Standing at the top of Great Python Slope and looking down, the open ground below was covered in a vast, dark mass of kneeling common people.
A huge funeral procession wound its way through the crowd.
The coffin was black, and the clothes of the pallbearers were also black.
It seemed even the heavens could not bear to watch any longer, as a dark cloud drifted over and blocked the sunlight.
Tens of thousands of people had gathered on the open ground at the same time. No one had organised it, and no one had demanded it, yet not a single person spoke.
There was only the heavy sound of the funeral procession’s footsteps as they carried the coffins.
Gradually, some common people began to weep quietly.
Those around them seemed to catch the emotion and started crying too.
…
This battle had taken place on the open ground outside the city gate, so Ninth Princess Meng Tianhai had suggested burying the fallen soldiers and civilians near the battlefield, but Jin Feng rejected the idea.
In his previous life, he had seen how quickly cities could develop and how much larger Chengdu would become compared to the current Xichuan.
Building a memorial monument in such a place would not be a problem, but occupying a large area for a cemetery would certainly hinder the future development of Xichuan Prefecture.
He did not want the cemetery to be demolished after his death.
Therefore, he strongly insisted on choosing a hillside further west of Great Python Slope as the cemetery site.
Zhou Youda had already led the common people to dig the graves on the hillside.
When Jin Feng and the others arrived carrying the coffins, the people helped lower them into the ground together.
Then, literate scholars wrote the basic information of the deceased on the gravestones: name, dates of birth and death, and native place.
The so-called gravestones were simply upright wooden plaques.
However, Jin Feng had already spent several thousand taels of silver to hire stonemasons, and in time the wooden markers would gradually be replaced with stone ones.
But with more than ten thousand fallen soldiers and civilians combined, carving each person’s details individually with chisels was a project far larger than building a memorial monument. It would probably take one or two years to complete.
At this moment, more common people continued to arrive from the city.
They had originally come out to watch the spectacle, but upon seeing the funeral procession, they were affected by the solemn atmosphere and spontaneously knelt on both sides of the road to pay respects to the fallen soldiers and civilians.
The funeral procession stretched from Great Python Slope all the way to the cemetery, and the kneeling mourners lined the route from Great Python Slope to the cemetery as well.
The entire process lasted more than two hours before all the coffins were finally buried.
At that point, the escorts, the Iron Tiger Battalion, and the Weisheng Army all assembled south of the cemetery, formed into neat squares.
The other three sides of the cemetery were completely surrounded by countless common people.
Yet the whole cemetery remained eerily quiet; even the children dared not speak loudly.
“Report to the general: all soldiers and civilians have been buried!”
A Weisheng Army captain ran over to report to Meng Tianhai.
Meng Tianhai nodded and looked towards the Ninth Princess.
The Ninth Princess in turn looked at Jin Feng.
“Beat the drums!”
Jin Feng shouted loudly.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dozens of escorts struck the war drums at the same time.
The deep drumbeats echoed throughout the cemetery.
“Salute!”
Jin Feng shouted again.
Whoosh!
All the escorts, Iron Tiger Battalion, and Weisheng Army soldiers raised their right arms horizontally and placed their fists over their hearts.
This was the military salute of the Great Kang.
The common people also spontaneously knelt on the ground again.
“Fire the cannons!”
Jin Feng shouted once more.
Bang! Bang! Bang! …
Streams of fireworks shot into the sky and exploded in the air.
Jin Feng did not yet have the ability to manufacture cannons, so he had hurriedly produced a batch of fireworks as a substitute.
But for the common people who had never seen such a thing, the effect was still astonishing.
They all looked up at the sky with expressions of awe and fear.
The silent scene once again became noisy.
“The storytellers say Mr Jin received weapons from the gods, which is why he could defeat the cavalry. I didn’t believe it before, but now I do!”
“I believe it too! They fly so high and then explode. Isn’t that the weapon of the Thunder God?”
“No wonder the cavalry were so powerful yet still no match for Mr Jin!”
“You lot know nothing. The most important thing in war isn’t weapons, it’s morale. Without morale, even the most powerful weapons are useless.”
“That’s right. Look how neatly those escorts stand! I hear they fight fiercely too, every one of them charging as if they don’t care about their lives!”
“I heard the escorts’ wages are higher than those of the yamen constables. Their children can attend the escort agency’s school for free, the agency takes care of them if they’re injured, and if they die, their wives and children are looked after by the agency too. If I were an escort, I’d naturally fight without fear of death!”
“Is that true? How can escorts earn more than constables?”
“Of course it’s true. The Zhenyuan Escort Agency is recruiting right now. Go and ask if you don’t believe me!”
“No need to ask. Look at this funeral. Apart from Mr Jin, who else would treat ordinary soldiers and common people with such respect?”
“Yes, when I was in the Dongshan Army, our fallen brothers were just hastily buried in a pit without even a straw mat!”
“You wanted a straw mat? When I served in the north against the Khitans, more than three hundred brothers were killed. After the Khitans withdrew, the general actually ordered us to strip the clothes from the dead brothers to sell to the people, then threw the bodies into a mass grave and forgot about them!”
“Ah, if only I’d met Mr Jin when I was a soldier!”
“It’s not too late now. I hear Mr Jin is recruiting troops.”
“No good. I hear Mr Jin gives priority to those with brands on their faces.”
“Why? Those people are…”
“Shut your mouth quick! Mr Jin said those people are heroes. If they hadn’t stormed the military horse camp and seized the cavalry’s warhorses, who knows how long this battle would have dragged on!”
“That’s right. Without them, the cavalry might have branded our faces too. Anyone who speaks ill of them from now on, I’ll fight him to the death!”
…
Jin Feng’s efforts over the recent period had finally paid off.
Now when the common people looked at those refugees with brands on their faces, their expressions had changed.
From previous contempt and disgust, they had turned to respect and even envy.
The refugees who had long felt inferior and timid gradually straightened their backs and held their heads high.
Before this, many people had not understood why Jin Feng went to such great lengths, building both a memorial monument and a cemetery.
Even the Ninth Princess had not understood.
She only avoided opposing it because Jin Feng insisted so strongly.
But now, the Ninth Princess began to grasp why he had done it.
“Sir, is this what you meant by the hearts of the people?”
The Ninth Princess asked quietly.
Previously, common people would avoid soldiers if they could, and if they couldn’t, they would hurriedly call them “military lords”.
Many soldiers even felt proud of this, thinking it made them look impressive.
But the Ninth Princess knew that the people’s fear of soldiers was not a good thing.
Now she could feel that the people’s attitude was completely different from before.
Their fear of soldiers was gradually disappearing, replaced by genuine respect.
“Yes, this is the hearts of the people!”
Jin Feng turned and said, “When the day comes that the people willingly send their sons to join the army, your Chen family’s throne will be truly secure!”
“It’s difficult,” the Ninth Princess sighed. “Apart from your Zhenyuan Army, sir, I have never seen an army that people join willingly!”
“It’s all thanks to the contrast with others.”
