and there is no need to worry about the prisoners anymore.

That night, the rebel army returned to Jiaoshui County.

The news that they had returned with 800 prisoners spread throughout the county in an instant.

The victory in the first battle brought great joy to the entire county. The Jiaoshui County Magistrate wrote letters overnight, one to the Laizhou prefect and one to the prince in Jimo County. The letters boasted of his contributions, explaining how much he had done for the righteous men in the palace and how he had played a part in defeating the Jin thieves.

Of course, no one paid any attention to him!

We returned too late that day, and the labor camp had not been built in time. The prisoners could only sleep on the ground outside the rebel barracks. It was already the twelfth month of winter, and although it had not yet snowed, it was freezing cold, and sleeping outside was unbearable.

Many prisoners were thinking: I wasn’t killed, but I might freeze to death here, alas!
Just as he was lamenting, he saw Zhang Yong and his team approaching, each of them holding a large pile of hay. Zhang Dashu, in particular, was carrying a huge pile of hay, which he could carry more than an ox.

Zhang Yong said, "The True Lord said that Heaven is merciful and wants me to send you some things to keep you warm. You can be happy."

He put the hay down and turned to walk away.

The prisoners didn't know who Zhenjun was, but they remembered him in their hearts. It seemed that a man named Zhenjun among the bandits saved our lives.

They spread hay on the ground and covered themselves with it, and finally managed to get through the night.

The next morning, the prisoners woke up with rumbling stomachs to see a young man with Zhang Yong arriving with a cart of grain. The grain was large and crystal clear, looking delicious. The prisoners had never seen such a thing before and were a little confused.

They had seen this young man before. He was the one who stood next to Madam Gong Er during the ambush in the woods.

I don't know who he is among the bandits.

Zhang Yong spoke up: "This is the True Lord, a deity from heaven. If it weren't for his kindness, you would have died long ago."

The prisoners couldn't help but wonder: "The bandits have found someone to play the role of a god? Is this some kind of Manichean trick?"
Yue Wenxuan didn't try to scare them, feeling that there was no need. He pointed to the cart of food and said, "This food is for you. There are 800 of you. You will need to eat this much food for every meal."

The prisoners were a little panicked when they heard this: What does this mean? Don't you want to provide us with food?

Yue Wenxuan said, "I want to tell you that the rebels will pay a price for sparing your lives. Every day, they will have to pay at least two carts of food."

He paused, letting the prisoners digest his words for a few seconds, before continuing, "Compared to letting you live, chopping off your heads is actually an easier decision."

Prisoners: "..."

Yue Wenxuan: "I hope that your next actions will be able to repay the kindness of the righteous army! Otherwise, it will be a waste of these costs."

A smarter prisoner understood and said, "Master, we will do whatever you ask us to do without a single complaint and will not cause any trouble for you."

The other prisoners also suddenly realized what was going on and quickly spoke up to express their opinions.

Yue Wenxuan waved his hand and said, "Your job today is to build a labor camp for yourself next to the rebel army's camp. Zhang Yong, give them the tools."

Zhang Yong nodded and distributed a batch of axes, saws, hammers and other items.

These things could be considered weapons, and the captives could rebel with them. But yesterday, they were defeated by the rebels with their regular weapons, so they wouldn't dare to cause trouble with these things now.

He obediently ran to cut down trees and built a huge camp in the way of building a military camp.

In ancient times, building camps was a common task during marches. These prisoners built the camps quite quickly, and it was done in just half a day.

Zhang Yong found a sign, scribbled the words "labor camp" on it, and hung it on the door of the camp. Several wooden sentry towers were erected around the camp, and rebel soldiers were stationed on them to watch over it.

These eight hundred people were finally settled.

(End of this chapter)