Chapter 94 Would you be willing to serve under me as a soldier?
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The rising sun shone on the earth, and the sunlight shone on Li Shiyue's face, which was splattered with the blood of the barbarians, making Li Shiyue look like a demon from hell.
This face is both terrifying and strangely beautiful; it's so striking that you can't bear to look at it, yet you can't help but look up.
Li Shiyue, holding a knife in her right hand and a head in her left, took a few more steps forward. When she was three steps away from Liu Tan, she put down Agulang's head, sheathed her knife, and bowed to Liu Tan on horseback.
"Greetings, Young Master!"
"The troublesome young master led his men to rescue us, and a total of fifteen barbarians broke into Liujiatun," she said, glancing towards the gate of Li Youfu's courtyard. Li Shiyang nodded to her, and Li Shiyue then continued to Liu Tan, "They were all cut down!"
Liu Tan was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected that all fifteen barbarians had already been killed by them.
It was quite a coincidence that when Dog Lao San and Zhou Lan Hua arrived at the outskirts of Qing Song Town with their donkey cart carrying two loads of elderly, weak, women, and children, it was already quite late.
Although there was no curfew in Qingsong Town, there were still soldiers guarding the town entrance.
Dog Lao San mustered his courage and stepped forward to explain the situation, then took out the wooden plaque that Li Shiyue had given him as proof and showed it to the soldier.
Dog Lao San originally thought that the soldier would let him enter the city and find the manager of Xingsheng Restaurant, and then find the military camp behind Qingsong Town through Yan Jiuniang's connections.
Little did they know, it was truly a coincidence that Liu Tan happened to be leaving the Prince of Zhenbei's mansion in Liaocheng and passing through Sanshan County on his way to the garrison behind Qingsong Town.
Therefore, the guards directly sent someone to take Dog Lao San to the military camp, which led to Liu Tan selecting two squads of soldiers to ride with him to Liujiatun.
At this moment, Liu Tan saw the girl on the ground looking up at him with her face stained with barbarian blood, her eyes full of hope, but not fear.
Indeed, how could a woman who can behead someone with a single stroke be afraid of him?
Li Shiyue's eyes were full of joy, but seeing Liu Tan's expressionless face, she didn't understand the meaning behind her words. Therefore, she had to speak again: "Young master, people in town say that a barbarian leader is worth five taels of silver. Is that true?"
Everything else is illusory, only money is real!
It has to be money in hand!
Liu Tan was stunned when he heard Li Shiyue's words. He really didn't expect that the hopeful look in Li Shiyue's eyes meant such a thing.
However, he only hesitated for a moment before Liu Tan dismounted. He took two steps forward and looked down at the beheaded girl who was waiting for his answer: "It's true!"
"Take your head to the county government office in Sanshan County and you can exchange it for silver. One head, five taels of silver!"
Li Shiyue immediately beamed with joy, her bright white teeth making the color on her face appear even more radiant.
If a child were to glance at her at that moment, they would probably be so frightened that they would burst into tears.
Unaware that her current state could frighten a child, Li Shiyue, after receiving Liu Tan's reply, hastily bowed to Liu Tan, then picked up the head at her feet and ran towards her mother and the others at the courtyard gate.
Ma San led his horse over from behind. He glanced at Li Shiyue, who had gone to talk to Li's mother, and then leaned close to Liu Tan and whispered, "General, it's her! That female devil who loves to cut off testicles!"
Liu Tan's lips curled up as if he were smiling for a moment, but he immediately put on a blank expression again. However, he turned to his personal guard Ma San and said, "Don't say that in the future. She is, after all, a young lady."
"General?"
"Alright, take the brothers and scout around the area, look for any traces, and make sure there aren't any more barbarians hiding."
Upon receiving the order, Ma San mounted his horse and led a group of soldiers toward Daheishan Mountain.
The last remaining barbarian in Li Youfu's courtyard had long been killed by Li Wangshui, Li Qiutian, and Li Xiatian working together.
The barbarians are all dead, and the aftermath must be dealt with one by one.
Li Shiyue and his men didn't need to lift the corpses themselves. Following Li Shiyue's instructions, Liu Tan's soldiers found the barbarian corpses in various places; some had been beheaded, and some hadn't.
The fifteen bodies were found one by one and laid out side by side on the road, right outside the gate of Li Youfu's courtyard.
Ma Zi was also helped over by Wang Shisan. Fortunately, Ma Zi was only hit by an arrow in the shoulder. Zhao Da, who was next to Liu Tan, saw the arrow and said that it was lucky that it only pierced the flesh and did not damage the tendons. After the arrow was pulled out, the wound would heal and it would not affect the use of the arm.
Li Youfu, Yangzai's cousin-in-law, and three men from Wangjia Village all came out of the cellar. Li's mother and Li Wangming were also called out of the cellar by Li Qiutian when he went back.
Mozi also went to another place and called over Li Shigui, a man from the Eighth Uncle's clan, and two other people from Wangjia Village.
Originally, Li Shigui was supposed to go with Qin Tao and Li Chunli and the old, weak, women and children of Lijia Village. But later, it is unknown whether Li Shigui insisted on staying because he saw the lambs, or whether he had some other considerations, but he stayed as well.
But given the past relationship between Qin Tao and Li's father, how could Li Wangshui and the others possibly like Li Shigui?
Therefore, when Li Shiyang arranged the people, he assigned Li Shigui to another place. They were lucky, though, because the barbarians didn't go towards them at all.
Liu Tan was sitting in Li Youfu's courtyard at this moment, with Li Youfu, Li Shiyang and Li Shiyue standing opposite him. He was listening to Li Shiyang, who was the main speaker and Li Shiyue, who was the assistant speaker, recount how they discovered the barbarians, what they did after discovering the barbarians, and how they arranged for the villagers to leave first and send someone to the town to report the news.
Those who remained in the village used the smoke from the fire in the kitchen to ambush the barbarians and fight them to the death, all for the sake of earning five taels of silver for each barbarian's head.
"...That's how it is. The villagers went through all sorts of hardships to escape from Henan, hoping to live a peaceful life here."
The barbarians are ferocious; our only chance of survival is to fight to the death.
However, now that the general has arrived, Liujiatun will surely enjoy peace and prosperity from now on!
Li Shiyang's words were very high-sounding, trying to flatter Liu Tan and curry favor. Even Li Xiatian, standing behind Li Shiyue, could see that he was trying to establish a connection. Who in the courtyard didn't know that?
However, in Li Shiyue's view, Liu Tan, the eldest son of the Zhenbei Wang family, is a powerful figure with real military authority.
Li Shiyang was a scholar who believed in "mastering both literary and martial arts to serve the emperor."
With chaos looming, isn't it perfectly normal for intellectuals with brains to seize the opportunity to recommend themselves to those in power?
Besides, Li Shiyang is already a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations). If he can continue to take the exams, now that he is in the Andong Protectorate, on the territory of the Prince of Zhenbei, isn't it only right for him to curry favor with the eldest son of that family?
However, Liu Tan showed no reaction to Li Shiyang's words, neither pleased nor opposed. His face was expressionless, like he had facial paralysis, making him very difficult to understand.
To everyone's surprise, after listening to Li Shiyang's words, Liu Tan merely nodded at him and then looked at Li Shiyue standing next to Li Shiyang.
Li Shiyue was somewhat surprised, genuinely surprised, as she hadn't expected Liu Tan to take the initiative to speak to her.
Although Li's mother had carefully wiped the blood from her face with a wet cloth, she hadn't changed her clothes yet, and the specks or patches of blood that had seeped into her skin were still hard to ignore.
However, none of this mattered to Liu Tan. He looked at Li Shiyue and asked, word by word, "Would you be willing to serve as a soldier under my command?"
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