Delong

Chapter 553 Sending Wu Xing (3)

"Madam, I'm here to plead for help."

On the Holy Mother Mountain, Xie Minghe took a bath, changed his clothes, and then calmly drank two cups of tea and ate some fresh fruit (whose name he didn't know) in front of the Holy Mother Xian of Nanling, who was also a Grand Master. He ate half a jin of fruit, and when he felt completely comfortable, he finally spoke calmly and surprisingly frankly.

"Could you please personally go to the Yangtze River to kill the True Fire Sect Leader Cao Shiyu and the Danglu Master Wei Shengji for our Chulong Gang? If that's not possible, sending two Grandmasters would also be acceptable."

The hall inside the cave, which had been renovated to be so spacious that it was almost frightening, was silent for a moment. After a while, the atmosphere eased a little, but only a few dozen members of the Feng family and a few dozen maids looked at each other in small groups. Their expressions varied, some exchanging glances, some pouting, but they still dared not make a sound.

Seeing this, Xie Minghe urged, "Madam, what do you think?"

Even the Holy Mother of Nanling, sitting on the head couch, was somewhat flustered: "I didn't know that Young Master Xie had joined the Expelling Dragon Gang. I thought you were working for the Great Liang now."

"Da Liang?!" Xie Minghe slammed his fist on the table and stood up upon hearing this, appearing somewhat exasperated. "Madam, even if I, Xie Minghe, am not some hero, I am still a decent man. How can you regard me as one of those people from Da Liang? Madam, you live in Nanling, which is adjacent to Jiangnan. Don't you know the so-called foundation of Da Liang?"

"Don't you know that those dozen or so princes have completely different surnames?"

"Didn't they fight each other on the official road before even establishing their country? And after establishing their country, a third of them rebelled?"

"Don't they know that they are neither rulers nor subjects?"
"Don't you know they're vying for fame and fortune, the emperor is full of conspiracies and tricks, and the grandmaster is determined to steal the country? Everyone around these two is so busy they're practically squeezing out their brains."

"Madam, even if you are a Grandmaster or the Holy Mother of Nanling, you cannot look down on me like this!"

Xie Minghe spoke with heartfelt sincerity and inexplicable resentment, leaving everyone around him stunned. Even the Holy Mother of Nanling, though sitting motionless, began to feel uneasy... because of her cultivation level, she could clearly sense that while the other party was indeed putting on an act, it seemed... it seemed that he truly meant it!
After a moment, Feng Fou, the grandson of the Holy Mother, the former governor of the South China Sea of ​​the Great Wei Dynasty... and now the governor of the South China Sea of ​​unknown origin, who had escorted Xie Minghe all the way to Holy Mother Mountain, spoke up to defuse the situation: "Young Master Xie, aren't you exaggerating? Others may not know about internal strife, but you and I, who have witnessed the changes of the Southern Dynasties, surely know it. From the Tang Dynasty to the Chen Dynasty, Jiangnan has always been like this."

"Therefore, the Southern Dynasty was destroyed." Xie Minghe replied solemnly.

Feng Fou stroked his beard and laughed: "If that's the case, then we should be helping to destroy the Guanzhong region of the Southern Dynasty. Why should we go and kill Wei Shengji, the greatest general of Great Britain, instead of helping you?"

Those around them breathed a sigh of relief... This is more like it, this is proper courting and negotiation. What was that all about before? It made everyone feel uneasy, as if they were as ridiculous as those people from Daliang.

Next, we should talk about the Guanlong people, the Chulong Gang, who won and who lost, and what conditions the Chulong Gang offered. That would make sense!

"Lord Feng." Xie Minghe raised his hand to stop him, then slumped back into his seat. "I know what you're going to say, but I can't tell you right now... In the past two months, I've traveled from Hebei to Henan, then to Jingzhou, then to Jiangdong, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea before finally arriving here. It's been a long and arduous journey. I don't have the energy to argue or debate with you now, especially with military matters pressing. I also don't have time to waste on this... So, please allow me to speak with the Old Madam in person. If things work out, great; if not, there's a decisive battle in the north, and I need to go back to fight!"

Feng Fu smiled awkwardly and could only look at his white-haired grandmother.

The Holy Mother above pondered for a moment, then addressed him solemnly: "Young Master Xie, your great-uncle and I once went whale hunting together. We are old friends, so what can't we say? But since you have come on behalf of the Expelling Dragon Gang, and I am concerned about the safety of the entire Southern Ridge, there are some things I must say first... You must know that I am from the Xian clan of Gaoliang, with 100,000 local officials behind me; my husband is from the Feng clan of Changle, but he fled south after the destruction of his family and country. Relying on his family's name, he served as the prefect of this wild land of Southern Ridge for three generations. Then, in my generation, we married and united, with the intention of stabilizing Southern Ridge and preserving ourselves in this chaotic world. It is not for the purpose of becoming king or hegemon, nor does it mean that we want to use this as capital to seek wealth and status in the north."

"Even I, though I have had some fortuitous encounters and cultivated to the level of a Grandmaster, still harbor the same desire to protect the peace of this region. That's why I came north to Nanling to establish myself and pacify the various tribes within the mountains. In truth, if my resolve hadn't remained steadfast for so many years, I wouldn't have achieved this Grandmaster level. If we're talking about wavering, my husband and I were so young and had such a deep friendship with Emperor Taizu of Chen when he raised his army here and marched north. We would have wavered long ago. How could I have been swayed by you now and drawn into the conflicts and disputes in the north?"

Xie Minghe nodded: "I had already thought of these things before I came, but after much consideration, I still decided to come... Firstly, the old lady's place is the last safe haven, and the last force that has not yet entered the fray. If I don't come here to ask for reinforcements, then I won't have any. Secondly, I do have some heartfelt words to say, and I hope that the old lady and all the Feng family members can listen carefully on behalf of the hundred clans of Nanling."

Lady Xian did not speak, but simply raised her hand to signal the other party to speak.

"I have three concerns: first, Nanling; second, the Feng family; and third, the old lady..."

Xie Minghe drank another cup of tea, calmed his tone, and began his persuasion.

"Let's start with Nanling... Forgive my bluntness, but Nanling is not the Nanling of the Xian clan, nor the Nanling of the Feng clan of Changle's Nanhai branch, nor the Nanling of this Holy Mother Mountain. Nanling is a grand estate of twenty-one prefectures, and the hundred tribes are merely nominal numbers. Therefore, if we want to weigh the advantages and disadvantages from the perspective of Nanling, we should start with the general strategies of the various families in the north. And from this perspective, it is actually best for the people of Jiangnan to be in power..."

"What do you mean by that?" Feng Can couldn't help but interject.

Xie Minghe glanced at the man, but did not tell him to shut up. Instead, he explained seriously: "This is because Nanling was developed very late. What it needs most is to continue to develop and become a developed land... When the people of Jiangnan are in power and establish a country in Jiangnan, even if the politics are chaotic, because they are close by, they will always regard Nanling as a barrier and then do more business. For example, their merchants can't go to the north, so they always have to come here... Therefore, it is the best result for you that Xiao Hui and Cao Shiyu can stand firm."

"But they can't stand firm?" Feng Fou said jokingly, as if mocking himself.

“That’s natural,” Xie Minghe continued. “There’s nothing we can do about it. There are no heroes left in Jiangdong. At least for the next twenty years, no heroes who can stand on the top will emerge because they’ve all been killed off by the Great Wei, generation after generation… The Eight Great Families of Jiangdong, what a prestigious title. I’m just a mere Core Formation cultivator, yet I’m the one with the highest cultivation among them. As for political maneuvering and military prowess, they’re not even as good as carrying shoes for the North… Without successive generations of people supporting them, even if Cao Shiyu and Xiao Hui were considered someone of importance, how could they possibly establish themselves? So, don’t overthink this. Not only can they not establish themselves, they’re not even qualified to participate in this struggle for supremacy.”

"However, after Jiangnan, for Nanling, it is our Chulong Gang's turn."

“The policies of the Chulong Gang are somewhat unorthodox…” Feng Fu continued to interject.

“I’ve spent seven or eight years in the north, and I’ve come to understand what governance really means.” Xie Minghe looked at Feng Fou with a strange expression. “Governance, in essence, is about using every means possible to grow more crops and raise more livestock to produce more rice, flour, and meat, and then using every means possible to distribute it… In the north, people might not understand the first part, as they always think that’s all there is to life. But people in the semi-civilized Nanling region should understand it. As for the second part, everyone understands it. All I can say is that our Chulong Gang distributes rice and meat much more fairly than the people of Guanzhong.”

Feng Fu paused for a moment, then asked seriously, "Does that mean that there will be regional quotas for those who enter officialdom through the imperial examinations and for those who become leaders?"

"That's only one aspect. Light taxes and levies, lenient laws, land distribution, people-oriented policies... there's no end to it all, but if you only know about the imperial examinations and the number of leaders, that's fine too... I can take this opportunity to tell you that our Chulong Gang's governance isn't just about the number of leaders, nor is it just about being as fair as possible to powerful people like you. We strive for fairness to everyone, from top to bottom, in all matters and to all kinds of people." Xie Minghe seemed to have forgotten how reluctant he was to talk to people at the beginning, and was now speaking enthusiastically. "And from my perspective as someone who joined halfway, the greatest advantage of the Chulong Gang lies here. They aren't all-encompassing, but they have basic principles. Since the Great Wei Dynasty treated the people unfairly and therefore perished, they must strive for fairness. How to achieve fairness cannot be known completely from the beginning, but when faced with problems and with the ability, they will try their best to devise a feasible and achievable path to justice."

"Gentlemen, you who live in Nanling should know what the words 'fairness' and 'justice' mean, right? But the Southern Dynasty's Jiangzuo regime discriminates against you Nanling people, making endless demands while preventing you from fairly seeking an official position in Stone City... In fact, let me give you a highly disrespectful example: isn't the Feng family's current status also due to the discrimination against Nanling people? If your grandfather hadn't had the reputation of a prominent family in Hebei, how could he have been matched with the old lady?! The Liao people didn't willingly debase themselves, so how could they have been taken advantage of by the Chang Le Feng family?"

This is a very bad thing to say; it's a classic case of a grandson insulting his grandfather. But the problem is that the way he insults his grandfather is by praising his grandmother, and his grandmother is sitting upright in the hall, listening with her eyes half-closed, without showing any sign of anger. So these grandsons and granddaughters can't really say anything.

Seeing so many members of the Feng family in the hall looking uncomfortable, Xie Minghe finally concluded the first of the three topics with a proud air: "As for the Guanlong people, there's nothing to say. Daying is just a newly established Wei, and the people are still the same. It's not impossible that if they were to gain power in the future, they would treat the people of Nanling as fairly as possible. But it's because our Chulong Gang has shaken the entire world like this, and it's because I, Xie Minghe, have come to Nanling and told you that there is another path to take in the world... They have no choice but to compromise."

"As for Madam Feng..." Xie Minghe stood up, looked around, shook his head and chuckled, then bowed to Madam Xian. "Madam, please don't be angry if I say something."

Madam Xian laughed and said, "Since I have allowed you to speak, how could I be angry? Besides, what you said today didn't make people angry? If I were going to be angry, I would have been already."

"Very well." Xie Minghe sat down again, his words startling. "Actually, the Feng family's situation is quite simple... If we don't take some measures in time and let the Feng family continue to multiply and grow in Nanling, once the old lady dies or passes away, they will turn on each other and fight to the death like black-eyed chickens in this Nanling chicken coop..."

"Of course, the Feng family is like a centipede that doesn't die easily. It's normal for one or two branches to survive. But I'm afraid that hundreds of thousands, even millions, of men and women from the Nanling region will be buried with the Feng family for their selfishness and chaos... And if you die then, it will be peaceful. But I'm afraid that you will be enjoying your paradise in heaven and have to watch helplessly. That would be too pitiful."

Upon hearing this, Madam Xian burst into laughter, tears streaming down her face. Her laughter silenced the Feng family members who were about to reprimand her... just as she had been doing for the past few decades.

"And what about my personal interests?" Madam Xian asked after laughing, but her question actually overshadowed Madam Feng's.

“I forgot…” Xie Minghe thought for a moment, then suddenly shook his head. “That’s all… Madam, please make the decision.”

Madam Xian laughed again: "How could you forget so easily? Is it that it's difficult to say, or that you can't say? Surely it's not that you're afraid to say it?"

“They’re unwilling to talk about it,” Xie Minghe sighed. “I once saw a document on the Swallowing Wind Platform in Ye City, which contained the gang’s evaluation of several Grandmasters.”

"Oh?" This was probably the first time Madam Xian had taken the initiative to perk up. "Tell me about it."

"Roughly speaking, these grandmasters can be divided into two categories. One category is those who are backed by sects or regimes. Their fate and achievements depend on what's behind them. As the saying goes, 'the tide rises and falls,' and success is easy, but failure is easy. The second category is those who have found their own path and created their own achievements." Xie Minghe explained in great detail. "The most obvious examples of the former are Yin Tianqi, the Grand Commander of the Northern Demon-Slaying Guard; Cao Lin, the Imperial Uncle of the Great Wei and the Vice Minister of the Jing'an Terrace; and Li Ziqi, the Grand Commander of the Eastern Barbarians. The most obvious examples of the latter are Master Jin Ge, Zhang Bofeng, and you, Madam. The more special examples are Daoist Chonghe, the current Emperor of Great Britain, Bai Hengqiu, and the Thousand Gold Sect Leader, Sun Siyuan. Daoist Chonghe is naturally the leader of the Sanyi Orthodox Sect, but he clearly has his own aspirations. At the very least, he has combined the aspirations of the Sanyi Orthodox Sect with his own, which is why he is the most powerful. Emperor Bai should have had his own Taoist arts at first, but after becoming emperor, he had no choice but to turn to the first category. The Thousand Gold Sect Leader is the opposite. He initially relied on the Supreme and the True Fire Sect, but now he wants to establish his own new path."

“That makes some sense,” Madam Xian said after a moment’s thought, then replied seriously. “But what do these things have to do with me? Why are you unwilling to tell me?”

“Because the true path is hard to find,” Xie Minghe said earnestly. “Take Master Jin Ge, for example. From Jin Ge to Master, he thought he had found the right path, but when he was on his deathbed and saw Master Qian Jin erecting the Qian Jin Stele, he realized that although he had found the right path, he had used the wrong method to travel it. His approach of only opening a Banpo Academy in Hedong was like sailing on dry land or floating on a river… As for the old lady, forgive my bluntness, but you spent the first half of your life overcoming many obstacles, and the second half of your life was spent stuck on this Holy Mother Mountain. In fact, you have exhausted your options. If you want to avoid the same fate as Master Jin Ge, it would be best to learn from Master Qian Jin, leave Holy Mother Mountain, and find another way out… However, I have only said half of what I thought, but I have already realized that the old lady is willing to stop at Holy Mother Mountain. If she insists on persuading me, it may not be a good thing.”

"Indeed." Madam Xian smiled slightly. "That's right. I am willing to die here on this sacred mountain, without seeking any outcome."

Xie Minghe bowed respectfully: "This is a blessing for the millions of people of the 21 counties of Nanling, the mountains and seas, and the hundreds of tribes. Therefore, I dare not persuade the old lady to leave."

Madam Xian nodded again: "That's all the pros and cons... Is there anything else to add?"

“Of course, we can talk about other things, but we are thousands of miles apart, and talking about those abstract things is useless, so it’s better not to say anything…” Xie Minghe seemed a little dejected. “On the other hand, if we can’t even persuade people with interests, talking about morality and human nature is also useless.”

“In that case, I will give you my answer.” Madam Xian replied easily. “I regret that I cannot grant your request to go north and kill innocent people.”

Xie Minghe nodded and bowed again, saying, "Then I wish the old lady a long and healthy life, and that she may live to see a peaceful world!"

Madam Xian nodded again, and Xie Minghe turned and left the main hall... A short while later, a report came that he had actually gone down the mountain.

When the Feng family members went to look at their ancestor again, they saw that the grandmaster, who had been so energetic and smiling before, had now closed his eyes again, as if resting, and seemed to have become that old woman who was in poor spirits and about to collapse.

And so, Xie Minghe descended the mountain in the afternoon. Instead of heading south, he traveled north without stopping. In the evening, he arrived at Xiping City, the seat of Xiping County, and stayed there for the night. This was not Nanhai County, but Xiping County. It was a small county that the Chen Dynasty had specially carved out around Shengmu Mountain to respect the place where Lady Xian had been stationed. And going north from here was the Five Ridges region, which is referred to by the character "Ling" in Lingnan.

Beyond the Five Ridges lies Hunan and Jiangxi; it seems Xie Minghe is truly going to leave.

So, at the third watch of the night, Feng Can personally chased after Xie Minghe and woke him up. Then, in the flower hall, he earnestly reminded him: "Brother Xie, the north is the Five Ridges, which are shrouded in miasma. Even if you have reached the Core Formation stage, if you fall ill and collapse in the ridge, you will not survive. How will we explain this to Chief Zhang of the Chulong Gang? Why don't we wait ten days or so, and I will gather some disciples to send you across to Hunan?"

Xie Minghe, who had been woken up at the last minute, was obviously a little tired and seemed unwilling to continue with the cryptic exchange, so he went straight to the point: "Can you have a Grandmaster? If not, at least ten Core Formation cultivators plus two or three Core Formation cultivators for me, otherwise it's useless."

“There really aren’t any Grandmasters.” Feng Fou replied helplessly. “In Nanling, there are only two Grandmasters after my grandmother. One is a female clan chief of the Liao people. Bo Hu, a young man, became enlightened on his own. Without my grandmother’s permission, no one could invite her. The other is me, but I’m extremely busy and really can’t leave Nanling… As for ten Core Formation cultivators, I can’t guarantee it, but I’ll try my best to gather them for you. How long can you stay?”

"We can't stay any longer, at most three days... The decisive battle is happening to the north! It's the kind where blood flows like rivers!" Xie Minghe said helplessly. "Old Feng, don't hesitate now! Put your strength into it! Was what I said in court today a lie? Your Feng family isn't fighting amongst yourselves. Even if the old lady were still here, once she's gone, you'd inevitably start attacking each other... Take advantage of this time, send out a large portion of your family, establish yourselves in merit, and get leadership positions elsewhere. Your descendants won't take up any leadership positions in Nanling, saving you from infighting. What's wrong with that?"

Feng Fou sighed, hesitated for a moment, and then asked seriously, "Old Xie, tell me the truth, can the Chulong Gang really win?"

"What's the point of asking this now?!" Xie Minghe gritted his teeth. "But if you insist on asking, I can only answer... We really can win! In my opinion, when Bai Hengqiu entered the pass and headed to Hebei, Zhang Xing led the elite members of the gang to break through. The fate of the world was sealed then. It was just a matter of time before the Chulong Gang won... And now it seems that day is coming sooner than expected! I was able to come to the South China Sea to find you, Old Feng. Your Feng family of Nanling must make me a companion to the old lady in the future, and kowtow to me on holidays to repay this kindness!"

Feng Fou clasped his hands together and remained silent, his lips pressed tightly together.

Xie Minghe sighed and could only wait quietly... Yes, this was the person Xie Minghe truly wanted to persuade. He never expected to convince Lady Xian. How could he possibly persuade such a grandmaster? His initial choice to enter Nanling from the South China Sea was precisely to meet Feng Can, the second-in-command of the Feng family, to make his intentions clear, and thus give this fellow more time to consider and gather manpower... Of course, he wasn't lying. If the other party continued to hesitate, he wouldn't delay but would immediately return to the north to participate in the decisive battle.

After an unknown amount of time, Feng Fou finally spoke with difficulty: "Old Xie, it's really difficult to get ten people to condense their cores within three days. I can only say that I will try my best to persuade people to go with you... I'm only confident that I can get five or six people to condense their cores, but one of them will succeed, and I can also give you thirty more extraordinary scriptures... However, if you can give me a promise, I might be more confident."

"Better than nothing!" Xie Minghe let out a long sigh and went outside. "What promise?"

"Can you guarantee that all those who go to the Core Formation stage are leaders?" Feng Can asked earnestly.

This time, Xie Minghe fell silent... but he also knew that this was a crucial moment and he couldn't remain silent.

"Honestly, it's difficult now... especially since our own children who have been forcibly established at the Foundation Establishment stage have already joined the army. The Core Formation stage will be worthless in the future, and you have no qualifications or standing whatsoever; you're just taking shortcuts." Xie Minghe replied earnestly, enunciating each word clearly. "But that's for the future. Right now, at this moment, during the decisive battle, if it were worthless, I wouldn't have come... Old Feng, I can only say that, given Chief Zhang and White Dragon's character and magnanimity, they'll probably accept these ten leaders. And regardless of whether they accept them or not, since I've said this today, I'll risk my own future to find more leadership positions for these people... Old Feng, I guarantee you that, and I also hope you can go! Go, make great contributions, and if you don't want to come back, there's plenty of room for you there; if you want to come back, your grandmother is still alive, who can sway you?"

Feng Fu nodded, neither confirming nor denying: "Wait here for me for three days!"

After that, he left directly.

As night deepened, snowflakes fell heavily again on the shores of the Bitter Sea, like grains of salt scattered across the sky. Around 4 a.m., the cavalry of the Eastern Witch Clan Alliance, which had been resting for an hour twenty miles away, finally launched a surprise attack.

Amidst the wind and snow, rays of light burst forth, illuminating a tattered dragon banner. The banner faced forward, and behind it, the light converged, quickly transforming into a multicolored serpent of light. Immediately afterward, a gigantic arrow of light soared into the air, shooting straight towards the watchtower where a brazier was lit.

The watchtower shattered almost instantly, eliciting a strange collective cheer from the witch cavalry.

Several miles away, on a watchtower that had not been lit, Li Ding stared expressionlessly at the familiar arrow. Although there was no turmoil in his heart, he was still somewhat complicated.

After that arrow, there was no silent burning of the entire camp, no orderly gongs and drums, no military orders and formations, but there was also no complete disorder or chaos. As the outermost edge of the complex and vast camp was awakened by an arrow, what followed were shouts and cries for help that were clearly panicked, some orderly but obviously hurried firelight, chaotic and dense colors of armor and scattered arrow counterattacks... And all of this, which seemed so normal, was not worth mentioning at all amidst the sounds of wind and snow, the sound of waves, and the strange cries of the witch cavalry as they charged.

And so, the battle began.

P.S.: It's raining in Chengdu. Good morning everyone.