Chapter 298 General, power is great (5,000 words long chapter)
"I was wondering..." Yao Ran looked at Chang Suining and said, "If the general hadn't stopped them today, would those 60,000 prisoners of war have really been taken away by them and killed in the name of offering sacrifice to the heavens?"
Although she was asking "Will you really do it?", there was no doubt in her tone.
The answer is yes. In fact, captives had already been sacrificed in Luoyang City.
"I'm still thinking, Commander Xiao is still leading people to rescue the disaster, the general also stayed up all night last night for the people in the nearby villages and towns, Governor Hu and those generals have been busy with the flood. Yesterday, Governor Hu was almost washed away by the flood while trying to save two children. Even if there were early responses, it could only reduce casualties, but it could not be avoided. People are still dying every day in the nearby counties and prefectures..." Yao Ran's words were a little confusing, and she didn't know when her eyes turned red: "And General Cui..."
Commander-in-chief Cui said that he had an old acquaintance in Xingyang who was well versed in water control. As early as the day before, Commander-in-chief Cui had taken this person with him and set out from Luoyang to the Yellow River to dredge and check the condition of the embankments in important river sections.
Floods in the Yellow River occur frequently. Once an outbreak occurs, it is absolutely beyond human control to prevent it. It is not difficult to imagine how dangerous the trip of Commander Cui and his men is.
Natural disasters are cruel and merciless, but what she saw was that everyone worked together to fight against the disasters and tried every means to save lives.
This made her think for a time that this was how the world should be when facing a disaster.
But this morning she suddenly heard that Luoyang was killing people to sacrifice to the heaven.
Killing those was not enough, they even took away all 60,000 captives! They killed people in the name of offering sacrifices to heaven and "saving the world".
It turned out that just one sentence of "pacifying the wrath of heaven" could wipe out 60,000 lives? But these 60,000 lives were saved by her general after a long planning. The general said that the choice of the Bian River was to stop the war with one battle and minimize the casualties on both sides.
But all these plans and efforts could be destroyed by the light words "sacrifice to heaven".
She clearly did not witness the sacrifice to heaven in Luoyang City with her own eyes, but this way of killing made her feel several times, a hundred times, a thousand times more terrified than when she was on the battlefield of Bian River that day.
She had also heard of human sacrifice, but at that time it was just a distant rumor. But this time was different. Those people had clear faces and voices. She felt their anger and fear, so she also felt fear. After the fear, she began to think, and then she felt even greater fear.
She couldn't describe her feelings specifically. She felt fear and confusion as to how to distinguish between good and evil, and friends and enemies. For example, she used to simply believe that only people like Xu Zhengye were the real enemies.
When she decided to come and follow Chang Suining, she thought she had seen a new world, but now it seems that her thoughts at that time were very naive. She thought that with her one more person, they would always have more strength to fight against those evil bastards who were wreaking havoc on the world.
But today she suddenly realized that someone could take away more than 60,000 lives at once, or even more, and they didn't need to kill people with their own hands, they only needed to say a word, a word that no one could verify was true or false.
She couldn't help but think more. If the prisoners of war could be killed today, could the refugees be killed tomorrow, and what about the day after tomorrow? Anyway, whether they were guilty or not, they only needed a sentence of "inciting the anger of heaven" that no one could verify, right? This was just the words of the Luoyang officials and Li Xianzhi. The general could still block one or two today. If the orders were given by someone in a higher position, if a more high-sounding rhetoric was used, frame-up, slander, anything was fine, as long as it could be used to kill people... then, who could save those whose life and death were determined? At such a time, would it make sense to have one more or one less person like her? Or, would she face the same situation as these prisoners of war today one day? She didn't think she was thinking too much. On the contrary, she had seen, known, and thought too little before, so she was shocked when she suddenly faced these existences beyond her cognition.
The overwhelming unknown and confusion overwhelmed Yao Ran. All that he had seen since childhood, learned in the boudoir, and realized in Buddhist scriptures were greatly shaken at this moment.
She couldn't help but ask, "Is this the way the world is originally?"
It was like the first day she came into this world.
"When Pangu created the world, there was no order in the world. The order and laws that exist today are all set by humans." Chang Suining looked at Yao Ran and said, "In my opinion, this world has no original appearance. Even if it does, it is not important."
Yao Ran was stunned. What is important then?
She saw the girl sitting there with her hair tied up, and said to her with an expression that seemed never lost: "It's never important what the world looks like. What matters is what you want it to look like."
In Chang Suining's opinion, many times, the so-called etiquette, law, order, and right and wrong in this world are mostly just means for those who control the right to speak to take what they need and control people's hearts.
And she will not let herself be bound by the means of others, so she often says that she has no moral bottom line in her actions. Only the way she wants the world to be is her way, the way she must abide by.
She has always been determined, so she is never at a loss.
"I want it to be like this..." Yao Ran fell into an even greater state of shock, "Can I?"
Chang Suining smiled at her and said, "At least you can give it a try. Everyone can give it a try. Even if it's just a tiny change, a spark can start a prairie fire."
How should I try? Yao Ran wanted to ask, but almost at the same moment, she had the answer in her mind.
She thought of the situation today when Chang Suining stopped those people.
The reason why the general could make those people retreat was because she was now General Ningyuan, the General Ningyuan who killed Xu Zhengye, and the General Ningyuan who was respected by the people.
Military achievements, prestige, and admiration, all of these gave the general the power that belonged to her.
She knows.
Yao Ran slowly tightened his fingers: "General, power is great."
This sentence is straightforward and shallow, but it is the only one that can clearly express what is touching her at the moment.
Power is great. With it, you can kill people or save people. You can make people fear you or look up to you.
Chang Suining: "So since ancient times, everyone has been fighting for power."
Women fight for the right to run the household, and men fight for the power over the world. In comparison, most of the former never have the chance to understand what true power is throughout their entire lives.
Most of them are kept in captivity, fighting over a piece of snack crumbs thrown by the owner, but they don't know that there is a truly coveted feast in this world.
Anyone who has experienced the true taste of power cannot help but be tempted by it.
Yao Ran felt his heart was moved.
This kind of heartbeat made her flustered, but also caused an indescribable surge and excitement in her bones and blood. It was the first time she approached this sea of power. It was vast, terrifying, and thrilling, and it made people want to grab it.
She seemed to be suddenly in the midst of a raging sea. It was dark and treacherous all around, with no end in sight. The only thing she could see was a small boat on the sea and a solitary lamp to guide her.
She looked at the "lonely lamp" and couldn't help asking, "General, is all the desire for power ambition?"
"Yes." Chang Suining said, "But there is nothing wrong with ambition. It is just part of human nature. It depends on how you accept it, control it, and make good use of it."
Yao Ran's eyes lit up slightly.
Therefore, ambition is not a fault. Everyone has it and everyone can have it, including women.
She looked at Chang Suining and said, "The general has used it very well. Fortunately, the general has compassion today."
But Chang Suining shook his head: "I am not just out of compassion. I have something in common with Li Xian and his men. I also have my own pros and cons. Leaving these prisoners of war will bring me many benefits, including the continuation and expansion of the power you mentioned."
She taught Yao Ran that he could use power to do "good things" and change the world, but she also wanted Yao Ran to understand that power is complicated. It is like a knife. If one only uses the word compassion to measure whether it is "used well" and regards compassion as the criterion for everything, one day the blade will stab oneself.
She couldn't let Yao Ran go from being naive and ignorant to another more deadly naive state.
Yao Ran was distracted for a moment when she looked at the girl who was not reluctant to show her ambition to expand her power.
The girl in a dark blue round-necked robe sat cross-legged with her black hair loose. As for her appearance, that was not important... she had something more eye-catching.
Yao Ran couldn't describe what kind of breathtaking aura that was. She was stunned for a long time before she said, "Thank you for your guidance, General. I've remembered it all."
"Then go change your clothes." Chang Suining said, "and then help me sort out these official documents."
When Xiao Min was not in the camp, all the military affairs that had been piled up for several days had to be handled by Chang Suining. In fact, when Xiao Min was there, he was accustomed to discussing important matters with Chang Suining and asking for her opinions.
Yao Ran nodded in agreement and hurried behind the screen.
The excitement brought to her by the word "power" had not yet subsided, and her heart was still beating fast. She was thinking in a mess, as a lieutenant in the army, she could lead a hundred people; if she was a county magistrate, she could lead the people of the county; if she was a general of an army, she could lead 12,500 people; the general was now a fifth-rank Ningyuan general, and he could still protect these 60,000 prisoners of war today...
Thinking of this, she subconsciously looked back at the girl who was sitting cross-legged and had already started handling official business. Suddenly, a voice popped up in her mind: What if she could become the king of a country?
As soon as this thought came to his mind, Yao Ran was shocked.
She took a few quicker steps to get behind the screen and couldn't help but raise her hand to touch her forehead.
She had just taken a step forward when she went crazy and came up with such a thought that was worthy of killing all her nine generations of her clan.
Chang Suining was looking through the official documents when she suddenly found a letter addressed to her alone.
It was a letter from Xuanzhou, or rather a reply.
Long before she came to Bianzhou, she had someone send a letter back to Xuanzhou, wanting to take away the person she had left in the secret room in Princess Xuan'an's mansion.
This letter was written by Princess Xuan'an. It said that the letter had been delivered to her, and two other people were also attached.
When the reply was received, no one had expected that a flood would suddenly occur in the Bianzhou area. Now that the reply had arrived, the person should have arrived by then. At this moment, listening to the noisy sound of rain outside the tent, Chang Suining couldn't help feeling a little worried.
She immediately sent someone to find Chang Xingren, but heard that he had not returned to the camp yet. Chang Suining thought about it, and asked someone to find He Wuhu, and asked him to take people to meet him, and repeatedly reminded him to be careful on the road.
"Don't worry, General. I'll take care of this matter!"
It was the first time that He Wuhu received a mission specially assigned by the general. His eyes were bright and he was full of energy. When he came out of the tent, Liuhu, Qihu and others wearing straw raincoats came to greet him.
"Brother, what did the general say to you alone?"
"Brother, why are you panicking?"
"...Nonsense, why would I panic!" He Wuhu glared at him: "I'm so calm now!"
When doing work for the general, you must stay calm. Only by staying calm can you accomplish great things!
"..." Liu Hu and others did not refute, but just asked what the general said.
He Wuhu lowered his voice and said, "The general asked me to take people to pick up her brother!"
"Which brother? Dear brother?"
If it's a relative, then this job is worth a lot of money! We haven't completely gotten rid of the bandit mentality.
He Wuhu: "My dear brother! My half brother!"
Chang Suining is Chang Kuo's adopted daughter, and this has never been a secret.
She and Chang Sui'an have different fathers and different mothers, but everyone generally feels that this does not conflict with the fact that they are siblings.
He Wuhu and others quickly got everything ready, left the military camp with the route map given by Chang Suining, and headed southwest.
Not long after they left, Chang Suining thought about it and, in order to prevent Li Xian and others from having other ideas and hurting innocent people, he sent another letter to Luoyang. Although Cui Jing was not in Luoyang, Lieutenant General Yu and others were still there.
…
Soon, in Luoyang City, Li Xian and others learned that Chang Suining had not allowed He Shan to take the prisoners away.
"…This woman's behavior is totally unreasonable!" A Luoyang Palace eunuch who had advocated the heaven sacrifice with Li Xian said in a sharp voice: "General Li Xian, there is no need to pay attention to this person. If she tries to stop us, we can just send troops to her!"
Li Xian smiled and said, "General Cui is leading his men to manage and inspect the Yellow River waters. He is not in Luoyang City. If he were to come into conflict with General Ningyuan over this matter, I am afraid I would not be able to send many troops."
Although Cui Jing was not there, the Xuan Ce troops were still doing things according to Cui Jing's instructions, conducting daily patrols, disaster relief, and assisting the Luoyang government in distributing disaster relief grain.
Apart from this, the only thing that Xuan Ce's army could do for him and obey his orders was to suppress the Luoyang gentry who were in collusion with Xu Zhengye. This was because it was clearly stated in the imperial edict and could not be disobeyed.
As for other uses, those people may not really care about him, so why should he embarrass himself?
What's worse, he suspected that Xuan Ce's army had received other instructions from Cui Jing and was monitoring his every move.
For example, in the past two days, they had no prisoners of war to kill, so they replaced them with the seriously guilty prisoners in the Luoyang prison. But as of yesterday, all the prisoners that could be killed had been killed. They tried to capture beggars and vagrants as backup, but were coincidentally "dissuaded" by the Deputy General Yu.
Even if we put aside the issue of Xuan Ce's army, at this critical juncture, how could he send troops just because Chang Suining refused to release the prisoners of war?
Li Xian sneered in his heart at the shallow and ignorant words of the eunuch chief.
Who is Chang Suining now? He is a great hero known to the world for his decisive battle.
It is normal for such great contributors to become proud of their achievements and act arrogantly and domineeringly.
Why should he compete with such an arrogant person who is in the limelight and popular?
I just don't know, is this arrogant young general really stupid or just pretending to be stupid? Doesn't she know that this matter concerns the saint? If she knew the importance of it, why would she dare to act like this? But no matter whether the other party is really stupid or pretending to be stupid, he needs to report this matter to the saint truthfully.
Li Xian did not show any anger at being humiliated. He just methodically asked the subordinate who had brought back the message what Xiao Min's attitude was.
Hearing that Xiao Min was doing disaster relief everywhere and had not yet met him, Li Xian said, "In this case, it will be difficult to get any results within three to five days, so forget it, let He Shan and the others come back."
As for He Shanzhong's arrow, and the other party's act of obstructing him without reason... he would just put this account aside for now.
"Forget it?" The eunuch stood up and said, "How can we give up? The heavenly sacrifice formation has been started, and now the rain has not stopped, how can we stop the formation!"
"Yes, General Li..." Some officials also frowned: "If we interrupt the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, how can we explain to the people?"
They claimed that the natural disaster was caused by the fact that Xu Zhengyu's evil deeds had not been completely eliminated, and that they wanted to offer sacrifices to the heavens with the remnants of the Xu family to pray for the rain to stop. If they interrupted the process without authorization, wouldn't that be tantamount to slapping themselves in the face?
The loss of their face is the least of their worries. They are just afraid that if this happens, the rumors against Fengxian Palace and the saint will make a comeback.
"General Li, the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the heaven cannot stop until the rain stops..."
One official even suggested: "Otherwise... let's negotiate with General Ningyuan and ask her to release not all the prisoners, but 10,000, no, several thousand prisoners to complete the heaven sacrifice with us, how about that?"
There is no way. Although this woman is arrogant, she is also a figure at the moment. Without anyone to lead and support her, it is indeed difficult for them to offend her.
"She probably won't give in either, so why bother dealing with her?" Li Xian said with a smile, "There are many Xu Zheng amateurs who can be used as sacrifices, not just the prisoners of war."
"General Li means..."
Li Xian looked at the rain outside the hall and said, "Aren't the remnants of Xu the most in demand in Luoyang City?"
He sighed and said, "Since we can't kill the lowly prisoners of war, let's try the scholars. They always think they are superior. Killing one of them can atone for the crime, which is equivalent to killing ten or a hundred people."
Li Xian decided to advance the plan.
This flood enabled his plan to wipe out the Luoyang gentry to proceed more smoothly. In the face of the flood, those gentry who had already realized the danger had no chance to get a large number of their people to leave Luoyang.
Furthermore, most of them still had hope and stubbornness, thinking that the court would not dare to kill them. After the Pei and Changsun clans had been in trouble, the gentry had launched a massive counterattack, and the political turmoil in the court and everywhere had intensified. Seeing that the world was in chaos, with such a price and crisis in front of them, would the empress really dare to act on her own and ignore it? But they underestimated the empress's determination.
Moreover, passed down from generation to generation, they had lived a life of abundance and stability for too long, so long that they could not imagine that everything they had could be overturned overnight, and it turned out to be such an easy thing.
Those soldiers in armor easily broke through their lofty family background.
As they glared and cursed, the long swords easily pierced their knowledgeable bodies.
Li Xian took the confession he had obtained and, day after day, in the endless rain, led his troops to destroy the mansions of the Luoyang families one after another.
I updated 5,000 words today, just to make up for yesterday's update. Thank you all for your monthly tickets, comments, rewards, and understanding (don't ask me where I plan to move to, I dare not tell you, for fear of being asked to update_(:з」∠)_)
(End of this chapter)
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