Chapter 111 Slaughtering Prisoners

Clutching the steamed bun, I rushed out of the tent, patted my wildly beating heart, and started looking around. I felt that the atmosphere was strangely unsettling.

"Yay..." Baozi opened its toothless little mouth and began to sing.

"Shh!" I quickly pinched his little mouth shut.

With his mother pinching his mouth shut, Baozi blinked, then obediently snuggled against his mother's chest, remaining silent.

I lowered my head and kissed him, then turned to look for Cao Cao.

"Tens of thousands of people... all of them..."

"yes……"

Suddenly I heard a few soldiers whispering to my left. I raised my eyebrows slightly and moved closer to them.

"What happened to tens of thousands of people?" I asked casually, pretending to be a passerby.

"You didn't know? Alas, the Prime Minister has given the order to kill all the prisoners of Yuan's army... tens of thousands of them..."

"Keep your voice down! The Prime Minister's orders must not be heard by the Madam!" a soldier who was more discreet quickly scolded.

I was stunned. Tens of thousands of prisoners, all of them killed?

"Madam?!" The soldiers who had been whispering just moments before turned around and were terrified to see that the passerby standing behind them was actually the lady they had been talking about.

"Where are they?" I asked, calming myself down.

"This..." The soldiers looked at each other, all with troubled expressions.

"Don't worry, I won't tell the Prime Minister that you were the ones who leaked the secret," I assured him.

“They’re in the wasteland to the north…” one of the soldiers finally said hesitantly.

Upon hearing this, I turned around and went to talk to Cao Cao while holding the steamed bun.

From afar, one could see a dark mass of soldiers, all busily engaged in what seemed to be something. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be filling in the soil.

Cao Cao was riding his horse, coldly watching the soldiers' every move. A breeze blew by, lifting his bright purple robe. As the robe fluttered, the hair on his forehead also swayed in the wind.

Baozi, with her little bottom sticking out, lay quietly in my arms without making a sound.

Cao Cao noticed me, paused for a moment, then resumed his expressionless demeanor.

"Don't kill them." Standing in front of him, I looked up at the man on horseback, the father of the child in my arms.

"Too late." He parted his thin lips slightly and uttered two words.

I was taken aback. "What?"

"Too late," he repeated softly.

I snapped out of my daze and realized that the soil where I was standing was unusually soft, as if it were a grave that had just been dug up and filled with soil.

Startled by a certain guess in my mind, my face turned pale, and I instinctively hugged the steamed bun tightly with one hand, but I didn't dare to look down at the ground.

My legs went slightly weak, and something grabbed my left foot.

"Ah!" I screamed, startled, and looked down to see a pale human hand.

Cao Cao suddenly spurred his horse forward, pulled me onto the horse, and with a swift stroke of his sword, cut off my hand.

Crimson blood splattered everywhere...

"Men! Fill this place up firmly," Cao Cao frowned and gave the order in a cold voice.

I was utterly shocked.

Were tens of thousands of prisoners all massacred?!

Tens of thousands of lives...

Tens of thousands of lives...

"Cao Cao," I gritted my teeth.

Cao Cao looked down at me.

"Aren't you... afraid of retribution?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly, feeling a surge of anger.

Leaning against his chest, I could feel his chest vibrating slightly; he was laughing, he was actually laughing.

"We'll talk about retribution when we get to the underworld," he said with a smile, so casually.

My stomach churned, and I felt like vomiting. Looking at the dark, desolate wilderness, I seemed to see countless pale hands reaching upwards from beneath the soil, countless souls buried alive struggling and screaming... They wandered painfully on this land... forever unable to find redemption.

Those prisoners who were massacred... they too were mothers who carried their babies for ten months...

They may have elderly parents at home...

They may also have a loving wife and young children at home...

Their families are probably at home eagerly awaiting their return...

But... they are buried forever beneath this earth... they can never go back...

I started gagging, my mouth filled with a sour taste. Baozi seemed to be frightened by me and started crying.

I gently patted Baozi to comfort him, and then I was about to jump off the horse.

Cao Cao did not stop me; he simply carried me and the steamed bun down from the horse with care.

I turned around, clutching the steamed buns, and left, returning to the camp.

“Pei’er.” Guo Jia stood at the door, smiling at me.

I glanced at him, then lowered my head and started to walk away.

“Pei’er…” He reached out and grabbed my hand.

“You know, don’t you…” I said softly, looking at his pale face.

Guo Jia was slightly taken aback, then smiled and nodded.

"Then...why didn't you stop it?" I clenched my fist slightly, my hand trembling.

"This is war," Guo Jia said softly, as if sighing.

"But they were all unarmed prisoners!"

"In this battle, the disparity in strength between our army and Yuan Shao was too great. Brother Mengde, you have already given your all, and the victory was by no means easy. Our army only has 20,000 troops... cough cough... If this battle continues to drag on, we may have to abandon Guandu and retreat back to the capital. Now that Yuan Shao has abandoned his troops and fled in panic, our army has suddenly gained tens of thousands of prisoners. Not only is there a shortage of food, but there is also a high risk of riots during the transport... Our army is already exhausted, so... killing prisoners is the only option. Do you... understand?" Guo Jia coughed lightly and said.

I understand he has a point, but tens of thousands of people were shoved alive... that's so horrific...

Is this what war is...?

It is said that more than 70,000 of Yuan's troops died in the Battle of Guandu.

After Cao Cao massacred the prisoners, some of his soldiers seemed to begin to feel uneasy.

It is said that Cao Cao searched among the prisoners and found many letters between his subordinates in Xuchang and the front lines and Yuan Shao. Given Cao Cao's consistently harsh methods, how could they not live in constant fear, lest they suffer the same fate as those prisoners?

Night fell, and the air was slightly chilly. I coaxed Baozi to sleep, but I couldn't fall asleep myself. The events of the day wouldn't leave my mind—that pale hand, that splattered crimson blood—it was as if I could see it every time I closed my eyes…

"Madam, how about coming out for a while?" Cao Cao's voice suddenly came from the doorway.

I ignored it.

"My lady, the moonlight is just right. I've lit some firewood, and it's quite warm." Cao Cao's voice was unhurried and gentle, making it hard to imagine that he had massacred prisoners earlier that day.

I stood up, got off the bed, lifted the curtain, and went outside the tent.

Cao Cao, wearing a robe, sat at the camp gate, with a pile of firewood burning on the ground and a thick bundle of books beside him.

I sat down cross-legged beside him without making a sound.

Cao Cao didn't say anything, but casually tossed the books beside him into the fire.

"What is that?" I finally asked, unable to contain my curiosity.

Cao Cao laughed, as if he had expected me to ask, “Some secret correspondence.”

At this point, I understood. "Then... why burn it?" Given his personality, it would have been normal for him to catch all those traitors one by one and punish them severely.

"Yuan Shao's forces are so strong that I almost couldn't protect myself, so how can I expect anything from others?" He spoke calmly, his saliva flowing like clouds, indeed without a trace of killing intent.

I suddenly became a little confused. What kind of person was Cao Cao? A good person? A bad person?

Or, sometimes, people cannot be judged as "good" or "bad." In this world, cause and effect are cyclical, and nothing is absolute.

Before I could think any further, the army had already begun to break camp, and the next day, they prepared to return to the capital.