Chapter 1037: The White Lotus of Yizhou

After saying this, Chen Sheng left and returned to his own station. Ji Xiang kept his head deeply bowed. Zhao Jin nodded to Niu Jinbao and Sun Dalin, and the two tactfully withdrew, closing the door behind them. Zhao Jin returned to his seat and said in a muffled voice, "No need to be afraid. I won't scold you or hit you."

"Big Brother, your little brother was wrong. Please punish me." Hearing Zhao Jin speak this way, Ji Xiang did not relax in the slightest; in fact, he felt even more terrified.

"I received word that the person who sent you those two sisters was very considerate and thorough, and has already delivered them to Xuzhou city. If it's inconvenient, he might even buy you a house over in Hejiazhuang so you can visit them whenever you like. Have you heard this news?" Zhao Jin asked. His face showed no anger, and his tone was perfectly calm.

Ji Xiang, standing there, stole a glance at him and grew even more terrified. His voice trembled involuntarily: "Big Brother, I didn't yet know they'd arrived in Xuzhou..."

Halfway through his words, Ji Xiang dropped directly to his knees. With a tearful, mournful face, he pleaded, "Please punish me, Big Brother. I was truly wrong this time. That Old Qiu who sent the women didn't ask anything of me. He just said he wanted to be friends, and I lost my head for a moment. I'll never touch those women again, and I'll cut off all contact with Old Qiu. I truly know I was wrong."

"You think he isn't asking anything of you? He gives you women, he gives you a house — when the time comes and he asks you for a small favor, to lend a hand, will you be able to refuse him face-to-face? You might be hard-hearted enough to refuse, but what if he threatens you, says if you don't help he'll tell me about all this? Will you kill him to silence him? And then be blackmailed by someone else?" Zhao Jin calmly laid out several possibilities.

Ji Xiang listened blankly, cold sweat streaming down his forehead. What Zhao Jin described was exactly what he himself had thought, but had always refused to dwell on. Now that it was laid bare, he was suddenly overcome with dread, a bone-chilling coldness seeping through his entire body. A shiver ran through him before he snapped back to his senses. Gritting his teeth, Ji Xiang stepped forward and kowtowed heavily, saying in a muffled voice, "Big Brother, I was truly wrong. My mind was muddled; I never considered these consequences. I will never associate with them again. Please, Big Brother, punish me severely!"

Zhao Jin shook his head and said in a deep voice, "This matter is my own failing. I have a wife and children, while all of you, full of hot blood and vigor, are still bachelors. It's inevitable that you'd fall to such temptations..."

He had only spoken half a sentence when Ji Xiang, his face twisted in misery, kowtowed again. His voice now carried a sobbing tone: "Big Brother, please don't speak like that. I truly know I was wrong. Beat me, curse me — anything is fine. I was truly wrong!"

Anyone could see that Ji Xiang was genuinely terrified; his body was trembling faintly. Zhao Jin looked at him and couldn't help but laugh. He could understand Ji Xiang's reaction. He had always been harsh and stern with Ji Xiang, and now that Ji Xiang had made a mistake, Zhao Jin was still calm and even-tempered. To Ji Xiang, this meant, first, that he was being treated as an outsider, and second, that an even greater fury was brewing. No wonder he was so frightened.

"Stand up. Sit back down and listen to me. Quickly!" The sudden sharpness in Zhao Jin's final urging made Ji Xiang immediately scramble to his feet and sit down, his expression finally returning to normal.

"Aren't you betrothed to the daughter of a battalion commander? Hurry up and get married. As for those two sisters, and that little widow you've been dallying with in Hejiazhuang — bring them all into your household and keep them. And if you stir up any more romantic scandals outside, I'll take a knife and cut that thing of yours right off. You won't need to be the captain of the personal guard anymore either; you can go to the capital and gather intelligence. Do you understand what I'm saying?" The last sentence was not a question but an order. Ji Xiang instinctively shot up from his seat and answered loudly, "Your little brother obeys!"

Zhao Jin shook his head and softened his tone again. "There's no such thing as a free banquet in this world. No one is a fool, and no one gives you benefits for nothing. The position you hold is so critical — who knows how many people want to curry favor with you. You must be careful. Settle down and start a family soon, and steady your mind."

Though Zhao Jin's tone had relaxed, Ji Xiang dared not show the slightest slack; he was even more tense. Standing there trembling with fear, he asked, "Big Brother, I truly know I was wrong. Please just punish me. We're brothers — don't treat me like an outsider!"

"It's precisely because we're brothers that I lecture you time and time again. If you weren't, when that news came from Qingjiangpu, the Internal Guard would have seized you already. Stop letting your imagination run wild. I speak to you a little more gently and you develop all these problems!" Zhao Jin waved his hand impatiently. Seeing this, Ji Xiang finally truly relaxed. The weather was already sweltering, and by now his back was completely soaked with sweat.

Zhao Jin stood and walked toward the door. Ji Xiang hurriedly followed. As he walked, Zhao Jin said, "Don't let the Internal Guard slack off, especially the cavalry unit. There are many miscellaneous matters now, but the time of peace hasn't arrived yet."

"Will someone come to attack us?"

"Or we might go out and attack someone else."

A few days after Ma Chonghao arrived in Jining, he began sending messages to Xuzhou via fast courier. The news was always the same: the various sects throughout Shandong were fighting over Yanzhou Prefecture.

In the past, when the Smelling Incense Sect dominated alone, the other sects were either trapped in a single department or county, or barely clinging to life. But once the Smelling Incense Sect collapsed, these sects all rapidly revived and expanded, aggressively seizing the territory the Smelling Incense Sect had left behind. Among them, the Lunan White Lotus Sect of Yizhou was the most rampant. It had absorbed nearly all the remnants of the Smelling Incense Sect, and its strength had suddenly ballooned.

Everyone knew of the Xuzhou Zhao Camp's fearsome reputation. When they quelled the Smelling Incense Sect rebellion, they had slaughtered until the land was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, striking terror into every heart. Yet the various sects were not so afraid that they dared not act. Instead, they viewed the Zhao Camp's various forces as they would the government and official troops. The government and official troops disliked stirring up trouble; as long as no bottom line was crossed, there would be no violent reaction.

Under this assumption, the various sects preached and set up strongholds in Jining and the surrounding areas without any restraint. In their minds, it was enough for the Xuzhou men to come and do business and reap profits. No one would pay any attention to the miserable poor wretches below. If this "Xuzhou Zhao Camp" wanted to meddle, then they would strike back. It didn't necessarily have to involve casualties, but they had to make Xuzhou realize it was troublesome. Everyone liked reaping benefits and detested trouble. After a few rounds of this, Xuzhou would tacitly permit their existence.

As for the disturbances inside the refugee farmsteads across Shandong, that was because the various sects never imagined the Zhao Camp would react so quickly, or that they would care so much. In their view, these places resettling refugees were just temporary measures, no different from the superficial relief efforts of the imperial court and government. Who would care about poor wretches? Who would waste grain on them? Yet these very poor commoners were precisely the most fundamental power base of the various sects. The Zhao Camp's farmsteads had already occupied the population and land in the vast majority of places, leaving no room for latecomers to enter. This was the only method left to them.

"... They're going to scatter anyway. If we push a little harder, maybe the big masters in Xuzhou will even be pleased..." The thinking of the sect members was also very simple. The source of Ma Chonghao's conclusions was highly reliable — they were all extracted under torture from captured prisoners. Under brutal interrogation that did not fear killing, few could keep their mouths shut. On the sheets of letter paper sent over, one could occasionally still see stained blood prints. According to Lei Cai's reply, Ma Chonghao had already personally begun participating in the torture.

Ma Chonghao did not deny the purges carried out by those before him. The several sweeps by Nie Hei, You Zhenrong, and Zheng Quan had also captured large numbers of sect followers and had already driven out outside forces like the Red Heaven Way and the Cudgel Society. According to their people, the Wang family of Luanzhou had suddenly vanished and then been captured by government troops and sent to the capital. This had caused the near-total collapse of the Smelling Incense Sect in Northern Zhili. The Western Mahayana Sect, the Cudgel Society, and the Red Heaven Way, all rooted there, had each seized territory and divided up the followers, gorging themselves until their mouths dripped with grease. As for Shandong, they merely assumed that after Xu Hongru's destruction, the same thing that happened in Northern Zhili would replay itself. Having suffered such heavy losses, they would surely pull their hands back.

Only this White Lotus Sect was different. There were many sects under heaven using the name White Lotus Sect, all operating independently. This White Lotus sect based in Yizhou was one branch of them. It was, in fact, a variant of the Smelling Incense Sect. Moreover, the Venerable of this White Lotus Sect had once worked alongside Xu Hongru in the past, and he too was a sect rooted in Yanzhou Prefecture. A sect like this had its very foundation in Yanzhou Prefecture. The conflict with the Zhao Camp would inevitably be a fight to the death, with no room for compromise whatsoever.

Furthermore, this White Lotus Sect was extremely troublesome. After their preaching in Jining city and several county seats was wiped out, they immediately incited unrest within the farmsteads. The arson and blood-splashing in the cities were also their doing. According to the confessions of prisoners, if the Zhao Camp's military preparedness were not so overwhelmingly strong that they could find no opening, there would likely already be dead men and spilled blood by now.

After the disturbances in the various farmsteads were stabilized, the terrified farmhands were all strictly restrained and controlled. But incidents of charlatanry and superstition began to multiply again — fox-spirit howls, will-o'-the-wisps fluttering about, stone statues weeping blood, and other such bizarre occurrences happened frequently in the farmsteads. Rumors of divine retribution and the like also began to spread. A strict investigation would always trace it back to the White Lotus Sect putting on these supernatural charades. This was truly impossible to guard against completely. After all, the refugee farmsteads did not have full coverage; there were still government offices in the county seats, and surviving gentry and powerful families outside the cities. Though these people bowed their heads to Xuzhou, they did not obey every command.

"... Now that vitality is recovering everywhere, the sense of gratitude toward our Xuzhou is gradually fading. They all see our farmsteads as thorns in their eyes and flesh, wanting to turn what belongs to Xuzhou into their own. The White Lotus Sect's sneaky activities often have the tacit approval, or even the active participation and assistance, of the Shandong local powers..."

Ma Chonghao's meaning was also very simple. The White Lotus Sect was currently only making small, petty disturbances, not daring to stir up too great a commotion. But if this continued, the Shandong local powers, once their vitality recovered, would collude with them. It would grow larger and larger. In the end, it certainly wouldn't overturn the heavens, but it would likely require more bloodshed and killing, and a considerable amount of trouble.

Old friend "Teacher Akai" has newly become an Alliance Master of this book. Old Bai will add a chapter tomorrow, three updates to celebrate. It should have been today, but after fighting through the double monthly tickets, I'm truly somewhat exhausted. Adding the chapter tomorrow, three updates tomorrow!

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