novelAbuy Chapter 4 Strong and Virtuous
Chapter 4 Strong and Virtuous
"There's no rush yet."
Li Sheng glanced at the soldiers lying on the ground on the other side. Some of them had died on the spot in the previous battle, but most of them had suffered injuries of varying degrees.
This was thanks to the fact that they were all wearing armor.
Although it wasn't high-level armor like iron armor or black armor, the leather armor was enough to protect Li Sheng and his fellow farmers who were missing their weapons.
In the era of cold weapons, armored soldiers would almost always have an overwhelming advantage over unarmored soldiers.
"Take two sturdy spears and strip off a few pieces of clothing."
"promise!"
They quickly found what Li Sheng needed: spears were readily available, and the clothes were taken from the bodies of dead soldiers.
Li Sheng quickly made a makeshift stretcher and instructed them to carry his brother, who had suffered an abdominal injury, onto it.
Without a stretcher, even if I just treated his wound, it would tear again during transport, and then even a miracle wouldn't be able to save him.
Having done all this, Li Shengcai approached the groaning and moaning county soldiers.
They stared at Li Sheng in horror, as if they were seeing a monster in human skin.
"Rest assured, the Way of Peace does not kill indiscriminately, and I, Li Sheng, am not a bloodthirsty person," Li Sheng said calmly. "You may leave now, just do not do anything immoral in the future."
Upon hearing Li Sheng's words, they exchanged incredulous glances.
"Come over here, brothers, and strip them of their leather armor!"
"yes!"
Soon, someone deftly stripped them of their leather armor.
These county soldiers did not resist; they even rolled over and cooperated in letting him strip off their leather armor.
Otherwise, if they offended that sorcerer from the Taiping Dao sect, it would be hard to say whether they would survive.
Li Sheng didn't look at them any longer.
He pondered for a while. It was early February. Although the Taiping Dao had not yet started their uprising, it was not far off.
The great teacher Zhang Jiao proclaimed, "The Blue Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise, the year is Jiazi, great fortune will come to the world." The so-called Jiazi and auspicious time are March 5th of this year.
Later, due to the betrayal of Tang Zhou, Zhang Jiao knew that he could no longer proceed according to the original plan, and had to send people overnight to urgently notify various places to launch an uprising in February ahead of schedule.
Judging by the time, the Taiping Dao disciples who came to deliver the message had also entered the Xuzhou area.
Once they entered Xuzhou, the terrain was mostly the North China Plain and the Yellow River Plain, flat as a pancake, so news could quickly spread to all the counties and prefectures.
Li Sheng knew very well that he was inextricably linked to the Way of Peace and that he would definitely raise an army in the future to establish the peaceful world he envisioned.
His goal was not to become a bandit, but to establish himself in the chaotic world.
Even if I kill them today, it won't help my strength increase at all, and who would be willing to join me in the future?
Li Sheng knew very well that these officers and soldiers were not professional soldiers, but rather conscripted soldiers from various prefectures and kingdoms.
The system of military service in the commanderies and kingdoms during the Eastern Han Dynasty was essentially a form of forced labor—local people took turns serving in the army, farming in peacetime and being conscripted to the battlefield in wartime.
They were not rigorously trained, poorly equipped, and had low morale, making them only slightly better than Li Sheng and his fellow farmers.
Killing them would only add a few more corpses and would have no impact on the government's military strength, since the government could conscript another batch at any time.
But if we let them go, they will surely go back and tell everyone about Li Sheng's strength and his "gratitude for not killing them".
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, when information was mainly spread by word of mouth, such word-of-mouth was the best form of publicity.
Don't you see, Liu Bei was able to rise from humble beginnings to become one of the three great powers? Apart from his worthless title as a member of the Han imperial family, wasn't it his widely recognized reputation for benevolence and righteousness?
If he were to start a rebellion in the future, he would not be able to rely on those powerful families to spread his message. The best option now is to let these defeated soldiers go back and help him build up some prestige.
Of course, no matter how you look at it, he made these decisions based on his unparalleled strength, and he was not afraid even if the government troops sent people to besiege him in the future.
Li Sheng felt the sensations in his body. Although he was exhausted, he still had the strength to fight a few more rounds.
The crowd watched as the soldiers helped each other flee in disarray, then turned their attention away.
"Let's hurry back, lest the government troops come after us."
"Yes, Brother Sheng!"
Two of them carried the wounded on a stretcher, while the other brothers, carrying plundered leather armor, iron spearheads, and other spoils of war, followed behind Li Sheng and quickly disappeared into the rain.
After returning to the village soaked in the rain, everyone gathered at Li Sheng's house.
Li Sheng's house was empty at the time. His parents had not survived the major epidemic last year, but he was fortunate to have been given medicine and talisman water by a Taiping Dao talisman master, and with his strong physical condition, he was spared from death.
Despite his exhaustion, he had his men boil water and find fresh willow branches to boil, thus providing them with simple treatment for their wounds.
Looking at these six brothers, Li Sheng knew that they were very likely to become his core team in the future.
"Ah Feng, you and the other brothers who are less seriously injured will go to the village entrance to keep watch. I'll rest for a while. If there's any unusual activity, notify me immediately."
"Yes, Sheng-ge, you get some rest." He immediately replied, then turned to the other person, "Come on, let's go guard the village entrance."
The man whom Li Sheng called Ah Feng was the bravest of the six. He and another person quickly went out the door.
Li Sheng mustered his last bit of strength, lay heavily on the bed made of straw, and immediately fainted.
The others, completely unaware, also narrowed their eyes slightly.
It's still raining.
The long-awaited spring rain washed away all traces left by Li Sheng and his men, leaving only the corpses of a few county soldiers uncollected.
……
"Snapped!"
With a loud thud, the bamboo slips on the table fell to the ground.
The people below were all startled and looked up to see Sun Jian suddenly stand up, his tiger-like eyes wide open.
"What did you say?"
Sun Jian's voice was low, but the anger contained within it made everyone feel uneasy.
The defeated soldiers kneeling before the tent trembled, their foreheads pressed to the ground, not daring to raise their heads: "Magistrate Sun... Magistrate Sun, everything I've said is true. The band of Taiping Dao bandits that the county constable ordered us to capture, their leader is named Li Sheng. There were more than twenty of us... only these few escaped..."
"More than twenty people, slaughtered by a few bandits, leaving only a handful of you?"
Sun Jian kicked aside the table beside him, scattering bamboo slips all over the floor. "How does Brother Zhongyi usually train you? Hmm?"
Before he could finish speaking, the man sitting to the side looked embarrassed, coughed, and cupped his hands, saying, "Brother Wentai, please don't joke around..."
This man was Chen Yuan, also known as Chen Zhongyi, the county magistrate of Xiapi. He came from the Chen clan of Xiapi, which was considered one of the most prominent and powerful clans in Xiapi.
His clansman Chen Qiu even rose to the positions of Minister of Works and Grand Commandant, ranking among the Three Dukes.
Although he was executed five years earlier (179 AD) for plotting to kill the eunuchs, the Chen family of Xiapi, with its accumulated political capital and extensive network of connections, had become a top aristocratic family in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, with famous scholars such as Lu Zhi, Zheng Xuan, Guan Ning, and Hua Xin being his students.
Those still serving in office include Chen Yu (Chen Gongwei), who holds the position of Imperial Consultant in the central government, and Chen Cong, who serves as a prefect in a local area.
Another young talent is Chen Deng Chen Yuanlong, who has already gained a great reputation even before taking office!