Mo Sang – CH 270

Chapter 270. In Comparison

As soon as Li Sangrou reached the door, Datou rushed up to her, telling her that the Seventh Master had arrived, escorting military equipment!

Li Sangrou was not surprised.

Ever since his unfortunate brother, Eleventh Master Tian, had been sent to the front lines to earn military merit, she knew his day was not far off.

Indeed, escorting military equipment, at this time, offered just the right level of danger and the perfect amount of military merit.

Li Sangrou stepped through the second gate, where Pan Dingbang and Hei Ma rushed out to greet her, one after the other.

“You are finally back! It is already dark! You are way too late!” Pan Dingbang immediately scolded her.

Li Sangrou instinctively took a step back after being scolded by him. “What’s wrong? What’s the matter?”

“It’s already dark!” Pan Dingbang emphasized. “I have to get back to the ship. I am the kind of person who never goes out after dark!”

Li Sangrou raised her eyebrows. “Never goes out after dark? When did you start this rule? Do those Tianshui Alleys in Jianle City stop doing business after dark?”

“That rule of his is only recent!” Hei Ma chimed in, but before he could finish, he laughed.

“Did your Ah Tian set this rule for you? What did you do this time?” Li Sangrou pointed a finger at Pan Dingbang, circling him as she walked inside, asking with a smile.

“What rule did Ah Tian set for me?” Pan Dingbang did not finish his sentence before remembering they were not strangers. His imposing manner softened, and he let out a long sigh. “It was not Ah Tian, ​​it was…

Sigh, it is dark. Let’s not talk about it. I cannot talk about it.

You cannot mention anything too dark. What if it attracts attention?”

“With the Boss here, what are you afraid of?” Hei Ma patted Pan Dingbang on the shoulder from behind.

“Have you had dinner?” Li Sangrou asked.

“Dinner? I did not care! As soon as the boat docked, I rushed to the rice shop to ask where you were staying.”

“Shouzhen told me that you have many houses in Yangzhou City and told me to ask at the rice shop, saying they would definitely know where you live.”

“I just ran into Master Dong. When I arrived, the sun was still high in the sky! And you are back so late!

Look, it is completely dark now!

I have to walk back at night! Walk back at night!” Pan Dingbang’s voice trembled with tears as he said the words “walk back at night.”

“The city gates are all closed. How are you going to get back?” Li Sangrou looked at Pan Dingbang.

“Why are the city gates closed?

The city gates…” Pan Dingbang slapped his forehead. He’d been so focused on warding off evil that he’d forgotten this was Yangzhou, not Jianle!

At this moment, Yangzhou’s gates were not only closed but also heavily guarded!

“Who’s watching over his weapons?” Li Sangrou asked Hei Ma.

“Old Meng and Old Dong went with forty or fifty men. The weapons are a big deal; Old Meng said that,” Hei Ma laughed.

“You can stay here tonight; do not worry,” Li Sangrou patted Pan Dingbang.

“Really nothing? Who are these people? Are they really capable?” Pan Dingbang was very uneasy.

His weapons held the lives of his entire Pan family in their hands!

“Do you think you are more useful on the ship than Old Meng and his men?” Li Sangrou asked, looking at Pan Dingbang.

“That’s true.” Pan Dingbang sighed. He was the most useless one.

“Let’s eat first,” Li Sangrou gestured to Pan Dingbang.

Under the eaves, Xiao Lu and the others had already laid out a table full of food.

After they ate, Li Sangrou moved the tea table over and boiled water to make tea.

Pan Dingbang moved to Li Sangrou’s side. “I came here today to ask you for something.”

“Hmm, what do you want? Tell me,” Li Sangrou asked casually.

“You have a flag, a Sang character flag, right? They said you have a small one? Give me a small one.” Pan Dingbang laughed.

“What do you need the flag for? If that flag is raised, it will be much more conspicuous than your weapons. The Southern Liang people will definitely come at the flag, not flee.” Li Sangrou glanced at Pan Dingbang.

“Not to be raised, but to be kept in my bosom for protection against evil.” Pan Dingbang looked distressed.

“Hmm?” Li Sangrou raised an eyebrow.

“He’s terrified of the dead, so terrified he will not go out after dark, and he has nightmares all night long,” Hei Ma chimed in, a smug look on his face.

“Then you should go to the temple and get a Buddhist amulet. Abbot Yuande is just outside the city; I will have someone ask him for one for you.” Li Sangrou gave Pan Dingbang a sidelong glance, speechless.

“Buddhist amulets do not work; I have some!” Pan Dingbang pulled a red string from around his neck. The string was tied with a Bagua¹ for warding off evil, a Buddhist amulet, a dog’s tooth, a peach wood sword, a packet of cinnabar, a peach wood Zhong Kui statue, a piece of tortoiseshell, and a white jade gourd.

Li Sangrou looked on with admiration. “You have quite a complete set. If you added a clove of garlic, you could eat anything in the world.”

“It does not work!” Pan Dingbang shook the string of talismans, his voice almost breaking.

“Give him a flag; he’s pitiful.” Hei Ma spoke up for Pan Dingbang.

“Sigh, walk around here, feel it, are you scared?” Li Sangrou sighed, cutting the red string around Pan Dingbang’s neck with a tea needle, pulling off the string of amulets, and gesturing for him to get up and walk around.

“I will walk around with you.” Hei Ma dragged Pan Dingbang to his feet, pushing him wherever it was dark.

“I am not really scared; your house is peaceful.” Pan Dingbang was pushed around in a circle by Hei Ma, then sat down again.

“Where our Boss is, of course, it is peaceful!” Hei Ma said smugly.

Da Chang had already taken out a small flag with the character “Sang” on it and handed it to Pan Dingbang.

“You can only keep it in your pocket; do not take it out,” Li Sangrou instructed.

Pan Dingbang examined it carefully, folded it neatly, and put it in his pocket, looking at Da Chang and saying, “Get me another one; I will take it to Eleventh. He’s in a worse situation than I am.”

Da Chang looked at Li Sangrou, who nodded, then turned to fetch the flag.

“Eleventh was not with your Second Brother, so how did he end up in such a terrible state?” Li Sangrou handed Pan Dingbang a cup of tea.

“It was with my Second Brother that he suffered so much!” Pan Dingbang sighed deeply. “My Second Brother is a man of hardened heart and cruel nature! Back then…

Never mind back then; let’s talk about Eleventh.

Back then, Eleventh was assigned to my Second Brother’s side to help with military affairs.

Eleventh came to me, first crying, saying he had no choice but to go. Even his mother said he had to go, saying that if he did not go, after unifying the world, he would have no place in his family or the court. If he went, then, after unifying the world, he could live off this achievement for the rest of his life.

Sigh, my father said the same thing, but he said the same thing when I was sent as an envoy to Southern Liang!

The Shizi is so domineering! He hits people whenever he wants! I did not want to be with him!

My father said, ‘Just bear with it. After this mission, you can rest on your laurels.’ And now he said the same thing again!”

“Last time you left the Shizi in Jiangdu City, we were the ones who sent him back.” Hei Ma nudged Pan Dingbang, reminding him.

“My father said the same thing. Sigh, where were we? Oh, right, Eleventh cried first, then said, ‘Luckily, he’s with Second Brother.’

Listen to that! Is that not stupid?

Eleventh said that once he gets to Second Brother, he will have Second Brother assign him an easy but meritorious job, preferably one that’s worth two, a job that will earn him great merit so he can quickly accumulate enough military merit and return to Jianle City.

I told him, ‘You’d better not say this to my Second Brother. My Second Brother is the kind of person who, even if you do not say anything, you will be in real trouble!’

But Eleventh said, ‘He’s different from me.’ I am his biological brother; he’s a relative’s brother. My Second Brother is cold-hearted and ruthless towards me, but he definitely cannot do that to him. Between relatives, you have to maintain appearances. Hehe.”

Pan Dingbang chuckled a few times, pursing his lips.

“Eleventh, he was really attentive. Before leaving, he specifically went to see my Second Sister-in-law to ask if she had anything she wanted to give to my Second Brother, or if she needed him to write a few letters for her to take. Look at how obsequious he was!

The second time, I was delivering military supplies to General Wen, not far from my Second Brother’s place. General Wen said I did not need to watch over the supplies but to go check on my Second Brother, so I went.

My Second Brother was not there. Little Eleventh cried when he saw me. The way he looked, tsk, oh dear, it was quite moving!

Little Eleventh said he was filled with remorse. He should have listened to me. He should have been more concerned with the country and the people than with personal glory, and he should have kept his promises.

I told him, ‘Do not regret it, it is no use saying anything. I have three brothers; you have five. It is all the same! If you tell the truth, he will beat you; if you lie, he will still beat you!’

Little Eleventh said the first task my Second Brother assigned him was to oversee the skinning and butchering of horses that had just died and could not be saved.”

“That’s a good task!” Hei Ma chimed in.

“When I heard Eleventh tell it, I thought it was good too. But Eleventh said my Second Brother’s side did not have enough manpower, so my Second Brother set a rule that the official in charge would help with the work during the day and handle official documents at night.

Whether the horse can be saved or not, Eleventh does not know. Whether it has just died, he cannot tell. He does not know how to skin it, and he cannot cut the meat. He can only do odd jobs, pulling the horse’s legs, carrying the freshly skinned horse hide, and shoveling horse manure, blood, and entrails—piles and piles of them!

Alas, poor Eleventh!

And there’s more pitiful stuff. After working for half a month, Eleventh finally found my Second Brother and asked him, ‘This must be a great achievement, right? If he works another half month, he can go back to Jianle City, right?’

My Second Brother said, ‘What kind of achievement is this?’ Not a single bit. He said it is just to let Eleven get used to things.

Pitiful, is it not!” Pan Dingbang slapped his thigh, his “Pitiful, is it not?” rising with amusement.

Even Da Chang glanced at him sideways.

“A month! Eleventh pulled horses for a month, and my Second Brother let him go with him to collect horses.

Eleventh said that my Second Brother just told him to collect horses, nothing more. Eleventh thought collecting horses was easy work, and my Second Brother was quite considerate of him; relatives are relatives after all.

And then!” Pan Dingbang slapped his thigh again.

“To collect horses on the battlefield,” Hei Ma asked knowingly.

“Indeed! When he got there, the fighting was still going on. The ground was littered with dead bodies, and some, not quite dead yet, suddenly sprang up, brandishing their swords.

Eleventh was almost scared mad.

Alas, poor thing!

Fortunately, Eleventh said that collecting the horses would count as merit. Alas, poor thing!” Pan Dingbang sighed deeply, then clicked his tongue.

“Has Eleventh accumulated enough merit? How much more is needed?” Li Sangrou asked with a smile.

“Not yet! Eleventh said he felt that returning to Jianle City was a long way off, so he might as well think about when to enter Hangzhou.” Pan Dingbang clicked his tongue again.

“Hmm, Eleventh is indeed clever!” Hei Ma praised, giving a thumbs up.

“Your weapons also need to be delivered to Hangzhou.” Li Sangrou looked at the gloating Pan Dingbang and laughed.

“Alas! I thought so too, but thinking of Eleventh, my job is not so bad!” Pan Dingbang looked delighted.

Da Chang glanced at Pan Dingbang, while Hei Ma laughed heartily, patting Pan Dingbang on the shoulder, “That’s right, that’s right!”

That night, Pan Dingbang shared a room with Hei Ma, while Ting-Xi and Xiao Lu shared another.

At the crack of dawn, Pan Dingbang got up, beaming. He had slept soundly all night, without a single nightmare!

This Sang flag really worked!

After a quick breakfast, Li Sangrou and Hei Ma escorted Pan Dingbang to the dock, watched him board the ship, and the fleet sailed away from the dock, heading downstream into the river.

………………………………

Around Yangzhou, and in the vicinity of Jiangnan, the rice paddies were heavy with ripening grain, ready for harvest.

The armies of Southern Liang and Northern Qi, facing off along the Huzhou and Xiuzhou line, focused their attention on harvesting the rice.

General Wu dispatched elite squads, setting out at nightfall to harvest the rice in the surrounding areas.

Hundreds of thousands of troops had gathered around Hangzhou, a major city with a huge population but lacking sufficient rice paddies. The once-fertile lands of Jiangnan were now largely in the hands of Northern Qi.

Harvesting rice was now the top priority.

Gu Xi was busy coordinating manpower to harvest rice while simultaneously trying to block the Southern Liang’s rice-harvesting teams.

After this rice harvest, winter would arrive, followed by spring, and the new rice harvest would not come until the fourth or fifth month of next year.

How long Southern Liang could hold out depended, to some extent, on how much grain they could seize this autumn. Similarly, if Northern Qi could ensure Southern Liang had no harvest outside of Huzhou and Xiuzhou, the siege could last until next spring at most, after which Hangzhou would fall without a fight.

With both sides busy harvesting rice, the fighting temporarily ceased.

Outside Raozhou, Chu Xing’s forces intensified their offensive.

Li Sangrou carefully examined each of the military reports urgently sent from Jiangnan, then burned them one by one in the red clay stove. Leaning back in her chair, she stared blankly for a while, then beckoned to Xiao Lu, instructing him to write a few words and send a message to the Ye family in Anqing Prefecture, asking Master Ye Anping to come to Yangzhou City when he had some free time.

The standoff between Northern Qi and Southern Liang was unlikely to see any major developments before the Spring Festival. The first auction before the New Year, and those pills, could now proceed.

Li Sangrou pondered for a while longer, then stood up and went out to find Madam Meng.

The auction needed to be handled with even greater fanfare. She needed to discuss it with Madam Meng, and hopefully, it could be done as quickly as possible.

Before the Spring Festival, she needed to return to Jianle City. Regarding cotton, she absolutely had to enforce its planting around Jianle City next year. It would be best if she personally discussed this with the Emperor.