“Isn’t Lingnan and Mobei still lacking a few academics? Have them stay there until their deathbeds!”
As he said those words, King Song’s eyes were filled with menace.
The royal court is filled with dangers. Those who are in it are stepping on a thin layer of ice, a single word can make the difference between life or death… This wasn’t just hearsay. Even though King Song’s allies had ‘abandoned’ him, he still hasn’t reached the point where he could be stepped on by anyone else.
A lion staying low will be treated as an ill cat. In the past, he was simply too kind and generous, that’s why so many people dared to betray him.
However, King Song didn’t want to tolerate it anymore.
Shuashuashua, he picked up his brush and wrote a memorial. No one could have known that in this few strokes of the brush, Bao Xuan and Zheng Yuan’s fate would be sealed.
However, this time, regardless of whether it was the old butler or Lu Ting, no one said anything. Most probably, even King Qi wouldn’t do anything about the matter. After all, he wouldn’t go head to head with King Song over a mere Bao Xuan and Zheng Yuan.
This was the world of politics, a world filled with bloodshed!
…
The carriage rumbled!
Wang Chong didn’t know what had happened in King Song Residence and he wasn’t bothered about it either. Sitting on the carriage leading him back to his home, Wang Chong mind was preoccupied with another matter.
He had already done all he could for his father’s matter. Before long, Yao Guang Yi will lead his army and appear in the jurisdiction under his father’s army. By then, he will understand the situation.
What he had to do now was to start on the second step of his plan.
‘A just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust cause finds scant support’. The incident at Vast Crane Pavilion had shown this clearly. Despite his younger sister’s overwhelming strength, she was still flustered by many experts in the Yao Residence.
His experience in his previous life had displayed this point clearly. If not for the insufficient military power he wielded, he wouldn’t have ended up in such a tragic defeat.
If he wanted to realize his wish and change the destiny of the Wang Clan and Great Tang, he had to be like Yao Feng. He had to build his own influence and following.
Only with a powerful strength and many followers will he be able to change this empire, which was already surrounded by countless dangers!
However, to achieve all these, he had to possess tremendous financial ability first, wealth that could rival a country!
‘Money makes the world go round’. The more capable a person is, the more arrogant he is likely to be. Without sufficient profits involved, who would be willing to serve another?
Needless to say, he was only a fifteen-year-old child!
However, where could he lay his hands on such a massive wealth?
Sitting in the carriage, a deep frown etched on Wang Chong’s face.
The Wang Clan was by no means a wealthy family, and there wasn’t any business in it that could bring one tremendous wealth. On this aspect, he couldn’t rely on his family at all.
Wang Chong could only try to think of a solution by himself.
“There has to be a way, there must be a way…”
Wang Chong tapped his finger on the windows of the carriage as thoughts flashed past his mind. He rummaged through the events that had occurred in his previous life to see if there were any means for one to make a killing.
It was fortunate that Wang Chong possessed the memories of his previous life. On this aspect, he held the advantage over others.
“I got it!”
Suddenly, Wang Chong’s eyes lit up as he recalled something:
“Wootz steel! Right, Wootz steel!”
His gloomy mood disappeared without a trace and in its place was delight.
‘Wootz steel’ was a precious metal with banding patterns on it. When a blade was forged from it, the pattern on its surface would resemble flowing water, forming an exquisite and beautiful sight. At the same time, of all types of metal, Wootz steel was, without a doubt, the best material for forging weapons! Nothing else could compete with it!
In the parallel world where Wang Chong came from, it was also known as ‘Damascus steel’.
The weapons made of this material ranked as the top of the Three Great Swords, even in the modern times!
More importantly, the Wootz steel reserves were extremely limited. After it was dug out, it would be gone for good.
In the future, a real ‘Damascus sword’ could be sold for millions, even tens of million of USD! Furthermore, it was a commodity that was rarely sold; it was not something that one could just buy because they had money!
In this world, the Wootz steel was the same as well!
The reason why Wang Chong remembered this metal was not because of how precious it was. Rather, it was because of its sharpness. The weapons made of Wootz steel were incomparably sharp and could easily tear apart those precious and famous swords!
In terms of sharpness, the weapons made of Wootz steel were the absolute sharpest!
In the parallel world where Wang Chong came from, there was once a scientist who did an experiment and he realized that the Wootz steel had countless nano saws that could not be seen with one’s naked eye. The countless minuscule saws came together to form the legend of the incomparable sharpness of the Wootz steel.
Any rider who was equipped with Wootz steel weapon would be able to easily tear apart a person along with his armor, causing quite a gruesome death!
Furthermore, the tiny saws on the Wootz steel swords made it easy to tear apart the enemy’s wounds, causing massive bleeding within a short period of time. Not only so, it was also difficult to stop the flow of blood from the wounds inflicted by it.
Many tiny cuts turned fatal because of this.
With all of these factors overlapping together, an army equipped with Wootz steel became something that was a fearsome fighting force, something that others would unconsciously shiver when speaking of it.
Their opponents would often sustain great casualties!
However, even though the Wootz steel was such a precious commodity, Wang Chong knew that at this current moment, it was still inexpensive. If nothing went wrong, this should be around the time when the first batch of the mineral had been mined from its only deposit in the Hyderabad mountains.
This first batch of minerals from Hyderabad was currently being carried by Sindhi monks to all around the world; the Abbasid Caliphate, the Western Regions, Great Tang, Turkic Khaganate, Silla Empire…
(Sindhu or Tianzhu referred to ‘India’. However, when the Indians first came to China, it was called Sindhu and it was named by Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che.)
It was only a year later did the precious Wootz steel’s name first appear in the name, and ten years for its name to traverse through the entire world. Twenty years would have passed before the most perfect method to forging the Wootz steel, the Tanilakam method, appeared.
However, in thirty years, the Hyderabad mountain would finish mining the final bit of Wootz steel ore that it had.
That was the last Wootz steel ore in Hyderabad, as well as the final piece in the world!
This was the situation of the Wootz steel!
These kind of ores weren’t unlimited; they were rare and finite. At this moment, there wasn’t a single person in this world who was aware of this fact.
Based on Wang Chong’s memories, the two monks should probably be in Great Tang by now, and the people of Great Tang rarely bothered themselves with people from the Western Regions. At this point, no one’s attention was on the two Sindhi Monks with bizarre appearances and, needless to say, the Wootz steel on them.
If he were to look for them at this moment, he could possibly make an unexpectedly huge killing.
At this point, Wang Chong’s heart couldn’t help but pound furiously
Even
though it was a different spacetime continuum, Wang Chong knew that the weapons forged using Wootz steel in this world were highly sought after by the officials and generals of countless empires, the nobility and the wealthy, as well as martial arts experts.
The Wootz steel’s elegant design was fitting of a powerful official’s identity and standing. On the other hand, for a martial arts expert, a Wootz steel could mean a huge rise in his fighting prowess.
For these precious Wootz steel weapons, those people were willing to give their all, even if it meant bankruptcy.
If he could claim all of the Wootz steel that the two Sindhi monks had in their possession, the future benefits that it could bring him was clear. At this point, Wang Chong could no longer hold in the excitement in his heart.
“Little sister, are you interested in walking around with me to look for a few people?”
Wang Chong suddenly turned around to look at his little sister who was sitting beside him.
“Ah, you still want to walk around?”
Wang Xiao Yao’s eyes widened in shock. She clearly remembered the threat her father made about breaking their legs if they were to roam the streets.
“Why, are you afraid?”
Wang Chong taunted.
“Hmph, how can I be afraid!”
Provocation is much more effective than an invitation. As expected, the Wang Family’s little sister fell for it. Wang Chong chuckled and brought this ‘free bodyguard’ of a sister toward the place where the foreigners from the Western Regions gathered.
“Please take us to the Zhuque Street!”
Lingnan is near the Nanling Mountains (or Southern Mountains/Five Ranges) whereas Mobei is near (or in) Gobi Desert. It is quite a rural location and being sent there means that their career would come to an end. (Which was much worse than being killed for the ambitious)
Memorial/ Imperial Report:
These are what the officials write to the emperor to report on affairs or state recommendations and such.
If you all wish to know about what emperors do, here is a good website with concise information on a day of an emperor’s life. It’s more toward the Qing Emperor though (The last dynasty before it developed to the current China), and our story is based in the Tang Dynasty.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1276071-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-chinese-emperor/
I couldn’t find an English translation of the Three Great Swords so I’ll just translate from Chinese here. (Based on Baidu)
Number 1: Damascus sword from the Islamic Tribes in India, Iran (Persia then), Afghanistan, Bukhara and etc ()
Number 2: Kris sword from Singapore, Malacca, Philippines and etc. ()
Number 3: Nihonto from Japan ()
Of which, the Damascus sword is made of Wootz steel. The translations may not exact, I tried to google to get as accurate a translation as possible but that’s about it.
Based on Chinese Wikipedia,
At the very beginning, the Indians were addressed as Sindhu (Named by Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che). At the beginning of Tang Dynasty, they were addressed as Tianzhu. The Persians addressed Sindhu and Hindu while the Greeks addressed Hindu as Indu.
Eventually, when an enlightened monk from the Tang Dynasty Xuan Zang went to the Western Regions to obtain the scriptures, Indu was changed to Yindu (The way India is called in Chinese now
Chapter 16: Uproar
The Zhuque Street was filled with crowds walking to and fro. Sitting in the carriage, Wang Chong parted the curtains and looked outside. There were a lot of blue-eyed red-bearded Hu among the crowd.
With a glance, Wang Chong saw the eagle-eyed Turks, the small physical frame but combative Ü-Tsang people, the Silla and Goguryeo people who were similar to the Han but with a differing disposition, the massive red, brown and golden-haired Westerners, people from the Abbasid Caliphate and the Charax Spasinu…
Looking at these foreigners from many different locations, an indescribable sensation emerged in Wang Chong’s heart. Regardless of which parallel world he was in, the Great Tang remained as the same prosperous and powerful Great Tang.
Its doors were always opened to welcome the entire world. Even when it was fighting with other countries, it never tried to expel the Hu from their lands.
In this parallel world, it was without a doubt the center of the world. But it was a pity that…
Wang Chong’s heart ached and he soon came back to reality.
The Zhuque Street was where most of the foreigners gathered and as such, it was the best place to search for the two Sindhu monks from the Western Regions.
However, Wang Chong wasn’t here to try his luck. After all, luck was something unreliable. Wang Chong was here to look for someone.
In the entire Zhuque Street and the eastern regions of the capital, no one could know the foreigners more than that person.
The Great Tang in his previous life, due to its ‘arrogance’, passed by the opportunity with the precious ‘Wootz steel’. As such, the Wootz steel that reached Great Tang was extremely few.
It could have boosted the strength of Great Tang Empire significantly.
Wang Chong was here to right this mistake.
‘Learning the strengths of others to wield it against them’, these words originated from a person called Wei Yuan in his world. Humans can be classified by their races, but the same does not apply for technology, especially for Wootz steel.
As long as he can steer the destiny away from the tragedy in his previous life, Wang Chong did not care where his strength came from.
Jyaa!
The carriage made a turn, bringing Wang Chong and his sister into an isolated alley.
“Yo, isn’t this Young Master Chong?”
The moment Wang Chong brought his younger sister in, the person behind the counter lifted his head and a smiling chubby face could be seen. The fat man shot a wide grin at Wang Chong, revealing his golden tooth.
This was a normal pawn shop. The business didn’t seem to be doing well and the fat man was the only person inside the shop.
However, Wang Chong knew that the fellow was overflowing with money.
‘Shut for three years, only to open for another three years of upkeep’, the phrase was used to describe a person like this. He specialized in trading with the foreigners and scions in the capital.
Whoever who lacked money would bring their personal belongings to pawn it here, especially the foreigners. In a foreign land, they found themselves lacking connections to tide them through difficult times. As such, they would have no choice but to pawn their personal belongings here.
As such, this fat man, nicknamed ‘Big Golden Tooth’ possessed the greatest intelligence on the foreigners in the capital.
Wang Chong had ‘loitered’ about the capital and made unseemly friends such as Ma Zhou and the rest. However, this wasn’t completely devoid of its benefits.
‘Big Golden Tooth’ was one of the useful ‘friends’ Wang Chong had made.
Even though his heart ached, Wang Chong gritted his teeth and pah, he threw a silver ingot on the table. The services of ‘Big Golden Tooth’ was never free. He had to ‘part with his flesh’ every time he wanted his assistance.
“I am buying information. There are a few Sindhu monks who had arrived in the capital. Bald and dressed in a cassock, they should be easy to recognize. I want to know where they are.”
Wang Chong spoke.
“Hehe, Young Master Chong sure is straightforward and generous, as expected of the grandson of Duke Jiu… Un? Sindhu monk? What is Young Master Chong looking for them for? Those fellows speak in weird accents and they often jump ahead to preach to the others whenever they get a chance. I think it would be best for Young Master Chong to avoid contact with them.”
“Furthermore, it is already too late for Young Master Chong to look for them. These fellows had already returned back for Sindhu a few days ago.”
Big Golden Tooth fondled the silver ingot with a smile as he spoke to Wang Chong
with a lowered head.
“What?”
Upon hearing these words, Wang Chong’s heart beat furiously and his eyes widened, “They’ve returned?”
His words had created billowing waves in Wang Chong’s heart. Wang Chong had expected for the two monks to come to Great Tang, but never would he imagine that they had already returned.
“Indeed, they left with the city west’s White Agate Jewelry Shop’s merchant carriage. If Young Master Chong needs for look for them, you can leave by the city west and follow the main path. Perhaps you might be able to catch up to them.”
Big Golden Tooth said.
Wang Chong shook his head. After heading west from the capital, one would find himself surrounded by endless mountains and desert. A three-day journey was more than sufficient for them to pass through Yumen Pass.
The world is vast, how could he locate a specific carriage that carried the two foreign monks?
Big Golden Tooth’s words were only an attempt to console him.
“Thanks.”
Wang Chong left the pawnshop in extreme disappointment. Looks like he wasn’t fated with the Wootz steel!
“Let’s go! We’ll return home!”
The siblings hopped onto the carriage and headed back home.
…
The sky was already dark by the moment they returned back to the Wang Clan Residence. The entire residence was brightly illuminated with lanterns, but it gave it a forlorn impression.
“Hold it right there!”
Right after the Wang siblings carefully pushed open the entrance gates and prepared to return back to their room, a cold bellow suddenly echoed from the main hall.
“Crap!”
The two siblings froze. They slowly turned over and saw two candle lights in the main hall. Under the illumination of the light, a frosty face appeared, and it was staring coldly at the two siblings.
“Mo…Mother!”
Wang Xiao Yao’s body trembled. She fearfully turned around and addressed her.
“Mother!”
A look of discomfort also appeared on Wang Chong’s face. A reason why he took the effort to roam around outside, making the trip to Big Golden Tooth’s pawn shop, was to avoid facing his mother. He didn’t expect that he would still end up getting caught by her.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 21
