462: Chapter 40: We Don’t Understand Those Grand Truths 462: Chapter 40: We Don’t Understand Those Grand Truths “This story is long, and it started sixty years ago,”
Old Master He took a sip of wine, drew on his pipe, and exhaled a long plu of smoke.
“I’m an old thief, not a storytelling scholar.
I can’t spin tales or preach grand truths,”
“Among Jianghu people, the only thing that can be clearly explained is the word ‘loyalty’.”
“Sixty years ago, the Foreigners invaded, their guns and cannons instantly shattering our backbone.
The World of Jianghu that existed before suddenly beca a joke overnight.
The so-called number one martial arts expert, the number one sect— all crumbled in a single night.”
“It wasn’t a matter of martial prowess.
Our country had its share of real heroes and warriors, unafraid to take on the Foreigners head-on.
Neither was it a question of the Imperial Court’s corruption or the Emperor’s incompetence.
You might not believe it now, but back then, everyone from the top to the bottom of the court did try their hardest, they really did.”
“The Taoists from Kunlun, swordsn from Guanzhong, monks, physicians…
many people did their utmost using the thods they were familiar with, just to restore the world to the way it once was.”
“But it couldn’t be changed back.”
“On one hand, the reason was the difference in thinking.
We must admit that at that ti, Western culture was more advanced than ours.
Compared with them, the gap was as clear as that between a country bumpkin and a city dweller.”
“If our thinking couldn’t keep up, we could learn, there’s no sha in that.
That principal of yours, back in his day at around the age of eleven or twelve, was commissioned by the Imperial Court to cross the seas to study in the West.
You wouldn’t understand if you didn’t experience it— it was truly tough.
But what could be done about it?
If one could bring back their knowledge, issues of life and death beca unimportant.”
“On the other hand, so people just didn’t care about those things.
Whether the face of our ancestors was lost, whether the common people could survive, whether the country was strong or weak—it all had nothing to do with them.
They only cared about themselves.”
Old Master He, pointing at the shriveled human skin mask, slowly said, “Sixty years ago, the Black Tortoise Fleet of the Forr Dynasty was stationed in Malacca, and all of the South Seas was our internal sea.
With them guarding the chokepoint, the Foreigners’ fleets couldn’t even get in.”
“But it was this fleet that was annihilated overnight, the national gates flung wide open, allowing the Foreigners to take advantage and advance northward, shoving the barrels of their guns directly into our mouths.”
“Do you know how that fleet was lost?”
“It’s laughable to say— it wasn’t because the Foreigners’ warships were too powerful, but because there was a traitor from within our own ranks.”
“Back then, there was a noble family in the south, many of whose mbers held important positions in the Imperial Court, even ascending to the role of Pri Minister, wielding imnse power.”
“This family, with a thousand-year legacy, had deep roots and a massive private fleet, conducting business all over the world, amassing mountains of gold and oceans of silver.
Yet even with that, they weren’t satisfied, complaining that the Imperial Court’s taxes were too high, wanting to open up Malacca to let their rchant fleets pass without hindrance.”
“At the ti, one of their younger family mbers served as Ship Captain in the Black Tortoise Fleet.
They thought the task would be easy, but they didn’t expect that general to hold firm to his convictions and refuse their sche.
So, they lured the general back ho under the pretense of family and, after killing him, skinned his face to make a human skin mask to impersonate him.
They infiltrated the fleet with their man in disguise, colluded with the Foreigners from the inside and out, and sent the entire Black Tortoise Fleet to its doom.”
Wang Yunxiao stared at the shriveled human skin mask in front of him, speechless for a long while.
Well…
it’s tough to make a judgent.
Wolves eat at, dogs eat shit, how do you evaluate such a thing?
How can you apply human moral standards to judge this?
Normally speaking, decent folks shouldn’t be capable of such actions…
right?
It’s so fantastical, it feels like sothing a novelist made up for sensationalism, not the least bit realistic.
“Can’t believe it, can you?
I didn’t either when I first heard the story, it’s just too absurd.”
The fat owner chuckled, “But back when I followed my master around Tiann, making our way through the Jianghu World, I was about your age and ca across even more ludicrous events.”
Old Master He shrugged, “Tell him this story.”
“I’m even worse with words, what can I clarify?”
The fat owner managed a bitter smile, “Back then, I rember the President had just started to make a na in Tiann.
She only had the old battalion of the Qilin Army under her, not yet as formidable as when she later campaigned to the north and south.
Despite that, the Imperial Court was quite wary of her.
Every morial she submitted, right or wrong, was rejected without fail.
Requests for military supplies were also t with stingy refusals.”
“At the ti we were all baffled.
Even common folks knew the principle of trusting who you employ and not employing who you mistrust.
If the Imperial Court put the President in charge of training troops in Tiann, why did they keep making things difficult for her?”
“We later realized that the Imperial Court was not a monolith.
Governnt Officials were ranked in many different tiers.
The Noble Family known for their Human Skin Masks might have perished, but there were other high-ranking households large and small that grew powerful by feeding on the dead.
They didn’t just fill their stomachs—they also inherited the poison that ca with the corpses.”
“The intricate details are beyond us commoners.
All I rember is that one of those families wanted to start a Bank, to develop what they called modern financial business.
They even waged a comrcial war at the ti…
You see, there are two types of currency from the Forr Dynasty out there now, right?
The least valuable ones were issued by them.
The Imperial Court supported them vigorously, coming up with all sorts of ridiculous reasons, but in the end, they ssed it all up.”
Recalling the past, the fat owner’s face was full of sighs.
“Overnight, money beca worthless, all turning into scrap paper.
The life savings of ordinary people were washed away like running water.
The world had just started to look up, and then it was utterly brought down by this disaster.
Who knows how many girls went from sewing their bridal gowns in the morning to being sold into brothels at night.
On the large locust trees at the Chaotic Grave Mound outside the city, hangings bent the trees.
“The sches behind it were too complicated; we couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
But there was one thing I did understand then: they did it all for Money, and the Foreigners they conspired with ultimately aid to force the Imperial Court to sign that docunt!”
Old Master He snuffed out his cigarette butt and said to Wang Yunxiao with all seriousness, “Our Swallow Sect isn’t so prestigious sect; we have no great heroes or n of valor in our ancestry.
The little reputation we have is built on nothing more than so petty theft, truly the Lowest Ranks.
But even at the Lowest Ranks, we have our own rules and principles.”
“A swallow is just a bird, nothing like Hawks and Falcons.
If there’s any virtue we have, it’s that we look after our own.
Whether it’s Fine Silks and Satins or re bricks and rubble in our ho, losing any of it brings heartache.”
“Now, those shaless prodigals have co back.”
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