"When Lai Junchen abandoned the market, his corpse should have been exposed to the sun for three days. However, many people rushed onto the stage and pushed aside the officials to eat his flesh. In a flash, Lai Junchen's flesh and bones were separated. His eyes were peeled off his face, his stomach and heart were exposed, and he was trampled into mud."
On the Lovely Spring Stage, Zhang Yizhi followed closely behind Wu Zetian, who was wandering among the flowers. He vividly described the scene of today's execution to her.
"Oh? Lai Junchen is so hateful? "
Wu Zetian sensed something and immediately stopped in her tracks, asking Zhang Yizhi.
After receiving Zhang Yizhi's accurate answer, Wu Zetian became furious. "I have been deceived by him. This person is so hated by the people. He must have committed a heinous crime and deserved to die! He should be punished by the Chi Clan and the people of Fang Xue! Issue an imperial edict to confiscate their families and banish them to be slaves! "
Lai Junchen used his death to successfully divert the attention of the court and the people from the defeat of the rebel army. He also used his shattered body and bones to confiscate his entire family, turning the people's sorrow for the death of their loved ones into anger for his execution. Lai Junchen was used to the fullest by his master, displaying all the light and heat!
...
Thousand Gold Smelting was located in the northeast of Ma City. This area was rich in iron ores, and many ores were exposed on the surface, so there was no need to dig deep. The border regions were the most war-ridden, so the demand for iron was especially strong. As a result, there were many local blacksmiths who used indigenous methods to smelt iron. After a long time, they gathered to form a city known as Thousand Gold Smelting.
Up to this day, Thousand Gold Smelting already had many large-scale iron mines and smithing shops. Because of this, the city did not lack ironware, nor did it lack valiant and powerful men. The reason why the Khitans did not set their sights on this small city was because, although it was small, it was not easy to deal with.
Gu Zhuting and Tin Aino had made up their minds. They changed their identities and hired a few servants before rushing to Thousand Gold Smelting. At this moment, the news of the Great Zhou army's defeat and the Great Zhou army's corpses had already spread. Everyone in Thousand Gold Smelting City was in a state of panic.
The county magistrate, Li Luoyun, was a Jinshi in the second year of his life. His wife had been working hard for many years to become a mother-in-law. With great difficulty, he used his outstanding political achievements, and with the addition of his connections from top to bottom, he found himself a seventh-ranked county magistrate. He had only been in the 'Thousand Gold Smelting' for less than a month, and he had already encountered such an incident.
He had just taken up his post, so he did not know how to handle the many low-ranking officials who had served here for many years and had a deep foundation, such as the registrar, the County Lieutenant, or even the many low-ranking officials who had complicated relationships with each other. After hearing the news, he wanted to send the County Lieutenant to investigate, but the County Lieutenant was worried that they might run into the Khitan troops on the way, so he made an excuse and refused to go.
The registrar reacted faster than the County Lieutenant and immediately claimed to be ill and bedridden. County Magistrate Li was a loyal and good official, so he could not order others around. He had to change into a set of casual clothes and personally went to investigate openly and secretly with a few yamen runners. After confirming that the Khitan people had already plundered the grain and entered the mountains after the great victory, he returned to the county.
After coming out of the Yellow Deer Valley, the surroundings were very desolate and there were no cities. Thousand Gold Smelting City was the nearest county to the battlefield. Even if they were not willing to show up, when the government officials got the news, they would inevitably be responsible for the burial of the dead soldiers. Instead of that, it was better to take the initiative to show up, which could also increase his political achievements.
County Magistrate Li made up his mind and consulted with the registrar and the County Lieutenant.
Since there was no danger outside the city, the County Lieutenant's original "busy matter" was immediately solved, and the "illness" of the registrar also recovered without treatment. The two also knew that this was a political achievement, so they really wanted to cooperate with the new County Magistrate. If this matter was done well, everyone would be rewarded, and the two could get closer to the new County Magistrate. After all, the new County Magistrate was the main official of the county, so they could not be too stubborn.
But whether it was sending workers to collect the corpses or to cremate them, which did not need money?
Before the previous County Magistrate left office, he desperately spent the savings that the county had accumulated for many years, and there was nothing left. If they wanted to live beyond their means, the county itself would have a hard time in the future. Because of this, the registrar in charge of money and grain retreated.
County Magistrate Li thought about it and felt that this money could only fall on the few big iron mines and big blacksmith shops in the county. He planned to invite the local rich people who made a fortune by smelting iron in the county and use the County Magistrate's reputation to raise a sum of money. At this time, Tin Aino and Gu Zhuting arrived at the county.
Gu Zhuting disguised herself as a rich merchant, and Tin Aino disguised himself as her servant. They took the initiative to find the County Magistrate Li Luoyun, willing to do a great charity for the fallen soldiers. She would pay for the workers to collect the corpses, buy the coal needed for the cremation of the corpses, and buy more than ten thousand urns for ashes.
This amount of money was not small. If County Magistrate Li solicited donations, he would only be able to cover the initial expenses, and he still had to apply for the follow-up funds. Now that he met a great philanthropist with a huge amount of money, it was really a blessing from the heavens. He hurriedly cooperated with Gu Zhuting and claimed that he would ask the imperial court to reward Gu Zhuting for her righteous deeds.
With County Magistrate Li's cooperation, Gu Zhuting ordered a large number of urns for ashes from a place that produced pottery, and arranged a cremation site outside of Thousand Gold Smelting City. This city was mainly used for metallurgy, so it had a large reserve of coal and charcoal. As long as one had the money, they could directly buy them from the big iron mines. As for the furnace for refining the corpses, they directly used some old iron smelting furnaces that had already been scrapped.
The local iron ore merchants were not stingy. The majority of the righteous act was taken care of by the great philanthropist who was passing by. They took the initiative to reduce the excavation and production tasks of their iron ore mines during this period of time, freeing up a large number of laborers to collect the bodies of the Zhou Army's fallen soldiers.
For the miners and blacksmiths, there was money to be made in any kind of work. This work was even easier than forging iron and mining. The people at the border were used to seeing life and death, so they did not hate or fear corpses. Naturally, they were willing to do it. In a short period of time, a large number of corpses were continuously transported to Thousand Gold Smelting City, where they began to refine the corpses and collect the ashes.
County Magistrate Li organized a large number of civil servants and persuaded the scholars of the county to come forward to help. They registered each corpse in advance, put their belongings into bags, and marked them.
Such a scene was certainly lively, but when the corpses were constantly transported in, and the corpse-refining furnace spewed out flames day and night, refining the once living lives into urns of snow-white bone ashes, no one was happy, even those miners and blacksmiths who were paid daily. Tin Aino was even more tormented. She could not eat or sleep in peace if there was no news from Yang Fan for a day. Every time a corpse was sent to her, she would be frightened.
During this period of time, County Magistrate Li really regarded Gu Zhuting as his living Bodhisattva. No matter how much information County Magistrate Li got from the soldiers who escaped to the city, Gu Zhuting could get the same information from County Magistrate Li. She and Anu gradually learned about the whole battle, and also learned that some generals were captured alive by the Khitans.
Although this time, the Zhou Army underestimated the enemy and fell into the ambush, resulting in the death of 160,000 soldiers, it was impossible to kill all of them. The so-called total annihilation only meant that the Zhou Army could not keep any organized troops and completely lost the ability to fight.
The surviving soldiers escaped one after another. Most of them moved towards Thousand Gold City which was the nearest to them. Ah Nu's favorite thing to do every day was to see the Zhou Army coming from afar. Although Thousand Gold City had taken in three to four thousand wounded and defeated soldiers in the past few days, she did not see the face that she was most familiar with. After all, it gave her hope.
During this period of time, they also contacted the branch of "Succession Hall" in the north. Although "Succession Hall" was weak in the local area, they still tried their best to help. They sent people to nearby places such as Ma City and Lulong to investigate all the soldiers who were lucky enough to escape, hoping to find traces of Yang Fan.
However, the core strength of the Succession Hall wasn't much. Many of the branches didn't know the identity of the suzerain, and they didn't even know the existence of the Succession Hall. The Succession Hall controlled them completely through economic means, so they didn't know who the person they were looking for was.
These people who were sent to various cities only knew that their masters' business mainly relied on a rich merchant, and the person they were looking for had a very close relationship with that rich merchant. If they found this person, not only would they be able to curry favor with that rich merchant, but their masters would also be able to obtain more business, and the person who found Yang Fan would also be rewarded with a generous reward, so they worked especially hard.
…
The towering ancient trees isolated the hustle and bustle of the mortal world. Here, whether it was the neighing of horses or the shouts of people, it only served to make the valley even more tranquil. There was no sense of clamor.
At the edge of the dense forest, there was a patch of green grass, and the sun was shining on the grass.
Yang Fan, who was being searched for thousands of times, was lying on the soft grass, shaking a green foxtail in boredom. He squinted his eyes and let the warm sun shine on him.
The forest here was deep and dense, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Along the way, Yang Fan, who had his eyes wide open, was already confused. There were mountains and trees all along the way, and there was no obvious sign at all. They were all similar mountains, rivers and trees, so he could not remember the way at all.
There were about a dozen generals who were captured together with Yang Fan. At this moment, they were scattered on this hillside, standing or standing. Yang Fan was not familiar with these people. Zhang Xuanyu and Ma Renjie, the highest-ranking officers among the captured generals, were heavily guarded by the Khitans. They were detained in a cave on the other side of the mountain. Even during the time when they were out, Yang Fan and the others did not see them.
The cave was damp and dark. If one did not bask in the sun, even if one did not suffer from arthritis, being locked up in the cave for three days would cause one to fall ill. Therefore, even though he felt that the sun was somewhat fierce, Yang Fan was still reluctant to return to the cave. This was the only place in front of the cave where they could move around.
In the distance, Fei Mo walked over.
Although they were enemies, Fei Mo very much liked to chat with Yang Fan. When it came to the darkness of the court, Yang Fan would curse with him. When it came to the tragic death of the Blacktooth Great General, Yang Fan would feel regret with him. When it came to the oppression and extortion of the Khitans by the border generals, Yang Fan would express deep sympathy for him.
Fei Mo wasn't lacking in scheming. Although Yang Fan felt that this was a deliberate response to lower Fei Mo's wariness and get closer to her, Fei Mo could tell that his attitude came from the bottom of his heart. Therefore, although they were still enemies, Fei Mo increasingly liked to chat with him. Whenever he had time, he would come over to Yang Fan's place.
When Yang Fan heard the heavy footsteps, the lightly swaying foxtail grass stopped. He could tell that it was Fei Mo's voice. He had always felt that even though he was captured, he should still do something. However, he could not think of what he could do. It was only last night that he finally thought of an idea.
Therefore, he waited for Fei Mo the entire day. Fei Mo finally came.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Yang Fan hummed and continued to shake the foxtail grass in his hand.
… …
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
