Post by Bai T'seng on Jul 19, 2010 17:55:29 GMT
The jewel of Jingzhou, Xiang Yang! A humongous city, an impregnable fortress, a bustling hub of trade. The lord Liu Biao was fortunate indeed to have been given these lands to rule over. For years the lands had prospered, and now, despite the droughts of the north, despite the rebellion that shook the north, the south was flourishing. Some claimed it was the fertile land, some claimed it was the good government. Let the fools talk, all whom possessed knowledge knew it to be because of one man, Lang Dengwei.
The Mogul of Chu he preferred to be called, yes, he was a 'The'. As in the greatest, or so he fancied himself. True, the man possessed a lot of business contacts and had amassed a large fortune in trade, foodstuffs, cloth, pots, oil. These were some of his ventures, and to the public, his only known ones as well.
The man gave to charity quite liberally, and his trade reached from Xiang Yang all the way down Chu to Nan Hai, and recently it had begun to expand northwards through Xin Ye to Wancheng. The people, for all they knew, the man was a saint. He supplied them with their needs and wants, and gave them money back as well.
But there was another side to the charity man few knew, Lang Dengwei, merchant of death. That was a lesser-known and seldom-uttered title for the man. He had foundries that produced arms in secret for Liu Biao. People might have wondered how Liu Biao had managed to keep criminals in check all this time without any extra funding diverted to security forces and the army, but with Dengwei showering them in glittering golden coin, luxuriant silk and sumptuous foods, people did not care, even if they knew. It was because Dengwei supplied weapons cheaply to Liu Biao's forces, the extras, well, they were sold as well, but to whom, nobody could say.
The man had also stepped on quite a many toes on his climb to the top of the merchant game in Chu. Bribery, bullying, butchery, barbarism, he knew no bounds. Often times a merchant would get fed up with Dengwei and would threaten to leave his cadre of producers and suppliers, often times that man would leave town abruptly, either in a cart or on horseback.
Recently, there was upheaval to the south in Chang Sha. A self-styled Lord of Bandits had seized control of the city in a coup and killed the governor. Since then, the city had been suffering under high taxes, oppressive governance and much to Dengwei's dismay, a lack of his goods. What was more was that Chang Sha was the choke point through the mountains to Nan Hai. So this man had to be removed.
What fewer still knew was that Dengwei, the scoundrel had paid this man off and many of the guards to revolt and overtake the city and depose the Han governor there, whom held a commerce tax on all merchants there. Dengwei didn't like anybody cutting into what he perceived was his share of the gold, which would be any and all of it! Struck blind by greed he sent his agents to try and bribe the man he had funded and armed, in an attempt to weasel his way out of fighting. Though, much to the chagrin of Dengwei's puppet-gone-rogue the agents simply handed the gold over. The bandit lord took the gold and sent the agents back with promises of submission, only to continue his regime in Chang Sha. Now struck with anger, Dengwei did what he tried to avoid. He was going to have what he wanted at any cost! He hired 600 fighting men, militia and local hunters to go crush the bandits. Being the cheap skate he is though, he knew they would fight cheaply, yet would probably die in combat. He'd need to incite a revolt in Chang Sha against the bandit king, luckily his agents were still inside the city and had found ways to consort with the men on the outside. Letters trickled in to Dengwei about the workings of the bandit king's court; finally an opportunity! The leader of Chang Sha had many detractors amongst his old kin, chief among which were two men, Feng Huanqi and Ou Xing. It seemed he had invited the two to have a banquet with them only to try killing them, unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, in Dengwei's eyes at least, they escaped. So the bandit king was preparing his meager forces to go out, kill his rivals and assimilate their's and the rest of the bandits around northern Jingnan into his army.
Time was drawing short, if he could do this, Dengwei would lose the southern trade routes, which was arguably the lion's share of his business empire. And who knows what might happen if the brigand actually acquired a foothold in Chang Sha.
Yes, this is perfect. He goes out to campaign, we sneak in, cause riot and I'll send some hapless fools out to kill him and his enemies in the meantime. Now, all I need to do is find a strongman to lead the militia to Chang Sha.
The snake hissed to himself, and what was this? One such strongman had appeared in Xin Ye, and had already worked for him, indirectly, but worked for him nonetheless. He'd go to Xin Ye and hire this man himself.
"So, will you help me? You see, I am a philanthropist after all, the same as you."
The bastard spoke after delivering a spiel about being the friend of the people.
Hook, line and sinker, or was it? Time would tell. For then though, Bai T'seng had gone to Chang Sha to defeat the bandit king, Huolin Zhufu.
This was over two weeks ago.
How do we know this? Dengwei, being a meticulous little schemer kept detailed records of his plots. Records that have since fallen into the hands of virtue.
Presently...
"Good god! What is in this cloth," Dengwei inquired with a nasally voice, he had pinched his noise after getting a whiff of T'seng's present.
"You think this is bad? I had to RIDE here with it, have a look at this beauty, courtesy of our bandit lord," T'seng retorted as he pulled the cloth. The knot he had tied came undone and the head was exposed.
Dengwei grimaced and looked away, then he slowly turned his head back and with a sheepish grin he spoke back, "This is his... head? You actually KILLED him? Well, it seems I owe you some money then."
T'seng held his hand up to silence the man, "Hold on a second, tell me what's happening with the city we 'liberated'," T'seng put special emphasis on the word liberated, to make it known he questioned Dengwei's intent in all of this.
"There's not much to tell really, the Han should be sending someone to replace the man Huolin Zhufu deposed. Why should you concern yourself?"
"Oh, no reason," T'seng said, taking a few steps back from the table and putting his hands on his hips, "Except for maybe the news of the riots that have been happening non-stop since Zhufu has been killed," he said, raising his voice with each word. T'seng knew revolt would be incited as soon as Huolin Zhufu had been dealt with in order to get the city out of bandit hands. But he was under the impression that Dengwei would help stabilize the city. Now, it was in open chaos, left open to attack by the brigands.
“So why should you care? Your work is done, your contract expired. That is my business now, so go back to Xin Ye and leave well enough alone.”
For some reason, T’seng couldn’t just leave well enough alone, not while Chang Sha was in open turmoil. He felt responsible for the problems facing the city at present. It was he whom had accepted contract from this man, friend of the people or not, he certainly didn’t show it now. Where was his support for the people? Done and gone in the wind?
”My mistake then, it seems I failed to judge your character properly, Lang Dengwei. I will, in the future, be more scrutinizing of the people I work for, especially if this is the result.”
T’seng moved to exit the room when Dengwei stood, he waved his hand and two guards moved forward to block the door. T’seng had a sinking sensation in the pit of his gut, and his head pounded. One betrayal after another, huh? “I’m afraid I simply cannot allow you to leave like this, friend,” the word ‘friend’ was dripping with malice, “what kind of employer would I be if I didn’t allow you to take payment? Men, kill him!”
It didn’t take much to rub Dengwei the wrong way. T’seng had had enough of this, consorting with Dengwei was bad enough, but now, to become a victim? No, he would not have this. T’seng jumped back and drew his sword while airborne, one guard was cut forcefully across the gut, dropping to his knees. The other moved to draw his sword, but T’seng kicked him and put his weight into hit, sending him through the door out into the hall of the building T’seng was meeting Dengwei in. The guard sprawled out onto the floor, dazed for a second. T’seng turned on Dengwei, who by his expression obviously did not expect resistance. He tried to speak but a string of syllables exited his mouth, it seemed coward’s voices failed them in the moment of trial. T’seng ran Dengwei through and yanked the dao clean from his gut. Dengwei gasped for air and fell backwards, knocking over a chair. T’seng knew he’d have a few seconds to grab anything he needed and then make a run for it. Dengwei most certainly didn’t have just two henchmen, and no doubt his business ‘partners’ if they could even be called that, and not just underlings, would be out to seek his blood in the meantime. Though, given the nature of these kinds of men, he suspected their greed would lead them to try and unify a fractured business empire before coming after him. Nevertheless, he needed to leave immediately.
The guard in the hall had come back up to his feet and yelled, “Dengwei has been killed! Everybody, help me get this guy!” He then ran into the room through the door, catching a few splinters from where he had been kicked through it. T’seng spun around on his heel, cutting this guard across the diaphragm and pushed his shoulder into the wound, placing one foot behind the guard’s leg and pushing. The guard fell back onto the floor, clutching his gut, bleeding like a stuck pig. T’seng turned and grabbed up a few small books on the table Dengwei had been sitting at. Hopefully if he needed it, they’d contain information that could incriminate Dengwei if Liu Biao wanted to come after him. He then went through Dengwei’s robes and found two small bags of gold. He tucked all of that into his belt and began to run out the door and down the hall; the gold jittering in the bags, emitting a clinking sound with every footfall. They’d know where he was, put T’seng was banking on the fact that Dengwei’s men amounted to nothing more than mere thugs and wouldn’t be able to defeat him in combat. He’d push his way straight through to the outside if he had to. He only hoped his horse hadn’t been taken from the stable by the snake Dengwei in the meantime.
Clink, clink, clink, clink, the sound kept coming, T’seng slowed down as he neared a corner. He heard footsteps, jogging. “Come on, he probably went this way!”
”This is not good. If they get me surrounded, things won’t end up too nicely. Better hide somewhere.
About the time he finished that train of thought, he caught sight of a closet, he sheathed his sword, put a hand on the gold bags to keep the gold from jittering and walked over to it. He slid the door open, stepped inside, and shut the door. He could he hear the footsteps of the guards drawing near, he held his breath.
“Damn, split up, he can’t have gone far. Call out if you see him, one of you stay at this intersection.”
T’seng’s heart skipped a beat as he heard those words, a fight would almost certainly be on his hands, and if he didn’t hurry, Dengwei’s men would seal off the building. He listened to the footsteps trail off in all directions and the breath of the man outside. If he was fast enough, T’seng could probably kill him and make for the exit.
He slid open the door and drew his dao fast, he kicked the guard into the wall and stepped out. He then thrust the dao through his spine and clasped his hand over the man’s mouth; a faint yelp was all he said before departing to the afterlife. The clink of gold coins and the thump of yet another empty body on the floor were all the noise that could be heard. T’seng kept his dao at the ready in his right, clasped the gold coins once more and took off down the hall on the left. He ran full speed, the guard that went this way roared into sight, obviously startled. T’seng brought the dao down across the guard’s face, killing him and stepping over his body he continued onward. T’seng burst through the door at the end of the hallway and out into a courtyard. He ran for the exit, hearing the shouts of men chasing him.
“Hurry, don’t let him get away! Shut the gate, shut the gate!”
T’seng ran through the still open gate and bolted for the stables. People stared at him in the street, a man in full armor, sword drawn, holding bags full of gold coins with notebooks stuffed in his belts, sprinting at full speed away from a courtyard with armed men chasing him. What a sight! Luckily T’seng was quicker than the average thug, he made it to the stables, dropping one bag of coins at the stable boy’s feet.
T’seng sheathed his sword and mounted his horse, grabbing his halberd from the pitchfork rack, he spoke, ”Run kid, don’t let them catch you or you’ll be dead before dawn!” The stable boy picked up the gold, noting the graveness of T’seng’s voice. They took off in opposite directions, T’seng heading for the gate to Xin Ye, the boy for his home.
T’seng needed to find somebody to take shelter of in Xin Ye, or else Dengwei’s henchmen would find him there.
END.
The Mogul of Chu he preferred to be called, yes, he was a 'The'. As in the greatest, or so he fancied himself. True, the man possessed a lot of business contacts and had amassed a large fortune in trade, foodstuffs, cloth, pots, oil. These were some of his ventures, and to the public, his only known ones as well.
The man gave to charity quite liberally, and his trade reached from Xiang Yang all the way down Chu to Nan Hai, and recently it had begun to expand northwards through Xin Ye to Wancheng. The people, for all they knew, the man was a saint. He supplied them with their needs and wants, and gave them money back as well.
But there was another side to the charity man few knew, Lang Dengwei, merchant of death. That was a lesser-known and seldom-uttered title for the man. He had foundries that produced arms in secret for Liu Biao. People might have wondered how Liu Biao had managed to keep criminals in check all this time without any extra funding diverted to security forces and the army, but with Dengwei showering them in glittering golden coin, luxuriant silk and sumptuous foods, people did not care, even if they knew. It was because Dengwei supplied weapons cheaply to Liu Biao's forces, the extras, well, they were sold as well, but to whom, nobody could say.
The man had also stepped on quite a many toes on his climb to the top of the merchant game in Chu. Bribery, bullying, butchery, barbarism, he knew no bounds. Often times a merchant would get fed up with Dengwei and would threaten to leave his cadre of producers and suppliers, often times that man would leave town abruptly, either in a cart or on horseback.
Recently, there was upheaval to the south in Chang Sha. A self-styled Lord of Bandits had seized control of the city in a coup and killed the governor. Since then, the city had been suffering under high taxes, oppressive governance and much to Dengwei's dismay, a lack of his goods. What was more was that Chang Sha was the choke point through the mountains to Nan Hai. So this man had to be removed.
What fewer still knew was that Dengwei, the scoundrel had paid this man off and many of the guards to revolt and overtake the city and depose the Han governor there, whom held a commerce tax on all merchants there. Dengwei didn't like anybody cutting into what he perceived was his share of the gold, which would be any and all of it! Struck blind by greed he sent his agents to try and bribe the man he had funded and armed, in an attempt to weasel his way out of fighting. Though, much to the chagrin of Dengwei's puppet-gone-rogue the agents simply handed the gold over. The bandit lord took the gold and sent the agents back with promises of submission, only to continue his regime in Chang Sha. Now struck with anger, Dengwei did what he tried to avoid. He was going to have what he wanted at any cost! He hired 600 fighting men, militia and local hunters to go crush the bandits. Being the cheap skate he is though, he knew they would fight cheaply, yet would probably die in combat. He'd need to incite a revolt in Chang Sha against the bandit king, luckily his agents were still inside the city and had found ways to consort with the men on the outside. Letters trickled in to Dengwei about the workings of the bandit king's court; finally an opportunity! The leader of Chang Sha had many detractors amongst his old kin, chief among which were two men, Feng Huanqi and Ou Xing. It seemed he had invited the two to have a banquet with them only to try killing them, unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, in Dengwei's eyes at least, they escaped. So the bandit king was preparing his meager forces to go out, kill his rivals and assimilate their's and the rest of the bandits around northern Jingnan into his army.
Time was drawing short, if he could do this, Dengwei would lose the southern trade routes, which was arguably the lion's share of his business empire. And who knows what might happen if the brigand actually acquired a foothold in Chang Sha.
Yes, this is perfect. He goes out to campaign, we sneak in, cause riot and I'll send some hapless fools out to kill him and his enemies in the meantime. Now, all I need to do is find a strongman to lead the militia to Chang Sha.
The snake hissed to himself, and what was this? One such strongman had appeared in Xin Ye, and had already worked for him, indirectly, but worked for him nonetheless. He'd go to Xin Ye and hire this man himself.
"So, will you help me? You see, I am a philanthropist after all, the same as you."
The bastard spoke after delivering a spiel about being the friend of the people.
Hook, line and sinker, or was it? Time would tell. For then though, Bai T'seng had gone to Chang Sha to defeat the bandit king, Huolin Zhufu.
This was over two weeks ago.
How do we know this? Dengwei, being a meticulous little schemer kept detailed records of his plots. Records that have since fallen into the hands of virtue.
Presently...
"Good god! What is in this cloth," Dengwei inquired with a nasally voice, he had pinched his noise after getting a whiff of T'seng's present.
"You think this is bad? I had to RIDE here with it, have a look at this beauty, courtesy of our bandit lord," T'seng retorted as he pulled the cloth. The knot he had tied came undone and the head was exposed.
Dengwei grimaced and looked away, then he slowly turned his head back and with a sheepish grin he spoke back, "This is his... head? You actually KILLED him? Well, it seems I owe you some money then."
T'seng held his hand up to silence the man, "Hold on a second, tell me what's happening with the city we 'liberated'," T'seng put special emphasis on the word liberated, to make it known he questioned Dengwei's intent in all of this.
"There's not much to tell really, the Han should be sending someone to replace the man Huolin Zhufu deposed. Why should you concern yourself?"
"Oh, no reason," T'seng said, taking a few steps back from the table and putting his hands on his hips, "Except for maybe the news of the riots that have been happening non-stop since Zhufu has been killed," he said, raising his voice with each word. T'seng knew revolt would be incited as soon as Huolin Zhufu had been dealt with in order to get the city out of bandit hands. But he was under the impression that Dengwei would help stabilize the city. Now, it was in open chaos, left open to attack by the brigands.
“So why should you care? Your work is done, your contract expired. That is my business now, so go back to Xin Ye and leave well enough alone.”
For some reason, T’seng couldn’t just leave well enough alone, not while Chang Sha was in open turmoil. He felt responsible for the problems facing the city at present. It was he whom had accepted contract from this man, friend of the people or not, he certainly didn’t show it now. Where was his support for the people? Done and gone in the wind?
”My mistake then, it seems I failed to judge your character properly, Lang Dengwei. I will, in the future, be more scrutinizing of the people I work for, especially if this is the result.”
T’seng moved to exit the room when Dengwei stood, he waved his hand and two guards moved forward to block the door. T’seng had a sinking sensation in the pit of his gut, and his head pounded. One betrayal after another, huh? “I’m afraid I simply cannot allow you to leave like this, friend,” the word ‘friend’ was dripping with malice, “what kind of employer would I be if I didn’t allow you to take payment? Men, kill him!”
It didn’t take much to rub Dengwei the wrong way. T’seng had had enough of this, consorting with Dengwei was bad enough, but now, to become a victim? No, he would not have this. T’seng jumped back and drew his sword while airborne, one guard was cut forcefully across the gut, dropping to his knees. The other moved to draw his sword, but T’seng kicked him and put his weight into hit, sending him through the door out into the hall of the building T’seng was meeting Dengwei in. The guard sprawled out onto the floor, dazed for a second. T’seng turned on Dengwei, who by his expression obviously did not expect resistance. He tried to speak but a string of syllables exited his mouth, it seemed coward’s voices failed them in the moment of trial. T’seng ran Dengwei through and yanked the dao clean from his gut. Dengwei gasped for air and fell backwards, knocking over a chair. T’seng knew he’d have a few seconds to grab anything he needed and then make a run for it. Dengwei most certainly didn’t have just two henchmen, and no doubt his business ‘partners’ if they could even be called that, and not just underlings, would be out to seek his blood in the meantime. Though, given the nature of these kinds of men, he suspected their greed would lead them to try and unify a fractured business empire before coming after him. Nevertheless, he needed to leave immediately.
The guard in the hall had come back up to his feet and yelled, “Dengwei has been killed! Everybody, help me get this guy!” He then ran into the room through the door, catching a few splinters from where he had been kicked through it. T’seng spun around on his heel, cutting this guard across the diaphragm and pushed his shoulder into the wound, placing one foot behind the guard’s leg and pushing. The guard fell back onto the floor, clutching his gut, bleeding like a stuck pig. T’seng turned and grabbed up a few small books on the table Dengwei had been sitting at. Hopefully if he needed it, they’d contain information that could incriminate Dengwei if Liu Biao wanted to come after him. He then went through Dengwei’s robes and found two small bags of gold. He tucked all of that into his belt and began to run out the door and down the hall; the gold jittering in the bags, emitting a clinking sound with every footfall. They’d know where he was, put T’seng was banking on the fact that Dengwei’s men amounted to nothing more than mere thugs and wouldn’t be able to defeat him in combat. He’d push his way straight through to the outside if he had to. He only hoped his horse hadn’t been taken from the stable by the snake Dengwei in the meantime.
Clink, clink, clink, clink, the sound kept coming, T’seng slowed down as he neared a corner. He heard footsteps, jogging. “Come on, he probably went this way!”
”This is not good. If they get me surrounded, things won’t end up too nicely. Better hide somewhere.
About the time he finished that train of thought, he caught sight of a closet, he sheathed his sword, put a hand on the gold bags to keep the gold from jittering and walked over to it. He slid the door open, stepped inside, and shut the door. He could he hear the footsteps of the guards drawing near, he held his breath.
“Damn, split up, he can’t have gone far. Call out if you see him, one of you stay at this intersection.”
T’seng’s heart skipped a beat as he heard those words, a fight would almost certainly be on his hands, and if he didn’t hurry, Dengwei’s men would seal off the building. He listened to the footsteps trail off in all directions and the breath of the man outside. If he was fast enough, T’seng could probably kill him and make for the exit.
He slid open the door and drew his dao fast, he kicked the guard into the wall and stepped out. He then thrust the dao through his spine and clasped his hand over the man’s mouth; a faint yelp was all he said before departing to the afterlife. The clink of gold coins and the thump of yet another empty body on the floor were all the noise that could be heard. T’seng kept his dao at the ready in his right, clasped the gold coins once more and took off down the hall on the left. He ran full speed, the guard that went this way roared into sight, obviously startled. T’seng brought the dao down across the guard’s face, killing him and stepping over his body he continued onward. T’seng burst through the door at the end of the hallway and out into a courtyard. He ran for the exit, hearing the shouts of men chasing him.
“Hurry, don’t let him get away! Shut the gate, shut the gate!”
T’seng ran through the still open gate and bolted for the stables. People stared at him in the street, a man in full armor, sword drawn, holding bags full of gold coins with notebooks stuffed in his belts, sprinting at full speed away from a courtyard with armed men chasing him. What a sight! Luckily T’seng was quicker than the average thug, he made it to the stables, dropping one bag of coins at the stable boy’s feet.
T’seng sheathed his sword and mounted his horse, grabbing his halberd from the pitchfork rack, he spoke, ”Run kid, don’t let them catch you or you’ll be dead before dawn!” The stable boy picked up the gold, noting the graveness of T’seng’s voice. They took off in opposite directions, T’seng heading for the gate to Xin Ye, the boy for his home.
T’seng needed to find somebody to take shelter of in Xin Ye, or else Dengwei’s henchmen would find him there.
END.
