Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 596 When I killed someone, did I ever ask for evidence?
Standing on the riverbank, looking at the rolling river, Li Cheng felt a chill run down his spine.

So, who exactly are the people participating in this gathering?
"Chief, Guo Baiyu has sent a message from the capital." A member of the gang, dressed in a blue robe and wearing a bamboo hat, stepped forward and handed a scroll of paper to Li Cheng.

Li Cheng unrolled the paper and shuddered.

"His Majesty personally inscribed 'Go to the Eastern Border,' and the Imperial Academy took the lead. All the sons of noble families, regardless of whether they were born of the same or different, whether they were civil or military, all went to the Eastern Border."

He looked up at the river ahead, where a small boat was going upstream.

The light boat rushed to the riverbank, and Xu Xiaosan, a young man with his shirt open, somersaulted across three zhang (approximately 10 meters) and landed in front of Li Cheng.

"Master, Marquis Qingyang has killed three Grandmasters of Eastern Wei in Broken Soul Gorge and has taken up the post of Garrison Commander of Donghan County."

Xu Xiaosan's face was filled with excitement as he clenched his fist and whispered, "Donghan County has gone berserk."

Li Cheng nodded, clenched his fists, and turned to look at the laborers carrying sacks on the dock, the boatmen trying to make a living, and the low-level martial artists in their old clothes.

Without major changes, these people will likely remain at the bottom of society for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps they can take a gamble?
"Go to the eastern border," Li Cheng said in a deep voice.

It was already dusk when Li Cheng returned to the headquarters of the Changyun Gang, and he had gathered more and more information.

Inside the council hall, where candlelight flickered, a mountain of secret reports lay spread out before Li Cheng.

"Lu Chongwu, the eldest son of the third branch of the Lu family in the capital, led three thousand members of his clan to escort 120,000 shi of spirit rice to Donghan County."

"The Lu family patriarch personally inscribed the four characters 'Carve mountains to connect with the sea' on the grain cart. The Lu family, a powerful clan with a history of thousands of years, actually bet half of its clan's assets on river construction!"

“Three months ago, eight thousand scholars from Qingtianzhou arrived in Yongtianzhou and crossed the sea in cloud boats to head to the eastern border. The great scholar leading the group declared, ‘I will not return until the sea is calm.’”

"The number of 'water management and dredging' questions in the official academic examinations has suddenly increased, and the Ministry of Rites has specially approved the resumes of one million students to contribute to the 'education of the eastern border'."

"Yu Yuan Trading Company, together with 76 other merchants in the Imperial City, formed the 'Nine Rivers Alliance.' Within three days, they gathered 300,000 fine steel picks, 5 million pairs of leather boots, and a large amount of other supplies, and headed to the Eastern Border."

The slightest movement in the imperial city signifies a major upheaval in the Qin Dynasty.

The turmoil in the East, when it sweeps across the world, is like a raging storm.

"Chen Jiuyue of the Cold Crow Sword Sect single-handedly defeated seventeen hidden spies in the Listening Rain Pavilion, and the heads of the bandit leaders of the thirty-eight strongholds in the eastern border have been hung on the city gate tower."

"Marquis Ji Liang of Xichang led his new army to massacre the border of Liangyuan. Three hundred miles of scorched earth are buried with the corpses of demonic cultivators from Tengzhou. The Wei border troops mentioned in the report as 'accidentally injured' are probably no less than ten thousand."

The window of the coffin was flung open by the river wind. Li Cheng looked at the cargo ships that formed a fiery dragon on the Jiuchuan River. The "mobilization of 300 million river workers" that was casually described in the Spring Mountain Painting was now turning into a monstrous wave that was crushing the order of the rivers and lakes.

Li Cheng took a deep breath, his face flushed.

Although the canal transport route occupied by the Changyun Gang is just a slightly larger splash in a huge wave, what if it can ride the wind and waves?

He wanted to gamble.

If he loses the bet, at worst he'll lose the Changyun Gang's foothold on the Yuncang River, and Li Cheng will have nothing left.

If he bets right, he and his men will soar to great heights!
He wasn't betting on himself, he was betting on Marquis Qingyang.

I bet that the schemes in that Spring Mountain painting can truly influence the world's格局 (geju, a concept encompassing overall situation, overall structure, and overall dynamics).

"Gather all the warships from the eight branch headquarters," Li Cheng's voice trembled with excitement, "and tell the men that the entire Changyuan Gang will be mobilized for this grain transport to the eastern border."

"Take all your belongings and let's stay in the East!"

————————————————————

The night rain was torrential.

Outside the ancestral home of the Tu family, north of Donghan County.

Eight hundred black-clad riders, their armor as black as ink, their horses' hooves wrapped in cloth, silently crushed the puddles on the bluestone slabs.

Liu Peiyuan sat upright on his horse, his fingers gripping the reins tightly beneath his official robes.

Three days ago, the second master of the Tu family had secretly discussed with him how to spread the rumor of the "fake Marquis of Qingyang" throughout the martial arts world.

"Break down the door." His Adam's apple bobbed, his voice colder than the rain.

The moment the black-clad rider smashed through the vermilion gate, the bronze bells on the eaves shattered into dust.

Old Master Tu staggered out, carrying his blood-jade opium pipe. Hidden inside the pipe was a half-burnt secret letter: "Lord Liu, last month when you took 100,000 taels of gold from the Tu family, you said—"

Before he finished speaking, a cold glint flashed from the sleeve of the black-robed warrior behind him.

A poisoned hidden blade pierced through Old Master Tu's throat; the dragon pattern on the hilt was exactly the same as the one Zhao Defang had given him three days earlier.

Liu Peiyuan said calmly, "Slaughter."

The Lu Family Ancestral Hall. Thirty-six bronze crane-beak lamps were lit simultaneously, illuminating the ancestral tablets with a stark white light.

The three-finger-thick incense sticks in the incense burner left winding ash marks, much like the cracks in the four gilded seal characters "Loyalty and Filial Piety Passed Down Through Generations" on the memorial tablet.

"Third Uncle, save me—" The young man, his collarbone pierced by black iron chains, cried and struggled to crawl toward the white-haired elder's feet, his wrist bones scraping against the floor tiles with a harsh sound. "That letter was planted in my yard by the Wei people to frame me. I'm innocent!"

Lu Changwu, who was sitting upright in the armchair, suddenly chuckled softly.

He slowly crushed the teacup in his palm, the porcelain shards cutting his palm, blood dripping from between his fingers onto the young man's contorted face: "Sixth Brother, do you still remember how many boxes of Wei Kingdom gold coins were packed in that sixteen-bearer sedan chair when you took your seventh concubine last month?"

The beams and pillars of the ancestral hall suddenly trembled, and the three female relatives were dragged into the central courtyard by the Black Ice Guards.

The leading beauty had disheveled hair and a striking tattoo of a serpent on her neck, a unique "soul slave mark" worn by Wei spies.

"Husband!" the beautiful woman screamed shrilly, "You said the Lu family would protect us, mother and child—"

Lu Changwu suddenly stood up.

He grabbed the soul-suppressing ruler from the offering table, and the beast head carved on the end of the ruler suddenly bit the young man's throat: "The third branch of the family has been colluding with Wei spies. According to the clan rules, they should be punished with 'heart-gouging and bone-removing'."

Blood splattered on the ancestral tablets. He turned to the trembling elder of the clan, "But considering that Third Uncle is already old..."

The white-haired elder suddenly sprang to his feet, his withered claws gripping the young man's skull like those of a hawk: "You brat, you've ruined the Lu family's century-old reputation!"

The sound of skull shattering and the beautiful woman's scream rang out simultaneously, mingling with the sudden downpour outside the ancestral hall, chilling the last vestiges of blood ties.

Lu Changwu took out a handkerchief to wipe the Soul-Suppressing Ruler, then suddenly threw the blood-stained handkerchief into the brazier: "I heard that the third young master of the Guo family took a Wei Kingdom singing girl as his concubine yesterday? I would be grateful if you would trouble your third uncle to take these pieces of evidence... and personally go to the Guo residence to offer your congratulations."

Jiuchuan River.

Below the third sluice gate, Wang Chongli, the chief official of the river management office, was hanging upside down from the crossbeam, and several red pearls, a specialty of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, fell out of his official boots.

Zhao Defang bent down and picked up a pearl, gently twirling it between her fingertips.

“Brother Wang,” he suddenly switched to the warm and gentle tone familiar to the canal workers, the pearls spinning in his palm, “we have worked together for seven years, and every time the accounts were audited, wasn’t it me who covered up the shortfall for you?”

The murky river water reflected the cold glint in the wrinkles of his eyes, much like the congratulatory red silk he had personally hung up when Wang Chongli took a concubine two years ago.

Wang Chongli struggled and roared, "Zhao Defang! Last year when you took the money, you promised me a promotion—"

"Shh-"

Zhao Defang stuffed the pearl back into the other person's bleeding boot and tapped her fingers lightly on the black iron chain.

“Last month, I suppressed the report on your private release of Wei Yan,” he said, leaning closer to the rattling of the chains, which sounded like a viper spitting its tongue. “Where is the account book hidden? Tell me, and I'll guarantee your son will get into the Jixia Academy.”

Wang Chongli trembled all over, and his lips quivered.

Zhao Defang winked at the black-robed warrior standing to the side.

The black-robed warrior stepped forward, drawing a half-foot-long serrated blade from his hand.

……

When the twenty-third pearl rolled into the mud, the account book, soaked in river water, was finally dug out from the mud.

At this point, Wang Chongli was already a bloody mess.

Zhao Defang stroked the ledger, a slight smile appearing on his face.

"When you presented me with that box of gold coins last year, did you say you were willing to die for me?" A cold glint flashed in his sleeve, and blood spurted from Wang Chongli's neck as his body plunged into the turbid waves.

Zhao Defang waved his hand and said calmly, "Send the gentlemen back to their residences."

"Zhao Defang, you'll die a horrible death!" The canal transport official, bound like a dumpling, had veins bulging on his forehead. "We brothers have always obeyed you, big or small, and now you want to send us to feed the turtles—"

Before he could finish speaking, half of his tongue was severed by the blade, and his scream startled the night herons in the reeds.

Twenty-seven gold-inlaid sandalwood boxes were dragged out of the mud by the Xuanjia Guards, while a jade screen with Wei palace patterns and a private salt contract stamped with bloody handprints gleamed coldly under the torches.

As the sounds of heavy objects hitting the water echoed one after another, several official hats with bluebird patterns floated downstream.

Three days later, Chen Wu, carrying the case file of the forty-three officials from the River Conservancy Bureau who had drowned in the river, entered Zhang Yuan's study: "Zhao Defang is trying to ensure there are no witnesses left to testify. My lord, should we..."

Zhang Yuan rubbed the hilt of the knife with his fingertips, looking at the dossier in front of him with narrowed eyes.

"Zhao Defang isn't stupid. Killing people to silence them is just a way to save face for the officials in the Eastern Territory."

“When I killed someone,” he suddenly chuckled, “did I ever ask for any evidence?”

After saying that, he shook his head, looked out the door, and said indifferently, "Chen Wu, go to the dock and have Li Cheng, the leader of the Changyun Gang, come to see me."

(End of this chapter)