Chapter 197: Unjust and Unfair

Liu Lin knew from the moment he heard that question that there was no hope for him today.

To put it bluntly, it didn't matter whether the melon was sweet or not... of course, Liu Lin had eaten one at noon, so it was definitely sweet... but the problem wasn't the melon.

The situation now was that one side had won, the other had lost, a total victory and a total defeat. The victor, like Zhang Rong, held the knife in hand; the loser was just like the melon in this cart, ready to be cut open. There was no symmetry between them. Once the one holding the knife suspected you weren't sweet, you weren't sweet even if you were, let alone when you really weren't sweet!

And so, with this thought, Liu Lin was actually quite magnanimous. He rose calmly from the mud and water, clasped his hands in salute, then raised his head boldly: "Chief Zhang, I am Liu Lin, Crown Prince of Qi. I narrowly escaped death at Suotou Beach in Liangshan Marsh back then, but I have always remembered the sight of Chief Zhang singing alone in his boat. Today I have finally fallen into your hands, and I have nothing to say. I only ask that you spare my attendants..."

Hearing this, several attendants tried to rise, but this only drew the Dongping Prefecture armored soldiers closer with a loud shout, quickly surrounding them.

In the dim rain, Zhang Rong, holding his knife and the melon, was stunned for a moment before sneering in reply: "As expected of a scholar-official family who has studied the classics, your words are so well-ordered, not like me, Old Zhang, who can only sing silly fishing songs... but why would a family of such poetry and books surrender to the Jin and become rebels, earning the contempt of us rough men?"

Liu Lin, dressed in short clothes, did not hesitate. He immediately clasped his hands earnestly: "Surrendering to the Jin is the truth. Chief Zhang is a hero of the world, and I have nothing to say if you look down on us father and son. But I, Liu Lin, would rather die than accept the label of 'rebel'... Chief Zhang spent many years at Liangshan Marsh. Don't you know what it means when officials force the people to rebel? The Zhao family wronged the world first. We father and son rebelled, but we are only rebels against the Zhao family, not rebels against the people of the world!"

At this point, Liu Lin sneered and pointed at him, delivering a sharp rebuke: "Chief Zhang, don't you understand yet? We are essentially the same kind of people!"

Zhang Rong nodded repeatedly at this, but then quickly shook his head: "Crown Prince Liu, fine words and fine bearing. If I weren't from Liangshan Marsh, your neighbor in Jinan, I might almost believe you... Let me ask you this: I, Zhang Rong, may not be very capable, and I have indeed lost battles and implicated the local people, but no matter what, I have never deliberately bullied the people of Dongping, have I? But your father became emperor, and there was the great conscription in Jinan and the great plundering in Yanzhou. How many common folk have fled? It's almost catching up to the situation north of the river. Do you really think I'm blind?"

Liu Lin was momentarily speechless, because he knew that what the other said was the undeniable truth.

To be honest, after the puppet Qi was established and the Liu family ascended the throne, the Liu father and son, knowing they were irreconcilable with the Zhao Song, did everything they could to protect themselves. On one hand, they honored Confucius and held imperial examinations; on the other, they issued proclamations denouncing the three reigning Zhao Song emperors while desperately begging the Jin in Hebei for military aid. Turning around, they also launched a massive conscription while indulging warlords like Kong Yanzhou and Li Cheng, who acted with impunity... Jinan Prefecture alone, though a famous and large prefecture, had, after several wars, a population almost equal to Dongping Prefecture. And this time, Liu Lin led over twenty thousand troops, while his father had another ten thousand in Jinan, all hastily conscripted. Was the burden on the common people any lighter than under the Zhao Song?

In fact, it was even worse than that. Some things couldn't be seen on the surface.

For example, Zhang Rong in Dongping Prefecture also had over twenty thousand troops, but a considerable portion of them were fishermen who had left agricultural production, or refugees from Hebei.

And although Kong Yanzhou had scraped the bottom of the barrel in Yanzhou, perhaps because he was a rogue by origin, his plundering was mostly directed at wealthy households and the middle class, rarely squeezing the poor to the bone.

On the other hand, the Liu father and son, in order to secure a ruling base, gave many privileges to the scholar-officials and powerful families. Yet they also needed to maintain a large army to demonstrate their value to the Jin, which inevitably meant they would drain the common people dry...

In short, the suffering of the people during times of rise and fall is something that cannot be fully expressed with reason or words. Liu Lin's words were certainly deceptive enough, but Zhang Rong had been living at Liangshan Marsh, bordering Jinan, and knew the truth in his heart.

Of course, Liu Lin's performance this time was also a case of one plan failing, then trying another. And when that second attempt failed, he couldn't help but show his discouragement: "Chief Zhang, I have no other intentions. I only ask that you not send me to Dongjing... Why not take me alone to find my father and exchange me for a large amount of gold, silver, and weapons?"

The light grew dimmer, but Zhang Rong could still be seen shaking his head by the cart: "If it were a month ago, I would have agreed. But to be honest with you, Crown Prince Liu, this time I not only owe a great favor to Grand Defender Yue, but I also can't refuse the Zhao Song Emperor... If it weren't for the Emperor's Personal Guard at Beixinqiao desperately holding off Li Cheng for so long, I might have died first under the walls of Pingyin... If you ask me, Crown Prince Liu, since you are so gracious, I will treat you honestly. Let's go to Dongjing together. At the very least, you'll get a good final meal in Dongjing City!"

Hearing this, Liu Lin knew it was unchangeable. But he was the kind of person who would seek a way out even in death and was not one to give up easily. So, despite his discouragement, he still held a faint hope, thinking that since Zhang Rong was a rebel warlord who had only recently been pacified, if he couldn't convince him today, he might try again on the road to persuade this man and find a way to survive.

So he kept his mouth shut for the time being.

Leaving aside how Liu Lin felt as he was taken away to change clothes, Zhang Rong, having captured Liu Lin and avenged last year's defeat, did not show any joy. On the contrary, the many close chiefs and generals around him who had heard their leader's words just now also wore grim expressions.

The rain grew heavier. The combined Dongping-Liangshan forces did not return to the city but instead used Liu Lin's camp to go back to their own central army camp. There, in the main tent, they lit torches and prepared fresh fruits, seasonal delicacies, meat, wine, and stir-fried dishes to celebrate.

However, as the various chiefs who had been sweeping the front returned victorious, they were initially excited beyond words. But after a few drinks, they, like Zhang Rong, gradually grew displeased.

In fact, many of them were crude, illiterate, and unrestrained, speaking whatever came to mind...

"Big Brother, are you really going to Dongjing to accept the amnesty?" one man, already a third drunk, suddenly brought up the issue out of the blue.

"What amnesty?" Zhang Rong's expression didn't change, or rather, his dark face was hard to read. "Weren't we already amnestied the year before last? I became a Pacification Commissioner, you all became Commanders and Leaders, and Old Xiao and his brothers even became County Magistrates."

"That's not what Old Five means."

Another man, reeking of alcohol, spoke bluntly, sitting closer to Zhang Rong, almost at his right hand. He was Zhang Rong's trusted military advisor, known as Scholar You. "Big Brother, why pretend? The year before last, the Great Song Emperor was trapped south of the Huai, and the world was in chaos. We used his name to contact the surrounding government troops to drive away the Jin dogs from the edge of the marsh. Accepting the amnesty was a temporary measure. But today, the Great Song Emperor is in Dongjing, and Grand Defender Yue has led his army around to our front. If he takes it slow, he can take Yanzhou and trap us inside to be dealt with slowly. If he's in a hurry, we're already surrounded. If Grand Defender Yue is ruthless enough, what's to stop him from just wiping us out..."

"So you know we're surrounded?" Zhang Rong, usually quick to laugh, coldly interrupted him. "You've laid it out so clearly. Are you trying to persuade me to go to Dongjing, or are you trying to stop me?"

"Of course I don't want Big Brother to go!" Scholar You said earnestly, tears of anxiety streaming down his face. "I'm just saying that if we go to Dongjing, the fake amnesty will become a real one. Then, with one transfer order, our brothers will be scattered to the four corners of the world, and we won't be able to do anything about it. Neither you, Big Brother, nor any of us will ever be able to live so freely and happily again!"

"But this is the situation. What else can we do?" Zhang Rong sighed in response. "If we pretend not to understand and stubbornly refuse to go, and Grand Defender Yue receives an imperial decree to suppress us, can we really hold Dongping?"

"Then we'll go back to Liangshan Marsh!" The man who had spoken first suddenly threw down his wine bowl, tore off his clothes, revealing a patch of black chest hair, and began to rage drunkenly in the tent. "Once we're in the marsh, on the mountain, it's our world. Unless they can fly over, who can touch us?"

Hearing such drunken talk, many in the tent frowned slightly. When Scholar You heard this, he couldn't help but bang his wine bowl on the table: "Old Five, you bastard! Why did you have to say 'unless they can fly over'? Don't you know Yue Fei's name means 'fly'? Saying that is just asking for trouble!"

The tent erupted into chaos.

Some talked about immortals, some about dragons; some drank, some pounded the table; some discussed military matters, others spoke of heaven's will. The commotion grew worse and worse... In the end, the crudest and most arrogant were shouting slogans about marching on Dongjing and making Big Brother the Emperor, while the timid and dissatisfied grew impatient and began to make sarcastic remarks.

Seeing the chaos getting out of hand, Zhang Rong grew impatient. He suddenly stood up, kicked over the table in front of him with a loud crash, and drew his sword, stabbing it into the damp ground before him.

The tent fell silent instantly, leaving only the sound of rain and frogs outside.

"Stop all this nonsense!" Zhang Rong, bare-chested and wearing a silk vest, stood there looking around coldly. "Anyone talking about fighting the government troops or Commander-in-Chief Yue is a damn fool! Ask yourselves honestly: if there were any chance of winning, why would I be thinking of going to Dongjing? All this foolishness—where are you putting the lives of our brothers? If you think you can decide when to fight, then kill me first and then talk!"

At least thirty percent of the men in the tent were momentarily awed.

"And as for those of you making snide remarks, don't think I, Old Zhang, don't understand... You're all thinking the same thing as those who abandoned me after our defeat last year, aren't you? Once you left the marsh and became officials of a county or a village, you got ambitious and didn't want to go back to the marsh and live a hard life." Zhang Rong continued to sweep his cold gaze across the tent. "So the very mention of going back to Liangshan Marsh makes you uncomfortable! Well, I, Old Zhang, find you uncomfortable too!"

Another thirty to forty percent of the men in the tent looked panicked.

"But uncomfortable as I am, I don't blame you." Zhang Rong suddenly sighed. "It's because this is all you know. Some of you only see the comfort of hiding in Liangshan; others think that once you're amnestied, you'll bring glory to your ancestors... But have any of you bastards ever thought about what my world is like?"

This time, even Scholar You and his group became cautious, pricking up their ears to listen.

"Old Five." Zhang Rong pointed at the man who had earlier taken off his clothes and shouted about marching on Dongjing to replace the Emperor, speaking seriously. "You hold a grudge against the government, against the Great Song. Don't you think I do too? Why did I become an outlaw back then? It was because that old Daoist Emperor Zhao was in Dongjing, wanting to transport some 'Flower and Stone Network' from the southeast. So many rocks, boat after boat, they completely clogged the canal. When the canal wasn't enough, they went up the Si River, turning through our Liangshan Marsh to get to the Ji River. But the mouth of the Si River was narrow, and the crossing was extremely slow... For the sake of those rocks, they forbade fishing and ferrying. For months, people were on the verge of starvation. So everyone elected me as their leader to go and talk to the County Magistrate. I didn't meet the Magistrate, only the duty constable. He gave me a beating and threw me in jail. Everyone was furious, so they stormed the jail, rescued me, killed the officials, and rebelled. That's how we ended up on Liangshan! You, Old Five, talk about never forgetting this. Do you think I could forget?"

Old Five's face was dark with a flush of red. He wanted to speak but stopped, only lowering his head.

"But what makes me better than you, better than those who forget their roots once they become officials, is that I have never forgotten the fundamental reason for things." Zhang Rong's tone suddenly became fierce again. "From the very beginning, I remembered that the fundamental purpose of being the Great Chief of Liangshan Marsh was to ensure that the local people could fish and farm, and that they wouldn't lose their lives in vain just because some emperor wanted to trade countless lives for rocks!"

"But..." Old Five below finally couldn't bear it and tried to interrupt.

"But today, the ones who won't let the people around our Liangshan Marsh live in peace are not the Emperor in Dongjing, but the Jin from the north!" Zhang Rong's voice was harsh, almost a roar. "Why can't you understand? Have you forgotten who used the people of Jizhou as target practice south of the marsh the year before last? Who massacred over a dozen towns in Jingxi east of the marsh last year? Even if you haven't been to Jingxi, so many brothers from Hebei have said the Jin treat the people of Hebei like livestock, distributing them as private slaves to their Meng'an and Mouke units. Are they all lying? If the Jin cross the Yellow River again, and we hide in the marsh, what about all the people in Dongping Prefecture?! You can hide, but I, as the Great Chief and Pacification Commissioner, dare not hide anymore! At this time, what else can I do but go to Dongjing and accept the amnesty?!"

The entire camp was dead silent.

By the time Zhang Rong finished his long, somewhat logically disjointed speech, he was already hoarse, his veins bulging, and still seething with indignation.

He pulled off his silk vest, picked up his knife from the ground, and walked out with his bare, dark shoulders. At the door, he couldn't help but turn back and add one more thing:

"A bunch of fucking thieving birds!"

Having cursed angrily, he went out alone into the rain.

Zhang Rong had been the Great Chief of Liangshan Marsh for many years. In another timeline, when the Jin completely controlled Jingdong, he simply led the entire group, protecting countless Liangshan fishermen, south along the Si River, and physically moved the entire Liangshan Marsh to the Huainan region. What prestige was that?

Therefore, since the Great Chief had left in genuine anger, all the chiefs and officers in the tent looked embarrassed. For a long time, no one dared to move. They all looked at Scholar You. Scholar You had no choice but to fidget for a while before carefully getting up and chasing after him.

When he went out to ask, he found that the Great Chief had left the central army camp and gone to the place where Liu Lin had been captured. When he caught up, he found the man bare-chested in the rain, enjoying a crisp melon. Seeing his advisor catch up, he casually broke off a piece and handed it to him:

"Are they all settled down?"

"They're settled." The scholar also learned from his chief, squatting under the cart, eating melon in the rain.

"I'm going to Jingdong myself. Scholar, you lead them and temporarily listen to Grand Defender Yue's orders..." Zhang Rong had clearly calmed down, giving instructions while eating his melon. "I've dealt with Grand Defender Yue for a while; he's a trustworthy man. But until I return, you must keep a tight rein on everyone. Don't let Grand Defender Yue win their hearts, and don't let those bastards below start causing trouble."

"Yes." The scholar nodded, holding the melon. "Big Brother must also be careful. First, be wary of Liu Lin causing trouble on the road. Second, be careful that those officials in Dongjing aren't good people, and don't let them harm you."

"The first one I'm not afraid of—what I said in the tent just now was all from the heart, how could he fool me?" Zhang Rong shook his head repeatedly. "But as for the second one, if they really want to harm me when I get to Dongjing, I can only say it's up to fate!"

You Xuejiu sighed faintly: "Those words—I didn't dare say them in the tent just now. If I had, something would definitely have gone wrong."

Zhang Rong kept shaking his head: "That's why I'm not willing to accept it... I still want to see the sincerity of these government troops."

"Brother, you mean...?"

"I'll wait another day before setting out, to see if Yue Pengju can come see me in person." Zhang Rong finished half a cucumber, sucked his fingers, and then answered calmly in the rain. "Of course I know this is a bit unreasonable to think, but if Yue Pengju dares to come alone into my tent to see me, it'll at least put my mind at ease a little, won't it? But if he doesn't come, there's nothing we can do about it either."

You Xuejiu hesitated for a moment, then still nodded.

Just as Zhang Rong was about to pull out a second cucumber from under the cart, he suddenly felt a slight tremor in the ground, and then from where Liu Lin's rear camp's back gate used to be—now the front camp's front gate—came a commotion... This posture, it really seemed like someone was launching a night raid, and it had thrown everything into chaos.

But fortunately, it wasn't a night raid. After a moment, someone came to report that the Commander of the Forward Army of the Great Song Imperial Camp, an old acquaintance Yue Pengju, had come to see him.

Zhang Rong and You Xuejiu looked at each other, momentarily speechless... Then Zhang Rong went to the front to greet him, while You Xuejiu returned to the central army tent to tidy up the mess and filth.

However, just as things were more or less straightened out here, the two important figures still hadn't come to the tent to drink. You Xuejiu had no choice but to go looking again, and found Zhang Rong back at the cucumber cart where the rear camp had become the front camp... The latter was squatting on the ground eating cucumbers just like before. If not for the firelight from a tent's brazier reflecting a bloody human head in the mud beside the chieftain, the scholar would have almost thought he'd just been having a fit of delirium.

"So what's the verdict?" the scholar asked earnestly.

"Since he came, what verdict could there be?" Zhang Rong said nonchalantly, clearly in a much better mood. He spat a melon seed toward the head at his feet before continuing. "Little Yue still values friendship. He came in person, left his Beiwei Army outside, entered the camp alone, took my hand and spoke some honest words, and then sent Kong Yanzhou's head over for me to take to Dongjing together, so I'd have something to say to those officials in Dongjing..."

"That's certainly excellent." You Xuejiu had already guessed the head was Kong Yanzhou's, but pressed on. "The key is—on this trip to Dongjing, did Grand Defender Yue have anything else to say?"

"Yes!" Zhang Rong stood up, tossing aside a cucumber he'd only taken two or three bites from, but his expression turned somewhat strange. "He said, when I get to Dongjing, I shouldn't go to the Secretariat or the Privy Council. I should only go find some little Lin Academician first. He said this man was my guarantor back when I was made Pacification Commissioner, and he's a reliable man with influence. If I can get an audience with His Majesty through Little Lin Academician, then everything will be settled..."

"He only said to find someone, but didn't say what would happen after the audience?" the scholar remained puzzled.

"I asked the same thing." Zhang Rong's expression grew even stranger. "Little Yue said that as long as I get an audience, it'll be done, because that lord is just as loyal to his friends as I am."

You Xuejiu was also bewildered... Who could imagine what a lord who was loyal to his friends looked like?

But bewildered or not, just as Zhang Rong's speech in the tent earlier had argued, the current political and military situation no longer allowed Mount Shuipo and Dongping Prefecture to maintain their semi-independent status. And Zhang Rong was the kind of man who could see the big picture through the simplest reasoning—he knew the Jin people were the real enemy—so the trip to Dongjing had become unavoidable.

Moreover, Yue Fei had shown his sincerity immediately. So the next morning, with his resolve firm, Zhang Rong gathered some cavalry from his unit, took Liu Lin and the head with a few melon seeds stuck to it, and followed the Jishui River westward, heading straight for Dongjing.

Not only that, but Zhang Rong was an impatient man. Once his mind was made up, he didn't hesitate or dawdle. He didn't even notify the local officials along the way—he just rode hard with light cavalry, tying Liu Lin to the horse's back and galloping wildly... Pingyin was exactly five hundred li from Dongjing, and Zhang Rong, originally a fisherman who had only learned to ride in recent years, found it somewhat awkward. It took him three and a half days to reach Dongjing.

At noon that day, the group arrived at the famous Nanxun Gate of Dongjing. Because the Zhao lord had been here for half a year now, the flow of people and trade had been recovering at an accelerating pace. The so-called recovery speed was getting faster and faster, and with the recent special imperial examination attracting countless southern scholars and wealthy households, the city had indeed regained some of its bustle. Zhang Rong and his men were utterly astonished, unable to believe that this was the Great Song capital, which had been nearly an empty city just a year ago.

But regardless, they reported their names and official titles, produced their genuine official seals, showed the bedraggled and nearly dead Liu Lin tied to the horse, and displayed the human head, already somewhat rotten, stored in a fishing net. Bei Yan, the Captain on duty at Nanxun Gate, who often boasted of knowing Grand Defender Yue, naturally dared not be negligent. He quickly patted his chest and insisted on personally leading Garrison Commissioner Zhang to report to the Secretariat and the Privy Council.

But Zhang Rong, having received Yue Fei's instructions, had no intention of going to the Secretariat or the Privy Council at all—he only wanted to see Little Lin Academician. Bei Yan, a mere Captain, had no choice but to arrange for the group and the head to be quartered at the Great Xiangguo Temple, which was under military control, while he personally led Zhang Rong's subordinates to find Little Lin Academician's residence. At the same time, he didn't forget to send his men to report to both the Secretariat and Kaifeng Prefecture.

The Great Xiangguo Temple was quiet and secluded. The monks, who had been under military control for many days, upon hearing that a Garrison Commissioner was entering the temple, naturally did their utmost—even pretending not to notice the human head.

Zhang Rong bathed in the temple, ate some meat buns the monks had brought, and sat resting for a while in the quiet, large courtyard far from the workshops. Having washed off the dust of travel, he gradually grew uneasy.

He really didn't know what to do if people from the Secretariat or Privy Council came before that Little Lin Academician arrived.

With You Xuejiu not by his side and no one to talk to, the Garrison Commissioner had no choice but to place Kong Yanzhou's head, still in the fishing net, on the stone table under the tree shade in the courtyard, and then summoned Liu Lin, who had recovered a bit of spirit.

"Let me tell you, Chief Zhang, I don't know who will come first either," Liu Lin replied with a grim face. "Logically, the Secretariat is under the Chancellor and handles everything, while the Privy Council is under the Privy Councilor and mostly handles military affairs. So this matter of yours should have the Secretariat and Privy Council scrambling to handle it... But as you saw at the city gate, the special imperial examination is underway. Right now, the Secretariat and Privy Council might well neglect you, and that Little Lin Academician might indeed come first."

"Wouldn't that be perfect?" Zhang Rong, now dressed in a loose silk robe but feeling utterly awkward, was instead relieved by this. "As for you, Crown Prince Liu, you've been jolted all the way here, and now that you're in the capital, you're doomed to die. Why bother putting on such a show?"

Liu Lin, who had also bathed and eaten buns, grew even more solemn: "Death is death, but I, Liu Lin, must save my strength to loudly curse the Zhao Song lord in front of the Secretariat, and die a martyr's death, to be recorded in the annals of history."

Zhang Rong nodded repeatedly but couldn't be bothered to engage. He just sat quietly in that slightly malodorous courtyard of the Great Xiangguo Temple, waiting for news.

As the sun moved westward and Zhang Rong grew increasingly restless, the trusted subordinate who had gone with Captain Bei Yan of Nanxun Gate to find Little Lin Academician finally returned. Behind him followed two men in casual clothes who nonetheless exuded an air of wealth and nobility—one young, one slightly older. Zhang Rong hesitated for a moment, unsure which one was the actual Academician.

But before he could think it over, the two entered, and then suddenly two iron-armored generals, heedless of the summer heat, led several dozen fully armed armored soldiers forcibly into the courtyard, sealing it off. Zhang Rong tensed up immediately.

"Kowtow to Your Majesty!"

At that moment, the Qi Crown Prince Liu Lin suddenly prostrated himself before the stone table, and when he raised his head, tears and snot streamed down his face. "Your Majesty, judge clearly! My father and I were forced by the Jin people to play at being emperors—it was never our true wish! Your Majesty pardoned Qu Duan, so why can't you pardon me, to serve as an example?"

The young man, Zhao Jiu, said nothing. He merely raised his hand in a gesture, and an iron-armored general with a look of anger on his face personally stepped forward and dragged Liu Lin out.

Only then did Liu Lin fall into utter despair. As he was being dragged away, he shouted with all his might: "To be born with such a father—what can be done?!"

He shouted it once and was about to shout it again when the iron-armored general punched him in the stomach from above. The freshly eaten buns sprayed out of his mouth, and he was forced to stop.

Meanwhile, the Zhao lord, without a word and without pausing, continued to the stone table. He first looked with interest at the rather odorous head, then reached out and took both hands of the somewhat flustered Chief Zhang, speaking earnestly:

"Chief Zhang, I've long heard of your name. I've been thinking of you so much!"

Qu Duan, who had just dragged Liu Lin out and returned to the courtyard, heard these words and felt instantly aggrieved... Why was it that when he, a similarly unruly man, entered the capital, he received twenty disciplinary lashes in front of the palace, while this fellow got the lord coming to the temple in person to shake hands and exchange pleasantries?

The lord is unfair!