Chapter 435: Safe and Sound

"Gentlemen, that Zhao has run rampant in Xuzhou, offending who knows how many people both openly and in private. This time, it's entirely possible that someone from over there has come to join in this righteous undertaking as well," Li Dajin spoke up.

Naturally, no one fully believed these words, but they did concede the reasoning had some merit. Moreover, if they withdrew and fled now, and the enemy cavalry caught up and charged, they would be scattered instantly—a dead end with no way out. Better to form ranks and wait; at the very least, they would have the strength to put up a fight. For all these reasons combined, everyone waited, each preoccupied with their own concerns.

"Is Master Jin here?"

"Is Big Brother around?"

Shouts rang out through the streets of **** Town. Hearing these cries, Zhao Jin and the others finally relaxed completely. Dong Bingfeng had returned, bringing reinforcements with him. Everyone was safe.

Yet Zhao Jin felt a twinge of curiosity. He had sent Dong Bingfeng to find reinforcements while he himself stayed behind in **** Town to hold out and wait. He hadn't expected him to return so quickly—and where had so many men and horses come from? Even if He Village mobilized everything, they could field two hundred riders at most, and those would mainly be infantry.

"Over here!" came the shouted reply.

Everyone spotted Dong Bingfeng and the two household retainers who had accompanied him that day. From that moment on, there was no more doubt, and they threw the courtyard gates wide open for them.

As soon as Zhao Jin stepped outside, he saw Dong Bingfeng walking over, his face brimming with excitement. "Big Brother, your little brother has returned too late!"

"Too late for what? You've come at just the right time!" Zhao Jin laughed as he went out to meet him. When he reached him, he threw a punch at Dong Bingfeng's chest and said again, "You've come at just the right time!"

The companions surged out, laughing and shouting, each landing a punch. Dong Bingfeng yelped in pain, grinning. "Second Brother, don't throw a second punch—you hit way too hard!"

"Are these men from the Xuzhou Guard?" Zhao Jin spotted a few familiar faces. Back when He Village had been besieged by the monk soldiers, Dong Jike had mobilized a cavalry unit to come to the rescue, and a few of these men had been seen then.

Dong Bingfeng nodded emphatically. "Going back to He Village would have taken too long. I went straight to the Xuzhou Guard to ask for help. My father and several commanders scraped together these men, and also..."

"Let's talk outside. There are still people waiting for us out there!" Zhao Jin said with a smile.

**** Town began to bustle once more. The horses Zhao Jin and his men had left in the open ground had been startled earlier, but by now their spirits were fairly good. When they'd abandoned them the night before, they had simply tossed the fodder and ration bags onto the ground, and the horses had eaten on their own—it counted as a night's rest and recovery.

They led out their horses and mounted up. Surrounded by the reinforcements, Zhao Jin and his group headed out of town. The relief force was no small affair—a full four hundred-plus riders—but it looked very disorderly. The contingent from the Guard station seemed like a proper unit, but the rest were a motley mix. Some men looked fierce and carried proper weapons; others rode mules and clutched firewood cleavers.

Dong Bingfeng soon explained the reason. When he'd gone to the Xuzhou Guard to request aid and they'd scraped together two hundred riders, everyone felt the numbers were too few to be sure of anything. So Dong Bingfeng had simply proclaimed along the way that Master Jin of the Zhao Camp needed helpers, and that anyone who came on horseback to lend aid would be richly rewarded in the future.

That very night, men were sent to every village and hamlet to shout the call. Zhao Jin's name now carried tremendous weight in Xuzhou. The moment those words were spoken, men immediately mounted up and rode over to help. The unit had set out from the Xuzhou Guard in formation, and all along the road, people kept joining in. Some even looked unmistakably like figures from the Greenwood and the rivers-and-lakes world, coming to take part.

"Big Brother, there are still many more hurrying this way!" Dong Bingfeng said with a smile.

"Master Jin, folks say there have been a few great opportunities in Xuzhou. That day at Xuzhou City was one of them—who back then dared to go with Master Jin? And now those who did enjoy endless benefits. This time, everyone's treating it as another great opportunity!" a man from the Guard station said, laughing.

The men all around burst into laughter. Zhao Jin raised a hand, smiling, and declared, "Zhao will remember everyone's goodwill. There will surely be rich rewards!"

The men had followed him precisely for these words. The moment they heard them, a thunderous cheer erupted, and the atmosphere turned intensely fervent.

Amid this lively atmosphere, the large force exited **** Town. Though Zhao Jin and his men were weary, their arms and armor were of fine quality and their presence was imposing. They rode at the very front. Behind them came the Xuzhou Guard cavalry, and further back, the men who had joined from various places. Unless one looked closely, one could not discern their true strength. Viewed head-on, all one saw was a great cavalry force of over five hundred, its momentum overwhelming.

This force streamed out of **** Town in succession, assembled on the open ground outside, then advanced. Watching such a large body of men and horses approach, the faces of Li Dajin and his group instantly changed. Their own ranks stirred with unrest.

Zhao Jin's side had advanced only a short distance when a single rider galloped out from the Feng family cavalry, stopping beyond bowshot range. The rider shouted, "My Master Li asks: in broad daylight, a life-and-death battle would stir up far too much commotion and draw the attention of the authorities, which benefits no one. Could we part ways here and meet again another day?"

"They want to fight when it suits them and leave when it suits them—it's not that cheap..." Ji Xiang said through gritted teeth.

Zhao Jin stood up in his stirrups and turned his head to look at his own force. Many of the mounts were already sweating, and many faces showed signs of exhaustion—to say nothing of the uneven quality of the force itself. The sun had shifted slightly to the west. **** Town was not far from the main road, and there were plenty of passing travelers and merchant caravans. If several hundred or even a thousand men clashed in open battle, it would certainly draw attention. Had the fighting started inside the town from the beginning, others might not have noticed, but a cavalry battle could only be fought on open ground.

After a moment of silent deliberation, Zhao Jin looked back again. Many of his own men wore tense expressions. The silence had stretched on so long that they thought the fighting was about to begin.

"Take one message back: Zhao draws a clear line between kindness and grievance. We shall meet again another day!" Zhao Jin called out loudly.

The distant rider made a deep bow from the saddle, wheeled his horse around, and rode back. They watched as the Feng family's force stirred into motion and began to withdraw in the direction from which they had come.

"Big Brother..." Ji Xiang began to ask.

"Look back. Haven't all these men just breathed a sigh of relief?" Zhao Jin said in a low voice.

Ji Xiang turned in the saddle to look back and found that, apart from a very small number, everyone else had indeed relaxed. For a moment, Ji Xiang was speechless.

It wasn't that the relief troops who had rushed here couldn't fight, nor was it necessarily impossible for them to risk their lives on a battlefield. But for them, if they could avoid a fight, they would. Ji Xiang was now a seasoned commander who had led troops through many battles, and he understood this mentality perfectly. With such a mindset, victory would be hard to come by.

Zhao Jin and his men did not leave the area outside the town in a hurry. They waited for half a shichen, until the other side had completely vanished from sight, and only then did they turn and depart.

It was not until this moment that Ding Jun and the women and children rescued from the haystack hut confirmed their safety. The moment they left that compound, in front of several hundred men, Ding Jun led those people to kneel and kowtow to Zhao Jin. He and the women did so with wholehearted sincerity; many of the children, still unaware of what had happened, looked around curiously.

"Get them mounted on horses. Summon the prominent figures of **** Town here!" Zhao Jin said simply. Men immediately hurried off to carry out the task.

Liu Yong glanced at the people kneeling on the ground, thought for a moment, then exchanged a few quiet words with the other companions. Before long, the Zhao Camp contingent began telling the relief troops the story of why Zhao Jin had fallen into such danger.

The fact that the incomparably valiant Master Jin had actually needed everyone's rescue was astonishing in itself. Only after hearing the reason did it all become clear: Master Jin had been acting out of chivalrous righteousness, saving these helpless, lonely women and children. This was truly noble conduct.

A few individuals with filthy minds even scrutinized the women carefully. They were just rural country women, none of them possessing any looks to speak of. It seemed it really was a case of chivalry and righteousness after all.

The vast majority were full of praise and admiration. Even though they themselves might not necessarily intervene if they encountered such a situation, everyone knew that one day they too might need this kind of help. Zhao Jin's image instantly became towering and noble, and everyone felt much closer to him.

"So this is the hearts of men?" Chen Sheng murmured.

They knew very well that this deed of Zhao Jin's would be spread far and wide by these several hundred men. The whole of Xuzhou would come to know of it, and even more people beyond. The chivalrous name of the Zhao Camp would spread in just this way.

**** Town did have a few gentry and local magnates, but at this moment they were all trembling with fear. Several hundred men and horses were crammed into **** Town, and the corpses and bloodstains from the previous night's life-and-death struggle had yet to be cleaned up. Who wouldn't be terrified at the sight? What's more, the man before them was the infamous god of slaughter whose name shook Xuzhou!

"I drew those men here and fought a life-and-death battle in your town. I dirtied your streets, tore down your door planks, and disturbed your New Year celebrations. That was my fault," Zhao Jin said with a smile to the prominent figures of **** Town.

These few men were all meeting Zhao Jin for the first time. One of them was even the owner of the compound Zhao Jin had commandeered the night before. **** Town had never had close dealings with Zhao Jin or the Zhao Camp, and in their impression, Zhao Jin was a fearsome god of slaughter, a god of death.

The decline of **** Town was itself partly due to rumors that Zhao Jin would launch a violent assault and massacre the place. So in their minds, he had been described as utterly terrifying. They had never imagined that Zhao Jin would be so young, or that he would treat people with such amiability and reason.

When one side was polite, the other dared not follow suit. They merely said, with great trepidation, "What is Master Jin saying? Our humble place failed to be of any help. We are the ones who should be ashamed..."

"Tally up a figure for all the damaged property. The Zhao Camp will send someone to pay compensation at full price," Zhao Jin stated.

Before the men below could protest out of politeness, Zhao Jin asked another question: "Does **** Town still have its distilleries and master brewers?"

The few men all smiled bitterly. According to the rumors of those days, it was precisely because **** Town produced liquor that it had earned Zhao Jin's disfavor. As a result, the distilleries had not dared to operate, and the brewing craftsmen had all scattered. But even before that, once Han Well Famous Liquor had appeared, the once quite reputable **** liquor had gone into decline, and its price had fallen. That, too, was the root cause of **** Town's decay.

"This place sits at the junction of three provinces and is a key chokepoint on the overland route. Moreover, it has good yeast and good water. I intend to open distilleries and trading firms here, and I will need to employ people and use land in **** Town. To do business here, I will naturally need the support of you gentlemen, and you will certainly have to take shares and manage affairs," Zhao Jin declared in a clear voice.

When these words were spoken, the several prominent figures of **** Town all widened their eyes. They looked at one another, expressions of disbelief spreading across their faces. They exchanged glances as if wondering whether they had misheard.

They recovered quickly. The few men hastily dropped to their knees, their faces full of gratitude as they performed a grand salute of thanks.

I did some calculations and found that besides ****, there's also Yanghe nearby... the home of baijiu.