CHAPTER 1817: CHAPTER 1734: HOMECOMING

The cold wind swept through the streets of Dalkas, lifting the untouched snow and slamming it against the mottled walls. A military truck was parked in the middle of the street, surrounded by Dwarf soldiers with guns on their backs, knocking on the doors of every house in the small town.

"Open the door! If there’s anyone inside, not opening the door is a crime!" a shivering soldier stomped his feet while pounding on the door; they needed a place to warm up and seek refuge from the cold. These undamaged buildings were simply the best places.

They had had enough of those drafty tents along the way, so they wanted to share the warm rooms with these guilty civilians... that’s right, the guilty civilians.

According to the decree issued by Binghan the First more than two months ago, all Dwarfs in the occupied areas were guilty. They should have resisted actively before the occupation, and should continue to fight after being occupied.

But of course, the civilians were unlikely to execute such a decree; everyone thought such an order was drafted by a madman. The soldiers were driven off; what could these civilians do? Should they fight the Tang Army with forks and hoes?

In the past two months, the Dwarfs naturally had no way to implement such a decree, because they simply did not have the ability to successfully retake the areas occupied by the Tang Army. So this decree became a dead letter, and no one cared.

Now the situation was different; the Dwarfs had retaken a large area in the Southern Plains, and the Dwarf civilians in this area naturally became "guilty civilians" who could be liquidated at any time.

This shouldn’t have been an issue; everyone actually knew that no lunatic would really punish civilians based on such a decree. But sometimes, coincidences can be so deadly.

It should be known that the Marshal organizing this counterattack was Xie Ke, who had retreated all the way from the Northern Front to here. His troops had also fought their way through looting and struggling to this day.

They were already accustomed to the pitifully scarce logistics and supplies and were long used to finding their own food, water, and clothing. Now, in front of them were a group of people who were legally guilty; how could they let them go?

These people actually had food and drink; the troops of the Great Tang Empire did not plunder them, but rather carried on their glorious tradition by providing plenty of food relief to these civilians.

Now it’s different; as soon as the Dwarven troops arrived in Dalkas, this relief instead became evidence of these civilians collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country: if you are willing to hand over all your money and stored grain, offer your house and clothes, and leave your daughter to serve the officers, then you can take your life and get out to freeze to death. If you are unwilling... then you can only choose another way to die.

"Open the door!" The reason they were patiently knocking was mainly not to kick the door down and create drafts, which would make it troublesome to take over the house. If the people inside were willing to open the door and cooperate, they would also save the trouble of finding things to repair the door later.

But the Dwarf civilians, who already knew what these people were like, mostly were unwilling to cooperate in opening the door. In the outskirts of Dalkas, these 9th Corps marauders had already killed many people, emptied many streets.

"Sir, we have no food left; the people who came earlier already took all the food, spare us please..." The old man inside the house said with an extremely bitter tone. When humans reached here, they had not suffered such humiliation.

"Stop the nonsense! If you don’t open the door, it will be trouble for you when we get in!" The soldier outside the door was already impatient, yelling at the top of his lungs.

He didn’t get much supplies along the way, his clothes were very thin, and if he didn’t snatch some clothes and food, he doubted he could make it to the next village.

As for how much food the civilians inside the house actually had left or whether there was any at all, it wasn’t something he needed to care about. As long as they got in and gave a good beating, the other side generally confessed everything.

If it doesn’t work, they could beat them to death and then find things on their own; most of the time, they could find some: after all, this wasn’t the first time they had done this, and they felt no guilt anymore.

"Please, spare us!" The man inside the house clutched a hunting rifle, nervously looking at the door and pleading: "My son is also a soldier... we have never betrayed this country..."

Behind him, his young granddaughter trembled, her terrified eyes full of unease. She knew what would happen to her and her grandfather once the door was opened; their neighbors had gone through just that yesterday.

Those people took all their food and money, and because the amount they took was considered decent, she, hiding in the cabinet, could escape harm. The girl from the neighbor’s house wasn’t so lucky; she was violated by several Dwarf soldiers and hung herself from the roof beam last night.

"Open the door! If you don’t, we’re going to smash it!" The soldier outside gave a fierce look; he was already getting irritated because the old man inside was being a bit too unreasonable.

"Smash it!" Without waiting to hear the sound of the door opening, the Dwarf soldier with the rifle slung over his shoulder nodded his chin at his comrades nearby. As he uttered the word, he also unslung the rifle from his back.

"Bang!" The door was hit with a dull thud, and the grandfather and granddaughter inside the house were startled. The old man’s hand was trembling while holding the rifle; he had never used this thing on anyone before.

This rifle was an outdated needle gun, produced by the Great Tang Group. It’s unclear through what channel, but it eventually made its way here, becoming a kind of hunting rifle in the old hunter’s hands.

"Crash!" Ultimately, the fragile door couldn’t bear the weight and was kicked open, several completely enraged Dwarf soldiers stormed into the house. In their view, the people inside were already lambs waiting to be slaughtered; they could soon justifiably occupy the house and seize everything inside.

"Bang!" A crisp gunshot echoed through the wind and snow, and the Dwarf soldier who had just been pounding on the door stopped in his tracks, looked down at the blood gushing from his chest, and then blacked out and fell down.

The soldiers next to him immediately reacted, scurrying to find cover: "He’s got a gun! Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

On the street outside, the Dwarf soldiers raiding civilians instantly became chaotic. If this shot meant the Tang Army was coming back, they wouldn’t be able to resist in their current state.

The soldiers, who were incredibly arrogant moments ago, all shrank their necks to find hidden places. After all, they’re seasoned soldiers, and they did have some tactical skills.