Use their own bodies to plug the dam.

Chu Jiubian had previously wondered if Zhou Boshan had done something to prevent the refugees from going to other counties.

But even the worst-case scenario he had considered couldn’t compare to this.

Liu Junqi seemed to have had a lot on his mind these past two days, and was in the mood to discuss it with Chu Jiubian. He continued: “And then there was Governor Lu Yuan. When he learned of the flooding, his first instinct wasn’t to provide disaster relief, but instead to pin the blame of embezzling construction funds on the common people. He executed both the craftsmen and the villagers who repaired these two damaged sections of the dams.”

“Those county magistrates too, they received orders from above and just carried them out without regard for whether it was right or wrong. It’s said that the magistrate of Yunlu County even took those people directly to the gates of the government office and had them beheaded there. It’s simply incomprehensible!”

Liu Junqi became increasingly irate as he spoke, and even disregarded etiquette by ripping off his straw hat and smashing it on the ground.

Chu Jiubian could no longer hear what he was saying. A buzzing sound filled his ears.

He suddenly stumbled, grabbing the side of the carriage for support. The soldier who was holding the umbrella helped steady him.

Liu Junqi wanted nothing more than to hurl a few vulgar curses, but when he saw Chu Jiubian stagger, he was startled and swallowed them back.

He saw that the young man’s face was pale and his hair was damp from the rain, making him look slightly disheveled. 

Only now did it occur to Liu Junqi that this was the Grand Tutor Chu who had stirred up such chaos in the capital. He looked so young. If not for his calm and composed demeanor, one could easily mistake him for a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy just by a look at his face.

“It’s nothing.” Chu Jiubian knew that his low blood pressure was acting up again. “Go see to your work. I’m heading to Huai County.”

“Yes.” As Liu Junqi watched the pale-faced Chu Jiubian board the carriage, a strange feeling arose within him – just like when he saw Qin Xiao kill hundreds of people in one go yesterday.

Early yesterday morning, he, Jian Hongzhuo, and other officials from the Ministry of Works, Ministry of Personnel, and Ministry of Revenue had arrived in the prefectural city and discovered the death of Governor Lu.

At that moment, Liu Junqi and several others instantly surmised that there were many secrets and hidden stories behind this flood.

However, these secrets were not for them to uncover.

Qin Xiao arranged for trusted officials to stay behind to investigate the inside story of Lu Yuan’s death, then led the others, including a county commandant and a thousand soldiers, to Pu County.

They arrived in Pu County in the morning, but after traveling for so long, they still hadn’t encountered any refugees. Qin Xiao sensed that something wasn’t right, so he quickly rode to Sanyang Village, where the dam was located.

The village had basically turned into a vast expanse of water. The water was already halfway up the horses’ legs when they entered the village, and grew deeper the farther they went.

Eventually, corpses began to float to the surface.

Some of the corpses had soaked until they resembled steamed buns, while others looked as if they had just perished. No one was collecting the bodies as their numbers increased.

The civil officials had never witnessed such a scene, and many of them vomited.

Even the thousand county soldiers looked grim, although they didn’t have as strong of a reaction.

Commotion could be faintly heard on the embankment ahead. It sounded like crying and shouting.

Qin Xiao spurred his horse and raced toward the dam. The water was nearly up to the horse’s belly.

When they finally reached the dam, Qin Xiao led everyone up the embankment.

The stretch of dam here had not collapsed. Liu Junji crouched down to inspect it, and found that the materials were indeed of good quality. There was no reason it shouldn’t have held up against heavy rain.

It seemed this was indeed a man-made disaster.

As he stood up, he saw Qin Xiao leading his men along the embankment toward the sound of the commotion.

Liu Junqi quickly followed, and saw Qin Xiao and his group stop shortly afterward.

Liu Junqi squeezed through the crowd to Qin Xiao’s side. When he looked ahead, a chill ran down his spine.

They had reached a zone extremely close to the dam breach, where floodwater was gushing out through a huge gap that cut the dam straight down the middle. 

On the opposite bank of the breach, hundreds of soldiers were on their knees.

Judging from their attire, they should be soldiers from Pu County and Guanqing County. All of them were carrying swords at their waists.

This crowd, who should have been arrogant and overbearing, were now trembling with fear as they knelt and kowtowed before Qin Xiao and his men.

And beneath the breach in front of them, amidst the raging floodwaters, dozens of people – men and women, young and old – were struggling and crying out.

In the waist-deep floodwaters behind them were more common people begging for mercy. Their cries shook the heavens.

Liu Junqi was momentarily confused, unable to wrap his head around what was going on. But in that brief moment of stunned silence, Qin Xiao had already taken a long, thick hemp rope from one of the county soldiers and tied it around his waist, stuffing the other end into the hands of several soldiers. Then he jumped lightly into the water. And in just a few breaths, he was climbing back up with a woman who was choking on several mouthfuls of water.

Liu Junqi finally returned to his senses and hurriedly called for help. They turned the woman over so that she was lying facedown on the edge of the embankment, her abdomen pressed against the wall of the dam. Then they pounded her back hard, which finally caused her to spit up some water and clear her airway.

The prefectural commandant came to a realization and roared at the soldiers opposite him: “What are you all standing there for?! Save them!”

The soldiers hurriedly climbed to their feet and, with ashen faces, began to rescue the common people.

Once everyone was rescued, Qin Xiao led his group, along with the surviving villagers, to a higher area on the right side of the village where they could set up temporary shelters and a porridge stand. 

They brought some grain taken from a neighboring county and found an unflooded farmhouse to cook porridge in. They also sourced some usable bowls and basins from other people’s homes, then distributed porridge to the remaining eight thousand or so common people in Pu County.

The common people wept with joy and even sank to their knees to kowtow to Qin Xiao and the others.

Standing beside Qin Xiao, Liu Junqi felt a burning pain in his face reminiscent of being slapped.

But the sharp pain in his heart was bittersweet.

He had never felt the gap between the powerful and the common people so acutely. It was as if he had finally realized that there were countless people struggling like ants to survive beneath his feet.

People. They were all people.

Solely because of their disparate backgrounds, they led entirely different lives.

The power struggles between noble families were paid for by the common people, who in turn had to kowtow to them.

It seemed that to them, an official who bullied them but didn’t kill them wasn’t the worst, and an official who stood up for them was the pinnacle of justice and uprightness.

But Liu Junqi felt unworthy.

He couldn’t even bring himself to look into their grateful eyes, nor could he accept their goodwill with a clear conscience.

He couldn’t help but glance toward Qin Xiao.

Qin Xiao stood there in a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat. His expression remained unchanged, indifferent and with a touch of nonchalance, as if nothing in the world concerned him.

But in fact, his robes were still wet under his raincoat.

So, what was the right thing to do?

Who was in the right?

Liu Junqi recalled a saying that Minister Wang often repeated: “High-minded people understand righteousness, but low-minded people understand profit.”

A gentleman values morality, while a petty man values personal gain.

But now, he realized that none of the powerful officials around him who spouted those classical phrases and claimed to “govern by the Analects of Confucius” actually lived up to their so-called benevolence and morality.

All they cared about was profit.

If they could use common people to block the breach in the dam today, what heinous things would they do tomorrow?

Could some of the things he did in the past have caused irreversible consequences in ways he himself was unaware of?

Liu Junqi was lost in thought until a subordinate tugged at his sleeve, snapping him back to reality.

Then he met Qin Xiao’s icy gaze, and his scalp immediately tingled.

“Did I bring you here to just stand around doing nothing?” Qin Xiao asked calmly. “Go with Minister Jian and find a way to repair the dam. If you are unable to, you will pay for it with your life.”

Liu Junqi sensed the anger hidden in his level tone and quickly agreed, following Jian Hongzhuo to inspect the dam.

And at the same time, he saw that the thousand county soldiers had already forced the prefectural soldiers, as well as the Pu County Magistrate and the prefect from Guangqing Prefecture to kneel before Qin Xiao.

Nearby were the makeshift porridge stands. The common people all hid under the shelters, fixing their resentful eyes on those people as if they wanted to skin them alive.

The rain continued unabated, accompanied by intermittent rumbles of thunder.

The magistrate was already so frightened that he lost his composure, desperately crying out: “Have mercy, My Lord, have mercy! This humble official was only following the orders of Prefect Sun!”

Prefect Sun immediately said: “Please observe clearly, My Lord. This official never said anything about blocking the dam with the common people! The magistrate acted on his own initiative. This official came here today to provide disaster relief, and only then realized the depths of this person’s depravity!”

As he spoke, he glanced toward the prefectural soldiers behind him: “Quickly, tell us whether or not I brought you here for disaster relief.”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“We’re here to provide disaster relief!” 

“He’s spouting nonsense!” The county soldiers were also becoming anxious.

“It was clearly you who gave the order, yet you claim it was Magistrate Zhou who did it. We were just following orders!”

“We know nothing about this.” The soldiers seemed to have finally found a route to survival, and shouted even louder: “We’re here to provide disaster relief!”

The common people had more confidence now that someone was standing up for them, and someone roared angrily upon hearing this: “You’re lying! You wanted to use our bodies to block the dam!”

“That’s right! You’re all corrupt officials! Evil officials!”

The crowd was roused to action.

Qin Xiao glanced at the Hexi Prefecture Commandant and said: “What are you waiting for?”

The commandant’s expression shifted slightly: “My Lord, the soldiers aside, the prefect is at least a fourth-rank official…..”

His voice gradually weakened under Qin Xiao’s indifferent gaze.

“What?” Qin Xiao’s voice was somewhat sinister. “Could it be that you are the person behind this?”

Cold sweat immediately soaked the commandant’s back, and he said hurriedly: “This humble official wouldn’t dare. I will deal with them immediately.”

Liu Junqi stood on the embankment, looking into the distance. He watched the county soldiers raise their swords and cut down every last one of those people regardless of their rank, leaving none alive.

He couldn’t help but think back to the scene in front of the Meridian Gate.

It was just the same as back then, when two scions of prominent families were beheaded in plain sight.

Qin Xiao had no care at all for those powerful and influential families. No matter who was backing them, he would just kill them and be done with it. What could any of them do to him?

As Liu Junqi watched Chu Jiubian’s carriage gradually disappear into the distance, his expression was somewhat complicated.

However, he quickly composed himself and assigned the remaining soldiers and officials from the capital to oversee the disaster relief efforts.

Meanwhile, Chu Jiubian took the remaining two-thirds of the disaster relief funds and grain to Huai County.

It wasn’t until dusk, just as the sky was beginning to darken, that he arrived.

The county town was very quiet, as if there was no one present.

When they went to Pu County before, Chu Jiubian and the group didn’t pass through the county seat, but took a shortcut to Sanyang Village.

But to reach the breached dam in Huai County, it was necessary to pass through the county seat.

It was, however, some distance from the dam. The floodwaters hadn’t reached this place, so it shouldn’t be this quiet.

Chu Jiubian sensed that something was happening up ahead, so he ordered the soldiers to be on alert and proceeded cautiously with the convoy.

They walked from the east side of the city to the west side, and as they drew closer to the city gates, the shrill screams they began to hear grew louder. They were coming from one man.

Chu Jiubian lifted the carriage curtain to look ahead, only to see a large crowd of people packed outside the city gates. No few of them were fully equipped in straw raincoats and hats. They should be residents of the town.

Some of them were filthy and disheveled, and lacked raincoats. Those must be refugees.

These people were huddled together with the brims of their hats bumping into each other, but they didn’t seem to care. They were all standing on tiptoe and craning their necks, staring in a certain direction. The crowd made a commotion each time a scream rang out, but none of them left.

Chu Jiubian frowned and ordered the convoy to stop.

With the city gates blocked, they couldn’t leave even if they wanted to.

He told his men to stop all of the carriages and horses, and to be on their guard. He then got out of the carriage and opened his umbrella, walking toward the crowd.

A captain wanted to follow him for his protection, but Chu Jiubian declined.

He had secret guards who were more reliable than a captain.

He also felt that the odd scene in front of him had something to do with Qin Xiao, and he could even guess what the other party was doing.

Zhou Boshan, the prefect who ordered the use of civilians to block the dam, and the son-in-law of a collateral branch of the Xiao family, was currently in Huai County.

There were just too many onlookers, and Chu Jiubian felt that he might not be able to squeeze in.

Just as he was wondering whether he should call someone to clear a path for him, he suddenly heard the System’s mechanical voice: [Host, for just one point, this System can ensure that you aren’t jostled by the crowd.]

The System knew that Chu Jiubian was currently short of points, so it didn’t request many.

Chu Jiubian paid up.

In the next moment, he noticed that the people blocking his way were moving aside. A meter-wide passageway was cleared in the middle, extending all the way to the very center.

And at the very center was a clear area with a single chair.

A man dressed in dark brocade robes sat upon it with his legs crossed, while a soldier in a straw raincoat stood beside him, holding an umbrella over his head.

And ten meters away from him were several wooden stakes, each with a person tied to it.

On the foremost stake was a shirtless young man.

A soldier next to him held a dagger, and was slowly cutting strips of flesh from his body.

Blood and bits of flesh fell to the ground, where the blood washed away by the rain stained a large patch of dirt under his feet.

This was the punishment of lingchi.

Chu Jiubian stood silently in the vacuum-like area surrounding him, umbrella in hand.

His gaze shifted from the screaming man to the person sitting in the chair.

The man seemed to sense something, and his sharp gaze fixed on Chu Jiubian.

Their eyes met, and Qin Xiao’s gloomy expression shifted slightly.

His hands clenched into fists, and his back even tensed up.

Another scream. A flash of lightning. A deafening roar of thunder.

Chu Jiubian heard the whispers of the people around him.

“This lingchi punishment is so cruel, but Ning-wang’s expression hasn’t changed.”

“Don’t you know? The person being executed by lingchi is Zhou Boshan, the Prefect of Hexi Prefecture. He used the bodies of common people to fill the dam in Pu County. Don’t you think he deserves to die?”

“Of course he deserves to die! But isn’t lingchi too much? Ning-wang is truly too cruel.”

“Let’s throw you into the dam and see if you think it’s too cruel then……”

---

Consider donating via Kofi here.

Chapter 44 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 46