Chapter 192: Chaotic Windy...I Make You Sick (2/2)
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It was a moonlit night!
A large harvest moon hung in the sky, emitting bright light. The moonlight looked like water. The whole world was bathed in it and cloaked in a magnificent jade-like color.
In the dead of night, River Heart Island was not that quiet. The newly-built goods yard was crowded. The dock was brilliantly illuminated throughout the night. Different ships berthed at the dock. Goods were unloaded from the ships and carried to the carriages, to the back of the coolies and finally transported to the newly-built goods yard. On the way from the dock to the new yard, special people were maintaining the order. They were soldiers from the Navy of Jiang City. Every night they worked here incessantly. Although it was a little bit toilsome for them, the subsidy from maintaining order for a night was equal to half-a-month salary. Thus, for that money, nobody complained about being tired or exhausted.
Of course, during the order maintenance, some unfortunate events would often occur. In particular, the guys under Zhu Ba's control were all characterized by bandits, so some extortion occurred. When Junior Leopard heard about it, he asked Zhu Ba to come to him. In front of the Navy soldiers, he condemned Zhu Ba mercilessly. He also asked several soldiers who extorted businessmen to come to him. He neither beat nor scolded them. He merely told Zhu Ba not to let his guys do such things in the future. Junior Leopard was very angry, so Zhu Ba dared not to do anything. He only nodded.
After they were backing home, Zhu Ba gave them a lesson and put them in limbo. They had made him lose face. Since then, they didn't get profitable jobs. All the other soldiers in the Navy department saw the outcome and immediately cleaned up their act. Life was getting better day after day; they had something to expect. However, those unlucky guys made the Commander and His Excellencies unpleasant for that little money. If they followed suit, the loss absolutely outweighed the gain.
After a period, the military discipline in the Navy cleaned up. Suddenly, the Navy became the best behaved army in Jiang City. It was beyond both Junior Leopard and the Navy Commanders' expectation.
”What an unexpected surprise! Our Navy could come to such a situation today!” Wang Datong stood on a protruding rock, watching the dock and yard in full swing. He signed spontaneously with emotion. ”His Excellency is really amazing!”
”Isn't he? Before His Excellency came here, what did you say about him?” Jiang Xiao asked, watching in the direction of the dock and yard with satisfied eyes. ”I remember that you were saying something like 'He was a bullsh*t. How can he be a leader in our Jiang City Navy? It's a daydream.' Those are your words, if I'm not mistaken!”
”Haha!” Wang Datong gave a hollow laugh and was a little bit embarrassed. ”At that time His Excellency hadn't been here yet. You really had no other thoughts before he assumed office, huh?!”
”Yeah. Appointing a teenage boy as the head of our army ruffian was quite a bold decision from the Admiral!” Jiang Xiao said in a sigh. ”However, the Admiral had never expected that the Commander didn't want to leave Jiang City after he had came here!”
Wang Datong was in a daze and then understood what Jiang Xiao said. Both laughed heartily. ”You’re right. Our Admiral had never predicted that it would develop into such a situation!”
”Well. Don’t say such useless words. Datong, have you settled the thing arranged by the Commander?”
”I've already talked with the people at the Multiple Chain Dock!” When mentioning the thing that Junior Leopard had asked Wang Datong to do, Wang Datong's facial expression changed slightly; he showed a little bit of hesitation. ”However, Your Excellency Jiang, you did that. It's okay?”
”Even if it isn't okay, it's none of our business!” Jiang Xiao said, glancing at him. ”Datong, don't think too much. We are in the same boat with His Excellency. The only thing we can do is to pull together in times of trouble. Do you have other ideas?”
”No. Of course no—!” Wang Datong shook his head. ”I don't have other ideas certainly. I just worry His Excellency might get into trouble!”
”Trouble? What trouble?” Jiang Xiao asked, his face showing a glimmer of coldness. ”We are the Navy of Jiang City, not the bandits in the Multiple Chain Dock. Even though they are robbed, who cares? As for the yard, that's our possession. We can lend it to anyone or refuse as we see fit. It's our own business. Nobody can make carping comments about it. Don't you understand such a simple thing!”
”I understand, truly. However, if something goes really wrong, who can explain?”
”You are responsible only for the army provisions. Even if nobody can explain, you are not the person who shall explain, right?” Jiang Xiao said, squinting at him.
”Yes. Yes—!” Wang Datong was astonished. He could say no more.
At this moment, a great noise came from afar in the direction of the dock.
”It's starting now!” Jiang Xiao showed a faint smile as he watched what was happening on a distant dock. He stared at the big boat lying at the dock. He asked, ”Is that the Southern Bay Warehouse ship?”
”Yes. Southern Bay Warehouse is a branch of the Mingyi School.” Wang Datong said with a nod. ”From now on, regarding all the merchant ships and goods relating to the Mingyi School, if they stop at the dock in River Heart Island and use our goods yard, we will purposely make things difficult for them!”
”It's the order from His Excellency. We just execute it!” Jiang Xiao nodded. ”Anyway, I have to warn you, we are now on the Commander's boat!”
”I know, I know!”
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”Whew, whew—!” On the water at a distance of 10 kilometers from River Heart Island, a figure in black was blinking continuously. The figure disappeared from its place after every flicker; at almost the same time, it appeared more than 300 meters away from the previous position. After doing this several times, the figure was already five kilometers or so away from the original position.
”Hu, hu, hu, hu, hu...!” In a marshland, nine kilometers away, the figure of Junior Leopard suddenly appeared. He bent down, panting severely and looking rather pale. He thought, ”Oh my god, it's really not easy to grasp the Three Realms Division. It's not big a deal to move over a short distance. However, once I want to move over a long distance, it's not easy to balance the Internal Qi and the pressure consumed by the body. Based on my body's current strength, I can only hold for nine kilometers!”
Bending over a riverside rock, Junior Leopard's eyes flashed. He watched the blood dripping from his arm. ”It seems that my skin and flesh cannot bear it, but my skeleton can bear several times more!” Junior Leopard said in his heart.
Yes, his skeleton could still bear it.
Since the last recuperation, he found that the strength of his skeleton had increased sharply. His skeleton had come into a state far exceeding that of the Bone-Forging Realm. He even doubted whether the current strength of his skeleton had reached the strength of the Tendon-Changing Realm. Regretfully, his body strength was not in coordination with that of the skeleton. Without the support of the flesh and blood, it would be useless no matter how strong the skeleton it was. That was the reality, a cruel reality.
”Considering I got seriously hurt, I could probably move more than 15 kilometers in 10 seconds. That may be the maximum!” Junior Leopard thought.
More than 15 kilometers in 10 seconds!
That was a terrible amount. Even for an expert at Level Nine, it was impossible to fully play mental cultivation methods. This was where Junior Leopard's confidence lied in. When facing an expert at any level, even if he could not win, he could flee away. Therefore, in some sense, he was fearless.
After resting against a rock, Junior Leopard felt that he had recovered. He stood upright, looking far off in the direction of River Heart Island and watching the glim in the distance. A slight smile appeared on his face. This was his domain. It was quite a small and simple area now, but he already had a small base at least. Of course, he knew this base was not reliable. It belonged to that petty Navy Commander. Although the River Hear Island was prospering, a decree from the imperial court could transfer him to a completely different place. He had no ability to stand up to that. Under those circumstances, if he still wanted to have River Heart Island at his disposal, he would have only one choice: He could give up his status to control River Heart Island as a water bandit, just as Li Sanbao had done. However, he would not make such a choice at any rate.
Therefore, now that he had made some achievements at River Heart Island, he was always cautious. Things had not changed until he knew that Wang She killed three princes of Northern Yuan and heard the following information.
As for the attitude toward the imperial court, Junior Leopard did not care. They were just words for show. Nobody took it seriously. However, the Mingyi School's response and behavior triggered his disdain and defiance. It was this disdain and defiance that made him increasingly dislike the Mingyi School. It was not only a matter of averseness. He also felt resentful and more negative towards the Mingyi School. Finally, it affected his practice. When the negativity was released, he could continue to practice at ease. After weighing the odds carefully, he came up with a dumb idea.
Purposely create difficulties!
Junior Leopard thought, ”I will neither challenge the Mingyi School's influence as Yun Zhou Governor Ma Tianchang did nor will I obviously cause trouble for you. I can make things difficult for you.” Anyhow, the military discipline of the Navy of Jiang City had been not good. It was much better now after his improvement. In spite of that, Junior Leopard was not convinced that those guys who had been army riffraff became the Eighth Route Army overnight. Hence, he thought that he could deliberately place obstacles in the Mingyi School's way with reasonable excuses when their ships berthed, or when the goods were delivered, or when they encountered the water bandits. Even though he could not trash them, he could make them sick. As a civil servant in his previous life, Junior Leopard was very good at playing tricks.