The "boss" that Li Ke heard from those three bastards wasn't the real leader of that bandit group, but rather a minor leader in charge of the camp where Song Xian and his group were located.
After the bandits in the town occupied their territory, they captured several more batches of laborers to replenish their manpower. They divided these people into nine camps for management, with a maximum of two hundred people in each camp. However, due to the deaths and injuries, the camps were never at full strength, and most of them had just over one hundred people, around one hundred and fifty.
Song Xian's camp is the Third Battalion, which currently has about 120 people. The "boss" that those three bastards were talking about is the person in charge of their Third Battalion.
He was a man from Shannan, short and wiry, and extremely ruthless in his dealings with others. It could be said that anyone who could become the head of a camp was not a kind person.
Before the bandits arrived, Song Xian and his group lived a hard life, but they supported each other all the way through it. They also received the selfless acceptance of the old village chief and other locals. As a result, although there were some conflicts among them, the atmosphere was relatively harmonious overall.
They helped each other and found a way to survive. When they ran out of plants, they built greenhouses to grow fungi and vegetables and searched everywhere for uncontaminated soil for indoor cultivation.
We tried to make some mixed food with whole grains to save food, and used the most basic water purification equipment to purify water. Although the effect was not very good, everyone eventually got through it.
As long as the weather permits, they will go out in teams to search for all the resources they need and do everything they can to help everyone survive this harsh winter.
Even though they had fewer than 500 men left, they were still confident that they would survive as long as winter passed.
Many of the elderly did not make it to the end, and the old village chief also passed away during the coldest time. The villagers then elected a new decision-maker, a retired veteran who was very upright and responsible. They all called him Brother Lu.
"Brother Lu led everyone to resist the bandits. At the beginning, he killed more than ten of them. Later, the bandits brought in a large force, all of whom were armed with firearms. As soon as this group entered the town, they started shooting and killing people indiscriminately. They demanded that Brother Lu and the others who fought back and killed their brothers be handed over, otherwise they would kill everyone in the town and then set the town on fire. They even had gasoline ready."
At this point, Song Xian's tone grew increasingly heavy, and he fell into a brief silence. A silent sadness spread from him. Li Ke sat quietly, unsure how to comfort him, and could only remain silent.
Song Xian regained his somewhat hoarse voice before speaking again: "Brother Lu doesn't want everyone to die in vain. The guns and cannons in the hands of the bandits are an overwhelming force for those of us who can only use iron tools and kitchen knives as weapons. We see absolutely no hope for our resistance."
Brother Lu went out alone, wanting to take all the blame by himself. They hung Brother Lu in the center of the town and bleed him out piece by piece. The weather was too cold, and the wounds easily froze. When the bleeding stopped, they would make another deep cut that exposed the bone.
Our men were furious and tried to rush out to rescue the people, but as soon as they stepped out of the ranks, they were shot dead. They didn't care about our lives at all.
In the end, we still don't know whether Brother Lu froze to death or bled to death. But the matter didn't end there. They had a total of thirteen people dead and demanded that we name twelve more, or they would kill one hundred and twenty people to vent their anger.
Finally, twelve more people volunteered from our group. Among them were the elderly, the sick, and the healthy. They were all executed and killed in front of us to intimidate the survivors.
Song Xian choked up several times while speaking, clearly overwhelmed by the painful memories. He deeply regretted not being one of the thirteen members back then.
Li Ke remained silent. In fact, if the shelters had not been established, this kind of thing might have happened shortly after the disaster began, and it would have gotten worse and worse.
The fire on the ground had gone out, and there wasn't much coolness in the night. Now, the two of them had gotten used to the darkness and no longer needed the faint warmth of the firelight.
Song Xian quietly wiped his eyes, and after calming down a bit, he continued: "Then the rest of us were divided into three groups by them. They confiscated all our supplies and seized all the fruits of our hard work."
These people are utterly wicked. When they're in a bad mood, they bully us; when they're in a good mood, they drag us out to make fun of us. If we don't obey, they'll beat us in all sorts of ways. If anyone dares to resist, they'll be publicly displayed with the most cruel punishments. They tame us like they're taming animals.
Once, they pulled me aside and wanted me to perform a show to amuse them. I didn't know what to perform, so some people egged me on to sing a love song. I had no other choice, so I just sang a love song from Shannan District on the spot.
I don't know how I caught the attention of that Duan Lao Er. He called me over and said that I looked like his younger brother. But I am 1.85 meters tall and he is only 1.68 meters tall. How could I look like his younger brother?
Furthermore, I later overheard his men, who had always followed him, saying in private that this Duan Lao Er only had one older brother and two younger sisters, but no younger brothers at all. Duan Lao Er was the bandit leader of our Third Battalion, an extremely ruthless and shameless man.
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