Chapter 568: Like a Gale Sweeping Through

While they were sweeping up, the sound of hoofbeats came from the distance — another mounted company was approaching. The archers who had just climbed down from the rooftops and walls swiftly reappeared, and the men in the courtyard readied themselves as well. But word soon came through: "Third Master is back," and everyone relaxed again.

Not long after, Wang Zhaojing arrived at the cart firm's gate with a dozen riders. They all dismounted, and as soon as he stepped inside he said with a grin, "Big Brother, everything's been arranged more or less as planned."

Zhao Jin nodded and said in a deep voice, "Three more days, and the people of Qingjiangpu will have no choice but to accept their fate."

"Big Brother, this time you've truly earned my admiration — one move sets the whole body in motion. Using the Great Cart Gang, you've directly pulled every faction in Qingjiangpu's underworld into play. 'Settle the whole campaign in a single battle' — that's exactly what this is," Wang Zhaojing said with a smile.

Zhao Jin smiled back. "Don't flatter me. This time it could just as easily have been the Great Cart Gang coming on their own, and then we'd still have plenty of trouble ahead."

"Once the Great Cart Gang is crushed, the rest won't even be worth mentioning. No need to be modest, Big Brother!" Wang Zhaojing's manner was equally relaxed.

This whole series of moves had of course been planned in advance, but the Great Cart Gang was indeed the linchpin. Compared to the other powers, the gang's strength lay in its abundant manpower — those several thousand carters were its greatest resource. Because of their numbers, their influence was vast, and they were bound to be one of the pillars of Qingjiangpu's underworld. That meant they were entangled with every side. If the local bosses wanted to control the city's underworld and marketplace, they had to get a grip on the Great Cart Gang, which had the most manpower.

By the same token, any move against the Great Cart Gang would strike at the local bosses' interests, and those bosses would certainly throw everything they had into a counterattack. "Everything they had" naturally meant mobilizing every local faction that could fight. Once those forces were gathered together, what chance did men who only knew street brawling stand against the Zhao Battalion?

The Zhao Battalion was, after all, on unfamiliar ground and had only just put down roots. They could have crushed each faction one by one, but that would have taken too much time and effort and would have easily bred complications. Far better to concentrate the enemy as much as possible and then smash them all at once.

To achieve that, the Zhao Battalion had done all their groundwork thoroughly — provoking them relentlessly without revealing their true strength, goading the two Great Cart Gangs into throwing everything they had into wiping them out, keeping the authorities from interfering while not scaring off the bosses who might have stepped in.

Wang Youshan was in the capital; even a letter sent by fast horse would take seven or eight days to arrive. But Censor Wang had complete confidence in his son and had left several dozen blank calling cards at home, all signed and stamped with his seal. Wang Zhaojing only needed to fill in the content himself. He had long since perfected imitating his father's handwriting — it was simplicity itself.

With different tones and phrasing, any official would know exactly how far to take things. It was precisely these perfectly calibrated cards that made the authorities feel it best to stay neutral, and that made Lian Ping'an believe he could strike hard and wipe Cloud Mountain Cart Firm off the map entirely.

Every angle, every detail — all of it brought Qingjiangpu's underworld forces together, and then they were crushed.

Though the death toll was not high, they had already witnessed the Zhao Battalion's ferocity and ruthlessness. And underworld and marketplace organizations are fragile: once the leaders at every level vanish, the whole structure falls into chaos, even collapses. Even if new leaders are installed, things are never the same as before. The Great Cart Gang was smashed, the leaders of every faction were gone — it meant Qingjiangpu's entire underworld and marketplace had been reshuffled overnight. What happened next would depend on what the Zhao Battalion did.

"Eat up quickly. There's still work to do tonight," Zhao Jin ordered. A loud acknowledgment rang out from inside and out.

Nearly two thousand men noisily dispersed back to their various posts across Qingjiangpu, and everything that had happened in front of Cloud Mountain Cart Firm spread with them to every corner of the city.

Countless eyes in Qingjiangpu had been watching today's great battle. Most had thought they were merely in for a story — watching how the city's various heroes would deal with those unlucky wretches from Xuzhou. Who could have imagined such an outcome? The Great Cart Gang, which had run roughshod over everyone, had collapsed just like that. The heroes of every faction had been seized outright. Even the yamen runners had been humiliated. Was this a reshuffling? Was the sky about to change?

But no one rushed to act. There was no hurry in the current situation. With so many dead and so many matters entangled, inside and out, it was entirely possible the military would be called in. The Shanyang garrison commander would likely lead troops over. If things got worse, the Langshan vice-general might even send men. No matter how capable those Xuzhou men were, could they possibly stand against the authorities and the official army?

Still, the prudent always prepared for both outcomes. Shops and trading houses, inns, brothels and gambling dens, guilds — on one hand they held their positions and stayed still; on the other, they sent men to gather information, to see if any of them had connections they could use with the Xuzhou Zhao Battalion. They also prepared some gifts and made sure they knew the lay of the land. Once the outcome was decided, those gifts would either be sent to console Qingjiangpu's various underworld factions, or to pay their respects at Cloud Mountain Cart Firm.

Within the Great Cart Gang, of course, there was wailing and chaos. The carters at the bottom actually didn't care much — some were even wondering if they could earn a bit more in porterage fees now, without the gang bosses skimming off the top. But the bosses' families and the gang leader's trusted men were all in utter disarray. Some shouted about revenge, some wanted to divide up the assets and flee, others were ready to rebuild the gang — noisy chaos pulling in every direction.

But by the time darkness had fully fallen, everything was settled. Fierce, murderous-looking men had gone to the homes of both Zhang Yunxian and Tall Whip Ma. When several dozen blade-wielding toughs strode into those residences amid the turmoil, everyone inside was instantly cowed.

"Last year your household borrowed one hundred thousand taels of silver from our Cloud Mountain Firm. The loan contract is right here. Neither principal nor interest has been repaid to this day. Your property and your people will be taken as repayment!"

The contract was produced, complete with fingerprints and signatures. But the sum of one hundred thousand taels of silver was so utterly preposterous — how could such a debt possibly have materialized out of thin air? Naturally, no one was willing to acknowledge it.

But the moment those coldly gleaming blades and axes were brought out, someone on the spot had a hand or foot chopped off, or an arm broken. Who would dare meddle in these Xuzhou men's affairs now? Every faction had been beaten into terror. Even the yamen runners dared not show their faces. The men could act as they pleased. Under such intimidation, who dared refuse?

The core figures of the Great Cart Gang were swept away, and their families were swept away with them. Gold, silver, and valuables were all carted off. The gates of their homes were plastered with sealing strips, and on those strips was written: "Sealed by Cloud Mountain Cart Firm." On any ordinary day, those strips would have been a joke. But after this great battle, who would dare touch them?

It wasn't just the Great Cart Gang whose families were implicated — the leaders of every faction who had incurred those enormous "debts" met the same fate. In the dead of night, their families were seized, their properties confiscated. All through Qingjiangpu that night, there was the constant sound of hoofbeats, utter pandemonium.

A great city like Qingjiangpu, with its hundreds of thousands of people, naturally had its own night watchmen and militia patrols. But how would those men dare interfere? Even the "heroes of the underworld," far more savage and fierce than themselves, were meekly falling in line. Why should they go looking for trouble that wasn't theirs?

Granary Commissioner Lian Ping'an did not learn the news much earlier than the common folk. By the time he knew, the four gates of Shanyang County's walled city were already shut. The safest course was simply to stay put in his residence.

Lian Ping'an's residence was a garden estate, with pavilions, terraces, and waterside gazebos — lavish and exquisite. He also had over twenty skilled fighters serving as household guards. Deeming that insufficient, he even mustered the able-bodied men among his servants, arming them with all manner of weapons to stand watch.

Despite the heavy precautions, Lian Ping'an had a rough calculation in his mind: the enemy wouldn't dare actually attack him. He had already heard what happened to the yamen runners. But runners were runners, and officials were officials. Though the granary commissioner was only a ninth-rank post, his name was recorded in the rosters of both the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue. Killing a man like that was outright rebellion — it would inevitably shake the court and the realm. What was more, Commissioner Lian had backers and powerful patrons behind him.

Even so, Commissioner Lian had made every possible preparation. He had, for instance, assigned several servants with loud voices to shout out his patrons' names at the first sign of trouble, which might at least give the villains pause. He had checked the entrances and exits of the secret passageways and had all his gold, silver, and valuables packed and ready.

Originally, Commissioner Lian had taken his family and hidden in a secluded residence. But with all the chaos outside, he grew uneasy — if something really happened there, he'd have no one to turn to. After mulling it over, he brought everyone back home. At least here he felt more secure.

Even so, Commissioner Lian sat in his study trembling with fear, as servants constantly came to report the latest news.

"Master, I don't think those household guards can be relied on. When I was delivering food just now, I overheard them saying that if anything happens, they'll just run for it, and to hell with us..." a trusted servant reported.

Before the man had even finished, someone came running in from outside at full speed and said, gasping for breath, "Master — hoofbeats! A mounted company is heading this way!"

At those words, Lian Ping'an shot straight up from his chair. The moment he stood, he heard panicked cries and shouts outside, and the commissioner nearly collapsed onto the floor. Steadying himself, he said not a word and bolted for the bedroom — that was where the secret passage and hidden compartment were.

His principal wife was waiting there. In the ensuing pandemonium, Commissioner Lian, being far too fat, found squeezing into the secret passage an enormous struggle. The room was filled with weeping and wailing, like a scene from an opera.

Before they could even finish wrestling their way into the passage, they heard the sound of urgent footsteps outside. Lian Ping'an went completely limp at the mouth of the passage, thinking, This is it. I'm going to fall into the hands of those lawless Xuzhou fiends, leaving behind this vast estate and all my wealth and status...

But the person who ran in was not a fiend — it was the steward. Lian Ping'an's breath caught in his throat and he nearly fainted. When he recovered, he just stood there cursing furiously without pause.

"Master... Master... they've thrown a whole load of human heads into the courtyard..." The steward could barely get the words out, his face white as a sheet from terror.

Lian Ping'an, still collapsed on the ground, took a long moment to even understand what the steward was saying. It wasn't until he was led out to the courtyard to see for himself — his principal wife had wanted to follow, but the steward had talked her out of it, saying she mustn't be frightened out of her wits.

Lian Ping'an saw that every one of his household guards was deathly pale, some looking as though they had just been sick. This only deepened his bewilderment. These guards were genuinely skilled in martial arts; normally they spoke in loud, rough voices and threw their weight around outside, relying on the Lian family's influence. How had every one of them turned into shrinking violets today?

Thanks to old friend "Yuan Heng Li Zhen" for the tip, and thanks to everyone for your monthly tickets and subscriptions. Thank you all.

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