Chapter 183: When will the cycle of vengeance end

Under the deterrence of the muskets, the people of the Zhu Family Manor could only watch helplessly as the Liang Shan heavy infantry advanced toward the gate.

"Young Manor Master, this won't do if it continues like this!

If these infantrymen occupy the city gate, our Zhu Family Manor will have no chance of a comeback!"

Luan Tingyu said anxiously to Zhu Long, who remained clear-headed among the main Zhu family line.

The power of Liang Shan's weapons was too great.

Their only reliance now was this city wall under their feet, which must not be lost!

"I, what other way do I have?"

Zhu Long no longer had any fighting spirit.

Liang Shan's smoking weapons, whose range far exceeded bows and crossbows,

and the fire-spitting weapons that broke the city gate in one blow, were beyond his imagination.

He simply could not see any hope of defeating the Liang Shan soldiers.

"As long as we hold out until the reinforcements from Li Family Manor and Hu Family Manor arrive, we still have hope!"

Luan Tingyu encouraged Zhu Hu loudly.

No matter how strong the Liang Shan soldiers' weapons were, there were only a few hundred of them.

They would absolutely not dare to fall into the encirclement of thousands from the three major manors.

Moreover, facing a battle that could already be considered a small-scale war, the county government would absolutely not sit idly by.

If they persist in defending, there will be a way!

"Instructor Luan, the safety of my Zhu Family Manor is handed to you!"

Zhu Long, having lost his spirit, grabbed Luan Tingyu's hand and entrusted him with tears in his tiger eyes.

"The Zhu family has treated me well; today I will repay them with my death!"

Thinking of the treatment he had received from the Zhu family over the years, whether it was Old Master Zhu

or the three Zhu brothers who treated him with the courtesy of a teacher, his expression became firm.

As the saying goes, a woman dresses for those who appreciate her, and a scholar dies for those who know him!

Today, Luan Tingyu would sacrifice this life to protect the Zhu Family Manor.

"Go! Everyone follow me! If we hold the city gate, there is still hope!"

Luan Tingyu gripped his iron staff and led a hundred loyalists of the Zhu Family Manor toward the city gate.

"Kill! Kill!"

Just as Luan Tingyu came down from the city wall, Lu Zhishen also led the heavy infantry to kill them.

"You fellow!

Today, the Zhu Family Manor being broken by my Liang Shan is a foregone conclusion. Why don't you surrender quickly!"

Lu Zhishen, also wrapped in heavy armor, roared like a thunderclap.

"There is only a Luan Tingyu who dies in battle, no Luan Tingyu who surrenders!"

Facing the call to surrender, Luan Tingyu, who had already made up his mind to die, remained unmoved,

roared, and swung the iron staff in his hand to strike at Lu Zhishen.

Apparently, he had already seen that Lu Zhishen was the leader of this infantry,

and intended to capture the leader first to win a breathing space for the Zhu Family Manor.

"Well come!"

Facing the iron staff that came with a fierce wind, Lu Zhishen couldn't help but praise.

"You also take a shovel from me!"

Lu Zhishen's expression suddenly became crazy, his eyes bloodshot,

and his whole person looked like an evil ghost crawling out of hell.

Clang!

The crescent shovel and the iron staff clashed violently in the air, making a sound like a giant bell.

"How is this possible, how is this possible?"

Luan Tingyu roared in his heart.

At the moment his iron staff touched the crescent shovel,

he felt that what he was holding was no longer the iron staff that never left his side and was as easy to use as his own arm,

but a wicked dragon that had revealed its true form and was about to overturn the river and the sea, making him almost unable to hold on!

"Let go!"

Lu Zhishen used another three points of strength.

"Ah!"

Luan Tingyu could no longer hold the iron staff in his hand and had to let it slip away.

An unlucky person beside him was hit on the head by the staff,

and some suspicious white liquid splashed out; apparently, he could not survive.

On Lu Zhishen's side, he saw an opportunity and punched Luan Tingyu in the stomach.

Luan Tingyu's internal organs felt as if they had been shattered, and he had no more power to resist.

"Tie him up."

Lu Zhishen picked up Luan Tingyu and threw him to the light infantry behind.

Zhang Jie naturally would not let heavy infantry attack the city as a single branch.

Heavy infantry are like tanks, able to crush all obstacles, but they are very afraid of traps and are difficult to fight for a long time.

Therefore, heavy infantry are used for tough battles, while light infantry assist them by their side.

Without Luan Tingyu, the remaining servants, even if they still had fighting spirit,

were vulnerable in front of the tank-like Lu Zhishen and were soon defeated.

The arrows shot by the swords, spears, sticks, and hunting bows in their hands

were just tickling the three layers of heavy armor on Lu Zhishen.

Under the deterrence of cannons and muskets and the search of the infantry,

the Zhu Family Manor was officially broken by the Liang Shan soldiers and fell into Zhang Jie's hands.

"Behind the vermilion gates, wine and meat go to waste, while on the road lie the bones of the frozen!"

In the granary of the Zhu Family Manor, Zhang Jie looked at the piles of grain,

like small mountains, and then thought of the journey he had taken,

where although they couldn't be called skin and bones, most of the Zhu Family Manor servants were definitely malnourished,

sallow and thin, and couldn't help but sigh.

Landlords and wealthy people like Old Master Zhu, even if they were not short of grain or money, would be as stingy as Grandet,

and even if they could only let them become stale grain in this granary, or even rot,

they would not be willing to distribute them to the people who needed them most,

even if these people were nominally their clansmen.

"The Lord's words are very true!"

Chen Wenyun echoed in full agreement.

The reason he made up his mind to embark on this path of no return with Zhang Jie, where the path to immortality was slim,

was that he had seen too, too many people like Old Master Zhu desperately exploiting the tenant farmers and peasants under them.

Even if those farmers worked hard for a year and welcomed a bumper harvest,

they would still take away most of it without hesitation,

leaving the farmers to struggle on the line of life and death.

"Across the four seas, there is no idle field, yet the farmers still starve to death"—this is exactly the case.

The books of sages he read told him that these were wrong and needed to be changed.

For this, he was willing to pay the price.

Even if this price was the life of his Chen family.

Even if this price was to bear the infamy of the ages!

And what comforted him was that Zhang Jie was not a hot-headed angry youth;

everything he did was planned and organized.

Especially the cross-era technology and weapons Zhang Jie brought out, such as machinery, gunpowder, muskets, and cannons,

gave him hope to overthrow the Great Song Dynasty and change all this.

"Let's not talk about this; let's talk about something happy."

Zhang Jie waved his hand, choosing to skip this heavy topic for the time being.

"Lord, I have checked several surrounding granaries, and they are all full of grain.

According to my simple estimation, there are no less than one hundred thousand shi, enough for our Liang Shan's current army and horses for a year!"

Wang Lun, holding an account book, came to report with joy.

Even though Liang Shan had been working hard to recruit soldiers and buy horses under Zhang Jie's instruction in recent months,

there were still only a few thousand people. Based on the consumption of about one shi of grain (about 120 jin) per person per month,

the grain in the Zhu Family Manor could support them for a year.

"Next, continue to recruit soldiers and buy horses!"

Zhang Jie waved his hand and made arrangements for the next work.

If you have grain and money, you have to spend it. If you let them stay in the granary and

silver cellar forever, what is the difference between having them and not having them?

Moreover, no matter how corrupt and slow the Great Song is, it is still a dynasty that has ruled the Central Plains for hundreds of years.

Although it is incompetent in foreign wars, its internal supervision has never been relaxed,

and it will not give them much more time to develop and grow safely.

He must make good use of this window period, accumulate strength, and then defeat the Great Song in one fell swoop!

"We understand!"

Chen Wenyun and Wang Lun obviously also understood this truth.

Leaving Chen Wenyun to continue registering the grain in the granary,

Zhang Jie took people to the most luxurious building in the Zhu Family Manor—the Zhu Family Courtyard.

"Lord, all the people of the Zhu family have been captured."

Song Wan, full of murderous aura and with bloodstains on his armor, came to report.

Apparently, capturing the Zhu family was not so peaceful.

"Leader Song has worked hard."

Zhang Jie first greeted Song Wan, and then continued to state his handling opinion for the Zhu family:

"Among those in the Zhu family, those with blood debts on their hands will all be tried.

Those who kill will pay with their lives, and those who injure or steal will be punished according to their crimes."

"Yes!"

Song Wan led the order and left with murderous intent.

"Lord, how should this Zhu Long be handled?"

After a while, Lu Zhishen, who had cleared the remaining resistance forces of the Zhu Family Manor, took off his heavy armor,

changed into light armor, and brought Zhu Long, the only remaining direct bloodline of the Zhu family, to report.

Well, Old Master Zhu could not accept the bad news of Zhu Biao and Zhu Hu's death,

and died of anger.

At this time, Zhu Long was disheartened, and the wound on his ear was casually wrapped with a roll of white cloth.

Even though Lu Zhishen was holding him like this, he had no reaction.

"Kill him."

Zhang Jie gave the judgment on Zhu Long in a flat tone.

Before crossing over, he had once seen an internet joke:

Foreigners' stereotypes about web novels of various countries:

Japanese netizens think the protagonist values their childhood sweetheart or girlfriend the most;

Korean netizens think the protagonist values money the most.

So what do Chinese web novel protagonists value the most?

The answer is killing the whole family!

Chinese netizens' reply is: Who said that foreigner?

This is a naked stereotype!

Tell me his name and address, I want to kill his whole family!

This is not a stereotype, but it is true that if you don't cut the weeds and dig up the roots, the spring breeze will blow again!

Cutting the weeds and digging up the roots is a tradition; feeling guilty for a lifetime is better than being worried for a lifetime.

"The Orphan of Zhao" had long told us the consequences of not cutting the weeds and digging up the roots.

Zhang Jie had already killed Zhu Long's second brother and third brother, and angered his father to death,

and also snatched away the wealth his Zhu family had accumulated for decades.

If Zhu Long could forgive him like this, then he would simply be a saint.

And judging from the hatred that could not be concealed in Zhu Long's eyes,

he was obviously not someone who could forget the hatred of having his family broken and his home destroyed.

Regarding this, Zhang Jie, who had no other means to resolve his hatred, could only send him to reunite with his father and the others.

Why destroy the whole family?

Because we want the hatred to end in this generation.

It is just that the Water Margin world he crossed into is biased toward film and television, and there are no strange things,

otherwise he would directly pour hot water into the Zhu family's ant nest, shake the eggs until the yolk is scattered, and split the earthworms vertically!

Lest some cats and dogs cultivate into demons in the future and come to trouble him.

When will the cycle of vengeance end? Cut the weeds and dig up the roots to have no worries~

"This subordinate understands!"

Lu Zhishen gave a ferocious smile and took Zhu Long outside.

With the sound of a sharp blade leaving its sheath and a scream,

the last core member of the Zhu family also fell behind the curtain. ===== CHAPTER 184 =====