The Underground Prison (2)
The Underground Prison (2)
Yang Xian furrowed his brows. The scene there might be a bit too much for children, but in the future, it was inevitable that Wei Liuying would be visiting the place too. Would it be fine if she came with them now?
"That's…"
"How old are you when you go to underground prison?"
Yang Xian: "…" younger than you for sure.
He couldn't really remember that time anymore because it has been so long, but he knew that at that time, he was even younger than Wei Liuying. Having to learn how to become Prince Ji Sheng's right hand, he had to accompany Prince Ji Sheng no matter where the latter went.
But the scene back then didn't really surprise him as he had been living at the border for a long period of time. Seeing deaths has become very common to him because war has been going on for a long time. There was no sign of war ending back then.
Sighing, Yang Xian nodded his head. Wei Liuying would eventually come to that place in the future. There was nothing wrong with her coming sooner and see it for herself. Hopefully, she would be fine with bloody sight.
"In that case, you can come with us."
"Thank you, Strategist Yang."
After ordering the servants to tell the guards in the Underground Prison that Prince Ji Sheng would come, Yang Xian led them there. The prison was located near the middle with a lot of guards protecting the area. From outside, it looked no different than a storage room with some important material that the guards were protecting.
While in truth, it was the door that lead to the underground prison.
The three of them entered. The storage room itself was not that large and only contained several barrels. It seemed that the barrel must contain some wine or water or something similar like that.
"Please stand back a bit."
Wei Liuying moved a step back and Yang Xian pushed one of the barrels, revealing a door on the ground. It was the door that headed to the underground prison. From the way it was hidden, Wei Liuying could guess that there were not many people who knew about this prison.
'Secret prison, huh?'
She should have expected that it was this type of underground prison that Prince Ji Sheng and Yang Xian wanted to visit. It might be different from the one at the capital city since that one was open for public.
Glancing down, there were only stairs from what Wei Liuying could see. The underground prison might be quite deep.
"Let's go."
The place was damp and reek with the smell of blood. Wei Liuying looked at the dark wall and noticed that it was made of uneven rock. It seemed as if this place was an underground cave rather than prison.
After walking down for some time, they reached an area where there were guards. In front of them, there were bars that was used for prisoners along with the chains.
Clink!
The sound of chain moving attracted Wei Liuying's attention. Her eyes landed on the first prisoner that was near them. Both his hands and legs were tied to the wall behind while his head hung low. There were numerous wounds on his body which seemed to be made during his time in the prison.
"This is?" Wei Liuying asked in a curious tone.
Yang Xian was watching Wei Liuying's reaction when she saw the prisoner. However, she didn't show the slightest bit of discomfort and merely asked back about who the prisoner was. The fear that was supposedly appeared on her eyes didn't even showed outside. Only cool and indifferent gaze remained.
Truly…
He couldn't read her completely.
"He's one of the Huo Tribe soldiers whom we manage to capture. Right now, we're in the process of questioning him," Yang Xian replied calmly.
"I see."
Wei Liuying's gaze remained still. She was only looking at the soldiers before her, who was experiencing pain with indifferent gaze. Her body remained as if she was nothing more than a statue.
Prince Ji Sheng didn't pay much attention to her. He was asking the guards about the information that they managed to gather. "What have you got?"
"They're in alliance with several tribes. Since Xiong Tribe is moving back, they plan to use their alliance to push us back and gain advantage from Xiong Tribe," one of the guards replied.
Prince Ji Sheng shook his head. "They're not stupid enough to challenge the large Xiong Tribe. There's a reason why Xiong Tribe dominated the north."
The guards couldn't reply. He was only reporting what the man they interrogated responded. After all, he was not that familiar with the overall situation of the war. Especially if he tried to compare to Prince Ji Sheng.
He would never come close.
"Has the other speak?"
"No, not yet, General."
"In that case, you should give them more lesson. I want you to provide more information by tomorrow," Prince Ji Sheng gave his order.
"Yes, General!"
The guards were looking at the prisoners with eyes filled with annoyance. They wanted to finish their work faster because this place smelled so foul. Now that Prince Ji Sheng was dissatisfied with the information they received, they had no other choice but to work all night long.
Wei Liuying noticed their gaze, but she said nothing.
The three of them continued to walk with Prince Ji Sheng leading. The men from Huo Tribe was not the only one here. There were numerous other prisoners of war that Prince Ji Sheng let alive to extract information. After all, war was often a battle of wits and brain more than a battle of fist.
They needed to grasp their enemies' movement before it was too late.
This was the fastest method.
"That's all. Let's return back," Prince Ji Sheng said.
"Yes, General."
The guards looked at the two people behind Prince Ji Sheng. They were already familiar with Yang Xian because he often came there to check on the prisoners too. However, this was their first time meeting with Wei Liuying. They could not understand why Prince Ji Sheng would bring a kid to a place like this.
Not to mention, the kid seemed to be so expressionless.
Even when facing the gory scene before him, the young boy didn't show any reaction as if it was nothing more than normal things.
When the three of them reached the storage room again, Yang Xian looked at Wei Liuying while pushing the barrel back. "Are you alright?"
"Do I look not fine?" Wei Liuying asked back, her voice was clear without any trace of disturbance in the slightest bit.
Yang Xian smiled lightly. "No. You look too fine with it that I don't think this is the first time you see the prison."
"If you're talking about the torture in underground prison, then this is the first time," Wei Liuying responded without any change in her expression. "But seeing people killed in front of me with punishment and torture, this is not the first time,"
How do you think the servants usually die in the Wei Family Household?
Many of them who tried to breach the hierarchy and tried to take advantage of the situation was in much worse condition. Wei Liuying had already seen so many of them got killed mercilessly by the concubines. Just a slight mistake in the servant's part could grant them the ultimate price.
And the way they died could be so cruel.
Some even punished their servants right in front of their courtyard just to teach a lesson to other servants so that they didn't misbehave. It would serve as an example and those who were unlucky enough have to die.
Wei Liuying had seen so many deaths that she couldn't feel bothered with it again.
After all, her mother didn't bother to hide it from her back then either. Instead, Feng Chun wished so that Wei Liuying would see it all so that she would be afraid and followed her mother. If she didn't want to, her end would be like those servants.
That was the warning given to her.
Yang Xian chuckled when he heard what Wei Liuying said. He rose to his legs and walked to Wei Liuying before patting her head tenderly. "As I see it now, the battle for women can be so violence too, huh?"
"With so many of them fighting for the affection of a man, it's not weird that the situation turns bloody at times."
"True enough. One woman is already enough trouble," Yang Xian agreed wholeheartedly. Heh, he came from a commoner family where his father only had his mother. They lived peacefully back then without the need to worry about backstabbing concubines because there was basically none.
Wei Liuying nodded in agreement.
On the side, Prince Ji Sheng listened to these two conversing with each other. He sighed. "Are you two talking about this because you want me to hear it, Xian, Liu Ying?"