Over the past several decades on this land, countless instances had occurred of men killing and destroying families, then seizing wives and daughters as concubines or slaves for their pleasure. Truly steadfast women unwilling to endure such humiliation and willing to perish together with their enemies were extremely rare.

After all, as long as one was human, one possessed an extremely strong survival instinct.

Therefore, when Han Qian kept Madam Xi at his side, Gao Shao, Tian Cheng, and the others merely thought they should watch her closely at first. Once they gradually dissolved her determination to fight to the death, they didn’t believe a desperate woman, even if she had some martial training, could truly accomplish anything earth-shattering.

Seeing Han Qian keep Madam Xi serving him in his quarters for a day and two nights, he then instructed them to find craftsmen from the Bureau of Works to forge a pair of silver ankle bracelets with bells fitted to Madam Xi’s ankle measurements. When Zhao Ting’er took a silk thread to measure Madam Xi’s ankle size, Gao Shao and Tian Cheng jokingly asked Han Qian whether they should go to the market to buy some donkey meat to stew into soup so he could properly supplement his vitality.

Han Qian kicked each of them once.

The silver ankle bracelets were quite convenient to make—by noon, the Bureau of Works had sent them over.

Whether Gao Shao and the others had given special instructions or not, besides being fastened with rivets, the silver bells also had a double-layered openwork structure that made it very difficult to stuff foreign objects inside to silence the bell’s ringing.

From then on, whenever the courtyard could hear silver bells jingling, they would know Xi Ren was moving about.

Watching Xi Ren lift her foot to let the craftsman fasten and rivet the ankle bracelet, Han Qian thought ruefully to himself—if he truly developed any designs on Xi Ren, wouldn’t the guards in the courtyard be able to hear through the bell’s jingling both the duration and the intensity of his movements?

Looking again at Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, Yang Qin, and the others standing to the side exchanging glances, he suspected these fellows were probably thinking the same filthy thoughts. Han Qian wondered to himself how he had come up with such a foolish idea that trapped him in a cocoon of his own making.

After the craftsman riveted the ankle bracelet closed, Han Qian couldn’t wait to have someone prepare horses—he wanted to go feast at Guanyue Tower.

After washing and grooming herself, Xi Ren changed into a jacket and skirt. Beneath the gauze, the jade color of her flesh showed faintly through. Above her chest wrap, a stretch of undulating snow-white skin was exposed.

Moreover, Xi Ren was two years older than Zhao Ting’er. Her body had matured where it should, and besides her brilliantly beautiful face, her figure with its rounded hips and upright chest also exuded a more alluringly enchanting charm.

This made Han Qian feel even more strongly that putting silver-belled ankle bracelets on Xi Ren was an endlessly foolish idea.

When Xi Ren mounted her horse, her snow-white slender ankles showed beneath her skirt. With the horse’s hoofbeats, the silver bells made crisp jingling sounds. Passing through streets and alleys, she drew exceptionally conspicuous attention.

Xi Ren still wasn’t accustomed to this kind of “humiliation” that was almost like public display. When she walked into Guanyue Tower and saw the dining guests run over to pay respects to Han Qian, their eyes examining her with such strange looks, she felt uncomfortable all over.

However, her resilient nature forced her to resist this uncomfortable feeling, which also made her radiate a sharp, penetrating aura.

Han Qian had the proprietor clear out the elegant quarters in Guanyue Tower’s rear courtyard. He also told the proprietor he enjoyed eating duck and wanted the head chef to prepare several duck dishes for him to sample.

Even without these past days’ commotion, as the prefectural governor’s son, Guanyue Tower wouldn’t dare refuse such a simple request from Han Qian. Han Qian also took it upon himself to have his guards block the passages in and out of the rear courtyard’s elegant quarters, not allowing other guests the opportunity to come disturb him.

Xi Ren didn’t know what Han Qian’s behavior meant. Not only was Guanyue Tower not famous for duck dishes, but there weren’t many households in Xu Prefecture that raised ducks either. She thought perhaps Han Qian truly did enjoy eating duck in Jinling.

After Guanyue Tower’s servants set out a full table of dishes, Gao Shao led in two men dressed as boatmen wearing straw sandals with mud still on their feet. When she clearly saw that one of them was actually Gao Bao, who had been extremely close to her brother and had brought back news of her brother’s death at Han Qian’s hands, her beautiful eyes widened like saucers.

Seeing Xi Ren’s sharp stare fixed on him, Gao Bao’s heart went hollow with fear. He truly worried that to please the beauty, Han Qian would expose that he had killed Xi Cheng, then hand him over to Xi Ren for disposal.

Seeing Xi Ren’s almond eyes fixed deadly on Gao Bao, Han Qian looked at Xi Ren and said, “Xi Cheng remained loyal to Feng Changyu and acted as his accomplice until his death. At that time, the prison riot was imminent—I had no choice but to kill him. As for Gao Bao secretly returning to Jingyun Stockade, he was acting on my orders. It was through his covert cooperation that I could capture Ji Kun. If you can’t suppress even this resentment, our cooperation seems to have no need to continue!”

Xi Ren took a deep breath before moving her sharp gaze from Gao Bao’s face. She had never imagined that just one day after the Han father and son arrived in Xu Prefecture, they had already gotten Gao Bao and Feng Xuan working for them.

Xi Ren was quite familiar with Gao Bao and had always looked down on his greedy, base nature. She thought if he was caught by Han Qian, it would be perfectly normal for him to be used by Han Qian in his cowardly fear of death. But Feng Xuan had quite a righteous reputation in Xu Prefecture—how could he so easily betray the mountain tribes to be used by the Han father and son?

Han Qian gestured for Gao Bao and Feng Xuan to sit down and talk.

Seeing Han Qian take all responsibility upon himself rather than summoning him to be killed to please the beauty, Gao Bao wiped the nervous sweat from his forehead. He sat down at the table with his rear end barely touching the seat, his heart finally dropping from his throat back into his chest.

Feng Xuan saw Madam Xi present and heard Han Qian say he had some cooperation with Madam Xi. His thoughts were puzzled—he didn’t know what cooperation Han Qian and Madam Xi had secretly agreed upon, nor what instructions this secret summons held.

Before everyone began eating with their chopsticks, Han Qian said:

“Madam Xi has agreed that within ten years, she will lead the Xi clan descendants in loyalty to the Left Division. Feng Xuan, starting from today, you must use every possible means to ransom Xi clan descendants scattered as slaves in various stockades. I will provide full financial support for the required funds!”

Hearing Han Qian say this, everyone suddenly realized that Xi Ren was actually the Xi clan’s sole heir.

Although the mountain tribes also had traditions of male succession, when a chieftain’s heirs were unworthy or there were no male descendants, establishing female leaders wasn’t without precedent.

The most famous example was Lady Xian Zhen of Qiaoguo, called the Holy Mother of Lingnan over four hundred years ago.

The Xi clan had once been a powerful clan in Chen and Xu prefectures, no weaker than the Four Surnames. However, under over ten years of relentless attacks by Ma Yuanheng, Feng Changyu, and others, it could now be said to be destroyed. The last remaining clan members had long been sold by Feng Changyu as slaves throughout Chen, Xu, Shao, and Heng regions.

With the Xi clan already destroyed, Xi Ren’s status as heir was worthless. But if they could reassemble the Xi clan descendants through ransom, couldn’t the Xi clan rise from the ashes and be reborn?

At that point, Xi Ren’s identity could play a crucial role in making Xi clan descendants obey Han Qian’s commands.

Feng Xuan felt slightly bitter. He understood that having him publicly ransom Xi clan descendants—on one hand, Han Qian undoubtedly still wanted to conceal his tracks. On the other hand, as more and more Xi clan descendants gathered under his command, on the surface it would appear his power in Xu Prefecture was growing stronger and stronger, while in reality, Han Qian’s control over him would become tighter and tighter, stricter and stricter.

In the end, unless Madam Xi harbored ulterior motives, he shouldn’t even hope to escape Han Qian’s control.

When the Xi clan was completely destroyed by Feng Changyu in the sixth year of Tianyou’s reign, over three thousand clan members were still sold as slaves to various places.

This population might seem like nothing elsewhere. After all, only three to five hundred of them would be able-bodied men capable of warfare. But in Xu Prefecture, to secretly gather the Xi clan people and ultimately use Madam Xi to rebuild the Xi clan’s cohesion and centripetal force would create a force to be reckoned with, hidden in the shadows.

This was far more realistic and feasible than having Feng Xuan, with little foundation, under the watchful infiltration of the Four Surnames, somehow form a force capable of contending with them in Xu Prefecture within three or four years.

Feng Xuan had no way to refuse. Even if somewhat unwilling, he could only nod in agreement. He then mentioned yesterday’s conversation when Feng Changyu had summoned him to Jingyun Stockade.

The Four Surnames couldn’t refuse the conditions proposed by the new prefectural governor Han Daoxun. They also agreed to accept having Feng Xuan and his subordinates form a fleet to transport Xu Prefecture products to Jinling for trade with warehouses belonging to the Left Division. After all, Feng Xuan had spent many years leading his men in towing boats along the Yuan River and had experienced boatmen and helmsmen who knew the waterways.

However, besides guaranteeing cultivation of the village stockade’s existing fields, even if Feng Xuan mobilized all available men, he had fewer than forty. Moreover, Feng Xuan had no cargo ships at hand.

When Feng Changyu approached Feng Xuan, the Four Surnames each agreed to contribute two thousand-bushel ships. Using the standard of one boatman per hundred bushels of cargo capacity, plus necessary guards, eight thousand-bushel ships would require about a hundred men.

Feng Changyu’s suggestion to Feng Xuan was that Feng’s stockade would provide twenty men, the Four Surnames would each provide twenty, combining forces to assemble the fleet’s needed manpower. When calculating wages, Feng Xuan’s side would simply collect for forty men.

Essentially, they agreed to let Feng Xuan collect phantom wages for twenty men each trip.

Calculating at the rate of two sheng of polished rice and ten cash per day for boatmen and trackers, even with only half the year spent transporting goods, Feng Xuan could collect sixty to seventy thousand cash in phantom wages.

In the poor mountains and treacherous waters of Xu Prefecture, this could be called a huge sum. After all, Feng Xuan’s village stockade, with nearly two hundred people, might not even have annual savings of thirty to fifty thousand cash or one to two hundred bushels of grain.

“I didn’t ask the young master for instructions, so I didn’t dare casually agree to Feng Changyu. I only told Feng Changyu to give me two days to consider,” Feng Xuan said.

“Go reply to Feng Changyu. Tell him the Four Surnames can each contribute ten men to the fleet, but since your family stockade has few people, you want the Four Surnames to each sell you ten stockade slaves cheaply to supplement the manpower shortage. Don’t deliberately mention Xi clan stockade slaves,” Han Qian said. “Also, even if the stockade slaves are sold cheaply, you must first buy them on credit from the Four Surnames.”

Feng Xuan’s stockade currently had only about a hundred able-bodied workers, male and female. If he could obtain forty stockade slaves at once, his strength would essentially increase by thirty to forty percent directly.

Although when Feng Changyu sold stockade slaves, he wouldn’t sell entire households of stockade slaves cheaply to Feng Xuan—he would most likely split up stockade slave family members to sell to Feng Xuan, creating a certain degree of constraint—this didn’t matter. After all, these were just the first steps. At the same time, the first purchase couldn’t deliberately select Xi clan stockade slaves for ransom.

However, as long as the Four Surnames didn’t deliberately guard against Feng Xuan, after making several trips to Jinling, with Han Qian’s support, Feng Xuan’s secretly accumulated financial resources would grow stronger and stronger, the stockade slaves he ransomed would increase, especially the Xi clan stockade slaves among them. They would quickly coalesce into a newly rising force in Xu Prefecture not constrained by the Four Surnames.

Not only would the Four Surnames be unaware of this force—even Tan Prefecture couldn’t possibly guard against it!

Thinking of this, Han Qian felt quite pleased with himself. He picked up a piece of duck breast with his chopsticks, took a bite, and frowned, saying, “This flavor isn’t right!”

Gao Shao, Tian Cheng, and the others’ expressions changed in alarm. “We specifically had people watch the back kitchen—did someone still tamper with it?”

“The flavor isn’t authentic—it’s not poisoned. Why are you so nervous?” Han Qian picked up another piece of braised duck and tasted it. His brow furrowed even tighter. “Last time I came here, I was focused on receiving gifts and didn’t seriously taste Guanyue Tower’s dishes. This braised meat actually has a slight sourness. It seems the culinary standards of Qianyang City’s eateries urgently need improvement! Gao Shao, escort Feng Xuan and Gao Bao out, then summon the head chef. I want to ask him exactly where he learned his craft to be so crude!”

Feng Xuan and Gao Bao exchanged glances, not knowing what Han Qian intended, or whether perhaps the Guanyue Tower proprietor had given the young master gifts that were too light the other day. However, since Han Qian had instructed Gao Shao to escort them out, and they feared exposing their movements, they didn’t dare linger long. They took their leave first…