But ultimately, Prince Han had died protecting the coastal people, and no matter what, they couldn’t let Prince Han meet such a fate. So this butcher wanted to go to Dongyi to steal back the remains of Prince Han, who had died fighting for the people, to prevent Dongyi from actually chopping Prince Han’s body into pieces to feed the dogs!
Who knew that the government office sent constables to arrest him? When the butcher, having drunk alcohol, accidentally injured a constable while fleeing, the authorities feared the butcher would actually go to Dongyi to steal Prince Han’s remains and provoke a war between the two nations, so they directly killed the butcher in prison!
“How is it that Prince Han died in battle protecting Great Zhou envoys and fishermen, and even those naval officers and soldiers couldn’t return, yet now Prince Han’s remains are held in Dongyi’s grasp, and the supposedly mighty Great Zhou doesn’t dare demand them back?” The woman knelt before the government office, holding the blood-written petition high with both hands, crying hysterically. “Dongyi has declared… if the Great Zhou emperor doesn’t come personally to retrieve them, they’ll chop Prince Han’s remains into pieces to feed the dogs. What kind of humiliation is this! The emperor doesn’t dare to demand Prince Han’s remains! The court is afraid of fighting and doesn’t dare demand Prince Han’s remains. We, common people, are willing to go ourselves to bring Prince Han home—is that wrong? Why must we die in prison?”
The onlooking people heard the woman’s cries and thought of Prince Han, who had led all the naval officers and soldiers to their deaths protecting the returning fishermen, then thought of the Great Zhou court’s cowardice, and immediately became filled with indignation.
Among the crowd, someone shouted at the tightly closed government office gates: “What is this, Dongyi? In the past, before Great Liang, they were just tail-wagging, fawning lapdogs, a tributary state of Great Liang who watched Great Liang’s every expression and didn’t dare even fart. How is it that the Great Zhou emperor is so afraid of Dongyi? Isn’t it said that the Great Zhou is more powerful? Why is he so afraid of war?”
“As emperor, not risking himself for a prince of a different surname, not coming to the coast to demand the corpse from Dongyi, needing to guard the capital—we common people can understand this.” Others who had read some books stood on the less crowded right side, loudly questioning the bailiffs blocking the government office entrance. “But why does the emperor care so much about the national gamble, care that he doesn’t even dare retrieve the corpse of a prince who died fighting for the people of his own country, and won’t allow the people to spontaneously go retrieve it? Is he so afraid of offending that small Dongyi nation, so afraid of fighting? If the county magistrate doesn’t want to provoke public anger, please come out and give us an explanation!”
“Yes! Give us an explanation!” the people shouted.
“Let the county magistrate come out!”
“Prince Han’s remains must be retrieved! Justice must be given to the righteous man who wanted to retrieve Prince Han’s remains!”
“Yes! County magistrate, come out and give us a guarantee! Prince Han’s remains must be retrieved! Give the righteous man justice!”
Seeing this, the woman continued crying loudly as the four scholars had taught her: “My husband was beaten to death just for saying he wanted to steal back the remains of Prince Han, who died for the people. Is there still any place for us, common people, to speak in this world? The naval officers and soldiers who died for country and people… are their lives so worthless! Such a country… that treats even such pure, people-loving naval officers and soldiers who swore to protect the nation as insignificant as ants—if the national gamble succeeds… will it still care about us common people?”
Inside the county office, the county magistrate heard the woman’s words, and his eyes widened immediately. He gritted his teeth, knowing this matter couldn’t continue to escalate. If he let this woman continue making trouble, it would become even more impossible to resolve later. He told the bailiffs: “Quick! Quickly drag that troublemaking shrew beating the drum away and lock her up!”
“These words… absolutely cannot be spoken by a mere woman! There must be someone behind this!” The county magistrate’s fingers trembled slightly as he turned to look at his advisor. “Perhaps it was the person behind this who killed the butcher to frame others, deliberately trying to provoke today’s incident!”
The advisor also looked nervous, turning to the county magistrate: “My lord, immediately send someone to request aid from the Bai Family Army! This humble one fears that soon someone might incite the unruly people to cause trouble!”
The county magistrate nodded: “Quick! Quickly send someone!”
The woman remembered clearly every word the scholars had taught her. Those scholars had said that only by remembering these words clearly could she seek justice for her husband, and perhaps even retrieve the remains of Prince Han, who had died protecting the fishermen.
The coastal people became increasingly angry as they listened. Thinking it over… they still felt that the Great Zhou emperor simply didn’t consider Prince Han as a minister of Great Zhou. The Great Zhou emperor simply didn’t care about Prince Han’s life or death or his corpse, and didn’t consider them, these former Great Liang people, as his own subjects—wanting to kill them whenever he pleased!
It seemed that as long as the Great Zhou could win the national gamble, even if the Great Zhou emperor killed all the former Great Liang people, that emperor wouldn’t even blink an eye!
Poor Prince Han, for the sake of the people… had submitted to such a gambling-addicted emperor who only cared about leaving his name in history, who only wanted to become the king who unified the world, and completely disregarded the people’s lives!
When this Great Zhou emperor claimed to rebel against the Jin dynasty for the people’s sake, it was all nonsense—just using the noble pretense of serving country and people to legitimately seize power and ascend to the supreme throne as a cover-up. They had foolishly believed this empress would be a good emperor!
The coastal people were even thinking that even if General Cheng of the Bai Family Army had also died in this naval battle, his corpse seized by Dongyi, they wondered if their empress would still only care about her great unification enterprise, so cold-hearted that… she would speak of considering the bigger picture and not even want General Cheng’s corpse back.
“The emperor simply doesn’t consider us former Great Liang subjects as her people! Doesn’t consider the naval officers and soldiers who swore to protect us as her troops!”
“Retrieve Prince Han’s remains! Give the righteous man justice!”
No one knew who first shouted this slogan, but the emotionally stirred people all followed with roars: “Retrieve Prince Han’s remains! Give the righteous man justice!”
“Retrieve Prince Han’s remains! Give the righteous man justice!”
The fishermen who had been protected and brought back by Prince Han and the naval officers and soldiers were also nearby. The more they thought about it, the more indignant they became, joining in the loud shouting!
The government office gates suddenly opened. Just when everyone was waiting for the county magistrate to come out, a group of bailiffs rushed out and, without a word, began dragging away the woman who had been beating the complaint drum and kneeling in front of the government office, crying…
“What are you doing! Let go of my mother! Let go of my mother!” The woman’s daughter rushed forward to push and struggle with them, but was shoved away by a bailiff.
The little girl was pushed so hard she crashed into the stone pillar in front of the government office, immediately bleeding from her head and crying in pain, yet she still struggled to get up and grab hold of her mother.
“My child! My child! My daughter! Let go of me! Don’t touch me!” Seeing her daughter covered in blood, the woman became like a madwoman.