Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 511 Gunshot
Ding Xiu removed Sengge's helmet, pulled his pigtail, and lifted his head, but he never brought down the beheading knife. "Master Ding," Ding Xiu turned and looked at Ding Baiying.

"." Ding Baiying stood there in a daze, staring at the group of captives with different expressions, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Master Ding!" Ding Xiu shouted.

"Hmm?" Ding Baiying came to her senses, blinked, and looked back at Ding Xiu.

"You killed this bandit chieftain named Sengge. Come and take his head." Ding Xiu said with a smile.

Ding Xiu's words surprised the team members present. Li Xian, Su Jiu, and Ding Xiu all assumed Cui Liu had killed the man. Cui Liu, however, knew full well that Sengge's death had nothing to do with him; he had merely knocked a mortally wounded man away. Cui Liu's surprise was because he had assumed Ding Xiu would keep the valuable head for himself.

"You should do it." Ding Baiying wasn't afraid of blood, but she had never beheaded anyone before. Deep down, she was deeply opposed to such an act. Ding Baiying even disliked the "first merit system." She believed it was too cruel and unethical.

Her view of martial virtues bears a striking resemblance to the teachings of Laozi and Zhuangzi. If paraphrased from the Tao Te Ching, it reads: "I have three treasures, and I uphold and preserve them. The first is kindness, the second is frugality, and the third is not daring to be the first in the world." Kindness fosters courage. Frugality fosters generosity. Not daring to be the first in the world fosters achievement.

Cutting off human heads in exchange for silver is neither kind nor frugal.

"If I cut off the head," Ding Xiu said, his sharp blade moving across Sengge's neck, leaving marks but never cutting it off. "The credit will be mine."

"Can you help me cut it?" Ding Baiying's brows were almost wrinkled into the shape of a "川" character.

"Haha," Ding Xiu grinned and nodded, "That's fine. Cutting one is cutting, chopping two is chopping. I'm not afraid of getting dirty, but you have to give me some hard work fee." As he said that, Ding Xiu raised the knife.

"Wait!" Just as the knife was about to swing down, Ding Baiying hurriedly called out to Ding Xiu.

"What's the matter? I don't want much money from you, just give me two or three taels as a token of appreciation. Don't think it's too much, this head with a name and a surname is very valuable." Ding Xiu said.

"I'll do it myself." Ding Baiying hesitated for a while and went over.

"You're quite stingy." Ding Xiu left Sengge and stood up. After standing up, he turned to look at Su Jiu and Li Xian: "What are you looking at? Have you done everything I asked you to do?"

"There's only that thatched hut left." Su Jiu said, pointing to the thatched hut in the center.

"Then why are you still standing there?" Ding Xiu rolled his eyes at him and walked towards the old man who made the final charge.

"Captain Ding," Su Jiu asked with a lewd smile, "Can that woman in the room please give me some pleasure? I haven't touched a woman in a long time, and I'm about to explode."

As the old saying goes, hunger and cold breed thieves, while warmth and satiety breed lust. With the crisis over, Su Jiu's mind began to wander to dirty thoughts. Especially since he had just overheard a barely concealed erotic scene outside the camp. It could even be argued that Su Jiu had left the thatched cottage for last, precisely for this reason.

"Not now." Ding Xiu didn't even turn around. He walked to the camp gate and decisively chopped off another head with his knife. "We don't have time for that. Cut off the head, grab the stuff and leave. Tonight, we have to go at least three miles."

"Are you traveling at night?"

"It's a clear sky tonight, we can go stargazing and won't get lost." Ding Xiu raised the knife and poked the sky with the bloody tip.

"Okay." Su Jiu nodded regretfully and walked towards the only house in the camp. This successful raid had implanted Ding Xiu's authority in Su Jiu's mind. Now he no longer dared to disobey Ding Xiu.

Ding Xiu held the head and walked to a Yehe tribe member he had shot dead. Ding Xiu looked at the body and felt a little sorry.

The imperial court granted special policies to the Yehe people. When the Sichuan and Guizhou chieftains relocated their troops south to the border, Governor Yuan Yingtai submitted a flowery memorial to the emperor. The memorial was filled with praise for the emperor's "Yao and Shun-like benevolence." But if you ignore the quotations and focus on the core content, you'll find that the memorial essentially stated one thing: it requested the emperor to allow the Liaodong authorities to recognize the surviving Yehe people as "primary meritorious service" and protect them. This would demonstrate the Ming's special treatment of the "subordinate barbarians" and serve to divide the Jurchen ethnic groups.

The emperor's reply was as concise as ever, just one word: Yes.

In other words, if Ding Xiu and his men could bring a living Yehe tribe member to the Ming army camp, they could also receive a reward for their head. While bringing a person is more troublesome than bringing a head, a living person can speak and testify, providing an extra layer of security when verifying their merit. Furthermore, a living Yehe tribe member could also help carry some supplies. This is why living people are more useful than the dead.

After a slight sigh, Ding Xiu swung his knife and chopped off the head of that "Shun Yi".

Ding Xiu sighed, and Ding Baiying sighed as well. She had already come to Sengge's body, but she couldn't bring herself to cut it.

Ding Baiying refused to let Ding Xiu help her behead her, not because she was reluctant to part with the two or three taels of silver, but because she felt that she was too pathetic and shameful. She disliked the "first merit system," but she couldn't change it. She wanted military merit, she needed it. To achieve it, Ding Baiying had to compromise with the system and act "neither kind nor frugal." In other words, to achieve military merit would inevitably lead to dishonor.

Letting Ding Xiu take the head on his behalf is not the best of both worlds, but a hypocritical and shameful self-deception.

Ding Baiying stared at the young face, a mixture of anger, fear, and regret, feeling heartbroken. Although she hadn't understood a word of the conversation between Sengge and Ding Xiu, and even though she had just learned the man she had killed with a single blow was called "Sengge," Ding Baiying could sense that this young man was a brave warrior, just like the old man who had charged alone, and deserved respect. Yet, now, she had no choice but to cut off his head to prove her merit to the court.

"I'm sorry." Ding Baiying murmured in a low voice, frowned and stared at the pair of eyes that were still open, and swung the knife to achieve the first "first merit" in his life.

boom!
As if it was a response from the unknown, at the same time that Ding Baiying swung his sword to chop off Sengge's head, a sound of a musket was heard in the earthen house, soaring into the sky.

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When the gun went off, Ding Xiu had just severed the head of the first camp guard. He had no idea the guard Su Jiu had slashed through the throat was Asangbu, nor that the first woman he beheaded was the young man's mother. Yet, even if Ding Xiu knew he had murdered a mother and son and accidentally placed their heads together, he wouldn't have felt any regret. For Ding Xiu, the only real regret was the fact that the woman's head couldn't be exchanged for silver.

Hearing the sound of gunfire, Ding Xiu quickly dropped his head and turned to run towards the earthen house. On the way, he saw Cui Liu also turned around, so he shouted anxiously, "Don't move, watch those prisoners! Anyone who moves will be shot!"

"Okay!" Cui Liuben was hesitant about whether to go over and take a look. He immediately responded to Ding Xiu's order, tightening his grip on the hammer. "Don't move! If anyone moves, I'll hit them on the head with this!" By the time Ding Xiu returned to the center of the camp, Li Xian and Ding Baiying had joined him. Su Jiu collapsed on the ground at the entrance to the adobe hut, clutching his right abdomen in pain and wailing softly.

"Get him out!" Ding Xiu did not check on Su Jiu's condition immediately. Instead, after shouting to Li Xian and Ding Baiying, he leaned sideways against the wall beside the door and took a quick look inside.

With the light from the fire, Ding Xiu could see clearly what was happening in the room.

The smoke hadn't yet cleared, and the acrid smell of burning gunpowder filled the entire adobe hut. In a corner opposite the entrance, a beautiful, topless young woman stood against the wall. Instead of a gun with both hands, she held a dagger in one hand, striking an attack. The musket that had struck Su Jiu lay quietly at her bare feet.

Only after making sure that there was no other musket in the house did Ding Xiu show up and walk into the earthen house with a knife in his hand.

Seeing Ding Xiu, the woman charged at him without fear. She was no longer prepared to live, and she wanted to kill anyone she could.

The woman's attack was unexpectedly fierce. When her thrust missed, she immediately twisted her wrist and slashed at Ding Xiu's neck. Ding Xiu hadn't expected such a brave woman, and he dodged it instinctively. By the time he'd blocked the attack and steadied himself, a faint, bloody streak had appeared on his face.

If Ding Baiying had been the one to stab him, Ding Xiu would have been lying on the ground by now. But the woman wasn't a martial artist, and she didn't know how to flexibly change her moves. Seeing that her sweeping move missed, she retreated, retracted her arm, and prepared for a second attack.

This was a huge mistake. By the time the woman launched her second attack, Ding Xiu had already calmed down. Although Ding Xiu had never trained under a martial arts master, he was a natural martial arts prodigy. He not only memorized the woman's moves instantly, but also, by observing her knife grip and foot placement, he roughly predicted the route of her next attack.

The woman quickly launched a second charge, adjusting her knife grip and the direction of her attack. But the moment she leaned forward, she had already lost. Ding Xiu dodged the slash with a simple yet deft dodge. The woman attempted a horizontal slash, but Ding Xiu blocked her attack with a raised knife.

He raised his right hand to block the attack with his knife, and simultaneously attacked with his left hand. A heavy punch hit the woman's lower abdomen!

Without armor, even a man would not be able to withstand Ding Xiu's heavy punch, let alone an unprotected woman.

"Ugh!" The woman's vision went dark, her entire body went limp, and she couldn't hold the knife anymore. Then, she felt a sharp pain in her scalp. She strained to focus and saw that the man who had attacked her was grabbing her hair and roughly dragging her away.

Ding Xiu threw the woman to the ground with a heavy slam. Her exposed upper body suddenly hit the ground, causing many scratches.

"Look at her!" Ding Xiu glanced at Li Xian who was still in a daze, then quickly walked to Su Jiu's side.

At this time, Ding Baiying was squatting on the ground trying to stop Su Jiu's bleeding, but even though the linen clothes in her hand were completely soaked with blood, it was of no use.

Within ten steps, Su Jiu was hit by an overloaded bird gun and there was no hope for him.

"Ding, Ding" Su Jiu's face was pale and bloodless, and his voice was extremely weak.

"What?" Ding Baiying asked as she moved closer.

"Get out of the way! He's talking to me." Ding said with a sullen face, squatting on the other side of Su Jiu and forcing a smile. "Coward, you can't walk anymore after seeing the tits, right? I've brought the person out for you, just hold on for a while."

Su Jiu also smiled. He wasn't distracted by the woman's condition. The moment he pushed open the door, he immediately noticed the dark muzzle of the gun and the light emitted by the slowly burning match, and quickly made an evasive move. However, the burning speed of the gunpowder was much faster than his movements.

"Captain Ding, Captain Ding, please, please give my share to my mother." With every word Su Jiu spoke, his breath became weaker.

"Okay." The smile on Ding Xiu's face disappeared unconsciously.

"My home is in Tie-Tieling, next to the coal mine." Su Jiu's eyes began to blur.

Ding Xiu was startled, grabbed Su Jiu's rough hand, and said, "Don't worry, I know where your home is. I swear, I will bring every penny of your share to your mother."

Before he could even utter the words "thank you", Su Jiu went into shock and fell into a coma due to excessive blood loss.

"Don't press it. Su Laojiu is dead." Ding Xiu let out a long breath and let go of the rough hand. For people at this time, shock is equivalent to death.

Ding Baiying was stunned, but she continued to stubbornly press on the still-bleeding wound. She didn't like Su Jiu because she always felt that the way he secretly looked at her was filled with lustful desires. But throughout the whole journey, Su Jiu hadn't done anything inappropriate, not even a teasing or teasing.

"Dead? How could this happen?" Li Xian's voice came from behind.

Ding Xiu didn't respond to Li Xian's question. He stood up and spoke in a surprisingly calm voice. "Go call Old Yan back, and don't forget the bag of food. We have to go."

"Walk?"

"Go to hell!" Ding Xiu growled. He quickly walked over to the woman who fired the gun and grabbed her hair again.

"Okay!" Li Xian nodded and ran out of the camp.

"Go inside the house," Ding Xiu said to Ding Baiying again. "Take out all the valuables."

"Are you still thinking about money at this time?" Ding Baiying looked at Su Jiu's pale face steadily.

"I was thinking of leaving. Once a person is dead, he is dead. This is not a place to be sentimental, let alone a time to be sad. Stop the fucking nonsense and be quick. Take all the valuables!" Ding Xiu growled as he dragged the woman in front of the captives like a dead dog.

(End of this chapter)