Chapter 57: line then the title translation

57. Chapter 57: Having intent against the unintentional, the outcome is already decided.

That night, the relay station where Shen Yunyao and their team were resting really came under attack.

A group of bandits, fearless of death, charged toward the relay station, attempting to set it ablaze and burn it down.

Unfortunately, the prepared guards spotted the incoming enemy immediately; under a barrage of crossbow bolts, the torches thrown by these bandits only managed to set the roof of the relay station's fodder shed on fire.

Before the fire could spread, everyone doused it out.

"Block the news!"

The palace guards stationed at the relay station immediately gave the order.

The bandits' attack on the relay station naturally aimed to make a big fuss, so they certainly had to do the opposite.

However, while the Manichaeans sent people to attack the relay station, they also arranged their followers in various local government offices to pass the news upward.

Officials of Linliang Prefecture who were unaware of the truth, upon hearing that the fiancée of the Imperial Uncle had been attacked at the relay station, all sprang into action and rushed there overnight.

Their move left the great Linliang Prefecture essentially leaderless, like a dragon without a head.

The Manichaean Maitreya who had descended into the world immediately issued a decree: rise up!

Even several days earlier, the Manichaean followers had quietly gathered in Linze City.

Originally, their plan was to first seize Linze City, lure the garrison of Linliang Prefecture to rush reinforcements, then set an ambush halfway. But now they felt that Linliang Prefecture was leaderless, so they could simply take the prefectural city, trapping Linliang's elite troops in their barracks and beating them with the door closed.

"Blinded by profit!"

Upon discovering that the Manichaean followers were withdrawing from Linze City and advancing toward Linliang Prefecture, Zhao Muqing and Wang Deshun guessed their intention.

If they had first taken Linze City, then wanting to wipe out these Manichaean bandits would inevitably require a bloody battle.

But now, since they aimed for something big, once they reached outside Linze City, they had no support whatsoever.

On the official road from Linze City to Linliang Prefecture, Wang Deshun and Zhao Muqing led people to block the Manichaeans.

Fully armed elite troops, neat formation, using preparedness to strike unpreparedness—this Manichaean uprising hadn't even sparked a single flame before being completely crushed.

That Manichaean Maitreya, who thought he had the advantage, all the way until he was captured alive, never figured out where things had gone wrong.

"Who betrayed me?"

The descended Maitreya felt he had been betrayed.

He never imagined that their ploy of 'moving the tiger away from the mountain' would have been guessed from the very start.

Unfortunately, neither Wang Deshun nor Zhao Muqing had the inclination to explain things to this Maitreya.

The Manichaeans numbered over two thousand, with men, women, old and young, but truly combat-effective fighters were fewer than a thousand. Moreover, their weapons and equipment were far inferior.

Facing such a rebellion, Wang Deshun and Zhao Muqing not only quietly mobilized the entire garrison of Linliang Prefecture, but also brought three hundred men from Jiangfu Prefecture.

"A crushing victory!"

Shen Yunyao witnessed this suppression of the rebellion, and her understanding of Wang Deshun, this eunuch, increased greatly.

If it weren't for this person's advance planning, this battle would not have been so easy to win.

Moreover, Zhao Muqing actually managed to guess the Manichaeans' plot from just a single letter.

Dayong truly is a land of abundant talent.

Manichaeism, the descended Maitreya?

Utterly foolish!

If you want to rebel, you must first determine whether there is fertile ground for rebellion.

Generally, a successful rebellion either occurs when natural disasters make survival impossible, or when human calamities are so dire that not rebelling leaves no way to live.

But Dayong currently occupies neither of those conditions.

With favorable winds and rains, and a prosperous, peaceful Dayong, how many would be willing to follow a rebellion?

The Manichaeans can't even see this, yet they still claim to be professional rebels!

Shen Yunyao really wanted to interview those Manichaean Maitreyas—what kind of rebel education have they actually received?

Generation after generation, don't they know how to sum up experience and lessons?

People say, failure is the mother of success.

Yet the Manichaeans have failed again and again, still unable to produce a successful offspring, which is truly pitiful.

The descended Maitreya was captured alive, and most of the Manichaean followers were arrested.

Wang Deshun and Zhao Muqing immediately wrote a memorial, ordering the palace guards to rush at full speed to Jingcheng, asking the emperor for instructions on how to deal with these people.

With over two thousand Manichaeans, we surely can't kill them all!

Shen Yunyao, meanwhile, took Aunt Shen and Aunt Ma for a leisurely stroll around Linliang Prefecture; before Wang Deshun and Zhao Muqing received the emperor's edict, they had to temporarily stay in Linliang Prefecture.

When the news of the Manichaean rebellion in Linliang Prefecture reached the relay station, Prefect Li Zaiye of Linliang Prefecture was nearly scared limp.

Fortunately, the messenger said the rebellion had already been suppressed.

"Heaven bless us!"

Upon learning that the rebellion had been quelled by Wang Deshun and Zhao Muqing's forces, Li Zaiye finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If the Manichaean bandits had captured Linliang Prefecture, he would truly have been beyond redemption, even with a hundred deaths.

The other officials shared Li Zaiye's view, all feeling that heaven had blessed them.

They hurriedly left the relay station and returned to the prefectural city.

Along the way, they saw the detained Manichaeans, as well as the person who claimed to be the descended Maitreya.

"Prefect Li!"

Upon seeing Li Zaiye, Wang Deshun immediately smiled and said, 'With so many Manichaeans, how should we deal with them? Please, Prefect, help us think of a plan!'

Before the emperor's edict arrives, everyone here cannot escape accountability.

Therefore, even if some people might have been coerced, they still must undergo interrogation and screening.

"How about temporarily detaining them in the military camp?"

Li Zaiye looked at the more than two thousand people being detained, and felt his head as big as a measure.

In the commandery city yamen's great prison, there simply aren't enough cells to hold these people. What's more, once these over two thousand people are arrested, just their daily food consumption is an astronomical figure.

"Governor Li, the military camp is a place of great importance—how could just anyone be allowed to enter?"

Zhao Muqing, upon hearing Li Zaiye's words, didn't even think, and directly refused the governor's proposal on behalf of the colonel garrisoned in Beautiful Jade Commandery city.

"Commander Zhao, if we don't temporarily detain these people in the military camp, the commandery city's great prison simply cannot hold so many people!"

Li Zaiye looked pitifully at Zhao Muqing.

His mood right now really isn't good.

A merit, a huge merit, occurred within his jurisdiction, yet no one notified him, and he was even tricked by the bandits, becoming a complete fool,

At this moment, he still has to handle the bandits' food issue—isn't this bullying the honest?

"Governor Li!"

Wang Deshun saw Li Zaiye's inner reluctance, immediately smiled, and said, "The merit of suppressing the rebellion, you missed it, but the Manichaean sect has been lurking in Beautiful Jade Commandery for so long, developing so many followers; if you don't swiftly purge the locality, a charge of negligence, you won't be able to escape."

As Wang Deshun spoke these words, Li Zaiye instantly realized what he should do now.

He must mend the pen after losing the sheep!