Chapter 156: Everyone Has Their Own Choice
Xu Guanshan kicked her directly, causing the elderly woman to fall to the ground and vomit blood.
"mother!"
"mother!"
"Sister-in-law!"
Hu Yuntian was furious, but the swords and blades around him made him unable to move.
Xu Guanshan angrily rebuked the older woman, "How dare you say that? Yu'er is clearly a child of the Xu family, yet you've taught her to prioritize the Hu family in everything. If my son and I were of one mind and controlled all the infantry of the Jiang Dynasty, we could have withdrawn all our troops from the capital when the city fell. That would have given us leverage to negotiate with the powerful families. Why did we have to flee like stray dogs?"
The older woman clutched her chest, her breaths growing shorter with each exhale, yet she still stared intently at Xu Guanshan.
Hu Yuntian said coldly, his face cold, "If I had known you were such a narrow-minded person, I shouldn't have let my father promote you in the first place."
Xu Guanshan laughed loudly, "If he doesn't help me, what other choice does my father-in-law have? We're both from humble backgrounds, what are you pretending to be so great for? Which of you brothers can compare to me in martial arts? You've been in the position of commander of the Imperial Guard for so many years, and my father-in-law is embarrassed to let you go to Huzhou to take over military affairs. Your son is also a good-for-nothing. Don't think I don't know that you only brought Yu'er to the Hu family to be raised because you saw that he was intelligent."
Hu Yuntian did not refute it, because it was the truth.
How can the military achievements my father earned with his own sword and spear be given away to someone else just because there is no one to carry them on?
"I never intended to take your lives; you forced me to." Xu Guanshan drew his sword, its blade gleaming coldly. "For the sake of our kinship, I'll personally send you on your way."
Hu Yuntian broke out in a cold sweat. "If I die, no one will be able to gather the scattered Imperial Guards back together. Even if you want to do something, you won't have enough troops to support it."
"It doesn't matter anymore. You all look down on me from the bottom of your hearts, thinking I'm a petty, treacherous, and wicked person. Rather than letting you live and cause me trouble, it's better for the whole family to go together."
Before he could finish speaking, Xu Guanshan's knife severed Hu Yuntian's carotid artery.
Before the others could even cry out, they were stabbed through by the soldiers surrounding them.
At this point, everything about the Hu family from back then came to light.
The mind then switched back to the bullet comments.
I initially thought Xu Guanshan was a complete beast, but things took a turn for the better. I admit I was too loud in my criticism.
[The Hu brothers' actions were also unethical. Taking the young prince out of the palace without a word, what was Xu Guanshan, who was still fighting the rebels, supposed to think? Wasn't this blatantly treating him as a pawn to be abandoned?]
[Are you alright upstairs? No matter what, Xu Guanshan is utterly inhuman. He even killed his own son and cannibalized his body.]
Regarding this matter, I side with Xu Guanshan. Didn't you hear that Xu Yu always puts the Hu family first? What's the point of keeping this son if he's not even on his side? Besides, initially they wanted to find an auspicious burial site. But wasn't there no food? The person is already dead, so of course they have to make use of his remaining value.
Then the comments section erupted with arguments about Xu Guanshan. One side argued that, given the circumstances at the time—the emperor was dead, the powerful families were disrespectful, and the survivors should find their own way—Xu Guanshan simply wanted to live, and there was nothing wrong with that.
The other side, however, believes that Xu Guanshan is too hypocritical. He is clearly ambitious, but he pushes everything onto others. He wants to establish himself after he has already achieved something.
A small minority of voices also believe that Xu Guanshan and Hu Yaxian should remain a couple.
Hu Yaxian, also known as Old Mrs. Xu from before, killed her own son because her son Xu Hua was secretly amassing troops and she feared that his actions would ruin their peaceful life. She was a selfish and petty person.
Xu Guanshan and she are similar in their ways.
The live stream was filled with endless arguments, and Su Zhenzhen was so annoyed by them that she felt that both sides had their own reasons for the argument.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind: we should ask the person involved for their opinion.
Su Zhenzhen climbed out of the carriage and signaled Hensheng to stop the carriage.
"Whoa!" Hensheng pulled on the reins, and the horse took a few more steps forward before stopping.
"Zhenzhen, what's wrong? Is the carriage too fast and you're uncomfortable?"
"No, I have a question to ask you." Su Zhenzhen suddenly looked serious.
Hensheng felt a surge of tension, thinking it was something very important.
Do you think loyalty to the monarch necessarily means dying for the monarch?
Hensheng suddenly widened his eyes. "What does this mean?"
Fearing that Hensheng might not understand, Su Zhenzhen explained it in more detail.
"It's not the kind of 'a scholar will die for one who understands him' kind of voluntary death for his monarch. Suppose you are a general defending a city, and a traitor in the city opens the gates, forcing the monarch to commit suicide. At this point, your own situation is extremely dangerous. If you escape, you might have a chance to survive, but if you stay in the city, it's basically a certain death sentence. I want to know, would you escape?"
Hensheng pursed his lips, then looked intently at Su Zhenzhen.
Does this 'I' refer to Xu Hua's father?
Su Zhenzhen hadn't expected Hensheng to be so intelligent, but then she thought about it and realized that there were only so many famous military generals in the Jiang Dynasty. When the capital was besieged by rebels, wasn't it Xu Hua's father who led the troops to defend the city? She then told him everything she had seen in her dream.
Hensheng was speechless for a long time after hearing this.
Seeing his expression, Su Zhenzhen knew he was upset, so she reached out and hugged him, gently patting his back as if comforting a child.
"Everyone has their own choices, and everyone must be responsible for their own choices. This is not something you can change."
Hensheng leaned on Su Zhenzhen's shoulder, his tone bitter, "If it weren't for me, the Hu brothers wouldn't have had to take such a risk. They were in charge of the palace guards and wouldn't have directly clashed with the rebels. They also had no conflict of interest with the powerful families, so they could have taken this opportunity to serve them."
And then there's Xu Hua's father. With the capital's gates open, the powerful families no longer had a chance to hide behind the scenes and were forced to confront them. He could have easily backed down and waited for the right opportunity to act from behind the powerful families.
It's all because of me. I'm the one who ruined both families, I'm the one who caused the brothers to turn against each other.
Su Zhenzhen was also conflicted. Outsiders couldn't directly judge right or wrong, and those involved believed that what they were doing was not wrong.
Xu Guanshan just wanted to live, and on top of that, to live a better life.
The Hu brothers believed that everyone would be willing to sacrifice their lives for the greater good, just like them.
Su Zhenzhen suddenly thought of something: if the city gate hadn't been opened from the inside, would the rebels have necessarily won?
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