nucmednet Chapter 37 Seizing Land (4)
Chapter 37 Seizing Land (4)
??
Gou Ergui was quicker-witted than his brother. He shouted at the servants, "Quickly push the chests containing the silver away, hurry!"
Although Gou Dafu was startled by the sudden appearance of this group of people, he reacted quickly when silver was mentioned, and hurriedly asked, "What are you doing? Don't touch the box!" The last part of the sentence was addressed to the servants.
In the face of life and death, Gou Ergui had no time to explain to his elder brother. He jumped off the carriage, climbed onto the carriage loaded with silver, snatched a short knife from the guards, and with a few clangs, cut the hemp rope binding the box. He opened the box, grabbed the gleaming silver ingots, and scattered them on the ground.
Gou Dafu's face turned pale. His round body, like a bouncy ball, leaped off the carriage and ran towards Gou Ergui, reaching out to stop him from scattering the silver. This silver was his lifeblood; scattering it on the ground was like a knife stabbing into his heart.
Because the carriages were all very full, the entire convoy moved very slowly. However, the two brothers acted quickly. One opened the box and scattered silver, while the other jumped off the carriage to stop it. All of this happened in a flash. The other female relatives and servants had not yet reacted and only saw silver ingots rolling on the ground.
Gou Ergui disregarded the order of seniority, kicked his elder brother so hard he stumbled, and whispered, "We're about to die, what do we care about money! These people are only after money, let's take advantage of them picking up the silver from the ground so we can escape!"
After being kicked, Gou Dafu regained some of his senses and understood his brother's intentions. However, his miserly nature was insurmountable, and looking at the silver scattered on the ground, his heart ached. Gou Ergui, annoyed that the silver was being scattered too slowly and wouldn't stop the pursuers, ordered the servants to help push the boxes off the cart. Gou Dafu saw this, and his facial muscles twitched again. He climbed onto the cart and pleaded with his brother, "Second brother, leave some, leave some, don't push it all off..."
Gou Ergui ignored his words. With the help of the servants, several boxes were pushed off the cart, the ropes were cut, and the boxes bounced a few times on the ground, scattering more silver ingots all over the ground.
Lin San led the pursuit, leading his soldiers from Li Family Village. They entered every village they encountered, robbing wealthy households and taking away silver and land deeds on the spot. If the head of the household did not resist, they were spared; if they did, they were killed. Shi Ying led fifty guards, dressed in black and with their faces covered, following behind to assist and transport the spoils.
Even if the landlords in these villages had a few servants, how could they possibly resist him? He swept through the land like a whirlwind, uprooting wealthy families wherever he went, leaving them destitute and dead overnight. Before the news could even spread, the next village would suffer the same fate.
It wasn't until they reached Longyin Village that a few members of the wealthy Huang family managed to escape and seek refuge with Gou Dafu, thus revealing the truth. However, Lin San and his men had a clear division of labor: he was only responsible for killing, while the guards were in charge of counting the money and land deeds. They were very efficient, setting off before dawn and running right into the dawdling Gou Dafu.
Gou Ergui's delaying tactic would surely have worked on other bandits and mountain brigands, but it failed this time. The soldiers, who were originally from a bandit army, only hesitated for a moment when they saw the silver scattered on the ground before immediately bypassing the boxes and continuing their pursuit.
Since surrendering to Liu Ye, the soldiers have never worried about not getting any benefits from fighting. However, if they secretly pick up valuables during battle, the guards following behind them are not to be trifled with. They don't want to suffer the same fate as before with muskets. Anyway, the guards will handle the money, and they will get their share in the end. Why bother making trouble for themselves here?
When Gou Ergui saw this scene, he could hardly believe his eyes. Even soldiers, if they weren't out of their minds, would pick up the silver first if they saw it all. People die for wealth, birds die for food; soldiers and officers alike, who wouldn't be tempted by money? Yet this group, weren't they supposed to be robbing wealthy families? How come they seemed blind to the sight of silver?
The silver they had thrown down failed to stop the pursuers. How could the incredibly slow convoy possibly outrun the soldiers who traversed mountains and valleys as if they were flat ground? Moments later, the convoy was overtaken. Lin San drew his iron rod, which reached his eyebrows, and with a single swing, smashed a wheel off a carriage. The carriage tilted to the side, and the heavy cargo crashed to the ground. The poor horse pulling the carriage was pulled to its knees by the force of the carriage and the cargo, letting out a mournful whinny.
Before Gou Dafu could recover from the shock of losing the silver, he was caught up again. Before he could figure out what to do, he instinctively turned around to look for Gou Ergui, only to find that he had disappeared. Looking around blankly, a cleaver came down on his head. A sharp pain shot through his neck, and then he lost consciousness.
The servants had weapons like knives, but they were no match for the ferocious soldiers. They didn't even have the courage to resist, and seeing their master fall, they all tried to flee for their lives. However, they were already surrounded by the soldiers and had no way to escape. In the blink of an eye, they became several corpses.
Lin San looked at Gou Dafu on the ground. Judging from his clothes and build, he knew that Gou Dafu was the head of the household. The key figure was dead, and the armed servants had also been killed. The remaining maids and servants were insignificant, so he ignored them for the time being. He protected the surrounding area and waited for the guards to come forward to count the valuables and land deeds.
Gou Ergui hid among a group of servants, witnessing his elder brother's death firsthand, but was powerless to do anything about it. It was clear this group had a specific goal: to kill the master of a wealthy family and rob him of his possessions. As for the maids and servants, who posed no threat to them, they seemed to disdain to care.
Then, dozens more people followed, seemingly from the same group. They ignored the corpses and went straight to count the silver on the ground before reloading it onto the carts. A dozen or so of them walked towards the convoy, rummaging through boxes and cabinets looking for something. The group that had been chasing them stood around, seemingly on guard.
These weren't ordinary rioters; they were clearly a group of bandits more professional than government troops. They moved with order and had a clear division of labor: some killed, some counted the loot, and they didn't swarm the silver. It was terrifying. With such a band of bandits around, all the wealthy families in Lingao were doomed. Gou Ergui thought that even if government troops came, they might not be able to defeat these people unless they had an overwhelming numerical advantage.
A soldier rummaging through things walked towards them, and the maids and servants trembled with fear. The soldier looked them over and thought that Gou Ergui, dressed in the clothes of a minor official, looked like a manager. He asked, "Where is your master hiding the land deeds? Tell me and I'll spare your lives."
Gou Ergui pretended to be terrified, knelt on the ground with his head down, and said in a hoarse voice, "Sir, the master doesn't let us servants know about his money and land deeds, so I don't know where he hides them." In fact, he really didn't know. His elder brother loved money more than anything, kept his money very secret, and usually didn't care about such trivial matters, so how would he know where he hid them?