Chapter 124 – All Must Be Eliminated; The Extermination of Private Soldiers
Translated by Bloodfalcon, Edited by Krayto
“SHAAA, HAAAA!!!!!!!” Wancheng city has been engulfed in a sea of flames. Wailing and weeping; sounds of horror can be heard everywhere.
Liu Mang, in order to draw out the noble families who participated in rebellion, stayed inside Wancheng city with only 1,000 people. However, the noble’s private soldiers numbered more than 20,000 troops. Properly speaking, the battle should already be finished, but the sound of battle is still going.
In their eyes, everyone is an enemy and everyone who does not belong to the nobles need to be purged. Everyone including commoners are merit to them.
For example, the Yu clan’s private soldiers had beheaded more than 2000 people. From these numbers, 10% of them are part of Lu Bu’s army the remaining 90% are Wancheng city’s commoners.
Wancheng city is Lujiang’s government body. It governs several thousand commoners. But now, these commoners became a target for merit by the noble’s private soldiers.
Battles often took place in Wancheng City, so the commoners quickly locked their houses and hid inside them. But they cannot fight back, when the noble’s private soldiers crashed their doors forcefully, the private soldiers who were already in a frenzy, robbed their things and raped their women.
“Honorable soldier, I beg you, please spare us, please spare us!” An old man is pleading to the “honorable” soldier. On the face of this helpless old man there is a horrified expression.
“Spare you? Can sparing you give this “Honorable” me merits? Can it make this “Honorable” soldier become really honorable?!” The private soldier kicked the old man aside. These private soldiers are not stupid enough to take this old man’s head as a trophy. So instead, those noble private soldiers target men who are still in their prime, strong and healthy for their military merit.
He quickly targeted the youth who has already been scared stiff. “Poof!” Blood is bursting from that youth and spurted toward that private soldier’s face. That soldier just licked the blood with his tongue.
“No, no, no, no. My grandson Gou, my grandson Gou!” The old man who had been lying on the ground after seeing his grandson dead in front of him was truly heartbroken. That young man is his favorite grandson but he was no more.
“Heh, old man. You did not have any valuable things in your house, so I killed your grandson in exchange for it. You should be thankful that I did not let him suffer!” These private soldiers are ecstatic. Because he had obtained five heads for his promotion. The next five head can get him 100 taels of gold and if he did not want a promotion, his promotion can be exchanged with 500 taels of gold.
“Oh, oh, oh, Gou my grandson. GOU!!!!” The old man’s heart died. His only grandson had not yet married, but now he died under this butchers knife.
Seeing that old man crying profusely, the private soldier muttered “Bah, no luck in this house! To the next house!!!”
“Wait, you and I still have a score to settle. You kill my GOU, RETURN MY GOU TO ME!!!!” Looking at that butcher about to leave. The old man suddenly got a burst of strength from adrenaline, and grabbed that private soldier. That private soldier did not notice at all that old man grabbed him and was judo-thrown by that old man.
He quickly fell down to the ground. His mouth is eating the yellow soil and his helmet already dropped.
“You accompany my Gou, GIVE ME BACK MY GOU!!!!” The old man was hit with grief and anger, actually giving that soldier a good fight.
“OLD FART, YOU WANT TO DIE? I'LL SEND YOU TO HELL ALONG WITH YOUR GRANDSON!!!” That private soldier slowly responded. He was stunned a moment ago, but now he has responded wildly. And because he is in pain, he got angry and choked the old man as fierce as possible.
“OLD FART!!! YOU!!! YOU DARE TO HIT ME!!!! I'LL KILL YOU LIKE A DOG!!!!”
“RETURN MY GOU, RETURN MY GOU TO ME!!!!” An old man is no match for a healthy young person. His neck was choked so hard so he is unable to breathe, however the old man just stubbornly held the private soldier's hair.
“RELEASE ME, RELEASE ME, OLD BASTARD!!!” Ancient people take pride in their long hair, because they believe that the hair is a gift from ones parents. Cutting your hair means that you cut down your own parents. Therefore in ancient times, people had long hair. Right now the private soldier's hair was held by the old man, it is really painful. So painful that his tears almost come out.
“RETURN MY GOU TO ME, RETURN MY GOU TO ME!!!” The old man just repeating same sentence over and over.
“AAAAHHHHHH!!!” The private soldier exerted his strength again and said “OLD BASTARD, LET GO OF MY HAIR, LET GO!!!!” after saying that, he quickly overturned his body so the old man is on the ground and he is above the old man.
Although the soil is quite muddy, it cannot hold the impact force exerted by that private soldier and so after three hits, that old man's forehead become bloody.
“RETURN MY GOU, MY GOU!!!!” the old man vomited blood.
“LET ME GO, LET ME GO!!!!” And with those words, that private soldier continued slamming that old man’s forehead against the ground.
The result of that, that old man's face became truly disfigured and unrecognizable. Blood and bone was mixed into one. The old man finally died, with blood and spinal fluid joining together.
“HAAAH, HAAAH, HAAAH, HAAAAH!!!!” That private soldier is huffing and puffing on the ground. This old bastard had died but his arm is still grabbing his hair. That private soldier tried to pry open that corpses hand but was unable to do it because before he died, that old man used all of his strength on that grip, so it will not loosen again.
“Damned old bastard!” the private soldier was truly angry. This old bastard did not die peacefully but kept tormenting his hair. So the private soldier can only chop off his arm and look for another soldier to trim his hair.
That old man's outburst made that private soldier truly furious and he proceeded to burn his entire house along with its residences. With this, he had destroy a whole family along with their surname.
Such scene is very common in every corner of Wancheng city. Mad laughter in the air, raging sounds, begging for mercy, and screams for help are mixed together. Such scene is very common in times of war.
Liu Mang deployed his Urban Army. His Urban Army added with Wancheng city night-shift defenders and Liu clan's private soldiers, totaled 8,000 troops. Although the enemy had 20,000 troops, it did not worry Liu Mang even a bit.
Those rabble soldiers are not a match for his elite soldiers. On the way to purge them, Liu Mang looks on the street. The street color is no longer that of blue stone but already blood red. Above the street, those who died were not Lu Bu’s army but commoners who were lying dead.
The street was so littered with commoners it seemed like they are trash at a dumpster. They are wearing rough cotton clothes, truly miserable. The old and weak are directly killed, women were raped before they died and children were strangled to death, the healthy and young were beheaded in order to become merit.
This is living hell.
“So this is cannibalism!” Liu Mang stopped for a moment to remember what Lu Bu told him in the tiger's den outskirts of Shucheng County (read chapter 74).
This is times of war, this is the time where human life is lower than a dog. The mistake not lies with the people but lies with current way of the world.
“No, this can be changed! I must change this time!” Liu Mang shook his head fiercely.
Liu Mang had decided that he must change this times of war into a peaceful one. But if he wanted to do it, he must sweep clean any obstacle in front of him.
The one who made the Han so decadent are these ambitious warlords, these nobles. Yes, these nobles are the one who made this hell, they must be sent into hell along with their ambitions, and this is Liu Mang's final decision.
“SHAAAA!!!!!” Liu Mang originally meant to negotiate with these nobles but that thought completely vanished. These nobles are not human, with their existence, commoners will not be able to live peacefully.
“WHO ARE YOU?!” A group of drunken noble private soldiers are looking at team of troops who is currently nearing their position. One of them quickly unsheathed their sword trying to stand firm.
Looking at those private soldiers who are blocking their way. Huang Zhong bit his teeth and screamed “Damned beast, give me your life!” Huang Zhong quickly burst out, his strength has reached the same level as Lu Bu which is the pinnacle of a super-general. So, he burst out just like an arrow that he used to shoot.
On his hand is his golden curved dao, any private soldier who blocked his way, was sliced into two. Anyone Cut into two from middle section (waist) did not immediately die.
“AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!” The drunken private soldier finally sobered up. He cannot stand anymore, and had an enormous rush of pain and kept stuttering “How how can this be, how, HOW!!!” His intestines are flying everywhere. This private soldier was trying to crawl wanting to collect his intestines, but his body was already cut in half.
His vision blurred in his last moments as he bled to death as he saw ; he saw the scene of his killer walking away.
After endless screaming in pain, that private soldier finally breathed his last. His face when he died showed a very fierce expression; holding very much pain.
Huang Zhong did not have sympathy for these damned beast. He dismounted and picked the thing that he held beside his sword. Huang Zhong picked up a dead baby with his umbilical cord still intact.
This baby is a stillborn. It was not mature enough to be birthed by its mother. Even before it came to this world, it was killed, ripped out from its mother’s womb.
This is murder. In times of war maybe human life is not valuable. But one cannot act heinously to this extent. Huang Zhong who had experienced many battles could also not bear anymore.
“KILL THEM ALL, NO ONE IS TO BE LEFT STANDING!!!!” Huang Zhong and Liu Mang the gave same order.
The private soldiers of these nobles, even though this clearly violated military law, Huang Zhong had decided to kill them all. They are not human, they are even lower than any beast.