Chapter 652: Played for a Fool
The moment Eunuch Zheng uttered those words, Li Daoxuan couldn't help but inwardly chuckle. This fellow was truly easy to bait, echoing whatever was prompted of him. His confession was essentially an admission that reclaiming Xiaolangdi was a costly endeavor.
Li Daoxuan merely grinned, remaining silent.
Bai Yuan, however, understood immediately and interjected, "Eunuch Zheng, the bandits in Xiaolangdi are notoriously difficult to suppress. The imperial court has spent vast military funds without success, which effectively means the Prince of Fu's Estate has been unable to reclaim its own fiefdom for a long time, wouldn't you agree?"
Eunuch Zheng's heart gave a sudden thump. He thought, Oh no.
Bai Yuan continued, "My humble forces' recent expulsion of the Xiaolangdi river bandits should count as a significant service to the Prince of Fu's Estate, wouldn't you say?"
Eunuch Zheng stammered, "Uh... well... naturally..."
Li Daoxuan chimed in with a sly grin, "If the Prince of Fu's Estate were to hire some jianghu heroes to help deal with these river bandits, it would also cost money. As a man of the jianghu myself, I'm quite familiar with the market rates for such services. I'll give you an insider price: for river bandits of this scale, the heroes would charge at least two thousand taels of silver as a retainer."
Eunuch Zheng was astonished. "What? Two thousand taels? You must be trying to trick me."
Li Daoxuan simply smiled, saying nothing.
Eunuch Zheng finally understood he had been thoroughly played for a fool. His face fell. "You're trying to default on the Prince of Fu's rent, aren't you?"
Li Daoxuan smiled.
Bai Yuan also smiled.
Their smiles were overtly dismissive of Eunuch Zheng.
Eunuch Zheng bristled with anger. "This is the Prince of Fu's territory! To occupy it privately is an illegal act, no different from banditry. The imperial court will surely apprehend you and hold you accountable!"
Gao Yiye could no longer hold back from joining the verbal sparring. "Hey, hey! We never said we wouldn't pay the rent! We're merely collecting a 'hardship fee for bandit suppression.' It's your Prince of Fu's Estate that's being unreasonable, refusing to pay our expenses! If this matter were brought before the imperial court, we would be in the right!"
Eunuch Zheng was so enraged that his mind short-circuited. The arrogance of a long-time dignitary began to assert itself. He blurted out, "Reason? When has our Prince of Fu's Estate ever reasoned with small-minded commoners like you? Either pay the rent dutifully, or don't blame us for being impolite."
Bai Yuan produced his folding fan, flicking it open with a flourish to reveal the two characters for "Gentleman" on its surface. He chuckled, "We managed to suppress the bandits, something you couldn't do. In other words, we are more capable than you. How exactly do you intend to be 'impolite' to us? Will you raise an army to attack? Go on then! I'd love to see what the civil officials in the imperial court would say about the Prince of Fu's Estate privately raising an army."
Li Daoxuan adopted the gossipy demeanor of a common villager. "Have you heard? The Prince of Fu is plotting rebellion!"
Bai Yuan, mimicking cautiousness, glanced left and right, covering his mouth with a hand as he whispered, "The Prince of Fu is surely still bitter from the struggle over the imperial succession years ago, when he wasn't made Crown Prince. Now he's raising an army to seize the throne!"
Gao Yiye leaned in, echoing the chatter of an elderly busybody. "The Prince of Fu, with ten thousand banners, is marching on the capital to depose the old emperor!"
Three busybodies chatting like this on a street corner could, in a matter of minutes, sink a man's reputation straight to the eighteenth layer of hell.
Eunuch Zheng felt a cold sweat break out all over his body.
The greatest fear of any prince was to be suspected of rebellion by the emperor. Once the emperor harbored such suspicions about a prince, that prince's life was essentially forfeit.
This was an age-old tradition.
Unless they were completely mad, no prince would dare cross that red line.
The Prince of Fu's Estate was not without its loyal retainers, but a mere few dozen or a hundred elite guards couldn't even defeat the river bandits, let alone deal with Bai Yuan's forces.
He could truly only watch helplessly!
Eunuch Zheng was livid. "You just wait! Illegally occupying a prince's fiefdom is no different from rebellion. If our Prince of Fu's Estate cannot deal with you directly, the imperial army will come for you. You'll see!"
Furious, he flung his sleeves and stormed off, leaping into his sedan chair. His servants swiftly carried him down the mountain, where a carriage awaited at the foot, heading towards Luoyang.
Gao Yiye watched him disappear through a pair of binoculars and then chuckled. "Oh, I heard Henan has become a flooded wasteland, covered in silt everywhere. How did his carriage get here?"
Bai Yuan replied, "The Yellow River waters receded some time ago. The silt has been sun-dried and hardened, creating a firm, compacted surface everywhere, so carriages can now travel normally."
"I see." Gao Yiye smiled. "Then I can travel everywhere too!"
Bai Yuan turned to Li Daoxuan. "Heavenly Lord! After that eunuch returns, the Prince of Fu's Estate will surely complain to the Henan Governor, who will likely dispatch imperial troops to support the Prince. What should we do then?"
Li Daoxuan shook his head, smiling. "There's no need to worry. The imperial troops won't have time to bother us."
Bai Yuan frowned. "Oh? The imperial troops have no time?"
His mind raced, and he immediately grasped Li Daoxuan's meaning. "Does the Heavenly Lord mean that Henan... is about to descend into chaos?"
Li Daoxuan sighed softly. "You heard about the Shanxi rebels breaking through Zezhou, didn't you?"
Bai Yuan nodded. "I did."
Li Daoxuan pointed northeast. "Zezhou is just across the Yellow River in that direction, barely separated from Luoyang by a single river. And the Shanxi Governor, Xu Dingchen, is currently leading a large army south from Taiyuan to encircle the rebels. If you were those rebels, what would you do?"
Bai Yuan immediately grasped the situation. "If I were the rebels, I would certainly abandon Zezhou, cross the Yellow River south into Henan territory, and evade the Shanxi imperial army's encirclement. In that case, Henan is about to become very chaotic."
Even Gao Yiye understood now, her face turning ghostly pale. "Oh no? If those rebels march into Henan, will they also attack our Xiaolangdi?"
"They won't," Li Daoxuan reassured her. "The rebels move for two reasons: first, to evade imperial troops, and second, to continuously plunder grain and conscript civilians as they move. How would they know Xiaolangdi has grain? They'll only think it's a bandit den and have no interest in even glancing at it. If they move south from Zezhou and cross the Yellow River, their immediate target will be... Mengjin County."
Upon hearing the words "Mengjin County," Bai Yuan's brow furrowed.
Not long ago, he had been in Mengjin County, surrounded by a multitude of common people, who affectionately called him "Good Samaritan Bai." The thought of those very people, who had hailed him as a living Buddha, being slaughtered by rebels was something he simply could not accept.
"Heavenly Lord, we must save Mengjin County, mustn't we?"
"Not just Mengjin!" Li Daoxuan sighed. "If possible, I don't want to see the common people of Henan suffer the same hardships as those in Shaanxi and Shanxi. It would be best if we could block the rebels in the middle of the Yellow River, preventing them from crossing."
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