Chapter 86 Don't be unreasonable before lighting the sky lantern; I'll draw my sword and stab you from behind. ...
A man with clenched teeth and a fierce expression was straining to tighten the ends of the rope, his arm muscles taut and veins bulging with each effort. The other two men were holding down Guanlan, who was struggling to breathe, barely able to restrain her kicking legs.
Zhou Yaren stepped onto the blood-soaked bluestone slabs, half of her body shrouded in darkness, and witnessed the massacre firsthand.
He stood helplessly among the statues, merely an observer centuries later.
As Guanlan lay dying, a blood-stained hand broke free from beneath the man who was pinning him down, convulsing as it traversed the torrent of time and space, and suddenly grabbed him.
In a daze, Zhou Yaren seemed to be gazing at those bloodshot eyes that had swollen in the face of despair. They were eyes that were fearless in the face of death, yet died with their eyes wide open, conveying resentment and despair, filled with regrets that could not be cleared even in death.
Guanlan tried his best to say something, but the rope was strangling his throat, preventing him from uttering a single word.
Zhou Yaren stared at Guanlan, who was slowly suffocating to death, and felt a chill run through her body, as if that hemp rope was wrapped around her own neck.
Lin Mu stared in disbelief: "Why did they want to kill him?"
This person clearly ordered the Prince of Jing'an to seal the sword, thus saving the remaining people of Puzhou City. However, these few Puzhou citizens who escaped the massacre wanted to strangle Guanlan to death.
Li Liuyun gleaned some details of what had happened: "Because in the eyes of the people of Puzhou, this man was a traitor."
Lin Mu, unaware of the situation, asked, "How could this be?"
Li Liuyun recalled: "Historical records state that Puzhou fell because a guest minister named Guanlan, who served under the prefect Lu Heng, colluded with Prince Jing'an from within."
He is a notorious traitor in history books.
But to Li Liuyun's surprise, the traitorous guest in the records looked exactly like Tingfeng Zhi. Could this be a coincidence? Li Liuyun couldn't help but have doubts.
What good can come of a traitor who puts an entire city's inhabitants to death?
On the third day after the fall of Puzhou, the traitor Guanlan was strangled by righteous men, and his neck was tied with a rope and hung under the bridge for all the surviving people who passed by to see.
Guanlan hanged himself at the foot of the bridge because of the tragic deaths of soldiers and civilians in Puzhou, whose corpses piled up and blocked the river, causing the Chishui River to stop flowing.
Bai Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing at Guan Lan, who was suspended above the river of corpses. He was as thin as a blood-stained garment hanging under the bridge, with blood dripping from his fingertips and splashing onto the mountain of corpses and the sea of blood.
Bai Yuan had certainly witnessed Guan Lan's death, and he died bearing the infamy of a traitor, unable to defend himself.
She thought numbly back then: There are so many people who died unjustly in the world, one more or one less makes no difference.
This way, she could stand by and watch with a clear conscience. What else could she do? She was just a prisoner with no control over her own destiny. Like a clay Bodhisattva crossing a river, she could barely save herself; who could care about anyone else? Even if Guanlan died unjustly and tragically, there were always those who died even more unjustly and tragically than him; in the end, none of them had a good ending.
All that Bai Yuan saw and heard were countless unjust deaths; given such a background, what ordinary thoughts could she possibly have?
War is inherently cruel, and these young people from Taihang Road were not used to life and death, so they cried and made a fuss in the "Standing Elephant" and jumped around indignantly.
Bai Yuan was not so easily moved, and thus appeared heartless. Even at this moment, staring at the hanged Guan Lan, her tone remained indifferent: "Prefect Lu Heng of Puzhou entrusted his wife and daughter to Guan Lan, but they ended up in the hands of Prince Jing'an and became hostages. Prince Jing'an used this to coerce Puzhou into surrendering. Who knew that Prefect Lu Heng was as hard as iron and chose to abandon his wife and children to uphold loyalty and righteousness, which greatly impressed Prince Jing'an. So, to show his respect, Prince Jing'an burned his wife and daughter alive to fulfill Lord Lu's loyalty and righteousness."
What does it mean to abandon one's wife and children to uphold loyalty and righteousness, and to burn one's wife and daughter alive as a sign of respect? Lin Mu was dumbfounded and couldn't tell who she was satirizing.
But the details Bai Yuan mentioned were not recorded in historical records. Li Liuyun looked at her and asked, "How did you know that?"
Bai Yuan casually replied, "It's all hearsay."
Zhou Yaren knew, of course, that the so-called hearsay that Bai Yuan was referring to came from the injustice suffered by Guan Lan in front of him. His knuckles, which were gripping the law tube, were cold and numb, and the numbness spread from his stiff arm to his whole body.
“What’s the use of looking so sad? It’s been hundreds of years…” Bai Yuan stopped talking abruptly when he saw Zhou Yaren’s grief-stricken appearance.
What she said was the truth, so why should she care about other people's feelings?
But some people are just naturally sentimental.
To avoid offending anyone, Bai Yuan swallowed his sarcastic remarks and abruptly changed the subject: "The death of Prefect Lu Heng in battle should be traceable."
Only after being reminded by her did Zhou Yaren realize that she had lost her composure, and even lingered in front of Guanlan's body for a long time.
He forcibly gathered all his thoughts and went forward to collect traces of the wind. Just as Bai Yuan had said, another round of chaotic battle was unfolding layer by layer in the standing image.
Bai Yuan spoke up: "This was a night raid."
Prince Jing'an led his troops to camp twenty li outside Puzhou City, forcing all the surrounding villages to cut down trees and produce large quantities of siege equipment. During this time, Lu Heng, the governor of Puzhou, planned to launch a night attack on the camp at dawn. However, the meticulously planned operation was leaked, and Prince Jing'an turned the tables, setting up an ambush on the route the attack would take.
Lu Heng's army, which he personally led, was ambushed. He fought his way out, only to find that his wife, daughters and relatives who had sent him out of the city had all been captured, gagged and tied to tree trunks and stakes, and were being forced to surrender.
“King Jing’an shot surrender letters at the city tower of Puzhou three times, and Lu Heng burned them all.” Bai Yuan glanced at the fighting in the standing statue. “This time, King Jing’an used Lu Heng’s wife, daughters and relatives as ‘surrender letters,’ but Lu Heng was determined to uphold his loyalty to the death, so King Jing’an had no choice but to burn the ‘surrender letters’ that he had captured alive.”
His wife, daughters, and relatives were already soaked in oil, and several soldiers took out tinderboxes, waiting for the King of Jing'an to give the order.
Lu Heng fought the enemy like a madman, wishing he could immediately kill his wife and daughters and take the head of Prince Jing'an.
Amidst the chaos, Zhou Yaren searched: "Why is Guanlan nowhere to be seen?"
“Who told him to be related to Prefect Lu Heng but only acquainted with him, and coincidentally, to the teacher by Prince Jing’an’s side?” Bai Yuan’s gaze swept over Lu Heng’s wife, daughter, and relatives. “Prince Jing’an treated him differently, not binding him and burning him alive. He should be considered unlucky to have survived the fire. Of the group, only Guan Lan survived. So many people with conspiracy theories in their minds should naturally regard him as a traitor.” There’s no need for in-depth analysis. If even one person has doubts, Guan Lan will be guilty. In chaotic times, who can truly distinguish right from wrong? Bai Yuan hummed in agreement. “The one in the middle should be Prefect Lu Heng’s daughter, right? Look at the jade pendant hanging on her chest.”
The jade pendant is cylindrical, about half a finger long, and the shaft is carved with exquisite patterns.
Zhou Yaren frowned as she listened to Bai Yuan say, "When Guanlan presented the Yin Sui earlier, the jade pendant on Lu Heng's daughter's chest was tied to the waist of Prince Jing'an. However, the edge of the jade pendant was burned with charcoal."
Zhou Yaren turned his head in surprise, because in the midst of the carnage that had just taken place, he had no time to pay attention to such details, let alone what Prince Jing'an was wearing or what he was carrying. All his attention was focused on Guanlan.
Not only Zhou Yaren, but also the Taihang Road youths and Liang Youyi present had no impression of this jade pendant.
"I don't think the Prince of Jing'an would be interested in a piece of fire-burnt jade, would he?" Bai Yuan didn't expect them to notice it anyway, since he could find out everything by looking at the portrait later.
“Look at this young lady of the prefect, who is about to die,” Bai Yuan said, already sobbing uncontrollably. Although her mouth was gagged and she couldn’t cry out, she repeatedly let out heart-wrenching roars at Prince Jing’an. The words she couldn’t utter seemed to pierce her throat. Her eyes were filled with extreme pain and heart-wrenching hatred. Suddenly, Bai Yuan sensed something else in her eyes. “Do you think her gaze towards Prince Jing’an is innocent?”
"What?" Zhou Yaren was obviously incredulous, but after hearing Bai Yuan's words, she suddenly realized that this was no ordinary matter.
The hotheaded young men of the Taihang Mountains, who had little experience with love and hate, were all shocked.
In chaotic times, if men and women are separated by national and personal hatred, they can easily fall into eternal damnation if they are not careful. For example, this daughter of the prefect met with misfortune.
Under the moonlight, Prince Jing'an calmly observed the valiant general from Puzhou, who was trapped in his encirclement and was already at his last gasp.
At his command, the tinderbox ignited the living person on the tree stump.
Lu Heng, under the weight of swords and spears, suddenly turned around. In an instant, the flames engulfed his wife, daughters, and relatives, the raging fire seeming to burn through his eyes.
"Perhaps because it was dark and the road was dark, Prince Jing'an lit sky lanterns for Lu Heng's wife and daughters," Bai Yuan said in his usual calm tone as the blazing fire suddenly illuminated the night, "to light the way for Lord Lu."
In an instant, they seemed to hear Lu Heng's roar, which was as loud as thunder.
The Prince of Jing'an's lips curled up, revealing a cruel and bloodthirsty smile. His lips moved as if to say, "With your wife, daughters, and relatives lighting the way for Lord Lu, does the path you came from seem brighter?"
Lu Heng's eyes were bloodshot.
Equally furious was Lin Mu, the young man from Taihang Road who witnessed the atrocities of Prince Jing'an. He jumped three zhang high in the air, his hair standing on end in rage.
Bai Yuan raised his hand and pressed down on the easily angered young man: "What are you doing? It's just a standing image. Even if you leap into the sky, it won't make a difference."
Then, Lin Mu watched helplessly as the man twisted and struggled in the flames. The next moment, several spears and sharp blades pierced Lu Heng's body—and a loyal and righteous general perished.
"Prince Jing'an is a demon!" Lin Mu, filled with rage and anger due to being suppressed by Bai Yuan, couldn't help but lash out at others, shouting at Bai Yuan, "You are also a complete demon. Only a demon would remain indifferent when witnessing all this!"
Bai Yuan remained unmoved and said, "Yes, I should cry and scream like you."
Lin Mu bristled like a fighting rooster, almost lunging at Bai Yuan: "You—"
"Miki." Lian Zhao pulled him to his side in time. "Calm down, this isn't real."
Lin Mu retorted emotionally, "It's true!"
Lian Zhao suddenly found himself unable to refute him, because the image of the wind standing at that moment had indeed actually happened.
“In chaotic times, there are countless people wielding butcher knives, so what is this?” Bai Yuan said indifferently, seemingly determined to remain unmoved. “Some massacrers are inherently cruel and fond of torture. They first disembowel and gouge out the eyes, whip the face and belly, pour bitter wine on the wounds, and then behead the victims.” Women are given as military rewards.
The boy, who hated evil as if it were his enemy, turned pale and froze on the spot. Bai Yuan decided to let him go: "The world is dangerous. You should go back to your deep mountains and forests and raise your flag."
As Bai Yuan was speaking, he inadvertently glanced at Li Liuyun beside him and wondered why this kid's face was even paler than Sanmu's.
But Li Liuyun did not react with the same indignation as Lin Mu.
Bai Yuan, of course, had no time to concern himself with the mental health of the teenagers. He interrupted Lin Mu, who was about to speak, saying, "Alright, stop being unreasonable. I'm going to draw my sword and stab you in the back."
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