Du Chengfeng received the blood-stained longsword, expressionless.
Right before his eyes, someone uses a sword to kill his subordinate—is this meant to give him a warning, or did the madness have a momentary lapse?
Du Chengfeng wasn't quite sure, but he wasn't very concerned either. Though he was a peace-loving person, desiring nothing more than a quiet life, he didn't particularly enjoy witnessing such scenes of slaughter, but compared to when he hacked through those two hundred barbarian foes, this situation seemed quite insignificant.
"Get someone over here to clean this up, the smell is too strong."
Casually instructing Yang Xuan, Du Chengfeng placed the sword on the whetstone, and began to grind.
Clear water dripped along the blade, flowing away not only the blood but the distant past too.
Although this sword has only killed one person, Du Chengfeng could keenly sense its history.
Unlike other weapons, this sword's origins are luxurious, made by a highly skilled blacksmith using top-grade Refined Steel, resulting in a seemingly slender yet extremely strong blade. The gold and silver-adorned hilt was crafted tirelessly by several sculptor artisans, and when the brass mouthpiece is sheathed in sharkskin, anyone would say this is an extraordinary weapon.
Yet such a good sword was produced in hundreds.
It's hard to imagine that such exquisite swords would be made as mass products, but soon, Du Chengfeng understood the reason—this batch of treasure swords was used by the Great Chen court to reward newly appointed officials, and because there are civil and martial divisions in the court, they were called Ban Swords.
Frankly, these are ceremonial swords, mainly used as decoration.
Although the Great Chen dynasty was founded on military might, with a tradition where men carry swords, most of the time, these noblemen bearing Ban Swords hardly had any opportunity to draw them. After all, even if real danger arose, soldiers would fight while nobles rarely have to draw their swords—thus many nobles simply replaced the blade with wooden pieces, making them lighter but no less impressive.
But this surname Wang Master Craftsman was an exception.
Only because he received orders to be dispatched to Jizhou.
The Master Craftsman with the surname Wang was named Wang Gaoceng, tutored by the sage Ruan Shantao of Yanzhou, and in his youth was recommended to the court by a written letter from Ruan Shantao—at such a great age, ready to receive a salary, Wang Gaoceng was in high spirits. Who could have thought when the court issued a document, it was an assignment to the Jizhou border with the army.
It was then that Wang Gaoceng discovered the reason his mentor secluded himself in Yanzhou was because he had offended many people in the court back then.
But saying anything at this point won't change matters, military orders are as authoritative as a mountain, and defying them leads to a dead-end. So Wang Gaoceng could only make a trip to Yanzhou, hoping the mentor who sent him into this predicament could think of a solution.
However, what greeted Wang Gaoceng was a scolding from that old teacher.
"As a scholar, why aren't you thinking of striving to repay the nation's grace, yet dare come to ask me?"
A couple of slaps landed on his face and Wang Gaoceng only then realized that his master might have been obsessed with reading to the point of madness, believing that reading isn't for gaining high office and showing elegance, but to serve the country wherever danger lies—and undoubtedly, the Jizhou border is the most perilous place. Apparently, even this cursed order was personally advocated by his revered teacher.
Facing such an exemplary teacher, what else could he say?
So Wang Gaoceng could only pack his belongings and head to the Northern Border.
Although Wang Gaoceng, as a scholar, still wore wide-sleeved robes with an air of a gentleman, for safety, he dared not replace the sword blade with wood anymore—after all, besides being a Master Craftsman, that military order bestowed upon him another identity.
That identity was as an overseer, secretly monitoring Governor Liu's every move in Jibei.
Regarding frontier troops, the court didn't have much of a solution; if the border army is too weak the nomads from the steppe will cross over, leaving no one in the court to sleep well. But if the border army is too strong... the court might also not sleep easy. So there's been a tradition of dispatching Master Craftsmen to the frontier, serving as the second layer of control over frontier troops beyond grain supply systems.
In some sense, this position's importance even matches that of a logistics director, after all, for frontline soldiers, the weapons in their hands are as crucial as the food in their bowls. Without food, there's no strength, and without weapons, even with strength, they can't kill. Placing Master Craftsmen loyal to the court at the border offers reassurance to both civil and military divisions.
However, as the individual involved, Wang Gaoceng wasn't exactly calm.
The border is fraught with peril, the north bitterly cold, Wang Gaoceng felt himself akin to criminal exiles, fortunately, this Governor Liu was still communicative, had even read sage's books for years, displaying a gentleman's demeanor, an endless charm—which was exactly what Wang Gaoceng favored, the two quickly found common ground, soon becoming inseparable, a friendship of shared intimacy.
Of course, Wang Gaoceng kept in mind his task, but regardless of the angle, Governor Liu seemed just as ambitious as himself. The real worry wasn't about Governor Liu posing a threat to the court, but whether this slackly prepared Jizhou defense could withstand the nomadic attack.
Luckily, like this philosophical Governor Liu, the northern nomads were also wanderers, while occasional clashes occurred, they were merely bandit raids, utterly commonplace, not only on the frontier, but even within the heartland of Great Chen, weren't mountain bandits, highwaymen engaged in robbery?
So waiting was all that was required, as Governor Liu had already mentioned, if Wang Gaoceng persevered a while in Jibei, eventually a petition would be sent to the court securing him a position where he could exclusively study sage's books.
This give-and-take arrangement by Governor Liu naturally demanded Wang Gaoceng to leave something behind for the other party.
Like Liu Qingyun's Broken Horse Long Saber.
From Wang Gaoceng's perspective, a glance was enough to tell this saber forged like the ancient Broken Horse Sword must have originated from a former royal craftsman, because only craftsmen there could master the true dimensions of military gear. Coupled with the known fact that his cursed old master, Yanzhou's Ruan Shantao, refined this saber, it implied this saber has studied saintly books.
A saber that studied saintly books matches exactly the virtuous gentleman like Governor Liu.
Therefore, this time, Wang Gaoceng was determined to succeed.
Although rumors suggested this saber was bought by a civilian Master Craftsman, it was irrelevant to Wang Gaoceng. Strictly speaking, all Master Craftsmen in Jizhou were under his jurisdiction, taking a saber wasn't an issue.
However, that refugee named Du Chengfeng was really annoying. Clearly, both he and Governor Liu had already humbled themselves to come to a place like the Yang Family Fortress, yet he still hadn't sent up the knife, even claiming that he saw the barbarians invading from sharpening it... How could that be possible? Isn't sharpening a knife supposed to be about using the classics of sages to suppress evil qi? Can this refugee really sharpen a knife?
"Since you say you have this skill, then why don't you take a look at what events this sword has been through?"
As he spoke, Wang Gaoceng pulled out the sword from his waist and tossed it directly to the other party.
It was at this moment that Wang Gaoceng felt fortunate that he hadn't changed the blade to something wooden because the steel sword was too heavy, otherwise, this refugee would have had an excuse to shirk responsibility.
He just wanted to see how this refugee dared to tell such a whopping lie in front of the two of them, esteemed scholars.
"Therefore, Governor Liu, I am clearly doing this for your own good."
Seeing the longsword nailed to his neck, Wang Gaoceng's words were all choked back into his throat with the blood.
"I did this for your own good, why did you have to kill me?"
...
After sharpening the sword, Du Chengfeng couldn't speak for a while.
Why kill him? Did this Wang Gaoceng still not catch on? From the moment Wang Gaoceng first entered Jizhou, wasn't Governor Liu playing him for a fool, as even Du Chengfeng, an observer, had already realized that Governor Liu probably intended to get rid of this fool a long time ago.
As a military craftsman, he only talked about metaphysics all day, and in the end, he even thought that Jizhou's defense was lax because Governor Liu lacked ambition. Did Wang Gaoceng not even stop to consider how many days he had spent actually sharpening knives since arriving in Jizhou?
Pretending to be flattering to avoid being hindered, only to end up with an idle superior. If it were Du Chengfeng, he might want to give a few slashes to this Wang Chenggao too.
However, this sword-sharpening experience also provided Du Chengfeng with another important piece of information.
That was, the Governor Liu before him was not as much of a waste as he had previously thought.
"It's a pity for your friend, he was still thinking about giving the knife to you before he died."
Turning the sword hilt around, Du Chengfeng handed the sharpened sword back.
The Ban Sword was good, but he had no use for something only meant to adorn bravery.
"Before he died, that was what he was thinking about? That's indeed a pity."
Receiving the longsword, Governor Liu shook his head gently.
"I had thought that he was sent by some noble from the court to cause me trouble, since they always think that we martial artists from the borderlands are unruly and don't understand the teachings of the sages... Never mind, let's just say he died bravely fighting the barbarians, so his family can have some honor."
Saying this, Governor Liu turned to look at Du Chengfeng.
"But the problem is, even though Wang Chenggao is dead, someone still needs to be responsible for the military equipment. What do you think..."
"No."
Du Chengfeng refused outright.
If before sharpening the Ban Sword he only vaguely felt that he and Governor Liu were not on the same path, then now, he was even less willing to accept his invitation—simply because he had already vaguely sensed something familiar about Governor Liu.
Yes, very familiar, a similar feeling he had felt from that swordsman Cui Yuan and even faintly from Yang Sanlang.
So he would not serve under the other's command no matter what.
Even if he had to cut Governor Liu down on the spot.
"No, no, no, I wasn't asking you to join the central army camp, after all, you've refused once."
Hearing Du Chengfeng's outright refusal, Governor Liu was not offended; instead, he continued.
"I meant, would you be willing to assist the Governor's Office with military equipment as a civilian craftsman?"
"This..."
This time, Du Chengfeng understood.
Assisting the Governor's Office with military equipment in a private capacity could also be called outsourcing.
This time, Du Chengfeng had no reason to refuse.
After all, Governor Liu was offering far too much.