A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu smiled. “Why won’t I dare to say that? Anyway, I don’t know who my parents or ancestors are since I was adopted by the Wanxiang Daoist Palace. So I’m not afraid of gossip or embarrassing anyone.”

“You want to marry into my family? I think you’ve read too many novels. ” Zhang Yuelu rolled her eyes at him.

She continued, “The Zhang family won’t like that. The Li family, on the other hand, are quite fond of having their son-in-law take their last name. They don’t mind having an adopted son or a son-in-law become the head of the family. Since they can’t choose the gender of their child, they can choose their son-in-law or adopted son. That’s why the Li family still remains prosperous to this day.”

Qi Xuansu commented. “I heard about this before. Those who were not born in the Zhang family are not allowed to inherit the position of the Great Heavenly Preceptor. This has been the ancestral motto of the Zhang family for generations. It’s said that the Holy Xuan wanted to abolish this rule once, but the Zhang family still insisted on it.”

Zhang Yuelu explained, “Actually, this is only what the outside world thinks. In fact, this rule is just for show. Although there is such an ancestral rule that only the Zhangs could inherit the position of the Great Heavenly Preceptor, the Holy Xuan issued an edict to remove the word ‘great’ from the title, making it the Heavenly Preceptor instead. Thus, it would not conflict with the ancestral rules. Later, the Taiping Sect also dropped the title of the Great Teacher and accepted the title of Imperial Preceptor from the Imperial Court. Together with the Earthly Preceptor, these formed the Three Preceptors we know today.”

Qi Xuansu was astonished. “Wow, that’s possible?!”

“Fortunately, the Zhang family members are still up to par. Since the Holy Xuan revived Daoism, five out of the six generations of Heavenly Preceptors were Zhangs. The only Heavenly Preceptor with a different last name was also trained by the Zhang family. So, they didn’t really break this ancestral rule.” Zhang Yuelu sighed softly.

Qi Xuansu asked with a smile, “Qing Xiao, I wonder if you can become the first female Heavenly Preceptor.”

Zhang Yuelu said hesitantly, “It’s hard to say. If I want to be a Heavenly Preceptor, those old geezers won’t let me get married so as to keep the title within the Zhang family. I will either have to spend the rest of my days alone or marry someone who will take my last name.”

Suddenly, there was an awkward silence between them.

Qi Xuansu deliberately changed the topic earlier to divert Zhang Yuelu’s attention, not because he wanted to marry into the Zhang family.

In the existing society, a man taking a woman’s last name was viewed as inferior to other men. It was not something to be proud of since they would be living under someone else’s roof and would not be able to call the shots.

Even if Zhang Yuelu agreed to marry Qi Xuansu, he would not have an interest in living in such a restrained environment.

Zhang Yuelu coughed lightly. “Let’s get back to business. Yulan Temple is just a trap. It’s clearly not the cult’s stronghold. I don’t think that the underground palace we saw using the Purple Star Astrology is here.”

Qi Xuansu nodded in agreement.

“Our priority now is not to kill this group of cultists but to prevent the divine descent. If the divine descent is successful, we’ll be in big trouble even if we kill all these cultists.” Zhang Yuelu analyzed.

Qi Xuansu asked, “Where do you think their stronghold will be?”

Zhang Yuelu said after some thought, “Ever since the Ancient Immortal believers infiltrated Xuan City and the Purple Mansion, the Beichen Hall and Tianji Hall have conducted an inspection of the Daoist mansions all over the continent every three years. The local Daoist mansions will then inspect the Daoist temples within their territory every year.

“That’s why it’s easy to convert Daoist priests into cultists, but it’s extremely difficult for them to convert Daoist temples into cult strongholds. From this, we can rule out Qingbai Temple. We can exclude the Yulan Temple as well. That leaves us with the wealthy gentry.”

At this moment, Luo Xiao anxiously led some people over. This Green Phoenix Guard Major was obviously frightened by the scene earlier. “Mage Zhang, please tell me what we should do next.”

Zhang Yuelu asked, “Are there any wealthy gentry families in the city who can afford to build underground palaces in their homes?”

Luo Xiao stretched out his hand to beckon to the two Green Phoenix Guard senior captains. He explained, “In the past ten years, Bai Yongguan was the abbot of Qingbai Temple, Zhu Cheng was the abbot of Yulan Temple, and Lin Zhenyuan was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel after serving as a Senior Major. This shows that these cultists only started running Yishan City in the past decade.

He turned to the two senior captains and said, “You’ve both been stationed in the city for a long time. Try to recall which wealthy family has done something unusual in the past ten years, like borrowing money or transporting soil out of their home in the name of having done some construction work.”

Luo Xiao was a competent major of the Green Phoenix Guard, as he made a clear analysis.

The two senior captains asked some older captains and lieutenants to recall the events of the past decade.

After a while, a captain with a gray beard recalled. “I remember now! About five years ago, a wealthy family did carry out some construction projects.”

“Which one?” Luo Xiao asked eagerly.

The Green Phoenix Guard captain continued, “He’s a well-known landlord in the city named Xia Chang. Unlike Jiao Dayan, Lord Xia does a lot of charity work. He’s a famous philanthropist. About five years ago, a fire broke out in Lord Xia’s home, which burned down many houses. At that time, Lord Xia took this opportunity to renovate every part of his old house. The project lasted about a year.”

At the mention of this, the other guards also recalled and affirmed this construction.

Luo Xiao was a little hesitant. He recognized Xia Chang. If Xia Chang was indeed a cultist, then it would be straightforward to kill him. But if he was not, the follow-up would be troublesome. After all, Xia Chang was a Lord, so he could have some intricate connections to the royal family. Since ancient times, it was common for some wealthy families to have direct tunnels leading to the local temple.

Conflicted, Luo Xiao turned to Zhang Yuelu for a decision.

Zhang Yuelu was decisive and ruthless. “The Holy Xuan mandates that all parties must help the Daoist Order in eradicating secret societies and cultists. Major Luo, please inform the local county magistrate and the company commander to allocate personnel for our operation. It’s best if they can bring artillery. But there is no need for heavy artillery; ordinary ones will do. If anything happens, the Imperial Court will question the Daoist Order, and I will take full responsibility for this.”

The Great Xuan Dynasty’s military system was inherited from the former Wei Dynasty, which was divided into the Guard’s Offices and camps. The soldiers in the Guard’s Offices had hereditary military status. They usually worked in the fields or garrisons, which were somewhat like the forced generational army system and the reserve army system.

The soldiers in the camps did not have hereditary military status. Instead, they were recruited.

During the reign of Emperor Shizong of the Wei Dynasty, the recruitment system gradually became a source of military strength due to the increasingly weakening Guard’s Office. The famous elite soldiers were from good families, and the recruited soldiers in camps would not serve in the army for life.

Due to this, the Guard’s Offices and the camps had two completely different sets of official positions.

The Guard’s Office consisted of the Capital Commander, Deputy Capital Commander, Capital Commander Adjutant, Commander, Deputy Commander, Commander Adjutant, Pacification Commander, Lieutenant Colonel, Senior Major, Major, Assistant Major, Senior Captain, and Captain.

The camps consisted of the Chief Admiral, Chief Military Officer, Deputy Chief Military Officer, Regional General, Mobile Corps General, Camp Commandant, Company Commander, Brigade Leader, Battalion Leader, Platoon Leader, and Squad Leader.

If several Chief Military Officers were needed in combat, the Imperial Court would send a Supreme Commander to coordinate the operation.

If only one military officer was needed, the Five Armies Commander’s Office would dispatch a Commander in Chief bearing the General’s Seal. According to the laws of the Wei Dynasty, the Commander in Chief would be given the seal to command an army. But upon returning, he would have to hand it over to the court. There were three types of General’s Seals—Conquering General, Pacifying General, and Guarding General.

When the Great Xuan Dynasty replaced the Wei Dynasty, the emperor deposed the Five Armies Commander’s Office and most of the positions, leaving only the Green Phoenix Guard. Therefore, the Green Phoenix Guard continued the legacy system of the Guard’s Office.

The garrison system was divided into three levels: capital, guard, and station.

The Capital Commander’s Office was also referred to as a Capital Office. The highest-ranking officer in this division was the Capital Commander, who was an upper-second-rank military officer subordinate to the Five Armies Commander’s Office.

Under the Capital Commander’s Office was the Guard’s Office. The head of the Guard’s Office was the Guard Commander, who was superior to the Lieutenant Colonel’s Office and the Major’s Office.

The twenty-two guards in the emperor’s personal commandery were called the Imperial Army and were not affiliated with the Capital Office and Five Armies Commander’s Office.

In other words, Guards were normally subordinate to the Capital Office. However, the Green Phoenix Guard, also known as the Green Phoenix Imperial Army, was directly subordinate to the emperor. Thus, the person in charge was an upper-third-rank Guard Commander, also referred to as the Lord Commander.

In the previous dynasties, most emperors would appoint the Commander in Chief, the Capital Commander, the Deputy Capital Commander, or the Capital Commander Adjutant to concurrently serve as the Lord Commander of the Green Phoenix Guard. Thus promoting them to first- or second-rank officials.

However, the Great Xuan Dynasty no longer had the Five Armies Commander’s Office and the Capital Office, so the highest-ranking official was only in the third rank, and he had little power.

The Black Robes were soldiers who went by another system.

Initially, the Commander was responsible for safeguarding a region, while the Chief Military Officer was a temporary position for wartime. The Chief Military Officer had supreme authority over the army during the war.

Later, when the garrison system began to collapse, the Chief Military Officer became the highest-ranking military officer in the local garrison, replacing the function of the Commander.

The Great Xuan Dynasty made the Chief Military Officer a permanent position and added a Chief Admiral, who was at the same level as a Pacification Commissioner.

The Supreme Commander controlled several states and held significant military and political power.

The Supreme Commander held these concurrent titles: Minister of War, Right Censor in Chief, State Governor, Chief Admiral of Provisions, River Management, and Pacification. Therefore, the Supreme Commander had the civil authority of a Pacification Commissioner but also the military authority of a Chief Admiral, making them the Minister of Frontiers.

Zhang Yuelu wanted Luo Xiao to involve the local Black Robes. Although the Black Robes were no match for the Green Phoenix Guards in one-on-one combat or small skirmishes, the Black Robes were better at large-scale battles or siege warfare. The greater the number of combatants, the greater the disparity.

As a member of the Daoist Order, Zhang Yuelu certainly had no right to mobilize the local county magistrate or commandants. However, the Pacification Commander of the Green Phoenix Guard was an imperial envoy with a special mission, so he could mobilize troops.

Luo Xiao understood this and immediately went to the Major’s Office. Meanwhile, he ordered the rest of the Green Phoenix Guards to follow Zhang Yuelu’s orders for the time being.

Zhang Yuelu instructed the guards, “Let’s surround Xia Chang’s house. Don’t let anyone get away!”

Several Green Phoenix Guard senior captains accepted the order.

Seeing this, Qi Xuansu sighed with emotion. “I was always acting on my own in the past when I was traveling the world. I never would have imagined that I would be going to battle with the Green Phoenix Guards one day. But this is an impressive troop. I quite like this feeling.”

Zhang Yuelu remarked, “The most terrifying thing in the world is not being able to distinguish who’s the enemy. Now that the demons hidden among us have been uncovered, we can clearly distinguish ourselves from the enemy. Then we can openly annihilate them in one fell swoop.”

When Qi Xuansu heard this, his face stiffened slightly, and he felt a little guilty.