Volume 5 Chapter 17 Autumn Rain
Among these Jin nobles by the river, there must be some smart ones and some stupid ones. But even if they are smart, how dare they say anything when they see that they are blocked on both ends by so many armored cavalry... Moreover, even if they are smart, they may not know whether they should stay where they are or go out.
So, for a while, except for a very small number of smart and well-educated people who stayed where they were, the rest of the people, no matter what they thought or what their purpose was, all chose a trap.
Some were heading north in a hurry, some were heading south in a panic, and some were staying where they were. Anyway, they could not escape.
"You who claim to be here to save the emperor, do you really want to do so, or do you want to take advantage of the chaos to rebel?!"
When the three groups of people stood still, King Wushu of Wei on the hillside really drew his sword and changed his face towards one of the groups on the spot.
For a moment, not to mention the stupid people at the bottom of the slope, even the smart ones, and even those in safe positions on the slope, including several truly handsome men who had anticipated the situation, became awe-inspiring.
To put it bluntly, no matter how smart you are, how thoughtful you are, how much you understand political schemes, how well you can see through these political routines, and how far-sighted you are, you can't do anything in the current situation... Since the King of Wei has made up his mind to kill someone, there is really no way out!
This is called a thousand soft threads wrapped around fingers, but they are no match for a piece of tempered steel.
In fact, even the young king Wanyan Hela was slightly startled at first, but then quickly became serious and said nothing... Although he could not understand the current situation, he clearly remembered the day when he was called into the Shangshu Terrace by his fourth uncle, and what happened after he went out.
The dignified Grand Marshal, a figure like the Pillar of Heaven and the Purple Golden Beam of the Great Jin Kingdom, was high above the others the moment before, judging himself with his status as a decision maker, and the next moment he was hammered to death on the threshold of the main hall of the Shangshu Terrace, becoming like a rag bag.
I don't have any military power, so I can't easily disobey my three uncles. Besides, my three uncles have no reason to deal with me.
The king, who was high and mighty, and a young one at that, could of course remain silent. However, what surprised Qin Huizhi and other Han ministers was that the group of people who were called out first neither begged for mercy nor made any excuses. Instead, they who had been confused the moment before now became quiet and stood there with their hands behind their backs, looking up and facing each other coldly.
"What about going to the front line?" Under the lingering smoke in the early morning, Wanyan Wushu raised his knife again and pointed it at another group of people. "You claim to be going to fight the enemy, but who can prove that you don't want to support Puluhu?!"
It was still as silent as death, but the armored cavalry on both sides were getting a little impatient. Behind the smoke, there was the obvious sound of weapons rubbing against iron and the sound of war horses neighing and stomping the ground.
"And you too." That was not all. The ferocious King of Wei pointed at the group of people who hadn't moved at all at the bottom of the slope. "What on earth are you thinking of doing nothing when such a mess has happened?!"
After Wanyan Wushu said these three sentences, it turned out that he meant to let no one go!
And this time, there was finally a commotion below... Some people were making noises, some were reaching for their weapons, some were pointing at Wei Wang Wushu and shouting at him, and some were questioning the king, why he just sat there and watched such a traitor kill innocent people?
Wanyan Hela was young after all, and when he saw this scene, especially when he saw the young nobleman whom he had taken a fancy to some time ago, his just-made-up mind immediately became confused.
Then, I couldn't help but want to say something.
But at this moment, unexpectedly, someone reached out from behind and grabbed him... He La turned around and saw that it was his master Han Fang, and immediately lowered his head obediently.
This scene was seen clearly by Qin Hui and Hong Ya. And it was not just Han Fang. The somewhat panicked Qin Huizhi glanced to the side, only to find that even Wulin Da Zanmo and Wanyan Xiyin, the two real top Jurchen civil officials, stood solemnly without any intention of speaking out to stop it.
After a while, someone finally spoke, but it was only the King of Wei himself who responded to the group of people at the bottom of the hill.
"Why am I going to kill everyone?"
Wuzhu sneered as he put away his knife, then calmed down. "But we all know there are obviously some of these people who are in the party of Puluhu. The king and I knew it in Yanjing, and we can't let you fool us... So now we have to capture all of you and quickly identify you. The king will naturally come out to pardon the rest of you, and make you high officials and enjoy your blessings!"
This means we need to follow the map and eliminate the enemies at specific points... Upon hearing this, everyone relaxed. The people at the foot of the mountain, who had been clamoring, became even more discouraged. Many people were so angry that they cursed and said that the King of Wei did not follow the traditional morals of the tribe and launched a sneak attack even though he had a large army at his disposal.
At this point, Qin Huizhi thought that Wuzhu had listened to his advice and wanted to raise it high and put it down gently... But soon, he saw what it meant to raise it high and put it down gently during the period of nationalization of the alliance of tribes outside the Great Wall:
As King Wushu of Wei put away his sword, Wendun Sizhong and Wulin Dataiyu came out together, took out the prepared list, and directly sent out armored cavalry to arrest people... The only difference was that as soon as Wendun Sizhong caught one, he would drag him directly to the creek and behead him, while Wulin Dataiyu was a little slower and waited until he had gathered ten people to kill together.
Starting from the morning, it took only half an hour to kill about one-third of the hundreds of dignitaries. Then, without confining or restraining them, they simply abandoned these people and returned to the opposite camp to continue searching for their children, guards, confidants, etc.
It can only be said that fortunately Qin Huizhi was mentally prepared at the beginning, so after his ups and downs, he finally came to his senses on the hill and observed carefully - just as he thought at the beginning, among the people killed by the King of Wei, about 30% were from the old king's line, 30% were from the Khitan, Xi, Han, and Bohai clans who were more independent and somewhat rebellious, and the rest were mostly Jurchen military nobles who resisted the central government's Han-style reforms.
This level of purge was the extreme that Qin Hui could imagine. But how could he have dared to believe that after killing people, the entire team, from the king down, would set up a small camp in Hedong. Then the king would give a banquet, and the King of Wei and the group of nobles who had just escaped death and were standing at the bottom of the slope would raise their glasses to each other?
It's as if nothing happened at all!
It might be because of the big fire last night which caused too much smoke and dust. In the morning, the clouds in the sky gradually condensed and it became cloudy and rainy. In the afternoon, it even started to rain.
At this time, Qin Hui, Hong Ya, and Zheng Xiunian, who had left the banquet, all had dark complexions, but they just sat in a newly set up small tent and looked at each other... Not only was it because all their servants were lost in the chaos, but more importantly, the three of them felt safe when they were together at this time.
To put it bluntly, they were scared.
The reason they were frightened was not because of the killing, but because even though they were mentally prepared, they still did not expect that around the highest power of the Jurchens, even though Wuzhu himself expressed a magnanimous attitude, so many people were still killed, and it was so direct and so brutal!
What’s even more terrifying is that everyone thought Wushu was magnanimous… To be honest, Qin Hui even suspected that Wushu really wanted to kill all those people at the beginning?!
"I knew you were here."
Suddenly, a man lifted the wet curtain and walked directly in, almost scaring Zheng Xiunian to the ground. He barely managed to hold his breath when he saw that it was Wanyan Xiyin, the deputy prime minister of the capital province.
"Mr. Xiyin." As Wanyan Xiyin's direct subordinate and de facto deputy, Hong Ya quickly stood up and saluted.
Qin Hui and Zheng Xiunian followed closely behind.
"No need to be polite." Wanyan Xiyin stood at the door curtain, water dripping from his back, his face complicated, but he didn't come in at all. "Just say a few words and leave... Do you think the Jurchens are too barbaric and too brutal? They could have been imprisoned, or only the main culprits could have been executed, but they still killed people and their heads rolled, and this was the result of the King of Wei raising them high and then letting them go gently? And everyone from top to bottom actually thinks this is a normal and acceptable thing?"
Qin Hui and the other two remained silent, because Xi Yin's questions almost touched the heart of their hearts.
"You don't understand. Everything has to follow tradition, just like you Song people have to follow the family rules and precedents when doing things." Xi Yin was more and more impressed when he saw this, and looked back at the dark pine forest smoking in the rain, and then looked at Qin Hui, the leader of the three people in the tent. "Mr. Qin, Pingdi Pine Forest is the ancestral land of the Khitan people. Many Khitan anecdotes and stories happened here. You are knowledgeable and talented, but do you know something that the queen Shulü Ping of Yelü Abaoji, the founder of the Khitan people, did nearby?"
Qin Huizhi forced a smile and said, "Xi Yin Xiang is joking. I know what you are talking about, but I am confused now. How can I know what you are talking about?"
"It's about the severed hand being buried with the deceased." Xi Yin nodded and spoke slowly. "When Liao Taizu Abaoji died, Empress Shulü Ping was in power. She disliked the eldest son Yelü Bei's weakness and wanted to depose the eldest son and enthronize the youngest son. But the eldest son was the eldest son after all, and he was naturally popular and had a more or less mature attitude. So Shulü Ping took the opportunity of Abaoji's burial to gather all the central civil and military officials who supported the eldest son, saying that they were all Abaoji 's trusted ministers and should be buried with Abaoji... So she called one up and killed one."
Qin Hui and the other two did not move a muscle, they were completely numb.
"Among them, when it was the turn of a Han official, he finally stopped Shulü Ping and asked her why she, as Abaoji's closest relative, didn't go to be buried with him herself? So Shulü Ping chopped off one of her hands on Abaoji's coffin, and stuffed it into her husband's coffin, saying that she was using her hand as a substitute... After this, the rest of the people could only let the Khitan queen kill all of her people in front of Taizu's spirit. However, this Han official was appreciated and was greatly valued."
After Xi Yin finished his story, he still stood at the door of the tent, but paused for a moment, staring at the gradually getting heavier rain outside.
After a while, this core member who was probably the most knowledgeable and powerful among the Jurchens turned around and continued to speak with emotion:
"Three of you, I am telling you all this today because I want to tell you that the north has always been like this. If you don't take action, it will be fine. Once you take action, the situation will be the same at the very least... And the King of Wei set up this trap today. If he only drove away 70 or 80 people and changed the name of the place like the Emperor Zhao in the south, I am afraid that his prestige would be lost immediately, and then there would be many counterattacks... As for the things you are thinking of, I know them all, but they don't exist here."
The three of them looked at each other, their faces livid, but they could no longer remain silent.
Finally, it was Qin Hui who led them and bowed his head: "Thank you for your guidance, sir."
"What advice?" Xi Yin stood there, looking unhappy. "Is this kind of thing worth boasting about? Do you think I don't envy the Zhao emperor in the south who chased away a group of people and changed the place name to clean up the court and the country? If I didn't think it was absurd, why would I be so determined to change the Han system? Moreover, did the King of Wei's move really not scare those people and cause him trouble in the future? Wasn't your advice to the King and the King of Wei this morning reasonable? It's just that the arrow has been on the string and has to be shot!"
Qin Hui and others bowed their heads even more deeply, not daring to look up.
"I just came here to tell you why everyone from Han Xueshi to Wulinda Shangshu and me didn't stop the King of Wei this morning." Wanyan Xiyin finally sighed. "I also want to tell you why the King of Wei and the King didn't listen to your advice... and then I hope you will cherish the situation that the King of Wei has created without considering your own personal interests, and work hard!"
Qin Hui and the other two just bowed their heads and saluted... There was really not much they could do at this time.
"Forget it." Seeing this, Wanyan Xiyin finally shook his head . "The king has ordered you to learn from the south and move some structures out... You put it together and hand it over to Hong Chengzhi, and Hong Chengzhi will come to me... Anyway, today's matter is over, so just do your work with peace of mind!"
After saying that, Xi Yin turned around and left, regardless of the increasingly heavy rain behind him.
Qin Hui and the other two sat back in a daze, and continued to look at each other.
I don't know how long it took, but when I heard the sound of rain outside the tent gradually subsided, Hong Ya was the first to laugh bitterly: "It's ridiculous to say that if you want to change these things, you have to do them first; it's someone who has done these things repeatedly, but it's the person who hates these things the most who has to do them... Mr. Qin, which one is easier?"
Qin Hui opened his mouth to speak, but could only remain silent.
