'Does Yuwen Tong know about the conflict between Ling family and the Prefecture Guards?'

Staring speechless at one another, all four deputy commanders felt that the matter of Ling family had become tricky.

It would take only a minor mistake for them to make an enemy of Yuwen Tong, which would leave them in the most unfavorable situation. Currently, even the emperor had to give precedence to Yuwen Tong out of courtesy under certain circumstances. Surely they didn't dare cross Yuwen Tong, confronting the tough with toughness. Even a fool knew they didn't stand a chance. Yuwen Tong was no soft target!

'Now that a frontal attack is not a choice, I'll have to figure out another way.'

Zhang Chong stood up. "I'm a bit of a boor and I have little acquaintance with courtesy, but Marshal and Childe Ling can count on me coming here with lavish presents and my soldiers to congratulate you on your wedding day."

"Yes. We can also be counted on bringing liberal gifts here to congratulate Marshal and Childe Ling on your wedding day."

Four deputy commanders raced to stand up and made a promise.

"Previously, I failed to recognize Jia family for who they are and fell prey to their instigation. Although people of Jia family had been convicted and jailed, my conscience still stands guilty. Fortunately I didn't wrong any good people in a moment of impulsion. Otherwise, I won't be able to atone for my guilt even if I die ten thousand times.

Childe Ling, please forgive me if any previous deeds of the Prefecture Guards offended you or your family. From now on, the Prefecture Guards will be Ling family's most powerful backer. If Ling family encounters any difficulties, please feel free to contact me. I swear I'll do everything I can to help Childe Ling out."

Zhang Chong made the first half of his remarks in an apologetic tone, and then sincerely staked out his position. If it weren't for the fact that Ling Zhang still had memories of what happened in his last life, he would probably have been moved by Zhang Chong's knowing when to yield and when not.

Unfortunately, Ling Zhang had long ago found out what kind of person Zhang Chong actually was, and Zhang Chong owed him a huge debt of blood, which was impossible to be repaid with one or two remarks.

"You spoke so seriously and strongly that I feel embarrassed, Commander Zhang. I'm your junior and unworthy of such courtesy and kindness of yours. Besides, there have not really been any conflicts between Ling family and the Prefecture Guards, and I actually admire Commander Zhang."

'Who doesn't know any polite formulas? And the time to shed all pretences of cordiality has not come yet anyway. It'll take only a couple of more days' wait for me to get my wish, so why bother angering Zhang Chong on this occasion?' Ling Zhang thought.

Ling Zhang's tactful remarks made Zhang Chong feel very pleased. The four deputy commanders also secretly felt relieved, thinking that it was very fortunate of them not to have carried out those plans they had formulated to undercut Ling family's position, otherwise things might end ugly on this day.

However, they had come to understand the situation, but Tao Feng was reduced to confusion. 'Is Ling Zhang trying to... make peace with Zhang Chong? If Ling family and Zhang Chong write off all their old scores, won't I be left with a hopeless future? Will the Prefecture Yamen by any chance never be rid of the repression of Zhang Chong?'

Tao Feng's eyebrows slightly furrowed. As Zhang Chong saw this, a faint sneer of complacency flashed across his eyes.

'Tao Feng intends to use Yuwen Tong to deal with me? Humph. Even Yuwen Tong himself doesn't want to come into conflict with the Prefecture Guards of Tanyang for no good reason. That Ling Zhang is fairly tactful, yet this Tao Feng really thinks he can turn the tide and be the boss? Wake up, dude.'

The hostility glinting in the eyes of Tao Feng and Zhang Chong when they made eye contact didn't escape the notice of Ling Zhang whose senses were becoming more and more acute, let alone Yuwen Tong.

Both of the two men kept silent, pretending that they didn't see it at all.

And then the mood in the ante-room became relaxed and friendly. Though Tao Feng was displeased with Ling Zhang's stand, he wouldn't show it on his face. Zhang Chong made several attempts to sound out Yuwen Tong about what he had done during his stay in Tanyang, but Yuwen Tong tactfully evaded the issue and Zhang Chong didn't get any information.

Half a day past. There were more and more onlookers gathering at the gateway of the residence of Ling family, but Zhang Chong and Tao Feng had never come out, and there had not been any signs of particular activity either, which left all lookers-on perplexed about what was happening in Ling family. The longer they were kept in suspense, the more curious they grew, and the more speculations they made.

Unlike these residents, servants of Ling family were all trembling in fear, involuntarily keeping their breathing shallow.

'Lord Yuwen, that mysterious, honored guest that has been living in this mansion all along is none other than Marshal Yuwen!'

'That is Marshal Yuwen!'

'My goodness. I've got to be in a dream!'

Those servants who had talked with Yuwen Tong couldn't even concentrate their attention on what they were doing. 'I talked with Marshal Yuwen! The spirit of one of my ancestors must have manifested and this is a blessing from him!'

"Elder Brother Wang, is that man really Marshal Yuwen?!"

Security guards in the guards' yard had been wild with excitement for quite some time. 'That's Marshal Yuwen! I scrapped with Marshal Yuwen!"

It didn't matter whether they were in a dream or not, because in neither of the cases could they believe this.

"Yeah. In the flesh." As the only one who had been informed of the true identity of Yuwen Tong long ago, Wang Dashan was in absolute composure.

All others admired him very much. 'Elder Brother Wang's reputation is well-earned. No wonder he was named captain. He's far more poised than us."

Enjoying the admiration in other people's gaze, Wang Dashan involuntarily threw his chest out, saying, "What's there to be surprised at? If it comes to the knowledge of Marshal Yuwen that your minds are so easily boggled, he will definitely hurl another torrent of criticism at you."

Hearing this, the others hurriedly subdued their shock and tried to make themselves seem collected.

"You are right, Elder Brother Wang. If Marshal Yuwen finds out that we made such a fuss about this, he will surely scold us."

"Yeah. Don't let Marshal Yuwen look down upon us."

"That's right. We–We can't make Young Master feel embarrassed."

All of them started discussing so animatedly that anybody could tell they had not calmed down at all. They were just expressing their shock in a different way.

Before they knew the true identity of Yuwen Tong, they had just felt that Lord Yuwen's kung fu was very good, and they more or less had borne grudges against him. And each of them had the intention to get even with Yuwen Tong for the humiliating defeat he had inflicted on them. After all, anybody would feel unconvinced after being exposed to ridicule from someone who was indeed more powerful.

But now, they had been told that Lord Yuwen was actually Yuwen Tong. Grudges? They didn't even remember what that word meant. All of them began talking about how they performed the Trap-and-kill Formation to fight with Yuwen Tong on that day. Each and every one of the details that had already fallen vague suddenly became distinct and vivid. They talked about the fight again and again. The one who had exchanged the most moves with Marshal Yuwen during that fight would probably keep bragging about it for a whole day — no, a whole year.

Among the crowd, Liu Yi was the most composed other than Wang Dashan, but since he had always been like this, this reaction of his didn't strike any of the others as strange.

Liu Yi's composure was the that-accounts-for-it kind of composure. On that day, after merely exchanging a couple of moves with Liu Yi, Yuwen Tong found out that he was deliberately concealing part of his strength, and then Ling Zhang became suspicious of him, so he had felt wronged all along, but he couldn't tell anybody about it.

"Bro, I know you must be shocked as well. There's no need to subdue it. Just spit it out. I'm not going to laugh at you," said Wang Dashan in a very considerate tone of voice, who had just walked over and thrown a reassuring arm around Liu Yi's shoulders.

Liu Yi fell speechless with embarrassment.

"Elder Brother Wang, did you actually find out about the identity of Marshal Yuwen some time ago?"

Wang Dashan hurriedly let out a cough. Others were still excitedly talking about their fight with Marshal Yuwen that day and were too occupied to notice other things, which relieved Wang Dashan. He lowered his voice and told Liu Yi, "It was merely a couple of days ago that this matter came into my knowledge. Young Master told me to keep it to myself."

"I know. It's not that I want to blame you," Liu Yi said. "Is it true tha–that Young Master is engaged to Marshal Yuwen?"

Wang Dashan rounded his eyes and hurriedly looked around. Then he asked in a muted, nervous voice, "How did you know?"

Having mixed feelings, Liu Yi looked at him. "It was me who brought the news back just now. Who did you think told them about this?"

Wang Dashan scratched his head. "Yeah... I almost forgot.

But you must not disclose this to another person. Young Master wants this to stay secret."

Liu Yi watched him, his feelings still mixed. "I'm afraid it won't be long before news of this matter spreads through the whole Tanyang — no, the whole Great Yue and neighboring countries as well."

Wang Dashan widened his mouth in shock, asking, "How come?"

"Servants who went to the ante-room to serve tea have already known, and I think servants working in the rear yard have come to know about this as well. It is rumored that this news has also spread across the whole capital city. Soon it'll reach Tanyang."

Light suddenly dawned on Wang Dashan and he nodded. "I see. You nearly scared me to death. I thought there was a leak."

"So Young Master is really engaged to Marshal Yuwen," observed Liu Yi in a positive tone.

"I think he is. Young Master didn't deny it that day," said Wang Dashan. Then he chuckled, "It has never crossed my mind that some day, I, Wang Dashan, would also get to ride the crest of wave."

Liu Yi looked at him in disbelief.

Wang Dashan continued on his own account, "Young Master is engaged to Marshal Yuwen. Judging from the closeness between them I've observed during these days, they will definitely get married. Doesn't it mean that we, Young Master's henchmen, will become Marshal Yuwen's henchmen?"

Liu Yi kept silent for a moment and then commented, "Elder Brother Wang, you're overthinking it."

"Overthinking it? No, I'm not." Wang Dashan believed that he didn't overthink this matter at all. On the contrary, he felt that he was thinking too little about it. 'Given that Marshal Yuwen went so far to defend Young Master in the teahouse that day, he must like Young Master very much. As Young Master's henchmen, as long as we loyally serve Young Master, Marshal Yuwen will surely think differently of us. Maybe we would even get a chance to fight a war with him some day!' thought Wang Dashan.

Wang Dashan couldn't help but fall into his own fantasies. Liu Yi slightly shook his head and heaved a sigh of resignation. Then he also started pondering something.

Ling Zhang was unaware of the shock that all people in his family had been thrown into. Sitting in the ante-room of Ling family, Tao Feng and Zhang Chong didn't dare to stand up to leave, as if there was paste on the chairs they were sitting on and their robes had been stuck on them.

Originally, Ling Zhang had become impatient, but then he recalled the situation on the Grand Mang Mountain and decided to show more patience, believing that maybe Zhang Chong would miss some important intelligence reports if he stayed in Ling family for a longer time, which would buy Yao Yi and others some more time.

"Marshal, may I ask if you could spare some time and live in the Prefecture Encampment for a couple of days so that soldiers who long to see you can behold your dignified demeanor?"

"Yeah, Marshal. If they know they get to see you, they'll definitely be too excited to sleep at night."

Zhang Chong and his four deputy commanders invited Yuwen Tong to go to the Prefecture Encampment. They showed such enthusiasm that it seemed as if they really wished Yuwen Tong to go there.

In the dark prison of the Prefecture Yamen, apart from flaming torches positioned at intervals along the corridor, a peephole about the size of a bowl was the only source of light. The whole place was damp and foul-smelling. Anybody who was locked up in here would feel very miserable.

Jia Yin, his wife and some of his relatives were the only ones from Jia family that were still in this prison. Servants and handmaids found not guilty had been released, and those found guilty had also been convicted and then transferred elsewhere. Despair on the faces of Mrs. Jia and others deepened as servants and handmaids left one after another. At first, they had still had enough strength to hurl curse, but after a couple of days, anger in them was gradually replaced by fear and they fell powerless to swear.

Jia Yin was restrained in a separate cell. He had been sentenced to death. When the time came, he would be beheaded at the entrance of the food market.

Waiting to meet his end was distressful. During the first few days of the custody, Jia Yin had managed to maintain his pretence of composure by dint of the resentment and indignation bubbling beneath the surface, but as the execution day drew near, Jia Yin finally began to panic.

He didn't want to die, so he made an attempt to escape.

With some finesse, he managed to make contact with a prison guard. When he was finally on conversational terms with the prison guard, Jia Yin stated his intention to escape and promised to give the prison guard a lot of treasure if he helped him successfully get out of the prison.

The prison guard didn't believe him. 'All Jia family's assets have been confiscated. By no means will Jia Yin be able to fulfill his promise. Moreover, I'll face execution if anybody finds out that I assist Jia Yin in his escape. What's the good of treasure if I won't be able to live long enough to spend them?'

But Jia Yin refused to give up. He persistently tried to convince the prison guard to come to his help.

"It's not that I'm questioning your credibility, but can you please say something sensible? All your family assets have been confiscated. What else can you possibly offer to have me come to your assistance?" The prison guard was reduced to impatience.

"I do have something else to offer. Believe me. They only confiscated those they found. There's plenty more gold, silver and jewels that I hid elsewhere. As long as you help me escape from this place, I'll tell you where they're buried, and all of them will be yours!" said Jia Yin anxiously, trying to make himself sound convincing lest the prison guard disbelieve him.

The prison guard did stand somewhat skeptical of his remarks. "Leaving aside whether those jewels truly exist or not, by no means will you be so generous as to give them to me even if they do exist. You're just trying to trick me into helping you. Don't treat me like a fool."

"Sir, I'm not lying. I can tell you another location of hidden treasure. There's less treasure there, but it's still worth quite a fortune. Consider it as earnest money. I'll tell you another location of treasure after you help me escape from here. I'll never go back on my word. If I do, you can always report to the Prefecture Yamen and have me hunted down. Nobody will find out you are the one who set me free anyway. When you arrest me and bring me back here, you'll be deemed to have rendered outstanding service and get promoted. You won't be a prison guard any more. You'll be the chief of prison, even a head constable." Jia Yin proceeded with his efforts to convince the prison guard.

The prison guard sneered and looked at him, "You should know that if I am to arrest you and bring you back here, I'll have to kill you first, because that will be the only way to ensure you won't inform on me."

After hearing this, Jia Yin didn't appear to be afraid but rather felt a sense of relief, since the prison guard's words were an indication that he was swayed.

The prison guard briefly rolled his eyes sideways and then said, "Tell me. Where's the first location of hidden treasure?"

A lean camel is bigger than a horse. Besides, Jia family is one of the richest families in Tanyang. If what Jia Yin said was true, he would make a big fortune.

In the knowledge that the prison guard had risen to the bait, Jia Yin felt greatly relieved and informed him, "Come closer. I'll tell you."

The prison guard pressed his ear against the railings and listened as Jia Yin told him the first location of hidden treasure in a whisper.

Eyes of the prison guard slightly lit up. After hearing it, he observed, "If it's true, I'll help you get out of here. If not, you should know what consequences you'll have to take. In this dark prison where no laws or justice can reach, I have plenty of methods for infliction of torture."

"Just go and do some digging. You'll see that I've told you nothing but the truth." There was no panic whatsoever on Jia Yin's face. He looked confident and unhurried.

Seeing his expression, the prison guard half was half convinced.

A ghost of mysterious smile flashed across Jia Yin's face after the prison guard fell prey to his trick.

At the same time. In Ling family.

Zhang Chong invited Yuwen Tong to pay a visit to the Prefecture Encampment.

Ling Zhang stood skeptical, having no idea how Zhang Chong came to be so bold as to invite Yuwen Tong to the Prefecture Encampment. 'If Yuwen Tong really accepts the invitation and goes there, many secrets in the Prefecture Encampment will surely be exposed. Why is Zhang Chong unafraid of this?'

Ling Zhang was in puzzlement, but Yuwen Tong was fully aware of what was going on. The night before, Zhang Chong buried more than half of the weapon workshop and also directly blocked the entrance to the underground chambers built for heavily armored infantry. All heavily armored infantry had been temporarily reassigned to different platoons... 'In order to deal with me, Zhang Chong went to a lot of trouble and made all these arrangements overnight.

It seems that it would be a shame if I don't accept the invitation, given that he had been bustling around for a whole night. Unfortunately, news might come from the Grand Mang Mountain at any moment. This is not a good time to go to the Prefecture Encampment,' thought Yuwen Tong.

"Now that Commander Zhang has issued an invitation, I think I should accept it despite the risk of showing my thick skin. It's just that I happen to have some business to attend to. Would you mind waiting two days?"