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Hearing that these soldiers had nothing to do with her, Shen Tang's taut nerves relaxed. She raised her hand to pull down her sun-shading bamboo hat. Sitting in the corner, feigning tea-drinking, she tried to lower her presence: "Geng Kingdom soldiers... why are they here?"
At these words, Qi Shan almost choked on his tea. This young lord Shen truly doesn't disappoint me; every question she asks is outside my expectations.
"Where else would Geng Kingdom soldiers be if not here?"
Shen Tang: "..." Her intuition told her she had just asked a foolish question. Shen Tang tried to salvage the situation. "But this shouldn't be Chongtai, no, Xin Kingdom? How could Geng Kingdom soldiers..." As she spoke, she stopped herself, covering her eyes with one hand, a look of profound exasperation on her face, refusing to look at Qi Shan's "looking at a fool" gaze—she remembered Qi Shan saying that Chongtai, that is, Xin Kingdom, had been destroyed, and the national seal was suspected to have been hidden by the Gong clan—at the time, her attention was solely on the national seal and the Gong clan, and she hadn't considered who the power that destroyed Xin Kingdom was. Now, looking again, it was highly likely the Geng Kingdom. This question fully exposed her "naive ignorance." Fortunately, Qi Shan was accustomed to young lord Shen's "unexpectedness" and didn't delve deeper.
Shen Tang said awkwardly, "I... don't quite understand these matters..."
"It's not too late to understand now." Qi Shan said with a half-smile, tapping the table three times with his fingers, silently chanting the Spirit Language "Law does not pass six ears." An invisible wisp of literary qi surged and then vanished without a trace. "Young lord Shen, one glance reveals you as a noble scholar raised in luxury. I understand. You're still fortunate; other dissolute scions might be even more ignorant and fearless. They only know how to frequent brothels, carouse with beauties, live lavishly, and play through life, unaware of national hatreds, family grievances, or the suffering of the common people."
Shen Tang: "..." As long as she didn't apply the description to herself, what Qi Shan said wasn't about her. Shen Tang shamelessly said, "Mr. Qi is right." Qi Shan found it uninteresting. He had also been overcome by emotion for a moment—that Geng Kingdom destroyed Xin Kingdom was something even a three-year-old child or a farmer knew, yet this young lord Shen, who had significant ties to the Gong clan, was foolishly claiming ignorance. He didn't know whether to be angry or to laugh.
Shen Tang guiltily lowered her head to drink tea. "However, Xin Kingdom and Geng Kingdom are cut from the same cloth. Whether one is destroyed or not makes no difference. For the common people, it's merely that the great mountain above their heads changed from a corrupt ruler to a tyrant..." Shen Tang was surprised to hear this. She glanced sideways at the Geng Kingdom soldiers outside the teahouse. Seeing they hadn't noticed them, she relaxed: "Hearing Mr. Qi's words, you have strong opinions about the destroyed Xin Kingdom. But didn't you say earlier..." When they first met, Qi Shan harbored malice because she was a "Gong clan member," hinting that the Gong clan was involved in Xin Kingdom's destruction and had hidden the national seal. Shen Tang thought Qi Shan greatly loved his former country, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.
Qi Shan lazily lifted an eyelid. "These two things are not in conflict." Seeing he had no intention of continuing the conversation, Shen Tang proactively changed the subject, probing for more information about this world. She pointed above her head: "That one in Geng Kingdom... Mr. Qi evaluates him so poorly?" Xin Kingdom was destroyed, and the feudal lord was corrupt and deserved the blame. Calling him a "corrupt ruler" wasn't an exaggeration. But Geng Kingdom was powerful, and its feudal lord expanded its territory during his reign. Qi Shan's evaluation was actually "tyrant"?
Qi Shan sneered, "If that doesn't count as a tyrant, then what feudal lord couldn't be called a 'benevolent ruler'? Just watch, if the tyrant Zheng Qiao doesn't die within five years, Geng Kingdom will certainly destroy itself." Shen Tang's gossip-mongering curiosity flared up.
"Specifically, how is he a 'tyrant'?"
Just as Qi Shan was about to elaborate, a series of harsh curses came from the prisoner carts outside the teahouse. Soon, only the sound of whipping and shrill screams remained. Shen Tang peered through the gaps in the teahouse's bamboo curtain. She could vaguely see blood dripping from a corner of a prisoner cart. Another prisoner angrily cursed, "Even if you beat this old man to death, I'll still say, Zheng Qiao, you greedy, low-born sycophant! Dream of me in mourning clothes and sackcloth, grieving for your ancestors! This old man will beat drums and gongs for your funeral, you weakling!"
This man had white hair and a muscular physique, speaking with powerful resonance, his voice like thunder. This was Shen Tang's first time witnessing cursing literature from another world. Awesome!
The Geng Kingdom soldiers naturally wouldn't let him keep cursing. They immediately whipped him. Each swing of the whip left a bloodstain. That man, however, gritted his teeth stubbornly, not uttering a single scream or plea for mercy. The harder he was beaten, the more fiercely he cursed. They whipped him until he was on his last breath. The soldier, panting, spat at the prisoner in the cart: "Filthy old man!"
"Young lord Shen just asked, 'How is he a tyrant?' Haven't you seen it just now?" Qi Shan vaguely gestured towards outside the teahouse. Fearing Shen Tang wouldn't understand, he started from the beginning: "Zheng Qiao is the current ruler of Geng Kingdom. He entered Xin Kingdom's harem as a hostage with his birth mother at the age of five. It is said that he was intelligent and studious from a young age, and possessed an exceedingly beautiful, 'heavenly endowed' appearance, becoming famous in the capital at fifteen. The ruler of Xin Kingdom was overjoyed and bestowed upon him the name 'Nü Jiao' (Female Beauty)."
"The ruler of Xin Kingdom has a major illness?"
Qi Shan said, "He was indeed ill. Corrupt, incompetent, and lustful. He happened to set his eyes on a female dependent in another country's harem, who was Zheng Qiao's birth mother. He acquired her through deceit and force, and Zheng Qiao, a hostage, came along as a bonus."
"This Zheng Qiao is also pitiful..."
Qi Shan, however, mocked her naiveté, asking, "Do you think Zheng Qiao was forced and had no choice?"
"Isn't that right?" Subconsciously, one would assume it was the corrupt ruler's forceful acquisition.
Qi Shan shook his head regretfully: "If he were, Zheng Qiao would indeed be pitiful. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He was extremely skilled at using others to kill. In those years, he harmed many loyal officials and eliminated dissenters. Those who offended him, those who cursed him as a sycophant or an 'external favorite,' would soon suffer imprisonment, and regardless of whether they were innocent, they would undergo the extreme penalty of 'destroying the danfu'."
What was "destroying the danfu extreme penalty"? It was a cruel method of destroying the danfu. A destroyed danfu, Literary Heart, or Martial Courage could not be recovered, even if the case was overturned later. Zheng Qiao also bullied the weak and feared the strong, only striking fatally at those from humble backgrounds with no connections or weak foundations. He ruined countless promising scholars and martial artists.
In its early years, Xin Kingdom was relatively stable and powerful. Even with a corrupt ruler who didn't hold court for 365 days a year, constantly roaming the harem, "tilling the fields" on women, and secretly seeking out beauties everywhere, the common people's lives weren't unbearable. But after Zheng Qiao appeared, chaos grew day by day. Later, there was internal strife in the Geng Kingdom's royal family, and they remembered Zheng Qiao, who was serving as a hostage in another country. Zheng Qiao also had ambitions and was discontent with his situation. He used money and promises of future prospects to win over Xin Kingdom's court officials. Through a series of maneuvers, he successfully persuaded the Xin Kingdom ruler to allow him to return home.
Just five years later, Geng Kingdom, taking advantage of Xin Kingdom's continuous droughts and depleted military strength, launched a surprise attack, sweeping through to the capital. At every place they conquered, they allowed their soldiers to burn, kill, loot, and abduct common women. He, meanwhile, subjected the former Xin Kingdom officials to every imaginable humiliation.
"Speaking of which, Zheng Qiao and the Gong clan also have a connection." Shen Tang's scalp tingled at this. She truly didn't know this. Yet, Qi Shan smiled and revealed it.
"Back then, the Gong clan was the main force supporting Zheng Qiao's return to Geng Kingdom. Interestingly—the Gong clan was raided and exterminated, the men exiled to the frontier to serve as laborers, and the women sent to the Jiaofang of Xiaocheng—this was the first order Zheng Qiao issued after conquering Xin Kingdom's capital."
Xin Kingdom (renamed Chongtai) was destroyed, and it is currently Shen Tang and Qi Shan's country/faction. Of course, it has been annexed by Geng Kingdom, but its control is not yet stable. The entire world setting is one of utter chaos, with fierce wars between feudal states. Shen Tang is currently only eleven or twelve, still in the stage of understanding the outside world. Before truly embarking on the path of becoming a feudal lord, she needs to develop further, and there needs to be an opportunity for her to raise her banner as a ruler. "Law does not pass six ears" is a Spirit Language for soundproofing and whispering secrets, and its counterpart is "Walls have ears," for eavesdropping. Suai Die Yu Chin (衰绖舆榇): An ancient ritual for surrender, a courtesy for scholars and officials, roughly equivalent to wearing mourning clothes... probably...