Chapter 16: An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth
When Song Lian and others returned to their rooms and started fighting, Chen Biao was still on his way to Yangzhou.
His little butt just couldn't handle the jolting of the carriage, and the thickly cushioned seat was too hot.
Chen Biao, with his clever little head, took out the hammock, tied it to the four corners of the carriage, and lay down on the hammock to take a nap.
The carriage swayed, the hammock swayed, and Chen Biao swayed along with it, as if he was sleeping in a cradle. It was so comfortable.
Chen Wenzheng, who was riding a horse, leaned in through the car window and said enviously: "I want to sleep in a hammock too."
Chen Biao waved to Chen Wenzheng and said, "The carriage is very big, please take turns to get in."
Chen Wenzheng shook his head: "Forget it, let's talk about it when we get back. I have to be on guard outside to protect you."
Chen Biao said in a condescending tone, "Because of what you said, your barbecue sauce will be ready later."
Chen Wenzheng laughed: "Then should I thank you?"
Chen Biao waved his hand: "You're welcome."
Chen Wenzhen quickly reached out from the car window, pinched Chen Biao's soft cheek hard, then rode away with a big laugh.
Chen Biao was furious: "Your barbecue sauce is gone!"
Chen Wenzheng: "Hahahahaha."
Li Zhen said to her son, "Bao'er, guard your barbecue sauce later. Wen Zheng will definitely snatch it from you."
Li Baoer nodded nervously.
The convoy Chen Biao was in temporarily stopped at the roadside shade to take a rest. While preparing to barbecue, Zhu Yuanzhang was also preparing to cook meat.
However, what Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to cook was human flesh.
When stationed outside the city of Yangzhou, Zhu Yuanzhang asked the military craftsmen to carve a stele and write a biography about the events of Yangzhou.
Unfortunately, there was no one with outstanding literary talent in the army. Zhu Yuanzhang searched the army but no one dared to pick up a pen.
Helplessly, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had only studied with his son for a few years, could only grit his teeth and write an article about the events in Yangzhou.
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't even understand the format of parallel prose. What his literary talent lacked he made up for with emotion. He first used plain language to explain what happened in Yangzhou, and then expressed his anger.
At the end, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to write a few lines of poetry to "add the finishing touch", but he couldn't find a suitable one after thinking about it.
He originally wanted to write "It is easy to abuse the people, but it is difficult to deceive God", but when he thought of the mission he was carrying, he always felt uncomfortable.
Are the common people easy to abuse? Am I not also a common person?
Although there is destiny, destiny will never directly send down a thunder to kill the bad guys. We, the common people, still have to help ourselves.
What's more, his son told him that the source of the saying "It is easy to abuse the people, but difficult to deceive God" was actually said by Meng Chang, the king of the fallen Later Shu Dynasty, a bad emperor who was arrogant, licentious, close to flatterers and distant from wise men.
It sounds better when spoken than sung.
By the way, his son also told him that the person he thought was his "confidant", Li Shen, the famous "poet of pity for the peasants" in the Tang Dynasty, was a corrupt and cruel official. When he was in office, people often fled. Li Shen compared the fleeing people to chaff blown away by the wind from the full wheat.
Everyone speaks better than they sing.
Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang felt more and more aggrieved. With a wave of his hand, he wrote, "They say that the common people are easy to abuse. I will enforce justice on their behalf and teach you that the common people are hard to bully!"
As usual, Lao Zhu's inscription lacks literary grace; it is very straightforward, relying entirely on emotion and tone. If an orthodox scholar saw this inscription, he would probably sneer at it.
But none of Zhu Yuanzhang's men were orthodox scholars. They stared blankly at the erected stone tablet, their eyes and cheeks flushed, and an indescribable emotion gripped their hearts.
Grievance? Anger? The joy of finally being understood? They couldn't tell. After asking those around them what the words on the stone tablet meant, those who knew how to read, and those who didn't, all stared intently at them.
A group of Qing soldiers, who had taken off their weapons, were driven to the front of the stone tablet.
They looked at the big pit behind the stone tablet and were terrified, thinking that Zhu Yuanzhang was going to kill them all.
Zhu Yuanzhang originally had this intention, but when he thought of his son's words, he suppressed the violent emotions in his heart.
If he killed everyone now, people would just say he was wantonly violent, just like the Qing army. The more furious he was, the more he needed to be rational.
Zhu Yuanzhang ordered his soldiers to take the Qing army to several places where corpses had been abandoned inside and outside the city to pick up the bones and put them into a large pit.
Zhu Yuanzhang and his entire army replaced the red scarves on their sleeves with white cloth. Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da personally lit incense and candles, held paper money in their hands, and scattered it around the edge of the pit.
Souls gather together and the sky is dark; ghosts and gods gather together and the clouds are thick.
Soul, come back! Soul, come back!
The only eighteen families left in Yangzhou supported each other and came to the stone tablet.
The remaining family was not the wealthy one who had colluded with Zhang Mingjian to do evil. They were just old, weak, sick and disabled people with serious illnesses, and they hid their food very well.
All the healthy people died, but the old, weak, sick and disabled were strong and lived longer than the healthy people.
They were originally terrified, but when they looked up and saw the stone tablet, the incense and candles, and the Red Scarf Army with white cloth tied around their arms, they were suddenly no longer afraid.
Even after several days of aid from the Red Turban Army, they barely had the strength to walk and stand. At this moment, they erupted in roars that they probably couldn't have uttered even when healthy, like wild beasts cornered.
Soul, come back! Soul, come back!
My relatives and friends, my neighbors and fellow villagers, please come back!
Zhang Mingjian has been chopped into pieces. Come back, souls, take a look at him and take revenge!
Hearing the roars of the old, weak and sick, the Red Turban Army stationed here could not help but sing along.
They all had different accents, and some of them didn't even speak Mandarin, so they used the local dialect they heard in their hometowns to summon spirits.
Various sounds merged together to form a strange and shocking rhythm, just like the witches in the ancient tribe beating drums and dancing strange sacrificial dances. The sound of drums and footsteps seemed to fall on people's hearts.
Random thoughts settled and grief and indignation emerged. It was obvious that these people had nothing to do with them. It was obvious that the Red Turban Army was accustomed to the tragic conditions of troubled times and could empathize with the corpses in the pit.
What is even more surprising is that there was sunshine when the memorial service began today.
But when the ceremony began , the candles were lit, and the eulogy was read, there really was a cloud of smoke swirling up and gathering into a cloud.
If Chen Biao were here, he could give a very scientific explanation.
So many people gathered together, burning paper and shouting, stirring up the air flow and causing dust to rise, creating the same effect as artificial cloud making and artificial rainfall.
But the people of this era were ignorant. They did not understand science and only knew that the sky was originally clear but now it was cloudy.
When they were shouting "Souls and spirits are gathered and the sky is dark, ghosts and gods are gathered and the clouds are thick. Souls, come back, souls, come back!", clouds came and the sky became overcast.
Those must be the vengeful spirits that have been gathering over Yangzhou City and lingering.
The Qing army officers and soldiers were originally indignant, thinking that they had surrendered, but why did they not receive the treatment they deserved? They wondered if they should find an opportunity to rebel.
As the clouds gathered, it seemed as if even the surrounding air was covered with a layer of mist carrying the fragrance of burning incense, candles and paper money. Panic piled up in their hearts, finally making their chests tremble, their faces pale and they could hardly breathe.
When they do evil, they are really not afraid at all.
What are vengeful spirits and wronged ghosts? If they really existed, the world wouldn’t be what it is now.
Evil people are not afraid of ghosts and gods.
But now, they are actually afraid.
The surrendered generals who were tied up and pushed in front of the stone tablet looked up at the stone tablet, at the Red Turban Army, and at Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da.
They all knew that what they were afraid of was not the ghosts of the Yangzhou people they had slaughtered, but the Red Turban Army who claimed to be eliminating harm for the people.
They struggled to spit out the cloth in their mouths, to beg for mercy, to say that they were useful, to say that they would repent, and to say that they would serve Zhu Yuanzhang at his beck and call.
They were not afraid of dying on the battlefield, but if they died here, they were really worried that the ghosts would be emboldened by the people, and that the weak ghosts would take advantage of the intimidation of the Red Turban Army and tear their souls apart alive.
They are not afraid of life or death, but they are actually beginning to fear what comes after death.
This was the scene Chang Yuchun saw when he led his team to the scene.
Li Shanchang originally thought that Song Lian and others would leave, but he didn't expect that Song Lian and others not only did not intend to leave, but also showed more respect for Zhu Yuanzhang, and seemed to have made up their minds to stay in Yingtian.
He made a decisive move, sending the oldest men, Ye Zheng and Song Lian, to Yangzhou to assist Zhu Yuanzhang. The rest of the scholars remained in Yingtian, concentrating on writing, ready to engage scholars from other factions in close combat with their pens.
Ye Zheng is the descendant of a famous person, and Song Lian himself is quite prestigious. If they were by Zhu Yuanzhang's side, they would definitely be able to change some outsiders' impressions of Zhu Yuanzhang.
Chang Yuchun had been beaten up by Li Shanchang in front of everyone before, and was looking for a way to make amends, so he took Lan Yu and led a team of soldiers to escort the two great sages Song Lian and Ye Zheng to Yangzhou.
Although Chen Biao set out first, Li Zhen, under Zhu Yuanzhang's orders, deliberately delayed the journey. The carriage took the most convenient road, traveling for an hour and resting for a quarter of an hour, for fear of tiring the young Chen Biao.
Song Lian and Ye Zheng were both scholars who could ride horses at full speed. They set out a day later than Chen Biao, but arrived before him, just in time for the sacrifice.
After Chang Yuchun and others dismounted, they took the white cloth handed over by the Red Turban Army stationed in Yangzhou and replaced the red scarves on their arms.
The Red Turban Army was still shouting "Soul, come back" as if tirelessly. Some of them had hoarse voices, but they refused to stop and drink some water to moisten their throats.
The frail survivors of Yangzhou City were too tired to even shout; they could only move their lips and throw paper money into the fire.
Lan Yu was a little scared.
He tugged at Chang Yuchun's clothes and whispered, "Brother-in-law, what is this?"
Chang Yuchun frowned and whispered, "To commemorate the people of Yangzhou. Don't you know that?"
Lan Yu's shoulders shrank. He knew it, but he hadn't expected it to be this serious. He was a little frightened.
Lan Yu originally thought that this memorial service was Marshal Zhu's way of winning people's hearts, so he wanted to watch the fun and came with Chang Yuchun.
Yingtian was too depressed. As the brother-in-law of a great general, he was beaten even for stealing a woman.
What’s even more infuriating is that his sister, who had always been obedient to him, actually started crying in front of him, which made Lan Yu very upset.
His sister was only a few years older than him and had already married, so she was no longer a member of the Lan family. How could she have the right to scold him? If he hadn't had to work for his brother-in-law... Humph.
"Sister, brother-in-law, why is the sky getting darker and darker?" Lan Yu asked again with a trembling voice, "Is there really a ghost?"
Lan Yu is half a head shorter than Chang Yuchun.
Chang Yuchun lowered his head, wanting to comfort Lan Yu, but he suddenly became afraid to speak, fearing that his words would tremble.
He raised his head and looked at the low dark clouds in the sky with a melancholy expression.
Do ghosts really exist?
If there really are, where are the ghosts of his relatives and neighbors who were once killed, and the enemies and innocent people he once slaughtered?
Or is it that even ghosts, like humans, need to find a backbone to seek justice for themselves?
Zhu Yuanzhang studied hard himself, and his generals followed his lead. Although they didn't have Zhu Yuanzhang's ability, they could still recognize the common characters.
Chang Yuchun looked at the stone tablet and read out the large characters on it, which could be seen even from a distance.
"It's hard to bully the common people..." Chang Yuchun murmured, "It's the Marshal's handwriting."
Although Lan Yu was not fond of studying and was too lazy to do so, Chang Yuchun repeatedly warned him that if he could not read, he would only be a minor general and never a general, so he could only learn a few words.
His eyesight was much better than Chang Yuchun's. He could not only see the large characters on the stone tablet, but also the sacrificial text on it.
After reading it, Lan Yu shrank his shoulders again and hid in Yuchun's shadow.
He didn't know why he was like this, but he felt uneasy and wanted to escape from this solemn memorial scene.
Song Lian and Ye Zheng were also shocked and speechless.
They had long known that Zhu Yuanzhang's memorial service would definitely be inappropriate.
Almost all of Zhu Yuanzhang's scholars had fled, and the few who remained were stationed in the cities he had conquered, serving as officials and pacifying the people. They were extremely busy, and no one had the time to accompany Zhu Yuanzhang .
Therefore, it is highly likely that there was no one in Zhu Yuanzhang's army who understood sacrificial rituals and how to write sacrificial texts.
They came in a hurry, intending to fill in the gaps left by Zhu Yuanzhang and make the second half of the memorial service look more formal.
But now, the two looked at each other and tied the white cloth on their arms tighter.
"General Chang, let's not disturb the Marshal. Let's wait until the Marshal finishes his memorial service before going over." Ye Zheng said.
Song Lian nodded in agreement: "Now is the most solemn moment, do not disturb."
Chang Yuchun hesitated for a moment and decided to listen to the great scholar. He took a group of soldiers and stopped in the Red Turban Army without moving forward.
Zhu Yuanzhang had already learned that Chang Yuchun had arrived with Ye Zheng and Song Lian, but he did not rush to greet them. Instead, he simply nodded slightly to indicate that he was aware of the situation and continued to preside over the memorial service.
The Red Turban Army had already sorted out the scattered corpses, and the Qing Army only needed to take the corpses from several piles of corpses and place them in the big pit.
Half a day later, all the corpses were returned to the grave, and the Qing army began to fill the soil with wooden shovels.
Song Lian and Ye Zheng breathed a sigh of relief. It was just filling, not a massacre. The Marshal hadn't lost his mind in anger.
But then, neither of them could calm down.
Zhu Yuanzhang actually had two large pots brought over, a fire started, and he wanted to prepare meat for the sacrifice for the people of Yangzhou on the spot.
After the fire was lit, the Red Turban Army brought up a pile of pickled body parts, of which only the heads could barely be identified, and threw them into the pot with a plop - Zhu Yuanzhang was actually using Zhang Mingjian's flesh as a sacrifice!
The Qing army began to tremble, and the bound surrendered generals trembled so much that their pants were wet with fear.
Song Lian and Ye Zheng couldn't hold back any longer, so they lifted up their robes and ran to Zhu Yuanzhang, trying to stop him.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang had already told the soldiers around him, no one stopped Song Lian and Ye Zheng, allowing them to run to Zhu Yuanzhang smoothly.
Lan Yu muttered, "Didn't they say not to go there?"
Chang Yuchun glared at Lan Yu and said, "Shut up!"
Lan Yu shrank his neck and looked at the boiling pot with a vague look in his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.
"General!" Ye Zheng, who was more straightforward than Song Lian, said immediately, "This can't be done!"
Zhu Yuanzhang bowed to Ye Zheng and Song Lian, and after greeting them politely, he said, "Sir, I will not stop this memorial service no matter what."
Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at the survivors of Yangzhou who had fainted from exhaustion but still got up and started a fire.
"People like us at the bottom of society don't understand the principles of morality. We only know to fight back."
"I want the Qing army to know, I want everyone under heaven to know, and I want my generals and soldiers to know that when you kill someone, you must be prepared to be killed, and when you eat someone, you must be prepared to be eaten. No one is superior to anyone else. When they use the knife in their hands to commit evil, they must understand that there may be a greater evil person who will do the same to them."
Song Lian frowned: "Marshal, are you going to be the biggest villain?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Why not?"
He looked up at the stone tablet and said, "I've been studying for a few years. I've read in history books that every time a dynasty was overthrown, it was due to spontaneous rebellion by ordinary people like us. Although the fruits of victory were always reaped by more powerful people in the end, at least every time we resisted, we truly dealt a fatal blow to those high and mighty."
"Gentlemen, please read my poem. Who said that the common people are easy to abuse? I think the common people are the hardest to bully, even harder to bully than Heaven. I don't act on behalf of Heaven. How powerful is Heaven itself? If it really wants to do something, it can just send down a thunderbolt. Who can stop it? If there is a destiny, it is bestowed by Heaven on man. As for whether that person can fulfill the destiny, Heaven does not care."
"What's that called? 'Heaven's ways are constant; they don't exist for the sake of Yao or perish for the sake of Jie.' That's what Xunzi said, right? The difference between a prosperous era and a chaotic one lies solely in whether the ruler, bearing the mandate of heaven and the will of the people, can provide relief when disaster strikes and quell disaster when catastrophe strikes."
"I don't know if I can become the emperor and restore order to the world. But I know I can at least be the sharpest sword that enforces justice for the people, and be the biggest villain that the wicked fear the most."
Song Lian and Ye Zheng remained silent for a long time.
They looked at Zhu Yuanzhang as if they saw the prototype of a tyrant gradually taking shape.
Yes.
Zhu Yuanzhang did have the aura of an emperor, but he was not a wise ruler, nor a benevolent ruler, but a tyrant.
He is a tyrant who may go down in history and be cursed by everyone, but he will also be admired by everyone.
Are they going to stay with this future tyrant?
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed in his heart, asked Xu Da to take good care of the two gentlemen, and then walked to the stone tablet himself with a knife.
He chopped off the heads of the surrendered generals and threw their bodies into the pot.
Song Lian and Ye Zheng smiled bitterly. Should they say, "Fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't cook these people alive"?
Then, Zhu Yuanzhang divided the soup and meat into portions and offered them as sacrifices. The already cooked head was placed separately like an ox head, a sheep head, or a pig head.
This memorial ceremony did not involve any livestock, only human flesh.
There was a vicious and inhuman light flashing in the eyes of the survivors of Yangzhou, and their expressions were very happy.
What kind of livestock do you want? These are the best livestock.
Our neighbors and fellow villagers only need to eat the meat of these livestock to be well-fed and travel happily.
Soul, come back! Soul, come back! People of Yangzhou who were killed and only eighteen households are left, your vengeful spirits should come back to enjoy your sacrifices.
Eat their flesh, drink their blood, chew their entrails, and devour their souls.
Then, with the joy of revenge, return to the underworld and return to reincarnation.
After Zhu Yuanzhang coldly and cruelly presided over the distribution of the flesh, he had the human bones fished out, smashed on the spot, mixed with soil, and poured into the iron terracotta warriors that had been made long ago.
Those kneeling iron terracotta warriors looked exactly like Zhang Mingjian and others.
They were trapped in chains and knelt on both sides of the stone tablet, just like Qin Hui and others in front of Yue Fei's tomb.
It is unknown how long this stone tablet, this cemetery, and these iron terracotta warriors can be preserved, and it is unknown whether they will be seen by people in the future.
But at least now, they knelt in front of the stone tablet, enduring the curses of thousands of people.
When distributing the meat, Zhu Yuanzhang saw Chang Yuchun in the crowd, and asked people to call Chang Yuchun and Lan Yu to come over and burn paper and fill the soil with him.
Chang Yuchun and Lan Yu, who were already in a trance, became even more depressed when they were called by Zhu Yuanzhang to do these things.
Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at the stone tablet and said, "We are all common people, and we all understand that it is difficult to bully common people. When you, Chang Yuchun, came to me, you said you didn't want to be a thief and wanted to give up your life for the sake of a better future. You have now fulfilled your promise. But I hope that after you have the future you want, you can look further ahead."
Chang Yuchun pursed his lips and said, "I'll listen to the Marshal."
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Lan Yu and said, "I've heard your wife is very virtuous, but why is your brother-in-law such a dandy and evil boy?"
Lan Yu: “!!!” The Marshal is scolding me?!
Chang Yuchun said, "Lan Yu is the only lifeblood of the Lan family. My wife is just a married woman from the Lan family, only a few years older than Lan Yu. How can she control him? He only works under me for a living, so I can barely control him."
Lan Yu: “???!” Is my brother-in-law trying to pass the buck?!
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, "When there are domineering young men in a family, the daughters of that family tend to be virtuous. After all, they are bullied at home. My wife is the same. Back then, those young masters of the Guo family bullied my wife and me a lot."
Chang Yuchun said, "He's the only one left in the Lan family. Although I'm keeping him in check, I don't dare to be harsh with him. I'm afraid if something goes wrong, my wife will be embarrassed to face her parents-in-law. Marshal, I heard that Yingtian is going to open an academy. Can you let Lan Yu go there to study? The military isn't for him."
Lan Yu's eyes slowly widened, full of disbelief.
Brother-in-law! That's not what you said before! You said I was perfect for the military! I'd definitely become a general in the future!
Am I not your favorite brother-in-law?
Chang Yuchun glanced at Lan Yu expressionlessly.
He used to really like Lan Yu's bravery, but after he was beaten in public by Li Shanchang because of Lan Yu's incident, he no longer liked him.
He disliked her even more after his eldest daughter complained to him that the lady had hidden herself away and cried about Lan Yu.
A former bandit, Chang Yuchun's morals and preferences are flexible. Nothing is more important than the future of his small family, including Lan Yu, his wife's only child.
Letting Lan Yu go to school would not make his wife, who was virtuous but very cowardly towards her family, feel guilty about it.
Seeing Chang Yuchun's understanding, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Okay. Since you've requested this, I'll make the arrangements."
Chang Yuchun is so smart. If he observes for a while, he might be able to tell him Biao'er's true identity. After all, the two families have a marriage contract.
Thinking of this engagement, Zhu Yuanzhang felt very guilty. He hadn't even dared to tell his wife, let alone Biao'er.
