Tang Dynasty Puppet Doctor

Chapter 57 Puppet Show, Exposing Crimes

When the sound of the flute sounded, everyone felt as if the stars had moved and time and space had reversed. They could not help but immerse themselves in the puppet show story on the stage, and followed the ups and downs of the mood of the protagonist Xie Zi'e in the story.

Bozhou.

The chaotic clatter of horses' hooves, the wailing of countless civilians, the heads of severed soldiers and generals rolling before my eyes, the cries of a little girl, and the figure of a woman being pierced by a halberd while running...

This is the cruel and merciless war, where human lives are worthless, especially the ordinary people whose names will not be recorded in history books. Their lives are scattered like quicksand and will be forever submerged in the long river of history.

Xie Zi'e's eyes were filled with sorrowful tears. She rushed into the chaotic battle, picked up the little girl who was screaming for her mother, and ran towards another narrow alley. After hiding in the alley, she quietly caught a glimpse of team after team of cavalrymen rushing past, stepping on the skulls on the ground...

The bloody and cruel scene made her close her eyes.

……

The sound of the flute suddenly changed, and the puppet show on the stage changed the scene again. It was Xie Zi'e and her husband Duan Xianzhen gathering several righteous men from the martial arts world. While protecting the people's evacuation, they also joined the battle against the rebels.

Countless enemy soldiers were beheaded by them, but several of her companions also died beside her. Some of her companions even died under the iron hoofs of the chaotic army in order to protect her.

After an indecisive fight that lasted for who knows how long, they finally succeeded in chopping off the rebel general's head. Seeing the leaderless rebels quickly scattered and fleeing, and the innocent people finally saved, she and her few remaining companions shed tears again, and at the same time, cheers of victory rang in their ears!
But at this moment, the city gate opened wide, and a general dressed in a thousand-cow uniform came galloping in with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. Seeing the people holding up the victory flag and shouting heroes, and hundreds of city officials in white mourning clothes, the general's face showed displeasure.

"I am the Grand Commander of the Qingping Dao, and I am here to quell the rebellion by the order of the Saint!"

"General, the rebellion has been quelled. It was these chivalrous warriors who saved the people of our city and killed the leader of the rebellion! Please report their achievements to His Majesty the Holy Emperor!"

Xie Zi'e and Duan Xianzhen exchanged a smile, believing their noble act would be commended by the general, perhaps even earning the attention of the court. However, she hadn't anticipated the next moment when the general's face revealed an extremely cold and vicious smile: "Is that so? But what I see is that the rebellion isn't over yet, and you are the very rebels who are endangering the Tang Dynasty and harming the people of Bozhou!"

"Come here! Kill all these rebels, leaving no one alive!"

Then several iron-hoofed soldiers came over with guns. With a sweep of their spears, the heads of several officials standing in the front fell to the ground.

Xie Zi'e looked at the head rolling on the ground and was stunned again. At the same time, the blood in his body, which had been warm, turned cold again!
Before the remaining officials and civilians could even ask why, they were once again drowned out by the sound of whistling horses' hooves and shouts of killing. Those officials and civilians in mourning were once again pierced by long spears or died under the horses' hooves.

why?
Why is it?
Wasn’t the general sent by the court to rescue the people in this city who were besieged by rebels?

Why did they attack the innocent people of this city when the rebellion had been quelled?

Xie Zi'e didn't understand, but she was involuntarily pulled by Duan Xianzhen to run in a direction she had no intention of looking at. The few remaining companions fell one after another, and the cries of children and the shouts of companions swept over.

"Zi'e, you have to live! No matter what, there must be one or two of us left alive. Don't let our deaths be in vain!"

Until Duan Xianzhen pulled her out of the encirclement of that army, until the last companion fell in a pool of blood, Xie Zi'e shed tears of anger and confusion, and swore in her heart, I must not let their deaths be in vain, I must tell this matter to the world!

I want to clear their names!
They were not rebels, but heroes who saved the people of a city. It was a pity that those innocent people died at the hands of the reinforcements sent by the imperial court!
Afterward, Xie Zi'e befriended righteous men, seeking justice from the imperial court. One day, while traveling to Luoyang with her merchant father and husband, they were attacked by a group of bandits. Her father and his servants were killed by the bandits. Duan Xianzhen, in order to protect her escape, fought the bandits, ultimately perishing together.

She jumped into the river with her two sisters and hid under the boat to avoid the thieves' search. She was later rescued by a boatman.

All the wealth left by her father was swept away, and Xie Zi'e became penniless from being the daughter of a wealthy businessman. Carrying guilt towards her companions and hatred for the murder of her father and husband, she continued on the journey of searching for her enemies with her two younger sisters. While working as a hired laborer, she searched for the general who killed those innocent officials and civilians, as well as the culprit who killed her father and husband.

Until she found Luoyang, until one day she saw Qiu Shenji and Guo Hongba appear in Ruyi Restaurant, until she saw that the pattern on a token in Guo Hongba's hand was very similar to the tattoos on those horse thieves. At that moment, she gradually understood everything and went to verify it all.

Heartbroken, she told her two sisters about these events and prepared to undertake a great undertaking alone, thinking that even if she failed and died, no one would know why her companions died, and why her father and husband died.

She didn't want these innocent lives to disappear forever. She needed someone to remember them, forever...

But she didn't expect that her two sisters would die for her...

"This is 'The Biography of Xie Zi'e'. It's the story I, Xie Zi'e, personally experienced. The two disfigured bodies that were thrown from Ruyi Tower and hanged from the beams were my two younger sisters. They were less than fifteen years old when they died..."

The lights on the stage disappeared, and the puppet's shadow also dissipated instantly. At this moment, Murong Huan also put down the recorder.

Xiao Muchen woke up suddenly. Listening to Murong Huan's flute, he felt as if he was experiencing Xie Zi'e's life firsthand, with its ups and downs, sadness, indignation and tragedy.

Not only him, all the guests present seemed to have had a big dream, experiencing together everything that Xie Zi'e had experienced. Some people even couldn't help but cry in grief when they woke up.

Even when Wu Chengsi was awake, he felt a tear fall from the corner of his eye. Then he felt something was wrong and quickly wiped away the tear.

It was at this moment that he saw Guo Hongba's wife, the crazy Mrs. Guo, and a dark-skinned woman standing in the center of the banquet, in the sight of everyone.

"What happened? Did I cry just now?"

"The story of this young lady Xie Zi'e is so tragic and touching!"

"What kind of heartless bastard, seeing there was no rebellion to be suppressed, massacred the real hero who put down the rebellion, along with the officials and civilians of the entire city?"

Amidst the crowd's discussions, the woman pointed at the King of Wei and Qiu Shenji beside him and said bitterly, "It was General Qiu and the King of Wei who killed them!"

"It was he who ordered Guo Hongba to send people disguised as horse thieves to kill my father and husband, as well as dozens of people from my Xie family!"

"It was General Qiu who killed the officials and civilians of the entire city of Bozhou, slaughtering over a thousand innocent lives!"

　In this chapter, it seems like the hero and heroine showed the audience a 3D movie, hahahaha

(End of this chapter)