Chapter 763: Even Outsiders Can

From childhood with Mu Shulan all the way to now, there weren't many things Zhao Jin couldn't figure out, but tonight's few words of conversation finally made everything clear from start to finish, with nothing left puzzling. Mu Shulan's father, Mu Wusheng, had intended from the very beginning to raise his daughter as a holy maiden, setting up that banner to put on mystical airs and recruit followers. That was what little Lan had gone off to learn as a child, the reason she had that soft, alluring charm from such a young age. Strictly speaking, his second uncle and fourth uncle had merely carried on Mu Wusheng's idea, propping Mu Shulan up as a holy-maiden front to make profit for themselves.

"This consort knows Sister Mu is pitiable, but I just feel uneasy… Husband, how do you plan to settle Sister Mu? As an equal wife?" Xu Zhenzhen spoke a few lines, then changed the subject herself.

Under the rules of the Great Ming, an equal wife was nothing more than a pleasant-sounding title. It was usually what merchants called a concubine they took while doing business away from home — the name sounded nice, but back home she was still a concubine, recorded as a concubine in the clan registry, and her children were still of concubine birth. Yet a title was still a title. Giving her that status, and as one of Zhao Jin's household women, plus the bond of having grown up together with Chen Sheng, Wang Zhaojing, and the others — if Mu Shulan became an equal wife, her treatment and standing both inside and outside would be entirely the same as Xu Zhenzhen's. As for the rules in the Great Ming legal code, when had Zhao Jin ever cared about those?

Zhao Jin fell silent for a moment. Xu Zhenzhen then spoke: "Equal wife is still very fitting. Sister Mu deserves it."

"Didn't you say you felt uneasy?"

"That is only this consort's inner feeling. To speak plainly, in daily life, Sister Mu would never make anyone uncomfortable. We would certainly get along very well." Xu Zhenzhen had calmed down by now.

"I will marry her and bring her into the household, but you are the principal wife of the main house. That is how it is. These years, it was you who were with me, you who bore those two children. You are her elder sister." Zhao Jin said it plainly.

They had been weary from the journey back, and just when they wanted to sleep at night, they ended up talking long into the night as husband and wife. Still, Zhao Jin slept very soundly that night. He woke the next day refreshed and clear-headed, then went straight to see Mu Shulan and had breakfast with his mother, He Cuihua. In that setting, there was nothing Zhao Jin couldn't discuss. After he laid out the arrangement, He Cuihua felt rather sorry for Mu Shulan and kept saying how hard it was on little Lan, but Mu Shulan agreed very happily, even saying there was no need for any ceremony — as long as she had a place to stay, that was enough.

Zhao Jin noticed that when she said these things, Mu Shulan's smile came from the bottom of her heart. She was truly very happy.

"From now on, this is your own home. You don't need to worry about anyone scheming against you, nor about suffering any grievance. Eat in peace, sleep in peace. You don't need to worry about anything — I'm here for everything." At any other time, Zhao Jin would have thought these words far too sappy, but at this moment, he felt it was very necessary to say them.

Mu Shulan nodded as she spoke, smiling at He Cuihua: "Auntie, in the past, Brother Jin would never have talked like this."

He Cuihua laughed along. Zhao Jin gave two dry coughs, but before he could speak, he noticed that as Mu Shulan nodded, tears kept streaming down. She kept reaching up to wipe them away, until finally she collapsed onto the table, only her shoulders seen shaking ceaselessly.

The girl wept in silence. Zhao Jin and his mother, He Cuihua, were speechless too. Mother and son exchanged a glance. He Cuihua waved Zhao Jin away, then reached out and patted Mu Shulan's shoulder, sighing: "Such a pitiable child."

Once outside, Zhao Jin didn't know where to go for a moment. He just felt a bit stifled — these matters of love and affection were truly troublesome. But no sooner had he left the courtyard than Niu Jinbao, Sun Dalin, and Meng Zhiqi fell in behind him. Meng Zhiqi asked respectfully, "Shall we ready a horse?"

"No need. To the council hall. Summon whoever's still here," Zhao Jin said simply.

There were only three people normally here: one was First Regiment Commander Chen Sheng, one was Guard Company Commander Ji Xiang, and the other was Wang Zhaojing. Ru Hui had already set out for Suzhou early that morning. Liu Yong was just about to depart when he was called over.

"According to that Li Yuliang's account, the mastermind of this affair is Xu Hongru, but the one colluding from within is Mu Wujia. Find this man, then kill him." Zhao Jin gave the simple order. Liu Yong acknowledged it in a deep voice.

Aside from Zhao Jin's family and his close companions and confidants, very few people in the entire Zhao Camp system knew that Mu Shulan had been brought back. The cavalry household troops who had gone along were all ordered to keep it secret. In truth, with the passage of time, not many people even remembered the matter between Zhao Jin and Mu Shulan anymore. Many assumed that Zhao Jin's trip to Shandong this time was simply to teach a lesson to the various factions there who didn't know their place.

As it now appeared, that lesson had been quite effective. The number of Shandong factions coming to Xuzhou had suddenly increased dramatically. It was already near the twelfth month, yet people were riding horses and driving carts, bearing gifts, coming with the utmost deference to request an audience with Master Jin. And Master Jin had given the word — let the various heroes and stalwarts of Xuzhou and Pizhou go to the four Shandong counties to do business. This was the kind of venture that set every corner of Zhao Camp's territory abuzz. Think back to when Master Jin first gave the word for Xuzhou's martial men of the rivers and lakes to go out and seize territory — those who dared to go and fight first, how much had they earned? And they'd been able to display their valor before Master Jin. Even now, those rewards were inexhaustible. But after that, no such opportunity had come again. Everyone could only regret not having had the courage back then. Now that another such chance had come, how could they not rush to seize it?

Although Zhao Camp deliberately kept a low profile and the Smelling Incense Sect's main headquarters also maintained secrecy, the news still spread imperceptibly during the twelfth month. Some said Master Jin had led his troops, the few against the many, battling the heroes of Qi and Lu in a great fight, cutting a bloody path back through thousands upon tens of thousands. Others said that the Smelling Incense Sect Hierarch, Xu Hongru, had knelt before Zhao Jin, weeping and pleading, even offering his wife and daughters, only then managing to keep his life. Such rumors spread far and wide. Were they false? In the past, Zhao Camp had never crossed the provincial border, yet now they had directly seized four counties at the boundary between South Zhili and Shandong. And since this matter could not possibly be confirmed by either Zhao Jin or Xu Hongru, it only fueled more speculation.

But for those in the rivers and lakes familiar with Yanzhou Prefecture in Shandong, it was undeniably true that every major power and large armed band in Yanzhou Prefecture that could be considered noteworthy had suffered grievous losses. There were even rumors of a number of government troops dropping dead suddenly, and several mounted bands normally quite famous had simply vanished. These matters made those who truly understood the situation tremble with fear.

Yet reasoning it through, if Zhao Camp was so awe-inspiring, why hadn't they simply slaughtered the Smelling Incense Sect people in a bloodbath at the time? Looking at it now, although the Smelling Incense Sect's various forces were acting somewhat more low-key, their strength showed no visible damage. Some had tried to exploit the opening, but all had met with very grim ends at the Smelling Incense Sect's hands.

So the most reliable conjecture at present was that Zhao Camp and the Smelling Incense Sect had clashed. Zhao Jin might be a mighty dragon, but the Smelling Incense Sect had rallied Shandong's various forces and held the advantage of familiar terrain. Although the Smelling Incense Sect had taken some losses, Zhao Jin hadn't gained much advantage either. The final outcome was still unknown. Outsiders couldn't see clearly, nor had they noticed the bloody storm in those four Shandong counties bordering Xuzhou. The Smelling Incense Sect had entrenched itself there for so long, it had put down roots. Countless people at every level profited from it. Driving them out wouldn't be easy. But Zhao Camp had already laid down the word, leaving them no choice. Yet the local gentry and powerful families of those four counties had already been bled dry by the Liao tax, their vitality sapped. When it came to dealing with the deep-rooted, tangled forces of the Smelling Incense Sect, they truly found themselves lacking the strength. Even more troublesome was that whenever a prominent household wanted to expel the Smelling Incense Sect, the resistance didn't come from outside, but from within the family itself. It might well be a paternal cousin, a maternal cousin, even a blood brother — or perhaps the womenfolk in the house were diehard believers who burned incense and followed the faith.

Yet however inadequate their strength, there was still help from Xuzhou. The mounted, saber-wielding martial men of the rivers and lakes from Xuzhou, the various powerful families and militia from Pizhou — their eyes had long since gone red with eagerness. Wherever trouble arose, they would pounce at once, killing to their hearts' content first and talking later. Though the lion's share would end up in Zhao Camp's hands afterward, no one would come away empty-handed. If one's merit was solid, one might even secure a manor estate or property for one's family or clan, and the younger generation would be recruited into Zhao Camp or Cloud Mountain Trading to work. With such fine rewards and prospects, why wouldn't one charge forward with all one's might?

When the Smelling Incense Sect stirred up trouble in the shadows — assassinations, poisonings, and the like — that was still manageable. But once it came to openly arraying forces and fighting with real blades and spears, they were simply no match. How could incense-burning believers compare with those who danced with blades and staves? In the four counties of Shan County, Yutai, Yi County, and Tancheng, the Smelling Incense Sect's forces were thus driven out through combined internal and external pressure.

From Xie Mingxian of the Smelling Incense Sect leading his men in a bloody gang fight against the Dongchang Mu family forces, to Zhao Jin leading his men north to rescue them, and then back south again — this whole chain of bloody storms had cost who knew how many heads. There had even been pursuit battles involving over a thousand riders. By all rights, in a place like Shandong, where bandits swarmed like bees, it should have long since descended into chaos, with beacon fires everywhere. Yet in reality, it was still a world at peace. If one ignored the wretched state of the farming households after the Liao tax had scraped them clean, it was still a peaceful and prosperous age. Whether the gang fights or the pursuits and ambushes, in the eyes of officialdom, none of it had ever existed. Among the common folk, apart from those nearby or those who had personally experienced it, it was only hearsay.

Neither the Smelling Incense Sect nor Zhao Camp had any intention of blowing this up into something big. Everything had been conducted under the laws and rules of the Great Ming. If the authorities knew nothing, then it did not exist — it had never happened.

Under such circumstances, the trade routes throughout Shandong remained unobstructed. The swarming bandits and lawless mobs had not decreased compared to before these events, but neither had they increased because of them. The route along the canal remained the safest trade road and post road. Li Yuliang, who had run to Xuzhou to deliver the message, was escorted north by several rivers-and-lakes men from the Internal Guard, traveling smoothly all the way back to Linqing Prefecture.

After Li Yuliang learned that Mu Shulan had been rescued, he went to see her. Mu Shulan was very warm toward him and said, In the past, I was confined to the identity of the Holy Maiden. Now I am simply a woman of the Zhao family. I would like to acknowledge you as my sworn younger brother. Li Yuliang said much the same: I have always wanted to acknowledge you as my elder sister, but my father would not permit me to get too close to the sect. Now, at last, I can.

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