Chapter 62: Jia Yuanling Was Exiled
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were still in the Front Hall.
“I heard that you fired several guards,” Yuwen Tong said.
Ling Zhang was not surprised that Yuwen Tong knew this. That was not confidential, and it was not difficult for Yuwen Tong’s omnipotent subordinates to inquire about this.
“They are all people who are lazy or with sticky fingers,” Ling Zhang said.
Yuwen Tong nodded. Just as he wanted to say something, Wang Dashan returned, “Young Master, Xiafeng’s letter arrived.”
This news brightened Ling Zhang’s eyes. He immediately opened the letter and checked it carefully.
Although Yuwen Tong only stayed at Ling Family for one night, he was clear about the people who served Ling Zhang. So far as he knew, this person named Xiafeng Feng was sent by Ling Zhang to investigate something classified.
Seeing Ling Zhang being so happy, Yuwen Tong couldn’t help wondering what was in that letter.
The letter was long. He explained in detail the background check of all the guards he had found. All the formation was not much different from what they had so far, which made Ling Zhang feel relieved.
Now that they were clean, he could start training them.
Xiafeng wrote at the end of the letter that he was in Yanzhou now and if Ling Zhang had no other instructions, he would soon return to Tanyang.
‘Yanzhou…’ A bright idea occurred in Ling Zhang’s mind. He got a chance to ask Xiafeng to check Liu Yi’s background.
He looked at Yuwen Tong and said, “I have to write a letter.”
“I’ll be waiting here,” Yuwen Tong said.
Ling Zhang then went back to his yard.
Yuwen Tong just cast Yaoyi a glance, whom, upon getting the hint, left quietly.
Therefore, Ling Zhang didn’t know that the letter he sent to Xiafeng had been intercepted before it had been sent out of Tanyang. After carefully checking the contents of the letter, Yaoyi put the letter back into the messenger’s package, unnoticed.
While Yaoyi was doing that, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had already left Ling Family and went all the way to the west gate of the city.
“Are we going to the west mountain?” Ling Zhang asked in surprise.
“Let’s investigate Jia Family’s mine field you mentioned,” Yuwen Tong said.
“But it is broad daylight and there are many guards at their mine field. We’ll be spotted if we get close,” Ling Zhang said.
“Just follow me,” Yuwen Tong said.
Ling Zhang gave him a suspicious look. But then on a second thought, he realized that Yuwen Tong’s Kung Fu was so powerful and he might be able to sneak in. There were a lot of herb shops in Tanyang City, so there was always the aroma of herbs in the street, which residents of Tanyang had long been used to. Walking along the street with Ling Zhang, Yuwen Tong kept an eye on the herb shops as they walked and found that almost every shop had a flag in front of its door, embroidered with a totem similar to the family emblem.
Noticing that Yuwen Tong was looking at those flags, Ling Zhang said, “Those are the emblems of the family behind each shop. . People can tell the owner of the shop at a glance by the flags. Merchants who often do herb business in Tanyang all know which shop ensures smoothest in and out of the city and which the worst. Once they identify a good shop they think, they will not waste time going elsewhere.”
“Are these related to bandits?” Yuwen Tong asked immediately.
“Yes, if a foreign merchant buys herbs from a shop, they will plant the shop’s flag in the cargo when they leave Tanyang so as to get out safely. Otherwise, it’s hard for them to leave Tanyang easily. Merchants who met difficulty when transporting the herbs are not on good terms with Zhang Chong or refuse to bribe him. In fact, merchants in Tanyang are well aware of the secret collusion between the Prefecture Guard and the bandits but just too afraid to expose it. If they want to do business, they must obey this unwritten rule,” Ling Zhang said. Yuwen Tong frowned and his eyes turned cold.
“I guess you also noticed that there is almost no separate house on the outskirts of the city when you entered Tanyang. All the farmers are grouped together, and they plant the flags outside each habitation, right?”
Yuwen Tong nodded, “Exactly.”
Even though it wasn’t dawn yet at the time and it was hard to see everything clearly, Yuwen Tong still found those conspicuous flags.
“Those are the flags of the Prefecture Guard which have the same effect as the flags outside these shops. They are useful most of the time, but there’re also times when they don’t. And that is normally when bloodshed happens,” Ling Zhang said in a cold voice.
Then he continued, “Which is also the time when Prefecture Guard will launch a massive attack to destroy the rebellious ‘bandits’ and their chance to display their meritorious deeds and contributions to the Court.”
Tanyang residents were no fools, and they knew it well. But there was nothing they could do. Since they lived on this land, they had to compromise on something.
The emperor had been very fatuous for years. Even in other Prefectures, people suffered a heavy servitude and taxation, too. They might also face problems of land infertility or other problems even if they left Tanyang.
Moreover, the roads out of Tanyang were being watched by bandits. Could they leave Tanyang safely? What if they were sick on the road?
In Tanyang, as long as they paid enough bribes to the Prefecture Guard, they were likely to survive.
This was what the people thought. That was the life here.
Yuwen Tong was silent for a moment before finally speaking, “According to your words, not only the merchants, but even the people are voluntarily or forced to obey the Prefecture Guards.”
Ling Zhang said with the cold eyes, “You are right. So it is hard to overthrow Zhang Chong.”
“Yes, which means, it’s no easy task to overthrow Zhang Chong.”
He chose a very difficult path.
“The biggest problem is the rampant bandits. And the Prefecture Guards rely on those bandits to consolidate their interests. If we want to overthrow Zhang Chong, we must get rid of those bandits,” Yuwen Tong said.
“It seems that the Court is unwilling to send troops to suppress the bandits. Do you have any idea?” Ling Zhang looked at him.
“The reason behind the Court’s decision is complicated, but only on the premise that Prefecture Guards will not threaten the imperial power,” Yuwen Tong said.
Ling Zhang immediately understood what Yuwen Tong was trying to say. Thinking of his doubts about the Prefecture Guard he asked, “Did you find something?”
Yuwen Tong looked at Ling Zhang’s expecting eyes and said, “I can’t tell you now. When the time comes, you will know it.”
Ling Zhang was disappointed. This guy kept him in suspense. However, with the blood feud between him and Zhang Chong, he didn’t have that patience to wait quietly. He would find a way to figure it out himself.
If Zhang Chong’s action really threatened the imperial power, then his intention was to rebel. If this really happened, Ling Zhang would set off firecrackers to celebrate it.
As for the consequence of Zhang Chong’s rebellion, that was something beyond his reach .
Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered that Wang Dashan once told him that Liu Yi had planned to join the army. But when Liu Yi went to the encampment of the Prefecture Guard, he regretted his decision. Did he find any secrets?
It seemed that he should talk to Liu Yi.
“Are those people from Jia Family?” Yuwen Tong asked suddenly.
Ling Zhang looked at him with a doubtful look. Yuwen Tong motioned him to look across the street.
Following Yuwen Tong’s gaze, Ling Zhang saw a sedan parked in front of the opposite restaurant. On the doorframe of the sedan hanged a wooden plaque with the word Jia. A person who looked plump came out of the sedan. He wore like a moneybags, but his face was very gloomy.
“He is Jia Yin,” Ling Zhang said in a cold voice.
“Really? Jia Yuanling’s father?”
“Yes, that’s him,” Ling Zhang said.
The opposite building was called Guest Pleasing House, which was a two-storey restaurant. Its layout was medium among the restaurants of Tanyang city, and it was a relatively good one around the West Gate. But Jia Family was located in the east of the city. Why didn’t he choose some of the larger restaurants near his home? ‘What is he doing here?’
“We’ll go out of the city later,” Ling Zhang said.
Yuwen Tong didn’t care about it. He glanced around then looked at the small tea house behind him and said, “Let’s go there then.”
This tea house was also a two-storey building, but it was not spacious. There was a position beside the window on the second floor. So Ling Zhang paid more money and exchanged the seats with the guests who had been sitting by the window. He sat down with Yuwen Tong and looked out of the window. There was a good view of the Guest Pleasing House from here.
Even more coincidentally, Jia Yin was sitting right next to the window on the second floor of the Guest Pleasing House. He was looking right this way.
Ling Zhang left the window half closed, blocking himself and Yuwen Tong. Jia Yin was obviously waiting for something. But what was it? Suddenly, Ling Zhang’s eyes turned cold. Today was exactly the day when Jia Yuanling was going to be exiled.
“What’s wrong? Do you recall anything?” Yuwen Tong poured Ling Zhang a cup of tea.
“Jia Yuanling is going to be exiled. According to the practice of Tanyang Prefecture Yamen, this is supposed to be the time for Jia Yuanling to be sent to the West Gate,” Ling Zhang said.
Yuwen Tong looked at the street through the window. He saw a man in a gray prison uniform in the distance being escorted this way by four yamen runners. Those people caused some commotion. Many pedestrians gave way for them and stood on both sides of the street to watch.
Yuwen Tong gently rotated the teacup and showed a murderous look.
Ling Zhang turned to look at the street and immediately saw Jia Yuanling who was being escorted.
Jia Yuanling was sitting in the prison car with his hair disheveled. Through the scattered hair, he stared ferociously at the people who talked about him till they stopped. With Jia Family backing him up, he showed his arrogance even when he was a prisoner.
Ling Zhang looked at the prison car with a poker face. ‘Just enjoy your last days of arrogance. You’re stepping into hell.’
Perhaps having noticed the gaze of Ling Zhang, Jia Yuanling looked up at the tea house in a sudden.
Ling Zhang didn’t evade, but looked right into his vicious eyes.
Jia Yuanling was infuriated. He stared at Ling Zhang with hatred, trying to tear Ling Zhang apart with that ferociousness.
“Let’s wait and see who laughs last, I will be back,” Jiayuan Ling mouthed some words to Ling Zhang.
Ling Zhang stood there calmly. His indifference was the most powerful taunt to the enemy.
‘Wanna be back? It is not up to you.’
Jia Yuanling was enraged by Ling Zhang’s reaction. He clenched his fist tightly and stared at Ling Zhang furiously with his reddened eyes.
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