Great Tang Idyll

Da Cong and Xiao Cong left the room, feeling upset. The young man pondered for a while, picked up the pen and wrote two more lines down. After blowing the ink dry, he folded the letter and placed it into an envelope. He thought about it again a few more times, and threw it onto the table. He draped an outer garment onto himself, stood up and walked to the door. Standing in the middle of the house, he looked at the night sky while listening to the sound coming in from outside. He shook his head, and went back inside.

When he arrived at the door, a person came over and asked, "Young Master, should we charge our way out? We still have some men left in the house."

"No need. Come, follow me." The young man walked to the study as he spoke. He picked up the letter that had just been written from the table, and handed it to the man.

"Later, go to the main entrance and hand them this letter. Tell them to hand it to Song Jing'gong, and we will be able to go outside tomorrow."

"Young Master, we don't have to do this. They are just a manor." This person tried to persuade him.

"Go on." The young man didn't want to say more. He spat out two words, and closed his eyes while sitting there.

*

Li Xun and these people have been travelling the entire time and they only took a break during dinner. They weren't able to fall asleep just yet so they continued to walk for over two hours before they decided to think of a way to rest. There were no tents since the tents were too heavy, and thus, it was also one of the items that were abandoned so that more food could be carried.

Next to Li Xun were the thirty or so people who had participated in the previous expeditions, and the others were people who joined for the first time. The thirty of them used knives to cut down the surrounding dead grass, twisted them into ropes, and set them alight. The ropes with wormwood were much more effective.

In the heavy smoke, they spread blankets out to sleep on. Next to them were the fire they set up, and they took turns to keep watch. The newcomers also prepared a lot of things and copied what the others did. However, even so, there were still some courageous mosquitoes that flew forward to bite them. But it was unknown whether they would have the strength to fly back afterwards.

"Don't make any noise, others are still sleeping." Li Xun warned when he heard the movement.

It was Han Yong'yao who spoke just now. After he was warned, he became more well-behaved. Listening to the buzzing noise in his ears, he couldn't sleep at all. He also brought a blanket, but because he was a little fatter, he wasn't able to cover himself with it after laying it on the ground. Other people were able to lay on top of half of the blanket and use the remaining half to cover their body.

Others who were also fat, gritted their teeth and settled with using the blanket to cover their body and slept on top of a mat of hay. The hay was a bit pokey, but it was better than being bitten by mosquitoes.

"Brother Xing'yi, are you asleep? I can't fall asleep." Han Yong'yao didn't dare to speak loudly, and could only whisper to his Brother Xing'yi lying beside him.

"No, I can't sleep either. If we keep going like this, I'll be doomed in just a few days. If we quit, do you think we will be beaten?" Xing'yi regretted it and felt that he shouldn't have come here. At first, he was intrigued by the novel idea, and he wanted to get to know the Emperor's nephew. Never did he imagine that he had to suffer like this.

"Yes, as long as we quit. Although, I don't know how many hits we will have to suffer. Let's just try to bear with this. Brother Xing'yi, after adding the poison, are there any other ways to let them know how powerful I am? Help me come up with an idea."

Han Yong'yao felt that it would be too easy on the Zhang Manor if he only poisoned some fish. He originally wanted to poison their poultry, but the person he sent said that he was unable to poison the poultry since they were caged up at night. If they woke up to eat in the middle of night, the commotion would be too big and people would notice, so he decided to poison the fish instead.

"Hmm, let me think about it. Hehe. Brother Yong'yao, they have a forest there, what would happen if you set that place on fire? How about you burn that place down. Get someone to go there during night time to light the forest on fire. Don't start the fire near your place, that would be too suspicious. Just be careful about the wind direction."

Han Yong'yao nodded happily, and sighed again after a while and said, "No, this really can't be done. If they find out, it will be over for my family. There are mulberry trees in the forest over at their place. If the mulberry trees are destroyed, the Emperor himself might get involved. Think of another idea.

I'll take note of this though and I'll use this plan as a last resort. I can find a trustworthy person, and then get them to flee far away after setting the place on fire. Let me keep thinking. Let me think. Something else. For example, they have a restaurant, and businesses at Little Luo'shui. "

Xing'yi pondered for a moment, and felt that it was indeed too dangerous. If they were really caught, he would also be dragged in too and his family would also be affected.

"Restaurant. Open a restaurant to compete with them? No, we don't have the ability. Restaurant. The First Near Water restaurant is in the middle of water. Find smeone who is good at swimming, and get them to swim over there at night, and slowly chip at the underwater pillars of the restaurant. Break a bit of it everyday. Over time, they will have to fix it, and the money needed will not be a small amount.

If this doesn't work, then go dine in a private room on the second floor. Bring along a bamboo tube filled ants-- the type that eats wood. While eating, make a few holes and place the ants in. Go to a new area in the restaurant everyday. It would be best if you can place ants in all of the rooms on the second floor.

If you're willing to spend more money, then go dine on the roof, and put ants there too. It won't take long before the ants eat away the internal structure of the restaurant. The same can be done for the businesses at Little Luo'shui. How would anyone know that you were the one behind this? "

Xing'yi was able to come up with a lot of bad ideas. In just a short while, he came up with two of them. After hearing the second one, Han Yong'yao finally decided to go with this idea. The idea was really great. He just had to place some ants and wait for them to eat the wood. By then, the restaurant would be doomed.

"Brother Xing'yi, rest assured. As long as I am able to take revenge, I won't forget about you in the future. I'll go with this plan. I'll find someone to dine there tomorrow. First, let's push ourselves through these journey. We would even get a Xiang'gong position1. I don't want to be beaten up."

Han Yong'yao thanked him. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.

"I'm happy to be able to help Brother Yongyao seek revenge. Let's go to sleep, we still have to travel tomorrow." Xing'yi replied, then turned around, and closed his eyes tightly. He planned to fall asleep quickly, but he was fixated on thinking about how great his idea was. The wind was also a bit chilly, so it was hard to fall asleep.

The family members who followed along saw how much their own children had to suffer and they really didn't understand what the Emperor's nephew was planning to do. It was hard to say whether their children would be able to survive this torment. Everything was fine so why did they need to train to survive in the wilderness? Isn't it the same being at home? The parents could stay in tents, but their children had to lie on top of grass, and there were mosquitoes. Seeing them suffer made their hearts ache for them.

*

At night, three figures appeared in the Zhang and Wang manors. The brilliance of the stars and the moon was blocked by clouds that were floating in the sky, making it difficult to see in the darkness.

"Big brother, it's this place. Pour the thing into the pond and then let's get out of here immediately. They won't be able to find us. Which pond was it again? There are many ponds here. I heard that there is only one that is used specifically for fish breeding, and the others are not taken care of. If there are wild fish, then they will let them grow, and if there are none, they won't add any fry either."

All three of them wore dark gray clothes. When approaching the small bridge, one person whispered that the dark night was advantageous for them, but it also prevented them from seeing the place clearly. In order to not raise other people's suspicion, they got another person to investigate the place during the day, and they made judgements based on the information they heard from that person.

"It should be up ahead, next to a big tree. Be careful. Don't disturb the dogs. It would be bad if the dogs start barking. Come on, let's go over there." A deep voice spoke, then the three figures crossed the bridge, and walked around the marketplace.

"Brother, look, this is the market, and there are some simple buildings there. I heard that there are goods stored in them. Do you want to steal some on our way back?"

The three people hid in the shadow of a building, and the person who spoke first said another sentence.

"Don't think about that for now. Today,we are just going to add the poison in. If we mess up the main mission, just wait for the beating when we get back. Lower, lower, don't let people see us." That older brother was more reliable and placed his focus on the main task.

The three people passed through this area, and continued to move forward. Just when they left the shadow they were hiding in, the wooden door plank of that place was suddenly pulled from the inside. A person stepped out and looked around. The person also bent his back and secretly ran to a house on the opposite side.

"Someone is making trouble. Go find someone, I'll keep an eye on them." The person who stepped out earlier said a few words, and turned around. He followed after the three people, and at the same time, he drew a short knife from his waist.

The person who opened the door also ran out, and he walked ten or so steps to the grocery store. He climbed up from the ladder next to the place and went up to the top, then he got into a tiny cubicle that was only big enough to fit one person. While inside the cubicle, he took out a fire igniter to light a candle. Then, he placed a copper mirror in front of the candle, directing the reflection towards a high place up front.

Once the other side flashed a light twice, he blew out the candle, and then climbed back down. He also took out the short knife, and went in the same direction the previous person left in.

How would the three people who came to poison the pond know that the Zhang and Wang manors were so heavily guarded? They were still thinking that everything was fine, and they planned to enjoy the next few days after completing the mission. After walking a short distance, the three of them felt so miserable that it was beyond speech. They entered the rice field, which was a great place to conceal themselves, but they kept on accidentally kicking the rice plants at their feet, which they had a hard time seeing.

"Brother, there's a patch of rice plants in front of us. Let's go over there to rest. I almost fell to my death." One person tripped several times in a row and his face was scratched up. Using the dim illumination from the moon, he was able to make up a patch, he saw a patch of rice plant in front of them.

"Okay, don't rush. We have the entire night, it's fine if we take our time." The older brother also felt that that place was a good place to hide.

The three people changed their directions a little bit and went over there. Just when they were making their way there, more than 30 people gathered together on the manor, and they were also heading over the patch of rice plants. There were also people standing guard there since they were afraid that someone would start a fire there, which they still had use for.