Chapter 1979: Youzhou’s Vigilance!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
As Wang Chong was emerging from the main hall of his estate, in the distant Youzhou…
Whoosh!
Several messenger birds cut through the night, swiftly making their way toward An Yaluoshan’s beloved mountain.
On the summit, several figures stood amidst flickering torches—none other than An Yaluoshan and his crew.
Now that Zhang Shougui had been driven away and he now sat on the seat of Andong Protector-General, An Yaluoshan had succeeded, but An Yaluoshan was different from Zhang Shougui. He did not enjoy sitting in the center of power that was the Andong Protectorate headquarters, and still favored his mountain that let him look upon the Central Plains.
As for Cui Qianyou and the others, they would be wherever An Yaluoshan was. They really didn’t care what sort of places they could see from this summit.
Taptaptap!
As the group was enjoying the scenery, there was a rush of footsteps from behind them. A few moments later, a Hu guard lowered his head.
“What’s wrong? Is it more news about the meeting between Wang Chong and our Protector-General?” An Yaluoshan asked without turning his head, his hands held behind his back.
Zhang Shougui had been demoted to Governor of Kuo Province, but Wang Chong, who held the illustrious titles of Nine Provinces Protector-General, Empire Guardian Great General, and official of Lingyan Pavilion, had gone out to welcome him with a grand procession. News of this incident had already spread through the entire realm, and An Yaluoshan also knew about it.
In truth, all of Zhang Shougui’s movements from the moment he left Youzhou had been watched, and Wang Chong, the number one man in the Tang military, was also one of the people they had under close observation.
The meeting of these two had already become the hot conversation topic of his faction.
But to his surprise, when Yan Zhuang took the secret report and glanced at it, he shook his head and grimly said, “No!
“Your Excellency, there’s a problem! Calm Orchid has gone missing!”
“What’s going on?”
An Yaluoshan’s face paled as he turned around.
“What do you mean, ‘Calm Orchid has gone missing’? Didn’t I tell you to make matters simple and just kill her as quickly as possible?”
Calm Orchid was an extremely important character in this matter, a servant girl who had served Zhang Shougui for many years. Zhang Shougui trusted her and was used to having her attend him. It was precisely because An Yaluoshan was able to bribe her that he was able to successfully poison Zhang Shougui’s tea.
An Yaluoshan would not have dared to remove her while Zhang Shougui still had his post, but Zhang Shougui had reached the capital long ago. As such, he had secretly ordered for Calm Orchid to be eliminated to prevent any problems in the future.
But now, Yan Zhuang was telling him that Calm Orchid had gone missing!
What did that mean?
“There was a mistake. Our men did go to deal with Calm Orchid, but this woman was more cunning than we expected. She requested time off from Zhang Shougui, saying that she was returning to her hometown. Our men went off in pursuit, but we discovered that she had gone missing. We had the entire area locked down, but we couldn’t find any trace of her.”
Yan Zhuang lowered his head, his face filled with shame.
Calm Orchid was a weak woman who couldn’t even truss a chicken, and dealing with her was as easy as one thrust of a blade. Thus, An Yaluoshan had ordered him to deal with the matter, not expecting an error like this.
A gust of wind blew across the summit, but the air seemed to stagnate.
While Calm Orchid was a minor character, she had played a vital role in this entire incident. If she was not handled properly, she might plant a seed of disaster.
“There’s no need to look. If my guess is right, this is the work of the Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain teams,” Gao Shang declared.
Everyone grimaced as they turned toward him.
“Calm Orchid is just a simple woman. We have thoroughly investigated her background and have her parents under our control. She would never dare to escape. Youzhou is only so large, and she is just a weak woman, so how could she have the ability to escape our grasp? This is probably the work of the King of Foreign Lands,” Gao Shang firmly concluded.
Everyone nastily scowled, particularly An Yaluoshan, whose face went as black as the bottom of a pot.
In all of the Great Tang, the person An Yaluoshan feared the most was Wang Chong!
That scoundrel had been constantly targeting him, and the men he had sent to probe him had found his armories and his Yeluohe. Even that paper slip he had sent to the Caliph of Arabia with ‘future master of the Central Plains’ written on it had fallen into his hands.
This fellow was also one of the reasons he had started the great drama known as the ‘Youzhou war’, a collaboration between him and Yeon Gaesomun, earlier than scheduled.
Now, the crucial servant, Calm Orchid, had fallen into his hands, and the fact that Wang Chong was meeting with Zhang Shougui right now made An Yaluoshan alarmed and extremely uneasy.
Another voice spoke. “That’s not the only thing we have to worry about. Several hours ago, we received messages from the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Goguryeo, the Xi, and the Khitans that they found traces of the Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain teams.”
The speaker had a strange appearance, possessing a black birthmark on the center of his forehead and a single white eyebrow. This was the man who had earlier fled to the Xi and the Khitans, Baizhen Tuoluo.
After the incident involving Niu Xiantong, after attempting to frame Zhang Shougui, Baizhen Tuoluo and Zhao Kan had fled to the Xi and the Khitans. However, now that Youzhou was under a new master, An Yaluoshan replacing Zhang Shougui to become the master of the northeast and gaining control of all the soldiers and officers, Baizhen Tuoluo and Zhao Kan no longer had a reason to stay in hiding.
Zhao Kan joined in. “This is not good news. We suspect that that man’s scouts have already infiltrated the Eastern Turks, Goguryeons, Xi, and Khitans. Those people aren’t as watchful as we are, and I’m rather worried that that man in the capital might already know of our relationship with these other factions.”
In their wanderings, the two of them had so feared Zhang Shougui’s might that not only did they run to the Xi and Khitans, they essentially visited all the areas around Youzhou, not daring to stay in any one place for too long. But for this reason, they developed an understanding of these areas.
While the Eastern Turks, Xi, Khitans, and Goguryeons had powerful armies, they were full of holes when it came to intelligence, completely out of line with their military strength. One could even say that they did not even have the concept of information defense.
They seemed to favor the use of overwhelming strength to crush their foes.
With this sort of understanding, they had no way of defending against that man’s spies.
Once that man had the evidence he wanted, the results would be unthinkable. Youzhou might end up being targeted by everyone!
“Bastard!”
An Yaluoshan also had a twisted scowl on his face. Baizhen Tuoluo and Zhao Kan were merely speculating, but An Yaluoshan knew that this was probably the case. If not, what need would there be to have sent those four elite teams?
Information might have already leaked from all four of those other countries!
An Yaluoshan’s eyes twitched, and he felt a suffocating pressure from all around.
Although Wang Chong was not in Youzhou, that pressure followed him like a shadow. Each day longer that man lived was another day he would spend restless.
“Your Excellency, there is no need to worry. Whether or not the King of Foreign Lands has obtained any information, he presents no threat to us at present!” Gao Shang suddenly said. He was much more composed than the others, his expression firm.
“When it comes to the other countries, we took precautions long ago. All the letters were written by either me or Yan Zhuang, and there is no trace of Your Excellency’s handwriting. In addition, we had already agreed with Yeon Gaesomun to use a secret sign to identify each other, and many of the contents of the letters are coded. No one except us will be able to understand them.
“Even if that man in the capital managed to get ahold of our letters with the other countries, it does not matter. If the Sage Emperor truly asks, Your Excellency must simply say that Yeon Gaesomun and the others are trying to frame Your Excellency after suffering such a severe loss in the war, and that the letters are not worth believing. The Sage Emperor and the court will be able to do nothing. On the contrary, they might question the person who brought forth the letters, and we can use that chance to deal with him.”
Gao Shang’s eyes shone with a wise light, and he exuded the aura of a farsighted strategist that greatly soothed the others.
“Lord Gao is right. Without any actual evidence, that man in the capital can do nothing to us. Moreover, given all the time we’ve had to prepare, if we get into a fight, there’s no need to fear them!” Cui Qianyou suddenly said.
His eyes were as sharp as blades as he lightly stepped forward. Boom! Boundless energy exploded out of his body, and all of the air above the summit began to twist and distort.
Cui Qianyou had long ago reached the peak Saint Martial realm and was comparable to any Great General.
Bang! Bang!
Nearby, Tian Qianzhen and Tian Chengsi unleashed their own majestic storms of energy.
All three of them were top-class martial artists, supreme experts!
But because of An Yaluoshan, all of the Youzhou group remained restrained and inconspicuous. No one outside of Youzhou realized that Cui Qianyou and the others had long ago been capable of ranking amongst the general stars of the Great Tang, and now, they were capable of matching the Great Generals.
In this aspect, Youzhou was the equivalent of a small kingdom!
“Your Excellency, be at ease. I swear to guard Your Excellency with my life!” Tian Qianzhen and Tian Chengsi solemnly said.