Chapter 35: A Matter Arises

  Back in Xuwu County North Guo Pavilion, the sky had already completely fallen into darkness.

  The ancestral hall is still brightly lit today, and the sound of many scattered voices can be heard from a distance. Near the gate of the horse farm in the backyard, seven or eight sons with instruments are on duty in shifts, following yesterday's arrangement by Zu Zhao. Although even Zu Zhao himself thinks this is an unnecessary precaution, it can at least demonstrate the attitude and dignity of the Zu family to outsiders.

  After dismounting, Zu Zhao specially called a maid to take Gulinaer to the women's quarters to rest and wash up.

  "Also, prepare some food and a place for her to stay."

  Gulinaer turned back to look at Zu Chao before following the maid away. She was no longer the strong and determined woman from the orchard, her solitary figure now seemed fragile and weak. However, in her eyes as she looked at Zu Chao, there wasn't a hint of gratitude, but rather suspicion and doubt.

  Zu Zhao didn't have the luxury of time to deal with this matter, bringing back Guli Nuer was just giving her a way out, and for now, it's secondary. After tidying up, he rushed to the Zhongtang Hall with Zu Ji and others, where his younger brother had already informed Zu Cheng, Zu Fan, and others about their early return. The top priority was naturally to combine the clues they had gathered.

  Arriving at the main hall of Zhong Tang, Grandfather Zu was nowhere to be found, only Third Uncle and two other elderly men were present.

  Zu Zhan whispered to Zu Zhao, saying that Old Master Tai was here earlier, but just a short while ago went to the Western Wing to meet with the guests from the Gong Sun family. Nine out of ten chances are that he wants to cut short the Gong Sun family's visit.

  Zu Zhao didn't have much to say about this. The Gu family should already know the situation from a few days ago, and now that something big has happened in Zu's village, they should understand some of the circumstances. Immediately, he reported back to several elders about the clues his group had discovered in Lingzhi County, mentioning Deng Mao from Xili Village, as well as arranging for Ah Zhong and Ah Bao to stay behind and keep watch.

  "Deng Mao? Is he also a rascal from the streets?" Zu Cheng said with a frown.

  "A Cheng, have you heard any other news around Lingzhi County?" Zu Zhao immediately asked after hearing Zu Cheng's astonishing words.

  "We spent the whole day searching in the western suburbs of Lingzhi County, and there are several small villages on the border of the two counties, but the population is not large. After some investigation, although no clues were found in these villages, it was learned that someone had been spreading the Taiping Tao nearby, and within the last three to five days, all the villagers who believed in the Tao had mysteriously disappeared, taking their farm tools such as hoes, rakes, and sickles with them when they left. Some unscrupulous people even stole ironware from their neighbors' homes." Ah Cheng said seriously.

  Zu Zhao slightly furrowed his brow, his face looking very stern. Judging from the current clues, it seems to have a great connection with the Taiping Tao.

  "Ah, Fu, how's it going on your side?" He didn't rush to a conclusion and instead turned to ask Zu Fu again.

  "Today, Lord Chen got up late and handed over the letter after noon. We were anxious and gathered more than 30 clerks from various towns and villages, and also led some constables from the county government. Not only did we search the villages and towns along the border of the two counties, but we also almost combed through the entire county town and other villages. Unfortunately, we didn't find any useful information, not even among the Taiping Dao followers in this county." Zǔ Fán said calmly, his face looking a bit unpleasant.

  "Isn't it just those people from Lingshou County causing trouble again?" Zujidai boldly conjectured.

  "It may be true. However, for the time being, there is no room for distinction, and in fact, we have limited time today, and there are too many places to check, so we can't thoroughly understand it clearly. Chen County has already said that in the next few days, we can mobilize more manpower from the county to conduct a detailed investigation below. Even after a few days, when the prefecture responds, perhaps they will also send people to assist." Zu Fan added with an unchanged tone.

  Zu Zhao thought Zu Fan's words made sense, but he had other plans in mind.

  At present, the suspicion of Taipingdao's followers is naturally the greatest. To take a step back, even if this robbery and murder case was not done by the Taipingdao party members, it still presents a very good excuse in front of us. He has been actively preparing for winter theft during this period, but winter theft is just a small matter, once winter passes, the preparation will also go with it, and the military power he holds will be lifted. If he can turn his attention to the Taipingdao's disturbance ahead of time, not only can he control the military power for a longer period, but also gradually expand during the process of surrounding and attacking Taipingdao.

  Perhaps when the Yellow Turban Rebellion officially unfolds, one's "foresight" will be praised by many insightful scholars, and can further establish their qualifications and merits in pacifying the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

  "In any case, we now have a direction to investigate. In my opinion, the next step should be to try every means to establish good relations with the local people in Lingzhi County and extract information about Taipingdao's specific activities from them. The followers of Taipingdao are widespread and have specific ways of operating, so it will obviously be easier to start from here. As long as we can find out the whereabouts of the Taipingdao party members in Lingzhi County, we will definitely be able to find Deng Mao. At that time, we will also be able to clarify whether Taipingdao is related to this matter." Zu Zhao explained calmly and unhurriedly.

  "The young master is right. Xu Wu and Ling Zhi counties are not far apart, and there are many people who know each other well, so it's not difficult to make connections." Zu Cheng nodded in agreement.

  "Alas..." Zu Fan suddenly let out a sigh, his face full of worry.

  "What's wrong, Ah Fu?" asked Third Uncle.

  "It's nothing, just that these past few days I've noticed many things are related to the Taiping Dao, and I'm quite worried. What if the robbery and murder case is really related to the Taiping Dao? You know how one thread can affect the entire fabric. Now the Taiping Dao has a deep influence in various places, and the people's resentment has been accumulating for some time, I'm afraid it will lead to even greater chaos." Zǔ Fán sighed deeply and said with profound meaning.

  Several elders and Third Uncle present couldn't help but exchange skeptical glances, with some nodding in agreement to Zu Fan's words while others looked puzzled. Although they all had misgivings about the Taiping Sect, firstly its teachings weren't anything bad, secondly it seemed that nothing major had happened now, at least for the time being there wasn't much suspicion to be seen.

  Zu Zhao naturally agreed with Zu Fan's words and also believed that Zu Fan was a far-sighted person.

  "If it's really a case of 'pulling one hair and moving the whole body', then this is also inevitable, sooner or later. If we can discover something in advance, it may not be a bad thing." He said with an underlying tone.

  Zu Fan glanced at Zu Zhao with a very serious expression.

  Then, everyone discussed the arrangement of tomorrow's investigation. As Zu Zhao said, next they will focus on investigating the activities of Lingxian Taipingdao and gather manpower and resources to search for Deng Mao's whereabouts. With the first day's action, everyone's homes also had a considerable tacit understanding, so the subsequent discussion did not take up too much time.

  Just after finishing their conversation, Zu Jie and Chun Yu Pei walked in from outside the Zhongtang Hall, both of them looking not very well.

  Many young men and women stood up to pay their respects. Zu Jie walked straight into the hall, without sitting down, he hastily asked Zu Zhao: "Zhao'er, I heard that when you returned from Lingzhi County, you brought back a foreign woman, is this true?"

  The last four words sound very severe and show anger.

  Zu Zhao's face changed color, he took a step forward and said without any concealment: "Not to deceive you, old man, there is indeed such a thing."

  Zu Jue's face turned red with anger, and he shouted: "You this unfilial son, how can you do such a stupid thing. My ancestors have guarded the border for three generations, and we have been sworn enemies of the Hu barbarians for centuries. Today, you actually dare to tarnish our family's reputation!"

  Zu Zhao's expression was serious, without a hint of embarrassment, and he said calmly: "Ah Gong, this time it's different. My son didn't bring this person back for no reason. This woman is not from the Qiang or Wuhuan tribes, but rather seems to be from a foreign tribe in the Western Regions. Today, in Lingzhi County, she provided some help to my son's investigation, more or less. Later, because she offended the local rascals, she almost suffered humiliation. This matter has made my son's purpose clear, and on both emotional and rational grounds, I cannot ignore it."

  He explained things in just a few words.

  Zu Jiu's anger slightly subsided, but he still spoke strongly: "Isn't the difficulty of the Western Regions not being able to be accomplished by the Hu barbarians? Our Great Han has great discord with these foreign tribes. You tolerate the Hu barbarians, isn't that the crime of colluding with external tribes?"

  Before his grandfather's words had fallen, Zhaoyang immediately retorted: "As a grandson who reads the classics of sages and worthies, those books repeatedly emphasize benevolence and righteousness. If I were to ignore this, wouldn't that mean that all the classics are just absurd theories? Grandfather's words aren't wrong, but neither can the classics be incorrect. How am I supposed to choose between them? I truly have no way of making a judgment. However, if grandfather orders me to immediately drive away that barbarian woman, I will certainly comply, but tomorrow I will also definitely burn all the books I recite daily, in order to make my stance clear."

  In the past few years, Zu Zhao had never argued with his family elders in such a strong manner. No matter whether what they said was right or wrong, he would mostly just smile and accept it. At this moment, such an intense argument really made many people present feel astonished. However, since the words were already spoken, Zu Zhao's words weren't necessarily all wrong, and Zu Jiu's words weren't necessarily all right, because they had to make everyone reflect on themselves.

  His face turned red with rage, his temples bulging out, he thundered: "You dare to be so presumptuous! You..."

  He had wanted to speak out and teach a lesson, but unfortunately he was just a martial artist, not illiterate, but the books he read every day were not many, and Sunzi's ancestors had already occupied the advantage of the classics. If he continued to teach, it would be equivalent to denying the truth of the holy scriptures! For a moment, he was in a dilemma, his breath caught in his chest, and he couldn't help but let out a severe gasp.

  Sun Quan hastily stepped forward to persuade him, saying: "General, please calm down. The child's matter can be slowly taught later. Accepting the surrender of the barbarians may not be reasonable, but it also has its emotional appeal. Moreover, the current priority should be to distinguish between primary and secondary, light and heavy, urgent and slow. In my humble opinion, it is better to discuss this later."

  Zu Jiu finally caught his breath and scolded Zu Zhao: "You'd better watch yourself."

  Zu Zhaobang hastily knelt down and paid his respects, saying: "I, Sunzi, do not dare to tarnish the reputation of our family. Once that barbarian woman has recovered from her injuries, I will definitely send her away."