Chapter 237 Everything Will Pass
Lin Changning was like a mad dog, slashing at anyone he caught. A group of people in front of him fled like madmen, while one man on horseback chased after him, followed by hundreds of soldiers baring their teeth and happily picking up heads.
After chasing for nearly several kilometers, Lin Changning was quite tired. He stopped his horse, looked at the number of people in front of him, turned around and gave instructions to Wan Jin.
"Chase after them and try your best not to let them escape."
Wan Jin shouted and led his troops in a headlong rush to catch up.
Lin Changning then turned back to Linzi to deal with the aftermath, as there were still several thousand Han Chinese civilians there who could not be ignored.
She needs to hurry back now; she needs to deal with the captured Tartars and the civilians tied up in ropes.
He rode back to the middle of the battlefield, where the remaining soldiers had already tied up the surrendered Tartars one by one and surrounded them. When he returned, Lu Shan, who was in charge of directing the soldiers, came up to greet him: "Commander, these prisoners have been tied up. We can only count the battle losses and military merits later."
Lin Changning glanced at Lu Shan and nodded: "What about those captured civilians?"
Lu Shan pointed towards the back of the woods: "When we started fighting, quite a few people ran that way. They're probably in the woods now, but they shouldn't have gone far."
Lin Changning gave a soft "hmm": "Send some people to bring the people back. We still need to ask about the situation in Yongning City."
Lu Shan received the order and quickly dispatched several soldiers to search for the person in the woods.
Before long, the soldiers who had entered the forest emerged with a group of ragged, emaciated civilians.
Lin Changning's brows furrowed instantly. This was the second time he had witnessed such a scene, but every time he saw these people being treated like human beings, he felt uncomfortable.
Lin Changning gently spurred the horse's flanks, and Mo Yun slowly walked to the group of people.
The people below were thin and sallow, many of them wearing tattered clothes, their exposed skin covered with scars, as if they had been pulled out by these Tartars.
When the crowd saw Lin Changning sitting on a tall horse, his demeanor was unlike that of an ordinary person, several elderly people with some knowledge kowtowed and knelt down.
"This humble subject pays his respects to Your Excellency."
After several elderly people knelt down, others followed suit. Lin Changning's eyes dimmed as he slowly looked towards the back of the crowd. Most of the people had almost no intact skin; everyone had some scars, some of which seemed to have been whipped for a long time and had scabbed over.
When Lin Changning saw that the clothes of several young girls were almost torn to the point that their skin was visible underneath, his pupils contracted and he subconsciously turned his head to look at the captured Tartars.
He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again, a fierce glint in his eyes, and shouted, "Lu Shan!"
Hearing Lin Changning call him, Lu Shan, who was not far away, quickly rode his horse over.
"The commander is here! Please give your orders, Commander!"
Lin Changning pointed at the group of prisoners in the middle, his tone as cold as if it were mixed with winter ice: "Go and execute those beasts on the spot."
Lu Shan suddenly looked up: "Huh? Kill them all?"
Lin Changning gritted his teeth and glanced at the people still kneeling on the ground: "Kill them all!!! Leave no one alive."
Seeing the unusually low aura emanating from Lin Changning, Lu Shan glanced at the kneeling people, then his gaze swept over the few almost naked girls at the back of the line. His eyes narrowed, his brows furrowed, and he loudly replied, "Yes! Commander!"
After giving the order, Lin Changning finally breathed a sigh of relief. He dismounted, helped up the elderly men in front of him, and said with a sigh, "Elders, I'm late!!!"
It's unclear what chord these words touched in the hearts of the elderly, but several of them, facing Lin Changning directly, suddenly burst into tears.
"Your kindness is beyond words! We thought the court had truly abandoned the people of our frontier. Heaven has eyes! Heaven has eyes!!"
Lin Changning sighed again. The imperial court had indeed abandoned the people on the frontier at that time, but he couldn't say it outright.
Lin Changning shook his head slightly and sighed, "We are the personal guards under the King of Chu, ordered to come to the frontier to reclaim the city. I'm sorry for the hardship you all have endured."
The elders were all shrewd people who had lived for a long time. As soon as they heard this, they knew that Lin Changning was not a member of the court. When they heard Lin Changning say that he was a close associate of the King of Chu, their eyes dimmed a little. So the court had really given up on them back then.
The elder wiped away his tears, clasped his hands, and led the others to bow in the direction of Taiyuan: "We, the people of Yongning, thank Your Highness for your great kindness."
After bowing, she turned to Lin Changning, as if to say something, but Lin Changning walked straight through the crowd and stopped beside the few trembling girls huddled together.
Lin Changning immediately began to loosen his belt, remove his armor, and then take off his long robe. The surrounding people stared intently at this commander.
His gaze shifted to the young girls with a hint of pity. They'd barely escaped one danger only to fall into another. How could this man, in broad daylight, do such a thing?!
Lin Changning naturally didn't care what the people around him thought. After taking off his clothes, leaving only his undergarments and soft armor, he draped a blue robe over the head of a barely clothed girl.
The girl instinctively clutched her clothes, which were covering her body. Lin Changning then looked at the other girls around him. Their clothes were all tattered. Lin Changning directly ordered a few soldiers to take the clothes and put them on the girls one by one.
As the elders watched this scene, they couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion. If even a lowly sixth-rank official under the King of Chu was so upright and kind, then the King of Chu must also be a good vassal king.
The family members beside the girl watched this scene and couldn't help but wipe away the tears from the corners of their eyes. Their daughter had been violated, and they had just thought that this adult wanted to... it was truly wrong of them.
A woman mustered her courage and stepped out from the crowd, pulling her daughter down to kneel: "Thank you, sir."
The woman's head and the girl's head were pressed deeply to the ground, their bodies trembling slightly, whether from fear or from sobbing, it was hard to tell.
A few moments later, several more women and men emerged, each pulling their daughters to kneel down and thank Lin Changning.
Lin Changning raised his hand: "No need for formalities, everyone. It's all as it should be."
After being pulled to their feet by their parents, the girls seemed to suddenly feel cared for, or perhaps moved by Lin Changning's act of giving away her clothes, and they couldn't help but burst into tears.
His eyes, which were initially dull and empty, were now filled with a variety of emotions.
Perhaps it was because she was a woman, or perhaps it was the education she received in her previous life, but Lin Changning always felt more compassion for women who suffered.
She always felt a pang of sadness seeing these girls wither away in the prime of their lives.
Lin Changning sighed and looked at the crying girls in front of her, saying softly, "It's okay, it will all pass."
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