Taiheiki

Chapter 180 Departure
"Hey, you guys are finally out! At least it's not too late!"

Hearing the veteran's familiar voice, Wang Ge breathed a sigh of relief. He gestured for the able-bodied men to raise their spears and asked, "How is it? Where are the others?"

"How was it?" The old soldier reined in his horse, making it snort twice. He grinned at Wang Ge and said, "Naturally, it was a great victory! Those barbarians didn't know how many men we had, so they dropped their weapons and scattered. We even surrounded more than a dozen bandits in a courtyard. It seemed there was a noble leader inside, all dressed in black. We were afraid of hurting our horses, so we didn't dare to charge in. Luckily, we ran into you! It saved us a lot of effort!"

"Oh, that's great! Take me there quickly!" Wang Ge was overjoyed upon hearing this.

So he led the able-bodied men to the courtyard, immediately ordered the crossbowmen to spread out and guard the front and back gates, and shouted inside, "If you don't come out, we'll set it on fire!"

Chaos erupted inside the courtyard, and a group of people rushed out from the back door, only to be met with a hail of arrows. Seven or eight fell instantly, while the rest fled back into the courtyard. Wang Ge threw a few torches inside, and someone inside shouted, "Don't set fires! We're coming out!"

"Leave your weapons at the door, and don't try anything funny!" Wang Ge shouted sternly.

At the sound of shouts, seven or eight Zhan men came out of the courtyard. They dropped their weapons, raised their hands above their heads, and knelt by the roadside. Yu Wen led his men into the courtyard again and searched it. They found one person in the woodpile behind the courtyard, tied them all up with ropes, and took them back to Wubao along with their weapons.

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Wubao Main Hall.

"We really owe a great debt to you two gentlemen!" Li Biao laughed loudly.

"Yes, there are at least three or four hundred thieves this time!" Li Yan replied. "If it weren't for the two gentlemen, our manor would probably have been reduced to ashes by now!"

“This is our duty!” Yu Wen smiled. “I need to rush back to the city after dawn to report what happened here to my brother. Let’s bring the prisoners here for interrogation first!”

“Yes!” Li Biao nodded: “Men, take all the prisoners to the courtyard and interrogate them one by one!”

"Yes!" Li Yan responded and hurriedly went down the steps. A moment later, he returned with a strange expression: "Father, there's a thief among the prisoners who wears gold earrings. I heard he's a cousin of the King of Linyi!"

"Oh?" Li Biao glanced at Yu Wen's expression and asked, "Young Master Yu, how should we deal with this fellow?"

"Bring him up for questioning first, then I'll take him back to the city and hand him over to my brother to deal with!"

"Alright, take that scoundrel upstairs quickly!" Li Biao shouted.

A moment later, Li Biao brought up a young man in his early twenties. The young man looked terrified and knelt down as soon as he entered the hall, kowtowing repeatedly and shouting in broken Chinese, "Spare me, spare me! My family can pay the ransom!"

"Answer my questions honestly first!" Yu Wen said coldly, "Otherwise—" He slammed his sword on the table.

"I promise I'll be honest!" the young man quickly replied.

"What's your name?"

"Name?" The young man hesitated for a moment before carefully answering, "My name is Indra Gandhavarman!"

"What nonsense is this?" Upon hearing the long string of nonsensical names, Yu Wen felt a surge of anger rush to his head. He slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Guards, give him twenty lashes first!"

"No, no!" the young man hurriedly shouted, "That's my Christian name. I also have a Chinese name, Qu Lian!" It turns out that the Cham people are deeply influenced by Hinduism, and their nobles usually name themselves after Hindu mythology. Indra Gandharva means "son of Indra" (the thunder god in Hindu mythology).

"Why didn't you say so earlier!" Yu Wen sneered. "Speak, why did you bring so many troops to invade my Han counties?"

The district was still in shock, and Yu Wen coaxed and frightened him, so he quickly spilled what he had been holding in his stomach. It turned out that the so-called capture of the murderer of the king's nephew was just a pretext; the real reason was to plunder people to make up for the losses.

"Losses? What losses? What have you been doing lately?" Yu Wen asked.

"The King is trying every means to capture elephants, or other methods, in order to gather a hundred war elephants and take over the entire Jiaozhi in one fell swoop!" Qu Lian replied.

Yu Wen stared at Qu Lian. After a few minutes, he confirmed that the guy in front of him wasn't lying. He stood up, went to the back room with Wang Ge, and said in a low voice, "If what this guy is saying is true, then it's no joke!"

"You mean a hundred war elephants?" Wang Ge asked. "Are those things very powerful?"

"Extremely powerful!" Yu Wen said, "They are over ten feet tall, incredibly strong, and can carry four or five people. They run almost like horses, have long noses, and two long tusks. When they charge, the earth shakes and nothing can stop them. The Zhan people's infantry and cavalry are not their forte, but these things are very capable. Twenty or thirty of them are already difficult to deal with, let alone a hundred!"

"If you're that powerful, how did you manage to resist the occupation for so many years?" Wang Ge asked curiously.

"You don't know, although these war elephants are powerful, they are extremely expensive. Domesticated elephants don't have calves, so each war elephant is captured from the wilderness and then tamed. It's not uncommon to lose dozens of lives to capture one elephant. Originally, even with the entire nation's resources, they could only manage twenty or thirty at most. Now, if the King of Linyi wants to have a hundred war elephants, he's either lying or he's received outside help!"

"Linyi has foreign aid!" Wang Ge's expression changed drastically: "Then we must report this to Lord Wei!"

"Hmm, let's just take this fellow back and hand him over to Lord Wei!"

Longbian City, Jiaozhi Commandery.

"One hundred war elephants?" Yuan Shao asked incredulously, "Mengde, are your men mistaken?"

Sunlight filtered through the translucent mica sheets embedded in the windows, and a gentle breeze wafted in from outside, carrying the fragrance of flowers and fruits from the garden. "There shouldn't be any mistake," Wei Cong said. "After all, it was the cousin of the King of Linyi who revealed these things, and his identity has already been confirmed by the other prisoners."

Today, he wore a loose-fitting light red silk robe, and apart from the dagger at his waist, he carried nothing else. The other officials of Jiaozhi County were talking in hushed tones. Wei Cong picked up a cup and took a sip of lemonade mixed with honey. Meng Gaogong stood behind him, clad in black iron lamellar armor, like an iron tower. Wei Cong couldn't hear what they were saying, but it didn't matter; the situation was now under his control.

"Did you all hear that?" Wei Cong raised his right hand and gently waved the silk scroll in his hand: "The divination people are going all in. What do you think?"

"One hundred war elephants? That number doesn't seem very real!" someone said.

"Yeah, it sounds a bit like bragging?"

"It's not that I don't trust Lord Wei, it's just that this number is a bit too much. Even if the King of Linyi sold the entire nation into slavery, he still couldn't get this many war elephants!"

"Perhaps it's true, perhaps it's false!" Wei Cong put down his cup. "But one thing is certain: the King of Linyi wants to take advantage of this opportunity to launch a large-scale military campaign against Jiaozhou. To this end, he not only plans to commit all of his country's resources but also intends to bring in foreign aid. That's enough. As the governor of Jiaozhou, I naturally cannot turn a blind eye!"

"Does Lord Wei intend to wage war against Linyi?" someone asked.

“Excellent!” Wei Cong nodded: “Not only the Lin-yi Kingdom, but also the forces behind it. We will uproot them and slaughter them all, securing a hundred years of peace for Jiaozhou!”

"But, but there's still internal strife in Jiuzhen and Rinan County right now—"

"Don't tell me you don't know that the Lin-yi people are behind all this trouble!" Wei Cong laughed. "Once we defeat the Lin-yi Kingdom, this unrest will naturally subside." With that, Wei Cong stood up, drew the sword from Meng Gaogong's waist, and with one stroke, chopped off the corner of the table. "My mind is made up. Anyone who disobeys will suffer the same fate as this table! You may all step back!"

The officials of Jiaozhi Commandery bowed to Wei Cong, signifying their obedience to the governor, and then withdrew from the hall. Yuan Shao laughed and said, "This time, it can't be considered a campaign without a legitimate reason, can it?"

“Exactly!” Wei Cong laughed. “The King of Linyi values ​​beasts more than people. If he doesn’t use war elephants, all will be well. Otherwise, he will definitely teach him a lesson he will never forget!”

"Oh?" Yuan Shao's eyes lit up. "It seems you were already prepared? When do you plan to send troops?"

"In a few days, once the rainy season is completely over, and my fleet is fully prepared!" Wei Cong raised his wine cup to Yuan Shao: "So, Brother Yuan Shao, would you be willing to come with me?"

Yuan Shao raised his wine cup and laughed, "How can we miss such a once-in-a-century opportunity?"

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It was a windy night, as is often the case in this land at the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the dry season. Baffa went to his cabin, wanting something to eat, but found he had no appetite. He sat alone in his cabin, spending a long time reflecting on his decision.

"Governor Wei offered me an irresistible deal! He promised me the governorship of a city, that if I served him, I could choose a city in the newly conquered lands, and everything in that city would be mine. Even if Indra descended from the heavens, he couldn't sway my decision. I already have money, ships, and women; the only thing I haven't tasted is power. Even if it means losing everything, I won't give it up!"

After finally convincing himself one last time, Baffa intended to rest immediately and prepare for the busy tomorrow. But he tossed and turned in his familiar bed for an hour, unable to fall asleep. He went outside and found his nephew Godot sharpening his steel knife with an oilstone by an oil lamp, while his other nephew, Laka, was oiling the mechanism of his crossbow.

Bapah told them to go about their business and went up to the deck to enjoy the clear sea breeze of the night. The sailors had all gone ashore to have fun, and the empty deck was deserted. Bapah walked to the side of the ship, looked at the sea, and saw the bright moon reflected on the water like a huge silver plate.

Baffa suddenly remembered a myth he'd heard as a child: a man prayed to a god to retrieve the full moon reflected in the water. The god granted his wish, allowing him to jump in and retrieve the moon. Just as he was about to take the moon ashore, a dark cloud obscured the moon from the sky. When the cloud dispersed and the moon reappeared in the water, the man was gone, never to be seen again. Would he suffer the same fate as that man?

That night, Baffa had all sorts of dreams. The one he remembered most clearly was that he was sitting on a high platform, wearing a golden crown, giving orders, and everyone was kneeling before him. He ruled the country as he pleased until the people could no longer bear it. They tied him up and stabbed him hard with bamboo spears until his intestines spilled out of his lower abdomen, leaving a large puddle on the ground. Only then did he wake up from his dream, still filled with terror.

"Uncle, what's wrong? I heard you shouting!" The cabin door opened, and Godot stood in the doorway, holding an oil lamp in his right hand, its dim light spilling into the cabin. Baffa shook his head: "Nothing, just a dream, nothing more. Let's all go back to sleep! We have things to do tomorrow!" He lay back down on the bed, but couldn't fall asleep.

If I turn back, it will all be over. The next day, as Bafa entered the governor's mansion, he repeatedly reminded himself of this. When he arrived, there were already many people waiting to be received by Wei Cong, but he did not wait. The guards led him past the waiting line and toward the back hall. Bafa could feel the envious and astonished gazes, which excited him. Yes, this was the feeling; it was wonderful.

Wei Cong was surrounded by his officers in the hall. He was talking to them while looking at a map. When a guard reminded him that Baffa had arrived, Wei Cong looked up and clapped his hands twice: "That's settled then. Do as I just said and start preparing immediately. If you have any questions, come find me. We're pressed for time, so let's get started!"

The officers saluted their leader in farewell, except for one handsome and noble young man who remained, looking Baffa up and down with curious eyes. Wei Cong beckoned to Baffa: "You've seen it all, it's a mess here. Since you're here today, you must have accepted my terms?"

"Words cannot express my gratitude to you. Your generosity is like the sun in the sky, shining upon all things!" Bafa knelt down, trying to kiss Wei Cong's feet. Wei Cong awkwardly reached out to help him up, smiling wryly, "No need for that, no need for that! In this matter, we are equals, you understand? You help me with this, and I'll give you a city as payment, understand?"

"Yes, yes!" Bafa certainly didn't take Wei Cong's words seriously. Those in power were often hypocritical. He stood cautiously in front of Wei Cong, bowing slightly: "May I ask what I can do for you?"

(End of this chapter)