"Elder Lu, I have urgent information to tell you..."
At the headquarters of the Beggars' Sect, Lu Youjiao was about to go out to do some business. When he was about to go out alone, a dirty Beggars' Sect disciple came over and leaned down to speak in Lu Youjiao's ear.
Lu Youjiao frowned slightly. Urgent intelligence? Could it be that the Song Dynasty had responded to the battle between the Wulin Army and the Mongolian Army?
"Let's go to a secluded place!"
Lu Youjiao glanced around. It was extremely empty, with only the occasional pedestrian passing by. Unafraid of being overheard, Lu Youjiao led him directly to a dilapidated temple not far away.
"Tell me, what's the news? Intelligence has arrived from the Song Dynasty."
“Indeed…”
A Beggar Gang disciple came closer, his voice low, as if he was about to whisper something... Lu Youjiao was also attracted by him, and he lowered his body and focused his attention on his ears...
Then... a sharp pain suddenly came from the heart!
Lu Youjiao stared at his chest in horror, a dagger lodged firmly in it... The strength in his body was fading, and he fell to his knees powerlessly. With his last bit of strength exhausted, he raised his head and looked at the Beggar Gang disciple who had assassinated him...
He wanted to know who was attacking him!
"You...you...who...sent you..."
Blood continued to flow from his mouth. Lu Youjiao stared at the Beggar Gang disciple with wide eyes... The dirty Beggar Gang disciple grabbed Lu Youjiao's collar and put his head close to his ear...
"My name is Huodu, and I'm a Mongolian prince. If you want to hate someone, then hate your martial arts leader. Who allowed her to slaughter 100,000 Mongolian troops?"
"The Wulin Alliance will not let you go!"
Lu Youjiao used up the last bit of his strength, spat out a large mouthful of blood at Huo Du, then fell on his back and died!
Huo Du patted the blood stains on his body in disdain… If he died, he would die, but he still wanted to humiliate himself? These beggars really were nothing but rubbish!
However, his original intention was not to be a beggar.
The reason for killing Lu Youjiao was that he was the next successor chosen by Huang Rong. Only when he died would he have the chance to compete for the position of gang leader and provide intelligence about the Wulin Alliance to the Mongolian army!
Five thousand versus a hundred thousand—this feat truly frightened the high-ranking Mongol nobles. After all, ever since Genghis Khan had united countless tribes on the steppes, he had been invincible, unstoppable, and even single-handedly defeating ten was commonplace.
However, after the battle between the Wulin Army and the Mongolian Army, it was not just a problem of military losses. The bigger problem was that the leaders of countless grassland tribes developed a fear of the Wulin Alliance. They all refused to attack the Central Plains, especially the Xiangyang Pass. These situations happened in a chain reaction, which forced Kublai Khan to urgently send Huo Du to the Central Plains to investigate the Wulin Alliance.
If you want to get intelligence, there is no more effective way than becoming the leader of the Beggars' Sect.
Kill Lu Youjiao, and with his ability and force, he would take the position of leader of the Beggars' Sect, and no one would be able to stop him! Not to mention, one of the Beggars' Sect's four elders had already secretly defected to Mongolia!
After cleaning up the blood stains on his body, Huo Du looked at Lu Youjiao's corpse coldly, left expressionlessly, and waited quietly for the Beggar Gang's meeting to be held three days later!
......................
On the other side, Lin'an Prefecture, the Imperial Palace.
Song Lizong Zhao Yun, with white hair, was lying on his side on the dragon couch in the bedroom. The women from Yangzhou summoned to the palace were dancing gracefully. He rested his head on the chest of his most beloved concubine, Concubine Yan, and hid the grapes that were handed to his mouth by her delicate hands. He looked very happy.
"Sir, the latest information on Xiangyang has arrived."
Suddenly, a eunuch walked in. He was white-faced and beardless, and he bowed his head and spoke to Zhao Yun in a low voice, fearing that his voice would be too loud and affect Zhao Yun's interest in enjoying the singing and dancing.
"Oh, Mr. Dong, tell me."
Zhao Yun's eyes suddenly lit up with interest. He waved his hand and asked the beauties to leave. He also sat up from the dragon bed and looked at Dong Songchen with great interest.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Dong Songchen unfolded the intelligence and read out, "Xiangyang Prefect Lü Wende reports that the Wulin Alliance gathered five thousand martial artists and launched an attack from Xiangyang. After a month and a half of fighting, they attacked the 100,000-man Mongolian army head-on, beheading nearly half of them and capturing 20,000 Mongolian soldiers. Their own casualties were less than 50%, and they seized one million cattle and sheep. They also rescued over 100,000 civilians from the Great Song..."
Dong Songchen was almost at a loss for words after reading this... What could he say? As the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he was in charge of all matters in the imperial palace, and he was also in charge of the Imperial Armory, the Imperial Academy, the Imperial Decree Compilation Office, the Imperial Supervisory Office, the Xianying Palace, and the Prince Jingxian's Palace. He knew better than anyone the combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty army.
But the Mongolian army, which the Song army of nearly one million could not defeat, was slaughtered by the 5,000-strong army formed by the Wulin Alliance. This fact made Dong Songchen a little unbearable.
If this gets out, won't it just show that these officials are incompetent?
"The Wulin Army is so powerful?"
Zhao Yun showed a look of surprise. "Lord Dong, do you think this information is true? Is the Song Dynasty martial arts world really that powerful? Can 5,000 people destroy an army of 100,000?"
"I don't know either," Dong Songchen shook his head and said, "Knights who break the law with their martial arts are extremely arrogant and rarely interact with the government. The people in the government are even called hawks and dogs, and it's rare to recruit experts into the court..."
"Yes, the court's lackeys..."
Zhao Yun seemed to have thought of something and fell into deep thought... Concubine Yan on the side did not dare to touch Zhao Yun at this moment. An emperor who was determined to revive the Song Dynasty, even if he was old and indulged in sensual pleasures, was not someone she could offend!
To put it bluntly, the power of a tiger remains even after its death!
After a long time, Zhao Yun looked at Dong Songchen.
"Lord Dong, how do you think we should handle this intelligence? And regarding the Wulin Alliance and the Wulin Army, should they be rewarded or reprimanded?"
"this……"
Dong Songchen hesitated for a long time. If an ordinary military commander achieved such a record, no matter how strong or famous he was, he would only end up dead... Just like Yue Fei, who was in charge of 70% of the country's troops, but was framed by the emperor and civil officials and died tragically outside Fengbo Pavilion?
But this army wasn't just any ordinary army! To be more precise, it had nothing to do with the entire imperial court! Those soldiers and generals were just martial artists, never receiving a cent from the imperial court. How could they possibly be restricted?
To put it bluntly, if you come up with a bad idea and are found out... the number of corrupt officials who die at the hands of martial artists every year is never a small number!
"Everything is subject to the will of the emperor."
Dong Songchen decisively refused to take the blame. Those martial artists were fearless and he just followed his heart!
"Ah..." Zhao Yun sighed softly: "Since you, my dear, don't have any ideas, then let's send someone to investigate secretly..."
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