Chapter 41: Business (Part 2)

"We've been brothers for years, crawled out of the dead piles together under Taiyuan city, and that didn't stop you from making a fortune—so why won't you let me do as I please?" Li Laosan called out from a distance.

"That's not what I meant..." Zhang Jun sighed, then looked around the courtyard again. "What do the other old brothers from Taiyuan say?"

The men in the courtyard exchanged glances. Some, after letting their eyes sweep over the armored guards behind them and Tian Shizhong standing at Zhang Jun's side, swallowed the words they'd meant to say. But a few, as rough and unruly as Li Laosan, couldn't help shouting from their seats, urging Zhang Jun to give Li Laosan a way out, and some even directly urged Zhang Jun to give Prefect Zhao a way out as well.

And once someone had spoken up, it quickly stirred a chorus, so that the courtyard once again buzzed with noise.

Amid the uproar, Zhang Jun said nothing. Instead, he rose from his seat, pulled the blade from his waist with his grease-stained hand... As the sword cleared the scabbard, Tian Shizhong and all the other guards drew their blades as well, and Tian Shizhong even actively circled around to one side, sword in hand. At that, the courtyard fell so silent you could hear a pin drop!

"I think I understand what you brothers mean. And since Li Laosan brought up Taiyuan, I want to talk about Taiyuan today too..."

Zhang Jun raised his sword and pointed it at Zhao Qiu beside him, then spoke loudly. "Most of you know Old Zhao. Even if you didn't, with all the comings and goings these past two days, you must have asked around privately. He's also an old comrade from under Taiyuan city. So let's be fair—if it weren't for all of you who escaped Taiyuan with me, I, Zhang Jun, would probably be just like this Old Zhao here—a beaten dog by the roadside, at anyone's beck and call, and anyone who took a dislike to him could finish him off with one slash!"

The crowd was confused, and Zhao Qiu sensed something was wrong. He was about to speak when Tian Shizhong, who had somehow moved behind him, drove his sword straight into the back of Zhao Qiu's neck with all his might, pinning him to the table covered in wine and food!

At this sudden turn, all the officers in the courtyard were stunned speechless. Zhao Ding was also thrown off balance, and Shi Wenbin beside him was even worse off. He had just been reaching for a dish with his chopsticks when the entire bowl overturned in front of Zhao Qiu's head, splattering soup mixed with blood everywhere, covering his chopsticks and his whole body in blood... And the killer, Tian Shizhong, was right beside him, leaving him too afraid to drop the chopsticks or pull them back, frozen and trembling.

One could only say—a pity that this former veteran of the Western Army had so muddle-headedly delivered himself to this place, dying without ever knowing why.

But Zhang Jun acted as if he hadn't noticed, continuing his earlier topic. He pointed his sword at the officers around him, just as he had pointed at Zhao Qiu, speaking word by word, growing more intense until he was nearly roaring:

"But to put it the other way—if you men hadn't had me back then, you wouldn't even be beaten dogs. You'd be nothing but a pile of dog shit on the roadside! People would have stomped you into mush and still complained about the stench!!"

Every officer in the courtyard lost color, but not a single one dared to speak up in rebuttal!

"Just now Li Laosan said I didn't let you stop me from getting rich, using that to mock my greed—and I admit it! Because all I've ever wanted in this life is wealth!" Zhang Jun continued, raising his sword to point at the sky with all his strength. "But what happened in Taiyuan and with Old Zhao taught me one thing—even getting rich requires some skill! Snatching a few gold hairpins off women behind the Jin army's back—what the hell is that? Can that make you really rich?! And when you hold them in your hand, don't you dream of Young Master Zhong leading your old brothers to find you in your sleep?! If you want real wealth, you have to use people as capital and go for the big score! And you are my capital today!!! I, Zhang Jun, am going to use you here in Xiacai to make a fortune that will last ten lifetimes!!!"

Before his words had even faded, countless armored personal guards carried out mountains of gold and silver treasure from the rear courtyard, then opened the chests and dumped it all on the ground for everyone to see... Piles of gold and silver right before their eyes, and the rough men almost instantly began breathing heavily!

"Forty thousand taels of silver, fifteen hundred taels of gold! And several chests of assorted treasures, pearls, and jade... What the Jin sent me, what I secretly saved myself, always hidden in the cellar of this courtyard—I didn't even offer it up when His Majesty was here. Today, I give it all up, all to you! Silver for the soldiers, gold and treasures for you. I only ask one thing of you stinking piles of dog shit!" Zhang Jun looked around, dropped his sword, and spoke slowly, breathing heavily. "Hold Xiacai for me! Let me, Grand Defender Zhang, use this city to multiply it ten or eight times in the future, so I never have to be poor again in this life!"

With that, he seemed drained of energy, turned around, picked up the duck from the table, and walked back to the rear courtyard. Those who knew him well understood—the bastard couldn't bear to watch his own wealth being divided up by these roughnecks!

But the hundreds of officers in the courtyard didn't care. Instead, they roared their assent behind him, while Zhao Ding quickly got up and chased after him into the rear courtyard.

As the sky darkened, the noise in the front courtyard gradually subsided. Tian Shizhong, exhausted from the day's work, came to the rear courtyard to report.

"All handed out?" Zhang Jun, holding an empty plate, had red-rimmed eyes, as if he had been crying.

"All handed out," Tian Shizhong said carefully. "Liu Bao's share on the wall and the share for the garrison on duty were also handed out... That Shi Wenbin was kicked out too! He didn't dare leave, begged me to take him in... I didn't dare keep him! He cried for a good while under the drawbridge before the Jin scouts took him away. Poor bastard!"

"Forget about him." Zhang Jun sighed. "This time I've offended Censor Zhao... Prefect Zhao badly. He interrogated me for a long time earlier, even broke down crying."

"It doesn't matter. At this point, as long as His Majesty knows the Grand Defender is loyal, that's enough." Tian Shizhong kept comforting him. "Prefect Zhao is also a man who understands the big picture. We'll fight side by side in the future."

"True." Zhang Jun finally forced himself to stand up, then casually added, "Actually, when the Jin attack a city, the early scaling of the walls isn't the scary part. Xiacai also has the Huai River diverted as a moat, so we're not afraid of them scaling. The real threat is the trebuchets... Do you know what to do?"

"Starting tomorrow, I'll tear down all the houses in the city with good timber, clear an open space, and we'll set up our own trebuchets to counter theirs!" Tian Shizhong answered very decisively. "This is what the Grand Defender told me before—the method for defending Taiyuan!"

"Good that you know!" Zhang Jun nodded and turned to go inside. "I'm truly exhausted today. You go ahead and do it. I'm going to rest!"

Tian Shizhong quickly took his leave.

But just as the Grand Defender's central army general was about to turn and leave the rear courtyard, Zhang Jun suddenly remembered something and called him back from inside the rear house: "Xiao Tian, did you get your own reward?"

Tian Shizhong was caught off guard.

Zhang Jun understood and immediately said, "Come in. Since I've played the generous spender today, I have to see it through. Everyone should get a reward. Let me search through my belongings... just to make it look right!"

Tian Shizhong had no choice but to turn back.

The Grand Defender rummaged through the house for a long time but only found that bunch of grapes, a silver engraved hand-warmer, and a few hairpins hastily pulled from his concubines' heads... Poor Grand Defender—after comparing them for a while, he really couldn't bear to part with the grapes, and the rest was so paltry that giving it to a central army general and trusted right-hand man like Tian Shizhong would have been an insult. So he was stuck for a moment.

Seeing this, how could Tian Shizhong accept? He repeatedly declined, saying they could discuss it later.

Unexpectedly, the Grand Defender shook his head repeatedly. After thinking for a while, he abandoned those items entirely, took Tian Shizhong's hand, and said, "I have to give you something no matter what. But I truly have no wealth left now... Xiao Tian! My eldest son died on the road escaping from Taiyuan, so I've always treated you like my own son—you know that!"

"Of course I know, General." Hearing this, Tian Shizhong, still with blood and soup stains on him, quickly knelt and replied. "I drifted here from Hebei with no attachments, and I've always regarded the Grand Defender as a father!"

"That's not what I mean. You know, though my eldest son died, his wife, née Wang, has always traveled with me, treated me like her own father with filial piety, and I've always regarded her as my own daughter... I've always wanted to find her a good match, but I've been too protective, never able to pick the right person." The Grand Defender, ignoring Tian Shizhong's stunned expression, continued slowly. "Today, I've staked everything on this city, leaving no room for retreat. If you won't accept my reward, then you'll have to become family. How about this—I'll decide today. You two will marry tonight! I ask you, Xiao Tian, to guard Xiacai for me from now on as my son-in-law! In the future, we, father-in-law and son-in-law, will share the riches!"

Tian Shizhong was stunned for a long time, then suddenly let go and kowtowed on the ground without stopping.

PS: Goodnight, everyone.