Chief Armaments Master of the Ming Dynasty

In the Battle of Qingshigou, the government troops suffered heavy losses.

Hong Chengchou's vanguard was almost completely wiped out, losing more than 300 cavalry and more than 500 infantry, and all their supplies and provisions were lost.

Hong Chengchou himself did not enter the ambush zone.

His main force, positioned in the rear, immediately halted its advance upon hearing news of the ambush of the vanguard and prepared for battle.

Zhang Xianzhong wanted to press his advantage, but he hesitated when he saw the well-organized ranks of Hong Chengchou's main force.

"That old dog is indeed not easy to deal with." He stood on the hilltop, looking at the flags of the government troops in the distance, and spat.

Li Zicheng also breathed a sigh of relief.

If Hong Chengchou disregards the lives of his vanguard and pushes forward with all his might, their few thousand men might not be able to stop him.

"Let's retreat," Gu Jun'en suggested. "We should quit while we're ahead. Hong Chengchou has suffered a loss and won't come back anytime soon. Let's take this opportunity to move to another place."

Zhang Xianzhong nodded in agreement.

That night, the two teams packed up their spoils, took the wounded, and quietly withdrew from Xizhou.

---

Three days later, they set up camp outside a small county town called Shilou.

According to the inventory of losses, Zhang Xianzhong's troops suffered nearly 300 casualties, while Li Zicheng's troops suffered more than 60 casualties.

For Li Zicheng, this was already a devastating blow.

He only had 500 men in total, and he lost more than a tenth of them.

In Lin Fan's blacksmith shop, several apprentices were also injured.

Han Jinhu's arm was cut by a knife. Although it was not fatal, he would not be able to swing the hammer for a while.

"Brother Lin, I'm sorry..." Han Jinhu lay on the straw mat, his face pale from blood loss.

"Don't say sorry." Lin Fan changed his dressing. "Take good care of your injury. Once you're healed, you'll still have to work as a blacksmith."

Han Jinhu smiled wryly: "In this world, even blacksmiths have to take up arms."

Lin Fan remained silent.

Yes, in this chaotic world, no one can remain uninvolved.

Everyone has to fight desperately, everyone has to kill and be killed.

---

A few days later, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng had a secret meeting.

After the conversation, Li Zicheng's expression was very grim.

"Zhang Xianzhong wants to divide his forces," he said to Gu Jun'en and Liu Zongmin. "He's going south to attack Fenzhou. We're going north to attack Ningxiang."

"Splitting the troops?" Liu Zongmin frowned. "Isn't that just using us as bait to attract the attention of the government troops?"

"More or less." Li Zicheng nodded. "He said that Hong Chengchou's main force is in the east. If we go north, we can tie down the government troops and give him an opportunity to take advantage of the situation."

"Why should he get the spoils while we have to gnaw on the bones?" Liu Zongmin roared. "We also contributed to the battle at Qingshigou. Why should he get the meat while we get to gnaw on the bones?"

"Because he has more men, and we have fewer," Gu Jun'en sighed. "General, this is an open conspiracy. If we don't go, we're disrespecting Zhang Xianzhong, and our cooperation will end here. If we go, we'll be his pawns. It's a difficult choice no matter what we do."

Li Zicheng remained silent for a long time.

Ultimately, he made a decision.

"go."

"General!" Liu Zongmin exclaimed anxiously.

"Let me finish." Li Zicheng raised his hand. "Zhang Xianzhong wants us to be bait, so we'll be. But we can't be bait for nothing. I told him that if he wants us to attack Ningxiang, he has to supply us with food and weapons."

"He agreed?"

"He agreed." Li Zicheng sneered. "If he wants us to risk our lives, we have to bleed a little."

Liu Zongmin fell silent.

Gu Jun'en sighed, "That's all we can do."

---

The next day, the two teams went their separate ways.

Zhang Xianzhong led his main force south, with banners waving and a formidable presence.

Li Zicheng led several hundred men and quietly headed north towards Ningxiang.

Lin Fan walked in the middle of the group, watching the "Zhang" banner gradually disappear into the distance, feeling a mix of emotions.

They split up.

This is a few years earlier than in history.

According to the original history, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong should have fought side by side under Gao Yingxiang around the fourth year of the Chongzhen reign.

After Gao Yingxiang died in battle, the two went their separate ways, sometimes together and sometimes apart.

Now, this process has been greatly accelerated.

Is it good or bad?

he does not know.

But he knew that from this moment on, Li Zicheng had truly embarked on the path of independent development.

Although it is difficult and dangerous, this is the only way.

And he, Lin Fan, will continue to follow this small team, struggling to survive in the chaotic world.

---

The road north was even more desolate than before.

Sparsely populated, abandoned villages, and barren fields.

Occasionally, you would encounter either starving corpses or other refugees fleeing from hunger.

Food supplies are becoming increasingly scarce.

The supplies provided by Zhang Xianzhong wouldn't last long.

Li Zicheng ordered a reduction in food rations, with each person receiving only a bowl of thin porridge and a small piece of mixed grain cake per day.

The soldiers were so hungry their eyes were practically glowing green, but no one dared to complain.

What's the point of complaining?

In this world, having enough to eat is already an immense stroke of luck.

---

On this day, the team passed through a hilly area.

The scouts reported that there was a sizable town ahead, which might contain grain.

Li Zicheng was invigorated and ordered the speed to be increased.

However, when they arrived, the sight they saw left everyone speechless.

The town has been burned to the ground.

Broken walls and charred beams, the air still smelled of smoke and fire.

Corpses lay scattered haphazardly in the streets.

Men, women, the elderly, children... none were spared.

Some corpses were charred black and curled up in a ball; some had their heads chopped off, their bodies separated from their heads; some were pinned to the ground by spears, their deaths gruesome and unbearable to witness.

"Government troops?" Liu Zongmin asked through gritted teeth.

Old Geng squatted down, examined the wounds and footprints, and shook his head: "No. They were bandits. The knife wounds were messy and the methods were inconsistent; they didn't seem like regular troops. Besides, government troops wouldn't burn the town down so thoroughly. They still need to collect grain and taxes; they wouldn't cut off their own source of income."

"Bandits..." Liu Zongmin gripped the hilt of his knife tightly. "These beasts!"

"Find out if there are any survivors," Li Zicheng said in a deep voice.

The soldiers dispersed and searched through the ruins.

Tian Ergou suddenly let out a scream and scrambled out of a collapsed house, his face ashen.

"Inside...inside..."

Lin Fan walked over quickly.

In the corner of the room, there was a large iron pot.

The bottom of the pot was still warm.

In the pot, there are some...

Lin Fan's pupils suddenly contracted.

He saw clearly what was in the pot.

It's human bones.

Human bones that have been boiled.

Nearby, there were a few cleaned bones and some torn children's clothes.

Tian Ergou squatted in the corner and vomited violently.

Lin Fan's stomach was churning, and acid rose to his throat, which he forcibly suppressed.

He turned and walked out of the house, taking deep breaths of the outside air.

But the air was also filled with the stench of burning and the smell of corpses.

There is nowhere to escape.

"Beast...beast..." Han Jinhu trembled all over, his eyes red.

Old Geng and Shuanzhu also came over, glanced at the scene inside the room, and remained silent.

Having come from a frontier military background, they were used to seeing death.

But what they were seeing was still beyond their limits.

Li Zicheng stood in the center of the town, his face ashen.

He said nothing, only his knuckles turned pale as he gripped the knife hilt.

"Let's go." After a long silence, he uttered a single word.

The group silently traversed this hell on earth.

No one speaks.

Only the sound of footsteps and suppressed sobs could be heard.

---

Lin Fan walked at the back of the group, his mind a complete mess.

In his past life, when he read history books and saw the words "people eat each other," he would only think of them as footnotes to a chaotic world, cold words from distant history.

Seeing it with my own eyes now, I realize the despair behind those three words.

Those who commit murder may have once been honest, hardworking farmers with wives, children, and elderly parents, and who believed in karma and retribution.

But when hunger reached its limit, when all edible things were gone—tree bark, grass roots, clay…

A person is no longer a person.

It's a wild beast.

They are even less than wild beasts.

Once a wild animal is full, it will stop killing.

People will.