Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 510 Harvest
"Stop howling. Go over there!" Su Jiu pointed in the direction of Cui Liu and said in Jurchen to the boy who had just been kicked by him.

The boy didn't listen to him and continued to stand there crying.

Su Jiu had little patience, and he didn't bother trying to persuade or threaten. He raised his foot and kicked the boy again. Perhaps out of compassion, or simply because the boy was no longer holding a weapon, Su Jiu's kick was slightly gentler than before. But this kick still caused the boy to stumble and fall to the ground.

As the saying goes, people can't teach people, but things can teach people. If the first kick crushed the boy's courage to resist, the second kick clearly told him that no one would pamper him or protect him. The boy stopped crying, endured the pain, got up from the ground, and walked towards Cui Liu.

Cui Liu was smart enough to at least know how to command others. After untying the ropes holding the tent, he didn't personally tie up the surrendered captives. Instead, he assigned the task to a thin, seemingly docile man who hadn't joined the charge.

Cui Liu didn't even look at the boy; such a child posed no threat to him. He continued to stare at the captives, some sturdy and some thin, until the boy screamed and knelt beside his mother's body, crying loudly. Only then did he frown and look back.

"Mother!" This was the first time the boy clearly understood the meaning of the word "death," even though he had already experienced his father's absence from battle and witnessed his younger brother's death from illness.

But people's joys and sorrows are not shared, and the insensitive Cui Liu had no sympathy for his own kind. He simply found the boy's noise annoying. Cui Liu looked back at the boy carefully, and after confirming that his head was not worth the silver, he "mercifully" pulled him by the collar and threw him into the crowd.

The boy bumped into a kneeling woman, got up, and ran towards his mother's body crying.

But he had only run two steps when the man who was working for Cui Liu grabbed his pigtail and pulled him back forcefully, and quickly stuffed a piece of rag into his mouth to stop him from making any sound.

This wasn't brutality, but true mercy. Because just as the boy ran toward his mother again, the man who was doing the job saw murderous intent in Cui Liu's eyes.

For Cui Liu, a useless head that couldn't be exchanged for silver could be kept, or of course smashed to pieces. His patience was no greater than Su Jiu's.

"Captain Ding," Ding Baiying frowned at the scene before him, but made no move to stop it. "What are you going to do with these women and children?"

"Of course we capture them and sell them. According to current market conditions, a female slave from the Zhir tribe is worth at least ten or twenty taels of silver. If she's of good quality, thirty or forty taels is not out of the question." Ding Xiu's eyes quickly scanned the faces of the female tribesmen. "Tsk. But it seems there's nothing valuable in this camp."

Suddenly, Ding Xiu seemed to have thought of something and shouted at Su Jiu, "There should be another woman in that mud house! Don't forget to pull her out too. She was screaming so loudly just now. I don't know if she is pretty or not!"

"It shouldn't be too bad, after all, it's the stuff that the chief had done!" Su Jiu smiled and used his waist knife to cut open another tent. There was no one in the tent, so Su Jiu went to the next tent.

"How could you do this?" Ding Baiying looked at Ding Xiu in surprise. She felt like the two men were discussing the quality and price of live pigs.

"Tell me why not?" Ding Xiu rolled his eyes and pointed at the boy. "Did you see that little beast? His father should be in Shenyang or somewhere else killing our people right now. Did his father ever think about the three words "how could he" when he killed people? If this little wild boar is allowed to grow up in this mountain valley for a few years or even decades, it might become a strong and fierce man. Little beasts like this are all born by these women. Are you leaving them here so that they can continue to reproduce? It means that the court has not issued a complete killing order. If the emperor also set a reward for them, I would chop off their heads directly and avoid the risk and trouble of herding ducks."

"This..." Ding Baiying felt that this was wrong, but she couldn't say anything to refute it.

"Hmph." Ding Xiu sneered and said, "The Bodhisattva Temple in Liaoyou was long ago demolished by those Jurchen barbarians to build a pig sty. There's really no place for you to be a Bodhisattva. If you really can't stand it, just go back south. I can save myself the trouble of sharing the money with you."

"This money is too dirty," Ding Baiying said, his face darkening. "If this is human trafficking, then what's the difference between us and the brothel madams who force women into prostitution, or those traffickers? I'd rather not have this dirty money stained with blood and filth!"

"No, that's what you said! Remember, when you sell it, don't be jealous and come to me to ask for it." In contrast to Ding Baiying, Ding Xiu's whole face was smiling.

"I won't."

"Very good. But even if you don't want the money, I still have to tell you something. I didn't force women into prostitution. No matter how dirty this money is, it's much cleaner than what brothels and traffickers earn." Ding Xiu pointed at the captives. "These unruly barbarians have never had any sense of propriety, righteousness, and shame in their minds. You won't find any chastity arches in these mountains. They follow their sons when their fathers die, and their younger brothers when their brothers die. If all the men in a family die, they'll follow a man from another family. Outside the Great Wall, it's very common for fathers and sons, brothers, uncles and nephews to share a woman. If they're abducted by people from other tribes like now, there's nothing wrong with it. They'll just move on to another family and live their lives."

"Many of the brothers in the camp don't have wives right now. If I sell them to them, they'll definitely be better off than they are now. At least they won't have to worry about food and clothing." Ding Xiu even felt like he was doing a good deed. "Not only did I not kill them, I brought them out of this bitter cold land. They'll thank me in the future, maybe even consider me a bodhisattva."

"Pooh!" Ding Baiying spat fiercely, not knowing what she was spitting at.

What happened in this ghost place was completely different from what she had heard and imagined. Before coming to Liaodong, Ding Baiying had imagined that the achievements she had made were nothing more than heroic stories of suppressing bandits and resisting Japanese invaders, that is, expelling the barbarians, beheading generals and seizing flags, attacking bandit dens, and saving people.

But after crossing Shanhaiguan, Ding Baiying discovered that, compared to the south, the land beyond the pass was a barbaric wasteland ruled by the logic of violence. The various experiences and rules he was familiar with would even be laughed at here.

In reality, however, any foreign war involved the issue of how prisoners were handled. Male captives of other races could, of course, be beheaded and reported as a meritorious act. Alternatively, they could be sent to Beijing, where the Emperor would hold a grand ceremony known as "receiving the captives in the Imperial Tower" to demonstrate national prestige, and then beheaded publicly. However, weaker individuals like women and children, who didn't count as meritorious acts, were taken as trophies, used to offset military pay or simply given away as rewards. It was simply a matter of who would receive them.

The underlying logic was pure: they couldn't be released before the war was over. Nor could they be kept alive for nothing. The surplus grain was limited; wouldn't it be better to use it for salaries or disaster relief? Similar situations weren't common in the south, or in Ding Baiying's hometown, simply because the primary foreign enemies there were mostly Japanese pirates who came across the sea. These people either had no families or, even if they did, wouldn't bring them to the Ming.

During the second invasion of Korea by Japanese pirates, Jin Xuezeng, then the governor of Fujian, submitted a memorial to the emperor, proposing a strategy of "encircling Wei to save Zhao"—sending naval forces from Zhejiang, Fujian, and other provinces to land in Japan and strike at the mainland, thereby forcing the pirates to withdraw from Korea. This proposal was accepted by the court, and the emperor authorized Jin Xuezeng to organize an expeditionary navy in Fujian. He also appointed Tong Yuanzhen, then the commander-in-chief of Guangdong, as the commander-in-chief of Zhejiang, to train the Zhejiang navy. However, before this plan could be implemented, the second anti-Japanese campaign in Korea came to an end.

If the Ming army had actually crossed the sea and invaded Japan, capturing Japanese women and children, the situation would have been much the same as it is today. In the south, at least in Zhejiang and Fujian, there might have been correspondingly more heroic stories that weren't so "beautiful and grand."

Ultimately, Ding Baiying's experience was limited, and she'd heard too little. If she had truly had the good fortune to meet the Tusi generals from Sichuan and Guizhou, or to have a more in-depth conversation with Tong Zhongkui, the Sichuan general who aided Liao, she would have understood how the Ming army dealt with the Tusi rebels during the Bozhou campaign. There was absolutely no tenderness or compassion involved. Tenderness and compassion only occurred after the war was over.

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Ding Xiu no longer cared about Ding Baiying. Seeing that Cui Liu's task was almost complete, Ding Xiu's tense nerves finally relaxed. He put away his bow and arrows, drew the knife hanging from his waist, and set out to harvest heads.

Ding Xiu, knife in hand, approached the woman who had charged with Sengge but was shot down by his arrow. She was the only one in the entire camp who was still breathing despite being struck by his arrow.

Although Ding Xiu's arrow was not fatal, it completely deprived the woman of the ability to resist.

"Oh, you're such a woman! What are you meddling in here for?" Ding Xiu said, his tone rather indirect. "Why don't you just let me sell you out?" With a sigh, Ding Xiu raised his sword and pressed it against the woman's chest. With one firm thrust, the woman's heart would be destroyed.

"No, no! Spare me, spare my life! Please, please!" The woman couldn't understand what Ding Xiu was saying, only knowing that death was approaching. She was already extremely weak, but the desire to live once again stimulated the last of her potential. This allowed her to support herself on the ground and continue to retreat.

"You won't live long. I'm doing this for your own good. Thank me." Ding Xiu understood what the woman said, but it would be more accurate to say that he was talking to himself rather than answering.

The hand rose, the knife fell, and it spun. The tip of the blade mercilessly pierced the woman's heart, destroying her life.

As he drew his knife, hot blood immediately splattered out. Ding Xiu took a step back just in time, dodging the gushing column of blood.

The captives, witnessing this horrific scene, screamed in fear. Ding Xiu ignored them, making no attempt to stop them. As the blood began to fall, Ding Xiu crouched down, stepping on the blood and carefully examining the woman's dark, slightly androgynous face.

"Shut up! If you scream again, I will send you to see the King of Hell." Beside Ding Xiu, Cui Liu raised the six-sided war hammer and made a threatening gesture.

"It won't hurt to give it a try." Ding Xiu raised the knife again and chopped it down from top to bottom.

With sharpness, strength and accuracy, Ding Xiu took the woman's head with just one blow.

However, he was destined not to receive the reward for this head. Because the civil officials not only looked at the appearance, but also the hairstyle and tan marks on the head. If such a head could be reported as a meritorious service and rewarded, it would be a miracle.

Ding Xiu grabbed the woman's hair and, with a flick of his hand, flung the head, still with its eyes wide open, toward the camp gate. His casual movement was as casual as if he were throwing a bag of ordinary rocks.

After throwing away the woman's head, Ding Xiu stood up and walked to Sengge's body. "Alas." Ding Xiu sighed again.

He really wanted to capture Sengge alive. Though the tribe wasn't large, it was still an independent one with armor. Perhaps this young chieftain held some rank within the Jin Empire. Upon seeing Sengge, Ding Xiu's first thought was, "I'll make some money." He imagined that if he could escort him all the way to the capital, he might even be promoted three levels. But now that he was dead, Ding Xiu could only harvest his head.

"Drunkard, lecherous waste." Ding Xiu couldn't help but curse as he looked at Sengge's corpse. Even now, he still believed that Sengge had been gored to death by Cui Laoliu.

Just as Ding Xiu raised his knife to take the head, he seemed to realize something and suddenly froze.

Ding Xiu looked sideways and immediately noticed something that struck him as odd: Why was the bleeding so heavily on his left waist? Shouldn't it be an internal injury? Did he have an old injury? It didn't seem right. If it was a wound that could cause so much bleeding, then he shouldn't be doing that kind of thing in the mud house.
Ding Xiu used the tip of his knife to pry open Sengge's cotton armor and discovered a chain mail underneath. The mail mail was put on, making it difficult to peel it off, but Ding Xiu still found the spot that could solve his puzzle.

There's a hole in this chain mail! Was this guy stabbed to death?
To confirm his suspicions, Ding Xiu ignored the blood on the cotton armor and reached out to grab it. Unfolding it, he discovered there was indeed a hole in the corresponding spot, and only one. Through that hole, he could faintly see the blood-stained iron armor beneath the cotton.

Is this woman so terrifying? Ding Xiu turned around and looked at Ding Baiying, who was still in a daze.

He had always thought that Ding Baiying had only fiercely stabbed a charging woman to death with her spear. Unexpectedly, she had actually "beheaded" the enemy general, even through two layers of armor!
Ding Xiu felt a chill on her back. For the first time, she felt that her attitude towards this female escort seemed a little too rude.

(End of this chapter)