Chapter 823: Hidden History

Chapter 815: The Hidden History

Longchuan originally belonged to Xiji. After Panlong City occupied Xiji's entire territory, Longchuan was naturally incorporated into Panlong City's domain.

Due to its unique geographical location and lingering historical issues, Longchuan presented a significant challenge for He Lingchuan as he prepared to take over as commander of Yuheng City.

He wanted to examine the true historical context of Longchuan.

His ability to view events from over a century ago was a significant advantage.

When he first opened the records, he felt pleased, but the more he read, the graver his expression became.

The records contained information far beyond his expectations: In true history, during Panlong City's rule, the bandit problem in Longchuan was suppressed for a time but never fully eradicated, even worsening significantly in later years.

Five years after occupying Xiji, Panlong City was forced to abandon its southern trade route.

This meant that trade between Panlong City and Baishawan ceased, and Zhong Shengguang's cherished ambition for external communication virtually vanished.

As for the reason, the county gazetteer only contained one line:

The Panlong army's harshness led to popular uprisings.

He Lingchuan found this hard to believe.

He had originally believed that, given the formidable strength of Panlong City's army, clearing the Longchuan bandits would only be a matter of time. But history revealed that this was not at all the case.

As it was long ago and Longchuan was a bandit-ridden area, outsiders knew little about it. The county gazetteer contained only a few sparse entries.

The brevity of the text hinted at much more startling, back-and-forth struggles.

The reasons recorded there were certainly incomplete, perhaps even biased and one-sided. But He Lingchuan read them word for word, over and over, four or five times, before turning to local clan histories.

History is always written by the victors, and official histories rarely record what the victors deem unimportant. Fortunately, prominent local families often compiled their own family histories, inadvertently embedding the truth.

The two clan histories He Lingchuan consulted belonged to the Zhang family, who were local gentry, and the Li family, wealthy residents of Tu County. The whereabouts of these two families are unknown to this day, because their clan histories were hidden in a private library in Tu County, and both books bore the "Lu Guan" seal on their backs.

It was clear that Wu Shaoyi had also visited local scholars to acquire these private collections.

In times of turmoil, it was fortunate for He Lingchuan that someone in Tu County still valued ancient texts.

Both books were tattered, and he had to turn the pages carefully.

The sections in the Li clan history that mentioned Longchuan had already been circled by Wu Shaoyi with a brush.

The wording here was quite bold, stating that Panlong City's army was extremely harsh and swift in suppressing the Longchuan bandits. On one occasion, during a deep foray into Longchuan's heartland to suppress bandits, they met fierce resistance and killed over six hundred people.

These six hundred people were not all bandits.

Such was the nature of conflict; it was sometimes difficult to distinguish between bandits and ordinary citizens.

The local populace was fierce, and Panlong City's army acting this way immediately aroused public anger. Several major bandit groups within Longchuan even united for revenge, sneaking into the southern part of Yuheng City to massacre two villages.

The main residents of these two villages were Xiluo people who had migrated with the Panlong City army.

Thereafter, suppression and uprisings were ceaseless.

The Li ancestor also nearly died in the conflicts, which led them to abandon their original livelihood and move to Tu County.

He Lingchuan discovered from between the lines that while the Li clan history was heavily embellished, this particular ancestor of theirs likely came from a background of illicit dealings.

The Zhang family's clan history, however, was less detailed, only noting that the southern trade route gradually withered, and their papyrus business was severely affected.

After He Lingchuan finished reading Wu Shaoyi's annotations, he intended to close the book and think. However, he instinctively flipped two more pages, and a sentence caught his eye:

The following spring, the Yuheng City Guardian was assassinated.

This sentence truly startled him.

In Yuheng City's true history, He Lingchuan did not exist at all. Therefore, the commander in charge of city defense was someone else; after Xiao Maoliang was transferred back to Panlong City, another individual took over the commander's post.

But the Zhang clan history's record was overly simple. Did the term "City Guardian" refer to Wen Daolun, who was in charge of city affairs, or the new commander overseeing city defenses?

It was unclear.

He Lingchuan quickly flipped through the other books from beginning to end, hoping to find the time and location of this assassination.

Unfortunately, he found nothing.

In short, a key official in Yuheng City was assassinated, which was likely a lingering consequence of the failed bandit suppression in Longchuan.

He Lingchuan put down the books, rubbed his temples, and picked up Wu Shaoyi's letter.

The envelope was intact, bearing the inscription "For Young Master's Eyes Only." However, He Lingchuan suspected that He Chunhua had already inspected it before feeling confident enough to hand it over.

In any case, as a military officer, Wu Shaoyi's handwriting on the envelope was not particularly elegant, making it easy to forge.

He unfolded the letter and began to read. He had expected Wu Shaoyi to recount how difficult it was to obtain these documents, but to his surprise, the letter contained substantial information.

After He Chunhua defeated the main force of the southern rebels, he immediately dispatched Wu Shaoyi and others to Longchuan to continue suppressing the remnants of the rebellion, an effort described as "rooting out evil completely."

This task was not difficult. The rebel remnants in Longchuan, having heard of the main force's defeat, were like stray dogs, surrendering at the mere sight of Governor He's approaching army.

While in Longchuan, Wu Shaoyi found an old water lizard over 230 years old.

This old creature was a native of Longchuan. Though not particularly powerful, it excelled in its longevity and extensive knowledge, having weathered all sorts of storms. It had also served as the local water spirit for twenty to thirty years.

When Wu Shaoyi questioned it, the old creature was not senile and could recall events from over a century ago in detail. So he personally took down ten full pages of the old water lizard's testimony, which he then compiled into a letter and sent to He Lingchuan.

These dozen or so pages recorded Longchuan's history, mostly trivial matters. He Lingchuan scanned them quickly and soon extracted the useful information:

The Zhang clan history had previously recorded that the Yuheng City Guardian was assassinated.

The old water lizard, however, remembered clearly that this "City Guardian" was named Zhao Yin'an, the Commander of Yuheng City.

He Lingchuan stroked his chin thoughtfully. This meant that, in true history, the grand commander who succeeded Xiao Maoliang in Yuheng City was Zhao Yin'an.

It continued, stating that immediately after Zhao Yin'an took office, water bandits launched a night raid on Yuheng City, resulting in heavy losses to the city.

So the bandit attack on the city had indeed occurred in history, and it had even succeeded?

However, in the Panlong world, due to He Lingchuan's involvement and command, this event had a completely opposite outcome.

According to the old water lizard's testimony, Zhao Yin'an was indeed assassinated, which matched the Zhang clan history. Of course, the creature was not present at the scene and did not know the details of the assassination.

Heh, He Lingchuan wasn't afraid of enemies playing such tricks.

He had grown accustomed to dying in the Panlong world; one more time wouldn't matter.

But the next sentence instantly darkened his expression:

The following year, Yuheng City Guardian Wen Daolun also died.

A chill ran through He Lingchuan's heart. He immediately recalled that when he entered the Panlong world some time ago, Wen Daolun had mentioned that he had divined an ominous omen.

So, like his beloved son Wen Xing, Wen Daolun ultimately could not escape death and could not defy fate?

This kind of unseen predestination must be the most despair-inducing.