Chapter 1784: Arrange a Place for Them to Live
General Liu just smiled without saying a word. He turned and said to a person next to him, “Arrange a place for them to live.”
“Yes, General,” General Liu’s guard said deferentially.
Ning Shu and Chen Li led the group into the village. There were men, women, old, and young, people of every kind inside.
These were the soldiers’ family members. In the worst case scenario, these family members could also pick up arms and fight.
In troubled times, being able to stay together with one’s family was an extravagant hope. It was even more difficult to keep the whole family full and satisfied.
It worked both ways, though. The family members could be used as hostages, and they could also make the soldiers more determined.
After all, General Liu was born into a military family. He could easily figure out what people were thinking.
The guard took Ning Shu to the place where they would take up residence. Chen Li cautiously tried to get on good terms with the guard, but Ning Shu pulled the corner of his clothes.
Chen Li turned his head to look at Ning Shu. She shook her head at Chen Li, who stopped talking.
The guard glanced at Ning Shu and said, “This is where you will live.”
The houses in this row were rather dilapidated, and there was rubbish everywhere. This place was a mess. Moreover, Ning Shu could also smell the scent of a latrine.
There were even feces lying around. Clearly, children had been defecating here.
Chen Li frowned and wanted to ask the guard if there was a better place.
He was feeling a little upset. They had come all the way here after forsaking everything. The leader even said everyone was a family at the entrance of the village, but now, they were assigned a place like this.
Just as Chen Li was about to open his mouth, Ning Shu stepped forward and said, “Thank you, sir.”
“Just call me Guard Zhou,” said Guard Zhou.
“Okay, please thank the general for giving us a place to live on behalf of this humble woman,” said Ning Shu.
Guard Zhou exchanged a few polite sentences with Ning Shu and left.
As soon as the guy left, Chen Li asked, “Why can’t we ask for a better place?”
“As a newcomer, what qualifications do we have to ask for a good place? We’ve earned no merits, and the other party does not necessarily trust us. They might even suspect that our group has spies in our midst,” said Ning Shu indifferently.
“We are all poor commoners. There can be no spies among us.” retorted Chen Li.
Ning Shu looked around and said lightly, “But others won’t believe us.”
“Clean up the surroundings.” Ning Shu said to the party, “We will be living here in the future. Our future is uncertain. Maybe we will earn high positions and great wealth. Maybe we will be buried on the battlefield. If anyone wants to leave now, I won’t stop you.”
The nearly two hundred people in the group all looked at each other. They discussed in hushed voices, but no one left. After killing the soldiers, they had become enemies of the imperial court. Those who left would be without food and die sooner or later.
“Alright, no quits. Now clean up the houses,” said Ning Shu.
The crowd dispersed to get busy. Ning Shu also picked up a hoe and dug a hole to bury the feces. There were flies buzzing around everywhere.
Ning Shu took out some medicinal powder and sprinkled it in every room.
Just as Chen Li was going to lead some people to do other chores, Ning Shu said to him, “I’ll take a look at the surroundings.”
“Okay, be careful. Take the dagger with you,” said Chen Li.
Ning Shu just nodded. She then checked the situation of the army camp. The people here didn’t have any armor. Instead, they were all dressed in coarse linen. Some of them didn’t even wear shirts, showing their tanned arms.
When not attacking cities, these people would lie at home or just sit in the shade of the trees. They didn’t look like an army at all.
However, it was still understandable. After all, physical training required a lot of energy. In this drought, one couldn’t even eat enough to be full, so forget physical training.
Yet such a ragtag army, carrying hoes and sickles and with no horses and armor, had actually beaten the court’s standing army.
It was really as if the gods were favoring them, and there was some sort of heavenly intervention. At the same time, it also showed what the current court had decayed into.
Translator: Take
MTL Editor: Meraki
TLC: Kaho
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