594 Innocent of Murder (2/2)

”Stop keeping us in suspense, there is no need to show off in front of us,” Jiang Zhiwei criticized him with a smile.

Meng Qi coughed. ”The fortresses at the border are under the King's control. Their Transit Dues will be the easiest to abolish.”

Zhao Heng and the others nodded gently. That's the easy part. As long as they paid the masters enough, or replaced them with their own men, it would not be hard to achieve.

”Thus, as long as we gave the merchants an order from the King as they were passing through these fortresses, we need not worry about most of the remaining checkpoints.” Meng Qi was still smiling profoundly.

Ruan Yushu suddenly became curious as if he had a delicious dish in front of him that he could not consume. ”What order?”

Meng Qi let out a sly grin before becoming serious again. ”Whoever kills anyone who collects Transit Dues will be innocent of murder!”

”Innocent of murder?” Zhao Heng blurted out in shock.

Such ”orders” were beyond his imagination.

Jiang Zhiwei was puzzled at first before she showed a smile of realization. ”That's great. There are plenty of masters among the merchants themselves who pay Transit Dues only because they are afraid of the powerful masters of the country. The latter can only be stopped by experts of the Exterior!”

The nations are in turmoil. How can merchants who travel across the different lands have no masters and no support? As long as the suggestion by Meng Qi was implemented, they could resolve their lack of manpower by borrowing that of the merchants. Then the different checkpoints in Chen could then be monitored.

”What a wonderful idea! We can convey the determination of the King to abolish the Transit Dues for the merchants this way too.” Zhao Heng shouted as he clapped.

Meng Qi enjoyed their praise and continued while smiling, ”If the aristocrats use any Exterior or any army with formations, they would be unable to escape our notice and we can then eliminate them as an example.”

He paused in consideration before adding: ”We can even initiate the killings ourselves. We can divide ourselves and join different caravans. If we meet any experts of the Exterior or any army with battalions that try to collect taxes from us, we can attack them immediately to set an example for others. Anyway, murder is innocent!”

”However, we shouldn't force the aristocrats too much. We can punish them harshly, but we can't intensify the conflicts as it would allow the other aristocrats to be wry with us and start a civil war. This would leave room for Chu to interfere.”

Qi Zhengyan supported Meng Qi expressionlessly, ”So, choosing a good victim is the key.”

Meng Qi nodded in response. ”Chen State is a small country with a few powerful aristocrats other than the King. The main aristocrats are the Ex-Minister of the Masses, Wang Dan, the Minister of Justice, Tian Heng, and the Minister of Works, Gongyang Zeng. They all have Peerless Master Pros, the influence of the court, a big plot of land and various checkpoints in the country. If we were to kill one as an example, we would need to choose from within their circle.”

The words were plain but murderous.

”The Minister of Justice, Tian Heng, had many generations in his family that are related to the aristocrats of Chu, thus, making him an unsuitable target.” Zhao Heng first eliminated one potential target.

Ruan Yushu then said with a moderate tone, ”The Minister of Works, Gongyang Zeng, has a son who studies martial arts at the Golden Light Cave of Mount Wudang.”

”In this case, only the Ex-Minister of the Masses, Wang Dan, whom I have replaced, is left!” Meng Qi exclaimed. ”His family is the oldest family of aristocrats in Chen State. They had served the first King of Chen. There are many masters in their clan and they have friends and families all over the land. However, they have no strong support from outside Chen. This makes them an easy target. As you join the caravans, you should pass by their lands.”

”Alright,” Jiang Zhiwei and the others agreed.

After the discussions, Meng Qi and the rest met the King once more before the meeting to expose their plan.

…

Compared with previous court meetings, this one was much simpler and relaxed as the King of Chen was now devoted to the School of Mo. There were no longer red tapes and bureaucracies and many returned to their positions quickly for the King's speech.

The only thing that did not satisfy Meng Qi was that his space ring and weapons were confiscated and kept outside by the guards, just like when he met the King previously.

Because this was a world with weird and powerful secret artifacts, he needed to be wary of the King even though he was only a grandmaster. Other than Meng Qi, the weapons and space rings of all other the officials were confiscated as well.

”I have the Wrist Bone of Nether and the Unrefined Oceanic Dominion Pearl in my space ring. My precious weapons are of top grade and mid-grade, respectively. Please don't lose them...” Meng Qi prayed in his heart as he knew that he would have to pay many karma points for those treasures.

The King looked at the officials before he announced his first decision, which was to appoint Meng Qi as the Minister of the Masses and the rest as his assistants.

When the announcement was made, many eyes of shock were cast on Meng Qi at once. However, one of those pairs, which was calm, surprised Meng Qi.

He sensed that the pair of eyes belonged to a young man wearing an expensive crown and an ancient robe. He was elegant and graceful.

”Tian Guang, the eldest son of the Minister of Justice, Tian Heng, had achieved the rank of Exterior at the age of thirty. He had just attained Lordship...”

Meng Qi quickly recognized the man and details about him flashed through his mind.