"Good news!"
Yang Ge replied, "No matter how much we stir things up, we can only cause temporary chaos in Dongying. Only if the imperial court decides to exert its power can we hope to incorporate this territory into our Huaxia map... Let’s set off two more days later. Be extra vigilant these two days, you mustn’t let the dogs develop a habit of guarding their food!"
Zhou Fu felt a surge of understanding and nodded, "Understood, understood!"
Yang Ge turned around and waved to the four people, "Let’s go, find a place to have a drink, and plan how to manage the Western Sea Road next."
...
Destruction is always easier than construction.
The Dazaifu had lasted for eight or nine hundred years to reach its current size and grandeur.
Yet the servant army took only one day and night to completely ruin the Dazaifu.
This day and night of ravaging not only brought back nearly a million taels of silver worth of wealth and provisions for Yang Ge and others but also saw the servant army grow from 3,500 people at the time of entering the city to nearly 8,000 at its peak.
Although nearly one-fifth of these 8,000 were slaves armed only with wooden spears, these slaves, homeless and jobless top-grade cattle and horses, could quickly become qualified soldiers after one or two more bloody battles.
And what Dongying’s main island, teeming with turtles leading in different ponds, was never short of were opportunities for bloody battles.
After reorganizing the 8,000 servant army, Yang Ge selected 1,500 to leave to Yang Tiansheng, Li Jincheng, and the three Xiang Wudi brothers, and "fulfilled his promise" by promoting three samurai of limited intelligence to first-rank, leaving them to command the 1,500 servant army and allocating the lands around the Dazaifu to them...
Subsequently, the seventy-two warriors split into two groups.
Yang Ge along with forces from the imperial court and the White Lotus Sect, led 6,500 servant samurai with high spirits to march eastward, pointing directly at the Maguan Strait. From there, they would cross the sea to the main island and sweep through all of Dongying, both to break the backbone of Dongying and to draw fire for Yang Tiansheng, Li Jincheng, and the three Xiang brothers farming behind, buying time.
The Ming Sect, Lianhuan Fort, and the Xiang Family’s three groups, leading 1,500 servant samurai, headed south with great zeal, aiming directly at small countries such as Southern Chikuzen in the Western Sea Road with the goal of unifying it. They were to claim land on the Western Sea Road for the eastern expedition of the seventy-two warriors, while also attempting to turn the Western Sea Road into a beachhead and main camp of Huaxia advancing into Dongying.
...
Time swiftly moved to mid-October.
In Luoyang, Shen Fa and Wei Heng finally received the firsthand intelligence from Dongying’s Dazaifu.
It was this piece of intelligence that made both of them feel their skin crawl, unsure how to present it to His Majesty...
"Smack!"
After a long silence, Wei Heng suddenly slapped the arm of his chair and stood up, pointing at Shen Fa’s nose and scolded, "Such a capable minister in times of governance, a hero in chaos, and you see him as a lifeless snake, a toad? Are all in your Embroidered Uniform Guard blind?"
Shen Fa skillfully wiped off the spittle from his face, his eyes darting to the glimpse of a dragon pattern peeking out from the edge of the table next to Wei Heng, thinking, ’How has this dead eunuch gotten so clever?’
"When will you manage to change this bad habit of yours, always deflecting responsibility when undecided?"
He calmly picked up his tea bowl and leaned back tactically, "The emperor can bear witness that that man is no longer of my Embroidered Uniform Guard. His actions, what do they have to do with this hall?"
"Me, deflecting responsibility?"
Amused by his response, Wei Heng sat back in the Taishi Chair and mimicked his action by picking up a tea bowl and leaning back tactically, "Alright then, you explain it to the emperor yourself. I, for one, know nothing and recognize no one!"
"And you still say you are not deflecting?’
Shen Fa casually set down his tea bowl, "Both your Western Factory and my Embroidered Uniform Guard sent that man, only my Embroidered Uniform Guard received the intelligence, and your Western Factory hasn’t heard a thing? Should the emperor praise your Western Factory for undying loyalty, or scold it for being useless from top to bottom?"
Wei Heng furiously slapped the arm of the chair and was about to rise again, "You..."
"Enough, enough!"
Shen Fa waved preemptively, stopping his tirade, "We are both old foxes, what are you pretending to be... a vulnerable maiden for? Spit it out, what do you intend to do?"
Wei Heng, momentarily containing his anger, looked down to drink his tea and spoke softly, "I’ve already made myself very clear, I from the Western Factory know nothing and recognize no one!"
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Shen Fa retorted, "Are you planning to suppress this intelligence?"
Wei Heng retorted, "Do you really intend to deliver this intelligence to His Majesty?"
Shen Fa responded, "Such a major affair, we might conceal it for a moment, but can we hide it forever?"
Wei Heng countered, "You are not some naïve rookie, do I really need to spell it out for you?"
Shen Fa frowned and softly said, "But this matter is unlike any before. Previously, His Majesty was willing to turn a blind eye with us, but if we deceive him together this time... our fate might not be much better than Dou E’s!"
Wei Heng also sighed softly, "What can we do? Delivering this intelligence into His Majesty’s hands is like provoking a deadly quarrel... You needn’t tell me, I can guess that that little bastard must be close to reaching the Grandmaster Realm. After Tong’s demise, trying to stabilize the current situation has exhausted us and we cannot afford another disturbance!"
"That little bastard might not sell you Shen’s face a second time, right?"
As he spoke thus, Shen Fa felt a phantom pain in his legs.
He placed the tea bowl on the table beside him and sighed deeply... From the intelligence sent from the Dazaifu, detailed and cluttered accounts of their journey from landing at Hirado Castle to advancing to the Dazaifu were reported, messy in content but from between the lines, they pulled out three words: Dragon-Slaying Skill!