Chapter 192: Chaotic Windy...I Make You Sick (1/2)
Chapter 192: Chaotic Windy...I Make You Sick
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
The imperial court in Great Jin determined Wang She as a thief. If it was just for show and to comfort North Yuan, the response of the Mingyi School made Junior Leopard feel that they were bastards.
Since the imperial court had declared Wang She as a bandit criminal who was pursued by the imperial order, the Mingyi School instantly announced to Jianghu that Wang She was nefarious. He had killed the princes of Northern Yuan and provoked conflicts at the border, severely influencing the formerly favorable relationship between the two countries and also bringing war disasters to Great Jin. His crimes were too wicked to be pardoned, so he was not tolerated by the righteous people in the martial arts world. The Mingyi School was quite ashamed to rub shoulders with such a person. Meanwhile, to maintain the friendly relationship between the two countries and avoid continuous war disasters, the Mingyi School would build a team to launch an attack against Wang She. The team consisted of righteous people in the martial arts world in Great Jin.
Certainly, all the people understood that the so-called attack team could not recklessly fight with Wang She face to face because he was a Level Nine expert. After all, the number of people in Great Jin who were qualified to fight with Wang She could barely be counted on the fingers of one hand. Besides, there was no possibility for those people to join this team. The reason for Mingyi School's such an action was to show their standing on the one hand and push the Tian Long Taoism into a passive position on the other hand.
In this situation, the Tian Long Taoism could neither oppose the Mingyi School openly nor speak for a person who had been declared as a criminal by the imperial court, even if this person was a Level Nine expert.
The attack team which was set up by the Mingyi School could not fight against Wang She directly, but it could act auxiliarily. If Wang She escaped to Great Jin because of being hunted by the three Grandmasters of Northern Yuan, this team would play an important role. Moreover, if Wang She were to be harmed in the pursuit, perhaps he would suffer defeat at their hands. Of course, it was an extremely ideal situation.
As one of the respectable schools with a great reputation in Great Jin's martial arts realm, the Mingyi School had much more influence than the Tian Long Taoism. The building of this team called on activities in the name of justice. In addition, the Mingyi School also offered great rewards, such as a secret books on martial arts, medicinal herbs and medicinal soups, just to name a few. These things were excessively attractive to people in the martial arts world. After the appeal had been published, men in Jianghu flooded in. In a short time, a net covering the whole Jianghu had formed.
The worst part was that the net was not only huge but also concealed. The Mingyi School did not released a name list containing men in Jianghu who had joined the team, so people did not need to worry about suppression and retaliation from the Tian Long Taoism.
Thus, even Junior Leopard had to admit that the Mingyi School had played a wonderful trick by suppressing the Tian Long Taoism and Wang She with this perfectly justifiable reason. However, on the other hand, Junior Leopard despised their action.
This boy had been a young cynic in his previous life. What he disdained most was the act of being nice outside while putting pressure inside. The Mingyi School had let the Tian Long Taoism swallow their own grievances in silence in the name of the imperial court.
Because of this, Junior Leopard could clearly see the Mingyi School's style in handling things. Their style was similar to that of the ancient Chinese Confucianist, but not the real Confucianist; the Confucianist here was the one that had been modified by the Emperor Wu of the Han. Both were exactly the same. This was what Junior Leopard mostly frowned upon. In addition, he had a good relationship with Wang She. Consequently, he was in a foul mood.
However, it did not mean there had been no good news.
The tone had been set in the imperial court. The world was full of vituperation. Words and excitement ran through here and there among people. When the Tian Long Taoism remained silent, Yunzhou Governor Ma Tianchang of Great Jin suddenly submitted a report saying that in recent days the forces of the Seven Troops of the Southern Yard from Northern Yuan had been concentrating and watching for their chance to go south. Patrolling cavalries showed up at passes in Yunzhou. In this situation, the Yunzhou army had already made the decision to go back home. They took the initiative and launched an attack, which not only exterminated the patrolling cavalries at the line of Yuyang but also destroyed four tribes at Southern Yard by going deep into the prairie. Frightening the Seven Troops of Southern Yard with tough measures made them restrain themselves.
After the report, Ma Tianchang switched the conversation to another topic and began to comment on Wang She's behavior. His words did not match with the tone set by the imperial court. On the contrary, he spoke highly of Wang She's behavior. He called him the first chivalrous person of all ages and asked the imperial court to cancel the arrest order. He also stated that it was not a big deal because Wang She had only killed several sons of b*tches of Northern Yuan. If the imperial court arrested Wang She for this reason, then it was too cowardly. There was also a suspicion that the arrest would boost other people's morale and reduce their courage. As for the army of Northern Yuan, it was not necessary to worry about it. No matter how many people would come, he could exterminate them outside Yunzhou. There was no possibility for them to enter Yunzhou.
That was the content of the report. In addition to the report with the fierce words above, Ma Tianchang also spread word to the public. For anyone from Northern Yuan, no matter who he was, even including the three Grandmasters of Northern Yuan, if he set his foot in Yunzhou, Ma Tianchang would be bound to expel him out of Yunzhou in a strong way. His responsibility was to defend the territory. Meanwhile, he would also motion the army to advance north and wage a life-and-death struggle with the Metal Horse Carriage of Northern Yuan. That was the first point. Second, he admonished to the public that the Mingyi School was brazen. He claimed that he had been blind when he had once agreed to let his daughter marry Lu Shaoyou. Fortunately, that marriage had failed. Otherwise, he would have been angry to die by way of those cowardly people who behaved like turtles and were afraid to stick their necks out. He plainly stated that he thanked Wang She and Nian Wushuang for rescuing his daughter from an abyss of suffering. To show his thanks, he would do his best to provide help for Wang She. As long as Wang She came to Yunzhou, he would go to all lengths to ensure his safety. Third, considering what the Mingyi School had done, from now on, their forces were not welcome in Yunzhou. All their forces and industries must now vacate the city. In half a month, if they had not cleared out, he would exert military force and expel them forcibly. Not even a patch of floor or a piece of tile would be left for the Mingyi School. Meanwhile, he declared that all those who had joined the attack team set up by the Mingyi School were dregs. That was a shame for Great Jin. If he found one of them in Yunzhou, he would arrest and kill him.
After the declaration, the public burst into an uproar!
He had set himself against the imperial court!
In Great Jin, this was the first time in several hundred years that a governor had exuded such behavior in questioning a decision from the imperial court in an open way. He was replying defiantly to the imperial court by disregarding the law and discipline!
Such a thing was indeed too abominable.
What was more; such a thing had happened to Yunzhou Governor Ma Tianchang before!
In the earlier years, a censor had submitted an impeachment that Ma Tianchang acted in an arbitrary fashion, ignored the imperial court and built Yunzhou into his own independent Kingdom with concealed intentions. He should be punished by the imperial court immediately. That impeachment was controlled by the incumbent Emperor. However, how could such a thing happen? Impeachments about Ma Tianchang had been like snow, swirling into the Inner Court. Without exception, all the impeachments were about requiring the imperial court to convict Ma Tianchang of a crime: great disrespect to the imperial court.
In their eyes, there had been two reasons for the imperial court not to convict Ma Tianchang. One reason was that Ma Tianchang had not acted against the imperial court in such an outright way as he did today. The other reason lied in the tight tension in Yunzhou. A person like Ma Tianchang was really needed to control the unrest.
Nevertheless, with what Ma Tianchang had done now, could he still complete his critical position and reassure people?
He also had an ambition of marching troops toward the north and fighting the Metal Horse Carriage of Northern Yuan to the death. Did Ma Tianchang regard the army as his own family? Did it have the surname Ma?
The army belonged to the imperial court. It was the army of the imperial court. Even if he was the Yunzhou Governor, without the tiger-shaped tally, the number of army soldiers that he could mobilize was only five thousand!
Had his influence in Yun Zhou expanded to a state in which he could mobilize the whole army without the tiger-shaped tally?
If so, then he should be put to death.
All the people thought this way. The imperial court would respond in a short time by either warning Ma Tianchang seriously about his behavior or depriving his authority as Yun Zhou Governor.
Beyond expectation, once the impeachment reports were put on the Emperor's desk, they were like stones sinking into the sea. No response. No instructions. No reply. It seemed that nothing had happened.
Just as everybody had become weary of waiting, a decree was released from the Inner Court. Yunzhou Governor Ma Tianchang had been working in dedication and due diligence for many years and had made great contributions in defending the territory. Therefore, to reward his loyalty, the imperial court had promoted him to be the Minister of War and Yunzhou Governor. All the matters in Yunzhou would be at his discretion without reporting to the imperial court in advance.
This decree resulted in an even greater shock!
For a while, everybody was confused. They had no idea why the imperial court had issued such a decree!
However, another piece of news came soon. It was said that the news was from the Inner Court and that the Emperor was not happy because Northern Yuan had sent an ambassador to question. For the overall interests, he had only shown his attitude based on Northern Yuan. Anyway, it was just an attitude. Had they seen any other action from the imperial court aside from this attitude?
The Mingyi School ran around on sinister errands, which made the Emperor quite unsatisfied. Even though Ma Tianchang's report and the news released were obviously against the imperial court, his behavior catered to the Emperor. Moreover, he was the Emperor's trusted subordinate. Therefore, the Emperor took this opportunity to show his support to the public. Even Ma Tianchang's report and the released news were likely to be inspired by the Emperor himself.
The message spread as fast as it could. Whether the news was from the real Inner Court could not be investigated any more.
Even so, the response of the imperial court indicated one thing. The wind had changed its direction overnight!
Some people who had criticized that Wang She triggered conflicts started calling him a chivalrous person. People's voice about blaming Ma Tianchang for looking down upon the imperial court also trailed away. However, more people were secretly discussing the possible result of the whole thing and the influence it would have on the future.
The Mingyi School did not claim to oppose Wang She in a big way, but it kept maneuvering!
The thing was evolving toward a calm trend, just as the calm before the storm! It was the most horrible calm!
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