427 Surrounding the Camp (1/2)

Shangguan Hong had only just left the military camp when he was ambushed in an isolated corner. His corpse was, in terrible condition, was nearly diced into mincemeat. It could only be identified from the little trinkets left at the scene. As there was nothing that could be brought back to the Dragon King, the soldiers on patrol could only invite him to personally go down to see for himself.

It was more than any ordinary assassination. It was more like the killer wanted to release his or her pent up rage or had wished to use such crude methods to hide the truth.

Gu Shenwei felt that the prior theory was more plausible. The Golden Roc Fort he knew could be ruthless and strike without mercy, but its killers rarely defiled the corpses of their victims.

Shangguan Fei, logically, agreed with the Dragon King's theory but he was still pale with shock and nearly threw up.

He had hated Shangguan Hong, had even wished for his half-brother to perish as quickly as possible. However, upon seeing the pieces of flesh strewn across the ground, even if it could be someone else's, he still felt somewhat sorry.

He could see his own future from the gory scene.

The Dragon King was going to take serious action. For the next five consecutive days, a huge search was conducted in the capital of the Stone Kingdom, as well as as inside and outside of the military camp. He personally took part in searches of crucial areas and left no stone unturned.

A total of 34 killers and machetemen from the Golden Roc Fort were rounded up. Most of them were executed on the spot. Only two were captured alive, but they committed suicide by taking poison while being escorted to the Dragon King.

They definitely were not the entirety spies planted in the Xiaoyao Lake region, but Gu Shenwei could only do so much, for now.

On the sixth day after Shangguan Hong's disappearance, two supply depots within the borders of the Stone Kingdom were secretly set on fire simultaneously.

The existence of one of the depots was public knowledge, while that of the other was kept secret. The former was situated about 20 kilometers in a southwesterly direction from the capital and was the very one that Gu Shenwei had brought both Shangguan brothers to visit before. There were many sharp wooden pegs stored in it. The latter was closely adjacent to the city walls of the capital and looked like an ordinary commoner's house that was frequented by encumbered oxcarts. The mysterious black liquid that Shangguan Fei saw that night was stored in this depot.

The scale of the sneak attacks exceeded everyone's expectations. Each depot was hit by groups of about 80 to 90 people; the searches over the last five days did not seem to have diminished the Golden Roc Fort's strength. In fact, it seemed stronger now.

Gu Shenwei had strengthened security at both locations and even set up traps for the attackers. After a brief fight, the ambushers suffered heavy losses and were nearly wiped out. Even so, they successfully set fire to the depots and laid waste to Zhong Heng's strenuous endeavor.

The fires, both north and south, shot up high and illuminated half of the night sky. It raged on for a long time and only gradually died down near dawn.

Rumors began spreading suddnely, causing the soldiers and civilians of the Xiaoyao Lake to have even less confidence in the upcoming battle. The more experienced civilians began snatching up provisions and storing them securely, getting ready for another long and drawn out seige.

When the fires raged on, Gu Shenwei and Zhong Heng were in their tents planning battle formations throughout the night. As the news was passed on to them, they both heaved a sigh of relief.

In the end, Shangguan Hong still managed to pass the intelligence on to the Golden Roc Fort, He even did it even quicker than they had expected. As for the two depots, they were only displayed that one day for Shangguan Hong's viewing pleasure, and more than half of the suit of armors kept there were replicas made of wood, with very few real items among them.

”The journey from here to Shuangquan Village takes, at the very least, half a month. It's only the sixth day since Shangguan Hong's death, yet the Golden Roc Fort seemed to have acted a bit too swiftly,” Zhong Heng raised his doubts.

”Therefore, the person who gave the order would definitely not be Shangguan Jianyi. Most probably it was some blademaster. Let me get him to...” Gu Shenwei remarked as he briskly walked to the entrance of his tent. Suddenly he paused and spun around, struck by an idea. ”Could it be that...”

”That's exactly right!” the usually calm Zhong Heng exclaimed, an obvious excitement unexpectedly appearing upon his face. ”Shangguan Jianyi has already snuck into the Xiaoyao Lake region, he's somewhere near to us!”

”He's the Commander of an army.”

”So are you,” said as he Zhong Heng grinned.

It was common for killers to have the inclination to engage in risky business alone. The Dragon King had gone alone to gather intelligence on the enemy on a few occassions and it was possible that Shangguan Jianyi would behave in the same manner. It was exactly the type of behavior that the Supreme King appreciated.

It was slightly sloppy to assume that the enemy Commander, after only two sneak attacks which were moderately larger in scale, was hiding somewhere near. However, Gu Shenwei increasingly sensed that it was plausible. He could not help but get excited as well.

Zhong Heng led some men to put out the fires and catch the arsonists who escaped. Gu Shenwei led over 200 guard troops and 300 swordsmen to surround the camp of the five highest-ranking military officers of Xiaoyao Lake himself.

Gu Shenwei was not making a wild guess while deducing that Shangguan Jianyi was hiding in the camp.

After he was attacked in the royal palace, Gu Shenwei ordered people to observe the Shangguan brothers secretly. There were various signs that showed that the person Shangguan Hong was making contact with came from the tents of the military officers from the five nations.

Gu Shenwei originally planned to keep the small nest running for a little while longer. Though he could wait a while longer for the largest fish to take the bait, he decided that it was time to reel it in; he even suspect he was a bit too late.

Just as the encirclement was set up, news came again that the arsonists were mostly stragglers from the other four nations of the Xiaoyao Lake who had fled after their loss. On paper, they never returned to their camp, nor were their names recorded within the personnel files. In reality, however, they had been hiding in the camp all along, protected by their comrades.

The armies of all five nations were involved in the matter. There were even some soldiers of the Stone Kingdom, who were more loyal in nature, that were willing to protect the deserters.

The situation soon became blown out of proportion. The Dragon King's army consisted one-third of the soldiers from the five nations army. If he did not intervene, it would be akin to allowing the betrayal to continue, were he to act too harshly, it would be a detriment to his own strength. No matter what, it was not as simple as all of the local soldiers from Xiaoyao Lake wanting to turn to the Golden Roc Fort.

It was still dark when Gu Shenwei gave the order for all his troops to assemble, before leading his men into the camp of the high-ranking military officers of the five nations army.

There were four princes among the dozens of officers and all of them were woken from their sleep, emerging from their tents to greet the Dragon King.

In reality, none of them were actually asleep. The burning of the supply depots was huge news and could even be seen from afar. The officers, who were either guilty or afraid of trouble, hid in their tents trying to listen to the noises outside.