"The harsh cold of the North has forged the fierce character of its people. There are also many cultivators here, and it's common for them to fight to the death over a single disagreement," Sang Hong said.
Zu An thought to himself, "It's just like those 'What are you looking at?' stuff from my past life."
“The North is not as rich in resources as the South, and due to some historical reasons, many people were forced to become outlaws because they could not survive. They found that plundering was much easier than farming, so more and more people became outlaws. Because the North has many mountains, some of which are covered with snow all year round, they would hide in the mountains when they were surrounded by large government troops. After the troops left, they would come out to plunder in all directions, causing great headaches for local officials and the imperial court,” Sang Hong continued. “The Demonic Cult is one of the larger ones. Unlike ordinary bandits, they have their own political program. In addition, they use religion to win people’s hearts, and their fighting power is much higher than that of ordinary bandits.”
Zu An was taken aback: "Did the Demonic Cult originate in Yi County? And is its headquarters here?"
When he passed through the territory of the King of Wu in Jibei County before, he witnessed the battle between the Demonic Sect's army and the government troops, and thought that their main camp was there.
Sang Hong shook his head: "The doctrines of the Demonic Cult are quite seductive, which is why they are so popular among the common people. As a result, they are difficult to eradicate. They can be found all over the country. Although they have several headquarters in name, no one knows where their real headquarters is. This is why the Demonic Cult is so difficult to eliminate."
"Because they have to fight against the Demonic Cult and bandits all year round, the requirements for local officials will also increase. However, the Demonic Cult is powerful and it is difficult to suppress it by relying solely on local counties. Therefore, princes of the royal family are stationed all over the country. These vassal kingdoms vary in size, and the Prince of Yan is one of the largest vassal kingdoms."
"The Prince of Yan has accomplished quite a bit over the years, capturing and killing many members of the Demonic Sect. However, the Demonic Sect is too resilient and has never been completely eradicated, resulting in a stalemate. But the imperial court is also worried that the power of the local princes is growing, so it also assigns local officials to supervise these princes."
"As you saw before, the Prince of Yan is a Grandmaster, and Prime Minister Sun Xun is a Grandmaster. They have a number of seventh and eighth-rank experts under their command. If such a force were set up like other peaceful counties, how could it play a restraining role? Therefore, the officials here, whether they are prefects or commandants, are much more powerful than their counterparts in other counties."
Zu An was somewhat puzzled: "But even so, they are still far from being Grandmasters or Grandmasters of the Yan Prince's Mansion. How can they possibly play a role in keeping things in check?"
Sang Hong smiled and said, "There's also the imperial court. Unless the Prince of Yan dares to openly rebel, how could he dare to touch the local officials? Moreover, Yi County also has its own army. When regular armies fight, individual martial prowess isn't that important, unless you really reach the level of the emperor. But now, looking at the whole world, he's the only Earth Immortal. Of course, what you said isn't without merit. I suspect the imperial court has other plans, such as the Embroidered-Robed Envoy, who is responsible for monitoring the entire country."
Zu'an couldn't help but think of the seventh-ranked gold medalist. Could he be the one monitoring the Prince of Yan, working in a covert and overt manner with local governors, military commanders, and others?
That doesn't make sense. The Prince of Yan is the emperor's uncle, and he's not young anymore. Even if he really has ulterior motives, he can't become emperor.
It's important to understand that the royal family has a complete system of succession rules. Not to mention that the emperor has a crown prince and so many of his own sons, there's also the powerful Prince Qi. Besides Prince Qi, there are also some brothers of the same generation. As for distant relatives like Prince Yan, the throne would never be his even if it were passed around a hundred times. So there's absolutely no motive for him to have any disloyal intentions.
At this moment, Sang Hong said, "I will take this opportunity to stay in Yi County for three days to comfort the Prince of Yan and help Prefect Zhang maintain local stability. However, we obviously cannot stay here for long. No matter what happens after three days, we must set off."
Zuan knew he was implying that if he wanted to get things done, he should hurry up and finish it within the next three days, otherwise he wouldn't be able to cover for him anymore.
"Thank you, Uncle." It's already quite remarkable that someone of his status would go to such lengths.
Sang Hong took a sip of tea and said calmly, "I'm not doing this for you, but for... never mind, be careful yourself."
Not long after Zu An returned to his room, he suddenly had an idea. He changed into Gold Medal Eleven's clothes and went to Xiao Jianren's room.
The seventh-ranked gold medalist was also in the room. He was somewhat surprised to see Zuan, as he hadn't even noticed when Zuan had arrived.
"This person is indeed extraordinary. It seems that we cannot judge him by his superficial cultivation level." He was originally a little worried about whether the other party could handle this mission. He had no one else to turn to before, but he thought that the other party was a gold-level envoy, so he had to bite the bullet and ask him. Now he was completely relieved.
"We've found out. The escort team will leave the city through the west gate at noon tomorrow, and after passing through for a while, they will turn south." The seventh-ranked Gold Medalist unfolded a map with a very detailed record of the mountain terrain. This kind of map is the highest level military map, which ordinary people would never see. However, given his status, it was naturally not a problem.
Zu An thought to himself that this person's intelligence network was truly impressive, including Sang Honggang and Prefect Zhang.
He then pointed to a location on the map: "We'll make our move here in Lone Wolf Valley. There's a treacherous valley there, hundreds of meters deep, where a large force can't maneuver effectively. It's the perfect opportunity for us to strike."
"Lone Wolf Valley, could there be some powerful wolf-shaped beast there?" Upon hearing this name, Zu An couldn't help but recall some of his past experiences. Just when he thought success was imminent, a powerful local beast suddenly appeared. This rescue mission, with fewer people against more, was already very risky. If such an unexpected event occurred, it would be easy to fail at the last minute.
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