Chapter 85
Chapter 85
Xiao Che urged Xiao Jingmo to go inside and have his wound bandaged while he and Old Han stayed behind to take stock of the scene.
“Everyone helped kill the wolves today. Now let’s drag every dead wolf over and pile them up in the middle of the clearing.”
“After that, check your own dugouts and carry out anyone who has died or is gravely wounded.”
They needed a leader to assign tasks at a time like this. Otherwise, they would be scattered like loose sand, running around like headless chickens. Each person would start fighting over wolf meat, and before long, there would be another bloody brawl. To prevent further casualties, Xiao Che had to step forward.
With Xiao Che taking charge, the exiles swiftly got to work.
The final count soon came in.
They had killed seventy-eight wolves. Twenty-seven exiles had been mauled to death by the pack, twelve were badly wounded, and twenty-three had minor injuries. The remaining several dozen had stayed beside Jin Bao. Not only had they escaped without a scratch, but they had also killed quite a few wolves.
Xiao Che reassigned the dugouts.
Men and women who were not family were housed separately to keep any men from preying on and violating the women.
He set aside another dugout for the seriously wounded and had the uninjured bring firewood from the Xiao Family’s dugout to get a fire going.
Those with minor wounds and relatives would be cared for by their families. Anyone without family was sent to another dugout to wait for treatment.
Once everyone had been assigned, Xiao Che looked at the more than twenty bodies on the ground. The frozen earth was impossible to dig, so for now, they could only bury the dead in the snow. If left exposed, the corpses would attract scavenging animals and spread disease.
The lifeless Garrison finally showed a trace of activity as everyone busied themselves with their assigned work.
There were no garrison soldiers cracking whips over them, yet everyone worked faster than before. The numbness in their eyes had been replaced by a glimmer of life.
After all of Xiao Che’s orders had been carried out, it was time to divide the wolf meat. The exiles grew deeply uneasy.
In the past, a single strip of dried meat had been an enormous reward. Faced with so much wolf meat now, they would have been eternally grateful just to receive a sip of hot broth.
Everyone stared eagerly at Xiao Che, but no one dared step forward and fight for a share.
The little girl standing beside Xiao Che was the greatest deterrent of all. They obeyed him in part because they knew that Xiao Che was Jin Bao’s father.
Xiao Che’s next words sent the crowd into an uproar.
“There are more than seventy wolves here. The Xiao Family will take half, and the rest of you will divide the other half equally.”
There had originally been more than one hundred thirty exiles. After the deaths of over twenty people, just over one hundred remained.
Half the wolves came to thirty-nine. Split among a hundred people, that meant each person would receive about a third of a wolf.
To the exiles, it felt like a dream.
One of the older men slowly sank to his knees and silently kowtowed several times to Xiao Che and Jin Bao.
Once the first person knelt, there came a second, then a third…
Soon, a dense sea of people covered the ground, all performing the same motion in tacit accord-kowtowing in gratitude.
Without the Xiao Family tonight, they would have become the wolves’ dinner. How could they have imagined that they would not only survive but also kill the wolves and receive a share of the meat?
“There’s no need for this. As long as you listen to me, Xiao Che, from now on, I promise that at the very least, I won’t let you starve or freeze to death.”
The exiles looked at one another. It was as though a seed called hope, long frozen at the bottom of their hearts, was cracking through the ice and struggling to sprout.
“Xiao Che, are you the War God of Great Xia?!”
Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted the question.
Old Han stepped forward. “That’s right. The man standing before you is Great Xia’s War God, the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery, Lord Xiao. As long as everyone follows the Marquis’s orders from now on, you’ll survive-and life will only get better.”
The crowd instantly erupted. “Wonderful! This is wonderful! The War God is here! We’re saved!”
The people exiled here came from all walks of life. Some had been implicated by their clans, while others had offended powerful people after committing crimes in nearby prefectures and were sent here as forced labor. In short, not everyone here was a convicted exile.
From there, everything fell naturally into place.
Xiao Che’s very presence commanded respect, and no one challenged his words.
Xiao Jingmo came over and began sorting out those with useful skills.
“Anyone among you with a trade or skill, come register with me, and I’ll assign you work. Those without any particular skills will clean the dugouts. I’ll inspect them later, and there must be no foul odors inside. We have mugwort here, so you can collect some and burn it to fumigate the rooms.”
“I know our resources are limited and that we may not be able to improve your living conditions right away. But even within these constraints, everyone must keep their quarters neat and clean. Tomorrow, we’ll form teams and go to the Black Pine Forest to cut firewood. First, we’ll solve the heating problem and do our best to keep anyone from freezing to death this winter.”
The moment Xiao Jingmo finished speaking, more than a dozen people stepped forward to register.
The others silently turned around and went to clean the dugouts.
Xiao Jingmo carefully asked the volunteers what skills they possessed.
Some knew how to hunt, some could embroider, some were carpenters, and a few even knew medicine.
Xiao Jingmo immediately assigned tasks to the hunters and those with medical knowledge.
“You two, go help Physician Lu treat the patients. You three, help skin the wolves.”
There were no suitable tasks for the others yet, so Xiao Jingmo asked them to help clean the dugouts as well.
“Third Brother, go invite Aunt Lu over. Have her examine everyone and treat whoever she can.”
Xiao Jinghao answered and went to fetch Lu Shuangshuang.
Lu Shuangshuang hurried over with her small medicine chest in hand.
“Marquis, where are the wounded?”
“Hao’er, take your Aunt Lu to them.”
Though the night had grown late, warmth filled everyone’s hearts.
Their numb, frozen hearts gradually drew closer together.
One person helped another, and that person helped someone else in turn.
They worked until well past midnight. By then, the wind and snow had gradually subsided, leaving a bright moon hanging high in the sky.
Only then did everyone finish their work.
The meat was divided by head count, and every person received a large piece of wolf meat.
Xiao Che then took ten wolves from the Xiao Family’s half to use as rewards.
The hunters who had helped skin the wolves and the healers who had treated the patients today, for example, each received ten extra catties of wolf meat.
Those ten catties did not come out of anyone else’s share, so no one objected. Instead, everyone watched avidly and secretly resolved to work harder so they could earn more next time.
There would be rewards and penalties. Anyone caught shirking or playing tricks would have half their reward deducted, and the forfeited portion would be divided among everyone else.
With that rule in place, everyone would spare no effort for the sake of another bite to eat.
After every dugout had been cleaned, they found many grass mats in the empty ones.
They dried the mats by the fire and spread them across the floors.
At last, everyone could sleep peacefully tonight.
They helped the Xiao Family move their wolf meat into their quarters before leaving.
At the first hint of dawn the following morning, Xiao Che and Old Han were already up.
Today, they would take everyone west to the Black Pine Forest to cut firewood while surveying the terrain and environment.
After discussing matters the previous night, they had decided to move away from the Garrison. Once outsiders discovered that every garrison soldier here was dead, these exiles would inevitably be the first ones held accountable.
The Xiao Family currently had no strength to wage a direct battle. Lying low and quietly rebuilding their strength was the wisest course.
Xiao Che gathered everyone in the clearing.
After counting heads, he ordered all the women to remain behind while the men went to cut timber. The women would not be idle, though. They would cure the wolf pelts skinned the day before.
Xiao Jingmo and Xiao Jinghao stayed behind as well.
Qian Kun had hidden from the wolves the previous night and survived the attack by sheer luck.
Xiao Jingmo believed that keeping the man alive would only invite future trouble, so he handed Qian Kun over to Xiao Che to deal with.
Xiao Che had no desire to dirty his own hands, so he threw Qian Kun to the prisoners present.
“I’ll leave this man to you. Those with grudges can settle them. Those he wronged can claim justice.”
Qian Kun had thought he would survive. He never expected Xiao Che to do this.
Most of these people had suffered his abuse. They wanted nothing more than to tear him apart.
“My lord, I can’t die! I’m still useful! You can’t kill me!”
Qian Kun crawled toward Xiao Che, begging him to spare his life. Xiao Che merely watched with cold eyes, making no move to help.
Seeing that, the exiles lunged at him. In less than fifteen minutes, Qian Kun was an unrecognizable mass of blood and flesh, hacked into mince by the crowd.