In the darkness, all manner of screams and howls rose straight into the heavens. The firelight cast the writhing silhouettes of people into ghostly shadows, like demons haunting the night. Countless townsfolk huddled beneath their blankets, trembling. A few, summoning their courage, pushed open their windows for a peek. From that night onward, the terrifying scenes they saw would return again and again, like demonic spirits, hunting their dreams.
This night would become known in the official history of Jianghuai as the “Night of Dragon Slaying.” The legendary Marquis Wei had turned everything he experienced into a legend, and this time was no exception. The government office of the Provincial Administration Commissioner had only killed thirty-odd some people, yet this was enough to drive the Dragon Slaying Gang mad. Driven mad, despite it being the strongest gang in the region, and the very one that had sent tens of thousands of its members coming furiously to demand retribution.
This night would be a memory that was told and retold countless times among the people of Jianghuai for a long, long time. With their own eyes, they had witnessed the speedy rise of the greatest gang in two short years, only to be beaten back to its original state and utterly destroyed in a single night.
Only now, the wealthy and carefree people of Jianghuai, so accustomed to looking down on everyone else, truly etched the name of that seemingly gentle yet resolute young man into their memories forever.
And on this night, Feng Zhi Wei merely stood on an upper floor, cradling a cup of tea in her hand as she watched the sea of churning blood beneath with a faint smile. The pure-white fur trim of her snow-white cloak brushed softly against her pale cheeks. She appeared tall and graceful, as immaculate as a figure in a painting, untouched by the dust of the mortal world.
Her gaze did not land upon the carnage in the square below at all. Instead, it remained fixed on what lay beyond the narrow alley.
There, the group of people who had been eavesdropping on her earlier had disguised themselves and blended into the continuous flow of the Dragon Slaying Gang members. Their intent was, of course, to take advantage of the chaos and slip away unnoticed. What they had not anticipated was that Feng Zhi Wei was already prepared to shut the door and beat the dogs trapped inside. (That last bit is a Chinese saying…usually used for situations exactly such as this. The saying aside though, I promise Chinese people are some of the most devoted dog owners you will find, and most are quite kind to strays.)
The archers she had stationed on the walls of various alleys were not, in fact, there to kill the Dragon Slaying Gang members. She had never intended to wipe them out. All she wanted was to knock their arrogance down a few pegs. After all, she might still have use of them in the future.
Her true objective was to use the chaos and confusion to hunt down and eliminate every last one of those who had dared to hide on her roof beams and eavesdrop on her!
After those people were discovered and fled, Zong Chen’s covert guard immediately followed them, pursuing them relentlessly without giving them a moment’s respite. With his men keeping their target in sight and signaling their movement within the crowd, every arrow shot out by the archers on the walls was aimed directly at the eavesdroppers. The spies trapped in the alley were either shot dead inside the alley, or they broke through and were shot dead outside. There was no other possible outcome.
Zong Chen stood beside her, watching her calm and indifferent expression— from the beginning to the end, she had never said one word about keeping at least one person alive to figure out who had sent them to spy on her. This meant she already knew who was behind it.
After hesitating for a good while, he asked softly, “Really…kill all?”
Feng Zhi Wei lowered her eyelashes. The steam rising from the tea made her eyes look even more misty, reflecting the bleak, sickly-green sky of the night and the vivid glimmer of blood. She said nothing, merely clasping the teacup a little tighter, as if she hoped that the faint warmth it held might help to warm her ice-cold heart, coaxing a little more heat into it.
In the darkest hour before dawn, someone in the distance gave a discreet signal. Feng Zhi Wei closed her eyes and waved her hand.
The crossbows were withdrawn, and the deadly net of blades was lifted. Abruptly released from the net, the members of the Dragon Slaying Gang instantly fled like a surging tide, leaving behind dozens of mangled corpses.
Remaining on the upper floors, Feng Zhi Wei never did come down but gazed at the crisscrossing alleyways stretching in every direction and remained silent for a long time.
Behind her, Zong Chen asked, “Should we dispose of the corpses in those alleys?”
He was referring to those who had secretly eavesdropped from the roof beams, were then trapped in the alleys, and were killed with arrows by Feng Zhi Wei’s men.
Feng Zhi Wei remained silent for a long time, then shook her head.
At the corner of her lips, a faint, almost desolate smile was etched.
—————————————-
About two hours later, the corpses were laid out in a royal estate somewhere in Baizhou.
Five or six bodies lay in a row on the open ground. All were disheveled, their faces still bearing the fear and resentment they must have felt at death.
That expression, in the eyes of those who saw it, seemed more like a warning.
Everyone in the courtyard looked grim, except one person who wore his usual expression of calm. Bending forward slightly, he examined each and every corpse carefully, as if trying to figure out what they wanted to say before they died.
His long, dark black cloak, embroidered with golden mandala flowers, hung all the way to the ground, giving his elegant features an added touch of cold, bewitching allure. His slightly slanted eyebrows were as finely shaped as trimmed feathers, their deep blue-green hue reminiscent of distant mountains.
After a while, he waved his hand, signaling his men to collect the bodies. Someone tried to approach him with a question, but he silently turned his back. Soon, everyone around him had quietly dispersed.
He stood alone in the courtyard, his tall and slender figure bathed in the feeble winter sunlight.
He gazed toward the direction of Jianghuai’s provincial capital and said softly,
“Zhi Wei, you know perfectly well that they were my people.”
**************************************************
At the end of the seventeenth year of Tiansheng, Feng Zhi Wei, who had been serving as the newly appointed Jianghuai Administration Commissioner for barely a year, once again unleashed a blood storm across the Jianghuai Circuit. The Dragon Slaying Gang, the largest underworld force that has dominated Jianghuai for years, had finally suffered its first crushing defeat at the hands of this seemingly gentle yet iron-willed commissioner.
When the news reached the imperial court, normally one would have expected the censors, those who spent their days upholding benevolence, righteousness, prosperity, wisdom, and trustworthiness, extolling gentleness, respectfulness, frugality, humility, and advocating kindness towards the people, who most of all insist that punishments and executions offend the natural order of heaven— to rush forward, making a great fuss with petitions to impeach her…. Yet, this time, not one single censor spoke up.
The war was putting increasing pressure on the imperial court, and the Emperor had already hinted several times, both directly and indirectly, at how much he missed Wei Zhi. It seems clear that this Marquis Wei might not even finish his first term as the Regional Administration Commissioner before being summoned back to the inner court to join the Imperial Cabinet, or perhaps even being sent to lead troops into battle. Who would be foolish enough to rush forward and invite trouble by offending her at this junction?
And… strictly speaking, the Marquis didn’t do anything too out of line. He didn’t order a killing spree. Besieging the Provincial Governor’s office was a capital offense to begin with, so no one could say anything about killing ten plus people. And…the Dragon Slaying Gang mainly collapsed on its own. However, when people in the court talked about this incident, their expressions were still a bit unnaturally stiff—- it was said that Wei Zhi ordered the volley of shots before the other side even pulled out their swords. So if you really want to mince words, then this wasn’t self-defense but a massacre.
Feng Zhi Wei herself also submitted a memorial to the throne admitting her fault. Her words were sincere and earnest. She explained that the criminal underworld had long been a scourge upon the local people, and that as a servant of the imperial court, it was her duty to stand up for the people. As for her own reputation, it was nothing more than an empty name. Whether people praised or condemned her was of little import. This, of course, earned yet another round of consolation from the old Emperor. He even issued an imperial order entrusting Feng Zhi Wei with full authority over all subsequent matters.
This certainly saved Feng Zhi Wei some trouble. After all, she did indeed have matters to attend to concerning the Dragon Slaying Gang.
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Ps. I wonder if our heroine actually planned this whole thing to partly put the emperor’s mind at ease. With her reputation, and now the chance to form ‘connections’ with the empire’s most wealthy and powerful clans, it would have put the emperor’s mind at ease if she greatly offended all of the big clans of Jianghuai and tarnished her own reputation. The emperor might have been reluctant to give her too much responsibility for fear she would gain a greater reputation than himself, but now, she would be considered a ‘safe tool’ to use.
Ps 2. Sigh…the battle between our two leads begins. Most of me hates this, of course…but there is a small part of me that loves it. One of the biggest problems I have with the drama is that it relegated our heroine to a helpless position towards the end. In my opinion, a big reason Ning Yi would not accept anyone other than Feng Zhi Wei is that she is his match in every way. If Ning Yi had listened to his own premonition in the beginning, he could have killed Feng Zhi Wei. But now, even if he wanted to get rid of her, whether his own heart would allow it or not, she has become his most formidable foe.