Chapter 827 Qiu Cao’s Humanity
As the saying goes, "Every autumn rain brings a chill."

On August 24, the autumn rain that had been plaguing Lin'an City for several days was gradually coming to an end. The weather was getting colder day by day. Before the rain, the people of Lin'an were still wearing thin clothes and cloth shoes, but after the rain, they had changed into cotton clothes and thick boots.

In the early morning, the drizzle was still falling.

A horse-drawn carriage left the city in the rain, slowly moving along the bumpy and muddy suburban road, heading straight for the shore of Qiutang Lake.

Today, the shores of Qiutang Lake are heavily guarded. Soldiers in armor and armed with sharp weapons move in unison, as if they were chopping with swords and axes. There are three layers of guards inside and outside, and the area within a radius of several miles is impenetrable.

Accompanied by the squeaking sound of wheels, the carriage came slowly.

In an instant, more than ten armored soldiers came forward, unmoved even though the wind and rain soaked their armor. Each of them held the hilt of their sword, staring fiercely.

"I was outside the city, and you let me in. I was inside the city, and you let me out again."

An old voice came faintly from the carriage, instantly breaking the natural and ethereal sound of wind blowing the grass and rain hitting the autumn leaves.

"I invited you into the city because my master is grateful to you for coming from afar, so I want to show my hospitality. I invited you out of the city because I saw that you were worried, so I wanted to show my gentlemanly heart."

Accompanied by a loud laugh, a middle-aged man with the gait of a dragon and a tiger, accompanied by two soldiers, walked quickly towards the carriage.

At the same time, Guxing and Guyue appeared one after another. After they opened their umbrellas, they invited Qingfeng, a Taoist immortal, to get off the carriage.

Looking around at the maple leaves and reeds, feeling the strong autumn atmosphere, Qingfeng subconsciously took a deep breath, and suddenly felt refreshed and comfortable. He cast a kind look at the middle-aged man with a smile on his face and asked, "Who is the general?"

"I am the Minister of the West Palace, Bai Jin. I am here on the orders of the Deputy Privy Envoy Qian to respectfully welcome the head of the Wudang Sect, Taoist Qingfeng."

"Where is Lord Qian?"

"Mr. Qian is fishing in the autumn pond."

Hearing this, Gu Xing couldn't help but look displeased and asked, "We have come from afar, why didn't Lord Qian come to greet us in person? Is this the way to treat guests?"

"This……"

"Forget it! Lord Qian is in a high position and has great power. How can we, the common people, violate the etiquette?" Qingfeng waved his hand indifferently, "Lord Bai, please lead the way."

"Please come in, three of you!"

Bai Jin looked at Qingfeng and the other two with a meaningful look. Seeing that they were not carrying any weapons, he readily agreed and led them towards Qiutang.

At this moment, there are two bamboo chairs placed on the bank of Qiutang, one on the left and one on the right, the left one is slightly forward, and the right one is slightly backward.

Mr. Qian, wearing a cloak, sat motionless on a bamboo chair on the left, holding a fishing rod in his hand with a leisurely look. His old eyes, half open and half closed, stared quietly at the lake surface with ripples stirred up by raindrops. It was unknown what he was thinking about.

Behind him, a burly silver-armored guard stood respectfully with an umbrella in his hand.

"Sir, Taoist Qingfeng..."

"Shh!"

As soon as Bai Jin opened his mouth, Lord Qian, who seemed to be dozing off, suddenly let out a soft hiss and pointed casually with his right hand at the bamboo chair next to him, motioning Qingfeng to sit down.

"This……"

Before the lonely star and lonely moon could speak up for themselves, Qingfeng was already sitting leisurely beside Lord Qian, admiring the beautiful scenery of Qiutang with great interest, without saying a word and with a calm expression.

After an unknown amount of silence, the still and silent Qian suddenly opened his eyes, flicked his wrist, and swung the fishing rod high up. Then, a struggling red carp broke out of the water, drew a graceful arc in the air, and landed squarely in his hand.

As Lord Qian took the red carp off the hook, he greeted Qingfeng with a half-smile: "The fish was biting the hook just now. I'm sorry I couldn't get up to greet it."

"It's just a trivial matter, not worth mentioning." Qingfeng smiled meaningfully, "I can wait for several days, so why can't I wait for just a moment?"

Qingfeng's words sounded polite, but in fact they were an implicit criticism of Lord Qian for neglecting his guests.

"I have met many people here, many of whom are not from the West Mansion. I have discussed many things with them, many of which have nothing to do with the West Mansion." Lord Qian ignored Qingfeng's insinuations and spoke and behaved calmly. "Some of them are too smart and end up in a miserable situation, or even become dry bones in a grave. Some others are more sensible and consider the overall situation, so once they gain power, they become rich and famous."

At this point, Lord Qian cast a secretive look at Qingfeng who seemed to be thinking about something, and said thoughtfully: "Master, you are a smart man, you should understand what I mean." "I am a commoner, stupid and ignorant, I really can't comprehend your profound principles, I can only understand half of them." Qingfeng said in a gloomy tone, "Why don't we skip those red tapes and get straight to the point?"

"Okay!" Lord Qian nodded, "I'm sure you've read my letter, Taoist priest. What do you think?"

"Forgive me for being blunt, but you really shouldn't threaten me with my own flesh and blood." Qingfeng's face remained calm, but his tone gradually became fierce. "Little did you know that in Luoyang City in the past, Tianji Marquis Zhao Yuan once wrote a promise in his own handwriting, which is still in my daughter's hands. The promise included Luo Tianjin's conspiracy to rebel, which had nothing to do with other people in the Xianwang Mansion. The court only dealt with Luo Tianjin, and would never implicate other family members, nor would it covet anything from the Xianwang Mansion. In fact, my daughter sacrificed her own flesh and blood for the sake of justice, and she should be a meritorious official of the Song Dynasty court. How can you now reopen the old accounts? Not only did you not acknowledge my daughter's contribution, but you threatened to 'punish all nine clans'?"

"Those promises were made by Zhao Yuan on his own. They have nothing to do with the court, and the emperor will not recognize them." Lord Qian waved his hand and said indifferently, "I am now negotiating this matter with the Taoist priest on behalf of the court and the emperor."

"Oh?" Seeing that Lord Qian was deliberately making excuses, Qing Feng did not get angry but laughed instead, "In that case, I shouldn't have come to see Lord Qian today, but should have gone to see Marquis Tianji..."

"Master, please listen to my advice. If you leave Qiutang now, both the Xianwang Mansion and the Wudang Sect will be doomed."

"What a joke!" Before Qingfeng could reply, the indignant Gu Yue had already refuted, "Luoyang City is now the territory of the Mongols. I don't believe you dare to lead your men north with such fanfare. What do you mean by eternal damnation? Do you think you can scare us with just a few threats?"

"You have misunderstood my meaning." Lord Qian shook his head slowly. "I have never thought of forcing anyone down, let alone sending troops to kill them. What I meant by 'eternal damnation' is actually that someone advised the emperor and begged him to issue an imperial decree to make known to the world Luo Tianjin's scandal of plotting rebellion. Although the people of the world are dissatisfied with the court and the government, they still know that they are descendants of Yan and Huang, and they still know propriety, integrity, loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness. If the world knew that the son-in-law of the leader of the martial arts world had colluded with foreign races and conspired to overthrow the Han people, I wonder... how would those benevolent people in the Central Plains martial arts world feel? By then, I am afraid that there will be no need for the court to take action, and heroes who serve the country and the people will... kill Luo Tianjin's nine clans for the emperor."

"you……"

Lord Qian's words hit Qingfeng's soft spot, making him pale and speechless.

After that, Mr. Qian threw the fishing hook into the lake again. He was not impatient and gave Qingfeng enough time to weigh the pros and cons.

After careful consideration, Qing Feng made up his mind and said bluntly: "My Lord, did you invite me here just to threaten us?"

"That's wrong! I'm trying to save you, not threaten you." Lord Qian defended, "To be honest, the people who repeatedly instigated the emperor to issue an imperial decree to push you into the fire pit were the prime minister and Zhao Yuan who made a promise to your daughter. On the contrary, the people who have been trying their best to mediate in front of the emperor and protect you everywhere... are precisely the Privy Councilor and me."

"This……"

Lord Qian's words shocked Qingfeng and the other two, and made them even more confused.

"There is no such thing as a free lunch." Qing Feng said tentatively, "The Privy Councilor and Your Excellency are so kind to me. I guess... it's not just out of kindness, right?"

"The Privy Councilor and I agree that it is better to appease than to suppress, it is better to make peace than to fight, and it is better to make friends than to be enemies. Especially in times of national crisis, both the court and the people should be united and share the same hatred for the enemy, instead of attacking each other and causing civil strife." Lord Qian said calmly, "My purpose is similar to what Zhao Yuan did when he approached Luo Tianjin. Of course, this is also your daughter's promise to Zhao Yuan. I hope that the Taoist priest will put the interests of the country and family first, gather talents from all walks of life and death, and share your worries and serve the country in times of crisis without fear of swords and axes, and without fear of life and death."

Qingfeng's eyes changed, and he asked suspiciously: "Could it be that the Lord wants to recruit him..."

"No!" Lord Qian denied it fiercely. "I am not the Prime Minister, and the West Palace is different from the East Palace. I am not greedy for the empty names of surrender and submission. I just want Taoist Qingfeng to help the court generously when it needs him. As for the Central Plains martial arts world... it is still your world. The emperor has no interest in asking about it, the court has no interest in intervening, and I am even less interested in looking for trouble."

"This..." Qingfeng hesitated, "If you want to stand up for the people of the world, we, the righteous warriors of the martial arts world, will have no choice but to do so. I just don't know what exactly the 'court needs' that you are talking about?"

"It's very simple. There are only two situations: 'wartime' and 'non-wartime'." Lord Qian explained, "In case of war, the Taoist priest needs to recruit civilian heroes to form a large army that can fight well and fight together with the government army to defend the country. In non-wartime, the Taoist priest needs to take good care of the various forces in the Central Plains Wulin. I don't ask them to obey my orders, but I ask them not to cause trouble for the court and local governments, especially not to do some unjust acts such as occupying the mountains as kings, killing people and robbing goods. Of course, if some unjust people do unjust things, it is often difficult for the government to intervene. At this time, the Taoist priest needs to come forward to solve these troubles. For example, a few months ago, some people from the rivers and lakes came to Lin'an to stir up trouble, which made the emperor and the officials uneasy. Such absurd things must never happen again in the future. You have a saying that 'the affairs of the rivers and lakes are the affairs of the rivers and lakes'. This official hopes that the rivers and lakes will also have their own order. It may not be exactly the same as the laws of the Song Dynasty, but... at least it cannot go against them."

"There are countless heroes in the world, and many of them are powerful. Why did Lord Qian choose me?" Qingfeng calculated quickly in his mind, but remained calm on the surface.

"Because Taoist Qingfeng is the leader of the Central Plains martial arts world, many things will naturally fall into place if you step forward." Lord Qian answered without hesitation, "Back then, when the East Palace selected Luo Tianjin, he was just a local tyrant. The court planted internal accomplices, secretly helped him, and used threats and inducements. After years of hard work, it ended up in failure. The West Palace does not want to repeat the mistakes of the East Palace, so after making appropriate choices, it decided to cooperate sincerely with the Taoist priest. What's more, the conditions I just mentioned... don't seem to be excessive?"

"Your Excellency is very clear about the thoughts of us Jianghu people... You really know that we value our reputation far more than our lives, so you took the initiative to give up those flashy and empty names of recruiting people, but you actually used me to firmly control the Central Plains martial arts world. I have to admit that your Excellency's actions are indeed more clever than those of the Prime Minister and Zhao Yuan..."

Having said this, Qingfeng's voice suddenly stopped, and his face showed hesitation, as if he had something on his mind.

"From what you said, it seems that there are other difficulties?" Lord Qian asked curiously, "Do you disagree with my suggestion?"

"No!" Qingfeng pretended to be embarrassed and answered reluctantly, "I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the adults. In fact, my position as the leader of the martial arts world has been criticized and is shaky. I don't know...how long I can keep it."

"Oh? Could it be that Taoist Qingfeng has something to hide?"

"A thousand-mile dam collapses because of an ant hole. I do have a small problem right now..." Qingfeng rolled his eyes and said in a very secretive way, "If you are willing to help me solve this problem, I am willing to swear an oath with you, and we will swear an oath of blood to ensure the eternal peace of the Song Dynasty."

"What's the matter?"

"Avenge my son-in-law and kill the traitor... Liu Xunyi!"

……

(End of this chapter)