Chapter 848: Now This Is True Ruthlessness
The moment the Manchu cavalry scouts appeared outside North Tower Village, the serene little hamlet was plunged into chaos.
Villagers shrieked in terror: "Manchus! The Manchus are here!"
A villager repairing a roof slipped and tumbled off, landing in a dishevelled heap. Another, tilling the fields, grabbed his hoe and sprinted home, shouting, "Wife, run! Quick, run!"
A villager weaving bamboo strips cried out, likely having cut his hand in his panic. He shoved a bleeding finger into his mouth and bolted home as if his life depended on it.
North Tower Village instantly dissolved into utter pandemonium.
The Manchu commander, seeing the scene unfold, let out a sigh of relief. "This village poses no threat! Charge! Get in there, kill all the men! Take the women and children back!"
"Woooooah!"
The cavalry scouts surged towards the tiny North Tower Village.
Their charge only exacerbated the villagers' panic, sending people scattering wildly throughout the hamlet.
A hundred facets of human nature, in that instant, laid bare the ugliness of humanity.
The Manchu cavalry were no strangers to such a sight. They had witnessed this tableau countless times in the many villages they had pillaged, long grown accustomed to it.
"Hahahaha!"
"Cowardly Han dogs!"
"Kill, kill, kill!"
Lest their spoils slip from their grasp, the cavalry scouts spurred their horses, charging forward with desperate speed.
The very moment they reached the edge of the village.
A villager, who had moments before been flailing in feigned panic, suddenly threw back his head and roared, "Fire!"
From the windows of the village's dilapidated houses, dozens of musket barrels instantly emerged.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
A cloud of acrid smoke billowed, and dozens of Manchu cavalry scouts instantly toppled from their saddles.
"Damn it all!" the leading commander roared, enraged. "An ambush!"
"It's that unit again! The Ming Dynasty's Divine Machine Camp!"
"It must be the Divine Machine Camp!"
"Retreat, quickly!"
As quickly as the cavalry scouts had arrived, they fled in equal disarray.
They scattered like the wind, racing towards Yingzhou.
The villagers made no attempt to pursue them, merely sending men to finish off any Manchu cavalrymen who had fallen from their horses but weren't dead, then effortlessly leading away their mounts.
The "villagers" of North Tower Village erupted in cheers: "Another successful ambush of a Manchu troop!"
The courtesan poked her head out of the house, her face alight with joy. "It's recorded! First-hand combat footage, all captured!"
Lao Nanfeng nodded at her. "Good that you got it. Remember to add a line in the news report: 'Battles like this are now happening daily in the Xuan-Da Command region.'"
The courtesan's expression showed a hint of surprise. "Happening daily?"
Lao Nanfeng nodded gravely. "Thirty thousand Manchu troops have invaded, but they haven't stayed together. Instead, they've split into four routes, and those four routes have further fractured into countless smaller bands, robbing everywhere. In the Xuan-Da Command region, small cavalry scout teams are running rampant everywhere. We truly can't guard against them all, nor can we stop them all."
The courtesan uttered, "Oh dear."
Lao Nanfeng glanced towards Yingzhou. "I really wish we could draw out their main force, pit the entire Gao Family Village Militia against Huang Taiji's complete Manchu army, and settle this in one decisive battle. But it's clear the Manchus have no such intention. They are dead set on scattering and raiding everywhere. They don't care if a few small units take losses; they just keep spreading out and pillaging."
The courtesan sighed, "Alas, what can be done?"
Lao Nanfeng replied, "It's a difficult problem. We Han people have been playing this game with the northern barbarians for one or two millennia, and we still haven't found a definitive solution."
The courtesan remained speechless.
She was merely a courtesan; such matters were entirely outside her realm of understanding.
Lao Nanfeng sighed. "For now, all we can do is defend against them for a time. Eradicating them completely isn't possible yet. In short, we'll have to see what methods the Heavenly Lord employs in the future. But enough of these unpleasant topics."
Lao Nanfeng suddenly turned his head. "You, Zheng Dazhuang! Damn it, I'm impressed by your acting! When we return to Puzhou City, report to me. I'll give you a major role to play."
Zheng Dazhuang was overjoyed. "Thank you, Brother Nanfeng!"
Lao Nanfeng pointed at another soldier. "You! Report to me in Puzhou City as well."
The soldier beamed with delight.
The other soldiers, not having been called out, grew anxious. "Brother Nanfeng, was my acting not good enough just now?"
"Didn't I wield that dung scoop convincingly?"
"When I acted like I cut my hand with the bamboo strip, I actually cut myself on purpose, just to make it real! Brother Nanfeng, you can't say you didn't see that!"
Lao Nanfeng couldn't help but be startled. "What the — you actually cut yourself?"
The soldier affirmed, "I really did. Look, it's still bleeding."
Lao Nanfeng exclaimed, "Blast it all! Your acting is terrible, but your dedication is commendable. Fine! You report to me in Puzhou City too when we get back."
The soldier was overjoyed!
Lao Nanfeng suddenly remembered something, turning to the courtesan. "Oh, by the way, what department did you say you were from?"
The courtesan replied, "The News Department."
Lao Nanfeng mumbled, "If creating news can warrant its own specialized department, then acting for films should too! Heh! I'll have to go back and plan this out, establish a Performance Department, and have Miss Cai Lin be the instructor to teach everyone how to act, hahahaha!"
The courtesan said, both exasperated and amused, "General Nanfeng, you were just fighting moments ago, slaying Manchus until their blood ran in rivers! I just saw you personally stab a vicious Manchu to death with your own blade, and now, the moment you turn around, you're already contemplating this? Do you even have your mind on the battle anymore?"
Lao Nanfeng burst into laughter. "Fighting? What's there to think about? Nonsense! The day I was born, I was on a border fortress, and I've been killing northern barbarians with my father since I was a child. Fighting? Does it require brains? Not at all! My body automatically grabs a blade and hacks away. While I'm carving up enemies, I'm thinking about beautiful women dancing. Little girl, let me tell you, how to thrive in this 'Flower World' is what truly occupies my mind right now."
As he spoke, he began humming a tune: "Can't ever fly away, from this world of flowers..."
Singing, he casually strolled past a Manchu corpse. His eyes weren't even on the ground, yet he suddenly chuckled. "You scoundrel, faking your death?"
The Manchu instantly sprang up, slashing his blade towards Lao Nanfeng's leg.
Lao Nanfeng continued singing, "Turns out I'm a drunken butterfly..."
The song on his lips didn't affect his movements in the slightest. With a swift sidestep, he dodged the Manchu's blade. His hand shot out, seizing the Manchu's wrist. With a sickening snap, he broke the man's joint, then made the Manchu watch as his own broken arm, still clutching the blade, plunged the knife into his stomach, twisting it for good measure.
Lao Nanfeng continued, "Spring flowers before the mirror, autumn moon in the water... I'm a drunken butterfly... Damn it! I got the lyrics wrong! You bloody Manchu, you made me mess up the song!"
He proceeded to kick and stomp the Manchu's corpse, an act of shocking savagery, all because of a single misremembered lyric.
The courtesan's face drained of color, utterly terrified.
She finally understood. Chang Wei beating Lai Fu was nothing. Compared to Lao Nanfeng, Chen Qianhu was not terrifying at all. This man, this general from Gao Family Village, was the truly ruthless one. Now this was true ruthlessness.
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