The light of the sword is like the moon reflecting on Kyushu

Chapter 2096 There are people outside the world, and there is a sky outside the world.

"They don't even spare young children, they're utterly inhuman! Of course they can't be considered human! But... now it's your friends killing our people..."

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"Couldn't you have said something to persuade them to surrender before you started killing them? It's normal for the dominant side to ask the disadvantaged side to lay down their arms and surrender! The victorious side can expand their power, and the defeated side can save their lives. Why not do something that benefits everyone?"

Pang Shiwu smiled. "Then let me ask you, if I had barged into your tent just now and said to you—kneel down and surrender, disarm and you will not be killed! Would you have knelt down and surrendered?"

Zaxi thought for a moment and said in a very soft voice, "Probably not!" If a boy barged into the tent where five or six soldiers were living and made five or six strong men kneel down and surrender, everyone would only think that the boy was courting death, or at the other extreme, that they would instinctively resist if someone broke in!

Pang Shiwu sneered, "Of course you won't kneel! I don't need to explain why, do I? When a normal person suddenly sees a stranger barging into their tent, their first reaction is usually to draw their sword! Only then do they think it's a prank! So, you want my friend to shout surrender to those soldiers, and then wake them up from their dream and make them fight back?"

Zaxi thought for a moment, "You're right! If we wake up our soldiers, they will pose a huge threat and put a lot of pressure on your friends..."

Pang Shiwu immediately raised his hand to interrupt him, "You misunderstood! Not disturbing your comrades is not because I'm afraid they will threaten my friends or put any pressure on them. What my friends are really worried about is that if your Tibetan soldiers are scattered everywhere, it will be difficult to catch them!"

Zaxi asked incredulously, "What? It's difficult to catch them? You mean... our three thousand soldiers are being chased by your two friends?"

Two against three thousand? What kind of outrageous statement is that? How is that possible?

Pang Shiwu said with a stern face, "If you're not blind, you should be able to see the power of my two friends' attack! Can you imagine, among your Tibetan soldiers, who could withstand that attack with their bare flesh and blood?"

It's easy to say, but that strike was unstoppable and indestructible! Even a large rock would probably be pulverized by that punch!
Zaxi and the others fell into deep thought!
They stole glances at Bigwolf and Chang Zijing. The blond man's right hand flashed with a blood-red light, the crimson appearing even more glaring! Meanwhile, the fox-fur woman's right hand radiated a bluish-green light, distorting the surrounding air as if an invisible force field existed!

The two men moved incessantly, sweeping left and right, advancing row by row, leaving no gaps, not a single tent escaped their grasp! Each seemed to merely wave their right hand lightly, and the tents, towering ten feet high, instantly turned to ashes! Such power was beyond the resistance of flesh and blood.
Zaxi thought to himself: In front of these two, let alone three thousand armored soldiers, even if thirty thousand iron-armored soldiers gathered together, what would it matter?
Three thousand ants are ants, but ten thousand ants are not ants either!

Ants are ants after all; increasing their numbers will not increase their strength in the slightest! Because the difference between the two sides is too great, they can only be crushed!

Zaxi said, "You guys are being a bit...too cruel by launching a sneak attack without giving people a chance to prepare for battle!"

Pang Shiwu said, "Do you want to call us despicable or cruel? It doesn't matter! Have you ever been on a battlefield?"

Zaxi said, "Of course I've been there! I've participated in at least twenty battles, big and small, and I have countless scars on my body! You don't believe me? Look!" As he spoke, he was about to lift up his battle robe to show Pang Shiwu his scars!
Pang Shiwu immediately raised his hand to stop him, saying, "Since you've been on the battlefield, you should know that death is a very common thing! Death is a soldier's honor! Only one in ten thousand soldiers can return alive from a battle-hardened battlefield! Unless they are elite soldiers at their peak physical condition, or once-in-a-century lucky ones who repeatedly escape danger and die! No matter which one they are, they are extremely rare, and the fate of the vast majority of people is to face death! They either die on the spot, or die from serious injuries, or freeze to death in the cold, or starve to death, or die from poisonous miasma, or die from exhaustion during pursuit, or be tormented to death by their own commander! One hurdle after another, each one difficult to overcome, but they still have to overcome them!"

Zaxi was surprised that the young man in black knew so much about the military!

Tashi has indeed experienced a lot of battles!
Before each battle begins, new faces appear around you, fresh blood among them. You gradually become familiar with them, and then before long, these new faces turn into cold corpses!

Then, after a brief period of regret, the army was replenished with fresh blood, new young faces arrived, and then they died again.

Over and over again, in endless cycles. Zaxi is now numb; he no longer rejoices at the arrival of new people, nor grieves for their deaths!

Life and death are destiny, wealth is in heaven!
Since we are ants, we have no right to change our own destiny!

If I had known this would happen, why did I join the army?
Joining the army means dying on the battlefield!
But if he didn't join the army, he and his parents would be beaten to death on the spot by Lord Xiben Qinbo!

Either way, I'm going to die!
This world!
Seeing his gloomy face, Pang Shiwu asked, "How much is your salary?"

Zaxi was taken aback: "Payment? What is salary?"

Pang Shiwu was taken aback: "It's the pay for soldiers! Don't you pay them?"

The soldier next to Zaxi said, "We only receive eighteen catties of barley and half a tea brick each month."

Pang Shiwu asked, "Then what will you use to buy things?"

The soldier said, "Let's exchange barley and tea bricks for some grain."

"How much grain can these things be exchanged for?"

"It's nearly a bushel of grain."

"So that means less than a single stone?"

"Ah."

"Dark enough!"

"So how much is your monthly salary in the Song Dynasty?"

"One and a half taels of silver, plus an extra two shi of rice, and three hundred wen for salt and vegetables. Converted to the grain exchange rate, this income is equivalent to four times yours!"

Zaxi and the others were instantly thrown into a panic!

What?! The Song Dynasty's military pay is four times that of Tibet! How the hell are they supposed to fight this war?!
He suddenly thought of a question and wanted to find some psychological balance: "What about the military pay for the Western Xia and Khitan?"

Pang Shiwu said, "Luckily, my elder brother told me, otherwise I really wouldn't know how much the monthly salary is. You'd be even more upset if I told you!"

Zaxi gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, just say it!"

Pang Shiwu said, "The monthly salary in Western Xia is three hundred coins, which is equivalent to one-third of a tael of silver."

Zaxi frowned and said, "This isn't even as much as we have?"

Pang Shiwu said, "The subsidy is two liters of salt and ten catties of dried meat, so although it doesn't seem like much, it's actually one-fifth more than what you receive!"

"Damn it! One-fifth, isn't that a lot? Every six months, that's a month's difference in income, a year's difference is two months, and six years' difference is a whole year's worth!"

Pang Shiwu thought to himself: These rough men are actually quite shrewd when it comes to accounting!

Zaxi and the others instantly lost their spirit!
Man is made of iron, food is made of steel, but money is the backbone!
Without money, a person can't stand up straight!
Without money, I don't even dare to speak loudly!
One soldier whispered, "I heard that the king issued us top-grade tea bricks, but we received inferior ones. Do you think it's possible that Ruben withheld our tea bricks?"

Zaxi said, "It can't be him. Our monthly salary is paid on holidays."

One of the soldiers said, "No wonder!"

"What happened?" "I heard from the other brothers that they had long suspected Jie'erlun of embezzling military pay, so they secretly sold yak tails to Song merchants in exchange for salt. This was both revenge against Jie'erlun and a desperate act of desperation."

"Trading oxtail for salt? How exactly does that work?"

"Three ox tails for a liter of salt!"

Pang Shiwu was very surprised, "Are ox tails really that valuable?"

Tashi said, "Don't underestimate this yak tail. Yak tail is very nutritious! According to you Song people, it has the effects of replenishing qi and blood, strengthening muscles and bones, enhancing immunity, and nourishing yin and moisturizing dryness! It is most suitable for those who are weak, anemic, or have osteoporosis. As soldiers, we love to drink yak tail soup the most!"

Pang Shiwu said, "I see. Then I'll have to drink more from now on."

At this time, many soldiers came out of their tents one after another. The commotion outside was getting louder and louder. Some of the soldiers were veterans who were very alert, unlike the new recruits who, upon hearing the noise, simply covered their heads with their blankets and went back to sleep!

Their thinking was simple: if the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. With thousands of people in the camp, what couldn't they handle? It's so cold, and there's no bugle call, why aren't they sleeping?

But when the veterans left the barracks and saw what they saw, they were all utterly terrified!

Those soldiers who were closer to Bigworen and Chang Zijin turned into blood mist before they could even react. The soldiers who were a little further away saw the two monstrous beings sweeping across the land, turning everything in their path to ashes. They were so frightened that they turned and ran away!

Some people didn't forget to remind their good brothers, shouting their names and telling them to run!

But before they could run a few steps, a sharp pain shot through their backs. After running a few more steps, they realized that blood was gushing from their chests, and that someone had shot through their chests! They ran a few more steps, collapsed, and died.
Chang Zijing's flying stones were many times more powerful than the crossbows of ordinary soldiers; no one could escape her sight alive!

The camp of three thousand men was now seven or eight tenths destroyed, with only a hundred or so tents remaining, arranged in several circles. The tent in the very center was significantly larger, clearly the residence of the commander-in-chief.

At this moment, many soldiers ran out of the outer military camp. They were terrified by the hellish scene outside and roared, "Prepare for battle! Protect Dongben!" But before they could finish speaking, they were already dead! A pebble flew into his mouth, knocking out his teeth and piercing his cervical vertebrae! His head tilted to the side, and if it weren't for a layer of skin holding it together, his head would have fallen to the ground!

Seeing this, the remaining soldiers dared not linger and fled in droves. Unfortunately, amidst the hissing sounds, they were all killed one after another by flying stones!

Pang Shiwu shouted, "Sister Chang, don't kill that Dongben!"

Chang Zijin waved her right hand, and a tent turned to ashes. "Understood!" She threw a stone with her left hand, killing a deserter. Her body moved like flowing water, weaving left and right. In an instant, more than ten tents in front of her were razed to the ground!

The Tibetan soldiers around Tashi were dumbfounded!

"If we encounter them on the battlefield, we won't even be able to leave behind a complete corpse!"

Pang Shiwu said, "Can't you just not become soldiers?"

Zaxi said with a wry smile, "We are Yong, they are Gui. We have no right not to be soldiers!"

Pang Shiwu frowned and asked, "What do you mean? Mediocre?"

“We Tibetan soldiers are divided into two categories: Gui and Yong. Gui are noble warriors who have been military households for generations and are responsible for combat missions; while we are Yong, who are servants of noble families. In peacetime, we engage in agricultural production, but in wartime we must go to war with our masters. My master is Dongben.”

Pang Shiwu said, "We exploit you to herd livestock and farm in peacetime, but then make you charge into battle when it comes to fighting. This is too dark!"

Zaxi asked, "Don't your Song Dynasty soldiers get exploited?"

Pang Shiwu said, "I wouldn't dare say there's absolutely none, but compared to you, the soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty are simply too fortunate! They have military pay, and they can be rewarded according to their merits. Ordinary soldiers can be ennobled or appointed as generals as long as they make contributions!"

One of the soldiers behind Zaxi looked on with longing, "A slave can become a general?"

Pang Shiwu said, “We Han people have a saying, ‘A hero’s origins are not important.’ This means we only value his current abilities, regardless of how humble he was in the past. As long as he has ability now, he will gain respect, fame, and status. You people here are terrible! I ask you, if you are someone else’s slaves, will your children be slaves too?”

Zaxi and the others looked grim. "Yes!"

Pang Shiwu instantly felt the atmosphere was incredibly oppressive!

"So you want to live like this for the rest of your lives? You've become slaves yourselves, and you want your next generation to continue being slaves? Generation after generation, when will you ever be able to turn your lives around?"

Zaxi murmured, "Will serfs ever be able to rise up again?"

Pang Shiwu said, "This day is actually not difficult to come! The Song emperor is currently willing but unable to do so. His energy is all tied up in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun. He hasn't even conquered the Northern Han yet, let alone annexed the Khitan! If he were to annex the Khitan, then things would be much easier. With the Central Plains unified, the Song Dynasty would have no more worries about its rear, and it could then consider annexing the Western Xia and Tibet! Under the Song emperor's rule, the emphasis is on good governance and harmony among the people. Do you know what that means?"

Zaxi said, "I don't understand."

Pang Shiwu chuckled inwardly. He had just heard this from his elder brother, and now he could actually use it to show off. "Political harmony and social stability mean a stable country and people living in peace and contentment. You understand what 'national prosperity and people's well-being' means?"

"I understand!"

"That's exactly what the Song emperor was pursuing! Of course, he also wanted to achieve great things and become the most powerful emperor in history, for example, by conquering the largest territory and ruling the most people, in order to enhance his reputation. But that doesn't affect my praise for him! As long as the people can live and work in peace and contentment, as long as the country is prosperous and the people are at peace, he is a good emperor! Just like Tibet, no matter if the Zanpu is your emperor or our Song emperor is your ruler, as long as he can make you live and work in peace and contentment, he is a good emperor! Everyone has a house to live in, land to cultivate, food to eat, no one to be bullied by foreign enemies, grandchildren to enjoy, and a house full of children and grandchildren, isn't life wonderful?"

Zaxi asked, "When will your Song emperor come to be our ruler?"

Pang Shiwu was taken aback. "You've changed your mind too quickly! You've already betrayed us?"

Zaxi said bitterly, "We are all born under the same sky, so why can the Song people live in peace and prosperity with many children and grandchildren? Why must we suffer and die a miserable death? We are born slaves, and our children are also slaves. We work the land for the serf owners in peacetime, and when war comes, we are sent to the battlefield to die. Generation after generation, our children and grandchildren cannot escape this cycle. Why is this so unfair?"

Pang Shiwu said, "Life is full of disappointments. There is no such thing as absolute fairness in this world! Even in the best of times in our Central Plains, at most we could say that princes and commoners are subject to the same laws, but ultimately, the outcome of princes breaking the law and commoners breaking the law will not be the same!"

Zaxi said, “But at least in your Central Plains region, the principle of equality before the law is maintained on the surface! Here, there is no such thing as the prince being punished the same as the commoner! If the same mistake is made, the master will be fine, but the serf will be punished. Broken arms and legs are commonplace, and in severe cases, even death is possible!”

"Yes, the rules are made by the powerful and influential, and they naturally have the ability to break the rules! Ordinary people like you and me can only act within the rules set by others."

Zaxi was taken aback. "Even someone as capable as you can only operate within the rules set by others?"

Pang Shiwu smiled bitterly: "I'm powerful? That's because you think I'm powerful compared to you! But there are always people more powerful than you! There will always be people more powerful than you in this world! You think I'm powerful? Let me tell you, if I don't do what certain people want, I will be eliminated immediately, leaving no trace!"

Zaxi exclaimed in surprise, "Really?"

Pang Shiwu said, "Of course! This is what they mean by 'there are always people more capable than you, and heavens beyond heavens'!"

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