Chapter 636: - It's Dirty

The relay station became lively all at once.

Xu Wenzu’s personal guards were highly trained. Every one of them had seen a battlefield, and they had already established tight defenses earlier. Now crossbows were strung, sabers drawn, and armor buckled into place.

The relay-station soldiers on the outer perimeter came running as well. They had no decent weapons in their hands, but at least their presence helped fill out the scene.

Then there were the officials staying in the station’s front courtyards. Many of their attendants and guards emerged to see what was happening. A few low-ranking officials even came out themselves, still wearing their official robes and cracking sunflower seeds between their teeth.

There were both Jin and Yan people among them. Wherever a person came from, the love of watching a spectacle was a common human instinct.

Of course, none of them knew which great official was staying in the rear courtyard. Had they known Xu Wenzu’s identity, they would undoubtedly have rushed out to “protect the sovereign.”

Truthfully, middle- and high-ranking officials did not often stay at relay stations. Even proper officials made up only a small portion of their guests. Most of the time, it was an official’s relatives or subordinates using waist tokens or documents while visiting friends and family, or simply people from an official household stopping in while conducting private business.

In the end, it was all about shearing wool from the imperial court. If the wool was there, why not shear it?

Household servants in particular loved putting on airs inside relay stations. People would generally give them some face out of respect for the masters behind them, but no one truly took such servants seriously.

The relay station had become thoroughly lively.

Yet the black-clad assassins everyone imagined would come pouring out from all directions never appeared.

From beginning to end, only the white-haired old man stood before the pot, accompanied by the two servants who had previously tended the fire.

The scene was nothing like what Xu Wenzu had encountered years ago outside Yin City, when he first met his little brother Zheng and an assassination followed almost immediately.

Liao Gang, Bodhi staff in hand, studied the old man carefully. The distance was considerable, but there were certain traits common among martial practitioners. The simplest example was the calluses on the hands of someone who spent years practicing the saber.

At a slightly higher level, one could judge by the rhythm of a person’s breathing.

What surprised Liao Gang was that the old man did not feel like a practitioner at all.

Of course, at his age, even if he truly had practiced martial arts, his qi and blood should already have declined badly. Fists feared the young and strong. That had never changed since ancient times.

Martial Artists, swordsmen, and even Qi Refiners all remained bound by this law. Qi Refiners were slightly different in that old age could deepen their understanding of qi and principle, but when it came to actually fighting, they were still much weaker than they had been in their prime.

Take Master Zang, for example. If he had only been sixty when he entered Yanjing back then, he would not even have needed Baili Sword to accompany him.

Operas and storytellers loved talking about men who secluded themselves in mountain caves for sixty or a hundred years, only to emerge and shock the entire world, or old monsters who only grew more monstrous with age.

Nonsense.

Even actual monsters lost demonic qi as they aged. Their bodies withered too. There was no such thing as becoming more monstrous simply because one had lived longer.

Liao Gang shifted his attention to the two servants.

They also felt like ordinary men.

That made the whole thing even stranger.

Had they really created such a spectacle without intending to assassinate anyone?

“The flesh and blood of wronged souls from the Wang River?”

Xu Wenzu rubbed his chin and called down:

“There are more wronged souls in the Wang River these past few years than anyone could count. Before the late Emperor of Great Cheng died, he fought with all his strength and drove back the combined army of Savages and rebels, forcing them to retreat to the east bank of the Wang River. In the First Battle of the Wang River, Great Yan’s eastern expedition army was blocked by the Chu navy, and countless soldiers of the left army sank beneath the river. In the Second Battle of the Wang River, Savages crossing the river were defeated by Great Yan’s Prince of Jingnan, and those who drowned were as numerous as carp in the current. Beneath Yupan City, the ambitious Chu were cut down beside the Wang River. They say Chu blood dyed the river red. There were Savages, Chu, Yan, and of course Jin. So tell me, whose wronged souls and whose flesh exactly are you cooking in that pot? Heh. I once ate a dish at my brother’s place. All sorts of meatballs, vegetables, and meats were boiled together in one pot, with bamboo skewers stuck into them so they could be picked out easily. My brother called it Kanto oden. Where Kanto is, this official has no idea. My brother only said the name had been passed down from very long ago. Whether such a place ever truly existed, or whether the pronunciation or characters changed over the generations, no one can verify now. But the pot beneath you can have a perfectly definite name. Since it is all one mixed stew anyway, why not call it... Eastern Jin Oden?”

Xu Wenzu burst into loud laughter.

His personal guards, Master Liao beside him, the old man in the courtyard, and the crowd watching from around the station all looked at one another.

Not one of them understood where the joke was.

Xu Wenzu laughed for a while before slowly stopping.

Life was truly lonely.

If his little brother Zheng had been here, he definitely would not have been left with the miserable feeling of playing music too lofty for anyone else to appreciate.

Alas.

Where beneath Heaven could one find a kindred spirit?

The white-haired old man shook his head.

“My lord, you missed one.”

“Oh? Which one?”

“The souls who drowned in the flood.”

“That was merely a heartless natural disaster.”

“Was it truly a natural disaster?” the old man demanded loudly. “If it truly had been one, then so be it. That would merely mean their lives were thin and Heaven’s Dao without mercy. But that night, a great dike that had been under construction for so long suddenly burst. No one knows how many Jin commoners downstream drowned. How many entire families were swept away in their sleep by the floodwaters. And you call that a natural disaster? Great Yan’s navy entered Chu through the channel cut from the Wang River. Marquis Pingxi’s army happened to arrive at the Wang River bank at exactly the same time. Everything, every single thing, was simply that much of a coincidence? My lord, dare you pound your chest and say that this too was a natural disaster?”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Xu Wenzu slapped his own chest three times with tremendous force.

The flesh on his chest, heavier than that of most women, rolled in thick waves.

He declared with absolute certainty:

“A natural disaster!”

“Hahahahahaha...”

The white-haired old man roared with laughter.

He pointed at Xu Wenzu on the second floor, shaking his head.

“To think you can actually say that aloud. It seems the Yan have truly proven themselves beasts!”

Xu Wenzu rubbed his nose and rolled his thick neck.

“Damn it, if you’ve got a main dish, bring it out. If you’ve got something hard, serve it already. Don’t delay this official’s sleep.”

The white-haired old man sighed.

The force of his presence visibly faded.

He took out a dagger.

At the same time, Xu Wenzu made a small gesture toward one of his personal guards.

The guard gave the faintest nod.

Below, the old man sighed again.

“This old man has also thought about how the Three Clans divided Jin and shattered our Great Jin, creating the weakness that allowed you Yan to take advantage. That was a sin we brought upon ourselves. I also once thought that if you Yan truly treated the people of Jin as your own and brought us peace, what would be so terrible about the Jin lands accepting Yan as our master? But the facts have proven that you Yan regard us Jin people as nothing more than fish and meat. This old man’s surname is...”

Twang!

A crossbow bolt slammed into the old man’s chest.

“Hehehe.”

Xu Wenzu laughed so hard a bubble of snot appeared beneath his nose.

“Son of a bitch. I knew you old bastard would try to announce your name at the end. This official refuses to give you the satisfaction.”

The old man toppled to the ground.

The crossbow bolt was powerful enough to almost pierce clean through him, and he was not even wearing a thick cotton coat, only a comparatively thin long robe.

“Relay Chief! Where the hell have you died off to? Someone has openly dug up graves, taken human remains, and cooked them for food. This is outrageous, contrary to both human law and Heaven’s principles. This official has already ordered the criminal executed. Hurry out and clean this place up before it disturbs this official’s rest or everyone else’s.”

Xu Wenzu swept his gaze across the people who had gathered below to watch the excitement.

Then he shouted:

“This official is Xu Wenzu, the newly appointed Prefect of Yingdu! I might as well greet all of you in advance. As for this sort of thing that violates ritual and law, I cannot speak for other places, but on land under this official’s jurisdiction, anyone who dares do it loses his head. After I chop off a few more heads, I would very much like to see who still dares bring about some grand ‘collapse of rites and music’!”

With that, Xu Wenzu shut the window and returned to sit beside the table.

Liao Gang continued watching for a while. Only after men from the relay station came to deal with the scene and the surrounding spectators gradually dispersed did he finally relax somewhat.

Even so, the guards inside the room, downstairs, and on the roof remained fully alert.

A long time passed.

Several groups of officials who learned Xu Wenzu’s identity and requested audiences were all turned away.

Finally, Xu Wenzu could no longer hold back.

He looked at Master Liao beside him.

“Huh? That was really it?”

The stage had been built well.

The shouting had been fierce enough.

Yet somehow the whole affair had ended like a tiger’s head attached to a snake’s tail.

A man died.

And then... nothing?

Master Liao nodded.

“None of our arrangements discovered anything unusual.”

The imagined sight of a massive group of assassins flooding in never occurred.

Xu Wenzu took the handkerchief a guard offered him and wiped the grease from his face.

“My lord, this subordinate went to verify the old man’s identity again. His surname was Liu, given name Hun. Liu Hun. He truly was a teacher in Prince Cheng Residence. He once served in Great Cheng’s Ministry of Rites, and afterward taught Prince Cheng in the residence.”

Xu Wenzu nodded.

“This subordinate also checked the pot. There really were human bones inside.”

Xu Wenzu nodded again.

He tossed the handkerchief back into the washbasin and let out a long breath.

Then he said to Liao Gang:

“If that old man had actually kept singing his play, the stone in my heart would have dropped instead. Nothing complicated about it. When soldiers come, send generals to stop them. When water comes, pile up earth. Fight if we need to fight. Kill if we need to kill. If we cannot beat them, we break out and run. But the damned play stopped halfway through. The stage was warmed, the tea served, the gongs, drums, clappers, and pipes all came out one after another. Then suddenly everything just stopped? This official entered this relay station by coincidence. Surely that old bastard did not carry human bones around with him every day and sleep hugging them at night? And judging by the whole performance, he plainly knew who I was. It is just like the opera houses in Nanwang City. Do you think some ordinary troupe can casually set up a stage at the broad entrance on East Street? Anyone performing there either has some great household clearing the way for them, or their own reputation is enormous. But there is one thing you can be certain of. Whatever troupe performs there should not put on a bad show. And this one? Heh. The taste is wrong.”

Liao Gang laughed beside him.

“So after surviving unharmed and merely letting some old scholar seeking fame curse you for a while, my lord instead feels somewhat unsatisfied?”

“Heh. That is not what I mean, Master Liao...”

At that moment, one of Xu Wenzu’s guards entered with a soldier dressed in a Flying Fish Robe.

“My lord, this man says Marquis Pingxi sent him.”

The soldier saluted.

“This subordinate is Jia Zheng, personal guard under Marquis Pingxi. Greetings, Lord Xu. My Marquis instructed me to ask after Lord Xu’s health.”

“Little Brother Zheng sent you?”

Xu Wenzu rubbed his chin.

Then he asked:

“If you are here, where is Little Brother Zheng himself?”

“Replying to Lord Xu, my Marquis is at Xujia Fort, forty li from here.”

Xujia Fort was originally a military fort with only three hundred soldiers. During the campaign against Chu, however, huge numbers of civilian laborers and wagon trains had to pass through the area on their way to Yingdu. The fort became a critical transportation point, and in order to keep that route secure and orderly, it was expanded into a combined military and commercial settlement, effectively a small town.

The local garrison now consisted of a thousand-man Jin battalion. A County Yamen might even be established there in the future.

When the Three Clans had divided Jin, the various military and administrative systems across the land had been designed primarily for mutual defense rather than development. Now those systems needed to be reworked, but endless warfare had delayed that process again and again.

“What is Little Brother Zheng doing at Xujia Fort?” Xu Wenzu asked curiously as he lifted his teacup.

Forty li.

He himself rode a Pi Beast, while Zheng Fan’s mount was a genuine Pixiu.

That distance barely counted as anything.

Then understanding struck Xu Wenzu.

He slammed the teacup down heavily on the table.

“Son of a bitch! These Jin bastards really don’t know how high Heaven is or how deep the earth!”

He had been wondering why the rest of the play had simply stopped.

Of course it had stopped.

This time, those people had never intended to use jianghu forces or arrange some assassination.

All they needed was to bring over the Jin battalion from Xujia Fort and charge the relay station.

Xu Wenzu’s personal guards were more than sufficient against assassins or a jianghu rabble.

Against proper soldiers?

They would have been completely blind.

But Fatty Xu was broad of heart as well as body.

After cursing once, a smile immediately returned to his face.

He looked at Liao Gang.

“Master Liao, see that? This time I truly do owe my little brother Zheng. That nonsense you said about him having such great fortune that the people beside him have to block calamities for him? Clearly that is not right at all.”

...

Xujia Fort.

At the dining table, Marquis Zheng was eating noodle soup.

Beside the table lay a Jin officer whose corpse had already gone cold.

Meng Lun, formerly a surrendered Jin soldier, had later become Garrison Commander of Xujia Fort.

During his tenure, he had taken bribes, perverted the law, and several times colluded with bandits to wipe out small merchant caravans.

So he had not died unjustly.

Still, Marquis Zheng felt a death like this was far too light to weigh even as much as a feather.

So, thoughtfully, he added the crime of rebellion to Meng Lun’s record, ensuring that his funeral affairs would be considerably more glorious.

Everyone in Xujia Fort was now under Marquis Zheng’s control.

Otherwise, he would hardly have been sitting here calmly eating.

Gou Moli sat at the same table and ate with him.

“Haaah...”

After drinking a couple mouthfuls of soup, Marquis Zheng let out a satisfied breath.

“How is He Chunlai’s side? No problems?”

Gou Moli immediately set down his chopsticks.

“Rest easy, Marquis. He used to be one of the righteous men of Jin. Reconnecting with a few of his former ‘comrades’ and putting on a play at the relay station to splash some dirty water onto Prince Cheng Residence should be no problem. If Little Chunzi could not even sing a play like that properly, would that not mean Mr. Bei misjudged him?”

Zheng Fan nodded.

“Still, Marquis, this subordinate has one thing he does not understand. Since you also believe the assassination affair in Yingdu most likely involved calculations from Prince Cheng Residence, why go around the long way like this?”

Zheng Fan smiled.

He knew Gou Moli was deliberately inviting him to answer so he could enjoy explaining himself.

He did not expose the gesture.

He simply said:

“I think Prince Cheng Residence very likely cannot separate itself from this affair. But the real person making decisions, or perhaps the one pulling the threads, may not be aiming downward at all. He may be aiming at me. If the other side can use the Prince Cheng Residence piece to strike at me, then if I personally step onto the board, would that not be exactly what he wants? No matter what happens, I would already have lost a move. So first we set the tone for Old Xu. Let him deal with Prince Cheng Residence after he takes office in Yingdu. That is more appropriate. That old brother Xu of mine... Do not be fooled by how fat he is. His mind is very narrow indeed.”

Marquis Zheng was just about to drink more soup.

The essence of noodle soup was still in the broth, after all.

But without warning, a little ash drifted down from the eaves and landed in the bowl before him.

It was not a serious matter.

One could pick the ash out and keep drinking. Plenty of people would not even bother removing it.

But Marquis Zheng pushed the bowl away.

“It’s dirty.”

[End of Chapter 636]