Chapter 1022: The Wastrel Good-for-Nothing

"Who even wants to be the hierarch? I told my father long ago — we've got money now, so why can't we just enjoy it? When he was little he couldn't even get a mouthful of meat, but now we don't even care for meat, don't care for the women of Datong and Yangzhou either. Wouldn't it be fine to live the good life in the capital or Jiangnan? But no, he had to go play at spirits and gods. And that Xu Hongru is a madman too — amassed such a huge enterprise and doesn't know how to enjoy it, only knows rebellion. Madmen, all of them!" Wang Haoxian wept and cursed, yet his mouth barely produced a single truly foul word.

"Spoiled rotten since childhood..." Ma Chonghao muttered. He had seen plenty of wealthy households, and someone like Wang Haoxian was hardly a rarity.

"Search him, interrogate him — do what needs to be done. Once everything's been made clear, deal with him as arranged." Zhao Jin couldn't be bothered to ask more. The moment he said this, Wang Haoxian suddenly shrieked in desperation: "I can identify rebel accomplices! I can bear witness and earn merit! That serving girl with the beauty mark — she's the Fragrance-Spreading Saintess! The one with the cross-shaped scar on her left cheek — that's the Guardian Venerable of the faith..."

Halfway through, a household guard stuffed his mouth shut. But his voice had carried far, and from the direction of those earlier furious shouts and curses came the sound of someone wailing in despair, hoarsely crying out: "Old Hierarch! The Wang family has produced a wastrel — he's ruined everything! We'd have been better off following Xu Hongru in rebellion and dying..."

Just then, a household guard walked in, came to Zhao Jin's side, and reported in a low voice: "That Commander Zhou from the grain transport wants to inspect the valuables being unloaded from our ships. The brothers turned him back, but he won't stop pestering us. He's brought a dozen or so men with him, too."

This report made Zhao Jin and the others all furrow their brows. Ma Chonghao stepped forward and asked quietly: "Since the man is already captured, why not..."

Zhao Jin glanced at Ma Chonghao. Within the present Zhao Camp, a proposal to silence someone after the deed was done was something only Ma Chonghao could put forward. Still, this Commander Zhou truly didn't know when to quit. Zhao Jin pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said in a deep voice: "Since we promised, we must give it to him."

Hearing Zhao Jin's stance, Ma Chonghao's expression didn't change. He acknowledged the order as usual, and just as he was about to withdraw, Zhao Jin added: "This man also works the Jining section of the canal. You can deal with him once you're in Jining."

These words brought a smile to Ma Chonghao's face. Over on the other side, Wang Haoxian, seeing his tearful pleas met with no response, simply collapsed where he was. A stench of urine and filth spread from the tea shed — Wang Haoxian had actually lost control of his bowels. A look of disgust crossed Zhao Jin's face as he spoke: "Children truly mustn't be coddled. Such a grand setup, and it raised a wastrel like this."

With that, he rose and walked out. Everyone in the shed followed. A few of the older men watched Zhao Jin's retreating figure, all privately finding it strange — this young master was barely in his twenties, yet he spoke with the tone of a man in his forties or fifties.

Two household guards, suppressing the disgust on their faces, stepped forward and hauled Wang Haoxian up. The fat man, already broken and soiled, suddenly began struggling and crying out: "Don't kill me! Spare my life! I'll do anything! Don't kill me, don't kill me!"

As he was screaming his heart out here, from where the rest of the fleet's people were being held, there had at first been cursing — saying the old hierarch Wang Sen was such a hero, yet he'd produced a wastrel like this; saying if they'd known it would come to this, why separate so thoroughly from the Shandong Fragrance-Smelling Sect? With all their skills, they'd have been better off joining Xu Hongru, going out in a blaze of glory — far better than this wretched humiliation. But by now, all around was dead silent. Those people had no strength left to shout. At this moment, they were likely heartbroken unto death.

"Once this wastrel and his family have been questioned, send them all to Qingjiangpu. Then notify Huai'an Prefecture to come collect them — gift them a bit of merit. Keep the others for now and question them slowly, see what we can dig up. We need to use this chance to get to the bottom of the Fragrance-Smelling Sect." Zhao Jin said to those beside him as he walked out of the tea shed. Everyone acknowledged the order.

Emerging from the tea shed, leaving the wailing and foul stench behind, brushed by the light breeze off the lake, everyone felt their spirits lift considerably. Zhao Jin walked toward where the fleet's cargo was stacked. Commander Zhou was there at the perimeter, staring fixedly at the piles of chests and crates. Seeing Zhao Jin approach, he hurriedly bowed with fawning deference. Zhao Jin nodded with a smile, then turned his head and asked: "Does murder and plunder happen on the grain transport routes too? I haven't heard much about it."

"Big Brother, I found it suspicious at the time too and made a point of asking around. Thinking back now, the only explanation is that Wang Haoxian brought far too much wealth with him. That's what tempted this Commander Zhou — he wanted to partner with us to seize it. Judging by the Wang family's personal guards, this Commander Zhou probably didn't have the confidence to do it out on the river himself." Liu Yong spoke up.

"So many high officials and wealthy nobles travel south and north on the canal every year. If these grain transport types started murdering and plundering, once word got out, a lot of people's livelihoods would be at risk. Only we could make a move and keep the news locked down. Besides, the Fragrance-Smelling Sect and the grain transport are tied together in countless ways, and it's the top sect in the north — apart from us, no one else would dare touch them." Lei Cai added a few lines from the side.

Several of Cloud Mountain Trading's local head managers had already arrived. Some chests had been opened right there on the spot, and under the sunlight, the glittering, dazzling gleam of gold stirred the soul. Commander Zhou lunged two steps forward before a household guard kicked him and scared him still. The managers immediately dared not continue the inventory out in the open. Someone ran over to ask Zhao Jin for instructions. Liu Yong also arranged for Nie Hei to bring men and follow, preparing to move the seized goods into a warehouse for sealed counting, to avoid any trouble.

"If this Wang Haoxian had allied with Xu Hongru, then Northern Zhili and Shandong would both have descended into chaos. But the court would have immediately mobilized over a hundred thousand troops to encircle and suppress them — they'd never have been allowed to sweep up refugees and commoners like a rolling snowball, rampaging everywhere. If, after Xu Hongru's defeat and death, Wang Haoxian had sent men to take over the situation in Shandong, then outside of Yanzhou Prefecture, he might actually have been able to hold his ground. And if Wang Haoxian and Xu Hongru had operated one in the shadows and one in the open, complementing each other, then this great chaos might have been considerably more troublesome. What a pity — this Wang Haoxian is just an idiot spoiled by wealth, a creature worse than a pig!" Zhao Jin made several hypotheticals and sighed with emotion.

"My lord, if this Wang Haoxian were also a hero, then Xu Hongru likely wouldn't have stirred up trouble at this time. The two would have had to settle who was superior first before making any moves. And if both Xu Hongru and Wang Haoxian were heroes, then they wouldn't be causing trouble now at all — they should have taken the initiative to submit to you, my lord. Otherwise, sooner or later, the only road left to them is death." Ma Chonghao said with a smile.

Zhao Jin paused, then shook his head with a rueful laugh, yet he didn't deny Ma Chonghao's words. Liu Yong and Lei Cai exchanged a glance. Though neither spoke, they understood each other's thoughts: Thank goodness Big Brother trusts us most. If we'd started building the Internal Guard at the same time as Ma Chonghao, it wouldn't have been long before there was no place for us.

After the great chaos of the Shandong Fragrance-Smelling Sect ended, the court issued arrest warrants for the sect's escaped ringleaders, offering bounties for their capture. Among them was Xie Mingxuan, who had come to Xuzhou, and also the so-called hierarch, Wang Haoxian. For Xuzhou, aside from Mu Shulan's irritability due to her health, no one else paid it much mind. But neither did they treat it carelessly — they pursued the matter methodically. However, Wang Haoxian had been in Luanzhou, and once he vanished, there were far too many places he could have gone. The world was so vast, and how much territory did Xuzhou actually control? They were merely doing their duty.

No one expected that Chen Rongqi, the Jining Grain Transport Commander, would introduce someone to Zhao Jin's side. This person was Commander Zhou of the grain transport on the canal north of Jining. The ranks among the grain transport laborers were much like the distinction between official posts and supernumeraries in the yamen — there were official agents drawing court pay and rations, and there were unofficial runners and hangers-on who borrowed authority. That Chen Rongqi of Jining was one of the eleven official commanders of the canal, while this Commander Zhou held an external commission — a headman under a certain grain transport commander in Tianjin. But he was still a man of standing. This fellow came to Zhao Camp and got straight to the point, saying there was a heaven-sent fortune he wished to deliver to Headman Zhao.

Ever since Shi Nai'an wrote Water Margin about Mount Liang, everyone understood exactly what "delivering a heaven-sent fortune" meant. At first, Liu Yong and Ma Chonghao didn't know whether to laugh or cry — did our Zhao Camp look like the sort that robbed the court and government to get rich? But then this man said the target was the Fragrance-Smelling Sect hierarch Wang Haoxian. That instantly piqued the interest of everyone in Zhao Camp, and it was immediately treated as a top-priority matter to be watched and handled.

Wang Haoxian lived in Luanzhou, where his daily life and luxuries were no different from a princedom's — in fact, his extravagance even exceeded one. Everyone around him shared the same way of life. However, ever since the old hierarch Wang Sen "passed away in seated meditation" without a single word of news, and the Mu family of Dongchang Prefecture was completely wiped out, although Wang Haoxian himself didn't much care, those around him began to grow somewhat wary and started making corresponding arrangements.

But these arrangements didn't involve swords and spears. Rather, if anything happened, everyone would go to Jiangnan and continue their life of pleasure and ease. With this thought in mind, they spent a huge sum in Tianjin to purchase over a dozen boats. Nominally, these grain transport boats were under Commander Zhou's jurisdiction, but in reality they simply sat idle at the Tianjin grain transport docks, ready to deploy at a moment's notice. At the same time, the Wang family also set up their own informants in Shandong. Though the network didn't run deep, it was enough to detect relevant stirrings in time.

When Xu Hongru stirred up great chaos in Shandong, the Wang family immediately began to relocate. Unrelated menial servants were all dismissed. Outer-circle sect members were instructed to go into hiding. Gold, silver, valuables, Wang Haoxian's concubines, the families and properties of all the prominent figures, as well as loyal and reliable guards — all were transferred toward Tianjin. The Wang family had operated in Luanzhou for far too long; for this relocation, Ji Garrison actually dispatched several hundred soldiers to escort them.

Upon arriving in Tianjin, everything was moved onto the boats. They ate and slept on the boats as well. They understood in their hearts that Tianjin was no place for a long stay either, because it was too close to the capital, and once Luanzhou caught on, they would certainly reveal this location. So the moment news came that the canal was open for navigation, they immediately boarded and headed south, planning to settle in Yangzhou.

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