Seven or eight armored soldiers surged forward to seize Zheng Hu. Zheng Hu threw the man aside, twisted his neck, and clasped his hands together, cracking his knuckles with loud pops, clearly intending to fight the group of armored soldiers. He sneered coldly:

“I’m tarnishing the reputation of your Wei army? General Liao died at the hands of the barbarians, the Marquis of Shuobei died from exhausting his energy and efforts, my eldest brother is currently leading soldiers drinking the northwest wind, gnawing on mountain snow while pursuing barbarians everywhere! The military urgently needs to order a batch of armor for the soldiers—how has this dog of a thing been making things difficult at every turn?”

As he spoke, he had already collided with two Wei manor armored soldiers rushing at him head-on. Relying on his physical advantage, he knocked both armored soldiers back stumbling: “What, is the Prince Consort protecting this dog of a thing like this, having him deliberately procrastinate and delay on the matter of ordering armor, making the frontline soldiers endure cold and hunger—is this the Prince Consort’s intention?”

Although Wei Qishan had handed over all military authority to Xiao Li, last year’s entire year of campaigns had exhausted the treasury silver of all the districts and prefectures in the Northern Territory.

With warfare unceasing, the common people below also couldn’t live in peace. Survival itself was already difficult, so not much tax silver could be collected for the new year.

The various subsequent military supplies needed by the army could only be obtained by releasing portions of the salt and iron monopolies, borrowing from merchants within the territory.

Wei Qishan had operated in the Northern Territory for decades. The merchants in the merchant houses who controlled the flow of silver throughout the entire Northern Territory all needed to act according to the Wei clan’s wishes.

Xiao Li had just taken over military authority, and the army had not yet completely stabilized. It wouldn’t do to interfere with the merchant house affairs so quickly.

Making the entire merchant house undergo a major personnel change too hastily would also be disadvantageous to the Northern Territory, which urgently needed stability at present.

Moreover, the various types of supplies the military needed to procure had long been handled through collaboration between the merchant house and the Wei camp. There was no need to break in new contacts or negotiate various terms again.

Therefore, when Zheng Hu went directly to the merchant house today to convey the message about ordering armor, who would have expected that the head of the merchant house would make him go to the government office to open all sorts of receipts and documents.

He knew this batch of armor was urgently needed, so he didn’t even take time to eat lunch. After obtaining the last document the other party wanted, he hurried back to the merchant house to find the person, only to learn the other party had come to the Wei manor for the funeral, so he came to the Wei manor as well.

Who would have thought that after looking at the documents, the other party would put on airs and say they couldn’t do business on credit as before anymore—payment had to be made first.

How could Zheng Hu not know this was the other party deliberately making things difficult? Unable to restrain himself, he directly threw a punch.

Seeing Wei Pinjin protecting the head merchant like this, his anger hadn’t subsided, so he asked sarcastically.

Because the commotion here was so great, quite a few guests had already gathered around.

When Wei Pinjin heard those words, though he had some doubts in his heart about what Zheng Hu said regarding the head merchant deliberately making things difficult, he was immediately overwhelmed by the rage brought on by Zheng Hu’s accusatory words.

He had carefully followed his father’s dying wishes, yet these nobodies all dared to shit and piss on his head!

Wei Pinjin said grimly: “Outrageous! Quickly arrest this brute who speaks nothing but nonsense!”

The armored soldiers behind him surged forward.

The sounds of the brawl forced the watching guests to retreat to the covered corridor to avoid being injured.

After a fierce struggle, both Zheng Hu’s hands and feet were restrained by the armored soldiers. Unable to break free forcefully, he turned his head toward the armored soldier restraining his right arm and let out a threatening roar. That armored soldier was momentarily stunned. Zheng Hu seized the opportunity to swing his arm and fling the man away, then grabbed the waist belt of the armored soldier still desperately holding his left hand, lifted him high overhead, and threw him down in front of Wei Pinjin, shouting fiercely: “Come on! No matter how many people there are, your Grandfather Zheng isn’t afraid!”

The armored soldier fell to the ground, rolling in pain.

Wei Pinjin’s face twitched slightly. He felt this was no different from being slapped hard across the face in front of everyone. He said icily: “Ready the crossbows!”

A row of armored soldiers standing behind him quickly raised their crossbows, all aiming at Zheng Hu in unison.

Though so many arrows were aimed at him, Zheng Hu showed no fear on his face. Instead, he sneered mockingly: “I’d like to see, after today, who will still dare to tie their head to their waistband and go to the frontline to fight. Right now it’s the armor supply that can’t keep up—in a while, will the military provisions also fail to be supplied?”

“My second brother took over this mess of a Northern Wei for you, dispatching his subordinate soldiers to clear out the barbarian raiders. Is this how your Wei clan uses the method of blocking military supplies to harm frontline soldiers?”

His voice was like a great bell. These words caused quite a few guests present to change their expressions, secretly speculating whether Wei Pinjin truly intended to use this method to eliminate Xiao Li.

But the current Northern Territory was already as precarious as a sand tower. This method could be described as harming the enemy one thousand while damaging oneself eight hundred.

Even if they successfully eliminated Xiao Li and dragged down the army, what would they use to resist the barbarians outside the pass and the Pei bandits who could counterattack at any time?

Wei Pinjin naturally saw from the expressions of those present what they were thinking, and his rage intensified even more.

When had he ever ordered a shortage of military supplies?

He said coldly: “Ruffians and scoundrels will be ruffians and scoundrels—such slanderous words truly come out of your mouth at will! Shoot arrows at him!”

Before the crossbow-wielding armored soldiers could release their arrows, another urgent shout came from outside the crowd: “Stop!”

The watching guests looked toward the sound and saw a large mass of people arriving at the moon gate. The group of district officials who had gone to the front hall for discussions were also among them.

The person at the front was Xiao Li. His brows and eyes were cold and imposing, and he did not speak.

The one who had just called out was Wei Ang, who had rushed over upon hearing the news.

Seeing this situation, he felt utterly overwhelmed, and said to the group of armored soldiers holding crossbows: “What is this during the Marquis’s funeral? Put away the crossbows immediately!”

The crossbow-wielding armored soldiers’ expressions were hesitant. They didn’t dare directly obey Wei Ang, but looked toward Wei Pinjin, waiting for Wei Pinjin to speak.

Wei Pinjin’s face was stretched tight. Some things could be tacitly understood, but today at Wei Qishan’s funeral, the other party had aggressively escalated the matter to this point and repeatedly showed him disrespect. If he still tried to smooth things over, it would be nothing less than telling everyone he was afraid of Xiao Li.

Wei Pinjin pursed his lips tightly and pointed to the merchant house head beside them who had been beaten black and blue by Zheng Hu: “What about my Wei manor guest being humiliated like this?”

The merchant house head he pointed to cowered with his waist half-bent, not daring to raise his eyes to look around at all, his whole body trembling continuously.

Zheng Hu was Xiao Li’s man, so Wei Ang couldn’t directly question him. He looked toward Xiao Li.

Xiao Li asked: “Tiger, what happened?”

Zheng Hu cupped his fists toward Xiao Li and said: “Reporting to the Lord, this subordinate has been wronged. This morning, this subordinate followed the Lord’s orders to go to the merchant house to convey the message about ordering armor. This fellow made this subordinate run back and forth between the government office and the military camp four or five times to open such a pile of documents, then didn’t acknowledge them!”

As he spoke, he pulled a handful of receipts from his breast, displaying them for all present to see, saying with teeth itching from hatred: “He changed his tune and said we must pay fifty percent silver as a deposit before he could make this batch of armor urgently needed by the military. This subordinate couldn’t swallow this anger, so I got physical with him.”

After speaking, he cupped his fists again and bent his waist lower: “This subordinate knows he is at fault and is willing to accept punishment.”

The guests who came to pay their respects today were all people from official circles. How could they not know that previously, the Northern Wei military’s collaboration with the merchant house was all on credit—when the silver funds came through, or at year-end accounting time, they would settle everything at once.

At such a time when the military’s silver income was so difficult, for this merchant house head to dare so blatantly make things difficult—to say there was no one instigating him behind the scenes was truly hard to believe.

As soon as Wei Ang heard this account, he understood the general situation. He looked at Wei Pinjin with some disappointment, then turned around, knowing he had no face, and cupped his hands toward Xiao Li: “The matter of ordering armor cannot be delayed. This subordinate will definitely investigate this matter afterward and give the Lord an explanation.”

Wei Ang’s look stabbed Wei Pinjin’s heart with both pain and anger. After Wei Ang had already said those words intending to suppress this matter, he turned and kicked the merchant house head, as if swearing to obtain justice for himself, shouting sternly: “Who gave you the audacity? To dare act so arrogantly and tyrannically!”

The merchant house head was kicked by Wei Pinjin and fell to the ground. Completely ignoring the sharp pain in his bones and joints, his face was full of shock, doubt, and bewilderment—as if Wei Pinjin had truly been the one to instruct him.

Seeing this, Wei Pinjin couldn’t help but fly into a rage. He delivered two more vicious kicks to the merchant house head’s body: “Answer!”

The merchant house head, pained into bending his body like a bow, hurriedly begged for mercy: “This lowly one didn’t dare, this lowly one didn’t dare…”

He frantically thought up an explanation: “It’s truly because this past year warfare has been unceasing, and cotton and hemp prices have risen again and again. The merchant house can no longer draw out silver for circulation. The batch of armor the military needs to order is not a small number. This lowly one had no choice, so I discussed with General Zheng that the military would first provide half the silver as a deposit, then this lowly one would scrape together everything, even selling pots and iron, to gather the remaining half and rush to produce this batch of armor urgently needed by the military…”

Zheng Hu immediately shouted: “You’re full of shit! Doesn’t your merchant house have a full hundred thousand taels of silver to use for tomorrow’s road sacrifice?”

The silver the merchant house was spending wasn’t any secret. Just a few days ago, quite a few high-ranking officials and nobles had praised the merchant house’s lavish spending.

At this moment, however, the merchant house head was already crying with snot and tears flowing together. He knew the excuse he’d found was far-fetched, but having already spoken, he could only steel himself and continue: “The Marquis is this lowly one’s second father. The merchant house was also built up single-handedly by the Marquis. The Marquis departed so suddenly—even if it meant emptying the entire merchant house, this lowly one wanted to hold a magnificent road sacrifice for the Marquis…”

This time, without Wei Pinjin getting angry, even the usually steady Wei Ang became enraged, shouting sternly: “Absurd! When the Marquis was alive, he loved his soldiers like his own children. Now that the military is short of armor, you don’t prioritize military needs first but use the silver in such a place, and you still dare say it’s to repay the Marquis’s great kindness?”

The merchant house head kowtowed like pounding garlic, and before long blood appeared on his forehead: “This lowly one was confused! This lowly one couldn’t think straight…”

After a heavy sigh, Wei Ang looked toward Xiao Li: “My Lord, what do you think…”

Whether this matter was instigated by Wei Pinjin or not, Wei Ang still had no certainty in his heart.

To say it wasn’t instigated by Wei Pinjin—how would this merchant house head dare act this way on his own?

But to say he instigated it—he had already intended to suppress this matter earlier, yet Wei Pinjin then questioned the head merchant.

Wei Ang didn’t know that Wei Pinjin, in order to remove suspicion from himself, deliberately had this merchant house head shoulder all the blame alone.

Things having reached this point, the merchant house head had indeed taken on all the blame by himself. Whether outsiders believed it or not could be set aside for now—stopping this matter here was already the best outcome.

Xiao Li said: “Since it was for the Marquis’s sake, it can be considered a display of loyalty. But the military still lacks various supplies. To prevent this situation from recurring, the merchant house will now be managed by the military. What do the Prince Consort and General Wei think?”

Wei Pinjin opened his mouth to refuse, but Wei Ang forcefully pulled his arm. Knowing that today’s matter was outwardly the Wei clan’s fault, he could only forcefully suppress his anger and close his mouth with great unwillingness, turning his head to one side.

Wei Ang cupped his hands on his behalf: “Since it’s for military supplies, we’ll do as the Lord says.”

Xiao Li said: “Although there was a reason for this incident, my subordinate general caused trouble at the Marquis’s funeral. After returning to camp, I will also punish him.”

The farce concluded. After Xiao Li left with Zheng Hu, the watching guests also couldn’t very well continue standing in the corridor and dispersed one after another.

Wei Ang looked at Wei Pinjin again. Wei Pinjin, seeming to know what he wanted to ask, immediately shouted: “I didn’t!”

Wei Ang then looked at the merchant house head on the ground who had kowtowed until his head was broken and bleeding, and coldly ordered those around him: “Take him to Guanlin Hall.”

The manor was currently handling funeral matters, and with so many guests today, it wasn’t appropriate to conduct interrogations outside.

The marquis manor’s study had previously been burned by Song Qin and the others when they rescued Xiao Li. It still hadn’t been rebuilt, so Guanlin Hall had become the main place for discussions. Even on a day like today, it had guards strictly watching over it.

As soon as they entered the courtyard gate, the merchant house head knelt down, pleading: “Young Lord, spare my life! General, spare my life…”

Wei Ang’s brows and eyes were somber as he demanded: “Who instructed you?”

Before the merchant house head could open his mouth, a Wei general who had hurried over upon hearing the news had already knelt down, bowing his head quite guiltily: “It was this subordinate’s idea.”

Seeing who had come, Wei Ang was so angry he pointed at the person, but couldn’t speak a single word for a long while.

He of course knew that after Wei Qishan handed over military authority and the position of lord to Xiao Li, quite a few of the Wei clan’s generals were extremely dissatisfied in their hearts.

This person in particular, after Xiao Li was imprisoned for the matter of being accused of concealing Hanyang’s identity, had several times proposed that since Xiao Li was disloyal, he should be directly beheaded as a warning to others. When Yuan Fang pleaded for Xiao Li’s mercy, he had argued with this person on the spot several times.

After Wei Pinjin’s initial shock, a savage look suddenly appeared on his face. He stepped forward and delivered a backhanded slap across the other’s face: “Wei Tong! My father and I treated you well, yet you dare commit such an ungrateful act?”

Wei Tong took the slap without resistance. His two hands hanging at his sides clenched into fists as he said with some difficulty: “This subordinate was just angry that before the Marquis’s coffin was even buried, the entire Northern Territory already showed an attitude of people leaving and tea getting cold. I wanted to teach that Xiao fellow a lesson!”

Wei Pinjin shouted: “Does this young lord need you to teach people lessons for me?”

Wei Qishan had already passed away, and Xiao Li was Northern Wei’s new lord. Wei Pinjin now only had the identities of Wei clan head and former Jin Prince Consort to the outside world. It was no longer appropriate to call himself young lord.

But in his agitation, he couldn’t care about these things anymore.

Wei Tong’s eyes held hidden redness as he said: “This subordinate knows he deserves death ten thousand times over. The young lord can also hand this subordinate over to that Xiao Li for disposal. But this subordinate watched him take away everything that should have belonged to the young lord, and everyone around still fawned over that Xiao fellow in every way. This subordinate’s heart just felt it wasn’t fair to the young lord!”

As he spoke toward the end, he had become angry again. Hearing these words, Wei Pinjin was stunned. Humiliation and grievance surged up again, finally diluting that anger.

Wei Ang, however, shouted sternly: “This was the Marquis’s decision!”

On his face, grief and anger mixed with no small amount of heartache, yet he still said: “If you truly cared for the young lord’s welfare, how could you prevaricate and make difficulties over the matter of ordering military armor? Right now the barbarians are still plundering and causing trouble within the territory, making the people’s hearts anxious. The Lord wants to increase the order for this batch of armor because Northern Wei currently has a severe shortage of troops and needs to rely on conscripting troops from various district and prefecture forces! Until the barbarians within the territory are completely cleared out, military morale and popular support cannot stabilize. Before the Marquis departed, what he was most concerned about was the Northern Territory’s common people and all of Northern Wei. He exhausted every means to have Lord Xiao Zhou take over Northern Wei. By acting this way, where does that put the Marquis? Where does it put the young lord now?”

Wei Pinjin recalled the furtive glances the guests gave him as they dispersed, also felt humiliated, and had nothing to say for a moment.

Wei Tong said defiantly: “The Marquis was provoked by General Liao’s death, and it was that Xiao fellow who drove the barbarian main forces out of the territory, so he impulsively entrusted Northern Wei to him. Our Wei camp has countless talented and virtuous generals—how could we not assist the young lord!”

“Shut up!” Wei Ang shouted sternly: “That day at Yanle Mountain, if you had even a fraction of today’s heroic ambition, leading the soldiers to defeat the barbarians and behead the barbarian generals, the Marquis wouldn’t have entrusted Northern Wei to another!”

Wei Tong was rendered speechless by this retort, though his face still showed much unwillingness.

Wei Ang pointed at him, shouting in exasperation: “By daring to act this way, you were plotting to harm the young lord, to harm all of Northern Wei!”

Wei Tong said with difficulty: “This subordinate originally didn’t intend to delay this matter too long. I just wanted to let that Xiao fellow’s group run into some obstacles, to make them understand that all of this originally belonged to the Wei clan, and that not everyone in our Wei camp is spineless and eager to curry favor with them! To make them show more respect to the young lord in the future. Who would have thought that Xiao fellow’s subordinates would directly come to the Marquis’s funeral to cause a great disturbance…”

Wei Ang wanted to scold him again for this statement, but his emotions were already too complex to speak.

After quite a while, he said sorrowfully: “If you think Northern Wei’s current prosperity is good, and feel that it all fell into Lord Xiao Zhou’s hands because of one sentence from the Marquis, then you’re wrong.”

Wei Ang’s eyes held hidden tears as he lamented: “Northern Wei’s current stability and dignity—those were all begged for by the Marquis!”

Upon hearing these words, Wei Pinjin was reminded again of those days when his father was departing from this world. His heart was suddenly struck with extreme grief and also extraordinary humiliation. He turned his back and closed his eyes.

After a while, Wei Tong finally said somewhat dejectedly: “This subordinate… acknowledges his error.”

Wei Pinjin, with his back to him, said: “Go back and receive thirty military lashes yourself, with a year’s salary forfeit.”

Wei Tong knew this was already the result of Wei Pinjin’s mercy. His heart was filled with mixed emotions, feeling even more guilty and unworthy: “This subordinate thanks the young lord.”

Wei Pinjin’s eyes were full of self-mockery: “The Wei clan no longer has a young lord. Don’t use this form of address anymore in the future, lest you invite ridicule.”

Just one sentence, yet it made both Wei Ang and Wei Tong’s eyes redden again.

—

After Wei Tong left Guanlin Pavilion, on his way back he encountered Wei Pinjin’s chief adviser.

The other party cupped his hands toward him: “I heard about what happened in the front courtyard. Yu is truly overcome with shame. That day when I chatted congenially with the general, I said too much. I didn’t expect it would bring disaster to both the general and the young lord.”

Wei Tong held great respect for the other party and immediately said: “Sir, you speak too seriously. You and I both felt the injustice toward the young lord. It was Wei Tong who was rash, acting impulsively and bringing disaster upon the young lord.”

Bringing up this matter again, he was unwilling to say more. He simply cupped his fists toward the young adviser: “The young lord’s path ahead won’t be easy. I must still ask sir to plan more for the young lord’s sake.”

The other party said: “Naturally.”

After Wei Tong left, the adviser watched his retreating figure, and only then did the corners of his lips slowly curve upward.

Dusk had already descended, and the entire Wei manor was lit with dim yellow lamplight.

He turned to leave, but saw a woman in plain clothing in the distance, walking alone toward this direction carrying a lantern. After seeing her features clearly, his eyes revealed some surprise. After a slight hesitation, he used the cover of night to hide behind the artificial mountain.

—

Wang Wanzhen’s face, which had been slapped by Wei Pinjin, had already been treated with cold compresses to reduce the swelling. At this moment, only a faint red mark remained.

She had re-styled her hair in a bun, using no pearl hairpins or ornaments, only inserting a white silk mourning flower at her loosely arranged temple. The carefully applied light makeup made her different from her usual dignified and refined elegance. Instead, she emanated a desolate and fragile air. The plain white mourning clothes fluttering in the wind added several degrees to her delicate appearance.

As she walked, she vigilantly surveyed her surroundings, as if afraid of being seen by someone.