Di Ming

Chapter 413 "Life is full of unexpected encounters."

Zhu Yin stepped forward to examine the slain soldiers and concluded, "The bodies are covered in arrow and crossbow wounds. They must have been ambushed and killed by the enemy with bows and crossbows, without engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Their killers were definitely not thieves!"

"It must be that eunuch Qiu Chengyun!" Hao Yunlai's face turned ashen. "These garrison soldiers were personally dispatched by me to escort the silver to the Prince of Shu's residence. They dared to do such a thing; they are truly audacious and utterly depraved!"

Zhu Yin said, "The silver given to the Prince of Shu's residence? Why are you so sure it was Qiu Chengyun? Could it be the work of the chieftain?"

Hao Yunlai shook his head: "Five miles outside the prefectural city, the chieftain would absolutely not dare to do that. This year I cracked down on bandits, and the territory was relatively peaceful. How could bandits dare to kill soldiers and steal silver? There is no one else but Eunuch Qiu."

“Child Tiger, you are unaware of this. Chongqing Prefecture is a money bag for the King of Shu. The King of Shu has many estates in Chongqing Prefecture, which pay 60,000 shi of grain annually, equivalent to 40,000 taels of silver. He also controls industries such as the Tongliang sulfur mine, Hechuan salt wells, tea plantations, and iron mines, which pay 60,000 taels of silver annually. In total, Chongqing Prefecture pays a full 100,000 taels of silver to the Shu Kingdom every year.”

“This 100,000 taels of silver is deposited into a silver yoke every year and transported by boat to the Prince of Shu’s residence. Because it is escorted by government soldiers and is the Prince of Shu’s silver, no one has ever dared to touch it, and there have been no mistakes over the years. But this year, as soon as Qiu Chengyun arrived, the government soldiers escorting the silver were ambushed and killed, and the silver was also stolen. It must be his doing!”

"One hundred thousand taels of silver..." Zhu Yin sneered, "It's entirely worth Qiu Chengyun's efforts. He can steal the silver and get rid of you. He can frame you for losing the prince's silver, which could mean dismissal or even death. It's killing two birds with one stone. Now that you've lost the silver, even Zheng Guoguo's uncle can't protect you. Unless you can make up for the lost silver yourself..."

"That's 100,000 taels!" Hao Yunlai said with a bitter smile. "How could I possibly afford to pay that! I knew it was Eunuch Qiu who did it, yet I had absolutely no evidence! I was so careless. I never expected him to be so unscrupulous, even daring to do robbery! What a cunning scheme to kill two birds with one stone!"

He wasn't afraid of Eunuch Qiu, and had been at odds with him for the past few months, but he still underestimated the ruthlessness of this powerful eunuch, Qiu Chengyun, and overestimated his bottom line.

I never expected them to resort to the underworld tactics! They completely disregard the rules of officialdom.

If he can't find evidence and can't afford to pay compensation, he's doomed. Qiu Chengyun is the most powerful man in Sichuan, heavily guarded with numerous soldiers. How could a mere prefect possibly find evidence against him? It's too difficult!
Zhu Yin was not surprised at all. Who was Qiu Chengyun? He was a person who had brought disaster to Sichuan in history, and who, through his own efforts, indirectly caused the Bozhou Rebellion and the She'an Rebellion.

This man also plotted to seize the iron mines of Shizhu Pacification Commissioner's Office, causing the death of Qin Liangyu's husband, Ma Qiancheng. If Qin Liangyu hadn't been loyal to the Ming Dynasty, she would surely have rebelled as well. That would have added another instance of a chieftain's rebellion to the history of the Ming Dynasty.

Even before Emperor Wanli died, She Chongming was plotting a rebellion against the Ming Dynasty, and had been preparing for it for many years. As soon as Wanli breathed his last, She Chongming and An Bangyan launched a rebellion, established the state of "Daliang," and began the "She-An Rebellion," which lasted for seventeen years.

In the north there was the so-called "Great Jin," and in the south there was the so-called "Great Liang." These two rebel forces within the Ming Dynasty, one in the south and one in the north, exhausted the Ming Dynasty's vitality.

Then there were those who defended Wanli, saying that the She'an Rebellion had nothing to do with Wanli, who had only been dead for a few months.

How can it not be related? Wasn't the tax supervisor sent out by Emperor Wanli?

Hao Yunlai was unaware of this, but Zhu Yin was. Historically, tax supervisors not only levied exorbitant taxes in local areas but also acted recklessly, relying on their status as representatives of the emperor to do whatever they pleased.

In order to amass wealth, they even dared to disturb the imperial tomb of Wanli's great-grandfather.

Colluding with foreigners, Japanese pirates, piracy, barbarians, bandits, or even impersonating thieves were all things that tax inspectors had done.

Killing government soldiers, robbing silver treasuries, and framing the prefect—these might seem like major offenses, but to Eunuch Qiu, they were no big deal. As long as no evidence was left behind, the Prince of Shu couldn't do anything about it.

Hao Yunlai slumped down on the rock, all his previous high spirits gone.

“He holds military power and is also an imperial envoy. There’s no way I can find conclusive evidence that he robbed and murdered me. This time, even Brother Yueying can’t protect me. Even if the court doesn’t punish me, the Prince of Shu won’t spare me.”

“I didn’t want to offend Eunuch Qiu. But in order to spare the people of Chongqing from suffering, I stood up to him for several months, just to stop him from extorting too much. Who knew that in the end, I couldn’t protect the people of this region, and I even got myself caught up in it.”

"Alas, Brother Zhihu, if I am dismissed from my post and imprisoned, could you please take care of my wife and children? I have offended many powerful figures in Chongqing, and I fear they will take advantage of my misfortune to retaliate."

Zhu Yin thought for a moment, "Brother Huaji, please calm down. Although you have no evidence and cannot afford to pay the collateral, I can lend it to you."

"What?" Hao Yunlai looked up in disbelief. "Ten thousand taels of silver, you're lending it to me?"

He wasn't an incorruptible official, and the Hao family became wealthy after he took office. However, he had his bottom line and was very limited in how much money he took, so much so that 100,000 taels was a huge sum for him. In any case, he could only afford to pay back one-tenth of all his savings.

Zhu Yin nodded: "It's only 100,000 taels. My wife's family is very wealthy, and I'm just reaping the benefits. 100,000 taels is not a difficult amount for me."

Hao Yunlai said, "But will Lady Caiwei agree to such a large sum?"

Zhu Yin said with an arrogant expression, "When it comes to spending money, my word is law."

Hao Yunlai sighed, "Even if you could lend me the money to fill this hole, I still wouldn't be able to pay it back."

Zhu Yin smiled slightly, "No rush. If you can't pay it back, you can pay it back slowly, even over several decades. Anyway, I won't charge you any interest."

Hao Yunlai said with a wry smile, "Zhihu, you've made me owe you for life. I appreciate your kindness, but since you've helped me so much, I won't thank you."

If he could get 100,000 taels of silver to cover the shortfall and settle the debt, he would be able to get through this.

Zhu Yin looked at Hao Yunlai with a gleam in his eyes, "Brother Huaji, you might not be unable to get the silver back. As long as we bring down Eunuch Qiu, or find evidence of his robbery and murder, you can get the silver back. Then you'll have the money to pay me back, right?"

Hao Yunlai immediately understood.

Zhu Yin wanted to form an alliance with him to jointly bring down Eunuch Qiu!

“Brother Zhihu is right.” Hao Yunlai agreed without hesitation. “Qiu Chengyun is so ruthless. You and I should stand together against him and get through this difficult time together. Even if we can’t bring him down, we can’t let him oppress us.”

Hao Yunlai knew very well that his backer was the Zheng family, while Zhu Yin's backer was Shen Yiguan. Only by joining forces could they withstand the pressure from Qiu Chengyun in Chongqing's officialdom. After all, Qiu Chengyun had the emperor and the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs behind him.

In Chongqing, the prefect was to fully support Zhu Yin, the county magistrate.

Zhu Yin nodded and said, "When brothers are of one mind, they can break through any obstacle. We are all doing this for the people of Chongqing. We can only stick together and fight against the powerful and tyrannical."

Anyone who didn't know better would think the two were very close friends after hearing this.

A local official is more powerful than a distant one. Zhu Yin valued not only Hao Yunlai's position as prefect, but also the Zheng family's influence behind him.

Without Hao Yunlai's support, he would have had a hard time establishing himself in Chongqing.

Zhu Yin continued, “I will lend you the 100,000 taels of silver soon. Don’t worry, this is a loan, not a bribe. What you need to do now is to collect the bodies of the fallen soldiers and provide them with compensation. Report it to the Three Departments and the Imperial Court under the pretext that they died in the battle against the bandits.”

Hao Yunlai agreed, "Yes. For now, we can only say that he died in the battle to suppress the bandits. We can't say that it was Qiu's doing, since there's no evidence. As far as the outside world is concerned, no one knows that the silver was robbed."

Immediately, Hao Yunlai ordered the mobilization of nearby patrol stations to collect the bodies of more than fifty soldiers, claiming they had died in the battle to suppress bandits.

As for the lost silver, they didn't even mention it.

Zhu Yin asked, "Is there a deadline from the Prince of Shu's residence?"

Hao Yunlai replied, "The deadline is September. There are still two months left, so there's no rush. With the silver you lent me, I can just transport it again. This time, I'll personally lead the troops to escort it!"

Zhu Yin laughed and said, "If we return to the city, Eunuch Qiu will find out our whereabouts and then make another move. Why don't we stay in the city for now and just tour the surrounding area for a couple of days?"

This was actually Zhu Yin's first objective. His second objective was to wait a few days for news from Huya.

Whether Huya can find evidence of Qiu Chengyun's crimes will be revealed in the next few days.

Hao Yunlai nodded: "That's right! Eunuch Qiu thought that with such a big incident, I would definitely panic and rush back to the city to send people to investigate the case. But I'm doing the opposite and won't return to the city for the time being!"

……

The group continued to admire the mountains and waters, sightseeing as if nothing had happened.

Zhu Yin found this quite interesting. The scenery of Chongqing at that time was vastly different from what would become of it in later generations. The sights and historical sites visible then were no longer visible more than four hundred years later.

Not long after, Zhu Yin and his companions arrived at Tushan. This is the place where, according to historical records, Yu the Great met the Tushan woman and married her.

According to the Zuo Zhuan, Yu the Great once convened a grand meeting of feudal lords at Mount Tu, where "ten thousand states presented jade and silk." Because Fangfeng was late, Yu the Great killed him. This is the famous "Alliance at Mount Tu."

The Tushan Alliance is sufficient proof that as early as the Xia Dynasty, four thousand years ago, the Huaxia alliance already encompassed the southwest. This demonstrates that the ancestors of the Han people and the southwestern Yi people were of the same lineage, belonging to the Huaxia.

It was here that Queen Tushan, wife of Yu the Great, gave birth to Qi, the King of Xia. The ancient stone house not far away is the "Qi Birth Stone House," and outside the stone house stands a stone statue of Queen Tushan from the Han Dynasty.

The Queen of Tushan wore a topknot styled like that of a Ba woman, a simple right-side skirt, and wooden clogs, gazing towards the direction of the Yu King's Palace. Her gentle eyes seemed to have traversed a thousand years, as if she might gaze upon him and smile at any moment.

She seems to be waiting for Yu the Great, just as she did four thousand years ago, for her husband to return after taming the floods.

"My lord, how splendid you are!"

Zhu Yin bowed respectfully to the stone statue of Queen Tushan from afar, then pointed at the statue and said to Hao Yunlai, Sun Chengzong, and the others:

"Why should we treat these barbarians well? Because they are not barbarians. They have been part of the Chinese nation since ancient times. The Ba people are the maternal clan of Xia Qi, and the Ba Kingdom is a vassal state of the Ji clan."

The Book of Documents says: "The Ba army was brave and fierce, and they used songs and dances to intimidate the Yin people. Therefore, it is said that 'King Wu attacked Zhou with songs and dances before and after the attack.'"

"The Zhou Dynasty enfeoffed the State of Ba as a viscount. King Jing of Zhou once said: 'Ba, Pu, Chu, and Deng are my southern lands.' This shows that the Ba people originally belonged to the Xia people. The southwest originally belonged to the Xia people."

"Brother Huaji, this stone statue of Queen Tushan is a symbol of the Chinese nation. It must be protected."

Zhu Yin was very concerned about the cultural projects of the Ba Kingdom. This was because the Ba Kingdom had long been a member of the Huaxia alliance, and during the Western Zhou Dynasty, it became a vassal state of the Ji clan.

Moreover, although the capital of the Ba Kingdom was in Chongqing, its territory was actually quite large. At its peak, the Ba Kingdom occupied Chongqing, eastern Sichuan, western Hubei, and half of Guizhou, making it virtually a major power.

Today, in the former territory of the Ba Kingdom, besides Han Chinese, there are still many Tusi (chieftain) tribes. However, many of these Yi people do not identify with the Han Chinese, which poses a significant obstacle to the "abolition of the Tusi system and its replacement with direct imperial administration," and is detrimental to the stability of a unified empire. While the numerous Tusi rebellions in the late Ming Dynasty were certainly due to the oppression of corrupt officials and eunuchs, they were also related to cultural identity issues.

Hao Yunlai said, "The Tushan site was once very vast, with the oldest relics dating back to the Zhou Dynasty. Back then, the Ba people led troops, carrying white tiger flags and performing Ba-Yu dances to help King Wu of Zhou overthrow King Zhou of Shang. The Ba people also helped Emperor Gaozu of Han defeat Xiang Yu. When Marquis Wu of Zhou attacked Wei, the Ba people also contributed significantly. These events were recorded in murals and stone tablets. Unfortunately, many of them were destroyed by the Yuan people at the end of the Song Dynasty."

"Today, only the Xia Yu Temple from the Han Dynasty, the sacrificial altar from the Jin Dynasty, and the Tushan Temple from the Tang Dynasty remain here. There are also cinnabar rock paintings of Yu marrying the Tushan woman on the stone walls, and broken pottery whistles from the Eastern Han Dynasty remain on the ground... There is not much left."

Zhu Yin said, “Brother Huaji, I can sponsor the government with ten thousand taels of silver to build a memorial hall nearby, called the Huaxia Tushan Memorial Hall. We will organize, collect, and protect the ancient artifacts here to prevent further damage. This is not only related to cultural governance and education, but also to the imperial court's grand plan for the southwest.” Hao Yunlai was naturally delighted and said happily, “Great! Then thank you, Brother Zhihu. No wonder the world praises your refined character and noble spirit, your saintly demeanor. You have achieved merit in your advancement and virtue in your retirement; the three immortal achievements of a gentleman are as natural as water flowing into a channel.”

He harbored resentment towards Zhu Yin for refusing to let him join the Propaganda Society back then, and had always been unconvinced by Zhu Yin. But today, he had to admit that Zhu Zhihu was far superior to him.

Zhu Yin's every move and thought was unfathomable to him.

Even the self-important Sun Chengzong couldn't help but say, "My lord's move is truly a great act of establishing virtue. If there were a few Chinese memorial halls in the southwest, they would be better than a hundred thousand troops guarding it."

Zhu Yin sighed and said, “Although the barbarians are citizens of the Great Ming Dynasty and belong to the same lineage of Chinese civilization, education is certainly important, but governance is even more important! Even in the Central Plains, the ancient homeland of the Han people for thousands of years, where Chinese cultural relics are magnificent, if the governance becomes too corrupt, the Han people will also rebel against the court by cutting down trees as weapons and raising bamboo poles as flags. How much more so in the southwest?”

"Alas, the so-called governance of the world, where is the shepherding of the people? In fact, it is governing, supervising, and educating the officials. No matter how you put it, it all boils down to the cycle of order and chaos throughout history, it all comes down to the two words: governance of officials. Shepherding the people is governing the officials!"

Are herdsmen the same as officials? This idea is quite novel and may seem disillusioning at first glance, but Hao Yunlai and others felt a sense of sudden enlightenment upon hearing it.

"What a brilliant saying, 'A shepherd is a good official!'" Hao Yunlai couldn't help but clap his hands. "Brother Zhihu's words are truly profound and thought-provoking. Compared to them, my words are merely the chirping of cicadas in autumn."

Gao Panlong applauded, “My lord, these words about governing the people are indeed words of wisdom. Although they are only six words long, they are full of meaning. I think they mean how to let the people supervise, restrain, and check the officials.”

Zhu Yin gave Gao Panlong a deep look and said with a smile, "Brother Cunzhi, you have seen the big picture from small details. Your words have hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what I meant."

"If there were a good set of laws to govern officials, would the native people of the southwest still resent the officials appointed by the court? Would they still support their chieftains? No more."

Zhu Yin devised an excellent innovative method: by taking advantage of the natural aversion of ethnic minorities in Southwest China to Han Chinese officials, he could supervise, restrain, and check them, thus forcing a mature and feasible system of clean governance from the bottom up, and then promote it from the ethnic minority areas of Southwest China to the traditional Han areas.

On the one hand, it can reduce resistance to the abolition of the native chieftain system and gain the support of the various ethnic groups in Southwest China, thus enabling the abolition of the native chieftain system to be implemented more quickly and effectively. On the other hand, it can foster a system of clean governance through democratic supervision of local power, achieving two goals at once!
If this system were implemented through top-down decrees, it would face passive resistance from officials, and its execution would inevitably go awry and ultimately fizzle out.

Success can only be achieved by leveraging the pressure from the people at the bottom up, utilizing the power of the grassroots, and cooperating with central government policies.

However, because the traditional Han areas had a deeply ingrained official-centric mentality and a very mature bureaucratic system, the Han people had been tamed by the court and dared not resist or oppose the illegality of officials. Their tolerance was too high and their threshold for resistance was too high.

They only rebel when they are truly desperate and forced into a corner. As long as there is a way to survive, they will continue to endure hardship. Moreover, once they rebel, it is an uprising or rebellion, ultimately resulting in total destruction. Their way of correcting their mistakes is self-destruction.

Moreover, in traditional Han areas, the local rulers were mostly gentry and powerful families who were in cahoots with officials. If such a system were implemented in Han areas, the common people would be unable to exert pressure on the government from the bottom up, and it would ultimately become a mere formality.

The situation is different in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities. The common people and chieftains are not as tolerant of Han Chinese officials and will actively check and balance these officials, forcing the government to compromise and eventually reach a compromise.

When the program is promoted in the Han areas, officials from minority areas will be transferred back to Han areas to take up their posts, and the program will be gradually promoted from specific points to a wider area.

Then it could be implemented nationwide in ten years at most.

Of course, these important matters are irrelevant to Zhu Yin at present; he is merely a county magistrate.

Hao Yunlai looked at Zhu Yin, whose gaze was deep and who seemed like an immortal being, and suddenly felt a bit absurd.

Although Zhu Yin was a county magistrate and he was a prefect, he found himself unconsciously treating Zhu Yin as the superior. It was as if Zhu Yin was still the governor-general and he was still the imperial inspector, as if their hierarchical relationship remained unchanged in the Northwest Army.

This feeling both left him feeling helpless and made it difficult for him to feel any sense of rejection. It was as if Zhu Yin was meant to be the backbone, even after being demoted to the position of county magistrate.

Hao Yunlai suddenly thought of Emperor Taizu and Tang He.

When Emperor Taizu first joined the army, he was just a groom. Tang He, however, was already a commander of a thousand men. And what happened? Despite his high rank, Tang He willingly remained subordinate to Emperor Taizu.

This thought struck Hao Yunlai as extremely strange.

Standing beneath the broken stele of Yuwang Palace, the crowd gazed upon the mighty river and towering cliffs. The river wind carried the mournful sounds of the Eastern Han Dynasty pottery whistle and the flowing water, evoking a profound sense of the vastness of time and the ever-changing nature of life, a feeling of timeless melancholy.

Zhu Yin's robes fluttered in the river breeze. He sensed the scene before him and seemed to see the ancient Chinese ancestor, whose virtue was known throughout the world, swearing an oath of allegiance with great vigor. Under the banner of the Chinese Alliance, all beasts danced and all tribes bowed their heads.

It was as if I could see the shamans of Chu performing the Yu dance to worship Yu the Great, and the clear sound of the jade cong at their waists seemed to still be heard across time.

At this moment, the sun was setting, and the setting sun cast a blood-red glow on the river and sky. The group gazed at the river view, remaining silent for a moment.

Zhu Yin, the time traveler, was overwhelmed with emotion.

The mighty Yangtze River flows eastward, its waves washing away the heroes of the past. Right and wrong, success and failure, all vanish in the blink of an eye; only the green hills remain, witnessing countless sunsets.

What a beautiful land! How could such a magnificent country fall into the hands of foreign tribes?

Centuries ago, the Mongol army marched south and destroyed the Song Dynasty, engaging in a bloody battle at Diaoyu Fortress. History must not repeat itself.

Seeing that it was getting late, the group went to Jinyun Temple, which was nearby, to ask for lodging.

Jinyun Mountain is an ancient temple from the Tang Dynasty, which houses fragments of the inscription of the "Records of Yuzhou in the Zhenguan Era of the Great Tang Dynasty", as well as Li Bai Cliff where he burned his poems at night, and Nanquan Stone Stove where Fan Chengda brewed tea.

After traveling for several hours in the sweltering heat, everyone was exhausted. Hao Yunlai accompanied Zhu Yin to see the inscriptions, Li Bai Cliff, Nanquan Stone Stove, and other ancient temple sights before they all returned to their rooms to rest, agreeing to board the boat again the next day for another excursion.

Led by a young novice monk, Zhu Yin arrived at a quiet and exquisite guest room to rest. Before he could fall asleep, Emperor Kangxi arrived that very night.

"My lord, my family has obtained Eunuch Qiu's account books and other evidence of his crimes."

Zhu Yin took the intelligence, glanced at it, and chuckled with relief:

"My family in Chongqing didn't waste a month's work; they did indeed obtain incriminating evidence. Qiu Chengyun, Qiu Chengyun, let's see how you deal with me now!"

He flipped through the ledger, his smile becoming even more amused.

"Don't you know your grandfather is a greedy and greedy man? You've taken so much of his silver; he'll probably skin you alive."

Kangxi said, "Your Majesty, with this evidence, it will be much easier to bring down Eunuch Qiu. Shall we take action immediately?"

Zhu Yin shook his head: "There's no rush. This man has military power and is very audacious. He's not easy to deal with, and might even resort to desperate measures. We can't launch an attack without absolute certainty."

Kangxi then realized that he had been a bit too hasty.

Chongqing was a strategic location with a large military presence. However, military power was in the hands of Eunuch Qiu.

This eunuch was surrounded by 3,000 tax collectors and guards, 200 Imperial Guards, and 200 private soldiers. He also controlled the Chongqing Guard, Kuizhou Guard, the naval thousand-household garrison, the private salt inspectors, and the mining camp.

These were just the troops directly under the control of Eunuch Qiu, totaling as many as 20,000 men.

Although the six thousand soldiers under the two battalion commanders of Chongqing Prefecture were not directly under the command of Eunuch Qiu, and nominally obeyed the military orders of the Sichuan governor, they actually sided with Eunuch Qiu.

Based on this calculation, Eunuch Qiu commands at least 26,000 troops!

What about our lord? He only brought two or three hundred guards and private soldiers.

Although Hao Yunlai was the prefect of Chongqing, he only had authority over the prefectural government office and the yamen runners and constables of the various counties, as well as the archers, militia, and constables of the various patrol offices. Apart from that, there were only eight hundred government troops in the city's garrison. In total, there were only a little over two thousand soldiers, who could only be used for maintaining order and suppressing bandits, and were completely incapable of fighting tough battles.

With such a small force, the lord and Prefect Hao could easily bring down Eunuch Qiu based solely on the evidence.

If Eunuch Qiu were to resort to force in a desperate situation, it would be a lose-lose situation.

"Qin Liangyu will be back soon." Zhu Yin narrowed his eyes. "Once she returns, with the help of the White-Spear Army of Shizhu, we'll be able to confront Qiu Chengyun!"

"We must endure it as long as Qin Liangyu doesn't return."

As early as after Zhu Yin learned that he had been demoted to the position of magistrate of Pengshui County, he began to arrange for Qin Liangyu to return to the south.

While he was still in Goryeo, he used his power as a military governor to send Qin Liangyu to escort the first batch of Japanese pirate prisoners back to the capital.

Then they arranged for Qin Liangyu to lead her army back south.

Judging by the odds, Qin Liangyu should be back soon.

Zhu Yin then gave orders to Huya and made further arrangements. He planned to have Hao Yunlai, in the name of the prefect, have Qin Liangyu lead troops to the prefectural city to collect provisions.

Just as Zhu Yin finished doing all this, he heard a commotion outside, as if some guests wanted to stay the night.

Kangxi immediately went out to investigate and then reported back: "Your Majesty, it is a group of guests from Guangxi who said they were going to Shizhu Pacification Commission. Because Jinyun Temple is the most famous, they wanted to stay overnight at the temple, but the monks refused."

"Guests from Guangxi? They're going to Shizhu?" Zhu Yin's heart skipped a beat. "Go and see who these guests are."

"Yes!" Kangxi accepted the order and left.

Soon, Kangxi returned with a hint of joy and reported: "My lord, the head of the guests is none other than Lady Xiubing! She went to Shizhu to visit General Qin, and she recognized me and knew that you were here!"

"It really is her!" Zhu Yin couldn't help but beam with joy and quickly stood up to greet her.

As soon as they stepped out of the guest courtyard, they saw a familiar figure under the lamplight, a figure they hadn't seen for years, dressed in the colorful skirt of a Zhuang woman and with a necklace around her neck.

It was Cen Xiubing!
“My brother who shares the destiny of the God of War!” Cen Xiubing recognized Zhu Yin at a glance and rushed forward with great joy, as if seeing a family member.

"Sister!" Zhu Yin waved and laughed, "We'll meet again anywhere in life."

P.S.: I had physiotherapy yesterday, and my neck feels much better. Today's chapter is nearly 7,000 words long. Thank you all for your support. Cen Xiubing, who hasn't appeared in a long time, has finally shown up.

(End of this chapter)