Chapter 520: Trampling the Bones of Lords and Ministers on the Imperial Avenue (Part Two)

The night was profoundly dark, so quiet it made one uneasy.

Due to the curfew, the nightlife of ordinary Chang'an residents was virtually nonexistent. And because the recent situation was unsettled, with all trades at rest, the nightlife of Chang'an's nobles had also nearly ceased.

Now Chang'an's nights had truly gone quiet, and there was no more talk of "Chang'an, the city that never sleeps."

Anren Ward was one of the wards in Chang'an's outer city, under the jurisdiction of Wannian County. It was located in the third row south of the Imperial City, in the first column east of Vermilion Bird Avenue.

This kind of ward opened gates only on its east and west sides, with no north or south gates, and those who lived inside were either wealthy or noble. In the southeast corner lived the family of Liu Yanjing, maternal grandfather of Prince of Ning, Li Xian; in the southwest corner lived the family of Wang Xin, uncle of Prince of Xue, Li Ye.

In addition, the Chang'an residences of the Emperor's daughter Princess Wanchun and the former Jiannan Military Commissioner Zhang Choujian Qiong (already deceased) were also located here.

Zhang Boyi, a trusted subordinate under Li Guangbi's command, led a force of one thousand men along Vermilion Bird Avenue to the west gate of Anren Ward, preparing to confiscate households. According to the addresses on the list, at least four or five households were in Anren Ward.

Besides him, Li Guangbi had many other officers under his command, each leading a thousand-man unit, splitting up to confiscate households across several wards.

Furthermore, Li Guangbi strictly ordered them not to cross into one another's boundaries; each unit could only be responsible for its own assigned sector.

How much they could reap depended entirely on luck and ability. Li Guangbi did not inquire into any of it; everything was left for the leading officers to distribute as they saw fit.

However, Li Guangbi himself was stationed inside Xuanwu Gate and did not participate in this matter. For a general of his rank, money and wealth no longer held much significance. As long as food and drink were no concern, money was just numbers.

Without military power, even mountains of gold and silver in hand could not be kept.

"General Zhang, are we going to confiscate households just according to the few on this list?"

A personal soldier asked Zhang Boyi in a lowered voice.

"What do you mean by that?"

Zhang Boyi frowned slightly and asked with displeasure.

"General Zhang, with our thousand brothers here, even if these few households have considerable assets, how much can each of us get? According to the list, there are only a few households.

If the wealth of one household is divided among several hundred brothers, wouldn't these households have to be rich enough to rival a whole region to suffice?"

This personal soldier could not help reminding Zhang Boyi.

Chang'an's nobles were very rich, with plenty of fat to skim—this was common knowledge. But whether these households had much in liquid assets was an open question.

The vast wealth owned by Tang dynasty noble families consisted mostly of immovable property such as land deeds and house deeds.

These plots of land and houses were very valuable, yet could not be converted to cash. Moreover, the true foundation of the nobles' wealth was actually the estates outside Chang'an, along with ponds, lakes, orchards, and other such properties that could produce agricultural goods.

These too were very valuable, and could generate money continuously.

However, these things likewise had no legs and could not be carried away.

For a single household to possess ten thousand strings of cash in liquid assets was already the absolute ceiling. But if divided among every man, it would amount to only ten strings each!

What use was such a pittance!

Zhang Boyi nodded slightly, feeling the soldier had a point. With only the few people on the list, even if they dug three feet into the ground, there would be too many monks and too little gruel.

Nor could one rule out the existence of "bare officials"—that is, those whose homes in Chang'an had bare walls, with their wealth all in their ancestral hometowns, managed collectively by the clan.

This sort of thing was also fairly common in Hexi; many martial frontier military families might produce who knows how many officers from a single household.

If one died, the property was kept by the family; those with heirs inherited a portion, those without had close relatives adopted as heirs, sharing the risk collectively.

What if they ran into such people—wouldn't their thousand men have made the trip for nothing?

"Then what do you think we should do?"

Zhang Boyi asked in a low voice.

"General Zhang, we go to whoever's gates are grand. We skip the ones with small gates—call it robbing the rich to feed the poor.

As for those not on the list, we set a fire afterward and that's the end of it.

Heh heh, Chang'an is unsettled; bandits taking advantage of the chaos to loot is a common enough occurrence. Who's going to investigate?"

This personal soldier suggested in a whisper.

Zhang Boyi stroked the beard on his chin, thought it over back and forth, and realized that damn it, it really was true!

The money was too little, not enough to divide among the brothers. What's more, Zhang Boyi himself wanted to take a larger share, which would leave even less for the men below.

The distribution of spoils was clearly tied to the size of one's military rank.

How much could the lowliest foot soldiers get? If they didn't get enough, would they harbor complaints? And if they complained, would they cause trouble?

This matter looked like a small thing, but blocking a man's path to wealth was like killing his parents.

If you've already killed someone's parents, could that be a small matter?

For a moment Zhang Boyi also hesitated somewhat, feeling as though not pulling some "off-board tricks" would be a bit unsatisfying.

Seeing Zhang Boyi appear indecisive, the personal soldier drove the point home further: "General Zhang, if we don't take it, others will. It's a waste not to take what's there for the taking. We're carrying out justice on Heaven's behalf!"

"Then we'll do it this way. Take men over the ward wall and open the ward gate. If anyone tries to stop you, kill them outright!"

Zhang Boyi ordered that personal soldier.

He vaguely sensed that something about this was not quite right, but the arrow was already on the string and had to be released; there was no turning back now.

Thud!

The sound of a blade entering flesh reached his ears. Zhang Boyi said nothing, standing outside the ward gate, quietly waiting for news.

Before long, the ward gate was opened from inside. That personal soldier wiped the blood from his horizontal saber, cursing as he walked. He sheathed the saber and came before Zhang Boyi, clasping his fist to report: "General Zhang, the gate is open. We can move in now."

"Go pass the word: gather everyone up first, get them to tell you where the valuables are, and then—like this."

Zhang Boyi made a gesture of drawing his hand across his throat.

"Kill them all? The women too?"

The personal soldier beside him was puzzled. The women of those noble houses were quite fair and lovely—wouldn't it be a pity to just slaughter them?

"Do as you please. This general will only wait out here.

But after you come out, there must be no living person left where you confiscated the households. Understood?

This general will lead a team over to inspect personally!"

A trace of ruthlessness flashed across Zhang Boyi's face!

The several personal soldiers beside him nodded like pecking chicks and went off separately to pass the orders. Soon, the large force filed in, like a floodgate releasing a torrent.

The sound of armor grinding and clashing was chilling!

Zhang Boyi led his personal guards to retreat far to one side, watching those fierce, wolf-like soldiers pour into Anren Ward, and couldn't help but sigh softly.

In truth, Zhang Boyi was just like Li Guangbi—he did not want blood on his hands.

This kind of blood from raiding homes, once it stained your hands, could never be washed off. Tonight, many innocent people were bound to die unjust deaths.

Even though it was Zhang Boyi who had ordered the extermination, he was unwilling to personally cut anyone down, let alone catch hold of women and violate them.

In this world, there was never such a thing as raiding a household without killing. Without killing, Brother Ji could not vent the hatred in his heart.

Perhaps among those killed there were good people, or perhaps they had never taken part in any coup at all—maybe the ones who committed the offense were only their uncles, nephews, husbands, and the like.

Yet this world itself was never reasonable. To be implicated was death; to be collateral damage was death; to be killed by mistake was also death. There was too much helplessness, and no one had the mind to listen to these grievances.

When the boatman mishandled things and the boat struck a reef and capsized, the ones who suffered were everyone on board—what did innocence or guilt have to do with it?

Zhang Boyi's thoughts wandered for a while, and soon outside Anren Ward there remained only the few dozen men of his personal guard.

"When they come out later, search every one of them. Anyone caught hiding valuables, kill them on the spot without asking why.

After the search, you lead them and pick men to split up and transport the wealth."

Zhang Boyi instructed his personal guards.

Among these thousand soldiers, what were all the others besides them going into Anren Ward for?

In truth, they were simply going in to kill.

Among the noble households of Chang'an, it was common for a single large family to have several hundred servants. If too few men went in, it would be hard to say whether you were killing them or they were killing you. Without absolute military suppression, this operation would not be easy to carry out.

"Ah!"

A woman's scream came from within Anren Ward, followed by the clanging of swords and blades, intermingled with cries, wails, and curses.

The personal guards around Zhang Boyi looked at one another in bewilderment, not understanding why Zhang Boyi wouldn't let them go in too and "have some fun."

"Killing, burning, looting, and pillaging are ultimately beneath dignity. In the future, if you can avoid it, try not to participate. You won't get any less of the money anyway—you just won't get to play with women. Where in the world are there no women?"

Zhang Boyi couldn't help but admonish his personal guards.

He was always sincere in his dealings with others, and though the guards were somewhat unconvinced, they all stayed silent and did not argue back.

Because Zhang Boyi was telling the truth—this was Chang'an, unlike anywhere else. Committing mass slaughter here was taboo.

If you could keep blood off your hands, then try not to get any on them, even if to outsiders there might not seem to be much difference between the two.

The cries and wails from inside were still continuing, showing no sign of diminishing at all. Zhang Boyi took out that list and glanced at it, only to find that he didn't recognize a single name on it.

He didn't even recognize many of the characters.

Yet just by looking at those surnames, one could tell these people were either rich or noble—perhaps so noble it was beyond words.

These people were born into silk and fine food. The starting point of their struggles often exceeded the endpoint that ordinary people spent a lifetime striving for. Zhang Boyi asked himself in his heart: his own family was in the south, and his father was a local commander, already considered one of the prominent large households in the area.

But if this status were placed in Chang'an, it could only be called so-so. After all, he was a military man from some backwater who hadn't even learned all his characters!

If he were truly to seek a match and take a wife to settle down in Chang'an, the women of those noble houses probably wouldn't even give him a proper glance.

Of course, that was before.

Now the world was growing ever more chaotic, and a man with a blade in his hand would see his appeal rise without limit.

Zhang Boyi believed he still had some ability!

Just like tonight, standing before Anren Ward, he could decide the life and death of everyone in this ward—more imposing than the King of Hell himself.

Whoever he wanted dead could not live!

"There are many beautiful women in Chang'an's Pingkang Ward. If any of you can't hold back, take your money and go enjoy yourselves there—don't cause unnecessary trouble!"

Zhang Boyi couldn't help but admonish his personal guards.

He knew full well that many of them needed their lower halves disciplined, wanting to vent their lust on the women of noble houses.

This kind of thing wasn't that it couldn't be done—it was that it shouldn't be done on this occasion, and was even less appropriate at this critical juncture.

If Brother Ji still had decades of emperor's fate ahead of him, then Zhang Boyi would have jumped in without hesitation, entered Anren Ward, grabbed whatever beautiful women he pleased and played with them until his body collapsed from exhaustion.

He wouldn't be afraid, because the emperor would protect him!

But Brother Ji was already old—he was no longer capable. Not capable in every respect, and not just physically.

Now, playing at raiding homes and exterminating clans, one had to take it a bit easy and not be too brazen.

In less than one shichen, a colonel walked out of Anren Ward and reported to Zhang Boyi: "General Zhang, the task is done. Not a single living soul was left."

Zhang Boyi looked at his disheveled appearance, nodded with understanding, and said: "Notify all camps—all those who have finished their work are to assemble on Vermilion Bird Avenue. Leave two hundred men to transport the wealth; the rest return to the Xuanwu Gate."

"Understood!"

That colonel turned and left somewhat guiltily, unable to suppress a wave of regret in his heart.

He had just had a noble household's concubine—her face as beautiful as a fairy's, her body as soft as noodles, as smooth as the finest silk.

When he pulled her onto the bed, she was passionate as fire and extremely cooperative. Any outsider who didn't know better would have thought this concubine was seducing the man.

He had never felt this good in his entire life.

But this colonel still cleanly and decisively killed that beautiful concubine of the noble house with a single blade.

Without the slightest hesitation.

Women—just playing with them was enough; there was no need to keep one around. Keeping her would only be a hidden danger.

It wasn't as if she were a proper wife—she was merely a piece of goods that had lost its value, to be tossed aside at will.

He felt regret, but not even a trace of remorse.

Soon, these frontier soldiers of Hexi and Longyou filed out of the ward gate one after another, each wearing an excited smile, whispering among themselves.

Seeing that everyone was assembled, Zhang Boyi ordered the body search. After a thorough search, surprisingly not a single soldier had hidden anything.

Zhang Boyi first found it strange, but after a moment's reflection, he understood.

These soldiers had probably figured it out too—the loot this time was so plentiful that there was simply no need to stash anything privately and break the rules.

"Leave two hundred men to transport the spoils; everyone else return to the Xuanwu Gate and stand by!"

Zhang Boyi waved his hand grandly, and the thousand-man army split into two columns, like a river branching into forks.

The area before the west gate of Anren Ward could not help but grow much quieter, yet standing on Vermilion Bird Street, one could hear faint cries and screams that sent chills down one's back.

After Zhang Boyi led his men through the ward gate, they arrived before a large mansion. Stepping into the spacious front courtyard, they saw corpses everywhere, densely packed and numbering no fewer than a hundred.

Most of them were servants; only a few wearing brocade robes were the masters of this household.

What were the names of these unfortunate souls, and were they on the list?

It did not seem to matter much, because Zhang Boyi and his men had not come for this in the first place.

He saw the corpse of a young woman not far away, her lower body bare, lying face-down on the ground so her face could not be seen, though judging from her figure she was likely a seductive beauty.

Zhang Boyi had already roughly guessed what had happened.

"You don't need to look around—just start moving things."

He gave the order with a certain lack of enthusiasm.

Soon, fine-quality silks and satins of all kinds, carried out in pile after pile, were tossed into the courtyard and strewn about at random by those soldiers.

There were also chests filled with gold and silver vessels, containing silver plates, silver basins, bronze statues, gold bowls, and other such metal wares.

There were also rare crafted pieces of jade belts, agate, and rhinoceros horn, all of considerable value, showing that the master of the house had no shortage of liquid assets.

Of course, divided among a thousand men, what each person could get was not much, especially when the officers still had to take the lion's share.

Leaving a dozen or so men behind to move the goods, Zhang Boyi proceeded to the next house.

……

The pitch-black night concealed sin.

A nauseating stench of blood drifted from certain wards onto Vermilion Bird Street, as though hell had descended.

Fires broke out in certain wards of Chang'an for no apparent reason, as if Heaven were punishing those powerful and wealthy who had abused their authority and shown no compassion.

Brother Ji issued an imperial edict, ordering the sixty thousand soldiers of the Western Army to use their steel blades to severely punish those "eminent persons" who had committed crimes and subverted the state.

This night was destined to be sleepless.

Screams, weeping, and mocking laughter—faint yet almost tangible—drifted from the various wards, converging on Vermilion Bird Street into a hair-raising dirge.

It was like the wailing of evil spirits ravaging the mortal realm!

Squad after squad of Western Army soldiers emerged from the gates of the various wards, all carrying off money, valuables, and other goods. When some squads suddenly encountered one another and saw that the others also had things in hand, they could not help but exchange knowing smiles.

In the light of the torches, those faces were smug and thoroughly satisfied.

They were so honest and sturdy, some still with a trace of boyishness, showing not the slightest sign that they had gone on a killing spree that very night.

Guo Ziyi led a force of several hundred soldiers, patrolling Vermilion Bird Street.

The several men walking at the front all held aloft vertical banners bearing the words "Patrol." Every one of them was expressionless, seeming somewhat reluctant.

Squads that had just "finished their business" and come out of the ward gates would encounter them and could not help but cast sympathetic glances their way. Those who did not participate in the looting could not get the lion's share.

In the end, how much benefit they could receive depended on how much conscience Li Guangbi had left.

In short, these men were all out of luck.

In this patrol squad, quite a few soldiers showed expressions of indignation and envy; they all seemed not to quite understand why Guo Ziyi would voluntarily take on such an "unlucky" assignment.

But Guo Ziyi, walking at the very front, sighed to himself: "Such a great catastrophe has occurred—how will it ever be resolved!"

His brow was deeply furrowed, as though he were worrying over some grave matter.