Chapter 98: It's time for the Sima Clan to go to the Luo Goddess to fulfill their oath

'Clatter-clatter~'

The massive bucket rumbled down, scooping up dozens of tons of earth and stone from the ground.

The vehicle turned, bringing the bucket over the moat filled with pointed wooden stakes.

As the bucket tipped, earth and stone poured down like a waterfall.

Just this one bucketful nearly filled a short section of the moat.

The huge bucket moved back and forth endlessly, digging up earth and stone to fill the moat.

Normally, when troops on a night raid encountered a moat, they would use the wooden planks and long ladders they carried to cross it.

But across the moat was the camp, and the defending troops would shoot with bows and crossbows, and thrust long spears through the gaps in the palisade.

If someone carelessly lost their footing and fell into the moat, the stakes below would help disembowel them.

But now, the arrows shot by the defending troops' bows and crossbows fell like raindrops.

But striking the hook machine's body only made clanging sounds, and was completely useless.

Such a giant object was completely impervious to blades and spears.

After filling a section of moat about a hundred meters long, Lin Dao drove the hook machine forward across the moat and swept away the anti-horse obstacles and such.

Then the hook machine grabbed the camp's palisade, easily as if tearing paper, pulling sections of palisade apart and crushing them.

When the hook machine drove into the camp, the private soldiers and retainers could no longer bear the psychological pressure, screaming as they collapsed and scattered.

Large numbers of Gluttonous Army soldiers rushed into the camp from behind the hook machine, slaying the routed soldiers and setting fires everywhere to create chaos.

By this time, Lin Dao no longer needed to do anything.

He sat in the driver's cab, lighting incense leaves and enjoying the air conditioner, observing the battle situation while using the walkie-talkie to communicate with the various departments.

Daylight broke, and the night's battle had long since ended.

When Lin Dao drove the hook machine, with large numbers of Gluttonous Army soldiers following behind, arriving before the other camps.

The people inside basically all surrendered by opening their doors directly.

Emaciated civilian laborers and slaves, as well as county soldiers.

Their main role was to fill moats, to consume the enemy army's arrows, to wave flags and shout, and to transport supplies.

They simply had no option to fight against the enemy soldiers, nor against mountain-like giant objects such as the hook machine.

Lin Dao, holding a loudspeaker trumpet, stood on the hook machine.

Before him were acres of prisoners.

'The Imperial Court has already perished; everything before is void!'

'The lands and manors of local tyrants and high-ranking families are all waiting for you to divide!'

'Those who want to continue being slaves, who want their descendants to continue being slaves generation after generation, stand by those lords and gentlemen!'

'Those who want to divide land, all line up to receive land deeds!'

Lin Dao got down from the vehicle roof, and Liu Hu came over, saying, 'My lord, how should these prisoners be dealt with?'

The private soldiers and retainers whose morale had collapsed mostly chose to surrender.

Especially their masters, the local tyrants from various counties of Guangling Commandery, the small-surname families, and the distant branches of medium-and-above families locally—those who couldn't escape all surrendered.

The gentlemen and lords who once had the final say in the counties.

At this moment they crouched on the ground holding their heads, not even daring to take a peek.

Without their claws and fangs, they were nothing more than this.

'Later, hand these prisoners over to those slaves who received land deeds.'

'When handing them over, remember to say some stimulating words to stir up their anger.'

Generation after generation, age after age, they had all suffered oppression, working themselves to death yet even a full meal was a luxury.

The anger pent up in their hearts was ignited; those slaves would tear their former masters to pieces!

'Arrange a squad of troops to send these slave-soldier military households back to Guangling Commandery.'

'If any local tyrant dares to resist over there, deal with them directly.'

'The commoners, civilian clothes, military households, and slaves of all counties in Guangling Commandery must all be mobilized to clear out the tyrants and divide the land.'

One squad of troops was few in number, but they were all elite soldiers.

Assisting the slaves in dividing land and suppressing the local tyrants was enough.

In the days that followed, batch after batch, troops from various regions rushing to aid the king were consecutively defeated by the Gluttonous Army.

One troop after another of the Gluttonous Army, bringing large numbers of slaves, county soldiers, and military households, returned by the original route, mobilizing the military households and slaves of various commanderies and counties to divide land.

The smart high-ranking families, such as the brothers Xie Yi and Xie An, simply didn't care and fled south with the whole clan.

The not-so-smart ones were foolishly bringing their private soldiers, retainers, and door clients to come and aid the king, only to lose everything.

Only when the reinforcements arranged by Wang Meng arrived on the opposite bank of the river did Lin Dao then capture the Jiankang Palace City.

All the court ministers and Sima Clan imperial clan members were arrested and taken away.

Marching north all the way, they did not return to Ye City, but headed straight for Luoyang City.

Luoyang, the capital of Cao Wei a hundred years ago.

A hundred years ago, the famous Gaoping Mausoleum Incident broke out here.

At the Luo River floating bridge, Lin Dao gazed at the rippling Luo River before him and sighed with emotion, 'Sima Yi destroyed the reputation that had existed since ancient times.'

'After him, no one in the world believes in so-called oaths anymore.'

'Let alone swearing by the Luo River; even swearing by the ancestral graves of eighteen generations of ancestors, no one believes.'

'The loss of morality, the distortion of human nature, often stems from some shameless scoundrel.'

Liu Xiu once swore by the Luo River, establishing a firm oath and reputation.

But Sima Yi swore by the Luo River, then turned around and violated the oath, absolutely a calamity for a thousand years.

It truly began with him, and the oath became a joke.

In the tenth year of Zhengshi, Cao Shuang accompanied Cao Wei's young emperor Cao Fang out of the city to pay respects at the tomb of Wei Ming Emperor located at Gaoping Mausoleum.

Feigning illness, Sima Yi seized the opportunity to launch a mutiny and take control of Luoyang City.

Afterward, he imitated Liu Xiu's Luo River Oath from years past, pointing at the Luo River to swear that he would only remove Cao Shuang from office and absolutely would not harm his life.

Under the guarantor's guarantee, the naive Cao Shuang readily believed Sima Yi's oath and handed over military authority.

But after Sima Yi obtained military authority, the previous oath vanished like the ripples of the Luo River, disappearing without a trace.

He exterminated Cao Shuang and others along with their three clans, and the implicated massacre killed several thousand people.

The guarantor was thus angered to death.

This is the famous Gaoping Mausoleum Incident, also known as the Luo River Oath.

"Gentlemen."

Lin Dao looked toward the assembled Sima Clan members and said with a smile, "The Luo River has arrived."

"A hundred years ago, Sima Yi stood by the Luo River bank, pointing at the Luo River to swear."

"He said: If I, Sima Yi, harbor divided loyalties to deceive Cao Shuang and kill him, may the Luo River god punish me, and may the Sima Clan meet a bad end!"

Hearing Lin Dao say this, the Sima Clan members stirred into a commotion.

The armored soldiers stepped forward, and after a round of punches and kicks, they soon quieted down again.

"An oath, once made, must be kept."

Lin Dao reached out and pointed at the rippling Luo River, "The Luo River god has waited a hundred years; now it is time for you of the Sima Clan to fulfill your oath."

Among the clan members, cries rose on all sides.

Someone choked out, "The old ancestor's oath—what does it have to do with us?"

"How is it nothing to do with you?" Lin Dao immediately retorted, "If not for Sima Yi breaking his oath, how could you have gained the world?"

"If after gaining the world you had worked diligently to govern and let the common people live in peace and contentment, that would have been fine."

"But what have you of the Sima Clan done!"

"The princes fought among themselves, bringing calamity to the common people."

"You invited barbarians inside, causing the land to fall, with stench everywhere!"

"The common people who suffered calamity because of this number no less than a million!"

"Look well!" Lin Dao shouted in scolding, "Look well, because of you of the Sima Clan, how many common people have had their homes destroyed and families perished, and what state has the whole world fallen into!"

The Sima Clan members, none dared to meet his gaze, all lowered their heads.

Right and wrong, success and failure, judge heroes.

If the Sima Clan had seized the world and could do as well as Li Er waiting inside Xuanwu Gate, riding the wind and rain,

then the Luo River Oath would at most be after-dinner talk.

And they would even praise that the Sima Clan did well.

But they did not do well, and did it very badly.

They also implicated millions, who followed in misfortune and suffering.

With such premises, what right do they have to cry injustice~~~

Lin Dao turned his gaze, looking toward the high-ranking families of Jiangzuo and the court's senior ministers not far away.

"You."

He reached out and pointed at the crowd, "Today bear witness here."

"Bear witness to the Sima Clan fulfilling their oath to the Luo River god from back then!"

Lin Dao nodded slightly toward Liu Hu.

Liu Hu, having received the order, immediately stepped forward two steps and shouted toward the Sima Clan members.

"The Luo River Swimming Competition officially begins!"

As he waved his hand, a large batch of armored soldiers stepped forward, dragging and hauling the weeping and begging Sima Clan members.

They went straight to the Luo River bank.

Among the witnessing crowd, Wang Tian could not help but shout, "The dead will not come back to life; what use is what you are doing!"

Lin Dao, hearing this, suddenly turned his head.

He walked up to the bound Wang Tian and looked down at him.

"The commoners and military households and wild people who died horribly—because they are dead, they need not be cared about?"

"Exactly so." Wang Tian, pressed down by the soldiers, craned his neck in response, "Even if you kill us all, those mud-legged ones will not come back to life."

"What you do is utterly meaningless."

"Heh~~~" Lin Dao sneered, "You are truly high and mighty."

"Because the dead are not you, not your clansmen, so they need not be cared about."

"Avenging them has become a meaningless thing?"

"If so."

Lin Dao's expression was calm, "Then go tell the Luo River god."

"If the Luo River god says there is no need to care, remember to come back and tell me."

The soldiers escorted Wang Tian toward the Luo River bank.

Wang Tian was greatly alarmed, struggling desperately and shouting, "I am of the Langya Wang Clan! Who dares kill me?!"

'Bang bang!'

The soldier beside him punched him twice in the face, and the cry stopped abruptly.

The fist wearing iron gloves could directly knock a person unconscious.

Lin Dao's gaze swept over the assembled Jiang court ministers, his eyes thoughtful.

Everyone felt their hearts tremble under his look, and they all lowered their heads, daring not to meet his gaze.

At the same time, in their hearts they were cursing Wang Tian roundly: "The Sima Clan isn't your grandfather, why do you need to step forward?!"

Lin Dao frowned, pondering for a moment.

He asked Liu Hu beside him, "Since they are witnesses, should they not go and personally witness how the Sima Clan and the Luo God fulfill the agreement?"

Liu Hu gave a muffled hum, "Should be, right~~~"

He wasn't very certain either.

"Since that is the case," Lin Dao instructed, "then I invite the various witnesses to go seek the Luo God together with the Sima Clan."

"Everyone, please remember this."

Lin Dao kindly instructed, "After you have witnessed how the Sima Clan fulfills the agreement toward the Luo God, remember to come back and tell me."

"Don't you dare forget~~~"

End of Chapter