Chapter 491 Influence

The thousand-man Northwestern Transportation Office’s Patrol Cavalry Battalion was actually annihilated in the mountainous region between the Gan and Yin Provinces. Such news was enough to shake the entire officialdom in the northwestern region.

Though there were many incidents at the borders of the northwestern region, such an incident had never happened before in recent centuries. On top of that, this happened within Yin Province. These were a thousand fully-armored cavalrymen from the Transportation Office, not unarmed and defenseless commoners. It could be considered as earth-shattering news since only very few figures and influencers were capable of performing such acts in the northwestern region.

Almost immediately, bureaucracy of various levels in the Silver Continent, the Northwestern Transportation Office, and the influential clans in the northwestern region sent out investigators and spies to the battleground at the border between the Gan and Yin Provinces, hoping to find some clues. The desolate hills suddenly grew livelier than ever.

One of the quickest to get angry was, of course, Northwestern Transport Commissioner Jiang Tianhua.

When Jiang Tianhua heard the news, he was in complete disbelief. Only very few figures in and influencers in the northwestern region dared to lay a finger against the Transportation Office and was capable of annihilating his thousand strong cavalry.

Aside from a few provincial governors and a small number of wealthy clans, almost no one could do that. Even if they were capable of it, they wouldn’t risk public condemnation just to challenge the Transportation Office. Assaulting the imperial court’s cavalry was nearly equivalent to revolting. Without a certain amount of confidence, who would possibly be bold enough to do that?

Jiang Tianhua only believed the news when Qu Mingcheng’s corpse was placed before him. A hundred cavalrymen from his Patrol Cavalry Battalion had really been wiped out by someone. Not even one was spared.

The day Jiang Tianhua received the news, he was both surprised and angry. His voice boomed like thunder. In just a day, countless vases and tables in the Transportation Office were smashed by him. On the same day, he paid a formal visit to the Provincial Governor’s Office.

On the very next day, the Transportation Office offered a hundred thousand taels of silver as bounty on the perpetrator. Every troop in the Yin Province Law Enforcement Office was mobilized to search for clues everywhere. Two battalions of soldiers under the Yin Province Military Governor also left their barracks and made haste to the mountainous region at the border where the battle had taken place. It stirred up a huge commotion but unfortunately, it was all in vain because by that time, Yan Liqiang and his entire party had already returned to Pingxi Prefecture. On their way back, they even covered their tracks. Therefore, the spies and investigators were only able to gather the fact that the troops that ambushed the Transportation Office came and left on steeds, used bows and arrows, and had carriages. They couldn’t find any more information beyond this.

For Jiang Tianhua, he was well aware of why he had sent those troops. Therefore, when something happened to those men, he immediately suspected it was the work of Gan Provincial Governor Lei Sitong. Jiang Tianhua swore through his clenched teeth that he would definitely impeach Lei Sitong as soon as he found any evidence, and have the latter labeled as a rebel.

Despite utilizing all his connections to look for any clues that pointed to Lei Sitong, he still ended up empty-handed. Two days before the incident, Lei Sitong and a few generals under him were all in Gan Provincial City. There was no mobilization of over a hundred men among the troops under Lei Sitong, especially the cavalry. There was no news of any casualties among the cavalry units in the prefectures of Gan Province either. Therefore, according to all the collected information, Lei Sitong was completely not involved in this incident…

If it wasn’t Lei Sitong, who else could it be?

Yan Liqiang’s name flashed across Jiang Tianhua’s mind. However, the thought was immediately denied because he didn’t believe Yan Liqiang would be capable of this even if he had the motive. The size of the cavalry he sent out consisted of one thousand men; not a thousand rabbits or boars.

In Jiang Tianhua’s mind, the person who was capable of eliminating a thousand men without leaving behind any trace was definitely not a simple person. Yan Liqiang was only a brat who was a little knowledgeable in the path of mechanics and the investigation of things. Even if he had a bit of skill and was rumored to also have a decent cultivation, Jiang Tianhua had deployed more than a thousand cavalrymen. Not only that, even Qu Mingcheng, who had long progressed into a Martial Lord, was killed. If Yan Liqiang was truly capable of such acts, he wouldn’t have been forced to retreat from the Imperial Capital back to Gan Province by the Grand Chancellor in the first place…

Jiang Tianhua firmly believed his own judgment without a doubt. A few days later, he heard another piece of news — right before something happened to the troops under his command, Yan Liqiang left Pingxi Prefecture with two hundred newly-recruited guards. After the incident, he returned to Pingxi Prefecture again with his guards. It was estimated that there were no casualties among the guards that followed him.

From the motive and time frame, Yan Liqiang was the biggest suspect. Yet, another question emerged — how was it possible for Yan Liqiang to annihilate a thousand men in Jiang Tianhua’s cavalry without suffering any losses on his side? That didn’t make sense at all. If randomly recruited guards were that impressive, there’d be no need for the imperial court to fund all those armies. Perhaps, Yan Liqiang had received some assistance from powerful or influential figures whom Jiang Tianhua didn’t know about. Or perhaps this wasn’t just the work of one person or one party, but many who had a score to settle with him!

This inference bewildered Jiang Tianhua even more. He tried to recall the people whom he had offended as a Transport Commissioner over the past few years. Aside from bewilderment, he was even more frightened and terrified. If those people who had bad blood with him dared to kill this many people, then he was probably less than a cavalry of a thousand strong men to them. An arrow in the back, a cup of poisoned wine, or a skillful assassin could easily take his life…

Qu Mingcheng was a Martial Lord, but Jiang Tianhua wasn’t.

While the Transportation Office and Yin Provincial Governor’s Office ended up with more fruitless investigations, the more Jiang Tianhua became unsure, the more empty he felt. By now, everyone appeared malicious to him.

The huge incident that shook the entire northwestern region started off with a bang. A few days later, it dwindled and became nothing more than an unresolved cased spread by unreliable sources. However, quite a lot of people still coveted the bounty of a hundred thousand taels of silver offered by the Transportation Office. They provided all sorts of clues to the Transportation Office, such as saying that they had seen a big group of Blackwind Bandits at the common border between the Gan and Yin Provinces, or claiming they had seen a number of people from the White Lotus Society around that mountainous area. Not only that, even Shatu people and people from the Dark Ram Tribe were mentioned…

However, the Pingxi Prefecture’s manufacturing bureau, which was the source of this commotion remained silent as though they weren’t involved in this after their return.

Yan Dechang’s injuries had pretty much healed. The manufacturing bureau was still constructing four-wheeled carriages and earning big profits every single day. Liuhe Town’s defense was also growing higher and higher, slowly forming an outline. Everything went on as usual in the archery academy. All sorts of trainings were conducted every day and the place was filled with energy…

On the 17th day of the tenth lunar month, Pingxi Prefectural Governor Wang Jianbei’s sudden visit to the archery academy surprised Yan Liqiang.

When Wang Jianbei arrived at the archery academy, Yan Liqiang was still supervising the students practicing with a square formation on the training field. A student who was on watch duty at the entrance came running to report that there were a few unfamiliar faces outside the archery academy, and that one of them claimed to be Pingxi Prefectural Governor Wang Jianbei. It was only then that Yan Liqiang knew Wang Jianbei was here…