Chapter 40: Call Me Granduncle

Shi Family Manor, one of the most fertile estates in Shouchang County, lay right beside the Ganshui River. The Tongyuan Canal, which had existed since the Han dynasty, irrigated this rich land.

The millet, wheat, and other crops in the fields around the manor had all been harvested. Golden stalks were piled at the edges of the fields, where countless farmers were sorting and bundling them for storage as an important winter food source for livestock.

Cao Shisilang Yanming was pacing anxiously inside the house. The scouts had reported that over a hundred men had already returned to Qi Xiahu's mountain stronghold, so why had no one come yet?

No one had come from Shouchang Defense Commissioner Luo Xianda's side either. Was that fellow really not afraid?

"Young Lord Shisi, be patient. Commissioner Luo will come, because he has no choice—unless he would rather be dismissed from office and thrown into prison than part with his gold and silver!"

The one urging Cao Yanming to be patient was a scholar dressed in a blue side-slit robe with a black gauze cap on his head. He was holding a brush, copying Yan Zhenqing's Self-Written Credentials, though of course not from the original, but from a copy brought from the Central Plains.

"What about those horse bandits? Can they come? Is my third sister really all right?" Cao Yanming was still anxious. This was an opportunity he had earned by volunteering before his grandfather Cao Yijin, and he absolutely could not mess it up.

"How about this—let's send another capable man over and make things plain. These horse bandits can't possibly be controlled by Zhang Erlang. It must be one of Ge Duo's subordinates who turned. As long as he's smart, he won't want to offend us."

The scholar finally set down his brush and looked at his copy with satisfaction, growing more pleased the longer he looked.

"These years Luo Xianda has colluded with Ge Duo, even allowing the Shouchang garrison troops to rob merchant caravans himself, while planting his own people everywhere. He's skimmed quite a lot!

All matters under heaven come down to two words: power and wealth. And these two reinforce each other—those with power must control wealth, and those with wealth can reach power. Such a fine money road, and now it's time for Luo Xianda to step aside.

Now that His Highness the Great King is in poor health, most matters in the Military Governor's office are handled by the eldest young lord. But sitting in that position is like standing atop a mountain peak—one careless step and you fall. That Xianyu woman and the bastard she bore are not without the strength to fight!"

The scholar spoke, then stared seriously at Cao Yanming. "Shisilang, think back to when you left. On the surface it was to search for Third Lady, but did the eldest young lord mention a single word of it?"

Cao Yanming thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Answering you, sir: Father only told Shisi to handle the matter well. He never mentioned Third Sister!"

"Exactly! Third Lady was taken ten days ago. If something were going to happen, it would have happened long ago. Rushing won't help. What matters more is the manor Luo Xianda seized and the horse bandit Ge Duo's family wealth.

With that gold and silver, the eldest young lord can win more people's support, and he can use Luo Xianda to pressure Luo Tongda. What the Yumen Army faces is precisely that Xianyu woman's maternal family.

As long as Luo Tongda stands with us and tightly seals the Yumen Pass, the Ganzhou Xianyu can do nothing to affect Gua-Sha unless they send a great army to attack."

"What you say is absolutely right!" A faint smile appeared on Cao Yanming's face.

"Once the Yumen Pass is sealed, the Xianyu woman will get no support. If the Ganzhou Xianyu dare raise a great army, then they're finished. The great clans of Gua-Sha won't dare support that woman—they'll have to share our hatred of a common enemy!"

"And if Shisilang can accomplish this for the eldest young lord, this Shi Family Manor will soon be yours. With such a wealthy estate, Shisilang will find everything much easier to do. It's ancestral property that can be passed down to your descendants, and you'll also gain the help of your granduncle's Luo family nearby!"

A smile spread across the scholar's face, and Cao Yanming was excited too.

"Young Lord Shisi, Registrar Yang, Shouchang's Commissioner Luo has sent his trusted man Ma Yaozi with some people. They say they request an audience with Young Lord Shisi."

A soldier came in from outside to report. At once, Cao Yanming and the scholar Registrar Yang smiled even more happily.

Shi Family Manor sounded like a Han estate, but in fact it was a Sogdian estate, and most of the people in it bore the surname Shi.

They were not of one ancestor, however, but descendants of the Shi people of the Nine Zhaowu Clans who had settled collectively in Shazhou.

By now, though, after more than a hundred years of intermarriage with the Han and the Tibetans, they were basically no different from Han people.

Led by a guard, Zhang Zhao and Ma Yaozi soon arrived outside Cao Shisilang's door.

Zhang Zhao's estimate had been accurate. These Yueqi cavalrymen Cao Shisi had brought, seeing only Zhang Zhao and Ma Yaozi—especially since Ma Yaozi was a familiar face—had barely been on guard against them at all.

Pushing open the door and walking in, Zhang Zhao looked up and saw a man about his own age sitting upright in the main seat, dressed in a red brocade bordered robe, straining to put on an imposing expression.

Beside him was a man in a side-slit robe dressed as a scholar, wearing the self-satisfied expression of a Zhuge Wolong type.

"Ma Yaozi! What did Commissioner Luo send you for? Has he made his decision?"

Cao Shisi held his imposing expression for a while, perhaps feeling his aura was strong enough, then spoke unhurriedly to Ma Yaozi.

Cold sweat dripped from Ma Yaozi's face bead by bead. The thought that he was about to seize one of the most beloved grandsons of Great King Cao of Tuoxi, with three hundred Yueqi cavalry outside, made his legs tremble.

He opened his mouth, and suddenly his mind went blank—he forgot what he was going to say.

This is going to go wrong!

Zhang Zhao hurried forward. Cao Shisi was still quite far from him. If the man shouted, the guards outside were all armored, and if they charged in, he'd be done for.

"Young Lord Shisi, those tribal households have already been distributed. Commissioner Luo can't gather them back in a short time, so he asks for a few more days' grace.

However, to show his sincerity, Commissioner Luo has entrusted me to bring a small token to present to Young Lord Shisi!"

Zhang Zhao took out the redwood box wrapped in silk cloth that he had prepared long ago and stepped toward Cao Yanming.

"Heh heh! Has my granduncle been hoarding some treasure? Bring it here and let me see!"

Cao Yanming sensed no danger at all, because it had never occurred to him that anyone would dare harm him in Shi Family Manor, under the protection of three hundred Yueqi cavalry before the Military Governor's office!

"Stop! Who are you?" But Registrar Yang beside Cao Yanming sensed something was wrong. Still, it didn't occur to him that someone meant to seize Cao Yanming—he just instinctively felt something was off!

"Sir, please look! This is Commissioner Luo's congratulatory gift!" Zhang Zhao deliberately shouted as he pulled the silk cloth off the redwood box.

This was meant for the guards outside the door to hear, and also to keep the scholar from shouting out.

Sure enough, Registrar Yang was affected by Zhang Zhao's words, and his gaze and attention were entirely drawn to the redwood box.

But although the silk cloth had been pulled off the redwood box, nothing about the box had changed, had it? Wasn't it still the same box?

Registrar Yang raised his head full of questions. His open mouth had not yet made a sound to demand what Zhang Zhao was doing when a fist the size of a clay pot arrived!

"Thud!" Zhang Zhao's punch hammered into the bridge of Registrar Yang's nose. A wave of intense sore pain flooded Registrar Yang's whole body, and tears instantly blurred his eyes.

He had just tried to open his mouth and cry out when another "thud" sounded—Zhang Zhao drove a knee between Registrar Yang's legs.

Behind him, the over-wrought Ma Yaozi instinctively clamped his legs together. That knee had gone straight for that thing—how much must that hurt!

"Gurk!" A sound came from Registrar Yang's throat, then he convulsed violently, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out on the spot.

Even unconscious, he still kept his legs clamped together, twitching slightly on the ground, looking as wretched as could be.

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