Chapter 132: Yellow Mud

"Are there any courtesans in this city?"

The Sixth Prince Wang Xing figured that Diwu Lun had stopped him from going to Xinye to take the daughter of the Yin clan as a consort, but now that they had reached a big city like Wancheng, surely it was none of Diwu Lun's business if he went into the city's pleasure quarters for some amusement?

Even though the journey to the commandery seat had been smooth and uneventful, Diwu Lun remained cautious. He led the party into the inner city in the southwestern corner, stationed them under the heavy protection of the commandery troops, set up defenses around the encampment, and instructed Cheng Zhong and Cen Peng to strictly enforce military orders and prohibitions.

The moment Wang Xing hinted at wanting to go to the outer city, Diwu Lun flatly refused: "For the princes' safety, it is best not to set a single step outside the inner city."

What about summoning a courtesan to come to them? Also forbidden. Even when servants went to the streets to buy cloth, soldiers had to flank them to prevent anyone from being switched along the way. The two princesses, craving better food, complained about the provisions supplied by the commandery and ordered servants to buy cooked food and meat on the streets — that too was stopped. Diwu Lun feared that a moment's carelessness could lead to someone being poisoned.

If he was this wary of inanimate objects, all the more so of letting a living, breathing person be brought in.

His desires thwarted again and again, Wang Xing flew into a humiliated rage and complained to his elder brother Wang Kuang: "In the old days, when we brothers and sisters were in Xindu, we were called princes but were really prisoners. Now that we've finally escaped that little cage, it feels like we've just entered a bigger one. Is he escorting us to court, or dragging us to the capital?"

Wang Kuang only replied timidly: "I've heard the world is unsettled. There's no harm in being careful. The Grandee Boyu is doing this for our own good."

"This is a wicked slave bullying his masters!" Wang Xing nursed his grudge, but he was also afraid that Diwu Lun would go back and submit a memorial impeaching him for "debauchery" during the national mourning period. He could only swallow his resentment.

Diwu Lun was so utterly inflexible that when the commoner princesses Wang Ye and Wang Jie, weary from the journey, begged to rest an extra day in Wancheng and sleep in, he did not grant them permission.

"The foot soldiers march through mud and water on this journey and don't complain of fatigue. These two only have to sit in a carriage — what hardship are they crying about?"

It was the turn of spring to summer, and clouds were beginning to gather over the Nanyang basin. The rainy season was clearly not far off. If they ran into bad weather on the road, the chance of accidents would greatly increase. Diwu Lun had to seize every clear morning to hurry onward; they could not afford a single day of rest.

So when the Li brothers came to invite him again, Diwu Lun also declined to attend the banquet. He only followed their earlier agreement and had people buy wine and meat in the city to distribute to the men of the Yue Cavalry Camp, to keep these central army troops from throwing down their duties again. Even the commandery and county soldiers under Cen Peng received a share, which greatly surprised Cen Peng.

"In the past, I've escorted envoys before, but court envoys were mostly stingy and harsh, pocketing all the benefits themselves. The soldiers toiled and gained nothing. I've never seen a Grandee as generous as you."

Diwu Lun smiled. "My life rests in your hands, Junran, and in the hands of the soldiers."

Despite traveling day and night, by the time they reached West Township outside Wancheng, they still ran into continuous downpours. The rain pattered on for half a day, and they could only stay overnight at the post station.

Diwu Lun arranged for the Yue Cavalry Camp to guard the north side of the post station, and Cen Peng to lead his men guarding the south. He also had his personal guards Zheng Tong and Zang Nu separately man the north and south walls, protecting the small post station so tightly that not a drop of water could leak through.

The Township Bailiff Ren Guang did everything in his power to provide the best lodging conditions, but Wang Xing and his siblings still found fault with everything — one moment shouting that there were bugs, the next complaining about the lack of soundproofing, that they could even hear the soldiers' footsteps.

"Diwu Lun should have stayed in Wancheng to wait out the rain long ago. How can the cold, hard sleeping couches in this shabby little township post station be fit for us imperial nobles to sleep on?"

Wang Xing was complaining again. Wang Kuang remained silent. Wang Mang's two commoner daughters were sobbing from the exhaustion of the journey. When they had stepped out of the carriage and into the post station, they got a footful of yellow mud that they could not scrape off no matter how hard they tried.

Deep in the night, the clamor gradually died down, leaving only the heavy footfalls of soldiers on night patrol.

It was not until the water clock had drained halfway through the night that a loud cry shattered the silence.

"Enemy attack!"

A flurry of startled shouts broke out outside. Diwu Lun, who had been dozing against the wall, jolted awake and leaped to his feet. Sword in hand, he rushed out the door.

He saw Zheng Tong holding a blade and Zang Nu wielding a crossbow, both watching outside with guarded expressions. Diwu Lun ordered Zheng Tong to keep an eye on the pavilion where the princes and princesses were staying and not let them panic and run around. He told Zang Nu to watch the walls well — anyone forcing their way in was to be killed without mercy.

Looking out by the torchlight on the post station walls, he saw the Yue Cavalry Camp to the north in utter chaos, pine torches flailing wildly. The Yue Cavalry Camp had always been arrogant about their status and superior armor and weapons. No matter how many times Diwu Lun had admonished them on the road, they never dropped their slack attitude. But these so-called elite royal troops showed their true colors in the face of a sudden incident.

They fell into panic, shouts rising from every tent, making it impossible to tell where the enemy was. Soldiers scrambled out of their tents, scurrying around like headless flies. Many had not even put on their armor. The ground was wet and slippery, and men kept falling. They were one step away from swinging their blades at their own comrades.

This quality was even worse than the well-trained Boar-Rush Braves.

In contrast, Cen Peng's unit to the south of the post station was in perfect order. As Cen Peng himself blew the long, drawn-out horn call, every squad and company filed out of their tents and assembled. Cen Peng then split off half his men to reinforce the Yue Cavalry Camp, while the other half held their ground, guarding against the enemy making a feint to the east while attacking in the west.

"Cen Junran is indeed a talented commander."

Diwu Lun watched with admiration. This calm, composed response was far stronger than that of the military clerks he had unearthed under his own command. It could rival Ma Yuan's, yet it was different. Ma Yuan favored unorthodox stratagems, while Cen Peng was down-to-earth and methodical, following the way of orthodox engagement. This man was truly the greatest pleasant surprise of this entire trip.

After a while, the chaos in the Yue Cavalry Camp subsided somewhat. Only then did Cheng Zhong come to report, his face drenched in sweat: "Grandee, bandits have attacked our unit!"

"How many bandits?"

Cheng Zhong stammered: "Unknown. Perhaps several dozen. They approached my unit and suddenly loosed arrows, and also threw torches. Fortunately, the ground was wet, so nothing caught fire."

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"Casualties?"

"Two dead, ten wounded."

Cheng Zhong was deeply ashamed. In truth, when the sudden volley of arrows struck from outside, one man had died immediately and two were wounded. But in the chaos that followed, someone else was killed by friendly fire, and several more were injured in the crush and trampling.

When the sky lightened a little, Cheng Zhong counted heads and realized there was more than one dead. An entire patrol squad from the Yue Cavalry Camp was missing.

If these were motley auxiliary troops, one would assume without a second thought that they had deserted. But the central army was well-treated, so such things were unlikely. It was Cen Peng who had long since sent men to search the surroundings. In the woods, they found five men with their throats slit and their clothes stripped off.

Diwu Lun could roughly reconstruct the whole process of the attack: the Yue Cavalry Camp patrol squad had not patrolled the perimeter he required. They may have spotted something, or perhaps they simply wanted to go marauding at a farmhouse further away. Passing through the woods, they were ambushed and wiped out to the last man.

The bandits then changed into their uniforms, approached the post station, and launched an attack — but they struck once and immediately fled, vanishing into the distance under cover of night.

The Yue Cavalry Camp had suffered a humiliating disgrace. They clamored to conduct a massive sweep for the bandits in the surrounding area. Cheng Zhong even cast suspicious glances at Cen Peng, who had remained calm and composed the entire time, feeling that the problem might lie with the commandery troops Cen Peng led — otherwise, how could they be so orderly after an attack? Could it be that they knew in advance?

Resenting Cen Peng for highlighting the Yue Cavalry Camp's incompetence, Cheng Zhong voiced his worry to Diwu Lun in a low voice: "Grandee, those men are all locals from the Front Division. They cannot be trusted. I suspect the bandits are among them."

Diwu Lun neither agreed nor disagreed. At that moment, Cen Peng's men found a pile of horse dung in the woods — the place where the bandits had tethered their horses. After succeeding, the bandits had immediately mounted up and withdrawn, leaving behind a string of hoofprints on the small path heading east.

"Follow the tracks and take a look."

Diwu Lun gave the order to Cen Peng, and also sent Zheng Tong along to see whether Cen Peng and his men would try any tricks, as Cheng Zhong suspected.

He himself returned to the post station. Wang Xing and his siblings had been badly frightened by the incident. Diwu Lun comforted them with kind words, but Wang Xing was unrelenting: "Grandee Boyu, if anything happens to us, your career as an official is finished!"

You think I want to be an official of the Great Xin? Diwu Lun only concealed the truth: "It was merely soldiers startling in the night and being wounded by bandits. Nothing serious. Weren't the princesses saying yesterday that they were weary from travel and wanted an extra day's rest? It looks like the weather is turning again. We shall stay one more day in West Township."

Wang Kuang, timid, muttered: "If this place isn't safe, why not go back to Wancheng?"

Diwu Lun said: "Even if a large band of bandits comes to harass us, we can still rely on the township settlement and defend from the post station's fortified compound. But out on open flatland, the bandits' arrows could reach the princes themselves. Do the two princes truly wish to take that risk? Rest easy. I will have this matter thoroughly investigated, and at the same time request another unit of troops from the Grand Governor of the Front Division as reinforcements."

Though he said this, Diwu Lun did not believe anyone truly wanted to take the lives of Wang Mang's children. Their lives were worth far too little. The enemy had ambushed and killed Yue Cavalry Camp soldiers, then made a ruckus outside the post station. It seemed more like they wanted to use this method to loudly proclaim to the world: "We have attacked the court's envoy party!"

Having settled the cargo with difficulty, Diwu Lun came back out. The Township Bailiff Ren Guang also came to pay his respects, deeply terrified. An attack on the imperial envoys and princes within his jurisdiction was a blame Ren Guang could hardly shirk.

Even though Ren Guang was seasoned and worldly-wise, his heart was deeply uneasy. Losing his post over this would be a good outcome. If the matter were thoroughly investigated, his life and his entire clan might not be spared.

Fortunately, he had met a benefactor. Diwu Lun reassured Ren Guang: "Be at ease, Boqing. I like to get to the bottom of things and find out the truth. I am not like other envoys who randomly find someone to pin the blame on. Just give me a list of suspicious persons in this township — those who harbor grievances against the court, those who keep retainers and private followers, and the bandits who run rampant in the surrounding townships. Leave none out. Once the matter is brought to light, you will be credited with assisting in the effort."

Ren Guang felt as if he had been granted a great amnesty. He thanked Diwu Lun profusely and withdrew. But Diwu Lun's intuition told him that this matter was probably not the work of locals. A rabbit doesn't eat the grass by its own burrow — who would be so stupid as to strike right on their own doorstep?

Yet intuition had to step aside in the face of evidence. By the time it was fully light, a light rain began to fall again from the sky. Cen Peng also returned, soaked to the bone, his feet covered in yellow mud. Diwu Lun hurriedly had someone fetch dry clothes for Cen Peng to change into. "You've really worked hard, Junran."

Cen Peng was devoted to his duty. Without pausing to wipe the water from his face, he urgently reported to Diwu Lun: "Grandee Boyu, the hoofprints led to a large manor estate on the border between West Township and Wancheng, and then disappeared."

"And that manor is the property of the Li clan of Wancheng!"

……

The Li clan had been secretly tracking the Diwu Lun mission's movements the whole time, with men assigned to shadow them at every stop.

Post-house couriers and roadside farmers — many had received favors from the Li family and held nothing back.

Li Tong had deliberately had people spread word of Diwu Lun's purpose for this journey, hoping someone would attack and kill him, so the blame could be pinned on the Greenwood Army, provoking a government southern campaign to settle the fighting early. Whoever won or lost, the Li family stood to gain.

Yet what he never imagined was that the attack would happen right at his own doorstep!

Li Tong stood stunned and speechless. This move — this move was lifting a rock only to smash his own foot!

"Someone means to destroy my family!"

Even Li Tong could not keep his composure; terror and dread seized him.

Worse still, one of the men he had posted at a distance to shadow the mission had been captured by Cen Peng. If interrogation revealed he was acting on the Li family's orders, that would be mud smeared on the crotch — utterly impossible to wash clean.

Around the estate, many of Cen Peng's men and riders from the Rapid Cavalry Camp had already appeared to keep watch. His cousin Li Yi, hastily summoned by Li Tong, was equally panicked: "Could it be an enemy deliberately doing this?"

The moment enemies were mentioned, one man came to Li Yi's mind.

"Elder Brother, could it be Liu Bosheng of Chongling?"

As it happened, the Wancheng Li clan and the Chongling Liu family bore a deep blood feud. Li Tong's mother had remarried, and he had a half-brother by her, Gongsun Chen, a physician of superb skill. But during a drunken quarrel, he had been killed by one of Liu Bosheng's retainers.

At the time, Li Yi and the other cousins had all clamored to go to Chongling and slaughter the Liu family to avenge their brother — anything less would disgrace the name of the foremost powerful house in the Front Column.

Yet to everyone's bewilderment, Li Tong, who had lost a brother, suppressed the matter and did not even report it to the authorities. Liu Bosheng had a high reputation as a knight-errant, but the Liu family was not large and had no backing at court — could the Li clan really be afraid of him?

"It is for the greater design to come," Li Tong had told Li Yi at the time. But when a brother's death calls for vengeance without putting away one's weapon, no one knew what "greater design" Li Tong was swallowing shame and nursing hatred for.

To this day, Li Tong still did not doubt him, and shook his head: "Liu Bosheng may be somewhat rash, but he has always acted with openness and honor. He would never do this."

Whoever was behind it, this move was vicious and lethally precise — it wanted the Li family dead!

His father, Li Shou, though a Clan Preceptor, had fared only modestly at court; his patron the State Preceptor had already fallen, and could not possibly shield them from this charge.

With the danger of clan extermination hanging right over his head, Li Tong watched the rain falling harder and harder outside and said: "At once, have our private retainers assist the government troops in hunting down the attackers. And prepare a lavish gift."

"I must go immediately and beg an audience with Diwu Boyu."

Li Tong's words were filled with helplessness: "Right now, whether the Li family lives or dies hangs entirely on a single thought, a single word from Diwu Lun!"

…

"Li Tong has come through the rain to beg an audience?"

When Diwu Lun learned of Li Tong's arrival, he shook his head. Finally, he could hold back no longer.

The man Cen Peng had captured had been a sworn man — he had taken his own life. But the evidence still pointed to the Li clan, from the hoofprints leading straight to his estate to the bows and blades discarded in the Li family fields.

Cheng Zhong no longer doubted Cen Peng, and instead turned his spearpoint toward the Li clan, forcefully arguing that they should immediately call for reinforcements from the Front Column and send a major force to exterminate the Li family: "When we were traveling south, just as we neared Wancheng, Li Tong came in person to pay a visit. Looking back now, it was most likely to spy out the mission's strength and weaknesses!"

Diwu Lun, however, felt that although the Li clan's movements were riddled with suspicious points, this time they had most likely been framed.

Should he see this man, or not?

Diwu Lun pondered to himself: "By all reason, Li Ciyuan is to me no more than a passerby. Whether his family survives or perishes — what is that to me?"

…

PS: At the time, Boyu (Li Tong)'s half-brother by his mother, Gongsun Chen, was a physician. Bosheng summoned him to treat an ailment, and Bosheng killed him. — Dongguan Han Ji

(Chapter 2 at 18:00.)