In another slave camp, more than 20 dishevelled men were pressed to the open space in the middle of the camp, each of them was handcuffed by two people and knelt on the ground. Behind them stood a dozen men with long knives in their hands.
These people were either crying, trembling, or shouting, but the hundreds of men and women behind Xiao Chen were completely silent, just looking at them nervously and silently.
Since Xiao Chen had gained the advantage in numbers, he no longer pretended to be a slave, but announced his identity as a magician, claiming that he would be the leader of these people and would lead them out of the camp. Since he was the leader, he naturally had to enforce the rules, and the one kneeling in front of him was the idiot who had bumped into his gun.
Roger stood beside Xiao Chen and pronounced the verdict loudly: "Five of these people robbed property and killed others, four raped women, and three set fire to the house and killed several people. This violated Master Xiao Chen's rules, so all of them will be executed."
There was a sudden burst of crying and shouting of injustice from the kneeling people, but Roger waved his hand away without giving them a chance to defend themselves.
As he moved, more than ten steel knives fell, blood spurted, and half of the kneeling people lost their heads. The others kneeling beside them had committed relatively minor crimes and were dragged here to be tied up. Xiao Chen did not have time to punish these people one by one, so he used this ancient mental punishment, plus a beating with a whip.
Kneeling on the execution ground waiting for the verdict, not knowing whether you were the one to be executed, feeling the wind of the knife blowing in your face, watching the head fall to the ground so close, and your knees soaked in blood, it was definitely a psychological challenge. Most of those who escaped were so scared that they cried loudly, looked crazy, and even had feces and urine flowing everywhere.
This scene also shocked the others in the field. Many people lowered their heads and talked, looking at Xiao Chen and Roger with eyes full of awe.
The knifeman retreated, and more than a dozen strong men with whips ran up again. The crackling sound of whips entering flesh and the howling of ghosts and wolves could be heard everywhere.
"Sir, is it almost done? We have killed quite a few people today." Roger asked in a low voice.
"Do you think I killed too many people? Too harsh?" Xiao Chen asked back.
"No, these people have no discipline to begin with, and once they are out of the cage, they have even less discipline. If we can't shock them, we can't hold them together. But... those who kill and set fires can be beheaded. But isn't it too harsh to kill them because of women? Along the way, more than half of the people were executed because of women. We killed many more masters than we subdued, and many of them were Dou Qi and Bloodline warriors. Even if they were placed in the Imperial Army, they would be good enough to be officers."
"These experts are the leaders of the team. We will severely punish the main culprits, so we naturally cannot let them go. Seeing that you look distressed, I guess your army has no taboos on these matters?"
Roger said sincerely: "The army only asks soldiers to fight bravely, and they don't care about so much. And many times, if soldiers are not allowed to vent after winning, the war will not be fought. Even... even my subordinates have done this in the enemy country."
Seeing Xiao Chen's tense face, Roger explained: "As far as I know, all armies are like this. The elite troops directly under the empire and the kingdom are better, but if it is the lords' own troops, it will be even worse."
"It is indeed an army from the feudal era." Xiao Chen sighed.
"The feudal era? What did you say?"
"Don't mind it. What I want to say is that there are indeed armies that are not like this. An army with clear goals and strict discipline is more effective than an army that relies on instinct and desire. I have a charter here, come and listen to it." Xiao Chen briefly explained the "Three Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention" to Roger.
Roger was very surprised. These items seemed simple, just asking you to be a good and obedient person, but as a former soldier, he knew how difficult it was to do so. At least, he didn't know where to find such soldiers. Could this be an army of sages
"Haha, sage? No. This is an army composed of ordinary farmers. Many of them may not have the same origin and education as some of the people in front of us."
"Is this possible? How strict must the military discipline be... You did that today. Are you going to use these people to form a team like that?"
"Why not? I believe that if there is such an army, the world will become a better place." Xiao Chen remembered how the PLA soldiers bravely rushed forward and rushed to the front line in the face of many disasters. As a reporter, he once stood among them and saw with his own eyes that when the disaster relief was evacuated, the aunties threw food onto the trucks and the uncles waved and shouted, "Thank you, you must come and sit next time!" He smiled nostalgically and said, "However, it is a little early to mention these now. The first lesson taught with blood today is just to let all these people understand what discipline is and what the price of violating it is. Remember, discipline is the only thing we can rely on to control thousands of rabble."
The flogging in the middle of the camp had ended, and the guys who were beaten and covered in blood were helped down and given some simple bandages.
"Let's go. We have annexed this group of more than 200 people. There shouldn't be much space left. Pick out the strong ones and let them continue with us. Take the remaining old, weak and women to the gathering point and let Jacob and Luna take care of them."
Xiao Chen led the team around the market, fought more than ten battles, and gathered more than 4,000 slaves and civilians. The team grew like a snowball. When he returned to the Dain camp again, there were more than 200 warriors who could fight behind him, 7 or 8 of whom had the initial stage of fighting spirit, and 3 or 4 bloodline warriors with good bloodlines.
These people were quite obedient under the powerful intimidation of the magician, and with the addition of Roger, a master, they had almost caught up with the mercenary team that Xiao Chen had recruited in Suero.
When they marched to Juan's fortress, they met Steward Cohen who was waiting there.
"Master Xiao Chen, Master Luo Ling has reached an agreement with the few remaining slave traders. As long as you can evacuate the camp with these slaves and hand over some of the slave leaders who committed murder and arson, they can regard it as selling all the slaves to you."
"Very good. It seems that your talks were very fruitful. Almost all the slaves are under our control, and most of the culprits have been brought to justice. But I can give them enough heads as evidence."
"Lady Luo Ling also asked me to continue running the slave business here and help you deal with the follow-up matters." Cohen bowed and said.
Xiao Chen was a little surprised. It seemed that their achievements had exceeded expectations. As expected, she had played with Suero's woman for a month. He was just about to meet the slave trader again with Cohen. Suddenly, a soldier in charge of scouting came running in front and reported: "Sir, I heard from a few slaves who got separated in front that a large group of slaves have rushed into the Oaks camp for a long time."
"Maybe it's Ralph and the others. We went around the entire market but didn't see him." Roger guessed.
"Come on, Cohen, come with us to take a look. This should be the last group of slaves that need to be subdued."
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Sariel regretted it.
We shouldn't have wasted so much time dealing with Elena.
She didn't expect that the slaves in chaos would form a team so quickly, and she didn't expect that this team would be led by a master like Ralph.
When they came out of the secret passage, they were blocked by Ralph who was searching for treasures. The mercenary who was waiting for them outside had already fallen in a pool of blood.
Although the elves were wearing cloaks to cover their faces, Ralph could still tell at a glance that they were six women with slim figures and outstanding temperaments.
The wildness and spirituality nurtured by nature, in every gesture, has a fatal attraction to these men.
When a sharp-eyed guy saw the delicate face and long ears under the cloak, all the slaves were excited. Elves not only represent perfect appearance, but also countless gold coins, mysterious magic items and rare knowledge.
This is the most valuable treasure in the Oaks camp!
Ralph's men shouted "Grab these elves!" and then rushed towards Sariel and her group like a tide.
Thor and his dozen or so mercenaries formed a defensive line. However, Ralph had far more power than Thor, and he had seven or eight warriors with minor achievements. Thor's team was in danger from the beginning.
Ralph's sword was still as fast as ever. He did not fight with Thor, but kept attacking Thor's soldiers. Several mercenaries were killed by Ralph in the battle with others. Soon, one third of Thor's soldiers fell. Thor himself was entangled by two equally powerful opponents and had no way to deal with it.
Sariel planted another seed, but as soon as the seed grew into a small seedling, it was cut off by a green sword light.
"You are actually a nature mage? But you are too slow. You won't have any chance in front of me!" Ralph said to Sariel Su with a grin.
Sharyl was unwilling to give up, but after trying three or four times, her seeds were destroyed by Ralph.
She knew in her heart that Ralph in front of her was an extremely terrifying enemy in a melee. If he hadn't wanted her, the sword would have hit her neck.
The mercenaries fell one by one, and those who stood were all injured. Although they also killed some slaves, the number of opponents was too large.
Being at a disadvantage in both numbers and strength, the mercenaries began to waver.
"Ms. Sariel, we can't hold on. The enemy is too strong. We must surrender." Thor said as he struggled to parry the attack.
"Do you know what surrendering now means to us?" Sariel was furious.
"If we don't surrender, we'll all die." Thor's fighting spirit exploded, and with a spinning slash he forced away several people who were besieging him, and shouted to Ralph, "We surrender, stop fighting. I still have some desperate tricks that I haven't used, but I want to negotiate! Let my people go, you can do whatever you want!"
Ralph squinted at the tall mercenary, as if judging the threat he posed by risking his life. After stabbing another mercenary to death, Ralph put away his sword and shouted, "Stop!"
However, the slaves were so bloodthirsty that he had to shout several times before they finally stopped.
Ralph looked at the wounded Thor and stressed, "The elves must stay."
"I just want my mercenaries," Thor said, panting.
"Is this the credibility of you humans?" Sariel asked angrily when she saw that she was betrayed and abandoned like this.
Thor glanced at her, but was burned by her gaze. He turned his head and said, "Ms. Sharil, your request was to rescue your people from the Oaks family. Now that all the Oaks are dead, your people have been rescued. As for fighting these people, it is not in our agreement. My team has lost six people for you. This is all we can do."
Sariel was so angry that she couldn't speak, and her snow-white cheeks turned red.
Thor ignored her and turned to take his men away, but was stopped by Ralph with a sword, "Leave your weapons and armor behind and get out."
Several mercenaries showed expressions of shame and anger. Running away like this had already brought shame upon them. If even the food they were given was taken away, then there was really no point for them to continue in this line of work. They all looked at Thor, hoping that he could say something.
However, Thor seemed to have completely accepted his fate today. He stuck his sword and a dagger into the ground, took off his leather armor and put them aside. He also asked his men to do the same. When he was left with only a piece of cloth, he said to Ralph: "I hope you keep your word. My life-threatening skills do not require weapons."
Ralph sneered and waved his hand behind him. The slaves made way for him and the mercenaries fled with Thor.
The encirclement closed again, and Ralph was ready to force Sariel to surrender again. But at first glance, there seemed to be something wrong with the elven wizard.