Republic of China Era: Entering the Dao through Divine Strike.

The caravan stopped in front of the tea stall. The fat merchant climbed down from the mule, wiping his sweat as he shouted towards the stove, "Old Zhang, quick, bring me a few bowls of cold tea, I'm dying of thirst!"

He drank a bowl of tea before noticing Li Xin, who was about to mount his horse.

Their eyes met, and the fat merchant suddenly widened his eyes, as if he had seen some extraordinary person.

"Could you be Lord Li Xin?"

Li Xin was slightly taken aback: "You recognize me?"

"I recognize him! Of course I recognize him!" The fat merchant was so excited that he almost dropped his teacup. "Last month in the capital, when Master Li was taking the martial arts exam and parading through the streets, I was watching from the side of the street."

That day, you wore a red-and-gold-embroidered scholar's armor, riding a tall horse; I'll never forget how majestic you looked!

As he spoke, he waved to the convoy behind him: "Come over here, come over here! This is Master Li, whom I've told you about."

The top martial arts champion in the capital city killed four top foreign masters on the stage and even forced the Minister of War to commit suicide on the spot.

Do you remember the great fire at the Wan Hua Lou? That was also a major incident orchestrated by this Master Li.

The coachmen swarmed around him, chattering amongst themselves, looking at Li Xin with the same reverence and curiosity they would show a deity in a temple.

"Mr. Li, are you going on a long trip?"

"Go to Guangping."

"Guangping?" The fat merchant's expression changed slightly, and he lowered his voice, "Master Li, please forgive me for saying this, but things haven't been peaceful in Guangping lately."

Prefect Qian Bojun is in cahoots with the Wang family; they even sealed off the city a few days ago.

I have a fellow villager who runs a small business in Guangping. A few days ago, he sent someone to tell me that things are very tense in the city, and the Wang family's thugs are arresting people everywhere. Many ordinary people have been imprisoned.

"It's precisely because things are not peaceful that we need to go and take a look," Li Xin said calmly.

The fat businessman paused for a moment, then seemed to understand something and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, with Master Li in charge, it's definitely different."

This time we're going to bypass Guangping and take the sea route to Fujian. That way we'll have someone to help us if anything happens along the way.

If you don't mind, we can walk together for a while.

Li Xin glanced at the sky, then at the fat merchant's earnest eyes, and nodded: "Then let's travel together to the next county town."

……

The caravan resumed its journey, with Li Xin riding at the head of the group.

The portly merchant's surname was Liu, and his given name was Fu. He ran a general merchandise business, frequently traveling between the capital and Fujian.

He was quick-witted and chatted with Li Xin about Guangping along the way.

"The Wang family of Guangping...it's a long story." Liu Fu said as he rode on a mule. "Wang Donghai is a respectable businessman on the surface, but behind the scenes he does all sorts of despicable things that will wipe out his family line."

In the early years, they were just salt traders, but later, somehow they got involved with foreigners and started buying and selling people.

Which of the dozen or so villages and towns surrounding Guangping hasn't been ravaged by him?

When ordinary people went to the government office to file a complaint, the complainant was arrested and beaten half to death. After that, no one dared to file a complaint anymore.

How many people does he have under his command?

"There are about two hundred guards and thugs alone, and that's just the ones on the surface."

They also secretly colluded with the Red Lotus Sect. I heard there's some Taoist priest who knows sorcery, can move freely in the water, and has done many shady things for the Wang family.

Fish-Dragon Taoist.

Li Xin had a better understanding of the situation.

"Where is Prefect Qian Bojun?"

"Hey, that's a corrupt official." Liu Fu spat. "He served as the prefect of Guangping for six years. The silver that the Wang family gave him alone was enough for him to live on for eight generations."

That wasn't all. He also ordered the naval officer, General Duan, to use official ships to transport people for the Wang family. For each ship of people transported out, he would receive 20% of the profits.

Why doesn't the imperial court do anything about people like this?

"The imperial court?" Li Xin smiled but didn't say anything more.

Liu Fu also sighed. He knew that he was too busy dealing with the imperial court to care about local affairs.

After walking for more than an hour, we arrived at a small county town called Qingyuan.

Liu Fu's caravan would rest here for the night and continue their journey early the next morning. Li Xin, however, did not want to delay, so he bid farewell to Liu Fu and continued south.

As we left Qingyuan County, it was already getting dark.

The setting sun turned the western clouds into a fiery orange-red, making it look like the sky was on fire from afar.

Li Xin found a sheltered spot by the roadside, dismounted, and let his chestnut horse graze on its own...

He sat down against an old locust tree, took out the flatbread that Zhuang Hongxiu had given him, and slowly chewed it.

Guangping.

Wang family.

Wang Donghai.

Wang Zhenshan.

Fish-Dragon Taoist.

Qian Bojun.

Duan Heng.

There were also Ansar merchant ships and gunboats.

He went through the names in his mind and roughly figured out the sequence of actions.

First save people, then kill them, and finally blow up the ship.

That ship should be sunk in front of everyone, as a warning to others.

Let the world know.

Otherwise, how could it be called "making trouble in the sea"?

He stuffed the last piece of pancake into his mouth and patted the crumbs off his hands.

The chestnut horse, having finished grazing, snorted and nuzzled his shoulder with its head.

"Have you rested enough? Let's go."

As night deepened, the stars began to shine one by one.

The fields on both sides of the official road shimmered with a hazy light under the moonlight, and occasionally the lights of distant villages could be seen, scattered like stars on the ground.

After running for most of the night, the terrain ahead gradually changed.

The official road began to undulate, and a damp, fishy smell filled the air, carried by the evening breeze in gusts.

It tastes like the sea.

Li Xin reined in his horse on a high slope. Below the slope was a wide, flat area.

Further away, the outline of a dark city wall can be seen.

A few sparse, flickering lanterns hung on the city wall, their lights swaying in the night wind as if they might go out at any moment.

That is Guangping City.

A large, dark mass of people was crammed outside the city gate, numbering at least a hundred.

Some lay on the ground, some huddled at the foot of the city wall, and some held their children and wept softly.

They are refugees.

Li Xin spurred his horse down the hill and headed towards the city gate. Only when he got closer could he make out the appearance of these people.

They were all pale and emaciated, and dressed in rags.

An old woman leaned against the city wall, holding a three- or four-year-old child in her arms.

The child was so hungry that he didn't even have the strength to cry; he just opened his mouth and made weak whimpering sounds.

A middle-aged man squatted down nearby, clutching a dark, unidentifiable object in his hand, and stuffing it into his mouth.

Li Xin dismounted, walked up to the old woman, took out a flatbread from his bag, broke it in half, and handed it to her.

The old woman looked up at him, a glint of light flashing in her cloudy eyes.

She took the cake, thanked him repeatedly, and broke it into small pieces to feed the child.

"Old man, why don't you go into town?"

“We can’t get in,” the middle-aged man next to him chimed in, his voice full of resentment. “The prefectural government said they’re arresting rebels, so they’ve closed the city gates, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.”

We're all from Cuijiazhuang outside the city. A few nights ago, a group of people came, grabbing people and looting things they could find, and they even burned down the houses. Those who ran fast hid in the mountains, those who ran slowly…”

His voice choked as he spoke, and he slammed his fist on the ground.

"Who are those people?"

"Who else could it be? The Wang family!" The middle-aged man gritted his teeth. "I recognize the leader; it's Wang Zhenshan, the second master of the Wang family."

He brought dozens of thugs with him, along with two red-haired foreigners.

The twenty-odd people who were arrested from the village have not been heard from since; we don't know if they are alive or dead.

Li Xin didn't ask any more questions. He took out all the remaining flatbreads from his bag and distributed them to the refugees around him. Then he stood up and looked at the tightly closed city gate.

On the city wall, several soldiers guarding the city were dozing off while holding their spears.

A row of barricades stood across the city gate, behind which stood a dozen soldiers armed with knives, led by a fat man with a curved sword at his waist.

Li Xin led his horse straight toward the city gate.

Before they even reached the barricade, the fat man started shouting loudly.

"Halt! The Prefect has ordered that no one is allowed to enter the city!"

Li Xin didn't stop.

The fat man's expression changed, and he drew his knife in a flash: "Are you deaf? If you don't stop, I'll chop you down with this!"

The soldiers behind him drew their swords and lined up in a flurry. The refugees huddled at the foot of the city wall shrank back at the sight, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

Li Xin stopped three steps away from the barricade.

He glanced at the fat man, then at the soldiers behind him, and suddenly smiled.

"Shutting the door to arrest rebels? In my opinion, you are the rebels."

Colluding with the Wang family, trafficking civilians, and communicating with foreigners—any one of these offenses is enough to warrant ten beheadings.

The fat man's face turned pale and then red: "Who are you? What nonsense are you spouting!"

Li Xin took out a golden seal from his pocket and held it in his palm. The torchlight shone on the seal, revealing the five characters "Imperial Appointed Martial Arts Champion".

"Li Xin, the Imperial Advisor and the Top Martial Arts Champion. Are you going to stop me?"

The moment the golden seal was revealed, all the soldiers were stunned.

The fat man stared wide-eyed at the gold seal, his face jiggling.

Suddenly his knees buckled, and he fell to his knees with a thud.

"I was blind and offended Your Excellency, please forgive me!"

The soldiers behind him also knelt down in a panic, their knives clattering to the ground.

The two soldiers who were dozing on the city wall were startled awake. They looked down and were so frightened that they immediately knelt down.

"Open the city gates."

"Yes Yes!"

The fat man scrambled to his feet and shouted towards the city gate, "Open the city gates! Welcome the Imperial Advisor into the city!"

The city gate creaked open.

The refugees huddled at the foot of the city wall all looked up and stared blankly at the scene.

They didn't know anything about any imperial advisor; all they knew was that a few words from this young man on horseback had frightened the city guards into kneeling and kowtowing.

That must be an extraordinary person.

Li Xin did not enter the city immediately. He looked back at the refugees and then waved to the fat man.