knife

Chapter 197 What's it to me?
Wu De stared blankly at the corpse at his feet.

It was a child, probably only seven or eight years old, dressed quite well, likely a son of a wealthy family. A spear pierced his back, pinning him to the ground. His chin rested on the ground, one hand stretched forward with all his might, his legs staggering back and forth. It seemed that in his last moments, he was trying to crawl forward, clinging to the chance to live that no longer existed.

His still-childish face was filled with terror, two lines of tears washing away the stains. Behind him were a dozen or so people dressed as writers' servants, each of them, without exception, had been impaled on the ground from behind with spears.

Wu De reached out and grasped the spear, a scene flashing through his mind.

This group of people were desperately fleeing, and behind them, a martial arts master was laughing loudly as he took spears from the soldiers and threw them one by one, pinning them to death.

Looking further ahead, at the street corner, some men dressed as samurai lay dead.

They were riddled with bullets.

It is likely that the servants fled with their young master, while the samurai launched a final counterattack to protect the child. However, all their struggles were in vain against the army, and in the end, they all died here.

The streets were littered with corpses, the bloodstains on the ground had long since dried, and the ground had turned purplish-black, making it almost impossible to find a place to step.

Turning to look at the eight guards behind him, seven of them were deathly pale, while only Luo Ying had his hand on the hilt of his sword, his expression calm.

"Don't you think it's cruel?" Wu De asked.

Luo Ying raised his head and said, "Reporting to the commander, such things happen countless times outside the pass, especially on the border with the Yuan people, and in the Black Domain. We are used to it."

Wu De turned around and realized that he had asked an unnecessary question.

Apart from a few places outside the Great Wall where there is still law, conscience, and human sentiment, the rest are all places where the strong prevail and the weak are preyed upon by the strong.

And those few limited areas, just think about it, are now all under Li Dachui's control.

Even Linghu Ye was governed by military law, and his strictness and cruelty made people tremble at the mere mention of his name.

However, all of this was still beyond Wu De's tolerance.

With a soft pop, his foot was immediately stained with color.

Wu De glanced at it only once before striding forward.

Eight guards followed closely behind.

The streets of Jinyang were deathly quiet.

Most of the houses on both sides were closed, and those with their doors wide open were all filled with dead bodies.

Wu De strode forward with a sullen face.

Finally, a rare commotion arose ahead, and the crowd quickened their pace. As they approached, their faces changed color.

An officer carrying several heads in his hand stepped out of a house, while from inside the house behind him came the desperate pleas of women and the obscene laughter of soldiers.

The officer also saw Wu De.

This time, even Luo Ying's expression changed.

The officer in front of him was so terrifying. His face looked as if it had been roasted in a fire. He had no eyelids, his nose was crooked, and half of his lips were missing. His hands, which were holding his head, were covered with raised, black bumps.

"Is this also carrying out military duties?" Wu De pointed inside the room, his face extremely grim.

Everyone knew exactly what was happening inside the room at that moment.

The ugly officer looked at Wu De and nodded solemnly: "Yes, military affairs!"

Wu De flew into a rage: "You know me?"

“I know him!” The ugly officer nodded again: “When the General went to select people from the garrison, you were standing next to him.”

"Then I'm going to apply military law now, do you have any objections?"

The ugly officer stepped forward, "Then Commander Wu must kill me first!"

Upon hearing the ugly officer's words, a group of soldiers who poured out of the house immediately drew their swords and began to shout.

"Shut up!" the ugly officer shouted sternly.

With his angry shout, everyone immediately fell silent.

"Why?" Wu De's face was extremely ugly: "Why are you doing this? You are government soldiers, you are here to quell the rebellion for the imperial court, you are not bandits, but look at what you are doing now, even bandits are more merciful than you!"

The ugly officer smiled and said, "Commander Wu, back in the Battle of Xiangcheng, I led my troops into the Chu army so that more of my brothers' troops could be evacuated. Even when we were engulfed in flames, we never retreated. In the end, of my thousand brave men, only seventeen returned. I was lucky enough to survive, and I ended up like this." Wu De closed his eyes sadly.

"If this battle had been fought because we were outmatched, we could have accepted the defeat. But the general told us that this defeat was caused by these bastards betraying us. How can I swallow this insult?"

"Those who betrayed you have all been brought to justice! What does this have to do with them?"

"Really no connection?" The ugly officer sneered, "Within Jinyang, who is not connected to the Liu family? As long as you are connected to the Liu family, you are connected to this matter. What goes around comes around, and no one can escape it. Anyone who is involved in this matter will be torn to pieces by my family, so that they can also taste the bitterness of family ruin and death."

Wu De took a deep breath, looked at the ugly officer confronting him, and then at the increasing number of soldiers approaching from all sides. He said nothing more and turned to leave.

He suddenly regretted it.

What kind of monster army have I unleashed?

When I accompanied He Zudao to select men from the Southern Garrison, I never thought that those selected had such a strong sense of violence. But why did they become like wild beasts after they were formed into an army?

If Jinyang is already in such a state, what about the other places?

Wu De felt a chill run down his spine.

“Commander, this army is one of the most resilient I have ever seen!” Luo Ying suddenly said.

"Why do you say that?"

“When they went north, I was in charge of their liaison with the local authorities for a period of time. I accidentally discovered that the grain and fodder prepared for them by the local authorities as required were all old and moldy grain, and most of the dishes were also rotten and spoiled.”

Why didn't you mention it?

“Because they didn’t say a word!” Luo Ying said, “They just ate it up in big mouthfuls!”

Wu De stopped and sighed deeply, looking up at the sky: "They don't speak, they endure, because they know what they're going to do next. Luo Ying, just you wait and see. If they ever return to these places, those who treated them like this won't fare much better!"

“They brought it on themselves. I have no sympathy for these people!” Luo Ying said.

“That’s not how it is. Not everyone is guilty!” Wu De said, “But He Zudao took advantage of their most basic understanding. These people are stubborn and inflexible. That damned He Zudao, I’m afraid even the Prime Minister, the Grand Magistrate, and I have been fooled by this guy.”

“Once, when I was serving by Miss’s side, I heard Young Master Da Chui say something that I found very insightful,” Luo Ying said.

What did Li Dachui say?

"Young Master said that in an avalanche, no snowflake is innocent!" Luo Ying said loudly. "And in my opinion, as long as you are involved in cause and effect, you cannot escape the punishment in the dark. We only saw the tragedy of Jinyang and felt that these soldiers deserved to die, but what if we had also seen the tragedy of Xiangcheng back then? Who is right and who is wrong would be hard to judge."

Hearing this, Wu De was stunned for a long time, then shook his head with a wry smile.

After a long afternoon, Wu De saw He Zudao.

They also saw several women lying in pools of blood, and Liu Chengdong's head, which He Zudao was holding in his hand.

"I'm here to arrest Liu Chengdong and bring him to the capital for trial!" Wu De seemed somewhat exasperated: "Why did you kill him? With him dead, many secrets can never be uncovered again. He Zudao, are you insane? You've ruined the important plans of the Prime Minister and the Grand Chancellor."

He Zudao chuckled, flicked his wrist, and Liu Chengdong's head flew up. As it fell, he kicked it, and with a whoosh, Liu Chengdong's head shot straight into the sky, over the wall, over the house, and who knows where it will fly to.

"What a terrible thing to do!" He Zudao looked at Wu De and said, "Commander Wu, the Prime Minister and the others want to take this thing back to Chang'an. I'm afraid they don't want to interrogate him, but rather want to make some kind of exchange with him, right? Or maybe they don't want to push things too far. Once this guy goes to Chang'an, he might be living a life of luxury again in the blink of an eye. Then who am I working so hard for?"

“He Zudao, you are not a child, this is not a game. If we don’t get hold of those people’s weaknesses, how can we make them behave? You are a great general, not a lowly soldier charging into battle. You should know that killing won’t solve the problem!”

"I don't think so!" He Zudao looked at the blood on his hands, and with some disgust, tore off a slightly cleaner piece of clothing from the body of a dead woman on the ground, rubbing it vigorously on his hands. "You think killing won't solve the problem? That's because you haven't killed enough, Commander Wu. If you killed all those parasites and rats, wouldn't the problem be solved?"

Wu De felt cold.

"Are you crazy? With just five thousand garrison troops under your command? If this continues, you'll become a rebel. Armies from all sides will pounce on you and bite you. He Zudao, don't give them any excuse to attack you!"

"You've found a good excuse to deal with the imperial court, the Minister of the Imperial Guard, and the Grand Magistrate, haven't you?" He Zudao laughed loudly. "Because I was sent by them, if I fall, it will prove their mistakes, right?"

"It's good that you know, He Zudao. Your father made an effort to save Qin in the Battle of Xiangcheng. This time, the Prime Minister and the Grand Minister are making a second effort. You don't want their efforts to be in vain, do you?"

He Zudao waved his hand, and the blood-stained white silk robe fluttered away in the wind as he strode outside.

"None of my business!"

Those four words made Wu De's vision go black.

(End of this chapter)