"How did my brother Pei die?" I was a little numb, with a stiff face. After all, it is not easy for anyone to accept the bad news coming true.
The boy named Ye Jian wanted to speak, but he looked at Guan Hai who was looking depressed and still had nothing to say. Guan Hai raised his head and said calmly: "I'll tell you."
Guan Hai and Pei Yuanshao were brothers. Because Pei's family was poor, Guan Hai was sent to a childless family named Guan for adoption. The two brothers met again in the Yellow Turban Army. They were surprised to see each other at that time. Finally, when Pei came home and brought his parents, the truth came out. The two brothers had some differences in personality. Pei was open-minded and kind, but Guan Hai was a little biased and had clear likes and dislikes. Since Pei surrendered to Jingzhou, Guan Hai regarded Pei as a traitor and they were irreconcilable.
This autumn, Wu was in chaos, and most of the areas had no harvest. There was nothing to describe it except that it was suitable for fighting. It was completely desolate, unlike the land of fish and rice that the Han Dynasty had enjoyed for four hundred years. When my sister first arrived in Wu County, it was as desolate as the frontier outside the Great Wall. There were no local officials to be found. There were only various forces, including powerful local militia, the personal army of officials, the refugee camps of the people, and even more numerous bandits and pirates. When my sister arrived there, she incorporated the refugee camps and sent troops everywhere to fight against various bandits and pirates. Although we had too few people, because she knew the relationship between Wucheng Guan Hai and Brother Pei, my sister still asked him to use Taihu Lake as the boundary and only pacify the northern part, not the southern part.
Maybe then nothing would have happened this time, but when Brother Pei surrendered Ye Jian in the north of Wu, where the Yangtze River meets the sea, he left a cover. The minions were surprised to think that Guan Hai had surrendered to their sister, and everyone knew Guan Hai's bravery, so when they saw Brother Pei, they surrendered one after another, and the northern part of Wu was pacified for a while.
But this matter soon reached Guan Hai's ears. He immediately knew that Brother Pei had arrived, and he was even more furious. He united several local separatist forces in the southern part of Wu and rushed towards his sister's northern camp together.
That winter day, no earlier than a month earlier, on the original paddy fields west of Taihu Lake and south of Shenting Ridge, Guan Hai rode his horse to the front of the battle and yelled, calling for Brother Pei to go out. Brother Pei did not go out at first under the persuasion of his sister, and did not even show his face in front of the battle. Then his sister led Ye Jian and Sheng Bin to the battle, and they were also surprised to see another Pei Yuanshao riding his horse majestically to the front of the battle.
Guan Hai had no intention of fighting with the others. He just wanted to lure out Brother Pei, so he used a lot of dirty words to deliberately insult his sister. Ye Jian couldn't stand it and picked up a spear to fight. After fighting for less than ten rounds, he was exhausted. Sheng Bin saw that the situation was not good, so he rushed out and the two of them attacked Guan Hai together. Guan Hai was good. He still pulled himself together and fought the two generals, and he didn't lose. For a while, the momentum over there was greatly boosted. My sister had no more generals to send. Seeing that the two generals were unable to hold on, my sister had no choice but to lead the army to fight hard.
At this time, Brother Pei came riding from nowhere, without any weapon, but rushed forward and forcibly seized Guan Hai's sword with his hands, and at the same time shouted back the two generals, saying that it was a family matter and others should not interfere. Guan Hai still remembered some brotherly friendship, and the sword was about to cut off Brother Pei's hands, but he stopped it abruptly.
Guan Hai put away his knife and shouted, "You are a thief who forgets righteousness when he sees profit, a shameless person, a coward who loves life and fears death, a heartless and ungrateful person, how can you live in this world? Hurry up and kill yourself, don't dirty my knife."
"I am not without honor, nor am I shameless. I have never feared death, so how could I forget my feelings? But have you forgotten General Tiangong's wish?"
"I didn't forget, but you did. You surrendered to the government army, but you treated these crooked officials as your own parents."
"How can you believe me? Go and look at the smiles on the faces of the people in Jingzhou! They are genuine, without any affectation. They are real happiness. Although we cannot make the people rich, we can at least let them live and work in peace and contentment."
"You've already been with us. Aren't you ashamed? I really hate my face. Why do I have a big brother like you? Do you feel like you've become a complete lackey?"
"How can you believe me? Do you want me to show you my heart?"
"You can be happy, but I won't believe you unless you come with me and kill this woman together. I will believe that you still have some loyalty. Maybe we can resume our brotherhood."
Brother Pei seemed to have made a great decision. He got off the horse, looked at the ground, and picked up a few strands of withered grass from the ground.
"This is our land, but this year only weeds grow here. There is no food, and without food there is no hope. Is this what General Tiangong hopes for? What are you doing? Are you stringing a rope around your neck? Is your ideal to let the people starve to death with you?"
"Shut up, I haven't thought about it that way, but when have those officials ever cared about our lives? In the sixth year of Guanghe, people in our hometown traded their children for cannibalism. Those were children, human lives. You're still following them, are you crazy? Join us, kill the soldiers and seize the city, open the warehouses and release the grain, and the people can still survive this winter. Otherwise, I'm afraid no one will survive this winter."
"What about next year? Have you ever thought about it? I tell you, Lord Wei, the governor of Jingzhou, is not like that. Although he cannot change the whole world, he can make the people under his command live a good life. One of my big brothers said to me at that time: 'What is General Tiangong's hope?' I answered: 'To make all the people in the world live a good life.' He said: 'If someone can make everyone live a good life, will you follow him?' I said yes. He guaranteed me with everything in his life that Lord Wei Dingguo, the governor of Jingzhou, is such a person. If you must ask him to prove it to me, let me ask the people of Changsha. I was like, I'll listen to you. He did this not to listen to him, but for the sake of the people of the world, asking me whether I would do it or not! I said I would do it at that time, and if he deceived me, I would go back and kill his closest relative, the woman opposite you today, who is the sister of my big brother."
Guan Hai stopped talking, and Brother Pei became emotional and continued: "I still remember the first order my big brother gave me that day: 'It's snowing heavily now, I order you to lead people to clear the snow and open the way for the people.'"
"I can still remember the laughter of the pedestrians on the road at dusk that day. Brother, you should really see what the common people need. Don't let the soldiers shed blood in vain, and let this land grow food again. Please, brother."
"Stop that. I won't believe you. Just go away." When Guan Hai said this, he didn't know what was wrong with him.
Brother Pei turned around and bowed to his sister, then turned back with tears streaming down his face, "Brother, I hope you can believe me, but I'm not afraid if you don't. I will make you believe me and let you see if my heart is red or dark." He then ripped open his clothes, then ripped them off piece by piece, revealing his muscular upper body in front of tens of thousands of people.
At that time, no one was aware of what was going to happen next, because Brother Pei pulled out a short sword from his waist and cut open his chest without hesitation. The knife went deep, and when the knife fell, Pei Yuanshao had lost consciousness.
Guan Hai was so frightened that he almost rolled off his horse and supported Brother Pei, who was already trembling in the wind. Looking at the shocking knife mark, Guan Hai could no longer be fierce...
“My eldest brother was still talking to me intermittently at that time. If I couldn’t turn back, at least tens of thousands of brothers would have to die with at least one of us two brothers today. But if he died, he believed that the lives of more than ten thousand people could be saved, so he begged me not to let the two sides fight. Finally, he said, ‘Brother, you take my place.’ Then he left.” Guan Hai looked away and stared at the ground, his hands tightly grasping his legs, as if forcing himself to do these things.
I understand his pain, I patted his shoulder from behind, and tried to relax: "Second Brother Pei, it's okay, your elder brother can at least go with peace of mind." Although my tears flowed uncontrollably. But Brother Pei's move did save tens of thousands of people from the war. Compared to seeing tens of thousands of people killed, hundreds of thousands of people suffering, and brothers killing each other, I should think positively about Brother Pei's departure this time. At least if I am too sad, it will make Guan Hai more uncomfortable.
"Let me go." I didn't expect Guan Hai to react so strongly. He shook my arm away. "Remember, I believe in my elder brother, not you. If you hadn't been hypocritical and speak false words to my elder brother, how could my elder brother leave me like this? I will not forgive you. If you scolded me today, I might still treat you as a man, but now I think you are just a hypocrite. I am here to stand for my brother, but don't call me so affectionately. I will not recognize a fake brother like you on his behalf. Don't call me Pei or anything. I have no face to have the same surname as my brother. My name is Guan Hai! Since you are not dead, let's retreat!" After that, he waved his hand to let the troops withdraw.
"Marquis Ping'an Fengyun, are you okay? Brother Guan's words may have been offensive. Please forgive me if I have offended him. He just lost his brother and may be feeling too sad." I knew Ye Jian was explaining to me, so I smiled at him and put my awkward hand that had been pushed away back on his shoulder and patted him.
"I can understand. I won't blame him because he is still my brother Pei, even though he doesn't remember me as his brother." I was calm. When I saw him, I could still hold back my grief. After he left, I actually howled to the sky. Tears dripped down my ears. Brother Pei was the first high-ranking general in Jingzhou to die in battle since the Zhongping uprising, and he was still my brother, my good brother.
"Ah, Marquis Ping'an Fengyun, I will tell your sister that you are safe and sound. I think she will be very happy... Or, you can go back with me."
"Don't keep saying you and yours. I don't like that. Just call me Brother Zhi. What's the point of being the Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun? Even if I can dominate the world, if I can't keep my brothers safe, I don't deserve to be the Marquis of Wanhu."
"Ping An Feng Yun Hou... Brother Zhi, will you come with me?"
"No, I've been entrusted by someone to take charge of this village and I can't leave. Tell you where you are stationed, and as soon as they come back, I'll go see my sister." I believe I'm a person who understands responsibility, even though the person I want to see most is not far away.
"I see. I don't know where Sister Yinling's army is now. Anyway, it's easy for you to find it by following our horse hoof prints. I'll leave first."
"There is one more thing. It seems like you are coming just for me. What's going on?" I suddenly realized this problem.
"It happened by chance. Yesterday, our army's outpost scouts discovered the whereabouts of the Jinfan bandits. They attacked Yuzhang. We found this village along their return route. We carefully observed the size and number of people in this village. We wanted to take advantage of the fact that they had no defense against us and catch them off guard. But we also found that the silver-shining... It was too conspicuous." He pointed at my Tianlang. I nodded and motioned for him to continue.
"We went back to report it, and also mentioned the silvery, spiked strange weapon. Unexpectedly, Sister Yinling was so shocked that she asked if anyone had seen a tall man who was taller than an ordinary person. Our people didn't notice it. We only knew that they were offering sacrifices to their ancestors, and there were two heads on the tribute table. We did notice a piece of leather armor hanging on the rack beside the tent like a trophy. The armor was really huge, but there was no helmet." I knew that this matter would only become more and more unclear, and I knew that my sister would definitely misunderstand. I guess my sister almost fainted on the spot.
"Sister Yinling seemed to have almost fainted, at least we all felt that way. She was obviously feeling unwell. We asked her what was wrong but she didn't answer. She calmed down for a while, and then ordered the entire army to rush to the Jinfan bandit camp before the enemy knew we were coming. But just as we were about to move out, she changed her mind and asked us to continue monitoring and report any unusual movements of the Jinfan bandits. At four o'clock in the morning, a spy came on horseback to report that many Jinfan bandits had left the lake by boat. This time she ordered us to rush here quickly, and she would follow with a large team behind."
"Okay, your name is Ye Jian, right?" I asked. "Go back quickly and tell my sister not to come over. Wait for me to come over. I will come and tell her as soon as possible about some things. Remember, don't let her come over. I will be there soon." I emphasized my tone.
I watched the young man leave, and hurried back to the camp, asking someone to find me a set of plain mourning clothes that fit me as well as possible. I packed up the mourning clothes and leather armor in a bundle, and then sat in the camp waiting for Gan Ning and his men to return. I also sent people down to inquire around. They have people within a hundred miles in all directions, and they will report any news as soon as they have it.
I remember that I was furious at the time and almost yelled at him, "Why didn't anyone come to warn us about this large army? If they weren't my sister's army and I wasn't here, this village would be in great danger today."
They explained: "They may have set up camp a hundred miles away." At this time, a man suddenly ran out of the gate and informed us that there might be an enemy attack. There would be quite a lot of people, two in a row, stretching for several miles.
I sat on the ground somewhat dejectedly and told him that those who were supposed to come had already come and now had retreated for half an hour. He also sat on the ground exhausted. They asked him why he didn't light the beacon fire. He felt wronged. It was too humid last night. When he found the army, he couldn't find dry firewood in the forest to make a fire. He had no choice but to run for dozens of miles along the mountain road to deliver the letter. It was really difficult for him. I told him to rest.
My sister is really powerful. If I fight her, I am afraid I will be defeated by now. As for me, I still don't know how to fight. If everything is thrown to me alone, I really don't know what to do first. At least I have no idea now. But my sister has demonstrated to me how she defeated us. Even if we can see the beacon fire, what can we do? The fighting force is almost out in full force. I know that we can only retreat quickly, and whether we can retreat or not is another question. We don't have so many ships. It is easy for cavalry to chase a group of old and weak soldiers who are fleeing with baggage.
But I waited until the next day when it was light to wait for them to come back. That night, I slept uneasily and woke up immediately when I heard any unusual noise. After they came back, I didn't ask them anything, but I scolded them first, criticizing them for not being vigilant enough and letting someone get close to them before they realized it, which almost caused a big accident.
They were speechless after knowing the whole story. They admitted that after they signed the covenant with Brother Zheng, they only paid attention to the situation in the north of Jiangbei. Because there was no trouble in other places, they only set up a hundred-mile sentry post. They did this to conceal themselves, so as not to be too powerful and attack the enemy. In fact, it is really difficult for so many of them to hide, but they told me that the land route here is a hundred miles of mountains. Turning out in the middle and walking north, you have to walk through a dozen miles of potholes and a hundred steps wide to get such a wide flat land. I asked why they didn't set traps and roadblocks on the road. They just wanted to make it completely unknown to others that there were people here. Otherwise, if they suffered a loss, it would be difficult for others to forget it in the future. If there were more complications, the trouble would only get bigger and bigger. Now they are afraid of something going wrong, and what if they mess with Brother Zheng? They also put on a bad smile on their faces, which made me, who was not in a very good mood, want to beat them up. But they admitted that the key problem was that they didn't expect my sister's group to intervene here. However, she did intervene, and she almost caused them irreparable losses. They had to admit that this person was powerful, and the key was that this person was a woman. I knew that if my sister heard this, she would inevitably be punished.
After I taught them a lesson, I thought I couldn't really blame them. I said goodbye and set off quickly. I didn't know where my mind had flown to. If it weren't for the news that Brother Pei had passed away, I didn't know what would happen to me. Now when I was about to leave, I was a little hesitant, but after all, I was on the road. I still wore ordinary clothes, wrapped the wolf with sheepskin, took the package with clothes, said hello, took a horse, and ran out.
The sky gradually brightened up. Looking at the horse hoof prints on the ground, and obviously there was only one way to go, I kept urging my horse to gallop. In this dim forest path, I just felt that the road seemed to never end, but fortunately, time seemed to pass very slowly. When I ran out of the narrow mountain road, the sky was bright, and I could even see the flags and smoke from the military camp in the wilderness. I was about to see my sister, and the feeling was different. My hands seemed to be a little out of control. But I still found a secluded place, changed my clothes, took off my cloth clothes, and put on a set of mourning clothes over my leather armor. I showed the Tianlang and hurried to the camp. I think many of the patrolmen knew me. Even if they didn't know me, they would know it at a glance because my features were so obvious. I think my sister had already issued an order not to stop such a person, so I almost ran straight over without any hindrance. Instead, they would give me the shortest way.
But I don't know what happened. It seemed that the horse suddenly refused to obey me. I almost fell off the horse several times. I couldn't control the reins. I even started to get nervous and said to my horse brother, please don't embarrass me. Fortunately, I didn't fall off. It was the horse that slowed down first and finally fell to the ground. I jumped off the horse with preparations in advance. Looking at the horse foaming at the mouth on the ground, I thought about how I had been urging the poor animal to hurry up for the past two hours. I even felt a little distressed and asked someone to take the horse to the horse officer for a check-up. I still hurried into the camp. Many people knew me because most of the people from Jingzhou were from Jingzhou. The atmosphere in the whole camp was a bit serious. I was in a difficult mood. I was happy and sad at the same time. With every step forward, I was happier and sadder.
"You're going to bump into me." I kept my head down until this familiar voice sounded in front of me, with a kind of excitement in the tone. Without doing anything, I opened my arms and hugged this person tightly, whispering: "Sister, I'm back."
"Alright, alright, come on, I'm almost strangled to death, come in and talk." I did as she said, and she told her not to disturb us unless necessary.
"How did you get to the Jinfan thieves' place?" I quickly signaled to stop talking.
"The Jinfan thief has been subdued by Brother Zheng, but the matter has not been made public yet. Don't act rashly now. Since my sister is here, you might as well send someone to discuss with Jiang Zheng and see how to deal with this matter now." The sister nodded in agreement.
My sister pulled me to sit next to her. I looked at her and she looked at me. My sister, you have lost weight. I have lost weight too. She opened my headscarf for me and combed my hair. I must not have eaten well because my hair has started to turn dry and yellow. In fact, my sister's hair is not as shiny and black as before. My sister must have worked hard. It was not easy for me to go to the north and encounter dangers. I am too biased in doing things. I only care about my own likes and dislikes and don't know what is the most important thing. Sister, I hope you can come back safely. Other things are not important now.
Sister, my headscarf is torn and very dirty. Change it. It belongs to my brother, whom I brought back from the north. I can’t throw it away. Wash it and tie it up again. Then I stuffed the headscarf, which was indeed a bit worn, into my waist. Sister, I haven’t changed my habit yet. Let her see what I stuffed inside. I know there’s nothing inside because I just put it on. Sister, I honestly admit that I haven’t changed. Sister smiled and shrugged at my nose. I must have changed. When I came back from the north, I thought about seeing you every day and had a lot to say to you, but when I saw you, nothing came out of my mind. She, I haven’t changed. If Brother Pei was fine, I wouldn’t be like this.
We remained silent for a while.
I want to see Brother Pei's spirit tablet and pay my respects. My sister asked me to wash up first and fast for a day. I started fasting yesterday, and I want to see Brother Pei now.
Brother Pei was a very kind person. After he passed away, the soldiers asked to take him back to Jingzhou for burial so that everyone could visit him from time to time. So, I was able to see him off in front of his coffin.
In front of his coffin, I poured myself a drink, one cup for myself and one for Brother Pei, and slowly told Brother Pei the story of going north. I also talked to him about the past. Actually, since I got drunk last time, I have been a little afraid of this stuff, and I always feel uncomfortable when I smell it. But I know Brother Pei likes this muddy water very much, so I drink with him. I want to have a good chat with him. I rarely cry, but this time, the tears came out by themselves after the first sip, and I couldn't control it even if I wanted to.
It’s the first time I haven’t seen my sister for such a long time, so I should be very happy to see her again, but why can’t I be as happy as before this time? It’s because you left. Why did you leave so early? Why did you ruin my good mood
Yes, it's my fault. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have to go. But I hurt your brother, and you would be even more upset. Now you are happy, but I am the one who is upset. Come out and argue with me. Why do you make me so upset? Why don't you make me happy? Come out and see me. Even if you go somewhere else and never come back, why do you want to die? Now everyone is alive and well, why do you leave so early? You haven't married yet, and you don't have any descendants. Are you willing to leave? Come back, it might be very cold, drink more to keep warm.
Dead, dead, you don't have to bear any responsibility, you ran away, leaving us to continue to be busy in this world, I don't know what the future will be like, if you can see, please come to me more often in the future. I didn't expect that the last meeting with you in Hanzhong would be like this. To be honest, Brother Pei, I am unwilling!
I knew I was drunk again, and I didn't know what I would look like if I vomited this time. I suddenly felt a little scared.
The next morning, I think it was the next morning, I woke up in a familiar scene, my sister was next to me again, but I was lying on the bed again, and my sister was still napping. And I was still clumsy as usual, waking my sister up before I even moved my body, I still felt full of guilt, but my sister would never mind these.