Chapter 499: Massacring the Village

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Qi Haoran waved his hand and got the soldiers to enter the village in a defensive formation. The village was not big, with only 60-odd families. However, none of them survived.

From a two-year-old baby to a 70-year-old man, the murderer did not even let off a pregnant woman.

The crime likely happened at night because most of the people died in their houses or beds. Very few dead people were found on the road in the village.

The time of death was about two days ago. If it was daytime, the people in the village would not have been mostly at home. Some must have gone to the fields or gone out. However, they had investigated the nearby fields and found no corpses or traces of murder.

If not every villager had been killed, there was no reason for no one to clean up the place even after two days. Therefore, the most likely possibility was that no one in the village, old or young, had survived. Since the village was wiped out so completely, the massacre could only have happened at night. To be precise, it should have been late at night.

The other party might have been worried about being discovered, so he did not set the place on fire to clean up the scene. Instead, he carried the corpses not far from the village entrance and threw them into the house. He did not move the other corpses.

The soldiers silently gathered all the corpses at the entrance of the village. One by one, they were placed together. It was obvious that those that belonged to one family were placed together. The corpses of those whose family were unknown were placed aside. It was not until night fell that everyone finished searching the entire village. They had even searched the cellars. Indeed, there were no survivors.

As a soldier carried a child of about three or four years old out of the cellar, he couldn’t help but cry. This child had died from a stab in the abdomen. The soldier found several baskets of vegetables on his left. His family must have hidden him in the cellar, but who knew that the murderer would still discover where he was hiding…

The child’s grandparents, parents, and three uncles were all lying at the door and in the hall, but the door to the cellar was clean without a trace of blood. It was obvious that his family did not run to the backyard to prevent the murderer from noticing the cellar in the backyard, but the child protected by the entire family still did not survive.

Everyone lit their torches and stood silently on the field at the entrance of the village.

Even Deputy General Zhong, who was used to bullying commoners, could not help but tear up. He cursed, “These bastards are simply inhumane. No wonder the Imperial Court sent an army to suppress them.”

When everyone heard this, their eyes were filled with hatred. “Deputy General Zhong, let’s go back and kill the bandits to avenge the commoners.”

Qi Haoran squatted on the ground to examine the corpses. When he heard this, he glared at him fiercely and turned to Deputy General Zhong. “Who said that this was done by the bandits?”

“Who else could it be? Could it be the Imperial Court’s army?” Dissatisfied with Qi Haoran’s questioning tone, Deputy General Zhong shouted indignantly.

“There are more than 200 people in the village. With such a large-scale massacre, it must be done by a lot of people. In our dynasty, such crazy murder cases are quite rare. It’s impossible for a few or dozens of people to commit such a huge crime. Other than the Imperial Court’s army, the only possible culprits are the bandits. If such a sick crime wasn’t committed by the bandits, could it be that it was really done by our colleagues?” A regiment commander shouted.

The soldiers were also filled with righteous indignation when they heard this. A few of them even shouted, “General, bring us back to fight the bandits. We will definitely be able to catch all these rebels in one fell swoop and return peace to the people.”

Qi Haoran sneered. “If you want to return peace to the people, you have to fight not only bandits, but also foreign enemies.”

Qi Haoran tore open the clothing on the chest of a corpse on the ground, revealing the hideous knife wound. “Do you really think that this person was killed by bandits? Don’t forget that the villages we passed by previously are all fine. Those villages are much closer to the bandits’ nest.”

“General, what do you mean?” Deputy General Zhong looked down at the wound and thought of what Qi Haoran had just said. His expression changed and he said, “This, this was done by the Hus?”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone’s expressions changed. They looked warily at the knife wound on the chest of the corpse on the ground, as if it was a ferocious beast.

Qi Haoran sighed and said, “It’s indeed hateful for bandits to rob houses, but it’s undeniable that they were all citizens of Great Zhou in the past. Even if most of them became bandits, they still have many relatives and friends who remain at the foot of the mountain as ordinary civilians. Would such people massacre an entire village and not let the old and young off?”

Seeing that everyone had their heads lowered in deep thought, Qi Haoran said, “Since some of you were soldiers in Hengzhou a few years ago, you should be familiar with the local bandits. Have you seen them commit such ruthless acts?”

“Although those bandits have robbed merchants, officials, and even the government office, they rarely rob the commoners, let alone kill them.”

“That’s right. Even the Qi Mountain Stronghold, which the commoners hate the most, will at most go down the mountain to snatch the food and poultry raised by the commoners. Every time they plunder, they won’t snatch all the grains. Could it be that the more they plunder, the more ruthless these bandits become? To think they slaughtered the village.”

“So, this really wasn’t done by bandits, but by the Hus?” A soldier said with a pale face, “But, but aren’t we on the south road of Jinghu? Why are there Hus here? The pass is not near from here. Jinghu is in the central region of the Great Zhou, right?”

The soldier looked at Qi Haoran with uncertainty, wanting to obtain his agreement because he had told them all this. In the past, they did not even know how many government offices there were on the south road of Jinghu. However, after coming under Assistant Commander Qi’s charge, he had taught them how to read maps, even asking that they become familiar with the maps of the entire Great Zhou. Only then did these young fellows, who had just joined the army, realize that the south road of Jinghu they were on was in the central region of the Great Zhou and was very prosperous.

Could it be that Qi Haoran had taught them wrong? Could it be that the south road of Jinghu was actually not as far away from the border as they thought? Could the Hus slaughter their village as soon as they entered?

Qi Haoran’s face sank. Of course, he knew how far this place was from the border. It was because of this that his expression became even uglier.

Deputy General Zhong’s hands and feet trembled as he grabbed the arm of a regiment commander. It was only by leaning against him with half of his body’s strength that he didn’t fall to the ground.

What happened next was not something ordinary soldiers could listen to. Qi Haoran once again told everyone clearly that the south road of Jinghu was in the central region of the Great Zhou and was not close to the border. As for why the Hus could come to Jinghu to slaughter the village and why they did so, they would have to investigate it further. However, the Great Zhou was huge and had abundant resources. There were countless main roads and byways. Perhaps those Hus traveled via the byways. Therefore, Qi Haoran asked everyone to take the night to think about whether there were any byways in their hometowns that outsiders did not know that could lead to the main traffic routes.

After assigning tasks to everyone and diverting everyone’s attention, Qi Haoran led a group of upper-middle-class leaders into a house.

Fei Bai got someone to guard outside and went to the kitchen to bring a pot of water back to refill everyone’s water. Qi Haoran said,”… We have to inform the Imperial Court and the various armies as soon as possible. Tell everyone to be careful of the Hus. We have to send more people to the border.”

Deputy General Zhong gulped down a mouthful of water and asked, “General, are you sure that this was done by the Hus? Perhaps it’s a revenge killing or something.. You have to know that this place is so far from the border, and the Imperial Court has 200,000 troops on the south road of Jinghu…”

Chapter end