20. Also launched the Gate of Beheading

  Liu Jiao Jiao ordered: "Come, untie Wang An for me", but Wang An said: "Wait a minute, I have been wronged and cannot let it go like this. Liu Jiedu Shuai, you must untie me and compensate me for the loss of my prestige." Liu Jiao Jiao saw Wang An's smug expression and suddenly felt angry, but although she looked angry on the surface, she was secretly pleased in her heart. She thought: "Brother Jiang and his friends are my friends, they are the only ones in this army who can treat me like a little sister. I don't want them to violate military law. Wang An is a detestable wolf, but he doesn't deserve to die."

  Liu Jiao Jiao angrily said to Wang An: "You think I'll untie you? Don't even think about it!" Jiang Cai said: "Wang brother, now that things are clear, we are innocent. Let's not continue to entangle ourselves." Wang An shook his head and said: "Big brother, our lawsuits always start with defeat and end with victory. Now that we've won, let's win thoroughly. Besides, I'm doing this for Jiao Jiao's own good. If she kills me today, it will be a miscarriage of justice! If the news gets out, it will chill the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in our army. Who will still want to establish merit for the country? Moreover, killing an innocent person is also killing a meritorious official. If the imperial historian finds out, he will definitely report it to the emperor, and Jiao Jiao will be in big trouble."

  Jiang Cai heard Wang An's words and thought they made sense, so he went to Liu Jiao Jiao and said: "Jiao Jiao, you were too rash today. You have no choice but to untie him and apologize. Otherwise, if you treat a meritorious general like this, it will really chill the hearts of the entire army." Then Jiang Cai whispered to Liu Jiao Jiao: "Sister, why did you provoke him for no reason? Even when you're in the wrong, you still have to make things difficult for others. Now that you're in the right, can't you just let it go?"

  Liu Jiao Jiao had to hold back her anger and went to Wang An's side, with a cold expression, ready to untie him. At this time, Wang An said: "You must smile and serve me well. If your attitude is not good, I will refuse to let you untie me." Liu Jiao Jiao was suddenly filled with anger.

  Liu Jiao finally managed to squeeze out a smile on her face, preparing to untie Wang An's ropes. However, Wang An said, "Why do you look uglier than when you cry?" Liu Jiao glared at him angrily.

  Wang An continued, "You've done something wrong, and you must admit your mistake. Here's what we'll do: you'll apologize to me and ask for punishment, and I'll forgive you." Liu Jiao asked, "How do I apologize?"

  Wang An replied, "You'll take off all your clothes, put a bundle of twigs on your back, and apologize to me, asking me to whip you as punishment to atone for your sins." Liu Jiao was furious and said, "You want me to take off my clothes? You're dreaming!"

  Jiang Cai was shocked and thought to himself, "Brother Wang, we're just small officials, and you want to strip the regional commander's clothes and whip her? This is too much! Is this what they mean by 'not knowing when to stop'?"

  Wang An thought to himself, "What's the big deal? I've taken off your clothes before. That was a memorable experience." He then said, "I forgot you're a woman. You only need to take off your top and put twigs on your back, and let me whip you."

  Liu Jiao refused, saying, "Taking off my top is not acceptable either." Wang An continued, "Fine, you don't have to take off your clothes. Just let me whip you once, and I'll consider it a big concession."

  Liu Jiao retorted, "You want to whip me? You're the one who should be whipped!" Wang An said, "You're ruining our business deal and refusing to apologize. Your character is really poor!"

  Liu Jiao asked him to repeat what he just said, and Wang An replied, "You're framing a meritorious official and refusing to apologize. This will really dampen the morale of our soldiers."

  Just then, Wu Ge came over and reported to Liu Jiao, "Regional Commander, I've carefully checked, and there are only 1720 enemy heads here, not 1800. Wang An has falsified his military achievements. According to military law, he should be beheaded as an example."

  Wang An, Jiang Cai, Du Lu, Li Li, Zhang Wan, and others thought for a moment before remembering that they had let some wounded enemies escape during their battle against the Xiongnu army, which meant the total number of enemy soldiers killed was less than 1800.

  Liu Jiao glared at Wang An and said, "What do you have to say now?" Wang An calmly replied, "I've decided to forgive you. You don't need to untie my ropes yourself; the guards can do it for you."

  Liu Jiao had been defeated by Wang An's words and immediately ordered, "Guards, take him out of the camp and behead him!" The guards promptly dragged Wang An out of the camp.

  After Wang An came out of the prison gate, the executioner saw Wang An and immediately recognized him. He warmly greeted him, saying: "You're here again." Wang An said: "We'd better not meet, no, it's better not to meet at all." The executioner and the soldiers didn't care about him, they lit the signal fire and prepared for the beheading.

  At this time, Jiang and others were pleading with Liu Jiao to say: "General, the responsibility for this mistake is not entirely on Wang An's shoulders, we also have a responsibility. Please spare Wang An." Wu Ge said: "General, Wang An has committed an unforgivable crime, you absolutely cannot let him off. You must know that if military law is not enforced, how can you command the three armies in the future?" Liu Jiao didn't want to kill Wang An either, thinking that although Wang An was a despicable person, his crime wasn't punishable by death. Moreover, Wang An had made great contributions and was indeed a useful man. Killing him would be a loss for the border region.

  Liu Jiao said, "Bring Wang An back", and Wang An was brought back from the Ghost Gate. As he was leaving, he even bid farewell to the executioner, who said, "See you later". Wang An said, "Children's words are not taken seriously, the strong wind blows them away. Let's just not see each other again." The executioner said, "I can tell from your temper that you will definitely be back soon."

  Wang An was brought back in front of Liu Jiao, who was playing with a whip and said: "What did someone say earlier? There's an idiom called 'carrying thorns to apologize for guilt', if you carry thorns to apologize to me, I'll forgive you." Wang An thought to himself: "You can dream on, apologizing to you will definitely lead to you taking revenge, beating me half to death. Women are truly narrow-minded, as the saying goes 'it's better to offend a petty person than a woman', it really makes sense." Wang An said: "I didn't do anything wrong, what guilt am I supposed to acknowledge?" Liu Jiao pointed at Wang An and said: "Now that the evidence is clear, you're still denying it, truly hopeless. Guards, take him out of the camp and behead him!"

  The executioner's hand saw Wang An and enthusiastically greeted him, saying: "We meet again, it's really exciting!" Wang An hastily shook his head and said: "Exciting your head, seeing you is my bad luck." Jiang Cai was still pleading for Wang An to Liu Jiao, saying: "General, Wang brother is straightforward and speaks quickly, don't mind what he says. Other generals on the border have tens of thousands of soldiers, but they only kill a few hundred enemies in a year. Wang brother led us to kill over 1,000 enemy soldiers, almost three times our military strength. Isn't it disheartening for the army if there is no merit and yet there is punishment? Moreover, who should hate Wang brother the most is the Xiongnu, but he will die at the hands of his own people. Isn't this a case of 'hurting those who love you and pleasing those who hate you'? Aren't you avenging the Xiongnu?" Liu Jiao saw that Jiang Cai's words made sense, so she said: "Bring him back to me." Wang An was brought back again, and the executioner still enthusiastically greeted Wang An, saying: "Thank you for your patronage, welcome next time!" Wang An hastily shook his head and said: "This time, I won't come back no matter what." The executioner still shook his head and said: "With your temper, it's strange if you don't come back."

  Wang An was brought back by the guards, and Liu Jiao said: "Just now, Brother Jiang pleaded for you, and I agreed. I will allow you to redeem yourself through meritorious service, and let you go today." Wang An shook his head and said: "You are wrong, I am innocent and have made contributions. You should reward me instead of punishing me. Moreover, you should apologize to me with a gift of silk." As soon as he mentioned apologizing with a gift of silk, Liu Jiao's eyebrows furrowed in anger, and she was about to erupt. Jiang Cai rebuked Wang An, saying: "Brother Wang, please say less." Wang An said: "I am not wrong! Look at us - we killed over 1,700 enemies without receiving any reward, but because of a shortage of 80 heads, meritorious officials suddenly became guilty ones. Your laws are too lenient when it comes to rewarding achievements and too severe when it comes to punishing crimes. If achievements are not rewarded and crimes are punished, who will dare to report their merits to you in the future? This move will surely chill the hearts of the three armies." Liu Jiao listened to Wang An's words and thought they made sense, so she said: "Alright, I will give you a reward, and we'll forget about your false reporting of military achievements. How does that sound?" Wang An said: "No way! You haven't even untied my bonds yet? Remember to have a good attitude and provide smiling service!" Liu Jiao glared at Wang An but had no choice, so she personally untied his bonds. As Wang An massaged his numb arms, which had been bound by ropes, he said to Liu Jiao: "Commander-in-Chief, you wronged me once again. Look at the matter of apologizing with a gift of silk?" Liu Jiao looked at Wang An angrily but soon broke into a smile. She gazed at him and said: "Wang An, although your crime of false reporting is pardoned, you cannot escape punishment. Do you want to receive some punishment?" After saying this, she raised the leather whip in her hand.

  Wang An hastily said, "This matter will be discussed later." Liu Jiao did not hesitate and immediately handed over the silver. Wang An's soldiers were overjoyed and carried the silver away to their barracks. As they left the camp gate, the executioner warmly said to Wang An, "We'll meet again." Wang An felt a chill and immediately replied, "I hope we never meet again, I don't want to see you for even a moment." The executioner said, "But I want to see you." Wang An quickly escaped. Seeing Wang An's flustered appearance, Liu Jiao giggled and said, "This scoundrel is really strange, he doesn't fear the governor at all and dares to continuously negotiate terms."

  Wang An's soldiers immediately purchased a large portion of meat, preparing to improve the troops' rations. At the same time, they also allocated some money from this silver as compensation for the deceased soldiers and prepared some money to be sent by the soldiers to their families. After receiving the reward, the soldiers were grateful in their hearts, and now they also knew how difficult it was for Wang An to get this reward, which was earned with his life. They were filled with gratitude towards Wang An, and at the same time, Wang An did not embezzle a single penny from the troops. This also earned him the respect of the soldiers.

  Note: During the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Han's time, Wei Shang, the defender of Yunzhong, defeated the Xiongnu but reported six more than he actually did when reporting his achievements. As a result, he was arrested by the officials of the Western Han and prepared to be punished. At this time, Feng Tang advised the emperor: "The reward is too light, and the punishment is too severe." The emperor admitted his mistake after hearing this and sent Feng Tang to pardon Wei Shang. From this, it can be seen that in ancient times, falsely reporting military achievements was indeed a crime.

  Regarding this matter, Su Shi's "Jiang Cheng Zi / Jiang Shen Zi Mi Zhou Chu Lie" mentions the incident of Feng Tang in one sentence: "Hold the festival in the cloud, how can Feng Tang be sent?"