Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
There was a group of swordsmen that carried machetes and knew how to intimidate others. They were also eloquent and intelligent. Even so, they still could not find stable jobs, because they were too smart for their own good and always on the move.
Basically, they were all talk, no action.
To them, fighting was more like a game. Two parties competed against each other showing off their machete skills and trash talking. The party with the better performance won the game. The loser, if they obeyed the rules, left willingly, accepting the outcome publically after the game was over.
However, if they met any aggressive foes who were willing to fight to the death, they would run away immediately, even if they outnumbered the enemy.
These soldiers were independent, and never worked for any one organization for very long. They joined or left organizations freely. As they never actually fought against others with their sabers (as their swords were just for show), they were widely known as the “Men with Machetes”.
“Life means everything,” was their motto.
The Men with Machetes needed money to support themselves, and there were people willing to hire them. Their purpose for hiring these men was just to show off their strength, not to actually fight.
Unfortunately, the employers were rare. Therefore, the Men with Machetes had to pretend to be swordsmen just to get jobs.
War was supposed to be a good opportunity for swordsmen, and Golden Roc Fort had lowered their requirements for new recruits. They had alreay taken in almost half of the swordsmen in the Western Region. Even inexperienced, young lads who had never held a saber could join them. However, they refused the Men with Machetes.
Like swordsmen, the Men with Machetes carried their sabers. Their real identities would only be exposed in a fight, when it became obvious that they had no battle skills. So, inexperience employers were fooled by them often. These employers paid the Men with Machetes, but did not get any protection when they were in danger.
Bodyguards in Jade City volunteered to provide the identities of the Men with Machetes to Golden Roc Fort. They were willing to help the Supreme King keep these spineless, cowardly Men with Machetes out of the Golden Roc Army so as not to ruin the entire army.
Although the Men with Machetes were outraged and insulted by this, they did not dare to complain openly.
The Men with Machetes all had one thing in common — they liked and believed gossip. One day, they heard the rumor that several of the kingdoms would have a shortage of soldiers for guarding the capital gates after Golden Roc Army entered Xiaoyao Lake. This job would be easy, and the requirements to get hired were simply being a man with a saber.
The Men with Machetes made up their minds to try for the jobs while sitting together in a small tavern, asked the manager for their bills, and left. A few of them gathered together and headed for Xiaoyao Lake. They followed the main force of the Golden Roc Army on the way there. By the time they arrived at the capital of the Hui Kingdom, their numbers had grown to a little over 200.
However, they did not get the jobs they sought. In his youth, Shangguan Jianyi had fought together with Shangguan Fa to clear the hooligans from the streets, so he knew all about the Men with Machetes. He would rather hire 50 or 60 year old farmers than accept these outcasts.
The Men with Machetes were in a desperate situation. They had not brought much money with them to Hui City, and what little they had was already gone. They had no money to return to Jade City.
After their departure, the managers of the taverns in Jade City were very relieved. It wasn’t long before the managers of the taverns in Hui City realized that the Men with Machetes were penniless. Eventually, they made a rule for the Men with Machetes: no credit.
One night, a few dozen of the Men with Machetes bought a bottle of cheap liquor together. They played games in low spirits. Half of them couldn’t afford any liquor at all.
Most of the other soldiers were fighting in battle. The Men with Machetes were the only male guests in the tavern at the time.
“We can’t continue to live like this,” shouted one of the Men with Machetes angrily (for he had not been able to afford any liquor at all). He pounded on the table violently and stood up, putting on a good performance.
“You’re right. We have sabers, just like the swordsmen. Why do they deserve to live a luxurious life while we have to fight for liquor here?” asked one of the other men.
“The Golden Roc Army didn’t accept us, and look what became of them — they lost the battle,” the first man said.
The Men with Machetes became angrier and angrier. According to them, the Golden Roc Army had lost the battle solely because they had not been allowed to join.
“Why didn’t you join the Dragon Army?” someone asked.
“Why? Because we never take a loser’s side, even if we get handsome rewards,” they all responded. They had never even considered joining the Dragon Army.
But to their surprise, the Dragon Army won the battle. The Men with Machetes regretted their decision a lot. They even blamed some of their friends for talking them out of joining the Dragon Army.
Then, they started to talk about the Dragon Army. They were only interested in how much money the soldiers could make, not the battle itself.
“I heard that the Dragon King is so selfish that he keeps all the money to himself,” one of the men said.
“You idiot. He used to be selfish. He didn’t put much money in the battle because he thought he would lose. But now he’s won the battle and claimed a huge fortune from the Golden Roc Army. If he didn’t give some of it to the soldiers, no one would follow him,” replied another.
They imagined a scene in which the soldiers of the Dragon Army were dividing the spoils.
“Is it too late to join the Dragon Army now?” one of the men asked.
“The war is over, so there’s no use joining now. How can you get paid if you don’t fight on the battlefield?” someone else answered.
“No one said that the war was over. The Golden Roc Army is escaping, and the Dragon Army is pursuing them. Everyone knows it,” another of the men argued.
No one responded. The Men with Machetes were all thinking the same thing: “Pursuing the defeated army is dangerous, and that goes against our rules.”
“I have an idea. We can not only serve the Dragon King while remaining safe, but also take revenge on the Golden Roc Army,” one of the men said, suddenly.
“Tell us, and hurry,” the others begged.
“The bridge isn’t far from here. Both the southern and northern shores set up checkpoints. Luckily, these checkpoints are guarded by timid, local soldiers. We can easily scare them away and take the bridge. As long as we don’t let the Golden Roc Army pass for several days, they can’t cross Xiaoyao Lake, and their entire army will be annihilated. Don’t you think it would impress the Dragon King, and get us a big reward?” he said.
The Men with Machetes were lost in thought again. This time, they were thinking about this new idea.
“Let’s do it,” they all agreed.
The Men with Machetes pulled out their sabers and banged them on the table violently. Then, they rushed out of the tavern suddenly, deciding to take the bridge and get revenge on the Golden Roc Army right away.
They were too excited to even notice which man had originally proposed the idea.
In Jade City, the experienced tavern managers were not scared by their exaggerated behavior. Rather, they watched them quietly, and sold the information they collected from the men to whomever wanted it.
But this was Hui City, not Jade City. The managers here did not dare to get involved.
Meng Mingshu’s plan was to sell out the Men with Machetes. However, when his accomplice told him that the men had already started their takeover, he thought he might be too late. He had heard a lot about the Men with Machetes. He asked, “Will they… succeed?”
His accomplice lowered his head silently.
Compared to Meng Mingshu, Xiao Fengchai knew the Men with Machetes better. She laughed, “Don’t expect too much. It doesn’t matter, even if they fail. Right now, any man who stands out is likely to get himself in trouble.”
Meng Mingshu understood her words, and smiled. He thought, “The Dragon King will need me and the Meng family in the future. It doesn’t matter whether my plan works or not.”
Hui City was in disarray. The city gates were still open by nightfall, and the civilians escaped from the city with their families. When a hundred of the Men with Machetes flooded through the city gates, no one stopped them.
To the Men with Machetes, it was a good sign.
At first, they felt confident that they would succeed. They robbed anyone that they encountered who had horses or mules, and none tried to fight against them because of being outnumbered.
The Men with Machetes became more and more confident of their plan.
Checkpoints were set up at each end of the bridge. The checkpoint on the southern shore was tall and thick, while the one on the northern shore was comparatively smaller. Shang Liao arrived there before the Men with Machetes did. The general of the Hui Kingdom in charge of the checkpoint opened the gate. At the first sight of Shang Liao, the general and his soldiers knelt down, and shouted, “Your Grace.”
The Prime Minister had done a good job. The generals and soldiers of the Hui Kingdom all supported Xiaoyao Lake’s independence, and they were willing to take risks for it.
There were dozens of Golden Roc Army soldiers guarding the checkpoint, and they all slept soundly without noticing that they were being tied up by ropes. They had never suspected that some of their companions would secretly add knockout powder to their food.
At around 11:00 pm, two boats made their way from the east. Half of the troops guarding the shore abandoned their posts out of fear. The rest let them pass, promising to claim they had seen nothing if questioned.
Shang Liao went to the watchtower. He waved a torch to command the boats to come ashore. He did not ask them to unload the boats immediately, though.
Powerful bombs were inside the two boats. Shang Liao would not hand them over until the Prime Minister of the Kang Kingdom fulfilled his promise.
After fifteen minutes, a group of soldiers rode towards them from Hui City. The Prime Minister of the Kang Kingdom was amongst them, and dismounted his horse hurriedly, shouting, “It’s me! Open the door!”
Obviously, the Prime Minister was frightened.
Some things are easy to talk about, but difficult to do. Regicide did not only require weapons and courage, but also the willpower to abandon loyalty and tradition.
Looking at the king he had knelt before daily, the Prime Minister started to panic. After hesitating for awhile, he gave the signal to his bodyguard. The bodyguard was a professional and killed the king quickly.
The Prime Minister cut off the king’s head himself to hide his anxiety. He took the scimitar from the bodyguard, and violently chopped off the king’s head, as if the king were his foe.
He knelt before the new king, and raised the disembodied head in the air. His hands were covered in blood.
When he watched the Prime Minister holding the former king’s head, Shang Liao was very angry for a moment. “The Prime Minister is from the Royal Family. He is supposed to show respect to the old King of the Kang Nation instead of holding his head excitedly,” he thought to himself.
Now that Shang Liao was the King of the Kang Nation, his attitude towards the Prime Minister had changed quite a bit.
“Rise,” Shang Liao replied coldly. He turned around and waved the torch to give his second signal.
The men on the boats carried the bombs to the bridge very carefully and arranged them on the bridge evenly.
The generals and soldiers guarding the bridge remembered their first fight on the lake. They looked at the bombs with fear, too afraid to even approach them.
All the soldiers guarding the checkpoint of the southern shore retreated to the northern shore. Soon, those who had escaped from the Golden Roc Army would gather here and watch the bridge burn.
Shang Liao hoped that these army deserters at least had the courage to return and engage in a final fight with the Dragon Army.
The Dragon King sent an army of thousands to take the Kang Kingdom, which was Shang Liao’s biggest threat. But Shang Liao had a plan for victory: At dawn, he would return to his navy. He would take into custody all the soldiers who weren’t from the five kingdoms of Xiaoyao Lake, and then he would block every way onto the lake.
This would force the Dragon King’s army of thousands to be isolated. They could either surrender or die.
Everything went as planned. Shang Liao began to envision a bigger future for himself.
The sound of hooves and shouts awakened him from his daydream.
“What’s going on?” the Prime Minister of the Kang Kingdom asked, turning around anxiously.
No one knew what was happening.
In the darkness, hordes of troops and horses seemed to come down on them from out of nowhere. It came as a complete surprise to them, as there was no large army in the capital of the Hui Kingdom.
The Men with Machetes fully utilized their acting talents. They managed to create a terrifying scene to intimidate the enemy.
“We are the Dragon King’s troops. Fight or surrender!” they shouted.
The Prime Minister, generals and soldiers guarding the checkpoint were shocked, but Shang Liao was more stunned than anyone else.
He had been thinking about the Dragon King’s army of thousands. But all of a sudden, the army directly attacked here instead of heading for the Kang Kingdom, as he had expected.
“The Dragon King is smarter than me. All of my plans have been in vain,” he thought.
Shang Liao did not want to give up now, though. He drew his scimitar and cut off the Prime Minister’s head. He said to the terrified generals and soldiers, “If you believe me, you will follow me to serve the Dragon King. He promised me that he would allow Xiaoyao Lake to be an independent country. As for this man, he murdered the king, so he had to be punished.”
Shang Liao only had a dozen guards serving him, while there were a hundred generals and soldiers serving the Hui Kingdom. Terrified by the scene, they held onto their weapons tightly, not knowing what to do.
