IDWBE -Chapter 106 The Old, the Weak, Women and Children

Ever since Ye Qiu lost his sword, his hands felt strangely empty and he couldn’t quite get used to it. He had no money to buy a new one, so he simply snapped off a straight tree branch and carried it around instead.

Wherever he went, his hands wouldn’t stay still. For no reason at all, he would swing the branch wildly toward the dense old forest.

Sword qi swept across the trees. Regardless of height, their tops were sliced off, leaving them all trimmed to the same level.

Birds scattered in panic. Hundreds—thousands—chirped noisily in midair.

Lin Yi stared, dumbfounded.

This guy… actually has some skill.

Ye Qiu said proudly, “Your Highness, how’s my swordsmanship? Just tell me who you want killed, and after that we’ll owe each other nothing!”

“You’d better just rest. I don’t need you.”

Lin Yi rejected him without hesitation.

Who hasn’t gone through a chuunibyou phase?

When he was a child, holding a stick made him think he could wreak havoc in Heaven itself.

“The great river flows eastward,
the stars in the sky point to the Big Dipper,
it will not turn back even in water or fire,
it will roar out when it sees injustice,
it will act when the time comes—”

The mountains and rivers were beautiful.

He couldn’t help but sing loudly.

His voice wasn’t great, but he loved singing.

After he sang often enough, the people of Baiyun City had heard him plenty. Many of his songs had already become familiar tunes to them.

Especially “Hao Han Ge” (“Song of Heroes”).

Its soaring momentum made it particularly popular among martial artists.

Gradually, members of the entourage gathered the courage to sing along.

In the end, more and more voices joined in, until it became a sea of song.

For a moment, the entire procession felt completely different—no longer sluggish from the heat, but spirited and invigorated.

“Arrogance and laughter rise like a thousand waves,
Passion burns brighter than the red sun,
Courage is like iron, bones like refined steel,
A heart as vast as a hundred thousand feet,
a vision stretching ten thousand miles—”

This time, before Lin Yi even opened his mouth, someone in the group began singing “Nan Er Dang Zi Qiang” (“A Man Should Strengthen Himself”).

The locals of Sanhe sang especially passionately.

They strained their voices, chests heaving, as if pouring all their strength into the song. In their thick local dialect, they sang it with incomparable vigor.

Because the song was so widely known, Lin Yi had once considered adopting it as a military anthem. But after thinking it over, he gave up the idea.

Though it was stirring, its theme didn’t quite fit the army—it was better suited for casual singing.

As they walked on, Lin Yi grew more and more tired, gradually losing patience. He looked at Bao Kui and said, “Shan Qi does have some ability—he’s even extended the cement road this far. Where does it lead?”

Bao Kui smiled and replied, “Your Highness, this road stretches southeast, all the way to Fangniao Island.”

“I see.”

Otherwise, along this barren stretch with not even a ghost in sight, building a road would have seemed pointless.

By evening, they finally reached the end of the cement road.

Scattered tools lay by the roadside.

Suddenly, Chen Xinluo darted out from the forest, walked up to Lin Yi, and knelt on one knee.

“Your Highness!”

“Where are the others?” Lin Yi asked.

Chen Xinluo pointed toward the lush mountains ahead. “Just up ahead. I’ve troubled Your Highness to come in person.”

He had originally been a guard in the prince’s residence, later joined the militia, and after Shan Qi arrived, he entered the Sanhe garrison as a battalion commander.

Shen Chu said, “You’ve got at least a thousand men. How could you possibly be stopped by a bunch of barbarians?”

That was what puzzled him most.

Most of the road workers were locals. Many had learned a move or two in the schoolyard—some even reached the level of hua jin. The rest were labor-reform prisoners who had broken regulations, and their martial skills were likewise far from weak.

On top of that, Chen Xinluo and seven or eight garrison officers were present—each above third rank. Chen himself had already reached the peak of sixth rank.

Even against a thousand regular troops from the State of Daliang, they could chase them down!

They were that confident!

There was absolutely no way they should have been detained by a mere group of barbarians!

Even Shen Chu felt his face burning in embarrassment.

Lin Yi yawned. “Victory and defeat are common in war. Stand up and explain what happened.”

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

After saluting Lin Yi, Hong Ying, and Shen Chu in turn, Chen Xinluo said: “They’re just mountain dwellers—fewer than five thousand in total. All old people, women, and children. Basically no fighting strength. They claim our road construction damaged their feng shui and refuse to let us continue. Your subordinate has always remembered Your Highness’s teaching—to win people over with virtue and treat border folk kindly. I dared not resort to force.”

Otherwise, how could a group of old and weak people possibly stop a thousand grown men?

It was truly a bitter situation.

“Damn it… another loss of money.”

Looking at the long line of his entourage behind him, Lin Yi sighed. This trip had already cost him twenty thousand taels of silver.

“This subordinate is incompetent. Please forgive me, Your Highness!”

Chen Xinluo apologized again.

Lin Yi waved weakly. “Enough. Lead the way. Let’s go take a look. No need for everyone to follow. The rest stay here and rest.”

Shen Chu complied, bringing only about a hundred palace guards.

Lin Yi rode his donkey. From far away, he heard the mournful sound of horns, followed by a burst of urgent tones—who knew what instrument was making them.

Even as a military novice, he understood: they were sending signals.

They followed a narrow goat path through dense forest. Chen Xinluo walked in front. With a casual sweep of his blade, dust flew up, revealing a large pit in the ground.

Inside it were densely packed sharpened wooden spikes.

Lin Yi’s scalp tingled.

If he had ridden his donkey straight into that, wouldn’t he have been skewered?

“Human hearts are truly treacherous!”

He angrily dismounted and walked around the pit.

Along the way, Chen Xinluo kept swinging his blade. Besides pits, there were rope snares and swinging bamboo traps—each bamboo pole sharpened to a point.

Before Lin Yi and the others could react much, Ye Qiu had already grown impatient.

“Drive!”

With a shout, he spurred his horse forward.

Wherever his branch swept, every trap was exposed. Stones flew; trees toppled.

Finally, Lin Yi’s group quickened their pace.

The road workers were cooking when they saw Lin Yi’s party approach. They immediately knelt in unison.

Seeing that no one was injured, Lin Yi waved casually and turned his gaze to another group.

Each of them held wooden sticks or wooden bows. Not a single proper iron weapon among them.

Just as Chen Xinluo had said—all old, weak, women, and children. Many of the children clearly showed signs of malnutrition.

Even the man leading them, though around forty and fairly tall, was extremely thin, ribs protruding sharply across his bare chest.

“Speak. Why are you blocking the road construction? It’s a good thing for you too. Wouldn’t it be much more convenient to go to Baiyun City to buy supplies in the future?”

Bullying people like this gave Lin Yi no sense of accomplishment at all.

The leading man, holding an iron blade, said angrily:

“Building the road has angered the Mountain God! The Mountain God has already passed down punishment! Look at that mountain ahead—it collapsed entirely!”