The stone stockade was not small. Three hundred paces square was equivalent to a small city. But except for the stockade hall and the well-built structures in the north section where the Feng clan’s close relatives lived, the dwellings where other tribal soldiers and stockade slaves lived were all dilapidated.

The mountains had frequent sudden rains, and large areas of the stockade grounds were muddy and impassable. Under Feng Jin’s guidance, Han Qian and his group walked along stone-paved paths toward the stockade hall.

The stockade hall was a typical local pile-dwelling structure. Dozens of thick wooden pillars were deeply driven into the ground. At mid-height, wooden planks were laid as a foundation, upon which a three-story wooden building was constructed. The space beneath the wooden plank foundation was left open to tether cattle, horses, and other livestock. Over a hundred stockade soldiers also lodged there, awaiting summons.

Han Qian had Zhao Wuji, Tian Cheng, and Gao Shao remain outside. He climbed the steps and entered the great hall, which was three or four zhang deep. He saw Ji Kun, whom he was meeting again, sitting in the hall accompanying seven or eight people wearing official robes, his eyes looking over with sinister intensity.

“Lord Han truly has remarkable courage,” Ji Kun stared over menacingly.

“What courage? Lord Ji, you jest. I merely accompanied my father when first arriving in Xuzhou to tour the mountains and waters everywhere,” Han Qian stood at the front of the hall, looking around in all directions with a smile. “Lord Ji, you don’t really think Lord Feng’s Jingyun Stockade is some dragon’s pool and tiger’s den that devours human flesh and blood, where Han Qian cannot enter? However, Lord Ji, you are the Office of Operations Shouzhou Bureau Commander. Rather than staying in Shouzhou to watch the Liang army’s movements, you’ve run to Xuzhou. Could it be the Military Department intends to expand territory in the southwest?”

Ji Kun’s eyes were gloomy. He had calculated a thousand times but never calculated that Han Qian would have the courage to walk into Jingyun Stockade. This caused all his extremely ingenious calculations to fall into emptiness.

And even though Han Qian was brazenly and undisguisedly sowing discord, he found it difficult to refute.

Civil and military officials all had their duties. As Office of Operations Shouzhou Bureau Commander, he bore the responsibility of gathering intelligence on enemy conditions along the Shouzhou line. Running to Xuzhou in the southwest corner without reporting to the Bureau of Military Affairs was abandoning his post.

If the great surname and powerful clans didn’t understand and had concerns, that would be normal.

“Lord Ji’s appearance here isn’t because the Military Department has any actions in the southwest. Lords, please don’t worry. I was just making a small jest with Lord Ji earlier.”

Han Qian saw a tribal slave bring up a chair. He went straight over and sat down. Without inquiring about the names and identities of the many people present, he took a cup of hot tea and sipped the scalding and slightly bitter tea water in small mouthfuls, saying:

“Perhaps Lord Ji has already told you lords about his identity and purpose for appearing in Xuzhou. Let Han Qian also make a guess. Lords, see if Han Qian guesses correctly—the Third Imperial Prince is young and intelligent, quite favored by the Emperor. Although only enfeoffed as Marquis of Linjiang, at the beginning of the year he was granted the title of Dragon Sparrow Grand General and actually leads an army of elite troops in Jinling, causing the Palace of Tranquility and the Crown Prince to worry, fearing the Emperor intends to depose the heir apparent. My father was recommended by the Third Imperial Prince to take office in Xuzhou, so he’s even more of a thorn in the eyes of the Palace of Tranquility and Crown Prince, who wish to remove him quickly. As my father and I journeyed west, traveling over two thousand five or six hundred li by water route to Xuzhou, this Lord Ji has made plenty of moves. It’s just that his many conspiracies were all broken by my father. Having no other options, he can only use alarmist talk to incite you lords to make things difficult for my father, making it impossible for my father to establish himself in Xuzhou. If I’m not mistaken, Lord Ji has most likely also slapped his chest and promised you lords that even if the sky falls, the Palace of Tranquility will shoulder everything. But the question is, if the Palace of Tranquility could truly hold up the fallen sky, why would they need to worry about the Emperor’s intention to depose the heir apparent?”

Speaking to this point, Han Qian also cupped his hands toward Ji Kun and asked, “This question—I especially want to ask Lord Ji face to face!”

“You father and son came with the sinister intention of exploiting the locality. Before even arriving in Qianyang, you wanted to make an issue of Lord Wang Yu’s death to slander the locality, so that you father and son could encroach on local interests. Even if this sky is to break, it wasn’t me who incited these lords to break it!” Ji Kun said eerily.

“What Lord Ji says is true. The Third Imperial Prince was granted the title of Dragon Sparrow Grand General and actually leads over seven thousand elite fierce soldiers. But the court only allocated less than one hundred thousand mu of grain fields to settle military dependents, and the additionally allocated military resources each year amount to only twenty million cash. Maintaining such an elite force is indeed somewhat difficult. So when my father took office in Xuzhou, the Third Imperial Prince secretly instructed my father that each year he needed to raise five million cash to fund military provisions. All along the westward journey, my father also had a splitting headache for several days about how to broach this matter with you lords. Since Lord Ji has already made this clear for us, there’s really nothing to hide now.” Han Qian cupped his hands toward Feng Changyu, Yang Zaili, and the others, saying.

Ji Kun was slightly stunned. Han Qian had revealed without any concealment that his father took office in Xuzhou to collect wealth from the locality. What more could he say? What more could he incite?

“I haven’t yet asked you lords for your names. Han Qian has truly been discourteous.” Only now did Han Qian ask the names of the group of middle-aged and elderly men with gloomy faces sitting there one by one.

“This old man is Yang Zaili…”

“This official is Xi Zhen…”

“This official is Feng Changyu…”

“This old man is Xiang Jianlong…”

Everyone also awkwardly gave their names to Han Qian.

Han Qian performed the courtesy with each person one by one, then asked Ji Kun, saying: “I’ve already been so frank. What else does Lord Ji think I’m concealing? As for the provincial prison prisoners rioting, my father necessarily had to suppress them. Lords Zhang Xiaochuan and Liu Bin unfortunately died in service. My father will also memorialize the court to request consolation payments for them, and will absolutely not let certain people with ulterior motives use this matter to sow discord and alienate the relationship and trust between the court and the locality. Lord Ji surely doesn’t think that my father and I came to kill until blood flows like rivers and corpses lie everywhere in Xuzhou, ultimately causing the Xuzhou situation to rot beyond recovery, right?”

“…” Seeing Han Qian speak of killing to silence witnesses so righteously, Ji Kun’s heart truly felt bitter.

From the moment Han Qian actually dared to enter Jingyun Stockade alone, he knew the initiative was no longer in his hands. He truly had no way to refute Han Qian’s words.

Even if he argued unreasonably, it would be impossible to make the Feng, Xi, Xiang, and Yang four surnames believe him. What more could he say?

At this moment, Ji Kun suddenly realized—everything was because he had acted too hastily.

If there had been no prison raid, if the Four Surnames hadn’t been forced into direct confrontation, when Han Daoxun proposed extracting an additional five million cash annually from Xuzhou, the Four Surnames, who already occupied a strong and dominant position locally, would necessarily have flatly refused. At that time, hiding behind the scenes and stirring up trouble step by step, they could ultimately make it impossible for Han Daoxun to establish himself in Xuzhou. But in the current situation, the choices facing the Four Surnames had become extremely limited.

They could either detain Han Qian and continue the standoff with Han Daoxun; or directly kill Han Qian and raise the banner of rebellion; or accept the conditions Han Qian proposed on his father’s behalf, watching as Han Daoxun extracted an additional five million cash annually from Xuzhou, and then Xuzhou would return to its former calm…

And the matter of Han Qian hosting a banquet at Guanyue Tower last night and collecting wealth from migrant great households had also spread like wildfire. Even without sending additional eyes to watch, they clearly knew what happened at Guanyue Tower yesterday. This also showed that Han Daoxun’s collection of local wealth wouldn’t only raise the blade against indigenous great surnames, which undoubtedly further reduced the Four Surnames’ vigilance.

“Shouldn’t Lord Ji temporarily withdraw to avoid interfering with my discussion with these lords?” Han Qian stared at Ji Kun and asked.

Seeing Han Qian directly wanting to drive him away, Ji Kun’s face stiffened as he sat there.

“Lord Ji is an honored guest we invited, and also an important court minister. Whatever Lord Han wishes to say need not be concealed from Lord Ji,” said Feng Changyu, sitting in the host’s position. He didn’t want to drive Ji Kun away and said slowly, “We understand the Regional Inspector’s and Lord Han’s intention to serve the Third Imperial Prince. But Xuzhou is truly poor mountains and evil waters, and the people are truly impoverished and destitute. If you want to raise an additional five million cash each year, calculating by Xuzhou’s twelve thousand households, it would actually require each household to pay an additional measure in land tax annually. I fear this would provoke a popular uprising!”

Hearing Feng Changyu say this, Ji Kun’s heart felt even more desolate. These old foxes kept him sitting in the great hall only to use him as a bargaining chip in haggling with the Han father and son.

“Lord Feng, I only came to tour the mountains and waters. How to raise money and grain—I can’t calculate these accounts. If Lord Feng doesn’t feel that my staying at Jingyun to tour the mountains and waters is a burden, the specific matters should still be discussed between you lords and my father,” Han Qian said.

Feng Changyu looked toward Yang Zaili, Xi Zhen, and Xiang Jianlong, seeking their opinions.

With Han Qian willing to remain here as a hostage until both sides finally reached terms, what more could the other three say? Could the Four Surnames, controlling less than five thousand households of tribal people, truly raise the banner of rebellion?

Taking ten thousand steps back, even if the conditions Ji Kun promised were true, once Xuzhou fell into a standoff, the Palace of Tranquility could arrange for censors to impeach Han Daoxun and strive to send ministers from their faction to replace Han Daoxun in taking office in Xuzhou and pacifying the Four Surnames. But before ministers from the Palace of Tranquility faction entered Xuzhou, who could guarantee Han Daoxun wouldn’t resolutely use military force and proactively provoke warfare?

Once warfare erupted in Xuzhou, how much hope could they place in the Palace of Tranquility and the Crown Prince?

Just as Han Qian had said earlier, if the Palace of Tranquility and Crown Prince faction could truly hold up the sky, why would they need to worry about Emperor Tianyou deposing the heir apparent? And their having this concern, even sparing no effort to obstruct Han Daoxun from taking office in Xuzhou and obstructing Han Daoxun from establishing himself in Xuzhou—the other layer of meaning hidden within wasn’t it that Han Daoxun taking office in Xuzhou, and even Han Daoxun raising military resources for the Dragon Sparrow Army in Xuzhou, had Emperor Tianyou’s tacit permission?

“Lord Han has had a tiring journey. If you’re truly interested in Jingyun’s mountain and water scenery, you might as well rest in the side hall first. After you’ve recovered your energy, tomorrow I’ll have Feng Jin accompany Lord Han for a walk in the mountains.” Feng Changyu gestured for Feng Jin to first lead Han Qian away from the stockade hall.

Han Qian stood up and cupped his hands toward everyone. He even smugly cast a provocative glance at Ji Kun before taking Zhao Ting’er and following Feng Jin out of the stockade hall first.

“I also ask Lord Ji to temporarily rest in the west side hall.” At this moment, Feng Changyu also cupped his hands toward Ji Kun.

After a short while, Feng Jin left and returned. Feng Changyu still asked worriedly: “You’ve definitely arranged people properly to keep both sides separated?”

Feng Changyu’s worry was not without reason. He feared that either Han Qian or Ji Kun’s side would strike, causing either Han Qian or Ji Kun to die at Jingyun Stockade, which would force them to have even fewer choices.

“Your son understands this matter,” Feng Jin nodded to show he had arranged sufficient people to watch both sides, then asked, “Father, are we really going to send someone to see Han Daoxun?”

“Lord Xi, Lord Yang, Lord Xiang—what are your thoughts?” Feng Changyu didn’t answer Feng Jin’s question but turned to ask Xi Zhen, Yang Zaili, and Xiang Jianlong for their opinions.

“If we bow our heads this time, I fear we can only gain temporary peace?” Yang Zaili said worriedly.

“Han Daoxun has just entered Xuzhou and is already so greedy. How can we guarantee he won’t push for more in the future?” Feng Jin was also unwilling to bow his head casually and argued.

“Even if we can only gain temporary peace, we still need to employ expedient measures,” Feng Changyu said. “Han Daoxun arrived in Xuzhou just one day ago and has already killed over a hundred people, then sent his son here as a hostage. This all demonstrates his determination to levy taxes. And we are far from prepared. We haven’t been able to unite with the great surnames of Chen, Shao, Heng, and Jing prefectures. With just our four families alone, an arm cannot twist a thigh!”