Chapter 494: An Eye for an Eye

But now that he needed to use him, Cai De naturally became a target. Being recruited could be considered a case of good intentions bringing good rewards. The blood on his hands wasn't all that much, which met the Zhao Battalion's standard of having no blood debts, and after that everything simply fell into place.

Wiping out Cai Kui's faction also brought an added benefit. Just three days after the news spread, three bands of river pirates and water bandits sent people to contact Zhao Jin, asking Master Jin to grant them a way to survive, and pledging that they would obey any command he gave.

Apart from this, Tong Huaizu, the Prefect of Xuzhou, also benefited. Because such a major case had been cracked, his superiors sent down an official commendation, and victims who had rushed over from other regions, unaware of the true circumstances, even presented a plaque, delivering it to the yamen with drums and gongs. This gave Tong Huaizu both face and substance, though privately he found it rather amusing yet frustrating.

After this thunderbolt strike, another rumor spread in Xuzhou, saying that Master Jin was going to set up a checkpoint on the Yellow River. Others refuted this rumor, saying it was the Patrol Office that was going to set up a checkpoint on the Yellow River. Many people scoffed at this, all saying that with such a wide river, how could you set up a checkpoint? A boat could simply sail right past; how would you stop it?

When they heard the location of the checkpoint, everyone found it perfectly reasonable. Originally, the Xuzhou section of the Yellow River had two dangerous spots: one was Xuzhou Rapid, the other was Lüliang Rapid. Because the river channel narrowed at these two places and massive rocks lay across the riverbed, the current was swift and turbulent. In the past, when tribute grain boats passed through Xuzhou, they easily capsized in this stretch, so a large number of trackers and river workers were needed to maintain it.

However, during the Jiajing, Longqing, and early Wanli reigns, repairs were carried out here continuously: blasting away the massive rocks, widening the river channel, and calming the current, which greatly facilitated the tribute grain transport.

But fortune and misfortune are interdependent, and pros and cons are split in half. The calming of the current greatly improved the safety of boat navigation, but the sediment carried by the Yellow River began to deposit because the current was slow, causing the riverbed to rise and the channel to silt up. After a few decades of convenience, the Yellow River at Xuzhou became unusable, and they had to open the Jia River at Pizhou, rerouting the tribute grain transport. This was also one of the reasons for Xuzhou's desolation and decline.

Precisely because of this, the surface of the Yellow River at the border between Pizhou and Xuzhou was calm, with virtually no current. Even with the help of wind, boats couldn't move fast. Since they couldn't move fast, intercepting patrol boats could stop and inspect them, and the checkpoint could naturally be established.

People from all sides were pondering what impact the checkpoint would have on them. Naturally, no one paid any attention to Yangzhou. In the eyes of most people in Xuzhou, the Feng family of Yangzhou had already been crushed by Zhao Jin and wouldn't dare make any moves.

The assassination attempt that day while touring the He Family Village market with the salt merchants, as well as Li Dajin and Li He's voluntary surrender—all this information was kept sealed off from the outside. No one knew about it at all.

However, the Feng family still learned the news. They had arranged for someone to stay in Xuzhou city. When that person received no news at all and didn't wait for his companions to return, he knew they hadn't succeeded and left at top speed to report back.

Slightly later than the Feng family learning the news, those salt merchants and stewards who had gone to Xuzhou also brought back word of the attempt on Zhao Jin's life. Matters related to the salt market were kept secret by tacit mutual understanding, but the fact that Zhao Jin was assassinated and that the Feng family had instigated it was, by the same tacit understanding, deliberately spread around.

The Feng family was naturally furious and frantic, but the greatest impact of the news spreading wasn't the loss of face. It was that no one dared to take on the jobs the Feng family assigned anymore. Great rewards are bound to bring forth brave men, but you have to be alive to spend those rewards. On the jianghu circuit in Yangzhou and the surrounding areas, Wu Biao the archer and those desperate idlers were all the most ruthless and outstanding characters. If even they were all taken down in Xuzhou, going there again would just be seeking death, wouldn't it?

The assassination hadn't succeeded, so the Feng family also strengthened their own guard. The guards inside and outside the manor were doubled, and they hired armed escorts from a security bureau to stand watch. There were even a few constables who sat drinking tea nearby every day. These government figures might not have any particularly lethal skills, but seeing government people present made everyone somewhat more wary. That was protection.

Vigilant as they were, the Feng family also had a deep understanding of Zhao Jin. They knew Zhao Jin had no real power in Yangzhou, and they also felt Zhao Jin wouldn't dare to charge in directly, risking the crime of rebellion and insurrection.

The Old Master Feng Jinfa, the Master Feng Shaoxian, plus the steward Feng Da—these three were naturally cautious and prudent. But the others didn't really care, thinking that no matter what, trouble wouldn't reach their own heads. With so many important figures in and around Yangzhou city, who would dare to make a move here?

The Feng family's Second Master, Feng Shaoliang, was the son of a concubine. However, Feng Jinfa was very fond of this son, and Feng Shaoxian also took good care of this younger brother. Currently, it was Feng Shaoliang who presided over socializing with officials and nobles in the pleasure quarters.

This socializing was all tied to wine, women, wealth, and temper. Feng Shaoliang was a playboy to begin with, so he was utterly and joyfully absorbed in it. Moreover, he embezzled quite a bit of silver through underhanded dealings. The Feng family was large and wealthy, and since it was one of their own doing it, everyone just pretended not to see.

Nothing in the world is perfect. Feng Shaoliang was a debauchee by nature, but his wife kept him on a very tight leash. His in-laws worked in the prefectural government office. Though their official rank was low, their actual power was considerable. Feng Shaoliang could only hold his nose and let his wife control him, sneaking out whenever he found a chance to have fun and fool around.

When the main force of the Feng family went north to the Grass Den in Huai'an Prefecture, Feng Shaoliang took advantage of everyone's attention being diverted from internal affairs to embezzle a huge sum of money from the family accounts for his private purse. He used it to buy the freedom of a favored courtesan on a pleasure boat and bought a small residence in Yangzhou city to settle her, visiting from time to time for trysts.

It had been less than a month, and they were in the heat of illicit passion. He would go over whenever he got the chance. The Feng family, from top to bottom, had all been told to be careful. Feng Shaoliang didn't dare be negligent either, so he asked Feng Bao for four guards to accompany him and took a carriage into the city.

"Family is still the most reliable. Look at these four guards, brawny and imposing—each one could take on ten bandits. Look at the men Li Dajin picked before, all sorts of weird, misshapen types. Who knows how much silver he skimmed off the top there." Feng Shaoliang was in excellent spirits in the carriage, chatting and laughing with his personal attendant.

The attendant merely echoed him, but inwardly understood why this was being said. Li Dajin was too rigid and inflexible in his work. Once, Feng Shaoliang got into a fight over a woman in a brothel and suffered a minor loss. He went to Li Dajin to ask for men to help, but Li Dajin refused, saying it required a word from the Old Master, the Master, or the steward. In the end, it was Feng Bao who took a few trusted men over to salvage the situation.

The carriage entered the city and soon arrived at the small residence. They knocked on the door, and a pretty, charming maidservant cheerfully let them in. Those who came from the Feng household bought in batches; besides the courtesan, the maidservants around her were also top-quality goods. The four guards stood with puffed chests and protruding bellies at the entrance by the street, putting on a show of martial might.

But as soon as Feng Shaoliang and his attendant entered the courtyard and the gate closed, the guards immediately huddled together and started chatting idly, their spittle flying, all talking about the women in this house—the unspeakable vulgarities need not be detailed.

A vendor carrying a pole of sweet cakes slowly walked into the alley. From the other side, another man pushed a wheelbarrow loaded with wooden barrels. Both were a common sight inside and outside Yangzhou city. Sweet cakes were an ordinary snack, and nine times out of ten, the wheelbarrow meant someone in the residence had ordered vegetables and fresh fruit, delivered daily at a set time.

In front of Feng Shaoliang's love nest, the sweet cake vendor and the wheelbarrow man brushed past each other. The wheelbarrow accidentally tipped over the vendor's shoulder pole.

The vendor immediately panicked and grabbed the wheelbarrow man, refusing to let him leave. The two began to tussle and curse. The four guards now had a show to watch and turned around, grinning, to stare.

In a bustling place like Yangzhou, there were plenty of idle men who loved a spectacle. Several more people gathered around from both sides. The four guards grinned and paid no mind. One even stealthily pinched two sweet cakes from the vendor's basket and hid them in his shirt.

With the quarreling men in the middle and the onlookers nearly blocking the alley, at that very moment, the idlers who had just arrived grabbed the Feng family guards—two on one—pinning them directly. They swiftly gagged them and delivered a vicious blow, making them all double over in pain.

But at that moment, nothing looked out of the ordinary. Even if someone happened to pass by, all they would see was a crowd of people gathered in front of someone's door, arguing.

Using the wooden barrels on the wheelbarrow as a step, two idlers stepped right over the wall. A brief, stifled cry of alarm sounded from within, then ceased. The courtyard gate was opened, and the four Feng family guards, along with the vendor and the idler onlookers outside, all surged in. Even the cart was pushed inside, and the courtyard gate closed. It simply looked as if nothing had happened.

Small residences like this in Yangzhou city were all exquisitely made and secluded, set up by wealthy and powerful families either for secret rendezvous or to hide a mistress. If any noise leaked out, it would ruin the charm.

So whatever happened inside was barely audible from outside. There were cries of alarm, pleas for mercy, but everything was very brief and quickly fell silent.

Not long after, the wheelbarrow was pushed back out, the idlers and the vendor following behind, as if they were porters hired by the household. Someone even called out repeatedly toward the door, "Next time we'll definitely deliver earlier. We're truly sorry about this time."

The next day, the horse pulling the cart ate all the grain stored in its feed bag and, frantic with hunger, began to neigh. Only then did it alert passersby, who thought the carter was far too negligent, to neglect even the horse like this.

Someone who knew horses stepped forward to calm the animal, then curiously lifted the curtain of the carriage compartment. He let out a shriek and sat down hard on the ground. The carter's chest had been stabbed with several holes, his mouth was stuffed with rags, and the wounds had even been packed with cotton pads, completely soaked through with blood.

It was the Feng family's carriage, so naturally it bore their insignia. Naturally, someone reported this news to the Feng family. Quite a few people in the Feng family knew that Feng Shaoliang kept a love nest in the city; they just pretended not to. Now that this matter had blown up, they immediately came looking.

Not a single person in that residence was left alive. Feng Shaoliang's head had been severed from his body, and a large handful of salt had been scattered over his head and face. The entire house was covered in blood. Even several constables at the yamen, who were used to seeing major cases, felt a chill in their hearts. But the salt was a clue—could it be an internal feud in the salt trade?

The bodies were collected and sent back to the Feng family. The Feng household was immediately plunged into grief. The family members involved wailed to the heavens, while the few people in charge at the Feng family trembled with fear.