Chapter 127 Jianghu Figures

Jianghu figures? Lately, as Ye Tao's head bodyguard, Bi Xiaoqing was most worried about matters concerning jianghu figures (martial artists). If he had known that Ninghe Town had such a peculiar atmosphere, he would never have agreed to accompany the governor on his incognito visit to Ninghe Town with only twelve guards.

Bi Xiaoqing had no choice. In a trendy way of speaking, his security clearance was several levels below Ye Tao's. Many reports and information that Ye Tao could access were beyond his reach. And when Ye Tao chose not to tell him, he was helpless.

However, once they arrived in Ninghe Town, settled into the relatively luxurious Bafang Restaurant, and Bi Xiaoqing took a short stroll through the streets, he sensed that something was amiss. Although Bi Xiaoqing was Liu Meng's disciple with considerable martial skill, he had never truly traveled the jianghu. However, he understood the atmosphere of the jianghu. The royal guard team was full of hidden masters, many of whom were once famous figures. They had imparted considerable jianghu experience to guards like Bi Xiaoqing, who undertook many "external missions." These experiences became especially important when Bi Xiaoqing became Ye Tao's head bodyguard and began to take charge independently.

He had noticed ambiguous markings at several street corners, clearly used by jianghu individuals for communication. Sitting in the restaurant, his inadvertently revealed vigilance and the solemn, meticulous demeanor unique to the Imperial Guard and inner court bodyguards immediately alerted two jianghu figures drinking in the corner. Although unarmed, those two looked quite capable.

After encountering such things, Bi Xiaoqing thought to ask the governor what was going on.

The news that jianghu figures of unknown origin had appeared at the Ninghe Town construction site hadn't even reached Zeng Man yet. It had been transmitted to Ye Tao through internal channels within the governor's office. One advantage of having many scions of influential families in the governor's office was that each family would try to provide their offspring with better conditions and opportunities for advancement. These scions had servants and the like, and using these people to deliver messages was clearly faster than relying on the imperial postal system.

Although Bi Xiaoqing was nervous, Ye Tao didn't think much of it. Jianghu figures coming to Ninghe Town must have their purposes, a reason worth their while. Ye Tao wanted to know how many of these reasons were related to the Grand Canal. Jianghu figures wouldn't rashly antagonize the imperial court. Even the number one expert in the world probably wouldn't kill a governor for fun just to prove their martial arts prowess. After comforting Bi Xiaoqing, Ye Tao instructed Chao Baoshantang to deliver invitations and secretly summon several key officials stationed in Ninghe Town by the governor's office.

Bi Xiaoqing had no objections to such instructions. Although concerned about Ye Tao's safety, he knew others were watching over Ye Tao besides the guards he had brought.

Sure enough, while Ye Tao was amiably asking the waiter if Ninghe Town had any restaurants with local specialties where they could enjoy their first dinner in Ninghe Town, the official who had previously reported the news to Ye Tao arrived. Although this fellow named Han Dong was also a scion of an influential family, he hadn't taken the route of some others by using his connections to Ye Tao to secure a position first. Instead, he had passed that examination, which most people of this era found quite daunting. The Han family was closely associated with Gao Zhen's faction, but the Han family had a long history and wasn't particularly fond of families like the Gao family, which had only risen to prominence in recent generations. Han Dong's appointment to the Grand Canal Governor's office after passing the examination might be considered an attempt by the Han family to expand its network of relationships. Ye Tao hadn't initially taken Han Dong too seriously, but after Feng Zi's reminder and insistence, he had arranged for Han Dong to be in charge of Ninghe Town independently, as a way of returning a favor. And Han Dong's performance among the many newly arrived, inexperienced scions of influential families was truly impressive.

The original magistrate of Ninghe Town was a scholar with little understanding of economic affairs and didn't quite comprehend some of Han Dong's practices, so he intentionally or unintentionally created many obstacles. As a result, after communicating with his family, Han Dong used some connections to have the magistrate recalled to Danyang for debriefing, after which he would be promoted by half a rank and sent to another place to serve as an official. In this way, Han Dong could basically have the final say on everything in Ninghe Town before the new magistrate arrived. Because Han Dong was quite efficient, especially in arranging the Grand Canal project in an organized manner and reducing the levy of corvée labor by favoring the employment of paid laborers, many local people benefited, and this temporary local official was having a fulfilling time.

In the small courtyard Ye Tao had booked, Han Dong said to Ye Tao somewhat anxiously, "Lord Governor, your timing is not good. Ninghe Town is really in chaos right now. Please forgive this humble official's impudence, but if you are not too tired, it would be best to leave immediately. Ninghe Town will be in turmoil for at least a while."

Ye Tao frowned and said, "What happened? In your original letter, you only said there were jianghu figures. What's going on now?"

Han Dong sighed, "Three days after the letter to you was sent, someone reported to the county lieutenant that there was something unusual about a warehouse in the south of the city. The smell was extremely foul, like the stench of rotting corpses. After the county lieutenant went to investigate, he discovered that the deceased in the warehouse was the warden of the town's prison. This warden had called in sick on the day those two jianghu figures revealed themselves on the river, apparently wanting to leave Ninghe Town. I didn't expect him to die in the warehouse. Only then did this humble official realize that those two jianghu figures were probably not worried about Ninghe Town pursuing them, but because they had finished what they needed to do. Later, I wrote you another letter to report this matter, but today, with your sudden arrival in Ninghe Town, I realized that the letter had probably been missed."

Han Dong sighed and continued to explain, "This humble official has been trying to investigate the previous events these days, trying to get a glimpse of the whole story. I didn't expect that many jianghu figures would soon come to Ninghe Town one after another. However, many people from the major local sects of Dongping came to me and, according to the rules, asked me to provide them with conveniences, which allowed me to learn some news from them."

"The matter can be traced back to last summer when a heavily injured jianghu figure came to Ninghe Town. Because the person's origin was unknown, the Le family of Baoshantang didn't treat him. Later, the person settled in a small Taoist temple in the west of the city. The person refused to reveal his origin, and the county magistrate questioned him several times, but he didn't reveal it, so he ordered the person to be imprisoned. Although this person wasn't imprisoned for any specific crime, the warden couldn't possibly give him any special treatment, so he was placed in a solitary cell. Other than not being shortchanged on food, there was nothing else to speak of. That person died in prison. And this person is the origin of everything."

It turned out that the fellow who died in prison was Xing Yuan, the wife's younger brother of Mo Leng, the hall master of the Ying Hall of the Dao Ming Sect, and also a minor figure in the Dao Ming Sect. His wife, however, was from Dongping. Last year, Xing Yuan took his wife back to her parents' home in Dongping, but they encountered some trouble. As a result, Xing Yuan's wife died, and Xing Yuan barely escaped to Ninghe Town. Unable to resist, he died in prison. When the matter was reported back to the Dao Ming Sect's main headquarters, Mo Leng, the hall master of the Ying Hall, felt he had lost face. The Dao Ming Sect was ostensibly a Taoist organization that used deceptive religious teachings to attract believers and cultivate its strength. In Xiling, it had vaguely become the state religion and was influencing national politics. But in private, the Dao Ming Sect's jianghu forces were also very deep, and the Ying Hall was the violent group that oversaw all the Dao Ming Sect's jianghu forces and coordinated with the Dao Ming Sect's development direction by carrying out assassinations, robberies, exterminations, espionage, and other activities. The information Mo Leng received had been relayed several times, and it had obviously been greatly distorted. Mo Leng was informed that Xing Yuan had been tortured to death in prison.

For jianghu figures, the military conflict between the two countries of Dongping and Xiling couldn't affect their personal grudges. Jianghu-level exchanges were also tacitly approved by the two countries' courts. Just as not long after the end of the Hengshan series of battles, trade between Dongping and Xiling began to gradually recover, from passing through Yunzhou and Chunnan to merchant teams officially paying taxes and passing through several passes, which only took two months. Jianghu and merchants, precisely because of such personnel flows, the two countries could carry out intelligence deployments against each other, espionage and counter-espionage, bribery and counter-bribery, infiltration and counter-infiltration. However, for jianghu figures, being imprisoned and killed without offending the government was another matter. Of course, given Xing Yuan's identity and function in the Dao Ming Sect, whether he was innocent was another question entirely. After all, last summer was the peak period for the Dongping royal family's direct intelligence system to clear out Dao Ming Sect forces within the country. Xing Yuan still came to visit relatives at this time? No one would believe that.

But Mo Leng wanted an explanation, an explanation that the Dongping side obviously couldn't give him. He sent capable subordinates to assassinate all parties involved in the incident in Dongping. The warden was just the beginning. Han Dong had warned the county magistrate who was waiting for a new appointment in Danyang through friends in the capital, but several prison guards in Ninghe Town had died since the warden's death until recently. Only recently, with the entry of some local jianghu figures from Dongping into Ninghe Town, had the situation improved. Jianghu figures who opposed the imperial court, even if they encountered any kind of incident, could only swallow their broken teeth and blood. If jianghu figures didn't want to be recruited by the imperial court, they had to have such awareness. Mo Leng's actions were not only a provocation to the Dongping court, but also regarded the Dongping martial arts world as nothing. The arrival of these jianghu figures, although there was dissatisfaction with the neurotic situation of the Xiling martial arts world and dissatisfaction with the Dao Ming Sect, vaguely had the taste of a full-scale confrontation between the two countries' martial arts worlds.

When Han Dong understood these superficial matters, he had at least eleven major headaches. All local officials in various places had always been most annoyed by jianghu figures. These people were brave and combative, and when they caused trouble, leaving one or two lives on the streets, it had a very unfavorable impact on the local officials' political achievements. For local officials who had relatively complicated matters to be responsible for, it took even more time and energy to appease the people and continue to advance their work. And Han Dong obviously didn't want to encounter such problems.

"There is news that Mo Leng is now near Ninghe Town... this is the problem. Heaven knows what this evil star wants to do." Han Dong said anxiously, "Mo Leng and his subordinates are not easy to mess with. The Dao Ming Sect is too deeply involved with the Xiling court, and has always regarded my Dongping as a great enemy. It is no longer purely the idea of the martial arts world, jianghu figures. Petty characters like me don't matter, but you, Lord Governor, oversee a region and are an important minister of my Dongping. Once Mo Leng knows you are here, who knows what kind of thoughts he will have."

Ye Tao didn't quite agree with the surrounding people addressing him as "Lord Governor" at every turn. But from the perspective of a senior Dongping official, the situation was indeed not optimistic as Han Dong had said. If he was just an ordinary person, he might be very interested in this kind of jianghu affair. He would want to know if the jianghu was like what he had seen in martial arts novels, if there were so many magical martial arts, and if there was so much carefree vengeance. As for martial arts, he had already experienced it himself. If he hadn't been treated in time, he might have died from that Black Sand Palm. But what about the stories in the jianghu? He had previously heard some from his good friend, the famous young jianghu saber expert Guan Huan, but what Guan Huan said was only a glimpse from his perspective, who had not traveled the jianghu for many years.

From the perspective of an official, from the perspective of the court, this impending jianghu dispute, whether it was related to the entanglement between Dongping and Xiling or not, whether it was related to the vast area under his jurisdiction or not, was by no means a pleasant thing. "Confucians use literature to disrupt the law, and knights use martial arts to violate the ban." The most direct comment that could come to mind was this. He could understand Han Dong's difficulties. As the current local official of Ninghe Town, the things that happened under his nose were something he was powerless to prevent. His most presentable position was only temporarily serving as the county magistrate of Ninghe Town. In this position, he had to supervise the progress of the canal project on the one hand, and on the other hand, he had to try to stabilize the increasingly tense situation. It was impossible for him, a newly arrived official, to understand the local situation better than the local residents. Some local residents had already noticed that the atmosphere was not right, and some wealthy households had even traveled to avoid the situation temporarily, but the vast majority of the people didn't have such conditions, and this group needed his, the temporary parent official's, comfort even more.

What would happen if a jianghu fight really broke out? The martial arts people of Dongping might still take into account local stability, but the Dao Ming Sect wouldn't have such considerations. If a large-scale jianghu vendetta occurred in Ninghe Town, if things like the warden and prison guards being killed happened again, once it caused panic and allowed this panic to spread, the impact on a small town like Ninghe Town would be great.

After thinking carefully, Ye Tao calmly said to Han Dong, "Some things are bound to happen. We may not be able to choose the timing of things happening, but perhaps we can influence the time and place where things happen."

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This chapter is long, to compensate for the previous short chapters.