บท 257: Rebuilding
บรรณาธิการ: Translation Nation
Gao Family Inn
This was an old inn which was a short distance away from the prison. There were less than a dozen rooms available and yet almost all were occupied. Bearing the necessary authorization letters, these captive women were all being carried out of the oxcarts. Their bodies were covered in blood, and some of their legs were mangled and bloodied.
The waiter and inn keeper were so stumped by this sight that their faces turned pale. However, the innkeeper still maintained a semblance of calmness as he stood by the door. When he saw several men carrying these women in, he hurriedly walked over to welcome them. He then instructed his staff to help out before he spoke, "These women have faced severe injustice. Their wounds mustn't come into contact with cold water, neither can they be washed with hot water. I’ve already instructed all my staff to use only warm water to clean their wounds."
"I’ve also called on several of my old serving maids to wait on them."
"The medications have all been prepared."
Pei Zi Yun nodded his head, "You are very attentive and considerate. Clean them all up and use my money for the expenses."
"Also, the Magistrate has already been overthrown. Keep your lips sealed. Doing this alone means that you shall be rewarded accordingly." Pei Zi Yun then took a silver tael and handed it to him.
When the innkeeper looked at the silver tael, he noticed that it was worth five taels and was of the highest quality. He bowed deeply, "Please don’t worry Young Master. We shall not speak of this to anyone. If anyone’s tongue is loose, I shall break his legs."
The Female Sect Leader didn’t speak as she wore a veil on her face, which was pale. She exuded a certain fearsomeness in her appearance. At this point, several young women walked up. These young women were very well groomed but had sad looks across their faces. Before long, the sound of weeping could be heard.
Buckets and buckets of water were being brought in and out of the rooms. Whenever a bucket of water left the room, it was filled with blood and the stench which came along with it. After a long time, the Sect Leader finally came out.
"How is it?" Pei Zi Yun asked.
"They’ve all been washed clean, disinfected, and toxins expelled from their bodies. They are all fine now. However, several of them have broken bones which might leave them with minor inconveniences in future."
"Also, they’ve all shown signs of being violated sexually. Many, many times." The Sect Leader’s face turned pale.
"It was unavoidable whenever women were sent to jail. Now that the Magistrate has fallen, these jail wardens won’t be hard to deal with. We have to hunt them down."
"With what the Magistrate has done, we must cause him to lose everything, including his life and his family. Only then would this be a lesson to everyone." Pei Zi Yun spoke plainly, his brows were knitted, clearly disturbed by this.
The law of the officials was ironclad. Without authority or money, it was hard to avoid being victimized in society.
King Lu’s Mansion
The eunuch led several Imperial Guards towards King Lu’s mansion. Everything had long been prepared for the occasion, as King Lu knelt on the ground to receive the Emperor’s Edict.
"The Emperor’s words: I’ve been tasked to lead men by the heavens and entrust this task of leading other cities outside of the capital to Canton Prince King Lu. He shall be responsible for Qin Prefecture and should rebuild the city."
King Lu was crouched on the ground as he listened to the edict. Blood pumped furiously into his chest as he felt a strange sensation creep into his limbs. He didn’t know if he was relieved or angry. When the edict had been read, tears streamed down his cheeks as he stood up weakly and choked, "Your son, thanks Your Majesty…"
The eunuch stepped forward and handed King Lu the edict, who received it with trembling hands. The eunuch then sighed, "His majesty told me verbally, that King Lu should leave as soon as possible, there’s no need to delay in remaining here."
When King Lu heard the Emperor’s words, he fell to the ground once again, and didn’t get up for a long time. He then shouted out sorrowfully, "Father Emperor."
King Lu’s cries were very moving and caused everyone else’s heart to shatter. The eunuch then sighed deeply, "King Lu, these are the wishes of the Emperor, and you must not defy them. Quickly pack your things and we shall leave today. We have to move 50 kilometers by today, if not, that might show defiance to his majesty’s orders."
"Yes, your son shall obey." King Lu sobbed as he announced.
He then escorted the eunuch away before King Lu called for Eunuch Liao, "We shall leave the capital city at once!"
Everyone within King Lu’s Palace had already made preparations to leave. Apart from some belongings that they chose to leave behind, 300 black robed guards along with 500 servants had all made the necessary preparations.
Many civilians stood around King Lu’s Palace as they discussed his ‘exile’ from the capital city. When they saw that King Lu was leaving with his bags and items, they all broke into frantic discussion. Some of them even sighed, "King Lu has been made to leave the capital city. The Crown Prince emerges victorious, and the dust has settled!"
As soon as King Lu set off, nobody dared to obstruct him, as they made their way. The crowd extended all the way to the gates of the capital city.
King Lu turned his head back to look and saw the towering walls which surrounded the city, the lively streets filled with people who had come to send him off.
"Leaving the capital city, my days of glory are now over!" Despite the fact that King Lu was prepared to leave, he also knew that leaving to rebuild his strength elsewhere would be good for him, when he turned back and looked at his old home, his heart broke. Tears streamed down his face as he fell to his knees and sobbed, "Your son is departing now. Take care of yourself Emperor Father."
The lively streets and noisy people all quietened down to hear his lamentations.
Some of King Lu’s children had also been instructed earlier to get off the oxcart and bow to the city before they left, "Emperor Grandfather, your grandchildren bid you farewell."
The children weren’t very nervous before this. After saying their goodbyes to the capital city which they’ve known all their lives, they started to feel sad and cried.
Restaurant
The Crown Prince watched on as a eunuch stepped forward and whispered, "Crown Prince, Dao Master Pei has sent some news. He said that King Lu should be forced to remain in the capital city. Why didn’t you stop him, and instead allowed him to leave?"
Hearing these words, the Crown Prince fell into silence before he replied, "We are after all brothers. Why should I let him stay within the capital city where we would keep fighting with each other? Leaving to rebuild in other prefectures was Father Emperor’s idea, and I don’t have much say as well. Besides, leaving the capital to refocus on other areas is the duty of the princes. Since King Lu has been dispatched to Qin Prefecture, he would be able to control the affairs there."
As soon as he said this, he watched as King Lu disappeared from view. The Crown Prince then heaved a sigh of relief, as though he’d just removed a huge boulder off his shoulders.
Palace, Study Room
A eunuch strode in a cast a glance at the Emperor. When he noticed that the Emperor wasn’t looking at him, he walked before the Emperor and fell onto his knees, he clutched a note to his chest.
When the note was given to the Emperor, he read it carefully and determined that it was about An Jie Prefecture and its Magistrate, Yue Bai. He sighed and mumbled to himself. This Yue Bai seemed to have left a faint impression on him. Soon after the Emperor’s rebellion against the dynasty had occurred ages ago, Yue Bai had stepped up and began agricultural works. The Emperor recalled that he was a rather upright official. Why had something like this happened?
Just as he was thinking to himself, the Emperor realized that he was extremely tired. He extended a hand to help himself up before he took several paces. His heart and mind were a mess before he sat back down on his chair and leaned to one side. He then retrieved a towel and placed it on his forehead to soothe the exhaustion.
After some time had passed, the Emperor then removed the wet towel and handed it back to the little eunuch. He then turned around to ask, "What about the matter of King Lu? Cough cough."
The eunuch who had knelt on the ground then spoke loudly, "Your Majesty, King Lu has already left the city. He knelt on the ground and wailed as he left. Even your grandchildren sobbed in sorrow as they said their goodbyes."
Hearing this, the Emperor waved his quill, his hands trembled as he shouted, "Outrageous!"
Nobody around knew if he was angry with King Lu or the note. The eunuch started to shake in fear as he fell to the ground. The entire study descended into silence once more. The atmosphere was so stifling that the eunuch found it hard to breathe.
After remaining in silence this way for a long time, the Emperor coughed and the eunuch raised his head up to look. The Emperor had tears rolling down his cheeks.
The eunuch then understood. It wasn’t that the Emperor was unfeeling towards King Lu. It was that he had no choice but to exile King Lu this way.
The eunuch then recalled a time when the Emperor had overwhelmed villages and crossed over the seas in such an awe-inspiring manner. Anyone that rose up to defy him, he would’ve killed. At this point, the Emperor had been reduced to such a soft and weakened state.
The Emperor then regained his senses and pretended to be unaffected by this. He then looked at the note once again, "This is such a crazy man. There’s no need for a trial. Drag him out and execute him. General You Ji was a brilliant general, and didn’t deserve such an ending. I will confer upon him a posthumous title."
The Emperor then turned around and looked at the eunuch, "Send this exact note out to the courts and expedite the conferment of the title to General You Ji."
"Yes, your majesty!" The eunuch received the note and retreated.
"The rest of you can retreat as well!" Seeing that everyone had left, the Emperor then slumped into despair and exhaustion as he leaned against his chair. He allowed the quill to fall from his hand onto the ground, as more tears flowed down his face.
As the capital city pulled further away, the sky became darker and the clouds hung lower. An entire row of oxcarts streamed by, while groups of black robed Imperial Guards walked alongside the carriages. The clanging of their armor as they walked was extremely distinctive. When the bystanders heard this sound coming from a distance away, all of them avoided it, but craned their necks out to get a better look.
King Lu sat within the oxcart, as Eunuch Liao fed him some meat porridge. King Lu was still skinny from his sickness and couldn’t eat too much rich and fatty food abruptly.
"Your Majesty, it’s truly been hard on you." Eunuch Liao fed him as he said.
King Lu still felt rather sorrowful and found it hard to speak. He ate another mouthful before he motioned to the eunuch that he didn’t wish to eat anymore. As he glanced out of the window he said, "What can a little humiliation do?"
The oxcart continued to move onwards as the capital city gradually vanished from view. King Lu suddenly felt something had abruptly left his body as if he had dropped something. The feeling was like he had been released from a comfortable pressure which he had known all his life. He panicked for a moment before he raised his head. His face fell, "Has everything been prepared at the relay station?"
Xie Cheng Dong who sat beside him replied, "It’s all been prepared. Your Highness should rest well now, and replenish your health for the journey is still long."
When King Lu heard this, he leaned back against the carriage and closed his eyes, he waited for sleep to claim him. Xie Cheng Dong and Eunuch Liao glanced at each other before they disembarked from the carriage gently and got on the next carriage behind them.
Eunuch Liao then spoke but he was interrupted by an imperial guard in black. The guard gave him a slip of paper which the eunuch received. When he read it, his heart skipped a beat.
"An Jie Prefecture’s Magistrate Yue Bai has been accused of killing General You Ji. There’s also been evidence to prove his misdeeds. The Emperor’s mood was already poor and thus gave him to the gallows without consideration?" Eunuch Liao read softly and was taken aback.
"This Pei Zi Yun’s counter attack is swift and vile. Compared to King Lu’s methods, Pei Zi Yun’s tricks are way better. He is always on point with his moves, and rarely makes mistakes." Xie Cheng Dong laughed before he continued, "It’s just a magistrate and we can replace him effortlessly. But it now becomes obvious that Crown Prince’s main advisor is Pei Zi Yun."
"What should we do now?" Eunuch Liao asked.
Xie Cheng Dong cleared his throat, "The most important thing now, is to focus on King Lu’s rebuilding efforts. It’s just that King Lu is now a Canton Prince, and has a limit on the number of troops which he can possess. He must not have more than 5,000 men. This is far from enough."
"We have to recover the lost title and claim three prefectures for ourselves. When that happens, it would be hard to shake us." Xie Cheng Dong then continued, "This Yue Bai has already been condemned by the Emperor himself, and nobody can save him."
"Even if he could still be saved, we shouldn’t waste our efforts."
"As for Pei Zi Yun, we must not clash with him yet. Just place him under close surveillance for now."
"Alright, with Young Master Xie’s reassurances, I can relax. As for other matters, we can discuss them when King Lu is awake." Eunuch Liao spoke before he turned back to look at the rest of the oxcarts that trailed behind them before he stood up to leave. "I shall sleep for a little while as well. The road is long and treacherous."
"Please go ahead, Eunuch Liao." Seeing that eunuch had left and nobody else was around, Xie Cheng Dong then allowed himself to give an exhausted expression. This An Jie Prefecture’s Yue Bai was truly a failure. He caused so many problems but didn’t achieve anything. When he confirmed that Pei Zi Yun was the advisor of the Crown Prince, he started to worry again.
"Pei Zi Yun, not only are you gifted in literal works, you’re also powerful in Dao arts. Even scheming and planning aren’t beneath you?"
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