Chapter 22: Concealing Martial Arts Among the People

In October of the 25th year of the Shutian Era, the good folks of Lianzhou received some joyous news: that immoral and insatiably greedy Wu Fei had finally been kicked out of the central command tent! He had been demoted to manage grain and fodder. Meanwhile, Wu Hengyu was reappointed by Wu Hanluan to command the vanguard. The local elders sighed with relief, declaring, "Good brings good, and evil brings evil."

While the high-ranking officials discussed the "peace and stability of the common people," the common folk were ever preoccupied with the mundane concerns of firewood, rice, oil, and salt.

In Sanlong Town, old man He sat on his donkey cart, observing the bustling market. Having spent most of his life in the military, he had witnessed the sudden rise of local republican rebels, which had left most of his brothers dead or wounded. He had been separated from his unit, but soon after, the Great Yao imperial troops—the Wu family army—arrived, soundly defeating the bandits.

When that young general began recruiting locals to hunt down the remaining outlaws, He gritted his teeth and signed up. Over the past three months, he had followed Wu Hengyu on "mountain-clearing" missions. After watching Wu Hengyu kick down the gates of the local Daoyi Gang and kill two bandit chiefs with three swift spear thrusts, he was convinced.

However, with Wu Hengyu’s army now fully staffed with elites, He, considered old and infirm, was to be discharged. Just as he worried about his future, Wu Hengyu’s benevolence shone through—he guaranteed that these veterans would be well-provided for.

Now, through an agent, He had settled here with his wife and children. Having eaten military rations for half his life, the town felt incredibly secure the moment he laid eyes on it.

The town was surrounded by four ponds connected to running water and covered in lotus leaves. The reflection of the white-walled, black-tiled houses on the water was poetic, but to any thief, it meant one had to wade through the pond to reach the walls. Scaling the walls would be difficult; their feet would be covered in mud, making them slip, and the mud would show up clearly against the white walls—a thief on the wall would be as conspicuous as a louse on a bald head.

At the town’s north gate stood a large stone bridge. The three-zhang-wide surface was bustling with continuous traffic. When the town patrol saw old man He’s bamboo identity plaque and confirmed he had a family of five, they shed their cold demeanor toward outsiders and put on friendly smiles.

"Sir, since you’re settling here, follow me and don't get lost," the patrolman said. "This town is a maze. Outsiders get dizzy the first time, but you'll get the hang of it once you live here."

He told his wife to keep an eye on their three children. As they walked through the two-to-three-meter-wide stone alleys, the towering walls on either side made him swallow hard—it felt like entering a fortified gatehouse. If bamboo ladders were laid across the wall tops, soldiers could easily intercept invaders.

The patrolman pointed upward: "Look, Sir He. See that? The walls with the Azure Dragon pattern have exits at the end of the alley. The walls with the White Tiger are dead ends." He then noticed that every segment of the white walls featured gray stone windows carved with the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, or Qilin. It reminded him of the four-directional flag signals he had seen in the military camp.

Soon they arrived home. The patrolman helped him unload his cart and said, "I won't disturb you and your wife further, but you must report to the Civil Defense Bureau at the east gate tomorrow." He thanked him profusely, offering a few copper coins for a drink.

That night, after the two children were asleep, old man He polished his water-fire staff and practiced a set of forms in the small courtyard. Recalling his earlier worries, he shook his head with a sigh. He had spent his life in the ranks and lacked any other trade. He had never thought about what he would do after leaving the camp, living his life one day at a time.

Ten days ago, when the military began the layoffs, everyone panicked. Some veterans even blocked the military magistrate with clubs, though not to fight. One old comrade-in-arms had thrown his club, stripped off his shirt to reveal his scars, and cursed, "You bastards! When I was taking blades for this country, you were still a glint in your father's eye! If I flinch at a military flogging, I’m not the man who bled on the battlefield!"

Of course, they all received the lashes anyway. But afterward, Wu Hengyu invited them to his tent. He scolded them first, then helped them realize that even after leaving the ranks, they remained men of the Wu family army. Old man He still received his military pay in Sanlong Town, and he was required to drill with the other young men every three days.

As he looked at his bamboo armor and the red-tasseled spear in his hand, he realized he was still eating the "military grain."

***

Viewed from above, Sanlong Town, designed by Wu Fei, was a Bagua formation—a fortress composed entirely of walls. It complied with imperial protocols, with walls no higher than two zhang and no thicker than two chi. They were classified as "residential clusters."

However, while the law prohibited walls thicker than two chi, it said nothing about the number of walls! Every street had one. Without ladders, crossing seven or eight layers of walls was far harder than climbing a single ten-zhang city wall. Between each wall was a narrow alley; a thief might break through one, but another awaited behind it. In the narrow alleys, a sledgehammer couldn't be swung, and chisels were needed to slowly pry apart the lime-cemented bricks.

Moreover, the entire town was surrounded by lotus ponds, with only a meter of path between the outer wall and the water—too narrow for siege engines. Any attempt to force horses to pull heavy equipment onto this path would likely result in the cart sliding into the pond, where it would be impossible to recover.

For invaders unwilling to risk a frontal assault, climbing the walls meant fighting the local militia on the ramparts. The defenders used a unique defense mode: because the walls were so close, they could bridge them with specialized bamboo ladders. The local militia, familiar with the layout, could move across the wall tops, striking down with spears and throwing stones from a superior position.

More lethally, the inner walls were always half a head taller than the outer ones. This meant defenders on the inner walls could see the tops of the outer walls, while those on the outer walls could not see the defenders crouching inside. The moment an attacker peeked over the outer wall, they would be met by a crossbow bolt or a thrusting bamboo spear.

This was a local defense system designed under the "Great Yao" ritual constraints.

Xuan Chong’s design was inspired by the Hui-style architecture he had seen in his past life. While other castle designs relied on romanticized fairy tales, these folk buildings were purely practical. He realized that in an era of constant turmoil, any architecture that survived for centuries had to have utility. He adopted "General Su's sentiment"—the idea that a café could be turned into a fortified position—to view these ancient structures. Only buildings that could withstand risk were worthy of surviving the passage of time.

***

In a private residence secretly purchased by the Wu family, Wu Hanluan met Wu Fei at a relay station. Wu Hanluan sat down and released a surge of killing intent, causing the insects on the walls to drop as if poisoned—a precaution against eavesdroppers.

"Magistrate Lin has reported to the court that the region is peaceful, demanding our immediate return," Wu Hanluan said. "We must follow imperial law." But Wu Fei knew he had no intention of leaving. With bandits popping up everywhere, the court had ordered the Wu army to clear the region within a year, knowing full well they couldn't be sent away soon.

Wu Hanluan remained stern to pressure his nephew, who had been sending letters south, eager to return. "We cannot defy the court," Wu Fei said. Seeing his uncle's displeasure, he changed his tack. "But we can move our forces without leaving the region."

Wu Fei produced a set of bamboo slips listing the merchants he had vetted. Beside them, a silk scroll recorded the trade routes these merchants controlled, routes previously plagued by bandits. Any bandit worth his salt had chosen a spot perfect for collecting "tolls." Wu Fei decided to "nationalize" these toll stations, sending Wu Hengyu to "negotiate." Whether those negotiations turned into bloodshed was another matter.

"I plan to establish three escort agencies," Wu Fei explained. "They will oversee the routes leading to the south, which we control. And here, and here..." He pointed to several locations on the map—notorious bandit strongholds that would now serve as Wu family outposts. The bandits with local backing would be assimilated into Wu Hengyu's ranks, while the rest would be dealt with. "The Buddha is merciful, but he is also selective."

"The southern frontier is short on labor," Wu Fei continued. "We have slaves from the southern tribes, but we lack Great Yao slaves."

"And these warehouses?" Wu Hanluan asked.

"They contain no heavy crossbows, no iron armor, no firearms. The walls are under two zhang high and only one brick thick," Wu Fei recited the laws on civilian weaponry, then added, "My ties with the local merchants remain, and they have found sellers. Wu Hengyu has trusted men to handle this."

"Hengyu is short on men; don't pull anyone from his ranks this year!" Wu Hanluan warned.

"I understand," Wu Fei said. "I will select people from home. But..." He hesitated. "If we only use locals to guard these warehouses, we can escape if the court comes knocking. But if we use our own people, what if the court grows suspicious? Are you truly prepared to challenge the laws of the Great Yao?"

Wu Fei, a transmigrator who had learned the hard way to be cautious, sought to leave no trail. He knew that if a political rival wanted to frame them, they would manufacture evidence regardless of the truth. Only the southern frontier was truly beyond the reach of the Great Yao.

Wu Hanluan looked at him with a smile. "Yuanchang, you truly have the talent of a chancellor." Wu Fei remained silent, suspecting his uncle had a hidden card to play—perhaps an alliance with a powerful figure at court.

***

In September, the merchant outposts organized a "hunter" patrol to clear the mountains. When local officials found arrows with shell-tipped heads in the carcasses, they mocked the farmers for lacking iron. But in the outposts, veterans like old man He noticed the "internal threads" on the arrowheads. These heavy shafts were meant for quenched blue steel, but the arrows weren't there yet. They were kept in the main military arsenal, ready to be assembled overnight.

By November of the 25th year, the Wu family's influence was firmly established. Though a censor impeached them for seizing civilian homes, the petition sank into the bureaucratic abyss. The Wu family army had already reported that they would return to Zhaoyun County in six months and were moving their camps away from the prefectural cities, effectively "withdrawing their killing intent." As long as they followed orders, the court seemed content.

In December, imperial officials arrived at the new camps on the trade routes to inspect the rosters and bestow meager rewards—twenty jars of wine and a few dozen head of livestock. The imperial envoy, however, invited Wu Hanluan into a private room for a long, secret conversation.