“If they could really stir up any waves, I would look at them with higher regard!”
Jin Feng watched the backs of the scholars and said disdainfully, “Your Highness, rest assured. The incense had only burned a little before this group scattered. Clearly, they are a mob with extremely unsteady convictions. They will achieve nothing.”
“So the master deliberately spoke harshly to intimidate them, right?”
The Ninth Princess immediately understood Jin Feng’s intention.
“Yes, I want them to think I am a madman who kills without blinking, so they will not come every day to make noise and annoy everyone.”
Jin Feng said with a smile.
Facts proved that Jin Feng’s decision was correct.
After the scholars returned, they inevitably criticised and cursed bitterly, but no one dared to go to Da Mang Slope to cause trouble again.
They were truly afraid that Jin Feng would break their legs or capture them and send them to the military camp.
Moreover, with Jin Feng instructing people to spread news everywhere about Han Feng and Shi Lingyun’s wedding, the commoners’ attention gradually shifted.
Now, streets and alleys were full of discussions about the couple’s wedding. Talk about those who had lost virtue grew less and less.
Thus, this farce had much thunder but little rain. It soon subsided.
Under Han Feng’s deliberate arrangements, this debate also quickly spread throughout the selection camp.
When the girls heard that scholars had caused trouble, their hearts, which had only just calmed, began to grow uneasy again.
Now, learning that the troublesome scholars had all been scolded away by Mr Jin, many girls calmed down once more.
The stage play occupied the drill ground, so selections were paused.
Many girls guessed this was deliberately arranged by Jin Feng, but after the play and this scolding battle, the girls were no longer anxious. No one urged for results anymore.
Instead, more girls focused their attention on Han Feng and Shi Lingyun’s wedding.
Now, if one were to say who was the most popular in the selection camp, it was not Jin Feng, but Shi Lingyun.
All the girls regarded her as an idol. They all looked forward to her having a happy ending with Han Feng, just like in the story.
After Jin Feng discussed with the Ninth Princess and Qing Xinyao, and communicated with Han Feng and Shi Lingyun, they decided to hold the wedding on the day the memorial monument was completed.
Because labour was plentiful, the monument was built quickly. It had now been erected.
Hundreds of stonemasons recruited from various parts of Xichuan worked day and night, carving stone tablets one by one.
After the military horse camp was breached, Danzhu had no energy to collect bodies for Da Kang’s people. After Jin Feng captured the camp, he ordered people to carefully gather the bodies of the commoners there and confirm identities one by one.
At this time, the stonemasons were chiselling their names onto the tablets.
With hundreds of stonemasons working simultaneously, progress was still rapid.
A few days later, dozens of stone tablets were erected around the memorial monument.
Han Feng and Shi Lingyun’s wedding was also held as scheduled on this day.
Countless commoners, upon hearing the news, rushed out from the city to watch the excitement.
For a time, the entire Da Mang Slope was a sea of people.
All the commoners craned their necks in anticipation, ready to see what the legendary heroine looked like.
Was she as beautiful and valiant as described in the story?
But what the commoners awaited was not the bridal escort team. Instead, they saw a funeral procession emerge from the nearby hillside.
“Whose family is so tactless? A wedding is being held here, yet they come to bury someone. Is this not bringing bad luck to others?”
“Exactly, this is too bold!”
“The one getting married today is a big figure from the Zhen Yuan Escort Agency. Just wait and see. This family is finished!”
“Finished is what they deserve. Truly courting death!”
“No, wait. Why is this funeral procession all wearing clothes from the Zhen Yuan Escort Agency?”
“It seems they really are.”
“Eh, look. There are women carrying the coffin too!”
“Where? Where?”
“At the very front, the one on the left of the coffin. Is that not a woman?”
“It really is. Whose family is this? So lacking in propriety. How can they let women carry a coffin?”
“You lot stop talking nonsense. That is the current Ninth Princess!”
“I think you are the one talking nonsense. How could a princess carry a coffin for someone?”
“Believe it or not. My home is at the city gate. The Ninth Princess entered and exited the city on horseback twice without a carriage. I saw clearly!”
“My family delivers vegetables to the Qing residence. Once when I went to the Qing residence, I saw the Ninth Princess. It is her! And the two people behind the Ninth Princess, one is our prefect, the other is General Meng of the Wei Sheng Army. I have seen them both at the Qing residence!”
“A coffin carried by four people, three of whom are the princess, the prefect, and a general. Who is the other one?”
“No need to ask. It must be Mr Jin from the Zhen Yuan Escort Agency!”
“My heavens. Who is in this coffin, to have the princess, the prefect, Mr Jin, and General Meng carrying it together?”
“I do not know. Definitely a big figure!”
“But I have not heard of any big figure dying in this battle.”
…
Leading the funeral procession at the very front were Jin Feng, the Ninth Princess, Qing Xinyao, and Meng Tianhai.
The four of them carried a jet-black coffin.
Because so many had died this time, too many coffins were needed. Even after chopping all the surrounding wood, it was not enough.
Thus, each coffin was smaller than normal and much thinner.
There were no bodies inside, only a few urns of ashes.
This was unavoidable because coffins were truly insufficient.
Several urns of ashes had to be placed in one coffin.
Even so, it was not strenuous for four people to carry.
But they walked slowly.
The commoners were curious about whom they were carrying.
“You do not need to guess. What Her Highness and Mr Jin are carrying is not some big figure, but ordinary soldiers and commoners who died helping us seize the military horse camp.”
A Wei Sheng Army soldier responsible for maintaining order said, “All coffins are the same. There is no distinction of high or low, noble or humble.”
“The princess carrying a coffin for ordinary soldiers and commoners?”
Hearing this, the commoners were stunned.
“All coffins are the same?”
Some commoners’ attention was drawn to another statement, “Exactly how many coffins are there?”
The soldier maintaining order this time did not answer them, but the commoners saw for themselves.
Behind the four with Jin Feng, another four escorts appeared.
They also carried a thin coffin, similarly containing several urns of ashes.
Then more and more coffins emerged from behind the foot of the hill.
There were truly too many coffins. Even the escorts were not enough.
Next came soldiers from the Iron Tiger Camp.
Then Wei Sheng Army troops.
Coffin after coffin wound out from the hillside. The funeral procession grew longer and longer, stretching beyond sight.
At first, the commoners discussed heatedly, but as the coffins increased, the atmosphere gradually became solemn.
“Son, your father is in one of the coffins. Kneel to your father and send him on his final journey!”
A woman who had fortunately survived pressed her son’s shoulders and said.
Her husband had died in the military horse camp. His body had been collected by the escorts. His ashes were now in one of the coffins.
The eight- or nine-year-old son already vaguely understood the meaning of death. Without a word, he bit his lip and knelt towards the funeral procession.
Once someone took the lead, others followed.
In the end, on the vast open ground, only the soldiers maintaining order remained standing. All the remaining commoners knelt.
But this time, they knelt not to the imperial Ninth Princess, nor to their parental official the prefect, but to these soldiers and commoners who had died resisting the enemy.
