On the wedding day, my wife was abnormal

The second year of Shenghui, February 11, the second day after Haizhou City was captured.

The sounds of yesterday's fighting had subsided, but a deeper, more suffocating silence enveloped the city.

The air was no longer filled with gunpowder smoke, but with the thick smell of blood and a fear that came from despair.

On top of the city wall, the holy phoenix flag flutters high, but below it is a scene like hell on earth.

Murong Yan did not sit comfortably in the camp.

At daybreak, she appeared in the courtyard of the former garrison office in Haizhou City.

In the courtyard, traces of last night's battle had not yet been completely cleaned up, and dark red bloodstains could be vaguely seen among the rubble.

She was still wearing the black and gold Su brocade cotton nightgown with the pattern of "Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" - the Divine Phoenix Descent Dress, and over it was the black and gold Su brocade riding and shooting robe-style shawl that was stained with the dust of yesterday's siege. On the outermost layer, she wore the luxurious black and gold mink cape that was also stained with the atmosphere of the battlefield.

The cold wind swept through the courtyard, blowing the fluff on the shawl, and also brought faint cries and wails from the city.

She dismissed everyone around her, leaving Lin Zhen alone.

Lin Zhen was still in military uniform, standing silently a few steps behind her, his face solemn, his eyes complicated as he looked at her back.

He knew that yesterday's victory had not quelled the pent-up anger and hatred in her heart. Instead, it had intensified because she had witnessed the stubborn resistance of the defenders and the casualties of her own soldiers.

Murong Yan stood quietly, her eyes sweeping across the ruins of the courtyard, as if she could penetrate the walls and see the corpses of the Goguryeo soldiers in the city who had fought stubbornly and were eventually annihilated, and the Daqian men who fell in the street fighting.

In her mind, the secret reports from Tieshan City about how the Goguryeo people slaughtered and humiliated the people of Daqian kept echoing.

"Husband," she suddenly spoke, her voice hoarse, with a hint of fatigue from a sleepless night, but more of a cold hardness, "How many casualties did our army suffer during yesterday's siege?"

Lin Zhen's heart trembled, and he replied in a deep voice: "Yan'er, according to the preliminary count, more than 2,700 people were killed, more than 500 were seriously injured, and countless were slightly injured." Each number represents a living life.

Murong Yan was silent for a moment.

She slowly raised her hand and gently brushed across a dried black bloodstain on the cuff of her shawl with the tip of her finger wearing the black jade ring.

That was not her blood, but the blood of the enemy splashed on the city wall during the battle yesterday.

"Two thousand seven hundred," she repeated the number softly, each word sounding like it had been fished out of an icy cellar. "And the people of Tieshan City who died in vain. Their blood must not be shed in vain."

She turned around abruptly and looked at Lin Zhen. In her phoenix eyes, there was no longer any trace of tenderness from yesterday, only an almost crazy, cold murderous intent!

The dark golden trail that stretched across the cold ground of the courtyard rubbed against the dust and rubble as she turned, making a heart-pounding rustling sound.

"Pass on my command!" Murong Yan's voice suddenly rose, like the clash of metal, piercing the silence of the early morning. "All the Goguryeo soldiers in Haizhou City, whether they surrender or not, will be slaughtered! Not a single one will be spared!"

Lin Zhen's pupils suddenly shrank! "Yan'er! There are still thousands of captives in the city! And there are also a large number of Goguryeo civilians in the city! This action is against the harmony of heaven, and may damage Your Majesty's holy name, and will also provoke more fierce resistance from Goguryeo!"

"Holy Name? Tianhe?" Murong Yan sneered, her smile cold and cruel. "Did the Goguryeo people ever mention Tianhe when they massacred my Tieshan City?! Did they ever care about the Holy Name when they humiliated my people?! I will use the blood of Haizhou City to tell everyone in Goguryeo what the fate of those who offend Daqian is! I will make them tremble at the mere mention of my name! I will let this blood extinguish any last shred of resistance in them!"

Her tone was firm and unquestionable.

The dress that resembled a divine phoenix descent from the earth shone with a cold and hard luster in the morning light. The bloodstains on the black and gold mink fur cape seemed to come alive, emitting a bloody smell.

"But," Lin Zhen wanted to persuade him again.

"No buts!" Murong Yan interrupted him harshly, the fire of revenge burning in her eyes. "Follow the order! Now! Immediately!"

Looking at Murong Yan's resolute and unfamiliar eyes, Lin Zhen knew that any persuasion would be futile.

He took a deep breath of the cold air, suppressed the turmoil in his heart, knelt on one knee, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I obey your command."

The order was passed down quickly.

At first, there were sporadic screams and pleas for mercy, but soon, these sounds were like sparks thrown into boiling oil, instantly igniting the entire Haizhou City!

The massacre has begun.

Murong Yan did not avoid it.

She even ordered the guards to bring a Hu bed and place it on a higher ground in the government courtyard.

She sat on it, her posture straight and her face expressionless, "appreciating" this bloody feast that she had directed herself.

The government office was located in the center of the city. Screams, the sounds of weapons slashing, houses collapsing, and the crackling of flames came from all directions of the city and clearly poured into the courtyard.

Thick smoke began to rise across the city, blocking out the sky and even dimming the sunlight.

From time to time, blood-soaked generals came to report on the progress:

"Report! All three thousand Goguryeo soldiers in the West Gate prisoner camp have been executed!"

"Report! The remaining enemy forces in the east of the city have been wiped out!"

"Report! A large number of Goguryeo civilians have been spotted gathering in the northern part of the city. How should we deal with them?"

Every time she reported, Murong Yan would just coldly say two words: "Women under the age of 40 will be taken with the army, and the rest will be killed."

Through the doorway of the courtyard, she seemed to see the blood flowing on the street and the piles of corpses.

There was no mercy on her face, only an almost divine coldness, a cruel calmness that had been sacrificed with countless lives.

Against this bloody background, the dark golden dress of the divine phoenix no longer seemed to be a human garment, but the robe of the King of Hell.

The messy tail dragging on the ground seemed to be soaked in an invisible sea of ​​blood.

Lin Zhen stood beside the bed with his sword in hand, his face pale.

He had experienced countless bloody battles on the battlefield, but the systematic and cold-blooded slaughter of prisoners and civilians who had lost their ability to resist still made him feel nauseous.

He looked at Murong Yan who was sitting upright, and at the gorgeous yet strange nightgown she was wearing, and for the first time he felt a chill from the bottom of his heart.

His Yan'er seemed to be consumed by hatred.

The massacre lasted for several days.

At dusk that day, the noise in the city gradually subsided, not because of mercy, but because there were only a few Goguryeo people left alive.

The entire Haizhou City was like a dead city, with only the crackling sound of burning flames and the footsteps of Daqian soldiers clearing the battlefield.

Murong Yan finally stood up from the bed.

She walked slowly to the courtyard gate. Outside was a once bustling street, but now it was littered with corpses, blood flowed like a river, and embers lingered among the rubble.

The setting sun was as red as blood, dyeing the sky and her dark golden figure with a sad and gorgeous red light.

She watched quietly for a long time.

Then she turned around and prepared to return to the government office.

The moment she turned around——

The action carries a sense of emptiness and determination after completing a huge sacrifice!

The messy dark-gold train and shawl hem, stained with the dust of the courtyard and perhaps even invisible blood, were suddenly lifted up by the rapid rotation!

Like the wings of a phoenix rising from a pool of blood, it swept across the rubble-covered ground with a swish!

As the tail suddenly floated up, the "gold woven all over the ground" lining was revealed, which was densely woven with gold threads and showed an eerie dark red luster under the blood-red sunset!

The pattern of a hundred phoenixes facing the sun shines brightly in the sunset, but that golden light also seems to have the color of blood, noble and brilliant, but more full of the breath of death and curse!

This fleeting glimpse is no longer a good omen, but the final verdict on the destruction of a city!

The hem of her skirt fell, covering up the strange blood-gold color and the dead silence that filled the city.

Murong Yan walked into the dim government office. Lin Zhen followed her silently. He heard her say in a very soft voice, as if talking to herself:

"Now the wronged souls of Tieshan City can rest in peace."

There was no trace of pleasure in her voice, only endless fatigue and coldness.