Yunzhou, Great Jin.
The Governor Mansion.
Ever since Ma Tianchang's daughter suffered the bride kidnapping, an eccentric air had pervaded the Governor Mansion until now.
That kidnapping caused a great sensation throughout Jianghu and cultivated Wang She's fame as well. However, it was absolutely not a good deed; rather it was a disgraceful one for the Governor's Mansion. In fact, the marriage between the Governor Mansion and Mingyi School had turned out to be a joke throughout Jianghu, as one of the people concerned, Ma Tianchang, Governor of Yunzhou, was absolutely humiliated and his mood never recovered, especially after the relationship between Lei Xu of Tian Long Taoism and Ma Linglong was exposed.
He pulled a long face towards everyone, as if they owed him a million coins. Thus, no one dared to get involved in his bad luck, except one person.
"Old Master! Aren't you tired with your straight face?"
As the smooth and lovely voice arose, Ma Tianchang turned around a little bit helplessly and said, "Is that my wish? Isn't it your daughter's fault? If I'm not pretending, perhaps tomorrow, that guy will know my real thoughts."
"Now that there are so many spies in our mansion, why don't you clear them all out?"
The Evil Qi could be seen in Madam Ma's eyes when she said that. "I told you already that it wasn't wise to keep them here!".
"What else can I do?" He said with a forced smile, "A governor's mansion with no spies? Save it! We need them to keep us safe. He might distrust us if we clear them all out."
"What are you afraid of?" Dare he kick you from the position of the Governor of Yunzhou?"
"He can't make a move right now, but that doesn't mean he won't!" Ma Tianchang said calmly, "That guy is too ambitious. What's more, with a wretch who likes making trouble beside him, he is determined to be the greatest sage by turning into a demon!"
"You are right, he's almost a demon! He was such a good man, how could he turn into what he is right now?" Madam Ma sighed. Suddenly her eyes flickered and she said, "Tianchang, from the way you see it, will he succeed?"
"God knows!" An eccentric smile appeared on Ma Tianchang's face. "Keke! The greatest sage. How could that wretch come up with this title?"
"He is absolutely licking his own boots!" Madam Ma sneered. "Anyway, Tianchang, leave these matters alone. You can't keep this on anymore. Just look for a chance to agree to Lei Xu's marriage. Hopefully, he and Linglong fall for each other; Lei Xu is sincere after all!"
"Lei Xu is good, of course, but he is from the Lei family, Tian Long Taoism. The marriage will still trigger his fear if it is decided without a hitch!"
"Are you that afraid of him?" Madam Ma asked discontentedly.
"It isn't my fear of him. I just don't want any conflicts with him during this period!" Ma Tianchang answered calmly, "I'm not willing to reach a deadlock with him at the moment. As you well know."
"I understand, but we have our daughter Linglong suffering due to this!" Madam Ma sighed.
"She made this choice herself! She needs to bear the consequences of course!" Ma Tianchang said, "She isn't a child anymore. She should make a compromise sometimes!"
"She shouldn't compromise on her marriage!" Complained Madam Ma, "Fortunately, Lei Xu is brave. If that wasn't the case, you might try to marry our daughter to Lu Shaoyou."
"Of couse not!" Ma Tianchang said, "Am I a foolish man in your mind?"
As they were talking, a tumult arose from the outside all of a sudden and then Ma Tianchang frowned. This place was the backyard of the Governor Mansion, only trusted subordinates were allowed here. They knew the consequences if they made noise here.
"Would it be..." Ma Tianchang winked at Madam Ma suddenly as if he knew something, and after that, she nodded and went into the room.
"Who made the noise?"
Ma Tianchang gave a little cough and asked loudly.
"Your Excellency, bad news!"
A strong man in armor ran straight into the backyard followed by the servants of the Governor Mansion who failed to stop him.
"Yu Gang, Why are you in a fluster? You are misbehaving!" Seeing the man, Ma Tianchang scolded him loudly with his face darkening.
The man knelt hurriedly before Ma Tianchang and said, "Your Excellency, Seven Troops of Southern Yard in Northern Yuan were united yesterday. They seem to have mobilized south. Massive patrolling cavalry has arrived in Yuyang, Hukou County and Dragon Mouth Gorge. All of our strength is on alert, but it isn't enough. We are waiting for your command!"
"Is that true?" Ma Tianchang was shocked. A light flashed in his eyes and then vanished.
"Emmm...You should go and rest. I have my plan for this matter!"
"Yes, Your Excellency!" The strong man named Yu Gang answered and left.
"It's done! I guess" Madam Ma moved out after that and said.
"It's supposed to be, otherwise Northern Yuan won't behave in this way!" She nodded.
"What about your plan?"
"Of course!" Smiling confidently she said, "If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't tell you!"
"That is to say, Northern Yuan will have a very hard time this winter!"
"They will face the coldest winter with the heaviest snowstorm of this century" Madam Ma sneered, "Thus, without that incident and your command of Yunzhou, Northern Yuan will go down all the same!"
"Emm... then for when do you predict the snowfall?"
"Three months later according to astronomical phenomenon. Why do you care so much about my plan? Haven't you prepared for it since a half year ago?"
"Yes, I have!" An extremely cold smile hung on Ma Tianchang's face. He shouted all of a sudden, "Ming Ying!"
"Yes! General!" A guard in white came in.
"Go and inform An Le that we'll be closing a third of the markets each month from now on. Meanwhile, I'm not willing to see any rice or salt traded into Northern Yuan in the coming three months. Until December 17th in the lunar calendar, the markets should all be closed! No exception!"
"Ah?" Apparently Ming Ying got stunned. He raised his head looking at Ma Tianchang.
"Haven't you heard the order?" Ma Tianchang shouted angrily when seeing Ming Ying's reaction.
"Yes, Your Excellency!" Answering so, Ming Ying withdrew with a bowed head.
"Isn't it too self-evident?"
"The measures are reasonable anyway since the Seven Troops of Southern Yard have mobilized!" Saying so, Ma Tianchang sneered, "What's more, news about Wang She would spread tomorrow or the day after tomorrow at the latest. No one would believe the markets closed only because of the united troops of Northern Yuan!"
"But those merchants!"
"Those profiteers? I will deal with them!" Ma Tianchang said.
"That's great! Everything is ready!"
"We have everything going our way except a snowstorm. By the way, I'll head to Yuyang tomorrow and check out the situation."
"Yuyang? Do you really think the Seven Troops of Southern Yard will declare a war?"
"The Seven Troops of Southern Yard won't play for keeps, but they aren't fools ignoring the profits here. Now that they have sent a patrolling cavalry here, they will run the risk of being swallowed up by me. I'm not a milksop at all!"
"Save it! You just want slaughter! Those reasons are rubbish!" Madam Ma gave him a look, "Get on your way, but do remember, it is necessary to avoid the killing. Too much blood is unfavorable to our future undertaking!"
"I know," Ma Tianchang smiled and fondled his wife's fair and delicate face, "Only a fool will get into trouble for temporary anger? I'm leaving!"
"Come back early!"
"How is it, did those fellas wake up?"
River Heart Island, Zhonghe City. In the early morning, Junior Leopard stood by the river looking at the orange red sun rising on the horizon. In the mist of moist air, he smiled punkishly.
"Get them all up!" Jiang Xiao said with a little laughter, "They are looking for their clothes!"
"Haha, relax! The goods yard was finished yesterday, now our money will roll in. Let them cheer!" Junior Leopard smiled and said.
"It's our good fortune to be your subordinates, Your Excellency!" Jiang Xiao said.
The navy barracks celebrated the accomplishment of the goods yard and Junior Leopard's exit from training last night. Food and drink were supplied unlimitedly. By the end, nearly everyone, except Junior Leopard, Jiang Xiao and some others were drunk. Junior Leopard drunk a little and then a sudden thought hit him. He called out Jiang Xiao and the sober ones to take all the clothes of the drunk naval soldiers and put ten taels in the clothes. They were all fussing when they found out that their clothes were gone. However, after finding their clothes, and with ten taels more, they shouted with delight!
Ten taels of silver!
The navy's pay had been increased a lot since Junior Leopard came to power, but ten taels was the pay of one and a half years. How could they not be happy!
After the disappointment and happiness, the navy's gratitude towards Junior Leopard naturally increased and the bursts of cheers were the evidence.
Standing beside Junior Leopard, Jiang Xiao looked at his smiling face. He couldn't believe that this guy, at such a tender age, had such a mature handling of political affairs. The navy's morale was now under Junior Leopard's control. Besides that, his own strength was daunting enough to control the soldiers. Thus, his prestige in the navy was influential and rock-firm.
"Excuse me! Your Excellency! Big news!" Wang Datong puffed and blew, "Something is terribly wrong!"
He rushed over from a distance, jumping and shouting. As he approached, everyone knew that he was Wang Datong, the quartermaster of the Navy of Jiang City. His anxiety and shouting were a sign of rotten luck to Junior Leopard.
"What the hell are you shouting? Is the sky collapsing?" Junior Leopard asked discontentedly.
"Excuse me, Your Excellency, it's not!" Wang Datong puffed and blew, "But something is terribly wrong!"
"What makes you so panicky?" He puzzled with raised eyebrows and thought, "Wang Datong is such a calm man, but what worries him today?"
"Your Excellency, I have just heard that Chief Wang of Tian Long Taoism... He, he, he...!"
"Wang She?" Junior Leopard was shocked a little, "What's wrong with him?"
"He killed Wali Khan's three sons!"
"Wali Khan of Northern Yuan? His three sons?!" Junior Leopard became absent-minded at first. He couldn't believe it!
Because he knew that Wali Khan's status was equivalent to the status of the Emperor of Great Jin. He was the chief commander of all troops of Northern Yuan. He had died a half year ago.
Wali Khan died all of a sudden and didn't pass his position on to any son. However, his three sons, Chadu, Ali Hun and Tie Mu were real handfuls. They gathered their forces and vied for the Khan position as soon as their father died.
If it had been the Great Jin suffering that, it would have been disrupted, but it was another thing in Northern Yuan.
Actually Northern Yuan was just a collective title. People of Northern Yuan were nomadic. The same as those living in Junior Leopard's previous life. There were plenty of independent tribes in the northern prairie. However, they declared wars to each other for water, grass, cattle and sheep as what nomadic people did in Junior Leopard's previous life. Every several hundred years, a prosperous tribe dominated the prairie and established its Khan country, and after that, they united all tribes and deterred the Central Plains until a great man ended those 10,000 years ago. It was because the man that changed it, that the dominance was broken. From that moment on, a prairie alliance had been handed down for generations.
A grand meeting was held every 100 years in the prairie. A dominant tribe was elected as well. The king of the tribe was then crowned as Khan!
The establishment of the alliance greatly reduced conflicts among tribes and the strongest tribe couldn't bully the weakest. Thus, an existence similar to an empire was formed and then became the embryo stage of Northern Yuan.
Despite of the reduction of conflicts among tribes, another problem that often happened in imperial power replacement arose consequently. Fights for the throne of the leading tribe had become the focus since then, but they were far tenderer compared with those conflicts where a whole tribe might be slaughtered.
During these 100 years, the leading tribe was the Meng tribe, one of the four biggest tribes in the prairie, whose king was Wali Khan.
His three sons were all eligible to inherit the power since Wali Khan didn't appoint any successor to the throne. Therefore, the dispute started there.
Thanks to the alliance, the dispute had yet to become extensive. Conflicts only happened among tribes under their control and were stopped by the alliance in a very short time.
Leading the prairie, Meng tribe's king possessed an authority just a little short of the emperors of the Central Plains but that was just 'a little short of'.
Khan's authority was restricted by the Elders of the alliance and kings of other tribes to some degree. But recently Wali Khan died without a successor, for which the Elders became the most powerful ones. In-fighting wasn't their wish of course, so they arranged a meeting in the alliance for the three princes after stopping the conflicts. The Khan would be elected by the Elders and kings of the other tribes.
It was an event as great as the alliance meeting that was held every 100 years.
However, beyond everyone's expectation, such an incredible incident happened while the meeting was being prepared.
Three princes were all killed on the way to the meeting by the new expert of Level Nine Wang She, the chief of Tian Long Taoism of the Great Jin.
Thus, a real storm had brewed with those three princes' deaths.
There would be no Khan in the prairie for a long time, so the cohesion would be broken after that. The prairie would turn into a heap of loose sands. The grand meeting held every 100 years was consequently moved forward, which had never happened since the alliance was formed.
The founding of the alliance united the forces within the prairie, which avoided the loss of strength in interior fights. However, one could not make an omelet without breaking eggs. The alliance triggered some troubles as well, such as low efficiency and intense mutual influence. What's more, aggressive people would covet the position for concentrated authority once it was vacant, and at the same time, an effective joint force couldn't be made without a leader to make quick decisions, even if the three Grandmasters of Northern Yuan were present.
This time the prairie was totally out of order. Everyone was shocked and the three Grandmasters were furious!
The three Grandmasters of Northern Yuan
Living Buddha Ba Siba, Dark Lord Mie Chen and Kunlun Master
For the first time in 100 years, the three of them joint hands to begin their pursuit of Wang She.
They had been well-known experts of Level Nine since 100 years ago. Now it was said that they all had reached the Mysterious Realm like those old, secluded monsters whose cultivation was unknown in Great Jin. What's more, even if they only owned cultivation of Level Nine and hadn't reached the Mysterious Realm,
Cultivation differed within Level Nine as well!
The three Grandmasters had been of Level Nine since 100 years ago while Wang She hadn't come to this world at that time. He just reached Level Nine recently, which couldn't be mentioned in the same breath.
So Wang She got himself in trouble! A thumping one!
Meanwhile, they made an announcement that Wang She would surely die and that no one must shield him, even the Tian Long Taoism. They even said that they would muster all of their forces and pay off all the debts of revenge if Tian Long Taoism got involved.
The public burst into an uproar!
Tian Long Taoism was one of the three sects in Great Jin, but under three Grandmasters' pressure, they had to make a concession. They announced that Wang She did that personally, it was independent of Tian Long Taoism and that they would not shield him at all.
Tian Long Taoism had taken a stand that Wang She's behavior was personal and the three Grandmasters could avenge it themselves, which was none of Tian Long Taoism's business.
The three Grandmasters disdained to force those words upon Tian Long Taoism of course. Although Wang She was a new expert of Level Nine, they were absolutely confident of killing him, if not so, he was probably a monster!
As a result, Wang She didn't become a monster but disappeared. He vanished and no one had seen him ever since. Nevertheless, it was said that he was chased and blocked by the three Grandmasters in the prairie. No one knew whether he was dead or not.
The Joint Alliance of Northern Yuan also took their action meanwhile. As the people of Great Jin, Wang She killed the princes of Northern Yuan, which definitely indicated that he was under the Great Jin's instigation.
They neither had the confidence of the Grandmasters nor needed it.
They made a punitive expedition against Great Jin as the killing happened. Approaching the northern borders of Great Jin, Seven Troops of Southern Yard first assembled in Yuyang, Hukou County and Dragon Mouth Gorge at a stalemate with the Great Jin defenders. Additionally emissaries were sent to Great Jin for accusing, demanding Great Jin's responsibility to hand Wang She over.
The Great Jin always presented itself as the great kingdom, so they wouldn't manage it as the Tian Long Taoism did. That would be shameful. Following the emissaries' suggestion, they marked Wang She as an infamous robber with a high bounty and sent money as well as goods to Northern Yuan to put the matter to rest.
For the Great Jin's stand, Junior Leopard wasn't pleased, but he couldn't give any criticism. Nevertheless, what happened next agitated him a little bit. One could say that it agitated him a lot!