Chapter 146: Nan Jun's Secrets

Chen Wuji, with little fish, suddenly appeared at the blacksmith shop, giving Yang Tiejiang a start.

"It's so late, why are you here?" Yang Tiejiang, rustle‑rustle, scrubbed the rain‑like sweat from his face with a cloth and asked in surprise.

Chen Wuji gave Yang Tiejiang a look, and the two walked together onto the street outside.

"What happened?" Yang Tiejiang, seeing Chen Wuji's expression, let his tone grow serious.

"Old Yang, although the two of us are now practically sharing fortunes and misfortunes, aren't we?" Chen Wuji asked.

Yang Tiejiang's fierce gaze snapped, "Stop spouting that nonsense and tell me what actually happened. Even if the sky fell, I could bear it; I'm not the kind of coward who shies away from any trouble."

"Come with me to kill a few people!" Chen Wuji said.

Yang Tiejiang was stunned.

The weight of Chen Wuji's words was so great that it made Yang Tiejiang's mind buzz.

"Must it be killing?" he asked in a lowered voice.

"It must be killing."

"How many?" Yang Tiejiang inhaled deeply, staring straight at Chen Wuji.

"Seven or eight people."

"The two of us, to kill seven or eight?" Yang Tiejiang's face suddenly changed, and in a deep voice he asked, "Since when did you know my identity?"

"Hm?"

This time it was Chen Wuji who was bewildered.

From that tone, Old Yang has another identity?

What's Yunan, this place? Zhang Lao can hand‑make gunpowder, and Old Yang also has other identities.

"By chance, not to deliberately investigate you, just happened to know," Chen Wuji said, following Yang Tiejiang's words, with a hint of inscrutability.

Yang Tiejiang's eyes flickered, and he murmured, "It seems you're quite familiar with that old fellow from the Coffin Shop. Here in Yunan, aside from him, no one else knows my identity."

Chen Wuji smiled, "Just kidding with you; I really don't know. Though I'm somewhat familiar with Shopkeeper Xu, it's not to that extent. Since you have another identity, you shouldn't reveal it so quickly. I haven't said anything, yet you can't sit still yourself."

"When I said kill seven or eight, there are other hands involved; you don't need to act personally. I just want you to bring a few truly trustworthy sons and nephews to give me a front, to confuse the other side."

Yang Tiejiang looked at Chen Wuji with bewildered doubt, tapping his bright forehead twice, and said, "I can't tell which of your statements are true and which are false now."

"Everything I said is true; the identity thing was exposed by you, so don't blame me!" Chen Wuji laughed, "You claim you have another identity, yet your mouth isn't very tight!"

Yang Tiejiang slapped his forehead twice, "Indeed, it's my fault, but that doesn't count as saying it, right? My other identity is a farmer, though I no longer practice it."

Chen Wuji stared at Yang Tiejiang as if at a fool for a moment, "This matter is extremely risky. Although we have some backing, in the short term our backing can't give us much support. If we're exposed, death becomes a risk. If you have reservations, just pretend I said nothing."

"I'll go with you; the others can stay out of it!" Yang Tiejiang said, "I consider these sons and nephews trustworthy, but I don't believe in human nature; this thing is too complicated to gamble on."

"Just seven or eight people, hand them over to me! Since you can so casually entrust such a big deal to me, Old Yang is not that unrefined a person, is he?"

"That's a different matter!" Chen Wuji shook his head.

"The ones who will actually act are elsewhere; I only need you for a covert show of force, to make those people hesitate to act."

Yang Tiejiang raised his hand and cut Chen Wuji off, "Just seven or eight people, why waste so much effort?"

Chen Wuji: …

He now doubts whether Yunan is abnormal, as everyone he meets there is so odd, each seeming to carry something shady.

"You seem so confident?" Chen Wuji asked.

"My confidence isn't great, but I still have some assurance about the seven or eight," Yang Tiejiang said.

Seeing this, Chen Wuji had to change his tactics on the fly.

Actually, with the two killing tools provided by Zhang Lao, there really was no need to be as cautious as before.

"Let's go now," Chen Wuji said.

"Wait a moment, I'll change clothes."

The weather was too dark, and Yang Tiejiang always went shirtless.

Chen Wuji, having seen Yang Tiejiang so many times, seemed never to have seen him with his upper body clothed.

Yang Tiejiang returned to the blacksmith shop, and when he came out he wore a set of black sturdy armor and held a sleeveless long sword; the blade was broad, somewhat like a greatsword but a bit narrow.

"Old Yang, can you now reveal your identity?" Chen Wuji asked.

He was truly curious, even eager to get an answer.

"Can't!" Yang Tiejiang bluntly refused Chen Wuji.

Chen Wuji: …

"Then, let me ask differently: do most people living in Yunan and even Nan Jun have some unknown past?" Chen Wuji asked.

He truly had that bit of doubt now.

Meeting one might be accidental.

But encountering one after another, it's hard to explain.

Yang Tiejiang smiled lightly, "It seems I'm not the first you have met, but I am probably the first to expose my identity. Actually, this question is easy to answer; just look at the county annals and you'll see."

"Do you know which region this belonged to during the Former Dynasty?"

Chen Wuji tentatively asked, "A chaotic land?"

"That's about right," Yang Tiejiang nodded, "During the Former Dynasty, Nan Jun was occupied by foreign tribes. The occupiers were the Shaodang Qiang, a small tribe; a ten‑thousand‑strong army could easily pacify and retake Nan Jun."

"But at the end of the Former Dynasty, the Court was inactive, almost openly handing the land to the Shaodang Qiang. This enraged many enlightened officials, and the common folk spontaneously descended from Shenxian Ling to attack Nan Jun; most of those people later stayed in Nan Jun."

"However, this place is mostly populated by Jianghu persons; when someone commits a crime, they cross Shenxian Ling and slip into the area, and even whole clans have migrated here in large numbers. In Nan Jun, any family that still has a clan genealogy today with more than ten households must have been those who offended the Court back then and were unwelcome."

"The Shaodang Qiang nearly exterminated the Han people here, so you can imagine how few ordinary Han civilians remain. There are some, like the recent refugees fleeing south from Shenxian Ling, but truly there are very few—perhaps only one in ten households."

"However, there's an exception: among the major clans in Nan Jun today, only about half are Han, the rest are mostly Qiang, given surnames by the Court after pacification, such as the Zhang Clan of Yunan."