The other side.
Bethlehem before dawn.
This city is eerily quiet right now.
The brick streets were littered with overturned stalls and broken pottery jars.
There were still a few wisps of smoke from the fire, rising slowly in the morning mist.
The streets in the city were covered with dark red bloodstains.
A corpse wearing a bloodstained tunic hung on the gallows, swaying slightly in the morning breeze.
That was the military governor from the royal capital.
A commander from the capital of the Hebrew Empire.
The once arrogant face was now swollen and purple, and a copper coin was stuffed in his wide-open mouth.
Not only that, there were also many white marks in his mouth.
That's flour.
That was the last tax he forcibly collected from the Hebrew people in the city during his lifetime, and also the last bit of food.
Bright bloodstains and dark bloodstains were intertwined and spread across the place.
There, many soldiers' fingers were still twitching unconsciously.
The only difference between them is their age.
“Kneel down!”
"You running dogs of the Empire!"
“Do you still regard the people of Bethlehem as your own people?”
"How dare you secretly provide assistance to the Overseer? I think you are really tired of living!"
An old nobleman was lying limp on the ground, with the collar of his silk robe torn open, revealing the white fat underneath.
He crawled forward two steps tremblingly.
"Mercy! David! Mercy!"
His voice became trembling.
"I, I have a box of gold at home, I'll give it all to you!"
A nobleman who was as fat as a barrel suddenly rushed over and said, "I have twenty beautiful servants in my house, and they are still virgins!"
"As long as you are willing to let me go, I will give you the treasure and those beautiful servants!"
His fat hands were tightly grasping David's boots, and there was some oil stuck in the gaps between his nails.
David, the new city lord, simply lifted the chin of an old nobleman with the tip of his boot: "A box of gold?"
He suddenly leaned over, and the dagger brushed the old nobleman's earlobe and nailed it into the ground: "Is that the money my sister got from selling her body?"
When the old noble heard this, he just gasped.
Of course he remembered the girl.
She had black hair and a mole on her left eye, which she bit off as she was dragged away, and she also bit off half of the Overseer's finger.
"As for you..."
David turned to the fat nobleman and crushed his boot over the fat hand.
"The youngest of those girls was only twelve years old."
"You call them virgins?"
"I hope your mother and sisters will be called that, too."
"Bastard."
When the fat nobleman heard this, his begging for mercy stopped abruptly.
For immediately a piece of his tongue fell upon the stone slab like a pink slug.
“David!”
A white-haired old man walked out tremblingly from the crowd.
"Do you know what you are doing? This is treason!"
"Are you going to betray the Hebrew Empire?"
Hearing this, David slowly turned around.
"Treason?"
His voice was very calm, like that of a weathered warrior, showing no fear at all.
"You are wrong. We are saving the country."
As soon as these words were spoken, cheers were heard nearby.
There were also many young soldiers who excitedly clenched their weapons.
"You're such a mess!"
Another old man pushed through the crowd and walked out. He was a senior official in the city.
"The Supreme Ruler King has treated us well! The trade routes have been smooth over the years, and we have made a lot of money..."
When David heard this, he suddenly burst into laughter.
His laughter sounded particularly harsh in the silent city.
He ripped open his coarse cloth shirt, revealing the criss-crossing whip marks on his chest.
"So what are these? Last week, my sister was captured by the soldiers of the capital because she couldn't pay the newly added 'war tax'!"
"Making money? I see, all the money went into the pockets of you old guys, right?"
His voice became louder and louder.
"When you old guys were hiding in your mansion counting money, did you know how many people starved to death in the nearby villages?"
"How dare you speak so shamelessly here?"
The old nobleman's beard trembled as he said, "Then, then you can't rebel either!"
"Otherwise, the imperial army will not let go..."
David kicked over the gilded incense burner next to him, and the ashes spilled all over the floor.
"The Empire's troops?"
"Wake up! Gath, Bethshan, Megiddo, and many other cities have declared their independence from the rule of the Supreme Ruler King!"
"And the army of Holy Egypt is only thirty miles away!"
"At least, the king of Holy Egypt will not impose such a deadly tax on us."
At this time, the old official cursed: "What do you mean? Are you going to sell out your country..."
Suddenly, his voice stopped.
That's because David's dagger was inserted into his throat with great precision.
"Who else wants to be a running dog of the Empire?"
David pulled out the dagger and blood dripped from the blade onto the stone slab.
The nobles and officials around looked at each other in bewilderment.
Finally, an old noble sighed and said in an almost pleading tone: "At least leave us an intact body!"
"David, for the sake of the many years we've worked together!"
David shook off the blood on the dagger and said calmly, "Dream on."
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