knife

Chapter 753 Invitation
"Farewell, Commissioner Gan!" Zhou Zheng, the Prefect of Danyang, clasped his hands together and smiled broadly.

A short man, whom he had escorted all the way from the prefectural governor's mansion, snorted coldly, gripped the saddle with one hand and placed one foot in the stirrup, turned around, and said to Zhou Zheng with an arrogant expression: "Prefect Zhou, with the prince absent and the old shaman being a god-like figure, I have to take extra care of matters of state. If you dare to neglect me, I might just make you suffer!"

"Gan Xuanwei is joking!" Zhou Zheng said, "I'm currently raising the money for the reward silver you arranged for the wolf soldiers left to guard the capital the other day. One hundred thousand taels is no small sum. As you know, this time the Regent Prince not only emptied the national treasury, but also emptied my prefectural treasury. Even Minister Zhu has already gone to Jiangling to beg for money from the Jiang family. If there were any other way, why would Minister Zhu bother to provoke Jiang Chong?"

"That's none of my business!" Gan Ba, a trusted confidant of Na Wei and the one left behind to guard Danyang, mounted his horse and sneered, "If my five thousand men left behind in Danyang don't receive their pay on time, and if they cause any trouble, I can't really control them. After all, the main armies that went on the expedition all received their rewards before setting off. Prefect Zhou, if you're really in trouble, why not just arrest someone in Danyang and confiscate their property? There are princes and nobles everywhere in Danyang; getting 100,000 taels of silver isn't difficult."

Zhou Zheng was dumbfounded: "Envoy Gan, stability is the priority in the capital. We absolutely dare not act recklessly!"

"For your sake, Prefect Zhou, I'll give you three more days. If I haven't received the reward by then, I'll take matters into my own hands!" With a flick of his whip, Gan Ba ​​rode off with his guards.

Behind him, Zhou Zheng's smile gradually disappeared, and his face slowly turned ashen.

"Prefect, where are we supposed to get 100,000 taels of silver for him in three days?" Behind him, the clerk who had accompanied Zhou Zheng to see off the guests was filled with resentment: "Since the New Year, the Prefect's office has not paid a single penny of salary. This time, the Regent Prince has also drawn all the soldiers from Danyang County, which is directly under the Prefect's office, on his expedition. Otherwise, how could we allow this guy surnamed Gan to swagger around here!"

Zhou Zheng rolled his eyes and glanced at his chief clerk. "Isn't this nonsense?"
The headache is, where are we going to find 100,000 taels of silver now?

There's no other way but to go back to Xiong Yi and try to find a solution.

Let's see if we can get some more from some royal estate or royal family.

He returned to his office with a gloomy face and sat there in silence for a long time.

If I had known this, why did I do it in the first place?

Thinking that by expelling Jiang Qian, they could restore order, revitalize imperial power, and rebuild the world, little did they know that it would be the beginning of the Great Chu's descent into the abyss.

The once mighty Chu, a state preparing to amass strength to march north and attack Qin, and to test its ability to unify the north from the south, has suddenly become fragmented and broken.

Jiang Qian left, and Na Wei came. It was the same old trick, just a change of name. He still used the same tactic of coercing the emperor to command the princes. But the problem was that Na Wei's abilities were worlds apart from Jiang Qian's.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zheng sighed heavily again.

"Prefect!" came the voice of the chief clerk from outside again.

"What is it?" Zhou Zheng asked impatiently.

"The Five Tigers Severing the Gate, Hu Tianying, the sect leader, has sent an invitation. He said he received a cake of fine tea and knows that the prefect is quite accomplished in the art of tea, so he invites the prefect to taste it properly!" the clerk said.

Now, who was in the mood for tea! Zhou Zheng was about to refuse, but the words caught in his throat. It was really hard to get money elsewhere, but with Hu Tianying, 100,000 taels of silver shouldn't be a big deal. The problem was that this old man was not like others; he would never be able to take it by force.

Moreover, this old man wasn't even that familiar with me, just nodding acquaintances. Why would he suddenly send me a special message? There must be something going on!

The Five Tigers' Gate-Slaying Saber was a very special entity in the State of Chu; the saying "education for all" referred to them.

They charge money to take on disciples. For ordinary disciples, it costs one hundred taels of silver a year. After paying the fee, one can learn the authentic Five Tigers Severing Gate Saber. Of course, the internal energy cultivation method is also divided into levels. Each level has a higher price. However, once you break through the Qi Control and enter the Profound Origin realm, you will become a true inner disciple of the Five Tigers Severing Gate Saber. At this time, you can learn the truly profound Five Tigers Severing Gate Saber.

It is precisely because of this that the Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade disciples have flourished in all directions in the Great Chu, with different forces each having Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade disciples serving them, even the true inner disciples.

Moreover, the Five Tigers Broken Gate Blade Mountain Sect never cared about these things; even if their disciples were fighting to the death among themselves, they wouldn't interfere.

Just like now, Kang Zhen and Li Xiu are under Jiang Qian's command, and there are also a lot of Five Tigers Breaking Gate Blade disciples in the imperial army, as are Xiang Zhuang's. To outsiders, this is indeed a bit unbelievable, but to the people of Chu, it is a perfectly normal thing.

Because for hundreds of years, the Five Tigers Severing Gate Saber has always looked like this.

It's somewhat similar to how wealthy families place bets everywhere; no matter which side wins, his Five Tigers Severing the Gate Blade remains firmly in control.

"Prefect, if you don't want to go, I'll go and tell him!" The clerk outside knew that his Prefect Zhou was feeling annoyed and, after not hearing a reply for a while, spoke to himself.

“Tell him I’ll be there on time tomorrow!” Zhou said from inside the house.

"Understood!" The registrar outside paused for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "Prefect, perhaps you could borrow some money from Master Hu!"

"Hu Tianying's money is easy to borrow but hard to repay!" Zhou Zheng gave a bitter smile, stood up, took down a genuine work by Yu Entai that was hanging on one of the walls of the study, looked at it again and again with some reluctance, and finally gritted his teeth, rolled it up and put it into the paper tube.

Tomorrow we're going up the mountain for tea, so naturally we can't go empty-handed.

He naturally wanted the money, but he didn't want to borrow it from Hu Tianying, so he decided to sell the calligraphy.

With this calligraphy piece, plus Zhou's face and favor, it should still be worth 100,000 taels!
The following day, Zhou Zheng traveled lightly and with few attendants directly to the Five Tigers' Broken Gate and Knife Mountain Gate.

Seeing that the current deputy sect leader, Wang Li, was actually waiting for him at the door, he felt much better.

"How could I possibly trouble Sect Leader Wang to come all this way?" Zhou Zheng said, cupping his hands in greeting.

"Vice Sect Leader!" Wang Li chuckled, "Our Sect Leader is in excellent health now; it seems he could easily lead the sect for another ten years!"

Zhou Zheng laughed, but he couldn't tell whether Wang Li's words were sincere or not.

"Did Sect Leader Hu invite only me today, or are there other guests?" Zhou Zheng asked.

Wang Li said, "There is another one, who arrived before the prefect."

"Who is it?"

"A person who can sit and discuss the Dao with Sect Leader Hu and Prefect Zhou is naturally no ordinary person. Prefect, please accept my invitation; you will know once you meet him!" Wang Li kept everyone in suspense.

(End of this chapter)