Chapter Fifty: Something Feels Off

“Long live the Great Tang!”

The citizens who survived the disaster within West County erupted in cheers. Yet those who remained outside the city walls, their faces no longer bore any trace of life; their features seemed cast in concrete, frozen and immobile. Their eyes stared blankly into the boundless void ahead, oblivious to the Tang soldiers before them. No matter how loudly the others called, these people did not react in the slightest.

Numbness—born of terror pushed to its extreme, sorrow driven to despair, the numbness of those forsaken by fate.

Chen Ying gazed at the official road, strewn with severed limbs and scattered organs. How could one begin to describe such a scene?

Was it like Picasso’s “Guernica”?

Or perhaps the “Nanjing Massacre” as painted by Mr. Feng Fazi?

The mountains and rivers were stilled, the sea tides sobbed, the drifting clouds hung heavy and low, and the sunlight was dim. Even heaven and earth, usually indifferent to the suffering of mortals, seemed to close their eyes, unwilling to bear witness to such tragedy.

A silence, deep as the grave, settled over all. In this place, at this moment, any words would have been a blasphemy.

Chen Ying felt an intense oppression in his chest.

Without needing orders, the Tang soldiers, blades in hand, instinctively searched the blood-soaked mud for survivors. At that moment, a young woman, her chest half-bared, wordlessly raised her fist and repeatedly struck an already unconscious bandit. She seemed numb to pain—her knuckles exposed white bone, but she kept pounding the one who had wronged her.

The bandit on the ground convulsed faintly in his stupor. Chen Ying strode over, drew his saber, and without a word, pressed it into the woman's hand.

“Use the knife.”

He had to repeat himself three or four times before the woman, her expression vacant, finally registered his words. Her gaze, almost inhuman, locked onto him.

Suddenly, she seized the saber, gripped it with both hands, and raised it high.

With a sickening squelch, the blade came down on the bandit’s groin, blood spraying across her face. She stuck out her tongue and licked the blood from her lips, then swung the blade again.

The Tang soldiers, Chen Ying among them, felt an icy chill at the sight.

The dull, repetitive sounds filled the air as the woman hacked the bandit into an unrecognizable pulp.

“Please, don’t kill me… I’m not one of the Qiang slaves…”

“Traitor! I hate traitors most of all!”

Chen Ying, overtaken by a sudden, uncontrollable rage, his eyes burning red, shouted to the soldiers nearby, “He’s not getting off that easily—skin him!”

“Skin him?”

The Tang soldiers shuddered at the command.

“This… isn’t that too cruel?”

Chen Ying glared at their hesitation and barked, “Do I need to teach you how to skin a man?”

Truly, these men had no trouble taking lives in battle, but skinning a man was another matter entirely.

Just then, the city gates of West County swung open. From within burst several dozen village militia armed with bows, led by a middle-aged man in green official robes.

“Which general commands here?” Guo Kaizhen, seeing that the Tang force numbered just over three hundred, guessed that their rank could not be high, perhaps merely a field officer.

Guo Kaizhen bypassed Chen Ying, respectfully saluting Duan Zhigan. “May I ask your esteemed name and place of origin, General?”

It was not entirely Guo Kaizhen’s fault—Chen Ying’s handsome, almost feminine features were deceiving. Unless one knew him well, it was impossible to believe this was the commanding officer, let alone a General of the Fifth Rank. By contrast, Duan Zhigan, with his full beard and imposing demeanor, looked every bit the fierce warrior.

Duan Zhigan, seeing Chen Ying’s dark expression, dared not answer. He was among the first to have experienced the general’s wrath in the detention cell, and so feared Chen Ying from the bottom of his heart.

“Who are you?” Chen Ying demanded.

“I am Guo Kaizhen, the County Magistrate of West County!” Guo Kaizhen’s gaze swept over Chen Ying’s face and could not look away. He peered at him curiously. “Young sir, who are you…”

He was about to ask if Chen Ying was a servant, but before the words left his mouth, Duan Zhigan roared, “General Chen, Military Governor of Shizhou, is present! How dare you show such disrespect!”

“What?” Guo Kaizhen’s face was a mask of disbelief.

“You are General Chen, Governor of Shizhou?”

“Guo Kaizhen, you stood by while your people were slaughtered by bandits and did nothing. Do you understand the crime you’ve committed?” Chen Ying’s voice dripped with menace.

Looking at the corpses strewn along the road, Chen Ying’s heart seethed with righteous fury.

Though West County had no stationed troops, if Guo Kaizhen had organized the people to resist, there might have been hope. When the Qing army of 240,000, with over 200 cannons, besieged Jiangyin, Yan Yingyuan, the local commander, led the townspeople in a bloody defense for eighty-one days, inflicting 75,000 casualties on the invaders. If Guo Kaizhen had shown similar resolve, a mere few hundred poorly armed bandits could have been resisted, or at the very least delayed until reinforcements arrived.

Instead, Guo Kaizhen not only failed to organize resistance, he ordered the gates shut, refusing to let his own people in—leading directly to the massacre outside the city.

Guo Kaizhen replied indifferently, “I will answer for my actions before the court. There is no need for you to trouble yourself, General Chen.”

Having spent years navigating the bureaucracy, Guo Kaizhen could tell at a glance that Chen Ying was where he was thanks to family connections. For such people, he showed only a tough exterior and no real deference.

Chen Ying laughed coldly, then turned stern. “Secretary Li!”

Li Renfang stepped forward and saluted. “At your command!”

“Strip Guo Kaizhen of his robes and execute him, to appease the people’s wrath.”

“You dare?”

Guo Kaizhen screamed, “I am an imperial official! If I am to be punished, it must be by the Ministry of Personnel, not by you!”

“Of course, as a mere general, I have no authority to judge you!” Chen Ying replied.

He strode over to the bandit who lay sobbing on the ground—Chen Ying’s threat of flaying had terrified him into wetting himself.

Chen Ying knelt down and spoke softly, “Do you want to live, or do you want to die?”

The bandit banged his head on the ground. “Spare me, General, spare me!”

“Whether you live or die depends on your performance.” Chen Ying’s gaze turned chillingly toward Guo Kaizhen. “Do you know what you must do?”

The bandit hesitated, a flicker of ruthlessness in his eyes.

Guo Kaizhen was no fool—no one who made it to officialdom was. He immediately realized Chen Ying’s true intent.

“You’re despicable, Chen!”

“Hmph, the feeling is mutual.”

Guo Kaizhen stepped back, but after only two steps, someone pressed firmly against his back.

He glanced over his shoulder—it was none other than Shen Rusong, the county constable.

“Quick, protect me!”

But at that moment, the bandit snatched up a fallen dagger and, like a mad beast, hurled himself at Guo Kaizhen.

With a sickening sound, the dagger plunged into Guo Kaizhen’s chest. He collapsed to the ground like a deflated sack.

Chen Ying called out in a commanding voice, “On the fourth day of the tenth month, the bandit Pang Qidi’s division descended on West County. Guo Kaizhen, the county magistrate, was gravely wounded and died of his injuries. The court is asked to grant appropriate compensation to his family.”

As the selfish Guo Kaizhen died a violent death, the troops and citizens of West County broke into thunderous cheers.

Chen Ying’s forces formally took over the defense of West County. Deputy Wei Wenzhong spoke in puzzlement, “General Chen, was it really necessary to kill Guo Kaizhen? He was a retainer of the Wei family from the capital—offending them over a mere county magistrate hardly seems worth it.”

Chen Ying shook his head. “With bandits rampant and the situation urgent, I was ordered to suppress the rebellion. The bandits themselves don’t frighten me as much as those officials who shirk their duty and delay our response.”

“So you wanted to set an example.”

Chen Ying nodded. In truth, his intent was not just to establish authority, but to vent his fury and avenge the innocent lives lost. If the bandits were the killers, Guo Kaizhen was their accomplice.

Turning suddenly to Wei Wenzhong, Chen Ying said, “In my name, post a proclamation in West County: I am recruiting men to suppress the rebellion. Let the brave sons of West County come forth and join us—”

At that moment, Liang Zan, gazing at Chen Ying’s mount, suddenly uttered a startled cry.

Chen Ying followed his gaze.

Liang Zan’s face had turned grave. “General, something’s wrong!”