Chapter 192: Chaotic Windy…I Make You Sick
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The imperial court in Great Jin determined w.a.n.g She as a thief. If it was just for show and to comfort North Yuan, the response of the Mingyi School made Junior Leopard feel that they were b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.
Since the imperial court had declared w.a.n.g She as a bandit criminal who was pursued by the imperial order, the Mingyi School instantly announced to Jianghu that w.a.n.g She was nefarious. He had killed the princes of Northern Yuan and provoked conflicts at the border, severely influencing the formerly favorable relations.h.i.+p between the two countries and also bringing war disasters to Great Jin. His crimes were too wicked to be pardoned, so he was not tolerated by the righteous people in the martial arts world. The Mingyi School was quite ashamed to rub shoulders with such a person. Meanwhile, to maintain the friendly relations.h.i.+p between the two countries and avoid continuous war disasters, the Mingyi School would build a team to launch an attack against w.a.n.g She. The team consisted of righteous people in the martial arts world in Great Jin.
Certainly, all the people understood that the so-called attack team could not recklessly fight with w.a.n.g She face to face because he was a Level Nine expert. After all, the number of people in Great Jin who were qualified to fight with w.a.n.g She could barely be counted on the fingers of one hand. Besides, there was no possibility for those people to join this team. The reason for Mingyi School’s such an action was to show their standing on the one hand and push the Tian Long Taoism into a pa.s.sive position on the other hand.
In this situation, the Tian Long Taoism could neither oppose the Mingyi School openly nor speak for a person who had been declared as a criminal by the imperial court, even if this person was a Level Nine expert.
The attack team which was set up by the Mingyi School could not fight against w.a.n.g She directly, but it could act auxiliarily. If w.a.n.g She escaped to Great Jin because of being hunted by the three Grandmasters of Northern Yuan, this team would play an important role. Moreover, if w.a.n.g She were to be harmed in the pursuit, perhaps he would suffer defeat at their hands. Of course, it was an extremely ideal situation.
As one of the respectable schools with a great reputation in Great Jin’s martial arts realm, the Mingyi School had much more influence than the Tian Long Taoism. The building of this team called on activities in the name of justice. In addition, the Mingyi School also offered great rewards, such as a secret books on martial arts, medicinal herbs and medicinal soups, just to name a few. These things were excessively attractive to people in the martial arts world. After the appeal had been published, men in Jianghu flooded in. In a short time, a net covering the whole Jianghu had formed.
The worst part was that the net was not only huge but also concealed. The Mingyi School did not released a name list containing men in Jianghu who had joined the team, so people did not need to worry about suppression and retaliation from the Tian Long Taoism.
Thus, even Junior Leopard had to admit that the Mingyi School had played a wonderful trick by suppressing the Tian Long Taoism and w.a.n.g She with this perfectly justifiable reason. However, on the other hand, Junior Leopard despised their action.
This boy had been a young cynic in his previous life. What he disdained most was the act of being nice outside while putting pressure inside. The Mingyi School had let the Tian Long Taoism swallow their own grievances in silence in the name of the imperial court.
Because of this, Junior Leopard could clearly see the Mingyi School’s style in handling things. Their style was similar to that of the ancient Chinese Confucianist, but not the real Confucianist; the Confucianist here was the one that had been modified by the Emperor Wu of the Han. Both were exactly the same. This was what Junior Leopard mostly frowned upon. In addition, he had a good relations.h.i.+p with w.a.n.g She. Consequently, he was in a foul mood.
However, it did not mean there had been no good news.
The tone had been set in the imperial court. The world was full of vituperation. Words and excitement ran through here and there among people. When the Tian Long Taoism remained silent, Yunzhou Governor Ma Tianchang of Great Jin suddenly submitted a report saying that in recent days the forces of the Seven Troops of the Southern Yard from Northern Yuan had been concentrating and watching for their chance to go south. Patrolling cavalries showed up at pa.s.ses in Yunzhou. In this situation, the Yunzhou army had already made the decision to go back home. They took the initiative and launched an attack, which not only exterminated the patrolling cavalries at the line of Yuyang but also destroyed four tribes at Southern Yard by going deep into the prairie. Frightening the Seven Troops of Southern Yard with tough measures made them restrain themselves.
After the report, Ma Tianchang switched the conversation to another topic and began to comment on w.a.n.g She’s behavior. His words did not match with the tone set by the imperial court. On the contrary, he spoke highly of w.a.n.g She’s behavior. He called him the first chivalrous person of all ages and asked the imperial court to cancel the arrest order. He also stated that it was not a big deal because w.a.n.g She had only killed several sons of b*tches of Northern Yuan. If the imperial court arrested w.a.n.g She for this reason, then it was too cowardly. There was also a suspicion that the arrest would boost other people’s morale and reduce their courage. As for the army of Northern Yuan, it was not necessary to worry about it. No matter how many people would come, he could exterminate them outside Yunzhou. There was no possibility for them to enter Yunzhou.
That was the content of the report. In addition to the report with the fierce words above, Ma Tianchang also spread word to the public. For anyone from Northern Yuan, no matter who he was, even including the three Grandmasters of Northern Yuan, if he set his foot in Yunzhou, Ma Tianchang would be bound to expel him out of Yunzhou in a strong way. His responsibility was to defend the territory. Meanwhile, he would also motion the army to advance north and wage a life-and-death struggle with the Metal Horse Carriage of Northern Yuan. That was the first point. Second, he admonished to the public that the Mingyi School was brazen. He claimed that he had been blind when he had once agreed to let his daughter marry Lu Shaoyou. Fortunately, that marriage had failed. Otherwise, he would have been angry to die by way of those cowardly people who behaved like turtles and were afraid to stick their necks out. He plainly stated that he thanked w.a.n.g She and Nian Wushuang for rescuing his daughter from an abyss of suffering. To show his thanks, he would do his best to provide help for w.a.n.g She. As long as w.a.n.g She came to Yunzhou, he would go to all lengths to ensure his safety. Third, considering what the Mingyi School had done, from now on, their forces were not welcome in Yunzhou. All their forces and industries must now vacate the city. In half a month, if they had not cleared out, he would exert military force and expel them forcibly. Not even a patch of floor or a piece of tile would be left for the Mingyi School. Meanwhile, he declared that all those who had joined the attack team set up by the Mingyi School were dregs. That was a shame for Great Jin. If he found one of them in Yunzhou, he would arrest and kill him.
After the declaration, the public burst into an uproar!
He had set himself against the imperial court!
In Great Jin, this was the first time in several hundred years that a governor had exuded such behavior in questioning a decision from the imperial court in an open way. He was replying defiantly to the imperial court by disregarding the law and discipline!
Such a thing was indeed too abominable.
What was more; such a thing had happened to Yunzhou Governor Ma Tianchang before!
In the earlier years, a censor had submitted an impeachment that Ma Tianchang acted in an arbitrary fas.h.i.+on, ignored the imperial court and built Yunzhou into his own independent Kingdom with concealed intentions. He should be punished by the imperial court immediately. That impeachment was controlled by the inc.u.mbent Emperor. However, how could such a thing happen? Impeachments about Ma Tianchang had been like snow, swirling into the Inner Court. Without exception, all the impeachments were about requiring the imperial court to convict Ma Tianchang of a crime: great disrespect to the imperial court.
In their eyes, there had been two reasons for the imperial court not to convict Ma Tianchang. One reason was that Ma Tianchang had not acted against the imperial court in such an outright way as he did today. The other reason lied in the tight tension in Yunzhou. A person like Ma Tianchang was really needed to control the unrest.
Nevertheless, with what Ma Tianchang had done now, could he still complete his critical position and rea.s.sure people?
He also had an ambition of marching troops toward the north and fighting the Metal Horse Carriage of Northern Yuan to the death. Did Ma Tianchang regard the army as his own family? Did it have the surname Ma?
The army belonged to the imperial court. It was the army of the imperial court. Even if he was the Yunzhou Governor, without the tiger-shaped tally, the number of army soldiers that he could mobilize was only five thousand!
Had his influence in Yun Zhou expanded to a state in which he could mobilize the whole army without the tiger-shaped tally?
If so, then he should be put to death.
All the people thought this way. The imperial court would respond in a short time by either warning Ma Tianchang seriously about his behavior or depriving his authority as Yun Zhou Governor.
Beyond expectation, once the impeachment reports were put on the Emperor’s desk, they were like stones sinking into the sea. No response. No instructions. No reply. It seemed that nothing had happened.
Just as everybody had become weary of waiting, a decree was released from the Inner Court. Yunzhou Governor Ma Tianchang had been working in dedication and due diligence for many years and had made great contributions in defending the territory. Therefore, to reward his loyalty, the imperial court had promoted him to be the Minister of War and Yunzhou Governor. All the matters in Yunzhou would be at his discretion without reporting to the imperial court in advance.
This decree resulted in an even greater shock!
For a while, everybody was confused. They had no idea why the imperial court had issued such a decree!
However, another piece of news came soon. It was said that the news was from the Inner Court and that the Emperor was not happy because Northern Yuan had sent an amba.s.sador to question. For the overall interests, he had only shown his att.i.tude based on Northern Yuan. Anyway, it was just an att.i.tude. Had they seen any other action from the imperial court aside from this att.i.tude?
The Mingyi School ran around on sinister errands, which made the Emperor quite unsatisfied. Even though Ma Tianchang’s report and the news released were obviously against the imperial court, his behavior catered to the Emperor. Moreover, he was the Emperor’s trusted subordinate. Therefore, the Emperor took this opportunity to show his support to the public. Even Ma Tianchang’s report and the released news were likely to be inspired by the Emperor himself.
The message spread as fast as it could. Whether the news was from the real Inner Court could not be investigated any more.
Even so, the response of the imperial court indicated one thing. The wind had changed its direction overnight!
Some people who had criticized that w.a.n.g She triggered conflicts started calling him a chivalrous person. People’s voice about blaming Ma Tianchang for looking down upon the imperial court also trailed away. However, more people were secretly discussing the possible result of the whole thing and the influence it would have on the future.
The Mingyi School did not claim to oppose w.a.n.g She in a big way, but it kept maneuvering!
The thing was evolving toward a calm trend, just as the calm before the storm! It was the most horrible calm!
…
…
It was a moonlit night!
A large harvest moon hung in the sky, emitting bright light. The moonlight looked like water. The whole world was bathed in it and cloaked in a magnificent jade-like color.
In the dead of night, River Heart Island was not that quiet. The newly-built goods yard was crowded. The dock was brilliantly illuminated throughout the night. Different s.h.i.+ps berthed at the dock. Goods were unloaded from the s.h.i.+ps and carried to the carriages, to the back of the coolies and finally transported to the newly-built goods yard. On the way from the dock to the new yard, special people were maintaining the order. They were soldiers from the Navy of Jiang City. Every night they worked here incessantly. Although it was a little bit toilsome for them, the subsidy from maintaining order for a night was equal to half-a-month salary. Thus, for that money, n.o.body complained about being tired or exhausted.
Of course, during the order maintenance, some unfortunate events would often occur. In particular, the guys under Zhu Ba’s control were all characterized by bandits, so some extortion occurred. When Junior Leopard heard about it, he asked Zhu Ba to come to him. In front of the Navy soldiers, he condemned Zhu Ba mercilessly. He also asked several soldiers who extorted businessmen to come to him. He neither beat nor scolded them. He merely told Zhu Ba not to let his guys do such things in the future. Junior Leopard was very angry, so Zhu Ba dared not to do anything. He only nodded.
After they were backing home, Zhu Ba gave them a lesson and put them in limbo. They had made him lose face. Since then, they didn’t get profitable jobs. All the other soldiers in the Navy department saw the outcome and immediately cleaned up their act. Life was getting better day after day; they had something to expect. However, those unlucky guys made the Commander and His Excellencies unpleasant for that little money. If they followed suit, the loss absolutely outweighed the gain.
After a period, the military discipline in the Navy cleaned up. Suddenly, the Navy became the best behaved army in Jiang City. It was beyond both Junior Leopard and the Navy Commanders’ expectation.
“What an unexpected surprise! Our Navy could come to such a situation today!” w.a.n.g Datong stood on a protruding rock, watching the dock and yard in full swing. He signed spontaneously with emotion. “His Excellency is really amazing!”
“Isn’t he? Before His Excellency came here, what did you say about him?” Jiang Xiao asked, watching in the direction of the dock and yard with satisfied eyes. “I remember that you were saying something like ‘He was a bullsh*t. How can he be a leader in our Jiang City Navy? It’s a daydream.’ Those are your words, if I’m not mistaken!”
“Haha!” w.a.n.g Datong gave a hollow laugh and was a little bit embarra.s.sed. “At that time His Excellency hadn’t been here yet. You really had no other thoughts before he a.s.sumed office, huh?!”
“Yeah. Appointing a teenage boy as the head of our army ruffian was quite a bold decision from the Admiral!” Jiang Xiao said in a sigh. “However, the Admiral had never expected that the Commander didn’t want to leave Jiang City after he had came here!”
w.a.n.g Datong was in a daze and then understood what Jiang Xiao said. Both laughed heartily. “You’re right. Our Admiral had never predicted that it would develop into such a situation!”
“Well. Don’t say such useless words. Datong, have you settled the thing arranged by the Commander?”
“I’ve already talked with the people at the Multiple Chain Dock!” When mentioning the thing that Junior Leopard had asked w.a.n.g Datong to do, w.a.n.g Datong’s facial expression changed slightly; he showed a little bit of hesitation. “However, Your Excellency Jiang, you did that. It’s okay?”
“Even if it isn’t okay, it’s none of our business!” Jiang Xiao said, glancing at him. “Datong, don’t think too much. We are in the same boat with His Excellency. The only thing we can do is to pull together in times of trouble. Do you have other ideas?”
“No. Of course no—!” w.a.n.g Datong shook his head. “I don’t have other ideas certainly. I just worry His Excellency might get into trouble!”
“Trouble? What trouble?” Jiang Xiao asked, his face showing a glimmer of coldness. “We are the Navy of Jiang City, not the bandits in the Multiple Chain Dock. Even though they are robbed, who cares? As for the yard, that’s our possession. We can lend it to anyone or refuse as we see fit. It’s our own business. n.o.body can make carping comments about it. Don’t you understand such a simple thing!”
“I understand, truly. However, if something goes really wrong, who can explain?”
“You are responsible only for the army provisions. Even if n.o.body can explain, you are not the person who shall explain, right?” Jiang Xiao said, squinting at him.
“Yes. Yes—!” w.a.n.g Datong was astonished. He could say no more.
At this moment, a great noise came from afar in the direction of the dock.
“It’s starting now!” Jiang Xiao showed a faint smile as he watched what was happening on a distant dock. He stared at the big boat lying at the dock. He asked, “Is that the Southern Bay Warehouse s.h.i.+p?”
“Yes. Southern Bay Warehouse is a branch of the Mingyi School.” w.a.n.g Datong said with a nod. “From now on, regarding all the merchant s.h.i.+ps and goods relating to the Mingyi School, if they stop at the dock in River Heart Island and use our goods yard, we will purposely make things difficult for them!”
“It’s the order from His Excellency. We just execute it!” Jiang Xiao nodded. “Anyway, I have to warn you, we are now on the Commander’s boat!”
“I know, I know!”
…
…
“Whew, whew—!” On the water at a distance of 10 kilometers from River Heart Island, a figure in black was blinking continuously. The figure disappeared from its place after every flicker; at almost the same time, it appeared more than 300 meters away from the previous position. After doing this several times, the figure was already five kilometers or so away from the original position.
“Hu, hu, hu, hu, hu…!” In a marshland, nine kilometers away, the figure of Junior Leopard suddenly appeared. He bent down, panting severely and looking rather pale. He thought, “Oh my G.o.d, it’s really not easy to grasp the Three Realms Division. It’s not big a deal to move over a short distance. However, once I want to move over a long distance, it’s not easy to balance the Internal Qi and the pressure consumed by the body. Based on my body’s current strength, I can only hold for nine kilometers!”
Bending over a riverside rock, Junior Leopard’s eyes flashed. He watched the blood dripping from his arm. “It seems that my skin and flesh cannot bear it, but my skeleton can bear several times more!” Junior Leopard said in his heart.
Yes, his skeleton could still bear it.
Since the last recuperation, he found that the strength of his skeleton had increased sharply. His skeleton had come into a state far exceeding that of the Bone-Forging Realm. He even doubted whether the current strength of his skeleton had reached the strength of the Tendon-Changing Realm. Regretfully, his body strength was not in coordination with that of the skeleton. Without the support of the flesh and blood, it would be useless no matter how strong the skeleton it was. That was the reality, a cruel reality.
“Considering I got seriously hurt, I could probably move more than 15 kilometers in 10 seconds. That may be the maximum!” Junior Leopard thought.
More than 15 kilometers in 10 seconds!
That was a terrible amount. Even for an expert at Level Nine, it was impossible to fully play mental cultivation methods. This was where Junior Leopard’s confidence lied in. When facing an expert at any level, even if he could not win, he could flee away. Therefore, in some sense, he was fearless.
After resting against a rock, Junior Leopard felt that he had recovered. He stood upright, looking far off in the direction of River Heart Island and watching the glim in the distance. A slight smile appeared on his face. This was his domain. It was quite a small and simple area now, but he already had a small base at least. Of course, he knew this base was not reliable. It belonged to that petty Navy Commander. Although the River Hear Island was prospering, a decree from the imperial court could transfer him to a completely different place. He had no ability to stand up to that. Under those circ.u.mstances, if he still wanted to have River Heart Island at his disposal, he would have only one choice: He could give up his status to control River Heart Island as a water bandit, just as Li Sanbao had done. However, he would not make such a choice at any rate.
Therefore, now that he had made some achievements at River Heart Island, he was always cautious. Things had not changed until he knew that w.a.n.g She killed three princes of Northern Yuan and heard the following information.
As for the att.i.tude toward the imperial court, Junior Leopard did not care. They were just words for show. n.o.body took it seriously. However, the Mingyi School’s response and behavior triggered his disdain and defiance. It was this disdain and defiance that made him increasingly dislike the Mingyi School. It was not only a matter of averseness. He also felt resentful and more negative towards the Mingyi School. Finally, it affected his practice. When the negativity was released, he could continue to practice at ease. After weighing the odds carefully, he came up with a dumb idea.
Purposely create difficulties!
Junior Leopard thought, “I will neither challenge the Mingyi School’s influence as Yun Zhou Governor Ma Tianchang did nor will I obviously cause trouble for you. I can make things difficult for you.” Anyhow, the military discipline of the Navy of Jiang City had been not good. It was much better now after his improvement. In spite of that, Junior Leopard was not convinced that those guys who had been army riffraff became the Eighth Route Army overnight. Hence, he thought that he could deliberately place obstacles in the Mingyi School’s way with reasonable excuses when their s.h.i.+ps berthed, or when the goods were delivered, or when they encountered the water bandits. Even though he could not trash them, he could make them sick. As a civil servant in his previous life, Junior Leopard was very good at playing tricks.