bestfiction Chapter 848 Make them wish they were dead!
Chapter 848 Make them wish they were dead!
However, these elderly people still need to do physical labor, and even though their bodies are already hunched over, they still need to work the fields from dawn till dusk.
The idea of enjoying a peaceful old age seems exceptionally distant to them.
Even though they were old, their kindness remained undiminished. When the strangers, Butcher Zhu and Thousand-Mile Ear, arrived, they still showed the utmost enthusiasm, even going so far as to personally clean their house despite their advanced age.
"Old man, we can do it ourselves!"
Zhu the butcher snatched the broom from Feng Mu's hand and started cleaning up the mess himself.
Not to be outdone, Qianlier snatched the tools from another old man and quickly began cleaning the dusty table and bed.
About fifteen minutes later, the house was cleaned. Feng Mu looked at the house, now clean again, and a look of reminiscence flashed in his eyes. He seemed to remember how this house used to be full of adults and children.
"Since you two have come from afar, why don't you come to my house for a meal?"
Just then, another old farmer named Liu Guoyong glanced at the sky outside the door and made a suggestion.
Zhu the Butcher and Qianli'er exchanged a glance, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded in agreement.
So the group left the house and headed towards Liu Guoyong's home.
Before long, they arrived at Liu Guoyong's house. Liu Guoyong went to the kitchen to cook, while Qianli'er, Butcher Zhu, and several other old farmers sat in the living room chatting.
"Mr. Feng."
Recalling the strangeness of the village, Qianli'er couldn't help but ask Feng Mu, "It seems like only a few of you live in this village?"
Upon hearing this, a mixture of pain, sorrow, hatred, and other emotions appeared on the faces of the elderly farmers.
"Yes!"
With a sorrowful expression, Feng Mu said in a deep voice, "There are only a few of us left in this village!"
Seeing the sorrow on their faces, Qianli'er felt a pang of sadness and pressed for an answer: "Why? I see there are quite a few farmlands in the village, so how come there are only so many people living here?"
While we were in the farmland, Qianli'er had roughly estimated the area of the farmland in Qishui Village. It was about several hundred acres, enough to support one or two hundred people.
After all, Qishui Village is a village relatively close to the Great Wall, and the land should not belong to the Lu family, so there is no need to pay 80% rent to the Lu family.
"Why?"
Thousand-Mile Ear's question seemed to touch upon a painful memory for Feng Mu. He wiped away the tears streaming from the corners of his eyes and said with a bitter smile, "Naturally, it's because of the barbarians..."
As Feng Mu's voice, filled with gritted teeth, slowly rose, the reason why Qishui Village had such a small population was finally revealed to Qianli'er and Butcher Zhu.
Although Qishui Village was not a large village, it had fifty or sixty households. Because the village was close to the Great Wall and was protected by the Great Wall Army, Qishui Village did not need to pay high rents to the Lu family like the people in other parts of Youzhou. They only needed to hand over 30% of the grain they grew to the Great Wall Army, and the remaining 70% belonged to them.
Therefore, although the lives of the villagers in Qishui Village are far from affluent, they are still able to have enough to eat.
In the feudal society of Xia Kingdom, where productivity was extremely low, being able to eat one's fill was already a remarkable thing. Therefore, the villagers of Qishui Village were very satisfied with their lives and were very grateful to the Great Wall Army and Tian Yu, who commanded it. Many villagers even encouraged their male members to join the army and kill the barbarians.
In short, the villagers of Qishui Village used to live a relatively happy life. Whether they were old or young, everyone in the village always had a cheerful smile on their face, as if they had no worries at all.
However, just when all the villagers of Qishui thought that this kind of life would continue, disaster struck!
About a year ago, a barbarian caravan bypassed the Great Wall army's sight and entered Youzhou territory!
The barbarian tribe was a nation of soldiers, and this caravan was more like a small army than a caravan!
Their original goal was to cross the Great Wall and trade with the Lu family, but it was obvious that they were not satisfied with just trading!
Because of the presence of the Great Wall Army in the military towns behind the Great Wall, this barbarian caravan of only a few dozen people did not dare to enter the military towns. Instead, they bypassed ten military towns and appeared directly behind them!
After crossing the military town where the Great Wall army was stationed, the barbarians' hatred for the Xia people and their own ferocity completely erupted!
Every village they saw was slaughtered. Men who dared to resist were killed, and women were raped. Their tender parts were then cut off, cooked, and eaten in a cruel manner.
Even children and the elderly could not escape the barbarians' clutches.
In the eyes of the barbarians, children's flesh is the most tender and is the finest delicacy. Naturally, they would not let children go. Instead, they would put all the children into a large pot to cook them, and then divide them up to eat!
As for the elderly, they were neither able to work nor had good meat, so the barbarians naturally wouldn't keep such useless people. Thus, all the elderly were killed by the barbarians!
At that time, this barbarian caravan, consisting of only a few dozen people, brutally slaughtered the villagers of several villages, and Qishui Village was one of the villages that was massacred!
The elderly Feng Mu and his companions escaped the calamity because they had gone to Shaman Town to purchase supplies and were not in the village at the time.
When they returned to Qishui Village, the entire village had been transformed into a living hell. Limbs and bodies were scattered everywhere, and the once familiar, vibrant faces had all turned into corpses with wide-open eyes filled with resentment.
At that moment, Feng Mu and his companions were utterly devastated. The intense grief almost made them faint. It was their strong hatred that drove them to stand up and report the massacre of Qishui Village to the Great Wall Army!
Upon learning of this, Tian Yu was furious and immediately dispatched his adjutant Chang Yong with a thousand elite Great Wall Army soldiers to hunt down the barbarian caravan!
Before leaving, Tian Yu gritted his teeth and told Chang Yong, "Remember! I'm going to make those barbarians wish they were dead!"
"Yes!"
Chang Yong was also filled with rage. He led a thousand elite troops and pursued the barbarian caravan southward.
After learning that the barbarian army had entered the county town in the Lu family's territory, Chang Yong did not stop the pursuit. Instead, he ordered a thousand Great Wall soldiers to assume the posture of attacking the city, forcing the city guards to open the city gates. Then, he captured dozens of barbarians inside the city!
The dozens of barbarians thought that once they entered the county town, they could rest easy with the protection of the Lu family. However, they never expected that Chang Yong would be so forceful, forcing the city guards to open the city gates and arresting them.
Chang Yong, who captured these barbarians, carried out Tian Yu's orders and set up a large pot in the most bustling part of the city, filled it with murky water, and then lit a fire under the pot!