Chapter 35

"Earth wave smooth~"

"Ionosphere stable~"

"No electromagnetic waves or radiation sources~"

"No high-rise buildings, power lines, or towers to obstruct~"

"Better sound quality, longer communication range~"

Sitting in the carriage frame, Xie Yi listened to Lin Dao's voice, as if it came from beyond the Nine Heavens.

His expression was dazed, his head buzzing inside.

He had clearly heard it, yet it seemed as if he had not heard it.

In his slightly chaotic mind, only the sound transmitted from that strange box remained.

"This is an Immortal Method~~~"

"How is that possible?"

"Ancestors above, please solve this unworthy descendant's doubt!"

In his confused trance, Xie Yi was shaken awake forcefully.

"Commandant." Lin Dao half-turned, resting his arm on the carriage frame. "Asleep?"

Xie Yi shook his head, recovered his senses, paused a moment, then replied softly.

"Not slept~"

"What matter?"

For some reason, listening to Xie Yi's words, Lin Dao always felt an indescribable strangeness.

Gone was the previous high spirit; he seemed like a wronged little wife.

He did not think much of it, simply calling out, "Arrived at that fortress that refused to surrender earlier, let's go see how to attack the city."

"Oh." Xie Yi fully woke, stood up, and followed Lin Dao down from the carriage.

The dense crowd made way, saluting Lin Dao.

Xie Yi, following behind Lin Dao, gazed at the figure before him, lowering his head slightly.

His heart was in chaos.

If the person before him is an Immortal, then~~~

If he can climb onto him, won't the Chen Commandery Xie Clan fly up!

Separated by less than one li, Lin Dao surveyed the distant fortress.

Compared to the Qi Refuge Army's fortress, this fortress is simply like a landlord's large courtyard.

No need for any large siege engines at all; just set up ladders and go up.

"This fortress belongs to the Shu Clan."

The Commandant Lou introduced, "Men and women under a thousand, thousands of mu of land nearby, all belong to the Shu Clan."

Lin Dao simply expressed, "You go command the attack."

"Yes~~~"

The Shu Clan fortress is very small, and outside the city there are no decent defensive facilities.

Dug a few trenches, buried some antlers, set some palisades, and that was it.

Such defensive means, dealing with mountain bandits, horse bandits, small refugee groups — quite okay.

Facing the Qi Refuge Army, then it's not enough to look at.

The arranged vanguard are all elites.

Over a thousand armored soldiers wearing excellent armor, holding extended ice awls, advanced in formation.

Lin Dao called to Qin Lang, "Military households equipped with new soldier armor, pull out a batch too, test the equipment effect."

The so-called new soldier armor refers to military households equipped with new-style weapons and armor.

Their hands wrapped in hemp cloth, gripping three-meter-long threaded steel.

Various hammers hung at their waists.

The squad leaders and squad chiefs, however, wore ring-hilted blades, mainly used for cutting heads.

As for the military households' bodies, they wore machine-processed chest armor.

Front and back two pieces about two millimeters thick, semi-concave stamped armor plates, connected with cow sinew to protect the torso.

On their heads they wore a stamped helmet somewhat similar to the M35.

From Lin Dao's perspective, the overall equipment was mismatched, very crude in all aspects, typical transitional equipment.

But from the perspective of Yonghe Spacetime people, they would go crazy~~~

Low pressure shrouded the walls of the Shu Clan fortress.

Everyone's complexion was extremely ugly, as if their ancestral grave was on fire.

"Pangu above!"

The Shu Clan Patriarch wept bitter tears, "My Shu Clan is merely a small fortress with less than a thousand people!"

"Is it necessary to dispatch thousands of armored soldiers to attack?"

The Shu Clan members behind him, each and every one, wore faces of grief and indignation.

What heaven-condemning deed did the Shu Clan do, to invite such calamity~~~

The afternoon sunlight scattered golden halos, enveloping the earth.

Looking outward from the Shu Clan members' perspective.

First, a super-luxurious elite array composed of over a thousand officers of Commander Above Squad rank and higher.

Under the sunlight's reflection, the bright-to-dazzling armor made them dizzy and blinded.

Such fine armor, among military units, at minimum only a squad leader is qualified to wear it.

Or else, the Black Lance Dragon Soaring Army, these elite troops qualified to eat refined rice every day, are qualified to wear such top-grade fine armor.

Outsiders call them a Beggar Army, so they definitely aren't the Black Lance Dragon Soaring Army.

The Beggar Army actually gathered over a thousand low- and mid-level officers and soldiers to attack their own settlement?

What difference is there between this and Cao Chancellor sending Five Thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to besiege Longzhong Village?

Even more exaggerated, behind the military formation formed by these low-level officers, more and more soldiers kept marching out endlessly.

The same iron armor, gleaming brightly under the sunlight.

Thousands of soldiers, like a tide, gradually spread across the fields before the settlement.

Under the sunlight, like a metal Great Wall flashing with silver light.

These are all soldiers!

Soldiers capable of massacring cities and destroying nations!

"Quick quick quick~~~"

The Shi Clan Patriarch, coming back to his senses, kept calling out "Open the city gate, leave the city to surrender!"

A hot-headed young man subconsciously asked, "Surrender just like that?"

The stick in the Patriarch's hand whipped down at his head.

"Blind~~~"

"The soldiers they sent out number more than all the men and women in the fortress plus chickens, ducks, dogs, and pigs!"

"Still not surrendering, do you want everyone in the fortress, chickens and dogs not left?!"

Two quarters of an hour later, the Shi Clan Patriarch was brought before Lin Dao.

The Shi Clan Patriarch was very well versed in etiquette.

Keeping his head lowered without looking at Lin Dao, he directly kowtowed, his forehead touching the yellow earth, calling himself guilty.

Lin Dao, sitting on a hu bed (stool), elbow on his knee, with a hint of displeasure: "Why didn't you surrender before?"

The Shi Clan Patriarch, touching his forehead to the ground, grew even more respectful: "Only feared the massacre of the fortress."

In an era of collapsed rites and music and moral decay.

Tricking open cities, then massacring and burning and killing—countless such incidents.

Naturally no one dared to surrender easily.

Usually they'd send some grain, fodder, and wealth to buy them off.

Lin Dao asked again: "Why surrender now?"

The Shi Clan Patriarch answered frankly: "Grand Commander's army morale is gallant; us commoners have broken courage."

Very frank—just scared out of his wits.

After all, you can randomly pull out a unit of armored soldiers, and their number exceeds the population inside my fortress.

There's no fighting this at all.

Can only pray for Heaven's pity, that the opposing main general is a merciful person.

Lin Dao pinched his fingers, sinking into thought.

All around was silence; no one dared to speak.

Everyone knew the Grand Commander was thinking about how to deal with this Shi Clan.

The ruthless ones would directly execute the men and take the women, loot everything inside the fortress, burn the settlement down, and leave with the war spoils.

The Shi Clan Patriarch's sweat beads fell onto his forehead, moistening the earth.

The moment to decide the fate of several hundred members of the clan had arrived.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Dao spoke.

"The men and women of your clan shall be distributed among the various departments by household."

"All property and goods inside the fortress shall be confiscated."

"Are you willing to accept?"

Deep down, Lin Dao didn't really want to accept such a large clan.

After all, large clans have very strong cohesion.

According to the traditions of this era, centered on the clan.

The clan's command is above all; refusing or even rebelling against one's lord is commonplace.

In Lin Dao's view, the only acceptable way was to dismantle the entire clan.

Such a demand should be hard to accept, right~~~

"Bang!"

The Shi Clan Patriarch kowtowed hard, tears streaming: "Thank you, Grand Commander, for your mercy. The Shi Clan, upper and lower, are grateful beyond words, willing to die for you~~~"

"Hmm?" Lin Dao frowned.

The clan dismantled, family wealth confiscated—isn't this punishment strong enough?

"The Grand Commander is merciful and compassionate." Xie Yi added on the side: "Truly the fortune of the ten thousand people of Jizhou."

Indeed, the hand was too light!

The actual Shi Clan settlement had clearly refused the surrender demand and chosen to resist by force.

Afterward, seeing they couldn't win, they chose to surrender.

According to the traditions of this era, first kill a batch to establish authority, especially the Patriarch must surely die.

Then the men are demoted to slaves, the women sent to the Female Camp.

Family wealth and such are naturally all confiscated.

Lin Dao's punishment was this light — Pangu opened his eyes indeed.

Lin Dao, his face calm, waved his hand to signal the Shi Clan Patriarch to go back and attend to matters.

He leaned toward Qin Lang's direction; on this side Qin Lang hurriedly bent forward, bent his knees, and leaned over.

"After the people and things are all brought out, burn this Weichang down."

"Cut off their retreat route, extinguish their escape heart."

Qin Lang saluted, "Yeah~~~"

When it reached noon, the Vanguard set out again carrying dry rations.

Lin Dao's central army troops, meanwhile, rested and ate lunch on the fields before the Weichang that were about to begin spring plowing.

The men and women inside the Weichang came out in twos and threes.

Sun Rong led a group of Scribes to register them, compile the register, disperse and assign them to different Yingjun.

Sitting on a Hu bed, Lin Dao surveyed these people.

Most people's condition was very poor, especially the women and children.

Hair messy and tangled, eyes dull and lifeless.

Complexions dark and sallow, bodies thin and withered, as if a gust of wind could blow them over.

Very obviously, these people must be the vassals inside the fort, as well as the Shi Clan's collateral members.

Status not high, naturally the resources they obtained were few.

Being able to survive was already no easy feat.

"Film and TV dramas really are deceiving."

Lin Dao let out a relieved smile: "In film and TV dramas, a village girl is all plump figure, alluring curves."

"Fair face, black hair, ten fingers untouched by spring water — slender and good-looking."

"Village girl? More like a princess."

"These before my eyes are the real ancient women."

The men and women who came out afterward, their spirit and energy were passable — they must be the fort's clan core members.

Complexion not bad, stature and posture also barely passable.

Compared to those earlier ones in vine cloth and hemp clothing, they dressed much better — at least they wore shoes.

"Shoes?"

Lin Dao's heart gave a start.

Those people from the Weichang earlier, many of them were barefoot.

Thinking to here, Lin Dao simply stood up and inspected what style of shoes everyone wore on their feet.

His two Secretaries, on their feet wore boots similar to tube boots, made of leather inlaid with silk fabric.

One look and you knew — it was the privilege received after their status became high.

Sun Dalang and the other bodyguards wore shoes with straps, similar to shoes in the Modern World.

These are Hu shoes, a style brought from the Western Regions by the various Hu.

The bodyguards' Hu shoes were of good quality, made of cowhide.

No need to ask — it was the privilege of those close to him.

Toward these privileges, Lin Dao had not the slightest dissatisfaction.

He knew very well: if the people by his side didn't get privileges, why would anyone follow him and sell their lives for him.

PS: Many thanks to Book Friend Xufeng 77's 500 reward points support, grateful beyond words, many thanks!

Many thanks to Book Friend A Dong Ge's 1000 reward points support, grateful beyond words, many thanks!

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(End of Chapter)