Forgotten Legend of the Bloodied Flower

"Yes! Thank you, General Shangguan!"

With that, Feng Qing Lan was able to follow Shangguan Xiao back to their border. They did meet with the soldiers from Shi Long Kingdom who came to chase them, but their number was small and Shangguan Xiao was able to deal with them with ease.

So, their journey was relatively smooth.

With Feng Qing Lan's help, the soldiers under Shangguan Xiao was able to recover much faster and those with light injury had already returned to the army to do their duties. Those with relatively heavier injuries would still need to rest, though. "There's a city nearby, do you want to go there?" Shangguan Xiao asked when Feng Qing Lan said that he would separate from them now. "Ah, no." Feng Qing Lan shook his head. "It would be better for me not to enter the cities around here."

"Why?"

"Well, because…"

"THERE HE IS!"

The shouts from distance attracted them and Feng Qing Lan could see four burly man rushing towards him. He felt his scalp numb when he saw these people and quickly bid his farewell. "Excuse me, I'll be going now, Aaaaaaa!"

Drap! Drap! Drap! "Don't run, you b*stard!"

"Return the money you owe to us!"

"Damn you! If you don't know how to bet, you shouldn't make trouble with us."

Shangguan Xiao stopped one of the men to ask and heard that Feng Qing Lan participated in the betting of the fighting between two roosters, which was one of the normal form of gamblings between peasants when they have nothing to do. While the wars were prevalent on the borders, for other cities without any wars and so on, they would not think too much.

Besides, they also needed some fun.

So gambling was done in order to earn some money and also to have fun. With the high tax, being able to earn more money through gambling was very good. After all, the wars required more supplies from the people and the way to earn money was from the tax.

Thus the tax will definitely be very high. With the increase of tax, people's lives were getting more difficult. They had to figure out another way to earn money and gambling became one of them. As long as they win, they would be able to earn a lot of money. Bang!

"Stop running!"

Shangguan Xiao's adjutant, who was present, watched this scene with a strange expression. "I though His Majesty had already promulgated law in order to prevent gambling."

"Yes, but it's not completely widespread and spread yet." Shangguan Xiao shrugged. "His Majesty is waiting to conquer the entire land before they start to make more severe punishment."

He had heard about this because there were some of his friends in the Capital City who was punished for racing on the street several years ago. They were severely punished and had to be locked so that the incident could pass. Still, their father was severely reprimanded in the court for not teaching their children well. Shangguan Xiao remembered that incident because one of the two people who were racing was his friend. He had to reprimand his friend and then told him to copy the law several times to remember about the teaching of not gambling. "I heard that the Emperor from Wei Da Kingdom used to like gambling." Shangguan Xiao's Adjutant recalled another matter. *cough*

"Let's not discuss the royalty." Shangguan Xiao stopped his adjutant from speaking more about it. Even if Wei Da Kingdom had fallen, but there were still some remnants who might not be happy to hear their former emperor being discussed. Though, Shangguan Xiao himself also heard that this emperor was keen on gambling and owed a lot of money, which made him appoint the person whom he was in debt of to be the official to wipe off his debt. It was one of his black history, so not many people dared to mention this matter.

Still, it was recorded in the historian's books and Shangguan Xiao had the chance to see part of it, which made him sigh.

Because it meant that with money, one would be able to buy the official's position. "Do you want to help him?" Shangguan Xiao's adjutant pointed at Feng Qing Lan, who was running away. "No." Shangguan Xiao nodded. There was no need for him to help Feng Qing Lan when the man himself was the one who made trouble. Who told him to participate in the gambling?

He had no one but himself to blame. And Shangguan Xiao didn't want to get too involved with Traveling Doctor Liu and his disciple. He was thankful for Feng Qing Lan's help, but their relationship was only limited to this short transaction. It was enough.

"Let's go. The war is not over yet."

"Yes, General Shangguan!"

…

Sora's Corner: Gambling

There were many forms for gamblings in ancient China. During the period of time that I took reference in, there were many more form of gambling developed during this period of time that was recorded in several books such as "Records of the Grand Historian" by Sima Qian during the Warring States Era, which contained the story of Military General Tian Ji and King of Qi who often made bets on horse racing. They would pick three of their horses in three rounds of racing and the person who won two of them would be the final winner. Though, if you want to know the specific details, rules, and the story plus the idiom that derived from the story, you should read the book or search the details yourself as I won't explain here. The others form of gamblings for ordinary people were usually rooster fights. (After all, horses are quite expensive and it was harder to raise. Roosters are more preferred by them) In each state, there were even laws to regulate gamblings to prevent the widespread from these actions.

For more details for the records and so on, you can search for yourself.