Chapter 89: Today Is the Day to Die for Righteousness
Waking early was not as useful as waking at exactly the right time.
Just as Zheng Fan squatted beside the well brushing his teeth, he saw two riders approaching along the distant post road.
“Hrk~~~ptoo!”
Zheng Fan spat out the foam, accepted the hot towel Siniang handed him, and stood while wiping his face.
“They’re here.”
They were indeed here.
Two people.
One man.
One woman.
The man wore black from head to toe and looked thoroughly ordinary.
The woman had a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth.
Her eyes and brows carried a natural springlike charm.
She looked to be in her twenties.
But what drew Zheng Fan’s attention most was the woman’s feet.
In the other three states, women binding their feet was fashionable.
Scholars of Qian and nobles of Chu alike were obsessed with three-inch golden lotuses.
But several generations of Yan emperors had issued decrees prohibiting women from binding their feet.
If women of the imperial household or noble clans bound their feet, their families were punished.
So although some women among Yan’s common people secretly imitated the practice, it had never become fashionable throughout the State of Yan.
This woman wore a pair of green embroidered shoes.
And the style looked somewhat similar to the pair Zheng Fan had seen the previous day on the assassin who had hidden inside the coffin and fired the Torrential Pear Blossom Needles.
Whether she was the same person, Zheng Fan could not be certain.
In truth, there was no need to be certain.
“Dujuan, Left Lead of the Secret Intelligence Department in Yinlang Commandery, acting under the Marquis’s orders, requests Commander Zheng dispatch troops to assist in capturing rebels hiding within the academy.”
The woman called Dujuan was extremely courteous.
She first displayed her identity token to Zheng Fan.
Then she put it away, cupped both hands, and saluted.
“This subordinate greets Commander Zheng.”
“Miss Dujuan is too polite.”
Zheng Fan did not put on airs.
When dealing with people equivalent to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, courtesy was generally wise.
Inside, however, he found the situation rather amusing.
There was a very high probability that the assassin from yesterday and the man who had helped kill the “assassins” yesterday were now standing face-to-face exchanging polite greetings.
“Commander Zheng.
“When can we depart?”
“We can leave immediately.”
“Good.”
Zheng Fan glanced toward Liang Cheng standing nearby.
Liang Cheng understood.
Very soon, a force of four hundred barbarian cavalry was fully armed and ready.
“Miss Dujuan.
“Please lead the way.”
“Commander Zheng is too polite.”
Zheng Fan and Dujuan rode at the front.
The man who had accompanied Dujuan followed with Liang Cheng.
Behind them came nearly four hundred barbarian cavalry.
Green Willow Fortress had been abandoned for many years.
Farmland surrounded it on every side.
So the roads entering and leaving the area were unsuited to a large mounted force charging at full speed.
Everyone therefore controlled their pace.
The Blind Man had already said yesterday that while rebuilding Green Willow Fortress, he would have this road widened and repaired as well.
Whether the roadworks would occupy farmland was not particularly important.
A large portion of the fields surrounding Green Willow Fortress had originally been military farmland belonging to the fortress.
After the fortress fell into disuse, nearby farmers had gradually encroached upon the land.
Legally speaking it had always remained state property.
“Commander Zheng.
“Has construction begun at Green Willow Fortress?”
Dujuan had obviously noticed something.
“Miss Dujuan saw the place yourself.
“At present, the fortress is fit only for raising chickens.
“Without rebuilding it, people simply cannot live there.”
“But this subordinate did not see any memorial from Commander Zheng requesting permission to rebuild the fortress.
“The Commanders of the other forts have all submitted memorials to their superiors.”
Zheng Fan’s heart tightened.
Damn.
He really had forgotten about that.
The Blind Man Bei had forgotten too.
Perhaps their belief in independence and self-reliance had simply become too deeply rooted.
Neither Zheng Fan nor the Blind Man had even considered that rebuilding a military fortress was something you were supposed to report upward and request approval for.
Zheng Fan had built his foundation by recruiting his own soldiers, buying his own armor and warhorses, and earning the money himself.
He had become accustomed to playing his own game.
Of course, the more important reason was that Green Willow Fortress had been abandoned so completely that the authorities clearly had not cared about it.
That naturally made reporting upward feel pointless.
“When I was in the north, I made a little money through business.
“I still have some savings.
“I thought that if I could solve a matter myself, there was no need to trouble the imperial court.”
“Commander Zheng is truly righteous.
“This humble woman admires you.”
“You flatter me.
“Miss Dujuan is too kind.”
In truth, if Dujuan genuinely investigated, Zheng Fan suspected she would almost certainly discover which merchant house had hired those craftsmen and through whose hands the building materials had been purchased and transported.
But there was no way to conceal that.
Besides, the Sixth Prince had openly funded him through merchant-house channels.
Even if the matter were discovered, the Sixth Prince could probably explain it by saying
Zheng Fan had once saved his life and he was merely repaying the favor.
The Sixth Prince was no simple character either.
However useless an idle prince might appear, he was still imperial blood.
He presumably had ways to handle his own problems.
Zheng Fan had no intention of worrying about hiding things on his behalf.
Once they passed beyond the willow grove, the post road widened.
Zheng Fan ordered the cavalry to increase speed.
After a little over three hours of riding, with the sun only just reaching noon, the group arrived at the foot of a mountain.
Yan terrain consisted primarily of plains.
True mountains were rare.
Even when they existed, they tended to look somewhat miniature.
Take the mountain before them.
Qingming Mountain its name carrying the meaning of an azure bird awaiting its song already counted as one of Yinlang Commandery’s “famous mountains.”
Yet by Zheng Fan’s estimate, its vertical height was little more than a hundred meters.
At the mountain entrance stood a ceremonial archway.
Beneath it was a stone stele.
Carved upon the stele were the words:
Huaiya Academy.
The academy had been founded seventy years earlier.
Its founder had been Master Huaiya, a native of Yan who had once traveled through the other three eastern states to study.
He had earned an enormous scholarly reputation.
For Yan people who suffered from an extreme inferiority complex regarding culture the excitement was probably comparable to a tiny mountain village producing the top provincial scorer in the imperial examinations.
Master Huaiya had naturally been dead for many years.
But the academy he founded continued thriving.
Among present-day Yan, Yinlang possessed the strongest literary culture.
And Yinlang’s literary spirit began with Huaiya.
Outside the academy stood a small village.
It resembled a somewhat enlarged courier station, with inns and restaurants.
When four hundred barbarian cavalry formed ranks before it, what arrived with them was a howling northern gale.
Throughout the journey, Dujuan had curiously observed Zheng Fan’s barbarian soldiers.
She was curious about their quality.
Curious about the exceptionally fine armor they wore.
Even the horses beneath them in horse-rich Yan counted as superior mounts.
In Dujuan’s eyes, even Jingnan Army cavalry was inferior to these barbarians in equipment.
One had to understand: the soldiers stationed in these fortresses were fundamentally similar to the city garrisons of Beifeng Commandery.
Something like local security regiments.
Green Willow Fortress, however, was clearly different.
Still, Dujuan merely kept her curiosity inside.
She did not ask.
The midday sunlight warmed their bodies.
Even their armor had begun to heat beneath it.
The surroundings were all green mountain and clear water.
Zheng Fan genuinely felt the urge to camp here and take an afternoon nap.
“Miss Dujuan.
“What do we do next?”
Zheng Fan yawned and looked at her.
The previous day, the Marquis of Jingnan had made things very clear.
Zheng Fan was responsible only for assisting... and taking the blame.
How exactly the operation was conducted would be decided by the Secret Intelligence Department.
“Commander Zheng, please wait a moment.”
Dujuan handed a document backward.
The man who had followed them all the way dismounted and accepted it from her.
“Go.
“Tell the academy to hand the people over themselves.”
“Understood.”
The man walked toward the mountain gate.
Qingming Mountain was not tall, but its woods were dense.
After the Secret Intelligence Department agent entered the gate, his figure quickly vanished among the trees.
Dujuan looked at Zheng Fan and smiled.
“Commander Zheng, you may order your men to dismount and rest.”
After saying that Dujuan turned toward the barbarian cavalry behind them and unexpectedly spoke in the barbarian tongue:
“Dismount and rest!”
Yet nearly four hundred barbarian cavalry continued sitting perfectly straight upon their horses.
Not one man dismounted.
Apart from their horses occasionally pawing the ground or snorting, the four hundred riders remained utterly silent.
Liang Cheng trained the troops.
The Blind Man Bei handled ideological and political education.
If these barbarians still did not understand whose orders they were supposed to obey, then Zheng Fan after pouring so much blood and money into them might as well go smash his own head against a block of tofu.
A trace of awkwardness appeared on Dujuan’s face.
She lowered her head toward Zheng Fan.
“Commander Zheng.
“This humble woman was presumptuous.”
Zheng Fan smiled easily.
“It’s fine.
“It’s fine.
“The sun is comfortable.
“Once men dismount, they’ll inevitably grow sleepy.
“More importantly, since we came here to arrest people, we cannot let our momentum weaken.”
“This humble woman has learned something.”
Dujuan was intelligent.
She knew precisely when to call herself “this subordinate” and when to call herself “this humble woman.”
“Miss Dujuan spent time in the north before?”
“Yes.
“I was transferred to Yinlang Commandery the year before last.”
“Then perhaps we can be considered somewhat fated.”
“Indeed.
“Commander Zheng trains troops well.
“This humble woman’s eyes have been opened.”
“I merely imitate the Zhenbei Army like someone from Handan learning to walk.
“Right.
“Miss Dujuan— why would an ordinary academy be hiding rebels?”
“Huaiya Academy frequently receives great scholars from Qian who come to lecture.
“It also receives travelers from Qian.
“Some genuinely come to pursue learning.
“But others— carry different purposes.
“And the academy is the perfect cover for their activities and an excellent place to hide.”
“Oh.”
Zheng Fan understood.
A little like embassies in later generations.
Yan’s Secret Intelligence Department had almost certainly known about the situation here for years.
But just like Xiao Dahai’s faction and the abandoned fortress system, the imperial court had previously chosen to turn a blind eye and preserve the existing balance.
Now Xiao Dahai and his people had been purged.
Every abandoned fortress had received a newly appointed Commander and was preparing to reactivate.
Naturally, it was also time to tear out the espionage stronghold inside the academy.
At that moment, noise erupted from the mountain gate.
Zheng Fan saw the Secret Intelligence Department agent who had entered earlier walking back down.
His head had been split open.
Blood covered his face.
His clothes showed signs of having been pulled and torn.
Behind him followed a crowd of academy students in white robes, all furious.
Some were young.
Some were older.
But every one of them looked thoroughly agitated.
The Secret Intelligence Department agent walked at the front.
From time to time, bricks and stones flew from behind him.
Whenever something struck him, his body merely staggered.
He did not turn around.
He did not argue.
He simply continued walking silently down the mountain.
Anyone who was not blind could probably tell that delivering the arrest list had not gone well.
At last, the agent reached Zheng Fan and Dujuan.
He respectfully saluted both.
“This subordinate is incompetent.”
Then, he fainted and collapsed to the ground.
Zheng Fan felt the reason Dujuan had brought this subordinate along was specifically so he could deliver the notice and conveniently get beaten.
Otherwise with several hundred barbarian cavalry already present, why would she have needed to bring a subordinate at all?
Could this unlucky bastard have secretly watched his female superior bathe one night and gotten caught, so now she was giving him shoes too small to wear?
Zheng Fan waved.
Two barbarian cavalrymen dismounted, walked forward, and carried the miserable Secret Intelligence Department agent to the rear.
Dujuan solemnly cupped her hands toward Zheng Fan.
“Commander Zheng.
“This subordinate has no method left.”
Passing the blame.
Completely, utterly passing the blame.
Zheng Fan nodded.
Fortunately, he had been mentally prepared.
Why had Zuo Jiqian hesitated and refused this assignment?
Because a matter that offended the scholar class of The Great Yan Dynasty carried enormous consequences.
But Zuo Jiqian could not see past that.
Zheng Fan could.
Look at the roads by which treacherous ministers throughout history rose.
Most were willing to serve as their rulers’ dirty gloves.
They willingly dirtied themselves without hesitation.
That was how they paved their road upward.
Zheng Fan did not care about reputation.
Nor had he considered whether someone might settle accounts with him in the future.
First he needed to possess a future.
Second no matter what that future looked like, Zheng Fan had no intention of becoming some utterly loyal Yue Wumu of The Great Yan Dynasty.
Several hundred academy students had gathered beneath the ceremonial archway, blocking the mountain gate completely.
Every one of them burned with righteous indignation.
“Confucius said, fulfill benevolence!
“Mencius said, uphold righteousness!
“Fellow students!
“No matter what happens today, we cannot allow these imperial hounds to enter our academy and run wild!”
“Exactly!
“This is a gathering place of The Great Yan Dynasty’s culture!
“How can we allow these damned penal troops to run amok here!”
“The backbone of Yan’s scholars must be defended by us today!”
“Come, imperial hounds!
“If you want to enter the academy and seize people— if you want to humiliate the honor of our academy then step across our corpses!”
“What we defend today is Yan’s literary spirit!
“The righteous way of The Great Yan Dynasty!”
“Ten years from now!
“A hundred years from now!
“When later generations of scholars pass through this mountain gate, they will surely write memorial essays honoring us!”
“Look!
“Those soldiers— are they actually barbarians?!”
“What?
“They dare bring barbarians to the entrance of an academy?
“This is outright blasphemy against poetry and literature!”
Hundreds of white-robed scholars packed beneath the ceremonial archway.
Saliva flew from their mouths.
Their voices rang loud and clear.
Zheng Fan stuck the pinky finger of his left hand into his ear, scratched, then brought it to his lips and blew.
The academy people should have understood why the official troops had come.
The Secret Intelligence Department agent had already submitted the arrest list and presumably explained the reason.
Yet they had beaten him back out.
Watching the crowd across from him curse louder and louder while academy students, instructors, and elderly great scholars continued descending from the mountain to swell their numbers—
Zheng Fan found the sight faintly amusing.
He turned toward Liang Cheng, who remained mounted beside him.
“Does this count as cultural invasion from Qian?”
Liang Cheng considered the question.
Then nodded.
A century earlier, the first Marquis of Zhenbei had broken the backbone of Qian’s martial fortunes.
But what he had been unable to break was Qian’s century-long cultural export toward Yan.
Music.
Chess.
Calligraphy.
Painting.
Ritual propriety.
Morality.
Those became Qian’s weapons for striking back against The Great Yan Dynasty.
In truth, after spending time in the north, Zheng Fan understood perfectly well why Yan’s literary culture had struggled to flourish.
To the north were barbarians who had never abandoned their ambitions.
To the south were three states eyeing Yan like tigers.
Only in recent decades after the residence of the Marquis of Zhenbei suppressed the desert tribes had Yan finally enjoyed several peaceful decades.
Before that, young men of Yan were either riding into the desert to kill barbarians or heading south to fight the other three states.
Who the hell had time to stop and compose poetry?
If they genuinely had, The Great Yan Dynasty would have died long ago.
Most ridiculous of all there was probably a deeper reason why these academy students were so excited, even so eager.
Especially when Zheng Fan saw instructors and old men who looked like great scholars walking down from the mountain as well.
That confirmed his suspicion.
The scholars and great Confucians of the academy were using this opportunity to pressure the imperial court and force it to retreat.
They longed they longed to transform The Great Yan Dynasty into something like Qian: a paradise belonging to scholars.
Zheng Fan looked curiously toward Dujuan.
“This isn’t the first time your people have come here to arrest someone, is it?”
“Many times.
“We never managed to get inside,” Dujuan answered honestly.
“Why?”
“They wouldn’t let us.”
“Your Secret Intelligence Department is this civilized?”
“Commander Zheng.
“What does ‘civilized’ mean?”
“It means treating others kindly.”
Just then, several academy students came down the mountain carrying a large plaque.
Written across it were four characters:
THE SEA OF LEARNING HAS NO SHORE.
“The current Chief Minister personally inscribed these words!
“This old man would like to see who dares act presumptuously before the academy!”
An elderly Confucian scholar raised his cane and roared.
Then, one academy student began the chant:
“The academy has nurtured scholars for sixty years!
“Today is the day to die for righteousness!”
“Today is the day to die for righteousness!”
“Today is the day to die for righteousness!”
“Today is the day to die for righteousness!”
“...”
“Heh.
“Pretty synchronized.
“Like a choir.”
Zheng Fan wore a smile.
“Commander Zheng.
“Every previous time we came, this was what happened,” Dujuan said.
“You’ve basically trained them yourselves.
“Actually— this is all the Marquis of Zhenbei’s fault.”
“Why?” Dujuan asked, confused.
“He let them live too comfortably.”
“Then, Commander Zheng— what do you intend to do?”
Dujuan looked at Zheng Fan and asked once more.
At that moment, Zheng Fan suddenly felt as though he were sitting an examination.
Fortunately, he and the Blind Man Bei had already agreed upon the answer the previous night.
More accurately from the moment he accepted the military order before the Marquis of Jingnan, Zheng Fan had already made his decision.
Zheng Fan raised his left hand.
At the same time, he urged his horse forward.
Liang Cheng advanced as well.
Behind Liang Cheng, four hundred barbarian cavalry moved forward in unison.
Several hundred superbly equipped cavalry slowly advancing toward you created enough pressure to make any ordinary person’s courage collapse.
Especially when every one of those riders wore a barbarian face.
The academy students under the ceremonial archway instinctively began retreating.
During the previous half year, Secret Intelligence Department agents and local garrison troops had visited several times.
Never once had they arrived with such terrifying momentum.
Seeing this, an elderly scholar immediately shouted:
“Do not fear them!
“They dare not!
“They dare not!”
“Exactly!
“Fellow students, do not be afraid!
“If they dare use weapons inside this academy, the thousands upon thousands of righteous men beneath heaven will never spare them!”
“Confucius spoke of benevolence!
“Mencius spoke of righteousness!
“Today is the day to die for righteousness!”
“Where is the proud backbone of Yan’s scholars?!”
“Yan’s literary spirit will never die!”
Emotion was infectious.
After injection after injection of chicken blood, the students beneath the archway were once again set ablaze.
Zheng Fan drew closer.
The barbarian cavalry behind him drew closer.
Then, a middle-aged man in white robes proactively ran out from the crowd.
He pointed at Zheng Fan and shouted:
“Imperial hound!
“I am Huang Zichong of Sanshi!
“Do you know what place this is?!”
First call him an imperial hound.
Then announce your name and ancestral place.
If you want fame, start early.
If you want publicity, seize the right moment.
套路.
套路 everywhere.
If Zheng Fan backed down now, Huang Zichong could become famous throughout Yan afterward.
Zheng Fan ignored him.
He continued urging his horse forward.
Seeing this, Huang Zichong pointed toward his own neck and roared:
“Imperial hound!
“Do you understand?
“The blood of righteous men can never be exhausted!”
Zheng Fan’s horse stopped directly before Huang Zichong.
“Imperial hound!
“We scholars can die!
“But our backbone will remain forever!”
Zheng Fan drew his saber.
“Come!
“Cut here!
“Cut right here!
“If you have the courage, then do it!
“I want to see whether you dare—”
Zheng Fan swung the saber down.
SPLURT!
Huang Zichong’s head left his body.
It spun through the air.
Again.
And again.
His eyes remained filled with disbelief.
THUD!
Huang Zichong’s head landed on the ground.
Blood began spraying from the headless corpse.
The next instant the entire place fell silent.
Every academy student, instructor, and great scholar stood frozen in terror.
The one who broke the silence was Zheng Fan.
He urged his horse forward again.
And the instant the horse’s hoof rose the several hundred academy people who had moments earlier been boiling with righteous fury, the hundreds of proud scholarly backbones of The Great Yan Dynasty collapsed completely.
They began fleeing backward in madness.
The elderly instructors and great scholars were knocked to the ground by the surging crowd.
They were trampled beneath countless feet, their screams filling the chaos.
One student who had previously led the chant
“Today is the day to die for righteousness” now had a face full of terror.
He shoved aside the classmates around him and ran desperately toward the rear mountain while shrieking:
“Mother!
“They really dare kill people!
“They actually really dare kill people...!”
(End of Chapter)
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