Jing Hengbo squinted at the banners and flags, but instead of becoming angry or feeling humiliated as Ming Yan’an had imagined, she actually smiled.
“Ming Yan’an.” She crooked her finger lazily. “Are you certain that by doing this, the one being paraded in shame is me?”
“Hmm?” Ming Yan’an’s slightly pale face raised an eyebrow.
“Only brothel madams, after forcing people into degradation through despicable means, would be so afraid others wouldn’t know that they crown them with names of lewdness and baseness.” Jing Hengbo chuckled. “Is the one really being paraded me? Or isn’t it actually displaying your lack of magnanimity, your narrow-mindedness, your lack of virtue, your lack of class?”
“Nonsense!” Ming Yan’an flicked his sleeves heavily. “You are guilty—why shouldn’t this be shown to the world?”
“Oh my, what crime?” Jing Hengbo said with a smile. “Oh, the crime of coming to Daimao to be queen… Oh my, what kind of crime is that? If you have the ability, Ming Yan’an should defeat her… But didn’t he defeat her? Look, the person is already loaded in a prison cart… Ah, how was she defeated? Why don’t we see any other prisoners?… Oh, thirty thousand troops defeated three hundred people… Yo, what great military merit, no wonder the Great King is so proud, parading through the streets… Of course! Our Great King Ming is accomplished in both civil and military affairs, wise and mighty, winning through superior numbers, unifying for a thousand autumns!”
She pinched her voice and vividly mimicked a conversation between two people, question and answer. Someone among the soldiers couldn’t help but snicker with a “pff” sound. Ming Yan’an’s face turned iron-blue as he whirled around, and silence returned like death on all sides.
Ming Yan’an’s gaze swept around and saw that even the surrounding generals had disapproving expressions on their faces, seemingly also feeling that after capturing someone through such means, it would be best to keep a low profile. To be so ostentatious and humiliating was truly damaging to a king’s bearing.
Anger surged in his heart, along with hidden regret. He felt that his actions taken in a moment of venting were really meaningless—there were plenty of ways to humiliate Jing Hengbo. But to withdraw now would inevitably invite mockery, so he could only pretend not to have heard, coldly turning around and saying, “Depart!”
The great army changed formation, surrounding Jing Hengbo’s prison cart in the center with several dense layers of guards. The procession slowly passed through Tianyi Gorge, advancing toward Daimao’s interior.
Because the banners had been ridiculed, Ming Yan’an lost interest in playing any more tricks. He wasn’t afraid of Jing Hengbo’s mockery, but he cared about his image in the eyes of his subordinate generals. To avoid losing face by quarreling with Jing Hengbo or getting so angry he had another stroke, he simply stopped coming before Jing Hengbo.
Jing Hengbo didn’t mind either. She ate, drank, and slept in the prison cart, not worrying about Ming Yan’an harming her now—Ming Yan’an would certainly protect her until Shangyuan. To capture a queen but not execute her publicly—wouldn’t that be like wearing fine clothes at night?
However, the Fifteen Gangs might not want her to live much longer. Jing Hengbo noticed that those people were hanging far behind, constantly discussing something, with some frequently looking into the distance as if waiting for something.
Did they have reinforcements? Then why hadn’t they appeared earlier?
The dozen or so leaders of the Fifteen Gangs were indeed gathered in discussion at this moment.
“If you ask me, the longer we wait, the more problems arise. The Queen should be killed early. Ming Yan’an wants to recruit the Halberd Army and establish authority in Daimao, so he wants to preserve this woman’s life first, but that has nothing to do with us.”
“That’s natural. But now Ming Yan’an is guarding that woman extremely tightly, with thirty thousand troops heavily protecting her. Even if we forced our way in to kill her, our losses would be severe. Moreover, Ming Yan’an is also guarding against us closely—you see he’s placed heavy cavalry at the rear. Who is he defending against?”
“Us, naturally, heh heh. Under the influence of interests, there are no permanent allies.”
“Right, Chief Qu, what about that mysterious person you said would come to help—why hasn’t he appeared yet?”
“I don’t know either. It was Second Brother who made contact, only saying someone would arrive during this time period to lend us a hand in killing the Queen. But for some reason, no one has appeared.”
“Forget it, depending on outsiders is worse than trusting ourselves. We should discuss carefully and come up with a plan.”
“Once the Queen enters the vicinity of Shangyuan, it will be difficult for us to act again. If we’re going to kill her, it must be within these two days.”
“Or we could do such and such…”
The voices of the Fifteen Gangs leaders’ discussion gradually grew quieter, and the sky darkened amid the murmured conversations and rustling footsteps.
After walking a full day, the army mostly traveled through mountain wilderness and flat terrain. By evening, they finally entered a town. This was Namu Town, a remote small city in Daimao that belonged to the Shenjue Gang’s sphere of influence.
Long before entering the town, Ming Yan’an had ordered people to beat gongs to clear the way and call for citizens to come watch. The town’s residents were attracted by the mighty army and clamorous sounds, coming out in twos and threes to watch from a distance, staring at the banners and flags with surprised expressions. There were also some arranged thugs who threw rotten fish, spoiled shrimp, vegetable leaves, and eggs at the prison cage, but none of these things managed to hit the prison cart or Jing Hengbo’s face. Jing Hengbo lay comfortably, casually waving her fingers, and the vegetables and eggs all flew back, hitting those thugs in the face instead. She kept the rotten fish and spoiled shrimp though, examining them with interest as if she’d never seen such things before.
Ming Yan’an didn’t see this scene. Clad in golden armor and sitting high on his horse, he was in quite good spirits. Due to Daimao’s special jianghu structure, he had been forced to cower in Shangyuan City for years, never even leaving the city walls. He had originally thought that after Jing Hengbo arrived, being able to die of old age within Shangyuan’s walls would be a blessing. He never imagined there would come a day when he could break out of Shangyuan, capture the enemy leader, and have the Fifteen Gangs following behind him. Now seeing the citizens pointing and whispering with surprised expressions, he felt even more open-hearted and broad-minded. The scenery outside Shangyuan’s walls was indeed more magnificent.
He couldn’t help glancing at Chai Yu, once again grateful to heaven for meeting such a worthy strategist in his most difficult moment.
Without her persuasion, how would he dare to risk everything and leave Shangyuan? Shangyuan’s palace had his life-saving trump card, but outside the walls there was none.
Not long ago, he had received news about the specific date of the Queen’s return to Daimao, even knowing that though the Queen had an army with her at the time, it might not be stable. There could be changes.
The news had been shot into his palace by arrow one day. The source was too sudden—he dared not fully believe it, much less risk his entire future and all his military forces on just those few sentences.
But she was right—how could one catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger’s den? Under her strong persuasion, he took advantage of the Queen’s side contracting their battle lines while leaderless, secretly contacted the Fifteen Gangs, and reached a joint agreement. He sold the news of the Queen’s arrival at Daimao’s border to the Fifteen Gangs, letting them take the lead while he used part of his army to contain the Halberd Army in three counties, and another part to quietly circle around the battlefield and secretly follow behind the Fifteen Gangs leaders, striking directly at the border.
Sure enough, the Queen’s accompanying army had problems. Sure enough, there was a great battle with the Fifteen Gangs there. Sure enough, while the snipe and clam fought, the fisherman profited. When his great army controlled the entrance, the Queen had no choice but to abandon resistance, while the Fifteen Gangs leaders, having come out in full force to eliminate the Queen, were cut off by his great army and now presumably only sought self-preservation, not daring to cause more trouble.
Now everyone was in his hands. Looking around, Daimao was about to be his for the taking. When had he ever been so triumphant?
He glanced at Chai Yu again with a smile.
The title “worthy strategist” should be changed—it was too distant.
He decided that after returning to Shangyuan and executing the Queen, he would propose marriage to her.
The future complete Daimao would have a perfect queen consort who possessed both beauty and wisdom.
…
He was thinking these pleasant thoughts, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned, his gaze sweeping through the crowd in waves, waiting to hear their curses and mockery of Jing Hengbo.
There was indeed some commotion in the crowd, with people exclaiming. The wind suddenly picked up, raising sand and dust.
He instinctively closed his eyes.
With just this one blink, he heard several “rip rip” sounds behind him, as if something was being torn, then the wind went “whoosh” and something suddenly slapped onto his face.
Not just his face—his waist and back also seemed to be slapped by the wind. He also heard Chai Yu beside him cry “Ah!”
Suddenly laughter erupted from all sides, with someone laughing and saying, “Lewd and spittable!”
Others laughed loudly, “Lowly concubine, please humiliate!”
Everyone laughed “ha ha ha” and said, “What a perfect couplet!”
Ming Yan’an originally thought everyone was laughing at Jing Hengbo, but hearing something was wrong, he quickly tried to grab what was covering his face. However, he couldn’t pull it off—it was caught on his golden crown. His guards came up to help him remove it. When he looked down, his mouth nearly went crooked again.
Bright red silk with gold powder characters, glaringly bright: “Lewd!”
It was obviously torn from the banner. He turned around and saw the banner had somehow gotten several holes torn in it.
There seemed to be something else stuck to his back. He reached back and grabbed it, seeing two more pieces of torn flag that spelled out “Spittable!”
Together they read “Lewd and Spittable!”
On the torn flags, there were also some white things stuck to them. Looking closer, he saw they were sharp fish bones.
Chai Yu beside him also had torn banners covering her face and body, which when connected also formed four characters: “Lowly Concubine, Please Humiliate,” perfectly pasted on her chest. Not only were there fish bones on them, but also rotten shrimp.
The laughter from all sides continued.
“This couplet is brilliant!”
“If you ask me, it looks even better pasted on these two.”
“I heard the one in the prison cart is the Black Water Queen? I’ve long heard the Queen is miraculous, and now it really seems so. Look, just now those banners were fine, and in the blink of an eye they were torn up and stuck on them, even spelling out words!”
“Ha! Without the ability, why provoke the strong!”
…
Fragmentary discussions drifted to his ears on the wind. Ming Yan’an threw away the torn flags and banners, turning back to see the flag bearers still stupidly holding their flags. The word-missing, hole-riddled flags flapped in the wind like toothless mouths silently mocking.
All around fell quiet, then Ming Yan’an’s suppressed angry commands rang out.
“Idiots, why don’t you take down the flags!”
…
Jing Hengbo lay comfortably in the prison cart, watching those people hurriedly put away the banners, remove the flags, and crowd around to block the prison cart, no longer daring to parade her. The soldiers’ previous smugness and arrogance were all withdrawn as they could only hang their heads and listen to the quiet mockery of the surrounding citizens.
Jing Hengbo smiled and lazily turned over in the prison cart into a reclining fish position, tossing away the fish bones and shrimp shells in her hands—those who show off will inevitably get slapped in the face.
The surrounding soldiers looked stern. Though they guarded her more closely, they didn’t dare approach, afraid that even a fish bone in her hand could pierce someone’s throat.
“Why is the skill-dispersing pill useless?” Ming Yan’an suddenly glared fiercely at Chai Yu.
Chai Yu’s expression remained calm with a hint of confusion as she said quietly, “The medicine was bestowed by the Great King.”
This short sentence deflated half of Ming Yan’an’s anger. Indeed, the medicine was what he himself had taken out and thrown directly to Jing Hengbo—Chai Yu hadn’t handled it.
However, a general beside them said, “I’ve heard the Queen’s miraculous abilities have long been known. Perhaps this isn’t a type of martial arts…”
Ming Yan’an’s heart stirred, thinking this was quite possible. But if this was really the case, wouldn’t it be even more troublesome? Even locked in a prison cage, she remained dangerous—what could be done?
Thinking this made him even more uneasy. He had originally planned to rest in this small town but now refused to, wanting to travel through the night. Chai Yu and the generals repeatedly tried to dissuade him—since his last stroke, though Ming Yan’an seemed in good spirits, his body was actually much worse than before. Such continuous night travel would certainly cause great damage to his health.
However, Ming Yan’an feared that long nights brought many dreams and insisted on continuing. For his own safety, he no longer bothered with humiliating Jing Hengbo and hid far away in his own carriage, with Chai Yu personally providing careful care with medicine and tea.
The soldiers had originally come from a long drive and hadn’t rested for days. They had thought that now that they’d captured the Queen, they would certainly be able to lie down and get a good night’s sleep tonight. Who knew orders would come down from above requiring them to continue traveling, causing great disappointment. Now wind and rain had started as well. In the chill of a March night, the taste of forcing themselves to stay awake and travel through the night in muddy, cold conditions was very unpleasant. The soldiers raised their faces in the wind and rain, wiped the rainwater from their faces, and looked distantly at the dim yellow lamplight coming from Ming Yan’an’s huge, comfortable carriage. The expressions in their eyes all faintly revealed some gloominess.
The Fifteen Gangs members following far behind, not daring to approach, had originally wanted to wait for the army to rest and find an opportunity to get in and kill Jing Hengbo. They hadn’t expected Ming Yan’an to be so inconsiderate of his soldiers, actually traveling through the night. Seeing their chance to act disappear, they all frowned and looked at each other.
The prison cart had a canopy on top, so the rain couldn’t reach Jing Hengbo. She squinted at the army silently walking in the darkness, looked into the distance, and suddenly smiled.
…