Chapter 753: Beating Him into Submission

At this moment, the gate behind the drawbridge was still wide open — it was clear how hastily the group ahead had fled back, too panicked to care about anything else.

"Send a hundred men in. Take one day's worth of grain and fodder. Don't kill anyone if there's no resistance, but be wary of ambushes," Zhao Jin gave the order.

The order was passed down, and immediately a squad entered the stronghold. Throughout the charge and fighting along the way, it had been the main force of the Zhao Battalion doing the work, while many of the Internal Guard could only play supporting roles — but now their usefulness became apparent.

The able-bodied young men of the earthen fort, even the adult males, had all been conscripted to swell their numbers. Only the old, weak, women, and children remained inside. As for the dozen or so riders who had fled back first, they dared not resist in the face of over a hundred Zhao Battalion household troops and had long since knelt by the roadside begging for mercy. Inside the earthen fort, the sound of weeping filled the air, as everyone feared these fierce men from Xuzhou would loot, rape, and burn.

Yet to their astonishment, these iron-clad, formidable soldiers did not enter the homes of ordinary folk at all. This brought a sigh of relief to many young women who had been smearing stove ash on their faces and preparing nooses.

The Zhao Battalion household troops headed straight for the largest residence in the earthen fort — the so-called "Ground-Rolling Tiger Shi Family." According to the jianghu men of the Internal Guard, famine and the Liao military levies had scraped the land time and again. Ordinary peasant households had long since been unable to hold on. Only local strongmen like these could still preserve their resources. Such village and township overlords often paid no taxes and even exploited their neighbors, hoarding vast stores of grain and wealth. It was precisely this sort who needed to protect themselves amid the chaos of bandits rising everywhere, so they rounded up and coerced nearby commoners and villagers to build stockades and earthen forts.

To make the households and commoners inside the earthen fort work for them, the families within were barely given one or two days' rations. But the grain stockpiled in the hands of this fort-lord magnate could last months, even years.

The Shi household had no one left to guard it either. What was surprising was that there wasn't much grain in the storehouse — enough for a dozen days at most. The minds of the Shi family, young and old, were far more agile than those of the terrified commoners outside. They could see the Zhao Battalion household troops were strictly disciplined and did not harm the populace. Several old serving women and elders came forward weeping, claiming the harvests had been poor and their own family had no stored grain, begging the "great kings" to spare everyone's lives.

The several Internal Guard jianghu men who had guided them here looked somewhat embarrassed, feeling they had lost face. But then they noticed a maidservant of the Shi household desperately signaling with her eyes and immediately sensed something was wrong.

Once something amiss was detected, there were no more scruples about using force. After the Shi family steward had one finger chopped off, he spilled everything at once. As it turned out, the grain and valuables were all stored in the cellar.

The old and weak commoners outside had gaunt, malnourished faces, yet the grain in the Shi family cellar was even moldy in places. As for the cloth, valuables, and such, many items were still stained with blood — clearly of dubious origin.

When this was discovered, the entire family came wailing and shrieking to block them, only to be beaten back with blows raining down on their heads and faces. Word was immediately sent outside.

Zhao Jin ordered the cavalry to round up those local braves from the earthen fort who had scattered in all directions. He set them to hauling out the grain and preparing to cook meals for the main force. It was only at this point that Zhao Jin and his men learned the earthen fort was called Shi Family Stockade.

The captured local braves and militia had all been trembling with fear at first. But when they saw the grain and valuables hoarded in the Shi family cellar, each one erupted in fury. They themselves ate chaff and wild greens, yet still had to risk their lives for the Shi family — even sending their own womenfolk over just to beg for bare subsistence. Meanwhile, the Shi family had grain they couldn't finish eating, left to grow moldy.

The Zhao Battalion men couldn't be bothered to restrain them and let the enraged, furious local braves and militia beat the several ringleaders of the Shi family to death on the spot.

"... That maidservant who signaled with her eyes had been forcibly taken by the Shi family. Her brother had objected at the time, and then one day when bandits came, he died — stabbed in the back. She's been given some loose silver, matched with a man she fancied, and sent off together with him..."

The aroma of food was already beginning to waft through the air. The mounts were all lowering their heads to eat grain. The dry provisions that could be prepared in the stockade at short notice were limited — after all, horses could eat raw grain, but people could not.

For this detachment of the Zhao Battalion, however, eating their fill for this one meal and giving the mounts a chance to replenish was enough — because they were not far from Gaoping Mountain now.

Once the men had eaten a hot meal and the horses had their fill of fodder, everyone's spirits were high. Only then did they set out again.

The main force had not traveled far when they could see columns of smoke rising behind them from Shi Family Stockade — it looked like a fire had broken out.

"Brother Xiaojin, not a single member of the Shi family will survive," Mu Shulan said, her tone very calm.

No one was surprised. Beating only the Shi family head and a few others to death in front of the Zhao Battalion had been out of fear that the Zhao Battalion would interfere. Once the Zhao Battalion left, the Shi family would be stripped clean. Every last man, woman, old and young of the household would meet a bad end. Having seized the grain and valuables, the people would want no future trouble left behind.

Zhao Jin did not look back. He simply said, "If the Shi family lives, who knows how many more in that stockade will die."

After he said this, everyone fell silent for a moment. A while later, Zhao Jin raised his hand and shouted, "Everyone, pick up the pace! We'll rest once we reach Gaoping Mountain."

The column's movement quickened at once, dust rising in its wake.

For the rest of the journey to Gaoping Mountain, no force reckless enough dared to come provoke them. There were scattered riders watching from afar, who then whipped their horses and fled. There were men on foot poking their heads out to spy, who then turned and sprinted away. From then on, the forward scouts reported no further interceptions.

"They built an earthen fort and stockade, yet didn't give the local braves and militia enough to eat or any way to survive. They knew full well how strong our force was, yet still led their men out to block us. The Shi family really were muddle-headed fools. Even if we hadn't wiped them out this time, they'd have run into some other calamity sooner or later," Ji Xiang remarked with contempt.

Some of those encountered along the road might have been chance meetings, others might have been enemy scouts. But anyone with a shred of rationality, seeing a mounted column as formidable as the Zhao Battalion, would think twice. Even if they couldn't swallow such a force, they'd at least avoid bringing disaster on themselves. Only the Shi family failed to grasp this.

Just like that, they traveled all the way to Gaoping Mountain. The Zhao Battalion's horses were all kept here, and the follow-up supplies had also been transported to this location. Guarding the place were thirty-some men — all from the Internal Guard and those loyal jianghu men from Xuzhou.

During the time Zhao Jin and his men had advanced rapidly on Yuncheng and then returned, the follow-up supplies had already arrived here. The dry provisions and pickled vegetables the men needed, the fodder for the horses — everything was ready. The horses temporarily kept here had also been fed their fill and were full of vigor.

"Change horses!" That was the only order.

Everyone busied themselves, moving and swapping tack and baggage. This place could barely be considered safe. After posting sentries, the main force took a brief rest here.

"A bounty of tens of thousands of taels of silver — the Smelling Incense Sect really is willing to spend on us brothers," Ji Xiang said, somewhat relaxed now at the sight of the spare horses and ample supplies, his tone joking.

Chen Sheng gave a cold snort. "What kind of spending is that? Are our lives worth only a few tens of thousands of taels?"

It was rare to hear Chen Sheng say something like that. Everyone paused for a moment, then couldn't help laughing. Mu Shulan blinked and shook her head. "You all talk so big now — tens of thousands of taels don't even register anymore."

Zhao Jin turned his head to look at Mu Shulan. After a day of silence, she was much more natural today. He smiled and explained, "Xiaolan, you don't realize — we've built quite the operation now."

Mu Shulan only smiled and said nothing. Zhao Jin turned back, his expression now much more serious. In a deep voice, he said, "Let's not get careless because of that Shi family today. The Shi family happened to be on our return route and stupidly came out to block us — that was their own misfortune. But the places the Smelling Incense Sect can get messages to may not all be that foolish. They might not dare confront us alone, but if enough of them gather and see a chance to win by numbers, they'll certainly give it a try."

Zhao Jin drew his scabbard and scratched two circles on the ground, then tapped the scabbard between them. He continued, "These tens of thousands of taels of silver are enough to turn many heads. They'll all muster whoever can ride and rush over. If they're not stupid and know what they're doing, they'll definitely guess we're heading back to Xuzhou. In that case, they'll hurry to the area between Jinxiang and Yutai to cut us off. That's our inevitable route, and the timing matches up."

Everyone nodded. Mu Shulan only glanced once at the crude diagram on the ground before fixing her gaze on Zhao Jin. Zhao Jin didn't notice, absorbed as he was in his own words. "Government troops will move. The greenwood will move. Local forces will move. They might not necessarily fear our four hundred and several dozen riders. They're mounted too, and all picked fighters from their respective bands. Once enough men gather, their courage will swell. They'll definitely want a major fight with us."

"What do we do?"

"Fight! This time, we'll beat the Yanzhou Prefecture of Shandong so badly they'll be scared and thoroughly subdued!"

Zhao Jin's answer was crisp and decisive. No one else thought it would be much trouble either; they all nodded.

"When you could have killed Xu Hongru, you didn't. When you could have gone around, you didn't. The brothers follow where you lead — just make sure you haven't miscalculated yourself," Chen Sheng said.

Ji Xiang and Liu Yong both started. Zhao Jin, however, laughed and reached out to pat Chen Sheng on the shoulder. "Among the brothers now, you're the only one who can still talk to me like this. Don't worry, I haven't made a mistake."

"Brother Xiaojin, you didn't kill Xu Hongru?" Mu Shulan asked in surprise.

Chen Sheng coughed once and lowered his head somewhat awkwardly. Zhao Jin couldn't help laughing — he had seen the embarrassment on Chen Sheng's face. They were all so used to being together, they'd forgotten Mu Shulan was present.

Zhao Jin, however, was quite forthright. He turned back to look at Mu Shulan and said, "Xiaolan, rest assured. Not killing him now doesn't mean I won't kill him later."

Mu Shulan stared at Zhao Jin for a moment, then suddenly broke into a smile. "I trust Brother Xiaojin. Of all those people, the one I actually hate most is my fourth uncle, Mu Wuzhen."

Ten thousand taels for Zhao Jin's head alone, and another thirty thousand as a reward for taking them all — that added up to a full forty thousand taels of pure silver! The sum was simply staggering. In ordinary times, just hearing it would make one's heart race and breath come heavy, let alone now, when it was real and on the table.

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