Zhao Di's mourning for the king is not over yet. Now that he was free, Xu Mu returned to the palace and offered three incense sticks to his old man again.
"Zhao Liang?" Zhao Dong, who was wearing filial piety, frowned when he heard the name.
"When the King of Shu said this, I remembered that he did not follow the filial piety and left yesterday. When my father was alive, he loved to fulfill his filial piety the most, but now he has disappeared."
"My dear nephew, how is your relationship with your younger brother?"
"We could play together when we were young, but as we grew older, we became estranged. When my father was poisoned, I caused trouble... He teamed up with many uncles to take away the crown prince's position, but his father stopped him. .”
As he spoke, Zhao Dong vaguely understood something, closed his eyes and sighed.
"King Shu, are they Beiyu's hands and feet?"
"Probably so."
Zhao Dong turned around and looked at the mourning hall in front of him. Suddenly, I didn't know how to answer the call.
"Whether you kill or not is your business. I, Xi Shu, will only try to protect you and become the new King of South China Sea." Xu Mu thought for a while and spoke.
Zhao Dong in front of him was already trembling.
Xu Mu did not persuade. In his opinion, just as Li Liu said, the iron execution platform in Beiyu cannot cause much trouble in the five states of the South China Sea. That Zhao Liang was just a desperate, clown.
What Xishu wants is that the five states in the South China Sea are safe and sound. The new king Zhao Dong will also vassal Xi Shu and help Xi Shu compete for power as before.
No matter what, the direction Zhao Di set must not deviate.
As for whether to kill Zhao Liang or not, it is Zhao Dong's own choice. It is inconvenient for Xi Shu to express his position immediately to avoid any gaps. Of course, it would be best to kill Zhao Liang and remove the unstable factors.
Saying goodbye to Zhao Dong, Xu Mu turned around and walked out of the palace.
"Master, there is no problem." As soon as he left the palace, the elusive secret guard Fei Lian immediately jumped to his side.
"The princess Zhao Fei has a long-standing reputation in Jiaozhou. She was originally promised to the legitimate son of the King of Zhuzhou, but Zhao Fei didn't want to, so she kept her as a maid until now. I searched many people secretly and found no problem."
Xu Mu nodded. It's not that he is suspicious, but he is cautious. After all, if he followed the normal path, Zhao Fei would most likely have entered the Western Shu Palace.
Needless to say, Jiang Caiwei and Li Xiaowan followed him all the way.
"Fei Lian, where is Li Liu?"
"We have already started. Mr. Xiao Li acted very quickly. In the name of finding spies, he arrested more than a hundred of Zhao Liang's retainers. He would rather kill the wrong ones than let them go. Finally, he found out the spies on the iron torture platform and found out Zhao Liang's weakness. He also cooperated with Nanhai General Ruan Qiu and, in the name of Zhao Dong, stabilized the camp outside the city."
"Master, if I'm not wrong, under such circumstances, Zhao and Liang have betrayed their relatives and abandoned their relatives. All they have to do is go to the palace to plead guilty..."
As he spoke, Fei Lian hesitated to speak.
"What?"
Fei Lian's face darkened, "Master, maybe I'm paranoid. I always feel that there is a third force in Jiaozhou City that is stirring up trouble."
"The third force? Why do you say this?"
"There are more ships in the offshore these days. In addition, when Mr. Li was catching the guests, I saw with my own eyes several figures wandering near Zhao Liang's residence. They were not wearing clothes and armor, only wrapped in a big robe. .Look at his appearance, he doesn’t look like someone on the iron torture platform.”
Xu Mu fell into deep thought.
"Fei Lian, please pay more attention these days and do more research."
"Master's safety..."
"Si Hu will follow me. With him around, wild cats and dogs will have to take a detour."
Fei Lian laughed happily, nodded, and slipped into the darkness again.
…
The night slowly spreads down, like rice paper swallowing ink, gradually covering the entire Jiaozhou City.
Li Liu, who was dressed in armor, hurried back in only one day and walked to Xu Mu.
After getting Fei Lian's information, Xu Mu already knew that what Li Liu had done was considered a success. Looking at the armor, it looked like he had been involved in a killing, and it was still stained with blood.
More than a hundred of Zhao Liang's retainers were captured. They would rather kill the wrong ones than let them go, or find out the spies on the iron torture platform. This time, he already has the charm of a planner.
As Xu Mu expected, Li Liu spoke with determination.
"My lord, the matter has been settled. If there is no accident, Zhao Liang will enter the palace tomorrow and try to use the new funeral of King Zhao to beg Zhao Dong for life. However, if you follow my suggestion, Zhao Liang will be rebellious. Don’t stay here.”
"In the palace, I have already told Zhao Dong that whether to kill or not to kill is his business. No matter what, I, Xi Shu, can't overtake others."
"Lord, what about secretly?"
Xu Mu smiled and did not answer immediately. To this day, if there are any unstable factors, he will always kill them.
"Li Liu, did you find anything when you arrested Zhao Liang's disciples?"
"There are outsiders." Li Liu thought for a while.
"When I was arresting people, I specially left a secret sentry. According to what the secret sentry said, I found many hiding figures, but these people did not rescue them, nor did they use any means to create chaos. I guess they may not be the people on the iron torture platform. .”
This is basically the same as Fei Lian.
But soon, Li Liubu's next sentence made Xu Mu frown even more.
"The secret whistle said that those people have a damp and salty smell on their bodies. It is most likely that they have been blown by too much sea wind and have just come from the sea. But my lord, you should know that if you want to enter the five states of the South China Sea, the southernmost Zhuya Prefecture is the one you must pass through. road."
After a pause, Li Liu hesitated and spoke again.
"On the other side of Zhuyazhou, the Haiyue people are guarding it."
Zhuya Prefecture is a large island in the southernmost of the five states in the South China Sea. It has a sparse population and is mostly inhabited by Haiyue people. And the most critical point is that the one closest to Zhuya Prefecture is Cangwu Prefecture, which belongs to the same five states in the South China Sea.
The hidden seaport in Cangwu Prefecture is now the top priority of Western Shu. If something unexpected happens, not to mention a surprise attack by a sea ship in the hinterland of Beiyu, even the iron ore mines offshore will probably be put on hold.
"Where's Ruan Qiu?"
"Guarding the rebel camp outside the city."
"Send Ruan Qiu to come and see this king immediately."
…
Outside Zhuyazhou in the South China Sea, the sea water surges at night.
A figure in a robe stood silently on the bow of the ship, looking far ahead.
Probably because he has experienced a lot of things, the figure has a calm demeanor, except for a pair of eyes, which gradually become deeper and deeper in the sea breeze.
"Master Ling, the Shu people are already suspicious."
The figure known as "Master Ling" turned his head coldly, and his face was slowly reflected in the sea and sky.
That face had probably been chewed by some kind of hungry beast, with a large piece of flesh chopped off. Even so, the man was not wearing a mask, which made his whole demeanor look even more terrifying.
Drifting on the sea and encountering a cannibal, his life has been completely disrupted. The legitimate son of the Ling family, the high-spirited grain king, was no longer seen, and the number one strategist in Dongling was no longer seen.
"I, the hidden Lin Lingsu, want to carry out an unworldly plan. The north and the south join forces. The grassland and the sea will eat together and divide the pie in the Central Plains!"
