Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 313 Backdoor Listing, Li Xia's True Identity

"So that's how it is. No wonder Han Wu-gui is so arrogant."

Upon seeing this title, Wang Cheng suddenly understood many of the questions that had puzzled him for so long.

Even when Han Wugui was trapped in the Prince's Mansion and had not yet joined the Guishan Academy, he was able to cooperate with Wang Bengu, a member of the Qingliu faction, to vigorously kill the dragons and serpents on the sea and gather enough dragon energy for his promotion.

It also allowed the high-ranking officials in the Qingliu Central Committee to fully cooperate, extending the term of service of an imperial inspector in one place to a full four years.

Even when they first met and he read Han Wugui's obsession, he was confident that after completing the "Nine Dragons Spitting Pearls" and advancing to the third rank, he would immediately obtain the position of Grand Justice.

They established a shadow court by relying on the officials and gentry of all ranks in the Guishan Academy.

Because he was a core reserve member personally developed by Ritsuchun, the leader of the Kameyama Book Club.

Even if they haven't been selected and given a title by the Nine-Rank System, they've already stepped one foot in the door, and becoming a formal member is only a matter of time.

Wang Cheng pondered:

"The Baxia among the nine sons is a dragon, and the Aojun can transform into a human and directly take up a divine official position."

I killed him too quickly, taking advantage of his surprise attack, and didn't give him a chance to make a move.

Only after killing him did I learn that his secondary profession was [Dragon's Blood], and his primary official rank was the same as mine, namely [White Water Gentleman], a water official who was in charge of the first rain-fighting rank, 'Otter Sacrifice Fish'.

The first of the twenty-four solar terms is "Lichun" (Beginning of Spring), and the second is "Yushui" (Rain Water). Otter Sacrifice Fish happens to be the fourth of the seventy-two pentads, so it is well-deserved to sit in the fourth seat of this Junshan Lake Villa.

It was probably precisely because of this compatibility that the "no-cost deal" allowed them to buy the identity of this reserve Guishan rebel from Ao Jun.

It's such a pity.

It's possible that Han Wugui didn't know either, or because it involved that high-ranking official [Lichun], who held the rank of second grade, the memories extracted from Han Wugui were vague and unclear.

Wang Cheng searched all over his clay sculpture of the deity but could not find the true identity of "Lichun".

However, it's probably because it's so close to Junshan Lake and we're in frequent contact with it.

Ao Jun always felt that the evil spirit Grandpa Zong San, who was cut into three pieces by Zhu Shiliu in the Battle of Poyang Lake and was said to be possessed by the remnant soul of Chen Jiu Si, might not be as simple as he seemed.

Given that he is ranked fourth in the Spring Equinox seating arrangement, there must be a third, second, and first person ahead of him, which inevitably makes people think a lot.

I couldn't help but ask: "Is it possible for a great evil spirit that has reached the top three ranks to regain its sentience?"

Wang Cheng couldn't help but think about it a bit more:
"I'm not in a hurry to explore the secrets of the Beginning of Spring; it's important but not urgent."

Besides, even if I were to be selected by the Nine-Rank Official System someday, it might not necessarily be a bad thing for me.

Just as Han Moo-kyu recalled, although everyone in Guishan Book Club shared the same goal, they all had their own agendas.

If I were to become one of the members of the Guishan Book Society and qualify to compete for the leadership position, with the [Xiangji Temple] plaque and the [Xuanwu Gate] plaque, I would surely have a bright future.

Why can't I go public through a reverse takeover?

To the old folks at Guishan Bookstore: Why did you carve your name on my hookah—no, I mean, on Guishan Bookstore itself?

He looked up and gazed at Junshan Lake in the southern part of Poyang Lake before turning his gaze away.

The surrounding aquatic creatures, having witnessed Ao Jun being brutally killed by the couple in just three moves, were already terrified and fell silent. When they noticed Wang Cheng looking over, they assumed he was looking at them.

Startled, he threw his water pipe, snuff bottle, and other belongings into the lake.

They were afraid that Wang Cheng would take their lives for the same reason.

Alright, putting everything else aside, at least it should make their rule over this area much easier in the future.

north.

Jinzhou, located near the southern border of Inner Mongolia, is the residence of Zhang Yunling, a prominent salt merchant whose footprints have traversed half the country.

The Zhang Family Compound covers a total area of ​​900 acres!
Composed of fortress gates, walls, streets, residential buildings, gardens, shops, as well as a central archway, a fortified moat, and a bridge, it is practically a city within a city.

The compound contains more than 4000 rooms, more than 50 buildings, and 13 small gardens, forming a luxurious layout of one mountain, one pavilion, two verandas, four gardens, five courtyards, six water features, nine halls, eight pavilions, thirteen pavilions, twenty-five corridors, and twenty-seven residences.

Every stone carving, every town-building object, every brick and tile here exudes luxury and wealth.

It should be noted that even the imperial city of Beijing only covers an area of ​​1080 acres. Fortunately, this is on the frontier far from the capital, otherwise the impeachment memorials from the censors would have completely submerged this fortress-like compound long ago.

A businessman? Whether it's legal or not, flaunting wealth like this is a death sentence!
Fortunately, the Zhang family are businessmen, but they are more than just businessmen.

Whoosh-!
A golden streak of light suddenly shot from the direction of Qingzhou, and upon landing, it transformed into a civil official wearing the robes of a third-rank official with a majestic figure.

With hurried and slightly unsteady steps, he rushed into the gate.

The doorman, wearing a white cloth on his head, dared not delay upon seeing the visitor and quickly opened the door. Someone hurriedly went to inform the owner.

"Master, it's Uncle!"

Other servants also came forward to greet him attentively:

"Please come in, Lord Wang! The master has been waiting for you for quite some time since receiving your letter."

The visitor was none other than Wang Xuefu, the Governor-General of the Three Border Regions, who was the powerful backer of the Zhang family, a salt merchant family, in the officialdom.

The governor-general was in charge of military affairs in four of the nine key border towns: Longzhou, Ningzhou, Qinzhou, and Suizhou. He petitioned to grant these four towns flags and the additional military power of the governor-general.

This was a regional official who was in no way inferior to Hu Ruzhen, the governor of the seven southern prefectures!
Not only was he successful in his official career, but the Wang family behind him, like the Zhang family, were also major salt merchants who profited immensely from the imperial court's "opening of salt administration."

As the saying goes, a local official is more powerful than a distant one. Due to well-known practices, this governor-general has now become the spokesperson for the entire Shanxi merchant group, especially for border trade.

With the Wang and Zhang families at the helm, countless merchants of all sizes in Jinzhou profited from their influence. They bribed officials and generals in the court and the prefecture, cultivated their own factions, and built an impenetrable wall of trade protection.

In addition, Zhang Ziwei, the eldest son of the Zhang family, also passed the imperial examination and entered the Hanlin Academy, ensuring a smooth transition between the old and new generations.

Even though Wang Xuefu had not yet entered the central government, he had already formed the rudiments of the "Jin Party".

As a result, in recent years, all the prominent merchants in Jinzhou have been begging to form marriage alliances with the Wang and Zhang families.

It is particularly worth mentioning that Zhang Zixiang, the fifth son of the Zhang family, has a relative by marriage surnamed Fan.

The Fan family were not only salt merchants, but also engaged in smuggling outside the Great Wall, and had a particularly close relationship with a Jurchen leader who claimed to be surnamed Tong. This leader came from the Suksu River Protectorate of the Jianzhou Jurchens, and his name was unremarkable: Taksi.

But he gave birth to a son two years ago. It is said that he was pregnant for thirteen months, had seven moles on the soles of his feet, and was born able to speak. He is a prodigy in the spiritual path with extraordinary appearances!

Therefore, with the support of the old and new generation of leaders, the bribed officials at all levels, and the deeply entrenched kinship ties, the rise of the Jin Party group was unstoppable.

As a result, Imperial Censor Gao Yongchun once wrote a memorial stating: "The corruption of the salt law is due to the rampant power of influential figures and the monopoly of large merchants," directly pointing to the collusion between the Zhang and Wang families, officials and merchants, to reap the benefits of the trade.

Unfortunately, the once vibrant and flourishing Zhang family mansion is now nothing but a gloomy and desolate scene.

The entire household was dressed in mourning, indicating that the funeral had been going on for more than a day, and it was unknown how many people had died.

"My lady, why are you leaving? I want to go with you."

"woooooo"

The sound of wailing could be heard outside the 900-acre courtyard.

Zhang Yunling, a third-rank merchant and Confucian scholar, whose body was withered and whose skin was covered with blood-red lotus flowers, sat upright in the chair in the main hall after tidying up his funeral clothes.

In the courtyard in front of them, hundreds of black coffins were neatly arranged, each containing the remains of a member of the Zhang clan and their wife and children.

Among them were Zhang Yunling's first wife and three sons. Although the eldest son died the earliest, he was an official in the capital and it would be a long time before the coffin could be carried back to his hometown.

The youngest and most useless fifth son, Zhang Zixiang, and his wife, Lady Fan, knelt on the ground in mourning clothes, their faces filled with grief and gloom, their bodies trembling.

Seeing his uncle, the Governor-General of the Three Border Regions, Wang Xuefu, rush into the main hall like a whirlwind, he was as if he had seen a savior, and cried with snot and tears streaming down his face:
"Uncle, save me!"

Wang Xuefu did not visit his incompetent nephew, who was the only surviving nephew due to the emperor's "benevolence."

Instead, he went to the front of the coffin and glanced at his sister Wang's body, which had a blood lotus growing between her eyebrows and pale skin.

Those who died from the ruthless and strange technique "Blood Lotus Seal" in the White Lotus Sect's "Buddha's Discourse on the Supreme Result Precious Scroll" all suffered this tragic fate, which outsiders could not imitate.

Then Wang Xuefu looked up and glared at Zhang Yunling, pulled up his sleeve to reveal a blood-red lotus flower on his arm that stretched along his sister's veins, and roared angrily:

"Brother-in-law, no, I mean, the traitor from Guishan [Lixia], why don't you live a good life? Have you gone mad?"

Others kill emperors to become emperor themselves, but what are you after? Why don't you take a good look at yourself? You're just a businessman!

Not too long has passed since that earth-shattering assassination attempt on the king.

But ever since his eldest son, Zhang Ziwei, a compiler at the Hanlin Academy who, according to the fortune teller, was said to have the potential to become a prime minister, was cursed to death, Zhang Yunling has watched his clansmen die one by one, and he seems to have aged decades.

He lifted his eyelids and said weakly:

"I was just making plans in advance, so that even if dynasties changed, my family could enjoy wealth and prosperity for a long time."

I know you have great talent and ambition, and have always wanted to bring about a peace treaty between the Great Showa and the Tatars under Altan Khan, opening more than ten border trade ports.

Ten years ago, Altan Khan besieged the capital, which Emperor Shaozhi considered a disgrace, and he would never give in as long as he remained on the throne.

I, along with the people of Guishan, agreed that we should change the emperor and help you carry out this great undertaking that benefits the country and its people.”

Back when Wang Cheng attacked the Ōtomo clan, one of the Ōtomo's two pillars, the "Invincible General" Takahashi Shōun, interpreted the arguments about ports in "The Influence of Sea Power on the Sea":

"Whether you have money or not in the trade system depends on one thing: the port!"

So-called management and systems are just byproducts of having money.

Goods, funds, people—everything passes through you. Even if you don't contribute anything or add any value, you can still make a fortune by skimming off the top.

"If you control the port, you make money; if you lose the port, you don't make money."

This applies to both the sea and the land.

Zhang Yunling doesn't have the same lofty ideals as the other members of Guishan.

As a merchant who was also a Confucian scholar, or a Confucian merchant, his goal was simply to make more money and ensure his family's wealth for generations.

Of course, if he can facilitate such a trade between the North and South, his status as a third-rank [trading merchant] will soon be on the verge of breaking through to the second rank.

Now that his entire family is gone, his spirit and energy have vanished completely.

The third-rank Dharma Master who helped him resist the [Blood Lotus Seal] was already at his limit.

He waved to Wang Xuefu:
"It's not important to talk about these things now."

The emperor's death penalty applies to nine generations of a family. The wife's family includes the father's family and the mother's family. The emperor's sword should have reached your family as well.
How could you still be out here? You sent a letter saying you wanted to see me?

Wang Xuefu's face was ashen, and he bowed towards the direction of the capital:

"His Majesty's grace is boundless. Considering my many years of service and meritorious service on the frontier, His Majesty has pardoned the entire Wang clan."

He then showed off the blood lotus mark on his arm:

"But this is something our whole family can never get rid of in our lifetime."

From this day forward, the Wang family will be His Majesty's private imperial merchants. From this day forward, we will take over the Zhang family's property and wealth. From now on, 95% of all profits will go to the imperial treasury, and we will only keep 5%.

"From now on, I, as the governor-general of these three border regions, will owe His Majesty a life. I can only be his weapon; whoever he tells me to stab, I will stab."

"fair enough."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yunling breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and bowed deeply to her brother-in-law.
"Xuefu, for the sake of Lao Wu being your nephew, please send the couple out of the pass and let them live out their remaining days in Jianzhou."

I have passed on the position of "Lixia," which represents the fourth rank of the Dharma, to Zixiang.

From now on, life and death are preordained, wealth and honor are determined by Heaven, and I, as your elder brother, can finally rest in peace.

Wang Xuefu hated his brother-in-law, who had killed his own sister and almost killed his entire clan, to the core. But now that things had come to this, there was no point in dwelling on the grudges.

"I promise you."

But Zhang Yunling, who played the role of "Lixia," was unable to get up again and died on the spot while still in a bowed position!
(End of this chapter)