TPGA - 76

Chapter 76: The Empty Village

As he spoke, he used his uninjured hand to gently steady Yunyi’s slender waist. This sudden contact caused Yunyi’s body to stiffen. Taking a deep breath to suppress her unease, she firmly spurred the horse’s flanks and shouted, “Giddy up!”

Under her urging, Qingyun raced through the snowstorm like an arrow loosed from a bow. Each jolt of the horse’s movement was excruciating for Li Shimin, whose right shoulder throbbed unbearably. Beads of cold sweat dripped continuously from his forehead.

After riding for nearly an hour, Yunyi spotted the city gates in the distance. Turning back, she called out, “Second Master, just hold on a little longer—we’re almost there!”

“I’m fine. Just be careful yourself.” These eight words exhausted nearly all of Li Shimin’s strength, leaving him unable to speak further.

When they were still over a mile away, Yunyi saw the gatekeepers slowly closing the massive doors. She urgently shouted, “Wait! There are still people outside!”

Due to the howling wind and snow, the gatekeepers didn’t hear her. Even if they had, they wouldn’t have delayed closing the gates for a lone woman’s plea.

Despite Yunyi repeatedly urging Qingyun to go faster, they failed to reach the gates before they were shut. Staring at the tightly closed gates, Yunyi grew increasingly anxious. Ignoring the pain in her foot, she dismounted and hurried to the gates, pounding on them and pleading, “Please open the gates and let us in!”

After repeating herself several times, an impatient voice finally responded from the other side. “The gates are closed. Come back tomorrow.”

Yunyi begged, “Sir, the storm is fierce, and there’s nowhere to take shelter. We’re injured—please let us in!”

“The court has decreed that after the hour of you, the gates must remain closed unless it’s an urgent military matter. Leave.” After that, no matter how much Yunyi knocked or pleaded, there was no further response from the other side—not even when she mentioned Li Shimin’s identity.

From atop the horse, Li Shimin said weakly, “Forget it. Opening the gates without authorization is a capital offense. It doesn’t matter whether they recognize us or not—they wouldn’t dare open them. Let’s find somewhere to stay for the night.” Glancing around, he suddenly pointed eastward. “I know there’s a village over there. Let’s go.”

Following the direction of his finger, Yunyi vaguely made out some structures in the distance. Nodding reluctantly, she chose not to remount the horse, unwilling to have further close contact with Li Shimin. Instead, she led Qingyun by the reins toward the indicated location.

Upon arriving, despite the heavy snowfall, Yunyi could see numerous houses. Perhaps because of the storm, the streets were deserted, with row upon row of buildings standing silently in the snow.

“Is anyone here?” Yunyi approached an old house, knocking on the door and calling out, but there was no response—no sound at all. Puzzled, she murmured, “Could they have gone to bed so early?”

Li Shimin’s voice reached her ears. “Stop knocking. There’s no one inside. Let’s go in.”

Surprised, Yunyi asked, “No one? How does Second Master know this household is empty?”

“Not just this one—all the houses here are empty.” With great effort, Li Shimin dismounted from the horse, pushed open the unlocked door, and entered.

Strange. How did Li Shimin know there was no one here? Had he been here before? But looking at these houses, this was clearly a village. Why would there be no one at all? Had everyone moved away?

Yunyi led Qingyun inside. As Li Shimin had said, the house was indeed unoccupied. Dust and cobwebs covered every surface, suggesting it had been vacant for some time. What puzzled her, however, were several dark red stains on the walls—resembling… blood.

While Yunyi tended to Qingyun, Li Shimin somehow gathered a pile of firewood and dry grass. “We’ve been traveling through wind and snow. Use this to start a fire and warm yourselves up—don’t catch a chill.”

After managing to light the fire, Yunyi warmed her icy hands and curiously asked, “Second Master, where have all the villagers gone? Why is no one living here anymore?”

By now, the sky had grown completely dark. In the flickering firelight, Li Shimin’s face alternated between light and shadow. “This village used to be bustling with people, quite lively. Then, a terrible plague broke out. At first, it was just one or two people, but soon it spread to ten, twenty, and more. The sick kept increasing, and the doctors couldn’t cure them—even the doctors fell ill.”

Yunyi’s eyes widened, and she blurted out, “Are you saying… everyone here died of the plague? But why have I never heard of this?”

Though she had only arrived in Honghua Commandery in September, to ensure her smooth infiltration of the governor’s mansion without being discovered, Yunyi had painstakingly memorized all significant events of the region with Mo Ping’s help. Yet, this incident had never been mentioned—not by Mo Ping, nor by Meixue or Caiping.

“No,” Li Shimin’s reply initially eased Yunyi’s tension, but his next words sent a chill through her body. “The governor at the time, fearing widespread panic across the commandery, ordered the news suppressed and summoned multiple doctors to treat the afflicted. Unfortunately, their efforts were futile, and the situation worsened. At least seven or eight out of ten villagers contracted the plague. Desperate, they banded together to flee the village in search of survival. In the ensuing conflict, many died, and even some soldiers were infected. Fearing the situation would spiral out of control, the governor ordered the execution of everyone in the village!”

Yunyi stared at Li Shimin, her face pale, struggling to process his words. Placing a hand on her chest, she managed to ask haltingly, “You said earlier that seven or eight out of ten people fell ill… meaning some didn’t contract the disease. What happened to them?”

Li Shimin sighed deeply. “To completely conceal the matter and prevent the plague from spreading, he ordered the extermination of the entire village—over seven hundred people—whether sick or not!”

“This… this…” Though Yunyi was no sheltered villager, the idea of over seven hundred innocent lives being slaughtered was still unbearable. She could almost see the suffering villagers crying out as they were butchered, their bodies left to rot. Her heart remained unsettled for a long while.

After a prolonged silence, she asked gravely, “An entire village wiped out—how could no one suspect anything?”

Li Shimin picked up a stick and prodded the firewood. “After burying all the bodies, that governor blamed everything on ghosts and spirits, spreading rumors to absolve himself entirely. But as you said, such a massive event couldn’t go unnoticed, especially by those who had relatives in the village. They united to file complaints and even attempted to travel to Luoyang to petition the imperial court. However, Luoyang is hundreds of miles away—a journey not easily undertaken—and the governor dispatched men to block their path. Eventually, the matter fizzled out.”