Don’t be fooled by Wang Cheng’s casual demeanor—his martial skills were actually formidable. He was naturally strong and large, yet agile. In his youth, when his sister-in-law chased him to beat him, he could nimbly jump out windows to escape.
So although Wang Dun had a weapon, he couldn’t injure Wang Cheng immediately.
When Wang Cheng saw every sword strike aimed at his vital points, he knew Wang Dun truly intended to kill him, so he shouted for his guards while edging toward the doors and windows, trying to escape.
The desire to survive made Wang Cheng dodge quickly, avoiding all of Wang Dun’s attacks.
Seeing this, Wang Dun couldn’t help but shout, “What are you all waiting for? Attack!”
The guards lying in ambush outside the window immediately jumped in, surrounded Wang Cheng completely, and struck at him together.
Wang Cheng was shocked and alarmed. He kicked at one person. At this moment, he couldn’t block all the attacks and could only choose to get injured and then escape.
But Wang Dun was blocking the door. When Wang Cheng came at him, Wang Dun thrust with his sword. The two instantly exchanged three or four moves. When Wang Cheng’s back was slashed, causing him to stagger, Wang Dun turned his back to Wang Cheng, gripping his sword in a reverse hold, and thrust backward, viciously piercing through Wang Cheng.
Perhaps it injured his internal organs—Wang Cheng continuously vomited blood. Even now he still couldn’t quite believe it, looking at Wang Dun with confusion on his face. “You, how dare you…”
Only then did Wang Dun slowly turn to look at him, saying coldly, “Before this, I never thought of killing Elder Brother, but just now when you were walking out, I suddenly realized—Elder Brother insists on supporting Zhao Hanzhang. If I let you leave now, wouldn’t it plunge the great southern situation I’ve worked so hard to stabilize back into chaos?”
“For the great enterprise, I can only temporarily wrong Elder Brother and send you to the Yellow Springs a few years before me. Rest assured, when the great enterprise succeeds, I will definitely go apologize to you.”
Wang Cheng gripped the hand holding the sword hilt, his eyes containing mockery as he looked at Wang Dun, saying hoarsely, “Chuzhong, though I die, I will surely win. Though you live, you will certainly lose, and will not die well!”
“Young people have spirit. Sima Rui, at his advanced age—you see how he’s courteous to worthy men now, respectful and humble, but you wait and see. Once he gains power, neither you nor Maohong will have good endings.” As Wang Cheng vomited blood, he laughed heartily. “At this time of national collapse, he has neither a view of the overall situation nor compassion for the people. He’s clearly just like his ancestors—without virtue or love. How could such a ruler tolerate strong ministers? And if ministers aren’t strong, how can they launch northern expeditions?”
“Chuzhong, ah Chuzhong, you’re the one who’s confused by being in the situation, hahahaha…” Wang Cheng felt life draining away, so he gripped Wang Dun’s hand tightly, lunged forward, and the sword was almost completely buried in his body. Under the intense pain, his voice dropped, but he reached out to grab Wang Dun’s shoulder, his head nearly resting against Wang Dun’s neck, saying in a low voice, “I’ll wait for you in the netherworld, wait for you to arrive in defeat.”
With that, Wang Cheng slowly collapsed. Wang Dun caught him and gently laid him on the ground. At this moment he wanted to pull out the sword, but found his hand was trembling. After calming himself for a long while, he ruthlessly pulled out the sword and said in a heavy voice, “Announce to the world that Wang Cheng colluded with the refugee leader Du Tao to cause rebellion. He has now been executed. Warning to the world—whoever else relies on Du Tao will be killed without mercy!”
Everyone responded in unison.
Wang Dun said coldly, “Kill all the accomplices.”
The guards accepted the order and immediately went out to kill Wang Cheng’s guards.
Wang Cheng’s guards were all bewildered, fighting back while trying to get inside to save Wang Cheng. They didn’t know Wang Cheng was already dead.
When they glimpsed the truth from the mouths of those guards, the lead guard immediately shouted loudly, “Escape! Everyone scatter and escape, quickly return to tell the young mistress!”
At the same time, a guard shouted loudly, “Let the young mistress avenge the Second Master!”
They were all retainers from Wang Yan’s branch. After Wang Yan died, the family’s retainers were divided in two—the larger half obeyed Wang Xuan’s commands, while a smaller portion acknowledged Wang Cheng as their master.
But in their hearts, Wang Cheng and Wang Xuan were one family.
That Wang Dun dared execute Wang Cheng was simply conscienceless and rebellious against his superiors.
You must know, the Wang clan was led by Wang Yan’s branch. Even though Wang Yan was dead, his brother and children were still alive. How dare Wang Dun, from a collateral branch, kill Wang Cheng?
In the end, some guards still fought their way out. They exchanged glances, said nothing, and scattered to flee—one escape was one. The news of Wang Cheng being murdered by Wang Dun must be brought back.
Wang Yifeng and Wang Xuan would not let Wang Dun off.
The attendant sent by Wang Siniang was one of them. He had been stabbed in the chest. He evaded pursuit, found a place to roughly bandage his wound, and immediately tried to escape the city, but when he reached the city gate, he saw soldiers arriving to guard it. They directly closed the gate and permitted no one to enter or exit.
He bit his lip and could only turn back to hide in the alley.
The news of Wang Cheng’s death spread throughout Yangzhou and Jingzhou within days, simultaneously radiating outward in all directions from these two provinces as the center.
When Wang Siniang in Jingzhou heard the news, she first thought it was a rumor. “I don’t know who created this rumor, wanting our Wang clan to fight internally? Dream on!”
As the rumors outside grew more intense, even people saying Wang Dun personally declared Wang Cheng had colluded with Du Tao to rebel and was therefore executed.
Wang Siniang gradually fell silent, turning to ask her attendants, “How long has it been since we received a letter from Uncle?”
Her confidant replied uneasily, “Five days.”
Wang Siniang’s expression darkened. She said, “Send someone to Yangzhou to investigate. We must find out where the rumors originated. Have Uncle write me a letter.”
The confidant agreed but returned in less than half an hour. He had people carry back a half-bloodied man. “Governor, the guard who followed Master Wang has returned.”
When the Central Plains fell into chaos, Jingzhou Governor Wang Yifeng flew into a rage over her uncle Wang Cheng’s death, condemned Wang Dun, and announced to the world that the Prince of Langye was acting perversely, was extremely selfish, disregarded the lives of the common people for private gain, and murdered ministers and famous scholars who held different political views.
This matter spread throughout the world. Many people questioned Wang Dun’s reason for killing and didn’t believe Wang Cheng would collude with Du Tao.
How laughable—would Wang Cheng collude with Du Tao? Weren’t the two of them mortal enemies?
Who was Du Tao? He was from Shu. Last year Shu produced a huge number of refugees. To survive, the refugees poured into Jingzhou and Xiangzhou.
The refugees’ arrival made life increasingly difficult for the people of both regions. At the same time, theft and similar incidents occurred frequently, so the local people, who already looked down on Shu refugees, became even more resistant to them, especially the scholar-gentry class.
First, Xiangzhou Governor Xun Tiao executed all the refugees, then the then-Jingzhou Governor Wang Cheng also sent troops to massacre refugees. Finally, the Shu refugees united and elected Du Tao as their leader, fighting desperately with Wang Cheng and Xun Tiao.
Of course, Du Tao won. Wang Cheng, the governor who only lay in wine pools giving orders, suffered a crushing defeat. That’s why Wang Siniang came to clean up his mess.
Wang Siniang didn’t fight Du Tao but focused on appeasement, promising to allocate land to settle them. Both sides temporarily made peace.
The place she selected bordered Yangzhou, because relations with the local people were tense, many refugees left Du Tao to flee toward Yangzhou on their own.