Northern Liao light arrows were three feet long and weighed one jin, their conical arrowheads forged seamlessly into the shafts. Their heavy arrows were four feet long with triangular heads serrated along the ridges, weighing ten jin. In addition, there were armor-piercing heavy arrows, also triangularly headed but without serrations, weighing fifteen jin. Finally came the Gale Arrows, the only magical artifact arrows, with each scout carrying just one. Once activated, such an arrow could fly five hundred zhang, retaining power equivalent to an armor-piercing heavy arrow even at that distance.
An ordinary Northern Liao cavalryman's magic power was only enough to activate a Gale Arrow once, so magic power was sealed within the arrow in advance and triggered upon release. Although by the Palace of Grand Beginning's standards a Gale Arrow was merely a crudely made, single-use artifact, with it, every Liao rider effectively possessed a strike equivalent to a magical artifact.
Finally, Wei Yuan picked up a bow and tested its draw. The Liao Clan's bows were exceptionally heavy, weighing dozens of jin and strung with double bowstrings. Most powerful archers in the human border armies could not draw a Liao bow to full span, while ordinary soldiers struggled even to pull it at all.
Given the strength of Wei Yuan's physical body, pulling it to a full draw still required a touch of effort; by a rough estimate, it took about twelve hundred jin of force to draw fully.
Having tested the Liao weaponry with his own hands, Wei Yuan truly understood how difficult resisting this alien race was. Had Fang Hetong not been leading them, any two or three Liao riders could have wiped out these three hundred peasants down to the last man.
Wei Yuan suddenly turned around and saw several men emerging with axes, chopping off the heads of the Liao corpses one by one. The bones of the Vast Sea Liao Clan were robust and thick; even swinging their axes with all their might, these men had to hack a dozen times to sever a neck bone and take the head.
"What are you doing?" Wei Yuan asked.
A man nearby answered, "The heads of Liao barbarians can be traded in town for bounty silver—one head fetches a whole tael of silver!"
The briefing materials issued by the Palace of Grand Beginning before the campaign clearly stated that slaying one Liao cavalryman earned one point of battle merit; a squad leader, twenty points; a centurion, two hundred points. One point of merit could be exchanged for ten taels of immortal silver. Typically, one tael of immortal silver traded for one hundred taels of mortal silver, but that was merely a rough baseline. In practice, exchanging immortal silver for mortal silver was easy, while obtaining immortal silver with mortal silver was virtually impossible, so it often commanded an even higher rate.
Aside from sect disciples like Wei Yuan, anyone on the battlefield across the two commanderies could exchange the severed heads of Liao barbarians for immortal silver at the Palace of Grand Beginning, or redeem them with other sects. County magistrates, assistant regional commanders, and colonels certainly could as well. These men from Shayang Village handed over heads to the county for one tael apiece, and the county magistrate could turn around and trade them to the Palace of Grand Beginning or other sects for ten taels of immortal silver, then convert that back into mortal silver. In and out, each head brought in a net profit of at least a thousand taels!
"Is this how you've always exchanged them?" Wei Yuan asked.
The man said, "Of course. The barbarians' heads aren't good for anything else, and no one besides the magistrate buys them. We aren't barbarians ourselves; we don't eat Liao flesh. Mister Fang says anything that has a humanoid shape or possesses wisdom cannot be eaten. Mister Fang is definitely right about that. Fortunately, the magistrate showed mercy and was willing to take these useless heads. We've cashed in over a dozen taels in the past. If not for that money to buy grain, we would have starved to death long ago. Mister Fang is kind-hearted and sold off his land and house, but he didn't have much money to begin with, and the silver from selling his land was all spent in the first month."
Wei Yuan went to find Fang Hetong and asked, "In the past, you turned over all the Liao heads to the county yamen? Didn't you know that a single head can be exchanged at my Palace of Grand Beginning for ten taels of immortal silver? A squad leader can fetch two hundred taels."
"Ten taels! Of immortal silver?!" Fang Hetong's eyes went wide.
Over the past few months, he had fought bitterly against the Northern Liao, suffering over a dozen wounds and three severe injuries. Once, he had been wounded so gravely that he nearly died; had he not possessed the last two life-saving immortal pills bestowed by his academy's director, he would have been bleached bones a month ago.
At such a steep cost, Fang Hetong had slain only a dozen-odd Liao riders and wounded several dozen, trading their heads for a dozen or so taels of silver and scraping together what little he could from selling stray weapons and armor to barely hold out until now. One could say he and hundreds of men lived their days carrying severed heads by day and counting grains of rice by night. And now, Wei Yuan was telling him that a single head was worth ten taels of immortal silver? Wasn't that a thousand taels of silver?
In just three months, the esteemed officials in high office had pocketed nearly twenty thousand taels from Shayang Village alone, while the men bleeding on the front lines were starving to death.
"I had no idea! If only I had known..." Fang Hetong's grief and rage could no longer be contained.
He merely possessed the stubborn pride of a scholar; he was not stupid. The moment Wei Yuan spoke, he realized the county yamen had suppressed the information to hoard the immortal sect's rewards for themselves. But these officials were simply too greedy, too corrupt, refusing to leave behind even a scrap of gristle. Had they offered just three to five taels more per head, those seven or eight elderly villagers would not have starved to death.
Wei Yuan patted Fang Hetong on the shoulder. "I'll handle these heads. Rest assured, not a single coin will be withheld. Do you want immortal silver or something else?"
"Worthy Brother, this... you should keep some for yourself. Most of them were killed by you, after all. These people were originally simple farmers; their only wish is to drive off the Liao barbarians and live in peace. When the fighting is over, they'll go back to farming. Once this war ends, I'll find a way to redeem my land. As long as my family has enough to get by, I'll return to the academy to teach. We don't need so much silver. Even with generous compensation for the fallen, a few hundred taels in total would be more than enough!"
"We'll speak of after the war later. Tomorrow, I'm going to the county yamen first to ask what happened to your provisions and military pay." Having spilled blood tonight, Wei Yuan spoke with a faint trace of killing intent in his voice.
The Palace of Grand Beginning stood lofty and aloof, supposedly not interfering in Western Jin's governmental affairs. Yet defending the frontier was a matter of life and death; naturally, they would not allow local officials to run rampant. Registered core disciples like Wei Yuan possessed the authority to execute unranked clerks and petty officials before reporting, provided there was solid evidence. In other words, aside from a mere six or seven individuals in the county yamen—such as the registrar, county vice-magistrate, and colonels—Wei Yuan could find an excuse to execute everyone else.
With evidence, a Perfected Person could execute a county magistrate. And should a True Monarch be enraged, a commandery governor's head would roll.
The next morning, Wei Yuan looked out into the distance and found he could already see eighty li away. Farther out, yellow sands surged, obscuring his vision. Such extensive visibility meant no Liao barbarians were operating nearby. Wei Yuan gave his signal arrow to Fang Hetong, telling him to fire it at the first sign of danger, then set off for the county seat. This was a specially crafted signal arrow from the Palace of Grand Beginning; once fired into the sky, it could be sensed within a hundred li. If the Northern Liao attacked during his absence, Fang Hetong needed only to shoot the signal arrow into the air, and Wei Yuan would know immediately.
Quyang County seat was bleak and desolate. The streets were so deserted that one could trap sparrows at the doorsteps, and the occasional passerby walked in a frantic rush. Many homes in the town were already vacated; with Northern Liao invading south in force, anyone with the slightest means had fled this perilous land.
Wei Yuan walked straight down the main avenue and soon arrived at the county yamen. After he announced his identity, a bailiff led him to a side chamber to wait. After about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, an official finally arrived, unhurried and late.
Chapter 71