Chapter 207: The Eve of the Magical Duel

Controlling the Zhuang family meant controlling Dadian Village: over a thousand people, more than three hundred militiamen… To acquire such a powerful forward base in southern Shandong without firing a single shot or spending half a tael of silver would surely force the Executive Committee to have a “new understanding” of the New Taoism.

“This is a brilliant plan!” Zhang Yingchen’s spirits soared, and he couldn’t help but feel a secret pride in having devised such a clever strategy. However, to gain the recognition and faith of the entire Zhuang family, it would be best to demonstrate even more power.

Zhang Yingchen knew very well that to gain the recognition of the local people, it was not enough to just practice medicine and distribute medicine. He had to perform “miracles.” He had read many official archives from the Ming and Qing dynasties concerning folk religious sects, and they were filled with accounts of the “magical arts” of various sorcerers.

If the New Taoism wanted to establish a foothold here, it would be difficult to instill firm faith in its followers without demonstrating sufficient “magical power.”

But one of Zhang Yingchen’s core tenets for the New Taoism was “to advocate science,” and he was very reluctant to engage in superstitious tricks. He also knew that the Senate held a negative attitude towards such things. His actions would very likely be attacked by Director Wu and others—they could easily label him with the hat of “promoting feudal superstition,” or even more severely, “building up a personal cult of personality with questionable motives.”

“What should I do?” Zhang Yingchen pondered. He was almost at the gate of the main house’s courtyard when a torrential downpour began. The sky darkened, and the world was filled with the sound of rushing water. Lightning flashed and thunder roared in the distance. Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck nearby, shaking the tiled roofs and houses.

A smile suddenly appeared on Zhang Yingchen’s face. He had an idea.

Min Zhanlian found that this female protector of the sect was indeed very capable. In less than half a day, his “eyes and ears” had successfully entered Dadian Village. The news came back that they had even found a household to stay with inside the village. In just a few days, not only had they gathered information about Dadian Village, but they had also obtained detailed intelligence about the Zhuang family’s residence. It was clear that they had followers both in the village and inside the Zhuang family’s residence.

Another day, another flash of lightning and roar of thunder, another downpour.

“You certainly have many eyes and ears,” Min Zhanlian said.

He stood under the eaves, watching the water flow like a waterfall from the drip edge. The red-clad girl stood outside the waterfall, in the courtyard.

Although the sky in the courtyard was dark and the rain was pouring, she stood in the rain, her red clothes fluttering in the wind, without a trace of being wet, like a ghost.

She’s playing mysterious tricks again, Min Zhanlian thought. He was now even more wary of his employer.

“What’s so difficult about that?” the red-clad girl said with an air of indifference. “Even if you wanted to know what the Governor of Shandong ate last night and which concubine he slept with, our sect could find out just the same.”

“And the current emperor?”

“Heh heh,” the girl laughed but did not answer. However, her confident expression undoubtedly told him that that was not a problem either.

Min Zhanlian thought to himself that it was no wonder they held themselves in such high regard; they really had some extraordinary abilities. He wondered if his own team had been infiltrated by them. He would have to be careful.

“Your esteemed sect is truly brilliant,” he said, offering a high hat in a timely manner. “I am extremely impressed.”

“Hmph, if you were truly admiring, you would have already entered the true path of our sect. Our sect is in need of people, and with your ability, becoming a Dharma protector would not be a problem,” the red-clad girl sneered. “However, your greed and anger are extremely heavy. If you do not return to the true path soon, you will fall into the fiery hell for eternity.”

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s broad daylight. Don’t curse people for no reason, okay?” Min Zhanlian said with a smile. “This, I’m just impressed, I didn’t say I admire you. As for greed and anger, I’m afraid I can’t change that. Besides, if I become a Buddha on the spot, we wouldn’t be able to cooperate, would we?” He joked, but thought to himself, no matter how great their abilities, could they be greater than Xu Hongru’s? Even Xu Hongru was defeated in less than three months after raising his army.

“Curse you? You misunderstand. This is to persuade you to do good!” the red-clad girl said with a stern face. “Don’t think that with your martial arts, you can disregard the great Dao and the true law.” As she spoke, her body retreated and soon disappeared into the darkness.

Min Zhanlian stared into the darkness for a long while before returning to the house. The young woman from his team was waiting for him.

“That woman has a demonic air about her,” she complained. “Every time I see her talking to you, I get goosebumps…”

“That’s just how they intimidate people. It’s fine,” Min Zhanlian said. “Is the information compiled?”

This young woman’s name was Zhou Ruoyun. She was in charge of intelligence gathering and compilation for Min Zhanlian. All the information sent by the “eyes and ears” had to be sorted and integrated by her. Zhou Ruoyun was also an expert with swords and hidden weapons. Her specialty was throwing six darts in a row with both hands. However, being a woman, she lacked strength, and throwing six darts in an instant meant they were only lethal within thirty paces. Beyond that range, they were not very effective.

“It’s compiled. Please have a look,” Zhou Ruoyun spread out a few thin sheets of paper.

On the paper was a floor plan of Dadian Village. Not only were the streets, public offices, city gates, and the residences of the major households clearly drawn, but also the patrol routes of the village militia, the locations of the sentry posts, and how often they changed shifts were marked.

“To enter Dadian Village, we can take two routes: overt and covert,” Zhou Ruoyun said. “Overtly, we can have someone inside receive us during the day and mix in under the pretext of doing business. But it’s difficult to bring in swords and weapons this way—the militia’s search is very strict.”

Covertly meant a direct intrusion at night. In the northwest corner of Dadian Village, there was a mass grave. Beyond the grave was the earthen wall. A section of this wall had collapsed due to the flood. Although it was being repaired recently, there was still a gap. The remaining wall was about one person high, with a temporary wooden fence on top, which could be easily climbed and dismantled.

“There are three village guards there, and they change shifts halfway through the night,” Zhou Ruoyun said. “But someone patrols every half shichen. The militiamen and village guards all know each other, so it would be difficult to fool them.”

“No problem,” Min Zhanlian thought. Since they had followers in the village, as long as the altar master gave the order, it shouldn’t be difficult for them to arrange for someone to let them in.

“This is the map of the Zhuang family’s residence,” Zhou Ruoyun pointed to the floor plan, showing where the main house was, where the main hall was, how many gates the entire residence had, and how the population was distributed. The place where the Daoist priest lived was specially enlarged and drawn on a separate map.

This map was even more detailed. Not only did it clearly show the location of the furniture in each room, but also the specific location of a large tree, a stone table, and several stone stools in the courtyard.

Min Zhanlian carefully examined the drawing, thinking about how to carry out his “heavenly retribution.” Suddenly, he asked, “What is this?”

On the drawing, a black square was drawn near the large tree.

“It’s a cage.”

“A cage?”

“Yes, it’s said to be an iron cage that the Zhuang family used to keep deer in their old pharmacy. This Daoist priest Zhang specifically had it moved to his courtyard.”

“What does he want to do with it?”

Zhou Ruoyun said, “He only said he wanted to use it to prepare medicine. But we haven’t seen him prepare any medicine with it so far.”

Daoist Priest Zhang had been preparing medicine all along, so it probably wasn’t strange for him to use an iron cage to prepare medicine.

Min Zhanlian nodded, pondering how to “punish by heaven” this Daoist Priest Zhang. As he was deep in thought, a sudden clap of thunder outside shook the eaves and windows, startling Zhou Ruoyun. She patted her chest.

“Oh my, that scared me to death.”

A smile appeared on Min Zhanlian’s lips. “I have an idea.”

“What? A giant kite?” A surprised smile appeared on the lips of the Dharma protector emissary. “It’s summer now. I’ve never heard of flying kites.”

“That’s right, a kite. It has to be big,” Min Zhanlian said. “And sturdy, able to withstand the wind and rain.” He added, “It must be able to be dismantled for transport.”

“That’s not difficult. There are places in Qingzhou that make good kites. I’ll send someone to get it done immediately,” the red-clad girl nodded. “Anything else?”

“I also need a hundred zhang of thin iron chain.”

“That will take time.”

“No problem, I can wait.”

“Alright.”

Min Zhanlian said, “Now we just have to wait for the opportunity.”

More than ten days later, Min Zhanlian got the kite he wanted. When assembled, the kite was a huge black bird, exquisitely painted. Laid on the ground, it was as wide as a person with their arms outstretched. It was made entirely of oiled silk, and its frame was bound with old strings, making it extremely sturdy.

“Good! This is just what I need!” Min Zhanian nodded. “When the time comes, I will need your esteemed sect’s help to make it a spectacular event.”

“Of course,” the red-clad girl said. “What do you plan to do?”

Min Zhanlian did not answer. He walked to the water vat under the eaves—he had recently started keeping a few fish—and looked at it. Then he stood in the courtyard and observed the stars for a long time before saying:

“We’ll make our move tomorrow night.”

Zhang Yingchen was also busy. He had the large iron cage for keeping deer moved to the courtyard under the pretext of preparing medicine. He had it firmly fixed to the ground and had his apprentices clean and polish it until the originally rusty cage gleamed coldly. Zhang Yingchen looked at it and felt the size was about right. He then sent someone to find a four or five-zhang-long iron pole.

Unexpectedly, the iron pole was hard to find. In ancient society, the ability to process iron was not high. Unless there was a real need, bamboo and wood products were generally used. The apprentices naturally couldn’t find one, and even when Master Zhuang sent people to look, they couldn’t find one either. The blacksmith shop replied that even if they were to custom-make it, it might not be possible—it was too long. If the master insisted, they could try.

“In an agricultural society, everything is difficult,” Zhang Yingchen muttered. “It’s hard to even make an iron rod. Wouldn’t it be even harder to build a machine from scratch?”

He sat down at the window, spread out a sheet of letter paper, and began to write a letter to the “center.”

The content of the letter was a proposal for a joint venture between Runshitang and Master Zhuang’s pharmacy. In the letter, he suggested that Runshitang send people to Yizhou to contact Master Zhuang and consign a batch of Chinese patent medicines for sale here, to first establish the Runshitang brand locally and then gradually expand. Although Yizhou was not a major place, it was close to the Grand Canal and was a place with convenient transportation, which could radiate to many areas in the Western Three Prefectures.