The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 91- 93

Chapter 91: A Secret Location

With the help of those heavily armored infantry, Zhang Chong’s army smashed its way into enemy territory like a hot knife cutting through butter and soon cornered those bandits on the top of the mountain when the daytime was over.

There was a natural chasm on the mountaintop, which was the last line of defense that those bandits could rely on. Because of densely laid traps around it, even those heavily armored infantry were having trouble advancing further.

Zhang Chong and his men encircled the mountaintop ring upon ring. Then he had a soldier yell at those bandits, demanding their surrender.

“Bah! No way are we going to surrender. I’ll wring Zhang Chong’s head off even if the price is my own life!”

Such was the hatred those surviving bandits bore towards Zhang Chong that they would literally drink his blood and eat him alive if they had the chance. Though in a hopeless dilemma, none of these outlaws was willing to surrender. The two sides of the battle just confronted each other at the mountaintop in an impasse.

“Commander, do we take them by storm right now or do we just besiege them and wait for them to run out of food?”

“Besiege them? I don’t have that much time for this. Go and tell all captains to come here. We’ll formulate an operation plan and then storm the enemy position.”

“But there will be heavy casualties if we do it this way.”

On hearing this, Zhang Chong smiled hideously, “That’s the very result I want. The emperor has just rejected my request. Now is my chance to show him the consequences of it. I’ll have him willingly offer to enlarge my army and encampment.”

Zhang Chong’s expression and words sent chills down the spine of his subordinate, who was afraid to look at Zhang Chong’s eyes again. “Yes, Commander.”

On that night, there were torches all over the Lee Mountain. Even residents in Tanyang could see them distinctly.

Tao Feng and Ling Zhaowen were still on the South Gate Tower, their eyes fixed on the Lee Mountain.

Tao Feng said, “Scouts brought news back saying that many gang-leaders went to the Prefecture Encampment to deliver gifts to Zhang Chong early this morning, that there were also some who didn’t. And all those who didn’t are now on the Lee Mountain.”

Ling Zhaowen was amazed. “All because they didn’t send him gifts? What the hell is Zhong Chong thinking of?”

“The gift he wanted was 10,000 taels of silver.”

Ling Zhaowen gave a gasp of astonishment. “10,000 taels? That’s a huge amount of money. Why did Zhang Chong suddenly demand those bandits to pay him so much money?”

Naturally, Tao Feng didn’t have the answer to this question. Had he known the reason, he wouldn’t have been so perplexed.

Ling Zhaowen thought for a while and then said, “Your Lordship, I’d like to go back home and consult with my father about this matter.”

Tao Feng nodded.

Ling Zhaowen hastily returned home. But instead of going to Ling Xingzhong’s dwelling, he headed for the Green Bamboo Mansion.

“Second Master Ling?” The guard was rather surprised to see him.

“There’s something I’d like to consult the Marshal about. I wonder if this is a convenient time.”

“I’m sorry, Second Master Ling. The Marshal happened to have just left and is not in at the moment. But Childe Ling is here. Would you like to see him?”

Ling Zhaowen was sent into a brief trance by this response. Then he nodded. “All right.”

Ling Zhaowen was led into the room and found that Ling Zhang was sitting behind Yuwen Tong’s desk reading something. Enthralled, Ling Zhang didn’t even notice his arrival.

“Zhang’er.”

Ling Zhang raised his head and saw the visitor. He hurriedly stood up and walked over. “Uncle, why did you come here?”

Ling Zhaowen’s lips twitched with amazement. ‘This brat. He sounds as if he’s the owner of this house. Yet that day he told me he never regarded me as an outsider,’ he thought.

“Where’s the Marshal? Why are you here alone? And why did you mess his stuff on his desk? If by any chance he finds out…”

“Uncle,” Ling Zhang hurriedly interrupted his uncle, pulling a wry face. “Those are just some maps. Yuwen Tong gave me his permission to read them.”

Ling Zhaowen sized up Ling Zhang for a while and asked, “Is that so? Does he really trust you so much as to let you stay in his study where a lot of important documents are stored?” Ling Zhang was speechless with embarrassment.

“Uncle, will you please stop acting like I’m going to do some bad things. Exactly whose uncle are you? Mine or Yuwen Tong’s?”

Ling Zhaowen let out a laugh and took a seat. “Well, I don’t dare to claim to be the Marshal’s uncle.”

Ling Zhang sat down beside him. “Are you here to talk with me or Yuwen Tong?”

“I came here to meet the Marshal, but the guard told me he isn’t in.”

“Well, he’s just left. There seemed to be some urgent business that he had to deal with.”

Ling Zhaowen nodded. Then he looked at Ling Zhang and restrained the words which had sprung to his lips.

“Uncle, if you’ve got something to say, just say it. I’m your nephew. There should be nothing that can keep you from being honest with me.”

Ling Zhaowen leaned forward and lowered his voice, asking, “How’s your relationship with the Marshal going?”

Ling Zhang could hardly forbear to roll his eyes. ‘Yet another question of this kind. Why couldn’t uncle just let this go?’ he thought.

“Same old, same old. Don’t overthink it, uncle.”

Ling Zhaowen significantly uttered “Oh” and then said in a serious tone of voice, “As far as I can tell, he trusts you very much and has never guarded against you. These are quite some strong affections. No matter what your eventual decision will be, as your uncle, I hope you’ll make it discreetly.”

Ling Zhang kept silent for a while and then nodded. “Rest assured, uncle. I know when and to whom I should show my gratitude.”

“That’s very reassuring.” Ling Zhaowen gave a gasp of relief and asked a further question. “You heard that Zhang Chong staged a precipitous fight with those bandits on the Lee Mountain, right?”

Ling Zhang nodded. “I did.”

Seeing that Ling Zhang had a calm countenance on his face, Ling Zhaowen thought, ‘He must know something.’ So he asked, “Do you know the reason?”

On hearing this, Ling Zhang instantly understood what his uncle had come here for. Somewhat amused, he responded, “Didn’t you say that I should make myself worthy of Yuwen Tong’s trust? It was Yuwen Tong who told me all these things. Will it not be an act of betrayal if I disclose them to you?”

Ling Zhaowen clicked his tongue and then said, “Stop juggling with words before your uncle. I have a shrewd idea which questions I can ask and which ones I can’t. Just tell me what you know.”

Ling Zhang smiled. There were indeed some things that he was not supposed to disclose, such as Yuwen Tong having his men steal those bandits’ money, as well as the role of Yuwen Tong in this matter, but the cause of the armed conflict between Zhang Chong and those bandits was not one of them.

“Since the ruffian who killed Uncle Lu is still at large after such a long time, Zhang Chong got anxious and put pressure on those bandits…”

Ling Zhang gave a sketchy account of the reason why Zhang Chong decided to attack those bandits.

“Zhang Chong felt that those bandits humiliated him, while those bandits believed that Zhang Chong’s demand was beyond the pale, over which they came to blows.”

Light suddenly dawned on Ling Zhaowen after he heard the explanation. He was not a fool, so naturally he knew there were definitely some details that he was not supposed to ask, so he raised no further queries but said, “No wonder Zhang Chong launched an attack so decisively. It turned out to have something to do with us.”

They were the ones who helped fake the death of Lu Kui, so they were fully aware of whether that ‘murderer’ really existed or not.

Ling Zhaowen was very glad to see this battle between Zhang Chong and those bandits.

“You’ve been standing on the gate tower all day?” Ling Zhang sized his uncle up, a concerned look on his face.

“I’m fine. You don’t actually think that I was really standing there, do you? There were chairs. Lord Tao is still there. I can’t leave him standing there alone for too long. I have to go back.”

“You should have dinner first.”

“You silly boy. How can I have dinner at home? I’ve already had them prepare two portions of food, and I’ll take them to the gate tower and have dinner with Lord Tao.”

Ling Zhang uttered “Oh”. He understood what his uncle meant.

Ling Zhaowen didn’t stay for long and left the mansion after a short while.

Ling Zhang thought for a while and then returned to his own dwelling. This was the day that he was supposed to take a medicated bath. Though Yuwen Tong was not present to help unblock his meridians with internal energy, he still had to do what he should do.

After going back to his dwelling, medicinal herbs had been soaked in the bathing pool long enough.

Ling Zhang entered the bathroom, took off his clothes and stepped into the bathing pool.

Meanwhile, Yuwen Tong was in the Prefecture Encampment.

“Marshal, all those weapons have been boxed up. They would probably be transferred tonight.”

Yuwen Tong’s eyes swept around the Prefecture Encampment. “Those heavily armored infantry suddenly showed up today. We’d been totally unaware of their existence before that. There must be some other secret locations in this encampment. We must find them tonight.”

“Yes, Marshal.”

“Stake out the weapon workshop. I’ll go and look for them.”

“We can handle this, Marshal.”

“Cut the shit and go.”

The man beside him instantly fell silent.

Yuwen Tong did nothing special. He directly prostrated himself on the spot, pressed his ear against the ground and listened carefully, letting not even the faintest quake escape his ear.

Among miscellaneous sounds, there were some unusual, muffled ones emanating from somewhere.

Yuwen Tong stood up, brushed the dirt off his clothes and then looked in the direction of the arsenal in the Prefecture Encampment.

The arsenal was a heavily guarded, restricted area. Even soldiers stationed in the encampment were not allowed to approach without permission. However, under the cover of the night, Yuwen Tong easily entered the arsenal and then lay prostrate again listening to the sounds.

This time, those unusual, muffled sounds were more distinct, mixed with some voices that were barely audible.

‘There is a basement down here. If my guess is right, this basement is the very place used for hiding the heavily armored infantry. But I have to find the entrance and go inside to confirm,’ thought Yuwen Tong.

As luck would have it, Zhang Chong dispatched the heavily armored infantry to the mountain this day. Yuwen Tong soon observed that one of those numerous tents was somewhat different from its likes. Since this was the area where lots of soldiers would be walking around at ordinary times, nobody could tell that the frequency of soldiers walking in and out of this tent was different, except for someone who spent a full day watching and counting.

‘That tent is the entrance to the basement,’ he thought.

Yuwen Tong observed for quite a while, during the process of which he saw quite a few people entering and exiting the tent. Those people were dressed as common soldiers, but the way they raised their feet, their paces as well as the way they landed their feet were slightly dissimilar from those of common soldiers.

All these were habits that heavily armored infantry would inevitably develop.

Yuwen Tong left in the knowledge that there was a secret basement under the arsenal, that there was a ninety-percent chance that it was where the heavily armored infantry were hiding.

After returning to the weapon workshop, Yuwen Tong suddenly paused and raised his head to look into the sky.

“Stay here and keep your eyes peeled. I’m going back to the city.”

“Yes, Marshal.”

Yuwen Tong quickly left the Prefecture Encampment, went straight back to the city and directly landed onto the ground in Ling Zhang’s courtyard.

Xia Feng, who was on guard duty outside, was startled when he caught sight of a man descending from mid-air. When he saw that it was Yuwen Tong, he hurriedly saluted him. “Lord Yuwen.”

“Is Ling Zhang already inside?”

“Yes. Young Master is in there.”

Without pausing, Yuwen Tong strode into the house, walked to the bathroom and pushed the door open.

“Why did you come back so soon?”

Ling Zhang, who was in the bathing pool, had already heard the conversation between Yuwen Tong and Xia Feng. To his knowledge, Yuwen Tong had gone to the Prefecture Guards to investigate into something, which, he supposed, would take Yuwen Tong a whole night. After all, given that Zhang Chong had led a large number of troops out of the encampment, this was a golden opportunity. ‘How come he suddenly came back?’ wondered Ling Zhang.

Chapter 92: The Butler of Jia Family

“I’ll leave after unblocking your meridians,” Yuwen Tong answered Ling Zhang’s question.

Ling Zhang was somewhat amazed by this response. “You specially came back to help me unblock my meridians?”

“Yeah,” Yuwen Tong replied and quickly stripped, his eyes sweeping across Ling Zhang’s slim neck, pretty shoulder blades and smooth back.

“If you have urgent business to handle, just go. Please don’t change your plans on my account,” Ling Zhang felt a little uneasy. ‘How could he waste such a good opportunity?’ he thought.

“Stop talking. Concentrate your mind and calm down.” Yuwen Tong pressed his hands against Ling Zhang’s back. Ling Zhang’s eyes slightly squinted on the warm and humid touch.

Ling Zhang had wanted to dissuade him, but on the thought that Yuwen Tong specially came back to help him, he felt that he ought not to hurt Yuwen Tong’s feelings, that he would only waste more time if he made further efforts to dissuade Yuwen Tong, so he said no more, trying hard to concentrate.

After he calmed down, Yuwen Tong slowly mobilized his internal energy and cautiously injected it into Ling Zhang’s body.

Ling Zhang began to feel the familiar mixture of numbness, itch and pain again…

After over two hours, Yuwen Tong stood up, walked out of the bathroom and soon disappeared. Clearly, he was in a hurry to return to the encampment.

Ling Zhang got changed, sat down and began to ponder what he should do with the buyer after catching him the next day, but gradually, his mind drifted onto Yuwen Tong. He wondered whether Yuwen Tong would be able to find out what he wanted to find out. The scene of Yuwen Tong hastily coming back to help him unblock his meridians as well as the one of his hastily leaving were also replayed in his mind.

At last, even he himself couldn’t recall what he had thought about. When he came back from the trance, he found that he had drawn several diagrams of tactical formation on the paper. Every one of them had been drawn with painstaking attention to detail, as if he had intended to give them to someone as gifts.

Ling Zhang briefly paused. Seeing that the ink on the tip of the writing brush was about to drip down, he hurriedly moved it aside.

Surprisingly, he had subconsciously wanted to do something for Yuwen Tong and unhesitatingly started drawing these diagrams of formations.

Leaving aside whether Yuwen Tong would deem them useful, these formations were imparted to him by his mother. Given that his grandfather and uncle had tried so hard to conceal the existence of them, his mother definitely wasn’t someone from a common family. If the existence of these formations came to any outsiders’ knowledge, there might be trouble, so he must be discreet about this matter.

With this in mind, Ling Zhang, who was supposed to stop, finished those diagrams of formations stroke by stroke.

There were six of them in total.

He blew on those pages to dry the ink, put them together, elaborately made a front cover and bound them.

The expression on the face of Ling Zhang changed several times as he stared at the thin book. Eventually, instead of destroying it, he chose to hide it.

He decided to observe Yuwen Tong for another certain amount of time and give this book to him after confirming that he was truly reliable.

Since Yuwen Tong was a marshal of the Great Yue’s army, Ling Zhang believed that these things would be of greater use in Yuwen Tong’s hands than they would in his own.

“Young Master, it’s late. You should go to sleep,” urged Xia Feng as he walked inside and saw that Ling Zhang was still awake.

“I see.”

Ling Zhang rose from the chair and returned to his bedroom to sleep. He had just had some of his meridians unblocked and was feeling comfortably warm all over. In fact, if he wanted to, he could fall asleep immediately after his head touched the pillow, but he didn’t close his eyes to sleep after lying down. Instead, he told Xia Feng, “Remember to wake me up when Lord Yuwen comes back.”

Xia Feng was a little hesitant. ‘It’s already late Hai Hour (21:00-22:59) and it will soon be Zi Hour (23:00-00:59). Who knows when Lord Yuwen living next door will come back?’ he thought.

“Xia Feng?”

Mistakenly believing that Xia Feng didn’t hear him, Ling Zhang called him again.

Xia Feng came back from the brief trance and hurriedly answered “Yes” in the knowledge that it was very hard to have Ling Zhang change his mind, that he would definitely be punished the next morning if he forgot to wake Ling Zhang up when Yuwen Tong came back at night.

After giving the instruction to Xia Feng, Ling Zhang soon drifted off to sleep.

At this time, in the Prefecture Encampment, Yao Yi had just finished covertly interrogating a soldier abducted by him. Then he had one of his subordinates disguise as that soldier and helped him enter that mysterious tent in the Prefecture Encampment.

“You have two tasks. First, find out how many heavily armored infantry and armaments there are in the basement. Second, confirm whether that batch of weapons are also stored down there.”

“Yes.”

“After the job is done, I’m afraid you’ll have to stay here in this disguise until Zhang Chong is handled.”

“I understand.”

“Go.”

After making these arrangements, Yao Yi said to Yuwen Tong, “Marshal, I’ll keep a close watch on the weapon workshop. You may go back and have a rest.”

“That’s not necessary.”

Yuwen Tong was determined to identity where those weapons were hidden.

Soon after Zi Hour, some kind of sound emanated from the weapon workshop. Yuwen Tong, who was sitting repose with his eyes closed, immediately opened his eyes.

…

Ling Zhang woke up the next morning and summoned Xia Feng. “Those living next door still haven’t returned?”

Xia Feng shook his head. “I waited all night but Lord Yuwen didn’t come back.”

With a frown, Ling Zhang stood up, washed his face, got dressed and told Xia Feng, “You didn’t sleep last night. Take a day off and have some rest.”

“Yes, Young Master. Thank you for your consideration.”

Ling Zhang went next door, saw the guard on duty and asked him, “He didn’t come back last night?”

The guard smiled, “Yes, that means Marshal must have found something.”

Ling Zhang shared his opinion, so he observed, “Would you be kind enough to inform me when he returns?”

“No problem.” The guard agreed to it willingly.

Originally, he had planned to ask one of Yuwen Tong’s bodyguards to test out the Trap-and-Kill Formation of Twelve, but since Yuwen Tong hadn’t come back yet, and there was nobody in the mansion except for a couple of guards, so Ling Zhang had no choice but to delay it.

Those security guards of Ling family, who had been irrepressible all morning, were somewhat disappointed after hearing that the test had been delayed. They felt an urge to vent the enthusiasm that had been building up for a night and a morning.

“Just keep practicing and improving your skills. There will be plenty of chances for you to have a competition with them. Don’t slack because of this.”

“Yes!”

After practicing fist techniques in the guards’ yard for two hours, Ling Zhang discovered that he had been making increasingly greater progress during the past few days. Remarkably, he was now able to last a few rounds with Wang Dashan.

“You’ve been making progress at an impressive rate, Young Master. I admire your efforts.”

But Ling Zhang was fully aware that he owed all this to Yuwen Tong, who had been helping him unblock his meridians. Now he had better hearing and sharper eyes. His other senses had also become keener than before. He was now able to anticipate the tracks of Wang Dashan’s fists the moment Wang Dashan made his move, but his reflexes were still not quick enough, which was why most of the time, he was unable to sidestep the blows.

If his bodily reflexes were quick enough, it would be difficult for Wang Dashan to hit him.

“Captain Wang, do you know any methods of improving bodily reflexes?”

“I do, but I’m afraid your horse stance and fist technique still need a little improving. If you’re not very anxious to learn it, I suggest that you wait for a few more days.”

Ling Zhang understood what Wang Dashan was saying. Wang Dashan was advising him to lay a solid foundation first.

“I see. Thank you for your advice, Captain Wang.”

Wang Dashan was somewhat embarrassed. “I’m glad you don’t blame me for being gabby, Young Master.”

“You offered me helpful advice. Why would I blame you for that? By the way, I’m going somewhere and I want you and Elder Brother Liu to accompany me. Meet me at the gateway an hour later.”

“Yes, Young Master,” Wang Dashan answered. Since Ling Zhang didn’t tell him where they were going, he asked no questions.

The time that Wu Er’niu and the buyer had agreed on was about to come. Ling Zhang, followed by Wang Dashan and Liu Yi, left the mansion. After taking a detour, the three of them found a place near the noodle stand in the eastern part of the city and sat down. They had all changed into common, unobtrusive clothes and were talking with their heads down, so nobody noticed them.

After sitting for a while, Ling Zhang had sized up all people in the noodle stand. He recognized one of them – the butler of Jia family.

Unsurprisingly, Jia family was behind this.

Having confirmed the truth of his conjecture, Ling Zhang gave a gasp of relief. ‘The buyer isn’t Zhang Chong’s subordinate, so at least Yuwen Tong’s existence hasn’t come to Zhang Chong’s knowledge yet,’ he thought.

Right at this moment, Wu Er’niu finally turned up. He was walking at a gentle pace, looking somewhat sickly.

“What took you so long? Didn’t we agree to meet at Chen Hour (07:00-08:59 a.m.)?” The butler of Jia family impatiently complained at Wu Er’niu in a low voice.

The countenance of Wu Er’niu was rather unnatural. He was trying so hard to subdue the urge to look around that he couldn’t even speak fluently. “I…I just got up a little late.”

The butler of Jia family knitted his brows and suspiciously sized up Wu Er’niu. “What happened to you?”

“I…I had a fall in the bathhouse and hit my waist on the ground. It still hurts,” replied Wu Er’niu.

The butler flicked a disgusted look at him, fished a pouch out of his inner pocket and put it on the table. “See? Here’s the money. As long as you tell me what you know, the money is yours.”

On the sight of such a large sum of money, Wu Er’niu swallowed hard reflexively, which further disgusted the butler.

“Hurry. Stop dithering. Tell me what you know and the money is yours.”

“There have indeed been a couple of special visitors. I made some inquiries. They’re relatives of Second Mistress. One of them is the son of a certain lord,” Wu Er’niu told the butler what Ling Zhang bade him to say the night before.

Now that someone saw Yuwen Tong and his men enter the city that day, he might as well admit it. Saying that they were relatives of Fu Caiwei was a mere expedient.

“Which lord? Be specific.” The butler of Jia family asked a further question.

“I have no idea. Those people stayed in the mansion for a couple of days. Then someone came and told them that there was an emergency in their home. They left on that very night. It was Young Master who received them. We didn’t dare to go to Young Master’s courtyard,” Wu Er’niu flinched and answered.

The butler of Jia family went impatient. “You good-for-nothing. This is all you know? You didn’t even find out who that person is!”

“This is all I know.”

“Are you sure they were those who entered the city that morning?”

Wu Er’niu nodded. “Yes. Except for them, there had been no visitors, still less of people who came to spend the night.”

“On which night did they leave?”

“Eight days ago.”

Eight days ago? The look in the eyes of the butler suddenly changed. It was the very night when his master was kidnapped and then left in the tavern!

‘I knew it! It was indeed people of Ling family who did that. Those people left the city after doing those things, because they were afraid people might find out!’ the butler thought.

Believing that he had found the truth, the butler of Jia family pushed the pouch to Wu Er’niu and asked in a severe tone of voice, “Did anything else happen in Ling family apart from this? I want every detail.”

“I…I’m only an old-job man working in the kitchen. Without the permission of a steward, I can’t go anywhere except for the kitchen. I really don’t know what happened in other areas of the mansion,” Wu Er’niu panicked.

‘Young Master didn’t tell me how to answer this kind of question. What am I supposed to say?’ he thought anxiously.

Chapter 93: Appeasing Herb Farmers

Fortunately, the reaction of Wu Er’niu didn’t arouse suspicions of the butler of Jia family, but in the realization that Wu Er’niu was so useless, he angrily snatched the pouch from Wu Er’niu’s hands, took eighty taels of silver out of it and then tossed it back to Wu Er’niu. “Bah! You expect me to pay you a hundred taels for this? Stop dreaming!”

Wu Er’niu also got angry. In order to get this money, he had suffered so much, and there were probably severer punishments to come after he returned to Ling family, yet this guy went back on his word halfway through the deal?

He abruptly rose to his feet, grabbed his stool and swung it at the butler of Jia family with great force.

The butler failed to dodge in time and was heavily hit on the back. “Ouch!”

“Wha…What are you doing! Ouch!” The butler made an attempt to snatch the stool from Wu Er’niu’s hands but was hit by another blow. Seeing that he was unable to snatch the stool from the opponent, he raised his own stool and fought back. During the fight, the table was overturned with bowls smashed to pieces and chopsticks scattered all over the ground. Customers sitting beside nearby tables also suffered.

The owner of the noodle cursed angrily. “What are you doing! You broke so many bowls and scared my customers away! I’ll report this to Yamen and sue you!”

On hearing the owner’s threat to sue, both Wu Er’niu and the butler of Jia family stopped. Neither of them could afford to let the authority get involved in this matter.

Wu Er’niu hurtled over, snatched the eighty taels of silver from the butler, turned around and quickly ran away.

Consumed with rage, the butler of Jia family tried to pursue him but was stopped by the owner of the noodle stand.

Watching this farce from the distance, Ling Zhang was utterly speechless.

‘Never mind. At least they wouldn’t be able to find out about the existence of Yuwen Tong and his men any time soon. People of Jia family have no reason to suspect. Anyway, just like Yuwen Tong said, it would never come to their knowledge that it is him who has been crossing them in Tanyang, no matter how hard and for how long they rack their brains.”

Immediately after Wu Er’niu left the noodle stand, two security guards suddenly materialized and took him back to Ling family.

Ling Zhang was just about to leave when he heard some people talking.

“…I wonder if the Prefecture Guards has won.”

“It is said that the battle is still ongoing. Lord Tao and Lord Ling stayed up on the gate tower all night, but there’s been no news of victory from the Prefecture Guards so far.”

“You don’t say so. Surely, they’re not on the losing side? How are we supposed to defend ourselves if by any chance those bandits intrude into the city? This is bad. I’m going back home right now.”

“I’d better return home as well. If worse comes to worst, I can at least take my wife and kids and run for our lives.”

With unnoticeably slight movements of his ears, Ling Zhang quietly listened to the conversation between nearby residents about the battle between the Prefecture Guards and bandits.

The fight had already lasted a day and a night but the stalemate between the two sides on the Lee Mountain continued. A lot of residents were beginning to panic.

“Young Master, should we go out of the city and check?” Wang Dashan made a suggestion.

Ling Zhang nodded. In fact, the reason why he had brought Wang Dashan and Liu Yi on this trip in the first place was that he intended to leave the city to take a look. Though there was a long distance between the herb farm and the Lee Mountain, herb farmers in there must be terrified, so he had to go and appease them.

“We’re going to the herb farm. Elder Brother Wang, rent three horses and meet me at the southern city gate.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Ling Zhang and Liu Yi walked straight to the southern city gate. The gate was heavily guarded and all people going in or out of the city through it had to go through rigid security check.

“Childe Ling, the area to the south of the city is very dangerous at the moment. You shouldn’t go south if you don’t have any urgent business there,” a gate guard advised.

“Thank you for reminding me, but there are many herb farmers and a supervisor in my herb farm in the southern suburb. They must have been in panic after such a major battle broke out. I have to go and check on them. If things go south, I’ve got to help them evacuate from the farm as soon as possible.”

Everybody in Tanyang knew that Ling family owned an herb farm in the southern suburb. Seeing that Ling Zhang insisted on going out of the city, the guard had no choice but to let him through.

However, after Ling Zhang and his two men left the city, the guard immediately sent someone to report it to Ling Zhaowen.

On hearing that Ling Zhang had gone to the herb farm taking only two security guards with him, Ling Zhaowen was taken aback. ‘What is Zhang’er trying to do? It’s so risky to go out of the city at this time,’ he wondered in concern.

“Don’t inform Old Master of this unless I tell you to.”

“Yes, Master.”

Followed by Wang Dashan and Liu Yi, Ling Zhang was heading directly for the herb farm. When they passed by the Prefecture Encampment, they distantly saw that the whole station was shrouded in tension with guards on duty all around. And their usual path to the herb farm had also been barricaded.

“Young Master, there are roadblocks in the path.”

Having made a resolution to go to the herb farm, Ling Zhang said, “Dismount. We take the alternative path beside the stream and detour to the farm.”

Seeing that Ling Zhang’s determination to go to the herb farm didn’t waver, Wang Dashan and Liu Yi exchanged glances, and, along with Ling Zhang, dismounted and then led the horses into the dense wood.

There was a small stream in the wood, which started from a col to the east of the herb farm and would lead them to the herb farm. It was just that there was thick undergrowth sparsely mixed with thistles and thorns beside the stream.

Therefore, ordinarily, only wild animals would come here. Hardly anybody would choose to take this path, since it was too difficult to proceed along the stream.

Lucky for them, Wang Dashan and Liu Yi carried sabers on them. They slashed their way through the undergrowth with the sabers and found that the progress speed turned out to be acceptable.

The moment they reached the herb farm, Ling Zhang observed that no farmer was working in herb fields. He looked around and there was no one in sight. Since the estate had high perimeter walls around it, he couldn’t see the situation inside.

“Young Master, there might be something at work here. You and Liu Yi may stay here and wait. Let me go and check,” said Wang Dashan alertly.

After some brief thinking, Ling Zhang agreed, “Be careful, Elder Brother Wang.”

Wang Dashan nodded and then detoured around those herb fields. He progressed very quick and soon arrived at the perimeter of the estate.

First he pricked up his ears and listened. When he heard normal conversation between herb farmers, he gave a gasp of relief but, to be on the safe side, didn’t make any sounds.

It was not until he approached the front gate of the estate and saw four people guarding it with weapons in their hands that he fully relaxed. “Yang Liuzi!”

At first the guard was startled, but as he sighted the face of the visitor, he exclaimed delightedly in astonishment, “Elder Brother Wang!”

“Who is it? Elder Brother Wang?”

Another three men quickly ran outside, all of whom rejoiced at the sight of Wang Dashan. “Elder Brother Wang, it’s really you. I’m so glad to see you!”

“You came here alone?”

Wang Dashan didn’t answer but asked them, “What’s going on here? Why isn’t anybody working outside?”

“The battle on the Lee Mountain has lasted a day and a night. Supervisor Zhou had herb farmers to stay inside for fear that the battle might spread here. If by any chance the fight does spread over, we can defend ourselves for some time with these high perimeter walls around the estate.”

“Let me go inside and take a look.”

Wang Dashan followed them into the estate. After verifying their account of the situation, he told them, “Young Master came here as well. He’s waiting outside. I’ll go and lead him here.”

On hearing that Ling Zhang had also come, Supervisor Zhou and the others were first amazed and then overjoyed. “Young Master has come!”

Herb farmers also rejoiced on hearing the exclamation of Supervisor Zhou.

“Young Master is here.”

“Great. Young Master came to see us.”

The gloom and tension in the atmosphere dissolved considerably and smile finally found its way back to people’s faces.

It seemed that though the battle on the Lee Mountain didn’t spread to the herb farm, people living here had been in fear all along.

Wang Dashan walked outside the estate and waved in the direction of the spot where the two people had been waiting.

Ling Zhang saw the signal and, along with Liu Yi, walked towards the estate.

They had just arrived at the gateway when a group of herb farmers flooded outside.

“Young Master!”

“Young Master, good to see you!”

Surrounded by enthusiastic herb farmers, Ling Zhang was somewhat surprised at first, but soon he realized what this was about.

“Uncles and aunts, don’t be afraid. The battle on the Lee Mountain will not spread here. Just calm down. There’s no need to panic.”

Nothing could have reassured these herb farmers more effectively than Ling Zhang’s remarks did. Soon, everybody regained their composure.

“Young Master, are you sure the fight won’t spread here?”

“Rest assured. You’re safe here.”

After Ling Zhang gave an affirmative answer, the burden that had been weighing herb farmers down instantly dissolved and they naturally cheered up.

“Young Master, we didn’t go to work this morning…”

“It’s okay. Everybody take a day off and have a good rest. There’s plenty of time to finish the farming work in the fields. Supervisor Zhou, would you be so kind as to make arrangements for uncles and aunts to have a rest? After that, I’d like to have a word with you.”

Supervisor Zhou hurriedly answered “Yes” and told the crowd to clear off. There was also plenty of work to be done inside the estate, so he assigned some tasks to them. Soon, herb farmers dispersed and the gateway became quiet again.

“Supervisor Zhou, I’d appreciate it if you would appease them. It’s been over a day and a night and all of you have suffered a lot from panic and fright.”

“That’s part of my job and I’ll see it done. Fortunately, the battle never did spread over. How come they came to blows without any warning?”

“Those bandits has been entrenched on the Lee Mountain and nearby areas for so many years. The Prefecture Guards should have taken action and eliminated them some time ago. They’re merely performing their sworn duty which they probably just recalled yesterday.”

On hearing this, Supervisor Zhou gave a smile. A local Tanyang citizen as well as a supervisor of Ling family, he had dealt with numerous people from all walks of life, so naturally, he was well aware of the illegal deals between the Prefecture Guards and those bandits, and he disbelieved the reason why the Prefecture Guards were fighting bandits being that they just had recalled their duties.

But since Ling Zhang said so, Supervisor Zhou felt that he might as well accept it as the truth.

“Young Master, it’s too risky for you to come here with only two security guards. Yesterday, Yang Liuzi and some others tried to go back to the city to report to you, but it turned out that the road was barricaded. How did you manage to get here?”

“We came here along that stream.”

Light dawned on Supervisor Zhou the moment he heard this answer. He knew that path was fairly difficult to walk on. Ling Zhang had taken that path to come here to check on them at the risk of being spotted by the Prefecture Guards, which touched Supervisor Zhou.

Though he was working for Ling family, he risked life and limb to serve his master the day before. For a day and a night, he had been trying to comfort those herb farmers when he himself was also in scare, but since Ling Zhang came here to check on them early in the morning, he felt that his service had been well rewarded.

“Young Master, now that this farm is safe, you’d better go back to the city as soon as possible. I fear that the Prefecture Guards might take some unexpected action, and things would get tricky if you cannot return.” Supervisor Zhou advised Ling Zhang with heartfelt concern.

“Since I’ve already taken the risk and come here, why don’t you tell me how everything’s going in the farm these days?”

Ling Zhang could tell that Supervisor Zhou was sincere in his words, and he also understood what Supervisor Zhou meant, but he felt that since he had already come to the farm, how could he leave so soon? He should at least stay until noon so that the herb farmers would be more composed.

Besides, if his guess was right, those bandits on the Lee Mountain would be wiped out by the end of this day.

Supervisor Zhou made a couple of further remarks to convince Ling Zhang but Ling Zhang insisted on staying, so he gave up trying to persuade him, fished out an account book and began to report to Ling Zhang on a couple of small deals of herbs, the growth of all kinds of herbs in the fields as well as some minor difficulties they had encountered during the breeding of herbs.

Wang Dashan and Liu Yi were standing outside acting as lookouts on the two sides of the door. Seeing this, Yang Liuzi ran up to them.