C72 (2/2)
There was a strict rule within the Luo Family family that other than the eldest son and eldest grandson, the rest of the descendants were not allowed to use the surname Luo. These people with another surname were called ”Tang” within the Luo Family. Those with the surname Li were the Li Family Hall, those with the surname Zhang were the Zhang Family Hall, and those with the surname Chen were naturally the Chen Family Hall. The clan heads of each surname cannot be called clan heads, they can only be called hall masters.
These halls with different surnames were actually the true core of the Luo Family. The enormous intelligence network they had constructed covered all walks of life of the entire Fire Phoenix Empire, and there were even Luo Family s, Wulian Border Army s, and Fire Phoenix Army s. There might be a very unremarkable peddler, coachman, and Lady Boss who are also from the Luo Family. Furthermore, this information network was connected to the bloodline, and was many times more stable than other information networks built with benefits.
It was also because of the existence of this huge and dense intelligence network that any major decisions and decisions made by the Emperor of the Fire Phoenix Empire, from the initial consideration, to the supervision during execution, to the later evaluation, had all been supported by Luo Family. In the Empire's core circle, not only were their Luo Family not inferior to the Shu Family and the Zhan Family, they were even half a head above them. However, in the eyes of outsiders who were unaware, Luo Family was indeed inferior to the flourishing and flourishing branches and leaves of the two other families. The Shu Family and the Zhan Family wielded absolute authority in the empire's martial arts system. If anyone had any presumptuous thoughts about Luo Family, they would be hanged within minutes.
This system was set up by the emperor of the empire of Fire Phoenix Empire. Not only did he reward the meritorious officials, he also used the three families' different advantages to restrict them. It could be said to be a perfect system. If they followed this system and Luo, Shu, and Zhan were to continue on, Fire Phoenix Empire could at least ensure that there would be no internal problems.
However, this balance was broken by the young and vigorous previous Prince more than twenty years ago.
Prince Huo Hongwu of the deceased prince is a publically acknowledged genius. He has displayed exceptional talent since young, being able to fight with a poem at such a young age, and was even able to ride a horse. Ever since Prince displayed his abilities, the palace never had any doubts or thoughts about the matter of him taking over the throne. Some people even secretly hoped that the old emperor would take the initiative to give him the throne, because almost everyone knew that Prince Hong Wu was much stronger than his father.
But His Highness himself didn't seem to be in a hurry. Instead, he was enjoying the days before he ascended to the throne, bringing his servants to wander around this province, this province, to walk around, and to have a very relaxed appearance. In fact, only the members of the three great families knew that His Highness was definitely not someone who liked to play around, but was pretending to play around to understand the information network of Luo Family.
Luo Family had naturally expressed support for Prince's actions during the past thousand years of loyalty, and they even felt somewhat happy about it. Most of the informants would be disgraced as well. They would not be able to interfere in the affairs of those countries. It would be extremely difficult for them to get any funds or policies, and they would not even be able to openly return to their families after their deaths. If the Prince was interested in this, it meant that he attached more importance to it and that he would treat the Luo Family a little better even after he ascended the throne.
But what Luo Family did not expect was that the Prince did value the information network of Luo Family. What he did not think of was how to treat Luo Family better, but how to make use of Luo Family to do greater things. For example, driving this information network deep into the Black Hills Guild.
It wasn't that no one had thought of Luo Family like this, but it was just too difficult. Apart from the scattered caravans, there was almost no civilian interaction between the two countries. Although the caravan could also send in spies, this matter was still an open secret. Both sides had extremely strict restrictions on each other's caravan. They would only set up an area that they could enter at will. They wouldn't be allowed to move around freely in their own country. While this provides security for the country, it also increases the difficulty of infiltration.
As for the others, although the Fire Phoenix and Mo Qiu were only separated by one Wulian Mountain Range, their accents and customs were vastly different. The cultivation of a spy through Luo Family was something that had been instilled with all kinds of knowledge and skills since young, and was only able to carry out missions after the age of sixteen. Furthermore, they were all related by blood, and losing a spy meant the loss of an uncle, uncle, nephew, nephew, father, and son at the same time. Therefore, after going through a period of probing and loss in Luo Family, he did not make such an attempt again.
But for the Prince to continue doing this, his talents were greater than his father's, and his ambitions far exceeded his father's. After a long time of roping in a better relationship with the Great Hall Master of the Chen Family, Chen Luoluo, from the Luo Family, Prince finally took the first crucial step.
At the beginning, Prince and Pavilion Master Chen used other channels to buy shares in a few merchant guilds, and then installed a few Chen Family spies into the caravan. This was done in public, but the identity of the two masterminds was not revealed. And even if the president of the merchant guild knew that the person who was being infiltrated was an Imperial spy, they wouldn't dare to easily refuse and expose him. Otherwise, if he were to be suppressed by the crime of ”colluding with an enemy country”, no matter how big the merchant guild was, they wouldn't be able to take it on.
Slowly, as the number of spies in the merchant guild increased, Prince started his second plan. The spies followed Prince's orders and seized the chance to bring him back from the Moqiu State. After capturing around ten to twenty people, they were locked up in a secret location. They were fed well and served well everyday. Other than not being able to go out, they met almost all of their demands.
The third step was to choose the teenagers, who were between ten and thirteen years old to enter the Chen Family Hall and eat and live with the people from Moqiu. They would specialize in learning the habits, accents, customs, and all kinds of knowledge of the people from Moqiu.
By acting like this, the Prince only used two to three years to personally nurture a dozen or so Chen Family youths. Aside from the fact that they did not have the suntanned skin that people from Moqiu had after living in the plains for a long time, these youths were like people from Moqiu in their every move and action. They were even well aware of the affairs between Beast God and herself.
To the Prince and the Chen family hall master, everything was already ready. They wanted to send this group of youths into the Moqiu State. Not only did they have to become qualified spies, they also had to integrate into the Moqiu State, becoming officers, officials, monks and other positions that could infiltrate inside, slowly eroding the system of Moqiu State. When this group of youths turned middle-aged, they would have successfully grasped Moqiu State, and at that time, it would be even more difficult for Moqiu State to resist them.
Not only that, the Prince and the Chen family hall master wanted to continue this task. They wanted to use this method to nurture the young spies, and send the young spies into Mo Qiu. The Prince even had an idea. He could sacrifice the lives of the Phoenix City Border Army soldiers to send military merits to the spies who infiltrated his Moqiu Army and speed up the promotion of these spies in Mo Qiu!
In order to express his loyalty to the Prince and his support for this plan, the Chen family's pavilion master, Chen Luoluo, had even decided to send his only son, Luo Chu, to the Prince, so that he could become a part of this genius' plan.
The Prince was naturally overjoyed. He placed a table of wine and personally invited the first batch of Chen Family Hall's young spies. At the banquet, Prince continuously raised his glass and toasted, wishing all the young spies a smooth sailing in the future of Moqiu State. All the executives had to do it, they had to ride fine horses, and when the Fire Phoenix Empire unified the continent in the future, it would be the time for all the young spies to become famous!
However, the proud and ambitious Prince did not expect that just because of this wine, his grand plan would be ruined in an ant's nest. The young spies had yet to complete their mission, but they had already become a group of wronged ghosts.