Chapter 349: Old Friends Are Hard to Keep Whole

Lian San showed no sign of anything unusual about his young master and Wang Yang turning from enemies into friends and the atmosphere being so harmonious; he didn't even show any curiosity, as if it were naturally meant to be this way. He continued to report:

"... Zhang Jue was beheaded by a personal guard of the Prince of Badong during the battle. Wang Yi fled to Wenyang County. Wenyang County, with the help of the old troops of Duke Liu, was able to be preserved, but it was only barely defending and had no power to..."

"What is the situation in Jiangling?" Wang Yang asked.

"Jiangling has been completely controlled by the Prince of Badong. The civil and military officials have all been detained in the Prince's Mansion—"

"Was the Assistant Governor Le also detained?"

Among the four top officials of Jingzhou, the one with the best relationship with Wang Yang was Le Zhan's family.

"Yes."

"What about Yu Yi?"

"Mr. Yu and the others were not dared to be touched, but soldiers were sent to guard the street where the Yu residence is located, in the name of protecting the peace of the Yu residence and settling their residence. As for other noble families who had power but did not follow the rebellion, their children were also taken as hostages—"

Baoyue patted her chest and said with relief:

"Thank goodness, thank goodness, little Xinghan has already been picked up..."

She had been anxious when she saw Xie Xinghan being deceived by Wang Yang before, and had no good way to deal with it, so she had to use her big move—"telling the parents."

Of course, she couldn't pit her best friend, so this "telling" was not informing, but telling the Xie family. The Xie family's business had all been dealt with. Now it seems that her move was truly too wise!

Just as a stone in her heart landed, she heard Lian San say:

"The Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi Xie has been detained in the Prince of Badong's mansion..."

"What?!!!"

Baoyue was shocked!!!

Wang Yang had already guessed a bit of the bad news from Lian San's narration before. Although he had some mental preparation, hearing this news clearly still made his blood surge, and a layer of cold sweat instantly oozed from his back!

"That's impossible! Did the Xie family not go to pick her up? Or did that stupid girl disobey orders and not leave??? I told her long ago! I told her long ago to leave Jingzhou quickly! Why didn't she listen?!"

Baoyue panicked, both anxious and angry, cursing the Prince of Badong for being crazy and despicable. Detaining the Jingzhou gentry was one thing, but what was the point of detaining Xie Xinghan?! Then she cursed the Xie family for being incompetent, not even being able to take their daughter back! At the same time, she deeply hated herself for writing the letter too cryptically. She couldn't tell the Xie family about the infighting of the princes, let alone mention that Xie Xinghan was close to Wang Yang. She could only complain about the defense of Jingzhou and the capture of Liu Cheng. Now it seems it would have been better to just tell Xie Fei directly that his daughter was about to be abducted by someone! She didn't believe Xie Fei would still be able to sit still!

Wang Yang calmed down and asked:

"What about the Assistant Governor's son, Le Pang, and the Yu family's second son, Yu Yuling?"

Lian San paused and said:

"They were also detained as hostages..."

Wang Yang's heart sank. Several of the people he had the best relationship with were about to be wiped out in one net. Seeing Lian San's hesitation in speaking, his premonition became even worse:

"What else is there? Tell me everything."

Lian San looked at Baoyue. Baoyue was in a fit of anger and didn't notice the direction of the conversation. Seeing Lian San looking at her and not answering Wang Yang's question, she thought there was some intelligence he didn't want to make public, so she urged:

"Whatever he asks you, just say it. Why are you looking at me?"

Lian San had no choice but to speak bluntly:

"Young Master Wang's residence has been locked, the servants are all locked inside, the County School has also been forced to stop classes, and the Libationer Liu Zhao has been imprisoned—"

Chen Qingshan couldn't help but let out an "Ah," and Baoyue slammed the table in anger:

"Even if it's rebellion, there's no reason to lock up a private residence for no reason! Wang Yang served the country by dealing with the barbarians! On what charge did the Prince of Badong lock up his residence?!"

"The Prince of Badong's faction slandered Young Master Wang and his uncle for plotting to seize Jingzhou, deliberately leaking their whereabouts to the barbarian tribes, inciting the barbarians to intercept and kill them, thereby provoking the chaos in Jingzhou, and then taking advantage of the chaos in the name of suppressing the rebellion to gather troops and divide the territory, wanting to indulge in unpredictable ambitions..."

Baoyue said indignantly:

"This kind of ghost talk wouldn't even fool a child!"

Lian San thought to himself that there were still some people among the commoners who believed it, especially after Wang Yi "came back from the dead" and appeared in public to denounce the Prince of Badong. In addition, many people were spreading that Wang Yang came to Jingzhou to pave the way for Wang Yi, and that everything from the capture of Liu Cheng to the toppling of the Chief Clerk Liu Yin was planned by Wang Yang, with the goal of provoking a war between the Han and the barbarians to push Wang Yi to power.

The so-called "a tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind; one who is higher than the crowd will be criticized by others." Wang Yang was the most talented in Jingzhou, and his limelight was unmatched. There were countless people who were jealous, but with the name of the Langya Wang family, many people felt balanced in their hearts, thinking that Wang Yang's talent was "understandable," after all, it was the Langya Wang family.

With the name of the Wang family and Wang Yang's momentum, those who were jealous were resentful but had no good way to deal with it, and they didn't dare to go against the crowd. After all, Wang Yang's popularity was really good, especially among the Confucian scholars, where his reputation was very high, almost like a grandmaster of a generation. So they could only make some sarcastic remarks, spread some rumors in secret, and splash some dirty water, but they couldn't stir up any waves at all. Especially after Wang Yang encountered disaster in the barbarian territory and became a god upon death, even those who splashed dirty water temporarily stopped. At most, they just made some subtle comments about Wang Yang's scholarship, praising him on the surface while criticizing him in secret, partly to scare people and raise themselves up, and partly to vent their anger and comfort themselves, but it was just a mantis trying to stop a chariot, not worth mentioning. This time, when the rumor of Wang Yang and his uncle's rebellion spread, some people naturally couldn't help but push the waves, but apart from those who were firmly following the Prince of Badong to fight for their future, and those who were confused and didn't know the situation, no one dared to openly stand for this statement, to avoid being tainted with the crime of following the rebellion.

But Lian San felt that as long as the young master and Wang Yang didn't ask, these words shouldn't be said, otherwise it would just cause anger.

Wang Yang didn't need Lian San to detail the situation. There is nothing new under the sun. Once he heard Lian San say this charge, he had a prediction in his heart, but locking his residence was still very unexpected to him, after all, he had never openly been an enemy of the Prince of Badong.

It was reasonable for the Prince of Badong to smear Wang Yi, but there was no need to smear himself. Even if it was because of his cheap uncle, there was no need to lock his residence. He had never offended him. Although he won a few bets, for the Prince of Badong, it should not only not be a minus, but a plus. And with the Prince of Badong's character, he wouldn't be so insidious and detailed, would he think of locking his residence?

It was precisely because of this that Wang Yang let everything in his residence remain as usual before his mission. One was not to alert the enemy and prevent the Prince of Badong from seeing the clues, and the other was that Wang Yang felt that even if the interception failed, the Prince of Badong would not attack his family. Once everything settled down, he would entrust Yu Yi to secretly send Blackie and A-Wu to Wenyang County to join him, under Director Liu Tan Tan's protection. This was also one of the conditions for saving Liu Cheng at the beginning.

As for the family property, he would take what he could, and if he couldn't take it, he would let Yu Yi sell it for cash. Even if the Prince of Badong found out he wasn't dead and wanted to silence him, with Director Liu Tan Tan protecting him with the power of the Liu family, he could still live safely in Wenyang County. Wang Yang even planned to buy a house near the county government at that time, which would be safer. But the Prince of Badong's rebellion disrupted the original plan. And the matter of locking the residence and locking up the servants didn't look like the Prince of Badong's handiwork. Could someone be taking the opportunity to harm him?

Wang Yang's expression hardly changed, and he asked calmly:

"Why arrest Mr. Liu?"

Xie Xinghan, Le Pang, and Yu Yuling were hostages. Although they were detained, they wouldn't suffer too much. But Lian San used the word "imprisoned" when talking about Liu Zhao, so the nature was completely different.

"Libationer Liu publicly cleared Young Master Wang's name, and even broke into the Prince's Mansion, demanding the release of the Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi Xie and the second son of the Yu family and others. He was locked up and imprisoned on charges of unruly speech and inciting academic chaos. Zong Ce drank and cursed in the street, and was also imprisoned..."

Wang Yang was silent.

Chen Qingshan looked at Wang Yang worriedly. She knew that Liu Zhao held a very important position in Wang Yang's heart. If Liu Zhao made any request, Wang Yang would agree even if he wasn't so willing. Just like the matter of lecturing at the County School, even if he was busy, he wouldn't be late.

Baoyue didn't know the specific situation between Liu Zhao and Wang Yang, but she was afraid that Wang Yang would have a psychological burden, so she comforted him:

"This is the Prince of Badong's move to establish prestige, to deter the academic forest and intimidate the pure stream. Liu and Zong are one a classic master and the other a famous scholar, just right to be used as a warning to others. But both have a reputation, and they are from the Nieyang Liu clan and the Nanyang Zong clan. The Prince of Badong has great ambitions and must have the help of noble families. Now is the time to win people's hearts and cage talents, so he won't do anything to them..."

Wang Yang looked into Lian San's eyes and asked:

"Does the Prince of Badong have any words to bring to me?"

Baoyue immediately said: "You are overthinking."

At the same time, she signaled Lian San with her eyes not to speak.

Wang Yang looked at Baoyue:

"There is no need to hide this. I have my own sources of information. If he doesn't tell me, I will send someone to Wenyang Gorge to ask, it's the same."

Baoyue glared at Wang Yang and said to Lian San with annoyance:

"Say it."

Lian San bowed and arched his hands, lowered his head and reported:

"It is rumored that when the Prince of Badong faced Wang Yi, he leaped out on his horse and invited Young Master Wang to come out and meet. Wang Yi sent someone to answer, 'My family's children are ashamed to see rebellious ministers and thieves.' The Prince of Badong was furious and shouted: 'Tell Wang Yang, if he binds himself and surrenders, he can be protected. If he is stingy with a meeting, then old friends will be hard to keep whole!'"

The Prince of Badong's words were vague. "If he binds himself and surrenders, he can be protected"—does this "protected" mean the Prince of Badong will protect Wang Yang, or protect others? And who exactly are the "old friends" that are "hard to keep whole"?

Baoyue's heart jumped, and she pretended to smile with contempt:

"Such stupid and inferior tricks are worthy of deceiving people? The more vague his words are, the more it proves he is strong on the outside but weak on the inside! You ask him who the 'old friends' are? Does he dare to say it clearly? No need to mention Xie Xinghan, just take the Yu and Le families' sons, you let him try to touch one? Zhang Jue was killed in battle, which is naturally different. But if the Prince of Badong dares to kill unarmed children of noble families, he will be cutting himself off from the Jingchu noble families! Don't look at him detaining so many hostages; in fact, they are all thorny sticks. If you hold them tight, they prick your hands; if you don't hold them, you lose your chips. He actually wants to use this to deceive you. It's truly a good dream! If you don't go, he won't dare to do anything. If you go, you're just throwing one more person away. It's just words to provoke you. This kind of clumsy plan can't even deceive Xin Yi."

Xin Yi was a little embarrassed:

"Actually, I haven't had time to think about it carefully, and it's not good to praise it like that. I was mainly just—"

"Shut up."

"Oh."

Baoyue saw Wang Yang thinking silently, and was even more worried. She smiled easily on the surface:

"You don't really believe it, do you? If you are that stupid, then I'll bet with you. No matter if you go or not, the Prince of Badong will not release the hostages."

Wang Yang stood silently in place, watching the sunlight pass through the gaps in the tent top, forming a clear pillar of dust. He was lost in thought for a few seconds, then looked at Baoyue and slowly revealed a smile:

"I never make stupid choices."

Baoyue finally breathed a sigh of relief.

——————

Note: *Book of Liang · Biography of Director Liu Tan Tan*: "Zixiang was in Jingzhou, and Tan followed him to the garrison. Zixiang was close to villains. Tan knew there would be disaster, so he claimed illness and returned to the capital. When the difficulty arose, Tan was spared because he returned early." So in the original timeline, Director Liu Tan Tan should have left Jingzhou before the Prince of Badong rebelled, but because Liu Cheng was kidnapped, he was appointed as the Prefect of Wenyang, and relied on the old troops of the Liu family to keep Wenyang from being lost (see 【Author's Say】). This book, wherever it writes about history changing due to Wang Yang's transmigration, must have traces that can be checked backward and logic that can be reversed. It will not just be a butterfly effect.

PS: I don't have accounts on Douyin, Bilibili, or Xiaohongshu, and I won't privately message others claiming to be the author of *Mao Xing Langya* or anything like that. Don't be fooled!!! If someone claims to be, you should immediately ask them to open a video and recite *Yuanyuan Qu* (just kidding, I wouldn't claim to be myself). Using the same name and avatar doesn't matter, but if there is any impersonation and fraud, I will report it and add a lawyer's gift package, pursuing both civil and criminal liability, I'm not kidding... (Wang Yang is impersonating a family status, not a real person, dear). ===== CHAPTER 350 =====