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Ch57 - Meeting
As Xiao Chengjun was travelling in a horse carriage, he had many servants and a lot of luggage in tow, and he travelled much more slowly than Lou Jing could. He was unlikely to have reached Minzhou even after all this time, and Lou Jing was hoping to catch up with him on the way there.
They followed the markings left by Yun Jiu all the way here – from the Capital and across Qingzhou, but just as they entered Jiangzhou, the markings completely disappeared.
Even if that entourage moved very slowly, it had been half a month since they left – they should have reached the southern parts of Jiangzhou by now!
“Master, I will go and check the smaller roads – perhaps they travelled using those instead,” Yun Yi said calmly even though he was being dangled by the collar.
Lou Jing released him and looked around. They were on an Imperial road, and it was high noon, but the entire road was devoid of people. “Which city is nearest to this place?” he asked.
Yun Er came forward. He specialised in remembering the geography of the empire. “We’re in the south of Yunyang Prefecture, and the nearest city is Zhoushan. If we continue on for another hundred and twenty li and cross the river, we will reach Xunyang Prefecture.
Lou Jing sighed deeply. “Yun Yi, leave a marking on one of the small roads. Yun Ba, investigate the surroundings to see if there’s anything out of the ordinary,” he said.
“Yes, sir.” The two of them leapt onto their horses and went off to fulfil their missions.
Lou Jing had felt that something was off ever since they entered Jiangzhou. It wasn’t just that the Imperial roads were too quiet – he felt like there was something very wrong about his surroundings, but he couldn’t figure out precisely what. He frowned and ruminated on this for a long time. Then, he suddenly got to his feet and pushed his way into the forest behind him.
The Imperial road was flanked by forests on both sides, and after Lou Jing got past the trees, he came to a patch of flat farmland. It was the end of the third lunar month now, and the whole field was verdantly green with wheat plants.
However, the green wheat plants only had their stems and leaves, and the green wheat-straw looked like they had been trampled upon. The actual ears of wheat had all but disappeared!
Lou Jing picked up a piece of straw on the ground and finally understood what was wrong about this place. The northern parts of Jiangzhou lacked water, so rice wasn’t grown here, only wheat. He had been in a hurry all this while, but now that he was paying attention, he realised that he hadn’t seen a single good crop of wheat in the fields around the Imperial road ever since he entered Jiangzhou!
It wasn’t possible that the wheat ears had already been harvested at this time – the ears usually weren’t even fully grown in the third lunar month. What had happened? Even if it was the mountain bandits making a mess of things, they wouldn’t have gone as far as to wreck the farmlands.
“Master, the village nearby is all fenced up, and they don’t allow any outsiders to enter. There’s a sword-wielding young man guarding the entrance,” Yun Ba said, cantering his horse over to Lou Jing. He quickly got off his horse to finish his report. “Many unkempt-looking people are gathered at the Temple of the Earth God just outside the village as well. This subordinate did not dare to get too close.”
The nine of them were highly skilled martial artists, but there were at least a hundred people in that group, and it was extremely unwise to startle them. Yun Ba therefore did not go forward to investigate, and only observed from afar before turning his horse back to where Lou Jing was.
Lou Jing’s brows slowly came together in a frown. He looked at the farmlands, which looked like they had been attacked by a swarm of locusts. The conclusion was clear. There were refugees here, and it seemed like they were here in great numbers! If Jiangzhou had that many refugees, then the roads would indeed be very difficult to travel on. Xiao Chengjun would be a particularly easy target – his horse carriage might not have looked very extravagant, but it was plainly made of good material, and wouldn’t escape these hungry refugees’ eyes. The likelihood that he had met with some kind of danger was extremely high.
The mountain bandits might try to avoid officials and troops, but starving refugees would not care who you were; they were so desperate that they’d rob you even if you were the devil incarnate.
“Master, I found Yun Jiu’s markings behind a stone tablet on a dirt road,” Yun Yi said. His face was calm though his clothes were in a bit of a disarray. “Dianxia’s entourage is heading to Xunyang.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Lou Jing looked at  Yun Yi, who was covered in dust and mud. He made an executive decision and leapt on his horse. “To Xunyang,” he declared.
Given that Yun Jiu had left such a specific marker, it was very likely that Xiao Chengjun’s company must have been in a hurry to escape the refugees by quickly traversing the small dirt road toward Xunyang.
Lou Jing knew that he should trust Xiao Chengjun’s ability to handle a crisis, and he also knew that Xiao Chengjun had eight of the Youyun Sixteen with him, but he still could not help being extremely worried. These hundred and twenty li between him and Xunyang felt like the longest distance he had ever travelled.
When the sky became dark, Lou Jing had already reached the outskirts of Xunyang City. The government roads were really impassable now – dozens of ragged-looking men with crazed-looking eyes blocked their path.
Lou Jing reined in his horse and looked coldly at these men who were holding rocks and rough-hewn wooden clubs in a menacing manner.
“Give us all your money and food!” they shouted. When the people in front of them didn’t move, the refugees got a little scared. Their eyes roved greedily over Lou Jing and his companions, who were all sitting atop fine horses. Those horses alone would be enough to fill their bellies for several days, and they picked up their courage again.
“Move!” Yun Wu and Yun Liu said loudly, pulling out their swords with a flourish. These two had the duty of protecting Lou Jing’s person.
The refugees shrank in fear, taking a few steps back.
“Don’t be afraid of them! We have more people. Throw rocks at them!” the one at their head yelled. He was a man with thick protruding lips and long, bushy sideburns.
The refugees immediately moved back, then started throwing stones at Lou Jing and company. Yun Wu used his sword to cleave the stones flying toward Lou Jing, and not a single one hit their target. Lou Jing didn’t want to dally with them any more. He drove his horse forward, raised his whip and lashed out at the nearest person’s face.
That person screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Lou Jing didn’t rein in his horse, and the huge Ferghana stallion continued to charge forward, its iron-shod hooves clip-clopping loudly on the ground. Everyone was shocked into submission by the viciousness of Lou Jing’s attack, and all the refugees fled for their lives.
The Xunyang City walls were thirty feet high and made of thick, solid slabs of stone. The city gates were shut tight, and a company of official guards armed with spears guarded the city walls closely. The dirty, ragged refugees had been forced to retreat to an area about thirty feet from the city walls. Some stood and some sat, but they all had the same desperate, hungry looks on their faces. Their numbers were frightening – there were tens of thousands of them gathered outside the city.
The eight Youyun guards pulled out their swords immediately, forming a tight circle around Lou Jing. Some of the refugees who had originally been tempted to attack them gave up the idea and didn’t dare to come close when they saw how skilled and organised they were.
“Master, the Xunyang City gates have been closed for more than ten days. No one is allowed in or out,” Yun Ba said, returning after checking out the situation. He found out that the refugees were all from Qingzhou. They had moved southward following the Imperial road, but were unable to cross the river, which was why they were all gathered outside Xunyang City. The Xunyang Prefectural Magistrate didn’t dare to open the city gates, and instead mobilised Imperial soldiers to guard the city closely.
It would be very difficult to get into the city in these circumstances, but not entirely impossible.
Lou Jing narrowed his eyes and looked at the tightly guarded Xunyang City. “Look for the markings,” he instructed.
[Thirty li outside Xunyang City]
Yun Shi urged his horse forward to speak with Xiao Chengjun. “Dianxia, I’m afraid we won’t make it back to Linjiang today,” Yun Shi said, looking at the area around him.
Xiao Chengjun gave a small nod. “Let’s find a place to rest,” he said.
They were now in a small village, and there should have been large farms that they could stay the night in, but the village looked abandoned and deserted. The doors and windows of the houses all looked to be in a state of disrepair, likely because the refugees had looted everything they could from them.
“Dianxia, big residences like this always attract criminals. It’s not wise to remain here,” Yun Jiu said cautiously.
When the refugees looted the place, one of the first places they’d attack were large farmhouses like these. Regardless of whether the persons with ill intentions were thieves, robbers, or just starving refugees, they would definitely explore this residence when they entered the village. It was extremely dangerous to remain here.
Yun Shiliu had been sent to explore the area around them, and he now came running back. “Reporting to Dianxia, there is a temple dedicated to the local god just ahead,” he said.
That temple wasn’t very large, but it didn’t have a lot of people hiding in it because it was hidden behind a dense forest. The walls surrounding the temple had collapsed, but a bonfire burned brightly in the main hall. Seven or eight wan-looking people were gathered around it, and they looked at Xiao Chengjun and his companions with a mix of fear and suspicion.
Yun Shisan and Yun Shi’er went in first. They swept a large area in the western part of the worship hall clean, pulled down the red-coloured wind-blocking curtains to use as a groundsheet, then put a layer of fur rugs on it before inviting Xiao Chengjun in to rest.
Xiao Chengjun sat down on the rugs, and the eight Youyun guards quickly got a fire going. They took out some dry rations to heat over the flames.
The refugees didn’t dare to interfere with them. They just huddled even more tightly into one corner.
Xiao Chengjun couldn’t help feeling rather emotional as he looked at the Youyun guards. As a team, they were practically invincible. Navigation, assassination, hunting, healing, protecting – they could do it all.
When they left the Capital, Yun Shiyi, who specialised in assassination, discovered that they had someone on their tail. As such, Xiao Chengjun instructed An Shun and the other servants to continue forward first with the horse carriage, escorted by Lu Tao and his twenty guards. He hung back with the eight Youyun guards for a few days, waiting for the first group to get far ahead of them before moving into Jiangzhou. However, the moment they crossed the border into Jiangzhou, refugees had blocked their way…
“All you worms get outta my way!” The speaker’s voice was loud and had menacing overtones.
“We’re done for. Those are mountain bandits,” the refugees said, peeping over the windowsill. They started shaking in fear. This temple only had one door, and there was no way to escape.
Before long, five or six burly men walked in. At this time, two of the eight Youyun guards were out settling the horses, one had gone to look for food, and Yun Jiu had left to leave a marking nearby. There were only four Youyun guards with Xiao Chengjun.
The burly men were all carrying big swords or huge steel axes, and one of them had two live chickens in his hand which were flapping their wings frantically. Their leader had very dark skin and a pugnacious-looking face. A long, ugly scar ran down his forehead all the way to cheek, adding to the ferociousness of his looks.
That scar-faced man scanned the people in the temple, then raised a hand. The fellow beside him, who was about eight feet tall, walked towards the refugees and said loudly, “If you still wanna live, then take out all your valuables and give ‘em here.”
“Great Lord, we’re all refugees here – we don’t have any valuables…” one person started saying. Before he could finish speaking, the eight-foot-tall fellow kicked him hard, and he flew a foot backwards. He collapsed with an anguished scream, curling into a ball in pain.
“Great Lord, please spare us, this is all we have.” The rest of the people didn’t dare to say any more. They dug around in their clothes for a bit and pulled out a few copper coins.
Xiao Chengjun signalled to the Youyun guards to remain calm. He himself observed the mountain bandits in silence.
Scarface looked the expensively-dressed Xiao Chengjun up and down. His eyes then swept over the four guards in martial outfits next to him. “You people – take out all the money and valuables you have!” he said coldly.
Yun Shisan was in charge of his master’s personal safety, and he immediately pulled out his sword. He made a long, deep cut in the solid stone floor, as if he were cutting tofu instead of hard rock.
Scarface’s pupils shrank. The four men behind him held their weapons at the ready and glared fiercely at them.
Xiao Chengjun raised his chin in Yun Shisi’s direction. The latter understood and took out a brocade pouch. “Dear sirs, my family’s gongzi is just taking a break here and does not wish to tangle with you. The line made by my companion’s sword will serve as a boundary marker; we will not cross over, and neither will you step over this line,” he said.
As he spoke, he tossed the brocade pouch over to Scarface.
This was a carrot-and-stick approach of sorts. On one hand, they wanted to scare the bandits into not behaving rashly toward them, and on the other, they offered some money to sweeten the deal. Essentially, the message they were sending was, we have strong martial arts capabilities but we don’t want to bother getting into a fight with you, so take this money and don’t bother us any more.
The Youyun guards were extraordinarily strong, and two could probably defeat these bandits with ease, but Xiao Chengjun was a Wang, and couldn’t afford to expose his status as such in the circumstances, which was why he didn’t want to make this into a big deal.
Scarface shook the pouch in his hand. It was heavy, and likely contained at least twenty taels of silver in it. A satisfied look appeared on his face.
“Boss, this is a fat sheep.” the man holding an axe said quietly.
“Maybe so, but you need to be alive if you want to eat the fat sheep,” Scarface said. He knew his limits, and waved a hand to signal to his brothers that they could sit down on the prayer mats to roast chicken to eat.
Yun Jiu had yet to return when the two who were out dealing with the horses came back. Xiao Chengjun ate a roasted dry mantou. He didn’t really have an appetite, but he forced himself to eat the whole thing.
The temple was completely silent, save for the crackling of the bonfire.
Scarface kept looking toward Xiao Chengjun’s side of the room. He saw that there were now six guards by Xiao Chengjun’s side, and he exchanged a look with his brothers. Why would that rich fellow bother to give them money if he had so many subordinates? Perhaps only one of those fellows was actually good in a fight?
The bandits caught sight of the sword hanging on Xiao Chengjun’s waist. The Yangzhi jade pendant hanging from the sword tassel was worth a hundred taels of silver in and of itself. The mountain bandits couldn’t help looking at it covetously. After a moment of silence, the sword-wielding man and the axe-carrying one both leapt up and charged at Yun Shisan. Scarface himself attacked Xiao Chengjun directly.
“Yuanlang!” Lou Jing shouted. The first thing he saw when he entered the temple was that dirty pair of hands reaching toward his husband!