Ma Dou had been standing guard on the castle for three days, eyes bloodshot yet refusing to rest.
Although no one had spoken against him, everyone in the castle was on high alert waiting for the Jurchen people to attack, and he believed it was all because of his one arrow.
Despite reports saying that after twelve of their men were assassinated, the Jurchen people gave up Qili Platform and retreated to Kaide Prefecture, it didn't mean they were frightened out of their wits, but instead were frantically searching for that country woodcutter.
Who knows when they would suddenly remember their grudge and come running over here.
Whether the more than three hundred guard soldiers and seven hundred civilians inside this castle would survive was uncertain.
A cloud of dust rose in the distance, it was Cavalry.
Have they finally arrived?
Ma Dou instantly tensed up, teeth clattering, and the other people on the castle also became nervous, but they quickly realized the approaching cavalry were from the neighboring fort's garrison.
About a dozen Zhou Soldiers led by a military general in his forties arrived below the castle.
"Brother Wang, why have you come?" Ding Dashan came out to greet them, surprised.
Since the Jurchen people had occupied Kaide Prefecture and the Anli Army had retreated, these scattered soldiers dared not venture out of the fort casually.
With the high walls of the fort for protection, they could still take on the Jurchen people; in the open, however, they'd be much less confident.
Hence, aside from sentries exchanging messages between forts, it had been some days since they had met in person.
"Brother Ding, have you heard the news?" Army Head Wang asked with an excited expression.
Ding Dashan sighed.
"With the northern lands warfare so intense, it's understandable that the Duke of Chengguo's heir is in a hurry to return," he whispered, "but on the other hand, military orders are like mountains, an imperial command cannot be defied. His act of prison escape is indeed an act of treason. Once caught, we must persuade him earnestly. His actions not only fail to help the Duke of Chengguo but even add to the chaos."
Army Head Wang looked at him with a strange expression.
"What are you talking about?" he said, "What does it have to do with the Duke of Chengguo's heir?"
Ding Dashan was also taken aback.
"Is it not about the warrant for the Duke of Chengguo's heir?" he asked.
Army Head Wang spat.
"Who's talking about that," he said, grabbing Ding Dashan's arm, his expression excited, "the Jurchen soldiers in Kaide Prefecture were killed, more than a dozen of them."
Ah, that, Ding Dashan chuckled.
"Brother Wang, you're so out of the loop. I've known for a while, they say it's the villagers…" he said.
But before he could finish, Army Head Wang interrupted him.
"Again," he said.
Again?
Ding Dashan blinked in surprise, then his expression turned to shock.
"Again?" he echoed.
Army Head Wang nodded, reaching out his hand and gesturing a number.
"Eighteen," he said.
Eighteen!
My goodness, Holy Mother!
Could it be that country woodcutter again?
Ding Dashan felt his heart about to leap from his throat; what kind of hero could this be?
.........
Eighteen heads were lined up in front of Kaide Prefecture's city gate, after a night the blood had congealed, and the light of day revealed the contorted expressions of agony, showing the pain they endured before death.
Swearing and cursing from the Jurchen soldiers on the city walls was incessant, but the city gates remained firmly closed, making their swearing seem somewhat cowardly.
A search party that had gone out to investigate the nighttime assault on Qili Platform's Jurchen soldiers, thinking they had the advantage of numbers and darkness, did not return to the Prefecture the night before, resulting in their heads being displayed in front of the city gate by the next morning.
The entire squad was annihilated.
The Jurchen generals on the city walls were flushing red with anger.
It had been a hard-fought journey from the north down here, and they had suffered many casualties, but they had never felt such humiliation as they did at this moment.
This was a provocation, a blatant provocation.
It was also shocking.
Could one man accomplish this?
"No, the wounds are different, scouts reported the traces at the scene suggest it should be a group of more than a dozen people," a lieutenant said in the Jurchen language.
More than a dozen people?
So it wasn't just one individual?
If they had known earlier that it was more than a dozen people, they would have never sent just a dozen men to pursue them.
Was the original lone man a decoy?
These Han People are indeed despicable and shameless.
Kill them all, kill them all!
The Jin General, swearing and yelling again, led a large group of Jurchen soldiers pouring out of the city gates, howling as they surrounded the dozen beheaded Jurchen soldiers.
The Jin General was fully armed as he rushed out, about to command his men to pursue and clean up their comrades' heads, but a few Jurchen soldiers attending to the heads suddenly screamed out.
They were speaking in the Jurchen language, with even weirder tones at this moment, as if they had been startled by something.
Hiding in the secret passage, Ding Dashan couldn't help but peek out slightly and vaguely saw a Jin Soldier wielding an axe, yelling and shouting.
Jin Soldiers all use long-handled battle-axes, but this axe is just a common farming tool in the countryside.
What's so special about this axe?
Do these woodcutters seem afraid?
Ding Dashan saw the general shout something, and then a crowd packed up the heads and retreated like a tide, with the city gate immediately shut tight.
They didn't send troops to pursue the murderer? Were they scared off? What happened?
Ding Dashan was completely baffled, while the sentry next to him tugged at his sleeve.
"Woodcutter." He whispered, "They said the woodcutter has come."
Scouts more or less understood some of the barbarian languages, which was a requirement from Duke of Chengguo in the past.
The woodcutter, indeed the woodcutters killed the Jin Soldiers, but, were they so scared by the deaths of these thirty men that they didn't even dare to search them?
Is it that serious? Ding Dashan was even more puzzled.
"Damn it!"
Upon hearing this, an Army Head in the room suddenly slapped the table with force.
His strength was immense, and the not-so-sturdy table collapsed with a crash.
The teacups placed on the table also fell to the ground, immediately followed by cursing in the room.
These were military heads of nearby forts who had been summoned.
Ding Dashan was even more upset about his property.
"Foolish Shi, what the hell are you doing?" he called out, none too pleased.
"The woodcutter!" Army Head Shi ignored him, already leaping up, pointing north, "It's the woodcutter from Shubi Lake, damn it, no wonder the Jin Dogs were so scared they shut the doors and dared not come out. It's not just about killing thirty people, these woodcutters have killed enough Jurchen people to pile up a mountain of firewood."
The woodcutters from Shubi Lake!
The room went silent for a moment, then erupted in noise.
Although they were far from the northern lands, tales of the woodcutter's legendary deeds and fervor had naturally spread even here.
It was just unexpected that the woodcutters would leave the northern lands and come here.
"Could it be Duke of Chengguo's arrangement?" blurted out one of the military heads.
Everyone knew that the emperor had decreed Duke of Chengguo to aid Kaide Prefecture, and Duke of Chengguo had flatly refused.
They could understand why Duke of Chengguo didn't come back, after all, there were ten to twenty thousand Jin Soldiers to hold back in the northern lands, which made the two thousand here seem negligible by comparison.
That's how it is on the battlefield, you always have to make choices and consider the bigger picture, and often this bigger picture means sacrificing the smaller one.
They had accepted this as an inevitable part of military life; once on the battlefield, you're always ready to die.
But it was unexpected, Duke of Chengguo didn't come, but he sent the woodcutters instead.
"But, aren't the woodcutters not part of the armed forces? The dynasty even issued an order to capture them, saying they were causing unrest and disrupting military affairs," another military head hesitantly remarked.
This was indeed the case, initially the Jinyiwei even demanded Duke of Chengguo to conduct a severe investigation of the woodcutters, or else he would be impeached for harboring private troops, a crime of great sedition.
"The woodcutters only kill Jurchen people, now that the Jurchen have come to our place, so they just came to kill the Jin Dogs," Army Head Wang thought for a moment and then said.
Ding Dashan shook his head.
"There are more Jin Dogs in the northern lands," he said.
It would be more satisfying to kill Jin Dogs in the northern lands.
The group sat in the room, pondering in frustration around the scattered wooden table and teacups, when suddenly a soldier rushed in with a look of panic.
"Sir, it's bad news," he exclaimed.
The military heads in the room straightened up immediately.
Because of excessive casualties, are the Jurchens enraged, deciding to go after these fort soldiers?
The soldier looked peculiar, pointing outside.
"A group calling themselves the woodcutters has arrived," he said.
The woodcutters.
Once more, the military heads in the room stiffened.
Indeed, speak of the devil...
The woodcutters.
Characters only talked about in idle chatter were suddenly at their fort's doorstep, ready to meet the living!
This felt strangely surreal.
And somehow, there was a hint of fear.
A bunch of rough men, like love-struck youths, clutched their hands tightly in hesitation.
To meet or not to meet?
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Thanks to the papaya reward from Bamboo for the Spirit Beast Egg, thank you Sister Papaya.
Thanks to a well-known patron on page 11 for the reward of Ling Jiu.
Holidays are coming soon, are you excited? (*^__^*)