Chapter 743: On the Road in Shandong

After the old hierarch Wang Sen passed into immortality, he had his son Wang Haoxian marry Mu Shulan. Many of the power-holders within the Smelling Incense Sect learned of this news, and everyone understood what it signified. Although Wang Haoxian was fatuous and incompetent, he held the name of legitimacy. Quite a few branch congregations in Northern Zhili and Shanxi still took him as their leader. The Mu family's Dongchang Prefecture, meanwhile, was a solidly prosperous territory, and the Mu brothers were extremely capable. A union of the Wang and Mu families would give them the capital to contend against Xu Hongru. Perhaps this time the Smelling Incense Sect would see a split into Northern and Southern lineages.

If it split into two lineages, that would greatly increase everyone's opportunities and room to wait for the highest bidder, with boundless advantages and just the right room to maneuver.

Yet just before this situation could take shape, the Mu family, as if made of paper, was wiped out by Xu Hongru in a single day. That Mu Shulan, the Holy Maiden whose fame had spread far and wide, was also captured and brought back.

This sent shockwaves in all directions. Outsiders only knew that a demoness pretending to be a Holy Maiden had appeared in Linqing Prefecture, but every faction within the Smelling Incense Sect, and even peripheral groups like the Cudgel Society and the Red Origin Sect, all trembled in submission at once. Anyone could see Xu Hongru's overwhelming power from this move. The Mu family's vast operation had collapsed utterly in a single day. Against such might and prestige, who dared resist? They all obediently submitted.

Even Wang Haoxian's branch in Luanzhou sent men to offer apologies, saying that as long as Hierarch Xu was present, Wang Haoxian was merely a Revered One within the sect and absolutely dared not presume to call himself hierarch.

For Xu Hongru, this was still far from enough. He wanted to burn Mu Shulan publicly and had invited all factions to attend the spectacle. This was a naked warning to everyone: this is the fate of whoever disobeys.

A demonstration like this, killing the chicken to warn the monkeys, naturally needed as many witnesses as possible, especially from top to bottom within the Smelling Incense Sect. So there was no secrecy about it, which was why gathering information was so easy.

Even the boldest thinkers could only imagine that Li Yuliang, perhaps addled by the tales of storming execution grounds in storytelling romances, might come alone to Yuncheng to rescue her. No one imagined Li Yuliang would go to Xuzhou to plead for help, and even less did anyone imagine that Zhao Jin would actually lead a force north to save her.

The covert clashes between the two sides never ceased. The Zhao brothers were ambushed outside the city; the Little Eight Righteous Ones wiped out the He Family Village by night; beneath the city walls they quelled a hundred thousand roving bandits. Time and again the Smelling Incense Sect planted infiltrators and seized the moment to send assassins, yet not once did they succeed. They only lost soldiers and officers again and again, throwing away vast numbers of lives in Xuzhou.

But through all this there was a tacit understanding: you don't come to Shandong, and I won't go down to Xuzhou. The conflict was confined to the borderlands. After all, each side was a colossus to the other; tearing away all pretense and wounding both sides was simply far too unworthy.

No one even imagined the connection between Mu Shulan and Zhao Jin. Over these past few years, no contact between the two had ever been heard of.

"There are two possibilities. He says the burning is on the eleventh of the eleventh month, but we cannot take that on faith. We must think of it this way: if we get there and the person is still alive, then we rescue her. If the person is already gone, then we turn straight back," Zhao Jin said in a deep voice.

Chen Sheng frowned and said gruffly, "If the person is gone, then we wash the Xu family in blood and utterly destroy this damned sect."

Zhao Jin slowly shook his head, lowered his voice, and said, "We will wash them in blood, and we will destroy this vile sect — but not now."

Liu Yong glanced at Zhao Jin and Chen Sheng, coughed, and spoke: "Shandong is in its second year of the Liaodong levy. Everywhere families are ruined and bankrupt, the land is in utter chaos. On the official roads and the small paths, large bands of mounted brigands and petty thieves are everywhere. But these people cannot block our path, nor will they send word ahead to the other side. Still, to guard against any mishap, we'd best travel at dusk and before dawn, and make camp to rest during the daylight hours."

Everyone set aside the previous topic and nodded. Liu Yong dipped a finger in his tea bowl and traced on the tabletop: "From Yutai to Jinxiang County is only a good half-day, but past Jinxiang to Juye takes a day and a half. According to the guide, we can rest one night midway at Gaoping Mountain. Then, pressing on without stopping, we can pass Juye County by noon. When we make camp late at night, we'll be less than twenty li from Yuncheng County."

"The walls of Yuncheng County shouldn't be hard to climb. Send one man up first and the rest follow. The problem is arriving late at night — we'll certainly be worn out and exhausted. We'll absolutely have to rest and recover before we can begin. With all the time factored in, it might well be daybreak. Since the event doesn't start until the eleventh of the eleventh month, we have time no matter what. Should we stop outside the city for a day and move at night?" Ji Xiang said, narrowing his eyes.

Zhao Jin slapped the table twice with his hand and shook his head. "We move in broad daylight. Whether it's day or night, no matter how we fight our way in, no matter how sudden, they will definitely notice. There will definitely be a fight. Since there's going to be a fight, then let it be in the full light of day — that's when our strength can be brought to bear best!"

"Won't they be driven to desperation and use Sister Xiaolan as a hostage?" Liu Yong murmured.

"Wouldn't they do that in any other situation?" Zhao Jin retorted coldly. Since entering Shandong territory, Zhao Jin's temper had grown irritable without him realizing it.

The night passed without incident, and the next day the main force set out. The company was no longer the same number as when they had departed Xuzhou; it now approached five hundred men. Some were outer affiliates of the Zhao Character Camp from the north bank of the Yellow River, all among the most trusted batch. Others were staked agents of the Internal Guard. They did not move together with the main force but split into small squads encircling Zhao Jin's core unit on all four sides, scouting for information and screening their movements.

From Yutai past Jinxiang toward Juye, this line was not far from the Grand Canal, yet it reaped none of the canal's benefits and instead suffered every hardship. To maintain the water volume and level for canal transport, a special Spring Management Commissioner was appointed for the waterway, forbidding anyone along the canal's banks from digging wells or cutting ditches to draw water. Without irrigation, they could only depend on the heavens; a good harvest was hard to come by.

The fields already yielded no good harvest, and then came the Liaodong levy. The first year swept through like a gale, leaving families everywhere ruined and dead. This year was already the second; even small and middling landlords could no longer hold out and went bankrupt. The land was desolate, bandits swarmed up everywhere. Originally a gang of a hundred-odd men was already considered a large band; now they casually gathered several hundred at a shout, and the government runners dared not interfere.

With mounted brigand bands this large, their eyes and ears were all through the fields and villages. Countless people along the official roads sent them word. The Zhao Character Camp's four hundred-plus cavalry traveling on the road could not possibly go unnoticed, yet not a single band dared to make a reckless move.

A joke — a column with such imposing momentum marching on the road, only a brain-addled fool would provoke them. Even standing in their way would surely get you utterly ground to dust. Better to obediently hide far away.

Those with well-informed sources also knew this was the force of the Zhao Character Camp from Xuzhou. Lord Jin's power was so great — so he was finally reaching his hand into Shandong territory. No one found it surprising, only that it had come far too late.

Concealing their movements was not easy. After all, four hundred-plus cavalry and over a thousand horses would be noticed no matter where they passed. But after crossing Jinxiang County, they switched to marching in the early morning hours, halting after sunrise, setting out again at dusk as the sun was about to set, and stopping once the sky was fully dark.

These days the land of Shandong was not peaceful. Large merchant companies all traveled north and south along the Grand Canal. Those compelled to take other official roads all traveled as much as possible in broad daylight — setting out after daybreak and making camp or finding lodging early before dark, avoiding those lawless mounted bandits. But this company of the Zhao Character Camp was the one others avoided; they simply wanted to be noticed by as few people as possible.

"Big Brother, when we passed Jinxiang County, the Smelling Incense Sect's side surely already sent word toward Yuncheng. It's just that they don't know where exactly we're going!" Liu Yong reported in a low voice.

The Smelling Incense Sect had operated in Shandong for so long that it naturally had its own early-warning and defense system in place. Even after screening again and again on the Xuzhou side, there might still be fish that slipped the net. Zhao Jin did not naively assume that Shandong would have no reaction after his departure. But Zhao Jin could be certain of a few things: the Smelling Incense Sect did not know what the Zhao Character Camp was coming into Shandong to do; the Smelling Incense Sect did not know he had entered Shandong; and the Smelling Incense Sect did not know about Li Yuliang coming to deliver the message.

Even if they knew the main force's movements, even if they could shadow and observe without leaving a trace along the way, everyone still assumed that at night one should make camp and rest, that one could not travel at night.

But Zhao Jin's company did not rest at Gaoping Mountain. They traveled through the entire night, passed Juye County late at night, and before daybreak reached a position twenty li from Yuncheng County. This place was a stretch of hilly, tangled woodland. Though not entirely uninhabited, at this season virtually no one came here.

The reason they knew of such a place was that the guide was a native of Yuncheng — one of the Smelling Incense Sect core members who had been captured by the Zhao Character Camp back in the days of Nie Hei. Quite a few of the Internal Guard men who came this time were of such background. However, for any to be selected for this mission, there was one prerequisite: their families had to be in Xuzhou.

A day and a night of nonstop rushing, the brief halts along the way all for the horses to eat fodder. The men drank cold water and ate dry rations. When they stopped at daybreak, the men could still hold out, but several dozen horses had already died on the road. After a day's rest, likely even more would not survive.

When a horse died, its tack and the baggage it carried had to be taken along. These items were far too conspicuous, and here in the Smelling Incense Sect's core territory, any risk of discovery had to be avoided.

Half the packhorses had been left at Gaoping Mountain, watched over by the men of the rear unit catching up. After the night forced march, the core unit Zhao Jin led had only three spare horses left.

The core unit Zhao Jin led rested among the hills, under strict orders forbidding any fires. The outer affiliates roaming about also drew closer, but they did not enter the inner circle, only roving and keeping watch on the perimeter. Anyone who approached was to be killed on sight.

The inner and outer guard was strict and tight; every man's weapon was at hand, ready to fight at any moment. The air was thick with killing intent, yet in truth the mood was relaxed.

"I'd always thought this southern and western Shandong was much the same as our Xuzhou — that breaking in here would be terribly difficult. I never imagined it can't even compare to Guide Prefecture. Had I known this earlier, why have we put up with this damned Smelling Incense Sect all these years? We could have just placed our household retainers and militia right here in Shandong, and we wouldn't have all this trouble now," Ji Xiang said, after settling everything, as he came over to Zhao Jin to speak.

Thank you, everyone.