Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Chapter 256 A guilty conscience

"We don't know the specifics. We've heard some people say that there might be a war, but how could we ordinary folks possibly know where it will be fought or with whom?"

"Such a big matter, the city lord of Liangzhou should have been informed! After all, Liangzhou is a prefecture of Xijing, so they should have taken some action!"

"We also find this matter a bit strange. Ever since the Marquis came here to take the horse, we haven't seen the city lord come out. Logically, he should at least come out and give an explanation for this matter!"

The waiter frowned and pondered.

"It seems that the Marquis of Xijing has already begun to take action. As relatives of Wu Ji, they will naturally be implicated, but it is impossible for them to sit idly by and wait for their doom. So, judging from the fact that they took away thousands of horses, they have decided to fight to the death." Ji Xianlin analyzed after leaving the horse market.

"Let's go to the city lord's mansion and see what the city lord of Liangzhou City is doing?"

Not far from the horse market, nestled within a high wall of granite, lies the residence of the Liangzhou City Lord.

It was already night, and lights had been lit within the high walls. The mansion gates were tightly closed, and the lanterns hanging outside emitted a dim red glow. Under the illumination of the lights, the stone pillars and doorways appeared even more sinister.

A squad of armored guards patrolled along the high wall inside the courtyard. Most of the household servants had already retired for the day, with only a few maids still busy at work.

"Madam, Xiao Sanzi has brought you ginseng soup!"

A young man dressed as a servant quietly walked to the window of a bedroom in the inner courtyard and spoke softly.

There was a gate separating the inner and outer courtyards of the mansion. After nightfall, only the city lord, female relatives, and maids were allowed to enter. At this moment, a male servant entered and knocked on the window. It was obvious what was going on.

"The door isn't locked! Come in and close the door."

A few breaths later, a soft female voice came from inside the room.

Upon hearing this, the man immediately crouched low and tiptoed to the door. He slowly pushed it open, backed into the room, glanced outside a few times, and quickly closed the door. Moments later, suppressed, lewd laughter echoed from inside.

The inner courtyard is spacious, not much smaller than the outer courtyard, but it is mostly filled with flowers, plants, and rockeries, with fewer buildings and some distance between each one. It is much more private than the outer courtyard.

"Madam, the master suddenly received a message from the Marquis the day before yesterday, and hurriedly followed him without saying anything. We don't know when he will return?"

"Why are you hoping he'll come back soon!"

"How could that be! Heh... heh, why would I want him back? It's better if he doesn't come back! Heh, sigh..."

"Hmm...sigh...の34￥..."

Amidst this filthy and unbearable noise, two blurry figures flashed in the shadows of the distant courtyard wall and disappeared into the vast night.

……

"All indications suggest that the Marquis of Xijing has already abandoned Liangzhou. Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken all of Liangzhou's resources away on the eve of the great battle."

In the inn, Mo Yuming, having taken off his night clothes, spoke to Ji Xianlin. After leaving the city lord's mansion, the two went to check on the military camp stationed in the city. Only five hundred veterans remained guarding the camp; the five thousand garrison troops had been transferred away by the city lord the day before yesterday.

"Inform Commander Jiang that tomorrow we can send troops to probe the Liangzhou pass. There is no need for a direct attack; just tell them the truth, and the garrison will soon fall into disarray. Then we can offer them benefits and offer them amnesty."

Ji Xianlin said.

"Time is of the essence. The 10,000 soldiers stationed at the two passes in Liangzhou can set off tomorrow to take up positions in Liangzhou. While controlling the entire territory of Liangzhou, they will strengthen the defense of the passes bordering Xianghuang. At the same time, Su Ce should follow up as soon as possible to stabilize the morale of the people of Liangzhou. While the people of Liangzhou are still unaware of the true situation, the best option is to take over Liangzhou as quickly as possible without drawing blood."

"It is estimated that the war will break out in a few days at most. The first to attack will likely be the Xianghuang Kingdom, since Da Chi and Xianghuang share the largest border area, reaching three prefectures."

Secondly, there are the kingdoms of Taibai and Zhenglan. However, Zhenglan can only attack Liangzhou and Zhongyuan City in Xijing from Dachi. Since Zhenglan has long harbored ambitions to deal with us, they will naturally head straight for the towns and villages near Zhongyuan City. After all, the passes that can capture Liangzhou are too close to Xianghuang, which could very likely cause conflict with Xianghuang. Moreover, Liangzhou is no match for Zhongyuan Prefecture.

Xianghuang would certainly have considered this as well, and he would definitely prepare to attack Liangzhou, but it wouldn't be the main offensive; he would only send a small force to counterbalance Zhenglan Kingdom. His main target area would likely be the main city of Xijing, because Dongjing and Lidu are the strongest prefectures of Dachi, and are close to Zhongdu, the main concentration of Dachi's military forces.

"Since this is not the main battlefield, we will only defend and not attack after occupying Liangzhou. The presence of the Xianghuang Kingdom and the Zhenglan Kingdom will create a temporary balance here. This will allow us to concentrate our forces to deal with the provocations of the Zhenglan Kingdom."

"Both Taibai and Yinzi have their own primary targets and shouldn't be able to spare any troops to deal with Zhongyuan City for the time being, so there won't be any major battles for the garrison here. We just need to strengthen our defenses."

"After this battle, Da Chi may be annexed, but the other six kingdoms will certainly not become stronger as a result. Although each kingdom will gain more land, they will all be severely weakened. The overall strength of the Long Kingdom will decrease as a result. Originally, it was roughly equal to Qin and Dan in strength, but it is estimated that it will soon fall to the bottom of the five kingdoms."

Ji Xianlin analyzed.

"Who cares? This will only benefit our Great Xia. Our main concern now is the Zheng Lan Kingdom. Since the situation has changed, we'll go to Jingzhou tomorrow to help Lord Long and the others deal with Wu Yi's two guest ministers first. Then we'll set up a big trap in Jingzhou and wait for Wu Yi's army to arrive."

"This Soul Jade is indeed much better than the Token. It is not only simpler but also very discreet. It is much cheaper to make than the Token and can be used indefinitely. If the intermediate transfer could be eliminated, it would be even more perfect."

After exchanging information with Jiang Yuheng and others using the Soul Jade, Ji Xianlin couldn't help but praise it.

"With current technology, each intermediate operator can only control a maximum of five to eight Soul Jade at the same time. Therefore, as the number of Soul Jade increases, more intermediate operators are needed, making it inconvenient for large-scale use."

"Afterwards, I'll need to discuss this with Elder Huo to see if there are any areas for improvement. It's just that Elder Huo is only at level four in weapon refining; if Master Zhang were here, the chances would be much higher given the Zhang family's unique weapon refining techniques."

……

After enjoying his carefree life as the city lord for half a month, Wu Yan, the young city lord of Jingzhou, began to feel uneasy again. The sudden disappearance of his father and grandfather was no small matter.

Eventually, the truth could not be kept forever, and Marquis Wu Yi found out about it, sending two of his retainers to investigate.

Although he dared not use force against him, he couldn't just give him the runaround every time. So, under the coercion of the two retainers, Wu Yan began his investigation. But how could Wu Yan know where to look for clues? So he could only lead the two men on a aimless wandering.

That day, Wu Yan was taking a midday rest when a follower dressed as a warrior walked in, carrying a food box. This was the secret-recipe braised chicken from Fuyuan Restaurant, which Wu Yan ate every day.

The two guest retainers were staying in the next room and were currently meditating and resting. They were already quite used to Wu Yan's peculiar hobby.

The two guest ministers had also tried this braised chicken, and the taste was indeed excellent. It was not surprising that they were addicted to it. So Wu Yan ate the braised chicken from Fuyuan Restaurant every day, and the two guest ministers did not find it strange.

Wu Yan swallowed hard as he took the braised chicken out of the food box. On the bottom of the box was a line of small characters written in charcoal:

'Take people to the poplar forest ten miles outside the eastern suburbs'

Wu Yan's expression changed slightly after seeing it, but he quickly returned to normal. He reached into the box and touched the bottom, where the words had turned into a black mess.

"Elders, I just remembered that my grandfather used to go to a certain place, but he never told me about it, so I didn't pay much attention to it."

This has caused you two to waste several days without finding a single clue. I feel very ashamed, so I tried hard to think carefully, and finally remembered that before my grandfather was alive—oh… oops! Not before he was alive, but before he disappeared—he would go to the same place every few days, and he would always be back within an hour. And when he came back, he always seemed to be deep in thought.

However, I don't dare to pry into his affairs. As long as he doesn't ask me, I pretend I didn't see anything. I don't want him to interrogate me about this and that, making me uncomfortable.

"Where is that? Don't try to fool me with some random place again!"

"The old man in black said impatiently."

"I'm absolutely not lying to you! That place is very strange. My father always sends people to guard the entrance and prevent anyone from going in. Once, I was curious and wanted to go and take a look, but my father stopped me."

He warned me not to go near that place, or he would break my legs.

Wu Yan's acting at this moment was absolutely Oscar-worthy. He made up a lie so convincingly and vividly that it was almost unbelievable.

Even a cunning old fox who had lived for one or two hundred years was fooled by his words and actually believed them.

The two exchanged glances, both recognizing the interest in each other's eyes. A place frequently visited by a third-level Celestial Realm expert was no ordinary place. It was certainly worth a look.

"how far?"

"It's not far, it won't take half an hour to get there by horse. However, I've only been to the outside, not inside, so I have no idea what's inside. I'm telling you beforehand, I'm not lying to you. As for what clues you might find there, I can't guarantee."

Wu Yan continued to fabricate evidence.

"Whether you're lying to us or not, I can judge for myself. Lead the way!"

The old man in blue said without any politeness.

"Go prepare a horse for me!"

Wu Yan shouted at his warriors.

The eastern outskirts of Jingzhou are a desolate wilderness with groves of poplar trees. The groves are overgrown with weeds and teem with snakes, ants, and poisonous insects, so most people dare not approach them. But there are also treasures in these groves: rare and precious herbs.

As a region that mainly produces herbs, Zhenglan Kingdom's geographical environment is naturally different from other places, so many alchemists like to come here to buy herbs or collect rare medicinal materials.

Therefore, places where insects and snakes gather are more attractive to alchemists, because some special medicinal herbs often grow in the harshest environments.

When Wu Yan mentioned this place, the two old men simultaneously thought of the same word: "natural treasures".

This is the only wilderness frequented by a third-level Celestial Realm member.

"This is it. The place my grandfather often went to was in this poplar grove. There's a path there; we can probably find some clues if we go in from there."

Wu Yan led the two to the designated location, then stopped when they were still a hundred feet away from the poplar grove.

"Young City Lord, won't you come in with us to take a look?"

The old man in blue asked when he saw Wu Yan stop.

“Last time I came here, my father stopped me and strictly ordered me not to get close. If they knew that I was the one who brought you in, they would definitely kill me. Besides, I have never been there before, so I wouldn’t be of any use even if I went in. There are many poisonous insects inside, and my cultivation is too low. In fact, I would only be a burden to the two elders who need to protect me.”

Wu Yan's excuses were quite articulate and left no room for argument.

"Alright, you wait for us here!"

After they finished speaking, the two flew into the poplar grove.

A dark, winding path stretches through the overgrown woods. Tall poplar trees block out most of the sunlight. It is nearing the Mid-Autumn Festival and the harvest season is approaching. The branches and leaves of the trees and flowers have begun to change and become more colorful.

"Is this kid playing a trick on us again? We've been walking for so long and haven't seen a single person."

"That's what the old man in blue said."

“I don’t think he lied to us. It’s very spacious here, and it’s not so easy to find someone.”

"Let's split up and search separately, then keep in touch. This isn't the Monster Mountain Range; there aren't any high-level monsters here. With our cultivation levels, we should be able to protect ourselves."

"Okay, I'll go that way, you go this way, I'll contact you in fifteen minutes."

The old man in black robes went off alone in another direction.

After turning several corners, the old man in black noticed that the terrain had changed. Some bare rocks appeared in the woods, the land began to undulate, and the path became more rugged. The trees here were no longer all poplars; many other species of trees had begun to appear.

"Someone has been here! And it wasn't just one person's footprints!"

The old man in black robes became excited and quickly followed the trail. After crossing a boulder, he discovered a small wooden hut, with signs that someone seemed to have lived there.

However, no one was inside, and the door was tightly closed. The old man in black pushed open the door and saw that the wooden house was simply furnished, but in the inner room, there were many bottles and jars.

"Could a reclusive alchemist live here?"

The old man in black was overjoyed, thinking to himself: I knew I hadn't made a mistake coming here!

Pick up one of the wooden jars, open the lid, and a delicate fragrance immediately wafts out.

"Soul-Yun Pill!"

The old man was overjoyed. High-quality 'Spirit Nourishing Pills' were expensive, and most martial artists could afford them. Although the effect was slightly weaker for Heaven-rank practitioners, it was still quite good! After putting away the wooden jar, the old man picked up a jade box, opened it, and found a box of 'Spirit Strengthening Pills.' He quickly put the jade box into his pocket; 'Spirit Strengthening Pills' were also expensive. As a person from the Zheng Lan Kingdom, he knew the price of pills better than others.

After looking at the two jars of pills, the old man stopped checking them one by one and swept all the bottles and jars off the wooden shelf.

Just as the old man was about to slip away, he sensed something uneasy; Heavenly Realm experts all possess excellent divine sense. Just as he was about to step out of the room, his divine sense detected someone approaching from a hundred feet away.

"Damn, the master is back?" The old man was startled and immediately tried to make a run for it, after all, he felt guilty.