514 Men with Machetes. (2/2)

But this was Hui City, not Jade City. The managers here did not dare to get involved.

Meng Mingshu's plan was to sell out the Men with Machetes. However, when his accomplice told him that the men had already started their takeover, he thought he might be too late. He had heard a lot about the Men with Machetes. He asked, ”Will they... succeed?”

His accomplice lowered his head silently.

Compared to Meng Mingshu, Xiao Fengchai knew the Men with Machetes better. She laughed, ”Don't expect too much. It doesn't matter, even if they fail. Right now, any man who stands out is likely to get himself in trouble.”

Meng Mingshu understood her words, and smiled. He thought, ”The Dragon King will need me and the Meng family in the future. It doesn't matter whether my plan works or not.”

Hui City was in disarray. The city gates were still open by nightfall, and the civilians escaped from the city with their families. When a hundred of the Men with Machetes flooded through the city gates, no one stopped them.

To the Men with Machetes, it was a good sign.

At first, they felt confident that they would succeed. They robbed anyone that they encountered who had horses or mules, and none tried to fight against them because of being outnumbered.

The Men with Machetes became more and more confident of their plan.

Checkpoints were set up at each end of the bridge. The checkpoint on the southern shore was tall and thick, while the one on the northern shore was comparatively smaller. Shang Liao arrived there before the Men with Machetes did. The general of the Hui Kingdom in charge of the checkpoint opened the gate. At the first sight of Shang Liao, the general and his soldiers knelt down, and shouted, ”Your Grace.”

The Prime Minister had done a good job. The generals and soldiers of the Hui Kingdom all supported Xiaoyao Lake's independence, and they were willing to take risks for it.

There were dozens of Golden Roc Army soldiers guarding the checkpoint, and they all slept soundly without noticing that they were being tied up by ropes. They had never suspected that some of their companions would secretly add knockout powder to their food.

At around 11:00 pm, two boats made their way from the east. Half of the troops guarding the shore abandoned their posts out of fear. The rest let them pass, promising to claim they had seen nothing if questioned.

Shang Liao went to the watchtower. He waved a torch to command the boats to come ashore. He did not ask them to unload the boats immediately, though.

Powerful bombs were inside the two boats. Shang Liao would not hand them over until the Prime Minister of the Kang Kingdom fulfilled his promise.

After fifteen minutes, a group of soldiers rode towards them from Hui City. The Prime Minister of the Kang Kingdom was amongst them, and dismounted his horse hurriedly, shouting, ”It's me! Open the door!”

Obviously, the Prime Minister was frightened.

Some things are easy to talk about, but difficult to do. Regicide did not only require weapons and courage, but also the willpower to abandon loyalty and tradition.

Looking at the king he had knelt before daily, the Prime Minister started to panic. After hesitating for awhile, he gave the signal to his bodyguard. The bodyguard was a professional and killed the king quickly.

The Prime Minister cut off the king's head himself to hide his anxiety. He took the scimitar from the bodyguard, and violently chopped off the king's head, as if the king were his foe.

He knelt before the new king, and raised the disembodied head in the air. His hands were covered in blood.

When he watched the Prime Minister holding the former king's head, Shang Liao was very angry for a moment. ”The Prime Minister is from the Royal Family. He is supposed to show respect to the old King of the Kang Nation instead of holding his head excitedly,” he thought to himself.

Now that Shang Liao was the King of the Kang Nation, his attitude towards the Prime Minister had changed quite a bit.

”Rise,” Shang Liao replied coldly. He turned around and waved the torch to give his second signal.

The men on the boats carried the bombs to the bridge very carefully and arranged them on the bridge evenly.

The generals and soldiers guarding the bridge remembered their first fight on the lake. They looked at the bombs with fear, too afraid to even approach them.

All the soldiers guarding the checkpoint of the southern shore retreated to the northern shore. Soon, those who had escaped from the Golden Roc Army would gather here and watch the bridge burn.

Shang Liao hoped that these army deserters at least had the courage to return and engage in a final fight with the Dragon Army.

The Dragon King sent an army of thousands to take the Kang Kingdom, which was Shang Liao's biggest threat. But Shang Liao had a plan for victory: At dawn, he would return to his navy. He would take into custody all the soldiers who weren't from the five kingdoms of Xiaoyao Lake, and then he would block every way onto the lake.

This would force the Dragon King's army of thousands to be isolated. They could either surrender or die.

Everything went as planned. Shang Liao began to envision a bigger future for himself.

The sound of hooves and shouts awakened him from his daydream.

”What's going on?” the Prime Minister of the Kang Kingdom asked, turning around anxiously.

No one knew what was happening.

In the darkness, hordes of troops and horses seemed to come down on them from out of nowhere. It came as a complete surprise to them, as there was no large army in the capital of the Hui Kingdom.

The Men with Machetes fully utilized their acting talents. They managed to create a terrifying scene to intimidate the enemy.

”We are the Dragon King's troops. Fight or surrender!” they shouted.

The Prime Minister, generals and soldiers guarding the checkpoint were shocked, but Shang Liao was more stunned than anyone else.

He had been thinking about the Dragon King's army of thousands. But all of a sudden, the army directly attacked here instead of heading for the Kang Kingdom, as he had expected.

”The Dragon King is smarter than me. All of my plans have been in vain,” he thought.

Shang Liao did not want to give up now, though. He drew his scimitar and cut off the Prime Minister's head. He said to the terrified generals and soldiers, ”If you believe me, you will follow me to serve the Dragon King. He promised me that he would allow Xiaoyao Lake to be an independent country. As for this man, he murdered the king, so he had to be punished.”

Shang Liao only had a dozen guards serving him, while there were a hundred generals and soldiers serving the Hui Kingdom. Terrified by the scene, they held onto their weapons tightly, not knowing what to do.