The older man was relentless.
He was utilizing his dagger to catch the younger man's blade, locking it down while raining heavy broadsword strikes against the wooden shield. Splinters flew.
The younger grandmaster retreated step by step, his lungs burning, his footing growing unstable. With a desperate roar, the older grandmaster stepped inside the youth's guard, hook-sweeping his dagger upward.
The blade caught the guard of the young grandmaster's sword, twisting it violently from his grip. The straight sword clattered across the flagstones, sliding uselessly out of reach from his arms.
The youth panicked, backing away while raising his battered shield, but the older man delivered a brutal kick directly to its center of gravity.
The younger grandmaster lost his balance, falling hard onto his back. He scrambled backward on his butt, his breath coming in terrified wheezes, his shield still strapped to his arm but offering no true defense against the executioner standing over him.
The middle-aged grandmaster grinned, a feral, blood-crazed look taking over his face. He raised his broadsword with both hands, aiming directly for the youth's exposed throat to deliver the final strike.
A heavy crossbow bolt, shot from the high shadows of the courtyard, struck the older grandmaster square through his left eye socket embedding itself in his skull.
The sheer velocity pushed the iron tip out the back. His motion halted instantly. The broadsword slipped from his now lifeless fingers, clattering to the stones, before he collapsed forward like a felled oak.
He crashed down directly on top of the younger grandmaster. Silence returned to the courtyard, heavy and suffocating. From the shade of the pavilion, Luo He began to clap again. Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Sensational." Luo He chuckled softly, stepping off the dais carrying a crossbow. The younger grandmaster lay frozen under the corpse, gasping.
Hot blood pouring from his opponent's ruined head directly onto his face and chest. Shivering uncontrollably.
His heart was now hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. Then he shoved the dead weight off him just as Luo He's boots stopped inches from his face.
Luo He leaned down.
With unexpected gentleness, he reached out a hand, grasping the trembling young man by the wrist and pulling him smoothly to his feet.
"It seems you've won little brother." Luo He said smoothly, wiping a stray drop of blood from the youth's cheek with his thumb. "You will receive the ultimate honor of joining my household. Welcome to the family."
Without another word, Luo He turned away, offering Fei a single, silent glance. Then Fei calmly stepped forward, placing a heavy, restraining hand on the youth's shuddering shoulder. "Come along."
Luo He slipped his hand back into Mulan's. She looked up at him, her eyes bright with shared amusement, a faint, cruel smile gracing her lips.
Luo He didn't just eliminate rivals, he just orchestrated humans as playthings on a bord. To him, the terror, the betrayal, and the useless slaughter weren't just another necessary act of evil.
They were a canvas. He was an artisan, who uses flesh and blood as his medium.
Side-by-side, the two lover birds walked peacefully back toward the main mansion, stepping around the rich pools of crimson blood, entirely enchanted by the exquisite horror they left in their wake.
Luo He then turned toward the preparations for the expedition.
The convoy was already being assembled. Weapons, food, medical supplies, tools, engineering equipment, spare equipment, and countless other necessities were being loaded onto wagons.
Luo He had no intention of relying solely on brute force once he reached Wu. He had plans within plans, and every piece of these equipment had a purpose.
For the next several days, however, he just allowed himself to enjoy the relative peace of the Prosperous Silk Isle. The contrast was almost comical.
The war existed outside. Inside the family mansion, life continued.
Meanwhile, prisoners captured during the campaigns were being distributed among labor camps, particularly throughout the northern islands and parts of Pirate Island.
Luo He maintained strict control over them.
Prisoners were not immediately integrated into his army or granted freedom. The men were considered potential threats until they had demonstrated genuine loyalty.
Many were placed into difficult labor, and the conditions were harsh. Most did not survive. Others endured, because they believed even forced labor was preferable to execution.
It was one of the more darker contradictions within Luo He's system. The kind lord who publicly emphasized the value of live could also be brutally pragmatic toward enemy prisoners when needed.
Compassion, in Luo He's mind, is logical. Trust had to be earned.
The convoy preparations continued while the Jin family vault was opened once again.
The emperor had sent representatives to collect the second million gold coins.
This time, however, the gold did not travel openly. The coins were concealed inside enormous shipments of rice.
The outermost layers of sacks genuinely contained grain, while the deeper portions concealed the gold.
Anyone casually inspecting or cutting open a bag would see nothing suspicious.
To the outside world, the Jin family was simply transporting another enormous shipment of food to the now struggling people in the capital.
That explanation was far more believable.
Five million gold coins is nothing but a pipe dream of a fortune.
The empire's annual tax revenue normaly is estimated at only around one to two million gold coins.
The Jin County itself generated perhaps fifty thousand gold coins in annual tax revenue alone.
A minor count possessing five million gold coins would have been almost impossible to explain.
If anyone discovered the true contents of the Jin vault, questions would inevitably follow them where ever they go.
Where had the money come from?
How had such an enormously large fortune accumulated?
Why had a relatively minor noble family had possessed more wealth than many regional governments?
Luo He had no intention of answering those questions. So the gold traveled disguised as grain. The second million coins was also loaded. The wagons were sealed.
And once again, the Jin family's impossible fortune disappeared beneath ordinary sacs of rice sent to the Yue capital.
Luo He rode out with Fei and roughly two to three thousand soldiers and other support personnel, moving as quickly as the roads and supply wagons allowed.
His final destination was the Wu Kingdom, where the capital was already under siege.
For once, however, there was something noticeably missing from He's traveling party. There was not a single one of his women accompanying him.
Luo He stared down the road ahead with an expression of profound resignation. This journey was going to be exhausting.
It seemed he wouldn't be getting any proper sleep for the next few days. Fei, who was riding nearby, wisely said nothing.
For the first few days, the arduous journey proceeded without major incident.
Luo He expected trouble eventually, but he had not anticipated the particular kind of trouble that finally appeared, or maybe he did. Refering to him, who knows?
It came in the form of a woman. Her name was Zhoung Liusu. She was the youngest child and only daughter of Elder Zhoung, the infermous Duke of Wu.
Elder Zhoung had lastly been held prisoner at the Jin estate after being captured during the earlier fighting. Yet several days earlier, something unexpected had happened.
He had escaped. The prison guards had been found unconscious, but none of them had been killed. Whoever had entered the prison had been a pacifist.
The investigation had therefore reached a simple conclusion. Elder Zhoung had some outside assistance. The investigations had not yet discovered exactly who had helped him in his infermous escape.
What Luo He did know clearly is that Elder Zhoung was no ordinary political figure.
He was a highly experienced strategist, and unlike many of the Wu nobles, he genuinely possessed enough military understanding to recognize the direction in which the war was currently moving .
The Wu Kingdom was rapidly running out of options. The capital was surrounded. Most of its armies had been exhausted. The Wu Crown Prince is dead.
And the massive forces outside the walls were continuing to grow. Elder Zhoung understood that the kingdom was unlikely to survive the coming campaign.
But surrendering too early also had its own dangers. If he waited until the capital had fallen, he would have nothing left to bargain with as well.
If he negotiated before the final collapse, however, he might still be able to preserve his family, his position, and perhaps even a portion of his influence.
That was why he had sent his daughter as a lieson. Liusu was young, intelligent and she is most of all extremely beautiful.
She is considerably more politically useful than a heavily armed delegation. But there was another very important reason Elder Zhoung had selected her.
He knew Luo He. Or, at least, he knew Luo He's reputation. Luo He was very infamous throughout the region for his rather carefree attitude toward women.
Elder Zhoung therefore calculated that if he sends a beautiful young woman, she would give him a much greater chance of reaching Luo He directly than sending another stern faced delegation of officials.
If by chance she joined him in bed and got pregnant, then they are no longer strangers
but family. Which changes most things.
The ruthless calculation of selling his little daughter proved remarkably accurate.