After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

Lu Zhiyuan rubbed her forehead: "The files are on that cabinet over there."

Regarding the events of that year, the Crown Prince ordered all related files to be retrieved, including those from the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War, and the local prefectural and county governments. The files, large and small, filled more than ten boxes, and were only sorted out last night.

She remembered what Lu Yun had mentioned; it was in the file on the right side of the cabinet, which she had marked with a red string.

This file was retrieved from the Tianhe County government office, along with the legends about the Hanging Platform and the Hanging General. The legends were compiled by the current magistrate of Tianhe County. He's an interesting man, an avid reader of storybooks, and his greatest ambition for the rest of his life isn't to gain official rank or wealth, but to compile all the legends, big and small, of Tianhe County into storybooks.

He recorded in great detail the hanging platform, the hanging general, and the incident from that year.

The hanged general was Yu Xiaoming, the Zhenyuan General of the previous dynasty.

Yu Xiaoming came from a poor family; his parents died early, and he grew up relying on the kindness of others. When he was eight years old, his village was brutally massacred, but he escaped because he was herding sheep for the villagers. After the massacre, he sold his lambs, dug a pit with his bare hands, and buried everyone in the village.

From the age of eight to fifteen, he traveled to many places in search of the enemy who destroyed his Yu family village.

Upon learning that his enemies were a band of mountain bandits, he joined them as an outlaw. After six months, he had figured out everyone's habits, contacted the government, and, with their help, wiped out the entire mountain stronghold.

At the age of sixteen, he joined the army after his meritorious service in wiping out a mountain stronghold, and quickly gained recognition.

At the age of twenty-six, he entered the enemy camp alone, took the head of the enemy marshal, and was awarded the title of General Zhenyuan.

At the age of thirty-six, he once again ventured alone into the enemy camp, only to be betrayed by his own men and trapped deep within enemy territory, resulting in the annihilation of his entire army. Though he escaped death, he was utterly disillusioned with the court, the political situation, and the intrigue and backstabbing within the army. In the end, he left behind a final poem and hanged himself from a withered tree.

It is said that after his death, the withered tree suddenly came back to life and bloomed with blood-red flowers the following spring.

Anyone who passes under that tree can hear the general reciting that poem before his execution.

There are two different rumors about the general's death.

First, the general did not hang himself, but rather committed suicide by cutting his own throat.

Secondly, the general neither hanged himself nor committed suicide; rather, he was rescued from hanging, but the rescuer, coveting his possessions, killed him instead. The general originally hanged himself out of disillusionment with the world, but this incident turned his disillusionment into resentment.

According to folklore, people who die with resentment will become vengeful ghosts.

The general died on a rainy day, hence during thunderstorms, people often hanged themselves on the platform. To suppress the general, the nearby villagers worked together to build the General's Temple. It is said that when the temple was first built, the general had a head, but after only one night, the general's head disappeared, leaving only a blood-like substance at the severed neck.

Lu Yun frowned: "How many people have died violently on this hanging platform?"

Lu Zhiyuan handed him the case file: "Before the theft of military rations, no one had died a violent death."

Lu Yun laughed: "The talk of ghosts and gods is indeed nonsense."

Lu Zhiyuan pondered for a moment: "It's not entirely unfounded. After all, people don't necessarily become ghosts when they die, but they might become ghosts while they're alive."

Before the theft of military rations, a beggar had died of illness at the hanging platform, an old man had starved to death, and a woman had hanged herself.

The beggar collapsed on the hanging platform as he passed by. If someone had offered him help, he wouldn't have died of illness. Because he was a beggar and didn't want to cause trouble, everyone who passed by that place kept their distance from him.

The beggar died of disease, yet he did not die of disease.

Fortunately, he was unconscious when he fell ill. If he had seen those indifferent eyes, he would have become a vengeful ghost like the general after death.

The old man was brought to the tree by his son.

The family was impoverished, and food was scarce. Only one of them could survive: the elderly man or the newborn child. The old man chose to sacrifice himself to save his grandson. He had his son carry him to the foot of a tree, where he quietly awaited death. Not being afraid of death didn't mean he wasn't afraid of dying. Wanting to die didn't mean he wanted to starve. When the hunger became unbearable, the old man clung tightly to the tree trunk, gnawing on the bark.

The autopsy report stated that the old man had lost all his teeth and that tree bark was stuck in his throat.

Lu Yun slammed his fist on the stool: "Is this son even human? Can't he think of other ways if there's no food? What about wild vegetables? What about wild fruits? Surely he could find something to eat? Letting the people who raised him starve to death, has he lost all his conscience?"

"In the third year of the Qitian era, a severe drought struck Yanzhou and Ganzhou, leaving countless dead and people resorting to cannibalism. There were no wild vegetables or fruits, not even wild grass." Han Ting reminded him, "You don't even bother to check the dates on the dossier."

Lu Yun looked at it and saw that the record was indeed from the third year of the Prayer for Heaven.

Three years of severe drought resulted in a complete crop failure, and almost all the people in Yanzhou and Ganzhou starved to death. It was during this time that the founding emperor of Northern Liang raised an army. After the establishment of Northern Liang, people were relocated from other places, so the people in present-day Yanzhou and Ganzhou are mostly outsiders, and their ancestors for three generations were all outsiders.

The woman who hanged herself was forced by her husband's family.

She was childless, seriously ill, unable to return to her parents' home, and unable to stay with her husband's family. With no way to live, she had no choice but to face death.

The case file states that, due to her leg disability, she crawled several kilometers to the hanging platform. Unable to reach the branches, she tied the rope to the tree trunk and used it to strangle herself.

She died in extreme agony, her face contorted in a grotesque expression. If she were a vengeful ghost, she would likely be even more ferocious than that general.

The first batch of military rations departed from the capital, and General Gu An was in charge of transporting them. Speaking of General Gu, he had some connection with the Xie family. His wife was a niece from the Xie family's maternal side, and he had discussed military strategy and books with the Xie family. The Xie family's assessment of him was: average.

"So-so?" Lu Yun scratched his head. "So-so means not the best, but better than the worst, right?"

“I have heard my mother mention him,” Lu Zhiyuan said. “It is said that he is very handsome, with the appearance of a scholar, but not the spirit of one. He has the bearing of a warrior, but not the skill. He is good at military strategy, but not good at actual combat. Knowing his own strengths and weaknesses, he never tries to stand out, so he can only work in logistics, that is, recruiting soldiers, transporting provisions, and taking care of the wounded and sick. He does it very well, even exceptionally well, and rises all the way up to become a general.”

Lu Yun asked, "Gu An has also disappeared?"

Lu Zhiyuan said, "They've disappeared. They've never been seen alive or dead. Only a suit of armor was left in the General's Temple."

What she heard was pretty much what was written in the case file.

The convoy responsible for transporting provisions passed by Hanging Platform and, seeing its open view and flat terrain, decided to use it as a temporary resting place. During the first half of the night, under a bright moon and few stars, they lit a campfire, roasted meat, and drank wine. In the second half of the night, a strong wind and rainstorm blew, damaging many tents. In their haste, they covered the provisions with tarpaulins and ran to a temple to take shelter from the rain.

The legend is incorrect; not all the soldiers ran to the temple. Instead, each grain cart had a guard. These guards hid under the tarpaulin, along with the grain carts.

Strangely, none of the many soldiers made a sound when the incident occurred, and no signs of a struggle were left at the scene.