Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 512 Release and Massacre
"Captain Ding, what happened?" Cui Laoliu looked at Ding Xiu, then instinctively cast his eyes on the woman's exposed body. "Did this woman fire the musket?"

"Su Jiu was killed by this woman's sneak attack with a musket." Ding Xiu threw the woman to the ground again.

The pain from the blow to her lower abdomen hadn't completely subsided, but the woman's consciousness had regained some clarity. She endured the pain, supported herself on the ground, and tried to get up. But the next moment, a large foot stepped on her relatively smooth back.

"What! Su Jiu is dead?" Cui Laoliu's eyes widened, and he said in disbelief, "Where did these people get the muskets?"

"How should I know? Perhaps they were captured from somewhere." Ding Xiu stepped on the woman, turned to look at the captives, and shouted in Chinese, "We are the Ming army. We are under the command of General Xiong, and under the command of Generals Tong and Hou. We are fighting the enemy and saving the people. Are there any Han people among us?!"

"Yes!" Upon hearing Ding Xiu's statement, a tall, thin man huddled at the end of the group immediately responded. Not far behind the man, a woman dressed in Hu clothing had her eyes light up for a moment, but then dimmed again.

In reality, the two Han Chinese enslaved by the enemy, especially the man, began to suspect the invaders might be a Ming army upon hearing Ding Xiu and his men communicate in Chinese. However, Ding Xiu and his men were indeed dressed in Hu clothing and claimed to be from the Sakda clan of the Yehe tribe. The Yehe tribe lay north of Kaiyuan and had frequent exchanges with the Han people of Liaodong, so their ability to speak Chinese was not surprising. Furthermore, while the Yehe tribe was generally compliant with the Yi people, who knew if these people, who had entered the area and murdered their comrades as soon as they arrived, would truly be compliant. Therefore, the man remained silent, allowing himself to be tied up by the "compliant Yi" being commanded by Cui Laoliu.

"Come out." Ding Xiu waved to the Han Chinese man.

The Han slaves wanted to run, but because their hands were tied behind their backs, they had been doing heavy physical labor for a long time, and they were not well fed, so they ran very staggeringly and almost fell.

Arriving before Ding Xiu and Cui Laoliu, the Han slave dropped to his knees and kowtowed. "Little, little, kowtow to the military master!" As he kowtowed, his eyes caught sight of the woman Ding Xiu was stepping on, and he was stunned.

"What's your name?" Ding Xiu asked.

"Hey, sir, I'm Hu Zengshou!" The man's pronunciation was a little rusty because he hadn't spoken Chinese for a long time.

"Where are you from?" Ding Xiu asked again.

"Fu-Fushun military households, the remaining men," Hu Zengshou banged his head on the ground twice. "Yes, there are records to check."

"Help him up." Ding Xiu said to Cui Laoliu.

Cui Laoliu's eyes darted around Hu Zengshou's "Hu-hua" head, but in the end he said nothing. "Yes."

"Thank you, both generals." Hu Zengshou stood up with the help of Cui Laoliu.

"Are you alone?" Ding Xiu used his knife to cut the rope to untie Hu Zengshou, while looking at the group of captives.

"There is another woman." Hu Zengshou said.

"Where is it?" Ding Xiu frowned.

"Over there." Hu Zengshou turned around and pointed.

"Are you fucking deaf? Get out here if you don't want to die!" Ding Xiu roared, frightening Hu Zengshou.

The woman shuddered in shock, but she had no choice. She finally stood up and walked over to the three men. Just as she was about to kneel again, Ding Xiu stopped her with the back of his knife.

"Stop knocking," Ding Xiu asked straight to the point, "Where are you from, and what's your last name?"

"Yes, yes, general," the Han female slave was frightened by the back of Ding Xiu's knife again, and she replied tremblingly: "My name is Lu Liu, and I am a native of China." While speaking, the Han female slave glanced at Hu Zengshou and gave him a pleading look.

"Yes." Ding Xiu continued to untie her. His memory was still good. Although the two men had transformed into barbarian-like people, Ding Xiu still remembered that they did not follow Sengge into the battle.

"Is there no one else?" Ding Xiu asked finally.

"Reply, General, it's gone." Hu Zengshou looked back at Lu Liushi and did not mention the incident.

"You two help the people over there to pack up everything in the camp, especially the food. We are leaving. Come with us back to the Han area." Ding Xiu said, pointing in the direction of Ding Baiying.

"Yes!" Hu Zengshou responded immediately. Mrs. Lu Liu seemed a little hesitant, but still nodded.

Hu Zengshou and Lu Liushi walked forward, but they stopped after taking just two steps.

"Cui Liu, kill the rest." Ding Xiu's voice came coldly from behind Hu Zengshou and Lu Liushi. Lu Liushi was especially stunned.

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"Kill them all!?" Cui Laoliu was shocked. His first reaction was to look at the "Shun Yi" who had helped him tie up the man. If they were to exterminate all the barbarians, the first person to be killed would be this person who was still able to move freely.

"Right." Ding Xiu pulled the woman she was stepping on by her hair and pulled her up, pushing her towards Cui Laoliu. "Hold this woman down! I want her to see what kind of stupid thing she did before she dies!"

"Captain Ding!" Cui Laoliu grabbed the woman and said hurriedly. "If you want to vent your anger, just capture this woman's relatives and sacrifice them. There's no need to kill the entire family. These women are living silver. If you chop them up, they'll be worthless." As if afraid that Ding Xiu would refuse, Cui Laoliu immediately shouted at the "Shunyi" in Jurchen: "Who are this bastard's family members?"

Although the "Shun Yi" could not understand Chinese and had no idea what these people were chattering about, when he saw that Ding Xiu not only beheaded and captured Han slaves, but also released Han slaves, he guessed the true identity of this group of invaders: these people were not the remnants of Yehe at all, but Ming soldiers who could speak Jurchen!

Shunyi had no time to consider how the Ming army had arrived; he was already extremely nervous. If he fell into the hands of the remnants of the Yehe clan, he might be able to survive by remaining submissive. But if he fell into the hands of the Ming army, his head would probably be ripped off and sold for money. After all, he was a man! On the battlefields of the Ming and Jin dynasties, men's fate was always worse than women's, often not even having the chance to become slaves.

"Shun Yi" had an active mind and quickly thought of the only way to save himself.

The Shunyi fell to his knees with a thud, kowtowed profusely, and begged for mercy in a mix of Chinese and Chinese: "'Grandpa Tianbing'! I beg you, 'Grandpa Tianbing'! Spare my life! I will be obedient and I will never run away!"

This "Shun Yi" knew that the Ming army had a rule that prisoners captured alive could be exchanged for rewards. If possible, the Ming army would actually be willing to capture prisoners alive. After all, there was no price difference between a head and a living person, and a living person could be reported as a merit. "I'm asking you, you bastard, who are your family members? What the hell are you talking to me about!" Cui Laoliu roared.

Shunyi was startled, then tremblingly replied: "This is the chief's concubine, Sahalian from the Dong'e clan. She only came here last year and she has no family in the tribe!"

It’s over! My money!

Cui Laoliu sighed deeply. Furious, he came up with another plan. He kicked the woman in the popliteal fossa, knocking her down. Then, he walked around to her and swung his arm in the face, slapping her.

Snapped!
The slap was so powerful that it not only gave Sahalian a slight concussion, but also knocked out two of his teeth.

Sahalian's beautiful face was instantly distorted by the blow. His face quickly became swollen and blood gushed out of his mouth.

It hurts, it hurts too much!
Young Sahalian regretted it, tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't regret shooting Su Jiu to death, but she regretted not slitting her throat with the dagger before Ding Xiu captured her alive.

"Captain Ding, there's no need to be so hard on Yin Zi. Su Jiu is dead, but he still has family. Let's take these people and sell them, and give him a little more." Cui Laoliu advised, "If you're really angry, let's just skin this crazy woman alive with our swords. Let her suffer a little longer. None of her family members are among these captives, so killing them would be a waste. This crazy woman doesn't feel sorry for herself."

"Hmph, why would you argue with her?" Ding Xiu actually laughed. He didn't explain anything, but waved towards Shun Yi. "Come here."

"Shun Yi" didn't want to go, but he didn't dare not to go.

Shunyi assumed an extremely submissive attitude, tremblingly walked up to the two men, knelt down, and said, "'Grandpa Tianbing'! I await your orders!"

Ding Xiu pulled out a small knife he carried with him and threw it in front of the "Shun Yi".

When "Shun Yi" saw the murder weapon, he immediately shuddered, and then he kowtowed even more violently. He kowtowed and begged for mercy, fearing that the knife would stab him.

"Shut up!" Ding Xiu caught a glimpse of two figures from the corner of his eye. He glanced towards the door and saw Li Xian and Yan Nian running over. "Pick up the knife."

Upon hearing this order, Shunyi felt his scalp tingling. He had already guessed what the leader wanted him to do, but after a little hesitation, he still picked up the knife.

"Kill all these people and then cut off the men's heads." Ding Xiu said in an unquestionable tone.

Shunyi held his knife, hesitant to move. His breathing was extremely rapid. Though a Jurchen, he had never killed anyone before. Killing was a "privilege" of warriors, but he was just a slave, transferred between tribes due to the Jurchen civil war. He didn't even know his own last name. If Nurhaci hadn't annexed the Hada tribe, he wouldn't even be able to stay stable in this small tribe within the Hada tribe.

"Kill them and you will live. Otherwise, you will die with them." Ding Xiu put his knife on the neck of "Shun Yi".

Shunyi felt the coldness of the blade on his neck, but he didn't move at first. It wasn't until the smell of blood on the blade reached his nose that Shunyi responded hoarsely, "Slave, I'll do it right away!"

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When the Shunyi used the knife given to him by Ding Xiu to cut the throat of a male captive, Li Xian and Yan Nian also ran to the river entrance of the camp. At this time, Li Xian had put away his weapons and carried the food bags of the entire team on his back, while Yan Nian still held his bow and arrows.

"Li Er said that Su Jiu was killed by a musket? Is it true?" Yan Nian was panting heavily.

"Yes." Ding Xiu half-crouched and grabbed a rattail. He slashed with his blade, chopping off another head. This was the last head left to be harvested near the camp entrance. "Here." Ding Xiu picked up six heads—one woman and five men—from the ground and handed them to Li Xian.

The rat-tail pigtails common among the Jurchen tribes were ugly, but they had one advantage: they were easy to carry. It was as if they were designed specifically for the "first merit system."

Li Xian instinctively shrank back, but still took the head.

"Oh!" Yan Nian sighed, the joy brought by the "great harvest" was immediately diluted. "Where are Su Laojiu and the others?"

Ding Xiu pointed to the thatched mud house in the center of the camp. "It's right next to that house. Master Ding is there too." As soon as Ding Xiu finished speaking, Ding Baiying appeared in front of everyone.

"Stop! Stop!" Ding Baiying shouted towards Cui Laoliu and "Shun Yi".

Cui Laoliu and Shunyi stopped immediately when they saw someone coming to stop the massacre. They stopped so quickly that even Ding Baiying was a little surprised.

Ding Baiying rushed to Ding Xiu and asked, "What are you doing?"

"What else can you do? Didn't you see it all?" Ding Xiu took a step back.

"Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor. If you want to avenge Su Jiu, just kill that woman!" Ding Baiying said excitedly, pointing at Sahalian, whose tendons had been severed by Cui Laoliu. "There's no need to vent your anger on prisoners, right? Killing captives is unlucky, don't you know?"

Li Xian and Yan Nian were stunned when these words came out. They looked in the direction of the captives at the same time, and only then noticed that the captives were huddled in a corner surrounded by wood in extreme fear. For the first time, Cui Laoliu's six-sided war hammer was stained with human blood.

"Venting off anger?" Ding Xiu asked back, "Master Ding, do you think I'm that kind of person?"

"Then why did you let Cui Liu kill people? Didn't you want to sell them for money?" Ding Baiying was shocked when she said this. She was shocked to find that she seemed to have accepted Ding Xiu's logic that "selling is better than killing."

"It would be best if we could sell them, but we can't take these people away now," said Ding Xiu.

"What do you mean?"

"Unlike shouting, the sound of a gunshot can be heard from far away. And in this mountain forest, the sound of a gunshot is very sudden. That shot may have startled other wild boars nesting nearby. We must leave before they come to investigate. Taking prisoners will not only slow us down but also increase the chances of us being discovered. We can't take them with us. The best we can do is take their heads." Ding Xiu turned around and shouted at Cui Laoliu, "Did you hear me? Keep chopping! At least cut off all the men's heads! Quick!"

(End of this chapter)