Chapter 578: The Ten Crows Shattered into Pieces (Part 2) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
"Dead? Who are you saying is dead?"
Since the defeat at Yonggu Pass, the life of the Ten Crow King, which had been smooth sailing, has fallen into a strange cycle, with his life becoming a rollercoaster of ups and downs... Nine out of ten things seem to go wrong. What troubles him most is that the Ten Crow Kings' capital has been destroyed, most of his trusted followers have been lost, and his elite troops have suffered heavy losses. He clearly feels that his control over the other tribes is not as strong as before.
The tribal forces that had previously relied on him have recently begun to outwardly comply while secretly plotting to usurp his position. King Shiwu, having ruled unilaterally for many years and accustomed to absolute power, could hardly tolerate this unpleasant situation.
He wasn't without cunning; on the contrary, he was ruthless in achieving his goals. Otherwise, he wouldn't have married a woman with an ambiguous relationship with his own brother and arranged for his original wife to "die" to make way for Su Shiyilu's tribe in order to win over their forces.
If you could endure it then, you can do it now.
To eliminate these disobedient elements in one fell swoop, King Shiwu began to feign despondency and despair, indulging in daily drinking and nightly revelry, with women constantly filling his tent. He wouldn't rise until noon, his thunderous snoring carrying from one tent to another, his stench of alcohol seemingly never fading away. He neglected state affairs and summoned physicians every few days.
Rumors began to circulate that "King Ten Crows is nearing his end," and coupled with the chaos within the royal court, some naturally believed it, and he was quite satisfied with the outcome. However, unexpectedly—before the traitor could even sit still, his adult sons began fighting amongst themselves.
It also resulted in more than one death.
He shook his alcohol-laden head, about to rub his temples, when a pair of small, fragrant hands gently helped him relieve his worries. King Shiwu glanced at them. He remembered this beauty he'd shared a passionate night with—this beauty had good judgment; he wouldn't mind indulging her for a couple more days.
"It's...it's the Fifth Prince."
The servants were filled with unease and dared not breathe too loudly.
"Fifth brother is dead?"
"How did he die?"
When did he die?
King Shiwu uttered three consecutive words. After thinking for a while, he barely managed to recall the image of his son. Despite the fact that it was a case of an old man burying his young son, the biological father felt no grief whatsoever.
Firstly, he has many sons, and secondly, he has no affection for his sons.
For him, his children were nothing more than fleeting pleasures, born ten months later to a woman whose face he could not even remember.
If a successor can grow into a qualified alpha wolf, he will be willing to give him special consideration and devote his energy to nurturing him. But if he dies prematurely... then it's not worth wasting his feelings on him.
As the king, the man of the Ten Crows clan, possessing the highest status, power, and prestige, he could easily possess countless women and an uncountable number of offspring, so naturally he disdained to cherish them. The fifth prince's birth mother was merely a lowly stable girl.
Because of her somewhat attractive appearance, she was taken advantage of by him during a sudden horse race, and that's how the Fifth Prince was born. Interestingly, the Fifth Prince's name means "stable" in the Shiwu language, which shows how casually he treated this son.
The servant hunched his shoulders: "They said he was drunk, fell into the ditch in the middle of the night to use the toilet, and drowned. He wasn't discovered until dawn this morning..."
The corner of King Shiwu's mouth twitched.
Incredible: "Drowned in a latrine?"
The servant added, "He choked a lot..."
Because of their living habits, the latrines of the Ten Crows were all dug on the spot, and they were dug extremely deep, with the bottom to the top of the pit being as high as two or three people. When the Fifth Prince was dug out, he was still in the posture of climbing upwards, his mouth full of fermented excrement and urine infested with maggots.
This kind of death isn't actually uncommon; occasionally, some unlucky souls who get up to use the toilet in the middle of the night fall in and can't get out...
The fifth prince was the one with the highest status among them.
but--
Given his background, he wouldn't need to go out in the freezing cold like an ordinary person, let alone fall in and drown.
He is also a brave and courageous martial artist!
Hearing that his son had died such a pathetic and gruesome death, he, who already disliked offspring, became even more disgusted. With a casual wave of his hand, he ordered his men to handle the Fifth Prince's funeral arrangements. After they left, the previously relaxed King Shiwu's face instantly turned cold.
Drowning in a latrine? That's utterly absurd!
He was capricious, grabbing the beautiful woman who was massaging his temples and throwing her off the bed without a shred of pity: "Get out!"
The beauty's face turned deathly pale.
Ignoring his barely clothed state, he grabbed a blanket to wrap himself in and retreated shivering. Only when the king was alone in the tent did he cleave the nearest candlestick in two with a flick of his wrist. He muttered to himself, "This time, it was the fifth prince who died..."
Actually, not long ago, his son also died.
The Third Prince.
The manner of death was equally outrageous.
The story goes that the third prince accidentally hunted a fully grown male stag. That very day, he happily drank several large jugs of deer blood and ate half a stag. His blood surged, his energy was boundless, and he had nowhere to release it. So he ordered seven beautiful concubines from his backyard to come over, intending to have a one-on-seven all-night battle. But just as he reached the peak of his excitement, his whole body suddenly stiffened and convulsed, his right hand clutching his left chest tightly, and he died.
In layman's terms, it means dying from a sudden stroke.
When the physician arrived, the body was already cold.
He is also a brave and courageous martial artist!
Including the twelfth prince who died during his adulthood trials, he lost three sons in just over half a year, all of whom were adults.
King Shiwu's first suspect was Su Shiyilu, but after the defeat at Yonggu Pass, Su Shiyilu was dissatisfied with the military arrangements for the battle, clashed with him, and relinquished his military power, retiring to his home. King Shiwu was still not at ease and continued to send people to keep a close watch on him.
As a result, the guards reported that Su Shiyilu was either drinking heavily or going out hunting every day, and there was nothing unusual about him.
They did not have the time to carry out the murder.
On the contrary, the other sons were more suspicious. Upon hearing of their brother's death, they gloated in private on more than one occasion.
Almost everyone had the motive to kill.
King Shiwu pondered for a moment, still uneasy. He summoned his guards and ordered them to thoroughly investigate the death of the Fifth Prince. However, before the results were in, the Seventh Prince, who was closely related to the Fifth Prince, also followed in his brother's footsteps. Similarly, his death was unusual.
He played darts with a group of noble sons.
Usually, slaves are used as targets, and different points are awarded for hitting different targets around the target. If you hit a slave, you don't score points, and if you kill a slave, you have to pay money. Using slaves all the time is boring, so this time let's try something more exciting and draw lots to choose one as the target.
The seventh prince won.
Then he was shot and killed by a dart.
The man who shot him immediately bit off the poison hidden under his tongue, bleeding from all seven orifices and dying, leaving no way to prove his death.
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that this man's relatives had almost all perished during Shen Tang's sneak attack on the capital. It was reasonable to speculate that this man was seeking revenge for the Shiwu royal court's erroneous military actions. Upon hearing this, the Shiwu king was even more enraged and launched into a tirade of curses.
Seventh Brother's mother is a martial artist too! He must have lost his mind; he shouldn't have agreed to be a target! Being a target is one thing, but to die so unexpectedly? Did he think he was immortal just because he was a prince?
The successive deaths of his sons were too much for even the most indifferent king to bear. Most of his energy was consumed by this, and he also had to guard against the backlash from his ministers. How could he possibly have any spare energy to pay attention to the raging fire started by the slaves at the very bottom?
By the time they truly took it seriously, they were already surrounded by enemies.
at the same time--
A secret room.
It is said that Su Shiyilu, who was unemployed at home, flicked his finger and extinguished an oil lamp, the lamp engraved with the number "seven". He lowered his eyes slightly, looked at the remaining oil lamp, and sneered, his sinister tone like that of a vengeful ghost: "...This is just interest..."
The death of the twelfth prince was an insurmountable obstacle for him, and in a short period of time, most of his hair and beard turned white. He had sworn to his sister that he would make the murderers of the twelfth prince pay the price, including the king who had been indifferent and unmoved by the death of the twelfth prince.
Su Shiyilu's previous admiration for the other party only intensified his current disappointment. If he cared so little for offspring and so much for honor, then perhaps the death of one or all of them, even in the most humiliating and disgraceful manner… wasn't so bad?
He had received intelligence about the slaves causing trouble, but he didn't pay it any mind. It wasn't that he was short-sighted, but rather that throughout the history of the Ten Crows, large-scale slave escapes and rebellions had occurred before. However, no matter how many slaves there were, they were ultimately just ordinary mortals without special abilities. Facing suppression by an orderly armed force, they were simply throwing their lives away.
This disdain stems from the natural arrogance of martial arts practitioners when facing ordinary people, or what they perceive as ants.
Two flowers bloom, each representing a different branch.
The salt merchants returned laden with their spoils. Each cart was heavy with grain, the deep tire tracks revealing the immense amount of cargo inside!
They went there full of confidence and returned with radiant faces.
Longwu County has fully entered summer.
Shen Tang was also surprised when she received the ledger. She knew that smuggling in Shiwu was extremely profitable, but she had never imagined it to be this profitable. She calmly closed the book and, as promised, gave 10% of the profits to the salt merchants and kept the other 10% for her own private coffers.
The remaining 80% went to the government treasury.
Longwu County has many places where money is needed, and you also have to pay the salaries of your subordinates, so you have to be very careful with your money.
Just as the contract was signed and stamped, Yu Zi rushed over, calling out, "My lord, it's time to deposit the silver into the treasury—"
Shen Tang calmly asked, "The money's gone?"
Yu Zi pointed to the top of her head, still terrified.
"Yes, the money, the money all flew up to the sky."
"Paying off bank loans is standard procedure, don't be alarmed."
Xun Hanzhang is such a damn hard man to raise!
She didn't know how much longer she would have to pay back.
I don't even know what the LPR is...
All I know is that I'm heavily in debt!
Yu Zi: "..."
Shen Tang covered her face with her hands: "Go downstairs, Lingde is probably short-staffed, go and take a look..."
She finally enabled her subordinates to live the life she had always dreamed of through the 996 work schedule, a life that was utterly awful.
As for the ten crows—
The next morning at the meeting, Shen Tang allocated a fresh budget from the public treasury: "Shall we sow discord and add fuel to the fire? Let General Chu Jie handle it. Buy off as many informants and spies as possible, and we'll fan the flames from the sidelines, the bigger the better."
Then she looked at Gu Chi.
“Wangchao also wrote the inscription for the Ten Crows Stele. Since we can’t trouble two masters with one task, you can write the rest as well. Have General Chu deliver them later to help every Ten Crow slave who dreams of bringing glory to their ancestors… no, it should be ‘the divine descendants who will bring glory to the Ten Crows again.’ The more chaotic they are, the scarcer their resources will be, which will be more advantageous for us. My loan depends on them…”
Profiting from the enemy's national crisis is like a fragrant aroma.
Longwu County was located on the frontier, with little opportunity for wealth or profit. The fierce battles between various external forces hadn't affected her, and for a time, life was peaceful. However, this was overshadowed by endless official duties, constant bad luck, relentless 996 work schedules, an ever-present financial burden, unpayable loans, and her purse disappearing every day…
Honestly, I've had a pretty comfortable and pleasant life.
Not long after, she heard that the silkworm rearing houses had a bumper harvest, and as the matriarch, she even participated in the silkworm cocoon harvesting activity, personally picking the cocoons. She then learned how to boil and cut the silkworm cocoons, preparing to make herself a six-pound and six-ounce silk quilt.
_(:з」∠)_
She had originally intended to arrange it for Wu Hui and the others, but after cutting silkworm cocoons and washing several buckets of silkworm pupae all day, she still couldn't gather enough for six jin (3 catties). Helpless, she handed over the silk quilt making work to the mulberry women working in the silkworm rearing sheds, as they were professionals.
I'm only suited to working 996 hours a day in government offices.
All she asks for is to be able to sleep under a soft silk quilt in the winter, and to have extra silk quilts to receive as her year-end bonus.
As long as the benefits are good, employees are willing to work overtime!
The days passed slowly.
She grew taller slowly.
Summer clothes have been replaced with autumn clothes.
Even the baby girl that Shen Zhi gave birth to smoothly during the transition from spring to summer now giggles when she sees people.
That day, the weather turned a bit chilly, and the government office received a reply that Shen Tang had almost forgotten about—
The handwriting on the envelope was illegible.
The messenger also had a weathered look and a thick beard.
"Why is it taking so long to reply?"
The letter was sent before the New Year. In order to ease Xun Zhen's longing for his eldest son and to ease the discord between him and Qi Shan, Shen Tang deliberately sent someone to Minfeng County to find him and deliver the letter to his eldest son.
It would be best if the other party were willing to reply with a letter from home.
But nothing happened for a long time.
Shen Tang was busy and almost forgot about it.
(。＿。｀)
The Time Magic has been activated.
I finally got my heparin sodium injection today.
It's really not easy.
Hopefully, the lockdown can be lifted before the 14th.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
