877 The Envoy (2/2)

”Wei Song's biggest backer is the Central Plains, and the person he's directly related to is the General-in-chief, Pang Ning. As long as these two relations are severed, all the other details are insignificant.” Zhong Heng paused briefly before continuing to say, ”We can assume that Ma Lian is indeed not on anybody's side, and that he's willing to catch those treacherous court officials who are colluding with foreign enemies. The Dragon King can then have your counselor write a couple of letters to Wei Song in the name of the Khan. With these letters as evidence, things will be much easier.”

Things were easy to say, but in reality, they were very complicated. Why would Wei Song collude with the Norland which was already divided? Why were there only the Khan's letters? Where were Wei Song's letters in reply? There were many details that demanded a plausible explanation. If both Ma Lian and Wei Song were insiders and participants in the massacre of the Gu family, things would be even trickier. But at least,the plan was beginning to take shape. Gu Shenwei nodded and said, ”Let's do this. Tomorrow, the envoy and I will reward the troops who participated in the battle of Thousand Horsemen Pass. I'll do my best to suss out his stance. Come with me, Prime Minister.”

”Yes. There's another issue. We want to kill Wei Song, but Wei Song must also want to avenge his son's murder… ”

Recalling his conversation with Wei Song, Gu Shenwei said, ”That's true. Wei Song also has a plan, and he's very confident.”

”If we can see through Wei Song's plan in advance, then we might not need to forge the Khan's letters.”

As if mumbling to himself, Gu Shenwei said, ”Wei Song won't use the army of the Central Plains, just like how I won't use the Dragon Army. If he took part in the conspiracies back then, then he will surely ask the Unique King for help again.”

Zhong Heng felt that the Dragon King's speculation was very reasonable. ”It's been a long time since they last tried to assassinate Dragon King, right?”

”Um. I fear that this is only a delaying tactic to trick me into letting my guard down.”

Zhong Heng also began to worry. It had been only a year since the Dragon Army was built, and its foundation is far less solid than that of the armies of the Central Plains or the Norland. It isn't even as solid as that of the armies of those small countries in the Western Regions. If the Dragon King died and nobody managed to take command of this army that consisted of troops from complex backgrounds, his position of Prime Minister would become meaningless. ”Fortunately, you're familiar with the Golden Roc killers' tactics. You know about the enemies as well as yourself.”

This was a fact that Gu Shenwei hadn't told him – Golden Roc Castle had an elite force that he knew very little about.

Ma Lian had never forgotten about his identity of the envoy of the Central Plains. The next morning, when he was in the tent facing the Dragon King, his manner was neither arrogant nor modest. But when he was outside the tent in front of those troops, he appeared very haughty and held the scepter himself, as if it were a part of his body.

Their first stop was the encampment of the Dragon Army. The Dragon King's guard troops had participated in the battle of Thousand Horsemen Pass and suffered heavy casualties. They had just finished regrouping and had been supplemented with troops. Ma Lian read the emperor's imperial edict of rewarding the troops, which was well-written, and even Gu Shenwei could barely understand those words, not to mention common soldiers. By comparison, those gold, silver and cloth were much more practical.

Ma Lian picked a dozen troops and asked them about the battle in detail. A clerk recorded their answers. The taciturn swordsmen of Big Snow Mountain barely gave him any impression.

And then, with those guard troops and 1,000 Central-Plains soldiers as escorts, Ma Lian and the Dragon King moved through northern Jade City by entering from the east gate and exiting through the west gate, heading for the encampment of Shule Kingdom.

The soldiers numbered 2,000. It didn't count as a large number, but this movement across northern Jade City caused a sensation throughout all of Jade City. This was the first time that a regular army had entered northern Jade City in decades.

Gu Shenwei was lucky enough to witness the hospitality of the residents of the Jade City again.

The last time had been when the coffin with the Big Head God's body had entered the city. Back then, the residents were shocked by Luo Ningcha's beauty as it was her first time appearing in public. It was so chaotic that the streets had been blocked off. The people totally forgot the horror that the Big Head God had once aroused in them.

The second to last time had been when Luo Ningcha had gotten married. The marriage between the Assassin King and the Bandit King had received everyone's blessings along their way. The path had been covered with petals, and the crowds had extended from the west gate to the stone bridge in front of Golden Roc Castle.

And today, on this occasion, there were even more onlookers. Large numbers of residents of southern Jade City had poured into northern Jade City before daybreak and had been waiting for almost four hours. At first, the scene was rather quiet. Most residents just quickly raised their heads to glance at the Dragon King and the envoy of the Central Plains before lowering their heads right away. Before long, someone yelled ”God bless the Dragon King” and ignited the excitement of the crowds.

Originally, the words ”God bless the Dragon King” had been used by the swordsmen of Big Snow Mountain to hail the Dragon King. But at this moment, it became the catchphrase of thousands of people. Many people started yelling it even before they saw the figure of the Dragon King.

Among the many ”relationships” that the Unique King had, the one between him and the Jade City was the most vulnerable and also the most useless one.

With his head up, Gu Shenwei received the cheers of the crowds, as if he had already become the Lord of Jade City.

This scene gave Ma Lian, who was visiting the Jade City for the first time, a deep impression. After exiting the city through the west gate, his attitude towards the Dragon King became politer, and he even addressed the Dragon King as ”Your Highness.” Zhong Heng kindly reminded him that the Dragon King had never let anybody else call him ”Your Highness”.

It was from this moment on that Ma Lian's interest in the Dragon King became more and more intense.

Shule Kingdom's troops numbered 10,000, and more than half of them participated in the battle of Thousand Horsemen Pass. They had only been under the Dragon King's command for a very short time, but they were even more loyal to him than some soldiers of Xiaoyao Lake. Infected by them, all Shule Kingdom troops were highly respectful of the Dragon King. Having disposed themselves in a neat formation in advance, they yelled ”The Dragon King” in unison again and again for a long time.

The prince of yjr Shule Kingdom went out of the camp and welcomed them in himself. He behaved even more humbly than the common generals.

Not only was Ma Lian interested, but also he began to look amazed. He didn't expect that the Dragon King would be able to establish such extensive support at such a young age.

Rewarding the troops took them a long time. Ma Lian decided to spend the night in the army camp of the Shule Kingdom. He selected some soldiers and officers and inquired them about their thoughts. This time he asked some more detailed questions, but the answers he got were all similar. ”I just followed the Dragon King's flag.”

Zhong Heng was responsible for communicating with Ma Lian, and in private, they seemed to have already become friends. Zhong Heng felt that things were going smoothly, so he made a suggestion to the Dragon King that they should sound out the envoy's attitude towards Wei Song right now.