872 Sounding Someone Ou (1/2)
Prince Xiao didn't believe the Dragon King's speculations. ”The Unique King's in contact with someone close to the emperor? That's basically impossible. That kind of thing can never be kept a secret. Colluding with foreigners – especially with a killers organization – is a capital offence. The Dragon King should know that the Imperial Court of the Central Plains has always been very sensitive to this kind of thing. A hidden letter from a foreigner is more than enough to cause a top-rank official to be dismissed.”
”I think that this possibility does exist. And it's also worthy of Prince Xiao's investigation.”
Gu Shenwei actually was very certain that the so-called ”death offence” mentioned by Prince Xiao was just a kind of coercion. The Unique King had refused to disclose who the original employer had been, and he hadn't even kept any related records. However, he would never be afraid of profiting from this issue.
”All right. I'll send a dispatch to one of my friends in the Imperial Court and warn them about this,” Prince Xiao said in a very casual tone, as if he would receive an outcome in one or two days. Watching the Dragon King who was indifferent, he laughed. ”Rest assured, Dragon King. Even if someone in the Imperial Court is actually colluding with the Unique King, his status won't be higher than mine. Er… you're not suspicious of me, are you?”
”If I were, I wouldn't have come here and talk to you about this,” Gu Shenwei lied casually. Actually, he was indeed a little suspicious of Prince Xiao, and the purpose of this meeting with Prince Xiao was to sound him out.
Prince Xiao nodded approvingly. ”I also think that the Dragon King would never be suspicious of me. We're on the same boat now. If something happens to the Dragon King, I'll suffer, too, and I'll even suffer more. Ha-ha.”
Prince Xiao had attributed the victory of the battle at Thousand Horsemen Pass to himself. He had said that the reason why he and those 20,000 Central Plains soldiers had fled was because they had anticipated the enemies' moves and that their move was intended to lure the enemies out. That way, they would be able to cooperate with the Dragon Army who had blindsided the troops guarding Luoluo's king's flag. With regards to the Norland cavalrymen, that was infighting of the grasslands that had been instigated by a series of brilliant tactics.
In this plan, the Dragon King had indeed played a very important role. The Imperial Court of the Central Plains had sent many envoys here. Nominally, they had come here to deliver gifts and greet to the troops. But in fact, they'd been sent here to investigate this achievement which was one of the greatest in the past few decades. Gu Shenwei would be inquired, and his answer would determine Prince Xiao's contribution.
It was on this basis that Gu Shenwei had chosen to cooperate with Prince Xiao. Even if he was somewhat suspicious of Prince Xiao, his suspicion was merely a habitual speculation.
Now that Prince Xiao had promised to investigate the matter, Gu Shenwei decided to leave this issue aside for the moment. ”When will the kung fu expert hired by Prince Xiao arrive?”
This was Prince Xiao's commitment. He would hire a kung fu expert to defeat the Unique King and then lose to Gu Shenwei so as to ”give” the position of the Lord of Jade City to the Dragon King.
Gu Shenwei counted this among his plans.
”He should arrive soon. I think that he's on his way. Rest assured, Dragon King. Although I know little about kung fu, someone in the Central Plains will select a kung fu expert for me. The Central Plains is a large country and there are numerous talents there. If we can't even find a top-notch kung fu expert, then won't all the other countries laugh at us?”
Prince Xiao believed that his words were comforting, but Gu Shenwei was still somewhat worried when he took his leave. 'This Prince Xiao knows little about kung fu, and he knows even less about killers. He believes that better kung fu skills can solve any and all problems. This is true in the arena, but the Unique King is better at handling things outside the arena.”
Gu Shenwei hoped that this kung fu expert of the Central Plains would take precautions against assassination instead of completely relying on his skills.
At the gate of the army camp, Gu Shenwei encountered Luo Ningcha once again.
Luo Ningcha stopped the carriage, lifted a corner of the curtain, and said to the Dragon King, ”Everything's okay now. I had those leaders vouch for their subordinates. From now on, if any of their men proves to be a mole, the leader will kill himself.”
On horseback, Gu Shenwei briefly nodded. ”That's very good.” But secretly, he thought, 'By no means can the Iron Mountain Army survive under this woman's command. I should find a way to wrestle control from her.'
Perhaps Luo Ningcha misunderstood the Dragon King's absent-mindedness, but she smiled and then said, ”Please send me a bodyguard. Just in case.” Then she mouthed, ”Find some time.”
Pretending that he didn't understand what she was trying to express, Gu Shenwei replied ”okay” noncommittally, spurred his horse on, and left. He would rather let those over 2,000 Iron Mountain soldiers fall into the hands of the Unique King than get entangled with Luo Ningcha again.
The moment he entered his tent, Gu Shenwei saw a horrified Shangguan Fei.
As one of the very few people who were allowed to enter this tent without prior consent, Shangguan Fei used to be very proud of this privilege that he had been granted. But today, he looked very depressed, as if he was down on his luck. Upon seeing the Dragon King, he stood up hastily and said with a tearful face, ”I saw Long Fanyun. How was he hurt so badly? Can't Doctor Sun do something about it?”
Gu Shenwei flatly said, ”Don't bother me with this kind of thing.”
Briefly startled, Shangguan Fei's grief slightly abated. He hurriedly put on a solemn face. ”I have serious business.” After a couple of coughs, he continued. ”There were even more assassinations in the city. The Dragon King has heard of it, right?”
Gu Shenwei nodded. Last night, in a couple of villages on the periphery of the southern Jade City where most of the residents were sabersmen, there were five or six consecutive assassinations. The assassins didn't seemed to have had specific targets. All the victims were drunken sabersmen who were on the road alone. The assassins were very cruel. It was said that the victims were eviscerated.
”And Shangguan Hong went missing last night. Do you think that it's a coincidence, Dragon King?”
”Missing?”
”My men said that Shangguan Hong was in the city for the last two days. Nominally, he was procuring some items for the queen. But in reality, he put someone else in charge of the petty things, and he himself went to the City View Alley every day. And his destinations changed daily. Last night, before those assassinations, he went into a room and didn't come out until daybreak, approximately an hour after the last assassination.”
”Your men? You didn't do it yourself?”
Shangguan Fei was terribly startled. ”If I was spotted by a killer of Golden Roc Castle… Dragon King, I still want to stay alive to keep serving you.”
Seeing that the Dragon King was still silent, Shangguan Fei believed there wouldn't be any consequences so he continued. ”It's time to take action, Dragon King. We can't let Shangguan Hong do any more harm to Jade City. You don't have to do it yourself either. Dog Butcher and Old Man Mu will be more than enough to handle him. If you want this to be done in a safer way, you can assign Little Chu to join them.”
”Why?”
”Pardon?”
”Why does Shangguan Hong have to be eliminated?”
Shangguan Fei's face was full of confusion. ”He arbitrarily murdered so many people in Jade City… And the origins of his kung fu is highly suspicious. There must be someone behind him, and this mastermind is either Lotus or the Unique King. Doesn't this concern you, Dragon King?”
”The mastermind's identity is still unknown. Isn't it too early to eliminate him right away?”
Light suddenly dawned on Shangguan Fei, ”I got it. I'll have someone keep an eye out for Shangguan Hong.”