Chapter 328 The Plan Has Worked
Li Keyong did not want his people to quarrel anymore, so he asked Fang Qingzhen directly, “What’s your opinion?”
Fang Qingzhen was one of Li Keyong’s three great advisors, so his opinion had always been highly valued. Now, he said, “The root of the issue about the 13th Grand Guardians is that he has connections with Prince An. Rumors are not groundless. Now, everyone in the Hedong Army is panicky, which has seriously affected the general situation. To give everyone the true picture and quell the unrest, we must evacuate the 13th Grand Guardian from Yizhou!”
Li Keyong nodded without speaking, and sank into deep thought. Fang Qingzhen believed that Li Cunxiao must go back to Hedong. After a while, he asked the Secretary, “What do you think?”
“The 13th Grand Guardian assumed personal command in Yizhou and pinned down Li Ye and his almost 300,000 troops. He made contributions rather than errors. If we replace him without any real evidence, the officers and soldiers will be bitterly disappointed and unwilling to submit!” The Secretary spoke vehemently.
The Secretary insisted that there was no problem with Li Cunxiao. He had no evidence, but he believed in Li Cunxiao’s character. Undoubtedly, there were risks for him. Should Li Cunxiao defect, he would suffer a major blow, because he tried to defend him now.
The Secretary was right, but there were only a few people like him. After he finished speaking, Zhong Meili, the vice magistrate of Taiyuan Mansion, said, “You can’t say that. The people in charge must take all aspects into account. If the 13th Grand Guardian can’t prove his loyalty, the Prince must assure the others. Otherwise, if everyone distrusts the frontline senior general, who will dare to stay in Taiyuan city? Many trade caravans have withdrawn now!”
Li Keyong’s other trusted subordinates agreed, “That’s true.”
Fang Qingzhen and Zhong Meili were highly respected and deeply influential people. Their words represented the opinions of the majority. In the political hall, they immediately went along with them. Only a few people stood by the Secretary to speak up for Li Cunxiao, but their voices were quickly suppressed.
Li Keyong pondered on this for a little longer, and finally, he gave the latest order.
...
The long street was wet from the rain and drops of water dripped continuously from under the eaves. The rain splattered against the slate floor and created little puddles. The onlookers from the rooms on either side of the street, took cover under the eaves and craned their necks, looking at one of the Shu tea shops.
Just now, a group of odd-job men had rushed in, and then there was a commotion inside. The house now resounded with the noise of a fight. Now, the fighting had stopped and a pool of blood flowed from the house. It seemed that no less than two or three people had died.
The onlookers went a little closer, and saw several bodies lying on the ground. The violent fighting was so destructive that things were scattered everywhere, and half of the shop was almost demolished. The odd-job men and the assistants in the shop had almost died, fighting together. Only the seriously wounded shopkeeper had been thrown to the ground, while two Wuhou constables stood on guard.
Their robes were splattered with fresh blood. One had a broken arm and leaned against the counter with an agonized expression, while his companion dressed the wound for him.
At this time, the rain stopped, and the crowd that gathered around were talking about the matter. They did not know what happened and why the odd-job men suddenly came to create trouble for the tea shop. The shopkeeper was a simple and amiable person. How was he able to kill so many odd-job men?
Among the crowd, Yang Fei glanced at the tea shop. He pretended to be a casual passerby, and being curious, pushed his way toward the door.
No one noticed the fierce look that flashed across his eyes.
He had left the carriage gang and joined the Black Office for some time. This was not his first mission, but it was the first time he encountered such a difficult situation.
Here, no one would call him by his nickname “Flying” and tell him what to do like the old guys in the carriage gang, whenever he encountered something.
Although he was young, he was no longer impetuous. Since he responded to the order from Prince An summoning the Pinglu cultivators to work for him, he was determined to leave the carriage gang. He joined the Black Office, with great expectations, but he was no longer taken care of, and he had to face the dangers and challenges in the world alone.
Although he was acquainted with Li Ye, he had no idea how to play up to him.
Yang Fei was now near the threshold. He did not deliberately stare into the shop, but he took a quick glance and grasped the situation inside.
The shop was the foothold set by the Black Office. Because it managed several adjacent blocks, the shopkeeper was not a weakling and had a high status. Against such a stronghold, the Black Office would establish more hidden monitoring points next to it. At ordinary times, it would neither take actions nor accept other tasks.
They only had one mission. When the stronghold got into trouble, they should save the staff there from danger and help them to evacuate. Or, when they could not withdraw, they would help them out of their misery. If they could not do either, they would immediately report the news to the leadership.
Yang Fei saw that the shopkeeper was drenched in blood and sitting on the ground. He had been severely injured, and now he was restrained, so he could not move, and could not even commit suicide.
The opponent’s position was not a lowly one, and they knew a lot of secrets about the Black Office, such as the locations of the other strongholds.
He must be silenced.
The shopkeeper was at Level 2 of the Qi-refining Realm, that of the Black Office. In terms of fighting against one another, he was stronger than an ordinary cultivator. However, he had been subdued. It was evident that the two constables were above Level 2 of the Qi-refining Realm.
Yang Fei was also at Level 2 of the Qi-refining Realm.
Initially, he was looking around. As he approached the door, he stamped hard on the ground with his right foot. He leapt from the ground with the agility of a tiger and a leopard, and went straight into the shop.
He had no time to hesitate because the Wuhou Constables’ support team would be arriving soon.
There were a few short and muffled groans.
Yang Fei covered his bleeding belly. Under the astonished gazes of the bystanders, he rushed out of the shop, ran into the crowd, and quickly walked away.
In the shop, the two injured constables collapsed in a pool of blood and were motionless. With his head hanging down and blood gushing from his throat, the shopkeeper did not look as if he would survive. He did not look pained or surprised, but felt relieved.
Yang Fei gritted his teeth and dashed crazily into the streets.
The cultivators followed behind him.
Although he managed to move fast, he was still seen by supporters. In regular times, these ordinary odd-job men would not have shown such quick reflexes. Unfortunately, this time was different. Yang Fei knew why the Shu tea shop had suddenly been attacked.
These days, the Black Office only had one task in Taiyuan city, which was to spread rumors that Li Cunxiao would seek refuge with Prince An.
Rumors were rife n Taiyuan city. Li Kong was quick to retaliate. The city had been completely cordoned off. Many odd-job men and yamen runners were dispatched. They traced the source of the rumors from one block to another and arrested the people in the Black Office, by following the clues.
Adhering to the principle of “better to be safe than sorry,” the officials sent countless of innocent ordinary people and many cultivators from the Black Office, to jail.
As thus, nobody dared to discuss about Li Cunxiao’s defection, and the gossips soon died out. Li Keyong arranged for staff to go around to advocate Li Cunxiao’s loyalty, to reassure the people and reestablish order. Taiyuan city, where everyone else was jittery, slowly settled down.
The vast Black Office was a tool in the struggle of the general trends between Pinglu and Hedong Armies, and in the overall situation to alienate Li Keyong and Li Cunxiao. For countless people like Yang Fei in the Black Office, their lives now, were not theirs, but had to go by Li Ye’s every word or sentence.
Before the general trend, they were nonentities. For every change in the general trend and overall situation, many nonentities would die. At this time, they were helpless and could not resist fate.
Tens of thousands of nonentities determined the development direction of the general trend, and whether Li Keyong and LI Cun Xiao’s plans would be successful.
Yang Fei looked back at his pursuer, who was also a cultivator of Qi-refining. Therefore, it was hard for Yang Fei to get rid of him.
As a Qi-refining cultivator and backbone of the Black Office, he had established evacuation routes and assistants on the road, so that he could successfully escape. But now, the pursuer was much stronger than the usual ones. Therefore, the assistants on the established retreat route could not stop them. Meanwhile, he might be captured by the opponent.
Yang Fei clenched his teeth. Due to the vigorous activity, the wound in his lower abdomen was bleeding profusely, and he turned even more pale. He sensed that his limbs were becoming numb, stiff and weak, and his body was getting colder. Thus, he could not run away.
Deep down the alley, he stopped, turned around, arched his back, took out his dagger, and stared at his pursuer. He slowly adjusted his breath, secretly accumulated his Spiritual Qi, and intended to make a critical strike.
He did not have much strength to start a fight, so he must make a critical strike. If he could not hit with a blow, he would definitely die.
Yang Fei was calm and had a strong will to fight.
The training from the Black Office had taught him how to face death and how to seek a slim chance of survival in a hopeless situation.
The pursuer stopped at the alley and did not move forward. Being tens paces apart, he confronted Yang Fei. The pursuer was well-trained. He discerned that Yang Fei was determined to fight to the death. He thought that he was in good condition, so he had no intention to compete with Yang Fei.
He discerned that Yang Fei was seriously injured and could not hold on for a long time, so he planned to let him use up his strength.
Yang Fei felt stressed because he knew he would have no chance. When he settled down, he would not have an opportunity to find any flaws.
He could not waste any time. With a touch of determination in his eyes, he went straight at the pursuer, hoping to die with the opponent.
With a bang, Yang Fei flew backward, fell heavily to the ground, rolled over to spit out a mouthful of blood, and could no longer stand up.
The pursuer was also injured, but he still had combat strength. He came up to Yang Fei and looked down at him with a sneer.
Yang Fei did not want to fall into his hands and gave him a resentful look. Although he was reluctant, he could only crunch the poison hidden between his teeth to kill himself.
As if he had been struck by lightning, the cultivator in front of him suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward, hitting himself against the walls of the house.
Yang Fei turned back with a shock and looked down the alley. A cultivator with sleeves fluttering, pulled his hand back and walked to him. He recognized that the opponent was his leader, Zhou Chuanwen.
...
“Li Keyong has arrested gossipers. In Taiyuan city, the Black Office has lost many people who implemented the strategy of sowing discord. Besides, there is no rumor that Li Cunxiao will defect. So, our plan has failed.”
After listening to Song Jiao’s report, Li Ye, who sat behind the desk, put down his book, and glanced at her, “The plan did not fail, but it worked.”
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