Chapter 443: The Xianyang Incident

Ge Shuhan’s army was stationed in the area around Xianyang. Before dawn had fully broken, he was awakened by noise. Pushing aside the two concubines who slept with him, he asked irritably, “Why such a disturbance?”
A personal soldier outside the tent replied, “Reporting to the commander, it seems someone has come to file a complaint.”
“A complaint?”
Ge Shuhan was stunned and said, “What kind of complaint? Go find out first.”
He sat up abruptly, suddenly feeling a dull pain in his legs—his chronic illness flaring up again. Since his youth, he had been a heavy drinker, and decades of drinking had caused health problems in his legs, similar to gout. As he aged, especially after living in the cold regions of Gaofei River in the past two years, his leg condition worsened, recurring frequently.
The unbearable pain made him suffer greatly. Seeing the two concubines staring at him blankly, he snapped, “You wretches! Go get hot water now!”
The concubines panicked and got up, their bare bodies uncovered. They hurriedly put on clothes and left the tent with copper basins. Only by soaking his feet in boiling water could Ge Shuhan relieve some of the pain.
After a while, the concubines returned with a large basin of hot water. He soaked his feet, and the pain eased slightly. At that moment, the personal soldier returned and reported from outside the tent, “Commander, there are four or five hundred people from nearby villages. They say our soldiers sneaked into their villages at night and abducted women. Now they’re demanding we hand them over. It seems the magistrate of Xianyang County has also arrived.”
“What nonsense! Why such a big fuss?”
Ge Shuhan was frustrated. On one hand, he was suffering from his illness. On the other hand, at the recent meeting in the government hall in Chang’an, they only agreed to provide adequate rations and supplies to the troops in Longyou, not all at once but gradually over a year. They also rejected his request to expand the Longyou army to 100,000 troops. What angered him most was that it was due to Wang Gong’s firm opposition. Of course, Ge Shuhan knew this was actually Li Heng’s will. Since he hadn’t become emperor, he took his anger out on others. For several days, he remained furious about this matter and deeply disheartened toward Li Heng.
At that moment, a report came from outside the tent: “Commander, General Huobo has arrived.”

Huobo Guiren, whose full name was Huobo Guiren, was the commander of Ge Shuhan’s vanguard. His army of 10,000 men consisted of barbarian troops recruited by Ge Shuhan in Hexi and Longyou. These troops were always unruly and had lax discipline. A few days ago, he sent men to search for spies from the Jiannan army, and it was these barbarian troops who caused trouble. Huobo Guiren also reaped benefits—he kept a captured girl hidden in his tent. Hearing that someone had come to complain, he grew anxious and went to Ge Shuhan’s tent first.

“Commander, I have something to report.”

“What is it?”

“Commander, some of my men clashed with the villagers nearby. They may have captured several women as hostages in the camp. I just found out about this.”

Ge Shuhan’s expression darkened. There indeed was misconduct—no wonder someone had come to complain. He gave a stern order, “Release those people. Punish the soldiers who violated military discipline severely. I won’t pursue this matter for now, but I warn you—if you cause more trouble, watch out for your head.”

“But Commander, three women have committed suicide.”

“Then say you didn’t capture those three women. Insist on that. Go!”

“Yes! I understand.”

Huobo Guiren bowed and left in a hurry. Ge Shuhan closed his eyes. He needed to consider his future. Li Heng was cruel and had a poor reputation even when he was the crown prince. Ge Shuhan had thought he could become emperor and bring more benefits to himself, but he failed. Failure was one thing, but this man was the kind who would betray his subordinates for personal gain—in other words, a heartless traitor. Such a person wasn’t worth dying for.

But if he tried to seize power like Li Qing’an, Ge Shuhan knew it was too late. Li Qing’an had already established his control in Anxi and was turning eastward. If he tried to declare independence, Li Qing’an would be the first to eliminate him. If he defected to the emperor, he would lose any chance as well—Li Qing’an and Guo Ziyi already held high positions, leaving no room for him. After much thought, the only option left was to defect to the old emperor, Li Longji.

He didn’t necessarily have to go to Shu. He could go to the prosperous areas in eastern Zhejiang and rule his own territory, living a comfortable life for the rest of his days!

As Ge Shuhan was thinking, he suddenly heard even louder cries outside, which disturbed him greatly. He roared, “Will it ever end?”

A moment later, a soldier rushed over and said, “Commander, the villagers demand that General Huobo pay with his life. Fighting has broken out outside the camp.”

“Damn it! They’re acting recklessly right in front of my door. It’s chaos! Get my horse ready!”

Ge Shu Han was furious. He had already tried to avoid conflict, but these stubborn people still refused to listen. If this were in Longyou, who would dare beat a soldier in front of the army? They really thought they could get away with anything.

Ge Shu Han led a large group of soldiers out of the camp. Outside, there was loud crying and wailing. Dozens of women, in tattered clothes, were sobbing. On the ground lay three corpses covered with straw mats—probably the three women who had committed suicide. Hundreds of locals were also surrounding Huo Bo Guiren and his dozen or so subordinates, shouting angrily at them. Huo Bo Guiren was in a miserable state, his face swollen and bruised, his helmet torn off, and his armor ripped apart.

But Ge Shu Han’s attention wasn’t on those civilians. Instead, he noticed a dozen or so officials standing nearby, led by an official he recognized—Wei Zhizhong, the magistrate of Xianyang County.

“General Ge Shu has arrived!”

The camp gates swung open, and Ge Shu Han personally led thousands of soldiers out. The hundreds of peasants fled in fear as the army split to the sides. Ge Shu Han, holding a long spear, rode out on horseback, his face dark with anger. “Who dares cause trouble in front of my camp?”

The hundreds of civilians knelt down and cried out, “General Ge Shu, please stand up for us!”

Ge Shu Han replied coldly, “This is an army, not a government office. If you have grievances, go to the government.”

At that moment, Wei Zhizhong stepped forward and bowed. “General Ge Shu, you may not be aware, but these people’s grievances are related to your army. They have no other choice but to come to you to seek justice.”

Ge Shu Han pointed at the women with his spear. “You mean them? Weren’t they already released? What more do you want?”

Wei Zhizhong was from the prestigious Wei family of Guanlong. He was extremely upright. It had never happened before that women in Xianyang were captured en masse by Tang troops, yet it had happened under his jurisdiction. Although Ge Shu Han’s army was powerful, Wei Zhizhong could no longer tolerate it and decided to come to him directly.

Hearing that Ge Shu Han seemed indifferent to human life, he was outraged and retorted, “General Ge Shu, your words are astonishing. Even if they were released, what about the murderers? Each of these women was raped hundreds of times last night, and three of them even died from the abuse. Is that enough? Where is the law of the state?”

Ge Shu Han, a prince of Xiping Commandery, was being rebuked in front of him by a sixth-rank county magistrate. His face was on the line, but his soldiers were indeed at fault first. So he held back his anger and said, “I will investigate the truth myself. Even if they have broken the law, I have military regulations to deal with it. You don’t need to worry about it. Just take these people away from my camp. This is military rule—anyone within a hundred steps whose identity is unknown can be shot at will! Leave now.”

Wei Zhizhong could clearly hear a tone of cover-up in Ge Shuhan’s words. What was the truth? If he drove the victims away, where could he investigate? Would he rely on the one-sided accounts of those brutal soldiers? Wei Zhizhong shook his head and pointed at Huibo Guiren, saying, “If the commander truly had such intentions, he should bring the abused women into the tent, have them identify the murderers one by one, and then enforce military discipline in front of them. Only then can he convince everyone. Otherwise, how can we know if he punished them or not?” He paused and added, “The commander shouldn’t also use military discipline as an excuse. As far as I know, a soldier from the Anxi Army molested a woman in Pinggao County. The Anxi Army investigated thoroughly, found the soldier who violated military discipline, and publicly flogged him a hundred times in the streets of Pinggao County. Since they are both Tang Army troops, if the Anxi Army can do it, why can’t the Longyou Army?” Ge Shuhan was already furious, and Wei Zhong’s comparison with the Anxi Army undoubtedly hit a sore spot. His eyes narrowed, and a murderous intent flashed in them. “If I don’t care, what can you do?” Wei Zhizhong, filled with indignation, retorted, “If the commander doesn’t care, then I’ll go to the court and accuse the Longyou Army of lax military discipline and harming innocents. What’s the difference between the Longyou Army and An Lushan’s troops? With the light of day, there must be a way to uphold justice.” After saying that, Wei Zhizhong turned and left. Ge Shuhan still hoped to get money and grain from the court! How would he allow Wei Zhong to file a complaint? With malicious intent, he suddenly shouted, thrusting a spear through Wei Zhizhong’s back, with the tip emerging from his chest. Wei Zhizhong screamed in pain and died on the spot. Not wanting to stop at that, Ge Shuhan ordered, “Kill them all! Leave none alive!” Hundreds of civilians were terrified and turned to run. How could the Longyou Army spare them? They chased after them, stabbing and slashing with spears. In moments, hundreds of civilians were killed, not a single survivor left. Ge Shuhan coldly ordered, “Bring the bodies to the camp and bury them. Say that someone attacked the camp at night, and the Longyou Army had to defend itself.” … Despite Ge Shuhan’s efforts to conceal the truth, it couldn’t be hidden forever. A court official who was herding horses from a distance witnessed the entire incident. He survived, and it was his account that spread news of the Longyou Army’s abduction of civilian women, massacre of families, and killing of court officials in Xianyang and Chang’an. The whole city was shocked, and everyone was discussing Ge Shuhan’s order to let his troops kill indiscriminately.

More than four hundred people were brutally killed, including the magistrate of Xianyang County. Such a horrific incident filled the people of Chang’an with outrage. Abducting women to the military camps for rape was already an act of utter cruelty, but killing them to silence them and murdering their families was simply unacceptable. Soon, officials from various parts of Guanzhong submitted petitions demanding severe punishment for Ge Shuhan. If killing could go unpunished, how could they protect themselves? Not only officials from Guanzhong but also those in Chang’an’s court denounced Ge Shuhan. Li Pin, the Chief Censor, even wrote a furious petition, stating that “many soldiers in the border forces are barbarian chiefs who are inherently cruel. If military discipline is not maintained, they will harm the people. Ge Shuhan’s army is just the beginning. I believe border forces should not be stationed in Guanzhong. While punishing the murderers in Xianyang, border forces should be withdrawn from Guanzhong as soon as possible, as there are local troops sufficient to defend the region.” Due to the serious consequences of the Xianyang incident and the growing calls for punishing Ge Shuhan, the government held a special meeting at the urging of Zhang Yun, the Minister of Revenue. …