Chapter 776: You Dare Hit Me

"Let him in!" Yan Heilian barked at the top of his voice, and the salt patrolman at the gate immediately ushered the man inside.

As soon as that Third Brother Zhang stepped through the door and saw Yan Heilian, he dropped straight to his knees, kowtowed through his tears, and cried out, "Master Yan! My salt's been robbed, and I've been beaten — what am I supposed to do!"

Even before the man knelt, Yan Heilian had already noticed Third Brother Zhang's bruised and swollen face and his torn clothes. Seeing that, Yan Heilian had sensed something was wrong, but these words caught him off guard. Anyone daring to sell illicit salt in Yutai County these days did so only with his permission — which meant with the guarantee of the Zhao Battalion. To rob them by force was to make an enemy of the Zhao Battalion.

Other places aside, everyone in Yutai County knew how formidable the Zhao Battalion was. Who could be so blind? Yan Heilian had spent years rolling through the jianghu and the marketplace; he could hear what was off in Third Brother Zhang's words. If the man had simply been robbed or something, he should have said, "I beg Master Yan to see justice done" — meaning Yan Heilian would step in to settle the score or retaliate. But this "What am I supposed to do" was a plea of helpless misery, asking Yan Heilian to take pity and look after him.

"Who robbed you? Who beat you?" Yan Heilian demanded sternly. A few hundred catties of salt was a small matter; the real issue was who in Yutai County still dared to stand against the Xuzhou men. Anyone with that much nerve had to be someone out of the ordinary.

But when the question was put to him, Third Brother Zhang dared not say. He only wept and kowtowed again, saying, "Master Yan, I still have an old mother at home, and a wife and children to feed. It's a small-time business. Losing these two hundred catties of salt will be the death of us. Master Yan, take pity on me — let me have two hundred catties on credit, and once I've made back my capital..."

"Cut the damn crap! Who robbed you? I'll go settle it for you!" Yan Heilian was losing patience, but Third Brother Zhang simply fell silent and kept kowtowing.

This behavior only enraged Yan Heilian further. He flipped his hand, drew the short blade from his waist, yanked Third Brother Zhang up by the collar, and pressed the blade right against his neck. "One more word of nonsense and I'll snap your neck. Speak — who did it?"

Third Brother Zhang shuddered all over, and a rank, fishy stench rose from him — he had been so terrified he'd lost control of his bladder. Yan Heilian had been a bold figure in the streets and markets in his day, with more than a few lives on his hands; when his ferocity surfaced, it was truly fearsome.

"... It was Gu Family Village, east of Yutai County..." Third Brother Zhang's voice was as faint as a mosquito's whine. Yan Heilian's brow furrowed. He could tell, of course, that the man was holding something back, but getting the location was enough.

A village with a proper name meant a local settlement. A place rooted to the ground like that actually dared to rob salt — the sheer gall of it was boundless. Did they not know that the monk might run, but the temple cannot? That they couldn't escape when the reckoning came afterward?

Yan Heilian knew exactly where Gu Family Village lay in Yutai County — a village by the shores of Weishan Lake, a journey of over two shichen from the county seat. When he had first come to Yutai and Shan County, he had ridden through every part of the territory on horseback to familiarize himself.

"Call out the brothers of the Sixth Squad. Every man is to carry a staff," Yan Heilian ordered. The two hundred salt patrolmen under his command were organized under Ruhui; the ones assigned here were the Fifth and Sixth Squads.

The unit was ready in short order. Yan Heilian did not ride a horse; he carried a pudao himself and led the column straight out of Yutai County seat. The sight of this troop marching out of the city with such menacing momentum set tongues wagging among all sorts — just what were these Xuzhou toughs up to?

Idle busybodies were never in short supply, and plenty of them wanted to follow and watch the excitement. Yan Heilian, however, was thorough and cautious in his methods. He called directly on the Xuzhou assets inside the city to block every gawker who tried to follow. A hundred militia salt patrolmen dealing with a village was simple enough, but if anything went wrong, it would be the Zhao Battalion's face that was lost. Caution came first.

Yan Heilian had never served in the Zhao Battalion's household guard corps, but he was no stranger to the Zhao Battalion's way of doing things. He reorganized the column and rested them on the march, omitting nothing that ought to be done. As they neared Gu Family Village, he even began to wonder if he was making a mountain out of a molehill. What if Third Brother Zhang had merely been robbed by a handful of petty thieves? If he had come with such a grand show of force, wouldn't he become a laughingstock afterward?

Still, it was hardly surprising. The moment anyone heard the Zhao Battalion had been slighted, those within the organization saw red. Besides, he had mobilized a full hundred militiamen this time — what village in Yutai County could possibly stand against that?

Gu Family Village was right before them now. Irrigated fields that could count on water were always better than dry fields that depended on the whims of the heavens. Yet this was a place the war tax had scraped over several times; however orderly it might once have been, there were limits. From a distance, it already presented a scene of desolation. Seeing this, Yan Heilian was even more puzzled. How could a run-down place like this, with fewer than three hundred households, dare to touch illicit salt? Third Brother Zhang might have been just one man with one cart, but who didn't know that salt smugglers always had backing?

As the column of over a hundred men approached in formation, the children playing and roaming outside soon spotted them. Seeing the blades, spears, and wooden staves the salt patrolmen carried, they knew at once these men meant trouble and scurried back to raise the alarm. Before long, over a hundred able-bodied men surged out from the village entrance, looking just as belligerent.

Faced with such a well-ordered force, with blades and spears on display, instead of sending someone over to pay respects and back down, they came straight out ready to fight. Just what did Gu Family Village have to rely on? How had they grown so arrogant? Yan Heilian's mind churned with speculation. If there really were some important figure in tiny Yutai County, or someone backed by a major power, the sharp-eared and sharp-eyed scouts of the Internal Guard Corps should have ferreted them out long ago.

The two sides drew closer. The salt patrol militia's column never lost its order — the result of diligent foot drill. Such a formation naturally exerted pressure on the village braves; the nearer it came, the more unsteady those farmhands clutching tools and staves grew, and many faces showed clear signs of cowering.

The three men standing at the front of the Gu Family Village contingent, however, remained relatively steady. Their clothes were different from the villagers', too — two wore fine-ribbed cotton, and one wore a satin-faced padded gown. All three were slightly plump, with a faint oily sheen on their faces, clearly men of wealth and status. A glance at their small caps marked them as first-rank house servants from a great estate.

"What are you people doing? In broad daylight — is this rebellion?" As the column drew closer, the middle-aged man in the satin-faced padded gown could no longer hold his nerve and shouted out, his accent marking him as a native of Yanzhou Prefecture.

"We're from Xuzhou. Was it your village that robbed the salt?" Yan Heilian demanded gruffly.

At these words, the three men who looked like house servants relaxed considerably. The tension on their faces vanished in an instant, replaced by overbearing arrogance. The one who had spoken earlier said dismissively, "That illicit salt is contraband — illegal goods. Of course we had to intervene when it passed through. Are you accomplices of that salt smuggler? Several hundred catties of salt — that's enough to get your house confiscated and your head chopped off. Aren't you afraid?"

Yan Heilian listened with growing irritation. These house-servant types clearly did not have the local accent; he had no idea where they'd come from, but they were full of bureaucratic bluster. A large force from Xuzhou had arrived, yet they showed little fear — what kind of madness was this? What's more, Yan Heilian could see that the Gu Family Village folk behind these three house servants didn't seem particularly afraid either.

These days, who in the four counties of Shandong dared offend a Xuzhou man? Locals who heard the Xuzhou dialect were respectful and courteous. So how could these villagers be so bold?

"You dare rob Master Jin's salt? Are you tired of living?" Yan Heilian could not be bothered to waste more words. He invoked Zhao Jin's name directly, to see how the other side would react.

The moment Zhao Jin's name was spoken, Yan Heilian saw fear and shock on the faces of the villagers opposite. But the three house servants showed no reaction. The one in the satin-faced padded gown even asked, utterly unconcerned, "What Master Jin? What yamen does he serve in? What's his rank?"

Yan Heilian felt his head about to explode. Where had these muddle-headed fools come from? Were they deliberately stirring up trouble? He spat on the ground and roared, "Beat the bastards! Give them a taste of something fierce!"

The militia salt patrolmen behind him answered with a unified battle cry and stepped forward. That unified shout, that unified step — the momentum was truly intimidating. Though they carried no long spears, the raised blades and staves were imposing enough. At this advance, the three men who had been so insolent and ignorant of Zhao Jin instantly changed color and scrambled backward several steps, while the villagers behind them fell into panicked disarray.

No matter how outrageous they were, they still feared a beating. There was no need for more pointless talk — they'd thrash them first and talk later. Yan Heilian's blood was up. He did not draw his blade, holding it like a cudgel, and was about to surge forward and strike down these few eyesores first.

"We are stewards of the Prince of Lu's estate! By rank, His Highness is the Emperor's grand-uncle! You dare raise a hand? Do you want to rebel?!" Seeing the situation turning against them, the middle-aged man in the satin-faced padded gown shrieked.

At the words "Prince of Lu," Yan Heilian stopped in his tracks involuntarily. The middle-aged man's shriek was piercingly shrill, and the militia salt patrolmen heard it clearly too, halting in stunned shock. Meanwhile, the Gu Family Village folk, who had been cowering and scattering, suddenly found their nerve and surged forward, shouting.

This was the Prince of Lu — a first-rank imperially enfeoffed prince of Shandong, a man surnamed Zhu, a kinsman of the reigning Emperor. To touch his estate's property was outright rebellion. No wonder they dared rob illicit salt. The Prince of Lu's people had never known restraint in Yanzhou Prefecture. If they came to blows, the officials would surely take the prince's side. It wasn't impossible for it to be twisted into the capital crime of rebellion. Would Master Jin stand by them? Master Jin had built something so vast, yet he always kept a low profile — would he sacrifice a pawn to save the chariot and cast him aside?

In that brief instant, countless thoughts flashed through Yan Heilian's mind, his expression shifting ceaselessly. But then one point struck him: if he did not act, if he did not get the salt back, he would certainly be dealt with according to the rules. And there was nothing ambiguous about being punished for a transgression — it was nailed down, ironclad.

A moment's deliberation, and Yan Heilian had made his decision. He swung his pudao and bellowed, "Brothers, beat the bastards!"

"You dare hit me! You dare hit me!" The Prince of Lu's stewards shrieked their challenge, but Yan Heilian stepped forward and kicked one to the ground. The other two, seeing the danger, tried to flee, but Yan Heilian struck them down from behind with his pudao — using the back of the blade, still in its sheath, of course.

Thanks to Qidian book friend "Intimidation Changes" for the tip, and thanks to everyone on Qidian for your support — much appreciated.

Friends on Chuangshi, it's the end of the month and your second monthly ticket is out — cast it for Great Ming Wufu!