The world is like a prison, my body is holy

The news that Zhao Dadan's troops were about to arrive in Hangzhou arrived in Hangzhou before Zhao Dadan's troops arrived in Hangzhou.

Although Zhao Dadan's troops traveled south on Qinghe Gang's own cargo ships and kept a tight seal of news along the way, how could such a large fleet, passing through several land and water ports, escape the notice of those with ulterior motives?

Zhao Dadan, who was in charge, also anticipated that the five local bullies must have already noticed something was amiss...

Before the main force even entered Hangzhou, the behind-the-scenes power struggle had already begun.

……

The massive fleet was less than twenty miles from the Jiangzhangqiao wharf, a key point on the Hangzhou Canal.

On Zhao Dadan's ship, a map of Hangzhou was laid out on a square table. A group of battalion commanders dressed as boatmen in hemp clothing gathered around the table, listening to Zhao Dadan make his final battle plans.

He pointed to the location marked "Wulinmen" on the map: "If those few bigwigs don't interfere, we will land here. After landing, the four battalions will split into two groups and enter the city."

"Zheng Hesheng, Wei Linmao, follow me to the Wulin Gate."

"Jiang Tianfeng and Wang Defu, you will enter through the Fengshan Water City Gate. Jiang Tianfeng will be the leader and Wang Defu will be the deputy."

"After entering the city, Zheng Hesheng, you will divide two hundred brothers to take over Wulin Gate and Qianhu Gate, and personally lead three hundred brothers straight to the Wang family of Jinma Hall; Wei Linmao, you will take your brothers straight to the Hong family of Jinshu Hall, divide two hundred brothers to take over Fenghuang Gate and Tanqiao New Gate, and you will lead the remaining brothers to the Hong family."

"Both of these families started as merchants and have little real power. When you arrive at the local area, just break down the door and arrest people. Anyone who dares to cause trouble will be killed without mercy. I will give each of you fifty elite Demon Suppression Guards to accompany you and protect you!"

The two battalion commanders accepted the order with their hands clasped.

Zhao Dadan nodded and continued, "Jiang Fengtian, you've encountered a tough nut to crack along the way..."

"prick……"

The piercing sound of swords being drawn interrupted Zhao Dadan's plans.

Everyone in the cabin turned to look at Han Jiu, the Demon-Suppressing Guard general in black armor and wielding a black sword, sitting in the corner. They saw Han Jiu staring blankly at the cabin door with his hand on his sword.

The next second, a wisp of black mist gathered at the hatch, and in the blink of an eye, it condensed into a black-clad, black-knife-wielding figure, resembling a yamen runner, with only his face as black as if smeared with soot.

Although this imposing figure was so solid it was indistinguishable from a living person, his mere presence instantly chilled the stuffy cabin, clearly revealing his identity…

After the black-faced man appeared, he did not make any unnecessary movements. Instead, he took out a token that looked like it was made of cast iron from his waist and showed it to the Demon Suppression Guard officer in the corner: "Wu Shouyi, the captain of the Horse-Face Company of the Underworld Battalion, has been ordered to come and report on the military situation."

Han Jiu glanced at the token carefully, sheathed his sword, and clasped his hands in a fist salute with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, brother!"

The existence of the Yinchai Camp remains a secret among the Demon Suppression Guards at the bottom of the Demon Suppression General's Mansion. Although some veterans have guessed that in addition to the Demon Suppression Guards and the sailors composed of fairies, the Demon Suppression General's Mansion also secretly hides a standing armed force, they are unaware of the composition of the Yinchai Camp, nor do they know that the soldiers of the Yinchai Camp are their fallen comrades.

Only at the level of a centurion commander will one have initial contact with the existence of the Yin Messenger Camp due to information sharing.

The reason for doing this, of course, is to prevent the lower-ranking demon-suppressing guards from "changing jobs" to ghost messengers after learning that they can die in battle, becoming honey badger-like figures who take life and death lightly and are ready to fight anyone who dares to challenge them...

Wu Shouyi put away the token, revealing a set of pale white teeth as he smiled and returned the greeting with a fist and palm salute: "It's my duty, Commander Han, you're too kind!"

He paused, then turned to look at Zhao Dadan, who was sitting on the square table with a bewildered expression. He solemnly said, “Latest military intelligence: the Prince of Ning’s mansion has urgently dispatched 5,000 troops from the Hangzhou Garrison to the Jiangzhang Bridge Wharf, intending to block the main force of my General’s Mansion from entering the city. The commander of my Yinchai Battalion has already urgently summoned a supreme expert to oversee the operation. Once the main force of my General’s Mansion arrives, that supreme expert will lead the charge. Please, General Zhao, reconsider your deployment!”

Zhao Dadan was still completely bewildered: "Huh?"

Han Jiu, however, had already guessed what was going on and said with a surprised smile, "For such a small matter, Lord Ma actually managed to get that person to come to his aid?"

As the leader of one of only two gold-level battle groups in the Demon-Slaying General's Mansion, Han Jiu is on par with the five battalion commanders in the Demon-Slaying General's Mansion's hierarchy of authority. He is one of the very few officers who understands the structure of the Yin-Yang Battalion and the three major water palaces under the General's Mansion.

It is worth mentioning that, in order to balance the two completely different systems of the new team and the old officers, the Demon-Slaying General's Mansion is considering issuing another officer ranking system, that is, a military rank system, in addition to the existing two systems.

In this way, the two systems will have a unified promotion path and evaluation standard, which is expected to transform the conflict of interest between the two systems into a virtuous cycle of competition.

Wu Shouyi crossed his hands toward the northwest: "The Great General said: When a lion pounces on a rabbit, it uses all its strength; if you can use a knife, never use your fists; if you can have many people, never fight alone."

Han Jiu also crossed his arms towards the northwest wind: "The General is right!"

Wu Shouyi smiled and nodded, then turned into a wisp of black smoke and dissipated.

Zhao Dadan and the others all turned to look at Han Jiu.

Han Jiu said without hesitation, "You can completely trust him!"

Zhao Dadan swallowed hard: "Who is that...?"

Han Jiu: "They are all soldiers under the command of the Great General."

Zhao Dadan: "That token..."

Han Jiu: "That's right, just recognize the tokens. Those with tokens are soldiers under the Great General, and those without tokens are just damned trash!"

Zhao Dadan: "Then that supreme expert he mentioned..."

Han Jiu: "Just trust him. If he says he can break through, he definitely can... Even if we bring another five thousand, we can still break through!"

Zhao Dadan: "Damn, this battle is fought without any strategy!"

……

At that moment, inside the main hall of the Prince Ning's mansion, the five heads of the family gathered together once again.

This time, however, the five leaders' faces were devoid of laughter and lewdness; each one was ashen-faced, and behind their ashen faces lay an overwhelming sorrow, tinged with a hint of fear. A brief argument had already taken place in the hall, and now the five leaders were striving to suppress their resentment and regret, remaining silent.

They knew that arguing was pointless...

After a long while, Yi Jian, the head of the Qian family of Lin'an Hall, who sat upright at the upper left and whose face was thin and sallow like a sickly ghost, slowly spoke in a calm tone: "It's too late to say those useless things now. Let's discuss how to get through this crisis!"

The head of the Wang Qian family of Nanyang immediately chimed in, "This hurdle is relatively easy to overcome. Five thousand against two thousand, the advantage is in our hands. The real challenge lies in how to resolve this matter!"

"Given that bastard's ruthless and reckless nature, now that he's mobilized troops, he will never let this go easily!"

“I recently received news that he has dispatched a large number of Demon-Suppressing Guards to be stationed in various prefectures and counties of Huainan to purge all officials, gentry, scholars, and merchants who have embezzled in disaster relief and people's aid affairs. The killings are so numerous that heads roll everywhere and white silk is hung all over the city. If we cannot feed that little bastard, even if we can stop these two thousand rabble, it will not help the overall situation!”

Prince Ning, seated on the throne, glared angrily at the two cousins ​​who were acting in unison: "Damn it! Now you realize that little bastard acts without considering the consequences? If you had listened to me earlier and given that little bastard some grain to settle things, things wouldn't have come to this!"

How could he not understand that the two brothers were implying that each family should shed blood to settle the matter?

When people are easy to talk to and willing to negotiate, they absolutely refuse to give a penny.

Now that they've come knocking on our door, we're only thinking of paying a fine to settle things.

Isn't this guy a bastard?
The Hong family patriarch also spoke up at the opportune moment: "Old Master Qian is right. The key to the matter is not the two thousand soldiers outside the city, but that little bastard in Yangzhou. If we don't feed that little bastard, even if we block the two thousand soldiers outside the city, we won't be able to stop that little bastard's butcher's knife... Alas, what a pity. That Taihu Corpse King is also a brainless, simple-minded demon. If he were willing to be a guest of our five families, we could have wealth, honor, and all kinds of rare treasures!"

The head of the Wang family listened to their stories, his eyes flickering as he pondered for a long time. Suddenly, he said, "After listening to the insightful opinions of the three of you, I suddenly thought of something... Is it possible that the two thousand soldiers outside the city were just sent by that little bastard to scare us? And those officials, gentry, and merchants in Huainan, whose heads are rolling on the ground, were just the chickens we were slaughtered to show them?"

Upon hearing this, the four people in the hall all looked enlightened, and the gloomy and solemn expressions on their faces suddenly relaxed.

"Brother Wang, your insight is brilliant! How could I have overlooked this point?"

"If that little bastard really intended to kill, he should have sent his most capable Demon-Suppressing Guards. What good are two thousand rabble who have been trained for less than two months?"

“I knew it! If Wang Laohu had any brains, he would never do something so stupid as to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Without us, who will procure the grain? Who will stabilize the grain prices? Who will turn the peasants’ food and silkworms into money? Without us, the food supply in the entire Jiangnan region will be in complete chaos within half a year!”

"We've been navigating the treacherous waters of officialdom and business for sixty years, and yet we're thrown off balance by some greenhorn who hasn't even grown a beard yet..."

"That's not quite right. We're afraid of that little rascal, not because we're afraid of his methods or cunning. If he didn't possess that unparalleled martial prowess, we'd be doing him a favor by even giving him a second glance..."

The three old men became more and more relaxed as they talked, and they even seemed to be in the mood to call the maid waiting outside to come in and change the tea.

Prince Ning and Qian Yijian, who were in the hall, looked much more relaxed.

They also believed that the Wang family head's words made sense.

We've only ever heard of killing the chicken to warn the monkey, never the other way around.
However, the experienced and prudent Qian Yijian, after careful consideration, still offered what he considered to be the most sincere solution: "Gentlemen, please do not underestimate this matter. Since that little bastard has mobilized troops, it proves that he is extremely dissatisfied with us. We must not allow the situation to worsen at this time... This matter has proven that he has the courage to use force against us. Who can guarantee that he would not dare to bring the butcher's knife to our heads?"

"Brother Boyo is right!"

“Brother Boyue is right. We should show our respect. These arrogant little devils who become rampant after gaining power are all ruthless and only respond to force. We must give them enough face in order to completely quell this matter.”

“I disagree with Brother Wang’s view. I think we need to take two steps. On the one hand, we should order the local troops to give that rabble outside the city a hard time. On the other hand, we should send someone to contact the manager of the Demon-Slaying General’s Mansion as soon as possible. Only by using both soft and hard tactics can we prevent that little bastard from looking down on us. Otherwise, if he gets too used to us, who knows how he will torment us in the future. We can’t just let him take whatever he wants, can we?”

“Brother Hong’s insightful opinion coincides with mine. I also believe that we can give more substance, even more than we need. At most, we’ll just be taking advantage of this year’s favorable weather for nothing. But we absolutely cannot lose face. If we lose face, we’ll truly be like pigs during the New Year…”

Upon hearing this, Prince Ning on the throne nodded slightly, but then frowned and said with difficulty, "Brother Hong's words are indeed insightful and wise, but it is not easy to grasp the right measure. That fellow has achieved success at a young age and is at the peak of his self-satisfaction, so he cannot tolerate the slightest dissent. If we offend him, we may provoke him to harbor evil intentions."

Upon hearing this, the three princes all nodded in agreement.

We can give up the substance, but we can't lose face, and we can't let Wang Laohu's face be damaged too much...

This balance is indeed difficult to strike!
After a brief silence, Qian Yijian, sitting at the top left, once again offered what he considered a mature and prudent solution that demonstrated his sincerity: "In my humble opinion, given that little bastard's large-scale troop deployment south, simply providing him with some grain would likely not be enough to quell his discontent towards us, and we also wish to preserve some face..."

"How about this: once the local soldiers have used their beating sticks to their advantage, send someone to make contact with the manager under that little bastard, and then slightly open a gap to let a bunch of rabble into the city."

"At that time, each family will pick some good-for-nothing collateral branches to give that little bastard a chance to vent his anger."

"Firstly, we saved face, and so did that little bastard, thus calming things down."

"Secondly, we should make preparations early and transfer the direct bloodline of the clan as soon as possible, so that if the situation gets out of our control, it won't cause serious damage..."

His deeply lined face wore a nonchalant smile, as if the "good-for-nothing collateral branches" he spoke of were just a group of complete strangers.

Upon hearing this, the other four people in the main hall also showed expressions of agreement.

"It is still Brother Boyue who is mature, prudent, and thoughtful!"

"In this way, we can save face, and that little bastard won't lose too much face either. If everyone contributes a little more, this matter will surely be resolved."

"Yes, after this battle, anyone who tries to harm us in the future will have to think twice. We're not even as strong as that little bastard..."

"A triple win, brilliant!"

The five people inside the hall beamed with joy.

……

As evening fell, the fleet of the Demon-Slaying General's Mansion arrived at the Jiangzhang Bridge Wharf. One after another, red banners with black characters were raised, like dark clouds threatening to engulf a city! (End of Chapter)