Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

Although there were only more than a hundred corvée laborers in Yaoying, according to the testimony of an officer of Yaoying, there was a pit specially used to bury the dead, and more than two hundred corpses were dug out.

This is just what has been dug out, and we can’t dig any deeper.

In addition to the mass graves, there is also a mass grave outside the kiln camp. Those are also where the bodies are buried. Sometimes the people who deal with the bodies are lazy and just tie a big stone to it and throw it into the river.

Now Yaoying has become a temporary charity cemetery.

Zhang Jingwei brought Xiao Cui to this temporary charity cemetery, not for any other reason, but just to let her find her "husband".

The rotten and foul smell lingered in these airtight caves. Zhang Jingwei vomited all over the floor just by smelling the smell outside, let alone going in.

There was a corpse in the cave, with its intestines hanging out of its mouth, and a hideous look on its face. Xiao Cui was also scared at first, but she still mustered up the courage to go in.

After searching several caves without finding her husband, she still had a glimmer of hope in her heart, so she told Zhang Jingwei: "Sanlang is not here, he must still be alive!"

Zhang Jingwei didn't want to tell her directly that except for those one hundred or so people, no one else who entered the kiln camp survived.

At this time, the body in the river was also salvaged. Xiao Cui still went to the riverside despite his broken nerves.

Several coroners were busy as the body recovery team fished out body after body. Even several soldiers who had been on the battlefield began to vomit.

The corpses had been soaked and rotten, and some of those with wounds on their faces and bodies had been completely disfigured and could not be recognized at all.

Zhang Jingwei was still vomiting. The impact of this scene was too strong. There were several bodies with hideous looks of death. They must have been tied with stones and thrown down before they died.

Zhang Jingwei burst into tears. The physical and psychological injuries he suffered made him unable to hold on any longer. "I can't do this anymore. I need to find a cooler place to rest. If I vomit again, I'll die!"

Xiao Cui did not give up. She endured the discomfort and searched for her husband among the rotting corpses.

She carefully identified each body, praying in her heart that Sanlang was not among them.

However, the reality was extremely cruel. When she saw a corpse with a familiar face, her heart sank into an ice cellar.

Although the corpse had swollen and deformed, Xiao Cui still recognized the bluestone bracelet on his hand. It was a token of love she gave to Sanlang.

Generally speaking, those who deal with corpses will embezzle the valuables on the body. It may be that Sanlang was still holding the bracelet tightly before his death, so the thieves did not take it away.

Xiao Cui suddenly collapsed to the ground, tears pouring out like a dam breaking.

Her world seemed to collapse, and despair and pain enveloped her.

Seeing this, Zhang Jingwei hurried forward to help Xiao Cui up, his heart filled with sympathy and helplessness.

Just as they were about to go through the procedures to claim the body, they discovered that Liu Yanzhi had disappeared.

After asking around, he found out that the name of Gaoyang County Magistrate was on Wang Jue's account book. In addition to Gaoyang County Magistrate, the magistrates of the six counties in Yunzhou were all on the list. Liu Yanzhi was extremely worried about this matter.

When Zhang Jingwei found Liu Yan, he had already collapsed, crying out, "I am incompetent... I feel so ashamed of the people, I feel so ashamed of the Prime Minister, and I feel so ashamed of His Majesty!"

He was the only one among all the people present who cried more miserably than Xiao Cui.

Zhang Jingwei no longer wanted to comfort anyone. It was really tiring to take care of other people's feelings. He hadn't had a rest anyway, so he might as well find a cool place to sleep.

To be honest, Zhang Jingwei just wanted to lie down here and be quiet, and couldn't fall asleep. After a while, Mu Tou sat down next to him with his bare chest.

Zhang Jingwei didn't even bother to open his eyes. He just angrily urged the person next to him to leave: "I just want to find a cool place to calm down. Brother, can you please go away?"

Mu Tou opened his mouth to remind him, "Master, it's me."

When Zhang Jingwei saw that it was a piece of wood, he didn't pay much attention to it and closed his eyes to rest.

Seeing that Zhang Jingwei was unhappy, Mu Tou prepared to tell a joke to tease him: "Young Master, do you think I'm cool?" After saying that, he showed off his tendon muscles.

Zhang Jingwei didn't think this joke was funny at all, and told Mu Tou to shut up in a bad mood: "If you're not dead, you don't have to say anything!"

Mu Tou was very tactful. He just sat there quietly, without saying a word or leaving, and just stayed with Zhang Jingwei.

The prison van holding Han Ye was not far from here. Suddenly, it burst into laughter, disturbing Zhang Jingwei's peace.

Zhang Jingwei stood up suddenly and glared at Han Ye fiercely.

Zhang Jingwei walked towards Han Ye. Mu Tou was afraid that he might act impulsively, so he hurried to follow him. As he got closer, Zhang Jingwei found that Han Ye was a little mentally disturbed, laughing and muttering something. When he listened closer, he could only hear Han Ye repeating words like "It's unfair, hahahaha, I'm not the mastermind! Hahaha!"

Zhang Jingwei was already furious, and after hearing Han Ye's words, he became even more furious. He pointed at Han Ye and cursed, "You bastard, you killed so many people, and you still claim you were wronged!"

Han Ye stopped smiling and looked at Zhang Jingwei coldly, "How can you prove that I killed these people? Can you imagine how many people behind me have killed?!"

Zhang Jingwei was speechless for a moment. Looking at Han Ye's face, he wished he could cut him into pieces.

At this time, Mu Tou tugged at the corner of Zhang Jingwei's clothes, signaling him not to be impulsive. Zhang Jingwei gritted his teeth and turned away. He decided to calm down first, he had to calm down.

According to Wang Zhen's account book, the other six counties were involved. That is to say, could such atrocities also occur in other counties?

He didn't dare to think about it too much. Perhaps there was no peaceful place in the entire north, and the people were still living in dire straits.

……

Wang Jue was working hard in the accounting office, and he found that the account book of the Water Defense Camp was very abnormal.

In theory, the number of people in each battalion during non-combat periods should be reported by the camp clerk to the county government, which in turn reports it to the prefecture government, and the prefecture government in turn reports it to the provincial government.

Finally, the provincial government allocated funds to the household office of each county government, which then handed it over to the local highest military commander. In other words, the military pay of the Water Defense Battalion was paid directly to Han Ye by the county government.

However, every payment of military pay was distributed by Huangfu Changshui, and even when the number of people was insufficient, Huangfu Changshui would distribute it according to the configuration of 3,000 people.

Moreover, Huangfu Changshui was too clean in this account book! He was like a toad that could only spit out money, with only outgoings and no incomings. What was even stranger was that the account even matched.

He didn't plan to tell anyone about this matter, nor did he want to investigate further. He was only concerned with keeping accounts and organizing all the entries in the account book.

……

After Xiao Cui claimed the body, she planned to go home and came to say goodbye to Zhang Jingwei.

There was no coffin in the water defense camp, so they could only wrap the body in a straw mat. The cart that carried the body was the same one that Zhang Jingwei had ridden in before.

There was only one soldier responsible for sending them back. Zhang Jingwei was worried, so he had to ask Gao Fei to make the trip. He thought Gao Fei would refuse, but he unexpectedly agreed readily.

Zhang Jingwei absolutely believed in Gao Fei's character, but Xiao Cui still took Zhang Jingwei back with her. It was not because Xiao Cui was afraid of Gao Fei, but because she felt that it was immoral to take her husband's body home with a strange man.

Zhang Jingwei thought it would be good to go out and relax, as he would get depressed sooner or later if he stayed in this hellhole.