In my previous life, I killed my whole family. In my next life, I killed the royal family.

Ever since General Hu was frightened after his trip to the Ghost Valley, he has refused to listen to Commander Zuo since he returned.

No matter what Commander Zuo and Minister Wu said, he would no longer venture into the Ghost Valley.

At most, General Hu took his men out to explore the mountains, hunted a few wild boars and brought them back to share with the officials of the Ministry of War. "We went searching and were almost bitten by wild boars. We hunted them back and shared them with you all."

"Have you been to Ghost Valley?" asked Minister Wu, holding a pork leg.

"We went there and found tigers and wolves inside. They killed several of our horses." General Hu lied calmly, "If Minister Wu doesn't believe it, send someone to investigate and we'll know the truth."

General Hu also said the same thing when facing Commander Zuo, "There are tigers and wolves all over the place. If you don't believe me, Commander, take someone in to take a look."

He knew that neither Commander Zuo nor Minister Wu dared to take the risk of going to the Ghost Valley in person.

General Hu said to his men, "We are the ones who will die in the process, and they are the ones who will benefit. If you want to investigate, go investigate them yourself."

This led to the secret of Ghost Valley, which Commander Zuo never figured out.

He originally wanted to instigate the Emperor to order General Hu to "lead the troops to clear out the Ghost Valley and open up the valley bottom."

However, after the tax silver was found, General Hu simply refused to follow Commander Zuo's arrangements.

He was on good terms with Qi Ze, and he said to Qi Ze, "Minister Qi, I want to pledge the tax silver for October."

He whispered about Commander Zuo's plan for him, "He dared not go to a place where my brothers and I would die. I would rather go to pledge the tax silver."

Qi Ze agreed, "Okay, be careful on the road."

General Hu saluted, "Yes, Minister Qi, I will be extra careful this time."

General Hu came out with the token for depositing the tax silver.

Commander Zuo was leading his men into the palace, and the two met in front of the main gate of the palace.

Commander Zuo saw General Hu and shouted, "Why are you here if you don't want to go find the bandits?"

General Hu showed his token and said, "Alas, I have to pledge tax silver again. I heard that charcoal silver will be issued in October, and the Ministry of Revenue is in urgent need of silver."

"Ah, why are you sent to escort the tax silver again?"

"Then hurry back." Commander Zuo waved his hand impatiently.

"Okay." General Hu clasped his fist, shook his head, and left happily.

Commander Zuo was left helpless, and under the Emperor's questioning, "Why haven't you found out his whereabouts yet?"

Commander Zuo hesitated for a while, but finally chose to confess the truth to the emperor: "Your Majesty, I have discovered a strange valley. Once anyone enters it, they will never be able to come out. And there are rumors that this valley is haunted."

Hearing this, the emperor couldn't help but get nervous and asked quickly: "What kind of valley?"

Commander Zuo quickly replied, "There is a place called Ghost Valley in the West Mountain a few dozen miles away from the capital. Local people say that it is haunted and no one who has entered has ever come out alive."

The emperor's eyes widened, and he asked in dissatisfaction: "If that's the case, why don't you go in and look for the missing people?"

Commander Zuo hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, we have sent many soldiers into the valley in the past few days, but none of them returned. The situation is very dangerous."

After hearing this, the emperor pondered for a moment, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind. He lowered his voice and said to Commander Zuo: "If people can't get in, then let's set fire to the mountain. People are afraid of fire, but are ghosts not afraid of it?"

Commander Zuo opened his mouth in surprise, and then exclaimed as if he had suddenly realized something: "Ah! Why didn't I think of this!" Then he knelt down respectfully and shouted: "Your Majesty is wise!"

The two men were locked in the imperial study, discussing how to set fire.

Commander Zuo was troubled by the question, “How can we set the West Mountain on fire and burn the people inside to death?”

The West Mountain stretches for dozens of miles, and it would take a long time for people to light it up.

The emperor has a good idea, "It's simple."

"I am all ears and would like to hear what you have to say." Commander Zuo said respectfully.

The emperor smiled complacently and said, "Get a group of cows, pour tung oil all over their bodies, and set them on fire. They will run around and the forest will catch fire wherever they go."

"Your Majesty, this is a good idea!" Commander-in-Chief Zuo clapped his hands in praise.

"Do it quickly. If he's dead, we must see his body. If he's alive, we must see his body." said the emperor.

"I obey, Your Majesty."

Commander Zuo immediately went out to buy a cow.

"Come here, hurry up and buy a few hundred cows."

He buys hundreds of cows at a time, but there are not so many cows waiting to be sold.

Farmers are unwilling to sell their oxen.

If I sell the cows this year, will I have to rely on people to dig the fields next year?

When General Hu learned that Commander Zuo was in a hurry to buy cattle, he blinked and thought to himself, "What bad thing is this guy doing again?"

General Hu deliberately found Commander Zuo and said with a smile: "I heard that the commander-in-chief wants to buy a cow. If you kill a cow, can you sell me some beef and make it into beef jerky so that I can take it with me on the road?"

Commander Zuo glared at me and said unhappily, "I asked you to help me find the bandits but you didn't. Now you want to eat beef and come to me? Tomorrow, you stay at the West Hill and pick up the roasted beef to eat."

General Hu understood immediately, "You want to burn Ghost Valley?" He was shocked and asked, "Do you know how many farmers live in Xishan?"

"That's not my business. They will run away when they see the fire." Commander Zuo said, "I won't set the fire at night. I will set the fire tomorrow morning."

Although he was a bad person, he was still afraid of going to hell after his death, so he wanted to leave some hope for the people in the mountains.

During the day, when the mountain people see a fire, they will pack up their belongings and flee their homes so they won’t be burned to death.

"How did you set the fire?" General Hu asked with a curious look, "West Mountain is so big, how many people do you need to bring?"

"I have a good idea. This general will buy a lot of cows, pour copper oil on them and set them on fire. Then they will run to the mountains, and wherever they go, there will be fire everywhere." Commander Zuo smiled proudly.

He seemed to be able to witness the thrilling scene with his own eyes: fire bulls were running madly all over the mountain, flames kept appearing on the mountain, the fire spread rapidly, and finally the whole mountain was engulfed by the raging flames, leaving only a bare scene.

He thought to himself: After this mountain is burned down, I will go and ask for credit and reward. Haha, then I will get the title, right?

When General Hu heard Commander Zuo's plan to pour tung oil on the cows and set the mountain on fire, he was so shocked that his eyes widened and his mouth opened, unable to speak. He cursed in his heart: "The damned can actually come up with such a plan, it's so cruel."

However, he smiled and praised, "This is a great idea!" Then he joked, "Maybe we can pick up a well-cooked beef leg on the mountain tomorrow."

Commander Zuo laughed even more happily, "Haha, you can only pick up mushy cow bones."

General Hu turned around and told Qi Ze the news, "Minister Qi, I seem to have heard that your Qi Mansion has a branch courtyard in the West Mountain. If there are people there, quickly withdraw them all."

"What's wrong?" Qi Ze asked hurriedly.

General Hu whispered, "Commander Zuo is going to use cattle to set fire to the West Mountain and the Ghost Valley tomorrow morning. He is crazy."

"Well, he is crazy." Qi Ze nodded, feeling furious.

There are thousands of farmers and mountain people living around Xishan, with a population of at least tens of thousands.

The fire burned down people's houses and farms.

It is very likely that people will be burned to death.

Setting fire to the mountains and doing such things are simply worse than animals.