Clearly it was the people of the Great Tang who had the advantage, yet the officials from the Court of Diplomatic Relations hung their faces as if their fathers had died. Meanwhile, Ludong Zan, whose people had actually died, kept consoling them with a beaming smile, completely unconcerned about the deaths.
The common people of Xinfeng Market were difficult to deal with—the law cannot punish the masses. The Tubo people had struck first, and the crowd had joined together to beat the thieves to death—this was meritorious, not criminal. The local officials of Xinfeng were probably drafting reports to submit to the Ministry of Justice at this very moment, first establishing firmly that the Tubo people had struck first, then slowly working out the details. Seeking justice for innocent commoners was their duty in the first place. In this great battle, there were quite a few people with broken arms and legs, and mouths full of knocked-out teeth—all requiring compensation. The people at the Court of Diplomatic Relations knew this procedure all too well. Even if it was a tremendous matter, it was just killing a few Tubo people. Didn’t the border armies kill fewer in a year? Which law of the Great Tang stipulated that only border armies could kill, but commoners couldn’t kill thieves?
Old Jiang sat at the fermented rice stall drinking fermented rice wine. He had accidentally gotten caught up in the crowd earlier. There was no helping it—the Tubo people were too fierce, and the common people couldn’t fight them. Fists hitting their bodies were like scratching an itch. Old Jiang couldn’t stand watching, so he had to curl his fingers into a fist with the middle knuckle protruding, striking those Tubo men in the chest to make their hearts suddenly stop beating for an instant, causing all the strength in their bodies to dissipate. This way, it became easy for the common people to knock down these fellows. Who knew they would accidentally beat them to death?
While drinking fermented rice and eating walnuts—Old Jiang loved the newly marketed green-skinned milk walnuts most—he was eating happily when he saw Huang Shu emerge from a courtyard, very furtively. After glancing around in all directions, he pulled out a package of pastries from his bosom and held it in his hand, pretending he had just come out of a bakery. Only then did he straighten his chest, clasp his hands behind his back, and stride quickly onto the street, as if that furtive person earlier hadn’t been him at all.
Old Jiang glanced at the house and knew it was a half-door brothel. Once a man became accustomed to romantic affairs, he was like a cat that had tasted fish—not stealing a bite was harder than ascending to heaven, especially now that Wealthy Master Huang had substantial family assets and spare money in his purse. Not going to experience the foreign courtesans of Xinfeng Market would truly be doing himself a disservice.
Regarding Huang Shu’s philandering, Old Jiang felt no need to intervene. So he shouted, and Huang Shu, startled, looked around in all directions. Finally discovering it was Old Jiang, he breathed a sigh of relief, walked over quickly, cupped his hands in greeting, and sat down at the stall, calling for the fermented rice vendor to bring him a bowl to moisten his throat.
“Look at you—visiting a prostitute and making yourself look like a thief. You’re already ugly to begin with, and with that cautious manner just now, you looked even uglier. Don’t get beaten to death by someone thinking you’re a thief. They just beat eight thieves to death on the street.”
Huang Shu sheepishly accepted the fermented rice and said embarrassedly, “In my early years of wandering, I picked up all kinds of bad habits. Ying Niang is a good woman, and I don’t want to wrong her, but sometimes I really can’t control myself, so I can only sneak around and hehe…”
Old Jiang laughed heartily, patting Huang Shu’s shoulder and saying, “It’s hard being a man—this is our only pleasure. Don’t I still regularly go to Yanlai Tower? What’s the big deal? As long as things are stable at home, look at our household—the Marquis has only four wives in total, and that’s counting the Princess who has no proper status. Among prominent households, ours is the cleanest. Living in the compound is comfortable. The Marquis said from the beginning that a wife married in poverty should never be cast aside. This old man thinks the same way. Going out and having some fun outside is fine, just don’t bring anyone back home—that causes trouble. The Yun Family estate won’t provide such jokes for others to see.”
After Huang Shu and Old Jiang finished their fermented rice and were riding past Xiliu Camp, they suddenly noticed the Tubo camp. Old Jiang glanced at it and said, “The leader must be someone who knows military affairs. Look at their encampment—strict and orderly. Setting up camp as soon as they station troops, and they’ve even diverted water from the stream into the camp and dug large pits to store it. This is to guard against fire attacks. For a five-hundred-man camp, this is quite solid. The armory, granary, and supply depot have all been established. Could it be that these Tubo people plan to stay here permanently? Not entering Chang’an?”
Huang Shu’s expression turned strange. He pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into a nearby tree trunk, forcefully twisting it half a turn. He pulled out the dagger, smelled it, and said to Old Jiang with an odd laugh, “Didn’t the Old Mistress say she wanted to break the Tubo people’s legs? There are too many of them for us to attack directly, but what if we took away all their wealth? What do you think? Rice is expensive in Chang’an, and dwelling there is not easy. Without wealth, they’d be without legs. I’d really like to see what Tubo people look like begging. What do you say—should I give them alms then or not?”
Old Jiang’s eyes suddenly lit up. He struck his saddle and said, “Are you certain? The Old Mistress spoke in anger—just listen and let it go. It wouldn’t be worth it if we lose any of our people.”
“Beneath Xiliu Camp, there once was a Han Dynasty tomb complex. Back then, my father united six families of tomb raiders before they managed to break through the underground passages below. No matter how strict and orderly the Tubo camp is, as you say, it’s useless. We can go through from underground. As long as you can determine the location of their treasure, hehe, I can take it all away in a single night, not leaving them a single copper coin. If that’s still not satisfying enough, there’s also an underground river below, blocked by a dragon-breaking stone. As long as we remove the dragon-breaking stone, the underground river will gush forth, and the entire ground surface will collapse. Even after we take the treasure, no one will know.”
Huang Shu cackled with sinister laughter. He stopped looking at the Tubo people and spurred his horse toward a nearby mountain ridge. The greatly invigorated Old Jiang immediately followed. Huang Shu was utterly useless above ground, but once underground, it was completely that bastard’s domain. Old Jiang felt pleased just thinking about it—where did the Marquis find all these extraordinary talents?
Speaking of underground, one must mention Liu Fang, Han Zhe, Dan Ying, and the others living below ground. Three days had passed quickly. In these few days, under the careful care of Cheng Feng and the others, Han Zhe finally regained some vitality. Before he could think of an escape plan, Dan Ying produced a bundle of silk thread and tied Han Zhe up tightly. When dealing with experts, Yun Ye was never careless.
Seeing the silk thread, Han Zhe groaned painfully. He had originally thought these people were merely led by Liu Fang, wanting to annex the Dongting Lake forces. He had devoted all his energy to dealing with Yun Ye, not paying attention to Scholar Han, allowing him to exploit the opening. Now it seemed he had lost utterly once again. All of this must have been Yun Ye’s handiwork.
“Young Master should understand now. This old man is merely Marquis Yun’s advisor. Everything you did was merely what Marquis Yun wanted done. All the things you accomplished were things Marquis Yun needed to have done, but destroying all the commoners’ houses—that’s something Marquis Yun couldn’t do, so he had to borrow your hands to complete it.”
“It’s perfect now—you’ve razed the city to the ground, and the Marquis can build a new city right on top. The evil deed of demolishing houses was done by you and the water bandits. The Marquis plays the good person, rebuilding houses for the commoners. Now there’s no shortage of labor—fifty to sixty thousand water bandits must be punished. Until the city is built, they shouldn’t think about being treated as human. This battle solved the labor shortage problem, solved the trouble of demolishing houses, and most importantly, captured all the water bandits from the great marsh in one net. From now on, Yuezhou will be free from water bandit raids. In less than ten years, it will surely become a brilliant pearl on the Great Tang’s map. All thanks to Young Master.”
Liu Fang’s heart-piercing words stabbed into Han Zhe’s heart like knives. He wanted to shout and scream, but his throat was blocked and he couldn’t say a word. Finally, he forced out one sentence: “Yuezhou City is destroyed—not demolished, but thoroughly destroyed.” Even now, Han Zhe couldn’t understand Yun Ye’s concept of building a new city.
“It’s not destroyed thoroughly enough. The Marquis originally hoped to completely erase Yuezhou City from the map and build an unprecedented new city on blank land. That would be far better than simple expansion and would save time too. Now everything is ready—we just need to start building houses. The labor force is now in position. I believe under the whip they’ll work very quickly.”
Liu Fang didn’t intend to leave Han Zhe any dignity at all. In just a few short sentences, he utterly destroyed Han Zhe’s last remaining pride. Han Zhe closed his eyes and lay on the straw, curling up and facing the wall, not thinking about his future. He even thought staying underground forever wouldn’t be bad—that way no one would know he had suffered such tremendous humiliation, being played like a monkey while feeling smug about it. The old man was right—he was no match for Yun Ye.
“Scholar Han, that shouldn’t be your real name, right? Can you tell me your name? Even if I die, I want to know whose hands I was defeated by.” Han Zhe’s melancholy voice drifted over.
“Young Master honors me too much. This old man’s humble name is not worth mentioning. After all, I’m just someone’s advisor—it’s best not to know names. Since Young Master asks, I’ll tell you. This old man’s name is Wu She…”
Hearing this, Dan Ying dropped the chicken leg he was holding. Cheng Feng and Qin Zhan also widened their eyes like bells. None of them would have imagined Liu Fang could be so despicably shameless.
“I’ll remember it—Master Wu She. There will be retribution eventually. Though I’m dead, this matter won’t end. We’ll take it slowly. Other divine beings will surely come. You won this time, but who knows if you can win next time? The Golden Armored Corpse has appeared, and six more corpses follow to complete the Nine Corpses Welcoming Guests formation. Divine beings ultimately must go to the world beyond. The mortal world cannot tolerate divine beings toying with the human realm into chaos. We are ultimately outsiders. We can manipulate, but absolutely cannot act directly ourselves.”
“When Pang Juan, disciple of Guiguzi, emerged into the world, Sun Bin came out to bring him back. When Shang Yang emerged into the world, he was torn apart by five horses. When Chao Cuo emerged into the world, he was killed by the emperor. When Zhuge Liang emerged into the world, Sima Yi became his lifelong adversary. All were exceptional figures. You, Yun Ye, have emerged into the world. I, Han Zhe, am no match, but the divine beings will always have methods. They will always find someone who can match you. Divine beings cannot disrupt the mortal world. No matter who wants to make the mortal realm follow the best path, it won’t work. Ultimately, things must return to their original course. This is the law. Tell Yun Ye this is his destiny. He cannot escape it. After brilliance always comes the return to ordinariness.”
Dan Ying suddenly raised his hand, forming it into a blade, and struck heavily on the back of Han Zhe’s neck. Han Zhe’s body stiffened, and he lost consciousness. A pale yellow pill slipped from the corner of his mouth…