1008 Killing In The Autumn Wind And Rain III (2/2)
In the past few years, the imperial court of the Great Tang searched the whole country and guarded the border strictly. They captured thousands of people who were suspected to be colluding with the enemy and detained them in the prisons of Chang'an and other prefectures. The imperial court did so to frighten and pin down the traitors who were far away from home.
But Ning Que was going to kill all these people at this point, which puzzled the people who were present, including the family members and the officials.
The smell of blood filled the street on the side of the yard, and the human heads being chopped off earlier were temporarily piled up on the cart to be disposed. All of a sudden, a human head rolled down the cart and kept rolling forward to the yard. The family members kneeling down in the yard were frightened and bursted into shouts and tears.
Ning Que looked up to the people kneeling down in the autumn rain, as if he was seeing the gray wall that got wet from the spring rain opposite the Old Brush Pen Shop and seeing Xiaohei who had already departed.
Seeing the human head in the rain, he remembered the familicide that took place in the General's Mansion many years ago, the blood overflowing the crack of the door and the heads of his acquaintances rolling like watermelons.
”In a spring many years ago, a rain fell on Chang'an. While the imperial court and the the Divine Halls were conducting peace negotiations, I rushed into the club house of the Qinghe Prefecture with Fish-Dragon Gang and Yulin Royal Guards and killed all of people from the Qinghe Prefecture there.” Ning Que said, ”Now that I think of it, I have some regrets.”
The officials relaxed a little and thought that the Academy was benevolent after all. But Ning Que continued to say, ”Maybe I can benefit more if I had killed those people slowly back then.”
The yard was silent, and the rain and the children's crying were heard.
”I know that you innocent. Those people from the Qinghe Prefecture I killed back then probably thought so too. And according to the laws of the Great Tang or based on morality, some of you are indeed innocent.” Ning Que looked at the people kneeling down in the rain and said, ”But I don't care.”
The officials and Yulin Royal Guards present were all Tang people. They did care about this matter, so their faces darkened. However, Shangguan Yangyu didn't care and raised his right hand slowly in the autumn rain. He and Ning Que were both atypical Tang people. For them, the laws of the Great Tang was just a tool, and the moralities were just something that a man should admire but not necessarily have.
The executioners raised their knives. The human heads fell on the ground.
Old faces, young faces, and childish faces turned pale instantly and lost the breath of life after losing so much blood and being washed by the rain. With the frightened shouting, the mournful begging, the resentful cursing and the sad crying, all kinds of human heads kept falling on the ground.
Hundreds of family members of the traitors died in the rain. The knives cut through the flesh and brought death. The sound of chopping off human heads became muffled, for the blades of the knives were turned. At last, the sound was like a broken drum being beaten nonstop, which was muffled and terrifying.
The hands of the executioners began to tremble, and the officials from the Ministry of Revenue had trouble holding their pens steadily and left more and more marks on the list. But they never received the instruction to stop.
Shangguan Yangyu thought that he really didn't care about these people. However, while seeing all these people, men and women, old and young, falling to a pool of blood and the human heads piling up in the yard, he realized that his heart was not as strong and hard as he had thought. He reached out to wipe the sweat or rain off his face and said to Ning Que in a trembling voice, ”Is this enough?”
Ning Que answered, ”The Ministry of Revenue is best at counting money and heads. I let you take charge of this matter, for I want to know how many people I should kill. So the question is yours to answer.”
Shangguan Yangyu sighed and replied, ”I am just an ordinary person, and I can't understand the state of mind of the Grand Cultivators. The most critical thing was that I don't know whether that person would be affected by the Divine Halls. So, I don't know how many people we should kill, and I even suspect that how many people we kill won't even matter for that person.”
Ning Que knew that Shangguan Yangyu did have a point. He was not sure whether the joys and sorrows in the human world could affect people like the Drunkard.
The cold rain kept pouring, but it couldn't stop the pungent bloody smell from filling the air. Ning Que looked at the blood and said, ”The autumn wind and rain make the world melancholic.”
Even at this moment, Shangguan Yangyu didn't forget to praise him, ”Good poem.”
Ning Que replied, ”Maybe you can write one?”
Shangguan Yangyu said with a bitter smile, ”I don't have the mood.”
Ning Que reached out to catch the raindrops and said, ”It's not like we have better things to do.”
Shangguan Yangyu replied, ”Mr. Thirteen really knows the little pleasures of life.”
”Actually I don't know how many I should kill. But like I've said, it's not like we have better things to do. These people deserve to die anyway. Besides, the imperial court has to waste money on feeding them. Since we have nothing better to do, it's not such a bad idea to kill some insignificant people in the autumn wind and rain. It does make sense that you call this the little pleasures of life.”
Ning Que walked into the rain and turned around and said to the officials, ”Maybe we can try to kill more. The Ministry of Revenue handles the grain rations of prisoners of war, so you should know the number. Any suggestions for how many to kill?”