Mu Qing looked up at the ever-changing light screen, his dazed expression identical to Zhu Wenzhong’s.
The last time he encountered such an unpredictable situation was… well, the last time.
When he was prepared and waiting for the video, it didn’t come. When he let his guard down thinking the video wouldn’t appear again, here it was. Was it playing with him?
Zhu Wenzhong pinched himself, the pain confirming this wasn’t a dream, making the terror in his eyes more evident. “Wenqing, do you see something strange too?”
Help, were they really seeing ghosts?
Mu Qing rolled his eyes imperceptibly. Yeah, ghosts indeed.
“Wenzhong, Wenqing, find somewhere to sit and stop making trouble.” Zhu Yuanzhang had no time to explain now, gesturing for those who didn’t understand the situation to step back and not block their recording of the maps revealed by the heavenly voice and images.
He had been preparing for the light screen’s second appearance. These past few days, whenever he saw Li Shanchang idle, he’d send him to the study to practice writing and drawing, determined not to miss even the slightest information this time.
Zhu Wenzhong: ???
Could someone please explain what was happening?
Also, weren’t they all being a bit too calm?
Zhu Wenzhong watched the burly men in the room working with organized efficiency, feeling like he’d stumbled into a den of monsters. “Wenqing, don’t you think they’re acting strange?”
Mu Qing turned his head slowly. “Brother, if you keep talking, father’s going to beat you.”
Zhu Wenzhong looked at the extremely composed child, frowning as he realized things weren’t simple. “Do you know something?”
Mu Qing didn’t speak, just expertly covered his mouth.
Zhu Wenzhong: …
Alright, he understood.
No wonder this kid had kept his mouth shut for several days before – he must have encountered this situation before and been told not to talk.
Zhu Wenzhong’s initial nervousness faded, and he enthusiastically squatted beside his little brother to watch the light screen. During their brief conversation, the video’s introductory music had finished playing.
The voice from the light screen, same as last time, got straight to the point after greeting them, without any unnecessary words.
[Fan Meng, also known as Fan Mengduan, was from Qi County, Henan, a petty clerk in the Henan Province office during the Yuan Dynasty. He could respectfully be called the Grave Digger of the Great Yuan.]
[The reason he’s called the Grave Digger of the Great Yuan isn’t because he marched on Dadu or assassinated the emperor. Quite the opposite – his activities never left Henan Province, yet he laid excellent groundwork for the late Yuan peasant uprising that would occur over a decade later.]
[Before introducing the formidable Brother Fan, let’s first understand the Yuan Dynasty’s bureaucratic system.]
[As we all know, in ancient China’s bureaucratic system, there was a clear distinction between officials and clerks. Simply put, they were like civil servants with permanent positions versus contract workers without permanent status in the system. The former had political prospects and could rise to high office, while the latter had no political future to speak of – you did the dirty and hard work, but when rewards were distributed, you stood aside. That’s roughly the idea.]
[However, the Yuan Dynasty was different from other dynasties. The distinction between officials and clerks in the Great Yuan wasn’t so clear-cut, because most Mongols had low levels of Sinicization. Therefore, they didn’t rely heavily on the imperial examination for selecting officials. Many Mongol officials couldn’t even read Chinese characters, yet could still become high-ranking officials.]
[Throughout the entire Yuan dynasty, far more people transitioned from clerks to officials than those who became officials through the proper imperial examination system. As a result, many well-connected individuals bypassed the exams altogether, starting as petty clerks in government offices as early as age eleven or twelve to accumulate seniority. When the time was right, they could convert from contractual positions to official posts, avoiding the cutthroat competition for limited examination slots.]
[Brother Fan followed this very path. He began as a petty clerk in a government office as a child, doing all kinds of dirty and exhausting work, always wearing a smile for everyone. After twenty years of such drudgery, he finally leveraged a friend’s connections to advance from a county government clerk to a candidate official in Henan Province.]
Xu Da scratched his head and nudged Tang He beside him, whispering, “Old Tang, do you know who this Fan Meng is?”
The heavenly voice had previously spoken about the emperor in Dadu. Though Xu Da didn’t know the emperor’s name, he knew there was an emperor in Dadu. But this time, the person mentioned was someone he had never even heard of.
A petty clerk in the Henan provincial office? How could such a person be respectfully called the Grave Digger of the Great Yuan? What kind of petty clerk could possess such capability?
He had heard operas about forging imperial decrees, but never one where a forged decree wiped out an entire provincial administration.
Xu Da was baffled, and the rough-and-tumble men around him were equally confused. They had joined the rebel army only when starvation loomed, and it was only in the past two years, as they began leading troops, that they had studied a few characters under their mentor’s guidance. Being able to read the words on the light screen was already an achievement; beyond that, they knew little.
Tang He wasn’t much more informed. The heavenly voice said Fan Meng laid the groundwork for the late Yuan peasant uprising over a decade later, meaning these events occurred more than ten years ago. Back then, they were all just half-grown kids—how could they possibly know what happened in a provincial government office?
Li Shanchang, however, had come prepared and could spare a moment to explain. “I have indeed heard of this Fan Meng.”
At his words, the attention of those around him shifted to him.
Li Shanchang continued writing without pause. “If you wish to hear more, wait until the heavenly voice dissipates. But the heavenly voice likely knows more than we do, so let’s keep listening.”
Xu Da and the others thought this made sense and without another word, left Old Li alone and turned their attention back to the light screen.
The heavenly voice had previously laid out the entire life of the emperor in Dadu with clarity. This time, it would surely hold nothing back about Fan Meng.
Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes, sensing that the heavenly voice wouldn’t speak of Fan Meng without reason.
Last time, when it spoke of the emperor in Dadu, it revealed much about the broader trends of the world. This time, discussing a petty clerk who forged imperial decrees—could it be that, in the heavenly voice’s view, this clerk was also a figure capable of influencing the course of history?
Unaffected by its audience, the light screen continued.
[We all know that the Mongols are brave, fierce, and崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚武力崇尚
During Kublai Khan’s reign, he implemented Sinicization policies, using Han Chinese to govern the Central Plains and appointing large numbers of orthodox Confucian scholars as court officials. Had subsequent rulers continued Kublai Khan’s policies, the Yuan Dynasty might have lasted longer, but history admits no “what ifs.” Not to mention Kublai’s successors—even Kublai himself failed to fully implement Han Chinese administrative methods.
The Yuan Dynasty’s territory extended beyond the Central Plains to include several other khanates, its vast expanse far exceeding previous dynasties. While Kublai was willing to promote Han Chinese systems, the rulers of Central Asian khanates under Yuan control and Mongol nobility strongly opposed Sinicization. Under intense opposition from his ministers, Kublai grew distant from Han officials in his later years.
Han officials faced systemic oppression—even when appointed, they remained subordinate to Mongol and Semu superiors. Key central institutions like the Zhongshu Sheng, Privy Council, and Censorate were monopolized by Mongols.
Throughout the century-long Yuan historical records, only two high-ranking officials were of Han origin—and even they couldn’t be considered typical Han appointments. One was Shi Tianze, a major landowner and warlord who helped Kublai conquer territories as a founding merit official. The other was He Weiyi, a Mongolized Han who early abandoned his ancestral heritage, was granted a Mongol surname “Taiping” by the Mongols.
If central high officials were all Mongols, local governments fared no better.
Local administrative power in the Yuan Dynasty rested with Darughachis (originally meaning “seal holders” or supervising officials). As early as the Great Mongol State period, Kublai decreed that all Darughachis must be Mongols, establishing this as “permanent regulation.”
Later emperors—Yuan Emperor Chengzong, Wuzong, and Renzong—repeatedly reinforced prohibitions against Han appointments as Darughachis. Even inspector positions like Lianfangshi rarely went to Han candidates. If no suitable Mongol could be found, selection moved to Semu people who had served as personal servants to Mongol nobility. Only after exhausting these options would ordinary Semu or Han candidates be considered.
Despite these rules, the Yuan governed not only wealthy regions like Jiangnan but also remote, impoverished areas like Huguang, Yunnan, and Guizhou used for exiling criminals. Since these were penal colonies, powerful Mongols and Semu officials avoided postings there, allowing Han officials to fill leftover positions.
Clearly, Fan Meng’s Henan Province wasn’t remote enough—he remained firmly under proper Mongol high officials.
Zhu Wenzheng clicked his tongue. “Being an official involves so much complication? Shouldn’t capability determine appointments?”
“Brother, you don’t understand,” said Zhu Wenzhong, enjoying his rare duty of just watching children instead of copying texts while chatting with his elder brother. “Many incompetent people hold office—with the right birth, even fools can become emperor. Didn’t the teacher recently mention that emperor who asked ‘why not eat chicken thighs?’ Wasn’t he a fool?”
Mu Qing struggled but finally muttered under his breath, “That was Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong. He actually said ‘Why not eat meat porridge?’ not chicken thighs.”
Zhu Wenzhong grinned and nodded dismissively, “Right, right. ‘Why not eat minced meat?’ Our Wenqing is truly remarkable, able to remember such convoluted phrases.”
Mu Qing shifted aside slightly, thinking to himself that the bar for “remarkable” seemed rather low.
[After discussing the Yuan Dynasty’s administrative system, let’s now talk about Fan Meng.]
[Brother Fan endured twenty years at the grassroots level before finally being transferred to the provincial government office. He thought his days of hardship were over, throwing himself into hard work with hopes of promotion. But while dreams are plump, reality is bony—life at the provincial office turned out completely different from his expectations.]
[The real power then lay with the influential minister Bayan, the same Bayan who was fanatically sinophobic. As the saying goes, “When those above behave unworthily, those below will do the same.” Bayan wished to exterminate all Han people under heaven, so naturally the Mongol officials under him also viewed Han Chinese with contempt. Brother Fan’s immediate superiors were almost exclusively Mongols brimming with prejudice against Han people.]
[As a lowly clerk, life was tough everywhere. At the county office, all the dirty and arduous tasks fell to him. After transferring to the provincial office, the dirty and arduous tasks still fell to him. At the county office, his Han superiors bore no deep grudges—they could turn a blind eye and life went on. But at the provincial office, his Mongol superiors took daily pleasure in bullying Han officials, constantly nitpicking while falsely accusing him of “eating without working” to withhold his salary.]
[Heads may roll, blood may flow, but wages must not be lost. Though mild-tempered people seldom lose their temper, you can’t push them indefinitely. Brother Fan rose earlier than roosters and slept later than dogs, diligently striving for advancement, only to have his salary completely withheld. Could he tolerate this?]
[And so, Brother Fan erupted under the pressure. Perhaps fueled by drink, or perhaps rage had stripped him of reason, he marched to the provincial office wall in broad daylight and boldly inscribed a rebellious poem.]
[“All say I accomplish nothing, but how many truly achieve nowadays? Dragon-slaying hands hidden in sleeves, a sharp blade buried for twenty springs.”]
[“Dragon-slaying hands hidden in sleeves, a sharp blade buried for twenty springs.” “Should I ever fulfill my soaring ambitions, I’d dare laugh at Huang Chao’s inadequacy.” How about that? Doesn’t it evoke Huang Chao and Song Jiang?]
[By all reasoning, such seditious verse should have landed Brother Fan in prison, but it didn’t. Why? Because the Mongol officials in the yamen were illiterate—they couldn’t comprehend what Brother Fan had written.]
Zhu Wenzheng and Zhu Wenzhong looked up simultaneously, eyes nearly popping out in astonishment. “They couldn’t even understand that? Father, look—they became high officials without knowing how to read!”
Old Zhu snorted coldly. “Indeed. That’s why they all ended up dead.”
Chapter 17
Mu Qing looked up at the constantly changing images on the light screen, his dazed expression a perfect match for Zhu Wenzhong’s.
The last time he had encountered a situation this unconventional was… well, the last time.
When he had been prepared and waiting for the video, the blasted thing didn’t show up. Now that he had relaxed his guard, thinking it wouldn’t appear again, here it was. Was it messing with him?
Zhu Wenzhong pinched himself. The pain told him this wasn’t a dream, and the terror in his eyes grew more pronounced. “Wenqing, are you seeing something strange?”
Help, was he really seeing a ghost?
Mu Qing shot him a subtle eye-roll. Oh yes, we’re seeing ghosts.
“Wenzhong, Wenqing, find a place to sit and don’t make a fuss.” Zhu Yuanzhang had no time to explain right now. He had those who didn’t understand the situation move back so they wouldn’t block the others from recording the maps revealed by the heavenly voice and images.
He had been on guard for the light screen’s second appearance. For the past few days, whenever he saw Li Shanchang idle, he would send him to the study to practice writing and drawing. This time, he was determined not to miss a single piece of information.
Zhu Wenzhong: ???
Could someone please explain to him what exactly was going on?
Also, weren’t they all a little too calm?
Zhu Wenzhong looked at the rough, uncultured men in the room, who were busy but orderly, and felt as if he had stumbled into a den of monsters. “Wenqing, don’t you think they’re acting a bit strange?”
Mu Qing slowly turned his head. “Brother, if you say another word, our father is going to beat you.”
Zhu Wenzhong glanced at the extremely calm little child, and with a frown, he realized things weren’t that simple. “You know something, don’t you?”
Mu Qing didn’t speak, just expertly covered his mouth.
Zhu Wenzhong: …
Fine, he understood.
No wonder the kid had kept his mouth shut for a few days. It turned out he had encountered a scene like this and been told not to speak.
Once his initial nervousness passed, Zhu Wenzhong squatted down next to his little brother with great interest and looked up at the light screen. In the short time they had been talking, the video’s introductory music had finished.
The voice from the light screen greeted them just like last time and got straight to the point without any nonsense.
[Fan Meng, also known as Fan Mengduan, a native of Qi County, Henan, was a petty clerk of the Henan Province Censorate during the Yuan Dynasty. He can also be respectfully called the Grave Digger of the Great Yuan.]
[The reason he is called the Grave Digger of the Great Yuan is not because he marched on Dadu or assassinated an emperor. Quite the contrary, his troublemaking never left Henan Province, yet he laid an excellent foundation for the late Yuan peasant uprising that would occur more than a decade later.]
[Before we introduce the badass Brother Fan, let’s first understand the bureaucratic system of the Yuan Dynasty.As we all know, within the bureaucratic system of ancient China, there was a clear dividing line between officials and clerks. To put it simply, it was the difference between civil servants with tenure and contract workers without. The former had political prospects and could rise through the ranks to become high officials. The latter had no political future to speak of. You do the dirty work, but when it comes to rewards, you stand aside. That’s the gist of it.]
[However, the Yuan Dynasty was different from other dynasties. The line between officials and clerks in the Great Yuan was not so distinct. Because most Mongols had a low level of sinicization, they didn’t rely heavily on the imperial examination to select officials. Many Mongol officials couldn’t even recognize Chinese characters but could still become high-ranking officials.]
[Throughout the entire Yuan Dynasty, far more people were promoted from clerk to official than those who became officials through the proper imperial examination. As a result, many people with connections didn’t bother with the imperial examination. Instead, they started as petty clerks in government offices at the age of eleven or twelve to gain experience. This way, when the time was right, they could be promoted from contract worker to a permanent position, avoiding the need to compete with thousands of others for a spot in the imperial examination.]
[Brother Fan took this route. He started as a petty clerk in a government office from a young age, doing all sorts of dirty and tiring work, and had to put on a smiling face for everyone he met. He endured this for twenty years before finally, through a friend’s connection, he was transferred from a petty clerk in a county government office to a candidate official in Henan Province.]
Xu Da scratched his head, nudged Tang He beside him, and asked in a low voice, “Old Tang, do you know who this Fan Meng is?”
The last time, the heavenly voice talked about the emperor in Dadu. He didn’t know the emperor’s name, but he knew there was an emperor in Dadu. Why was it that this time, he had never even heard of the person being discussed?
A petty clerk of the Henan Province Censorate? He could be called the Grave Digger of the Great Yuan? What kind of petty clerk had such great power?
He had heard plays about forging imperial edicts, but he had never heard of anyone wiping out the officials of an entire province by forging an edict.
Xu Da was baffled, and the uncultured men beside him were just as confused. They had all joined the righteous army because they were on the verge of starvation. It was only in the last two years, needing to lead troops, that they had learned a few characters from their teacher. Just being able to read the words on the light screen was already a great effort; they knew nothing more.
Tang He didn’t know much more than they did. The heavenly voice said Fan Meng laid the foundation for the late Yuan peasant uprising more than a decade later, which meant it happened over ten years ago. More than ten years ago, they were just half-grown kids. How would they know what happened in a provincial government office?
Li Shanchang was fully prepared this time and could even spare a moment to speak with them. “I have heard of this Fan Meng.”
As soon as he said this, everyone’s gaze focused on him.
Li Shanchang’s hands didn’t stop moving. He wrote as he spoke, “If you all wish to hear about it, you can wait until the heavenly voice has dispersed. However, the heavenly voice should know more than we do, so let’s just keep listening.”
Xu Da and the others thought that made sense. Without another word, they let Old Li be and continued to stare at the light screen.
Last time, the heavenly voice had clearly explained everything the emperor in Dadu had done in his life. This time, when talking about Fan Meng, it would surely tell them everything it knew.
Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes, feeling that the heavenly voice wouldn’t be talking about this Fan Meng for no reason.
Last time, when discussing the emperor of Dadu, it revealed much about the development of the world’s situation. This time, it was talking about a petty clerk who forged an imperial edict. Could it be that in the eyes of the heavenly voice, this clerk was also a figure who could influence the course of the world?
The light screen continued, unaffected by its audience.
[We all know that the Mongols were brave, fierce, and revered martial strength. The unified dynasty they established continued this characteristic. After Yuan Emperor Kublai Khan, successive rulers all advocated for military power, believing that as long as their military was strong enough, they could rule the country well.]
[The Yuan Dynasty was the first unified dynasty in Chinese history established by an ethnic minority, and it also had the largest territory. The nomadic people who entered the Central Plains established various new systems, but because the rulers were engaged in warfare year-round and focused on military power, the various systems within the court were fraught with all kinds of problems.]
[During his reign, Kublai Khan promoted sinicization, using Han people to govern the Central Plains and appointing a large number of ministers from orthodox Confucian backgrounds to the court. If subsequent rulers had continued Kublai Khan’s policies, the Yuan Dynasty’s reign might have lasted longer, but history has no ‘ifs’. Not to mention the rulers after Kublai Khan, even Kublai Khan himself did not thoroughly implement Han methods.]
[The territory of the Yuan Dynasty included not only the Central Plains but also several other khanates, its area far exceeding that of previous dynasties. Kublai Khan was willing to promote Han methods, but the monarchs of the Central Asian khanates under Yuan rule and the members of the Mongol royal family and nobility were unwilling to promote sinicization. Under the strong opposition of the ministers around him, Kublai Khan also grew distant from his Han ministers in his later years.]
[Han people were severely oppressed in the officialdom. Even if they became officials, they had Mongols and Semu people above them. High-ranking central government positions in the Zhongshu Sheng, Privy Council, and Censorate were monopolized by Mongols.]
[Searching through the hundred-year History of Yuan, only two people of Han ethnicity held these high-level positions, and they can’t even be considered of normal Han origin. One was named Shi Tianze, who was a major landowner and warlord at the time, a meritorious official who helped Kublai Khan conquer the realm. The other was He Weiyi, a sinicized Han person who had long since renounced his ancestors and changed his ethnicity. He was even specially granted a Mongol surname by the Mongols and was named “Taiping.”]
[The high-ranking central officials were all Mongols, and the local governments were no better.]
[In the Yuan Dynasty, local administrative power was in the hands of the Darughachi. Darughachi originally meant “seal holder,” which is to say, a supervising official. As early as the Great Mongol State, Kublai Khan had stipulated that the Darughachi in all regions must be held by Mongols, and this was to be “a permanent regulation.”]
[Later, Yuan Emperor Chengzong, Yuan Emperor Wuzong, and Yuan Emperor Renzong all repeatedly issued prohibitions, emphasizing that Han people must not be allowed to serve as Darughachi. Even supervisory officials like inspectors were rarely Han. If a suitable Mongol really couldn’t be chosen for a position, then they would select from the Semu people who had served as personal slaves to the Mongol nobility. If no one could be chosen from among the close Semu people, only then would they consider ordinary Semu people and Han people.]
[Such were the rules, but the Yuan Dynasty did not only rule over prosperous regions like Jiangnan. There were also remote and poor places like Huguang and Yunnan-Guizhou, which were used to exile criminals. Since these were places for exiling criminals, powerful and influential Mongols and Semu people were naturally unwilling to serve there. Only then did Han people have the opportunity to pick up what they left behind and become officials with real power.]
[Clearly, Henan Province, where Fan Meng was located, was not within the scope of remote areas. The ones pressing down on him from above were all bona fide high-ranking Mongol officials.]
Zhu Wenzheng tutted. “It’s just being an official, why are there so many twists and turns? Shouldn’t they just let whoever is capable do the job?”
“Brother, you don’t get it. There are plenty of people who can be officials without any ability. As long as you’re born into the right family, even a fool can be an emperor.” It was Zhu Wenzhong’s first time encountering this scene. He didn’t have to copy anything, just watch the kid, so he chatted with his older brother while listening. “Just a few days ago, our teacher told us about that emperor who asked ‘why not eat chicken thighs?’ Wasn’t he a fool?”
Mu Qing held it in, and held it in again, but couldn’t stop himself from muttering, “That was Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong. What he said was ‘Why not eat minced meat?’ not ‘why not eat chicken thighs’.”
Zhu Wenzhong grinned and nodded nonchalantly. “Right, right, ‘Why not eat minced meat.’ Wenqing is so smart, you can even remember such a tongue-twisting phrase.”
Mu Qing scooted aside, thinking to himself that the standard for being “smart” seemed a bit low.
[Now that we’ve talked about the administrative system of the Yuan Dynasty, let’s talk about Fan Meng.]
[Brother Fan toiled at the grassroots level for twenty years before finally being transferred to the provincial government office. He thought his good days were coming and was determined to work hard and get promoted. But while the ideal was plump, reality was bony. Life in the provincial government office was completely different from what he had imagined.]
[The one in power at the time was the powerful minister Bayan, the very same Bayan who was fanatically anti-Han. When the beam is not straight, the lower ones will be crooked. Bayan wished he could kill all the Han people in the world, so naturally, the Mongol officials under him also looked down on Han people. Brother Fan’s direct superiors were basically all Mongols who were full of prejudice against the Han.]
[Life was hard for a petty clerk no matter where you were. In the county office, he did all the dirty and tiring work. After being transferred to the provincial government office, he still did all the dirty and tiring work. In the county office, his superiors were Han people. They had no deep-seated hatred for each other, so they could turn a blind eye and get by. In the provincial government office, his superiors were Mongols. These Mongols took pleasure in bullying Han officials and clerks, constantly finding fault with him. Not only that, but they also used the excuse that he did nothing but eat all day and stopped his salary.]
[One’s head can be cut off, one’s blood can be shed, but one’s salary cannot be lost. An honest man doesn’t usually lose his temper, but you can’t keep bullying an honest man. Brother Fan rose earlier than a rooster and slept later than a dog, diligently trying to get ahead, but in the end, even his salary was docked completely. How could he tolerate that?]
[And so, Brother Fan erupted under the pressure. Perhaps he had a little to drink, or perhaps his anger made him lose his senses, but in broad daylight, he ran to the wall of the provincial government office and, with a flourish of his brush, wrote a rebellious poem.]
[Everyone says I don’t get things done, but how many people get things done these days? Dragon-slaying hands hidden in sleeves, a sharp blade buried for twenty springs.]
[“Dragon-slaying hands hidden in sleeves, a sharp blade buried for twenty springs.” “If one day I achieve my soaring ambitions, I’d dare to laugh at Huang Chao for not being a true man.” How about that? Doesn’t it have the feel of Huang Chao and Song Jiang?]
[Logically, once the rebellious poem was out, Brother Fan should have at least taken a trip to the great prison, but he didn’t. Why? Because the high-ranking Mongol officials in the government office were all illiterate. They couldn’t understand the poem Brother Fan wrote.]
Hearing this, Zhu Wenzheng and Zhu Wenzhong both looked up, their eyes so wide with shock they nearly popped out. “They couldn’t even understand that? Dad, look, they can become high officials without even knowing how to read!”
Old Zhu let out a cold laugh. “That’s right. And that’s why they were all killed.”