Chapter 435: Striving to Achieve the KPI (Fifteen) [Seeking Monthly Tickets]
"My lord..." Jiang Sheng called softly, interrupting Shen Tang's embarrassing attempt to verify the authenticity of the gold nugget.
"what?"
“We are not violent people.”
“That’s natural.” Shen Tang looked puzzled. “And then?”
"My lord said, 'Murderers and arsonists wear golden belts,' but that's a bit inappropriate." Although they weren't exactly a righteous army, they weren't motivated by such petty greed as to attack people.
Otherwise, how are they any different from the likes of the Ten Crows?
After Jiang Sheng finished speaking, Shen Tang understood, smiled awkwardly, and wiped the gold nugget on her waist.
"Xian Deng makes a good point."
Jiang Sheng: "..."
Reputation is very important.
But the image of the lord is more important.
He spoke up purely to stop his lord, Yao Jin Geda, from doing such a shameful and bandit-like thing...
He gave Gu Chi a meaningful look, but the guy just kept his head down, playing with gold nuggets, looking at the sky and the ground but refusing to look him in the eye.
Jiang Sheng: "..."
The gold and silver artifacts looted from that tribe, apart from a small portion bearing the Shiwu style, nearly 70% were completely incompatible with the local Shiwu culture. Some were clearly quite old; it was unclear whether they were acquired through trade or hunting.
There was about half a box of broken silver and gold pieces cut with a steelyard.
All of these were melted down. Other items with cultural value were left untouched for the time being. They were sorted out and put into boxes, as these would be future military pay. Lin Feng, like his teacher Chu Yao, worked through the night to register and seal all the items.
Of course, there were also rewards for the soldiers.
A raise is the real motivation for working hard!
Not long after, Xianyu Jian brought back some news.
The destruction of the tribe has been discovered.
As for how it was discovered—
It is related to the garrison system of the Ten Crows Royal Court.
Upon hearing this, Shen Tang felt a slight sense of relief: "Luckily, we acted quickly, otherwise we would have run right into their line of fire. It's also our fault for not having a comprehensive understanding of the situation in Shiwu. Next time we take action, we must make sure we get all the information we need..."
Heaven will favor you once, but not a second time.
Having a defense map doesn't mean they can completely avoid the enemy; they might just run into them if they're unlucky.
When he heard that the garrison troops who came to investigate had dug up the huge burial pits they had painstakingly dug, and the bodies were simply thrown back in without being reburied, his lips twitched involuntarily. For a moment, he didn't know what to say. The actions of the Ten Crows... were quite baffling.
Jiang Sheng asked, "Has anything been traced back to us?"
Xianyu Jian replied, "No."
After all, they are all obviously dead, so how could the murderer be dead? But in order to catch the murderer, Shi Wu will most likely intensify the search in the surrounding area. Shen Tang pondered for a while and said, "In that case, we'll rest for half a day and then set off."
They went deep behind enemy lines, firing one shot and then moving to another location.
Xianyu Jian clasped his hands and said, "Yes."
To conceal their army's tracks, they rested during the day to recover their strength and began their march after dusk.
Under the cover of night, they moved toward their next target. Meanwhile, news of the annihilated tribe was spreading through the ranks.
Su Shiyi was the first to know about it.
"They were wiped out?"
Although it was not uncommon for the Ten Crow tribes to fight each other, it was extremely rare for them to wipe out an entire tribe. Putting aside other factors, the women of the defeated tribes were the most precious treasures, worth as much as gold, silver and grain. How could they bear to kill them?
He then asked, "When did this happen?"
The messenger, seeing his grim, almost drippingly dark face and the lingering fierce aura, involuntarily lowered his voice. He answered truthfully, and Su Shiyilu searched his memory for the tribe's location, his anger flaring even more intensely.
The massacre occurred shortly after the attack on the marriage procession, and the two incidents took place not far apart. Combined with the intelligence provided—that this group of thugs was small in number but highly skilled, far beyond the capabilities of ordinary garrisons—it was clear that this group could not be easily dealt with.
If you say there's no connection between the two, who would believe it?
Su Shiyilu was truly enraged.
His rage was so intense that his almost healed wound reopened, and glaring blood seeped through the bandages. A nearby doctor rushed forward to treat him. Seeing this, his confidant quickly changed the subject.
"General, the two patterns have been identified."
Su Shiyilu took a deep breath and held back.
"explain!"
The confidant replied, "It is the Fifth Prince and the Seventh Prince."
Su Shiyi frowned: "These two?"
The investigation results surprised him.
It's important to understand that the military strength and defenses of the marriage alliance were considerable at the time. To defeat them would require the elite of the elite, especially since they were commanded by Su Shiyilu. Anyone weaker would simply be sent to their death. Training such an elite force wasn't just a money-shredding machine; it was a money-devouring beast. And the Fifth and Seventh Princes had the weakest maternal clans among all the princes, making them the least competitive.
Because their mother was a beautiful stable girl.
What kind of assistance can you provide?
Even if these two brothers intervened in the royal court after they came of age and reaped many benefits, it would still be difficult for them to support such elite troops.
"Isn't this a frame-up?"
The confidant shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Su Shiyilu is more inclined to believe that the two brothers were set up and used as pawns, otherwise it doesn't make logical sense.
As for the tribes that were wiped out...
Does that tribe belong to anyone?
The confidant said, "He's close to the Third Prince."
Because the King believed that only a powerful alpha wolf could lead the ten crows south to conquer that vast continent, he devoted himself to cultivating his sons, sparing them any opportunity to engage in political affairs and allowing them to use their charm to subdue the tribes.
These princes needed tributes from those tribes, and those tribes needed a protective umbrella; the two sides quickly reached an agreement.
The tribe that Shen Tang destroyed worshipped the Third Prince's patron. Su Shiyilu frowned, tapping his fingers on the table.
The network of relationships of the adult prince quickly flashed through his mind.
They are trying to find the culprit.
After much thought, it seems that each of them is a suspect.
The confidant whispered, "In my opinion, no matter which prince it is, they are all stumbling blocks in the way of the twelfth prince. If they were well-behaved, that would be fine, but now they are reaching so far, not only ruining the marriage alliance, but also trying to harm the general... To put it bluntly, if the general were to perish on the spot that day, the twelfth prince would be as good as having his left and right arms severed. How could he, who has just come of age, be a match for those jackal and tiger brothers?"
The twelfth prince was the queen's beloved son.
He is also Su Shiyilu's beloved nephew.
Su Shilu didn't like his son even a tenth as much as he liked the twelfth prince, which shows how much the latter was favored by him.
"What do you mean?" he frowned.
The confidant said, "A stumbling block should be removed."
After saying that, he made a neck-scratching motion.
Su Shiyilu: "...He is, after all, a prince..."
He wanted revenge, but he didn't want their lives.
A trusted aide advised, "Alas, the general should know better than anyone that once a dog has eaten bloody, living flesh, its wild nature can never be contained. How can these princes obediently submit to the twelfth prince? They won't settle down until they're dead... If any one of them were to go up, the Queen, the general, and the twelfth prince would all be doomed. The dead are the least of our threats..."
|ω`)
The Second Affiliated Hospital called me today to tell me about the borderline risk of early screening at the beginning of the month...
Sigh, even though the NT scan results were good, and another non-invasive prenatal test should solve the problem, I still felt mentally overwhelmed... I was in a daze all afternoon.
(End of this chapter)
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