Chapter 1 Spring Rain

Spring rain is as precious as oil. If it were just a drizzle, adding a few ripples to the already moist land of Chunnan, it probably wouldn't cause any displeasure. But thunder rumbled. In Yu Hang, some fellows who were so idle that they had memorized the local chronicles and various seasonal calendars had always proclaimed that if Yu Hang had thunder before the fifth month, something bad would inevitably happen that year. Whether big or small, unfortunate things always happened, and these people's predictions never failed. Gradually, this became a legend of Yu Hang.

Broken Snow Bridge was the last stop before entering Yu Hang from the west gate. Broken Snow Bridge was less than six hundred feet from the city gate, allowing a clear view of the length of the inspection queue entering the city, the family and merchant emblems on the carriages coming and going, and even the sounds of laughter from the various people traveling for leisure. And here, there was a teahouse that had existed for about seventy years. Six years ago, the teahouse collapsed during a hurricane in Yu Hang. Since the teahouse seemed to have become a scenic spot outside the west gate of Yu Hang, the most classic waiting place to bid farewell to relatives and friends or to eagerly await someone's arrival, and seemed to have become an unbreakable collective memory of the people of Yu Hang, rebuilding the teahouse was quickly put on the agenda. This kind of small matter, which made those wealthy families wonder if they should bother to break a large banknote, finally fell into the hands of a merchant. It was said that the senior manager had run solo outside in his early years and drifted for too long, so his attachment to the teahouse was particularly deep, and he finally moved everyone involved in the discussion. The new teahouse still looked as simple as ever on the outside, but now, the wooden frame had metal pipes and copper rivets underneath. The wooden boards used as wall panels were also made of the best materials. This small teahouse could be said to be the first metal-framed building completely designed and built by Chunnan people. Compared with the increasingly sophisticated Dongping Construction Company, this might not be something to be too proud of.

In this rainy weather, the teahouse was naturally packed with people. Since the ground was now paved with granite with fine stripes carved into it, although the ground was wet with puddles of water, there was not much worry that guests would slip. The owner and the waiters carefully maneuvered among the guests, occasionally arranging for some guests to share tables. Another group of people stopped at the entrance of the teahouse. The owner couldn't help but feel a headache. Seeing that the shop was already full, this group of people did not rush in. Three high-standard four-wheeled carriages stopped at the door, and the people in the carriages did not seem to want to get out. After those who were riding horses jumped off their horses, some of them stood under the eaves in places where they wouldn't get rained on, while others continued to stand in the rain, guarding the carriages. They hid their sharp eyes and serious faces under the shadows of their bamboo hats. These people who looked like guards had a wide variety of weapons, mostly knives and swords, and two of them were actually using large spears, which looked particularly impressive. However, the large spear, a typical military weapon, was no longer used by many in the armies of either Chunnan or Dongping. Those who continued to use large spears were probably only some Jianghu figures who were skilled in horsemanship and spear thrusts, or some military generals of Xiling. Even those Jianghu people were mostly from military backgrounds. Perhaps it was precisely because of this well-known fact that everyone in the teahouse was particularly curious about the origins of this group of people.

This group of people turned a blind eye to everyone's curiosity. A middle-aged man in a black cloak walked into the teahouse and instructed the owner, "Prepare a few large buckets of hot water for us." Seeing the owner nod quickly and get busy, he took off his already soaked cloak and draped it over the counter.

Seeing the middle-aged man reveal the short knife he wore on his waist, some discerning people couldn't help but gasp. The short knife looked very simple, the only embellishment being the copper-wrapped pattern on the scabbard: a *pixiu* (mythical hybrid creature). This meant that this group of people was from the Residence of the Prince of Juxian. The Prince of Juxian, Chang Hongquan, was cautious and never expressed his opinions easily, and his voice had not been heard outside Jinzhou for many years. But in Jinzhou, the two princes could not interfere at all. Chang Hongquan did not interfere with the troops stationed in Jinzhou by the imperial court, but he controlled Jinzhou by fully using his fiefdom privileges, especially the fiefdom privileges bordering enemy countries: building an army to protect himself. Chang Hongquan also had more than 30,000 elite soldiers in his hands, and what was even more terrifying was that Jinzhou had not had any corvée levies for more than ten years. Those construction projects were all in the form of hired labor, paid for with money. And every year, the corvée was used to gather people for military training. It would probably not be an exaggeration to say that everyone in Jinzhou was a soldier. Unlike other prefectures, which had strict control over civilian possession of weapons, Jinzhou fully adopted the Dongping model, and instead encouraged the people to possess weapons, which further enhanced Jinzhou's local cohesion. To say nothing else, officials and petty officials were obviously much more polite when they went to collect taxes and do things from the people, because the people possessed weapons. The whole Jinzhou model was too much like Dongping. Some people in the court attacked Chang Hongquan, saying that he flattered Dongping and disregarded common sense, but what was Chang Hongquan's status? He was the late emperor's brother. Strictly speaking, he was absolutely qualified to seize the throne from his status. It was just that he never put himself in that position. Now, the Prince of Juxian's men appeared outside Yu Hang City, which made people think deeply.

Among those sitting and waiting in the teahouse, a few people's eyes lit up, and then they returned to their previous wooden appearance. Chang Hongquan was a very peculiar existence in Chunnan. Most people believed that this guy was probably the second richest man in the entire Eastern Earth Continent. The first, of course, was Ye Tao. It was already a miracle to be able to do this in a few decades by his own efforts. Chang Hongquan's wealth came from the accumulation of his family for many years. After all, he was also the most important prince, and he had a considerable amount of assets when he was enfeoffed. And Jinzhou had been constantly built and managed for decades, with land and minerals. Just relying on the continuous operation of Jinzhou's four copper mines and one iron mine for the past twenty years, no one could figure out how much money Chang Hongquan actually had. But the Prince of Juxian never seemed to want to exert his political and economic influence. But at this delicate moment, what did it mean that the Prince of Juxian's men appeared in Yu Hang?

This group of people did not want to seek everyone's understanding. After the large buckets of hot water were brought up, except for one bucket of hot water that was divided into three copper basins and sent into the carriage, the rest of the guards took turns to wash themselves, and lifted their spirits a little. They did not seem to be in a hurry to enter the city.

Not long after, a group of people came from the city and directly greeted them. When everyone in the teahouse saw this, they became even quieter. It was actually Ye Tao's men who had come. This Northern Frontier Pacification Envoy was undoubtedly an important and eye-catching figure in any environment.

"General Jin, I didn't expect you to come in person. I'm really sorry!" When the middle-aged man saw Jin Ze, he quickly greeted him and bowed his hands in greeting.

"Not at all, it's the duty of us officials to welcome Princess Chang Huaiyin's arrival. My wife originally wanted to come in person, but it's raining today, so it's not very convenient after all. I was even afraid of being impolite." Jin Ze said with a chuckle.

Chang Huaiyin had come… This time, Chang Huaiyin came to Yu Hang mainly to meet her childhood friend Tan Wei Shi, and afterwards, she also planned to go to Danyang, Yicheng, Gondor, and other places for a good trip. Of course, arriving at this location at this time was not purely for fun. Chang Hongquan's attitude was very important now. The two princes had both tried to persuade the Prince of Juxian to join their camp, but neither had succeeded. That was because Chang Hongquan had already chosen a camp. Ye Tao's special envoy had long ago told Chang Hongquan about Dongping's specific strategies, and also explained that once the continent was unified, Jinzhou would no longer be his fiefdom, but he would assist in governing the Chunnan border. Chunnan's territory was not small, and it would be divided into three pacification zones in the future, and Chang Hongquan would be the most important one, including Yu Hang. The attraction of pacifying a war that had been fought intermittently for nearly hundreds of years and returning to a unified continent was much more attractive to Chang Hongquan than becoming a pawn of His Highness the Crown Prince or His Highness the Second Prince. In addition, the Song family, who had had many exchanges with Ye Tao in the early years, would also fully cooperate with all of Ye Tao's actions. And Ye Tao would give them generous rewards in return. The Song family was now a member of the Nine Provinces Chamber of Commerce and the Seven Seas Chamber of Commerce. The benefits in commerce alone were substantial. And in the future, Ye Tao and Tan Xiao Pei would give the Song family benefits commensurate with their contributions. After years of influence and planning, the situation in Chunnan had long been leveraged by Ye Tao.

Chang Huaiyin was naturally not suitable to leave with the Dongping delegation, but as long as she stayed in Yu Hang and said a few words, she would be able to help the Second Prince stabilize the situation, and the role she played would be very significant. And in Chang Huaiyin's convoy, there was another group of people who had come to see Ye Tao hidden. In a carriage, was hidden Lei Huang, the sect leader of the Thunder Sound Demon Sect. The Thunder Sound Demon Sect's strongest force, the Sect Demon Troupe, also had two squads of twenty-four people, who had quietly followed and arrived in Yu Hang. Different tasks meant different methods. Ye Tao's residence was too closely watched. Following Chang Huaiyin's convoy could easily enter and leave Ye Tao's residence without being checked or suspected. But if Lei Huang went there himself, it would be difficult to say. Especially since Lei Huang was not the kind of leader known for his superb skills.

The arrival of the Sect Demon Troupe in Yu Hang made Ye Tao feel more confident. Ye Tao was not satisfied with Chang Huaiyin's early arrival in Yu Hang. He had hoped that she could intervene in the situation as Chang Hongquan's representative, a more detached identity, after the dust had settled, rather than being involved now. But all in all, Ye Tao would not be afraid of this situation. However, with the Sect Demon Troupe, it was actually more advantageous. The fighting power of the Sect Demon Troupe was not comparable to that of guards and Jianghu people. The guards had experienced too few battles, and they could not be said to have much experience in surprise attacks, assassinations, stealth, and retreats. The Sect Demon Troupe was different. In terms of skill, they were not weaker than the people in the Guard Camp, but their combat experience and combat will were much stronger. The Sect Demon Troupe had made a name for themselves in Xiling. The twenty-four Sect Demon Troupe warriors would be able to play a surprisingly significant role at that time.