Chapter 182: Chapter 135: Things Remain the Same, But People Change
Translator: 549690339
Zhou Qing left Guo Yunshan and traveled eastward at full speed. In just three days, he arrived in Linjiang Prefecture.
Upon arrival, the uprisings that could be seen in other prefectures and counties in Xichuan were suddenly much fewer.
After some inquiries, it was revealed that there indeed were rebellions here, but they had been suppressed by the Linjiang Su Family just as they began to emerge.
The Linjiang Su Family was a first-class millennial aristocratic family. This time when the Qiang people rebelled, the Su Family did not choose to resist the invading Western Shu rebel army; instead, they surrendered.
By offering up their family’s secret techniques and Divine Blood Variant, they retained their family’s foundation.
As a result, though they lost the Divine Blood Variant, the Su Family’s strength did not suffer too much damage.
Furthermore, due to their submissive behavior, the incumbent Su Family patriarch, Su Xun, was appointed by Pseudo-Shu Emperor Li Xiong as the
Prefect of Linjiang, governing the entire area and becoming a major official.
Their power had even surpassed the past days in terms of influence.
However, due to this, the Su Family has completely tied themselves to the Pseudo-Shu, their fates intertwined — the rise or fall of the Pseudo-Shu would determine the same for the Su Family.
Neither the court nor the martial arts world in Xichuan would spare the traitorous Su Family in the depths of their hatred.
The Su Family was well aware of this.
So upon discovering a local uprising, they immediately mobilized a large army and dispatched experts from their family to suppress the rebellion.
After several attempts and killing thousands of people, the locals who dared to rebel were mostly wiped out.
Linjiang Prefecture’s territory had once again become as stable as Mount Tai.
“The Su Family has always been the local tyrant of Linjiang Prefecture. With their full support, the foundation of the Pseudo-Shu in this place is unshakable. These local righteous heroes alone can’t stir up any waves.”
Zhou Qing observed the situation in Linjiang Prefecture and sighed as he concluded this.
Continuing westward and nearing the eastern edge of Linjiang Prefecture, he discovered that the Pseudo-Shu army had already returned from Wushan Prefecture, and the advance forces of the retreating army had even arrived here.
It seemed that the internal rebellions had finally shaken Pseudo-Shu Emperor Li Xiong, forcing him to give up his opportunity to take Wushan Prefecture and unify the entire Xichuan region, and instead turn back to suppress the rebellion.
Zhou Qing, hidden among the crowd, watched the Pseudo-shu army marching on the official road, and after a while, he became even more pessimistic about the uprising of the local heroes in Xichuan.
He also led soldiers before, though not many – just a hundred or so.
Nevertheless, even with Zhou Qing’s keen eye, while these Pseudo-Shu troops were still somewhat lacking, they could at least maintain an orderly marching formation, and the lower rank soldiers could understand some commands, ensuring the implementation of orders.
If forced to compare, their performance was no worse than the county soldiers he had led, which were composed of Mountain People.
And now the uprising volunteer soldiers in Xichuan seemed to number around 100,000.
However, these volunteer soldiers mostly had only courage and blood in their hearts, and some of them were even just farm laborers not long ago. They had difficulty understanding even simple commands, let alone proper military formations.
“Relying on such a ragtag army to win against the slightly disciplined Pseudo-Shu army is nothing short of a dream.”
At this moment, Zhou Qing was even more grateful that he had timely escaped from that perilous situation.
The return of the Western Shu army to Linjiang Prefecture meant that further west lay Yuzhong Prefecture.
If he had left later and delayed for about ten more days, he would have had to join Guo Yunshan in facing this returning army.
Under the chaos of the battlefield, even as a second-rate martial artist, Zhou Qing couldn’t guarantee his survival.
Chilling at this thought, he dared not watch any longer and stealthily left the crowd. He then entered a small path and headed south.
Arriving at a southern pier, Zhou Qing found a small boat and asked the boatman to take him to the opposite shore.
Passing the shore, he did not take the official road.
Facing west along the official road was the battlefield of Wushan Prefecture. With more than ten thousand large armies gathered there and battles raging, the road had long been sealed off, and no one could pass through.
Zhou Qing did not want to forcefully break through the blocked road of the large army, instead opting to take the small mountain path.
Though the journey was longer this way, it was safer.
After traveling like this for more than ten days, he finally left the mountain road of Wushan Prefecture. Once out, he arrived in Dongting County’s Tianmen Prefecture.
Upon arriving in Tianmen Prefecture, Zhou Qing initially thought that this area under the court’s jurisdiction should be more stable and prosperous compared to Xichuan.
However, upon arrival, he realized that the place he had just visited a few months ago had become as dangerous and unstable as Xichuan County.
With great confusion, he inquired about the situation locally, only to receive shocking news.
“The Poison Sect has rebelled?”
The entire Xichuan County is surrounded by mountains, the whole county enveloped by them and forming a basin.
As a result, once the key roads leading into the county were blocked, information from other counties would be very difficult to get in.
Futhermore, in order to prevent the people within the Pseudo-Shu from colluding with the Yue People’s Court, Pseudo Emperor Li Xiong deliberately blocked the roads, hindering communication between the two sides. Since the capture of Linjiang Prefecture a few months ago, information from the outside world has been unable to reach Xichuan.
As a result, no one in Xichuan was aware of the major news like the rebellion of the Poison Sect.
The Poison Sect was the number one sect in Dongting County, with the faint reputation of being Tianmen’s martial arts leader. Moreover, due to their special status among the Miao People, their rebellion would certainly be of a grand scale.
“My master and Teacher Sun are both serving as officials in Wugang County. At the time when they were pacifying the county, my master had killed many Miao People. Now that the Miao People have risen in rebellion and carry such old grudges, the Poison Sect will certainly not let my master go..”