dkrc Chapter 3 Faith Born of Love, Boundless Spirit
Chapter 3 Faith Born of Love, Boundless Spirit
The sound of horses' hooves grew more urgent.
The road they had come from was shrouded in shadows, but with Li Xin's keen eyesight, he could already see the fierce eyes of the Angsa soldiers on horseback.
Some soldiers even tried to hold their muskets horizontally on horseback.
Li Xin crouched down, patted Zhao Tanzhu's arms, and pulled out a small cloth bag. Without hesitation, he scooped up his younger sister, Li Xiaoyue, with his left arm and hoisted her onto his shoulder...
"Big brother, this way."
He did not follow the two men fleeing ahead in the same direction.
Instead, it darted diagonally into the forest, climbing trees and traversing the thicket, walking among the branches and bushes.
Even though thorns scratched her body and left her covered in bloody marks, she didn't care.
Li Cheng clutched the wound between his ribs, not asking any questions, but simply followed silently, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes from time to time...
Li Xin knew that his elder brother probably thought his actions were a bit strange.
However, judging from his reckless appearance, he was probably only slightly puzzled, and the wind would blow away all his confusion.
After walking about a hundred meters, there is a mountain hollow in front of you.
Li Xin then put Xiaoyue down.
Seeing that she was still clutching a money pouch tightly, her bright black eyes looking at him curiously, not afraid at all, he couldn't help but ruffle her dry, yellow hair and laugh, "Xiaoyue is so smart, our family's good life depends on you."
The money bag found on the officer was heavy; there was no need to empty it to check, one could guess that it contained a considerable amount of silver.
The little girl's eyes crinkled with laughter after being praised like that.
"I just follow my second brother's orders."
Li Xin turned his head and said, "Brother, lie low and don't show your head. We'll run when there's no more noise."
He took a few deep breaths, feeling his heart pounding wildly.
He seems to be quite strong, but he is actually quite thin.
Carrying the little girl up the mountain, I ran more than a hundred meters in one go. At this point, I felt a little dizzy and my blood supply was severely insufficient.
Li Cheng was also panting heavily.
Having charged forward with all his might, he didn't feel anything amiss amidst the tension and fear.
He stopped at this point, drenched in sweat and pale-faced.
"Wait, what if they catch up with us..."
Li Cheng, panting heavily, slumped to the ground, nervously looking back.
Even though he can't see anything.
"What are you chasing? It's pitch black. Even if you had plenty of food and clothing, would you climb mountains and crawl through forests to catch someone? Besides, we just lost about ten Ansar soldiers."
Whether others believe it or not, Li Xin certainly won't.
Life is your own, but credit belongs to others.
Even if we catch a few peasants, what great merit can we gain?
"Don't worry, they'll just fire a few shots on the perimeter as a show..."
As soon as Li Xin finished speaking, a shout was heard in the distance.
Gunshots rang out one after another, making the branches overhead sway wildly, but no one actually risked their lives to venture into the mountains and forests.
"Why didn't Master Zhao let us hide in the mountains?"
Li Cheng looked stunned, as if he were recalling the more than thirty people who had fallen to the gun barrels earlier.
That's like filling bullet holes with flesh and blood.
Their deaths were utterly meaningless.
Who knows?
Li Xin was too lazy to analyze the mental journey of the bearded leader Zhao, and even less willing to explain the extremely complex principle of popular support to his not-so-bright older brother.
In fact, not everyone is clear-headed when faced with a crisis.
In hindsight, they were all brilliant and skillful, never making a mistake.
But when you're in that situation, every choice you make could be either the right or the wrong one.
Just like those two men who were so frightened that they ran away, they didn't hide in the mountains.
Instead, they would run away in whatever way was fastest and smoothest.
They never considered that while they could run fast, the Ansar soldiers, with their horses, could run even faster.
By the moonlight filtering through the leaves, Li Xin opened the money pouch given to him by the Angsa officer. After rummaging through it, he saw about ten silver dollars and two silver ingots. In a small leather wallet, there were also a few bullets.
"Only this much?"
Li Xin looked at the item in his hand, feeling disappointed.
"That's a lot! We can buy a lot of meat."
The little girl was delighted and reached out to gently touch the silver and eagle coins. The cold touch of the metal made her hand tremble slightly.
"That's quite a lot indeed."
Li Xin paused for a moment, then laughed out loud. In his memory, he and his siblings struggled to make ends meet; even before the great disaster, they couldn't save more than a few taels of silver a year.
He remembered that a pound of good rice cost only 20 coins, while a pound of meat cost more than 100 coins.
One tael of silver can buy 50 catties of high-quality rice, enough to feed a family for a month. It can also buy ten catties of pork belly.
Brown rice and wheat bran are cheaper, so you can buy more of them.
There are about ten taels of silver and twenty-two silver dollars here.
Although one silver dollar is only worth seven qian of silver, it is still equivalent to more than fifteen taels of silver.
That's about thirty taels of silver, enough to buy 1,500 catties of rice. How could that not be a large sum of money?
Li Cheng was also grinning from ear to ear, "Are all the people in Angsa this rich?"
Seeing their joyful expressions, Li Xin felt much better, and the confusion he had just experienced gradually faded away.
Since we're here, we should make the best of it and live a good life.
He wasn't actually complaining about the small amount of spoils, but rather regretting that the officer from Anssa hadn't brought more pistol ammunition.
Only six? Who do you think you are?
The worst part is that pistol bullets and rifle bullets were not interchangeable in that era.
Even getting bullets for the Webley revolver he had captured was extremely difficult.
Without this industrial system and without the channels to purchase, we can't very well trade with foreigners, can we?
Watching Li Xin silently load the bullets into the magazine one by one, Li Cheng seemed to understand something and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, second brother, your elder brother will protect you."
"it is good."
Upon further inspection, the money pouch pulled from the bearded man's pocket appeared much more shabby.
There were only a few taels of silver and a few dozen copper coins.
There was also a thin cloth booklet with very small print...
It was difficult to see clearly in the dim light, and he didn't know what it said, so Li Xin didn't take a closer look.
Once they had caught their breath...
Li Xin stood up. "Let's leave."
"Didn't they say they wouldn't chase after us?"
"Not at night, but during the day. We need to get out of this mountainous area before dawn, otherwise we'll still be caught."
"oh."
Li Cheng, as was his habit, squatted down without thinking and let Xiaoyue climb into the basket on his back. He waited for a while and saw that Li Xin did not come in, but instead led the way.
He scratched the back of his head, smiled, and followed.
Xiaoyue, on the other hand, seemed puzzled and asked, "Second Brother, we're not exactly conspicuous. Why would anyone target us if we walked on the main road during the day?"
"They may seem insignificant, but didn't two of them escape earlier? I don't trust them."
Li Xin didn't mind analyzing the situation with his younger sister; the girl was quite clever.
"Second Brother means they can't escape, they'll be caught. Then they'll find out about us, oh no..."
Li Xiaoyue recalled how her second brother had held up a short gun and watched the two of them escape with regret on his face, and finally understood something.
"So, they didn't have enough bullets?"
"Xiaoyue should be studying; she's so bright," Li Xin chuckled.
"Hehe, Mother says studying is useless now, and besides, our family is poor. The teacher said my second brother will be able to pass the imperial examinations, and then..."
Perhaps thinking of her parents, Xiaoyue muttered a few words and then said nothing more.
The only sound in the forest was the rustling of grass and dry branches as the three headed north.
……
It wasn't that Li Xin didn't want to talk.
Instead, their minds were absorbed in the strange phenomena that appeared in their minds.
Just as he escaped, he sensed something flying out from his older brother and younger sister and landing directly on his forehead.
Taking the opportunity to inspect the spoils of war, Li Xin forcibly suppressed his excitement.
At this point, he could no longer hold back.
As he searched for his way forward, he immersed himself in thought. Then, a mysterious light appeared before him, slowly unfolding.
Name: Li Xin
Age: 12/66
[Constitution: 8]+
Agility: 9+
[Spirit: 18]+
[Martial Arts Skills: None]
[Confidence: 2]
Faith arises from love, and the mind is boundless.
After staring at the light screen that popped up in his mind for a long time, Li Xin finally understood.
What were those things that flew out of the bodies of the eldest brother Li Cheng and the younger sister Li Xiaoyue right after they broke through the encirclement?
………………