Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3688 Makeup Cannot Conceal the Lingering Aura of Corpse; Crowns and Canopies Hang Empty, Like Monkeys Playing a Game

Illness comes like a mountain.

Tetanus is not a 100% fatal disease, even in ancient times.

Ancient doctors were completely unaware that tetanus was caused by Clostridium tetani in soil, dust, and animal feces. Naturally, they couldn't have injected tetanus antitoxin or tetanus immunoglobulin, which could neutralize free toxins in the blood.

In ancient times, there were no such biological agents, but the human body's own antibodies had a certain probability of being able to engulf Clostridium tetani.

Although the probability is not high.

Generally speaking, in ancient times, the mortality rate for infants and the elderly after contracting tetanus was almost 100%, while young people were relatively better off, with a chance of about 10-20% that they could fight it off through their own immune system.

But for Cheng Yu, it wasn't just his age that was a problem, but also the poor sanitation conditions in the city.

Getting old is a natural process and has nothing to do with Cheng Yu himself; after all, time passes and no one can control it. But what about the sanitation issues in the city…?

Especially water.

Cheng Yu ordered a scorched-earth policy ("Three Alls") to be implemented around Wen County, and also ordered the pollution of water sources...

Even if the water Cheng Yu's personal guards gave him was heated and sterilized, what about the other ordinary water?

"My lord...my lord..."

Several guards leaders surrounded the bed, their faces ashen, sweat pouring down their faces, dripping onto the ground and forming spots resembling bloodstains. They were Cheng Yu's confidants, his private army, and were already inextricably linked to him.

If Cheng Yuruo were alive, they might still have a glimmer of hope; if Cheng Yuruo were to fall, or if his horrifying appearance were to become known to the soldiers and civilians on the city walls…

I'm afraid the entire Wen County will be torn apart in an instant!

Those soldiers, civilians, and commoners who had been stained with blood, slaughtered, and suppressed...

They used to shout that they represented the Emperor, the Prime Minister, and the Governor, but now they realize that the Emperor is too far away, the Prime Minister is not here, and if the Governor dies…

Although they shout "speaking out for the people" every day, they have spent their entire lives serving Cheng Yu and being responsible for him.

After all, there are so many ordinary people. The smart ones are fine, but the stupid ones are really a headache. If it's really like the slogan "speaking up for the people," then isn't it just like buying vegetables at the market? Being busy with the trivial matters of ordinary people every day, you'll be exhausted. How can you generate income, get rich, or become wealthy?

For your own benefit, being responsible only to your superiors is simple, convenient, and offers better financial prospects.

But now their boss is clearly on his deathbed!
To whom can they be held accountable?

After Cheng Yu fell, they used his name and the actions he represented to suppress the anger and resentment they had been holding back...

I'll tear them to shreds!

"Kill...kill them all...Hanoi...traitors...cook...cook them..." Before Cheng Yu could finish speaking, his waist suddenly stiffened, and he convulsed violently again. He chuckled and foamed at the mouth, his bloodshot eyes staring fixedly into the void, as if he saw a vengeful ghost.

"Quick! Quickly hold the lord down!" Chen Wu, the head of the personal guards, roared hoarsely.

Several people rushed over and used all their strength to barely hold down Cheng Yu's convulsing body.

Looking at Cheng Yu's distorted face and the wounds that exuded an aura of death, Chen Wu's heart sank to the bottom.

He wasn't a medical officer, but he had seen too many battlefield wounded. This kind of "wound spasm" was almost always incurable.

"Chen... Chief Chen, what do we do?"

A younger guard's voice trembled, "Outside...outside everyone's saying the magistrate is dying...Yesterday, a few soldiers in the east city were whispering amongst themselves, and the squad leader caught them, beheaded one, and whipped the others...But...but people's hearts are in even more turmoil! If...if we don't see the magistrate show his face again..."

Chen Wu's face turned ashen.

He knew the seriousness of the problem.

Cheng Yu was the last "spiritual pillar" of Wen County, the "representative figure" of the Han Cao army exercising the power of life and death in Wen County, and the sharp sword called "military law" hanging over the heads of all the garrison troops.

If the sword breaks, the hearts of the people will immediately crumble.

We must get Lord Cheng back on the city wall!

Even if it's just wandering around for a moment, or just revealing a shadow!
An absurd and desperate idea took shape in his mind.

"Go find it! Find the best rouge and face powder! And... find a few skilled carpenters to build a... a frame that the magistrate can sit on, according to his build! Hurry! And secretly!" Chen Wu ordered through gritted teeth, his eyes sweeping fiercely over his men. "If a single word of this leaks out, we'll all be dead! If you want to live, sew your mouths shut!"

The next morning, the sky was overcast.

The atmosphere in Wenxian County was more eerie than usual.

The soldiers guarding the city were ordered to stand ramrod straight, but their eyes couldn't help but drift toward the passageway leading to the city tower.

A series of suppressed footsteps approached.

Chen Wu was in front, followed by Cheng Yu's personal guards holding up a canopy. Under the canopy, the two guards clung tightly to Cheng Yu, who was dressed in a brocade robe, step by step, like a line of puppets being controlled by an invisible hand.

Cheng Yu wore a bamboo hat, and the veil hanging down her face fluttered in the wind...

Amidst the bewildered gazes of the garrison, they approached the banner of their commander.

Chen Wu took a deep breath and turned around to signal.

With slightly trembling hands, Cheng Yu's personal guard lifted the veil from his bamboo hat.

The soldiers guarding the city walls, including the scouts who were vaguely observing from afar below, all saw "Lord Cheng" at that moment...

Cheng Yu, dressed in a magnificent brocade robe, sat upright on a specially made sturdy wooden chair with a backrest and armrests.

His face was covered with thick, pale powder, an attempt to conceal the sickly flush and ashen complexion; his cheeks bore an unnatural crimson, like a monkey's bottom. His lips were also painted vermilion, but the abnormal red made him look more like a blood-drinking demon.

The strangest thing was his posture...

Beneath the brocade robe, his body was actually firmly bound to the back of the chair by several thick cloth straps, and his arms were fixed to the armrests, with only his head able to move slightly.

Chen Wu stood to the side, straining to make his voice loud and resonant, "Prefect Cheng is here! Wen County is well-fortified and well-supplied! The Prime Minister's army will arrive soon! Anyone who dares to speak ill of the army or waver in their resolve will be executed without mercy! Prefect Cheng will be here to defend the city, sharing your fate!"

His voice echoed across the silent city walls.

The soldiers stared wide-eyed at "Lord Cheng," who was "standing" on the city wall but was actually secretly tied to a specially made chair, and remained silent.

They remained silent, just as they had many years ago.

Although makeup concealed the details and distance blurred the expression, the stiff posture, the unnatural marks of binding, and the lifeless feeling...

This is definitely not how a healthy commander should look!
However, no one dared to stand up.

After all, the soldiers and civilians in Wen County today have all been selected time and again over the past three or four hundred years in Shandong during the Han Dynasty...

Just endure it; you can endure both the hot and cold.

Those "reckless fools," "speakers of justice," and "those who carry the torch for the masses" have been repeatedly rejected by the sieve of "leaders have it tough too," "we should be more understanding," and "we should consider the big picture."

The rest, naturally, are like they are now, not daring to speak out, not daring to question, just burying their heads even lower.

If anyone were to utter a single word at this moment, Chen Wu and his accomplices' charade would be exposed, but...

Chen Wu glanced around, suddenly feeling his back straighten and his confidence return. He swallowed, his voice louder and more composed, no longer trembling, "Listen up! Wen County is a strategic location! It concerns the life and death of the Han Dynasty! Anyone who disregards the Han Dynasty, betrays the Prime Minister, or disobeys the Governor's orders will be executed without mercy!"

Chen Wu issued a series of orders on behalf of the Han Dynasty, the Prime Minister, and Cheng Yu.

The person who received the order didn't dare ask a single "why," and simply retreated with their rear end sticking out. Just as Chen Wu was standing with his hands on his hips, about to shake things up a few more times, Cheng Yu's head seemed to twitch slightly uncontrollably, and a very faint "uh-uh" sound, like a broken bellows, escaped his throat...

Chen Wu's heart jumped into his throat, and a cold sweat broke out on his back. He then realized that they had been on the city wall for far too long!

He abruptly waved his hand and shouted sternly, "You all must remain at your posts and not slacken your efforts! Any mistake will be met with ruthless military law!"

Then he immediately signaled to the other guards to cover Cheng Yu's face with a veil again, and then carried him away hastily with a specially made wooden chair and a canopy fan in hand.

Cheng Yu and Chen Wu left, but the city walls remained deathly silent.

Only the cold wind whipped through the banners, making a mournful sound.

As Cheng Yu was carried back to the inner chamber of the city gate tower, his body jerked violently the moment his restraints were removed, followed by another bout of intense spasms.

His makeup was smeared with cold sweat and saliva, making him look utterly disheveled.

"Uh...you...how dare...how dare you...insult me ​​like this!" In a brief moment of lucidity, Cheng Yu understood what Chen Wu and the others had done. Extreme anger and humiliation erupted in his cloudy eyes. His throat made a hoarse sound as he struggled to get up, seemingly wanting to reach for a knife and slash at Chen Wu.

Chen Wu knelt down with a thud, banging his head on the ground, his voice trembling with sobs and extreme fear: "My lord, please calm your anger! My lord, please calm your anger! It's not that we were reckless! We had no choice... The morale of the army! The morale of the army is about to collapse! The cavalry bandits outside the city are eyeing us covetously! The unruly commoners inside the city, those treacherous noblemen... they are all waiting to see you fall, my lord! We... we only wanted to use your might to intimidate the villains and hold out until the Prime Minister's reinforcements arrive! My lord! Our lives depend entirely on you! We had no other choice but to resort to this tactic! We beg your understanding, my lord!"

His personal guards also knelt down, trembling.

Cheng Yu stared intently at Chen Wu, his chest heaving violently, his eyes filled with violence, humiliation, and a hint of the madness and bewilderment of a wild beast driven to despair. He opened his mouth, pointing at Chen Wu, as if he wanted to say something, but the next moment, another violent spasm struck, dragging him into a deeper abyss of delirium, leaving only unconscious roars and the twisting of his body.

"Quick! Hold him down! Tie him up!"

Seeing this, Chen Wu quickly held down Cheng Yu, who was convulsing.

Other guards also came up to help.

Chen Wu looked at Cheng Yu, who had once struck fear into the hearts of many and made soldiers and civilians tremble, now reduced to a state of being neither human nor ghost, being manipulated like a puppet on a stage and bound up like a madman.

A profound sense of desolation welled up in his heart, but it was followed by an even deeper fear.

He knew that this absurd drama wouldn't be able to be staged many more times.

Every "appearance" is an acceleration of exposure, a dance on the edge of a knife.

The Prime Minister's reinforcements...

Where exactly?
The end for him and his personal guards seemed to be approaching irrevocably step by step with the passing of Cheng Yu's life. They were like prisoners trapped in this lonely city, guarding a secret that was bound to collapse, waiting in despair for the executioner's blade to fall at any moment.

……

……

Wen County, a quiet, deserted back alley.

An old soldier, dressed in a worn-out tunic, had just finished his shift on the city wall. He leaned against the cold earthen wall, huddled in this small, relatively 'peaceful' area, and greedily inhaled the polluted air.

A thin, pale-faced young soldier squatted nearby, looking nervous and glancing around.

Every time a figure moved about at the alley entrance, it would trigger a tense reaction from the young soldiers…

"Uncle...Uncle...that...that really is Magistrate Cheng?" The young soldier's voice was barely audible, filled with barely suppressed fear. "I...I think I smelled...smell..."

He dared not utter the word "stinky".

The stench of decay.

No amount of rouge or face powder can cover it up.

Veteran Wang Laoshuan's cloudy old eyes swept across the empty alley before he said in a barely audible voice, "Humans? Haha, that...that's hardly human! Tied up like livestock...painted like paper dolls...that smell...heh, I've smelled it too much on the battlefield...it's the smell of rotten to the core!"

The veteran scoffed, "Chen Wu and his gang of murderers are putting on a ghost play!"

"Then...then what do we do?" The young soldier was clearly at a loss, looking like he was about to cry from fright.

"What can we do?" Old Wang scoffed, his despair filled with mockery. "Just wait! Wait for Chen Wu and his men to mess things up, wait for the Flying Cavalry to invade... or... wait for us to starve to death, die of disease, or be executed as 'disruptors of morale'!"

"Huh?" The young soldier was stunned for a moment before whispering, "Didn't anyone... didn't anyone notice and say anything...?"

"Quite a few people probably noticed..." Old Wang chuckled. "But as for saying something... haha, haha... didn't someone... about that kitchen incident, stand up and speak for everyone... and then what happened?"

The young soldier fell silent.

"Standing in the crowd, you'll be yelling 'That's right!' 'Exactly!' 'Support!'..." Veteran Wang Laoshuan chuckled, "If I really show my face... then it means Shangguan was right, Shangguan has worked hard, Shangguan has it tough... I'm the same way, who else are you expecting to step forward?"

The old soldier's cloudy eyes held no anger, only a numbness worn smooth by life. "Tell me, who's going to step forward? You? Me? Don't be silly! The one who steps forward always rots first! Those old men hiding in their mansions are shrewder than ghosts! If they don't move, why should we, with our worthless lives, move? Just wait… eventually some 'idiot' will jump out… then we'll see if we can find a way to survive…"

……

……

In Wen County, a side courtyard of a collateral branch of a noble family.

A middle-aged scholar dressed in a worn silk robe listened as his trusted servant whispered his observations from the city wall.

He stroked his sparse beard, his eyes flickering uncertainly.

"Tie to a frame, holding a canopy fan, and covered in rouge and powder... Chen Wu and his gang are really desperate." A hint of sarcasm appeared on the middle-aged scholar's lips.

"My lord, this is a huge vulnerability! Should we... find a way to expose it? Or contact the cavalry outside the city? This would be a great achievement!" the trusted servant said anxiously.

"Fool!" the middle-aged scholar sneered. "Spill it out? Spill it out to whom? Let those peasant soldiers find out? What can they do besides bombard the camp and slaughter everyone? The first to suffer will be those of us with families and livelihoods! Contact the General of the Cavalry? The city gates are heavily guarded by those personal guards; even a fly would have a hard time getting out! If it gets out, that mad dog, before he dies, won't he drag us all down with him and boil us alive to vent his anger?"

He stood up, paced back and forth, his eyes filled with shrewd calculation and cold self-preservation. "If the lord is truly finished, those personal guards won't be able to cause trouble for long! It's better to remain still than to act now. The cavalry breaking through the city is only a matter of time. What we need to do is clear ourselves of any wrongdoing! Restrain our clansmen and servants, keep our doors tightly shut, and don't look at or interfere with anything! When the city falls, we'll just be virtuous gentry 'coerced' by the rebels! Understand? As for who will be the 'righteous hero' to expose the lies… hmph, those lowly commoners who can't survive, or those fools driven to desperation, will do it! We'll just wait for the 'restoration' and the 'abandonment of darkness for light'!"

He waved his hand, signaling the servants to leave, as if they were discussing a trivial business matter.

We are all smart people.

……

……

Wen County, black market.

A burly man selling mixed grain cakes, which were small, hard, and mixed with sawdust and dirt, was priced exorbitantly high.

Several pale-faced villagers stood around, their eyes gleaming with hunger, but they dared not move, intimidated by the dagger in the burly man's hand.

A poor young man used a jade pendant and a long robe to exchange for a small piece of cake. He didn't dare to take it with him, so he broke it in half on the spot, put half in his mouth, and gave the other half to another poor young man who came with him.

After wolfing down their food, they staggered out of the black market.

"This proper food... is too expensive..." The first poor scholar looked up in the direction of the city magistrate's mansion and muttered angrily to his companion, "Every day... it's truly wolves in sheep's clothing! The Cheng family is acting against the natural order, and their henchmen are even more like monkeys in human clothing, treating human life like dirt! Such treacherous officials..."

His companion, pale with fright, covered his mouth and looked around in terror. "Brother Zhao, watch your words! Watch your words! Don't drag me down with you if you want to die! Whether he's a man or a ghost, sitting or bound! As long as that flag is still flying over the city wall, those men's knives can chop off our heads! You want to be a hero? Look around!"

He pointed at the numb, timid people, their eyes fixed only on the grain and bread, "Who will follow you? They just hope others go to their deaths so they can scavenge for food! Save your energy, think about how to survive until the city falls!"

Looking at the numb and timid crowd around him, at the greedy yet wary eyes of the grain merchants, and listening to his companion's fearful admonitions, the young man from the Zhao family, filled with anger and a sliver of justice, was instantly extinguished by the cold reality. He slumped down, clenched his fists, but ultimately uttered not a single word…

His pitiful "public opinion" and weak "justice" are laughably fragile in the face of survival and the butcher's knife.