Chapter 170

"Ebilong has been caught!"

"Really caught?"

"It's true, the Ming Army of Tianjin Wei caught him!"

"He has already been sent outside the main embankment!"

"The Ming Army caught him? He ran to Tianjin Wei?"

Getting off the excavator, Lin Dao took off the thread gloves on his hands. "Speak clearly, how was he caught?"

The bodyguard walking along explained, "This dog thief is truly cunning!"

"He had his own personal soldiers wear his armor, fly his flag, and flee toward Jia Zhen Bao, in the direction of Guan Tao."

"He also deliberately spread the word, saying Ebilong had gone toward Jia Zhen Bao."

"The Jiang Jun were all deceived, swarming off to pursue toward Guan Tao, Guan County, and Qiu County."

"The dog thief himself changed clothes, crossed the Grand Canal, went all the way around northward past Jinan Fu, rushed to Cangzhou and then to Tianjin Wei, planning to take a boat to Juehua Island."

"Juehua Island." Hearing this place name, Lin Dao recalled the Juehua Island massacre recorded in the History Books.

The Tartars committed too many massacres, truly too many to count.

"Heard his luck was bad; when boarding the ship, the headscarf on his head was blown off by the sea wind."

"The Ming Army on the Ma Tou saw his Qian Shu Wei Ba, and immediately seized him."

"Upon interrogation, they found out it was actually Ebilong; the Ming Army happily escorted him over."

"Hm?"

Lin Dao halted his steps, looking over with doubt. "What are they happy about?"

"The high Bounty offered by the Marshal, the Ming Army knows about it too."

The bodyguard reported, "These days, they've caught quite a few Tartars and Mongolians to exchange for Reward Money."

Lin Dao was somewhat uncertain. "Did I say that people outside my army could also come claim the reward?"

The Ming Army now should be in a hostile combat relationship with the Righteous Army, right?

Now it was the bodyguard's turn to stare blankly.

The Marshal didn't say so?

Could it be he doesn't want to pay?

No way, the Marshal is so rich, would he care about such a trifling amount?

Lin Dao stepped forward again, went up the main embankment and down, arriving at where the crowd gathered, and saw several dozen Ming Army soldiers surrounded in a circle, a prison cart in their midst.

Weapons and such had all been surrendered; numerous bodyguards surrounded them on all sides with Hu Shi Yan Yan.

Just as Lin Dao said, the two sides were actually still in a hostile combat state.

For the sake of the reward, these Ming Army soldiers were bold enough to want silver and not their lives.

Seeing Lin Dao approach, the leading Ming Army Bai Hu hurriedly saluted.

Lin Dao asked the bodyguard, "Identity confirmed?"

"The Tartars kept unexecuted for identification have already recognized him; it is indeed Ebilong himself."

"Finally caught."

He turned to the group of Ming Army. Called the Ming Army, they actually looked more like farmers.

These were all Wei Suo soldiers, a completely different existence from the Yingjun who fight field battles.

Over two hundred years later, the Wei Suo soldiers had long since rotted away, completely just pitiful serfs raised in circles by military officers.

Each one tanned dark by the sun, not to mention faces full of wrinkles, bodies clad in tattered rags more miserable than beggars.

Only the leading Bai Hu wore a half-new-half-old Mandarin Duck Battle Jacket with sleeves covered in Wu Ji.

"My words have always been one spit one nail."

"The agreed-upon reward will naturally not be shorted for you."

"However, manor houses and fields and such, you are not suitable to receive them."

Lin Dao paused. "Cash it out."

The group of Ming Army soldiers went happily to claim the reward.

This time they really struck it rich.

Tens of thousands of Tael in rewards.

Lin Dao's word counted; he said he'd give the reward and he gave it.

As for how these Ming Army soldiers divided it among themselves, and how they resisted others' covetous eyes and robbery, that was none of Lin Dao's business.

Lin Dao stepped up to the prison cart, gazing at the decadent figure inside, bared his teeth and smiled.

"Like setting fires, huh?"

"Ever heard of a punishment called Cannon Roasting?"

"The things have long been prepared for you."

"Thought you'd escaped, wouldn't need them temporarily."

Lin Dao greeted the bodyguards. "Bring all the Cannon Roasting things over, put them in the He Dao Li."

"After it's roasted done, bury it directly under the riverbed."

Seas of people, the commoners gathered around the river to spectate.

There were people who luckily escaped from Dongchang Prefecture, weeping and howling, holding various Fan Bao to offer sacrifices in the river.

A bodyguard holding a syringe stepped forward, gave a shot into the arm of the tightly bound Ebilong.

This was a strong-heart needle Lin Dao got from South Africa, to prevent Ebilong from fainting too early due to severe pain.

"This person."

Lin Dao, carrying a trumpet in his hand, raised his finger toward Ebilong bound on the cannon roasting: "Heartless and deranged!"

"To escape, you burned the city, causing the deaths of countless wronged souls!"

"Today, I ask the Yellow River God to bear witness, and dispose of such evil scum on the spot, to comfort the spirits of the many wronged souls in heaven!"

Amid the crowd, wailing rose loudly.

Many people were shouting the names of relatives and friends who perished in the great fire of Dongchang Prefecture.

The bodyguards stepped forward to light the fire.

As the temperature of the copper pillar kept rising, Ebilong's heart-rending screams were also deafening.

"Control the temperature." Lin Dao instructed, "Don't let it end so quickly."

Firecracker sounds rang out.

Mixed together with the crying of the common people mourning, and Ebilong's screams, they formed a very unique sound.

Lin Dao lowered his head, stepping on the riverbed silt beneath his feet.

"There's no river water at all, who knows if the River God even came to take a look."

Li Zicheng and the official army together dug open the great embankment, causing the Yellow River to change course.

Downstream here only some tributary waters converge into the old channel.

But the Northern Lands suffer severe drought; these tributary waters haven't even flowed over before being evaporated dry.

"Hurry up and clean the river channel a bit; clean as much as you can."

"Next we need to go plug the breach."

"Those dog things who dug the embankment, catch them all and throw them in the river to seek the River God's forgiveness!"

Every breach of the Yellow River brings sky-reaching floods and cruel losses.

For thousands of years, who knows how many people have perished because of this.

"I can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause."

Lin Dao caught his breath: "Building multi-level dams — that kind of thing is truly impossible."

This is the Yellow River, not some obscure little river channel.

Don't look at how everyone always says compared to the Chang Jiang, the Yellow River's flow width and such fall far short.

But that's comparing with the Chang Jiang.

Besides the Chang Jiang, who dares fight it out?

Lin Dao let his thoughts wander here, while over there Ebilong undergoing punishment had already gradually lost his voice.

The bodyguards surrounding him on all sides saw this, quickly picked up Molotov cocktails, ignited them, and threw them over.

The bottles shattered upon hitting the copper pillar; in an instant fire light rushed to the sky!

Ebilong's already hoarse cries rose high-pitched once more.

Firecracker sounds became even denser; crying and wailing also grew louder.

Finally, after a long time everything returned to calm.

An excavator drove over; its huge bucket dug out an enormous deep pit in the silt.

The bucket pushed flat, shoving the body already turned to coke together with the copper pillar into the deep pit.

The bucket scraped a few times; the deep pit was filled in, everything announced the end.

The dredging work mobilizing massive manpower continued for nearly a month.

It seemed large in scale, but actually it was just cleaning off a layer of silt accumulated in the downstream river sections.

After all, manual operation is far from comparable to large-scale mechanization.

Finished with these busy tasks, Lin Dao hurriedly brought his men and horses rushing to the Yellow River breach.

Kaifeng, once a super-giant city with hundreds of thousands of population.

Its prosperity back then could rival the Two Capitals.

Yet at this time, it has already become a vast marshland.

Yellow River water surging from the breach submerged the entire city in water.

Houses collapsed, trees withered and snapped; even the city walls that blocked Li Zicheng's siege for half a year were soaked rotten and collapsed.

From time to time, plump Yellow River White Amur could be seen faintly in the water.

"Truly damnable."

Watching the surging river water rush out from the breach, Lin Dao also shook his head repeatedly.

"This man-made disaster is even more severe than natural disaster."

The hundreds of thousands of wronged souls of Kaifeng City, and the countless disaster victims in the Huangpu Area.

It's truly too tragic.

"Marshal." The bodyguard stepped forward to report: "Former Henan Governor Gao Mingheng, Patrol Censor Yan Yunjing, King of Zhou Zhu Gongxiao and others have all been escorted here."

These people are the chief culprits who decided to dig open the embankment at Zhu Family Dyke.

Of course, on the Ming Army side.

The Flash Army side also dug once; Lin Dao temporarily still can't reach them, can only wait for later.

"They've come, good that they've come."

Lin Dao caught his breath: "Then bring them all up."

On the Yellow River Embankment, Gao Mingheng, Yan Yunjing and other court high officials who previously escaped Kaifeng City, as well as King of Zhou Zhu Gongxiao and others, were all escorted up.

When the flood submerged Kaifeng, these people escaped on small boats.

As for the hundreds of thousands of commoners in the whole city

They couldn't go to the Capital; the Emperor didn't permit it.

I originally wanted to go to Jiangnan, but Jiangnan was occupied by Lin Dao.

In the end, Gao Mingheng and the others each returned to their hometowns, while King of Zhou Zhu Gongxiao fled to Huai'an Prefecture.

Lin Dao advanced northward; first, King of Zhou Zhu Gongxiao was captured in Huai'an Prefecture.

After defeating the Tartars, he dispatched men and horses to go to the hometowns of Gao Mingheng and the others, and captured them all back.

"You people."

Lin Dao's eyes were full of disdain. "How do you have the face to keep living?"

"Truly not a shred of shame!"

Yan Yunjing struggled and shouted, "This was all done by the rebel Li Zicheng; it has nothing to do with us!"

Gao Mingheng knelt on the great embankment, not uttering a word.

As for King of Zhou Zhu Gongxiao, he had long been scared into trembling all over, unable to speak.

"Li Zicheng's matter, I will personally go find him to settle accounts."

Lin Dao's words were resolute and decisive. "He cannot escape!"

"As for you people."

His gaze swept over the crowd. "Not a single one of you can escape either!"

"Kaifeng City, a million wronged souls."

"After the Yellow River breached its dikes, countless disaster victims suffered from the flood."

Lin Dao stepped forward and kicked Yan Yunjing to the ground with one foot. "You harmed so many people, yet you carry on living happily as if nothing happened."

"A bunch of shameless things!"

He raised his hand and pointed at the Yellow River nearby. "Today, I will send you to meet the River God."

Gao Mingheng and the others all trembled violently.

"Great Marshal~~~"

Yan Yunjing struggled to rise, crawling forward on his knees while wailing, "We only did it for self-preservation."

"If Kaifeng City falls, the common people will surely end up in the hands of the rebel Li Zicheng~~~"

"Telling me this is useless." Lin Dao tilted his head and signaled. "Go tell the River God."

The bodyguards stepped forward, dragged these criminals who were bound hand and foot, and added weights to their bodies.

One large stone per person, firmly tied onto their bodies.

They were brought onto several kayaks and taken to the middle of the river.

Amidst crying, begging for mercy, and wailing, one by one they rolled off the boats and sank into the water.

Strings of bubbles were the last words they left in this world!

End of Chapter