176 Lin Zhou: The Information 1 (2/2)

”We want to know what exactly both of the kingdoms want to suddenly have this marriage alliance? At first, we only thought that it was only a simple building good relationship with the other kingdom, but it doesn't seem like that now.” Lin Jian asked and explained at the same time.

At this point, even Mi Hui hadn't found out the reason why. There was no use for them to be blatantly having a marriage alliance that could anger the Shu Emperor --- after all, the Shu Kingdom was the strongest and the two other kingdoms could be said more like vassal kingdoms. This sudden decision was quite fishy.

The old man laughed and admitted, ”You cleverly used me and asked me a good question. The Shu Emperor also asked me the same things and he had to pay a hefty amount to me and yet, you will get this for free.”

They didn't think that it was free. Did the old man forget that they needed to do something for him too? Judging from this old man's behavior, he would never eat a loss when bargaining something with the information that he acquired.

The old man could see the silent complain in their eyes and laughed once again. ”I know... I know... you pay me with the different thing...”

”So... can you tell us now?” Yao Ying said, feeling a bit impatient.

The old man nodded. ”Yes...” He shook his head inwardly, the youngsters nowadays lack patience. He didn't dilly-dally any longer and quickly go into the details.

The old man told them that the two kingdoms were working with an insider that more or less betrayed the Shu Kingdom by doing this. Hei Yue was one of that man's people. They planned this marriage to let the Shu Emperor get angry and lose his rationality, then did something to prevent the marriage. They indeed tried to find a reason to start the war. They needed a catalyst to prove that they didn't start the war and had a justified reason to appease their own people.

”Is the one who started this plan someone from our kingdom?” Lin Jian asked. He felt that that insider must have been the one who started everything.

”Yes...” The old man nodded. He thought that there was no harm in telling them about this information so he didn't hesitate to tell them everything. He didn't think that they would be able to do anything at this point in time. ”Or else... how the two kingdoms are suddenly able to talk to each other and even have a marriage alliance so smoothly?”

It was known to many people that both kingdoms' relationship wasn't that good, so by doing this, they would increase the Shu Emperor's distrust. The old man gave this information to the Shu Emperor because he wanted to prevent war. He still wanted to continue enjoying the peaceful era.

The old man explained that Hei Yue's Boss was the one who started to shake the foundation of A Thousand Words and then started to become rebellious all of a sudden. He incited the distrust between Hei Yue and him.

Hei Yue's Boss needed his position to grasp an important bargaining chip in this deal and the old man didn't want to give any information to him because he knew that the man was dangerous. He was too ambitious and because of that, the life of the commoners would be affected the most.

The two kingdoms were offered information in exchange for their bits of help because Hei Yue's Boss didn't want to give up any of Shu Kingdom's territories after he was able to become the new Shu Emperor. He had even cleverly controlled the deal and stated that he would choose the information that would be shared. He used this old man's motto --- not sharing any secrets that would lead to a war.

”What's his purpose?” Lin Jian asked. Hei Yue's Boss must be one of the royal blood and it baffled him that this man could be so meticulous in arranging the plan. Only a few people that were able to do this kind of meticulous planning --- his princes were the example. However, he was certain that this had nothing to do with the princes and he needed to let them know about this information soon.

It seemed like they needed to tweak their plan to rescue Han Xiang for a little bit. Lin Jian knew that they needed to find a scapegoat and the involvement of them as Shu persons had to remain unknown or it would be used as a reason to start a war. They had already received the order from the princes and they needed to finish this mission no matter what the consequences were.

”Of course, he wants to become an emperor. What else? That man is too ambitious. However, what drives him mad and makes him want to rebel is revenge,” The old man said while shaking his head in defeat.

'Revenge, huh?' Lin Jian thought to himself, but couldn't find a man that fitted into that description. He became more curious...

Xiao Fang asked out of curiosity, ”Who is that man?”