After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 566 - 560 Claim

On the third day, Zhao Hanzhang announced the massacre of captives by Shi Le, and cries echoed throughout Luoyang City.

When Zhao Hanzhang returned empty-handed, they had already prepared, but when the exact news arrived, everyone still couldn’t help but feel sorrowful.

By mid-afternoon, Xun Xiu returned with the army. Among them were a dozen ox carts and a group of Hu slaves pulling carts, carrying corpses wrapped in straw mats.

Zhao Hanzhang was waiting at the city gate in advance, accompanied by Wang Hufeng and others who had received the news earlier.

As the army approached, they couldn’t help but step forward in unison, tearfully gazing at the straw mats on the carts.

Xun Xiu jumped off his horse and quickly walked to Zhao Hanzhang, kneeling on one knee, "My lord, I have been ordered to bring back the bodies of the doctors."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded and pointed to a makeshift shelter set up at the city gate, saying, "Place them here temporarily, so the families in the city can come and identify them."

"Yes." Xun Xiu stood up and ordered people to unload the bodies from the ox carts and carts into the shelter for display.

The first ox cart was brought directly in front of Zhao Hanzhang, and Xun Xiu lowered his head and said, "This is Grand Commandant Wang and Prince Xiangyang."

Wang Si Niang immediately rushed forward and lifted the straw mat. Inside was the pale face of Prince Xiangyang. Lifting the other mat revealed her father!

Wang Si Niang knelt on the ground, clinging to the ox cart and weeping bitterly.

Wang Hufeng couldn’t hold back her tears either, stepping forward while tears welled up, lowering her head to look at her ever elegant and charming father.

Wang Yan was very handsome, praised for his appearance since youth, and always cared about his image. But death seems to make everyone look the same.

His brows were furrowed, his expression somewhat pained, his face pale with some spots starting to appear, showing he had died some time ago, with a strong corpse odor from his body.

She closed her eyes momentarily, stepping forward to cover the matt with the straw mat, not letting outsiders see his current state.

Her father always valued his appearance, even in death, he wouldn’t want others to see him in such a disheveled state.

Wang Hufeng took a deep breath, turned and bowed to Zhao Hanzhang, saying steadily, "Hanzhang, I will take him back first."

"Alright." Zhao Hanzhang ordered for Prince Xiangyang to be carried down and handed the ox cart over to Wang Hufeng.

Wang Hufeng and her sister personally led the ox cart home. As they made their way back to Rufeng Residence in the east of the city, everyone in the city knew that Zhao Hanzhang had people bring back the bodies of the royalty, officials, and gentry slain by Shi Le.

Thus, many people rushed out of their homes, crying, running towards the city gate. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Upon reaching the city gate and seeing the soldiers still unloading bodies from the carts, they rushed forward, lifting the straw mats one by one to check. Some quickly found the relatives they were looking for and, along the way, discovered friends and acquaintances, leading to cries all around the city gate.

Zhao Hanzhang stood at the city gate watching, and passing commoners stopped to watch for a while, some with indifferent expressions, others visibly moved.

Such scenes had occurred periodically over the past two years, too frequently to cause much of a stir.

For the common folk, such scenes had become commonplace.

But for the gentry of Luoyang, this overwhelming disaster was the first time. This time, Shi Le killed nearly half of the royal family, officials, and gentry in Luoyang.

A boy and a younger boy pushed a cart over, carrying two bodies. They knelt in front of Zhao Hanzhang, bowing in unison, "Thank you, General Zhao, for bringing back our father and brother. We brothers will stay in Luoyang. Although we are young and can’t do much, we will do our best to protect Luoyang in any way we can."

Zhao Hanzhang pursed her lips, stepped forward and helped them up, saying in a deep voice, "I have failed your trust, unable to save them."

The boy shook his head, red-eye and said, "Shi Le was ruthless. It’s already amazing that General Zhao could save us from him."

Others who found their relatives also borrowed carts or ox carts from the army to bring them home. Seeing Zhao Hanzhang standing not far away, they bowed to her from afar before turning to leave.

Zhao Hanzhang nodded slightly in return, silently watching the mourning cries at the shelter.

Fu Tinghan withdrew his gaze, turned his head to Zhao Hanzhang, who had been watching the shelter, and held her hand firmly, bringing her back to the present, "Are you feeling sad?"

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t respond immediately, speaking hoarsely after a moment, "When I first saw them, I didn’t feel much in my heart, only complicated emotions toward Wang Yan and Prince Xiangyang."

After all, she knew these two and had some brief interactions, but she didn’t know the others.

"In my heart, their deaths were not much different from a passage in a history book," Zhao Hanzhang said, "I wonder if it’s because I’ve received similar news too often before, and it’s difficult for me to empathize with their deaths."

"It wasn’t until this moment that I felt the sorrow. Behind each of them is a family, and in every family, there are parents, spouses, children, brothers, and sisters."

Fu Tinghan turned to look at her.

Zhao Hanzhang frowned, "I underestimated their feelings for their relatives and overestimated my own morality. Also, the mundane life is different..."

She said, "I underestimated the importance they placed on afterlife matters, and their importance to the afterlife is because they value filial piety, compassion, righteousness, and benevolence."

"Knowing now isn’t too late," Fu Tinghan said, "Most people are forced by the times to compromise with the mundane life. The previous mundane life was set by the Jin Dynasty and the great noble families like Wang Yan, but now, it’s set by you!"

Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes lit up, "You’re right!"

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t stay here long. Once the people in the city had finished identifying the bodies, the rest were to be buried by her.

Even though she’s poor, coffins still had to be prepared. After all, everyone in Luoyang City was watching, and those people once had names and fame in life.

Those left by Shi Le are not simple people. The ones without reputation and positions were basically those redeemed by Zhao Hanzhang.

Fortunately, when she redeemed people, many family members were taken out. Some people ran away early, but among those who stayed, family connections were maintained, so they brought their familiar friends and relatives to be buried together.

The remaining unclaimed ones were mostly from the Sima family.

Not many, a total of sixty-eight bodies.

Prince Xiangyang’s body was also taken away, retrieved by Wang Hufeng the next day. She was accompanied by some other ladies and a young man, and she said, "Prince Xiangyang has great virtues, and we are not willing for him to be left exposed in the wild, so we raised funds to buy a coffin for him. Let him be buried with my father, and in the future, we’ll offer sacrifices for both together."

Zhao Hanzhang naturally had no objection and handed Prince Xiangyang over to them.

The remaining royalty of the Sima family had no one to take care of them, so Zhao Hanzhang had to handle it herself.

"Ask the coffin shop if there’s a discount for bulk orders?"

"...My lord, I asked, not only is there no discount, the price has even risen."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hanzhang was displeased and asked, "Why?"