Chapter 290: Dragon Rock Battle Record (13)

Sending 200 Guard Post 'drilled' troops on a tour of the infamous Yantou Stronghold — this is no longer mere entrapment; this is naked murder!

So when Li Qianhu confirmed that the expressions on the faces of the two before him showed no sign of pretense, he finally erupted in fury and began to speak recklessly: "My lords, have you lost your minds?"

Unexpectedly, Wei Yuan chuckled: "The Red Spear Camp will soon depart to exterminate Lin Shiwan's Bandit Gang at Duima Ridge. Yantou Stronghold cannot spare the manpower. If we don't deploy Guard Post Soldiers, who do we deploy?"

The reasoning was so sound that Li Qianhu was momentarily speechless. "Deploy Guard Post Soldiers to their deaths?!"

"It's not exactly sending them to their deaths."

"This is a reckless order. I beg your pardon, but I am powerless to carry it out."

"Heh, Lord Li, it seems you've swallowed the scale's weight — your mind is made of iron." Ding Liqiu rose from his chair at this, paced over to Li Xiechun, then reached into his large sleeve and pulled out a scroll. Bending down, he slowly unfurled it before him: "Take a look at this."

The scroll was an official dispatch: Whereas Li Xiechun, Qianhu of Dragon Rock Garrison, upon encountering bandits, hesitated and failed to advance; when hailed, he stammered and did not respond, his face showing a troubled expression, bearing the semblance of harboring bandits. It is hereby ordered that the relevant office immediately strip him of his official post and detain him for investigation pending punishment.

The dispatch bore the signature of Li Qianhu's superior's superior: Shi Liangjue, Commander-in-Chief of the Zhangzhou Garrison.

After clearly making out the words on the scroll and the familiar official seal, Li Xiechun's mouth instantly gaped open, his face filled with panic, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead.

Ding Liqiu asked with a grin: "Lord Li, have you seen clearly?" The next moment, he straightened up, turned around and walked away, while shouting an order: "Seize him!"

Li Xiechun was immediately pinned to the ground by the two soldiers behind him who had long been prepared.

Finally realizing that disaster was upon him, Li Qianhu immediately shouted: "Injustice, injustice! Your subordinate has never harbored bandits!"

"Lord Li, as for this matter of harboring bandits, once you enter Zhangzhou Prison, you'll likely recall it." Wei Yuan first teased him, then asked with a chuckle: "When hailed, stammered and did not respond, head bowed and eyes downcast, face showing a troubled expression — this is called 'faltering before the enemy.' Hmm, Lord Li, what is the punishment for such an offender?"

Li Qianhu was a veteran soldier; how could he not know the Seven Disciplines and Fifty-Four Decapitations? Yet how could he answer such a question now?

He fiercely wrenched his arms free, crawled forward two steps on his knees, and while kowtowing, shouted: "Your subordinate deserves death! Pig fat blinded my heart; I should not have disrupted my lords' plans. I beg my lords to spare me this once. Once I return, I will muster the entire force, strike at Yantou Stronghold, and bring back Ma Shixia's head to atone for my crime!"

"Alright, alright, stop boasting." Ding Liqiu looked at Li Qianhu, who in such a short time had become disheveled, his face drenched in sweat and his forehead bruised purple, and couldn't help but shake his head: "Had you known this would happen, why bother shirking just now?"

"Your subordinate was muddled. I beg my lords for mercy; I will surely redeem myself through meritorious service!" From the moment he saw the official seal, Li Qianhu knew he had overplayed his hand this time.

Yet now he had no time even for regret: keeping his official post was the foundation of everything. Once escorted to Zhangzhou, all would be lost. The Commander-in-Chief could not possibly release him back — the charge of harboring bandits would certainly be confirmed. Otherwise, wouldn't it mean the Commander-in-Chief had made a blunder?

That would never happen. He would definitely be convicted, and then his family would be exiled to the official brothels. Li Qianhu understood the rules of officialdom all too well.

After exchanging a glance, Ding Liqiu and Wei Yuan saw that the heat was about right. Ding Liqiu then stood up again, picked up Lord Qianhu's black gauze official hat from the ground, dusted it off, and placed it back on his head: "Very well. Seeing that you still show a trace of repentance, this dispatch shall be temporarily kept with me."

Just as Li Qianhu was about to kowtow again, Ding Liqiu stopped him. Then, with a stern expression, he said: "Lord Li, my general is a guest of honor at the Grand Coordinator's Office. A country bumpkin who fails to recognize the times like you — killing you would be no different from slaughtering a chicken."

"Your subordinate understands, your subordinate understands!"

"Good that you understand. Do you now grasp that military orders are as unyielding as a mountain?"

"As a mountain, as a mountain. My lords, rest assured, tomorrow your subordinate will assault the stronghold. Even if every man dies, we will take Yantou Stronghold!"

"Sigh." Ding Liqiu shook his head upon hearing this: "With those beggars under your command, what assault on Yantou Stronghold?"

"Ah?"

"Telling you to bring 200 men was to pick up the scraps. Who asked you to charge the lines?"

Li Qianhu's state of mind at this moment was one of utter collapse. He had something to say but didn't know if he should.

Ding Liqiu, seeing the old face undergoing violently shifting expressions, smiled gently, then patted Lord Qianhu on the shoulder and said: "If the bandits' defenses are very tight, I permit you to flee without fighting."

And so, after the Transmigrators had employed their methods, the thoroughly tamed Li Qianhu returned that very night to organize his troops.

The next day, two contingents began their departure one after the other. One was Mr. Lan's pack horse team; the other was the 200 Guard Post 'drilled' troops led by Li Qianhu — separated by a gap of one morning.

The pack horse team, which had set out early in the morning, hurried back to Yantou Stronghold just past 10 a. m. And upon returning to the stronghold, Mr. Lan immediately began urging the stronghold members in a rapid stream of orders to set up the ritual altar — the ritual had to be performed precisely at high noon.

The altar was quickly arranged: on the square behind the stronghold gate, a long table, incense and candles, yellow paper, a peachwood sword, yellow wine — all the various items were fully prepared.

Mr. Lan had also changed into his ritual attire by now. He was draped in an apricot-yellow trigram robe, wore the True Form Crown of the Five Sacred Peaks on his head, and on his feet were cloud-head ruyi-shaped shoes — an air of immortal grace, long hair flowing, truly the image of a Daoist True Man.

Next, he first bowed several times to the bronze statue of the Earth God at the center of the altar, then bent down to open a camphorwood chest at his feet, taking out several "Dharma Artifacts" from within.

The first Dharma Artifact was a shiny iron frame, shaped like an iron umbrella with its canopy removed.

"Could this object be the origin of the Iron Umbrella Sect's name?" The onlookers crowding around all held their breath, not daring to speak; only Ma Dashigui voiced the question for everyone.

"Let the Great Boss know, this is the Heaven-Asking Umbrella. Together with the Earth-Listening Treasure Mirror, this set of items is precisely our Iron Umbrella Sect's sect-guarding treasure, named the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Spirit-Searching Treasure Mirror."

"Oh, may I ask, sir, what use does this precious item have?"

"Heh, this treasure can ask the heavens above and listen to the earth below. It can collect the true forms of a region's terrain, its yin and yang blessings." Mr. Lan paused here and gave an arrogant smile: "Let alone divining fortune and misfortune — even if there were a dragon's lair within a hundred li, I could ask it out."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." A chorus of tongue-clicking sounded all around.

While boasting, Mr. Lan directed the stronghold members to bind that shiny iron umbrella frame to the top of a large tree nearby. Once the iron umbrella was secured, Mr. Lan took out some other items from the chest.

"In truth, our Iron Umbrella Sect also belongs to the orthodox Daoist lineage, only our reputation is not well known."

As he spoke, Daoist Lan opened an iron case, then took out a sheet of fine white paper, displayed it before the crowd, and placed it into the iron case. After closing the case, he placed it before the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue: "This is the Fortune and Misfortune Box. After I perform the ritual shortly and divine the outcome, words will naturally appear on that white paper."

By this point, none of the onlookers dared to say anything more — it was simply too professional. Where had these country bumpkins ever seen such an exquisite theological ceremony?

Even a fool could see that this was on a completely different level from the crude tricks of those village spirit mediums and shamanesses, right? The equipment was just too impressive! Everyone's eyes now sparkled with excitement, just waiting for the master to display his power.

The final item was the so-called "Earth-Listening Treasure Mirror": a strange object the size of a book was placed on the incense table. Then the master put a leather headband over his head, covering both ears.

The next moment, a certain familiar "beep-beep-tap-tap" sound rang out from the telegraph machine before him as the master's fingers pressed down.

"Mm, mm, there's already a message. The Earth God has responded." After beeping and tapping for a while, Daoist Lan nodded, removed the leather headband from his head, glanced sideways at Ma Shixia beside him, and then, with a somewhat playful look, handed the earphones over: "Would the Great Boss like to listen as well?"

"Truly? Won't it offend the Earth God?" Ma Shixia spoke polite words even as he mimicked the master's manner and put the leather headband over his own ears.

"Aiya!" After listening to the beeping and tapping coming through the earphones for a few seconds, Ma Shixia hurriedly removed them: "It truly is a divine object. I cannot understand it; I dare not listen further."

"Heh, it's right that you can't listen. For those without cultivated skill, it's better not to listen."

The next moment, after looking up to check the sky, Daoist Lan's expression turned solemn. He reached out and drew the peachwood sword with a loud shout: "High noon approaches! All others withdraw, and watch me perform the ritual!"

The crowd immediately retreated upon hearing this. Then the Daoist began the ritual: dancing with the sword, lighting candles, burning talismans, spraying wine — in short, the movements were magnificent, the scene dazzling. Accompanied by the master's various mysterious incantations, the ceremony was brimming with ritualistic gravitas.

After about ten minutes, the ritual entered its final stage. The Daoist ignited all the remaining talismans, and as the yellow paper filled the sky, precisely at the moment of high noon, he concealed the sword behind his back with one hand and pointed the sword-finger of the other at the black iron case on the altar, shouting: "Earth without limit, Heaven and Earth lend me the Law! Earth God, swift as the decree!"

The frozen tableau held for about 10 seconds. Once all the talismans had fallen to the ground, Daoist Lan's ritual was complete.

"Come, come." The weary Daoist summoned the trembling onlookers over, then pointed at the black case on the altar and said: "Fortune and misfortune lie within. Go see for yourselves."

After saying this, the Daoist went to change his clothes.

At a moment like this, the task of opening the case naturally fell on Ma Dashigui's shoulders. Back in his Border Army days, Shopkeeper Ma had learned a few characters to understand military orders and dispatches, making him semi-literate.

After he opened the iron case with trembling hands, the circle of heads crowding around immediately burst into clamor: "There are words! There really are words!"

On the originally pristine white paper, a large blue character had now strikingly appeared: "Dragon sighted in the field — it is advantageous to look to the northeast."

The I Ching's explanation of "dragon sighted in the field" is this: when an opportunity appears, one should seize it.

So when Mr. Lan, who had returned after changing clothes, saw this character, he immediately began congratulating Ma Dashigui: This is the highest of auspicious lots. It not only tells the Grand Steward to seize the opportunity, but also clearly points out the most fortunate and advantageous direction: the northeast.

Hulu Valley lay precisely in the northeast.

Overjoyed, Ma Dashigui, under Mr. Lan's guidance, immediately issued the order: Today, everyone shall drink until utterly drunk; tomorrow, the entire band shall descend the mountain and go lie in ambush at Hulu Valley.