Chapter 232 The Thief

Zhang Dashu's mother was a very capable woman. She made delicious tofu and supported the whole family.

Zhang Dashu's father was a drunkard and a gambler. He would beat people when he was drunk, and beat people when he lost money gambling. He would beat his mother, his sister, and him.

Because of the ideas instilled in him since childhood, coupled with his natural fear of his father, Zhang Dashu did not dare to resist. He could only try his best to protect his mother and sister and took the most beatings.

Zhang's father was a scoundrel. Zhang Dashu started working in the fields with his grandfather when he was very young. After his grandfather died, Zhang Dashu was the only one doing the work in the fields.

During the day he was busy working in the fields, and when he came home at night he helped his mother grind tofu.

Although life was hard, apart from his father, Zhang Dashu, his mother and son were still very happy.

Zhang Dashu was hoping that his father would get drunk and die outside one day.

Unfortunately, this wish has never been realized.

Until that time...

Zhang's father owed gambling debts again and asked Zhang's mother for money. Zhang's mother said she had no money. In fact, it was not that she had no money, but her son had grown up, and Zhang's mother wanted to save the money for her son to get married.

Zhang's father beat Zhang's mother, but Zhang's mother did not give in. Zhang's father then thought that the family was really out of money. Worried that the debt collectors would beat him, he sold his daughter to the debt collectors to pay off the debt.

When Zhang's mother tried to stop him, Zhang's father accidentally killed her.

After finishing his farm work, Zhang Dashu came back and shot a pheasant, thinking of having a snack at home to nourish his mother and sister.

The young man returned home with brisk steps, opened the door and happily called out to his mother and sister, "Mom, sister, look what good things I brought..."

The voice stopped abruptly.

My mother's body lay in the yard.

The back of her head hit the millstone, blood was all over the floor, her eyes were wide open, obviously she died with her eyes open.

The hoe and pheasant in Zhang Dashu's hands fell to the ground.

An expression of joy froze on his face.

"mother!"

He rushed to his mother's body, hugged her, shook her and cried.

But the dead cannot be resurrected.

The crying woke up Zhang's father. He came out from the inner room and cursed, "Why are you crying? Did someone die in the family?"

After saying that, he saw the body of Zhang's mother with her eyes wide open in Zhang Dashu's arms.

Father Zhang was startled, his legs went limp, and he fell backwards, leaning against the door frame. He slid down and sobered up.

When Zhang Dashu saw his appearance, he had some guesses in his mind.

"You killed my mother!"

Zhang's father's body softened, but his mouth remained firm. "Who told her not to give me the money and even stopped me from taking the dead girl to pay off my debt? I just pushed her and she died. Who can I blame?"

"Go, dig a hole and bury it! It's so unlucky!"

"You killed my mother and sold my sister..."

"You...beast!"

Zhang Dashu put down Zhang's mother's body, picked up a stone from the ground, and rushed towards Zhang's father.

Although Zhang's father was in his prime, his body had long been hollowed out by alcohol and sex. How could he compete with a strong young man who had worked hard for years?

He was pinned to the ground by Zhang Dashu, and stones bigger than fists hit his head again and again, and red and white liquid flowed all over the ground.

Only when Zhang's father completely lost his life did Zhang Dashu come to his senses.

He stared at Zhang's father's body, wondering how such a good family could have ended up like this.

It was clear that his mother was counting the money she had saved for him to get married yesterday.

Yesterday, my sister was lying on his shoulder giggling and saying she wanted to ride a horse.

He should have killed this beast a long time ago!

Zhang Dashu sat beside the two corpses in the yard, his mind in a mess as he thought about the past. Regret almost overwhelmed him.

When the night was deep, he got up, helped his mother to tidy up her remains, said sorry, took all the money in the house, and burned the house down.

His mother is dead, and he wants to go find his sister.

Unfortunately, there were so many people that by the time he found his sister, she had been tortured to death.

He was thrown into a mass grave without even wearing any clothes, his exposed lower body was horribly festering.

He didn't even get to see her for the last time.

Zhang Dashu took off his clothes and put them on his sister's body. He carried his sister's body to a relatively beautiful place with mountains and rivers, dug a hole, and buried the body.

My sister, who had just turned thirteen, a lively and cheerful sister, was abused to death like this.

Zhang Dashu had previously found out that the family who bought his sister was a local gentry.

Zhang Dashu sneaked into that family and worked as a servant. He heard other servants talk about Master Zhang's peculiar habit of liking young girls, and that a little girl would be carried out of the mansion every now and then.

Zhang Dashu had seen him twice since he entered the mansion.

He hid in the mansion and finally found an opportunity. He drugged everyone in the mansion with a packet of knockout drugs and chopped the perverted Master Zhang into pieces.

He took away what gold, silver and other valuables in the Zhang family's warehouse that he could, and burned what he couldn't take away.

After escaping from the Zhang family, Zhang Dashu became a bandit.

Having been a bandit for eight years, he never harmed innocent people. He often took his brothers to rob the rich and help the poor.

People call him a chivalrous thief.

Until two years ago, when natural disasters and man-made tragedies broke out, Zhang Dashu led his people down the mountain to protect the people in the surrounding villages, and gradually walked to where they are today.

"That's right. They've come all the way here. Judging from their appearance, they want to overthrow the imperial court."

After hearing this, everyone was silent.

An honest and hardworking farmer was forced to become a bandit by the world.

Although patricide is a heinous crime that is unforgivable by heaven, if Zhang's father had not lost his humanity and sold his son and killed his wife, Zhang Dashu would not have acted so extreme.

Although according to the law and secular etiquette, patriarchal authority is above all else.

But after being baptized by Xiao Ning's new ideas, these soldiers now believed that father and mother were equally important, and they did not think that their sister should be sold off by their father.

Seeing everyone was silent, Chu Wu asked Xiao Ning, "General, what should we do next?"

Xiao Ning stroked his chin and said, "Chu Wu, if you have nothing to do, go walk around the camp and get me a patrol map of their camp."

Chu Wu nodded. "No problem. General, do you want to sneak into the camp to negotiate with him? Isn't that too risky?"

Xiao Ning: "I have this plan, but I'm not in a hurry."

Several people: "..."

They all looked at Xiao Ning, waiting for her to discuss the follow-up arrangements.

Xiao Ning said, "First, let Brother Zhang hear what the people think of us, then let Brother Zhang see my personal strength and philosophy of governing the country, and finally let Brother Zhang see the overall strength of our team. This will help facilitate peace talks."

Chu Wu said, "I can lead the discussion and let Zhang Dashu know what the people are saying about us."

"How can we let Zhang Dashu see your personal strength and philosophy of governing the country?"

Xiao Ning said: "This depends on your efforts."

"General, do you really want to go to the enemy camp?"

Xiao Ning: "Of course, if that big tree doesn't come out and I don't go in, how can I talk to him?"

"We'll sneak in and bring the person out for you..."

Chu Wu: "There's no need to sneak in. Zhang Dashu will come to the county at noon the day after tomorrow. I heard he wants to recruit soldiers. We can seize the opportunity to kidnap him then."