Jiapingguan Chronicle

"If you want to mobilize troops in Jiangnan without attracting attention, the Eagle King Army is the best choice. Many people don't know about the Eagle King Army, including families like the Shi family. They have long forgotten about it, or they consider Jiangnan to be their territory and think that they are the real local bullies. That's why they can do such audacious things."

“Indeed, when we broke down the door, the panic and paralysis of those people were not an act.”

“Of course, that’s a terrifying existence for them.” Shen Haolin nodded, not surprised at all. “But without my master’s handwritten letter, the Eagle Leopard and Falcon would not believe it.”

“There was no handwritten letter; your master came in person.” Chu Han smiled, looked at Shen Haolin, then at Song Yaojia, “and your father as well.”

“I know that.” Song Yaojia nodded. “At that time, they were traveling and probably just happened to pass by, intending to launch a surprise attack on the Jiangnan garrison. They didn’t expect to encounter this, right?”

"Yes, I have already written the letter and sent it to him through the channels of the Prince of Jing's mansion. After the messenger set off, we thought he would receive the letter and leave from Xijing City. Unexpectedly, he arrived at our inn on the third day after the letter was sent."

Shen Cha rubbed her shoulders; she was a little tired from sitting. She patted Shen Haolin, stood up, and slowly strolled around.

"Before the Emperor's uncle arrived, my great-uncle had remained inactive?"

“I can’t do anything about it even if I want to,” Chu Han said, spreading his hands. “At this time, Wanyan Yuwen and Yelü Ertu have already left Yangzhou and returned to their countries to investigate the traitor. The only people I have who can fight are seven or eight from the Jingwang Mansion. Although the Yangzhou government has sent people, as you know, their people aren’t particularly good at fighting. So, if you want to break into the villa, you’ll have to wait for the Eagle King.” He glanced at Shen Cha, who had wandered over to him, and smiled. “However, I haven’t been sitting idly by. I sent people to keep an eye on those villas and even went to their main residence area a few times to find out what’s going on. I haven’t been in Jiangnan for many years, so I don’t have a particularly detailed understanding of their situation. Although I’ve been collecting intelligence on them, the detailed information is limited to those few truly powerful families. Families like the Shi family are not within my scope of consideration. But the facts have shown me that my approach was wrong.”

“Yes!” Xiao Fengqi nodded. “The Regent thought the same thing back then. I never expected that those families, who seemed so low-key, would do such a thing behind the scenes.”

“But…” Shen Cha looked at Xiao Fengqi. She had a question in her mind, but she didn’t know if it was appropriate to ask it.

"The General is asking why we didn't tell the Regent about our family's attendance at their gathering, right?" Seeing Shen Cha's slight embarrassment, Xiao Fengqi waved his hand. "It's alright, there's nothing wrong with asking or answering. First, my great-aunt thought the whole thing was ridiculous, that they couldn't possibly pull it off, so she treated it as a joke. Even so, she kept her uncles watching to make sure nothing serious happened, lest the Xiao family wanted to lend a hand but wouldn't have enough time. Second, my great-aunt did indeed have someone tell the Regent, but he didn't believe her. He's always been skeptical of our family's words. He sent people to investigate and found everything normal, so he thought we were talking nonsense. In that case, there's no need for us to explain further, right?"

"So, did he apologize to you after he came back?"

"Of course not, we don't really care. After all, the feud between our two families has been going on for a long time, and this kind of thing has happened more than once or twice. There's no need to take it too seriously, lest we get angry ourselves. However, fortunately, I grew up with the two Yelü sons and my little brother Qi, so we don't really care about the hatred between our two families. In fact, without their support this time, I wouldn't dare to do things the first time."

“Speaking of this, I also want to ask you something.” Chu Han looked at Xiao Fengqi with a smile. “Have you ever suspected that their support for you is intentional? The Xiao family is powerful, and if they collapse, it will be beneficial to them.” “I have thought about it, but I don’t just imagine it, so I asked them in person.”

"How did it go?" Shen Cha found a good spot, leaned against a pillar, and looked at Xiao Fengqi. "They denied it?"

"No, they said they wouldn't have expressed their stance if I hadn't made up my mind. We talked a lot that day, not just about the Xiao family's problems. They felt the Yelü family's problems were also significant. Aren't all families in this world the same? The aristocratic families of Great Xia have the same problem; they've been in power for too long, their roots are too deep, and many problems will slowly surface. But when you see these problems appear, you'll realize..."

"The termites have been there for a while, you just didn't know it. The inside is already rotten to the core, right?"

“That’s right, that’s what my great-aunt said too.”

"So, whether it's intentional or not doesn't matter." Chu Han smiled. "This kind of problem is unavoidable. Every family is a possibility. This is what I said before: it's already quite good that you can control your own family. Outside the family, they just use the family's name to do whatever they want. You don't even know what they've done, right? By the time something really happens, it will be too late."

“That’s right.” Xiao Fengqi nodded. “The Xiao family has no branches and is full of messy things. I think if we don’t deal with them, we won’t be able to keep what we have now. Besides, my great-aunt told me before she passed away that if I really find a problem, I shouldn’t hesitate or be soft-hearted. I should take action directly. That’s the best thing for the Xiao family.”

"My great-aunt is a remarkable person."

“That’s true.” Xiao Fengqi nodded. “She was in power for decades and rarely caused any trouble. The price was that she was exhausted and overworked.” He sighed softly and said, “We consulted many doctors, including the old man himself. They all said the same thing: don’t worry too much and take a rest. But how could she stop? So…” He spread his hands and shrugged helplessly, “As a result, not many years after she passed away, my uncle and several other uncles turned the Xiao family into this mess. What could I do? We could only destroy it before we could rebuild. Now that it’s destroyed, there’s no foundation left to be gnawed at. If we wait a few more years, I’m afraid even the foundation will be unstable.”

"That's true."

"Actually, it's not just me who wants to destroy the old to build the new; those two young masters of Yelü also want to, and they're slowly starting to do so." Xiao Fengqi chuckled. "And they started even earlier than me. The General should know a little about that, right?"

(End of this chapter)