Chapter 93: Modern Man With “no Bottom Line”
Half a shichen after the Yongshui Ambush, the bruised and swollen Tang Du’ao was splashed awake with a basin of ice-cold river water; all his armor had been stripped clean from his body.
Wu Fei asked leisurely, “Who are you?” After two breaths, there was only the sound of river water lapping against stones.
Wu Fei, undeterred by the lack of response, turned to look at another large net: “What breed is that deer?” Still no response.
But the deer nearby made a “plop” sound and kicked its hooves violently. Moreover, its antlers rubbed against the ground with “crack crack” sounds while swaying, clashing with stones, struggling in the net to break free. Because Nine Phoenix, like a crow, was plucking the fur from the Nine-Colored Deer’s body, but with its nine heads taking turns, it was like a rake. Constantly pecking.
As Wu Fei’s mount for heading north, Nine Phoenix loyally demonstrated that it followed its master in all matters.
Wu Fei waved grandly: “Set up the pot and boil water; save the deer blood for me. Take down the deer antlers; I want to send them to the Marshal.”
This made Tang Du’ao speak up; he shouted hurriedly, “You madman, always doing things like burning cranes and boiling harps! This deer of mine is an exotic species from an immortal manor.”
Hearing this shout, Wu Fei nodded, then sent someone to ask his personal soldiers. —He wanted exactly this shout from him; otherwise, his soldiers really wouldn’t dare speak up. Then he walked up to him and stared for a while; nearby Wu Laifeng pulled up the tent cloth, and Wu Fei just quietly looked at him. After a good while, Wu Fei suddenly walked out of the tent cloth and shouted loudly outside: “Entertain General Tang Du’ao well; do not neglect him in any way!”
Then he shouted loudly at the people nearby: “Untie General Tang’s deer too, and have someone specially tend to it.”
On the open space twenty steps outside the tent, there was a group of squatting Wei Guan army captives; especially those personal soldiers Tang Du’ao had brought, who all raised their heads to look over here. These Wei Guan soldiers craned their necks watching Wu Fei cup his hands in welcome to Tang Du’ao. Although they hadn’t seen this scene for even one breath before being whipped back, (among them Wu Laifeng whipped the hardest, clearly unhappy with Wu Fei treating Tang Du’ao so politely; this kid was venting), but this scene planted seeds of doubt in their hearts.
The soldiers speculated: Was our own commander (Tang Du’ao) already acquainted with the Yao Army generals?
In fact, Wu Fei had long obtained intelligence: this man was called Tang Du’ao, a disciple of a noble family in Yongzhou, fond of guns and clubs from childhood, whose talent was considered extraordinary by all; he held the rank of captain.
Wu Fei had also obtained a key piece of information: this Nine-Colored Deer was an immortal beast cultivated by the Wangheng Sect, an immortal sect in Yongzhou; more precisely, it was a fifteenth birthday gift from his master on the mountain.
Regarding this, after verifying his quality in this battle, Wu Fei couldn’t help but sigh: “What a guy who thinks he has exceptional talent, gets packaged by the noble families, and comes to command military affairs! Don’t challenge our profession with your hobby! If the military system is truly mastered, after all these years of mine studying books plus practical operations to get on the field, for you to replace it with 4+4—doesn’t that make me look stupid? How many Wu Hengyu could there be under heaven?”
Just as the troops finished collecting the spoils of war and were preparing to withdraw, Nine Phoenix let out a shrill cry like exploding fur; Wu Fei looked up, and there was a streak of sword light on the distant horizon.
Immediately, Wu Fei’s killing intent condensed, and he pointed at the horizon: “You there, come here.” —Wu Fei’s tone was light, but the killing intent as medium transmitted his rebuke to the horizon without any loss.
The sword qi on the horizon was struck by the killing intent, clearly taking heavy damage; the sword light sank and fell for a good while before stabilizing, then turned and left.
…Immortal Spirit…
Golden Core Cultivator Tang Meng, after stabilizing a surge of spiritual energy, looked at the ended battlefield with lingering fear, at the killing intent fluctuations that had suddenly spread like a great bell, and murmured: “What a fierce general; this man’s killing intent has been acknowledged by heaven and earth. In a hundred years, he will be a ferocious god!”
He regulated his breathing and arduously expelled the killing intent that had infiltrated his spiritual power. At this moment, his spiritual power was like it had been shot by a shotgun, with countless tiny killing intent fragments embedded in it.
And that was just a brief encounter on the battlefield periphery, without deeply mixing into the battlefield. If he had gotten any closer and been truly seen as an enemy by the army, with Wu Fei rebuking him like that, he would inevitably lose twenty or thirty years of cultivation.
…Back to the human world…
After tallying the information on Tang Du’ao’s military operation this time, Wu Fei commented in his mind: “Good grief, no wonder he charged over so frantically; turns out there’s family ties. Wonder what the Yongzhou generals were thinking, letting this hothead be the vanguard? Wait, probably trying to create a fine tale of ‘yesterday sent the deer, today came to rescue.’ Heh.”
Having spent a long time with magic cultivators like Gongshu Wang and San Gu, Wu Fei was gradually demystifying cultivation immortality.
He fully understood the damage military killing intent did to immortal spirits’ spiritual energy. For cultivators, killing intent and spiritual energy were like water and fire; just now, Wu Fei was equivalent to pouring a ton of water into a Golden Core Cultivator’s steel-forging furnace, directly causing it to swell and explode.
Now, fresh from a victorious battle, Wu Fei had not just a ton of water; the killing intent he possessed was equivalent to an entire lake.
…And so this battle passed…
Five shichen later, that same night as the great battle, Wu Fei’s soldiers were lax in guarding, allowing some captives to slip away.
Back in Lu City, Wu Fei was clear: currently, taking any city in Yongzhou was impossible. Twenty days ago, Yongzhou had not fully mobilized and assembled its troops; at that time, Yongzhou was like a shelled chestnut—fragrant but scalding hot. His own troop strength was small but could still snatch chestnuts from the fire; but now, all of Yongzhou was on alert, turned into a coconut. Wei Guan had obtained Guotai’s military support and was strengthening forces in Yongzhou.
Due to Tang Du’ao’s reckless advance and major losses from underestimating the enemy, the Prefect of Yongzhou wouldn’t mobilize a large army to attack in the short term.
But Wu Fei wouldn’t idle. Compared to Wu Hengyu’s domineering assaults, Wu Fei often preferred to “subdue the enemy without fighting,” i.e., playing dirty.
Moreover, with Wu Fei’s modern mindset and logic, when it came to scheming, some aspects were utterly without bottom line!
Note: Modern thinking habitually shows womanly compassion toward voiceless social strata, e.g., “city slaughter” is absolutely wrong, and when requisitioning grain, it’s best to leave each commoner one ration. But modern people, when dealing with vocal strata, are utterly shameless in words and actions; in the previous life’s network culture development, keyboard warriors broke all tacit agreements of the “cultured elite” stratum. Such behavioral norms in ancient times would be beyond the bottom line.
Wu Xiao Que, as an excellent old right-winger, didn’t care at all about the literati’s mouths.
…Operations as follows…
After retreating to the south bank of Yongshui, Wu Fei began sending letters to the various noble families on the north bank of Yongshui, proclaiming himself a righteous army that entered this place out of necessity, and that upon seeing Tang Du’ao, he felt like old friends at first sight, very much wanting to befriend the many young lords on the north side.
This statement naturally drew sneers from the scholar circles, who began writing articles to curse him.
First cursing him as southern barbarians, then exposing Wu Fei’s so-called background, i.e., destroying bamboo groves in the south and insulting civility.
Article after article surged like a tide of knife edges; if warriors of this era read them, they would absolutely accumulate rage. Because this wasn’t just cursing eighteen generations of ancestors, but also cursing Wu Fei for interbreeding with exotic species in the south.
But Wu Fei, as a keyboard warrior, activated his skill: “Too many words, tiring to read.”
Wu Fei only needed to confirm someone would respond; then he announced that he and Tang Du’ao were already old friends, but per old hometown rules, some money was needed to release him.
To the wise men of Yongzhou, Wu Fei’s statement was like a twenty-first-century pointy-headed fool “babbling nonsense to himself,” responding to doubts only with “Then let me ask you, let me ask you”—naturally drawing more criticism.
Yongzhou noble family disciples: “Daring to haggle in the scholar circles’ fragrant flowers while reeking of copper? Ridiculous.”
And then, Tang Du’ao was released, while Wu Fei proclaimed: Money received.
…From the other side’s perspective…
When Tang Du’ao returned home and heard all sorts of gossip, he immediately thought the family had really given that southern barbarian money. But family members countered, “Did you really make peace with the enemy general with a smile?” Tang Du’ao vehemently denied it, and the family elders responded: “We didn’t give that southern barbarian a single coin.”
When Tang Du’ao went out, other family disciples asked, “Brother, did you really become sworn brothers with that southern barbarian warrior?”
Tang Du’ao denied it once, twice, three times, but people kept asking. What broke him was the message from his family servant: “Everyone outside is saying the Tang family paid money to ransom you back.”
Tang Du’ao: “Didn’t we not pay?” The servant: “But outsiders are all saying it.”
Tang Du’ao sat dumbfounded at home, facing endless criticism; a month of social death later, he set himself on fire at home.
…The next day here, the performance art continued…
Upon learning Tang Du’ao had set himself on fire, Wu Fei rode Nine Phoenix and, in front of passing merchants on the opposite shore, began scattering boxes of paper money—um, i.e., paper money cut from large tree leaves—and burning paper deer effigies, scattering and crying all the while.
Wu Fei: “My good brother, I long advised you not to go back; you and I serve different masters, hey. Alas, your heart wasn’t true; you could have lived well here, but going back meant facing slander.”
Wu Fei’s three days of performance art were seen by many fishermen and merchants along the shore, and with some added fuel, the news quickly spread throughout Yongzhou.
With Wu Fei’s merchant spies further exerting efforts, detailed versions soon appeared on the north bank of Yongzhou.
New version story: Tang Du’ao and Wu Fei were already acquainted, but Tang Du’ao upheld his integrity and had no intention of surrendering after capture. Facing Wu Fei’s persuasion, he refused to betray his benefactor. Wu Fei then used “Many noble families in Yongzhou have already surrendered to Da Yao” and provided letters as proof.
After Tang Du’ao returned, many scholars in Yongzhou feared he would reveal the list of those in Yongzhou intending to surrender to Da Yao that he learned from Wu Fei. Thus, these families seized the chance to force Tang Du’ao to death.
Smart helmsmen in various Yongzhou noble families cursed: This is rumor, utter rumor.
But the peddlers and ruffians below were willing to listen and spread it; who told the noble families to package themselves as mysterious immortal families, not letting commoners see? So this “immortal humiliated” plot was immensely popular.
As for which family in Yongzhou, heart toward Da Yao, was deliberately disguising itself—Wu Fei, performing the art, didn’t say.
Wu Fei: Not everything needs root-and-branch investigation; things like lying on ice for carp weren’t fully questioned either. As long as someone sees it, let it spread.
Modern media studies experience: A person full of nonsense, as long as seated in a position of great influence, their nonsense will be passively analyzed by fans and haters alike. To break free from being led by lies, there’s only one way: club the liar down to a shorty, silencing their voice.
But now, the Yongzhou bunch couldn’t beat Wu Xiao Que.
…Powerless rage dividing line…
Prefect of Yongzhou Ji Fei: “Shameless words; such a shameless person exists.” Meanwhile, the eunuch who came from Prince Bo sipped tea leisurely nearby!
Now in Yongzhou, all sorts of messages mixed; rumors like “So-and-so actually loyal to Da Yao” caused widespread panic. Although he had ordered everyone to completely ignore such shameless talk, all just enemy windbaggery.
But the rumors reached Prince Bo, resulting in Prince Bo sending someone to ask; even worse, the dispatched Prince Bo envoy now told him that in the court, those hearing the rumors claimed Ji Fei himself was heart toward Da Yao.
Ji Fei, breaking out in cold sweat, emphasized to the envoy: “I didn’t, I haven’t.”
But the envoy looked at him deeply, meaning clear: words alone prove nothing. Thus Ji Fei was helpless.
Several days later, Ji Fei launched the Great Prison in Yongzhou. Strictly investigating noble families suspected of surrendering to Yao, vetting people from each family. Large numbers of harsh officials went to townships everywhere, locking up scholars one by one into prison. At first Ji Fei didn’t want to go too far, just grabbing some, questioning, and releasing; but these scholars turned their fire on him, and in rage, his nearby advisor chimed in: “My lord, why not grab and frame them on the side, and finally execute!”
This way, already distant from the noble families, he no longer cared about blending into the local “refined” atmosphere. No choice; now, for the Prefect of Yongzhou position, only a lone minister sitting there could reassure the paranoid Prince Bo.
Note: In times of collapse of ritual and music, with strong military power, black can be called white. How much truth is in the histories?
…Meanwhile, south bank of Yongshui…
Taking advantage of the chaos he caused on the north side, Wu Fei guided large groups of people to migrate to the south bank of Yongshui and Zhenzhou.
After investigation, Wu Fei discovered that under these noble families’ deliberate control in Yongzhou, common folk lacked ironware for farming; on average, ten households had only one piece of ironware, and the noble families forbade damming water upstream on Yongshui, making it impossible to irrigate a series of upstream canals, leaving vast upstream wastelands uncultivated.
Meanwhile, Zhenzhou had suffered under Prince Lelang, with massive loss of registered households, urgently needing people to fill them.
As for the local noble families on the south bank of Yongshui, they had no time to oppose Wu Fei’s upstream damming and military reclamation. They were tangled in a heap of troubles.
After breaching the cities, though Wu Fei didn’t slaughter the cities, he recorded a huge debt for each noble family in the cities; through these debts, Wu Fei spent time extorting from each noble family, after which all fled. But those who fled were only the direct lines; large numbers of collateral branches stayed locally.
In response, Wu Fei conveniently migrated the noble families on the south bank of Yongzhou away. In the huge procession of horse carts, droves of dejected noble families gazed at their ancestral lands, forced to wear straw sandals southward into Zhenzhou territory.
If these noble families’ direct core cohesion remained, Wu Fei’s relocation order would cause fierce local resistance; but their internal cores had been screwed by Wu Fei, leaving no cohesion.
If Wu Fei had slaughtered the cities earlier, these local noble families would have re-elected cores internally!
But Wu Fei spared lives, letting these core noble family members leave with debts. Then he grabbed them and wouldn’t let go, making them return home to collect debts.
Worth mentioning, these noble family disciples released from the cities had their wives and daughters seized by the Wu Family Army (distributed to soldiers). Returning in such a state of shame meant they had empty titles but no rallying power these past months.
Historical reference: Modern history. After the Boxer Rebellion, foreign powers didn’t directly destroy the Qing dynasty but let this spineless shameless dynasty limp on, causing the East to be unable to unite for any great power actions within a decade, with Britain camped on the Yangtze River waterway sucking profits equivalent to dozens of dreadnoughts a year.
Wu Fei was basically following this process: first insult the local noble families, then whittle them down bit by bit, finally dismantling them entirely.
The south bank of Yongzhou completed a bloodless change of land ownership; vast noble family assets were taken under the military reclamation department under Wu Fei, while the large numbers of collateral branches under the original noble families were shuffled and mixed, migrated into Zhenzhou. Completely severing ties to their former lands.
December of year 32, south bank of Yongshui.
Wu Fei began planning the land, erecting boundary markers, distributing land to the commoners on the south bank of Yongshui, and re-registering households.
Due to large numbers of households hidden by Yongzhou powerful clans being allocated land. On Wu Fei’s ledgers, after migrating away six thousand households from southern Yongzhou, his side’s official household count surprisingly increased from the original 120,000 to 180,000 households.
Due to many soldiers who received women from the cities having some gains after cultivating, they also settled locally and registered households.
