A Prophet - Chapter 6 (Part 3)

Chapter 3 - Qin Bailian’s Interlocking Schemes

What Qin Bailian excelled at most was orchestrating nested schemes—ring within ring, truth wrapped in falsehood, and falsehood masked as truth. Lurking behind the shadows of his plots, he watched developments with absolute clarity, and when the opportune moment arrived, he would suddenly break the game open and swing his tail, leaving those who had conspired with him dead without ever knowing how they met their end.

The scheme of his that he took the greatest pride in throughout his life was the one he used to take down his own mentor, Liu Congyun.

Liu Congyun was an old fox in his own right, yet this old fox ultimately lost to a young fox—and he lost so thoroughly that he conceded defeat with absolute admiration.

What manner of man was Liu Congyun? A colossal figure! He was a leading luminary in the scamming circles of the West! Born in the ninth year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign, he styled himself "Master White Crane." At the age of eighteen, he joined the "Dragon's Beard Bud" and independently founded the "One-Penetration Primordial Great Dao." Following the death of Duan Jinshan, the leader of the Western Faction, Liu Congyun inherited the grand position. In 1922, when Zhang Dancheng, the leader of the "Wood-Child Lotus" guild hall, passed away, Liu Congyun personally led the disciples of the Western Faction to offer condolences—and among those disciples was Qin Bailian.

During his later years, Zhang Dancheng frequently instructed Grandpa: "Among the four major guild halls of East, South, West, and North, Liu Congyun of the Western Faction is currently performing the best. This man harbors grand ambitions; acting as an Aobao is not his ultimate goal—his sights are set on military and political power. Just watch, within a few years, he will inevitably infiltrate the military."

"As for Liu Congyun, you should neither get too close to him nor keep him at too great a distance. There are many aspects of him well worth studying. He is devious, cunning, and exceptionally brilliant. He is well-versed in Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, possesses the ability to memorize anything at a single glance, and commands a gift of sophistry without impediment. You must respect him while remaining on guard against him. Under no circumstances should you make an enemy of him! At least for now, you are still no match for him," Zhang Dancheng warned Grandpa with deep concern.

Zhang Dancheng was entirely correct. Liu Congyun was indeed a legendary figure. Having thoroughly studied the Four Books and Five Classics and deeply grasped the Dao of Yin and Yang, he had served as a private school teacher in his youth and excelled at capturing the psychological weaknesses of others.

Over the years, he sensed that the "King of Sichuan," the great warlord Liu Xiang, was a man who deeply believed in ghosts and spirits, so he seized the right moment to cast his bait. On several occasions, he offered his services uninvited, but Liu Xiang ignored him. Later, although Liu Xiang adopted some of his suggestions, he never entrusted him with military power.

Liu Xiang was likewise a legendary figure in modern Chinese history. Having entrenched himself in Sichuan for decades, his military talent and political acumen were thoroughly seasoned, and even Chiang Kai-shek gave him a wide berth. Yet Liu Xiang had one major weakness: he was far too superstitious.

In 1932, the Nationalist Military Commission appointed Liu Xiang as the commander of the 21st Army. At that time, Liu Xiang was locked in a fierce struggle against another major Sichuanese warlord, Liu Wenhui, and was desperately thirsting for capable talent. Liu Congyun cast his bait once more, fully demonstrating his extraordinary insight into the political climate. Shortly prior to this, the 29th, 28th, and 21st Sichuanese armies had formed an alliance in Tongchuan, dramatically boosting Liu Xiang's strength. Liu Congyun had keenly grasped this political shift.

Liu Congyun told Liu Xiang, "Your humble servant has recently practiced the arcane arts of the Mysterious Gates to the extreme. I can raise troops in the nine heavens and establish encampments in the nine depths of the earth. I can train a host of divine soldiers for the General, assisting Your Excellency in unifying the realm under your hegemony!"

Yet Liu Xiang was no fool; if you claim you can train divine soldiers, I might as well assign you an army. The next time we clash in battle against Liu Wenhui, your troops will charge at the very vanguard so we can see whether your divine soldiers are truly invincible.

Thus, in the autumn of 1932, the "Pacification Campaign" broke out as Liu Congyun urged Liu Xiang to attack the warlord Liu Wenhui.

Liu Congyun proactively requested permission to command the three thousand divine soldiers he had personally trained to take the vanguard. Before the battle commenced, Liu Congyun had every divine soldier drink "Heavenly Bestowed Holy Water" and sewed protective talismans into their uniforms. Amidst the biting autumn wind, Liu Congyun stood before the battle array and shouted at the top of his lungs: "With the holy water swallowed, no demon or ghost can harm you! With the divine talismans protecting your bodies, blades and spears cannot pierce you! Not even bullets can penetrate!"

Urged on by his roars, several thousand desperate criminals marched imposingly toward Chengdu. After expending an immense amount of effort, they finally broke into Chengdu.

Liu Xiang was overjoyed. Upon entering Chengdu, he spent thirty thousand silver dollars to purchase the grand mansion at No. 32 Sanshuaishu Street, had it luxuriously renovated, and presented it to Liu Congyun as a lavish gift. Liu Congyun truly became a military strategist holding real military power.

In truth, the victory of this campaign had nothing to do with divine soldiers. Liu Congyun was well-versed in the art of war. Before the battle, he conducted a detailed analysis and comparison of the strengths of both sides, and during combat, he specifically targeted the enemy's weakest points. As for his claims that the divine soldiers were impervious to blades and bullets, it was all utter nonsense. Those three thousand men had been brainwashed, acting essentially as a suicide squad. The moment the battle began, they charged forward recklessly, resulting in more than half of them perishing in a hail of gunfire. Standing on a hill, Liu Congyun raised his pistol and shouted, "Cast aside your physical shells, let your souls ascend into the sky! The nine heavens are the finest place to muster troops!" By this, he meant that they hadn't died; rather, the soldiers had simply set down their physical bodies while their souls departed to fight in the heavens, declaring this to be amphibious land-and-air combat. After the battle ended, he even put on a theatrical show of calling back the souls of the fallen.

The reason this campaign managed to eke out a victory, when all was said and done, was that Liu Xiang's troop strength at the time simply surpassed Liu Wenhui's. In other words, Liu Congyun had won his gamble. He possessed the daring of an Aobao and the boldness of a politician; for the sake of his political dream, he gambled—and thus, he reached the absolute pinnacle of his career.

Facing Liu Congyun's steady rise, Qin Bailian watched with his eyes and panicked in his heart. Logically speaking, Qin Bailian was personally mentored by Liu Congyun and was his most prized disciple. When a master rises to prominence, the disciple should naturally rejoice. Not so; there was a fundamental contradiction at play here—a beauty is a curse.

Within the "Dragon's Beard Bud" guild hall, there was a female Aobao who had joined the organization alongside Qin Bailian, serving as his junior martial sister.

This female Aobao was named Jiang Bizhu, a classic beauty from Sichuan with delicate skin, tender flesh, and a laugh like chiming silver bells. Qin Bailian was tall and possessed a rugged, powerful physical frame, and with an overabundance of hormones, he had been drooling over Jiang Bizhu for a long time.

Unexpectedly, the old codger Liu Congyun had also set his sights on Jiang Bizhu. He frequently used the pretext of imparting teachings and "channeling vital energy" to summon Jiang Bizhu into his chambers to indulge his lust. How could a disciple dare to rob his master of the woman the master had his eyes on? Therefore, Qin Bailian simply waited—waiting for his mentor to stumble into a colossal disaster so that he could step in and take his place.

If Jiang Bizhu had wholeheartedly attached herself to Liu Congyun, that would have been one thing, but on one hand, she needed to win Liu Congyun's favor to secure the maximum benefits for herself within the guild hall; on the other hand, Liu Congyun was, after all, getting old and lacked Qin Bailian's youth and striking good looks. Furthermore, Qin Bailian was Liu Congyun's most prized disciple, meaning that after Liu Congyun passed away, Qin Bailian would inevitably be his successor. Thus, she dared not offend Qin Bailian either, and she always seized every spare moment to flirt with him, wiping her tears while sobbing that she had no other choice, as no one dared disobey the old man's commands.

Later on, Liu Congyun caught wind of these goings-on. Feeling that this woman was a bane to his cause, he resolved to eliminate her. Liu Congyun was a man destined for great undertakings; how could he allow a mere woman to ruin his future?

Eliminating Jiang Bizhu also shattered Qin Bailian's heart. Liu Congyun naively believed that once the source of trouble was gone, the guild hall would unite, remaining entirely unaware that Qin Bailian's heart had already turned against him! Qin Bailian finally understood the difference between a boss and a second-in-command: the second-in-command was below one person yet above ten thousand, but no matter how powerful the second-in-command became, he was still just the ten-thousand-and-first person under the boss. As long as the boss lived, the second-in-command had to keep his head bowed forever.

Consequently, Qin Bailian watched for an opportunity to cast his bait against his own mentor.

At that exact time, the Nationalist government was launching its encirclement and suppression campaigns against the Red Army. Due to Wang Ming's "Left" deviationist dogmatism, the Red Army suffered defeat in its fifth anti-encirclement campaign, and the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was forced to embark on the Twenty-Five Thousand Li Long March.

Qin Bailian told Liu Congyun, "Master, this is precisely the moment for Your Excellency to scale even greater heights. Chiang Kai-shek has set up an inescapable net; after breaking through four lines of defense, the Communist forces have dropped from an initial eighty thousand to thirty thousand men. You must seize this opportunity to lead our divine soldiers in an active offensive. If you can render distinguished service during the anti-communist campaign and win Chiang Kai-shek's appreciation, you can break free from Liu Xiang's control once and for all. Wouldn't it be far better for Your Excellency to establish your own independent faction, receive promotions, and be conferred with noble titles?"

Stroking his beard, Liu Congyun laughed heartily and said, "You truly are my beloved disciple, with great prospects! All these years of cultivation haven't been wasted on you, and for your master, I harbor this exact ambition."

Thus, Liu Congyun voluntarily applied to participate in Liu Xiang's campaign to encircle and suppress the Red Army, even securing the title of "Chairman of the Sichuan Bandit-Suppression Military Commission."

In truth, Qin Bailian understood that the Communists were completely different from the Nationalists. They did not cling cowardly to life and fear death like the Nationalists; they possessed lofty beliefs, formidable cohesion, and extraordinary combat capabilities. If even Chiang Kai-shek could not handle them, what kind of bird was Liu Congyun?

Liu Congyun was hardly ignorant of this logic, but once a person is riding high on a wave of success, they easily lose their most basic judgment. Had this been a few years prior, he certainly would have deliberated deeply, but his path had been far too smooth in recent years; success had long since intoxicated his mind, and he genuinely believed he was invincible.

Consequently, the moment he clashed in battle with the Red Army, Liu Congyun was utterly routed. Especially after the Zunyi Conference in 1935, Mao Zedong assumed control of military command, shattering the Nationalist forces' heavy encirclement with his miraculous military strategies and marching straight north to successfully effect a junction with Liu Zhidan in northern Shaanxi.

Liu Congyun's successive defeats caused an uproar throughout the Sichuanese army.

This was the exact state Qin Bailian had been waiting for, and he immediately deployed a vicious scheme designed to drive Liu Congyun to his doom. He told Liu Congyun, "Master, given our current setbacks in the bandit-suppression campaign, there is a great deal of gossip within the army. If Liu Xiang holds someone accountable down the road, I fear it will prove disadvantageous to you! You must shift the blame and execute a golden cicada shedding its shell!"

By that time, Liu Congyun was already in a panic and hurriedly asked, "What brilliant plan does my beloved disciple have?"

Qin Bailian replied, "You must immediately issue an order removing several administrative officers within the army, especially those company commanders who have harbored complaints against you. Simply claim they failed to execute your strategies, leading to our combat failures, and replace them with our own people. When accountability is eventually pursued, our own people will speak up on your behalf."

Hesitating for a moment, Liu Congyun asked, "What if Liu Xiang demands to interrogate those removed company commanders? That would still expose the scheme when the time comes."

Leaning close to Liu Congyun's ear, Qin Bailian whispered, "Master, how can you be so muddled? Once those men are removed, we strip them of their weapons, throw them into solitary confinement, and then quietly manufacture a crime-of-conscience suicide scene. Wouldn't that solve everything?"

Liu Congyun's eyes lit up, and he laughed loudly. "Brilliant, my beloved disciple! Truly, the student has surpassed the master!"

Qin Bailian also smiled and said, "It is all thanks to Master's brilliant guidance!"

Thus, without seeking Liu Xiang's approval, Liu Congyun relieved several company commanders of their posts. However, before he even had time to have those men killed, Qin Bailian tipped off Liu Xiang, reporting that Liu Congyun harbored treasonous intentions. Because Liu Xiang was already burning with fury over Liu Congyun's poor performance in the anti-communist campaign, hearing that Liu Congyun had once again unilaterally mobilized military authority made him even more enraged!

Consequently, the moment the assassins dispatched by Liu Congyun attempted to open fire and execute the removed company commanders, they were caught red-handed by forces Liu Xiang had laid in ambush ahead of time! With both the culprits and stolen goods caught in the act, Liu Xiang was utterly enraged, and he resolved to kill Liu Congyun!

Liu Congyun was an old fox after all, and he managed to escape a step ahead of the rest!

Fleeing all the way from Sichuan to the Jianghuai region, it was precisely at that time that the full-scale War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out. Recalling his life over the years as if it had all been a dream, the "King of Sichuan" Liu Xiang finally woke up. Facing the step-by-step advance of the Japanese invaders, he shouldered his gun without the slightest hesitation and stood up to resist Japan!

The arrangements of fate always seemed to fall short of human desires. The following year, Liu Xiang's stomach ailment suddenly flared up, and he vomited a mouthful of fresh blood, passing away within a matter of days. Before dying, he left his final testament: Fight the war of resistance to the very end without ever wavering—meaning that as long as the enemy troops did not withdraw from national territory, the Sichuan army swore never to return home! Afterwards, he instructed his subordinates: "Hunt down Liu Congyun, and do not let this man wreak havoc and bring disaster upon our country and people ever again!"

Following Liu Xiang's death, Liu Wenhui—who had previously fought tooth and nail against Liu Xiang—gradually lost faith in the Nationalists as he witnessed their passive resistance against the Japanese. Displaying a deep sense of national righteousness, Liu Wenhui resolutely established secret contact with the Communist Party. In 1949, he led his subordinates in a glorious uprising, later serving as the Vice Chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

After fleeing to the Jianghuai region, Liu Congyun came to seek out Grandpa. At that time, he still had no idea that it was Qin Bailian who had betrayed him. Grandpa allowed him to hide within the guild hall to lie low and avoid the storm. Following Liu Xiang's death, Liu Congyun returned to Sichuan, only to find that Qin Bailian had taken over the guild hall and was running it with thriving prosperity. Overjoyed, he demanded to resume leadership, but Qin Bailian refused to hand it over. Only then did Liu Congyun suddenly realize the truth: everything had been orchestrated from behind the scenes by his own beloved disciple! By that time, however, the "Dragon's Beard Bud" had already undergone a thorough purge by Qin Bailian, and Liu Congyun, isolated and weak, was simply no match for him.

Recalling these past events one by one, Liu Congyun could not help but smile bitterly. What a magnificent phrase—"the student surpasses the master." He had spent his entire life orchestrating countless schemes, only to be caught in a nested scheme woven by his own disciple, trapping himself completely within it. Truly, this was a case of "the mute eating Coptis chinensis—possessing bitterness too deep to voice!"