Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Who is scheming, and who is being schemed against...
Since they had made up their minds, the two of them quickly notified the people in the three counties of Jiangnan and the private soldiers they had secretly raised to gather together.
It only takes one day to travel from Jiangnan to Kyoto by galloping horses. Although the army's speed is slower, it can still reach the capital within two days.
The two of them were unaware that Mu Congmo was in Jiangnan, and they thought he was still in the capital. An old fox like Duke Han would never take the initiative to tell them the news.
Speed is of the essence in war. If they can capture Kyoto soon, they will be the ones writing the history books. They can give whatever cause of Mu Conghao's death they want, even saying that Mu Conghao personally passed the throne to Mu Conghao before his death.
The 40,000-strong army was quickly assembled and, taking advantage of the nightfall, galloped towards the capital.
Mu Conghao had already sent a pigeon letter to Duke of Korea Zheng Xiuyuan, so he must have received it by now.
On the other side, the Duke of Korea’s Mansion in the capital.
Duke Han of Han, Zheng Xiuyuan, sat in the first seat, with his eldest son Zheng Qing and second son Zheng Zhong sitting below him.
Zheng Xiuyuan held a small piece of paper in his hand. It was a message from Jiangnan. There were only a dozen words on it: "The king has raised an army. I hope the Duke will act according to the circumstances."
After reading it, Zheng Xiuyuan did not say anything. Instead, he handed the note to his two sons below him. After the two sons passed it around, they looked at each other.
Zheng Qing spoke first, "Father, the Prince of Huai is not a good ruler. His civil and military skills are inferior to those of the current emperor. Moreover, he launched this rebellion rashly without even consulting us."
"Yes, father. The reputation of the Prince of Huai in the Jiangnan region is extremely bad. If he is allowed to ascend the throne, he will be abandoning the common people of the world." Zheng Zhong then echoed.
Zheng Xiuyuan put down the teacup in his hand and sighed. "Father, I know the character of the Prince of Huai very well, but that thing is in his hands, and we have no choice." Zheng Xiuyuan's tone was full of helplessness.
The next sentence frightened the Zheng Qing brothers half to death: "I have already lured His Majesty to Jiangnan and asked the Demon Lord to take action personally. I am afraid that he has succeeded now."
Zheng Qing and the others never imagined that their father would be so courageous that he would secretly plan such a thing without even telling them in advance.
Is it really worth it for that thing? Although the two were puzzled, they did not dare to challenge their father's authority in person.
"When His Royal Highness Prince Huai ascends the throne, my Zheng family will have followed the emperor and will have no worries about making further progress. Besides, after he ascends the throne, he won't have to use that thing to threaten us anymore." Zheng Xiuyuan continued, as if he was comforting them, but also as if he was convincing himself.
Although Zheng Xiuyuan was forced to choose to cooperate with Prince Huai, he still recognized Mu Congmo's achievements in his heart. If he were not controlled by others, he would also want to follow a wise leader.
Unfortunately, the previous emperor was incompetent, so he had no way to display his talents and could only hide his brilliance. He also used his vast knowledge to protect himself. Although the new emperor had a bad temper, his governance was impeccable.
One wrong step leads to another, and now he has no choice.
Just like that, in the study of Duke Han's mansion, the three of them finalized the plan to assist Prince Huai in his rebellion.
"Since my father has asked the Demon Lord to assassinate His Majesty in Jiangnan, the so-called news that His Majesty has caught a cold is just a cover-up. The real His Majesty is already dead. No matter how powerful the Shadow Dragon Guard Commander Mo Yu and the Imperial Household Chief Hu Xian are, they cannot bring the dead back to life." Zheng Qing spoke first.
Zheng Zhong followed closely behind: "We are the only ones who know this news now. Once His Royal Highness Prince Huai arrives in the capital, everything will be settled."
"There are only 10,000 imperial guards, 5,000 Jinwu Guards and Shenji Guards in the capital now, so they are nothing to be afraid of. But the Shadow Dragon Guards are a bit tricky." Zheng Qing was a little worried. After all, the Shadow Dragon Guards were famous and they supervised the world for His Majesty.
Zheng Zhong said nonchalantly, "His Royal Highness the Prince of Huai has far more troops than the capital, but what kind of trouble can a mere Shadow Dragon Guard cause?"
He was clearly a young man with no experience of the world, but Zheng Xiuyuan didn't think so. He was well aware of the terrifying nature of the Shadow Dragon Guards, but as the backbone of the Zheng family in Xingyang, he couldn't afford to show any fear.
"Based on the marching speed of His Royal Highness Prince Huai, he will arrive in the capital by late tomorrow night at the latest. The defense in the capital will be a little relaxed at night. I will ask Uncle Li to secretly knock out the soldiers guarding the city gate and let His Royal Highness Prince Huai in." Zheng Qing did not agree with his brother's opinion, but only gave his own suggestion.
Uncle Li, whose original name was Zheng Li, was Zheng Xiu's distant cousin. Because of his exceptional martial arts talent, he was noticed by the master family and adopted.
He lived up to his master's expectations, reaching the sixth level of the Linhai Realm at the age of fifty. This level of cultivation would have been enough to establish a sect elsewhere. However, he remained loyal to his master's kindness and served Zheng Xiuyuan for many years.
"In that case, let's do as you wish." Zheng Xiuyuan looked at Zheng Qing with satisfaction. He had always favored this eldest son, but unfortunately, he was a little hesitant. Now that he saw that he could consider it so carefully, Zheng Xiuyuan was filled with relief.
Zheng Zhong was about to open his mouth to refute. He thought that there was no need to trouble Uncle Li with such a small matter. Obviously, his father had already agreed, so he did not dare to object.
"You two go back. This matter is settled. I will write a letter of divorce to Prince Huai right now." Zheng Xiuyuan made the final decision.
As the two walked out of the study and returned to their own courtyard, Zheng Xiuyuan also completed the secret letter to Mu Conghao.
Zheng Xiuyuan walked out of his study and into a secluded courtyard. He retrieved a silver-white cage. He opened it and pulled out a gray-white carrier pigeon. He tied a letter to the pigeon's foot and, with a powerful swing, the pigeon flew out of his hand.
This carrier pigeon was the one he used to communicate with Prince Huai, but he was usually extremely cautious and never took the initiative to contact Mu Conghao. But now that Mu Conghao was probably dead at the hands of Demon Lord Danxi, he gradually became bolder.
Despite this, years of caution still influenced him, causing him to choose such a secluded courtyard and dark night.
Just like that, a grayish-white figure crossed the dark night sky, flew towards the south of the Yangtze River, and soon disappeared.
Zheng Xiuyuan watched the white dove gradually disappear, and his heart gradually calmed down. If he really had let the people down, then when Prince Huai ascended the throne, he would use his life to return a prosperous era to the people.
He shook his sleeves and walked quickly back to the study. He had been planning for that thing for so many years, and now it was finally going to succeed. A heavy stone in his heart was about to fall to the ground, and his steps became a little lighter.
At that moment, the pigeon that was about to fly out of the capital was intercepted by someone. The person, dressed in black, looked like a ghost, and easily used light skills to snatch the pigeon from the air.
There were several men in black standing on the ground nearby. They were well-trained and had great martial arts skills.
"The leader's lightness skills are getting more and more powerful, and his cultivation has also improved a lot. With time, he may be able to enter the free and easy realm and become the seventh venerable in the world." A man in black praised.
The leader was none other than Mo Yu, the commander of the Shadow Dragon Guard. He took the envelope off the pigeon, threw it to a subordinate standing nearby, and said, "Roast it, and then go to the forest and hunt some pheasants as a snack for the brothers."
The man took the pigeon, turned around, and walked back into the woods. Meanwhile, Mo Yu walked up behind the Shadow Dragon Guard who had just spoken, kicked him, and sneered, "Do you really think reaching the Free and Easy Realm is that simple? If that were the case, there wouldn't be so few Free and Easy Realm experts in the world."
Mo Yu knew that with his own talent, it would be impossible for him to enter the free and easy realm in this lifetime, unless he used the Purple Lotus Duye Holy Book to forcibly transfer his skills to his successor, just like the successive national masters of Beirong.
Not to mention that the Purple Lotus Holy Book of Transferring the Karma is a secret treasure of the Beirong royal family. Even if one has it, where can one find a Free and Easy Realm venerable who is willing to pass on his life's cultivation to others?
You have to know that before Gu Shiyan, the last Free and Easy Realm Venerable was a Confucian Venerable from the northwest. However, this Confucian Venerable took the path of becoming a saint through literature, a path that only Confucian sages from thousands of years ago had successfully taken.
After all, they are a lineage of literati and do not belong to the orthodox underworld.
Then Mo Yu opened the bamboo slip containing the secret letter. There were only eight words on it: "Tomorrow at midnight, open the city gates."
Mo Yu looked at the words above and chuckled, saying, "Tomorrow night at midnight, wait at the city gate."
At the same time, he admired Mu Congmo's shrewdness even more. After all, the Duke of Han and the Prince of Huai seemed to have nothing in common. His Majesty could actually guess that the two were cooperating. He was really well-planned.
Although the plan formulated by Zheng Xiuyuan and the other two was flawless, the speed at which they received the news was obviously slower than that of the Shadow Dragon Guards.
The Zheng family had made arrangements in Jiangnan, and naturally arranged a number of spies. Although those spies wanted to report back to the capital the news that the Demon Lord Danxi was defeated by the Yue Zun of Yunliang Qianchi, their speed was ultimately slower than that of many Shadow Dragon Guards' information transmission channels.
If they knew that Mu Congmo was safe and sound and that the Demon Lord's trump card was broken, they would not dare to act like this.
The premise of all the three people's plans was that Danxi successfully assassinated Mu Congmo, but because of Gu Shiyan's arrival, Danxi did not succeed, causing the three people's careful planning to become a joke.
But the three of them didn't know, and even fantasized about waiting for Prince Huai to ascend the throne so that they could take their dream of a thousand years a step further.
After being reminded by Gu Shiyan, Mu Congmo quickly realized the cooperation between Zheng of Xingyang and the King of Huai through two lines of poetry. In this case, why not go with the flow and help them?
He had already arranged for people to secretly observe the Huai Palace, and in order to avoid attracting the attention of Huai's men, he even sent Chang Ye to go there in person. Although Chang Ye seemed unreliable on weekdays, he was still a master of the Linhai Realm, and his strength was second only to Mo Yu in the entire Shadow Dragon Guard.
As for Yong Zhou, he was sent to another place. Now, he only has Hong Ting, who is at the Great Perfection of Linhai Realm, by his side.
The spies of the Duke of Han's mansion naturally could not escape the eyes of the Shadow Dragon Guards. He ordered that all of them be killed. Since the Duke of Han wanted him to be dead so much, he would just let him think that his plan had succeeded.
He didn't have anyone intercept Mu Conghao's letter to Zheng Xiuyuan. Instead, he sent someone back to the capital to have Mo Yu monitor the Duke of Han's residence. He was really curious about what kind of benefits the Prince of Huai had promised to make this old fox, who had always been cautious and self-protective, support him with all his might.
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