Chapter 415 Not That Tough
Suddenly Li Ye’s tone turned very sensuous, which Wu Gou did not expect. But he didn’t panic from shock. Since he dared to take the initiative to request a mission to Hedong, he naturally had some rhetoric. He was confident that he could persuade Li Ye.
He scrupulously said, “The Zhongwu army does not dare to disobey the Prince An’s orders to send troops. However, ambassador Qin is a loyal minister. He only wants to serve his country in troubled times. If the Prince An can overlook his mistakes and treats ambassador Qin kindly, then he is willing to die for the country. But if ambassador Qin is worried about being reprimanded by the Prince An in the future... I’m afraid that when the Taoist sect immortals arrive in Zhongwu, ambassador Qin will not be able to resist.”
What he meant was to ask a change of attitude from Li Ye. After all, they were doing things for Li Ye. If Li Ye pushed Qin Zongquan, then he might lend his allegiance to Zhu Wen.
Li Ye laughed and said, “It’s not that I look down on Qin Zongquan. The fact is, he is not worthy of being respected. The world is unfair, without the power of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and Militarism, no one could make much of a noise in the world. Although Qin Zongquan is arrogant now, he is nothing more than a fish on the cutting board.”
“Does Secretary Wu not know that Qin Zongquan’s number is up? Zhu Wen has the support of the Taoist sect to take the Central Plains. And Zhongwu is in their way, if Qin Zongquan wants to live, he must obey me, the solitary king. And if I’m in a good mood, I’ll spare his life. Otherwise, even if Zhu Wen wipes out Qin Zongquan, there will not be any loss on my part. I’ll deal with Zhu Wen in due time.”
Wu Gou opened his mouth but no words came out, for a moment he did not know what to say.
He did not expect Li Ye to be so tough.
From the horizontal and vertical perspective, Li Ye definitely should ally with Qin Zongquan for he could mess things up for Zhu Wen from behind. However, Li Ye was also right that Qin Zongquan did not have the strength to cause much damage to Zhu Wen. He still needed the support of Li Ye and Li Ye’s Great cultivators.
And once Li Ye sent his cultivators to Xuzhou, Qin Zongquan’s life would be in the hands of others. He must then obey their orders.
Sweat appeared on Wu Gou’s forehead. He finally understood why Li Ye asked him if he was a disciple of Confucianism earlier. Li Ye wanted to determine whether Qin Zongquan had the support of the Confucians. If not then they were not worthy of being respected.
In the face of absolute strength, even Wu Gou’s eloquent tongue had proven useless.
Seeing Wu Gou speechless, Li Ye waved his hand and added, “Secretary Wu, you can pass my message to Qin Zongquan and let him decide for himself.”
Seeing Li Ye waving him away, Wu Gou had no choice but to get up and leave.
As he was leaving the Manor, Wu Gou felt that the sky was extremely dark. All his previous confidence and excitement seemed like a joke at this moment.
After Wu Gou left, Li Ye received a report from the Black Office saying that Shangguan Qingcheng had arrived in Qing Prefecture and was working with Cui Keli to defend the city. The third batch of demon clan cultivators had also arrived and already fought with He Jingcheng’s men. Both sides suffered losses, but generally speaking, they had the upper hand.
Seeing that Qing Prefecture was temporarily safe, Li Ye set off for Chengde.
...
Inside the Taoist Temple, Wang Jingchong, who was in the main seat, studied the people in front of him and thought that they all seemed a bit strange.
The white-robed Taoist holding the white horsetail whisk was resting with his eyes closed, giving off the sense that he was an immortal; The Confucian man was sitting upright, and the corners of his robes were extremely neat. Though he didn’t do anything specific, he gave off the sense that he was a meticulous person.
The Military man’s bench was right beside the old Taoist. He sat there holding a golden blade, which gave people the sense that he was deep and thoughtful. He was also the most oppressive of the three.
Every one of them had a junior follower behind them. Unlike the three who were as stable as Mount Tai, the juniors looked at each other with hostility.
Their reactions had given Wang Jingchong a headache. It was hard for him to believe that these people represented the three major schools of Confucianism, Taoism and Militarism. And that they were here to help him stabilize the situation in Chengde and fight against Li Ye.
In fact, Wang Jingchong had wondered whether even to confront Li Ye. After all, he had heard about the way Li Ye had dealt with Zhaoyi, Henghai, and Tianping. He knew that as long as he obeyed Li Ye’s orders, they could still hold their posts as the commissioners.
This was not entirely unacceptable to Wang Jingchong. Although he wanted to take advantage of the chaotic times to make a name for himself, he also knew he didn’t have the means to do it.
Weibo, Chengde and Lulong had made up the three vassal states in Hebei. The imperial court had only taken away their titles as commissioners, but in actual fact, they still had the power of commissioners. And it had been passed down from father to son, it was like they were independent kingdoms.
These were troubled times. And Wang Jingchong felt that as long as Li Ye did not break this rule, he could respect and obey Li Ye’s orders and even follow him into battle. After all, Li Ye, to a large extent, had represented the imperial court of the Tang Empire, and listening to his orders was not exactly beneath his status.
But now that the three schools of Confucianism, Taoism and Militarism were here to help him, he was willing to play it by ear. In case the three schools were right that there was no possibility for Li Ye to resurrect the Tang Empire, then he could also get something for himself in the muddy waters.
What if he succeeded right?
With Militarism supporting Li Maozhen and Taoism supporting Zhu Wen, the only unknown was Confucianism, for it was unclear which feudal prince they had chosen to back. But Wang Jingchong didn’t care, for the world was in chaos and the situation was constantly changing. As long as they could use each other, there would be no shortage of opportunities.
After some initial chatter, the first person to get to the point was the Militarism man, Zhao Weihuang, and he said, “Militarism is willing to send five warriors, two generals to help with the ambassador’s battle with Li Ye!”
As he finished his words, he looked towards the Confucian, Liu Zhixing. Compared with the Taoist sect, the Confucian was even less pleasing to the eye, so he taunted, “What are the Confucians going to do? Do you plan to send scholars onto the battlefield?”
Wang Jingchong was overjoyed. He didn’t have any warriors in his army, so it was what he needed most.
Liu Zhixing glanced at Zhao Weihuang and replied softly, “The Confucian’s expertise lies in governing the people, not fighting. The Confucian scholars can make people feel at ease and guarantee military supplies.”
Wang Jingchong was again excited as the Confucian’s ability to govern the people was well known.
“Since both are straight shooters. I, an old Taoist priest, will give it to you straight as well. The Taoist sect can send Immortal Realm cultivators to help Chengde ignite the fire in Hedong’s backyard,” the old man said with a laugh.
Wang Jingchong couldn’t hold back the joy in his eyes. With Immortal Court cultivators on his side, he would no longer be afraid of Li Ye’s assassins.
Wang Jingchong got up from his seat and clasped his fist in salute to the crowd, saying, “With the help of the three major schools, Chengde will definitely be able to block the Prince An’s attack. It will be a piece of cake!”
Liu Zhixing made some humble comments while the old Taoist just laughed. Then Zhao Weihuang followed ruthlessly. “With three schools working together, no other feudal prince in the world possess such strength. If commissioner Wang still can’t make a splash, then there is no sense in the world!”
Wang Jingchong was more than satisfied, revealing a bright smile on his face. “I don’t know what I did to earn this great honor to be able to have the support of the three major schools, but my sincerest appreciation goes to you all!”
Wang Jingchong immediately ordered a banquet at the Taoist Temple and invited the three to drink.
However, before the banquet was even set up, an emergency military order was delivered to Wang Jingchong. “The Prince An’s troops have entered Chengde’s territory and are headed for Zhenzhou. They’re less than 50 kilometers from Tuoshui!”
Upon hearing the news, Wang Jingchong’s expression changed.
Out of the four prefectures of Chengde, Zhenzhou was the closest to Hedong. Because it was so close, it only took a few days for Li Ye’s troops to get to Zhenzhou.
But before any of this, Chengde did not make it clear that he would not obey Li Ye’s orders. Why did Li Ye’s arrive so quickly?
Back when everything was fine, Wang Jingchong did not think being Li Ye’s enemy was anything to be scared about. But now that Li Ye’s troops had arrived in Zhenzhou, he suddenly remembered Li Ye’s glorious battle record. A man’s reputation was straight like the shadow of a tree. Li Ye didn’t take long to occupy Weibo and Hedong. Chengde’s troops were far inferior to that of Hedong in terms of numbers, so how could he match up to Li Ye?
Wang Jingchong was suddenly in shock, and he added, “What, what do I do now?”
Zhao Weihuang sneered. “Why are you in a panic, commissioner? Even if Li Ye is here, we, the Militarism soldiers, can help you stabilize the situation!”
Aside from him, the old Taoist priest was calm as well, and Liu Zhixing wore his usual stern expression so no one could tell what he was thinking, but his eyes seemed calm.
Seeing everyone so calm, Wang Jingchong was a little more settled, he then said, “Yes, now that I have your support, why should I be afraid of Li Ye?” He calmed his mind and asked the envoy, “How many of the Prince An’s men had come?”
The envoy answered with a strange expression, “Ten thousand, ten thousand cavalry!”
“Ten thousand? Only ten thousand?” Wang Jingchong froze as he couldn’t figure it out. He looked at Zhao Weihuang and others and asked, “What is the Prince An strategy? Does he really think that he could take Zhenzhou city with just ten thousand cavalry?”
Zhao Weihuang was also stunned, so he replied, “It seems that the Prince An doesn’t think much of you!”
Wang Jingchong got angry and his face turned red. He said fiercely, punctuating every word with ferocity, “The Prince An has gone too far! Daring to attack my Chengde city with just ten thousand cavalry! This time, I must show the Prince An my strength, let him know the strength of my Chengde Army!”
Initially, when he heard that Li Ye’s troops had come to attack, he panicked. After learning that there were only ten thousand troops, he immediately calmed down and became arrogant again.
Unfortunately, his arrogance only lasted a fleeting moment.
Because a voice full of mockery had sounded, “I, the solitary king, really don’t know what you, Wang Jingchong, can do!”
“Who’s there?” The people in the room, including the usually calm old Taoist priest and the always stone-faced Liu Zhixing, all couldn’t help being startled and looked out the door.
“No need to look for me, I’m on top of you.” The mocking voice became one full of tease and passed down clearly from the roof.
“Oh no!” The old priest yelled. Jumping out with one step, as fast as lightning, he grabbed Wang Jingchong’s collar and was about to run out of the room.
Aside from him, Liu Zhixing and Zhao Weihuang also hurried to leave the room.
However, they were too slow.
Before they could even get to the door, the whole roof suddenly came collapsing down and smoke flared up!
No, not just that the roof was collapsing, it was the whole house coming down, even the foundation of the house was suddenly sinking into the ground!
The roof, walls, and stone pavement all suddenly cracked, pieces of wood and stone were flying across the house. The howl of the wind sounded like ghosts screaming, shrouding everyone inside!
Before the terrified crowd could react, they were already buried under the collapsed roof and wall. It was as though they had been dead corpses getting buried in the ground!
The cultivators nearby had heard the noise and as soon as they entered the yard, they were speechless by the sight in front of him.
The house was gone, and the only thing left was a patch of rubble sunken several feet below the ground and the flaring smoke and dust.
Above the ruins, where the roof had been, stood a young man in dark robes. He was hanging straight up with his hands behind his back like an immortal.
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