Chapter 339 His "opposition" became positive!
The moment they looked up, a heavy drumbeat came from the depths of the mountains, echoing through the hills, growing ever more deafening, like muffled thunder.
For a moment, the three people in the pavilion fell silent.
drum……
The "Soul-Breaking Drum" of Wanggang Village signifies that Wang Quyi killed Li Wenyang.
It seems that Wang Quyi upheld the law impartially. Since Li Wenyang killed Wu Gan, the eighth leader of Wanggangzhai, who was also his brother, as well as his subordinates, he was regarded as a traitor and was executed in a public manner. This can be considered as Wanggangzhai's strict enforcement of the law.
It's just a pity...
All the previous efforts were wasted.
Although Shen Wuzheng was calm and rarely showed his emotions on his face except when he saw Shang Ruyi, at this moment, there was an unavoidable sadness in his eyes.
After a long silence, Shang Ruyi said softly, "Brother."
"Um?"
Shen Wuzheng looked up at her, his eyes filled with tenderness.
The words of comfort she had originally intended to offer suddenly seemed superfluous, and besides, Shang Ruyi herself was also feeling annoyed, so she gritted her teeth and said, "How did this person suddenly change his ways?"
Seeing her sullen face, the gloom that had been in my heart was swept away at this moment.
Shen Wuzheng also laughed and said, "Yes, I didn't expect this person to change his ways. It's a pity I spent so long drawing maps while biting my pen."
Although she meant to comfort him, Shang Ruyi found herself laughing at Shen Wuzheng's words.
At this moment, Yuwen Ye, who was sitting to the side, frowned slightly and said softly, "It shouldn't be like this."
Both of them looked at him.
Yuwen Ye said, "It's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature. Wang Quyi is greedy by nature, and it's impossible for him to change this bad habit overnight. Besides, whether it's Zuo Gong's suspected tomb or whether Zuo Gong's suspected tomb can be involved with Xiao Yuansui, both things are beneficial to him, and he shouldn't give them up so easily."
Upon hearing this, Shen Wuzheng also calmed down and thought about it.
indeed.
His teacher once said that some instincts are innate and will accompany a person's existence forever. Greed is one of them, and it is the most difficult to change. Moreover, Wang Quyi is in this position, and Zuo Gongyi and Xiao Yuansui's secrets are practically in his hands, so he cannot give them up easily.
Could it be—
Just as the three of them were feeling uneasy, a muffled sound suddenly came from the mountain path.
The sound of horses' hooves!
The three men were startled and turned around at the same time. Sure enough, they saw a rider galloping towards them on the rugged mountain road. The rider was thin and had a large bundle on his back, which looked like a hunchback. It was probably a large bag of dry food.
This man was clearly in a hurry to deliver a message. He spurred his horse and galloped down the mountain, heading east along the long road. In an instant, he disappeared at the end of the road.
The three people were speechless as they watched this scene. The pavilion was so quiet that even the sound of the dust slowly settling down could be heard.
After a while, Shang Ruyi let out a "Ha".
Everyone immediately came to their senses.
Shang Ruyi looked at Shen Wuzheng and said with a smile, "Brother, they still sent people."
Shen Wuzheng didn't speak, but looked up at the dust billowing at the end of the long road to the east. At this time, the figure of the rider was no longer visible. His expression was somewhat complicated. After a while, he chuckled and said, "It seems that people's hearts are still hard to fathom."
Yuwen Ye sat to the side, a hint of gloom settling in his eyes.
He said, "We thought about human greed, but we didn't expect it to be this greedy."
Shang Ruyi then remembered the sound of the Soul-Severing Drum just now, and looking at the dust raised by the galloping horse, she felt a chill.
She said in a hoarse voice, "Wang Quyi, or kill Li Wenyang."
Yuwen Ye nodded: "It seems he doesn't want others to know that there is a treasure in Zuo Gong's suspected tomb."
"..."
"Or rather, it's advantageous for him to have one less person to share the burden."
"..."
Shang Ruyi's brows furrowed tightly.
If their previous speculation that Wang Quyi would send someone to find Xiao Yuansui in order to obtain the treasures from Zuo Gong's tomb and take the opportunity to eliminate and attack him was still a human flaw due to greed, then his killing of Li Wenyang and then sending someone to find Xiao Yuansui was a vicious act!
After pondering for a while, Shen Wuzheng said, "But for us, it's still a good thing."
Shang Ruyi looked at him: "Why?"
Shen Wuzheng said, "Two of the nine leaders of Wanggang Village have died at once. This is certainly a good thing for us if we want to take over Wanggang Village."
"nine?"
Upon hearing this number, Shang Ruyi was taken aback.
She had always known that Wanggang Village was full of talented people. She had even fought against the second-in-command Xiao Yuansui and the fourth-in-command Lu Yong before. She was also aware of the existence of Hua Ziying, Xiao Yuansui's subordinate, who was known as Little Li Guang. But she did not expect that in just one year, their forces seemed to have grown much stronger.
Shang Ruyi said, "I've only heard of Wang Quyi and Xiao Yuansui before. Who else is there?"
Shen Wuzheng said, "There's no need to mention the sixth leader, Li Wenyang, and the eighth leader, Wu Gan. After Xiao Yuansui comes the third leader, Wang Quren. He's Wang Quyi's brother, but he's kind-hearted yet weak-willed, and doesn't have much influence in Wanggang Village. However, he's absolutely loyal to his brother. As for the fourth leader, Lu Yong—"
At this point, he glanced at Yuwen Ye.
Yuwen Ye calmly said, "This person was in Xingluo Warehouse, and I killed him."
Shen Wuzheng said, "After he died, I heard that Wanggang Village selected another virtuous person to replace him, but we don't know who it is yet."
Shang Ruyi asked, "And what about the fifth one?"
Shen Wuzheng said, "I heard it was a woman."
"woman?!"
"That's right, but I don't know her specific name. I only heard about her from Li Wenyang. It is said that she is highly skilled in martial arts and is a heroine. She is the only woman among the nine leaders of Wanggang Village, yet she ranks fifth. She is obviously not an ordinary person."
Shang Ruyi was somewhat surprised, not expecting that there would be a woman in charge of Wanggang Village.
In truth, she shouldn't be surprised. Women are not bad either. Even if she herself didn't achieve much, the people she knew, such as Lei Yu, were capable women from military families who were just as capable as men. In fact, this time, the fact that they were able to avoid Liang Shide and Xiao Yuansui's ambush in advance should be entirely due to her.
And the female leader in Wanggang Village is probably just like Lei Yu.
Despite being called an enemy, Shang Ruyi inexplicably felt a bit of goodwill towards this fifth leader when she thought of Lei Yu.
She then asked, "Anything else?"
Shen Wuzheng said, "The seventh leader is called Shen Tu Tai."
He could say a few words about the people he knew before, even if he didn't know their names, but after he said Shen Tu Tai's name, he stopped talking.
However, it's not that we know nothing about this person.
On the contrary, once this name is mentioned, there is no need to say anything more, because this name is already well-known to them.
Especially Yuwen Ye.
Speaking of which, Shen Tu Tai should be approaching thirty years old this year, but he became famous very early. What made him famous was not his handsome appearance or prominent family background, but only two words - he was good at fighting.
This man was skilled with a long spear and was almost invincible in mounted combat. There was even a saying in the army of the Daye Dynasty that no man over the age of fifteen who knew a few martial arts skills wanted to challenge Shen Tu Tai, which shows how high his martial arts skills were and how great his reputation was.
However, despite his great reputation, he had little wealth or real power. Due to his volatile temper and arrogance, despite his numerous merits in battles over the years, he remained just a foot soldier. Later, dissatisfied with his superior's misdeeds, he accidentally killed him and decided to become an outlaw. After several twists and turns, he joined Wanggang Village.
Upon hearing Shen Tu Tai's name, Yuwen Ye remained silent for a moment before saying, "I didn't expect that someone with his martial arts skills could only be the seventh leader of Wanggang Village. It seems that Wang Quyi didn't value him that much. He's served the wrong person again."
Shang Ruyi couldn't help but glance at him.
If he had just developed a strange fondness for the fifth leader, who was a woman, because of his connection with Lei Yu, then Yuwen Ye's words clearly showed his regret for Shen Tu Tai, and even his high regard for him.
She whispered, "You—"
Yuwen Ye looked up at her, seemingly unconcerned about revealing such emotions, and smiled faintly before turning to Shen Wuzheng and saying, "I've heard of the first few of them. However, I had no idea that they had a Ninth Leader before, who is ranked ninth."
Shen Wuzheng said, "It was only during this trip, through my interactions with Li Wenyang and Wu Gan, that I learned that Wanggang Village has gained another Ninth Leader."
Who is it?
"I heard it's a child."
"What?!"
Yuwen Ye and Shang Ruyi were both taken aback, and this reaction was obviously the same one that Shen Wuzheng had had before. He smiled faintly and said, "I was also surprised before, but according to Li Wenyang and the others, the Ninth Master is indeed a child."
"..."
"Strangely, these people all had a lot of complaints about Shen Tu Tai, but they didn't say much about this child."
"oh?"
This piqued Yuwen Ye's curiosity.
He pondered for a while, then turned his head to look at the mountains that were bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, which resembled a continuous range of flames, and murmured, "This is interesting."
Just then, a flock of crows flew overhead, their noisy cries echoing through the mountains, which only served to emphasize the stillness of the moment.
It's getting late.
Yuwen Ye looked up at Shang Ruyi's face. Although she was happy to see her relatives, the weariness in her eyes was impossible to hide.
They had been traveling since early morning, rested for a while at the tea stall, and after inquiring about these matters, they rushed over immediately. They met Shen Wuzheng and discussed things for half a day. Now it was almost dusk, and she had hardly had a proper rest.
So he said, "Now that this matter has been resolved for the time being, let's find a place to rest and wait for news from Xiao Yuansui."
Shen Wuzheng nodded as well.
So, all three of them stood up at the same time, ready to leave the pavilion.
Shang Ruyi glanced back again, feeling that the mountains surrounding Wanggang Village were majestic and imposing. Compared to them, not only the three of them, but even the pavilion they were in and the stone tablet inscribed with the words "Wanggang" seemed so small, as if they would be crushed to dust with a single step. She whispered to Shen Wuzheng, "Brother, it was too risky for you to come to Wanggang Village alone this time. What if something unexpected happened—"
"Don't worry,"
Shen Wuzheng looked at her tenderly, but a shadow of malice flashed in his eyes: "I'm better at taking care of myself than you are at taking care of yourself."
For some reason, Shang Ruyi felt a little guilty and lowered her head.
At this moment, Yuwen Ye said, "Brother, Ruyi is right. At least we came with people, but you are alone, and it is easy for something to happen to you."
"..."
"Besides, we are all one family. Even if you do nothing, someone like you would be worth the entire force of Wanggang Village if you went to Daxing."
Shen Wuzheng smiled faintly and said, "Thank you for thinking so highly of me."
"..."
"However, the Duke is now in a high position of power and commands the world. It is indeed not appropriate for me to visit this elder empty-handed."
Upon hearing this, Shang Ruyi's heart skipped a beat. She looked up and exchanged a glance with Yuwen Ye, both of them showing a hint of surprise in their eyes.
Command the world?
Even though Yuwen Yuan had raised an army and captured Daxing City, in the end he was just like Liang Shide and even the people of Wanggangzhai. No matter how powerful he was, he was only a local strongman. How could he be considered to command the world?
Yuwen Ye frowned and said, "Brother, your description of 'commanding the world' is a bit of an exaggeration."
Shen Wuzheng looked at them and suddenly said, "Haven't you received the news yet?"
Yuwen Ye's heart tightened, as if he vaguely sensed something.
He asked in a deep voice, "What news?"
Shen Wuzheng said, "Shortly after the Duke of Sheng occupied Daxing City, he proclaimed Prince Zhao, Chu Chengfei, as emperor and remotely honored the emperor of Jiangdu Palace as the Retired Emperor!"
"What?!"
Upon hearing this, Shang Ruyi and Yuwen Ye were both taken aback.
Seeing their reaction, Shen Wuzheng knew that they were indeed unaware of the matter, so he calmly said, "I only received this news when I arrived nearby. After the new emperor ascended the throne, he appointed the Duke of Sheng as Grand Chancellor, commanding the troops and overseeing all power. Therefore, the Duke receives the emperor's orders and commands the world."
At this point, he smiled faintly and said, "So, can I go to pay my respects to the Grand Chancellor empty-handed?"
This time, the other two were speechless.
When Shang Ruyi looked at Yuwen Ye again, her eyes were so complicated that they were almost unreadable. Only then did she finally understand why, in Songzhou, Fan Chengen, although he wanted to kill her to avenge the emperor, did not hold the matter of the Duke of Sheng's rebellion against Yuwen Ye.
Because the Duke had installed a new emperor, his "rebellion" had become the "right" one!
With Chu Yang dead and Chu Chengfei rightfully ascending the throne, Fan Chengen naturally dared not take any further action against Yuwen Yuan.
No wonder Liang Shide and Xiao Yuansui insisted on intercepting them ahead.
With a new emperor in his hands and having occupied Daxing City, the capital of the Daye Dynasty, the Duke of Sheng was fundamentally different from other rebels. Moreover, Yuwen Ye was a skilled warrior, and bringing him back to the Duke's side would be like adding wings to a tiger.
This world—
Shang Ruyi suddenly felt a numbness in her back.
This is indeed how things will end!
While she was still reeling from the shock, Yuwen Ye remained silent, his brows furrowing with growing gloom. Just as Shang Ruyi was about to say something, he suddenly raised his head and asked with a grave expression, "What about the Empress? How is she now?!"
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