Longzang

Chapter 754, the main section

As dawn broke and the sky began to lighten, the city of Xiangrong remained quiet. On this cold morning, no one would want to get up early unless it was for the sake of making a living.

At the gate of the city's yamen prison, two yamen runners were shivering and cursing the damned weather, their necks hunched over. Suddenly, one of them seemed to hear something, listened intently, and after a while said, "It sounds like footsteps!"

Another older constable said, "At this time of year, who would go out except for poor folks like us?"

"It really is! It looks like it's heading this way!"

Before the words were even finished, a group of men in black appeared at the street corner, striding quickly towards the prison. Each of them had their face covered with a black cloth. The constable's face turned to panic, and he was about to raise a warning when suddenly two crossbow bolts flew through the air, piercing their hearts!
Nearly a hundred men in black took to the air and flew into the prison, instantly killing all the guards they encountered. After entering the prison, they dispersed and searched each cell one by one.

"Sir, you need to come over here."

The group of men in black, who were the leaders, immediately went to the deepest part of the prison, where dozens of people were imprisoned, and where the torture chambers were located. Several people were hanging in the torture chambers, all of them already lifeless. There was hardly any good flesh on their bodies; their eyeballs had been gouged out, and their tongues had been cut out.

The man in black in the center ripped off his mask, revealing himself to be Niu Jinbao.

He stared at one of the corpses, his lips trembling, but ultimately said nothing. Instead, he turned to the man in black beside him and asked, "What's the plan on the other side, sir?"

The man in black spoke in a cold, mechanical voice: "What you mean, sir, is that if our men are safe, we'll act accordingly. But if anything happens to our men, we'll eliminate them all."

Niu Jinbao's expression turned sinister. He drew his short knife and hurriedly left.

A moment later, the entire prison fell silent, the damp, pungent smell of blood gradually dissipating. A group of men in black, supporting dozens of barely alive people and carrying over a dozen corpses, emerged from the prison gates and hurried along the main street towards the city gate.

In the blink of an eye, the alarm bell rang, and the city gate guards emerged one by one from the city tower. Looking at the menacing group of men in black, they were at a loss.

A man in black declared loudly, "We are disciples of the White Lotus Immortal Sect, and we have come here today to proclaim the might of the White Lotus Saintess! You will all witness this!"

Several men in black carried two large barrels and leaped out, instantly placing them at the city gate, lighting the fuses, and then fleeing.

The moment these men in black moved, the captain guarding the city wall broke out in a cold sweat. He could tell at a glance that they were all Dao Foundation cultivators, and each of them was no weaker than himself!
Seeing the men in black set something on fire, the captain didn't have time to think and immediately fled for his life. As soon as he ran, the soldiers guarding the city also scattered and fled.

With a deafening roar, a fireball shot into the air, the shockwave swept away the nearby shacks, the city gate flew far away, and even half of the city tower collapsed!

The city gates swung open, and the men in black swaggered away. It wasn't until half an hour later that the city's garrison finally assembled, cautiously coming over to check, fearing that if they acted too quickly, the bandits wouldn't have had time to leave.

The prison was raided, hundreds of prison guards were killed, and the city gates were blown up. So many major events threw the prefectural government into chaos.

However, with the Prefect absent and the group leaderless, the Assistant Magistrate was unwilling to get involved and made no decision. He simply reported the matter to higher authorities while sending men to the Southern Military Camp to search for the Prefect. But all the men sent were turned away at the camp gate, as the soldiers said that Lord Zhuang had never come before.

In a cold, dark stone cell at the Southern Military Command, Zhuang Zhong sat solemnly, his hands and feet bound by high-grade shackles. Patches of charred black from the lightning strikes still clung to his face. He sat against the wall, eyes closed and motionless. The food on the plate before him remained untouched.

Whenever someone came in to change the food, he would say, "I want to see Wei Yuan," but he would only say that once and never again.

At this time, Wei Yuan was busy day and night. Centered on the Southern Military Camp, he dispatched multiple troops to occupy many cities and fortresses on the border between Jin and Zhao. In the end, he completed the deployment of defenses on most of the borders of the three eastern counties, leaving only the easternmost two hundred li open.

Caravans continuously sailed out of Qingming, passing through the two counties of Xujia, delivering supplies and food to the Southern Military Camp, and then to various other places. Soon, five more well-defended fortresses appeared on the southern border of Jin.

After the arrangements were completed, Wei Yuan finally decided to go see Zhuang Zhong. By this time, seven days had passed since Zhuang Zhong was detained.

For seven days, he remained exceptionally firm and unyielding, refusing to eat or drink, and refusing to yield.

When Zhuang Zhong was brought up, this once handsome scholar appeared much more haggard. Because his magic was sealed, there were still burn marks on his face and body, but his expression was calm and resolute. He stood straight in front of Wei Yuan, neither kneeling nor speaking.

Wei Yuan snorted and said, "Why don't you kneel before me?"

Zhuang Zhong snorted and said loudly, "I kneel only to heaven and earth, to my sovereign and teachers, and to my parents. I have never heard of kneeling before traitors and rebels!"

Wei Yuan continued, “I have come here on the King’s orders to collect military funds, yet you refuse to cooperate. Without food and pay, how can the soldiers fight? Who is the real traitor?” “Those with merit can obtain a portion of tax-exempt land to maintain their basic needs and dignity. This has been the case since the founding of the Great Tang! I am merely abiding by the laws of Tang and upholding ancestral rules. What wrong have I done? Lord Wei, if you want to levy exorbitant taxes and line your own pockets, you have plenty of ways. But if you want to change ancestral rules, you are probably too early! With such perverse actions, aren’t you afraid that your Wei family line will be wiped out!”

"That's not what the Tang law meant, and there's no such clause in the Jin law either. Lord Zhuang's petty tricks of misinterpreting the law are useless against me. Besides, are the fields under the names of so many scholars in this prefecture really theirs? Hmph, you alone, Lord Zhuang, have 20,000 mu of fertile land under the names of 30 different people. Am I wrong about you? Our ancestors didn't teach you to do this, did they?"

Zhuang Zhong gave a cold laugh: "Words are meaningless; do you have any evidence?"

Wei Yuan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, "Evidence? Lord Zhuang has already prepared two sets of land deeds, one for the yin and one for the yang. If you really want evidence, you'll have to go to one of Lord Zhuang's secret residences. I don't have that kind of time. Actually, it's easy to find out the truth. Just bring out your Dharma Image and roast it with Yin Fire for a while. I believe Lord Zhuang's bones aren't that hard!"

Zhuang Zhong remained unmoved and said, "Since Lord Wei is so confident, please make your move."

Wei Yuan put down his teacup and said, "Come with me, let's go see your relatives first."

Wei Yuan used his Dao power to envelop Zhuang Zhong, and in one step they arrived at the prison in the camp. He then entered the dungeon and led Zhuang Zhong through each cell. Many of the prisoners rushed to the bars, crying and begging Zhuang Zhong for help, while most kowtowed to Wei Yuan.

Inside the cell, several people lay there, motionless.

Zhuang Zhong finally spoke, asking, "What happened to those people?"

Wei Yuan slightly loosened his suppression of Zhuang Zhong's Dao power and said, "See for yourself."

Zhuang Zhong scanned the bodies with his divine sense and found that they were all cold and had been dead for an unknown period of time. There were also some bite marks on the bodies. He was immediately shocked and furious: "Wei Yuan, how dare you use such a vicious attack! You have cut off your own path to survival. I will fight you to the death!"

Wei Yuan said, "More than a dozen of my men died in your prison, so it's only fair that more than a dozen of your relatives and friends also die here. Oh, I forgot to tell you, my men were all rescued a few days ago, but some casualties were inevitable in the process. It seems that your son-in-law was in charge of the prison, and he died a rather tragic death."

His solemn expression changed again, then returned to calm, and he said, "Lord Wei told me all this because he probably doesn't want me to go back."

Wei Yuan nodded and said, "I had a glimmer of hope that Lord Zhuang might be a pragmatic person. But now it seems I was wrong. Lord Zhuang is a man of unyielding integrity and will never yield. Even if he is playing along with me for now, he will surely retaliate once he is free. It's a pity that the Left Prime Minister is going to lose a key right-hand man."

Seeing Wei Yuan's large hand reach out, Zhuang Zhong's expression finally changed. He wanted to say something, but suddenly the world spun around him, and a new world appeared before him. In the air was a dark red and black dome, below was an endless sea, and above his head hung a full moon with a huge eye in it staring at Zhuang Zhong.

Wei Yuan said, "Lord Zhuang, please continue your journey. From now on, reincarnation will be out of your reach."

Zhuang Zhong finally lost his composure and angrily said, "We have no grudges against each other, why has it come to this?!"

Wei Yuan said, "We have no personal grudges, but the public grudges are huge. For the sake of all humanity, we must eliminate you, or rather, all of you."

Zhuang Zhong roared, "I ask myself, even if I haven't truly loved the people like my own children, the farmers on my estate have never starved or frozen to death; they live in peace and prosperity! Looking across the entire Jin Kingdom, how many people can do better than me? What kind of world and human race are you doing this for?"

Wei Yuan said, "I didn't quite understand at first, but I've finally figured it out these past few days. A wealthy family like Lord Zhuang doesn't pay taxes, grain, or produce any soldiers. Instead, they use the money that should be used to protect the country and strengthen the army to cultivate their own talents so that they can serve as officials for generations. The public instruments of the state are practically becoming the private property of the Zhuang family. Oh, the Left Prime Minister is the same, except that he treats even higher official positions as his private property. However, this is just a minor matter."

Solemnly, he asked, "What is a major principle?"

"You uphold ancestral rules in every way, but in reality, you are protecting your superior status and your right to be exempt from taxes and grain levies. If people like you fill all the positions in the court, the human race will remain the same a hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, ten thousand years from now, without the slightest change. Any possibility of major change will be stifled by you."

Today I can manufacture guns and cannons, train a new army, and sweep away the entire Ningxi brocade industry in a single region. Are the alien races destined never to manufacture guns and gunpowder, never to change? When change comes from the bottom up and spreads to the heavens, while my human race remains unchanged for ten thousand years, then we will truly be doomed!
That's why I feel such disgust when I see your self-sufficient little country—it goes against the general trend of humanity! This is where true righteousness and integrity lie.

Lord Zhuang boasts of his talent for governing the country, but besides forming cliques and endlessly buying up land, what else can you do?!

Zhuang Zhong opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to refute it.

Wei Yuan said calmly, "Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Perhaps one day in the future, when a similar situation arises again, I will give him ample opportunity to defend himself. Not just him, but everyone has the right to defend themselves. But today, Lord Zhuang should set off as soon as possible."

The bird in the moon nodded, indicating that it was already hungry.

(End of this chapter)