Chapter 53: Witness It Now, All of You!

Uncle Jiang had always been efficient, thorough, and swift. Just as little Yun had finished his piece of horse meat, he noticed a slight stir among the local braves and militia.

Being short, little Yun instinctively stood up to look.

Uncle Jiang was leading the way at the very front, followed by a jostling crowd of nearly two hundred people. The problem was that almost all of these people were the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled. The able-bodied men likely numbered only forty or fifty, and every single one of them was gaunt and sallow from hunger, many barely able to stand.

Not only were they emaciated and frail, but they were also unkempt and filthy. Many lacked clothes entirely; only a few women wore ragged, tattered garments to cover their modesty, while a large number of the men and children were completely naked.

"Little Yun, the shed has been checked. There are no Qiang or Di people there. These are all the villagers of Guguan Township," Jiang Guang reported as he stepped forward.

At this moment, Guguan Township grew quiet once again, save for the crackling of the burning campfires and the sizzling sound of horse meat dripping fat.

For some reason, an indescribable feeling welled up in the hearts of the local braves and militia.

Perhaps it was because they were now living like human beings that the words spoken by the little child on that evening had been fulfilled. They were truly, tangibly alive, and they were beginning to try to speak with dignity.

Thus, they also began to pity others, even desiring for these wretched people to live with dignity just as they did. Yet in this world, not every place had a Magistrate Li, nor did every place have such an extraordinary child like little Yun.

"Everyone sit down. It's cold late at night. Uncle Jiang, take some men and light a few more campfires," little Yun was the first to recover his composure and speak.

Without waiting for Jiang Guang to call them, the braves immediately set off to gather dry firewood and kindle fires.

Soon, large bonfires were blazing throughout the village. Numb as they were, the old, weak, sick, and disabled were still living human beings, and they instinctively huddled toward the warmth of the fires.

"Deng Qiang, take some men and bring those clothes stripped from the Qiang and Di people to them."

Deng Qiang immediately called upon Feng Sheng and the others, quickly fetching padded cotton garments and animal furs. Many of them were stained with blood and mud, and even reeked of dampness.

"These are all we have for now. Take the clothes and warm them by the fires; put them on once they are a bit dry."

When the men of the Baibaidi tribe had entered Guguan Township, these numb people had cowered inside their sheds and refused to come out. When little Yun and his group arrived, they had stayed hidden inside without a sound.

It was as if anyone could do anything to them, and they simply accepted their fate with passive resignation.

Long ago, they had been tamed like livestock that had lost all independent thought, surviving solely on the very last shred of the animal instinct that any lingering life is better than a miserable death.

When Jiang Guang drove them out from the sheds, making them come forth, they emerged trembling.

These people had long since forgotten how to resist or struggle.

The children of Lengdixiang still retained a trace of childish innocence; their tender years had not yet been entirely crushed by the hardships of life. But those of Guguan Township were different—these children were listless and lifeless, their young eyes holding nothing but numbness and cowardice.

It was only when padded winter garments or animal skins were placed into their hands, followed by chunks of roasted horse meat, that a change occurred.

They had been starving for far too long; ideally, they should have been given some porridge.

Yet little Yun and his companions had brought no millet along, nor did they have many pots. They could only manage to boil some horse meat broth, allowing the people to drink a little to warm their bellies shortly.

"Eat."

There was truly an abundance of horse meat; the ones with injured legs, the ones that had died... all of them could be eaten.

These people finally reacted. Suddenly, someone among them let out a wail, and then, clutching the clothes tightly to their chests, they began to ravenously tear into the horse meat in their hands.

For some reason, Feng Sheng and the other braves felt their spirits lift. They grinned as they continued to roast the horse meat, and when a few pots finally finished simmering some meat broth, they prioritized these villagers, serving them first.

Little Yun watched the villagers for a while and slowly let out a sigh.

However, he did not linger outside any longer. Having marched continuously through gloomy, rainy days and spent all day burrowing through the forests, little Yun was bone-tired. After telling Jiang Guang, he went off to rest.

Early the next morning, little Yun woke up automatically.

While his own energy had mostly recovered, Li复 (Li Fu) had actually fallen ill. The scholar had endured travel and rain over the past few days, and having been deeply shaken by yesterday's battle, he had hardly eaten any horse meat at night before hurrying off to rest.

By this morning, he had come down with a full-blown chill.

Jiang Guang and his men usually carried some medicinal herbs, originally prepared in case little Yun caught a cold due to his young age, which were now put to use for Li Fu.

Taking a moment, Jiang Guang secretly thought that this Magistrate Li was truly useless. Fortunately, although Magistrate Li's abilities were mediocre, he was a decent father. A grown man like him did not feel humiliated by listening to such a young child as little Yun; knowing his own limitations and being good at taking advice was also a virtue.

Little Yun wanted to go check on his father, but Jiang Guang wouldn't allow it, nor would Li Fu, fearing he might catch the illness.

Very well, then.

Fortunately, Li Fu's condition did not seem severe; once he sweated it out later, he would likely be fine.

Early in the morning, little Yun set about arranging post-battle matters. First were the bodies of the Qiang and Di people who had died in battle; to prevent any epidemic outbreaks in the coming spring, all of them were to be burned on the spot.

The sight was not a pleasant one, and little Yun chose not to watch, fearing he would lose his appetite.

Next was the tally of their own casualties, which had been calculated yesterday. Among the militia, four had died and three were heavily wounded; among the braves, no one had died, but six were heavily wounded and over twenty lightly injured. It was truly a blessing that yesterday's engagement had been a rout with the enemy mostly trying to flee, keeping their casualties remarkably light.

Yang Luo, who had been struck on the horse's leg by the long saber swung by Deng Qiang and thrown from his saddle, had died on the spot. His fall was crushed under the neck of the fallen horse, and with the charging horses of the fleeing men behind him, his body had been trampled into a bloody pulp, leaving only his head barely recognizable.

Little Yun felt that the head might still be useful, so, enduring his nausea, he asked Jiang Guang if it could be preserved. Jiang Guang fetched some quicklime to treat the head, and since it was winter, it decayed quite slowly.

With these matters settled, they had to deal with the bodies of the fallen militia.

These corpses were carefully collected. Since nothing useful could be found on the scene, they could only wrap them in horse hides for now, to be sent back to their respective families later.

At the same time, compensation had to be provided to their families.

Ever since the formation of the militia, little Yun had specifically consulted Li Fu and studied various Liang Dynasty legal provisions concerning soldiers' welfare.

He then discovered that while the Liang Dynasty was now utterly decayed and rotting to its core, it had once enjoyed a period of brilliance. For instance, in the dynasties preceding Liang, the imperial court had never established a clear, statutory compensation system for soldiers. Even earlier, recruits had to bring their own weapons and dry rations to the army, receiving no military pay whatsoever. The only benefit was the potential to distinguish oneself through battle merits and ultimately secure an official post.

Subsequent dynasties made improvements, but these primarily applied to commissioned officers.

In the event of a death in battle, families were granted certain tax exemption privileges, alongside monetary compensation or grants of farmland. However, these were inconsistent; what one received depended entirely on the disposition of the commanding officer at the time, as well as the prevailing political climate of the reigning emperor and his court.

By the time of the Liang Dynasty, the founding emperor had officially established a pension system at the legal level, enacting specialized laws to regulate various aspects of military service. For instance, the *Military Defense Regulations* stipulated how border guards should train and defend; the *Captive Pursuit Regulations* detailed how deserters were to be hunted down and handled; and the *Official Duties Regulations* prescribed the pay for different ranks of soldiers as well as the various forms of compensation due upon a soldier's death. It even specified different methods and amounts of compensation depending on whether a soldier died during active wartime or from a sudden illness in camp.

Of course, such systems could only be maintained during the early years of the Liang Dynasty. By the middle period, these structures had begun to collapse, and by the present day, they were completely worthless.

If the *Official Duties Regulations* were strictly followed, these militia members were classified as military reserves who had perished in a bandit-suppression campaign. The official compensation would consist of a set of burial garments provided by the court, placed inside an empty coffin sent to the deceased's home, after which the family would dress the body and place it in the coffin.

If there were other able-bodied men in the household, they could fill the deceased's vacancy. If not, the family would receive a lump sum equal to half a year's salary of the fallen, along with a bolt of silk fabric—and that was the entirety of it.

If they were to execute these statutory provisions of the Liang law, the militia and braves who had gone out today to fight the Di and Qiang would still be moved to tears of gratitude.

After all, the Liang government had defaulted on its debts and stagnated in neglect for far too long. Now, as long as someone merely followed the rules to the slightest degree, that person appeared miraculously benevolent by comparison.

Yet little Yun believed he could do somewhat better.

Since they were ultimately going to rebel, winning over people's hearts had to be done so thoroughly that no one could find fault. At the same time, they could not rely solely on throwing money at people; otherwise, the troops would be driven purely by self-interest. While money could certainly spur morale, it could easily backfire later, with soldiers demanding payment before battle, rejoicing only at the sight of wealth and refusing orders when money was absent, which would breed endless trouble.

When he had a spare moment, little Yun kept pondering this matter.

Along the way, he also went to check on the villagers of Guguan Township. They had long since woken up, and the padded clothes given to them last night were now thoroughly dried, wrapped snugly around their bodies.

Compared to the previous night, they seemed to have recovered a glimmer of vitality today, though they still huddled together, too timid to speak. Eventually, a man in his fifties who looked as weathered as a man of seventy or eighty trembled as he stood up, caught sight of little Yun surrounded and protected by Jiang Guang and his men, and dropped to his knees.

Only then did little Yun learn that Guguan Township had no county magistrate, but it did have three elders, of whom this man was one. In his youth, he had read a few books and retained a measure of education. Thus, he was the first among them to recover his vigor after eating and drinking his fill, and the only one capable of speaking clearly and coherently.

For years, Guguan Township had been repeatedly plundered; most of the able-bodied men had been killed, leaving very few people behind, making it impossible to cultivate the fields. To make matters worse, people from Long County had come a few years prior to forcibly collect grain, driving them to absolute desperation.

Things improved slightly only after Li Fu arrived.

Noticing the destitution here, and knowing that Li Fu was not a deeply greedy official—while also fearing that the people of Guguan Township might go to Long County to lodge a complaint—those tax-collecting petty officials stopped coming around as often.

No more oil could be squeezed from this stone.

And so, these people had merely clung to life, lingering on the brink of death.

The poverty here was caused by its geographical isolation. After pondering the matter, little Yun decided the only option was to lead them to retreat toward the direction of Lengdixiang. There was no other choice; Long County currently lacked sufficient military forces. Had there been adequate troops, who would dare come here to plunder? They could simply dispatch an army directly from Long County.