knife

Chapter 741 Helpless
Xiang Zhuang personally presided over this year's Kitchen God worship ceremony. He placed items such as malt sugar, fruits, and snacks on the stove, burned incense, and prayed for favorable weather and a bountiful harvest next year, hoping that no household would go hungry. Finally, he took down the old Kitchen God image and placed it in the fire pit.

The second half of this year was truly a year of turmoil for Xiang Zhuang, watching helplessly as a tall building rose and then collapsed.

The Xiang clan enjoyed another moment of glory this year, following their victory at the Battle of Xiangyang several years prior. They overthrew the Empress Dowager's rule and regained control of the court, but this seemed to be their final, fleeting moment of glory. In the days that followed, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse. First, their navy was almost completely annihilated at the Battle of Red Cliffs. Then, Na Wei betrayed them, leading to a major defeat at Tong'an. Finally, even their uncle, Xiang Ying, was killed in battle, and the Xiang clan fell completely from their pedestal.

After overcoming countless hardships, they finally arrived in Yuezhou, where they gathered the remaining forces of the Xiang clan. Xiang Zhuang rose again with great strength, and within a few months, he occupied several counties including Yuezhou and Meizhou. Although life was still difficult, it was much better than when they fled in a sorry state.

However, Xiang Zhuang truly had little confidence in the future.

Because he knew how all of this came about.

The entire mansion began dusting, with most people throwing themselves into this thorough cleaning. Everything, from the interior of the house to the pots and pans, was cleaned meticulously. Dusting on the eve of the Lunar New Year symbolizes getting rid of the old and welcoming the new. Everyone hopes to sweep away all the misfortunes of the past year and have everything go smoothly in the new year, with life improving steadily like sesame flowers blooming.

Back in his study, Xiang Zhuang saw the rice cakes on the small table. He picked one up and put it in his mouth. It was soft, sticky, and sweet. Rice cake, rice cake, may you rise higher every year. I hope so!
The door was gently pushed open, and Xiang Dong walked in with a happy expression.

"uncle!"

"Have you received the goods?" Xiang Zhuang asked.

Xiang Dong nodded, placed the cloth bag he was carrying on the table, and then took out a wooden box from his pocket and placed it next to the cloth bag.

Xiang Zhuang first opened the wooden box, which was divided into dozens of small compartments, each containing a dark, heavy pill. This was the wound medicine from the Great Pharmacy outside the Great Wall.

"This time, we have a larger quantity of wound medicine!" Xiang Dong whispered. "According to Zhou Kun, his connections have been promoted, allowing him to obtain more wound medicine, which is why the price has been reduced to fifty coins per piece. However, it will be difficult for them to send over their superior military equipment again in the future. This shipment of two hundred repeating crossbows is probably the last big deal we'll ever make."

Opening the bag and looking at the finely crafted repeating crossbow inside, Xiang Zhuang asked, "Why can't we get military equipment anymore?"

"It's said that his connections have led to his retirement, and this is his last order. The price has even gone up; this crossbow costs twenty taels, and for two hundred crossbows, we paid forty thousand taels!" Xiang Dong said with some pain, "But in my nephew's opinion, it's worth the price!"

Playing with the repeating crossbow, Xiang Zhuang gave a wry smile and said, "It's not that his cronies have retired. It's that the Beiting Protectorate won the Battle of Yangguan this time, and Linghu Ye suffered a crushing defeat. Li Dachui is finally going to officially march into the interior. And marching into the interior will inevitably require expanding the army. They are already struggling to equip themselves, so naturally they won't have any extra for us!"

Xiang Dong took a deep breath. "Uncle, are you saying that Li Dachui is going to officially march into the interior?"

"Of course!" Xiang Zhuang nodded: "That Zhou Kun, although he is from Meizhou, is undoubtedly a front man for the Beiting Protectorate. Without the permission of the Zhi Qiu Academy, how could he sell us so many controlled items?"

"Should we arrest him?"

"Why arrest him?" Xiang Zhuang waved his hand: "He's just a middleman. Without him, if we want to get these things again, we'll have to go through a lot of trouble to find someone else. You just need to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't take important information from us and sell it to Zhi Qiu Yuan." "But he took a lot of grain from us."

“Zhou Kun wasn’t the only one involved in grain reselling!” Xiang Zhuang said.

"That's true, but Uncle, there's something I don't understand. Why did Zhi Qiu Yuan sell us weapons and medicine? We're enemies with them, even if we're far away!"

"Is it far? Not too far!" Xiang Zhuang's face was blank, and after a long while he said, "A Dong, do you know how I managed to escape all the way to Yuezhou? Even my uncle couldn't escape and died on the way, but I managed to run all the way here without any danger?"

"Uncle, you have always been a master strategist, quick-witted and brave!" Xiang Dong said.

"Nonsense!" Xiang Zhuang sighed. "That's because I've been protected along the way. They hope I can return to Yuezhou and raise an army here to rebel against Na Wei!"

Xiang Dong lowered his head.

"Actually, it wasn't just you; many others could have guessed it too!" Xiang Zhuang said. "If those people hadn't secretly paved the way for me, I wouldn't have been able to escape. But I'm not grateful to them at all. They just wanted me to start a civil war in the Great Chu. Their intentions were extremely malicious. Li Dachui is a poisonous snake!"

Xiang Dong nodded: "Uncle, there's nothing we can do about it. Even if you hadn't come, we would have raised an army. The Xiang family doesn't have the habit of surrendering without a fight."

"My arrival will make things even more impressive and gather even more people!" Xiang Zhuang chuckled. "And they're even afraid we're not strong enough. Over the past two years, they've been sending me money, weapons, and medicine through various means. You know, they even saved an attack from a master of the Innate Realm for me once!"

"Huh?" Xiang Dong was taken aback.

"After our momentum grew, Na Wei sent a shaman to find an opportunity to kill me!" Xiang Zhuang said calmly. "But the shaman was stopped as soon as he left Danyang City. In the end, the shaman had no choice but to return, and Na Wei had no choice but to give up, because if the shaman left Danyang City, Na Wei himself would become the target of the assassination!"

"They just want us to fight as fiercely as possible!" Xiang Dong lowered his head.

"Yes, this is a blatant conspiracy. We know it all along, yet we can only follow the path laid out for us. This is our tragedy!" Xiang Zhuang said, "Because Na Wei and I have become mortal enemies. My uncle died at the hands of the sorcerer, leaving no basis for trust between us. We can only fight to the death!"

"Next year will be a crucial year!" Xiang Dong said. "If Li Dachui and Linghu Ye reach a stalemate, that would be good news for us. But if one of them wins quickly, we'll be in trouble!"

"In short, we still need to find a way to take down Nawei first. If we can take down Nawei first, regain control of Danyang City, and then properly reorganize the Chu Kingdom, there is still hope. In the beginning, our Great Chu only had twelve counties. Now it is definitely stronger than it was then!" Xiang Zhuang murmured.

(End of this chapter)