Chapter 258: Cloud Mountain Temple's Ruhui

The corpses and weapons all had to be hauled back. Because He Family Village had so many markets, ox and horse carts were easy to round up. Zhou Xuezhi led men to notify people, and soon enough carts were gathered.

Whether it was a merchant's own cart or one that earned freight money hauling goods, nobody wanted to transport corpses. If it had been yesterday, many would have certainly found all sorts of excuses to refuse, because the men of Zhao's Camp were all young and seemed very disciplined. But today, every single person called upon came obediently, not daring to say a word.

Last night's mass slaughter had already been deeply shocking. No one expected the reinforcements during the day to be even more staggering — nearly four hundred riders, and the elite personal guards of the Xuzhou Mobile Corps Commander and various military officers. When delivering food earlier, quite a few people had been trembling all over. These hardened fighters radiated killing intent; just walking near them made one feel a chill. They had thought Zhao's Camp was already extraordinary — who could have imagined they had such powerful backing?

To actually be able to call in elite garrison troops for rescue — were those large bands of raiders who attacked last night blind? How dare they provoke a local power this formidable? Weren't they afraid of having their entire clan exterminated, their nine familial lines executed?

With such overwhelming deterrence, who would dare refuse? So when Zhao Jin paid the going rate, everyone thought him righteous, considerate in his dealings, and not the least bit bullying.

The open ground here was bustling with frantic activity when, at the eastern crossroads, some twenty riders escorting two horse-drawn carriages appeared. The group was moving at no slow pace, but carriages can only go so fast. As they drew near, several people jumped down from the carriages and broke into a run toward them.

When they reached him, Zhao Jin saw clearly who had come: his father Zhao Zhentang, Chen Sheng's father Chen Wu, and Dong Bingfeng's father Dong Jike.

Seeing the look of utter panic on his father's face, Zhao Jin hurried forward to meet him. Chen Sheng and Dong Bingfeng did the same. The men working there instinctively parted to clear a path for them.

Father and son stood face to face. Zhao Zhentang's eyes widened, and he raised his hand as if to deliver a slap. For a moment, Zhao Jin didn't know whether to dodge or take it. In that instant of hesitation, he noticed his father seemed to have far more white hair than when he had left — and it had only been a few days. Zhao Jin lowered his head.

But the slap never landed. In the end, his father patted him a few times on the body, each pat landing on spots stained with blood and grime — presumably checking for injuries.

"You unfilial wretch, you should have just been scared to death on the execution ground back then. Your mother and I have been sick with worry — do you have any idea how much heartache you've caused us? Are you hurt? If you are, hurry and wash it with that liquor of yours. Don't let the wind get to it." Zhao Zhentang's voice was hoarse, as if his nose were stuffed. By the end, it was barely audible.

"Father, your son has made you worry," Zhao Jin said softly, keeping his own emotions in check. Every time he went through a major event, Zhao Jin tended to overlook his parents' feelings, and the guilt that came afterward was always unavoidable.

For a moment, father and son stood in silence. After a while, Zhao Zhentang lowered his head. Finally, he wiped his face with his hand a few times. When he looked up, his expression was fairly composed, but his reddened eyes gave him away.

"You brat... did several hundred mounted troops and several thousand infantry really come last night?" Zhao Zhentang was clearly grasping for a topic.

"Kong Jiuying's side had over two hundred riders, Cloud Mountain Temple had over a thousand foot soldiers..." Lowering his voice, Zhao Jin gave a brief account of the previous night's events.

The more Zhao Zhentang listened, the more astonished he became. By the end, the look on his face had turned to sheer horror. He lowered his voice as well and asked, "That many really came? And you actually won? And killed this many? With just the men you have?"

He fired off several questions in a row, his tone full of disbelief. By now, the emotions of both father and son had eased somewhat. To these doubts, Zhao Jin replied with just one line: "Would your son lie to you?"

That sentence was more convincing than any explanation. Zhao Zhentang stood stunned for a moment, then let out a long breath. Shaking his head, he said, "I never would have imagined it. Truly never imagined. You've already reached this level — once these new recruits are trained, won't it be even more incredible?"

At this, a rather complicated expression crossed Zhao Zhentang's face. Finally, he stepped forward, clapped Zhao Jin on the shoulder, and said, "I was going to tell you to be careful, not to make your mother and me worry so much. But looking at it now, you really do put a person's mind at ease..."

They had barely gained a foothold, the household guards weren't even fully trained yet, and already they had achieved such a result. As they slowly developed further, what was there left to worry about?

They were just about to continue when the Chen father and son and the Dong father and son walked over. Everyone's expressions were much the same. Gathered together, they all now understood what had happened today. The man posted as a lookout had done his duty — upon seeing a large enemy force approaching, he hadn't fled, but instead went into the city to raise the alarm. But Xuzhou's gates closed at nightfall. The man had stood below the walls shouting himself hoarse, but no one paid him any heed.

What made it even more laughable was that this household guard was a Xuzhou city resident. He had stood duty at the Zhao residence and knew the freight yard and the distillery, but knew nothing else. He could only go into the city to seek help, and only managed to rush in once the gates opened at dawn. Wang Zhaojing, who was currently rotating his studies between the freight yard and the distillery, immediately panicked upon hearing the news and sent word to all quarters.

When this news reached the elders of each family, it struck like a bolt from the blue. None of them thought the children could have survived. Dong Bingfeng's father and Chen Sheng's father had spent a fortune to beg for rescue troops, but in truth, they weren't thinking of saving anyone — they intended to collect the bodies and then wipe out those bandits to the last man, to exact vengeance.

On the way, that Uncle He had volunteered to scout ahead, and then word had come back — a swing from utter despair to wild joy that was hard to take in all at once.

"... That was luck, too. If the man reporting the news and seeking help had actually gone to the garrison, and I had rushed over with my men in a frenzy — never mind the trouble of traveling at night, we might not have had the upper hand in a pitched fight. We might have just made things worse..." Dong Jike spoke very frankly.

Now that Zhao Jin and his companions were all safe and sound, naturally everything was fine. Chen Wu, Chen Sheng's father, nodded from the side and added, "Xiao Jin's handling of the corpses was also very appropriate. You have no official status — so many deaths would be trouble no matter how you put it. By handing the bodies over to Mobile Corps Commander Zhou, the matter falls on them. They've gained the benefit, so they'll have to help smooth over certain things."

After saying this, Chen Wu spoke the same words as Zhao Zhentang: "Seeing that you've managed this far, we won't worry anymore."

Over on the other side, Zhou Xuezhi had to rewrite the plaint and send men on a quick round through the village to collect new signatures and thumbprints. Neither the village households nor the outside merchants raised any objection — whatever Master Zhao said, went. Besides, the matter had nothing to do with them. And those families who had lost members were even more in agreement. They had a fair idea in their hearts of who had really come last night. Only by having them officially declared bandits could they get revenge. Common folk fear going before officials, but these families, without anyone prompting them, were already swearing oaths and volunteering to testify at the yamen.

The corpses and weapons were all loaded onto the carts. The personal guards and household troops, from Battalion Commander Luan on down, were all beaming, their attitude toward Zhao Jin's side growing ever more amiable.

"The benefit they're getting is the small share. The big profit goes to Mobile Corps Commander Zhou. He's garrisoned in Xuzhou, with all the surrounding prefectures and counties under his jurisdiction — making money is easy for him. But in an inland region like this, military merit is hard to come by. Those several hundred heads of yours are a grand gift. Old Zhou can probably start eyeing the Regional Commander's post now." On this subject, Dong Bingfeng's father, Dong Jike, was a man who understood the situation.

Everyone's mood was relaxed as they stood around chatting idly. All of them were expressing relief, saying it was a good thing they had kept this from the rest of the family. At the time, they had feared frightening everyone; now, it seemed like a stroke of luck.

"... There's a bald thief..."

"Grab him! He must be a spy!"

Just then, angry curses and shouts rang out from within the village. The people on the eastern open ground were immediately alerted. Zhao Jin turned his head and swept a glance over. Wang Zhaojing walked over and said, "Brother Zhao, let me take some men and have a look!"

Zhao Jin nodded. Wang Zhaojing called out a dozen or so household guards and hurried over. At the same time, a household guard from the new recruit unit who had been assisting Zhou Xuezhi came running over. He reached them and reported, "Master, a bald... a monk came into the village from the north. The villagers spotted him, surrounded him, and have already seized him."

Yesterday, the monk soldiers of Cloud Mountain Temple had seized people to fill the trench. Although most of the monk soldiers had their heads wrapped in cloth, their bearing gave them away. Everyone in He Family Village knew they were monks. Cloud Mountain Temple naturally hadn't been afraid at the time, nor worried that He Family Village would dare cause trouble afterward. Having gone through that experience, everyone in He Family Village now harbored a deep, bitter hatred for monks. Whether this newly appeared monk was from Cloud Mountain Temple or not, being discovered in He Family Village at this moment could only be called bad luck.

Before long, a man dressed in a merchant's short traveling robe was brought over. Under the sunlight, his shaved head was quite conspicuous — he was indeed a monk. And his status within the temple was likely not low, because monks of no standing rarely shaved their heads regularly; most of the time they just had short hair. Only the wealthy and high-ranking could maintain a clean-shaven head.

When the man was brought before him, Zhao Jin started. He first excused himself to his elders, then had someone take the monk into the main courtyard. They moved quickly. Watching this, Chen Wu said with some puzzlement, "Why does that monk look familiar?"

"Master Ruhui, what guidance do you have for us at a moment like this?" Once inside a room in the courtyard, Zhao Jin asked with a smile. The monk was none other than Cloud Mountain Temple's guest reception monk, Ruhui.

Monk Ruhui's face was very dirty, with two purplish bruises. It was clear, however, that the grime had been smeared on by himself, and the bruises were freshly acquired. The usually graceful and composed Ruhui had sweat pouring down his forehead and was panting heavily.

Only Zhao Jin and Chen Sheng were in the room. There were still many matters to attend to outside, so the other companions were all out there. Seeing that Monk Ruhui couldn't seem to settle down, Chen Sheng got up and poured him a bowl of tea — stone cold, of course. But Monk Ruhui didn't seem to care. He took it and drank it down in great gulps, finally managing to steady his nerves.

"Young Master Zhao, this humble monk just saw piles of corpses being loaded onto carts. May I ask if they are this temple's monk soldiers?" Ruhui did not answer Zhao Jin's question, instead asking his own directly and bluntly.

The moment he said the words "this temple," an expression of considerable excitement appeared on Ruhui's face — it already revealed his stance. Zhao Jin nodded. Ruhui pressed further, "How many were killed?"

"Just under four hundred dead..."

Hearing this answer, Monk Ruhui let out a long breath, his face full of relief. He immediately spoke: "This temple has over ten thousand monks and even more lay followers, but even with all our strength, we could only muster just over a thousand of these monk soldiers. Among them were those trained by the temple, those recruited from outside, and those of unknown origin. Young Master Zhao, by displaying your divine might and striking down over four hundred in one go, you have broken their spine. They won't recover for several years."

Once he started, Monk Ruhui became unstoppable: "Ru'nan planned this very meticulously. He only led his trusted martial monks down the mountain yesterday afternoon. It wasn't until last evening that this humble monk accidentally learned the temple had disbursed a large sum of money and grain, and that the guardian monks from every subordinate cloister had been drafted. Only then did I realize something was wrong. That Ru'nan has eyes and ears everywhere in the temple. This humble monk dared only to sneak away. I only managed to get a horse this morning and rushed here. The matter was so urgent, there was no time even to send a message. This humble monk could only come himself..."

Zhao Jin and Chen Sheng exchanged a glance. Setting everything else aside, Monk Ruhui's joy was clearly genuine and heartfelt. If this was an act, then it was truly remarkable.

"The greater situation is settled! The greater situation is settled! In the whole of Xuzhou, it is now you, Young Master Zhao, who calls the shots..." Monk Ruhui clapped his hands there in admiration.

"Ruhui, I'll ask and you answer. Time is pressing — we can't afford delays!" Zhao Jin's tone turned stern, finally reining in the somewhat manic Ruhui. Ruhui collected himself and nodded.

"Do you have reliable men among the monk soldiers?"

"Yes, there are a dozen or so who are my disciple-nephews. They have received care from my lineage."

"Apart from the monk soldiers, do you have trusted men inside Cloud Mountain Temple?"

"Yes, everywhere!"

"Where are the leading figures of Cloud Mountain Temple? Where is Cloud Mountain Temple's wealth?"

"All at Cloud Mountain Temple on Cloud Dragon Mountain!"

Through this rapid exchange, Ruhui had steadied his mind and caught up with Zhao Jin's train of thought. He was now truly excited. As soon as Zhao Jin paused, he spoke up: "If the head temple on the mountain ceases to exist, then Cloud Mountain Temple effectively ceases to exist..."

"Do you have trusted men who can guide us?"

"Yes!"

"Do you have trusted men inside the temple who can open the gates for us?"

"Yes!"

Ruhui answered while gradually clenching his teeth. He felt that his goal of many years was about to be achieved. Zhao Jin, however, slowed his pace at this moment, smiled, and said, "These matters — can you provide some proof, write a letter to send along, and get them done?"

This question made Ruhui freeze. He pondered for a moment before nodding and saying, "It should be possible."

Zhao Jin shifted his body slightly, then said gently yet firmly, "You must stay here. If it succeeds, your wish will be fulfilled. If it fails, we all go down together!"

Hearing these words, the monk Ruhui was stunned. After a moment of silence, his body began to tremble. Chen Sheng glanced at Zhao Jin beside him and saw that Zhao Jin's expression was patient and calm, so he too remained silent.

"Over all these years, every position managing people and affairs with any profit has been taken by the abbot and Ru'nan's faction. The frustrated grow ever more numerous, and the people this poor monk can use grow ever more numerous as well." After a while, the monk Ruhui stopped trembling, and a faint smile actually appeared on his face as he began to speak slowly.

The monk Ruhui looked at Zhao Jin, then glanced at Chen Sheng, and continued, "Among them are spies planted by the abbot and Ru'nan, and lobbyists sent by Xue Xiaozong to win people over. But more of them bear deep grudges. Cutting off a man's livelihood — how is that not a deep, bitter hatred? Not to mention when my late father passed into nirvana, how many in the temple followed him into nirvana at the same time. Do they really think no one understands? Young Master Zhao, please have paper and brush brought over!"

Chen Sheng said, "I'll go get them," and went straight out of the room to make arrangements. Zhao Jin spoke, "Master Ruhui, the person chosen to lead the way and open the gates must be considered carefully. Do not pick someone concerned with the greater good, who, upon hearing that Cloud Mountain Temple is on the verge of destruction, forgets his own family's hatred entirely. That would be bad for both you and me."

"The greater good? If such a thing existed, how would Cloud Mountain Temple have come to this!" Upon hearing Zhao Jin's words, the monk Ruhui sneered.

Before long, Chen Sheng returned with paper and brush, while Zhao Jin left and went into the courtyard.

"The last two squads of new recruits will stand guard and keep watch. The wounded will be cared for by the households of He Village. Everyone else will rest immediately after lunch. Anyone making noise will be severely punished." Zhao Jin announced the order in the main courtyard.

Outside, everywhere was still busy. The garrison men were moving and counting the corpses, while those who had come from other places were gradually setting off on their return journeys — only Wang Zhaojing and the people his family had brought remained.

Seeing Zhao Jin come out, Zhao Zhentang, Chen Wu, and Dong Jike walked over together from the other side. When they reached him, Chen Wu smiled and said, "You young fellows handle things with good order. There's no need for us old ones to stay here and add to your troubles. We'll head back first. Xiao Jin, is there anything you need help with?"

Zhao Jin pondered for a moment, then spoke: "Uncle Chen, I must trouble you to solidify the account of He Village suffering a night raid by bandits. The garrison men are excellent witnesses. Everything should follow what was just agreed upon with Battalion Commander Luan."

Since the elders of each family had been able to invite these people, communication between both sides would certainly be easy — not to mention that, for the sake of their own military merits, they would absolutely insist on the identities of these corpses.

"This is proper and easy to carry out." Chen Wu exchanged a glance with Zhao Zhentang and nodded.

First, shift away the trouble of the killings, then avoid exposing their own strength before others — Zhao Jin's approach was indeed very thorough. But Dong Jike, standing nearby, could not help voicing his worry: "They say there is a eunuch behind Cloud Mountain Temple. Could there be other troubles?"

A eunuch who could hold the status of a palace official was an immensely important figure. Within the territory of the Southern Metropolitan Region, such a person stood at the very pinnacle — no more than ten of equal rank existed. Offending such a powerful figure would surely bring great trouble.

"Uncle Dong, a trouble like that has already been leveled. What other trouble is there to fear?" Zhao Jin said, pointing at the wagons loading and transporting the corpses.

The three elders all paused, then burst out laughing. Zhao Zhentang even grabbed Dong Jike and turned him around, laughing as they walked: "The boy sees things more clearly than we do. Let's not stay here and add to the chaos."

"Aside from the garrison men, every other person who came to support us will receive an additional three taels of silver. As for how much their superior officers require, I ask the uncles to decide at your own discretion. Just tell your nephew the sum when the time comes." Zhao Jin brought up another matter.

"Do you really need to worry about this bit of silver? Get on with your business!" Dong Jike turned his head and said with a laugh.

"Your nephew is now on his own outside the city, and must build some goodwill of his own." Zhao Jin answered with a smile.

The wagons departed one by one. After finishing lunch, each squad returned to the barracks to rest. Even the two squads on patrol and watch duty were yawning constantly, rubbing their eyes as they walked. The entire He Family compound and He Village fell quiet.