The Glory After Rebirth

94 - 96

C94: Setting the Mountain Afire

“Elder Brother Wang, who is this?” Yang Liuzi briefly sized up Liu Yi out of curiosity.

“This is Liu Yi. He’s new to our group, one year older than you. You may call him Elder Brother Liu,” Wang Dashan introduced Liu Yi to Yang Liuzi.

“Nice to meet you, Elder Brother Liu. My name is Yang Liuzi. You may call me Liuzi for short if you like,” Yang Liuzi greeted Liu Yi heartily.

“Nice to meet you, too, Brother Liuzi.”

“Ha ha. There’s no need to be so courteous, Elder Brother Liu. Just call me Liuzi.”

“Okay, Liuzi.”

Maybe because Yang Liuzi found Liu Yi an interesting man, he started chatting with Liu Yi.

Wang Dashan shook his head. “Young Master and Supervisor Zhou are talking business in there. You’re disturbing them.”

Yang Liuzi hurriedly lowered his voice in embarrassment. “Sorry. I’ve always been talking this way on the farm these days and I’ve already made a habit of it.”

“As far as I can tell, there has been nobody disciplining you for quite some time and you guys have forgotten how to behave.”

“Elder Brother Wang, please don’t wrong me. I’ve been giving them strict training on a daily basis.”

Ling Zhang and Supervisor Zhou finished talking and walked outside with the intention to walk around the estate and take a look.

“What’s that!”

“Is there a fire?”

“That’s the Lee Mountain…”

Ling Zhang and Supervisor Zhou paused and looked in the direction of the Lee Mountain at the same time. They saw that the mountain was shrouded in billows of thick smoke. They couldn’t see any flames, but judging by the thickness of the smoke, the fire must be really big!

What’s going on? Did the Prefecture Guard set the mountain aflame on purpose? Such a big fire is not going to burn out any time soon, Ling Zhang thought.

Ling Zhang, Supervisor Zhou, Wang Dashan and Liu Yi went to the top of the hill behind the herb farm. Watching from the hilltop, they managed to find out what was happening on the Lee Mountain. The whole mountaintop was in a sea of flames, and there seemed to be distant screeches of despair coming from that direction…

“That’s the top of the Lee Mountain. I’ve been there once before the mountain was occupied by bandits. There was a natural chasm there. On one side of the mountaintop was a cliff, and on another side of it was a precipice separating the mountaintop and the mountainside. If those bandits retreat to the mountaintop and make a position of it, it won’t be easy for Zhang Chong’s army to take their position, but from the vantage point of the present, Zhang Chong has directly set a fire to the mountaintop,” observed Supervisor Zhou.

Liu Yi said, “If Zhang Chong besiege those bandits, they might not necessarily refuse to surrender. As far as I can tell, it was because he wanted to kill each and every one of them that he set the mountain-top on fire.”
 
Anguished screams of despair could be heard from such a long distance. They could only imagine how horrifying the scene of the fire was on that mountain. Though those people were bandits, picturing them being burnt alive still chilled them to the bone.
 
Ling Zhang had been silent all along. He just stared in the direction of the Lee Mountain with a frown. Zhang Chong’s deed was not only an act of extreme cruelty but also a dire warning—which one of other bandit gangs would dare to defy him after seeing how these bandits ended up on the mountain-top? After this battle, even if Zhang Chong wanted those bandits to pay him 100,000 taels of silver, they would resort to any means to get the money, not to mention 10,000 taels.
 
“Supervisor Zhou, please tell all our herb farmers to stay in the estate during the next few days. They may come out after all soldiers of the Prefecture Guard return to the encampment. Remember, under no circumstances should they leave the farm. I’m afraid we won’t be receiving any orders for herbs from any of those drug stores in the city any time soon. Collect ripe herbs and store them up. There’s no hurry to sell them. Try not to go into the city unless you have to, lest you encounter any soldiers of the Prefecture Guard.”