With the Blade

Chapter 307: Chapter 258: The Unpredictability of the Times

Half a year later, Jian Kang Imperial City.

In the court, the ministers were still fiercely arguing whether to move the capital south. Although the grassland tribes seemed not to have advanced further in the past six months, no one dared to risk the nation’s safety on the hope of their benevolence.

More importantly, if the court decided to move south, it would mean a new shuffling of powers. Families already in the south would flourish, while those with influence in the north would find it difficult — but overall, the ministers supporting the move south were still in the majority. In their words, this was called regrouping and preparing for what’s to come.

But to the young Tao Wuli, this was just an excuse, plain and simple, no one wanted to fight. Clearly, within these six months, the grassland tribes hadn’t advanced because of some internal crisis; this was surely the best opportunity to recover lost ground by moving north, yet no one in the entire court wanted to fight.

Angry, Tao Wuli wrote a memorial and submitted it, hoping the young emperor, or any minister, would realize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

And then he received a dispatch.

"So, now I am sent to Longzhou?"

Seeing the contents of the dispatch, Tao Wuli was stunned.

Of course, officially, it was a transfer order, sending him to fill a vacancy in Longzhou, but anyone with basic sense knew it was because someone found him annoying, wanting to get him away to the northwest — from Jian Kang to the northwest, was more than a thousand miles; he might never be able to return in his life.

"I... alright."

Putting away the dispatch, Tao Wuli packed his luggage with his old servant and hitched a carriage. After all, the order was urgent, not allowing him to delay even a moment.

As he left, Tao Wuli bowed one last time in the direction of the imperial city, as a farewell to its grace.

People didn’t want to listen to him, what could he do?

"Let’s go."

With a gesture to the old servant to drive the carriage, Tao Wuli started his journey westward.

In the first half-month, Tao Wuli mainly cursed in the streets. After all, he had grown up in Jian Kang, his whole life spent there, now a single dispatch made him leave his home; such harsh suppression would infuriate anyone — but after a half-month of cursing, Tao Wuli became numb. As it turned out, no matter how much he cursed, it wouldn’t change any established fact.

Thus, during the rest of the journey, Tao Wuli focused on not thinking about these things, instead, he turned his attention to the scenery along the way.

"Picking chrysanthemums under the Eastern fence, quietly see Mount Nan."

During his journey, seeing the magnificent mountains, Tao Wuli would occasionally be inspired to recite a few lines.

Then he saw, on the Mount Nan he praised, dozens of bandits wielding weapons charging towards him.

Facing the bandits with faces full of Evil Qi, Tao Wuli inevitably handed over the toll fee. Though he wanted to reason with them, just looking at their ferocious expressions, it was clear the Evil Qi was barely restrained — so to avoid losing his head to these Evil Qi madmen, he ultimately chose to part with his wallet.

And without money, the journey was no longer as pleasant. The bandits left Tao Wuli and the old servant with a few days’ worth of food, but this wouldn’t last long.

"Just hold on for a few days."

Three days later, Tao Wuli encouraged his old servant.

"If we can just hold on a few more days, we’ll reach the nearest prefecture city, then whether selling words, or helping write poems for others, we’ll surely have food to eat."

Saying this, Tao Wuli looked towards the distant mountains again.

"Evening brings splendid mountain air, as birds gather and return... how about this line? Do you think someone would pay for it?"

"Forget about the poetry! Run, Master!"

The panic-stricken old servant kicked Tao Wuli towards the roadside.

Immediately after, the old servant was snatched up by a giant bird with a human face, leaving half of him plummeting from the sky, crashing down in front of Tao Wuli.

The old servant, who had served him for many years, died abruptly in the middle of the road because of an Evil Qi monster, causing Tao Wuli great grief.

He hastily buried the old servant, now only Tao Wuli continued on the journey alone. It was then he realized how far the thousand-mile journey truly was.

"Maybe it’s better not to take this official post."

Despondent, Tao Wuli pulled out the dispatch again.

Originally Tao Wuli mocked the bandits for not taking the dispatch and official credentials, but now he understood, perhaps those bandits were right. Under the current cursed circumstances, official credentials and documents were probably the most useless things; indeed, with these documents he could go to Longzhou as a County Magistrate, but the question was, could he really survive to reach Longzhou?

"These times... sigh!"

With a long sigh, Tao Wuli ultimately couldn’t bring himself to burn the documents.

With these official credentials, at least he would have some identity, and as he said, once he reached the prefecture city, everything would turn out alright.

Everything would turn out alright, it definitely would.

"So, have you finished checking?"

Facing the guards at the city gate, Tao Wuli’s brows furrowed.

"I told you, I’m heading to Longzhou to take my post... what’s going on here in Dengzhou City, even issuing a pass document is so inefficient?"

"Oh? Another imperial official?"

The guards exchanged glances, actually bursting into laughter.

"We’re here for you!"

With a heavy spear striking his head, Tao Wuli instantly lost consciousness.

When he regained consciousness, he found himself locked up, and after listening to the prisoners’ conversations, he learned Dengzhou had raised the rebel flag under the coalition of the Yu people — it turns out, he, an imperial official, had sent himself directly into enemy territory, right into the rebel’s den.

But fortunately, his luck wasn’t too bad this time.

It was only because the prisoners in the jail planned to escape that night.

So when the prisoners began their riot, Tao Wuli followed and ran out, though this strange land left him unsure of where to go — until then, the pursuit from Dengzhou City came crashing in, faced with gleaming spears, he could only desperately flee with the other prisoners.

But clearly, the Dengzhou garrison had no intention of letting them go. Even though the prisoners had escaped the city, they continued chasing tirelessly, more and more prisoners were stabbed to death by the cavalry’s long lances, while Tao Wuli’s stamina quickly depleted under such a frenzied escape.

Ultimately, this was an inevitable death trap, how could two legs outrun four?

"We can make it!"

As the cavalry drew closer, a prisoner shouted urgently.

"Take the water route! We can survive!"

Faced with the nearing pursuers, Tao Wuli could only hold his nose and jump into the water with a few prisoners.

With the current sweeping him away, Tao Wuli shut his eyes tightly, unaware of where he might end up, whether he’d survive, he could only feel the surrounding currents, praying for this nightmare to end soon.

But soon, Tao Wuli felt something amiss.

Only because the surrounding river was not flowing east.

Instead, it was in the opposite direction, flowing westward.

"Get up, we’re there."

Just when Tao Wuli thought he had drifted into the underworld, the prisoner who shouted spoke again.

And Tao Wuli stood up.

In front of him was an extremely narrow passage, seemingly only wide enough for one person to crawl through, but on the other side of the passage, there was clearly some light.

"This..."

Somewhat puzzled, Tao Wuli followed the prisoner, crawling through the passage along the river.

And after a dozen steps, it suddenly became clear before Tao Wuli.