Purple River Chapter 04 Part 06 - Di Du's Bloodbath

Chapter 04 Part 06 - Di Du’s Bloodbath

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Only a few words were ever written about the Night of Di Du’s Bloodbath in House ZiChuan’s historical records.

Imperial Calendar, Year 779, the night of March 26th. Former Supreme Commander – Yang Ming Hua rebelled in the city of Di Du. Under Headmaster – ZiChuan Shen Xing’s order, Deputy Commander Di Lin was tasked with suppressing the rebellion in the city.

Midnight, snow everywhere. Yang Ming Hua was defeated. At dawn, thirty thousand heads fell. Many collaterals.”

……

The young historian of House ZiChuan, Tang Chuan wrote about the Night of Di Du’s Bloodbath in much better detail:

“Around half past ten in the night, Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guards – Stirling launched the counteroffensive against Yang Ming Hua’s personal guards. Under pressure from the well-trained Imperial Guards, Yang Ming Hua repeatedly requested reinforcement from the Central Army and the Constable Corp, neither came to his aid. In the end he sent his trusted advisor – Luo Ming Hai to personally take control of the Central Army.

“Ten minutes later, Di Du’s city gate was raised from the inside, allowing Deputy Commander – Di Lin and his fifty thousand Far Eastern Army to march through the gates. Their warcries echoed in every street corner of the city. Upon hearing Di Lin’s arrival, Yang Ming Hua and his men were overjoyed and reinvigorated, but that only lasted a minute. When the Far Eastern Army began cutting through Yang Ming Hua’s guards, his forces quickly crumbled in the face of their long golden sabres.”

“After losing all his personal guards, Yang Ming Hua fought until his last breath. In his final moment, he shouted: ‘Di Lin you b.l.o.o.d.y traitor! I curse you!’ which greatly angered the surrounding soldiers trying to capture him alive. As a result, he was cut to pieces, and unfortunately, that had led to a great deal of headaches for Di Lin later, since he had no way of proofing to the Headmaster that the pile of b.l.o.o.d.y pulp on the ground was once the king without the crown – Yang Ming Hua, who had ruled the powerful House of ZiChuan for over half a decade!”

“When Stirling found out about Yang Ming Hua’s death, he lamented: ‘Di Du’s chaos has finally come to an end. Now we can finally have peace.’ After that, he went on to pursue the remnants of Yang Ming Hua’s forces fleeing the City.

“In the end, we couldn’t help but be amazed by the happenstance of history: That night, if it were the disciplined Stirling, or the gentle natured ZiChuan Xiu in charge of wiping out the rebel remnants in Di Du, then many tragedies could have been avoided…”

“But at the same time, we couldn’t help but admire its inevitability: Stirling had to take charge of the Imperial Guard in pursuit of the remnants of Yang Ming Hua’s armed forces outside the city, and ZiChuan Xiu had to stay in the Central Army’s Main Encampment to keep Yang Ming Hua’s Central Army from joining the fray. All this meant that the task of wiping out the rebel remnants inside the City of Di Du had to be carried out by Di Lin!”

Tang Chuan’s records ended there. Just when he was about to write down in details of the aforementioned tragedies, the Constables from the Ministry came to his house and ‘invited’ him over for ‘coffee’. After he came back he never wrote anything remotely related to the Night of Di Du’s Bloodbath again.

……

Hooves thundered throughout the City of Di Du and Far Eastern Army’s warcries filled its streets: “The rebel leader Yang Ming Hua has been sentenced to death for his unforgivable crimes! The death of rest of the rebels will soon follow!”

“Anyone getting in the way of the Far Eastern Army, death!”

“Anyone a.s.sisting or harbouring the rebels, death!”

“Anyone disobeying orders, resisting house searches will be treated as rebels, death!”

Yang Ming Hua’s entire household (including servants) totalling two hundred and seventy one souls, were all put to death. Their headless corpses were piled together on the snow covered streets of the Capital, turning the purest of white into the bloodiest of crimson.

Inspector General Xiao Long, who had resigned and declared his neutrality, did indeed keep his words that night and stayed out of Yang Ming Hua’s rebellion. However it did not spare him from the fate of being dragged from his house by the Far Eastern Army. They killed his parents, wife and children, including thirty five members of his close relatives in front of him. (His daughter choked herself to death by biting off her tongue. Apparently the soldiers tried to rape her.) Xiao Long himself was somehow still breathing after being dragged behind a horse for several miles, the soldiers eventually lost their patience and stomped him to death with the hooves of their horses.

Under the High Command’s order (or basically Yang Ming Hua’s order), the curfew was to be carried out and enforced by the Police Corp. The Commissioner of the Police Force – Li Ya and his fellow officers surrendered almost instantly the moment Di Lin’s army entered the city. The soldiers rounded them up in the Headquarters of the Police Corp and then ma.s.sacred them. When Di Lin heard about it later, his first reaction was telling his men with a frown: “Well, since you already killed him, you might as well kill his family too. I don’t need anyone coming after me years from now.”

Yang Ming Hua’s secretary, Red Banner Master – Lin Lu was still locked inside her house when the soldiers set the place on fire. They had enough of the killing, so thought a fire was a better alternative. There were fifty one souls in the house.

Later many people believed that the Night of Di Du’s bloodbath was the direct result of Di Lin’s order, but they were wrong. In fact, he only gave the order to kill Yang Ming Hua and less than hundred of his close confidants. Even including their respective close relatives, the total wouldn’t have exceeded five thousand. Yet, the death toll went up to thirty thousand that night! Then again, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. The soldiers were overwhelmed by their l.u.s.t for blood. Whenever they saw a rich household or a beautiful lady, they would yell: “The rebels are over here!” and bash through the door, and screams of men or cries of woman would then follow…

During the ma.s.sacre, the biggest injustice was done to Luo Ming Hai’s family. Not knowing the truth at the time, Di Lin had sent his men after Yang Ming Hua’s closest confidant – Luo Ming Hai. (After Luo Ming Hai gave the order to open the gates, he went to see the Headmaster and didn’t come home that night). The soldiers left his house empty handed, but not before slaughtering his entire household of twenty one lives, and setting it on fire. The reprisal came eventually and inevitably in the form of a blood feud…

Over a hundred high ranking officers of House ZiChuan ended up as grave goods of Yang Ming Hua’s ambition that night. Thirty thousand civilian’s blood filled the urns of their sacrificial offering… No wonder Deputy Commander ZiChuan Xiu made the following statement later: “Yang Ming Hua got the grand funeral he so desperately wanted! So many lives were sacrificed!”

Over the course of the night, the City of Di Du continued to scream and bleed under Di Lin’s trampling iron hooves. After Tang Chuan came back from his “cup of coffee” with the Constables, he secretly added one final line in his notes: “The snow that fell on the eve of 26th, was so beautifully red…”

……

Around five in the morning, Chief of Civil Affairs – Ge Shan requested an urgent meeting with the Headmaster – ZiChuan Shen Xing, urging him to put a stop to Di Lin’s brutality.

Despite the little distance from her house to the House of Headmaster, she was robbed three times on the way there. First time, they took her wallet; second time, they took her horse and third time, the soldiers tried to take her virginity! Luckily she was already at the House of Headmaster at that point; a detachment of Imperial Guards came and rescued her.

When ZiChuan Xiu heard of the incident, he made the following comment: “I know being in the Far Eastern Army means you rarely get to see a real woman, but what happened earlier was simply unforgivable… Their lack of taste in women was short of astounding!”

After his meeting with Ge Shan, ZiChuan Shen Xing responded by writing Di Lin a letter. The letter was then delivered to Di Lin around half past five in the morning, appointing him as the Acting Inspector General. His order was simple – continue to wipe out any remaining Central Army’s “rebel forces”.