Chapter 473: It Was Planned This Way (First Update)

"No. I asked several of them. They all said they were temporarily reassigned here to deliver pay and were strictly ordered by their officers not to talk. I figure taking private jobs like this must be against the law, and after suffering such heavy losses, who would dare come again? I expect that Wolf Mountain Vice General will also tighten discipline." Ji Xiang analyzed.

Zhao Jin nodded and followed this line of thought: "But those militia and village braves from the Feng family — if we let them go back, they might very well come again. These men cannot be released!"

"What does Big Brother mean?"

"Don't always think about killing. Right now we're building roads and docks back home, and there are ironworks and mines north of the river. There's work everywhere that needs hands. Capture them and take them back as laborers!" Zhao Jin said with a smile.

Most of the Feng family's main force had been taken prisoner. The government troops formed one group, the Feng family militia another, and the remaining bandits and outlaws yet another — they were held under guard in three separate locations.

The unluckiest among them were those bandits and outlaws. The refugees searching with bamboo spears had fought them in battle, and the blood feud ran deep. Often, even after they cried surrender, they were not spared. A dozen or more bamboo spears would thrust in together, stabbing the upper body to shreds.

Downwind and far from the water source and the stockade, a large patch of ground was cleared of grass. The bodies from every location were carried there. Everything on the corpses had already been thoroughly searched and stripped.

The last afterglow of sunset still lingered at the horizon, though most of the sky had already gone dark. The thick stench of blood here lured many wild beasts, but even they dared not approach, only peering from a distance without cease.

The corpses were piled there, doused with the oil and fat the Feng family's main force had been carrying, and set directly ablaze. The refugees and those jianghu men all busied themselves, cutting grass to feed the flames. Zhao Jin had already given the order: burn these bodies thoroughly, then use the ashes and residue to fertilize the fields.

As for the wounded among the Feng family's main force, those lightly injured were ignored, and the severely wounded were given a quick end. Zhao's Camp and the refugee stockade had no spare time to bother with them. Screams of agony and pleas for mercy rang out unceasingly as body after body was carried away.

On the stockade walls and the open ground around the refugee stockade, great heaps of bonfires had been lit. The most docile batch of prisoners had also been selected and sent out in shifts to cut grass and tend the fires. The nights here were bitterly cold. Without ensuring warmth, and without huts for shelter from the cold, it was easy to fall ill from exposure.

Night had already fallen, and it was pitch-black all around. The prisoners driven out to cut grass could hardly avoid thoughts of escape, but bowmen followed them. Those who tried to flee under cover of darkness generally could not evade that single arrow.

Those several dozen short, stocky, dark-skinned bowmen followed in silence as well. If someone ran, they did not shout. They either raised their bows and shot, or directly gave chase. Even in such pitch-black night, they could somehow keep up, and after killing the man, they could still find their way back.

The earth behind the stockade's main gate had been dug away to allow easy passage in and out. These three days had been a true swing from great sorrow to great joy for the refugees, and they were still somewhat in shock. Those assigned tasks kept busy; those not assigned sat here and there on the walls, watching Zhao's Camp and the relief force stationed outside.

The aroma of cooking food had already begun to waft through the air. Many of the mounted men had gone out hunting and brought back game, just the thing to add a bit of meat to the meal.

A space had been cleared inside the stockade, and a great heap of bonfires lit. Zhao Jin, Ji Xiang, and Dong Bingfeng sat right at the center of this area. Zhang Hubin and several company commanders and squad leaders who had followed along sat around them. Every face bore signs of exhaustion, but every face was also relaxed.

"This man here is the hero — Wei Mugen. Come over here!" Zhao Jin called out with a smile.

A thin, small boy walked in timidly. Wei Mugen was actually not much younger than Zhao Jin and the others, but having never eaten a full meal since childhood, he looked like a child who hadn't yet grown when compared to the robust men of Zhao's Camp.

When the Feng family sent out cavalry to clear the sentries around the stockade, Wei Mugen escaped that calamity and crawled out to deliver the warning. The first remarkable thing was that he did not lose his way. Using the stars to mark his direction and relying on his memory of the route he had come by, he actually managed to find the path back. The second was sheer luck: he had walked for less than two hours when he encountered the supply convoy.

When the jianghu men escorting the supplies for the stockade saw Wei Mugen, they assumed he was a refugee who had fled the stockade and tied him up at once. Wei Mugen gestured wildly, swearing that the stockade was under surprise attack.

At first they thought it was a lie, but what Wei Mugen stammered out was not something a refugee could fabricate — the various methods of the sneak attack, and the fact that the dead jianghu man had acquaintances among the supply escort...

Once they were seventy percent certain it was true, the convoy immediately changed course. They freed up six horses for three men and sent them rushing to deliver word to Xuzhou. The supply convoy itself went to Yutou Town to temporarily halt — who knew whether there were ambushers lying in wait ahead.

By the time the messengers set out, Zhao Jin had already led the main cavalry force to Fangcunji. This was because two days earlier, someone from Yutou Town had sent him an urgent message: a trading company connected to the Feng family was mobilizing supplies. From the boatmen transporting the goods, they had learned that these supplies were being shipped to the eastern shore of Luoma Lake.

The Feng family had no properties on the eastern shore. Such an unusual move would naturally be noticed by Zhao Jin's eyes and ears. And once they inquired into what supplies were being prepared, they could roughly deduce what the Feng family was planning.

Zhao Jin's men kept daily watch on the travelers and merchants passing between Xuzhou and Pizhou. The messengers had just entered the Fangcunji area when they were stopped. Zhao Jin set out immediately and rode without rest toward the eastern side of Luoma Lake.

They advanced in groups of a hundred. If anyone asked, they called themselves traveling merchants. The patrol officers and customs agents along the way were all sensible enough — when such a ferocious-looking force passed through, if they stopped and questioned them closely, they could certainly find something amiss, but they could forget about earning merit or riches; nine times out of ten, they would die violently on the spot.

Those with good information even knew exactly what background this large force came from. But since this large force did not ravage the countryside or plunder merchants, and did not attack cities, there were no crimes and no reports filed — so all was peaceful and uneventful. Besides, everyone still clearly remembered the bloody storm in Pizhou during the first month, so even fewer people were inclined to meddle.

Zhao's Camp, counting the horse team and everyone who could ride, had only about four hundred men in total. Most of these were so-called mounted infantry — they could ride and could gallop at speed, but they could not be relied upon to charge and fight on horseback. However, in the border area between Xuzhou and Pizhou, large numbers of Xuzhou martial artists were active, many of them mounted; otherwise, they would have had no way to intercept the salt convoys and salt smugglers.

The Feng family's salt convoys no longer dared come through from Huai'an Prefecture. Other salt smugglers and salt dealers also knew to voluntarily pay the customary cut. Yet there were always those bold risk-takers who tried to sneak across the border. Catching these meant profit and spoils — nothing compared to the Feng family salt convoys, but even a mosquito's leg is still meat. Having enjoyed good days for only a short while, they naturally would not let such chances slip by.

Many of this group came from the Xuzhou Guard background, and there were even more jianghu men close to Zhao Jin. With one call from Zhao Jin, everyone rallied to him in a rush. Having just gained such enormous benefits from seizing salt, helping out was only right.