Thanh Chau Army Defeated in the First Engagement

Tran Mac took a deep breath, no longer overthinking. What had happened, had happened and could not be changed. Then, everything should just follow his heart.

He squatted down, patted Tong Man's head, and said with a smile, "Little Man, will you follow me from now on?"

Tong Man didn't answer immediately but glanced at Luu Thu before saying softly, "Will Brother Mac Ca also not want me later?"

"Little Man is so obedient, how could Brother Mac Ca not want you? Besides, your Sister Han also likes you very much," Tran Mac said in a warm voice.

"Mm." Tong Man nodded lightly, then said, "I will be very obedient. I will serve Brother Mac Ca and Sister Han well."

"Little Man is so good." Tran Mac pinched Tong Man's cheek.

Luu Thu, lying on the ground, saw this, his eyes flickered. He immediately scrambled up and said, "If she's not obedient, Brother Mac Nhi, you can just discipline her. A few beatings and she'll listen."

Tran Mac's gaze shifted to Luu Thu, the smile on his face vanishing: "This doesn't need your further input. Just manage yourself well."

"Yes, yes, that's right."

Luu Thu fawningly rubbed his hands and said, "Since you're letting Little Man be your maidservant, that means you've bought her. Then this..."

"How much do you want?" Tran Mac interrupted him directly.

"Ten taels." Luu Thu, with a lion's open mouth, gritted his teeth and said.

"Hmm?!"

"No, five taels, five taels is enough." Luu Thu felt that Tran Mac should be able to afford this price; after all, his family ate meat every day.

"Five taels? Luu Thu, are you crazy for money?" Truong Ha couldn't help but say.

"Half a string of cash. Come to my house to get it."

Tran Mac settled it decisively.

It wasn't that he couldn't afford five taels of silver, but giving five taels of silver to someone like Luu Thu was a complete waste.

Moreover, in this current era, as long as food was provided, he could find several maids better than Tong Man.

He had money, but he didn't want to be taken for a ride.

And if not for the guilt he felt towards the Tong family, and Luu Thu being Tong Man's biological father, Tran Mac wouldn't even want to give this half string of cash.

As for Luu Thu not being satisfied?

Did he want to compare whose fist was bigger?

Luu Thu was naturally unwilling in his heart, although this price was about the same as what Kieu Vo Lai had said brothels paid.

But Tran Mac, you are a fellow villager, yet you only give this little money. Do you have good intentions?

Aren't you afraid the villagers will talk if word gets out?

However, seeing the dao in Tran Mac's hand, Luu Thu could only agree.

...

Returning home.

Tran Mac had Luu Thu wait outside, then called Han An Nuong out from the cellar, briefly told her about Tong Man's situation, and asked her to take Tong Man for a bath.

Han An Nuong was originally a kind-hearted person. Hearing this, she immediately filled with sympathy for Tong Man and also accepted Tong Man into her heart.

Tran Mac took half a string of cash out of the room and gave it to Luu Thu. To cut off Luu Thu's thoughts of gaining benefits from him through Tong Man, he also took out paper and brush and wrote down a contract.

After Luu Thu pressed his fingerprint, Tran Mac said, "Since you have sold Tong Man to me, she is now my maidservant and has no further connection with you. I allow you to see her, but don't think of gaining any benefit from me through her again.

What I've said, do you understand?"

"Brother Mac is talking to you, are your ears deaf?" Seeing Luu Thu not speaking, Truong Ha glared at him.

"Understood, understood," Luu Thu said.

"Then what are you still waiting here for? Waiting for me to keep you for lunch?" Tran Mac's gaze was cold.

Luu Thu took the money and hurriedly left.

...

A week later, time had already reached the latter part of the second month.

The weather was getting warmer and warmer.

In the morning, as Tran Mac's iron shovel pierced through the ground, the tunnel connecting the Tran family and Truong Ha's house was thus completed.

Actually, it could have been completed two days earlier, but for the tunnel's load-bearing capacity, Tran Mac had specially gone up the mountain to cut some wood for support.

Benefiting from Tran Mac's intimidating presence in the village, plus the fact that he didn't interact much with the villagers, giving people a sense of him being unapproachable, no one except Han An Nuong, Tong Man, and Truong Ha's family knew about his tunnel digging.

After camouflaging the entrance, they returned from the tunnel to the Tran family's cellar.

After coming out of the cellar, Han An Nuong had already finished preparing lunch.

Tong Man was helping Han An Nuong serve the dishes. After bowl after bowl of food was placed on the table, Tong Man quickly went to fetch chopsticks and brought warm water for Tran Mac to wash his face and hands.

Tran Mac stepped forward to help.

Tong Man was indeed very obedient. Since she arrived, she did the laundry, swept the floor, and even small chores like collecting and folding clothes. If Han An Nuong hadn't felt pity for her young age, Tong Man would have taken over everything, like cooking, boiling water, and even warming the bed.

In short, after Tong Man arrived, she shared a lot of Han An Nuong's housework, her understanding nature heart-wrenching.

The only downside was that when Tran Mac and Han An Nuong "discussed life philosophy" at night, Han An Nuong was somewhat reserved. Covering her mouth and not "singing" was one thing; she also didn't cooperate with some "movements."

After all, a mud house like the Tran family's had no soundproofing at all. Tong Man stayed in Han An Nuong's original room, which was right next door, and could easily hear.

Han An Nuong's temperament was still very shy.

"Sister Han."

"Brother Mac Ca."

"This is Brother Thuy Ca."

Tong Man served large bowls of rice for the three of them.

"Thank you, Little Man." Han An Nuong's eyes narrowed into crescents as she smiled and patted Tong Man's little head.

"Don't be polite, eat quickly."

After a morning of hard physical labor, Tran Mac now just wanted to wolf down rice.

Tran Mac directly grabbed a piece of smoked pork with his hand and began to gnaw on it.

[Nourishing meat consumption +0.05, Blood Nurturing Technique experience +0.05.]

[...]

The Blood Nurturing Technique experience began to shoot up.

[Name: Tran Mac.]

[Age: 17.]

[Cultivation Technique: Blood Nurturing Technique (major success 895.3/1000).]

[Realm: Bone Refining (eighth rank).]

[Strength: 85.]

[Skill: Demon-Breaking Dao Technique (consummate 20932/1000000).]

The Tran family currently did not lack meat. The silver Tran Mac obtained from the Thanh Ha Gang, apart from essential staple foods, was almost all used to buy meat. Then, after processing it through methods like curing and smoking, it was stored in the cellar.

Only twenty taels of silver were left as a reserve.

...

The next day, just as Tran Mac was preparing to go into town to inquire about the latest news, Wu Shan arrived, still alone.

Wu Shan had come specifically to find Tran Mac this time.

As soon as he entered the house, Wu Shan said, "Brother Tran, terrible news, terrible news!"

Tran Mac quickly invited Wu Shan to sit down and also asked Han An Nuong to bring tea.

After pouring tea, Wu Shan took a sip, didn't speak immediately, but glanced around.

Tran Mac had Han An Nuong take Tong Man into the inner room. Because the tunnel was dug, Truong Ha was not at his house today.

Afterwards, Tran Mac closed the windows properly, sat down opposite Wu Shan, and said, "Brother Wu, what happened?"

Wu Shan put down his teacup, straightened his body, and said into Tran Mac's ear, "Last night, the yamen received an urgent document from Nam Duong. The northern rebel army has already conquered Phu Du City! The Thanh Chau army lost its first battle! The rebel armies from Ji Prefecture and Gao Prefecture are already approaching Phung Tien! The frontline forces are insufficient. The Prefect has ordered conscription. Binh Dinh County has been assigned a quota of five hundred."

Although Tran Mac had never been to Phu Du City, he had learned about Thanh Chau's several major cities from books.

Phu Du City was Thanh Chau's closest major city to the north. Strategically speaking, it was Thanh Chau's first line of defense. The fall of Phu Du City meant that Nam Duong would have no natural barriers to defend it, and could only fight based on the city itself.

Phung Tien was also a major city in Thanh Chau, its population second only to Nam Duong, located on Nam Duong's right flank. If Phung Tien also fell, then Nam Duong would be completely encircled by the rebel army like a dumpling.

It could be said that Nam Duong's current situation was extremely critical.

To rescue Phung Tien, and thus relieve the siege of Nam Duong, conscription was the only way.

According to Wu Shan, Binh Dinh County was only assigned a quota of five hundred because the County Magistrate was the Prefect's student. Other county towns were all assigned a quota of one thousand, and some with larger populations, even more.

Tran Mac had originally planned to go into town to find out if the rebels had attacked, but he hadn't expected that the Thanh Chau army had already lost a battle.

It had only just warmed up; it wasn't even early spring yet, right?

This speed was a bit too fast.

"Brother Wu, doesn't Thanh Chau have a hundred thousand elite troops? It's not even early spring yet, how could Phu Du City be lost?"

From Tran Mac's limited historical knowledge, past peasant uprisings in ancient times, no matter how powerful they seemed, were mostly suppressed.

In the end, a rebel army formed by a group of peasants was just a rabble. How could they be a match for regular troops, let alone in this martial arts world?

Wu Shan shook his head. He was just a minor bailiff; how could he know so clearly? He said, "I heard that at the very beginning, it seemed like they won, but then they fell into an ambush while pursuing in victory. I'm not too clear about the specifics."

Courageous and resourceful; it seemed this rebel army was not just simple peasant soldiers.

Tran Mac sipped his tea, then said, "Brother Wu, for this quota of five hundred in the county, Magistrate Thuong is thinking of recruiting from outside the city, right?"

"Brother Tran is indeed a scholar; your mind works fast." Wu Shan said, "According to the Magistrate's intention, conscription will start from outside the city. If that's not enough, then it will be supplemented from within the city."

As expected, they really don't treat people outside the city as human beings.

As for offending people?

When the city entry fee was collected before, people had already been stratified.

If you can't even afford the city entry fee, what does offending you matter?

His fingers tapped lightly on the table. Tran Mac smiled and said, "Since Brother Wu came to find me, you must have a way to help me avoid conscription."

In this current era, being drafted to go to the frontlines to kill enemies was no different from dying.

Moreover, this damned imperial court, it was already good enough that he wasn't rebelling; he couldn't possibly sell his life for it.

For him, as a transmigrator, he felt not a shred of identification or affection for the Dai Song imperial dynasty.

Wu Shan gave Tran Mac a thumbs up and said, "Brother Tran, from the first time we two met, I already felt you had a compassionate face. Last time at Zi Jin Lou, I also felt you were an extremely magnanimous person. We are brothers; how could I, your brother, bear to see you go to the battlefield..."

"The yamen has decided to start pressing men into service tomorrow. If Brother Tran doesn't want to be drafted, there are only two methods. One is to immediately go into the city, buy a house there, and move into the city right away. But this method isn't very safe. If the yamen doesn't gather enough men from outside the city, they will still take people from inside the city to fill the vacancies..."

Speaking up to this point, Wu Shan's words paused. He rubbed his hands and said in a low voice, "Spend money to avoid disaster."

"How much?" Tran Mac understood the meaning of these words. It meant spending money for a replacement. Originally, you were supposed to be conscripted, but if you paid money, you could let someone without money take your place.

However, in the current situation, this kind of replacement was probably not something they would bother with; they would just directly forcibly draft able-bodied men.

Wu Shan used his finger to dip in the tea water and wrote a number on the table.

"Five taels." Tran Mac frowned. This number didn't sound like much, but for a small mountain village like Phuc Trach Village, even if you emptied out all your assets, you couldn't come up with five taels of silver.

"Brother Tran, you are a martial artist. This five taels is the price for a martial artist. If not a martial artist, then another five taels would be needed," Wu Shan said.

Wu Shan left. When he was leaving, Tran Mac discreetly gave him an extra tael of silver.

This Wu Shan was still someone who could be dealt with. At the very least, when he took money, he actually did things. Tran Mac also needed a source of information in the yamen.

As for this conscription avoidance money, Tran Mac decided to give it.

Although he could hide in the cellar or in the mountains to evade it, firstly, doing so might implicate Wu Shan, and secondly, there was no great chaos yet; Tran Mac didn't want to hide away just yet.

Of course, there was another method to evade conscription, but this method was relatively brutal.

That was to self-mutilate, to poke out one's eyes or break one's own arms and legs.

If he remembered correctly, a lesson he had learned before, "Sai Weng Lost His Horse, How to Know It's Not a Blessing?" had spoken of this.

...

The next day.

As Wu Shan had said, yamen officials entered the village to press men into service. The whole village was in an uproar.

This time, it wasn't just yamen officials; the city garrison was also dispatched to assist.

Door after door of houses was kicked open.

"The northern Thien Su rebels are attacking! The time to achieve merit and establish a career has come!"

"Lo Tam, huh? Why is no one in this house?"

"Forty? Don't forty-year-olds have to go? You can still walk and jump!"

"What, you, a woman, want to enlist in your father's place? Scram!"

For a time, the whole village was filled with the sound of crying. Scenes of flesh and blood separation, husbands and wives parting, were everywhere.

But the Tran family and Truong Ha's family, because they had paid silver, were fortunately spared from the disaster.

...

Phuc Trach Village was originally not populous. After being ravaged like this, the whole village was in a state of mourning; every household was crying.

Before, no matter how hard and difficult life was, even during the previous tax collection, when villagers went out and saw others, they would still greet them with a smile.

But now, all smiles were gone.

Ironically, Luu Thu, because he hung out with those ruffians and was not home every day, actually escaped conscription.

Tran family home. Because of the impact of the conscription, with every household wailing, Han An Nuong's mood was also relatively low.

Tong Man was making funny faces to cheer Han An Nuong up.

"Uncle, this kind of life, when will it ever be over?" Han An Nuong hugged Tran Mac tightly, her voice soft and melting.

Tran Dai had also died not long after returning from being seriously wounded on the battlefield.

Han An Nuong knew that of these people sent to the battlefield, not even one in ten would return alive.

Hearing this, Tran Mac was silent. He didn't know when it would end. He knew that for such a massive peasant uprising to require the imperial court to conscript soldiers just to resist it, it often signified that a country was on the verge of collapse. This represented the true curtain rising on chaotic times.

At that time, order would collapse, chaotic phenomena would arise one after another, and human lives would truly be like grass.

Currently, people starving to death in a village, selling sons and daughters, were just child's play.

When that time came.

The human world would no longer be the human world.

White bones exposed in the wild, a thousand li without a cock's crow.

That would be Hell...