594 The Mole (2/2)
”King Rizhu is ranked tenth and is the only one who's not a lineal descendant, so he can't inherit the throne no matter what. He has remained neutral for many years, when all of a sudden, he wooed the Dragon King and semi-openly confronted King Kuari, which can only mean one thing: that he has chosen a person to support. And this person will reward the Naihang Tribe handsomely after he becomes the Khan.”
”Among the other five kings, the seventh king, King Riyao, showed his stance too early to side with King Kuari. His future is bleak. King Nari, the fifth king, King Riying, the sixth king, King Riming, the eighth king, and King Rixin, the ninth king, who were losers of the power game earlier, now have hope again.”
Fang Wenshi was almost finished when Gu Shenwei interrupted, ”The premise all lies upon King Kuari's failure. But he's more likely to succeed even if he makes a reckless move.”
”Yes. If I may guess, King Kuari's desperate plan is like this. He has no time to mobilize the soldiers in the frontline, but he still has eight or ten thousand of his own men in the Royal Court. Compared to the other kings, he is far from amassing an overwhelming majority even when adding in the force of King Riyao, so he has to find another path to victory.”
As his explanation continued, Fang Wenshi explained with the ”scholar's four jewels” (writing brush, ink stick, ink slab, and paper) on the table, ”Who is the most powerful force in the Royal Court now? An interesting way of examining the situation is to say that the kings mutually restrict each other, making the cavalry under their command immobile pieces, which makes the swarming kung fu practitioners the only remaining force that can change the power balance between the various forces.”
Fang Wenshi glanced at the table and picked up a brush pen. ”This year's Tournament of the Royal Court has attracted a particularly large number of martial artists, so much that they form a force that can 'write freely' in the Royal Court. King Kuari has probably bet all of his fortune on this 'pen'. The fact that he would rather risk losing to Dragon King than send a real expert to attend the contest was a cover-up. Although he was trying to mask his true intentions, unfortunately this move exposed them instead.”
”If so, Golden Roc Castle will be more important to King Kuari.” Gu Shenwei went along with his counselor's line of thought. ”The Unique King has a high position in the martial arts world of the Western Regions. He's able to rally multitudes of people for King Kuari at his call.”
”So too does the Central Plains. Dragon King once said that there was a mole in the Royal Court. Before you guessed it was Fu Yuan, the mastermind behind King Dari. I guessed it was King Rizhu. Now it seems we were both wrong. The mole is actually King Kuari.”
”King Kuari is the most powerful competitor of the title of Khan, so why would he seek refuge in the Central Plains?” Usually, Fang Wenshi was the one who asked questions and Gu Shenwei the one answering. Now they had changed the roles so they could think from different perspectives.
Like the Dragon King, Fang Wenshi also put himself into the world of conjecture and speculation, and he was extremely confident of his conclusions. He took a deep breath and stated, ”There are two reasons.”
Fang Wenshi raised his right thumb before he hesitated and felt that King Kuari wasn't worthy of it, so he replaced it with his index finger. ”The experts of the Qingcheng Sect defected anonymously to King Riyao. I've asked around carefully and the sects in the Central Plains cared very deeply about loyalty and filial piety, and if even one person collaborates with the enemy, the whole sect will feel ashamed. The Qingcheng Sect has a high status in the Central Plains, and there is no need for them to come to the Norland to compete for silver, and it is not only the Qingcheng Sect that concealed themselves. There are also other people from various sects hiding in the Royal Court, most of whom work for King Riyao and King Kuari. There can only be one reason for this. They were sent here by the authorities of the Central Plains.”
Fang Wenshi raised his middle finger, ”As for why the mole is King Kuari, and not King Riyao, we need to examine the second reason. In fact, I was too stupid. King Kuari has long since revealed hints at it, but I ignored them. The Dragon King must have heard of his argument that the Norland people would become people of the Central Plains and vice versa.”
”Hmm.” Gu Shenwei did hear it before and was very impressed.
”Ever since I learned that the spy Central Plains had planted in Norland was probably a king, I've been wondering what kinds of benefits the ruler of the Central Plains can offer that would seduce a king into betraying his own ancestors and country. In fact, King Kuari's idealistic speech has explained it. Among all the kings, only he did not worry about the invasion of the Central Plains. He believed that the boundless grasslands were the most effective means of resistance. Therefore, he was able to trust the Central Plains and make use of it with confidence.”
”In the view of the Central Plains, he's a mole. In King Kuari's mind, however, he probably feels that he has taken advantage of the situation. Look, he will use the power of the Central Plains to seize the throne and afterward he will give up a part of his territory in the name of pacifying internal strife. After a few years, when his position is secured, the army of the Central Plains will be either be assimilated by the prairie or will have declined due to the hardship of the frontier life. By that time, he will take the chance to reclaim everything and become a 'great' Khan.”
Fang Wenshi put down the brush pen and slammed the table with his right hand as if his statement had been refuted, and he was about to make an impassioned speech and confirm his victory. ”I know it sounds a bit odd, but it doesn't matter what you and I think. King Kuari believes this so he'll think it's irrevocably logical.”
”Counselor Fang can't be more right.”
Fang Wenshi was actually a bit disappointed that the Dragon King had accepted his guess so quickly. He could have voluminously talked on the subject for another two or four hours.
”As for how to deal with it, I also have an idea. The People of the Central Plains are sensitive towards their reputation. How about we expose the real identities of the so-called disciples of the famous sects? After all, they do dare not to argue now. As long as half of them feel ashamed and run away, King Kuari's power will be greatly weakened.
After arguing eloquently that King Kuari was the mole who had been planted by the Central Plains, the solution put forward by the counselor was a bit of a joke. Gu Shenwei pretended to think for a moment before shaking his head, and replying, ”No, that will only force King Kuari to act earlier.”
”What should we do then?” Fang Wenshi was a little unconvinced.
”We are not here to protect the Khan.” Gu Shenwei reminded Fang Wenshi.
Fang Wenshi was stupefied for a moment. He had been thinking of a way to deal with the current enemy and in the process forgotten that the most important purpose of this trip was to use the chaos in Norland to seek profits for the Dragon Army.
”The Dragon King means…?”
”After all this time, I think we can finally make an offer.”
Shangguan Fei stuck his head into the door. ”Dragon King, I think something is wrong. I seemed to have used too much strength during the daytime and will have Qi deviation again.”
Shangguan Fei was still trying to avoid going on the Dragon King's mission, but Gu Shenwei was thinking that he could not just act to save people tonight as there were many other tasks that needed to be taken care of. As such, he needed Shangguan Fei's help.For more details about the story, one can read chapter 72 of ”The Three Kingdoms” (A.K.A. Romance of the Three Kingdoms)