Chapter 1043: No Cleverness Can Withstand Overwhelming Force

At that moment, Tian Long, who was off to the side, began struggling more and more violently. Though Tian Long had passed the provincial examinations, he was tall and powerfully built, and now that he was putting all his strength into it, it took two household servants straining with everything they had just to hold him down. Even though he couldn't speak, anyone could see what was on Tian Long's mind — he had been enraged by his younger brother's behavior. Ji Xiang watched impatiently, then flicked his horsewhip and lashed it down with a snap, landing a blow squarely across Tian Long's chest. The strike drove Tian Long straight to his knees. Ji Xiang had learned his horsewhip technique from the Mongol household servants, and with the martial skill already in his wrist, he truly had mastered control, striking or pulling back at will. After that one whip strike, Tian Long's face had gone completely pale.

"Do you think this brother of yours has disgraced you? That he's shamed your Tian family, and that at a moment like this, you'd rather die than suffer such humiliation?" Zhao Jin asked from horseback. Tian Long gave no answer, but the look in his eyes said everything.

Zhao Jin gave a cold laugh and continued, "Your younger brother over there, throwing a tantrum, rolling on the ground, playing the coward and the weakling — he did it for you, and for your Tian family. He put on that act because he wanted you and the whole family to stay alive. It seems that in your Tian family, it's this younger brother who calls the shots."

"The master is right. I'd originally thought that in this Tian family, with one brother passing the provincial exams and the other running a sect and gang, the one giving the orders and making the decisions would be the provincial graduate. Looking at it now, the one truly in charge is that younger brother. Though, in daily life, the younger brother must have let the older brother feel he was the one making the decisions," Ma Chonghao chimed in with a smile. His grasp of human nature was exceptionally sharp.

Zhao Jin nodded with a smile. Tian Long, kneeling there, heard these words clearly. First his eyes widened, and he stared blankly for a moment. Then he looked over at his younger brother Tian Zhu, who was facing this way, kowtowing and weeping and pleading without pause, and saw the contempt and curses from the family members around Tian Zhu. Tears streamed uncontrollably down Tian Long's face, and suddenly he too struck his head against the ground, desperately smashing it down.

Zhao Jin had no interest in brotherly bonds or the like. He simply spoke: "Clear the official road. The women and children don't need to be bound — pen them inside the carriages. Everyone else gets ropes. Anyone who resists, kill without mercy. Bring that opera-clown-acting Tian Zhu to me in restraints."

Ma Chonghao and Ji Xiang acknowledged the order, and the household troops began to move. Some went to search and bind the captives with ropes, others stood guard over the perimeter, and still others moved the carriages off the road. The Tian family's servants, attendants, and guards had been terrified from the start, fearing that the attackers would strike them down at any moment, but from the very beginning they'd had no chance at all, and now they could only leave it to fate and heaven's will.

What let the Tian family breathe a little easier, however, was that the Zhao Camp's household troops did not lay a hand on them, merely binding everyone and herding them off the official road. Though the Tian family's womenfolk were utterly terrified, the Zhao Camp's men conducted themselves with great propriety, avoiding contact or direct confrontation as much as possible, simply driving the old, the weak, the women, and the children together, encircling them with the carriages, and even distributing some of the food and water they had brought.

Seeing the Zhao Camp's household troops act with such discipline, the others relaxed somewhat, and the looks they directed at Tian Zhu were no longer so full of contempt and resentment. It was all thanks to this Second Master's decisiveness and shamelessness. If they had truly clashed, how could they possibly have fought these Xuzhou men, clad head to toe in iron and mounted on tall, powerful horses? It would have been a dead end. No matter what, a wretched life was still better than a good death.

Over on the other side, Niu Jinbao handed Zhao Jin a clean, damp cloth so he could wipe the sweat from his forehead. Zhao Jin and Ma Chonghao both dismounted, while Ji Xiang went to supervise the household troops' operations. Tian Zhu had also been bound up tightly and was now being carried over by several of the troops. Once he was brought over, Tian Zhu first glanced at Tian Long kneeling over there, and only then turned his gaze to Zhao Jin.

Like everyone who met Zhao Jin for the first time, he knew Zhao Jin was young, but he hadn't expected him to be this young. Tian Zhu, however, recovered quickly, swiftly masking his surprise and lowering his head with the utmost deference.

Zhao Jin studied the man before him with great interest. He was in his early thirties, outwardly refined and cultivated, but in truth a tough and capable character. His build and limbs suggested he had trained in martial arts, and not weakly at that. Judging by his bearing and expression, he had likely drawn blood and killed more than once. Yet at this moment, this capable Tian Zhu was all deference and respect, kneeling obediently, not daring to make the slightest move.

"You never imagined I'd lead a mounted company and come charging at you, did you?"

"In answer to Master Jin, this lowly one did not expect it. This lowly one originally thought that Yizhou was a remote place, surrounded by so many mountains, and that Master Jin would not come here lightly. Even if you did, this lowly one believed he would get word of it." Tian Zhu answered this question with a trace of curiosity in his voice.

"Coming from Xuzhou along the river would have been troublesome for me, but crossing the Yellow River from Pizhou and coming overland was simple enough. That provincial border is the officials' business — it's not some deep ravine or great mountain. How could it stop anyone?" Zhao Jin replied with a smile.

The terrain around Yizhou was indeed remote, but from Yizhou south all the way to the Pizhou area in Southern Zhili, there were no high mountains — the whole way was flat ground. Such terrain was perfectly suited for cavalry operations, and coming from that direction, one could advance without the slightest hindrance. The obstacle Tian Zhu had been counting on was the provincial border between Shandong and Southern Zhili.

In the Great Ming, officials, gentry, local strongmen, and outlaws were all divided by territorial boundaries and rarely dared to operate across provincial lines. On the official side, there were jurisdictional limits — once outside one's jurisdiction, one had no corresponding authority, so naturally officials did not venture out lightly. As for the gentry and local strongmen, apart from top-tier entities like the princely fiefs and the Kong family of the Derivation of the Sage Duke, the rest were likewise bounded by provincial, prefectural, and county borders. The same held true for outlaws and mounted bandits.

The reason was quite simple: the gentry and local strongmen and the officials existed in a relationship of mutual dependence. The officials needed to rely on the gentry and strongmen to get things done within their jurisdiction, while the gentry and strongmen depended on the officials' protection to run rampant. They relied on each other, and so both were hemmed in by these borders. As for the outlaws and mounted bandits, the principle was much the same, except that a small number of gangs could collude with officials, while the majority could only collude with the gentry and strongmen.

There were, of course, exceptions. There were plenty of desperate bandits and great river-and-lake rogues who prided themselves on crossing prefectures and provinces and rampaging everywhere. But such types were usually set upon by everyone — from officials and common folk to the outlaw mountain strongholds, all sides treated them as enemies. So unless such men quit in time, there was only one path: destruction. On the official side, there were imperially dispatched commissioners and the like, but that was a different matter entirely.

Thus, for all the talk of roaming freely across the land, the activities of underworld forces, outlaws, and mounted bandits were in fact limited in range. If Shandong mounted bandits went to Southern Zhili — where would they get food and water, where would they tend to their wounded, how would they fence their stolen goods, and who would guide the way? Would going there trespass on someone else's territory? Going once might be manageable, but go a second time, and they would likely face a combined siege from officials, gentry and strongmen, and the local underworld and outlaws.

The Tian brothers had thought along similar lines. Though they knew full well the fearsome power of the Xuzhou Zhao Camp during the Smelling Incense Sect rebellion, they still dared to stir up trouble and create chaos everywhere in Yanzhou Prefecture, precisely because they clung to this notion. They figured that no matter how heaven-defying Zhao Jin's abilities were, he wouldn't dare enter Shandong in force during peacetime. During the great Smelling Incense Sect revolt, you had done so under the title of Xuzhou Assistant Regional Commander, with the court issuing orders for local militias everywhere to assist in quelling the rebellion — only that had made it possible. If you came in now, that would be blatant rebellion. And judging by the Zhao Camp's consistent conduct, the Zhao Camp was quite observant of such overt rules and laws. So the Tian brothers had regarded the provincial border as their own Great Wall and natural moat — never imagining that Zhao Jin would dare to strike like this.

"... Master Jin, you came from northeast of Pizhou, through Yi County, following the Yi River and the Wu River all the way north..." Tian Zhu muttered dejectedly.

This made Zhao Jin somewhat curious. Knowledge of such geography was usually found only among those serving in the military, and even then only among officers. How did Tian Zhu know it? Tian Zhu, aware of what Zhao Jin was wondering, explained in a muffled voice: "This lowly one once served as a personal guard to the Shandong Regional Commander..."

Tian Long, gagged over on the other side, had also heard the conversation here. His panic and agitation were gone now, and he simply hunched over and lowered his head. Ma Chonghao gestured, and someone immediately removed the gag from Tian Long's mouth. With his mouth no longer blocked, Tian Long let out a dejected sigh and said hoarsely, "Second Brother, if Master Jin can ride straight here from Xuzhou and strike, then this world is no longer the world we thought it was. All our schemes — we were pushing ourselves down the road to death!"

Tian Zhu hung his head deeply, his expression hidden from view. The rules they had counted on, the judgments they had made about Zhao Jin — all had vanished like smoke in this single ambush and surprise attack. For men like the Tian brothers, who thought a bit more deeply and had seen a bit more of the world, their dejection came not just from losing everything, but from feeling that all hope had been shattered.

They had thought that in a world like this, they could still exploit the gaps and seize advantages. They had never imagined that Xuzhou had already stopped playing by the customary rules and was now acting entirely on its own terms. And Xuzhou possessed such astonishing strength — a single surprise raid, silent and without warning, had produced over eight hundred cavalry, and such elite soldiers on such fine horses. And then there were those dazzling suits of iron armor, that immaculate horse tack.

Faced with such a colossal power, one that refused to follow the rules, what path to survival was left for anyone? At this moment, they could only laugh at their own past delusions. It was like the doings of children, thinking themselves so clever, while in the eyes of parents and elders it was mere child's play — in the end, all came to nothing.

"I beg Master Jin to spare the lives of my entire family." Tian Zhu knocked his head heavily against the ground. His reaction was not slow — he knew this was no time for despair and dejection. The most urgent thing was to beg for Zhao Jin's mercy.

The smile faded from Zhao Jin's face. Expressionless, he shook his head and said coolly, "You stirred up far too much trouble for me on those estates. If I don't punish this severely, more fools like you who don't know when to stop will crawl out of the woodwork."

Tian Zhu looked up, his face deathly pale. He glanced at Zhao Jin and the men beside him, then knocked his head heavily against the ground once more and said in a muffled voice, "Master Jin, the wrongs, ten thousand wrongs, are all this lowly one's wrongs. My elder brother is a scholar, he understands nothing of these matters. I beg Master Jin to spare my elder brother's family. This lowly one is willing to bear the punishment for the crimes — even if it means being cut to pieces, I accept it!"

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